A short pause

As of today, I shall be taking a short break and pressing 'pause' on crafting, the business and work in general as I'm heading back to the Homeland for my sister's Big Fat Scottish Wedding.

Normal service will resume late next week!

WIP: Becoming a bona fide business lady - update 1

In my last post re this WIP, I talked about the first steps I took to becoming a proper business. Well, the business course is over with now and for the most part I found it very interesting and helpful. Although, I haven't done anything with my profit and loss or cash flow sheets since then... numbers are just not my forte!

Today I want to update you on the most recent developments:

• Princess Crafts products are now stocked in two shops - The Traditional Vintage Flower Company and Make Do and Mend. This makes me feel like a proper business!! And there's a long list of shops still to be contacted for opportunities!
• I have two blog sponsorships here and here plus another one in the pipeline for the beginning of August.
• I'm organising my very own craft market in August. This scares me but it's so exciting!
• I have a number of events booked between now and Christmas plus a few more in the pipeline.
• And I'm working on some new ideas for product lines and there is plenty more to come in the next few months!

Phew, that's just the highlights from the last few weeks but it does seem like things are coming together now and hopefully the run up to Christmas (sorry to say the C word!) will be busy and exciting!

Fabric related indecision

I'm a very decisive person and it is rare that I dither about trying to decide what to do. However this all changes when I visit my local fabric shop. Once I step foot in this fabric filled Aladdin's cave, I am so overcome with indecision that I can spend hours in there umming and ahhing about what to buy.

My most recent visit saw me going with no particualr needs but 'just for a look' and I came home with some fabulous fabrics that are just too nice to be chopped up and made into something! Take a look at these beauties!

Ginormous cupcakes!

Vintage style rose print

Twit-twoo! 

I have no idea what I will make with these, but for now I quite like looking at them and admiring their prettiness!

Embracing 'Previously Loved'

I don't really 'do' second hand stuff. There I said it. Shoot me now. Until last year, I hardly ever went to charity shops except to make donations. But when I started Princess Crafts, I found myself visiting charity shops and the odd antiques centre. I buy a lot of the china I use for my candles in charity shops and I do like the idea of taking something old and turning it into something new. But I'm still very picky selective and I still, on the whole, dislike charity shops. (It's the smell and the depressing nature of most of them that makes me want to spend as little time in there as possible.)

Mr PC has discovered an interest in visiting boot sales and has picked up some good finds. I absolutely refuse to get up so ridiculously early on a Sunday morning (or any morning, for that matter) to plod around a field looking at people's junk. I know one man's junk is another man's treasure, but as I said, I don't 'do' second hand. But he enjoys it and has bought some nice things for me to use for Princess Crafts, for ridiculously low prices.

There are a few good boot sales near us and there is one on a Saturday that starts at 11.30 (much more civilised, I say!) so we went along one day and while the turn out was dire due to the dubious weather, I did spot a lovely mirror which became mine after Mr PC bartered with the lady.

 

We have a rather dark hallway downstairs, so this mirror is perfect for shedding some light on the subject. It needed a good clean and I ditched the dodgy chain it's meant to hang from and whilst it's not worth anything, I think it looks quite expensive. 

I'm slowly adding to my collection of thrifted items and while I don't think I'll be wholly converted from brand spanking new and modern, I am now more open to previously loved items which I can give a new lease of life.

What thrifty finds have you had recently?

Garden Post

Today's post is over on the Garden Diaries page where I've loaded some pic of the first flowers in the garden. Go take a look!

Finished WIP: Granny Square Blanket

It is finally finished now and I'm really rather pleased with it!! I made this blanket up as I went along and I think it turned out pretty good!

The blanket measures 1m across and is made up of 36 large granny squares.

I finished the blanket with a large scalloped edging.

Some blanket facts

Weight : 800g
Balls of wool used: 16
Cost to make: £8
Hours to make: approx 40 hours (1hr per square + sewing and edging time)

The Ugly Side of Perfection

Recently in the blogging world, there have been murmurings about how blogs only shows the pretty/perfect/idyllic side of bloggers' lives and what an unrealisitc view readers get. To get what I mean, best read A Thrifty Mrs' blog posts and hte comments here and here.

This got me thinking about how blog readers only really get the image we as bloggers choose to portray. Nobody is perfect, and even 'showhomes' get dirty/untidy from time to time but no one is likely to read a blog that's all about how lazy you are with the housework and how crap your life really is.

In order to produce (hopefully) lovely photographs, I usually end up making the biggest mess ever. If I do a 'photo shoot' in the garden, all the chairs and pots need to move so they don't create unwanted shadows. If I take photos in the living room, all my ornaments/vases/candles get shoved out of the way in order to create the blank canvas on which I can place my items. If I take photos in my study then I have to shift all the junk paperwork off the desk. When I take photos for the Garden Diaries, I whiz round the garden tidying up the pots and take the washing line down first. And you can only imagine the state my dining room gets into when I have the sewing machine out! To create the look of tidiness, sometimes the only way to do it is by making a huge mess!

On this note, I thought I'd show you some 'behind the scenes' pics of what my living room looks like this week after Mr PC went to the school fair with all my wares. This stuff all lives up in the loft when it's not in use but for a number of excuses reasons, it's still lying around a week later. I will blame it on my busted up knee which has meant I can hardly stand or walk properly at the moment and therefore plenty of housework chores have gone undone.

Now, anyone who knows me will know that I am a tidy person and they'll probably think that my house is always spick and span. Well this is true to some extent, BUT sometimes life is too interesting for housework and I only do the dusting when we are having visitors!

So here, in all its untidy glory, is my living room!!

Opened boxes and stuff everywhere after a garden photoshoot

Half emptied drawers not put back together yet

Yes that is a mountain of ironing, and there's another lot hanging over the bannister!

Even Bubble is impressed with the mess!

So there it is, the reality of my bloggy 'perfection'!!