Have I bitten off more than I can chew?

It all started after the "incident" in my dentist's office when he may or may not have caught me stuffing business cards inside the magazines in his waiting room.

Shameful I know. What kind of person would actually do that kind of thing? In a dentist's office of all places!

Well after the incident which may or may not have happened and which may or may not have involved me, the dentist said that I was free to leave a stack of business cards or leaflets in his waiting rooms (not just my little room mind you, but all of them).

Score!

Still, never one to be satisfied with what I'm offered and possibly due to the fact that I might have been hopped up on anaesthetic (which does funny things to me by the way) I heard a voice not unlike my own enquire "What about a magazine?"

"Sure" he said "as long as it doesn't look like you've got busy with the child's crayons you can leave a few copies of a magazine in the waiting rooms". And the Arts Centre, and the library and the coffee shops and tourist information shop said they would all like to have copies too.

But, and here's the snagging point, there isn't a magazine promoting Folksy. I don't have one. You don't have one. The girl down the street doesn't have one.

There isn't one.

Well, not just yet anyway.




But by hook or by crook there will be. In a couple of weeks the first edition of GO handmade will be available for download.

Can you just feel the excitement?

And it won't be just a catalogue either. It will be packed with features on crafters and makers currently being slaved over by some very wonderful and creative people on Folksy. You'll find out what they do and where they do it. What makes them tick and what inspires them. There'll be crafts for kids and tips and ideas on what to do outside this summer.

You'll just have to stay tuned to find out whether it all comes together in the end.

Can you wait?

The one where she rambles on and on and ...

Houston we have confirmation.

The cat is a girl.

The husband took a deep breath and went outside to check.

I asked if he was sure.

He looked insulted.

The weather here the last couple of days has been out of this world. It shortly after 9am at the minute and absolutely cooking outside. Which is exactly where I am by the way. Sitting on the deck with a good cup of coffee, I actually put the percolator on this morning. So I'm sitting on my deck with my lovely laptop, my coffee and kitty purring away happily beside me.

Cat sounded far too manly for a girl and I'm pretty sure we have a pet cat now. The husband's even in the garage as we speak building her a little outside house thingy. Is it still a kennel if its for a cat. I should really buy a book shouldn't I?

My mum's complete inability to read the size of something clearly printed on the side of the box continues. Yesterday she arrived home with a "paddling pool" for Toots which turned out to be an above ground swimming pool. Seriously this thing is huge, it covers her entire deck and we can all fit in it. Not that we all tried mind you.

Also, she didn't buy a pump to inflate the thing. Have you ever got high huffing on kid's inflatables. Anyway, one last minute, blue in the face, completely knackered run to Argos later and we had a fully inflated pool and no serious cases of oxygen deprivation.

My dad also dug out the old swing ball. People outside the UK might know it as tether ball, I'm not sure.

Now swing ball might look like a nice innocuous child's game but that's where you're wrong. At least if you were raised by my dad, you are. You see to my dad, swing ball is a vicious blood soaked battle and his early teachings wore off on both my brother and I.

Toots looked a little concerned to begin with when confronted with this side of her mother. Teeth bared and angry glare on her face as she smashed the ball back at her own dad, who in turn hammered the ball right back at me.

My dad was never a big fan of the whole "kids should always win" idea. As far as he was concerned you had to WANT to win and be willing to fight for it. It's a fair point really. Imagine your kid grows up and wants to become a surgeon. Is it ok for them to step up to the table every day and have patients die left, right and centre as long as they at least tried. Not really.

Anyway, most games of swing ball between my dad, brother and I usually ended with either the ball flying off the end of the tether or one of us breaking a hole in the centre of the plastic bat.

Good times.

I spent yesterday afternoon making some new jewellery for the shop







I wanted something nice and light and summery for myself, so I decided to make a few extra at the same time. I seem to get stuck in the rut of always wearing the same jewellery, but yesterday in the heat I just couldn't do it.

I'm planning on putting the finishing touches to a few things for a giveaway today. It won't be here, but don't worry I'll tell you where it is once its up and you can run over and get your entries in.

First things first though. I'm off out the garage to make a new scratch post for kitty.

See you all later.

Folksy Teams

Folksy Teams is up and running.

It a new social media network for Folksy sellers and fans of Folksy to keep in touch and stay up to date on everything that is happening in the world of Folksy.

You can also use the network to meet makers, crafters and artists if you would like to commission a piece of work. The network is relatively new, but already we have some wonderful people showing off their beautiful work.

And while I am the creator of Folksy Teams, I won't be moderating the site as such. I'll deal with the usual spammers and the like but apart from that my hope is that the members of the group will take over and make the network their own. Already there are a handful of Folksy Groups helping friends meet, share and arrange events.

So head over and take a look. You might find some like minded crafters.