BLUE SKY? SUN? AM I DREAMING?

Hi everyone

Sunshine and no rain, how wonderful.  It may only last today, but it is very welcome.  Garden, here I come - as long as I can avoid the mud and flood at the bottom of the garden!  I recently planted lots of shrubs in what we call our front-front garden (it is the 'bit' on the other side of the front wall) and as it is very dry there (trees sucking all the moisture out) and the rain has helped them settle in well.  Amazingly the lilies in the pond are doing well too - you would think they have enough water and nutrients (from the fish) to not need rainwater, but clearly they benefit from it too.  Have just heard on the news that some water companies are lifting the hosepipe ban - just when the last thing you need to do is water your garden!

I did a big spring-clean on my wall at Bourne Mill yesterday - the card packets do get dusty.  I was amazed to find that some 'person' had taken a card out of its packet and pinched the envelope!  I hadn't realised my envelopes were so sought after, clearly collector's items!  The good news is that my cards are selling well  there; I added some new stock, so fingers crossed they will also do well.  I moved everything around and previous experience has shown that this often increases sales - regular visitors think lots of new stock has been added, but there is also the chance they may see cards they missed before.

The weather has meant that I have been able to do a lot of card-making this week and I have concentrated mainly on my mini-cards (always popular at events) and here are a few of my recent makes:

I have concentrated on Christmas ones as I know my supply of them is very low and surprisingly at the last event I took part in people were keen to start buying their Christmas cards/gift tags early.

I know that lots of my blog readers/followers enjoy the guest blogger spot on Friday and I really appreciate everyone who has taken part so far.  Perhaps it is the holiday seasons (er, with all this rain?) but volunteers seem to be few and far between.  I don't really want to stop the guest spot because I hope the blogger does well, and I know I have acquired new followers, so if you would like to join in please do get in touch: christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com.  I am looking for posts of approximately 60-0 - 800 words, plenty of photographs, links to your business, etc.  You are welcome to choose your topic and you know from previous posts that the posts have been varied, information, great fun and very helpful.  It doesn't have to be craft-related, although posts about the craft industry are very welcome.

Enjoy the rest of the week and don't forget to come back on Friday to read this week's guest blog spot.

Jill