Craft Fair Shenanigans

It's been a very busy and exciting few weeks.

I decided to take a stall at a local craft fair. It's one that I've done previously and knew it would be a good one. But, when I said I would do it, I only had six weeks to get prepped. It may sound a long time but working part time and caring for the family sometimes doesn't leave you with many hours left in a day.

I had to make quite a bit of stuff and finish off a lot of blankets. I also had to sew business name labels onto all the blankets as well. In all this, I thought it was a great idea to develop a few new products! As if I didn't have enough to do!

The week before, I finally got round to pulling my 'brand' together, and I designed a new logo and price labels for all the things I make and sell. Got the card, all ready to print ........ and find that the card is just that teeny bit too thick to go through our printer! Cue major meltdown at 11.30pm one night.

My wonderful hubby was trying to sort everything for me even though he had things he needed to do. He took the card into work for me and printed them all there x 

I had a meltdown because I was very tired. The week before I had been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism (I will write more on this another time) and also just found another job, so dealing with interviews and all the associated paperwork that goes with a new job and saying I was exhausted was rather an understatement.

Anyway, back to the craft fair.

It happened this weekend and was rather fantastic! I sold well, made a few new contacts and have provisionally booked to do a fair in May with a local charity. At least this time I have a few months notice to get sorted!

Things are changing!

Here we are in September - almost October.

It's getting dark earlier and also getting chilly in the evenings even though we seem to be having an Indian Summer.

I may have been quiet here but things have been developing business wise. After I finished at the hospital, I had a couple of weeks before I found another Job ( back at the school where I started!). In that couple of weeks I popped in to a local craft shop just for a nosey. It had recently had a change of ownership and I wanted to see if there was anything different. The new owner is Ruth and we seemed to have lots in  common. I ended up going down to the shop every day during the school hols and just helping out and having fun and a good laugh.

Things have now progressed to the point that she is moving into a bigger building and I have agreed to take some studio and selling space and help run craft classes.

The shop is called Cloth and Craft and it is in Waterfoot, Lancashire.

One small chance meeting and I get the opportunity to do the thing I have been dreaming of doing for a long time.

Watch this space for more details x

Sunny days and whatnots

The past few days have been good ones.

We had a grand day out as a family the other day. In the SUNSHINE!!! It was lovely to be able to sit outside in the warmth and have a picnic. We went to Gawthorpe Hall near Padiham (that's in Lancashire for those that don't know). It is a house that was built in the 1600's and houses the Kay-Shuttleworth Textile collection. The embroideries that they had on show were fabulous. Go here to find out more -

Gawthorpe Textile Collection 


I got the idea to go there the day before when me and the kids were out with my friend and her daughter at the local museum which has had a makeover recently. It now has a café so it is much more interesting to visit!! as it was the Easter hols, there were activities for the kids to do but sadly we got there too late to book in for them so the kids just had a run around in the fresh air while my mate and me had coffee, cake and a good natter. She told me about Gawthorpe Hall and the Textiles as she used to live just around the corner from it.

And my weekend of exploring didn't stop there.The same friend sent me a text last night asking if I would like to escape for the afternoon today.  Of course I said YES!! So me, her and another friend escaped from kids and husbands and went off to a craft exhibition in Higham (near Padiham too - see, you get a geography lesson too!). More coffee and cake and more nattering. We all work with primary children in some capacity so we had plenty to talk about. The exhibition was in the local primary school so we compared the things they had that ours schools didn't and came away with ideas.

I also came away with ideas of things I can make There were some lovely things available to buy from some very talented makers. Glass, Cosmetics and skin care, baby knits, jewellery and paintings to mention just a few......

A couple of days out from the usual routine can do wonders for the soul. it may not have been time away from everything but it has been enough to recharge the batteries and relax a bit before starting all over again. Back to the normal routine on Tuesday!!