Instagram Catch Up

This week has flown by soooo quickly with not been captured, its been full of our house guttering and facias been replaced with new ones (looks so much better) homework, cuddles and nearly finishing off Jacks bedroom
We acquired a scalextric off a friend so had quite a few hours of fun over the weekend that

To get some much needed fresh air a trip out to the local park for a run around, play and icecream was very much called for

Cant believe how big they both look now x

 

free printable found here

Im certainly going to be printing these off for both the boys rooms

Shop - New Display

I love doing little updates in my shop, I really needed a new display for the wooden hanging pegs, Gary from Jigsaw Wooden Products who makes them, kindly made me a custom pin board, I painted it in a china clay grey paint (took some coats I can tell you)
It really does the job and I love it

I had a play with the panoramic photo on the iphone but because of the light it kept flickering but you get the idea - I do love my shop very much x

Artisans - Keeley13

Keeley Page is an artisan with a difference, her knitted gifts are so awesome they sell out very quickly, each one is designed and created by Keeleys fair hands and lots of love goes into them
I'm so happy to be able to call Keeley a friend and a great crafting inspiration
The monsters have so many fans that as soon as a new one comes out, there already added to current collections, its wonderful to here the giggles and sighs from children and adults who pop by my shop and see them. When Keeley is at craft markets you can hear the same reactions, her stall stands out with its orange and purple base colours, it kind of makes the monsters come alive...

Here's Keeley in her own words

I'm a middle age nutter who is a full-time Mum to a beautiful daughter, a part-time nursery assistant and a spare-time crafter. My passion is knitting and creating my monsters.

My Nan taught me to knit when I was little. I used to knit clothes for my 'Sindy' dolls.

I left school and spent the next 6 years at various art colleges and university, where I specialised in jewellery design. I didn't pick a pair of knitting needles up until I was pregnant in 2003. I knitted baby jumpers and hats. Charlotte was born so being a Mum and working took over. 

I picked up my needles in 2010 after being made redundent and knitted various creatures and a monster from bought patterns and did my first craft market. 

This introduced me to Ketterings crafting community. Feedback from this market came in the love for my monster. This inspired me to start designing my own. At the same time I discovered knitting on 4 needles, this gave me the scope to knit my designs. 

I can visualise my monster in 3D and add or take away stitches to make a desired shape. My monsters have evolved over the years, and will continue to evolve. 

I try to source my yarn locally, or via internet. I like looking out for unusual yarns. 

Recent monsters are incorporating my other crafting passions, like papercraft, in the form of tin houses and suitcases.

You can view Keeley's facebook here and happily she sells in my shop and the website too

Chalkboard Stickers

I searched around for some chalkboard stickers on ebay but they were a bit too pricey for what I wanted them for so I thought I'd try to create my own

I started off by getting my supplies of stickers, chalkboard paint, paintbrush and a hole punch together

I put two coats of chalkboard paint on the stickers and waited for them to dry

To seal them I rubbed a stick of chalk over them and then rubbed it in

I used the hole punch to create the circle stickers I wanted

Then used the stickers for prices on the display in the shop

- kinda cute arent they and super easy and cheap to make too

Although on a funny note, they did initially get stuck in the hole punch whilst my friend Lorna from Dab and a Dash was there and we did laugh alot trying to rip the punch apart! I'm thinking they hadnt fully dried out as I left them overnight before I tried again and they were fine! phew...

It worked in the end though

Instagram Catch Up

Its been an odd week, just one of school runs, working and been home in the evenings, nothing of major has happened

As always there is a lego creation of sorts out and about, at the moment skylanders is the build with more and more been added to it daily
Little man is still struggling with daily abscences so cuddles are always on the cards

Heres to a week of appointments here and there ...

Sunday Smiles

taken from this lovely blog here

Market Day

Theres only four markets left until the end of the year! We'll be making a big annoncement soon which has taken a lot of discussing and we finally arrived at a decision, more on that soon though

This months market was full of gorgeous makes as always by some great artisans and thanks to the new ios7 update on the iphone I was so excited to take some panoramic views

Dab and a Dash

Sparkly Pretty Beautiful Things

Cookie Box

Gifts of Nature Workshop

Handmade by Mrs Spoon

Jigsaw Wooden Products

April and Ewe

I purchased some baby gifts and a couple of brooches as a treat for me

A huge thank you to my wonderful friend who stepped in and took charge of my shop so I could be at my market x

Cake Decorating

I saw an advert for a cake decorating course local to me so after speaking to a friend we hopped on board and joined in, I was quite nervous to be honest as I've not really done anything like this before and I do hate messing up

I snapped these photos on the evening as it was quite dark

Then took these photos in the morning, we learnt how to do
dots

stripes

buttons

flower

pin wheel

and what I called a christmas tree effect

I totally loved it and to be honest I've booked in for the next course already!
This was run by the lovely Sally from The Little Blue Owl Cake Company in Rothwell

Vintage Pillowcase Apron

After finding this pillowcase apron tutorial I knew I had to give it a go, perfect for a beginner on the sewing machine and they make great gifts
I've got quite a few vintage pillowcases as I just love the patterns on them, now I have the perfect use for them, this ones gone to a new home already 

The instructions are really easy to follow and you'll find yourself whipping up quite a few as they are addictive
Enjoy x

New Beginnings

I believe its good to make a fresh start from time to time which is what I'm doing online
I'm attempting to kind of put all my eggs in one basket!
You may be aware that I run my own small handmade business Quirky Boots and I also run a small retail shop The Gift Box as well along with that and which of course is first and foremost -  my family!

I'm changing the styling of my blog so it incorporates everything, its still me with lots more tutorials, family inspired, guest features, shop tours and updates and much more

I'm hoping you like the changes and that the blog will be becoming a little more busy but all for the greater good

Lots of scribbles and pages and pages of ideas now on the table
First make and show tomorrow x

Lego Skylanders!

I've said many a time about my little one and his imagination! At the moment he is totally mad about Skylanders, to the point he's made a whole scene out of lego - his favourite with the wooden dolls

He plays with it like the game sending the characters to sleep, and theres all spinny bits here and there, very clever little man
We have our first ever CAFF meeting in a couple of weeks, looking forward to some progress to help him at school

The scent of flowers in the home always make me smile, its quite rare I get a bouquet the size of this one!!!

Remember the Jumper I fixed for a customer, you can see the post here , well there was me expecting some supermarket flowers and in she walked with these and I'll be honest I was choked (I'd had a rough morning with a bad anxiety attack and these just totally made my day)

The addition of the butterfly is just beautiful

Pizza Pizza Pizza

I love making homemade pizza and my little man loves to help me

Lots of different ingredients were chosen

I'd ran out of pizza base topping so I mixed some italian dried herbs with tomato puree and I have to say it was delicious

The boys had ham and tomato and we had ham tomato and mushroom

Cant wait to create another pizza - maybe next week