Summer seems to have descended on us with gusto! I can’t quite believe the change in weather conditions over the last few days. I hope you are all well and staying hydrated.
I did my stall at the school fair last Friday and it was pretty hot. We were outside and this year there was no gazebo to take shelter under. It was also rather windy, so I rather limited the stock I put on the table as I didn’t fancy spending the time chasing it all around the playground! As is usual for this fair, I sold only a couple of cards and lots more little knitted and crochet creatures.
I was disappointed that I didn’t sell any of my newly crocheted keyrings, but I did sell a few of the bookmarks and I have plenty left over to donate to the Guides fundraising evening in a couple of weeks time.
So whilst it’s been crazy hot for the last couple of days and I’ve been hibernating inside due to the farmer cutting the fields for silage, I’ve also been subjected to the nightmare of pile driving in the site that once was a wildlife haven. It’s awful. I’m still waiting for responses from the local planning dept and the construction company – I think I’d best not hold my breath!
To try to take my mind off the noise and vibrations, I’ve been working on a couple of box cards for orders and trying to decide what to make for Bury Show next weekend. I’m also looking out for some more possibilities for stalls, do let me know if you know of anything locally.
Well I’d better get back to my orders. Have a good day.
This week I thought I’d have a look back at some of the craft stalls I’ve done over the last year or so. I’ve made much more effort to get ‘out there’, although it’s quite difficult trying to balance the place to be with the costs of doing the fair. As my cards and gifts are generally low cost items to purchase, I need to sell a lot to even cover the costs of the table and there have been times in the past when that’s about all I’ve managed and that is very disheartening I can tell you.
Anyway, balancing act aside, I did a few stalls last year. I ended 2022 with a successful stall at the local primary school Christmas fair. It’s a good cause to support, the table money goes to school funds and they ask for a raffle prize for on the day. With it being after school on a Friday, it only lasts for a couple of house as well (and there’s the bonus of only having to transport my things down the road). It’s hard work but good fun and I can always nip home if someone asks for something specific! I could do with more like this.
Into 2023 and I arranged to have a small stock of special day cards in my local Post Office. I’d missed the boat for Valentine’s / Mother’s Day, but I did get a decent collection of Father’s Day cards in there. They went down quite well, so I also did some thank you teacher, Halloween and Christmas cards, and then some Valentines and Mother’s Day cards this year too. The cards don’t sell in huge numbers but as the ad says ‘every little helps…’
Back to 2023 and I discovered that my local Dunelm has a community group and they offer a table at weekends to local small businesses in exchange for a donation to their charity fund. I thought it was worth a try to see how it went, so a booked myself in for a few dates. It’s a long day (10-4) and I was on my own for a large part of it – definitely one to limit drinks! Crafty-Teen (craftykid has grown up) dis accompany me on a couple of occasions but didn’t stick it out all day. I did the weekend before Father’s Day last June in the hope I could sell some sports shirt and trophy cards. I tried to make at least one for every football team I could think of! The weather was ridiculously hot. so it wasn’t the best attended stall I’ve ever had but I did sell some things and get my name out there. I had another table in October, this time in a different location in the store. Once again the weather wasn’t on my side as it was very wet. I focused on Halloween themed items and sold a few knitted pumpkins (new for 2023) and some little tassel ghosts. All in all it was a better day than it had been in June.
At the end of the Summer term I attended the primary school Summer fete again. I always take lots of teacher thank you cards to this but hardly ever sell any which I find very strange. However, the small knitted/crochet characters went down well with the children. I guess small mascots at pocket money prices area winner. It was nice this year as we were able to have the tables outside and it was very well attended (I was starving at the end though as I was very close to the BBQ station).
I had another table at Dunelm in November with a focus on Christmas cards. I find it difficult when to pitch Christmas as lots of people don’t want to see festive things until December, but with making and selling cards I really need to get them out there well before Advent. This was the earliest stall I’ve ever done for Christmas and I launched my £1 card collection which did reasonable well , along with my regular recycled cards. I did a few bundle deals too which seem popular so I will continue those again next Christmas, It was my best stall of the three at Dunelm but it really is a very long day on your own, with long periods of nobody stopping to chat. Thank goodness for some friends dropping in to say hello!
I managed to get a table at Clark Crafts in Ramsbottom at the start of December. I was really lucky to get a last minute cancellation place as I had somehow been missed off the initial listing. I was really looking forward to this one as I had been double-booked for their first market in the Summer, so missed out and it had been really well attended. It was cold! Snow on the ground (and we didn’t get much over Winter) but the Ramsbottom Maker’s Market was on so my fellow stall-holders and I were hopeful. I think the weather must have put people off because we didn’t have lots of customers. I still managed to do ok, but it was a long day and several stall-holders didn’t make their table money back. The highlight was a lovely lady selling Thai curries and she gave us all some of her tasters – much needed on such a cold day!
I finished 2023 with another table at the school Christmas fair and again it was the little knitted characters that sold to the children. It’s a fun way to end the year, but it wasn’t as well attended as previous ones and my sales were down a bit. But it is very local and not a long stand! The time does go very quickly with lots of people to chat to.
And from the Post Office: Total 20 cards (to date)
Father’s Day – 3; Teacher/Thank You – 7; Halloween – 1; Christmas – 6: Valentine – 1; Easter 2.
So those were my 2023 efforts to get out and about a bit more. It was hard work and I must thank my husband and Crafty-Teen for their help with transport, setting up, lunches and packing up. I have learned a lot about what people are prepared to buy/pay at these small local fairs and I’ve met lots of lovely people (fellow makers and customers). I will definitely continue with the school fairs and need to have plenty of pocket money characters ready for these. I shall keep taking a view on my stock before making a decision on doing Dunelm again, but I have got my name down for Clark Crafts again and I will get my Father’s Day cards back in the Post Office soon. Then it’s back to updating my Facebook page!
Well hello there! it’s been almost a year since I wrote anything on here and it really does seem like forever. I don’t know where the time disappears to these days – it must be my age!
So, what has been going on? As I said, I’m not really sure where the time has gone. I’ve been busy as normal with my regular routines – looking after the house and garden, shopping, cleaning and shopping for my parents. Just the normal sort of life stuff, including mountains of washing (where does it all come from?) I’m also still a governor at my local primary school, although I am trying to step back from this a bit. Having said that, I’m now Vice-Chair, so my plans aren’t quite working out on that front! Ha ha.
One properly new part of my life is becoming a regular at Parkrun. It’s over eighteen months since my first ‘run’ and I am now a firm fixture at Heaton Park on a Saturday morning. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t enjoy the run/walk element of it, but being out in the park is very refreshing and I usually feel better for it a couple of hours latter! I’ve never been a runner, so this is very new for me and I find it incredibly difficult, so much so that my first attempt took over 52 minutes! I’m now able to run some parts of it and I’ve just dipped under 44 minutes 30 seconds. I’ve completed over fifty 5k’s now, mostly at Heaton Park, but there have been a few at other venues when we’re visiting friends and family or just because my other half fancies a different place. It’s been great to meet new people and I’ve also volunteered for a few different roles. Who knew I would enjoy being a course marshal so much!
Work wise, the admin job in Bolton didn’t go any further. They took on someone full-time who had previous experience in commercial property. So I’ve been back on the job hunt for a while. Recently I’ve had a couple of interviews and I’ve just taken the plunge and registered with an agency to do some exam invigilating. My thoughts being it will fit around all my other commitments but also get me back into working outside the house (and with other people). I’ve done all the registration process, DBS checks and an online training course so far. There’s an incredible amount of reading to do before I even get near an exam room. So with exam time looming, I’ve been trying to get all my jobs done at home – mostly washing it seems like. It has included some crafting as well so I’ll sign off with a crafty project and I’ll catch up again soon.
This week I’m having a catch up, as the family are away camping in North Wales, So I’ve done all my housework and the cats are keeping me company at home while the weather is cooling off a bit.
I love the Summer sunshine but the humid heat we’ve had over the last few days has played havoc with my sleep. So I’m hoping for a more comfortable night tonight. I’ve also found it very hard to do much crafting or anything creative at all – thank goodness for all the recent sport – World Championships, Commonwealth Games and now the European Championships ( I love the athletics).
I think I’ve just about managed to keep my pots and baskets alive in the garden. We’ve had lots of strawberries and my chillies and tomatoes have loved the recent heat. I’m thrilled that I have four successful sunflowers and most of the pots are still looking good. My key tips have to be deadheading, daily watering and a weekly feed. And on the wet days I’ve been out in the evening removing greedy slugs and snails. On one of my evening forays for the pesky molluscs, I was beside myself to hear some strange snuffling in the undergrowth. Not just one but two hedgehogs chomping away at the slugs and snails in the flower beds. It’s been years since I’ve seen a hedgehog and I logged the sighting on hedgehogstreet.com. I have also mades sure that all the routes in and out of the garden are clear but under cover. A really super surprise to find them neing regular visitors since then too. I think I might be using one of my acquired pallets fo make a winter hedgehog house.
Now it’s cooling down a bit I’ve had a look at my to-do list and it’s gong to be all about Autumn/Winter and Christmas for the next few months I think! Wish me luck there.
Today I received a fantastic delivery. It’s a huge parcel from Hunkydory Crafts in Preston.
I’ve been watching Hunkydory TV on Facebook Live on a Friday morning after doing the household weekly shop – it’s an interesting companion to having breakfast.
Anyhow, this week’s broadcast was all about their new Diamond Club and special deals for members. I joined the club a few weeks ago when it was launched. It’s a good deal as you get a craft kit with membership and 10% off all future orders. They also do a monthly set of special offers just for the members and this show was demonstrating with some of the products in this offer. It’s great to watch someone using different products and being able to get some hints and tips on how to use them.
In addition to the light-hearted presentation, there are always a few giveaways on a Friday, and this week was no exception. Last Friday was National ‘Give something away’ Day apparently, so for their main giveaway the question was ‘What’s the best present you’ve ever received?’ The presenter then spins a wheel to see what the prize will be. I was thinking what a great prize ‘win the show’ would be, when it landed on just that! They only give a few minutes to get your answers in, so I had to be quick to think of something. All I could think of was the 9th birthday card I still have from my Grandad – he died when I was 12 – but I loved the card so much I’ve kept it with my most precious possessions, along with my Grandma’s wedding ring which is now my wedding ring. Whilst these are incredibly precious to me, I didn’t think they could compete with others citing their children / grandchildren even cars and holidays.
I was wrong! I was chosen as the winner of everything they showed in that hour! Over £300 worth of products I’ve never used before!!
There’s card, papercraft kits, glimmer mist sprays, loads of envelopes and card bags, even a scoreboard and A3 size mirri card. AWESOME!
Great timing for the Summer holidays, crafty-teen can’t wait to have a go with the glimmer mists.
Woah! It’s certainly warm this week, and I’m hiding inside to avoid the worst of the heat and the pollen? This is certainly the downside of living near several farms, as they are making the most of the weather to do their haymaking.
So I am trying to keep cool and carry on sneezing (not)and I’m too hot to do a lot of crafting, so it’s my chance for a catch up on the last couple of months – if I can remember that is.
It’s been a busy few weeks all around. We had the Jubilee in rubbish weather, but fun was had by all. We went to Manchester and visited the Manchester Flower Show. It wasn’t quite what I had expected but it was fun to go back into the city after almost two years.
I enjoyed seeing the little floral displays around the shops and some larger displays in St Ann’s Square and King Street.
I was lucky enough to get a small bouquet of farm grown organic flowers. They were beautiful and lasted over a week on the kitchen window ledge.
I was inspired to get back out in the garden, giving everywhere a good tidy up as well as planting some seeds. I thought I’d have a go at a little bit of grow-your-own and I’ve planted a few pots with peas, purple sprouting broccoli and radish, to go with my strawberries. Fingers crossed the slugs don’t demolish them all!
I have made a few cards on the cooler days. I started making special cards for a local business during lockdown and have continued to do so. This has been a really great opportunity to improve my skills and to use different styles.
I am particularly enjoying looking through all my stash – it is quite extensive now as I seem to be filling all my available storage space in the ‘office’. With my husband back in his place of work, our office has now reverted to being my crafting space again. It’s a lovely place to be and it makes a real difference now I know where everything is. What I have to be careful of now is not over-filling it. Ha ha!
This year has absolutely flown by and I can’t believe that my little one is finishing Year 3 already. (No longer a little one) It only seems like moments that she was starting school at all!
Anyway with the end of term comes all the regular craziness, mostly around the school fair, which was a little different this year as it was arranged by the parent group instead of the school staff. As such it was mainly lots of games for the children to play and a barbecue. I didn’t have a craft stall of goodies this year, but I did manage to bake some biscuits (my third bake of the weekend) for the cake stall. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t too favourable, so most things had to be brought inside.
I was roped in to run the craft table and spent a good couple of hours with a steady stream of under 7s making bee deely boppers, flip-flop keyrings and decorating pencil cases (all from Baker Ross). I’d recommend the bees, very cute and the kits include everything you need. They are great for little ones, although they will need adult help in attaching the springs to the headband. I also struggled removing the papers from the back of the googly eyes, but the kids didn’t seem to have any problem at all!
We also had the obligatory ‘pot goody’ stall and Alice made her’s this year filled with homemade paper windmills and decorated with paper grass, bees and butterflies. She didn’t win her class prize, the winner made a sandcastle out of hers!
The school fair always signals the end of term, so after we had helped pack everything away, it was time for getting end of term cards and presents sorted out for the class teacher and teaching assistants. This year we’ve had two teachers and two teaching assistants as they had swimming lessons and one of the TAs is a trained swimming instructor. I’ve tried to stick to the same sort of thing each year for the teachers , so I made some new apple thank you cards, this time using a new die set I bought a few weeks ago. It’s an apple from the Market Fresh collection by Spellbinders. It’s certainly taken the hard work out of cutting out individual apples! I think I will have some fun with these over the summer.
I also made four little knitted apple keyrings. These are so cute and pretty simple to make too, just a ball with embroidered details, a crochet chain stem and a small knitted leaf.
My daughter then made a little tag for each one with her teacher’s name and a personal message from her. Very cute.
Well, it’s another year over and six weeks now to fill up with lots of activities, and I’m hoping for a lie-in or two!
While I’ve been off my feet for a while this summer and since the end of the Olympics, I’ve been encouraging Alice to get a bit more creative. To be fair, it hasn’t been that difficult as we’ve had a few rainy miserable days here and it’s always fun to empty the making box all over the kitchen table.
Alice traded in some of her lizard cards from Explore Learning for a set of t-shirt graffiti pens, so we ordered her a couple of cheap white t-shirts to have a play with. They arrived earlier today so she had a great afternoon finding her inner fashion designer.
I love how she put a design on the back too!
I’ve also encouraged her to start making cards for her friend’s birthdays. Her friend Daisy was seven at weekend and she wanted to make a bird card like the ones I’ve been making recently, so I gave her a choice of some of the girly floral papers to make one with. This is pretty much all her own work with the exception of the mounting for the happy birthday flag. Her friend loved the card and I do too. I think it’s great how she made the bird fly, adding in a second wing behind.
Another craft I’ve tried to do with Alice is some basic sewing. I think it’s a skill everyone should master, even if it only means being able to sew on a button. I know it is a skill that will help with her Brownie badges. So on a recent trip to Clark Crafts in Ramsbottom, I found this little kit. As she loves cats at the moment, this looked like the ideal kit to start with.
It’s a pretty simple kit and comes with everything needed to make the cat, including stuffing and a needle (plastic). It took a few goes, but she finally mastered the basic running stitch to put all the pieces together, then spent a good half hour deciding where all the embellishment pieces would go. She loves the finished cat and it has slept by her bed every night! I need to make sure she doesn’t lose this liking for sewing and get out some of the other kits I have hidden away that she hasn’t been interested in up to now.
Well it’s back to school next week, so it’s time for me to get on with some more sewing – name tapes in uniform! And I must remember to get a new dance uniform too.
Summer has arrived at last! We have wall-to-wall sunshine just in time for the flying ants to invade the patio. How I love the summer.
Actually I generally really do love summer. There’s nowhere nicer than a warm sunny day at the beach in the UK (in my humble opinion). I think my broken foot is taking it’s toll though this year. Having a hot swelling leg and foot is just not much fun . Anyway, I’ve managed to escape outside for a bit and it’s very relaxing to feel the sun on my skin again. It’s been too long.
While I’m out basking, I’ve been able to catch up on some reading and I’m thrilled to say that the Provident tips calendar has now been published. And it’s a great read. There are loads of ideas for the summer, ranging from things to do with children, to stain removal, crafts and baking too. So do pop by and have a look, you never know what might inspire you. For me it’s back to some more reading and the pile of work-in-progress while Alice does some nature work for her next Brownie badge!
This is not how I anticipated spending the school holidays. I’m sat on the settee having to rest because last week I broke my foot! I can’t believe it, just as things were going really well and I hadn’t been in a hospital for over a year. There I was at my regular tap class having a great time and practicing some steps for our ‘Mambo No5’ dance routine and the next thing I know I’m in a heap on the floor thinking I don’t want to look at my knee incase it’s a real mess. I managed to get up and shuffle my way through the rest of the lesson but I was in some pain. Fortunately I’d been given a lift to the class so I didn’t have to drive home.
My foot was starting to swell up but we decided it was a bad sprain, strain or twist so a couple of hours with frozen peas on it and a good sleep would cure the problem! I hobbled my way to and from school the next day and thought I’d better get over to A&E as I hadn’t been able to do anything else all day.
They were brilliant at Fairfield Hospital and I was seen very quickly. I had a couple of x-rays which confirmed I had broken the fifth metatarsal in the left foot (my knee was fine, not even a bruise!). I was sent home in a cast with crutches and returned to the fracture clinic the next day where they removed the cast and gave me an equaliser boot. At least I can put my heel down now. Crutches are no fun at all when you have to hop!
So I’m now trying to work out how Alice will get to do any of the adventures we had planned for the school holidays. Moving around is getting easier, but I can’t see me hobbling to the park any time soon.
