Wool Felt Swatch... and Professional Craft Chat...

 I have cobbled together these books of Wool Felt Swatches...

I wanted customers to have a wad they could handle rather than Ickle Tiny sqaures that can be frustrating to view and impossible to 'feel'

 I have no idea how attatch the colour name to each 3x3 sqaure so i have STUCK (as best i could, with my top most sticky down pushing force) the name of each colour on the felt. Not the best soultion, but the best i can come up with, without stapling each piece.

I am already dreaming of all the new colours i want to add. And i have been having a little play with some pieces and it is oddly addictive... all that softness, mmmmm....

 I am busy People - super busy and i'd like to try and write a Blog Post soon about how hard we professional crafters work. I was thinking about it so much today. I am guilty of coming across a bit "ooh, it's so easy all this Button Lark..." but it isn't easy. There are so many tricky elements to the entire BEAST that is: online selling... original Designing & Making

 That is me :)  (looking wasted with a glass of Vino) in Craftseller Magazine - "Thankyou Alice!" i appreciate you!

and the big vain monster in my Ego says "i like seeing me in a magazine" but there is often so much more work that goes in than what you see in the pulp.

I could go on and on about the commissions i have taken for books and magazines that took my time and effort that were later CUT at the last editorial moment. Or the times i quoted a price for my work and was never paid.. and so on... it has happend to many of my professional peers too.

I wonder why i keep on taking extra work?? it can't be just my ego, can it?

No, of course not, it is LOVE of the job - like any other profession.

In my last job i did sooo many extra unpaid hours. Is that what they call a Vocation? a Calling?

Well... i am exhausted. Yet there is so much more to talk about.

I have a possible impending lawsuit... other people ripping off my designs and selling them as their own. Since when was that okay? Thank goodness for Copyright Laws that state quite clearly

"Thou shalt not copy an identical design from another professional and begin manufacturing it and selling it as your own"

LISTEN UP people: don't look at my little shops and assume i won't follow you round with a big stick!

I have got big loud friends and even bigger louder Lawyers.

Tcha!

Off to have a few more glasses of the Goodly Vino.

Is this a step too far....?

Regular or Occasional visitors to my little blog world, may have already realised....

I have alot of creative energy. I have excess creativity that really needs to be released in some form or another... daily.

The MUCHOS snow we have at present has made my SmallFish and i, fairly housebound.

We have done all that 'snow stuff' and have been raipidly running out of things to say / do to each other.

There was only one thing left that we could do now... that would really test our powers of craziness....

and that was: to make and ice and decorate a HEWGE batch of Cinnamon Cookies and bag them up and take them round to all the houses in our 'close' in a very "Merry Christmas" sort of a way.

Dog - obviously overseeing the entire venture.

Wine - well, my car isn't going anywhere is it?

I confess, that one or two 'favoured' neighbours had a bigger Cinnamon Christmas Tree.

In fact my Late Nanna's friend next door (Frieda) had a giant tree cookie, a bottle of sherry and a book!

Oh sparkley, sugary, colourful sweet goodness.

There is everything that is utterly gorgeous about my daughter, at the age of 6, stood with her sticky fingers and Christmas Good Will, all wrapped up in these cookies.

Curse us if you want for being silly, Christmas Camp, giggly and terribly smug about our Christmas cheeriness, but truly - it has been days stuck indoors and there is a limit... yes there IS a limit, to the amount of goodies a single young lady should eat in one day.

So, off we trotted, in our snow boots and pom-pom hats, spreading the word - and the word is

CHEERYULECINNAMONY-NESS!!

We did also make a crazy pom-pom felt bead lightpull for the bathroom.

But it isn't working very well and needs a re-evaluation.

Wish you had all been my neighbours xx

I shall send you all *cosmic* cookies and warm hugs.

Love to you all!

Merry Christmas xxx

Why i love Nigella x

My beloved 'Nigella' (Lawson - the TV personality and Recipe Book writer for the Un-initiated)
She gets a bad press by some but i want to tell you why i love her...
My Christmas Party - held yesterday - at my house, i sooo wish you all could have come. Nigella made hosting a small Christmas gathering SO much pleasure.

Mini Christmas pudding truffles, individually decorated by my sister, my daughter, my man and me. So much fun and they look gorgeous x a crafters dream cookery project. MMMmmm licking the chocolate bowl (even the dog got in on this action)

Peanut Butter mini-cupckaes x my younger Sister (BabyFish) has just returned from 12 Months travelling the world. What better way to catch up than spending the afternoon on cups of tea and making chocolates from Nigella's Christmas Book? It was pure JOY.

BabyFish fiddling with the mini-holly decoration on 48 individual puddings. I don't care if Nigella pouts at the camera or *eats cold left-overs during a nightine fridge raid* (or only does that for the camera)

Nigella doesn't make me feel inadequate or envious. She is a joy to watch and her books are a joy to cook and bake from. I love to feed my family and my friends and Nigella knows really that the 'event' and the people are far more important than the food.

Drinking, eating, talking, laughing, creating... these are things that i see Nigella promoting and these are the things that make me happy too.

Nigella's Christmas Chutney.... mmmmm x she maybe very Middle-class, she even be Upper-class, i don't really know. I just love her class-i-ness.

My friend MrsB really does get the bus or walk to her supermarket WITH 2 babies under 3 and she cooks and entertains Nigella with so much style! (Click HERE to see MrsB loving Nigella)

Dressing the table in OOOodddles of my Christmas crockery all thrifted and Sale found throughout the years.

SO, Merry Christmas!

Don't *hate* Nigella x love her for what she stands for...

Camp creativity, eating, taking life with a pinch of sugar, entertaining, eating, laughing, creating and generally putting in a little bit more effort than your local McDonalds could offer.

Cheers x

"Local Craft Matters" .... *waves*

I write a regular column for a little publication in the UK called "Local Craft Matters".
I really enjoy it as i LOVE to talk about how fantastic and important Craft is and how you can support craft and 'find' social crafting in our area.
Anyway, i wrote my article and said about "craft fairs are the best place to Christmas Shop" and "why not make stuff... like chutney!" SO.... in case my readers wanted proof - here is me and the smallerFish making chutney...


Me, in love with Nigella (sigh) if she knew me, she'd really like me I'm sure... Always sterilize those jars! We don't have a dish washer as i find washing-up rather therapeutic (but a little rough on my poor hands)

It is a Nigella recipe called "Christmas Chutney" with all my favourites: Apples, Clementine, Cloves, Spice, Cranberries, Dates (and sugar and vinegar!)

Of course, all kitchen Divas need crowns! But please, I am NOT a terrible 'affected' lady that feels the need for Diva-ness. Any Mother to a 4yr old girl knows that Princess Crowns are worn by everyone in the family on a regular basis (including the dog x)

Yeh, go on, make Chutney! Make 'something' - feel good about yourself.

Staying in is soooooo the new 'going out'!