Where did the last four months go?!

Oh my gosh it's been so long since I blogged I've almost forgotten how to do it!!! I'm so sorry for the abrupt lack of posts since the Summer, things just got so incredibly busy that I didn't have the time to blog for a few weeks, then I went on holiday, then it was just super busy when I came back and it hasn't stopped since! I've been meaning to write a post for weeks now but it's hard to start again once you stop.

Anyway enough excuses.... it's nice to be back, I've missed blogging! I kind of don't know where to start though as it's been so long and I've added so many new products to my range over the last few months. 

Think I'd best blog about my Halloween things though - if I don't then I'll have a whole year to wait before I can show them!

I haven't gone too overboard but I have lots of Halloween badges and compact mirrors, great for kiddy's party bags as well as Halloween party games - one lovely customer this week bought some to use in a spooky game of 'Pass the Parcel' which I think is a fab idea, way better than sweeties!

Halloween badges are available in packs of 5, 10 and 25 here in my Not on the High Street shop - and if you use the code OCT10 at the checkout, you can get 10% off until this Sunday 28th October. 

I've got lots of fabric covered handbag mirrors too, great for teenagers and older girl's Halloween parties.... available here and here.

You can also purchase direct with paypal through my facebook page, there are some special prices for fb fans too :) Just see the Halloween album for more details...

Anyway hope you have a fab Halloween night whatever you're doing! Ours will be a quiet one I expect, though we will probably get a few trick or treaters calling! Sorry this post's been a bit of a hard sell on the Halloween goodies by the way but at least it's got me back into the swing of writing again! Hopefully I will be back soon, my mission is to write at least one post a week, not sure that'll be possible but will definitely give it a go xxx

An apple a day...

Well hello hello... I feel a bit out of touch with my blog at the moment as I've been so busy lately I've not had much chance to post. Mainly it's been fathers day and wedding orders, but I also made some 'apple' mirrors as teacher thank you gifts this week and boy did they go down well!! 

I was selling them direct through my facebook page at first as I didn't even have time to list them and I completely sold out within a day.... I've now got hold of more of the fabric and so they are once again back in stock! It's funny how certain designs and fabrics capture people's imaginations isn't it, I don't think I've ever made anything which has been in such demand :D

If any of you lovely bloggers would like to jump on the apple mirror bandwagon, they are a special price if you can purchase direct through paypal - £2.95 each for one, or £2.50 each if you are buying more than one. Postage is a flat £1.00 regardless of how many mirrors you purchase... email or message me at jenny.arnott@hotmail.co.uk with your paypal address and I will send you an invoice. Or if you prefer I have listed them in my Etsy shop too!

Anyway as well as all the father's day cards and apple mirrors being made, I also had a little run on badges this week so have been frantically making up more...

 ...available here in my Etsy shop :)

I've also been in the press which is always exciting for me! This time it was my London Bus compact mirror which is in the current issue of Now magazine!

And I've also got a few new stockists which I need to post about soon. Things are going really well with my business and I am so pleased! I work hard at it and I finally feel like I am getting results which is fantsatic. I will never be a millionaire (unless I win the lottery - which considering I never play it, is looking quite unlikely) but if I am able to make a comfortable living with something I love doing then I will be happy!

Anyway hope you all have a fantastic Jubilee weekend - I am actually going to visit my parents for a couple of days - so my shops are now shut over the weekend (not sure if this affects the links I've put into this post actually, sorry if it does) but I will be back soon, and will still be around to answer emails and send invoices if needed! I'm taking my neglected hexagons with me, so hopefully when I get back I might have figured out how to join them and have something resembling a cushion cover, wish me luck with that! Happy weekend xxx

Cards for daddies and some red, white and blue!

Hello.... isn't this sunshine just glorious?? I LOVE it! I am very much a summer girl and I love to feel the heat. I am super pale though so can't really go out in it without a very high SPF on, but I am loving not being cold all the time.  And the sunshine just makes everything seem more cheery doesn't it, I always get out of bed with more of a spring in my step if it's sunny! I dug out both my flip flops and the suntan lotion today - ooooh I love the smell of sun tan lotion don't you? Reminds me of the beach! 

I've been out in the garden doing bits and bobs this week, mainly planting up the other flower bed with geraniums and petunias and mowing the lawn - yes get me, I can now mow the lawn! AND I changed the blade all by myself! Believe me, it was an achievement :D Tomorrow I hope to get rid of a load of the rubbish (old turf, stones...etc) which is currently clogging up the side path, into a skip bag that we hired and then it will nearly be done! Hope this weather lasts so we can enjoy it. I will do a 'garden ta-dah' sometime, maybe when the flowers have bloomed in a few weeks!

Anyway I've also been working on all sorts of things this week... more wedding cards, and Father's day orders too which are now coming in. I don't think I've posted about any of my Father's day things yet have I? I didn't get around to designing as many as I wanted, always the way, but here are the ones I have so far...

I always find it quite tricky to design things for men, as I am so girly, and my taste in fabric and design in general really is not very masculine! In fact I think these are the first 'men things' that I've ever really made. 

I'm planning on keeping them in my range after Father's day is passed, well, the football and the boat ones anyway as I think they would make cute birthday cards for boys!

Many of the designs can be personalised so hopefully lots of daddies around the country will be receiving them in a few weeks time! You can find them all, and the rest of my personalised range here.

I've also been working on a new magazine commission this week though it won't be out for a few months yet. Because I have been a bit useless at posting recently (especially as I have been otherwise emotionally occupied!) I forgot to show the project I did for the June issue of Crafts Beautiful - and now it has gone off sale, oops! But here is is anyway...

 For more crafting ideas, visit www.crafts-beautiful.com

I'm going to dig out the bunting next week for the Jubilee celebrations... not that we're particularly doing anything here but there is a little 'street party' going on in the park opposite the house and I think there are going to be lots of celebrations in town too! What are you doing to celebrate the Jubilee, anything or nothing?

Anyway better go, the sofa and a box of chocolate fingers is calling my name but hope you have a lovely rest of the sunny weekend, back soon x

Squares, hexies, plants and weddings...

I've started another crochet project... which is actually very bad as I have quite a few on the go now. I really hate to have projects unfinished but I can't stop starting new things!

I made these teeny squares last night whilst watching telly... I tried three round ones too but they looked too big somehow, so I've decided two round ones are the way to go. They are super small though so will probably have to make over a hundred of them! I want to make a second cushion for the sofa, one which will kind of match the hexie one I'm doing... 

The duck egg blue in the hexie one I have substituted for pink and red in the little squares one. I don't want them too samey but hopefully they will co-ordinate nicely as they will both have the green/cream in them.

I have nearly made all my hexagons, I think I need four more to go then I can start joining them. I was supposed to do this before I started on the squares but I just couldn't help myself. I bought a couple of new balls of yarn yesterday, (the deep pink and the red) and I *needed* to see what they looked like made up! I also stocked up on some more Tilda fabrics, aren't they just so pretty??

This week has been an odd one really. I have been here by myself for a whole week now, as Karl is away abroad. I'm usually quite good with my own company but I have been quite bored this week though I've tried to keep busy to pass the time. At the weekend, I spent quite a while in the garden doing odd jobs - not pretty planting ones, but mainly ones that involved being up a ladder with a saw! I was chopping down a load of branches that were overhanging into the garden... I think if anyone saw me doing it they would have laughed -  especially as I was wearing bright blue 'mad professor' safety specs! I am one of the least practical people you could meet and I'm quite small (only 5' 3'') so it was quite a tough job to do by myself but it looks loads better now.

Anyway we're going to give the grass it's first mow soon (excitement eh??!) I've ordered the compost for the flowerbeds and have been trying to decide on the plants to get. I am thinking a mixture of summer bedding plants and perennials such as...

and...

and...

and...

Pictures courtesy of here and here

To be honest, I'm just going for plants and flowers which I like the look of. I have no idea really whether our garden/conditions will be right for them but I guess I will find out soon! I think I am going to be very much a trial and error gardener :)

Anyway I have also been busy with work... lots of weddingy things mainly. I have had quite a few orders for these as wedding favours lately...

Also had an order for 8 of these to do this week for wedding favours... and quite a few of these too. In fact there was definitely a wedding production line going on!

And keeping on the wedding theme, I also designed a new card this week...

 

These has been an idea in my sketchpad for so long now, months and months, I'm really glad I've finally got around to making up the samples!

Right, I think I better go. I've been writing this post for ages and I'm not even showered or dressed yet! And actually I haven't even had breakfast! I did get up at seven though so not really sure how it is now 10 o clock. I do love working from home sometimes :) Anyway hope you have a good weekend... Am very much looking forward to it myself after my lonely week... the sun is supposed to shine (here at least) and Karl is coming home tomorrow, yay! Back soon xxx

An all sorts week...

It's been a funny sort of few days here. I've been getting quite a few orders through but for a real random variety of items, so there's been lots of different things being made.  I've also been trying to get my Father's day range up but the weather's been so awful that I've not had a chance to photograph anything yet!

I have added a few bits to my shops recently though...

'London Bus' mirrors

and  'London Guards at Buckingham Palace' mirrors

I am actually quite in love with this fabric! I haven't gone to town with making Jubilee products as I don't want to be left with lots of unsold stock afterwards so this is my token effort! I thought the London bus would be the most popular but so far I've sold an exact equal amount of both designs. Do you have a favourite out of the two??

I've also been concentrating on handmade personalised cards in the last few weeks. I've nearly completely changed my entire product range on Not on the High Street in the last few months, taking off products that haven't sold that well (or ones I was bored of making!) and trying out new things. I only get to have thirty products live at any one time, so I'm trying to make the most of them!

Thanks for all your lovely comments about our garden by the way! The weather has been awful this weekend though, torrential rain and such scarily strong winds that we have not ventured out there at all since I took these pictures. The grass has not been laid two weeks yet though so it's giving it a good chance to root before we start walking on it! It is still growing fast though, in fact at the moment it is looking gorgeous - the sun is shining and making it look extra green! Come on Summer!!

Anyway in other news... I finally started using my Debbie Bliss yarn! 

 

I'd been sat looking at it for a couple of weeks whilst I worked on my other patchwork blanket (so must get around to taking some pictures of that one soon!) I didn't want to rush into anything since I only have one little ball of each I couldn't afford to be making mistakes, but eventually I gave in and started making.....

...mini hexagons! Aren't they just so sweet?

They are made with Jacquie's pattern, except I've added an extra round to make them a little bigger. They're not joined yet, just laid out so I can see the colours together... They're destined to become a cushion cover for our sofa... the softer more muted palette is just right for our living room and I'm really loving working with these colours though I am missing the brights a bit! You might notice though that I took out the brighter pink from the pictures above, it just didn't quite sit right somehow as I really want a muted vintagey look with this one, like an old (but much loved) patchwork blanket...

 

I've made 32 hexagons so far, not sure how many I actually need, probably double that so it will take a little while to finish yet. Although I did a lot of them on Saturday, I've only been doing a couple in the evenings since, though hope to make some more tonight. They're really quick to make, though I find that if I'm not concentrating properly I tend to miscount the stitches!

Right I best go, as I am trying to clean up my computer this evening too. The one I do all my image work and blog posts on is my super ancient desktop as the screen is better than on my laptop. But it only has 70GB of disk space in total including for all the programs so it gets full so quick (my image files are always huge!) I have copied everything onto an external hard drive and am now going through it and trying to delete what I can. I have to do it every few months, which is really quite tedious but I'm fed up of the 'C drive full' message popping up every two minutes! So far today I've deleted 19GB but I want to see if I can clear off just a little bit more!

Anyway have a great rest of the week, back soon xxx