As I sit here, it's reading zero degrees on my Alexa screen, and there's snow on the ground still from yesterday's (rather premature to my mind) 'flurry'!! It's only November!!!! All that said though, the sun is shining - it's a beautiful (if not chilly) day!! :) I thought I'd give you a little background to my doodles, following the launch of our 'Doodle' Mugs earlier this month! It all started back when I was journalling regularly. Each month various Instagram accounts would post themed doodle challenges - one little doodle a day, approx 3cm square - and so I started doing some just to 'pretty up' my journals! I even got mom involved for a little while - it was great sharing our daily doodles with each other, and seeing the different takes on the various prompts... One month - the first one I did if I remember correctly - was The Sea, another was Ancient Egypt, and there were lots more: Nature, Christmas, School, Movies, Holidays, Kids' Characters, Halloween, .... some months I finished, many I didn't, but it was great when you could see a whole grid of your own doodles filling a page or two in your journal!! I had liked Art at school, but never pursued it, so when I started doing these I rekindled a long forgotten love of drawing!! As you can no doubt imagine then, I accumulated quite a number of these little doodles over a number of months - but what to do with them?? I'd already used some of the images on a range of notecards , but Ray is always trying to encourage me to use them in my crafty creations, and so we recently came up with an idea to print them onto mugs ! The range at launch comprises several ' Doodle ' designs, along with some ' Cute Fun Faces ', & some ' Christmas Doodles ' designs, but there are lots more to come - so watch this space!!

Hey! How're you all liking the chilly wet days we've been 'blessed' with lately? If you're anything like me, you're cold all of the time, and constantly grumbling - LOL! I don't know why, as complaining about it changes nothing (just makes us feel 'better' I guess!), and there are so many worse things .... Anyway, this time of year the temperature down in the shack is a little 'unwelcoming', so I find myself doing more of the creating that can be done in the house (in the warm!). So I've been playing around with my 'cute fun faces' - I've been doodling/ drawing these for a few years now! It was something I started doing quite absent-mindedly - I've always loved drawing eyes (you may have seen some of those on my IG account mixarraymetime !?), and I guess it was kinda natural to progress to full faces! As with everything, its a constant learning-curve, but I love drawing these little faces, and I have quite a few of them now! Recently I have been taking a look at them in mono - they are all nice & bright & cheery in full colour, but the different colourisation really changes the look! We've already used some of my 'cute fun faces' on some of our handmade greeting cards, and you can find these in our online store ! There are some more things in the works though, so - as they say - 'watch this space'!!

Well I think we're finally looking a bit more streamlined here on the website - in our gift sections at least! I asked the question a few months back - what looks best for our product images - and eventually went with a solid black background for all, giving the site an element of uniformity! Its taken a while to get all the photos uploaded, but I think we're about there now! I just wish that the website side of things - albeit essential - was as exciting as the actual creating!! Lol! Of course, I've still managed to find time to keep up with the 'makes' - in fact a selection of pretty little decoupaged Scallop Shell Trinket Trays has been uploaded onto the website this week, and I'm now gradually working my way through a number of Decorative Caddies which currently sit around the Shack in various stages of completion! (The biggest challenge is to stop myself from starting another one before I've completed a few of them!!) Another change to the website is the introduction of a 'Gifts for under £10' section! Websites can be a nightmare to navigate - too many pages/ sections to browse through - and very often we can miss these little 'gems', so we've grouped them all together as a 'one stop shop'! Coaster Sets, Trinket Trays, Money Boxes, Tealights, and much more!! We also have a promotional offer running on all of our coasters - 20% OFF WHEN YOU SPEND £10 OR MORE*!! There are loads of designs to choose from - animals, birds, florals, retro, seasonal, .... - and the offer currently applies to the sets as well as the singles!! So why not drop by and browse a little - there's something for everyone!! * Does not include postage.

Well I can't believe it's been that long since I last posted, but the year seems to be speeding by at a startling pace .... Already we're in June - Valentines, Easter, Mothers' Day, and two Bank Holidays well and truly behind us as we now rapidly approach Fathers' Day!! I don't think I'm alone in finding gift ideas for Dad's a bit 'tricky' sometimes - all too easily we slip into the socks, gloves, wallets, sweets 'standard'! And it's not just the Dad's, as we have just the same struggle when it comes to any of the men in our lives! This year I've spent ages trawling through different designs for our decoupaged items, intent on trying to get more of a selection of gift ideas for the boys, and I was surprised how many I found - gardening, fishing, retro, seaside, drinks, football, wild animals, pets, barbecues, camping, .... I think we (well myself anyway) spend so much time creating the 'pretty' things that we often miss a whole range of fabulous themes! It's been fun creating gifts for Fathers' Day - but this is just the start! There are plenty more designs still to incorporate into our makes, so be sure that the 'gifts for the boys' will continue to feature within our ever-changing ranges! As ever, if you can't find the theme you're looking for on the website, then please drop us a line via the contact form - we may just be able to make you something that is just perfect for the person you're gift-hunting for!

Hey! It's nearly the first day of Spring - 19th March 2024!! I mean, how did that happen??? It seems only last week we'd just started a New Year!! Anyway, the last month has not been an idle one - since we last 'spoke', I've been in full on Mothers' Day & Easter mode, so everything on my workbench has been in preparation for one or other of those two celebrations! I have to say I'm loving it all at the moment - the decoupage designs are so bright and cheery - full of hope with baby lambs & snowdrops, full of excitement with easter eggs, bunnies, & chicks, and full of the beauty around us with birds, butterflies, bees, - and ladybirds (is it just me, or are there loads of those dotty little creatures about at the moment??)!! Apart from that I've continued working my way through uploading finished items to the website (albeit slowly), and have regularly been posting updates onto Instagram & Facebook, so please keep checking in to see whats new!! On the subject of uploading items though - photos!! What has the most impact - black background, natural (workshop) background, outdoor background, white background, .... what surrounding makes an item look its best? I see many differing opinions on what sellers see as the best, and note that on here we have a bit of everything as I can't decide what I prefer .... Perhaps one of these days when everything is finally uploaded I can start playing around with making our images more 'uniform' (if I can ever decide which way to go), but until then if you would like to see more photos of any particular item(s) before purchasing just let me know via the contact form!

I mentioned in my previous post how the end of 2023 had been a bit 'weird'.... Well, that saw me in the first few weeks of 2024 busily finishing off Christmas-themed stock (not that I've really minded as I've enjoyed creating all the seasonal lines, but still...) I simply haven't had the heart to just squirrel away - unfinished - all those items I'd started working on back in early December before everything went a bit 'Pete-Tong'! So I've gradually been working my way through them and effectively clearing the decks - making space to start on some of the many new & exciting ideas that have been bobbling around in my head for the past couple of months or more. In fact I have that many project tabs open in my brain just now that I really need to make a start on something new soon else I think I might actually explode! I've even taken to carrying a little 'brain dump' notebook around with me now (a bit like my journaling but nowhere near as pretty! Lol!) to deal with the overflow! Of course I still have that mountain of 'in progress' items to finish too though so 'new' (to me anyway) may have to wait a little longer yet.... And all being well, those lines will be being added to the website fairly soon, so please keep checking back here to see what's new (to you)!!