On a one way ticket..

to the U S OF A, well they will be tomorrow. Unfortunately I wont be travelling with them (booooo!!!!) they will be making their way to sunny California. Oh how I want to go with them!!

I'm sure they will love their new home in the newly decorated bedrooms of Heidi's 4 children. Cant stop, must dash and finish a bag I'm working on.....more orders to go out tomorrow. Hope you've all had a lovely weekend. x

Matilda meets some new friends...

Whilst we were having the BIG clear out last weekend we came across a black sack which had soft toys written on its label. I wasn't quite sure what was in there as the bag has been in the garage since we moved to the house.

It made me smile when I opened the bag, as it contained our 3 monkeys that used to sit on our bed at the flat. I dusted them off and took them up into the studio to meet Matilda, she was ever so pleased to have some friends to keep her company. And so we decided to have a little move around with things to make room for them all....

and some totally scrumdiddlyumptious fabric.

At last I get to keep all my fabric together right where I can stare at it whilst sewing, its amazing how inspired you get looking at it.

The custom cushions are finished and I will be back tomorrow to show you photos.

P.S. isn't today 'blustery' for us people in the UK.

Back on it....

...the crafty horse that is and I'm flying through that huge list. Ticks galore today = happy bagladee :D here is what is perched on my sewing tray. 4 custom cushions for a lovely lady in California called Heidi. Look at that gorgeous, stars and stripes themed felt. Yu-um-my!!

Manic, mayhem, good things and bad

This week has been ever so slightly manic, lots of things to do but not much accomplished. Apologies to my give away winners I will get your goodies off to you in the post this week. And it seemed that the harder I tried to get things done the worse it was getting. So yesterday I gave in and decided to clear the garage out. Which now means that I have access to my treadmill again (which I am planning on starting next week) and I got to go through all the fabric I have in there stashed away. That was my favourite bit, it is now all stacked in my studio for me to stare at :D Nothing like a good clear out to get your mind straight!

The weather has been glorious over the weekend here in the UK, I'm always at my happiest when the sun is shinning so it usually takes a lot to bum me out when the weather is good. But on Saturday one email did just that, I had applied to show at another trade fair in October and thought I pretty much had it in the bag. Looks like I'd counted my chickens before they had hatched :( but then about a couple hours later I received an email for a huge order for a new online boutique!! So smiles all around again YEY!!!

So now I just have to buy a tardis or time machine so that I can create hours in the day to sew.

On my ever growing sewing table there are some custom cushions, bags for current orders, new ones to stock my website, ideas for my green swap parcel, and a lot of paper work. So I'd best get to it.

Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine.

POST 2: Book Launch!!!

Its finally here!!! Today saw the launch of my very first craft book. Make your own handbag, clutch bag & purse. At long last its out there for everyone to read and have a go at making one of my bags....how exciting.

http://www.how2crafts.com/ is where you can get hold of it for a very reasonable price and you too could even be in the book! Pop over to find out more. There are some other great books in the series too...

I had such a good time writing and photographing the stages and its definitely something I can look back on in years to come.

And who knows it may be the first of many :D

(dont forget to check out the winners of my giveaway on the previous post, it could be you!!)

POST 1: Giveaway winners

After returning from a weekend away I have a list as long as my arm of To Do's, but it was all worth it. We travelled up North to visit my Mam for her birthday, we had a lovely time and it was nice to get away and relax.......but now back to business!!

Here is my very jazzy cactus pot (mini) with all the entrants folded up neatly.

My very dry hands (from shovelling concrete on Friday) picking out 3 winners.

And the winners are:

Shoulder bag = Josie

Cosmetic Pouch = Dayna

Felt Purse = Gemma

Thank you so much for taking part in my giveaway, it was lovely to read all your feedback for my website. There were some really valuable points made.....and most I have tried to incorporate into the site. There are some limitations as to what you can do with Mrsite but I do hope that you all like what you see. I'm sorry that you all cant be winners. Thanks again and big hugs. x

We are live!!!!!

Oh yes indeed we are and I'm so pleased with the end result of our makeover. It took blood, sweat and tears to get it all finished (well not blood, but quite a few choice words that included blood). There were many attempts at uploading and things not quite clicking but we got there in the end.

And I'm also soooooo very proud to launch my new collection of bags, oh so very gorgeous and I want to keep them all (but then that wouldn't be very fair now would it?).

* * * *

So in celebration of a big YEY of getting back into the world of the www I am going to have a very special give away.

The prizes are:

shoulder bag from the new collection

cosmetic pouch

felt purse

What do you have to do I hear you cry.....well I'm going to make you work for it (kind of ;) its not difficult honest). Ok here goes!!

1. Pop over to the new and improved site by clicking on the main image above
2. Have a good scooch around and see what you think
3. Pop back over here and leave a comment, telling me what you like, don't like, your favourite item, whether you would recommend a friend to the site, if you would buy a gift from the site?
4. Please leave some way for me to contact you, if I cant then you cant win :(
5. Only 1 entry per person
6. Don't forget to tell your friends about the giveaway, its nice to share :)
6. Good luck!!

I will announce the winners Monday 17th May, which should be plenty of time for everyone to enter. Thanks for taking the time to have a look, it really means a lot.....constructive criticism is always a good thing, how do you improve otherwise??

Happy browsing xx

Its almost here!!!!

...Oh yes and I cant wait, its sooooo pretty :D

Having a face lift

No not me silly, I'm far too young for one of those (just yet) ;) I've been working away like a little Trojan today trying to get the majority of my website at the 'nearly there' stage.

Are we nearly there yet then? Well nope, not really :( yes I know....but there is a plan!!! And the plan is to spend tomorrow getting it finished. For those of you who had missed the post where I said we (me and bagladee) were having a revamp, everything is going to change. Ooooh that sounded a little bit drastic let me explain, my logo and branding is changing, so is the overall feel of my website and blog.....and I'm sooooo excited. For those of you who have popped over and thought 'ey up whats happening here then!! you will have noticed my spangly new banner.

Isn't she pretty? Another one of C's creations, along with my help and direction of course :) I'm a bossy lady and I know what I want! This will be replacing my banner here and my etsy shop too. The rest I'm afraid you will have to wait until its all revealed. Ooooh the suspense!! I love it.

Oh yes and the most important thing that I forgot to mention is that the new collection is on there all ready to be snapped up.......bet you cant wait :D

Last chance!!

To sign up for the green swap that Rachel and I are hosting over at That little bit greener. There are already some very talented swappers signed up so I'm excited to see what wonderful items are traded. You only have until tomorrow evening to sign up so why not pop over now and join in the swappy fun?

If you are a little baffled as to what you might send then don't hesitate to contact me or Rachel and we'll be happy to help. Hope to see you there :D x

Bank Holiday bliss!!

OK who is going to pinch me?? What a lovely long bank holiday weekend. Its been jam packed and we haven't even been anywhere.

There's been a huge food shop, painting the dining room, going out for a very yummy curry on Friday night, lots of washing, lots of sewing, tidying and sorting supplies, cutting gorgeous fabric, learning a jewellery technique (thanks Andrea) for part of my bags, Internet shopping :D catching up on some recorded TV programmes, photo tweaking, website revamping, sending info packs out to some shops and galleries, finishing off trade order No.2, looking for a new car (Internet), trying to decide on a wall paper for the living room, removing nail extensions (reminding me how tender your natural nails are when you taken them off) and lastly talking about a holiday!! Phew!!

Hope you all had a fab weekend!! Back to the grind tomorrow (but I'm still smiling as we're ordering a dominos) :D