Rainbow Feet

Why Rainbow Feet? 
Because perhaps I do believe in the healing power of positive energy.
Because I like a small act of rebellion.
Because Annie asked us to.
But most importantly because I read artisica domestica's blog.

Easter Egg Competition

Copy

Copy

This was our entry for the primary school Decorated Egg competition. We didn't win .... I say we but of course I mean Archie didn't win. We {ooops I said we again} were very proud of our entry this year but perhaps it's not surprising it wasn't a winner. 

If the judges had looked at The Big Egg Hunt they may perhaps have noticed a slight resemblance to Pandora by Martin Aveling. The judges probably don't like copycats and so quite rightly didn't place it 1st, 2nd or even 3rd. It did get a special mention in Assembly and that is good enough for us because we had a lot of fun making it.

Pandora by Martin Aveling

Isn't it amazing?

The reason we resorted to copying was because late on Sunday afternoon we were a little stuck on what to do this year and so I suggested to Archie that he have a look at all the amazing eggs on The Big Egg Hunt website. Of course once he'd seen the dinosaur eye he just wanted to recreate it.

Having looked again at the website I'm even more determined that we go on a little Egg Hunt ourselves to find a few in the Easter holidays and I see that Pandora is near Knightsbridge and Sloane Square so we may just go visit, I wonder what it will look like close up. Perhaps we should take our little one with us in homage to Martin Aveling!

Happy Easter Bunting

Easter is only just round the corner (Easter Sunday is April 8th) so here is some pretty, pastel Happy Easter bunting, available here. No fluffy chicks or hoppy bunny rabbits on my bunting I'm afraid just eggs.

My Mother's Day

This was the card from eldest son, shame he didn't put Love on it but it was handmade and much appreciated. He also made me a cup of tea.

This was the email (!?!) from youngest son. Was he away you ask, ummm, no. Bizarre, quite bizarre! To be fair he'd wanted to buy me something the day before but I declined (we were in Poundland).


It's not that they are horrid little tikes it's just that Sundays are rugby days and really there wasn't time for any namby pamby mother's day stuff. So off they went early to rugby and I got to stay at home, listening to the Archers and Desert Island Discs whilst cooking for my mum.


The day before we had had a lovely day me and my boys at Cambridge Science Festival (I forgot to take my camera) and saw the most amazing Man versus Machine display which was brilliant. Have a look here to get an idea. So really I have nothing to complain about, I got to spend the day with them on Saturday and with my mum on Sunday so it was perfect really.

Tagged

Tagged, I got tagged. I didn't really know what it meant but it made me feel like a proper blogger when Anne tagged me. I have ignored it for a week mainly due to lack of time but also because I was a bit daunted by doing this post. Then I decided it might be fun?? As I tell my boys if you don't really want to do something but know you should then just enjoy it and get on with it. So here goes ....

My Mother's Day Flowers from my Mother!

These are the rules...

^ Post these rules

^ Post 11 things about yourself

^ Answer the questions provided by the one who tagged you

^ Create 11 new questions for the people you tag

^ Go to their blog and tell them they've been tagged!

Eleven things about me:

1. I am the youngest sister of four daughters;
2. I have recently discovered a love of fonts;
3. I have a phobia of birds in confined spaces;
4. I grew up on a farm;
5. I'm not very good at housework;
6. I used to collect buttons and pigs;
7. I hate been told what to do;
8. I used to wear black all the time now I wear colour all the time;
9. I once had a pig called Charlotte;
10. I once drove a tractor into a house;
11. I always wonder what I'll be like when I grow up.

These are the questions set by Anne with my answers

1. Do you buy new or vintage for your home? Both
2. Why do you blog? I use it as a diary, a way of remembering both my family and business adventures.
3. If you were invited to make a piece of art, what medium would you use? Paper.
4. What clothes are you most comfortable in? Jeans, boots and comfy jumper.
5. If you had an unexpected afternoon to yourself and not a care in the world, how would you spend it? I would read a book uninterrupted or go to Anthropologie.
6. What do you panic most about losing? My car keys, my way and time. I hate to be late and I hate to get lost.
7. What is your favourite quotation? What Goes Around Comes Around. I believe this so much I engraved it on a silver bangle that I wear whenever I go out.
8. What is your ideal holiday? Any holiday is ideal, I am very easily pleased.
9. If you wear lipstick, what shape is the end, once it’s no longer new?  Don't wear lipstick I'm a lipgloss girl.
10. Do you have a habit you would like to drop or one you would like to adopt? I'd like to lose irritability and adopt a healthy eating/exercise habit.
11. What everyday article would you most miss if it were suddenly unavailable? Teapot.

My Mother's Day Flowers not from my sons. 

These are the eleven questions I have, some replicated because I thought they were so good!

1. Why do you blog?

2. Do you prefer giving or receiving presents?

3. The best time of your life 20s, 30s, 40s .... or do you think the best is yet to come?

4. If you had an afternoon to yourself and not a care in the world, how would you spend it?

5. Have you ever broken a bone in your body?

6. Did you have an imaginary friend when you were little?

7.What is your favourite quotation?

8. What are the three most important things in your life.

9. Least favourite day of the week?

10. If you could have a famous person follow your blog who would it be?

11. What everyday article would you most miss if it were suddenly unavailable?

I have decided like Anne just to tag one person. Val of DottyCookie - it has to be you!

The reason I've chosen Val is that we actually met in real life last week. It is the first time I've met another blogger and {close your eyes Val} I approached the morning thinking  .... well ... I needed to go into town anyway and I could always get away early and go shopping. Well that didn't happen! Needless to say we ran out of time chatting away and have plans to meet up again, probably when I get stuck on the dress I'm going to make and need her help or when Val needs to visit the new shop I introduced her to.

Bespoke Personalised Bunting

I had a couple of feedbacks last week sent unusually via a customer query. Getting an email via a customer query about an old order is a little alarming because the email comes through as "enquiry about order number ###" and my heart sank because I automatically thought the customer hadn't got their order or they weren't happy. So it really made me smile when I opened the emails and read,

"I just received the bride and groom signs YAY!!! That was quick! They look amazing, even better in real life :) Cant wait to use them in a few weeks."

"I just wanted to say thank you SO much for the gorgeous bunting - it is just perfect! :)"

The fact that someone is so happy they take the time to send a message is just so kind.

Of course the next best thing is a repeat customer .... I love 'em .... and today I'll be doing another "art deco" style bunting. Very much bespoke personalised bunting.

No New Clothes Challenge Month 2

Realised I haven't reported on my getting past another month.


Still no new clothes have entered the house, actually I've got even less as I ebayed some. I find ebaying very satisfying as it seems like free money but it does take an age to photograph, upload and write descriptions. I will do some more soon as I like the idea that not only will I not be spending any money I might end up in profit for the year.

My cohort in  this challenge, the lovely Janey, said something great on Friday night. She simply said "It's quite liberating isn't it?" and she's right it is. I'm not too sure why, I guess it's because I can wear the same old thing again and again and don't have to worry or maybe it's because, like the other night, I had to rethink what I would normally wear. I ended very pleased with my outfit - recycled clothes I've not worn for months just worn in a different way. I even got compliments :-)

Janey and I don't see each other very often for a chat, more often a quick hello in passing or a wave as I go past her so it was a good chance the other night to discuss the rules. Apparently I can't buy any new shoes either .... but knickers and swimwear are OK. We still love the reactions we get from people when we say what we are doing. It is mostly a horrified "I couldn't do that" and the men saying "I do that every year".

Yellow (Mellow/Submarine/Pages)

Do you like yellow? I only ask because I don't.

Have I gone into the long and involved story as to why not before? Oh I'll tell you again. I have three sisters and when we were growing up there were obviously a lot of pants, toothbrushes, towels etc etc and so to make life easier my Mum colour coded everything. Anne had red things, Christy had blue things, Lizzie had green things and I had yellow things. Unsurprisingly I'm not keen on yellow. If your entire childhood you were subjected to yellow knickers you probably wouldn't love yellow much either.

Ironically when we got married I ended up with yellow flowers. My nursery owner brother-in-law came up with this great idea of vertical flowers wound round the poles in the marquee and the flowers were ordered in my {I mean our} colour scheme of WHITE. However when they arrived they were very yellow. I seem to remember that everyone was a little concerned that I would have a tantrum, but you'll be glad to know I didn't. Funny that because I feel sure I would now and can't remember why I was so chilled and relaxed about it.

Also I discovered on Friday night that a lot of garden designers dislike yellow too and my friend Flis has devised her very own "ten step plan" to try and overcome her phobia of yellow plants. She was positively shaking looking at some pretty yellow daffodils!

Bon Voyage

This is my new Bon Voyage bunting, which can be personalised.

Confession time: I have a nephew called Jack who happens to be travelling at the moment. Did I make this for him .... well no. Did I even send him a Good Luck and Bon Voyage card ... uhhhhh no. But to be frank if you met him you'd know that he simply wouldn't want it {or appreciate it} so it doesn't really matter.

It just happened that when I needed to take photos I had to put a name on it and obviously his name sprung to mind. He can have it when he gets back!

He seems to be having a good time and has done the bungy jump and jumped out of an aeroplane. I only know this because I asked if I could be his friend on Facebook whilst he was on his travels expecting frequent updates {like his sister did} but he only writes infrequently about jumping from great heights. Too much to expect photos, status updates and little messages from a boy I suppose.

Yet again I look into the future and question why I ended up with two boys ......

Monthly Photo 2012

The beginning of the month again so here is my monthly photo.

All photos taken at roughly 8am.

Crochet and Granny Squares

http://doyoumindifiknit.typepad.com/do_you_mind_if_i_knit/2010/02/little-squares-scarf-stepbystep-pattern.html

I would really love to learn how to crochet (more specifically Granny squares in lovely bright colours). I thought I could follow do you mind if I knit's step by step pattern. Or perhaps I could go to a local class teaching beginner's crochet. I even thought about buying all the bits I needed and getting a book.

http://gnomeangel.com/creative-space-sunburst-granny-square/

The problem is time, when would I have to time to sit and crochet, realistically how would I fit it in. Even though I'm a great believer in "if you really want to do something you will find the time" I just know that at the moment I simply don't have the time.

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2011/02/sweet-flower-granny-blanket-ta-dah.html

There is always something I should be doing and so I've reluctantly decided that crochet will have to wait. It's a shame but I'd probably be rubbish at it anyway and I'd just end up with lots of half-finished bits so I should look at it as a) saving me money b) saving me feeling guilty about half-finished project and c) saving cluttering up the sitting room. 

Happy Birthday Bunting

I am very happy as I had some lovely comments on my post on Friday. Far too shy to mention it when I was out for dinner on Saturday but, as I had a glass of champagne, I did silently raise a glass to myself :-)

But back to today's post .... I have updated and changed my Happy Birthday Bunting as it really needed more choices and a bit of a facelift. As this was my first product on notonthehighstreet it felt a bit odd taking off the photos that I had once been so proud of but it needed to be done.

So now it is available as just Happy Birthday or personalised to say Happy Birthday {Name} with a number of colours and font choices. 

I need to take some more photos of examples but the sun just didn't shine yesterday so hopefully it will today.

Happy Notonthehighstreet Birthday To Me

Yesterday was my Daisyley birthday as one year ago I finally went "live" with my notonthehighstreet shop.

On 2nd March 2011 at 16:27 I was beyond excited to receive my very first order and I had accepted the order by 16:29. The first order appropriately enough was for a birthday banner and I proudly posted if off the next day.

Yesterday saw my one thousand and ninety third order ... yes 1,093 people have ordered from me. I can hardly believe it.The furthest I've sent bunting to is New Zealand and the nearest was a couple of miles up the road (the only package I've hand delivered!).

I didn't always get it right in the beginning and had a couple of bad reviews but I took it onboard, learnt, changed things and moved on. Thankfully I've had lots of really lovely reviews. One this week said 

"The product, service and delivery was excellent. It arrived the next day and was beautifully packed. I'd have no hesitation in ordering many more!!!" 

It is my aim for all my customers to have that sort of reaction and that comment was just a perfect ending to a great year. To make me even happier I've had my busiest week since beginning of December :-)
I also went into the Venture group of notonthehighstreet sellers which won't mean anything to anyone who isn't a fellow seller, but it is the group I've been aiming for all year and now I've set my sights on the enterprise group {that is a big challenge!}.

Of course, I wish I knew then all the things I know now about customers/retail/selling .... but I'll probably think that this time next year... in fact I know I will as I still have SO much to learn. And that's the great thing I'm learning things all the time, I've met some great people and I'm sure it can still keep growing. It gives me huge satisfaction to say I really enjoy what I do and I still get a thrill when an order pings through.

So today at 16:27 I shall think very fondly of my first customer and think of all the lovely customers I've sent packages off to.

Happy Birthday Daisyley and thank you notonthehighstreet.