Christmas Gift Tags for sale....

Here's what I managed to get done yesterday, a set of hand printed and hand finished Christmas Gift Tags. They come in a set of four with the following messages: Snowflake, Merry Christmas, Shining Star and With Love. There is a choice between silver or gold print with either fuschia or aubergine satin ribbon. I've never done gift tags before so thought I would give them a go. I have listed them for sale on my Folksy store at £3.00 (inc p&p) for a set of 4 so fingers crossed. I wanted to keep them simple and just go for some fab colour combo's. Would love to hear your thoughts followers and fans.......

Christmas card designs are still sadly not done as my felt is still stuck in the postal strike! Hopefully I should receive that this week and finally be able to get them listed really soon.

Goodies from Greece

My wonderful mother sent me a gorgeous little parcel of goodies from Greece from her's and Dad's recent holiday to Rhodes. After a very busy first week at my new job this was a lovely surprise to wake up to this morning. Enclosed was a beautiful sarong, which will come in very handy for my Christmas trip to Borneo, some very strong and delicious smelling herbs/spices and some authentic natural sea sponge! Thanks Mum you are a star xx

And the 2 winners are.....

8. CRAFTY ELSIE

&
9. MARICE

CONGRATULATIONS you've both won one of my new Fairy Cupcake cards

They will be winging their way to you in the post asap. Please can you email me your addresses (link on my blog). Thank you to everyone who entered and for sharing what type of tea (or coffee!) they would choose to accompany one of my little cupcakes.

Marice has a wonderful shop on Folksy called Marice's World so make sure you go and have a look at all the lovely things she sells.

Sadly Crafty Elsie is a new follower and I'm not sure what/if she sells but please let me know if you do so I can mention your details too.

The two winners were randomly picked using Random.org

For those of you who didn't win this time I will be doing another giveaway in the next few weeks so keep your eyes open for it. I hope you've all had a great National Cupcake Week. x

A special thank you xx

A very quick blog post to say a huge thank you to all my new blog followers this week. You've helped me reach the fab 50 mark and its put a huge smile on my face. The pretty daisys are to say thank you to all, new and old followers!

I will be doing my second proper blog giveaway in the next few weeks so make sure you all keep your eyes peeled for it. Lots of lovely goodies to win.

Also remember you still have a few hours to enter my Fairy Cupcake card giveaway which is to celebrate the wonders of National Cupcake Week. So far there's 8 entries. Get commenting on the National Cupcake Week post below this one to be in for a chance to win one of these cute little cards. I will reveal the two winners later this afternoon.

Happy Friday all you wonderful followers and I hope you continue to enjoy my blog. xx

National Cupcake Week!

I can't believe I didn't know about this until this morning, how amazing! And funnily enough I have spent all afternoon making my 'Cherry Cup Cake' and 'I Love Tea' brooches, very appropriate I thought!

So as you're well aware from my designs, I love cupcakes too! So to celebrate, Jim Jam Sandwich is offering 15% DISCOUNT all week on all my cupcake related items (cards, brooches & framed pieces) on my Folksy store. When ordering please use the code NCW.

AND I'm giving away two of these cute little Fairy Cake cards that I made today using a lovely new printed fabric I bought at the weekend. To be in for a chance to WIN one all you need to do is become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment stating what tea you think would best to accompany this little Fairy cake :-) I will announce the winners on Friday.

There are also lots of other fellow bloggers, crafters and tweeters helping raise awareness of this very special week including some great cupcake giveaways which not must not be missed out on!

Domestic Sluttery are giving away a box of cupcakes (from Cupcakes & Peonies) every day this week so make sure you check out their blog every morning to enter.

New Mummys Tips has also just posted a cupcake related post on her blog with some great exclusive cupcake products and offers so another must to check out this week. Carol has very kindly mentioned Jim Jam Sandwich and all my cupcake related brooches, cards and frames so thank you.

So, Happy National Cupcake Week everyone and I hope there will be lots of glorious indulging! xx

Festive fabrics & fireworks galore!

I was about to post this entry on Monday morning but then got totally carried away when I discovered it was National Cupcake Week! So, back to my original post for this week.............

I finished my old job last Friday and now have a blissful week of craftiness before I start my new one on the 21st. I have planned to get all my Christmas card designs, gift tags and festive accessories made this week and listed on both my online stores Folksy and Notonthehighstreet.com.


I have already ordered a wonderful Christmas felt pack from Lupin which has all the perfect colours to make all my designs. Last Saturday I then headed to Fabrics Galore on Lavendar Hill in SW London to buy some festive fabrics (above). FG is a fantastic shop and always full of new & exciting fabrics including Paul Smith, Liberty prints and Amy Butler. I always get very distracted so I had to makesure I went in for Christmas fabrics and only came out with Christmas fabrics..............it almost worked!! I was very controlled though and only strayed twice (see pink spotty fabric and cute floral print below). It would have been rude not too!


I have templated all my Christmas card designs and have all my fabrics and supplies so tomorrow is dedicated to finally getting some made, yippee :-) I will let you know as soon as these are ready for sale.

As well as my fabric trip last weekend I also went to the Thames Festival on Sunday evening. Having lived in London for 8 years I can't believe I have never heard of it until now. My bf, myself and some friends followed the wonderful carnival procession at 7.30 pm and then wandered around the food and craft stores on the southbank waiting for the fireworks display. It got a little chilly later on so we were praying the fireworks were going to be worth the wait, and they were. It was truely the most incredible display I have ever seen and roused our spirits for the journey home. I managed to catch some great shots on my camera so thought I should share a few with you. If you're in London next year make sure you go.

Things I cherish...

I was lucky enough to have incredibly crafty Grandmothers and they both left me all their amazing collections of threads, buttons, needle cases and all sorts of wonderful containers/boxes which housed these crafty things. They are things that I use and work with on a daily basis and I wanted to show them off!

My true favourite is the small box addressed to my fathers mother, Mrs Geoffrey Thomas. It is so beautifully made and I just love the old stamps and italic writing on the label. The date stamped on the the box is sadly not visible but the stamps have George VI on and were brought out in 1941 so this little box is probably over 50 years old! Its something I would grab if there was a fire in my flat. I cherish it so much. It's home to all my machine spools, I'm not sure what Gran used it for but I like to think it was something similar.

Here are also some of the wonderfully retro/vintage buttons my mothers mother left me. I'm planning to incorporate & use some of these in my button jewellery swap.

Below that is a picture of Granny Thomas's needle case.

I'd love to hear what items you really cherish that may have been handed down to you. x

Button Jewellery Swap - meet my partner.

Yippee, partners for the swap (organised by the fab Incy Wincy Stitches) have been announced and mine is Jane from Hooked Yarn ☺ You can check out Jane's website and beautiful shop on Folksy. Here's a peek at one of my favourite pieces of hers, this stunning Sea blue bracelet hand crocheted in wire with myuki beads. Its already ear marked for a friends birthday.


Our parcels have to contain the following,

Handmade button jewellery and/or accessories

Some craft supplies (for example, extra buttons or ribbons, beads, etc) and a chocolate or sweet treat :)

I've got a few ideas but am so busy this week I'll have to leave it until the weekend when I have more time to sit down and think and plan.

I won't post photos until Jane has received her goodies otherwise that will spoil the surprise so I'm afraid you'll have to wait for a few weeks to see what I come up with. x

JJS's wet and wonderful fjordland adventure ☂

Back from hols and finally time to dry off! Norway is well renowned for its damp, drizzly weather and it didn't let us down! It was however a fab 5 days spent with my brother and his family surrounded by beautiful scenery, the freshest air you can possibly imagine and plenty of adventures including white water rafting, beaver/elk night tour and lots of fantastic walks up steep hills.

I sadly didn't have time to shop and find any crafty Norwegian bits for my next blog giveaway but I am planning to still make something that sticks with the Norwegian theme. Keep your eyes peeled for the date to be revealed.

Anyway here are a few photos from my holidays. I will endeavor to get some more craft related entries posted soon. I only have 8 days to go at my current job then a week off where I'm planning to get all my christmas card designs/gifts done and listed for sale on both my folksy and notonthehighstreet stores.