Dippy Bears are here

The clocks went back at the weekend and it is starting to get dark about five o'clock. In some ways it's a bit depressing,but it means that Christmas is getting closer and since I love Christmas I am actually quite enjoying the change. In a couple of weeks I will be decorating my Christmas window, switching on lots of unnecessary, yet very pretty, lights and looking each day for signs of snow. Lots of new stock will be arriving in the next few weeks and I will do my best to keep everyone up to date with what is new.

Just realised this afternoon that I hadn't done a post about this new arrival in Buy Design. Dippy Bears are basically soft toys dipped in scented wax. They look and smell absolutely gorgeous and the scent lasts for ages. Much more attractive than the usual plastic air fresheners and safer than a scented candle. We currently have five scents. Fresh Cotton, Baby Powder, Lemon Peel, Freesia, and Chanel no.5

Wedding Request

I am pretty excited at the moment as I have been asked if I can do a full set of jewellery for a wedding next May. I have had commissions in the past for the mother of the bride, and the grannie of the bride, but this is my first for the main wedding group. Bride, bridesmaids, and flower girls. Today I was out choosing a selection of brown and cream pearls and will be putting together a few ideas this week. It's a lovely thought that my creations will be going to such a special event.
Of course this meant another trip to my favourite bead shop and I was so tempted by all the lovely new beads. I was reasonably sensible bearing in mind that Christmas is on the way, but really, you can never have too many beads.
The weekend was really busy. The craft fair at Abernethy was really good fun. Jacqui Bell was there with her bags and we had a good catch up and a giggle. My neighbour was a lovely girl called Catherine, who is a dressmaker and designer. She recycles and customises clothes and accessories. Very talented girl. Her website is still in the early stages but she hopes to launch in the near future at http://www.palefacemakes.co.uk/
And now, back to work.

Autumn Leaves.

Me and my wee dog went for a lovely walk in the woods yesterday. I haven't been there for a couple of weeks and was amazed at the speed of the autumnal changes. Seems tha we changed seasons last weekend and I missed it. There are still leaves on the trees but the ground is now coverered with copper and gold leaves. Just perfect for kicking aroung and pretending to be a child again. Only embarassing if someone sees you !!!

And back in the shop today, I found some lovely leaf shaped beads in my box and decided to develop an autumn theme. I have a lot of nice copper, brown and gold beads so I think that will be tomorrow's challenge.

Now, this little angel is the first of many who will grace my display this Christmas. I learned to make them a few years ago and still think they are lovely.The first few are always fun to make but you do tend to get a bit cross eyed after a while.
Time for tea now .

Fiona

I'm A Winner

Sometimes a little boasting is okay. So long as you don't overdo it. Well that's what I think anyway. For anyone not living in rural Scotland I shall explain a little bit first. I am a member of The Rural. For any one living in Scotland who has just raised their eyebrows, that does not make me as old as your granny.
The Rural does have a bit of a reputation for being full of old ladies and I did think that myself until my friend Cathy Arnott asked me to go along a couple of years ago. It's kind of social, fun, and it's a night out. There are a couple of competitions each month. One food and one craft. So, to the point of todays blog. This month's craft was a knitted corsage and I won with my bunch of Lavender. Am pretty chuffed and now I can tell customers that I sell prize winning corsages!!!
Fiona

Santa Claus is coming to town.

Here he is then. All stitched and stuffed and looking gorgeous. Think he could do with a little bit of blusher on his cheeks but apart from that I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Can you tell what it is yet? Part 2

This is getting really cute and I can't wait to see it finished. I'm not so sure that I will want to give it away but it won't be long before the Christmas window has to be done. Off to spend some more time with my knitting needles.

Can you tell what it is yet?

What do you think I am making? When I was a little girl I loved watching Rolf Harris painting huge murals and telling stories along the way. Half way through he would always ask "can you tell what it is yet?" No prizes for guessing but stay tuned for the final article. I hope it's going to be wonderful.

Only ten weeks till Christmas. Does that worry anyone else?

Facebook

I have just added a Buy Design page on Facebook. I really am moving on in this high tech world. I thought it would be nice to have some fans so my daughter has forwarded a link to all of her 300 closest friends on facebook. I just hope they don't laugh.

Beads Beads Beads

I went to my favourite bead shop again this week. I wrote a list but it was useless. As usual I got distracted by all the lovely beads but I did get everything on my list. Okay there were a few extras by the time I came to pay but I was a lot better than normal. What I really need to do is get to the bottom of all my bead boxes and use all the bits in there before I go back to Bead Crazy. The problem is that there is always something small that I run out of and so off I go again. On the plus side Christmas is coming and I have a lot of events to sell at.
Maxine, the owner of Bead Crazy was telling me about the soon to be active Bead Crazy web site. It goes live for sales mid October but still worth a look just now. http://www.beadcrazy.co.uk/
Anne who works in the shop has recently launched her own website. She makes lots of lovely things but specialises in Tiaras. They are gorgeous so take a look whether you need one or not. http://www.creations-by-anne.com/

Now today I finished off some knitted corsages that I was working on. I am pretty pleased with all of them, though my favourites are the sunflower and the lavender tied up with tartan ribbon (very Scottish)

Not quite sure where I was going with this layout but it makes a change from straight up and down.

The kettle is calling. It's time for coffee. So Bye for now.

Burpers, Bibs and Boottees

So, the last time I blogged I told you I had been too busy to blog and it is now two weeks later. I have been busy but I think it was all worth while. We have a free monthly newsletter here in Alyth called the Alyth Voice. It's a bit like a local directory for businesses with a little bit of local news and gossip thrown in. If you fancy a look it is on line at http://www.alythvoice.co.uk/
Well ,the deadline for articles is 17th of each month so I submitted an article about our new arrival 'Burpers, Bibs and Bootees' and then panicked. One of our ladies who does wonderful needle work has been having a lot of trouble with her eyes and has had to put it aside till she has an op. This meant a lot more sewing for me and my poor old 25 year old sewing machine really felt the strain. I'm going to treat it to a service now in appreciation of all its hard work. Somebody told me you should do this every year so I guess I have done well to keep it going this long without a single service.

Thursday 1st October came along a lot sooner than expected but thankfully everything came together and the new range has been launched. Previously we had only cards for new babies and now we have a really nice range of gorgeous things that nearly makes me broody. We have little hats and mits and bootees, all knitted by myself and Maureen.

We have tiny little silver bangles which I think are wonderful even if it does sound like boasting. Often you get lovely little baby bangles and by the time your baby is old enough to wear one, it is too small for them. I have made these ones open in style and whilst they are very easy to wear as they are , they come with offer to reshape them as your child grows. Pretty good eh?

That's my daughter holding one. Her hand looks really big by comparison, but I can still remember a time when it would have fitted her perfectly. Do you like the little freckle on her finger? It was one of the first things I noticed when she was born. My other daughter has a ruby birth mark at the bottom of her back shaped like a map of New Zealand. When she was little, and even now really, it has changed colour when she has a temperature. Like a built in thermometer!!! Very useful.

Here are some of Sylvia's new baby cards. We have a full range of cards for all occasions but thought the baby ones deserved a stand of their own right beside the rest of the baby goods.

A lot of people are reluctant to buy clothes for new babies as they tend to get so many that they never get to wear them all. Another option here is a nice little cross stitch picture for baby's room.

And here is a look at the full range. There are some lovely towels, some matching bibs and burper cloths, knitted wash mits with baby soaps all tied up with a bow and some little terry towelling pillows trimmed with silky ribbon.

And that concludes our tour of Burpers, Bibs and Boottees at Buy Design. Hope you enjoyed it.

Fiona