AWOL!

Sorry I have not blogged for a while, but I have had his terrible cold which has made me feel like crap, and little dear has had it too. So I have been up through the nights with her and then I have not been able to get back to sleep. Of course hubbo has slept very well!

I don't know about you but was with the horrible weather and the talk of recession I am feeling a bit grey at the minute! Don't worry folks I'm not going to do anything silly like top myself, I have not got the energy for that!

Any way the competition between me & Sara is still on as due to my illness last week we have decided to extend it for another week (I will give you the results up to Sunday night when Sara gets her bum in gear (Just thought I could deduct points for that!).

On the Just Original front I have now got everything cut out for my 1st fair on the 18th May. I have about 20 items left to sew, so all is on track for then! I have also opened up my shop on
ebay again. I was doing quite well with selling my CK Lavender Hearts, so I have decided to use those to draw folks into my shop where some of Just Original products are (some are cheaper than on website as an opening offer!) Shameless plug!

I have just completed 3 P35's at works so that is a big thing off my mind there, just one more to go for hubbo's business. Isn't the whole HM Revenue & Customs a pain I feel half of the time I am just repeating myself with information. For a new starter you have to fill in one paper form of the new starter, and the details onto HMCE website and then update the CD rom for in year pay.

That's enough ramblings for a wet miserable Wednesday, so if you are still reading this thank you. I promise to be back soon with some more cheery thoughts (Don't feel sorry for me as I am very unsympathetic to others, ask my hubbo!)

See you all soon

The Good Life!

Well not exactly, but I did manage to get the little greenhouse up and fill the grow bags yesterday. I have planted potatoes, spring onions, lettuces and re planted my strawberries (not outside). I spoke to my Dad this morning and he has said to keep planting my potatoes every 2 weeks so I get a good crop, I am planting the remainder in compost sacks as he said that was recommended on 'Gardner's World' and who'd argue with Monty Don. I have to say I would of preferred to have my veg patch ready but at the moment it's full of rubble from the studio build!

Look what my little dear got up to yesterday, I have to say a wrote the words underneath the felted letters to give her a head start. I was quite pleased as she is only 3! The 'V' was for Vanessa apparently.

The courses that I was talking about at the Harley Gallery at Welbeck Estates are on this link. It would be worth the trip for anyone, as I said there is a great garden centre with a gift, book and Yeomans inside it. It also has a cafe inside but this one is not as trendy as the Lime House cafe near the Gallery itself. It also has a great Farm Shop, I can highly recommend the frozen croissants, you just defrost them the night before you want them directly on to the baking tray, they grow in size and then cook them for 20 minutes, and Voila! Yum Yum Yum!

All of the above activities are based in one area so just park up and walk!

http://www.hopeandelvis.com/

Have a good day!

Just though I need your feedback- Can you remember the Peg Dolls I made for my little dears Easter Party. Do you think they would sell well on Etsy, and how much would you pay for one, they have all the components and instructions in and would come in some sort of small bag!!!

Let me know!! Please

Atishoo!

My eyes, nose and throats are so itchy! We went to hubbo's Mum & Dad's yesterday and they live in the middle of a field and that was it, Hayfever! It has even effected me today, I've been eating Fishermans friends as it's the only thing that has soothed my throat.

It has not stopped me doing stuff this weekend though.

Saturday - Sewed up 14 Lavender Pillows, 5 bags and did a bot of house work (not a full hour though), little dear was with her grandparents so we took advantage and went to the garden centre where hubbo treated me to one of those zip up greenhouses, some vegetables bags to grow spuds in, tomato & cucumber plants, spuds and compost.

He then treated me to afternoon tea at the lovely trendy cafe. I picked up a leaflet there for some fab courses for making bags/purses/quilts etc out of vintage fabric at only £40 for the day. I will post more information on these later in the week. Just to let you know they are at The Harley Gallery near Worksop, its on the Welbeck estate which has a great garden centre, fab cafe and the Welbeck Farm Shop which was featured in Country Living Magazine (April) with the man holding the sausages.

Sunday - Loaded up some stock on to Etsy, did some more sewing. Hubbo put up some Ikea drawers that we bought last week for our bedroom, so this meant I had to have a sort out and clean up in our room. I also tided up my sewing room (again)! I feel more productive if I have sort out regularly. Packaged up some of Just Original stock, made 3 Lavender hearts for an order.

So all in all quite a productive weekend I would have liked to of sorted out my mini allotment but the weather has been miserable here today, it has not stopped raining. Its just supposed to be cloudy tomorrow so I may have some photo's for tomorrows post!

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Me a winner!

I received this in the post on Tuesday, I knew immediately who it was from! Can you guess?

Perfectly wrapped!

I my daughter now calls him 'Terence the turtle'. He is very beautiful and the colors are great.

His new home, since this photo was taken he is now the holder of the important mobile library times. Very important! Thank you very much Sarah (Paper and Strings) Still don't know how to do the link thing!

Just to show you a picture of the 'Butternut squash & Sweet Potato' soup I made on Saturday. The recipe came from one of the Mum's at Pre school. My little dears Pre-school got £5000 worth of funding to produce a recipe book. All parents/carers had to send in a recipe, we then had a professional photo taken of the child with there parents with there finished recipe. Luckily I made Bruschetta, some made pies and things which after waiting 2 hours to have there photo's taken were a little worst for wear. The recipe books have now been published and each child got one as a Keepsake. We also used the funding to buy each child a personalised apron and cool bag. The school also bought lots of kitchen equipment eg toaster/toastie/juicer/donut maker etc. There are lots more recipes I need to try, but lets not rush in!

Have a good weekend!

Vanessa x

The stakes are high!

Up to close of business yesterday there is not a lot in the points stake between me & Sara.

Sara = 80.5 points

Vanessa = 79 points

It's quite strange as I find myself thinking what I can do to get points. Some of the points are a problem to get as times as in getting my little dear to bed before 7.30, and packaging items up as in theory you have to sell something to package it up! I don't know if its just me at the moment but it seems very quiet at the moment on my website and on the Land of Blog. Does everyone think the same.

I went to the good book shop in Retford today and there window display was so brilliant, it was all about allotments, small holdings and self sufficiency! I bough a great book called '21st Century Smallholder', only managed to have a quick flick but all looks good!

I promise to put more photos on tomorrow!

Fairs Ahoy!

I just found out yesterday that I have been accepted on to 2 fairs that I applied for a while ago! They are completely new to me so I don't know how they will go, but I have got to give it a go!

Stamford (Lincolnshire) High Street - Sunday 18th May

Renishaw Hall (Sheffield/Chesterfield) - Sunday 28th June

If you want more details or are near by on those dates pop in!

I will up date you later on how the competition between me & Sara is going.

(Another 3 points to add to my tally)

Preview of Wedding Stationery

My sister sincerely thanks you for your helpful feedback regarding budgets / spends. Please find above a selection of her stationery designs for your perusal!!!

I will update you later on the competition between myself and Sara..watch this space.

I do sew from time to time!

After a disappointing Tuesday when little dear did not go to her friends, I made up for it on Thursday when she went to Pre school. I managed to get 6 tissue holders made and 14 Lavender Pillows as the evidence of sewing shows.

You might be able to see in the picture one of my latest purchases from Jane at www.picciolo-picciolo.blogspot.com its a fab felt storage box with the cutest little bird print on it. Unfortunately I would like to say I am using it for something more glamorous than cotton scraps but I am not.

In a bid to increase productivity and to get Sara @ All about Edens mojo back with have decided the one thing we both are is 'competitive'. So have decided to run a competition between the two of us for the next couple of weeks, starting from Monday morning. If any one wants to join in the competition please feel free to let me know!

The rules of the competition are for every task you might do as a crafter/SAHM you get points. The winner gets a prize from the looser!

1/2 point for every item packaged up to post.
1 point for every item cut out.
2 points fro every item sews and complete. (No WIP here)
3 points for every time you write & publish a post on blog.
4 points for every hour you spend in the garden.
5 points for every hour you spend doing house work.
10 points for every time you get your kid(s) in bed for 7.30 pm


Obviously there has to be a huge amount of trust in this challenge so no cheating (Sara) please!

I will update you on how the points are piling up (Vanessa).

I am producing a sheet for us to keep a tally of how our points are earnt!

Good luck and may the best & most productive woman win!

Nowt got done!

Well nowt got done apart from some pressing and packaging up some aprons!

We arrived at Pre school with back pack full of things to do, and the mum of my little dears friend has to take her baby boy to the doctors! Boo hoo!

In the end i went to the gym, called a friend who had an operation on Thursday to see if she needed anything bringing from town, her answer was a bun and a bit of company for a few hours, so we toddled off there in the afternoon. I then received a distress call from my sister who is having a new kitchen fitted (My hubbo doing work) asking if I could bring over some tea for all 3 of them, so off i went again Cottage pie in arms and some individual jellies that little dear had made in the morning!

So all in all I did not stop, but did not achieve nothing on my list. It will have to wait until next Tuesday, when she is going to her friends!

We have more fair news on the www.northernbellescrafts.blogspot.com coming over the next couple of days.

A view from my Kitchen Window!

Following on from http://www.angelseyallsorts.blogspot.com/ this is a view from my kitchen window, had to wait until this afternoon as the view would be distorted by my hubbo's big pants on the washing line!

My little dears going for her 1st play day at a friends tomorrow straight after school, so I'm going to jump on the crafting band wagon and get some sewing done.

My list for tomorrow is:-

1. Finish off 2 lots of bunting
2. Make 10 tissue holders
3. Cut out 3 bibs
4. Make 6 cushions
5. Package up 8 aprons
6. If I have any spare time I will make some more B****y Lavender Hearts.

Any way going to do some ironing before the last 'Damages' tonight, if you have missed it you have missed a brilliant series a bit strange in parts but FAB!

I will post an update tomorrow with an update. I might get nowt done if little dear rings me from her friends house wanting to come home!

Have you checked out the new www.northernbellescrafts.blogspot.com , we are still looking for your support. We are trying to update regularly and there is a fabulous freebie coming soon!

We have lift off!

Today is the big day that we open our new Blog to you all to look at, please leave us a message and let us know what you think. As you will all get the jist of what we are trying to achieve if you feel you can add any more usesful info, then please drop us an email.

Here it ishttp://www.northernbellescrafts.blogspot.com

Thanks

Vanessa x

New regime in town!

After many lost hours on the Internet and generally feeling very tired, I have decided things need to change around her. I need to start to be a bit more productive with my time. Little dear started back at school on Monday so that's a start. I need to use the 2 1/2 hours down time for either sewing, cleaning or ironing. I also find that time is good for going to the 30 minute gym. But given that i work 1 day a week that leaves only 4 days free to do the jobs.

I also feel I am neglecting my little dear & family life in general, don't get me wrong I am no 'Mother Earth' but I feel I don't do a great deal with her other than running around in the car for my convenience. Given the opportunity to get rid of her for a few hours when hubbo offers I jump at the chance however this does feel like we are missing out on doing things together.

On the Just Original front I need to make more money, I know we all say this but as I am a very results driven person, I feel at the moment I am missing out on all the tasks I should be doing. And all the opportunities that are out there.

Sorry to depress you all so I am going to change the tone now!

On the Northern Belles Crafts blog, it is going really well we have 4 new contributors from different areas but we are still lacking contributors from the North East. This blog is for everyone to hopefully get ideas on local craft fairs, supplier and support agencies. So if you feel you can help drop me a line.

The blog will be able for all to see on Friday so please pop back!