Handmade and Gorgeous Fair - Oxford

Are you in the Oxford area this Saturday 27th November? Then please do pop into the Handmade and Gorgeous Fair in Oxford Town Hall. I'll be there - along with some of my friends, and we'd love to see you:

The fair is open from 11am-4pm and the first 100 customers through the door will receive a goody bag. It's a great chance to get some of that Christmas shopping done. I'm sure I'll be doing some, after all, there's only 29 days left until the big day.

Reveal - a Christmas showcase of handmade craft

This year, I will be showing and selling my work at Reveal, in Henley on Thames.

I've been at Reveal for the past three years and there is always a really great selection of quality handmade craft on sale. It's a great place to pick up Christmas pressies for your friends and family so do pop along if you're in the vicinity (click the link above for more details/maps etc).

The show is open for 2 weeks - Thursday - Sunday each week, starting this Thursday 25th November at 5pm, then all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday each week. I will be showing/selling at both weeks.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

This morning I went to the cinema to see the new Harry Potter film - The Deathly Hallows (part one). It's become something of a marking of the Christmas season for me - as the films always come out just before Christmas.
The film itself was quite dark and very bleak at times, but despite this (and the running commentary from the kids that were sitting next to us) I really enjoyed it. It's very well made, well shot, gritty and just more grown up - natural evolution I suppose. I'm really looking forward to the next part...

Other things marking the Christmas season for me is the fairs I attend at this time of year.  I'm busy making and stocking piling my softies and accessories.
I have a pile if half made monsters on the desk here next to me and have stockings hanging up all around the room:

If you've been doing some Christmas making it would be great to see your pics in the handmade Christmas flickr group, so please do add them. In fact, if you just want a bit of festive cheer then click the link and have a look at all the handmade loveliness.

Hen

I made it back from my hen weekend in one piece. There was no tying to lamp posts involved, but thanks for enquiring after my health Lesley.

The whole weekend was organised by my bridesmaids, who know that I neither like being centre of attention or that I'm a party animal. At 34, I just think I'm a bit too old for all that. The mature affair that we were aiming for was achieved.
We spent the day at the bingo, dressed as old ladies, and the evening was a meal and a few drinks.

 me

 my mum (she is technically a grandma, so she was winning in the fancy dress stakes)

Most people thought we looked great.  The older ladies (regulars) at the Bingo were fab, and really helped us novices out with which card to play and when - we didn't have a clue.

There is also a picture of me somewhere offering a werthers original to a very bemused ambulance driver.  At this point I have no doubt he was cursing having to work late nights.

The lady who served us in the cocktail bar said that we smelled of charity shops and wee. She might have had a point about smelling of charity shops - I can't comment about the wee mind you.

where does it go?

Time. Where does it go?
I've had a manic week this week which has involved quite a bit of making for my upcoming fairs, finalising and making wedding invites, shopping for a mother of the bride outfit, buying 8 shirts for the groom and his wedding party, a trip to the hospital and a few nice orders, amongst other things.
This is another in the series of embroidered canvasses I've been working on:

Tomorrow, along with 8 of my friends I'm off on my hen weekend. Dressing up is involved, but I'm a classy lady so they'll be no L plates or tiara for me, my look will be quite a lot more mature! I will reveal all next week...

Christamas decoration SALE

For a limited time only, I'm selling my Christmas decorations at HALF PRICE. I've just listed some sets of 3, 4 and 5 decorations for sale in my etsy shop here.
Prices range from around £6.50 ($10.50) for a set of three - £10.50 ($17.00) for a set of 5. Go on, grab a bargain:

miaow

How nice to be featured on Cuteable today with my new kitty canvas:

This kitty looks a little bit mad and a bit posh. I was toying with the idea of the speech bubble saying something totally outrageous but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm still working some more of these though...

On a lightly different note, yesterday I ordered some rubber stamps from The English Stamp Company which I had custom designed for our wedding. One of them, says 'take me, I'm yours' and is intended to be stamped onto gifts for our guests. I'm sure the people who make up the stamps were wondering what that statement was all about.
I was totally impressed that the stamps (4 in all) arrived today. Yesterday morning I was designing them, and now they are sitting on my desk. I've used this company before and they have always been really good.
If you're looking for someone to make your custom designed rubber stamps in the UK, I highly recommend these guys

twit twoo

I've been thinking about making embroidered canvasses for a while now. I bought some canvasses yonks ago, and they've been sitting her waiting to be used, along with my fabric mountains of new and thrifted vintage fabrics.
This little owl is the first one that I finished. I've made a couple already and will be taking them to the fairs I'll be doing this month and next:

The floral print in the top section is a vintage Sanderson print which I love, and came from a pair of curtains that I picked up at my local car boot sale.

Fingerprints

The video is nothing to look but I love the song:

 

please excuse me

I've been a little absent this past week - both in blog terms and personal terms. I had a bit of a blah week last week - lots to think about and lots to do, and not feeling like I'm on top of or in control of it.
This week however has already started out better - I feel boosted by this extra hour - it feels like I went to bed early and got up early and I feel like I have more energy. I think it's a state of mind honestly - I'm feeling much more positive this week.
I have a packed agenda this week - I've got a few fairs coming up and I'm in making mode. I've dug back into the jumper stash and been snipping away:

I have lots of ideas for new products too, including some wooly bunting and garland, a bit like this:

monda loves... Maria Lintott Ceramics

I found Maria's website a while back, and sent myself an email as a reminder to bookmark it - fuzzy logic indeed. Now I'm cleaning up my inbox and have rediscovered it again, so am now bookmarking it in my blog.

I like the simple lines, beautiful soft colours and little details in each of her pieces:

I wish my house was big enough to fill with pretty pieces like these. Alas it is not, and this is proved by the countless boxes of books and other bits and bobs that we put in storage yesterday until round two of house decoration is complete. Round one, the spare room/office is almost complete - except for a few frames and a notice board that need hanging. We have visitors at the moment so the spare room is is being used as a spare room, but hopefully we'll manage to make the finishing touches on Sunday, and I can start working in there again from next week - instead of perching at the end of the dining table.

what a relief

I am massively relieved to have finally sorted out dresses for my bridesmaids. It was really turning into quite a chore honestly, and that's not how it's supposed to be in my book.
These are these dresses that we have chosen, although we will have them in Navy:

We looked at and tried a lot of dresses - but we all felt that these were the best, in terms of fit and quality. They are by Mori Lee - as US company.
There is a serious gap in the UK market when it comes to bridesmaids dresses. Most of the dresses I have seen come from the US - and they do it so well in terms of style and choice. My only real gripe is that (as with many things) they are double the price in the UK. I looked at all kinds of options of buying from the the US and shipping to the UK, but once you add shipping and import taxes you lose the benefit.

I ordered the dresses from this UK shop - and I couldn't recommend it more highly. It's an unassuming little shop on what can be best described as a residential road. Their website is easy to navigate, has the right amount of info and good pictures, and the shop owner is a really lovely lady - often making helpful suggestions to help me find the right thing.

I must confess - I also bought wedding dress no.2 whilst I was in the shop today. I have been having a little wobble about dress no.1 (a bargain purchase made many months ago), so I'm now definitely spoilt for choice. Apparently it's quite common for brides to buy two dresses.

This is one of the dresses that I tried - I think it's lovely, but it just wasn't the right type of dress for my body shape. I looked like I'd just been tangled up in a parachute!

pretty flowers, pretty palette

When my friend was visiting at the weekend she bought me some flowers. At the time they were just closed up buds but now they have now come out and they are ever so pretty.
They deserved a palette, which I think turned out some lovely colours when combined together:

wedding shenanigans

This week really seems to be whizzing by at great speed, and my mind really has been on one thing - the wedding. In the past couple of months there really wasn't much to do in terms of the wedding, but now the time has come that decisions need to be made and things need to be confirmed and it all seems to have happened at the same time.
Bridesmaids dresses are proving tricky. Having tried countless dresses, we have found 2 different dresses that would be perfect together. Job done you'd think, but no. Aside from the dresses being quite expensive, the lead time on them is 16 weeks (as they are proper bridal gowns), and we don't have 16 weeks until the wedding (scary thought!) so I've started again on the dress search and have been looking all over the internet for the last few days to try and find alternative options.  I think I have found an alternative - I now just need to get the girls to try them. In the meantime, I'm keeping everything crossed for them fitting and looking lovely.

In other wedding news, today I had an email from the designer who is making our rings, to tell me that they are ready to ship.Wooohoo.
Here they are:

I'm swooning at their loveliness.
Now I must away and pay for them (hmm, not swooning so much at that part), and then they can be shipped. Exciting!

Inadequate, Pimpled and Single! (and being brave)

Have you read this story?
In celebration of not being inadequate, pimpled or single, I've decided for the first time ever to put a picture of myself on my blog. I've finally come out! This picture was taken this morning whilst still in my pj's, unshowered and my hair hadn't been near a hair brush (hence the very forgiving sepia!). I do actually look quite tired but I'm certainly not the figure Andrew Marr describes.

My decision to come out was not directly influenced Andrew Marr however, I think he just prompted me. I rather wanted to mark a milestone, as I have now lost 2 stone in weight.
As a child, I was stick thin. I always ate well, but couldn't keep still so was always a little slim thing. I've struggled with my weight on and off since my mid teenage years - and have dieted so many times I've lost count (like most women I'm sure). In recent years and since being diagnosed with PCOS, my weight has steadily increased despite always eating a healthy diet.
When I left my job earlier this year I decided that lots of things needed to change in my life - my weight and my health being one of them. I always eat plenty of fresh fruit and veg, and I cook most days - I'm really not a fan of processed food and ready meals, so food was never really the answer to this problem. Aside from eating smaller portions, I really haven't changed my eating habits much at all. I still eat bad stuff when I feel like it.
The major difference in my healthy regime is that I now exercise everyday - something I never really used to to at all. It's a simple calculation of calories taken in versus calories burnt. I don't actually count calories - I just know what is good food and bad food.

2 stone feels good. Clothes and shoes are now too big for me, my skin looks better, I feel better, and my confidence is increasing, so much so that I felt I could finally post a picture of myself.
Outwardly people describe me as being confident - I trick I have learnt for the sake of everyday survival. Inwardly, I am not confident, and I know it stems from how I feel about myself and my weight. I still have a long way to go with my weight loss - and despite having a confidence wobble every now and then, I feel determined to make it happen.

I'm now a little scared to press the 'publish post' button, but I'm doing it because I want a record of how I'm feeling at this particular time in my life. It will be so good to look back on this in a few months knowing that I have moved on, and I know that will give me the drive me to continue.