Busy again

Not much news just a few photo's of some card toppers, I've been busy with my jewellery website as I'm now low stock wise and I hadn't noticed- ooops so beads are on orders and I'm trying to make as fast as I can, hope you all have a great weekend.

Celebrating!

I am pleased to announce that I've lost a bit of weight 10lb in four weeks wooohooooo! so to celebrate instead of eating anything bad for me I mad some cards :O) I must admit I haven't done anything drastic just cut out crisps and cheap chocolate and it's worked wonders so far, here are the cards I came up with

Hubby Home

I'm a happy bunny Hubby got home safe and well on Saturday, he was due back on Friday but as usual like in the RAF never runs to plan, never mind he's back safe and well. The kids were so please to see him, i never tell them he's coming back in case he gets delayed as there would be disappointment & bad moods & I'm the one left to deal with it. I must admit it's a whole lot better when he's away now that we share with Mum & Dad, i have adults to talk to and the kids have two other's to bug!! I just wish my Dad would lighten up and get on better with Hubby it really gets me down as my Dad's mood change is disturbing it's like a light being switched off when Hubby walks thought the door, but enough of that horrid stuff.

I've been topper making,scrapping & card making a bit more lately seen as things with the shop are not moving, funny though it hasn't stopped my buying nice decorative bits though :O) I got a lovely PINK(of course) leatherette pen tidy reduced to £8 bargain & even better I got some recipe book stands PINK again that I'm going to use for showing scrap albums for 75p each so I just had to buy 3. I've got my bookcase's all picked out and even have to colours sorted, I'm all sorted but just need the council to be on my side for a change and give me my planning permission & building warrant, pretty pleeeease!!

I'm soooo excited for Jutta she's half way through her ninth week and she's beaten her busiest yet- woooohooooo, she had so little confidence so I hope this will make he believe in herself as she is great at what she does. I'm actually being your guinea pig tomorrow she's having a hair colour technician come and give her some training, it should be great fun and I'm looking forward to getting something different.

Here are few pic's of what i've been up too over the past few weeks-

Fed up wi this rain!

Flowers for 10th Anniversary from Hubby

Card I made for Hubby xxx

Toppers I made for sale on Ebay

The story goes on...

...the shop has taken another twist it looks like we underestimated the building warrant process, it will take longer than the planning permission so I'm hoping for a Christmas opening date now :O( not too happy about that but there is nothing I can do about it.
On an up side I have registered the business name with the U.K registration company so I am now the proud owner of the name "Cullen Crafts" I've designed my logo but that I'm keeping to myself for the moment

How Bad Am I????

I have soooooooo let my blog down :O( been really busy though in my defence, things with the shop aren't much better I'm sorry to say. Why is it folks don't tell you the whole picture untill your neck up in poo, it looks like we're on for the planning permission but it turns out the building warrent is a bigger deal. We have enlisted the help of an architect who has came out for a look at the shop an thinks we;ll get it fine, unfortunatly the bad news is we have the most stricked guy in the council dealing with it, never mind whats another spanner in the works. This means the shop will be open christmas/new year time, not good for the tourist season but great for getting into a routine and getting the workshops up and running & hopefully the crop club, never mind it will all be good in the end.Here are some random pics from the past few weeks ......

I've also been busy scrapbooking WOW I know, I looked at the pile of my pictures that keeps getting bigger so in my quest to give myself a kick up the ass I decided to enter Scrapbooking Best Of British, scarey as hell but so far I've completed 3 layouts in three days a complete record for me.

The Cut Hut Open For Business

A persistent customer!

The Salon

The proud owner

Sorry I've been a really bad blogger, been busy helping a mate jutta to get her hairdressers up an running for her grand opening which has been great fun, if your ever passing through Cullen and fancy a trim then pop in to The Cut Hut. I'm so pleased for her, she has worked so hard getting it all together and I'm sure they will be queuing out the door once she's opened. Bless her heart she has even asked if I will put some jewellery and cards in the shop to sell for me isn't that nice. We're having a great time getting to know each other & as time goes on we are finding out how alike we are & how we like the same things-SPOOKY

Anyway sending help all the luck in the world and every success, you never now there may be a Cut Hut opening near you!
Me on the other hand am still having major problems with my shop regarding the planning dept, they have sent back the plans again :o( so I'm not a happy bunny, hubby is going to have another look over then and maybe give them a phone as they aren't happy with the plans the Architect done for us. I think opening day will be at the end of summer now which is a shame as I'll miss a lot of the tourist trade but it means I can get myself sorted with the workshops & get into a routine before next summer. I have been managing to get some crafting done but haven't had the time to take any pics before giving the items to my customers but hopefully I'll get myself sorted this week.

Happy Easter

I've been busy with the house & with hubby being away in the Gulf I haven't had the time to get onto my blog, this is just a quick one I'm afraid. Still trying to get the planning permission sorted for the shop, everything else is in place so once we get the permission we can call on the electrician & joiner. The house in upside down at the moment as we're having a new bathroom fitted and because this is an old house nothing is going to plan, the garden is pretty much the same level of destruction but Dad is doing a great job and it will look great once finished. Robert & I had a night out on Friday, our good friend Kim turned 40 and her hubby Phil & mum in law Sue planned a surprise party for her it was a great night & she didn't have a clue which was super, these are the cards Elmo helped my create for her,

This was a card made for an order the bookatrix cards are really popular again which id great as I really love making them,

MY AMAZINGLY UBER FABBY PARENTS!!!!!

Sorry for shouting my title but that's exactly what they are! They have only gone and secretly booked me tickets for a band that I've loved for more than half my life THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

They wrapped the booking slip in an envelope for me to open & when I did I couldn't move and could feel the tears swell in my eye and the only word I could say was wow! Every time i think about it I start crying, sad I know if your not a fan but I've loved them since I was 15 and never made it to jig & this was going to be a dream for me, oh so I thought Thank you Mum & Dad you have no idea how happy I am & what a wonderful gift you've given me, not everyone can fulfill a dream for someone xxx

Elmo has been busy

Poor Elmo has been busy, for a change, with mothers day and then baby Ava made an appearance on Wednesday so that was two more to my list, got some inspiration from UKscrappers website the girls there have been making these great book cards so these where my attempts, a mothers day card & card for baby Ava and then i didn't want Jamie to be left out so though I'd send his a big bro card.

Some new on the shop front, the council have sent my plans back as they are incomplete :O( Never mind i have an architect helping out now keeping me in the right path so fingers crossed when I send them off next week thee will be nothing wrong.

Tarting about

Thought I'd tart up a great little utensil holder I've managed to source for selling in the shop, I had came across a fab one from pampered chef but it was £23ish before adding anything, they will work out about £10 blank which is more easier on the pocket. It was good fun and my new crop-a-dile sliced through it like paper so I was even more impressed with it and i made use of Elmo which I'm guilty of not doing as much as I should, i it was a pain trying to remember how to weld words but I got there in the end with the great help available on UKscrappers.

Light my fire!

It was such a lovely morning today I thought I'd take the opportunity to get some pics of my little pot belly stove, its soooo sweet! I haven't been able to light it yet but that will hopefully be tomorrow if all the cement has dried & should be a real nice feature in the shop.

This is a pic of my new card stand, Mum & Dad headed out to the auction a few weeks ago and spied this beauty, I haven got the drawers in as it weighs a ton and I've been moving it about a lot trying to figure out how to layout the shop.

My lovely patio which my Dad has been working hard on, it's not quite finished yet, once we get planning he'll put up a fence around it blocking it off from the main garden but so far it's looking swell.

It's been so long

I can't believe how long since my last posting, I've been a busy bunny. I had my three day business course which was great fun & met some real fab people, it was amaing to hear their business ideas and they were all so different from each other, it was a real eye opener and will hopefuly stand me in good stead for the shop. On that fron things are moving slowly but never mind there is nothing you can do about the planning dept's work load, they have contaceted us to say that we do need full planning permission which is a bit of a bummer so we're are busy filling in the mountain of forms needed. I have bought my stove for the shop it is a fab little pot bellied one, it's getting fitted on Monday and i will hopefully be able to light it Thursday so I'll et some pics on later.

I've had a tidy up of my jewellery site added some new ranges and put a load of pendants in reduced so if your looking for a bargin then pop in here is an idea of whats on offer,

The BIG Meeting!

Well I was a nervous wreck on Monday morning to say the least, hubby wasn't much help, my appointment was at 11am i I couldn't help clock watching. Anyway we eventually got there and had a great meeting and I'm being taken on board wooohooo It was good to have all my questions answered and to have someone on hand to help me in hat to do next, we went through a loads of things and my next step while i wait for planning permission is a business plan. I have a huge sheet of questions to answer and figures to work out so my advisor can project how much need to make a week to cover costs. I'm being put on a three day business course next month which sounds really great, the big surprise was my advisor wants me to be up and running for Easter!!!!!! how shocked was I when he said that, so fingers crossed i get the permission through fast.
I'm afraid I haven't any pics as I've been working on my homework but hopefully once I'm finished I'll be able to get some on and catch up with my friend on the net :o)
Oh while I remember unfortunately I didn't make it onto the design team with my piece below :o( never mind I'll just have to try somewhere else.

Dreaded cleaning day

I thought I'd get some pics on before I start with the cleaning, i did my first layout of the year wwwooohoooo, it's for a comp that I am taking part in so fingers crossed. We had to make a layout using only black and white with 1 picture and 1 coloured embellish, I know the middle of the flower is yellow but I plan to change it I just can't find my large white brads anywhere. The journal reads:



"This picture was taken when you were only a few months old. I have always loved it because for some reason it seems to stir up so many emotions for that period in our lives. You were the baby & sister for Matthew I never thought we were going to have, love forever & always Mum x."

I looked at the picture of her and wrote down all the feelings I had and the words that popped into my head and decided it would be nice to write them around the photo instead of in the journal. I did start with a sketch for this piece but I'm afraid the finished result looks nothing like it :o)

It was a good excuse to play with my new toy, I ordered a light tent from ebay to try and get better pics of my jewellery & I'm quite surprised with the results, I took picture of the layout and the watch below with only the natural light from my living room, not bad for a first attempt.