LOOK WHAT CAME TODAY!

The postman just came bearing parcels full of wonderful goodies.

HotdogandMe had sent us a sock toy making kit! The idea is to make something and put it up for sale into the Crafteroo Children In Need shop on Folksy to raise money for the charity. We are not going to make a Widget-style bunny because the kit contains exciting bags of buttons and felt.


Murky and Issabow are hoping we make a Meerkat baby for them so I'll have to have a little 'life talk' with them - ahem.
Also to be opened was a heavy box from Moo.com. We are all blown away by the way you can pick your designs from the Moo designers pages and make them into cards, stickers etc. The bunnies chose 25 designs for cards to keep them going throughout the year. You can even put a different message inside each card. Awesome.
This is not a very good picture of them as all the bunnies were spreading them out and kept slipping off the table and generally being a bit silly.

It cost £20.99 for 25 cards - under £1 each - much cheaper than the shops and with original designs that you don't see everywhere. (How bored are we of Phoenix cards?). Gotta love that penguin!

Also from Moo ..... dun dun duuuuun .... Widget's Christmas cards!! He was so over-excited that he kept skidding on them and slipping off the table.













Moo have been very impressive so far - these cards came within the week and are really nice quality. I used their Minis to make labels for my Half an Acre wooden stuff ..
If anyone has seen my ball of red and white baker's twine (used for the string in the pic) please could they let me know! I bought if from Flurogoddess on Folksy and it came on a cute wooden peg but I can't find it anywhere! I use it ALL the time and it's gone under a pile of paper somewhere and is nowhere to be found.

From next week you will be able to buy one of Widget's cards and a christmas carrot from the shop on Folksy and have it sent to the person of your choice. Very cute if you sent someone a sockbunny earlier this year.

THE GARDEN OF EDEN

Widget has been a busy bunny over the last two weeks! He has been off to Cornwall and had a very exciting visit to The Eden Project. Murky and Issabow came too as they wanted to see what sort of houses were on the market down there.
Murky found it amusing to scuttle around exclaiming "What murky weather we are having today!" and Issabow just snuggled deeper into her purple, fluffy scarf. There were lots of people about and it was a bit dangerous for such small creatures on the pathways!



Widget found lots of good spots in which to have his photo taken!
It was pretty warm inside the main Biome and he almost had to take his scarf off! I've been trying to get it off him for ages because, between you and me, if needs a darned good wash.






He got into a bit of a tight spot in the Mediterranean Biome.








The Bunny Maker's boys got busy in the halloween themed tent, making spells and putting their hands into slimy, dark places ....

There were lots of amazing things to see such as the giant junk man and The Nutcracker which illustrates just how much energy has to go into processing something as small as a hazelnut.
















Everyone agreed that they would like one of the below very much but couldn't seem to find one in the gift shop. Perhaps they had sold out.

THE MARVELOUS BUNNY MEADOW GOES OUT

The festive season has started. It has. Because I say so. Today was the first of the 'physical sales' and the Marvelous Bunny Meadow was dusted off and laid out for the first time since the summer.

It was a very busy event - lots and lots of bunnyless people - and quite a few bunnies went off to new homes. The first of the Sock Snakes came along ..... he looked after the promo cards for me.

I don't who's idea it was to let the snakes in but it seems that they are here to stay. Oh well. This one was of the Green-tongued variety. A very tickley green tongue too. I did feel a bit of a wrench when he was bought, I nearly said 'He's not for sale' but I managed to let go.
I am still a bit sad.
Watch out for snakes in store soon!
Widget also came along .... I told him not to sit down there with the bunnies or someone would snap him up in no time!

Can you spot him?

Out and about.

Today was a sale day. Sometimes I do wonder why I bother but I guess one has to show willing! No, it wasn't too bad it as just that I was exhausted. Dog tired. Pooped. Knacked. Why? I've no idea.
The stall looked pretty pukka though ....

The first of the sock snakes came along to help. His name was Green-tongued Snake because his ..er tongue was green.

Here he is being a promo card holder. I'm not sure whether he was inviting or off-putting and I had to keep reminding him NOT to keep tickling hands with that green tongue of his. This is his 'I'm a cute snake, please give me a home' pose.

He did a sterling job until SOMEONE BOUGHT HIM!!
I was gutted! Okay, it was to be expected as he did have a price on and he was very lovely and stripey but it was quite a wrench to see him go nonetheless.



Widget was there as well. He stood there all day, next to the picture on the sockbunny cards, looking proud and dignified. He is always the bunny that people want to buy - must be the rakish scarf.

About ten bunnies went off to new homes today and, of course, Green Tongued Snake. I hope they will all be okay tonight in their new homes ....

The Arrival of The Softies

There was a little knock at The Warren door this morning and I was hit by a blast of freezing air as I opened it a little crack to peer out into the chilly morning. Nothing there.

"We're down here!" said a little voice
Sitting by the logs in the porch were two bunnies. The first of The Softies had arrived!

It is a true sign of winter when they start to turn up at the door. They are all desperate to get into the shop for Christmas and these two are there right now! HERE!

Yucky

Today my workroom was too full. Not full of useful things but full of mess. Mess made by me. I tidy the place up and then fling stuff randomly around. It was so bad today that I couldn't even function in it. The picture shows my desk but AFTER I tidied it!
Notice (or rather, don't) that there is Farm Ville up on my lappy...

Everything started splurging in the hall too....










You know when everything around you just feels icky, itchy and in the way? Everywhere I stepped I knocked something and the floor was covered in robots and rockets!

Finally I decided to go out. Properly out. Not out of the room but out of the whole house. Things to do, you see. I got dressed. Yes, I hadn't done that yet. I got all ready and then it happened ..... I went blank. What was I going out for? What was it I needed to get? Could I remember? No. So I sat back down in my pickled and chaotic room feeling grimy and useless, having stepped my way there on a strip of bubble wrap, making it go pop .... pop ... pop, several jiffy bags and an assortment of scrap paper.
The only up-side of this day is that the boxes arrived for the mobiles.

What has happened to the Meerkats?

That is a good question indeed! Murky and Issabow have been on their honeymoon! Things have been moving along at such a pace in their lives. The day after Isabow arrived Murky proposed and they were married the very next day! Nifty Knits must be so proud!

Murky has been carrying Issabow's bag and "Ladies shouldn't carry things" and when its a bit on the cold side they put her lovely scarf around their shoulders and snuggle up.
They are now house hunting so we will keep you all updated!

5....4....3...2....1....LIFT OFF!

I've finished it. What do you think?

It is interesting how these things come about. I designed the shapes for my new Outer Space stencil set but had some kind of interuption of signal between the nerve endings in my brain and asked Les to cut them all out in 4mm ply. DUH. All the other sets are in 6mm. So poor old Les had to re-cut them all and I was left with 20 of each of the above 5 shapes. Poo. Now those 4mm pieces have a new purpose assembled as mobiles. I never intended to do mobiles but then I never set out to make bunnies out of socks and look what happened there!














I haven't quite got the balancey bit with the cross-bar thingy right yet and when you buy one you will have to assemble the cross-bar bit at the top yourself - so I'm just working out how to make that nice and easy and neat. Apart from that 'tis done and listed in my Folksy shop. I'll have to make them up to order but that does mean that you can choose different colours if you so wish.

The Party Problem.

I have three small boys. Each boy is in a different class of around 30 children. On average each boy is invited to ten parties over the course of the year. Do the maths. The problem is presents. I have to spend way under £10 for each present otherwise I might have to cancel Christmas and other notable events. Under a tenner means a small box of lego for boys or a piece of crap which gets played with once and then disintegrates into several broken parts. Lego is fabulous but we have half a hundred weight of it. We could seriously open a Lego shop with all of it.
The alternative is yet another football or pair of football gloves but, how many of them can you be given?
So my thought pattern/grumbled words under breath, goes like this:

1. Not another party, boys.
2. I never knew that child was in your class.
3. Do we have to get a present?
4. I'll just haemorage cash then, shall I?
5. What can we get that is under a tenner, not made of plastic and might actually be enjoyed?
6. The nearest good shopping town is a 20 minute drive for heavens sake and I have all my millions of 'work' things to get done. mutter mutter

Now I have the answer! A Hotdog Doggie from my pal HotdogandMe!! They come all wrapped up with tissue, ribbon and nice bit button fastening, with a name tag and a big of yummy doggy treats. You don't even have to rewrap! What more could you ask for?
To date we have bought all the below and given all except two away....
And the very first one we bought, which we still have ....

Jeremy Beagle!

Even better is that you can get custom orders! YAY! This below is Ron - made to the specific requirements of my 6yr old for his birthday yesterday. He looked very smart in his birthday party gear.

(Do you like the cake? You have no idea how much trouble that caused me and that is not the first doggie cake I made that day. My advice? No matter how tempting a recipe is, stick to 'Deliah's all-in-one Sponge' ALWAYS and do not be tempted by the idea of replacing flour with grated butternut squash to make a chocolate roulade. No, no, no. Recite after me; Deliah, Deliah, Deliah, always Deliah.)

I already have several requests from small boys for more dogs - most notably the 'Skelly Dogs' so that will be some Christmas pressies all taken care of as well. So, Hotdog and Me - you're going to need to get a-making!

Busy, busy. busy

Busy. Very busy. Mustn't grumble though. Or am I just busy because I've yet to fill out my tax return and it is hanging over me. Obviously I'm too busy to get round to it.
So - what has been going on? Well, my workroom floor is a mess for a start ...

It looks even worse today as I've been finishing off all the Christmas decorations. I'm really pleased with them and especially with how the pictures have turned out. Lighting is always a problem for me but I have solved the problem. My lovely neighbour has a beach hut in her garden. Yes. Nowhere near the beach though. It is painted a lovely blue and white stripe and white on the inside. Perfect. Even on a gloomy woomy day, such as today, the light inside is bounced around and turns out really well in a picture.
I've also got Halloween out of the way this week too. Not in a big way. Just a few token items.

A classic white skully and, of course, some bats! Somehow I've still managed to keep the 'Half an Acre' feel with the eyes.

Also up my sleeve are the new Party Girl and Outer Space stencil kits, Robot & Rocket mobiles and some girlie hearts and stars. Here's a quick preview of some of the stencils....

Anyway, I'm too busy for all of this blogging!! More coming soon .......