Here I am (waving hello!)

(Here I am, with my little shop at the Candy Floss Summer Fair!)

Hello there!

Huge apologies, I disappeared without a trace for a while - an impromtu blog holiday (yes, another one) - suffice to say, lots happening (as usual) and I will reveal all now!

Anyway, at last, I can tell you about my day at the Candy Floss Summer Fair, which was well over a week ago now. I spent the few days running up to the big day working hard getting everything ready, last thing on the friday night I was raiding our loose change jar as Id totally forgotten about my float (oops!)

Saturday morning dawned and I was really excited, its been a long while since I did anything like this so I was looking forward to it. I got to the Millenium Galleries early on and set up my stall, other stall holders arrived and there was a really good atmosphere. By ten o'clock the doors were open and the public streamed in - within the first hour I made my first sale (isn't that a great feeling?) and the day went very well for me, I enjoyed talking to people and playing shop all day and was delighted to sell quite a fair amount of stuff, my boxes of Beachside Art cards were a favourite and Id sold out by noon!

Phew, what a whirlwind day it was indeed!

Since that hectic weekend, Ive been busy working on new stuff, spending time with family and dealing with a nasty stomach bug - thanks to all of you who stopped by with messages etc, I will be making some time to visit your blogs this week I hope!

This is short and sweet as Im still rather weary from the bug thing - but before I go, I have some rather exciting news to share with you - I was recently contacted by a Literary Agency which specialises in representing childrens book writers and illustrators and I was invited to meet up for a chat. I am over the moon happy to tell you that the meeting went very well and I am in the process of sending some prints of my work to them, which will be making their way to some publishing houses in London very soon. Its the most exciting opportunity, and I'll keep you posted as the journey unfolds.

I hope you are all well, looking forward to catching up with you again soon.

Sending love,

J x

Fabric Art

(cupcake love - fabric art canvas)

I have been playing about with my fabric stash and some little box canvases this week. As well as furiously stitching brooch pins to corsages, and finding vintage buttons to sew onto my fabric hearts (which don't, sadly, smell of lavender I have to add, and are purely decorative) I realised this morning that all the printing I intended to do today for my stock of cards etc would have to be postponed as two of my inks had run out!

Hmmph!

So I twiddled my thumbs for half an hour, wandered about trying to decide what to do instead of printing and card making and eventually, after a strong cup of coffee (and several Balsen biscuits) I had a whim to get the sewing machine out and top up the heart stash and also make another little fabric picture!

I used little swarovski crystals to decorate the cupcake, like sparkly hundreds & thousands...

Ive got plans for some more pictures of this nature, although Im still deciding whether or not to take them to the fair - there's only so much room on my table!! :)

Anyway...I have to tell you Im still having withdrawal symptoms for sea and sand, thatched cottages, villages that sit snug on twisty-windy lanes under the towering ruins of old castles, seagulls calling, hot fish and chips with salt and vinegar on the harbour, hot sunshine (its disappeared practically since returning north and today has taken on a rather autumnal feel which is very disconcerting!)...

So, to remind myself of some of the nice bits, and I do hope Im not boring you I hasten to add, here are a tiny handful of holiday snaps...ahhhh, them were the days!

A cottage of delights at Lulworth Cove, ice-cream, fudge and sweets - isn't that the prettiest sweet shop you ever did see?

Sunny cottages adrift with flaming red roses

...and the serene beauty of Lulworth Cove - shaped like a scallop shell when seen from above, the water is glassy green and cool, just right for a hot day paddling with a little girl, who still demands to wear her 'whimhoot' everyday despite being back home for almost a week.

Im having a relaxing evening tonight, no crafting or anything like that, just a big glass of wine and perhaps an episode of Ashes to Ashes (still got withdrawal symptoms for that too ha!)
Tomorrow we are going to the Art Show - I dropped my 3 paintings off last night as today is hanging day and we are all looking forward to having a look around the exhibition.

I'll try and pop back next week with another post, but I know its going to be all systems go in order to be ready for Saturday...but Im looking forward to it, I seem to thrive on challenges and Im always happy when Im making or doing, although to some of you it must seem like I never stop!

I hope you all have good weekends, sending you love and see you soon

J x

A wonderful time

Hello Lovelies! :)

Well, here I am again, thanks to all who left me messages during my holiday, I'm looking forward to relaxing and reading some of your blogs during the week to see what you've been up to so you haven't been forgotten!

We had such a great time in Dorset, the weather was dead on and the sun shone furiously every day! There were cream teas, days on the beach, visits to little farms, meals at lovely pubs (The Smugglers just five minutes from our cottage at Osmington was my favourite), meeting up with old friends from Devon in Lyme Regis, and lots of other treats, like finding the vintage Famous Five book (above) in a grand little bookshop in Bridport.

This is our little holiday house, right next to a dairy farm so we would go to sleep of an evening with the soothing sound of moo-ing in our ears :) The little daughter, since coming home has announced that our house is 'rubbish' and wants to go back to the 'pretty one'. Well, I have to agree with her there - coming home can be such a downer cant it? Im now trying to acclimatise to life without the sound of seagulls calling, the scent of salt breezes coming in off the sea, and the old favourite - fish and chips!!

Still, we have some lovely memories....


...miss those evening beach walks though (with the odd football match thrown in along the way).

I decided on the 8 hour car journey home (it was atrocious!) that instead of drifting into the old routine when we got back, I would make little changes here and there to make life less predictable. A holiday usually reminds me that sometimes I can be a bit habitual - and yes, in some ways this is good - but its nice to shake things up a bit and our little family have vowed to allow more spontaneity into our little world (like sunday breakfast being taken in a village cafe instead of the same old cereals at the breakfast table, and tea being a picnic in the park instead of in the house). We are also saying 'Yes' more, as interesting and magical things usually happen when we do.

So here is Monday. And here I am, working hard on projects for the craft fair. I made a list of things to do and I quite horrified myself at the amount of stuff I need to get through in less than two weeks!! Luckily, Nannie Mum has agreed to have tot twice this week and next to give me some extra time to get prepared - phew! I can see some late nights in the not too distant future but Im looking forward to it all the same.

This coming weekend is also the Great Sheffield Art Show, so we'll be pootling along en-masse to that too. Anyway, here's what Ive been making today, decorative hanging hearts!

Only a few more to go :)

Have a great week all of you - sending love,

J x