Featured in Not on the high street mailer

Yippee!!  I had an email from Not on the high street on Friday saying that I was going to be featured in the next customer emailer which went out today.  The theme for today was crafts and my Cupcake Brooch was featured.  I have made some stock in anticipation for a few orders - fingers crossed!



Cupcake Brooch



THE perfect girlie weekend

I have just spent a lovely weekend with two of my greatest friends Lorna and Kath.  Lorna lives in London like myself and my best friend lives in Nottingham.  Kath is 8 months pregnant and decided she wanted a girlie weekend in London before her second baby arrived!  So Lorna, Kath and myself spent a blissfully girlie day together yesterday. 

We started with a trip to 'Britains Best Sweet Shop', Hope and Greenwood on Russell Street.  We were like three very excitable children!  Between us we managed to pick out flying saucers, confits, pink shrimps and the lovely guy who works there also gave us each one of their best selling Earl grey tea and lemon chocolates - delicious.  You can buy their sweets online so make sure you check out there website if you don't live in London. 



Kath with our goodies from Hope and Greenwood

We then strolled onto Somerset House.  We had planned to go and see the Courtauld Gallery but then decided to go on the free guided tour of the house.  None of us had any idea just how much history was involved in the site and building of the house.  It was a fascinating hour and we got to go to areas only open to tours including The Dead Room - a bit spooky!


Lorna, Kath and I in the courtyard at Somerset House

 It was then on to much needed traditional afternoon tea at The National Dining Rooms at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.  This was the highlight our of day.  We each got a beautful 3 tiered stand, on the top layer were four scrummy little sandwiches, on the second layer was an enormous fruit scone with clotted cream and then on the third layer 3 divine little cakes.  And of course your choice of tea.  I would highly recommend this to anyone.  It was such a lovely atmosphere.

Mini Lemon Meringue Pie was the best!

We then retired to my flat and settled down to a night of Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor!  And despite how much we ate at tea we still managed to squeeze in a few pizzas, some more sweets and some popcorn. 

Kath and Lorna sipping their tea at The National Dining Rooms

So, the next time I see my best friend she will have another baby!  It was wonderful to have this time together.  She is glowing and looking as wonderful as ever.  A truely perfect weekend. x

Facebook giveaway - winning prizes!

I recently had a facebook giveaway to celebrate reaching 200 fans. Two of my new square felt 'Tea Cup' brooches/badges were up for grabs including your own hand stitched message of choice for the tea cup. Two winners were randomly selected and they were a very dear friend of mine, Harriet, and Nina Wood. Nina has her own company offering handmade stationary and accessories for special occasions. Make sure you go and check out her website, Macy Molly's.

Harriet chose a cerise brooch and Nina chose a red one. Now that the girls have received their brooches I can now show you a picture of them.

Having had such great ideas for quirky messages/wording from people who entered the giveaway, I have been inspired to use some of them for products in the future. In particular I loved 'I Love Earl Grey', 'Milk no sugar' and 'Fancy a brew'. Anyone's ideas who I use may get their very own original brooch as a way to say thank you x

A beautiful little gift from Austria

I met up with an old friend this week who was over from Austria for a few days. Anna-Maria and I used to work together at Andrew Martin and I haven't seen her for three years. It was so lovely to see her and she bought me this beautiful little box of chocolates all the way from Vienna, her home town. I haven't wanted to open them all week as they are so gorgeously wrapped up but when I finally opened them up this evening they were even prettier inside. They are really mini too so I don't feel bad if I have one too many! And they are DELICIOUS! xx

***Facebook giveaway***

To celebrate reaching 200 fans on my facebook page I'm doing a giveaway :-) Its a brand new product so make sure you all enter. I've taken my Tea Cup design and made it into a square felt brooch. Its larger than my round brooches so allows more room on the cup for personalised messages. All you need to do is leave a comment below the post on my Jim Jam Sandwich facebook page saying which colour is your favourite and the message you would want stitched onthe front. I've made one for my housemate Helen, who loves tea :-) xx

Jim Jam Sandwich abroad!

Another few months has whizzed passed and I've been so busy that sadly I have neglected my blog. Firstly I want to say thank you to my new followers who've joined me over the summer. Secondly I want to let you all know I'm going to be doing a mini giveaway from tomorrow on my Facebook page so make sure you all go along and enter

I've been very fortunate to manage to squeeze in two holidays this summer. Firstly 5 days in Granada with my Mum taking in the incredible views and history of The Alhambra, the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and indulging in too many churros and tapas!! I then had a wonderful weekend at a festival with housemate Helen, followed by 4 days soaking up some sun, reading until our hearts content and consuming some of the most amazing cheese and wine you can imagine in St Cyprien in the South of France. So here's a few photos to feast your eyes on. Sorry they're all a bit jumbled up, I can never seem to work out how to move them around!!! I'd love to hear what you've all been up to for your holidays so please leave your comments to let me know. x

Views from inside The Alhambra

Beach at St Cyprien with the Pyrenees in the background

Hall of the Mexuar, The Alhambra

Geraniums in Pampaneira

Helen and I sheltering from the rain at Camp Bestival

Mum and I at the Alhambra

Colourful flags at Camp Bestival

The newest members of Holmbush Road!

My housemate Helen and I were very excited about our trip to the Asics store on Argyll Street to get fitted out for new running trainers. Having both recently suffered with sore knees and with half marathons approaching we decided it was time to invest in new trainers. We arrived at the store to have our feet scanned, and with various minor abnormalities discovered, we were fitted with the most suitable trainers for our feet and were then filmed running in them. Both happy with our new fit outs our newest family members are now home and have both been broken in!

Also recently purchased for our weekend at Camp Bestival in July is my new Vango tent! I did feel slightly geeky and old one Saturday night when instead of getting ready to out and party I decided that buying my tent online was a far more important activity!! She/he has yet to be named and as I come from a family who sadly names everything any suggestions would be greatly received......... :-)

Yippeeee its Friday!

I am literally about to head to work but wanted to write a quick post to say

***HAPPY FRIDAY***

I have never been so glad its Friday! I have had a very busy and fun week catching up with friends, going to gigs and design evenings and tonight is my first night in! Ok I know its Friday that you should usually go out but I think its time I gave myself a much earned night on the sofa relaxing and chatting with my lovely housemate Hels who I have hardly seen all week.

Anyway I hope you all have a great end to the week. I will be updating you properly over the weekend with what I've been up to. I will leave you with a lovely sunny picture I took on holiday in Mexico that will hopefully encourage the sun to shine this weekend! xx

Introducing my fab friend, housemate and personal chef!

This is a special blog post to introduce my wonderful friend, housemate and personal chef Helen! I'm a very lucky lady to be living with such a fab friend and one who loves to cook and bake and who does it very very well. So, Bank Holiday Monday saw me getting on with some card making while Helen baked a batch of Black Bottom Cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. Mmmm totally delicious. I've actually just had another one and they are to die for :-)

The proud chef

Cooling!

All gone!

Then last night after a long day at work I returned home to Helen cooking her amazing Toad in the Hole accompanied by some lovely red wine, followed by lemon fool. After the miserable weather this was truely the best thing ever!! So a big thank you to my lovely Hels, love you loads xx

Toad in the Hole

The winner of my blog giveaway....

Thank you so much for all entering my blog giveaway. I had a great 36 comments left. The winner has just been picked at random by using random.org and I can reveal that it picked number 7 and comment number 7 was left by the lovely........

Jo Williams of Muddy Puddle Crafts

Jo wins all these goodies, a Jim Jam Sandwich handmade Cupcake Card and 'I Love Tea' Brooch, some Cath Kidston napkins, some buttons and a yummy Iced Gingerbread Cupcake Biscuit! These will be winging their way to you as soon as possible Jo.

Make sure you all go and have a look at Jo's fab blog as well. She sells gorgeous unique hand painted shabby chic inpsired creations which you can find on Folksy. These are my favourite, her lovely Patterned Pegs.

My first trip to Anthropologie

I headed to Kings Road after I finished work today to make the most of the 30% discount at GAP but I got side tracked by all the beautiful things in Anthropologie! I have never been before but have heard so many people talking about it. The one on Kings Road opened recently and it is just amazing. It was so inspiring and I would do anything to have a shop like this one day! The layout of the fashion and homewares together is just fantastic and works so well. Clever people! Anyway I couldn't leave empty handed and having lovingly gazed at some stunning but every expensive dresses I then fell in love with this gorgeous and slightly more affordable mug :-) I also bought my Mum a pressie but I can't put the photos up incase she see's it before her birthday.

Blog giveaway reminder

Just a quick post to all you fans that you still have until this Sunday, 30th to enter my blog giveaway. There's a handmade card, brooch, craft supplies and a few other goodies up for grabs. All you need to do is click HERE to be taken to my giveaway post. Then just simply leave a comment letting me know what your favourite cake is. Easy peasy! One lucky winner will be chosen at random and announced on Sunday 30th. Good luck :-)

Fabrics galore from Fabrics Galore!!

I had a wonderful hour mooching around Fabrics Galore on Lavendar Hill. I decided I needed some new fabrics to help inspire me with some new card and accessory ideas so headed there this morning. I could spend the whole day in there and not get bored, its amazing! I came out with yet more spotted fabrics (You can't keep me away from them!), a few pretty florals, some cool striped Paul Smith fabric which I thought might be good for some Fathers Day Cards and last but not least my favourite finds, the retro bird and apple print fabrics. These both spoke to me from the other side of the room, I LOVE them!

My very own studio!

I recently moved flat and although my bedroom is much smaller than in my previous flat I have gained my very own studio space in the living room, yeh!! Having had to work in my bedroom for the last year in quite a cramped space it is a luxury to have so much space with my own shelves, desk and cupboards. It really is helping me to be inspired to do more work and hopefully it will help to me produce a few new exciting designs! So here's some photos for you to have a nosey at :-) These were taken a few days after we moved so not all by bits and pieces were out, its definitely not looking so immaculate now!

Dorset Cereals fab VW Campervan competition!!

Dorset Cereals have had huge success running their Little Blog Awards and they have just launched a fantastic competition where one lucky person can win a VW Campervan (see picture below of actual campervan!!!)





All you need to do is to enter their free prize draw. The deadline for entries is June 2nd. Click HERE to take you to the link where you can enter. Go on, theres nothing to loose only a gorgeous campervan to win :-)

**Celebratory blog giveaway**

At last, I'm back online at home after 7 weeks of no internet having recently moved flat. I have my life back, yippee!! As promised a few months ago, I wanted to celebrate reaching 100 blog followers by doing a special giveaway to say thank you to you all. So here it finally is, I hope its been worth waiting for.

One of my lovely blog followers can win all these gorgeous goodies; some pretty Cath Kidston napkins, one of my handmade Cupcake cards and 'I Love Tea' brooches, some buttons for you to get crafty with from my vast collection and a yummy treat, an Iced Gingerbread Cupcake biscuit!



All you need to do to be in for a chance to win is to firstly be following my blog and then simply leave me a comment below this post letting me know what your favourite cake of all time is. I will choose a winner at random in 2 weeks on Sunday 30th May. Happy commenting lovely fans! xx

Giveaway & Jim Jam Sandwich is featured!

Thank you all for helping me reach 100 followers, and I'm now even up to 102! Huge grins from Jim Jam Sandwich! I promised a massive giveaway to celebrate and I won't disappoint you all. Its Design Week down here in London so my day job is a little stressful this week and then I'm moving flats on Saturday so I will post the giveaway details this coming Sunday/Monday.


I had some lovely news to start my rather busy and hectic week and that is that my Easter Chicks Card was featured in todays Notonthehighstreet emailer. I've already had a mini influx of orders, so thank you NOTHS for featuring me.

Lovely Summery things on Folksy

Well, I'm home today ill and whilst I should be resting I'm already bored so with some blue sky finally showing and the nasty cold weather hopefully gone for good I have started thinking about all things beachy and warm :-) Ok, so we have a few more months to get through until Summer is really upon us but there's no harm in thinking about it and starting to get excited!

So here are some gorgeous happy summery beachy themed things that I found on Folksy. I hope they make you smile too. All these lovely little companies sell through Folksy so make sure you go and check out all the gorgeous hand made things they make.






(From the top: Multi coloured striped tote bag by Crack in Pear, Driftwood Fishing Boat by Kirsty Elson, 'EAT' Summer Bunting by SewRecycled!, Nautical Button Collection by Little Solsken, Purse by PantsandPaper, Beach Huts Tea Cosy by Charlotte Macy Textiles)

Cupcake cards off to Lymington for some fresh sea air!

I sent off a lovely big order today to a little kitchen shop in Lymington called Kitchen Matters. Vicki met my Mum at a fair last year and saw my cards and said they would be great for her shop. She ordered 24 hand made Cupcake cards all of which were totally individual and unique. Vicky also liked my 'I Love Tea' brooch design so I transformed that into a card design for her as well. I packaged them all up and off they went today. I really hope they're popular with all those lovely people down on the coast.

Beautiful buttons galore!

I use a lot of buttons on my cards and accessories and always try to use vintage/old buttons I've found and collected. This makes all my pieces unique and special which is really important to me. My grandmothers both handed down their button collections to me but they are now sadly dwindling away as I sell more and more cards.

To buy vintage buttons is incredibly expensive so I was very lucky a couple of weeks ago when one of my very special friends, Sarah, told me her Mum had had a massive clear out at their farm house and had come across 3 jars of buttons which she didn't really want. Sarah very kindly thought of me straight away and I am now the very proud owner of these three large jars of buttons :-) Huge thanks to Sarah and her wonderful Mum Anne xx

Crafting with my best friend

I have just had a wonderful Sunday being crafty with my best friend Kath. Its not something we get to do that much anymore as she lives just outside London and also has a 11 month old daughter Amy, who I am godmother too, so life is pretty busy. Ka th ventured down to mine this morning armed with all her jewellery making things and fresh muffins and lots of herbal tea :-) After re-arranging my usual work area to accommodate both of us we had a perfect workspace for two over looking my little garden and with the sunlight pouring in, perfect!

Girlies at our little work station!

So with plenty of girlie gossip to catch up on and with a constant flow of tea we had a hugely productive 5 hours of crafting. Its always so much more fun having someone to bounce ideas off and actually I stay so much more focused with someone to chat too.

So here are our efforts, two beautiful pairs of earings and a necklace by Kath, and I managed to complete my card order for a kitchen shop in Lymington, Kitchen Matters. Vicki of Kitchen Matters, has requested card similar to my 'I Love Tea' brooches so I really hope she likes these. I will get these listed on both my Folksy and NOTHS stores soon too so you all can all get your hands on them!

Kaths beautiful necklace and earings and my semi finished cards

My finished 'I Love Tea' cards for Kitchen Matters