Friday 28 May 2010

High Street Dreams

My partner has just started an Open University course in Business studies and, as part of the course, has been advised to watch a program on BBC 1 on a Monday night at 9pm called HIGH STREET DREAMS.
We have now watched this for 3 weeks and are totally enjoying the series.
In the program Jo Malone and Nick Leslau are helping 8 individuals to achieve their ambition to get their handmade products into a high street store.
This week inparticular i loved Beryl Ware who had knitted some beautiful scarves with the aid of her "nanas" knitting team. It was a lovely story behind the scenes and you watched how her mentor pulled apart the scarf and taught Beryl about fashion before putting her to pitch her goods infront of buyers for top fashion store Jigsaw.
After an agonising wait the viewer then watched in delight to see Beryl getting her first order.

If you haven't seen the program it's well worth a watch and this weeks episode is still available on BBC I Player for another 3 days.

Sunday 23 May 2010

Can i Introduce Diary of A Competitive Mum, And Other Ramblings

Once again i have had an absence from the blog. Apologies to all.
Life, at present, is manic with everything apart from crafts, which unfortunately are needing to take a back seat while other life issues are sorted.
My good news is that i am moving house in July and my new abode comes with a conservatory which i have lined up already as a sewing room. What a luxury not to have to spread out on the dining table anymore! And as soon as i am sorted i will definately start working on a website.
I finally plucked up courage to ask a florist to stock my wreaths but unfortunately i feel i was fobbed off with her reaction of "leave your number and i'll be intouch". But i wont give up and will try other shops.
So while my crafts and ventures are on the back burner i thought i might introduce you to my cousins blog.
I rarely get to see all my family very often, but on the odd occasion when we do meet up it's nice to catch up on what everyone is doing. This happened with my cousin at my nans funeral in November. We found a quiet spot for a chat and i explained all about my crafts and what i was doing and she explained how she wanted to write a book and was advised that the best thing to do was to start a blog. So she did.
I hadn't heard of blogs before so that night i sat down and read all of her posts and thought how well laid out they were, well written and interesting for all mums on a budget and an interest in creating something special.
So if you have time to pop along to The Diary Of A Competitive Mum please do and I hope you enjoy your visit.

Thursday 13 May 2010

Hi all.
A slight absence of posts from my blog this week. I've been feeling a little run down and weary so have just been lazing around after work each day rather than constantly on the computer. I even picked up a book this week and did some reading which i havent done for several months
Busy weekend ahead though. We are booked tomorrow at University Hospital, Coventry for a spring arts and crafts fayre. Will be tight going in the morning as we have been given an alloted time for unloading, to avoid everyone being in the same spot at the same time, and they have only allowed us 40mins to unload and set up!! No chance on that one, usually takes an hour. Table only 4ft tomorrow so not going with usual amount of stock.
After the fayre i have been invited to a pampered chef party in the evening which i am really looking forward to as i dont get invited out very often.
And then my OH and i are having a weekend away minus kids in sunnny Bournemouth. Well i'm hoping it will be sunny anyway!! I got a hotel-uk gift card for christmas so the hotel is already paid for which is lovely.
So that's me for this week. Looking forward to a relaxing weekend.
Lastly i would like to share with you my latest offering on craftjuice this week which has received 11 votes. My latest wreath in the collection made from some lovely shades of green. It was also picked to feature on Raicreations blog for craftjuice Tuesday this week which was certainly an honour and i thank Myra for that.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

A Masterpiece In The Toilet

At 17 i quit college as it didn't suit me and just by chance fell into a job that was to change my whole life.
In January 1986 i packed my bags and moved from Kent to Surrey to take up a full-time, living in position as a chambermaid in a beautiful hotel called Lythe Hill. I remember my dad being sooo disappointed that i had taken up "toilet cleaning" after having had a good education. Little did he know then that it would be the making of me as it led to me climbing the catering career ladder and loving the life it brought.
So anyway back to the toilets! Each day we would work in pairs to clean each room on our corridor. i took real pride in the bathrooms and i would polish the taps til they shone and the finishing touch was to fold the end of the toilet roll into a point.
So when i saw this piece of toilet roll artwork last night while on a blog crawl it took me back to those days and how i wish i had known how to do this then. Wouldn't the guests have been amazed!!


Today i demonstrated the art of "loo roll flower pot folding" to the cleaners where i work and they thought it was brill. If you fancy having a go follow this link to the tutorial and amaze your friends and family when they "spend a penny" at your house.

Many thanks to crafter-holic for discovering this tutorial and the many others that she features on her blog.



Monday 3 May 2010

New Wreath As Promised

As i mentioned in my last post i am addicted to creating flowers that i saw on vintage inspired lovelies blog. I had a vision in my head that they would go well on one of my wreaths. And i think i was right! I made this yesterday, let me know what you think.
And then there were 3!!! My next teddy in the new collection made from red and white tilda fabric. I'm not so sure i made the right decision to use two different colours on the arms and legs but i will see what the public response is at our next craft fair.


Saturday 1 May 2010

Minkys Magic Flower Brooches


Pink/Star Teddy
Originally uploaded by dreamstar1904
I enjoy immensley being part of the community on the craft forum and last week i took great interest in a thread started by minky magic about flower brooches which had been made from a tutorial on folksy.
The brooches were lovely and you can see a photo of them here on vintage inspired lovelies blog. And if you fancy giving them a try then you can find the tutorial here on folksy.
So as i said i thought they were lovely and an idea came in my head to make a minature one and add to the 2nd teddy in my new collection.
And you will see the result in the photo on teddy's bow. I think it looks really effective.
Am now thinking of trying them on a wreath instead of my usual hearts.

Two New Pink Teddies


Two New Pink Teddies
Originally uploaded by dreamstar1904
And then there was two!!!