Well...we're back from our little holiday break fully relaxed and ready to get going again! I have a thousand and one things that i have to do, not to mention a stock take of everything in the shop - hmmmmm!!!! But needs must, you can start out with all the good intentions in the world, we have a fabulous computerised till system that Gavin set up when the shop opened, every item was coded and put on the system, but then things leapt forward and we found ourselves struggling now and again to remember a code if the price label has fallen off etc...so a "sundry item" code was set up and thats what gets used if we can't find a product now, or if we're busy. Add to that the fact that we had so many deliveries before Christmas and were so busy that a lot of new items never got entered on the system before they sold so we have no idea where we are with things.
These are some wooden brooches i made whilst away, they're not finished yet, but the last ones i made sold in the shop within a month so i thought i'd do some more. They should be in the shop next week i've done a bit more since taking this photo and i just need to find some nice packaging for them.
Awwww....so cute....butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.......hmmmmmm...don't be fooled, i know better, she is the devil in disguise! Ha! well just as far as naughty little puppies go anyway, you need eyes in the back of your head, she's an absolute food hound, causes hours of havoc and then flakes out and sleeps for an hour, recharging her batteries to do it all again!!!!
She loves kitchen roll, leave it anywhere she can get it at your peril. She got this whilst we were at the cottage, it was all over the place, around the table legs, strewn across the room, she'd ripped bits of itt to shreds, perhaps she thinks she an Andrex puppy!!! i've told her she's a Retriever and not a Lab! 
She's growing so fast, is practically toilet trained now and loves going out for a walk when both of us are with her, but somehow doesn't much like it when one of us take her, i had to drag her to the end of the street yesterday.
Awwww....so cute....butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.......hmmmmmm...don't be fooled, i know better, she is the devil in disguise! Ha! well just as far as naughty little puppies go anyway, you need eyes in the back of your head, she's an absolute food hound, causes hours of havoc and then flakes out and sleeps for an hour, recharging her batteries to do it all again!!!!
She loves kitchen roll, leave it anywhere she can get it at your peril. She got this whilst we were at the cottage, it was all over the place, around the table legs, strewn across the room, she'd ripped bits of itt to shreds, perhaps she thinks she an Andrex puppy!!! i've told her she's a Retriever and not a Lab! She's growing so fast, is practically toilet trained now and loves going out for a walk when both of us are with her, but somehow doesn't much like it when one of us take her, i had to drag her to the end of the street yesterday. This was her favourite past time on holiday and it was so funny to watch her. We stayed on a small holding and the chickens were rescue chickens and were allowed to roam free, they like to hang around the cottages for food. Every day they congegated around the kitchen door hoping for scraps of food (and wrecking the bin), Lizzie was totally fascinated by them, she'd watch them for ages through the door, there'd be little growls, sometimes she barked at them, but mostly she just sat watching. She'd sit in the middle of the door if there was only one, but sometime a few would turn up and she'd move slightly to the side, sometimes they came right up to the window and she'd give a bark and run off around the corner.
My first experiment at wet felting!! Karen (my sister) bought me a gorgeous book for my birthday (actually she bought me loads of books) and brought them up when she visited the other week. so i took them and some supplies away with me and thought i'd have a go, i was amazed, i've not tried felting this way before, i usually do needle felting, but i can see there's a world of opportunities there. I've ordered some nice pale pinks and blue colours to make some brooches for the Spring/Summer, the needle felted ones i did a few weeks ago have nearly all gone. 
There was a fabulous antique shop in Barmouth, it's only open a few days a week out of season, and i picked up these gorgeous pictures for less than £2 each. There are nine altogether and they depict "Cambrian Costumes by Lady Llanover". Lady Llanover (1802-96) was an important sponsor for Welsh folk culture in the nineteenth century. the Cambrian Costumes were published as a volume and consist of 17 watercolours by A Cadwaladr, the original volume is in the National Library of Wales. These are for the house and i can't wait to see them up on the wall.
I sold another collage yesterday, it was one of my "Simplicity" series that will be published in March (although not this particular one). It was one of the more expensive ones and i still feel overwhelmed when someone likes my art enough to pay for it and take it home. I want to set up my Etsy shop before the article is published (Help!!!!!) and i desperately need to get on with finishing artwork to put in there. The house is so cold at the moment, we're looking for another small gas fire to go in my work room so i can spend more time in there, you need antarctic clothing as it is. Someone asked me the other day if i'd picked up any of the flu/cold bugs going around, but i can safely say that no germs would survive in this house, so thats one good thing about it!! The main thing is that the shop, living room, bedroom and kitchen are all warm so it'll do for now.
My first experiment at wet felting!! Karen (my sister) bought me a gorgeous book for my birthday (actually she bought me loads of books) and brought them up when she visited the other week. so i took them and some supplies away with me and thought i'd have a go, i was amazed, i've not tried felting this way before, i usually do needle felting, but i can see there's a world of opportunities there. I've ordered some nice pale pinks and blue colours to make some brooches for the Spring/Summer, the needle felted ones i did a few weeks ago have nearly all gone.
There was a fabulous antique shop in Barmouth, it's only open a few days a week out of season, and i picked up these gorgeous pictures for less than £2 each. There are nine altogether and they depict "Cambrian Costumes by Lady Llanover". Lady Llanover (1802-96) was an important sponsor for Welsh folk culture in the nineteenth century. the Cambrian Costumes were published as a volume and consist of 17 watercolours by A Cadwaladr, the original volume is in the National Library of Wales. These are for the house and i can't wait to see them up on the wall.
I sold another collage yesterday, it was one of my "Simplicity" series that will be published in March (although not this particular one). It was one of the more expensive ones and i still feel overwhelmed when someone likes my art enough to pay for it and take it home. I want to set up my Etsy shop before the article is published (Help!!!!!) and i desperately need to get on with finishing artwork to put in there. The house is so cold at the moment, we're looking for another small gas fire to go in my work room so i can spend more time in there, you need antarctic clothing as it is. Someone asked me the other day if i'd picked up any of the flu/cold bugs going around, but i can safely say that no germs would survive in this house, so thats one good thing about it!! The main thing is that the shop, living room, bedroom and kitchen are all warm so it'll do for now.
My lovely nicci is off to London at the end of the month to go to a Trade show with her college friends. It's the make up show at Alexandra Palace and she has to catch trains and tubes there. She amazes me that she's so confident so young, it would frighten me doing that on my own now, let alone when i was barely 18 years old. She loves it though, she has bags of confidence, and i'm pleased and worried for her at the same time. Pleased that she's living her life and doing the things she wants to do, and worried because my baby is all grown up...selfish aren't i? But i bet most mothers feel the same. Anyway, i've had my counselling from Gavin and my lovely sister, Karen, and i'm just getting excited for her now.
"Making the Decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body" - Elizabeth Stone
