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Friday 10 December 2010

Snow and Stockings!

As with most of the rest of the country, we've had lovely snow all week, today the big thaw has started and the lovely perfect winter wonderland scenes are gradually turning into a mushy mess .....boo!! Still more to come next week apparantly...could be a white Christmas this year!

I've been busy getting bits and pieces ready for my Friday market stall (as wll as Folksy) so there have been some more Snow Folk....

and some Stockings .... red ones are still to be photographed....

 
 

Thursday 2 December 2010

Snow Peeps!!

While I was away in Somerset my lovely Mum had dug through her cupboards and come up with some white material (previously some type of bedding!) and as soon as I saw it I thought...aha!! Snowmen!! Well these are the result, three finished and more to come ready for my market stall tomorrow....and then they'll be listed on Folksy. Each has their own style and with a nicely weighted base they can stand under your christmas tree or on the mantelpiece ...or even be used as a doorstop!! 




 

Thursday 25 November 2010

Back from Somerset....

The kids and I have just got back from a trip to Somerset to see some of my lovely family. We thought it was cold down there........brrrr it's really freezing back up here in the North West!! Here's some of what we got up to....







Thursday 11 November 2010

More than your usual buttons!! - Folksy Friday

Apparantly there is a 'Button Day' on the 16th of next week!! Not quite sure where or why but I though it would be a great idea to try and find some of the more unusual things done with buttons on Folksy. Buttons come in all lovely shapes, colours and sizes but have a look at these.......(those with a button fetish, look away now!!)






Sunday 7 November 2010

November Sunshine....

We have had a gorgeous day today, blue skies, sunshine and puffy white clouds! Considering the amount of rain we had here a few days ago it was lovely to get out into the fresh air and enjoy it for a change. We went along the road and up to and old church tower looking out over the fields and mountains...
The 'new' church down the hill..

Lovely Oak tree in autumn colours..

The last week I have been busy making some bright and colourful flower brooches. These look great on a jacket or bag, and will really brighten up the colder winter days coming up..Made in any colour you like!!

Monday 1 November 2010

Down to the Greenwood.....

Yesterday we went along to the Greenwood Fair held at Leighton Hall, nr Carnforth. What a fantastic afternoon we had, the weather held off for most of it and the kids  spent a few happy hours making mallets, pizza's, dragonflies and masks!! I think this is quite a new fair (doesn't seem to have been widely advertised anyway!) where among the local envornmental groups and the big names like the RSPB etc there were lots of local green wood workers, stalls with wild food, chainsaw sculpture demonstrations and birds of prey amongst other things. And there was a brilliant lack of health and safety issues so the kids could actually have a go with saws and saw-horses, they did draw the line at the very sharp axe and chainsaws though!!    Just our cup of tea!!! ...

Making dragonflies from pegs!

 
Leighton Hall in the background





Strange people in costumes!!?

Sculptures from natural bits and pieces..

Chainsaw demonstrations - we managed to come home with a lovely little stool!



 For the boys....a woodchipper - this was amazing to watch, just seemed to chew up the logs in seconds!!

Getting tired - making mallets



Little Miss making her mallet






Saturday 9 October 2010

Market Mania.....

Well....Ok...maybe not mania but I am now a proud Market Trader!! I have taken the plunge and have a table booked at our local Indoor Market every Friday for the foreseeable future.....scary.......

 After seeing a little notice up in the market a few weeks ago advertising the price of a table, I thought 'what have I got to lose?? Only £5.90 per day and my time, plus the bonus is I get a day out of the house and Mr. WoollyLakes gets a whole day with the kids on his own which is great!! I know there's some craft (dare I say it...) Snobs out there who wouldn't dream of selling things on a market but why not?? If it works don't knock it!! 

The Indoor Market is only small with little shops down each side and a row of two tables in the middle so it's not one of these huge places which sell everything and the people I met on the other tables were all really friendly and interested in what I was selling. I had some absolutely lovely conversations with people passing by, quite a few commented on how nice it was to see someone there with craft items. I sat drinking coffee, people watching and knitting all day ....even managing to get another scarf done!  I had gone with very small expectations, really just wanting to see if I could sell anything there and came away a very happy bunny, not only covering the cost of my table but nearly £50 better off! Added to that ...quite a few people took cards to have a look on the website!!

So the moral of the story is.......don't be a craft snob!!   

Saturday 2 October 2010

Catch up.....short and sweet!!

Here's just a catch up of what has been going on in WoollyLakes Land this last coupleof weeks.....

 

Thursday 30 September 2010

Upcycling??? Is that a word?? - Folksy Friday..

......'Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.Upcycling is the opposite of downcycling, which is the other half of the recycling process. Downcycling involves converting materials and products into new materials of lesser quality. Most recycling involves converting or extracting useful materials from a product and creating a different product or material.' Wikipedia

A lot of my bits and pieces in my shop are 'recycled'and 'upcycled' but never really knew the difference before, so now we all know!! Here are some of the more unusual and amazing upcycled things I found on Folksy.....






Friday 24 September 2010

Caravan of Love!! - Folksy Friday

We've just got back from a lovely few days away near York (again!) Being slightly less hardened campers these days we managed to borrow a little caravan of a friend to keep us lovely and snug. I have to admit to having an abject fear of pulling caravans along busy roads, not helped by starting our adventure in very wet and windy conditions, nearly losing it after a huge gust hit it side on just down the road from home!! Still, after the 'white knuckle gripping the door handles' for half an hour afterwards I managed to relax and we had a  nice calm, drive over (only with a slight queue of trafic behind us!!)  The caravan did come into it's own once on the campsite, we were nice and snug whilst our friend in a tent wasn't!! So here is a Folksy Friday all about caravans, campervans and anything else like that which caught my eye.......