My Fantasy!

I am sitting at the dining table looking out at the oak trees that edge the allotments at the end of our road, listening to a chaffinch "pinking" away somewhere, his call somewhat undermined by the melodious warbling of a blackbird.

It all sounds very idealistic but I actually live on a busy road almost opposite an industrial estate - there is a constant flow of through-traffic and a plane overhead about every 2 minutes.  The dining table is shoved in the far end of the lounge, and is currently occupied by one of my cats, who thinks it is a superb sprawl spot. It is also a great vantage point when he feels the need (quite frequently) to regurgitate his food, as it allows for maximum splatter range.

Why am I blogging today?  Well, I was on facebook earlier, looking at a post by TalkAboutCreative, which asked how neat one's work area was.  It struck me that I don't really have a work area!  We live in a one-bedroomed first floor maisonette, which has a garden (yay) that is the size of a postage stamp (boo).  The bedroom houses a whole wealth of junk, including college books, folders, bellydance clothes, craft bits n bobs (four boxes of assorted papers, ribbons, adhesives etc. under the bed), old vinyl waiting to be sorted for charity, baby clothes that are too big, baby clothes that are too small (waiting to see if a friend is having a boy or a girl so I can determine whether to send clothes on, or charity shop them), baby toys, baby, cot and random crap that seems to have accumulated.  Oh, and half the contents of the bathroom following our flood last week*.  

The lounge is mainly filled with books.  Lots of books. Three bookcases and three shelves.  And they're overflowing....  the lounge is also housing two boxes of other crafty stuff (one box for soap/bathbomb type things that I make as gifts for friends & family, one box for jewellery-making bits and bobs), hubby's guitars, amplifiers and associated equipment, cat toys, baby toys, baby bouncing chair and other random bathroom equipment.  You get the picture.

I got to fantasizing about my ideal house/workspace as I have been sitting around for the last 90 minutes waiting for an independent insurance assessor to come out and evaluate the carpet that has been taken off the stairs post-flood.

My ideal house would be detached, and in some accessible but quiet countryside, preferably not too 'agriculturally improved'.  It would have a cellar, which we could convert into a soundproofed music studio with storage for aforementioned amps, guitars and other accessories. There would be a decent-sized hallway, from which the stairs led up to three bedrooms and family bathroom. From that landing, there'd be another staircase up to the loft, nestled under the eaves.  Here I'd do my crafting, and try not to get distracted by the views.

On the ground floor would be a kitchen that would house a dining table (alas, I don't think ours is for the world too much longer, it belonged to my grandparents and was bought in 1923), and have plenty of cupboard space, plus an adjacent utility/boot room.  It would have a door with garden access, outside which herbs and vegetables would be within easy reach.  A study cum-library would take care of the books, and the laminate floor in the lounge would give me space to practice dancing or for the baby to play safely.

The garden would have space for chickens to scratch out a living, a wildlife pond, and be full of native trees, shrubs and flowers, making it a haven for butteflies, bees, slow-worms, hedghogs and other creatures.  A small water feature could tinkle away on the patio, where we could sit out on warm summer evenings, under the shade of clematis, wisteria, honeysuckle and jasmine.  Tucked away in a corner would be a play area...

I would spend my days making cards, baking, making jam, making jewellery and being a domestic goddess.  In my ultimate fantasy, we'd have a small cottage close by that we hired out on occasion, and it would be filled with beautifully handcrafted soft furnishings.  Friends and family would be able to drop in as and when they were passing, and we could even have a little outhouse in the garden which could serve as a self-contained annex for those needing to stay longer.

So, as I move the cat for the umpteenth time, bumble into the bathroom (trying not to knock over the bath panel propped up on the landing) to have a quick wash, and try to work out what the hell we're having for dinner, I'll just dream that dream...

Perhaps one day, that long-lost (so long-lost that I don't know about them) eccentric relative will think of me and put a few pennies this way!

*The flood is a whole other can of worms and you'll have to wait for the next installment for that.  The insurance assessor has now turned up and is playing with his bluetooth electronic tape measure.  Any minute now the baby will wake up and start yelling, the cat with throw up and normality will be resumed with a vengeance.

Gearing up

Yes, it's getting busy again....

I may have mentioned that my sister is getting married later this year.  I am commissioned to 'do' the stationery and trimmings, which is really exciting, although a little nerve-wracking.
The invitations are all completed and sent out now, both for daytime and evening.  Hen night invites have also gone out. As you will appreciate, in the pictures below I have had to remove personal details for the purposes of posting here.

I am now working on the design for the Order of Service cards (although whether it will be called that or not is debatable as it is a secular ceremony), the hen night 'bits', and the post box for cards/gifts at the reception.  Oh yes, and trying to source lavender sprigs for the placecards.

Got to run, baby's grizzling.  Oh the joys of teething!  Hopefully back later to post some more pictures.

Not much happening...

The wedding invites are all done now - evening invites too, and we have a good idea of what we're doing for the table plans and place cards.  Can't get stuck into the Order of Service yet as

a) it's a civil ceremony and may not be called that

b) we don't quite know what music/readings etc. are being used

I have a few ideas of how we could make these up though -  I don't want to use the mulberry paper to print on if we don't have to - I think vellum would work better.  Could back the cards with the fancy paper and then print onto vellum and attach with ribbon.  Obviously I need to check with my client. 

I posted some pictures of what I had done so far on my facebook page, in case you want to check them out.

Other than that I've had a couple of craft events.  Both sadly went really badly - and sales were as minimal as they possibly could be.  It's a shame, as I spent a lot of time thinking up new recipe ideas for bath things.  As everything is hand-made and wrapped it's time-consuming too. 

As you can see, I had quite a lot of stuff to take.  Both events were for good causes and had more people come along and bought stuff, the charities would have benefitted, but c'est la vie as they say...

I suppose the good side of it is that for the next few events, I don't need to make anything really - may get back to the jewellery and the cards, but people just don't seem to want to spend money.  At least, not on craft items.  Just ipads, iphones and flat screen tellies! :-)

Apart from killing time at craft events I've been making a few cards for people.  Didn't photograph them all unfortunately but those that I did are visible through the facebook link above.  Partly made cards out of necessity as I need to budget, but also because they were for close friends and family. 

Not sure how busy things'll get later in the year as I am due to go back to college in September so I really need to get started on getting my brain back in gear for some academia, reading some papers and drafting some of my dissertation.   I guess just watch this space!

Ding Dong

That's the sound of forthcoming Wedding bells. 

I've been working on creating invitations for my sister's wedding over the last few months.  There were three different styles of things I had to produce:

1. "Save the date" cards
2. Wedding Invitations (for the 'whole' event)
3. Evening Invitations

The first ones were relatively easy to get done - we agreed on wording, design and colour and they were simply printed onto postcard sized card, and sent out.  The second ones have just been finished.  These were a bit more fiddly, but not impossible.

We had a lot of discussion on the appearance and it was felt that torn mulberry paper was a strong theme.  However, I didn't reckon on our printer playing up with regard to ink colours, or on the paper being so thin and fabric-like that it would fold up on several occasions.  Thankfully there were not loads and loads to produce.  I ordered all my materials off ebay and was really pleased with what I received.

The pearlised card and postcards came from THE PAPERBOX, the mulberry paper came from THE WEDDING SUPPLIER ONLINE and the ribbon came from PACKAGING WORLD. Additionally I already had some handmade paper which I incorporated into the mix.

At the moment I can't post pictures of any of the items because I've just handed over the invites for mailing.  I've got the evening invites all printed up and am just about to thread ribbon through them.  The only other things I'll be making - at a later date - are placecards, the table plan and the order of service cards.  They'll all be in a similar theme.  I already have the card to use, just need to determine which ribbon, and whether to use mulberry paper or print straight onto card.

Watch this space for updates!

Long Pause

Yes, it's been a while... again! 

Whilst I can comfortably sit at the PC/laptop now, it's a question of having the time to.  As our little girl is growing fast (she'll be 10 weeks old on Thursday) she is eating, needing changing, and interacting lots.  So a lot of my time is taken up with changing nappies, pulling faces, cuddling, kissing and generally spoiling her.

However, by way of a change, as you can see if you've visited Ravenstar before, I have changed the appearance of the blog - I came across these new templates today at Cute n Cool Blog Stuff and they're much better than the one I've been using.  Go take a look and check them out for yourself, there's bound to be one to suit you.

Apart from updating the cosmetic appearance of the blog, things have been fairly quiet.  I did an event a few weeks back - teaching a group of 12 year olds how to make bath bombs for their own use.  We made Rose & Lavender ones and Chocolate Orange ones, the latter smelled especially yummy as they contained some real chocolate.  Thankfully nobody tried to eat them!  I have a couple of other events lined up now too, so will have to get making stuff all over again. 

I've just got a big batch of stuff in from Bathbomb.biz so I'm really looking forward to trying out all the goodies I just bought.  Although all the ingredients I use are certified, and although the people I have 'done' events for are happy with that, I'm concerned about the long term legality of doing these so I'm looking into getting an approval certificate for myself.  It will initially be a bit of a financial outlay but it will permit me to sell a wide range of products legally, rather than having to give them away as a free gift with purchased items, or give solely to the family.  Plus, being legally approved to make & sell products should avoid any potential issues with concerns over ingredient safety, if you see what I mean.  Anyway, I ramble too much...

Business-wise things have been relatively quiet.  Unfortunately Jac's Path, a pagan/wiccan shop in Colchester where I was retailing my jewellery has closed.  Great shame as it was a wonderful little place.  But hopefully the owners will move on to bigger and better things.  It does mean that I have some jewellery available for sale - I have to sort it out and photograph it to post up on the web.

My most exciting new of late is that I have a commisison to make wedding stationery for my sister.  We've been discussing ideas, colour themes, styles, paper weight & texture for a few weeks now, and we finally have the 'right' proofs all approved.  So the next few days will see me frantically printing, paper cutting/tearing and assembling things. 

I'm also working on getting my website up and running.  It's been dormant far too long, waiting for me to do something, and if I don't press on, I'll be back at college, swotting away for my final year, and won't have any time to do anything.  At the moment, you can see examples of my work on facebook in the various albums.

Well, I think that's enough for now.  Enjoy the spring, now it's finally here.  :-)

She's here!

As you can see from the date of my last post, I've been absent a fair while.  Towards the end of my pregnancy I was finding every chair uncomfortable to sit on, so I wasn't able to spend any time at the PC updating anything that took more than 5 minutes.

Just blogging today to let you know that we had a baby daughter on 20th January.  She was due on 16th, decided to start emerging on 18th and then changed her mind!  50 hours later (I'll skip the details) with the help of a caesarian, she finally arrived.
Like any parent, I think she's gorgeous!  We're beginning to settle into a routine, but at the moment, I'm limited in what I can do, which is terribly frustrating.  Having said that, I have managed to get out to the shops, thanks to my wonderful husband, who has been an absolute gem. 
We hit the charity shops in Billericay on Tuesday, after registering our new arrival at the Registry office (makes her official!).  I got tons of bargains!  New boots, two dresses and three scarves.  She got loads of little sleepsuits - and a few bits for when she's older because they were quality items.
Today we nipped over to Chelmsford.  Bumped into a whole hoard of people we knew so got inundated with hugs/kisses/handshakes and baby adoration.  There were still some sales on so I managed to get myself some nice new PJs (only one pair fit at the mo) plus yet more baby clothes.  Oh yes, and I bought a CD and a book that weren't in the sale at all.  Oops!
Really need to find something suitable for a superman/superdad now - he deserves something really special.

I'm taking a bit of time out from crafting at the moment as it's still a bit difficult sitting in one position for any great length of time, but hopefully in a few more weeks, we'll be more settled at home, and I'll be more comfortable.
In the meantime, I may just randomly blog about stuff!

Still fixing it...

Not quite happy with the appearance of this template.  The column settings seem a little too far to the right of the page when viewed, and I can't see how to make the 'blogs I'm following' display properly - theyr'e all a bit squashed.

At the moment I'm not sure if it's a problem with Internet Explorer or a problem with the template.   Whichever it is, hopefully I'll get it sorted out soon.

Updates to come on latest craft fairs etc but I've been a bit busy making gifts for the family lately.  Feel free to post comments here in the meantime!