Busy butterfly

Life here has been incredibly hectic over the past month which is why I've not managed to do any of my regular craft posts or do my monthly new craft/new decoration.

My new business focused blog Pretty Crochet Things is doing really well with a new group of followers who came round because of my recent giveaway. I've also been busy showing my new bootie range off to friends and local mums so hopefully I'll start making a few sales soon :-)

I'm also working on getting a few new items designed for my shop, and because I love butterflies so much I'm thinking about doing some butterfly hairslides and some pretty butterfly garlands (like this quick prototype garland). Have you got any suggestions for crochet items that you would like to see me sell? At the moment I'm focusing on small items like baby bits & accessories and any ideas I get now may well become finished items stocked in my Etsy shop.

This garland was made for my recent Butterfly Tea Party - an event that I've been planning for well over a month. The party involved having a good few friends round to my home yesterday and provided them with tea & plenty of cake as well as selling my selection of Phoenix cards to them - all in the aid of the wonderful charity 'Together for short lives'.

There were butterflies everywhere, I punched a load of paper butterflies to decorate the cake table, I made butterfly cakes & butterfly shortbread, there was a butterfly hunt set up in the garden & butterfly outlines for the kids to colour in and have laminated as placemats. People even came with butterfly clothes on and those who didn't I made sure went away with a butterfly sticker!

My lucky day!

I've just found out that I've won the giveaway at believemagic - I can't believe it though as I never win anything. Very excited about this - the giveaway is for a fantastic 'creative girl art quilt kit' which I can't wait to have a go at and will be making up for my own little girl.

My own little giveaway over on Pretty Crochet Things was also a success and I've now got a good few new followers there which is lovely.

Giveaway over on Pretty Crochet Things

I've just realised that I'm late again for the Sew Mama Sew giveaway - however as I'm determined to join in this year I've written up a quick giveaway post on my 'Pretty Crochet Things' blog.

I'll be giving away a pair of my lovely little baby booties over there so be sure to hop on over and enter if you want to be in with a chance of winning.

My giveaway post will be open until 25th May, good luck all!

Butterfly crazy

Butterflies are beautiful - they flutter and flitter and as far as I can tell are only there to be admired. 

It's partly because of my love of butterflies that I've not been able to do much blogging this month. I'm in the middle of organising a 'Butterfly tea party' in aid of 'Together for short lives' a wonderful charity that supports children and their families who aren't expected to reach adulthood.

These little butterfly hair clips are going to be included in the prize raffle I'm putting together  - aren't they lovely? The 'Butterfly grace' pattern is available as a free Ravelry download and is well worth having a go at.  

So things may well be quiet for the next couple of weeks here while I madly dash about trying to organise my first proper charity function - don't worry too much though as I fully intend to do some more butterfly related crochet which I'll share with you properly once the craziness is over.

Finally open for business!

It has been almost a year since I decided to try and sell a few of my crochet items and today I've finally managed to do it.

My little Etsy shop is stocked up with a range of my booties in different yarns and colours - 12 different bootie types in all. Some of these have flower embellishments, and a few of those embellishments are optional for no added cost.

These first 12 booties are hopefully the first of many - I'll see how these sell and depending on what feedback I receive I'll tailor my range to suit my customers.

I'm really pleased with the small stock I have added to my store today - they are all made with love and care and I'm proud of each and every bootie :-)

If you want to keep up with all my new shop news then take a look at my crochet business blog - Pretty Crochet Things, I'll be posting up photos of any new items I add to my shop as well as filling you in with how it is all going.

What a lucky girl I am!

We have no doorbell at the moment (we've just had new carpets fitted and the lovely men who fitted it seem to have wandered off with the doorbell plug socket thingie) so when the postman came round yesterday with a surprise package we very almost missed it. Luck was with us as we happened to notice the van outside and Rich dashed down just in time.

This very beautiful blanket was in the parcel (as well as a train cake silicone mold which I can't wait to try out) and it came as a complete surprise. My lovely sister Liz seems to have been very busy crocheting this up for our home and it is simply stunning! She has such a good eye for unusual colour combinations - some really striking squares with all sorts of colours that I would never have thought to put together but they work so well. Liz is also proud of the fact that she is learning to do different squares, there are a whole range of different motifs to be found in this blanket and all of them are worked so beautifully.

This blanket is now living in our sitting room so that it will always be on hand to snuggle up in, luckily it's big enough that all the family should fit under it as otherwise I'm sure there would be arguments about who gets to have it! Thank you ever so much Liz - this blanket means so much to me and I am so in awe of your fantastic workmanship :-)