Little Black Cauldron

It’s been ages and ages since I last posted on my blog, sorry to all of you that where waiting patiently for this post :0)

So Saturday the 10th July arrived and for those that know me from a certain forum will know that this was the day of my very first craft fair.  I had spent the whole week previous frantically sewing lots of wishing hats together so that I had a good range and wouldn’t sell out of them.  I also managed to make a few mini notebooks and some incense bundles.

The craft fair was in the town/village of Minchinhampton in the cotswolds, the setting was gorgeous.  Though I did panic as I went through Stroud to be confronted by this huge steep hill that my car only just managed to struggle up, but then I was on top of the world literally!!!  I even had to give way to crossing cows which made me chuckle no end :0)

When I did find the venue I had to un-pack all of my stuff whilst trying to shoo the cows out of the way,  they where busy eating peoples hanging baskets which was funny. The venue itself was an old cattle market place, not huge but downstairs was all open air and upstairs was just a room.  Lucky me I was situated downstairs in the open.  I managed to set up in 30mins which was brill, I wasn’t hugely impressed with my table display so will need to work on this I think.

Now is the part where I tell you how fabulous it all was and that I sold out witin hours.  Sadly that was not the case!  Also exhibiting at the craft fair was usborne books, phoenix cards, partylite, the wildlife trust, a handmade card person, a photographer and two jewellery people.  So it wasn’t a true craft fair really.  Four people failed to show up so there wasn’t much for people to look around to be honest.

I did manage to sell one mini notebook, a pet wand and an incense bundle so made my £10 table cost back.  At least it wasn’t a total loss.  People it seemed where just not interested in my witches hats so maybe I should start making more girly stuff for my stall.

I didn’t manage to take and pictures so have had to search the internet for these.

 This was where I was all set up.

The outside view!

The competition has now closed!

I have given everyone that has registered as following my blog and also signed up to the newsletter a number and used a random number generator to select the winner. Ideally I wanted to show you the generator but I just can’t figure out how to get it onto here.

So drum roll please……………………………….

The winner is number 2 – Helen Hammond @ Scentsiblesolutions

Well done Helen your prize will be posted shortly!

Thank you to everyone who has taken part I will keep you updated with whats going on in Spellbound Charms and there may even be some more competitions soon.

Ohhh how exciting!  I’ve decided that seeing as it’s nice and sunny and we now have a new budget that is scary beyond belief, well now is the time to spread some good luck to everyone.

So what is on offer is this gorgeous Wishing Hat blessed with a money spell. It comes complete with its own little bat aswell!!

All you have to do is the following:

1. Follow this blog – you can use the Google attachment on the side here
2. Sign up to the newsletter – also using the sign up box at the side (please note you will need to read and save the details asked once you press go, should be a pop up box)

Simple really isn’t it!  The winner shall be drawn randomly from the computer thing on the 1st July 2010 at midnight. 

So what are you waiting for

xx

blog writer again!

Sorry for such a long tiem in between posts, my new job has proved to be very busy and today is my first proper day off for two weeks, I can honestly say my feet are killing me.  I am actually learning to love my job now after a slight wobble at the start of it with regards to teh personal care, but my theory is that someone has to do it.  This week I am only on 27hours but I can increase that by doing overtime at the weekend which I think I may do just to bring some extra money in at the end of July.

The only problem I now have is that my body aches, I went to bed with just sore feet last night and this morning I creaked as I got out of bed and could hardly stand with the pain in my legs and now my hands are actually freezing up.  Not sure whether this is a good thing or not but I am attempting to make it to the gym today.

The gym is a sort point at teh moment with me, I pay £26 a month which isn’t loads but I just cannot find the time to go there and workout.  I’ve been contemplating getting a cross trainer for home and doing that rather than paying for the gym each month. Then at least I know I can just jump on it as and when I please.

Seeing as this is a crafty blog I better mention some crafty bits. Well ummm… I haven’t got anything to share as I haven’t had time to do anything :0( Not even cut any fabric out its been that bad.  However I may attempt to do some today once I’ve washed my car, which is terribly dirty and yukky.

Also to mention I have deleted my ‘About Me’ page for the time being, the reason being I logged in to find 8,290 spam comments on the page *eek*

Anyhows see you later alligators

xx

2 hours!  That is how long it has taken me to delete the 700 spam comments from my blog and email inbox.  Not impressed at all now and so have had to change my settings.  Why do some people do this sort of thing, its not funny and certainly doesn’t help them.  Because of the spam links I think Google may have sand boxed me, or I am not as well found as I was. o all of that hard work just to re-start it again.

Anyways I am awaiting a phone call to tell me when my first shift is at my new job.  There was a bit of palaver on Friday night as aparently they had not received a reference from my old work and until that was received I couldn’t start work :0(

I am a bit mad to say the least as the AOM has had my reference details for 7 weeks at least! I had to explain to my new work that the AOM didn’t like me and has probably done this on purpose.  Luckily they said they would accept a personal reference and my lovely friend Janice agreed to help me out with that.  I ran that up to the office late last night and shoved it through the letter box. So now I am just waiting, I’m very nervous about going out and actually doing the work as it is personal care and I have no idea if I am any good at it.

This weekend I have spent making some new wishing hats and have some piccies for you!  They are all listed in my Folksy shop so you can go any buy buy buy!  Actually I do need some sales as I found out I will not be paid until the end of July due to cut off dates etc *eek* I’m trying not to panic but may be failing slightly.

Post man has just come with some packages so must dash

xx

Today was my first day at my new job.  I’m exhausted!!  I never knew just sitting there listening to someone talk could be soo tiring, but it obviously is because I fell asleep for a couple of hours when I got in *whoops*

So my new job is as a care and support worker in the community for elderly people.  Or otherwise known as a Domixillery care worker. (sp?)  So today was all about Health & Safety and we watched two dvds, one for first aid and the other I really can’t remember what that was to be honest.  Tomorrow is all about manual handling so should be loads of fun NOT!  But I only have three more days of this before we can actually get out there and see what the job is all about.

I’m a bit in 2 minds about the job to be honest, I’m scared that I won’t get my full hours that I need and that the job is horrid but on the other side it is a lot better than sitting behind a counter being abused by customers all day long.

Thinking about my old job and the friends I left behind, I haven’t actually heard from them.  No one contacted my yesterday or today to say good luck or to see how my first day has gone.  So I’m sort of feeling left out and un-loved a bit. 

And I’m snappy today! Well for the past couple of days I’ve been snappy with the cats, they just seem to have gotten on my nerves for no aparent reason. then jumping on me or getting under my feet as I walk normally doesn’t bother me but the past couple of days you would have thought they where hurting me by my reaction.  I think it is PMT, I don’t get normal monthly’s so when I do get one it is like all of my hormones come out at once and cause a mega beast!  My poor OH when he gets home, I’m debating whether to go to bed now before I upset the cats anymore.

Again this post is pictureless, I just can’t get the energy to hunt out a suitable picture to be honest.  But don’t worry I’m sure I will be back to normal soon.

Oh and my fabric stash still hasn’t been sent to me

Or maybe not is the case.  It is a weird day weather wise, it seemed to be slightly sunny earlier so I sneaked some washing onto the line outside.  I am wondering though why some people seem to think that it is okay to leave their pegs out on the line when they are communial washing lines?! 

I soon had to bring my washing in as it went a bit overcast and I thought it might rain but as soon as I did bring it in guess what, yep the sun came out to play again.  Never mind at least it is 3/4 dry and I can now do that huge pile of ironing that has been there months.

This week has been a lazy week for me.  I finished my job in the bookies on the 23rd May and do not start my new job till Tuesday 1st June.  Not really done much as I ran out of fabric *sniff sniff* so wishing hat making has been put on hold.  I also had to wait till Thursday to get paid.  So lazy was my middle name for the week.

That was until yesterday! Yesterday I got up at 6.30am (who ever knew that time existed!) and went to Asda to do my food shopping.  I then spent the day bulk cooking for the month.  I made chilli beef, beef stew and chicken casserole.  They all tasted lovely on the taste test and are now all portioned up and in the freezer.  Today I decided to make Apple Muffins, to be honest they turned out not tasting of very much so I am going to try again but this time with Chocolate vanilla flavouring, hopefully they should be okay and can be frozen for when I want them during the month.

The past couple of days has seen a steady influx of parcels arriving at the house, it means one thing only and that it has been pay day for both of us YAY!!

I have so far received: boxes for my wishing hats, a selection of ribbons which where lush.  I’m still awaiting the three tops I brought for next week in my new job, fabric – lots of lovely fabric.

I had a major disaster this month and found myself running out of my stock of fabric. I like to keep a supply of basic colours but I seemed to have exhausted my pile.  So it was a quick trip to Ebay to source some polycotton fabric staples and I choose 9 different colours.  Now all I need to do is wait till the end of June when I can buy some pretty fabric, hopefully that will be a monthly thing from then onwards as my new job is a lot better pay than my last.

This post doesn’t have any pictures this time as I couldn’t decide which one to add but I promise the next post will have lots of pictures.

Have a fun weekend!

As I mentioned in my last post I have been working on something very very special.

Well at long last I am able to showcase my newest range of craft items for sale.

WISHING HATS

These are very special ‘Wishing Hats’ as they are each blessed with a Happiness spell and are made by a true witch (which is me, did I forget to mention that?)

They are each infused with lavender from my very own witches garden and have a spell attached to each hat.

I am soo excited about these as I am now going back to my witchy roots with these hats.  I have been a practising ‘White Witch’  for a number of years now and do cast spells for my own friends and family.  I thought it was about time I used my knowledge and produce something that is different and unique and I am sure you will love this range of hats.

They stand at just 3.5″ tall and come package in their own little box.  I will be selling these in my Folksy shop shortly

and I want to give you a sneak preview BUT I can’t as its not ready yet

But I will keep dropping hints about what it may be *lol*

So the first hint is that I’m going back to my roots (and no I’m not talking about my hair!)

This is part of my first proto type, interesting isn’t it *lol*

So I have my boxes and ribbon on order, now I just need some stock fabric, labels and card.  Then I am all ready to announce my latest project on the world.

In fact I’m sat here in the office slowly cooking, yuk!  The kitty cats seem to have it easy and are not really feeling the heat, surprising since they have all of that fur.  But they have both picked out shady spots in the flat, Libby is in the hallway where it is dark and Toby ummm well Toby decided to be a daredevil cat and walk out onto the window ledge *eeekks* seing as we are in a first floor flat not such a good idea.  But he is now back in and safe and sound and currently munching before he pounces on Libby.

I haven’t been around as much this week and I apologise for the lack of blog posts.  It is my last week in the bookies before I start my new job on the 1st June.  I really have had enough of the job now as today is my day off and I’ve already been called to see if I would go into work because someone has called in sick.  Strange thing is that you don’t get any thanks for it so I said NO and I really don’t feel guilty at all.  So just two more shifts to go and then I am FREE *YAY* 

So this week I actually made it to the gym, not once but twice.  It felt brilliant to be honest and not as scary or hurtful as I thought it would be.  I have made a decision to go every other day during the week, I may try Sunday morning aswell just to see how busy it actually is.  On the days I have off I will be using my wii fit and the new zumba excercise dvd.  I shall keep you all informed of how it goes.

Do you ever come across something that just takes your breath away?

This is what happened when I came across craftypagan designs on Folksy.  I was actually looking for halloween bits for my Folksy Friday and came across the shop.  I featured her Gift Tags on my FF but decided that this shop really needed another review.

So this is what took my breath away

It is described as a ‘Cheeky Pirate Greetings Card’ and priced at just £5.99.  Now I would never be able to give that away if I brought that and I would possibly even frame it and pop it on the wool in my craft room.  In fact when I get paid that will be my treat for the month i think.

I can’t get over the workmanship on the card, the techniques used are brilliant.  And to top it all off there are more cards available!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay so now I have finished gushing over it and will send a link to my OH with a huge hint that this is what I would like just because he loves me.

So if you havent been over to Craftypagan Designs then you best move your butt and go and have a look!