Downtown Disney 2013

On a rainy day

 On my birthday 

On the last day

Until next time Disney.

RE inspired

Something I discovered recently is that I want to make pieces I'll love making & selling them would just be a way of sharing those finished items with others; rather than making things that I think people would like and would need to buy.

This came to me at the Love Christmas Farye I did just before Christmas, I'd worked my socks off making stock which I thought would sell great on the night, rushing designs(especially jewellery) and producing high street style pieces, which I sell at a low price.

Wow, did I get a kick in the butt, did I sell any of those? Err, no I sold the items I'd made unhurried and uncaring of what I thought people would want but where I found joy the process of making them.

Hmm, having a major rethink 6 months into starting in business is maybe not the best idea but better now than later.

So re-evaluation over I needed inspiration for a new collection of country cottage/nanna inspired homeware I'm developing, which just happens to coincide with me doing up my entire house.

See number 9 in my goals for the year.

Previously I'd discounted ideas thinking people won't pay what it would take to make that, blah blah, now I don't care, I'll make it & if it sells it sells, but at least I won't feel like a sell out.

As a crafter my problem is never coming up with something to make but what will I really enjoy making, you have so many fragments of ideas floating around in your head but if you pick the wrong one then you'll lose momentum and never finish. Lucky for me I was invited on a girls road trip to Corbridge about an hour away, this small beautiful village boast an amazing array of boutique and antique shops but we'd drove all this way for one shop I've wanted to visit since looking it up in an article from Red magazine.

The shop is called RE. And boy it did not disappoint.

An amazing place the staff/makers even let me take photos for this blog, so look in on them either in person or through cyberspace they're worth the look.

Below are just some of the beautiful items on display.

RE guys your products are beautiful, staff friendly, shop inspiring, and didn't put a major dent in my purse. Thanks for a lovely visit.

Thanks Amanda.x.

Food, Family & Frugality.

Lately I've been distracted, not by beautiful beads for a change, but by food & family life, I find myself thinking more about my growing children, our health as a family, standards of living, money(or lack of it, maternity leave takes a lot out of your budget), our impact on the environment & the example we, as parents are setting for our children.

These are some unpalatable facts for you, that stick in my mind.
* The average household throws away between £15,000-£24,000 in a lifetime about £610 per household each year, more if you have 4plus people in your home, but it's still the same if you're a single household due to supermarkets not taking into account single person portions.
* Food waste is increasing at a rate of 15% every decade.
* Of the 6.7tonnes of food thrown away every year in the UK 4.1 million tonnes is unopened & untouched. Of this, 340,000tonnes is still 'in date'.
This is largely due to a lack of meal planning, but also or over supply, 1.2 million tonnes of waste is just the leftovers on our plates.
* Around 20% of our climate change emissions are related to the production, processing, transportation and storage of food, but we are throwing away a third of all the food we buy.
* When disposed of in landfill, food waste releases Methane ,a relatively damaging greenhouse gas, and Leachate, a toxin capable of considerable groundwater pollution.

These leave me with an uneasy feeling that although the recession we've being trudging through has been horrible for some, it may be an eyeopener for other households about their consumption, & help them make better choices for their family's that would have otherwise never have occurred to them.

So my first decision was to make a bigger effort to plan out our meals, & therefore our weekly shop should be easier to budget & cut out wastage. I'd had these beautiful meal planner sheets designed by Futuregirl (and free to download) hanging around my kitchen for a while, but was stuck at the thought of organising meals to include a 3year old & 10 month, it didn't seem that easy to make food suitable for all, or to plan meals giving usable leftovers.

Then I was given the Complete Family Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel, now I'm not a bad meal mum but do get stuck in a rut for exciting food to feed my children that maybe Hubby & I would also enjoy. This book is full of ideas, and whats more they are quick, simple, healthy and inexpensive to make. Using this book & some old favorites such as The New English Kitchen(great for leftover planning) I now have my first plan of action. I'll be adding family/home hints and tips all week, feel free to add your own I'll be interested in reading them, and any recipes will be gratefully received I may even review them here.

Hi there blog, sorry i left you for so long i've been busy making these little things...

opening my shops on www.misi.co.uk and www.folksy.com, making more beautiful things(pictures to follow soon), doing my first craft fair, looking after little boo, getting my head around setting up my own business, chasing maisie boo, and generally thinking about the person i wish to develop into.

I hope to keep you as a new friend on my adventures into craft and blogging, and see where it all takes me, hopefully on a wonderful journey.