A little bit of everything...

Hi all, hope you are having a wonderful weekend:) Well, as usual, this past week has gone by far too so fast, I can't believe we are nearly at the end of March already. Have been enjoying the sunshine as I've been out and about this week, and it's even been warm enough to have the window open in my studio too, so nice! Have been sewing lots this week too -  Wednesday morning I think it was I designed this pretty little handbag mirror, appliqued with my most favourite  of floral fabrics, with 'Best Mum' stitched in the centre.

I wasn't going to do any specific Mother's Day items this year as I've been so busy lately I just hadn't had the time to design anything new. But the idea just came to me, and I'm quite pleased with how they've turned out - I think it's the summery colours, they just look nice and cheerful don't they! Anyway, as I am so late off the mark with the whole Mother's Day thing this year, I've only made a small batch, but if you fancy treating your mum, you can buy one here, I'm sure she would love one, hint hint!

Talking of Mother's Day though, these 'I heart' mirrors have also been selling well this week, most of them are along the lines of I love My Mum, Nan, Granny, Mummy...etc, which is nice - lots of much loved mummies and grannies around! I feel a little like I have been glued to the sewing machine lately though, so am having a day off from it today, but I do have a (growing) pile of these to make up tomorrow.

For the last couple of days I've also been working on another trade order, which I somehow managed to get finished and sent before the weekend - result! It included lots of my printed cards, as well as a selection of magnets and badges such as my little frog and flower magnets. They all arrived in their new home safely this afternoon (I will be doing a separate blog post on this lovely stockist soon) which is fab, am very impressed at the speed of Royal Mail - for once!

Sewing frogs, butterflies and flowers yesterday did make me feel that spring is definitely here, although today the weather is disappointingly overcast and grey....sigh! 

Since I am supposed to be having a 'day off' though (not sure I really know the meaning of those words) I ventured out into the garden this morning, planting up these gorgeous primroses I bought this week. Love the purple and yellow combination, they are very cheap and cheerful, but that's just what I like! It's lovely to look out of the window and see such a splash of colour.

I'm not really much of a gardener it has to be said, although I do really enjoy it and wish I had both a bigger garden and more time to spend in it. I would love one day to have a really lovely rambling cottage type garden, with wild flowers growing everywhere, lots of different grasses and chickens wandering about, but for now I will have to make do with my flower pots:)

So anyway, I best go, it's taken me ages to write this post for some reason! Not sure what I shall be doing this evening, though I may do a little more tinkering with my blog - do you like my new blog buttons down the side? (the ones that link to my website/facebook/twitter). The old ones were just a bit big, so have streamlined them a little, and I have to say I quite like them myself. I also really wanted to get rid of the grey line around my photos in my posts, but can't for the life of me work out how to do it. Have a feeling it may be something to do with the template I've chosen, but any advice would be much appreciated?! 

Anyhow, thanks for stopping by, I hope you are all having a gorgeous weekend, Jenny x

Maps

I woke up this morning with a real urge to do some spring cleaning. I didn't get very far at all though, as one of the first things I found hidden away in a suitcase at the back of the wardrobe were these beautiful vintage maps! Can't even remember buying them, although I must have picked them up from a charity shop or boot sale somewhere along the line. They are all of Melbourne, Australia, and are in the most yummy pastel colours... aren't they lovely?

I very rarely find things in the house that I don't remember buying as I'm getting quite good at only buying things I really want or need these days, so these were a nice surprise. I also love a good clear out, it is such a good feeling to give those full bags to the charity shop, but these will definitely be staying.

Maybe it's just me (my other half looked at me with an expression of incredulity when I said I was going to photograph them), but there is just something I really love about old maps and globes, I find them so interesting. I'm not sure exactly what I will do with these, as the condition of my favourite one is not great, at all though it would look great restored in a frame.

Anyway somehow it seems to have got to lunchtime already (how did that happen?) but I think that will end today's rummaging - I have a stack of badge orders to sew this afternoon instead! Have a happy Sunday, hope that sun is still shining wherever you are. x

Sunshine and Daffodils

Seems like ages since I last wrote on here - oops! Have had a busy couple of weeks making lots of badges but have also been relishing the spring sunshine which has been streaming in through the windows this past week. It makes such a difference to be working in a lovely bright room after such a long dismal winter! In an effort to bring a litle more sunshine into the house, bought some lovely daffodils too, which bloomed magnificently making me smile every time I walked past them.

Have also been enjoying my morning walk to the post office every day. Only takes 10 minutes, and it is a lovely walk through the flower-y park and up the steep barton (narrow alley) to town. The daffodils look so pretty in the sunshine - trust the only day this week I have actually remembered my camera is the only day it's been cloudy! Typical... 

Orders have slowed this week and I've had a chance to do a little of my other design work too. I think the sunshine has influenced me - my recent work has had a distinctly summery vibe! Here are a couple of the new designs I've been working on for my Pingg collection. 

These designs have been done entirely on the computer, something which I very rarely do, since my sewing machine usually always has a part to play in some way. Really enjoyed doing these though - It's nice to do something a little different once in a while and it keeps things fresh which can only be a good thing!

Anyway, let's hope the sunshine returns soon, can't wait to get out in the garden and do a little planting. Hope you are all having a good week too...

P.s Hello to all my new followers, lovely to see you here, thank you for visiting :) I've been a bit rubbish this last couple of weeks, have quite a bit of blog reading to catch up on when I get a minute, so I will hopefully pop in on you all soon x

Catalogue Time!

The Not on the High Street Spring Catalogue came out yesterday and for the first time since I joined last year, I am in it!!! Big excitement, although also mixed with a little apprehension, as I don't really know what to expect from it and it was such a massive outlay that I really, really hope it is worthwhile. 

My personalised 'I love' badge is the product I am featuring - If you have a copy of the catalogue, you have to go right to the back page to find me... Here's my little slot in all it's glory:) 

 

Hopefully this will be a good place  to be (people sometimes read magazines back to front right?) At least I won't be lost somewhere in the middle and since I'm right next to the ordering info, it might inspire people to do a little impulse buying! hehe. It's only been out a day but I've already had lots of orders for them which is fab. Hopefully will continue with a good steady stream of orders through til the end of the campaign in April. By then I am sure I will never want to see one of these badges ever again! 

I was also in the NOTHS customer newsletter on Wednesday - I've never been featured in one of their newsletters before, but the sales started coming in almost immediately! They have such a massive customer base, so fingers crossed I may be lucky enough to be featured again sometime soon!

There are some really gorgeous things in this catalogue so I am going to have a proper 'front to back cover' read of it this weekend. I have to say that the quality of it is so much better than some of the previous ones - the pages are thicker and it just has a nicer feel to it, so I am really happy to be taking part in this one.

Last but definitely not least, I also need to say a big thank you to Claire at Les Bijoux de Claire for awarding me a stylish blogger award yesterday - so lovely and I am really touched to receive it. I've now been honoured to receive it 3 times in the last few weeks, so I shall do another post with 7  more things about me soon (bet you can't wait for that!) Here is the first '7 things' post if you are interested! Thank you again Claire:)

So that's about it for now... I should probably get a move on and stop faffing about on the Internet as I have a jam packed day of making personalised badges to come, the first of many I hope! I also need to pop to  town and the post office - it is another beautiful cold but sunny day here, which lifts my spirits no end! Have a fantabulous weekend, hope the weather is kind! xxx

New Pingg Designs

Hello my lovelies, hope you are all ok:) Wow, this is the third post I've done this week - unusual for me! Things are good here, though I've been working on something a bit different in the past couple of days, adding some more invitation designs to my Pingg collection.

I know I've blogged about it in the past, but for those of you that haven't heard of it, Pingg is based in New York, and is an online invitation service where you can find unique artist designed invitations, e-cards and save-the-dates for any social or business event you may be holding. All designs can be personalised with your event/party details, and there are a host of other features that come with the service too.

Anyway, I am one of their designers, and hosts can use my designs for their parties and events. As I am part of the 'Pingg Plus' program, to use my designs, hosts pay $10, of which I then receive a percentage per usage.This is a relatively new scheme, but it is working out really well for me so far.  

I really enjoy working on these more digital based designs, it's just I never seem to have much spare time to work on them as I always have  so much to do for my own business. It still involves quite a bit of sewing but a lot of the work is also done on the computer, so it is quite different to what I normally do... It's nice have a little variety!

If you are interested you can take a look at the rest of my designs here. Have a happy Wednesday x