I do have an excuse.....honest....

Hi everyone, it's been a while. It's been a crazy couple of months and my vow to do a blog post a week has clearly slipped. The good news is I will have lots of new stock to list soon.

This year, Chesterfield council decided to add an art fair to their Arts and Market Festival which happens at the end of October each year. There's usually an old fashioned fair ground, ghost walks, special guest entertainers at the theatre, a beer festival and generally lots of lovely bits and pieces going on around town. It was a bit of a risk as the art and craft fair had never been done before and we weren't sure how it would be received. It was a windy and mizzley day (and there was lots of catching of flying work) but all in all I would call it a success. There were a few kinks that needed working out but Ally, who organised it, will soon get that sorted. My 12 foot (yes you heard me right, 12!) went down well and I will be there again on Sunday, November 12th when the Christmas lights are switched on. Pop down and see me if you're around.

My next big adventure was 'Wonderfully Made', a for day event organised by the amazing Rachel Poole, of Pennine Artists, and hosted by All Saints Church at Silkstone. I had a fabulous week and felt really honoured to be ask to be at an event with such talented artists. We all took shifts to steward the event and it was great opportunity to meet new people like CJ of Curoius Cat Creative and Laura of Made by Lolly fame. I had the chance to see Loxley Silver Band, who played beautifully. It must be the Yorkshire in me that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy when I listen to Silver and Brass bands. I also dropped hints to the hubby about the Snoozle I was lusting after from my friend Sabine of Little Castle Designs, and bought an owl doorstop and sausage dog draft excluder that I've wanted for ages from another friend, Sophy Sylvester. Oh and I even made some last minute poppies and raised 15 of your fine British pounds for the Poppy Appeal.

So there it is, I'm back to the real world (almost), frantically making Christmas decorations that should have been made months ago (and not just started yesterday) and hoping to blog and list new stock in the shops. As I said before, I will be in Chesterfield Market on the 21st of this month and then you can catch be at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Saturday 27th November. There will also be a Craft Candy fair on the same day at the Millennium galleries so it's a great day to get into Sheffield and buy lots of lovely handmade gifts.

See you soon (I promise)
Alison xxx

Kitsch and Stitch on Facebook

Well it's hardly a revelation; I've been on there personally for ages and the shop has been on for quite some time. It has taken a couple of kicks up the behind though for me to do anything about it...a bit like this blog :)

Like the blog, the fan page has sat for months with no activity and no setting up at all. A couple of weeks ago though I got a fan that wasn't me, anyone I knew or from round these parts. She was from York, which is a couple of hours drive away from me, and I have a sneaking suspicion that she added me by mistake, but hey-ho, I have a fan.

Today I had a fan page suggested to me by Kay from lilidrawspictures...funnily enough, that being the lilidrawspictures fan page on Facebook :) Of course I 'Liked' the page, Kay's work is equally as lovely and quirky as she is. The light bulb didn't go right on but the dimmer switch was certainly being messed with. At Craft Candy, we all want to be like Kay; she has 28 hours in her day, 9 days in her week, and can do anything she sets her mind to. I was feeling brave so I says to myself, I says 'Alison, you can be like Kay too!' I wasn't going to be too ambitious, one thing at a time you know, but this was what I needed to get me going.

My Facebook page now has stuff on it...hurrah! My blog now has a link to my Facebook page...hurrah! The house is the same mess that it was this morning, I've spent all day in my PJs and hubby is home in less than 3 hours....urmmmm...wellll....never mind :)

So if you're feeling in a charitable mood you could click on the little link on the right (just over there...yes, you've got it) and then treat yourself and go to Kay's lovely Facebook page and add her to throw some good karma her way.

Every Cloud...

A few of the Craft Candy girls and I were looking forward to a great weekend recently at an event that was very much our style. Sadly, due to a few 'technical issues' at the event, it ended up being a bit of a flop as far as sales went. I am a prize whinger, as anyone who knows me will happily tell you, but once the bluster is out of the way, I'm quickly back to normal and looking for the positives. This time I found quite a few

1. I got to spend ages talking to my new friend Laura of Laura Lou, a recent member of Craft Candy that I hadn't got to meet yet.

2. I got the world's best swap; my sock bunny Percy for a great book made by Heather Dewick using pages from Ladybird books for the cover and end papers.

3. We were able to listen to some great music from people such as The Everly Pregnant Brothers.

4. We were as delighted watching, as Sabine was making, her lovely new wicker wreath and basket, as taught by the ever talented Rachel.

5. Though I had spent what felt like 500 hours, in the previous 2 weeks, making new stock, I now have plenty of things to update my Etsy shop and actually list on my newly created Folksy shop.

All in all we had a fun weekend, spent with great friends...who cares if we're still all penniless :)

Elves and the Shoemaker

Well that's what it felt like in my room a couple of weeks ago. The end of the school year was drawing ever closer and the Supply Teaching was virtually non-existent. I had a fair to prepare for so the batch making began. As  you can see, there was more than a passing resemblance to the lovely little pieces of leather in the story, when I was making my new Raggy Birds. In the top left hand corner you can see the red felt and yellow Moda fabric that was used to make the lovely little guy that went into the raffle at Candy Floss (which was a great success especially as I avoided getting my photo taken again :) ). Sadly, my camera and the lighting were against me so I don't have a picture of him to share but trust me when I say he was a cutie. His brothers and sisters made it into the light tent this morning and have now been listed, split between my Folksy and Etsy shops.

Etsy Treasuries

Some weeks I get really lucky with Etsy treasuries. It's great to get an e-mail from someone saying that they liked your work enough to put it into their own personal mood board. With the introduction of Treasury East

and Treasury West it gives me more chances of receiving pick-me-ups like the ones I've had so far this week.

This adorable treasury features one of my favourite things, polka dots...and of course my The Circus Comes to Town Button Bracelet. It was the first of 3 convos this week and came from crazywilteddaisy.

My next delight came in the form if this delicious ensemble from CraftConfections and contained a Vintage Bloom Brooch. These are craft fair favourites but, I must admit, I didn't see the beauty in this particular brooch until I saw it alongside everyone else's beautiful creations. It reminded me that I can be daring with colour.

And finally came this elegant collection from onionbagel. You can see my Jellybean Bowl right there in the middle feeling oh so grown up in such tasteful surroundings.

Thanks for sharing the love Etsy!!!

Candy Floss

Now don't get too excited; two posts in one week are highly unlikely to happen again, and I may even use it as an excuse to not post next week :)

For those of you in the Sheffield area, the annual Candy Floss Fair will be taking place this Saturday at the Millennium Galleries in the city centre. I'll be on the welcome desk so come and say hello.

Hi there!

Well I've succumbed to the pressure. After being told for forever and a day that I should have a blog, and feeling at least a teeny bit guilty that I wasn't promoting my beloved Craft Candy online, I finally gave myself a shake, got online and tackled the mess that has been my 'work in progress' blog page for months...and months...and months. The plan is (as I know every good blogger should at least appear to have a plan) to drop in and say 'hi' every week and bore anyone who is daft enough to listen...no offense. So lets just hope I can keep it up and maybe have a handful of people come see me every now and again.

Week 1 post complete.....check.........