Thank you to all the lovely comments for my last post, and to Lyn, you should hear me!!!

I sold three bags last night, and I was really interested that two of them were as such repeat designs, so I will make making another one of each of those, which of course will be slightly different. That is the thing about handmade, you can never get them exactly the same, which sometimes is annoying, but most of the time it is what makes the things you make special.

I have some ideas for new bags as well, including one which is inspired by this little chap,

He is a little button that I have had for years and years, but for me the problem is that he is a shank button, and on the whole I really don’t use them, so he is sitting on top of my machine to inspire me!

Last night my sister in law put some new bead sets into her Etsy shop, and they are lovely, this is one of the sets,

They are set of five silver core beads on a leather thong necklace, so you could keep them on that and wear all five together, or take some off, a very versatile set, and they are only $56, so £28, which is a bargain. At craft fairs she has been selling each silver core bead for £8, so these are great sets to get you mitts on, there are three in total, and you can find her shop here.

Awards time! I have been given the ‘Making my Day’ award by Flossie, thank you : ) You know slobbering is fine! I will try to do some nominations tomorrow! Playing catch up today!

I will leave you with another image, one that makes me smile, it doesn’t matter what you feelings are about the man, but the look on his face, the book he is holding, and the writing on the blackboard just makes me laugh!

are in the shop, but before I bore with my terrible selling abilities, take a peek at this,

see, see thats me there!!! Oh yes, my name, my blog in print, and on the same page as such wonderful blogs as Loobylu, thesmallobject, littlecottonrabbits and mollychicken (though Lyn does have a warning after her blog address about her colourful language!). Oh yes I’m famous, oh I didn’t tell you what book, it is, Making Stuff for Kids.

I only found this out in Borders yesterday, as I knew Laura has one of her funky round felt toys in it, so I thought I would sneak a peek : ) And I started to flick from the back, like you do and there was me, and I squealed, then ran round the shop trying to find John to squeal at him! I am still so excited at this, just so excited, so however chose my name to go in there, thank you!

On to the selling of bags : ) I have listed six tonight, would you adam and eve it!

And here they are!

Some are based on previous designs, and the others, well the sun made me feel all flowery : )

Oh, and lastly, I’ve now sold my 100th item on Etsy, so a big thank you to everyone who has got me there, roll on the next 100!!

thats what my clothes have been doing : )

Well not my clothes, the boys clothes, the aftermath of half- term : ) So Ali, it can be done, and the best thing is they smell good, and it makes me feel good too, do I sound smug?

Well if I do I don’t care as I had to go to the Doctors this morning, a rare event, and when the Doctor had a look at the problem she was so lovely I wanted to hug her! A note to everyone, it won’t go away, it will get worse, and you won’t be able to walk properly, so just go to the GP! I’ll leave you with that regarding my medical problem!

I’ve also done the front of another bag, which is lovely, more feminine I guess,

Looks a bit pale and washed out, nevermind, better photos when it goes onto Etsy : ) Perfect for Mothers Day of course, I can take orders until lunchtime on Friday!

after the rain yesterday you can almost smell Spring in the air, though I’m sure Winter is going to try and grab it back, it doesn’t not seem to have been cold enough, which I worry about, more pests about, pah!

Working on two new bags which will be up either tomorrow or Wednesday, they are look a bit like this,

and this one,

they both feature a very bold design, they dominate the bags, but I wanted to try some stuff out, and this is the result : )

When I put these up in the shop I will have at least 2 other bags as well, more subtle you could say!

And, just to remind all you lovely readers of my blog that are based in the UK, this Sunday is Mothering Sunday!!! Last orders from me will be Friday lunchtime!

I really do, since summer last year all of my work, except my felt making, has featured linen of one sort or another. I have found a great source of linen in this country, but I have been tempted by Linnet since the first time I saw it, but have always held back!

Until Martine wrote this post, yet again I looked and yearned for this divine linen, tape and thread, but I thought, no you can’t, can’t afford it and what are you going to do with it. But then I discovered they take Paypal, and that was it, I realised yes I could, just a little something!!

So I gave in, I dived into the site, and yes they had what I wanted, towel cloth is how they describe it, and oh my word it is wonderful : ) I have bought two metres of Red Line on off white, this is to make a table runner/cloth for our ‘new’ dining table (we have had it since last May, so not strictly new!) and I’m so pleased with it. It is a real treat to have bought something for me, for us, and to use in our house.

I also bought some plain linen tape, which I want to use to make some tags for my bags.

Etsy went down yesterday for over an hour and freaked everyone out! But I did manage to sell a couple of bags, including a favourite of mine which I thought would never sell, but yay, it has!

Now working on some new ones, quite different to recent bags, more freestyle, and I also want to introduce some of my handmade felt into my bags as well, currently working on ideas : )

oh yes, you read that correctly!

I’m coming up to selling my 100th item on Etsy and to celebrate that I will be sending out extra items with any orders made that take me into my next hundred! These will range from original felt art pieces to corsages or totes, so dive in before the offer runs out!

I have another two bags to put up over the next few days, and I’ve started my ideas for my next ones. I have looked back at my previous designs, and it is hard to say what were the most popular ones, and why, so I will be revisiting some styles, but with new twists : )

I took this a couple of days ago, while we were out with the boys at the park along our lane, very calming, except the constant screaming and shouting from my lovely children! And yes I am being sarcastic, how does it not hurt their ears?!

William is being particularly awful, especially with simple things like getting dressed, putting shoes on, taking cups out to the kitchen, easy things, and they all become this massive drama. I hope he is going to ‘grow’ out of this soon because it is driving me mad.

Being out in the sun this week has been lovely, though I think we will now be having some grey time to make up for it!

… and some new totes, but we will come to those in a moment : )

Han Solo or Indy, well it is hard, but I have to go for Han, because he is a scoundrel, and if I hurt my hand I would let him stroke it better : ) I can feel myself swooning!

Ink Stamps, so pleased that you all like my stamps and the end result. I’m really pleased with the results, I took Ali’s recommendation and bought a Versacolour Ink Stamp in Raspberry, and I heated bonded it on with a dry iron, and it’s looking good!

Er, what else, well I sorted out the linings, thank you all for your support, I was so cross at myself for being so stupid, but live and learn, I will always double and triple check now!

So the new totes, well there are five of them, and here are a couple, please go and have a look, and let me know what you think : )

looks great doesn’t it? Well yes it does, and look at that lovely stitched pocket, oh yes, and oh s**t, the lining is too narrow : (

This morning, trying to be more organised, I finished eight pockets with the linen trim, and name tag, then stitched them onto the lining, and stitched it together, so eight linings ready for bags, great!

I make up the five outsides of bags I have ready, then go to pin the linings on to stitch them together, and oh, and rude words, and banging of stuff, and swearing at husband for asking me whats wrong, oh yes, all either linings are exactly an inch too narrow : ( I want to cry….

So now I’m washing new lining fabric, to dry, then cut, correct width, then make new linings, I’m going to have to unpick all pockets and see if they are ok, if not, I will be remaking eight pockets as well, so you see what happens if you try to be organised, you cock it up!

John thinks I am a curse on our car and its tyres : ( Over the past 8 months or so, I have had 5 flats, yep, 5! Now two of these are totally down to me, I needed to get some work done on the car, didn’t, and it basically buggered up the front two, but the other three, well nothing to do with me!

On Saturday we all go to get in the car to trade some games for Edward when John announces that I have yet another flat! Problem this time, the spare has a slow puncture, and I have no other spares, but Johns mum comes to the rescue and we got get a new one, but there is a mystery….

Sticking out of the side of my flat tyre is a 2 inch piece of metal, not where you would expect to find something that you had driven over. Now I may have caused it using the country lane I have to take to drive William to school, but I dunno. So now John is talking about getting a webcam to keep an eye on our drive!!! I will keep you updated with the excitement of watching a Hampshire village at night!

Well I have to drag you away from the excitement of village life and being the owner of my car!

My ink arrived yesterday for my stamps, yay!

so that is what it looks like on paper, isn’t it fab! totally in love with it : )

And it looks good as well on the linen,

so great, so pleased, and now has been heated up so I can use it, woo-hoo, and I’ve started to cut them out to use,

excellent stuff! I have eight bags to finish this week, yes eight! and it is half term, hells bells, so I want to have some in the shop tonight, by lunchtime I will have a better idea, so keep your eyes peeled : )

I have three washing baskets, normally all three are full of clean washing that is yet to be put away, this morning I got it down to one!

as you can see, still quite a mound to get through, and now to add to that a tumble dryer that is full, a basket of wet sheets and a machine full of wet jeans, never ending….

But I did get some of it done, so that is good, but of course at the expense of sewing, but this morning I did manage to cut out the lining and pockets, begin to sew straps, and choose buttons.

Changing the subject, the fourth Indiana Jones film will be out this year, when it was announced I had grave reservations about it, I mean Harrison Ford is in his early sixties, and really could he still be that swashbuckling, handsome and swoon some, well he can, go watch the trailer! I sat here watching like a little kid allover again, very excited.

I may have to get a copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark, so I can try and decide between him as Han Solo or Indy, which is it for you? Or is it just me!!

or is it just too hard to decide!