Counting Sheep…….

Hello,

Long time no see! I fell down the school summer holiday hole. I am climbing back up slowly and just at the point of peeking my head out. The kids are not back yet (next Thursday – not that I am counting down the days or anything) but hubby has just taken them out to the shops and I really fancied coming on here for a chat and catch up.

We have had a lovely and very busy summer break. We have had day trips to Derbyshire, gone to local kids activities, various play dates, painted rooms and decided on further home improvements that we would love to make. We also went to Centre Parcs for 4 days. We had never been before but had heard great reviews of it. The kids don’t travel well and we have a Centre Parcs half an hour from where we live. I can honestly say is was the best break we have ever had with kids. They were calmer and therefore happier (both kids are on the autistic spectrum in case anyone wonders why holidaying can be hard). We had planned and booked activities in advance so they knew exactly what we would be doing and when and even managed to drive them past the entrance weeks in advance so they had a sense of where we were going. It must have worked. My daughter cried all the way home and I know it sounds odd to be positive about this but it was a sign that she had a really great time and has some amazing memories of it. We have promised them another holiday there next year.

In terms of crafting I really haven’t got much done apart from making clay sheep. I am aware of how strange this sounds given that, these days, I predominantly make jewellery. It’s a long story – are you sitting comfortably?

My last blog post showed a recently made bracelet using beads from my local bead shop. I shared photos of this on my Artisan Duck Facebook page tagging in the Nottingham Bead Shop. They shared my pictures and left a lovely comment (cue much grinning and delight from me). I was contacted through my page by someone looking for a clay sheep key ring to give as an anniversary present. I explained that I had never made one before but I was willing to try. I was super chuffed with the result (and the customer is happy so that’s a win) but I haven’t shared the picture of the exact sheep as it is a gift for September. He looked lonely though so I made some friends to sit with him.

Here they are getting a coat of varnish. I have so many ideas for other animals. I have already planned out my time for when the kids go back to school next week. I’m thinking penguins, unicorns, monkeys etc. I am a little perturbed that my cow looks like a pig but my family have assured me that they knew it was a cow!

shameless plug (you’ll have to forgive me this from time to time) but I have also been experimenting with my Etsy shop and trying to work out how to get the most from it. I am still a long way off but found I could set a sale going so for one week I have 15% off everything in my shop from 1st September to 7th September 2017.

If you fancy having a look you can click here 🙂 Possibly some early Christmas shopping or maybe just something new for autumn.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have had a lovely summer.

Hannah