Alton again...

Well it has already come round and I will be at Alton again tomorrow, so once more I am living in total chaos. I have still to add price tags to all the new things I have been making and there are still a few unfinished bits that may or may not get finished today...

Have just made an extremely long list of all the stuff I need to take... probably forgotten something though and will be adding more to it throughout the day.

I mananged to update my trellis the other week with chicken wire and a plain cream fabric - the staple gun queen! Who needs a man when you have a staple gun and a pair of wire cutters.... Having said that putting the gazebo up and down is another matter!! Have just added camera to my list of things to take so I can get a pic while I am there.. knew I would be adding things all day!!

It would be great to see you if you are in the area - come over and say hi!!

Alton Craft Market....

Well I managed to get through the trauma of doing a craft market and putting up a gazebo... not sure why I stress so much but there you go!! As I was being a bit 'special' some nice people helped...

Was very pleased with the way it went - sold quite a few things and will now be doing October, November and December - maybe I won't stress so much next time!! Having said that I am sure I will...

I took a photo of my stall but next time will be a bit different... someone suggested putting chicken wire on there and jute or something similar behind - when I tested it out and took photos my plain cream curtains were the background - slightly different from a shop window!!


Have spent today updating the website - still only half way there but there is still quite a lot of new stuff. Maybe I will be able to get a lot of photos done tomorrow and get the rest of the website updated!!

Fleet Pond Manoeuvres!

Just back from walking the devil dog... it was very beautiful there this morning, slightly misty and spooky. I did try and get a pic with my phone but taking a photo when you have the dog from hell on the end of a lead is a bit of a nightmare!! Thought you might like to see a couple of old ones that I took when I had Molly the lazy black lab instead of the devil incarnate!


Now one might presume that walking the dog at 6 am you would not meet anyone at all...wrong!! This morning the world and its cat appeared to be walking their dog - hence the manoeuveres... at one point I ended up clambouring up a steep hill and climbing over a fence to avoid someone and their dog. I should explain here - Biscuit is like Scooby Doo and is scared of everything, but instead of laying low she barks to warn them off and draws attention to herself - complete nightmare!! She would also quite likes to chase cyclists and joggers... I think I need to find a dog whisperer to whisper in her ear!!

Off to London today to see Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, really looking forward to it as it was my favourite ride at Euro Disney and apparently there is a bit in there where it is really like flying over London...

New Baby!!

A friend had her first baby today - Elouise Natasha was born at 5.08am, weighing 6lb 15ozs and she is gorgeous!! Congratulations Natasha and Martin...


Have made a keepsake garland for them today - hope they like it!! Will be putting it in the post tomorrow - hoping Royal Mail will manage to get it there slightly quicker than their recent efforts... a donkey would be faster!!

Manic Week!

Have had a really manic week - some good and some bad....

Last Saturday went to Alton Craft Market to see if it would be something I would like to try - the answer was yes I loved it there!! Also there was no one else there doing the type of crafts that I do, even though I am a bit random and flit from one thing to another and now have quite a wide assortment... you can see some of it here.


Did a bit of research and found excellent heavy duty pop up gazebo to use as I figure this will not only save me money but gives me a larger area to display my crafts. So now booked in to Alton for the 12th September!!

On Tuesday Devil Dog was having a cut and shampoo - this unfortunately happens in my home - yuk!! All my crafts have to go away in boxes with lids and then I have to move extremely heavy table from kitchen to make room for the bench the woman brings with her... I then provide towels etc. and get bathroom ready. This happens every 10 weeks... on a Tuesday and costs me £46. I provide the hot water, electricity, towels and at least 2 cups of tea for dog groomer... and then when she has left I clear up the mess. So this time everything happened as usual then when I make out the cheque she says - your dog was matted (it wasn't!) I am going to have to charge you £54!! Dear God - it doesn't cost me that to go to the hairdresser!! When I queried why she would be more matted than usual she said i normally had her done every 8 weeks _ went back through calendar in case I had lost the plot, but no, definately every 10 weeks... now looking for new dog groomer!! Think you might be able to see said witch in before and after photos below.. ha ha!!

Devil Dog before hair cut

Devil Dog almost finished...

Wednesday seems to be rather a haze - probably suffering from shock at the bill from dog groomer!!

Thursday was my mothers birthday and we were having a 'tea party'!! Not sure where I got the idea from but thought it would make a change from me manically bbqing at every available opportunity... so sandwiches, cheese straws, sausage rolls, scones with cream and jam and obviously gingerbread men!! Part of my mothers b'day present was still missing as apparently a donkey would be faster than Royal Mail but the gazebo did turn up!! Anyway wanted to try it out so in between baking we put up a gazebo!! Pity my daughters b'friend has an aversion to reading instructions as we had to take it down and put it up a second time!! Decided to leave it up (even tho I have one in the garden already) and use my banquet table - v. posh!! Ha ha!! Had an excellent evening - sounded like there was 20 of us in the garden instead of 7... laughed all evening!! Should have taken some photos!!

Friday took gazebo down with my mother... hilarious!! Going to have to do this a few more times before the 12th September I think.... either that or accost some random man!! Rest of pressie still not turned up....

Saturday - Royal Mail still not managed to deliver.... maybe it is missing but they are blaming strike - irritating!! Have managed to paint a sign for my stall tho...


Anyway would love to see you if you are in the Alton area on the 12th September - if you get there early enough you can probably have a laugh at us putting up the wretched gazebo!!

And how it ends....

Well they eventually got back to Spain and this is them at their final campsite (looking far happier!) before catching the ferry back to Plymouth and their last journey to Honeypot House.

They raised over £10,000 on Just Giving but I believe the total money they have raised so far is over £12,000!! Money is still coming in...

Everyone is so proud of them and we were all so pleased to have them home safe and sound!!

Bumble Bee Update

Thought I should do an update on the Ride of the Bumblebee and let you know how they got on... I couldn't at the time as I was a bit fraught - this pic did not help!! The boys didn't get into Morocco until the middle of the afternoon - they then rode all the way to Casablanca and back to the port!! This was taken at 3am, no ferry until 6am.... They had already had two horrendous days where Paul's (my son) chain had broken - caught just in time apparently which held them up most of the day and then really high temperatures and strong winds the following day......

Ride of the Bumble Bee!

Had to post a link to this blog as it is such a cool thing to do!!

My son and three other guys from Sony Ericsson are riding motorbikes over 2600 miles to Casablanca and back to raise money for the Honeypot Charity which provides care for underprivileged children in the UK.

Suspect from reading their blog it is not a comfortable experience...

Good luck and come back safe x

Kitchen Chaos

Lots of finished products just waiting for a nice sunny day so I can get some decent photos and add them to Rustic Gifts ... every time I think its going to be a nice day I look out five minutes later and its pouring with rain!! Very boring! At the moment it is looking good for today so hopefully by this evening I will have lots of photos ...then I just have to edit them and add them to the website.

Dog amongst the bird houses!!

You can always trust a dog to be exactly where you don't want it to be... she was no where in sight when I started spraying the bird houses - turn my back for 5 minutes and she has appeared!!

I did manage to finish painting them eventually and they have now been decorated. Just need to get some photos of them so they can go on the website....