Check this blog out !

Came across this blog last night, do check it out for instant colour pallete inspiration !

color-stripes.blogspot.com/

Here's a taster of Kris's Color Stripes its got me hooked !

New Products

Been a bit busy lately painting new products and replacing old ones to keep my area of the shop looking full for the christmas shoppers. Going at full speed with smoke coming off my paint brush I've not had time to stop and share what I have been doing. I have been taking photos (which aren't up to my usual standard I'm affraid as I've rushed them) but haven't been posting them on here.

Done a new style "Peg It" Plaque as I've always thought the square ones were a bit boring.

Made some more lavender bags which I love. The Kaffe Fasset fabric is so me, spotty, bright, fun & funky I had to have it when I came across it on ebay.

Made some more girls necklaces which have proved popular and are a bit if fun to make choosing the clashing colours.

Will try to keep you up to date and share more in future, ttfn x

Christmas Fayre

Been a bit busy this week as the shop has been on the move to a local Christmas Fayre. I became a pro at these last year and had a set layout I followed which meant I packed up, set up and took down with no trouble at all. Not quite so easy this time, how do you fit 12 peoples work from an entire shop onto a 6 foot tressle table ? not easy believe me but the result was a very pretty very colourful jam packed stall. Despite all the stress I loved it and had a great time !

Perfect Polka Dots !

Thanks to inspiration from Sana at Raggedy Revival I have been jazzing up the look of my blog tonight. Its a bit of a work in progress but I am loving the pink polka dots ! Watch this space for a more nicer, more eyecatching and more enjoyable look !

Wordle !

This is great (thanks Anna) what a cool gadget click the picture and it will take you to Wordle, click 'create' and have fun turning a bunch of words into somthing simular to this.  Have a play its great ! I am easily pleased but I really do think I may need to do more of this and use it on my product labels or flyers ! 

I'm all painted out but still here !

I'm back, I think its been a month since I last posted but I have been so busy painting new products the photo taking, uploading and blogging bit has gone out the window I am afraid. With Christmas just round the corner I have been really busy getting Christmas decoration made for the shop. I have loved doing them and it has really got me in the festive mood. I had a bit of a do over my colourways and did consider doing a few ranges but in the end decided to stick to good old red and white. It seems to have paid off as I have already sold quite a few tree decorations in the shop as well as a lovely garland that I didn't even manage to get photographed before it sold. I also did another large heart but in red which also sold before photographing. I need to get a move on replacing both the garland and the red large heart as the white one looks a bit sad displayed on its own.

I wont leave it as long next time and will try and post more over the next few days as I get more stuff made this time remembering to take the photies !

New Hairbrushes

Been having a bit of fun over the last few days creating these cute girls hair brushes. Really enjoyed doing something pretty and girly and a nice change from the red and white Christmas decorations and garlands I have been working on. I have put them on sale in the shop today and are £3.50 so if you need the perfect stoking filler for your little girl then visit the Hope Emporium.

The Master Pieces are Finished !

For those of you that I haven't told I have been busy at my daughters school over the last 3 weeks painting artwork with the children to go in the newly decorated toilets. I was kind of nominated at a PTA meeting " ooh yeah ...........wouldn't some artwork look good, yeah, Jo can paint she does art and stuff that would be great" and there you go before I knew it I was given the job. I was tasked with an underwater theme for the boys and a garden theme for the girls on large 3ft by 2ft mdf boards with every child involved. Its been quite a hard thing to plan, organise and do as every child , all 74 of them, have painted their own little bit ( a fish, a flower, a bee etc.)

Despite the initial planning and the hours I have put in at home I have loved every minute of it and so have the kids and the results have amassed me. I had each child for a maximum of 30 mins and what they have achieved in such a small amount of time is great. I obviously did a lot too, I drew all the images out at the start and have re outlined them all at the end and I also painted all the backgrounds and done all the varnishing etc. Its been great and some have even sugessted I should approach other schools and get paid next time !

So I am afraid I am now going to bore you with the photos. I tried to just list a few but they are all so good and so much effort has gone in to them I have to include all.

The boys were quite a challenge, all ages tested me a little but we got there in the end, they did however get very messy and parents are probably still trying to remove paint from uniforms. The detail in some of the boys was great, Jake's crab with pink stripes was one of the best. Class 1 were memorable it was total overload with pva and glitter but we had fun!

The girls were much more controlled and calm, they took their time and really thought about it. Class 4 surprised me with their skill and again the detail was great. Class 2 only has 5 girls so they got a butterfly each and did a combination of paint, collage and glitter, the effect is great and their board is one of my favorites. The pink flower is my daughters and of course another favourite of mine it didn't seem right not to include a special close up shot of hers, not that I am proud or anything !

Scripts Words Arrive

Today the new script words I ordered have arrived safe and sound. I am really pleased, really good quality, nice and thick and nice and smooth ready to paint. I did some of these once before but in their raw state they were pretty poor and I had to sand them before painting which took ages. They were also really flimsy ply and a few actually broke. You can never tell what you'll get when you order off the net guess thats the chance you take.

In the past I focused on scripts for kids bedrooms, smile, angel, princess etc and they all sold but I am going with grown ups now, duck blue & white for the bathe, red & white for home and bake and pea green & cream for cook. The others are for christmas decs which I will focus on in a few weeks. The pea green is because I have just done my kitchen green, a fab pea soup colour which took me ages to find after trawling tester pots from all the manufacturers, then I found 'churlish green' by Farrow & Ball, just perfect.

Taking of my new kitchen (which still isnt completely finished) its been having the finishing touches treatment. Thats me all over when it comes to re decorating I have the final image in my mind from the start, I buy the nick nacs and know exactly what is going where and am really impatient. When its nearly done I get all the bits in place and I am happy even if there is still a bit of touching up to do. I have recently stood some printing blocks on my cooker hood and they look great ! I have had them since May Bank holiday weekend when I went camping to Ross on Wye and had a trip to 'Baileys'. What an amazing place ! I could spend all day there, its one of those shops that sells all those things you have aaaaal...ways wanted ! as well as loads of other things you love but just dont know what you'll do with them but you buy them anyway. www.baileyshomeandgarden.com check out their website or even better go there if you are in Herefordshire. Heres some pics to tempt you ...........

And finally those gorgeous printing blocks adding the finishing touches to my kitchen

ttfn xxx

A Busy Bee Day

Had a really productive making day today considering I have had Dexter my 3 year old with me today. I normally don't get much done in the way of making when he is around and tend to leave it to days when he is at nursery. But not today we have achieved a Stay and Play toddler session, a bit of making, a bit of housework and even cooked at roast, now that what you call multi tasking !

I have a few orders to make asap and a handful of other things I need to get made to replace what I have sold recently to get my stock levels back up. I have been kind of putting it off because making new things is far more exciting ! I really want to be thinking new products, Christmas products and Christmas decorations but cant until these bits are done and dusted. The thing with bits is its time consuming, I find I work far quicker making lots of the same item or the same colour. But anyway today I have made a serious good start at getting it done.

If all goes to plan I should be putting these bits behind me and thinking exciting stuff by the end of the week ! so watch this space xxx

It Worked !

Really pleased this has worked but just noticed my blog has no title ? will work on that, I did warn you I am no good at this kind of thing ! ttfn xxx

Here Goes The Launch of My Blog !

Wow am I really blogging ? not convinced myself !

Hello all,

I have been told a lot lately that blogs are the new websites and I MUST have one. All very well in theory but as far as I am concerned not very easy in practice. Having failed miserably on a 10 week web design course I had written myself off as a techie and had resigned myself to never having a blog or website. I have thought it would be easier to just pay someone to set up both things and any other techie things that are out there on the net but but that would be giving up and wasting my profits so I have been brave and persevered.

To be honest I am not really sure what a blog is but I will soon learn and hopefully one of you out there will enjoy it. I have had fun tonight making my page look pretty and pink and am quite amazed its worked. All I need to do next is think of things to post.................................. ?

Too tired to think tonight but as my friends and family are forever telling me I talk to much I'm sure It wont be a problem !

Watch this space xxx