Fabric addiction

Just a quick post as I'm busy moving things out of the spare room, to move the boys in - their room is to become a playroom.. long story no time! I'm having a fair bit of success selling fabric in my etsy store. Feeling excited at this actually becoming an earner rather than just an excuse to have more fabric in my stash! https://www.etsy.com/shop/brambleboutique

knit one purl one

I've always loved knitting, and the look and feel of knitted clothing for my babies. Lately I've become a huge fan of knitted toys too. I started selling my gnome babies on etsy a while ago, so far successfully.

I'm hoping to branch out into other toys too - hedgehogs anyone? No one could resist those sweet little faces? On a side-note that is definitely one thing to add to the list of "oooh I really miss from home"... hedgehogs are just the sweetest thing - and much cuter than porcupines!

I've been a forever fan of the blabla dolls - although none of my children have actually owned one. There are so many different simple little styles of knit animals to try - I should really just go for it - when I find the time of course!

has it really been this long!?

I can't believe it's been over a year since I wrote anything here. That's what having a baby does I guess! So much has happened in the past year, mainly not on the good side, so I bid a respectful farewell to 2013 and I know 2014 will be a much better year for all of us. I started another blog about cooking, well mainly what I cook - I really wanted to have that be a separate entity from this but it makes more sense to me in these busy days to just go ahead and roll everything together. Being a mother of 5 has its challenges, mentally and physically, and right now I tell you I'm the most tired I've ever been! Our fifth munchkin was born on my birthday, December 27th 2012 and she has brought so much joy and happiness to our family I don't remember life without her. But you know I mentioned tired... well! You can imagine. I have a toddler that has started waking in the night again and insisting on sleeping with us, which in turn wakes the baby, and these past few months my others have started to be early risers, coming into the room at daybreak - exhausting! I'm still plodding on with my business - Bramble Boutique - we are on etsy - and while I find it a little financially rewarding at times, it can be a lot of work and not much return most of the time. I decided to stray away from my graphic design roots and swing into the animation field. SO that's what's next on the agenda. On that note my latest thing is bulk cooking.

Inspired by The Pioneer Woman cooking show, I've started making sure I cook double, sometimes triple every time I prepare something which can be frozen. So far this has included chicken pot pie, lasagne, meatballs, chicken breasts, pie crusts, pasta bakes and so forth! It's a really good feeling on a weeknight when I don't have a lot of time (or brain power!) to just grab something out of the freezer and stick it in the oven. 

A quick note before I get on with "laundry mountain" - is anyone else out there struggling with the nightmare that is Common Core in NY State? I'm not sure of the quality of the work they get to do at school but I can tell you the sheets they bring home for homework are consistently misspelled, miss-written, miscalculated miss everything really! So frustrating. More tomorrow!

Fantastic Felt!

Since I made the children the Bucilla stockings last Christmas - I've really enjoyed browsing for other felt crafts - mainly to sell on etsy. This week I made a Santa, also Bucilla. Here he is below - not very cost effective as took forever to make and can't really sell him for much!

So now I've been hitting google on an hourly basis whenever I think of a key word! Of course I started with Christmas  searchings, as I love anything to do with it! But now I'm thinking start now - the beginnings of Autumn are upon us and Halloween is just 7 weeks away! I needed some simple designs to look to and tweak as my own. These are my favorites so far:

And back to Christmas - I'm loving these simple but stunning ornaments:

I'm also working on some new baby hats to sell.. I think it's too soon to start gearing them to be elf-inspired so a few in lovely pastel colors to start - then the red and white stripes come later!

New Bramble Boutique Collection!

My excitement at the upcoming change in seasons has extended to my store Bramble Boutique - http://www.etsy.com/shop/brambleboutique I'm very happy to be switching up the color palette I'm working with - and adding lots of deeper, more mysterious hues! The preview to the new collection "Autumn Jewels" is a gorgeous teal velvety open rose with a heavily jeweled center - and I've had lots of positive feedback already!

I'm really looking forward to the launch and hoping for lots of sales to get me through to the Holiday rush.

busy days of Spring

Yesterday saw me doing all the housework in 1 hour flat - so I could spend most of the day planting out all my perennial seedlings into the raised bed near the pond. 

 I placed them in rows - Lilies and Hollyhock at the back, then in front Lupines, then Daisies, then Catmint.  I've put some flashy silvery tape up with twigs to try keep the birds off until they are established.  

Speaking of birds - Liliana and I got to see a Robin take multiple baths in the pond yesterday, up close and personal! Fun days! Today I launched my new hair flower collection on etsyhttp://www.etsy.com/listing/98846034/cream-rose-bridal-hair-flower-clip Maribella Rose - is a smaller 3" version of some of my most popular hair flowers - available in cream, pink, blue, purple and red - for only $18 - I'm sure it'll be popular!

I'm running a competition on Bramble Boutique's Facebook page - submit your best bridal hair style pic and have a chance to win the entire collection! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bramble-Boutique/254860354589104

Off out now to tackle the front garden before the baby wakes up - then it's all over, as I'm sure ya'll know!

Spring is in the air

Beautiful crocus, white, purple and yellow are popping up all over the place.  My Hydrangeas have little bud looking things on them and the twiggy bushes and trees are all covered with tiny leaf buds.  Spring is just about to spring and I can't wait! I made some more progress on clearing what will be the patio area, or courtyard to be fancy! I dug some more of my pond, and have decided to get a solar powered water feature to put on its upper ledge.. that way the water won't be still and hopefully that means no mosquitoes. 

I saw a pair of Robins in the garden yesterday evening, first time - very exciting! And had a tree cutting guy out to price up which ones are going.  He's coming tomorrow or Friday to do it, and will be leaving us with the firewood for next winter.  I'm looking forward to that being done, so we can go ahead and take down the smaller ones ourselves, then my picket can go up around my veg garden! And hopefully my hens can come, raised beds can be built, and the 250+ plants in my guest room can make their way to the great outdoors.  Bramble Boutique launched my Springtime In Paris hair flower range on etsy this morning, already have orders, so it's looking promising - hopefully I can fund all these grand schemes I'm thinking of!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/95268901/mauve-peony-bridal-hair-flower-clip