Hello my lovelies!
Just a quick post to let you know I’ve moved!!
You can now find me on allyscraftytreasures.blogspot.co,.uk
Please pop over and say hi it would be great to see you
Nat xx
So this weekend I took a break from all things crafty and My Hubby, Brother-in-law and his girlfriend took a trip to Center Parcs in Longleat!
I was so excited to go but I did have visions of a Butlins in the woods but I was wrong!! (Sort of!!) They do a Friday to Monday thing and so we arrived to CARNAGE on Friday afternoon we had to queue for half an hour to actually get to the gate and found out once you had unloaded the car at the villa come cabin, which was a good twenty minute slow crawl from the gate in the car, you had to retrace your steps all the way back from where you were staying to the gate to park your car then make you way via the land train for another twenty minute journey back to the villa!!
Sounds exhausting!! It was!!! We started the unpacking only to find that the large majority of the utensils in the kitchen were filthy! So we were starting to wonder what our £400 was for!!
But the funny stories began and we arrived after the brother in law who told us about their lucky escape with a duck!! After leaving the patio door open to cool the place down they were surprised to find a duck in the living area!! Not just any duck….a fearless duck! After much shouting and flapping of arms and one pecked finger later the duck was finally exciled to the patio!
I soon realised we were going to enjoy ourselves this weekend!! On the Saturday we went to do the ONLY free thing in the park (apart from walking) and that was the pool! On the face of it it looked quite cool it had a lazy river, some slides and rapids! It was RAMMED full of people and there were queues for everything but we were excited to get going! We joined the queue for the rapids and went over the ledge into the toasty warm water and on to the outside world, all was going well until……I went over the first slide and smushed my face into the wall of the rapids and on coming up for air I turn to my brother in laws girlfriend with an astonished look on my face and an ominous gap where one of my front teeth had been!
Yes I snapped off one of my teeth! Now something you should realise about me is I am totally accident prone so but me in any situation where I can hurt myself, I will and this day was no exception! There was no quick exit from the rapids but they are thankfully short and after my DH guided me through the rest I went to the lifeguard who gave me some emergency dentist numbers and the advice of sticking som sugar free gum over the tooth….so attractive!! (I felt slighlty less stupid by the fact the when the others went back to the pool the next day they saw another two broken teeth and a broken nose!)
But in true me style the dentist couldn’t see me and Center Parc policy is not to sell chewing gum!! But I soldiered on and we moved on to a £21 round of crazy golf!
Which was fab! We had a good laugh and we let the men win 😛 We then went onto a pedalo which has to be said was quite good value and even better that us girls didn’t have to pedal around!!
All in all we did have a good chuckle and enjoyed our stay at Center Parcs but I think it was more down to the company an beautiful setting than the rather expensive activities and over crowded pool!! Despite ALL the moaning I’ve done we would go back to Center Parcs but after ALOT of Saving up!!
That’s all for now folks
Nat x
Today I will be mostly ranting so for those with a nervous disposition look away now….Just kidding 🙂
My rant for today is about Craft fairs, not the organisers who get up at a crack of a sparrows and spend hours advertising events. Or the stall holders who create their goodies with love, passion and hardwork. No I am writing about the lovely ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls who come to the fairs to see your wares (see i’m a poet and I don’t know it!)
Now at this point I note the sharp intake of breath from my readers and I’d like to add a disclaimer. I am NOT talking about the genuinely lovely people who come along with nothing but praise and a genuine interest in what you do…no, I’m taking about all those….I can do thaters and the knock you down on pricers!
I’ve been to more fairs this year than ever before and it makes me sad when I see crafters all bright and optimistic at the start of the fair and by the end of it are mere husks of their former selves swearing that if they hear “I can do that” or (the worst) “That’s easy” one more time they won’t be held responsible for their actions!
NOW TO MY LOVELY READERS TO THE POINT!!!
Please believe me when I say no one can devalue what you do but YOU when you let these comments get to you! Take to heart the old saying…”Different strokes for different folks”. Hold your head up high when you look at your stall and all your hardwork and the next time someone makes a misguided comment about what you do just smile and ask yourself are they worthy or you awesome handcrafted item anyway!!
So my rant is over and I promise to get off my box 😛
Take Care
Nat xx
Well helllllloooooooooo there!! It’s been a while! I didn’t realise how long until I looked at my last post!!
So I’ll start with where I left off! Ted our garbage disposal terrier is all better and back to his cheeky self!
Ted has pinched the new bean bag as his new super comfy bed!
In fact he’s rather annoyed that I’m sat here writing rather than paying attention to him and he’s making his displeasure well known by try to lay across the laptop!!
So we’re all good here it’s been yet another busy few months….we’re hoping one day that we’ll actually get a bit of peace and quiet but then we’d probably be bored 🙂
I made the tough decision in June that Ally’s Stationery was going to take it’s final bow at the beginning of July but I would continue to run Ally’s Crafts as deep down i love crafting more than doing the stationery so it was a good move for me!
We’ve just had some awesome news as well…Hubby has got the job he’s been after for a while now so we will be on the move for our next adventure in December time! I’m looking forward to moving (I know you must think i’m mad) but I quite like the thought of starting a fresh every couple of years it certainly keeps life interesting!
On the crafty front I’ve been doing loads of craft fayres lately and DH has been coming with me to keep me company 🙂 He’s good to me! We’ve had a great laugh but always tend to spend more than I sell 😀
Well I just wanted to pop in and say a quick hi and i must write more!!! I’m off back out into the garden to enjoy this awesome sunshine while it lasts!!
Hope everyone out there is happy and well 🙂
Nat xx
Well it has to be said that last week could have been possible the worst week of the year so far!!
Our poor little Ted who is a Doggy Garbage Disposal finally ate one gross thing too many and was poisoned last Tuesday morning!! To watch my poor little puppy fall so ill so quickly will stay with me forever the image of him unable to stand is burned into my memory!! They said he’d been poisoned by Organophosphate (I think I’ve probably spelt that wrong) which is found in pesticides or cheap fleaing products that you can pick up in the supermarket!!
But we were lucky and our little man is home!!
And straight into the garden to munch on a dead bird….basically no lesson learnt for Ted!! But after a few quiet days he’s back to he usual self!
And now he’s better it’s time for me to manically sew for a fair on Saturday!! So on that note I best be off!!
Speak soon
Nat xx
Is it me or is it ridiculously difficult to work when the weather has been so awesome the last few days!! I can honestly say I can’t remember when I did anything remotely productive since the good weather began!! But today I did have to pull the curtains and get down to business and managed to get two proofs of invitations finished (well nearly), I’ve had a clear out and listed a joblot of craft stuff that i don’t use on ebay and did a bit of house work to!!
So i’ve made up for my lack of work ethic over the last couple of days and now i’ve actually put the garden furniture out it’s bound to cause a change in the weather so i can get back to work!!
I’ve done quite a lot of sewing the last few days which is good as my next fairs on the 7th!! Here’s the first finished one for a new home card!
This next one i was well chuffed with…until I got it out of the hoop to find that the rubber hoop that I used had marked the aida and I can’t get it out!!! I’ve tried everything short of bleach! So I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this one!!! if anyone know’s how to get dirty marks out of aida pllleeeeaaassseeee let me know!!
Well that’s it for today! I’ll post some more pics soon…but for now I think i’ve done enough working and it’s time to make the most of the late afternoon sun!!
Bye
Nat x
So my family and friends are sick of me going on about it so I’m going to tell you lot! 🙂 Last week I fell down the stairs!!! The worst thing was I was actually watching where I was going for a change and STILL fell….I wasn’t carrying anything or even checking my phone!!! So the long and short of it was I landed on my BUM and have spent the last week hobbling around whilst trying not to sit down and I’ve made sure everybody knows about it!!! 😀
Still that’s no excuse for not posting for a while! I made a new years resolution this year (yes I know it’s March!!) that I would try to do one craft fair a month….some months I’ve actually ended up with two a month! I also decided I would move away from papercraft and more into my latest obsession…cross stitch!
So with these two changes I suddenly realised I didn’t have a lot of items to sell and have manically been sewing over the last couple of months to make sure I at least have some cross stitch to mingle in with the card stock i already had.
Last weekend I did my second fair of the year in Brackla Community Centre in Bridgend and I broke the don’t spend your profits rule and I brought this….
I love this, I’m not normal a fan of plastic flowers but i’m fascinated by these! and it looks brill on my mantelpiece
My mum and sister also came down for a visit and a bit of sea air and came along to help and brought me and Nick a thank you gift
This is the closet i’m going to get to a well behaved Ted!! 🙂 Fresh out of the kiln the day before the fair….that’s my favorite thing about fairs, the fact that you actually meet the person who made what you’ve brought!
Well that’s all for today Nick’s cooking meatballs for tea nom…nom…nom
Nat x
Ted’s had a crazy weekend this weekend!
He’s been celebrating having his stitches removed
And making a general pain of himself!
Since he started Hyrdotherapy for his Hip you can’t even have a bath in piece!! Luckily our bath is to high for him to jump!!!
We on the other hand have had a fairly quiet weekend on Saturday we didn’t do a great deal I made an attempt to tidy my craft room and failed whilst Nick was doing work for his Chartered Engineering qualification and on Sunday we had our monthly visit to Costco to get our bulk buy bargains (try saying that really fast!) and managed to take some time to take Ted to the beach…even if we did get blown away!
Then a flying visit to Nick’s Mum and Dad’s for a cup of tea and a warm up before coming home for a sunday roast…Before getting back to work!
I had a busy evening (and so far a busy morning!) packing up sales from Ally’s Crafts and working on my next stationery order! This one is for a lovely couple in Bournemouth who have ordered our butterfly range!
Well thats it for now (yes I know there was a distinct lack of knitting or stitching in this update!!! More on that soon) better get back to it!
Speak soon
Nat x
This week has turned in to a crazy one! I can honestly say I haven’t stopped!
I’ve taken over the dining room to get an order finished and today with the help of a bit of music on the radio I’ve finished it! This was an extra special bespoke order that I did for a bride whose having a festival themed wedding this year! I love the brides idea for her wedding and even though this isn’t an order I would normally take on I loved it!! I was going to share a photo of it with you today but just incase anyone invited to her wedding see’s it I’ll hold off on that one….I’ll show you as soon as I know they’ve gone out 🙂
I’m going to be moving on to my next order now for our butterfly range of wedding stationery for a lovely Bride and Groom in Bournemouth! No rest for the wicked 🙂
I’ve also just done this fuschia pink samples of our elegance range of stationery! I’ve never worked them in this colour before and I think they’re awesomely striking! They are now wending their way to a lovely bride in London!
And to top it all I’m trying to get ready for our first wedding fayre of the season at the Vale Resort Hotel on the 29th!!! I love going to fayres just to hear all the bride & grooms to be’s ideas for their weddings!! (and the freebie dips in the chocolate fountain at the end of the fayre!)
So as you can probably guess not much in the way of sewing or knitting this week! The chicken is still only one leg and a bit of the outline but I am starting my next project….I vow to finish the chickens though!!!!
I know i’ve promised as well that I will work on some of the kits i’ve recently added onto Ally’s Crafts! As soon as I’ve finished this fayre next week I’ll get working on the pink felt owl kit!!
Speak to you soon
Nat x
So the saga of the chicken cross stitch continues!! I’ve finished the actual cross stitching itself and now I’ve got to do the bit I hate…..finishing off! It’s so fiddly! But I’m getting there…So far a leg and a half and a handbag down…….the rest to go!!
In Ted news he’s slowly starting to speak to us again after his trip to the vets last week!
After taking it out on my Uggs for a while he’s turned his attention to the slow destruction of the cone of shame!!! (it got to day five before we could no longer rescue it!!)
In other news we’ve had a bit of a pants start to the week…as some of you may know I was told of my impending redundancy recently, which was ok as I had my ventures to keep me busy and after ten years in financial services I was looking for something new, plus my husband is in the millitary so with one of us working we would be fine, but today just to pile on the pressure there has been announcements about more redundancies of 1000 jobs in the Royal Air Force here and unfortunately my hubbys branch is affected! Now I know that means its not definately him yet but it means from now until June we’ve got to batten down the hatches and wait it out!
I’m trying to get both of us to stay positive and chilled out about it because to be honest we’re both worriers (especially me) but this year i’m trying to make it the year of the chilled out Nat (i don’t think i’m succeeding so far!)
But with this announcement it does pile on the pressure for us but it also makes me feel a bit sad about what was once the pride of Britain….our armed forces. They’re steeped in tradition and from my short experience so far of them one of the few places where the typical Best Of British values still shine through! It’s such a shame that it continues to be stabbed at until theres nothing strong enough to hold strong our traditions.
Anyway I’m going to get off my soap box now and face the artic conditions to take Ted for a stroll to the post office!!
Speak to you soon!
Nat x
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