Dreaming of a sun-drenched summer?

The biting temperatures this last week have made it somewhat difficult to focus on making summery driftwood hearts and sunbursts - especially since my 'workshop' is by far and away the coldest room in the house!  I can dream I guess.

We might need a bit more practise on our skimming technique

 But enough grumbling.  I had a fabulous week off over the recent half term and managed to drag the family down to the beach for a couple of hours beach combing.  The pickings were good but, because the sea was so calm, I have to say my 'helpers' were more pre-occupied  with skimming stones than collecting driftwood.  My youngest had the heaviest bag at the end of the trip.  Was it a sizable haul of driftwood?  Was it heck!  It was, in fact, a bag full of interesting stones and sea-washed bricks - it weighed a ton!  Nevertheless, it has been brought back home and duly washed and scrubbed along with the rest of our booty.  It was a surprisingly decent lot of driftwood and has taken over a week to dry - principally in the winter sun and then finished off over the radiator indoors. 

Today, I have finally got down to creating!  I have a couple of large driftwood hearts in progress and two new sets of decoupage bunting plus a sumptuous, scrumptious, star made with some leftover leaf and petal paper that is so gorgeous I want to keep touching and stroking it!  Wrong?  Probably...  But, I digress, my day has been good and just as well since this next week is written off to the preparation of all things birthday for my youngest's 5th.  So it is down with the wood, glue, paper and brushes and up with the flour, eggs and sugar.  Princess cake and balloons are my life for the next 6 days.  Wish me luck!

It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing

Wow!  Where oh where did that last month go?  We've had rain (too much), wind, snow (not enough according to my girls) and even a glorious day of sun this weekend just gone!  This means we have spent way too much time indoors.  And yet I have, to date, created zip!  This has not been helped by my spending time experimenting with the art of needle-felting.  I got a kit for Christmas and have been busy stabbing away at wool for nearly a month now - it is my newest hobby and boy does it hurt when I get it wrong!  A barbed needle in the finger or thumb is not a good thing.

Aside from the needle felting I have been sorting, sifting, recording and listing my Driftwood and Decoupage goodies on my Etsy site and looking into taking part in a few more 'Handmade' markets/fairs this year - having had such a ball at the Winchester Christmas Fair in December.

I am trying to be selective about where I 'tout' my wares having been 'stung' by a couple of markets that weren't quite right for me.  I think I've found a couple of suitable and reasonably local events - I like them and they like what I do so so far so good.  I just need to do a bit of market research and I'll be there.  It's a massive learning curve that can't be boiled down to a simple formula (frustratingly).  I have quizzed fellow stallholders and had plenty of input from family and friends but ultimately where and what I sell is down to me!  No pressure there then...

I am itching to get down to the beach and, with half-term looming, I am hoping for a clear day when I can drag my family down to the beach and collect bucket-loads of driftwood and debris (hoping for some rope or old washed-up tiles/sea-worn brick) and then get making and creating.  Time to get into the swing again!