November Craft Fairs

So November is going to be a busy one for me - first my friend's Mum is hosting a mini craft fair at her house (with me as the only seller), then I go on the photography course that Hubby bought me for my birthday, then on the 21st and the 28th I am doing 2 more craft fairs!

I really enjoy craft fairs, I like talking to people and it makes me feel so chuffed when people compliment me on my items - it's a lot of work to create enough stuff to sell, so it's nice to get positive feedback.

The picture today is the poster for the fair on the 28th November in Leicester, I am looking forward to that one a lot, as I will be heading to Melton Mowbray on the Friday night, so we can spend the weekend with my in-laws and Hubby's godmother - we haven't seen them in forever, so it will be nice to catch-up before a big day of selling!

I realised the other day that whilst it is nice to specialise in certain craft items, it's always nice to mix it up a bit and I have used Christmas as the perfect opportunity to try out new things and test my skills.

I have made paperweights using the stones I brought back from the beach in Cornwall, they are gorgeous - I must take a picture for you. I enjoyed making these, quick, easy and the results far outweigh the effort required! I have loved making the felt decorations, but I haven't loved painting the wooden ones, so I don't think I'll be doing that again.

All the Christmas crafting has also given me an excuse to buy new tools and I did finally buy a Sizzix Texture Boutique, which I love - it's so easy to use and you can use Cuttlebug embossing folders too - just check the size, as the Texture Boutique has a smaller apperture!

I am going to attempt not to spend any money in November on my stash, but I'm not sure if I can actually manage this! In my lunch hour today, I went to the art supply shop and spent £6 - no will power! I can't resist craft stuff!

Cx

I love the sunshine!

Bah humbug!

I am back from my lovely trip with my girls - Tenerife was hot hot hot and we had fun fun fun. More pics to follow.

I managed to craft whilst away and made brooches, Christmas decorations and continued to crochet my lovely scarf - which my Ma said is actually looking ok, she says I've improved greatly - so A+ for me.

It was so nice to be away, not to work, to feel the sun on my body and wear flip flops like it was summer! I am totally bummed about being home - but it has been lovely to see my gorgeous Hubby and of course the mewling fur children.

Do you remember the wedding I went to in Rye and I mentioned I had helped out with the favours, well the picture above is the favours that I put together - the bride sent me a pic, don't they look gorgeous! I am so pleased and that has relieved some of my misery at returning home to the cold dark winter.

Perhaps next year, I'll just stay there all winter............

Cx

Friendly advice

Hi!

Today I have been thinking about good advice. Mainly because I have needed to dish some out! And partly because of my friend JJ.

JJ and I haven't been friends that long, but she has become a pretty good friend - she is also my friendly advisor on all things craft! She knits and stuff, but she is also a designer, so has a pretty good eye. She is also very frank.

Earlier this week she was telling me how much she liked my blog and mentioned that the last post was in August - tsk tsk. It made me realise, I HAVE to make time for my precious blog and not let it slide into obscurity!

So thank you JJ for reminding me not to half finish a project!

In honor of JJ's contributions to my craft world, I thought I would talk about crochet (she knits, I can't.So crochet it is)

So I literally only learnt how to crochet 2 weeks ago, I am starting out small and making a scarf (?) unfortunately I am not convinced that I completely have the hang of it all yet and whilst the stitches all look lovely, the scarf is a rather unusual shape, it looks a bit like a Cobra! I was aiming for something like the picture below (pattern is from Idiots Guide to Knitting and Crochet), but I am not yet convinced that it's ever going to look like that.

However on a more positive note I am totally made up that I have learnt to crochet and even if my scarf never ever looks like a scarf, at least I made it.

The one unfortunate thing about learning to crochet is that I now have another craft stash requirement - wool! Ooh wool is so yummy - check out the main picture, I can feel an obsession coming on and a large sigh from Hubby!

Cx

p.s JJ just incase you didn't realise this posting is dedicated to you!

Christmas has exploded in my room!

Ha ha, not quite, but I've attached a picture of the drying area in my craft room and I think you can see there is quite alot going on! There is also a picture of one of the cards on the shelf, close-up!

I have hit the 300 card mark with the Christmas cards - so yay for me, but there is still a long way to go - gotta hit 500 before November the 6th.

I have a reason for this. If I have 500 cards (= 50 sets) and I sell a reasonable amount on Nov 6th, then I will only have to make a small amount to cover my work sales and the Nov 28th fair! Logical right?

I am finally loving the wooden Christmas decorations, they have been a bit of trial and error to be honest and I am still not 100% in love, but I can be a bit like this about the things I make, I get a bit insecure! Especially if they have taken awhile to get right!

The felt Christmas decorations are my fave, as I get to use felt, hand sew and use my button collection.

I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I've enjoyed the Christmas crafting this year and I think that I owe that to my fellow crafters and their handy tips - start early, pace yourself, take a break - wise words indeed.

On a slightly different note I noticed last night that one of our cats is covered in glitter! She did run off with a rather expensive Magenta Stickles a couple of weeks ago, so I am assuming this is why!

Whilst I am mentioning Stickles, I have to say, I thought they were going to be an expensive waste of money, but they have brought me only joy! I love using them, they add so much to my projects and are easy to use and best of all seem to go a long way. Papermania have brought out some similar products this year for Christmas and they are a cheap alternative to Stickles and ok, but not as good.

Lastly a bit shout out to Pam at Chicks of a Feather - who left me a really sweet message a few weeks ago, I totally love her blog, it's an inspiration.

Cx

Where did September go?

Ok, so I need to up my game right?

It's been over a month since I last brought you up to speed on all that is going on in HamnMule world and that's just poor!

So, let's recap -

The new kitchen is complete and a thing of total beauty, I'm not going to show you a picture, but I will say that after 3 painful, take-away fuelled weeks, I could have cried when the builders told us they were finished (on time and slightly over-budget).

Amsterdam was fantastic as ever and I managed to buy all kinds of random craft goodies, which I have stashed for post-Christmas crafting!

Christmas crafts are progressing nicely - I'll have a pic of some of the goodies for you tomorrow (I promise), I am now in the final card making push, I have nearly painted all of the the Christmas decorations, the felt ones are all cut out and half are sewn, the rest will be done next week in Tenerife! I am just going to start putting together the advent calendars, but that's a pretty quick job, as I am creating quite basic, but pretty ones. I am slightly concerned that I haven't started the make-up bag, clutch bag sewing yet - but sewing is difficult, I have to be totally in the zone!

One of my friend's mothers is hosting a mini-craft fair for me on November the 6th - it's so lovely of her to do that and I am working hard to make sure that all my products live up to her marketing of me! I have also accepted another craft fair on the 21st of November, but that is more about my scarves and bags, good to have variety and a mini break from Christmas before the big fair in Leicester on the 28th.

I have had Laryngitis, so hubby was overjoyed to have me silent for a week! I recovered sufficiently to celebrate my birthday in style. Today's pic is of the beautiful Thank You cards I have made for all the people that gave me gifts.

I almost forgot to mention that my Ma taught me how to crochet as my birthday gift and I am busy making a scarf in the morning on the way to work, as an L-Plates project!

We have just spent the weekend in Rye at a wedding and the second pic today is of me at the wedding in the cutdown version of my wedding dress - thrifty!

So, I am pretty busy and not sure exactly how I am managing all of this, plus spending time with my friends and family, but I love it, so it makes it all worth while and this year has been a very successful one for Ham'n'Mule, so I can see my hard work paying off!

Cx