Mollie Makes and a giveaway!

Last week, I got back from my parents to my copy of Mollie Makes on the doormat.... I'm always quite excited by this as it is one of my favourite magazines but this time I was especially excited.... and I mean completely over the top excited.... as I am in it!!! Yes, me and my little studio are featured on the last page of the current issue... eeek!!!

I am over the moon and I think the feature looks great! If you don't know Mollie Makes yet (and if not, just where have you been) check out their website for more info and subscriptions.

Anyway I've also got news of a giveaway to announce! I've been overwhelmed with the online kindness and support over the last few weeks in a month that has been truly awful. I really have appreciated all the messages, emails and comments I've received so to say a little thank you I've been making the prize this week in between father's day orders and I hope you will all really like it...

It's a textile embroidered canvas of a pretty jug of roses on a spotty table! It measures approx 31 cm x 31cm and is stretched around a wooden frame, ready to hang.

There are three ways to enter - please read carefully :)

♥ For one entry, simply become a follower of my blog

 

♥ For another entry, become a fan of my facebook page and share my giveaway with your friends or your business page if you have one

♥ For a last entry, you can blog about my giveaway or add it to your sidebar (feel free to use one of the images above)

Please please please remember to leave separate comments on this post telling me which of these you have done as I will be numbering all comments and choosing the winner by random number generator and I would hate for you to miss out!

This time the giveaway is UK only, due to the weight and size of the canvas for posting and will end next Friday 22nd June, at midday.

So that's it I think... except for good luck and thanks for entering 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

Time for tea!

Just popping in quickly with a project I designed for the March issue of Crafts Beautiful... a floral tea cosy and matching egg cosies!

Don't you just love the fabrics? I love the pink and red together, one of my favourite combinations at the moment!

 For more crafting ideas, go to www.crafts-beautiful.com

Anyway I told you it was only a super quick visit today because I'm busy making crochet hearts at the moment and I've only done two so far this evening because one, I'm not very good at reading the pattern, and two, I keep getting distracted by other things... Not sure what I am going to do with them yet but they are just so cute I'm sure I will find them a good home! Will hopefully have pics soon xxx

Just about unpacked...

Hello again!! So we have now moved and as the title suggests, are just about there with the unpacking! Things went relatively smoothly all in all, and we are enjoying making the house our own... I just hate the stage where half the stuff is still in boxes lining every room so we've worked hard to sort everything out and I so am pleased to say all the boxes are now gone!

We've been waiting on deliveries of bits and pieces over the last week, including some Ikea furniture for my new studio space which came on Wednesday. Have spent the last two days putting it all together and sorting out my workroom... and I have to say, I just love it!!

I wasn't going to post any pics until I came back from my hols, but I just can't help myself! Excuse the lack of a chair in the photos below... it is currently dismantled and awaiting a spray paint makeover (am thinking red which I think will look fab - boring black just won't cut it in such a colourful room!!)

So.... this is my new studio space.... what do you think?

 

I hope you like it... I LOVE it!! It just feels like such a nice space, one where I can be really creative. You can't really see from the pictures either that there is a lovely big square floorspace in this room. I do a lot of my work on the floor, cutting out fabrics...etc (would it be totally greedy of me to want a cutting table too? Yes... OK, I can make do with the floor instead!) Sigh... so much looking forward to working in here!

(Note the other side of the room at the moment is still a complete tip. Though as it homes all the really ugly but necessary stuff like cardboard boxes, bubblewrap, padded envelopes, all my folders and files, big bolts of fabric, lots more boxed stock etc I'm not sure I will ever really be able to make it truly 'pretty'! Will (maybe) show you some pics of that side once it is a little more organised!)

Anyway, as I said before, I do have a couple more things to sort for this room, like my chair for example... it is just one of those boring plain swivel chairs, but hopefully with a lick of paint and a bit of re-upholstry, it will be good to go. Will show some before and after pics when I get around to it!

Also need to sort the other side of the room. May buy some more of the jumbo storage bags you see in the pictures above... They are amazing, they can hold so much, are super cheap (about £4.00 each with postage) and come in such pretty designs too. In fact, have got another of the duck egg doiley ones in the kitchen - it holds all our recycling instead of having it in those big ugly boxes!)

Right best go, have lots of things to sort out this afternoon, but just before I do, here are some pics of a couple of my seaside-y products in this month's CrossStitcher magazine - the August issue...

Anyway, hope you've all have a good couple of weeks - sorry for my complete abscence visiting your blogs over the last fortnight, have just had so much to do, but will hopefully be able to catch up on what I've missed very soon :) Have a great weekend, hope the sun comes out!

p.s never in a million years will it all stay as tidy as this! Nice to have some photos though to look back on though, haha! x