Welcome to the blog for Ali's Craft Studio by Alison Lloyd. I am a crafter of peelable stained glass designs & handpainted keyrings and I look forward to sharing with you my news direct from Kent (the Garden of England)

Make sure you visit the shop at www.studiocrafts.net to purchase your own handmade decorations to bring fun and colour into every corner of your home

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Monday 4 April 2011

Busy, Busy, Busy....

As the title of this post says, it is all go here at chez Ali's Craft Studio!   April is my birthday month, the end of the financial year and the start of the craft fair season proper.   I am so excited to get back into the swing of things with all the fantastic fairs we attend between now and Christmas but have been spoilt so far this year with all the time in between events!

So now, I have to get back into the strict routine of creating new designs within a very short space of time whilst still allowing one day for packaging too!   As each of my decorations has a 3-day creation timeframe, it doesn't leave much leeway for slacking off!!

I had a busy but tiring day at Bromley Market on Saturday - it is wonderful to be on an outdoor stall when the weather is so beautiful!  People are smiling and happy and aren't rushing around so much just to get inside to warm up!  

Windy
The joys of Bromley Market
(AKA the wind tunnel!)
Unfortunately, all was not quite so hunky dory all day - my decorated mirror (showcasing the oh-so-popular Beagle, dragonfly and flower corners) had an argument with a gust of wind and now resides in the bottom of a bin in a million glittery shards!  

So, as I didn't break it (the wind did!), I guess the seven years bad luck is due elsewhere....

I was pleased to see that my new designs were creating lots of attention and both the Shih-Tzu and Siamese Cats sold out and so I am in the process of making more of these as well as Glitter Rainbow keyrings along with creating replacements to make up a new mirror (anyone know of a mirror that bounces???)

So, due to time constraints, I have probably come to the end of the brand new patterns for a while as my time will be taken up just replacing sold stock (hopefully!!).   I will try to blog about the upcoming fair as it is one of my favourites (Lancing College) but please forgive me if time runs out on me!

But, as this is Handmade Monday (thanks to Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts), here are a couple of newbies for you to keep you going...

Clown Fish - I want £1 every time I hear
'Ooh look, its Nemo!' at a fair - I'll be rich!

Bird of Paradise Flower - I love this flower as it reminds
me of my many past holidays in the Canary Islands
(oh, those were the days...)
So, in closing, please do visit Wendy's blog to see all the great work done by the wonderfully talented crafters taking part in Handmade Monday...

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention my new alarm clock - a kamikaze Blue Tit!!   This little guy has been flying (gently. I am happy to say) into my window over and over again.   I noticed it for the first time yesterday - it lasted a few hours except for a couple of short breaks - and decided he was (not so subtlely) pointing out that the bird feeders were looking a little sparse so after filling these up again was pleased to see that he had stopped. 

However, fast forward to 6am this morning and my new buddy was back, singing his little head off and saying hello over and over and over again!   Even the cats were sitting on the floor just looking at him and then at me as if to say 'Huh?  Whats that all about?'   Fortunately, the little guy doesn't seem to be hurting himself at all and almost seems to be enjoying this new game - now all I need to do is to find the time setting and sleep button to get a little more of a lie in in a morning (pleeeease birdy, just another hour or so!)  

See you all later (I'm off to paint, paint, paint til I just can't paint no more.....)

18 comments:

  1. Maybe your new friend is trying to tell you that you need to paint some of his relatives to show off in the window!!!!! :o)

    Jan x

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  2. Hi Jan

    Yep, I was beginning to wonder the same thing! I'm afraid he will probably have to wait a while before I have time to work on new designs though...

    Oh well, I guess the early mornings won't kill me!

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  3. Bless the little birdy! lol
    Shame about the mirror. I did use some of those stickly back plastic childrens room mirrors (if that makes any sense) They're not glass but look the same. They will bounce, but they do scratch easy!

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  4. Fortunately, my mirror is actually an old 12 x 12 mirror tile which we ripped off the wall when we moved in here and I managed to salvage a few.

    I still have about half a dozen left so there are back ups if needed!

    Anyway, it needed cleaning so the wind saved me that job! LOL!!

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  5. I hope the broken mirror doesn't mean we're in for seven years of bad weather!

    I love the outdoor fairs too, especially when the weather is kind.

    Love the new designs and love the birdy story too. x

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  6. I love the idea of having a friendly blue tit waking me up in the morning...we just have noisy seagulls that drown out all the little chirps and tweets
    I was also going to suggest that he wants to model for you...(a new range perhaps)
    x

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  7. Thanks for all the comments - I am sure there will be Blue Tits in peelable glory coming this way in the future!

    Don't worry Wendy - I have faith that we are going to have a great summer and our outdoor shows will be dry, sunny and busy with happy shoppers (just beware the dripping ice-creams!)

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  8. Hi Mrs A,
    I have Blue Tits in a nesting box just outside my kitchen window - they're lovely to watch aren't there. We also just discovered a fox and 2 cubs at the bottom of our garden yesterday too. (better watch they don't attack the birds!)
    Glad the weekend was enjoyable - sorry to hear about the mirror and as you say it was the wind that broke it so 7 years does not apply to you!!
    Happy Monday
    (What's the date of Lancing?)
    Rebecca x

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  9. Sorry about your mirror but agree the bad luck rests elsewhere. Your little blue friend was certainly trying to tell you something we have about 4 that do this if the feeders are low, even coming into the kitchen to sit on the windowsill as much as to say Oi

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  10. I am sure the little bird is trying to tell you to make some designs featuring him!
    x

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  11. Shame about the mirror but as you say, I doubt you will be in for 7 years bad luck.
    Poor little Blue Tit, or maybe, clever little Blue Tit.

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  12. Well, little Blue Tit seems to have stopped playing with the window for the time being so hopefully I won't have such an early alarm in the morning!

    The Lancing show is Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th April if anyone is able to come along - it is all handmade crafts so well worth the visit.

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  13. Love the bird of paradise, and the story of the tit and the window! My neighbor has a cardinal that has been attacking her window for 3 years! A real shame about the mirror, altho I would have probably tried to make a mosaic of it! :)

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  14. Sorry to hear about the mirror, lucky you have some more mirrors to paint up. Lovely story about the blue tit ,we have loads of birds come to the feeders and a couple have made a nest in the corner of our roof. They managed to get in through a little hole in the facia board. they wake me early every morning flying in and out, twittering away. Dont mind really, I love to watch them all feeding. Hugs Sue x

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  15. Love the bird of paradise, colours are very 'caribbean' looking. You've made me feel guilty about the birds - feeders are a bit low and I should have filled them up ... too dark now, they'll have to wait until morning.

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  16. At least the cats are sitting watching and not attempting to have a little play!! My boyfriend loves birds, i on the other hand think they all look the same!
    Busy time ahead for you Ali, good luck with your fairs. Look forward to hearing how you do.

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  17. Thanks everyone - Buddy was back this morning but at the much more reasonable 6.45am!

    Dreamstar - the cats don't seem interested in our birds at the moment but Blinky is single handedly reducing the little furry creature population around here at the mo!

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  18. I love the bird of paradise. Hubby bought me a whole bouquet of them for my birthday last yr whilst we were in Italy so yours brings back happy memories for me too. Hugs Mrs A.

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