It's Behind You!!

Panto season is upon us again & I was lucky to score some free tickets to Dick Whittington at the Orchard Theatre (Oh no you didn't - Oh yes I did!!). It was the baby's first panto (at the tender age of two and a half) and we had a great time. He was a bit nervous during the first half, what with the noise and the dark, both of which he hates. But after the interval he was singing and dancing, booing and cheering - and clapping madly.
As with most theatres, photography is not allowed so I just got a couple of shots in the interval of fish (we call the baby fish - but that's another story) sitting in his seat. I think this is going to be a single standard size photograph as I've lots of memorabilia to add to the page: flyer, programme, ticket stubs etc. Now all I need is the time to create!!

I did get a bit of that quality crafting in though. An entire 12x12 album (20 pages) in 48 hours. It did involve a bit of insomniac scrapping at 3 am but I enjoyed every minute. A friend asked me to put some resize some family photos and just stick them into an album for her mother's birthday but the urge to create was too much and so a gorgeous new album was born.
The best bit was just having completely free reign to use any colours, textures and accents that I wanted - no rules and no worrying about whether I have enough for a whole class. That's what I call scrapping heaven.

I've not yet started on my christmas crafting, other than sample cards that I made for the shop displays and for class samples (about 50). I'm planning alot of handmade gifts but as I write I can hear the countdown to Christmas ticking out loud. I've got to wonder whether I'll make it!!

The move from our old shop was not without its trials but then, things have a habit of working out in the end!! I am currently in a lounge full of boxes, my long-suffering eldest son has a room full of boxes and my mother has both boxes and a whole room full of shop fittings. We had a record number of breakages but my sanity is still partially intact.

The telephone company (who shall remain nameless) did not divert our calls but cut us off instead. Fortunately, most of our mail order enquiries come through one supplier, who is much more efficient and the calls are still coming.

For the first time in eighteen months, today I worked from home. The last day off I had was Boxing Day 2005 (I kid you not!!) Bliss! I schlepped about in PJs but stayed focussed and tackled lots of outstanding tasks.

The magazine article due in tomorrow was written and mailed by lunchtime, the product descriptions for the CTYD online shop were mailed within an hour before getting down to the serious business of creating 'buy it' buttons for the new online shop. Being a complete technophobe, my good friend and web administrator for I Love Hot Off The Press, Gandalf the Crafty, had sent me idiot proof tutorials, so the whole process was relatively painless and was only lengthy due to my current position on last century dial up.

I've not yet managed to get round to the quality crafting time I've promised myself but it is on the list. I'm thinking I might get some of those handmade gifts started soon as I've heard a nasty rumour that Christmas is just a month away. I'm known for getting things done at the eleventh hour so I guess there's still plenty of time yet.

Just now I'm having fun looking at new suppliers and planning that grand opening. I think we'll be looking at early January - just when the anti-climax of Christmas takes hold and we all need a bit of a lift. I suppose this is a time that should be fairly bleak but I'm really quite excited about what the future will bring.

Forward Planning - The Guvnor's Way

So I was feeling brave and everone else is doing it so I thought it might be time I had a blog of my own. As I'm still on dinosaur dial up I suppose the pictures and stuff will have to wait but no matter - it's just 3 short weeks until I join the rest of civilised society and broadband goes live (yay!)

Until then it's just my ramblings on life, the universe & everything.

So what's happening in my life right now? A mixed bag really. The new shop won't be ready when my license expires on the current one so I'm trying to find a cupboard to work from in the interim. On the plus side, when we do move in I'll be able to stay put for fifteen wonderful years so I'll finally be able to put down some roots. But what to do now?

Pack up & try to find some space for the entire contents of the shop, while running the classes from my mother's house and trying to fit in a bit of quality crafting at the same time. Needless to say the stress levels are pretty high right now and I could explode at any moment (we could have saved a fortune on fireworks had this all blown up a fortnight ago. LOL)

They (the staff, my family and most people I come in to contact with) think I'm a little bit mad. All this is going on and I keep smiling. I just keep saying 'it'll either be alright or it won't - not much you can do about it'. Of course there's lots we are doing about it behind the scenes but the outcome will be whatever it will be - no point worrying about it.

So the last trading day in the current shop is this Friday and the last classes there are on Saturday. After that we are on the next part of the roller coaster ride and it's too late to get off!
But I like a challenge and I'm almost excited to see what new paths I might tread next.

I'm looking at maybe doing a few craft fairs next year, having the shop website completely rebuilt, finding a couple of new suppliers, starting up the craft parties again and planning the biggest shop opening event that Dartford has ever seen. Then there's that quality crafting I spoke about!!

And with a bit of time off I might even get to make my Christmas cards before the new year!!