Saleable :-s

One of the Bad things to do with being self Employed and stressed is what I find it has turned me into.
Everything I Craft, I feel has to be sellable. I was making a Blanket for my upcoming Grandson the other day, Whilst making it I counted the Hours it took so I could work out how much this would have to be priced up for to sell, I took photo's that would be good enough to go on ebay and etsy not just good enough for me to track what I had made via my Blog. It is something that is haunting me almost...... My Craft did for a while turn into my business and now yes it is nice if I make something and someone would like to buy it infact it is fabulous but I need to Craft just to enjoy Crafting. I have seen many things Crocheted that I have really though what is the point of that??? no one would buy it would they and is it even sellable? Not oh wow that is nice I would love one of them  ha ha one of these things is Crochet covers for tins. Why would someone want to Crochet a cover for a tin?? but it is done, here on this amazing Blog I love; Attic 24

Yes the are beautiful but the time involved is just not justified to me....... that was until today ha ha light bulb moment for me. Why not just for the sake and enjoyment of it cover a tin..... Not to try and sell but to actually just do for myself to enjoy the art of Crochet....... and so I did and how amazingly refreshing it was too :-)
Photo's to follow

Nappy Cakes, At Peace and Valentines Bunting

Wow I had a great sleep last night, Which goes to show it really doesn't matter if you stay up too late. 
I am learning along with everything else, that I am a worrier, Not in the shaking over emotional sense but in a mind pickling sense, I started reading last night and got right into it but my mind or "other self" kept clock watching, I don't know why as I didn't have anything to do today. I think it must go back to being self Employed and having to be at work all day everyday. Anyway I didn't let this worry me too much as I stayed up reading this;

You can get it here for only £2.55. It is an amazingly touching story and if you like Books which Follow on you should probably read For You first as although it is not a follow on as such the People you meet in For you, also pop in for a look in At Peace :-) 

Omgosh, I haven't finished it yet but let me tell you I had tears streaming down my Face, It was soooo emotional and as with all Kristens Books it is an amazing Story which captures you from beginning to end.

Here is a little peek of something I have been working on, Don't want to show the finished piece (and surprise :-0 it is finished, Took me quite a few hours but I sat down over two days and really enjoyed this and it is the biggest project I have ever started and finished. I am extremely proud ) as it is for my New Grandson, Who is not quite here yet but hopefully wont be long he he, I think maybe making this for him got me to the finishing it stage. 
Also I have been very good and finished making my Valentines Bunting, Have uploaded it to my Facebook Page and my Etsy Shop yeee haaaa I am being good. Oh and I have also entered it here to see if I can win a Free Lesson, If anyone would like to go to the page and hit the Heart in the top right hand corner, That would be a vote for me :-) 
At the beginning of the Year I also had an order for a three tier boys Nappy Cake, This went on my Facebook page but I forgot to pop it here. So to finish off here is my first sale of 2012 and I hope in time there are many more :-)

Catch up on everything,

It has been a little while..... I have been either poorly or busy :-) not, not wanting to post.... Which is good
I mentioned in an earlier Post that I made a Card with my Cricut and I would Post the Pic later.... Well you'll never guess what ahahah I forgot to take a Picture and the Card has gone to the Birthday Girl. So typical me.

I have however a lovey Ribbon Picture. I have ventured out... Just a little and bought some Ribbon to sell, I wondered why I never did this before, Ribbon is Beautiful, It doesn't have to be used lol Just looks lovely sitting there on it's reel and if People do want to buy off of me it is cheap to post, So an absolute genius moment for me :-D I have them for sale on my Facebook page here with a few other Valentines lovelies. I have also done what I believe to be a huge Money jump (gulp) and opened an ebay Shop. I have done this before when I had the bricks and mortar Shop and thought it was quite expensive at £14.99 with still having to pay listing fee's but with a Shop I can list several of the same item with one listing fee. So I will have to work hard and do lots of listings to try and sell enought to make a profit and cover that hefty charge. At least I am not overly stressed this time so can keep a better eye on things. I will post a link when I have a bit more listed.

The Diet has been going so so he he I don't feel the need to constantly starve myself or leave out the unhealthy food as
1. I have already lost 2 Stone
2. I have been so poorly with Virus after Virus and now a Cold, I deserve nice junk food as it makes me feel a little better
3. If I have to have a third reason I will think of another ;-)

This is a lovely Picture I took the other day. Ah afternoon tea, with a teapot makes me feel so special. I was just planning on settling down and making a Heart Garland (this has been made :-) and is currently being blocked as I write, Which is something very new to me and a whole Blog post on it's own coming soon)
Well will leave that there for now. Hoping I feel better soon.
xxxxx

Cath, Kirstie, Cheese and BFF

How's this for an amazing Picture :-) and what makes it even more amazing is the books were free!! I saved up lots and lots of nectar points and exchanged them for Amazon Vouchers and with the last few pounds I got these two lovelies. They actually cost me 33p he he but....... they are still a great price if having to pay Kirstie was £8 + P&P and Cath was £8.29 + P&P although they did send them separately so will be contacting them to see if I can get a wee postage discount ;-)



Have you seen my new Tickers?? up there ↑ ↑ ↑  (ha ha do you like my arrows, I love learning new things)
I love them, One for weight loss and one for days of non Smoking. I got them from here weight one here and Smoking one here in case you would like one too.

Diet going well, I made Lasagne as per diet instructions last night, It was beauuutiful, No pic again lol
This is quite sad but I must say it is so lovely Cooking the tea at night, It really is lovely to have the "want" to do things again, Just little things like this a few Months ago... well just last Month, I had no energy or interest in doing anything and I mean anything. It was as though I had no reason to go on although I know I had 3 very special reasons too. It is lovely to have my "want" back and so nice to do things for my Parents again. It should be me looking after them not the other way round and I think that was the hardest thing to cope with was seeing them see me so bad. :'(

Anyway was Herby Cheese for dinner today;

Who would have thought chopping a tomato and adding some Basil to low fat Grated Cheese would make it into this yummy filling food item?? and I don't like Tomatoes!!! but for some reason hidden away under the Cheese it tasted quite Yummy and was far more filling than 1 piece of "Normal" Cheese on toast smothered with butter and fat from the Cheese dripping over the edges. Ponder that!!

Cricut has been out again today, Cutting Heart items, Photo's will follow later :-)

oh and been for Indian tonight with my BFF :-) Not on the diet but a fab catch up evening

Didn't sleep at all  last night so need to catch up tonight

Loving life

Night night. xx

Diet and smoking hmmmm and a bit of Craft in there too

Well I didn't intend to update my Blog daily but I feel as though I have something to say again today, So I will ;-)
Another positive to last year and being ill is that I have lost over 2 Stone from Feb. I wasn't trying, I  just went off my food. This means that entering 2012 I am the lightest I have been since being pregnant (21 Years!!)

Really nowhere near here lol but feeling good.

This went without much notice as I really didn't have much interest in myself but as the new year approaches, We as a Family have decided to diet. This for me is an excellent time as I have lost so much without trying I can now try and hopefully loose more. I do find loosing weight to kind of stop after a period of time and I am sure that time would have soon been on it's way if I did not make a change. Soooo for Christmas I bought my Dad the "Tesco online Diet" and we are all having a go. ( My Mum and Dad moved in with me Dec 2010 as I was so ill and this is the "all" I will be talking about ;-) )
I only started today as I have been poorly with the Virus and so for our Evening meal tonight we had Marinated Fish, Ratatouille with Natural Yoghurt, New Potatoes and Broccoli. This is soooo not the norm for me and I cooked it!!! which also is not normal lol. So it does seem that 2012's new start is really rocking here. I did forget to say the meal was delishhh and now I am Blogging really wish I took a photo but I will learn from this and carry my Camera everywhere from now on.
Also last year I eventually gave up Smoking..... This was not actually very hard as I only smoked between 3 and 10 a day and would never smoke until late afternoon but every time I "lit up" My "other self"would start talking to me, Saying I didn''t want to die I value my life to much so why smoke, I hate the smell and taste, so why smoke and more importantly I don't want to be a smelly Nanna :-) So 2 Weeks ago today I quit and have had no cravings or thoughts on wanting to again.... Happy days and clever me.

Oh and just quickly on a Craft note, Look what I got today,

Lovely Mr Liddl got his Card Pack in again, They are such a huge mahoosive bargain. 25 Seets of 270gsm Card for an amazing £1.99 .... Yes that is right £1.99... So I had to get 5 packs. This card cuts a dream on my Cricut and talking of Cricut look what came out to play today :-)


 I made a Card from scratch using The Craft Room and I am so chuffed that my Cardmaking mojo has come back. I am not putting a pic of the Card on yet in case my Friend see's but will do next week.
So there we go another day in the life of me, Wendy. xxxx

Reading mainly Kristen Ashley

So New years eve was good, Didn't expect it to be as I was ill but I forced myself out with a few close friends and had a lovely night.... I have however since been in bed with a nasty virus I cant seem to shift. This had made me reflect on illness.... I have had a very down year and probably had the most illnesses too but it also helped me see some positives to my last year.

The first and probably best and what my post is about is that I read a lot of books. I find reading such a great way to release the problems and frustrations I have and find it very easy to pick up a Book and venture into someone else's world.

I love a good Autobiography and this Year I started Sir Alan Sugar's, It has yet to be finished but I loved what I've read so far and was spouting out Allan Sugar Facts here there and every where.... Did you know Amstrad (his company) was made from his name A from Alan, M from Michael, (his middle name) S from Sugar and the TRAD is Trading - Alan Michael Sugar Trading = AMSTRAD. Love it :-)

I also read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini plus his other Book A Thousand Splendid Suns. All of which I would highly recommend.

But there was one Author who totally blew me away this Year and that is Kristen Ashley

I am very lucky to class Kristen as my friend and as an added extra to this friendship she is also an amazing Author and so quite a few times last year I actually found myself saying "Thank the Lord for Kristen Ashley" She has helped me get through the most awful year ever and here is how.

Kristen is, I think an amazing writer, She is also very fast at what she does and on meeting her she had a published book out called Rock Chick, She has since published two more Rock Chick books in print but has changed to Ebook publishing and this year alone has released 24 Books!!!!( I have read 17 of them!!) I buy mine for my Kindle (on pc) from Amazon and they are an excellent price for the length and quality from just 77p ....can you believe that??. The other amazing thing she does is give you free chapters so you can sample before you buy. If you don't like you don't have to spend.

You can find all about her and the free samples here on her website

Here are a few of my Favourite Books;

All of the Rock Chick Books. They are a series of books starting with the Story of Lee and Indy and carrying through to different characters. These different stories of people kept me enthralled all the way through and whenever I started a new one, This couple automatically became my favourite,

They are an absolute must for people who never want a story to end. As each new book starts a new story with new people but all your old favourites come along too. Start with;

Rock Chick - Lee and Indy

Then in order

Rock Chick Rescue - Jet and Eddie der are

Rock Chick Redemption - Roxie and Hank

Rock Chick Renegade - Jules and Vance

Rock Chick Revenge - Ava and Luke

Rock Chick Reckoning - Stella and Mace

Rock Chick Regret - Sadie and Hector (I've not read yet)

Rock Chick Eight - Not yet published

Paranormal Series. I think these are my Favourites, They are based in National Trust properties around where I live and although they have Ghosts and reincarnation in, which I am not sure about, I just adore these books. I think Penmort Castle is my Favourite but it is very hard to say as they are all Fabulous. I have yet to read Fairytale come alive but is in my Kindle waiting :-) Here are the links to the series.

Penmort Castle - Cash Fraser and Abigail Butler

Sommersgate House - Douglas Ashton and his American sister in law Julia Fairfax

Lacybourne Manor - Royce Morgan and Beatrice Goodwin

Fairytale come alive - Prentice Cameron and Isabella Austin

Fantasyland Series Again this isn't the kind of Book I would go for but the way Kristen writes is just gripping. From start to finish these books just amazed me. My favourite was definitely The Golden Dynasty and even though I found it quite harsh in the beginning even I understood it was needed to get you to understand the world of Lahn. Again a must try and dont forget the free chapters if your not sure. Here are the links to this series;

Wildest Dreams - Seofin "Finnie" Wilde and Frey Drakkar

The Golden Dynasty - Circe and Lahn

Fantastical - Cora Goode and Noctorno (I've not read yet)

I could go on forever about Kristens books but I wont, I will however this year be trying to catch up with her and reading;

Rock Chick Regret, Fantastical, Fairytale come alive, The Crime series (already read "For You" and yes it too was amazing) and The Colorado Mountain Series. I am also looking forward to the release of Law man (Part of the Dream man series of which I am fully up to date with)

So really this was a bit of somewhere for me to keep track of what I have read and need to read but also if anyone loves reading I may have just sent them on a path of discovery to a very lovely and talented Author who will I promise give you joy for hours on end.

Enjoy reading it is a must for 2012 to find time to relax ...... this is something else I have learnt ;-) xx