StuffedNonsense

They've Made It...

2012-02-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

Blimey! It's been a bit quiet here of late hasn't it?

We've been tinkering away on new designs and what not but havn't felt too confidant about showing them off.

It's also been soo cold in our respective work rooms that any sewing we have been doing has been underneath a blanket...which doesn't make for blog worthy pictures!

Anyway...here are a few pictures from this week...nothing fancy, just something to ease us back into the blog...

This furry creature is my kind of part time dog...he's called Clyde and I look after him about 3 times a week.

(I meant to post about this before Christmas...like that was ever going to happen)
I drew the moustache on with a ceramic pen, I made two of them for mine and Arthurs Christmas day breakfast of Hot Chocolate and Croissants...now they mainly get used for soup.

I've had to move my succulents upstairs where it's a bit warmer...they look quite lovely on our bedroom window sill...I feel there is no other option but to buy more and have them in every room...right?

Lastly...believe it or not we've actually got the Grizzly Geoffs up for sale over in our etsy shop.

The pictures are pretty poor but I just had to get something new up there...My studio's due a move soon (upstairs to warmer climes) and I'm hoping to have a designated space for us to take pictures...so the background is the same in all of our listings...these will do for now I guess.

See You Soon!

An Update...

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

So as we suspected would happen, the Etsy and Folksy updates on the 29th are looking unlikely...we just have a bit too much to fit in...but don't fear there will be one soon!

I'll leave you with some pictures...nothing special just some bits and pieces from around the house (which is such a cold house i have resorted to taking hand sewing upstairs...because its warmer)

Some new Human Beans for M.A.D.E (the eagle eyed amongst you may notice that some of them have the new tie addition)

New designs...involving more beards....watch this space

A newly acquired succulent for the bed side table (following the demise of a much loved one)

And a pretty glass bottle with some Wax Flowers in.

Right...I'm off to see if I can get some feeling back into my cold fingers!

Grizzly Geoffs

2012-01-11T03:51:00.000-08:00

So we're only a little bit late introducing you guys to these but....lets face it...if we were on time it would be weird.

This, ladies & gentlemen, is a Grizzly Geoff.

They're super dooper new to the StuffedNonsense studio and came about thanks to a rather quiet shift at the day job.

They have a 'loose' back story which we're currently fine tuning but the base of is...

'This is a Grizzly Geoff. He lives behinds your bins and only comes out when it's late; when he thinks the coast is clear he rustles around the bins looking for tasty scraps. He know's that eating from bins isn't the healthiest or most socially acceptable of habits but nonetheless he continues to do so.'

That's right...he's in his pants...Y Front pants to be precise.

He sports a rather handsome beard... similar to that of his name sake 'Geoff from Byker Grove' (I've just spent the last 15 minutes trying to find a suitable link so you can all wonder in the delight of Geoff's beard but can't find a suitable one...so you will just have to take my word for it.)

He has a hand embroidered belly button and some hand embroidered chest hair.

And the beards come in a variety of shades...but for some reason my favourite is the one in the first 3 photos.

So...what do you think? we're quite taken with them, but then we both like beards.Fingers crossed they will be up on the etsy and folksy shop by the 21st...but there is a Tax Return to try and squeeze in around that time too so we won't make any promises.

Your comments are, as always, appreciated!

December Absence & Crafty Fox.

2011-12-29T08:01:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry dear followers...

We were rather absent during the festive month of December weren't we? Things just got rather busy and we seemed to spend the majority of the time running around like headless chickens.

We're all rested up now though and are looking forward to a shiny and brand spanking new year.

There are a few new critters planned and few more goals set...as is common around this time of year.

We'll sign off for now, but don't fear, we hope to be back in the next few days...we should have some pictures of a 'Grizzly Geoff' to show you...facebook fans may have all ready seen a sneaky peak...

The pictures below are of our Crafty Fox times...it ended up being the only fair we went to...but boy! was it worth it.

Human Beans.

Long Johns....and a sneaky background shot of me and Arthur.

Ohh... what's that you say? 'You like that lovely plate with a Raccoon on it?'...I've got in on my wall! All I can say is Arthur is a very good boyfriend and he squirrelled it away for me as a Christmas present. I've wanted one of jimbobarts plates for ages and I'm super chuffed to finally have one!

Me again...demonstrating some customer service skills.

Our Christmas Decoration suitcase.

Christmas Crafty Fox

2011-11-28T13:44:00.001-08:00

We're going to be here dont'cha know?

We love our trips down to London to take part in this lovely fair, we've been going since the first ever one and have been back for most of them since.

Its a super fair with a wealth of talented peeps selling lots and lots of lovely things.

Please pop down, if you can, and say hello!

xxx

Christmas Decorations.

2011-11-20T03:00:00.001-08:00

Hello Lovelies,

As is usual we've been sewing up a storm but we've taken a little break to stop buy and show you some of new festive treats...

now up on our Etsy shop you can find...

Human Bean Christmas Decorations at £4.

A trio of our favourite Christmas Decorations for only £8.50 (saves you a few pennies because they'd normally be over £10!)

We've had a busy week on the etsy shop, which is really good because it's taken us a little while for it to get going; Its definitely got something to do with being on the front page

Well...i have this little collection on the sewing desk so I had better get back to it...

P.S. Don't forget we're still running the free postage offer for a few more days just use the code frontpagepostage1

Front Page News!

2011-11-16T06:44:00.001-08:00

The eagle eyed amongst you may have seen our grumpy 'ol Long John hanging out on the front page of etsy...that's right...the FRONT page.

Our good friend Vicki created a super treasury and very kindly including the Long John and then the powers that be at etsy put the treasury on the front page!

How very exciting! There he is on the bottom right...

Here's a link to the treasury.

We're so pleased to be on the front page and send a huge big thank you to Vicki for including us.

In celebration of our wonderful news we are offering free postage on all orders for the next week, just use the code frontpagepostage1.

Right, better get back to the Hot Water Bottle Covers.

Tea Towels.

2011-11-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of a pile of 10 tea towels...some are vintage and some are lovely new ones...in fact not pictured is a newly acquired one from Emma Bridgewater's new collection (pssssst....its also signed thanks to one of mum's lovely bosses who is on first name terms with her!)

I have a semi-secret project planned for them, which will involve me sewing them all together. I hope it works and doesn't look like someone ate a whole tea towel factory and then threw it up afterwards.

Watch this space for more pictures...I imagine your guidance will be required!

I'm off to sew them together ( I was supposed to be sewing Crabbittz for the Crafty Fox at Spitalfields but the silly people who organise the whole of Spitalifields messed up the insurance and its been cancelled, I feel really sorry for the peeps behind Crafty Fox because its not their fault at all but they've had to spend their time picking up the pieces!

xxx

Where We Do What We Do...& A Picture Of Us

2011-10-21T04:12:00.000-07:00

We were asked for some pictures of our studio's for some new advertising...between the both of us we don't have a super snazzy camera so our good friend Vicki (who's rather lovely and talented and who also has the sweetest little boy in the world) came over and took some snaps for us...we thought you might like to see??

This is where I do my machine sewing...Janice...my trusty sewing machine is hidden behind the tower of Giraffes In Scarfs.

This is where I do all of the planning, pattern designing and cutting...(its a bit like a jumble sale but I like it...I know where everything is believe it or not) The pom poms hang down from a light in the conservatory (I put them up for one Chirstmas but got too attatched to them so they are there to stay now.

This is where I keep all of my creature making essentials.

This is where El does the designing and printing of all of our packaging...its often prone to swear words when the printer won't print properly. She got the giant Woody and the balloons from up when she worked in the cinema (we both used to work there dont'cha know...infact our respective other halfs still do!)

And this where El does the sewing...that wonderful creation you see on the desk is Nina...she's a legend in her own right...in fact this part of El's studio is also often prone to swear words...when Nina refuses to sew. The platypus picture (top right) used to be up in our bricks and mortar shop...back in the days.

And here's El's Inspiration board/place where she sticks things up that she likes...the gold cuckoo clock used to hand in the shop too.

And here's us...gross i know but we were assured that people like to know what the people who make things look like...soo this is what me and El look like...Thats me on the right in the blue top and thats El on the right with the Scrabble neclace on. We often (as in at least once a week) get asked if we're sisters...we're not but its kind of funny that people think we like we are.

Right...I think thats enough for today...hope you enjoyed your little tour around our studios.

xxx

P.S. I'm sorry about the unevenly spaced gaps between the pictures and the paragraphs...i've been trying to get the picture to go in the right palces for the last half hour and Bloggers not playing so this is the best I could do.

Pictorial Review

2011-10-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

These guys have been sentenced to the wicker basket until I list them on Etsy and Folksy.

Coffee break during a supply buying mission...note the delicious lemon yoghurt cake.

Noticed these ridiculously large meringue's whilst grabbing a coffee before going to see Simon Garfield talk about his book Just My Type.

...which you can see five books in from the grumpy looking owl.

And he signed it for me...he said that Bex was the most interesting name he had to sign yet...

Gorgeous mini cooper-esque vintage car parked down one of Cheltenhams leafy streets.

After another literature festival event we went to a bar which had these lovely labels on their bottle of tonics.

I'll be back soon with some pictures of Human Bean Christmas decorations...until then I'm off to apply Savlon to my damaged sewing finger! (a slither of rather sharp metal got stuck in it...ouch!)

We have a winner! (or two)

2011-10-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

You need wait no more dear followers! The give away has been drawn...the Autumn sunshine must have put us in a good mood because we decided to draw two names out of the vintage mustard yellow Le Creuset saucepan which I knew would come in handy one day (I love it too much to risk it getting burnt so I just keep in on the side and lovingly look at it from time to time;) But that's enough fawning over a pan (even though it is truly wonderful) onto the winners!

I like writing so instead of going for one of those random number generator gizmo's I wrote out the names of the entrants...to the right of this picture you can see the evolution of a Giraffe in a Scarf

You cant blame me for this pictures....it really is a wonderful pan!

And here are the names of the winners!

So, if Littlebirdy Designs and Gill could get in touch via email (stuffednonsense@hotmail.co.uk) we will set about sending your Human Beans out to you!

All of this give away excitement has gone to my head, I'm off to sew snowflakes and make a button necklace!

Workspace..

2011-10-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

Following the funk I found myself in earlier this week (thank you for your lovely advice!) I decided to just crack on and get over it! It seems to have worked, I've spent my day cutting and pinning fabric for some more Giraffes In Scarves.

Also been playing around with some spotty fabric and lace in the hope of coming up with some Human Bean Christmas Decorations...do you think it matters that in terms of Christmas stock we mainly have decorations (& Christmas cards...coming soon)? I wonder if we should have other products as well?

Whilst snipping and pinning I took some (rubbish) pictures of my notice board...its a bit of mess but I like the bits and pieces that are up there...there's a few old family pictures, and some other bits and pieces which I've pinned up due to my magpie like tendencies!

The picture on the bottom left is of my mum and dad before they were married, it always makes me smile.

Anyway...I'll be back soon hopefully with new/ more Giraffe's In Scarves.

Don't forget the give away...you've got until the end of Saturday to join in...no matter where you are...we'll ship to over seas!

Pictorial Review.

2011-10-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

I found this plastic wolf and 25p whilst sweeping up at work.

El made this rather good pineapple cushion/plush for a friends birthday.

Appealing barrells waiting to be taken away.

Gorgeous pearl cottons (which unfortunately had to be left behind due to insufficient funds, I think I may regret it for the rest of my life.)

Giraffe in a Scarf, they will all look like this I think.

Feeling distinctly down in the dumps today and have not a lot of confidence in StuffedNonsense's work...only temporary I'm sure.

Don't forget the give away...if you fancy it.

xxx

Autumn Face Lift.

2011-10-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

We thought it might be an idea to go for a little bit of a freshen up for Autumn, hence the new font and also the new banner...what do you think? El did it the other day (she's super clever with the old illustrations and what not!), I think the Human Beans look super up there! In fact we think they look soo super we're going to give one of you lovely followers the chance to win one. Just leave a comment on this post (making sure there's a way for us to get in touch if lady luck should favour you) before next Saturday (that's the 15th) and we'll pop your name in! I've come over quite giddy with excitement!

Just a sample of some of the Human Beans we have hanging out in our studio at the moment.

The internet shops are now full to the brim (or will be by the end of the day) too...and the etsy one has a big 'ol 20% discount coupon running at the moment! Just type in autumndiscount1 at the checkout! Perfect for you highly organised peeps who are buying christmas presents all ready methinks??

Succulents...

2011-10-06T04:13:00.000-07:00

Inspired by this super clever lady and her most recent blog post ,I thought I would share some pictures with you of my current obsession...
My name is Bex and I'm addicted to planting Succulents in pretty china cups and dotting them around my home.

Have You Head Of...

2011-10-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

Lo Cole??

I'm sure that there are many of you Illustration savvy types out there who have.

I recently discovered his work whilst doing a 'shop local' search on etsy (I was trying to find other creative types in Cheltenham.)

I'm a little bit in love with his work! Some of you may know that I do enjoy pictures of birds so a fair bit of Lo's work is right up my street. I look at his work and I'm reminded, a little bit of Charley Harpers style.

Very Early Birds can be found here.

Night Birds can be found here.

Natural Order can be found here.

I really like the simple style of his work and the colours he uses are wonderful. (I do apologise for my rather lacking descriptions of his work...I tend to clam up when I try to explain why I like something)

Anyway, you can find more of his work over here on his website.

xxx

Recently Listed...

2011-10-02T04:26:00.000-07:00

Bonjour!

I've just finished listing the Christmas Decorations I was going on about earlier this week...(it feels rather peculiar to be listing things with snow flakes on when its super hot outside but hey ho!) You can find them in our Etsy shop and also in our Folksy shop

What do you think??

I've also been tinkering away on the Giraffes In Scarves and I think I've got the pattern sorted, so hopefully they will be up for sale some time soon!

P.S. watch out for some money off offers coming up soon too!

xxx

Pictorial Review.

2011-09-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

I like coffee a lot.

An interesting article on Jack Hudson's illustrations, in the recent Oh Comely (which is apparently now kept in the pregnancy section of my local W H Smith...Oh Comely is not about having babies...so I am confused by this).

Embroidery on a favourite grey dress (psssst...I did it myself.)

A stick forest drawn whilst battling the boredom of a day shift.

A nice label found in a pair of even nicer shoes... unfortunately they were not Arthur's size...but he liked them, and would have brought them if they were in his size.

A fabulous 100% silk blouse covered in brown elephants, which I couldn't leave the charity shop without...even though it wasn't my size and is in fact a good 5 sizes to big for me...(maybe I should take a leaf out of Arthurs book?)

The reflection of my spectacles taken whilst having another coffee (I told you I like coffee.)

New Christmas decorations...moustached shaped ones. What do you think?

More moustaches.

Christmas Decorations in September??

2011-09-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

I know what your thinking lovely followers...'surely the StuffedNonsense girls can not be so organised as to actually be doing things for Christmas in ADVANCE? Surely not?!!' Well...it's true...or not reading things, it's like we've suddenly become organised or something. I think its because getting ready for the Thames Festival was a wee bit stressful and if we're honest we should have started making a lot earlier than we did; so we've learnt from our mistakes and, in preparation of the flurry of Christmas markets we have planned, we're making in advance!

I thought I'd start the Christmas making with some Embroidered Snow Flake Decorations. We made some last year, when we still had the shop, and they proved to be popular so thought we'd give them another go. I couldn't find the right type of calico/linen fabric (I wanted it the shade of beige shown in the pictures with the tiny brown flecks running through it) I had to compromise and buy a metre of canvas fabric (which is what is pictured) but its a bit too thick and hurts my fingers a little bit...at least its the right colour tho'.

There going to be sewn so they make a stuffed ornament (similar to the way you make lavender bags), I spent a while last night trying to find some nice Christmas fabric for the back, but ended up walking away from the computer frustrated. All the fabrics I came across were either too old fashioned and fussy or too 'designed' (i.e. fabric with lots of owls in hats on)...I think we're just going to go for some polka dot fabric.

Where do you guys got for lovely fabric...i tried our usual haunts (seamstar and fabric rehab) but even they didn't have anything right...maybe we're just being to fussy?

Anyway, I'm off to cut out lots of felt moustaches.... I'll save them for another day.

A Giraffe In A Scarf.

2011-09-23T06:51:00.000-07:00

As promised last night here are some pictures of a new creation we hope to roll out for the Christmas markets we have lined up...

I'm a little bit worried that it might look a little bit too 'Bang On The Door'...if anyone remembers them?

I think the colour is spot on though.

The scarves will be thicker than this one.

What do you think? We're thinking that we could make them out of a few different shades of yellow, I can see them looking really cute on the stall in one of our old suitcases. On a side note...I'm trying out the new blogspot dashboard thingy which is why the pictures are all higgledy piggledy...I think it looks OK though.

I'll be back in a few days with some pictures of the newly organised work room, the pictures I took today aren't quite what I was after.

I'm off to go and feel all good about myself because I went to my friends allotment and helped dig and put up two flat beds for growing lovely veggies in AND I made the first batch of soup of the Autumn!

xxx

Still Standing.

2011-09-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

We're hoping that if we don't mention we haven't been here since forever you won't tell us how terrible we are at blogging.

I hope to bring you some pictures of the newly organised work space tomorrow and also some new pictures of new things, including a Giraffe In A Scarf...actually I believe that the words 'new things' should be replaced with the singular 'new things.'

Basically it has taken us a little longer than we expected to recover from The Thames Festival (which was a huge success!) Hats of to The Crafty Fox crew, those guys did amazing and were a true credit to themselves! Here's some pictures from the weekend...

StuffedNonsense by day...StuffedNonsense by night (if you look closely you can see Helper Number One...he's called John. Helper Number Two is called Arthur...but he's not in this photo.)

The view from StuffedNonsense's stall.

Our jam packed Monster Making Workshop.

We're back and functioning now, so you can expect some more posts and cyber activities (hopfully)

We will try not to let you down.

xxx

Where We Disappeared To...

2011-08-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness my lovelies!

How has it been over a month since we were here last. It's been absolutely manic around these parts.

StuffedNonsense is very lucky to be taking part in The Thames Festival on the 10th and 11th of September (thanks to the oh so lovely Crafty Fox Craft Fairs). We've done a fair few fairs in London before now but this one is a weekend one and we've been told it will be rather busy....soo we've been sewing up a storm, and as is inevitable there just weren't/aren't enough hours in the day so we haven't been able to be here as much as we would like to. We've been compromising and putting fairly regular facebook updates so if you'd like you can catch up on us there...

Because the festival is a weekend one we really want to make sure we have enough stock for both days so we've been making insane numbers of creatures (55 Human Beans, 40 Crabbittz and 40 Fat Bears to name a few)...its kind of rewarding once you see them all done but drives you crazy when you've been working on the same batch of creatures for the last 4 days!...and it makes for a messy studio....

This is the cutting table in Bex's studio/conservatory...covered in the various pieces required to make 40 Crabbittz

And contained within that blue tub are 55 Human Beans waiting to be sewn up...any volunteers?

So, that's it really, we will probably be able to squeeze in a few more posts before we leave for the big smoke...but we'd still like to hear from you so please leave comments on facebook (it helps us realise that there is life outside of our sewing rooms!)

Thanks for your patience!

And our apologies for the terrible photos.

xxx

Monster Making Pictures & A Work In Progress

2011-07-22T04:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Dearies!

We finally feel normal after the insanity of 2000 trees, which means that things are getting ticked off of our permanent list of things to do...

One of the items on said list was put up the pictures from our monster making workshop which we did at the a fore mentioned festival (phew...that sounds a tad formal doesn't it!?)

I look at these pictures and find it hard to believe that the majority of the kids had never sewn anything before! I've said it before, but doing these workshops is soo refreshing...the kids just go for it, they don't care if one of their creatures eyes is wonky or if one of its arm is scoo-wiff, they just go for it!

Little Evie (I believe...my apologies if I've gotten your name wrong young lady!)

The young lad I made this pink bat with was called Jacob and he was the sweetest little guy.

And now onto some pictures of the tattoo inspired Sugar Skull i'm working on (I believe I've mentioned it here before?) called No Blood Spilt...it's got to be done by the start of august so I really should start concentrating on it properly!

What do you think?...I was concerned it was too bright?

(and here's a slightly embarrassing studio/Bex in action shot...because I figured out I had a timer on my camera...thank you for not laughing.)

xxx

And The Winner Is...

2011-07-19T09:08:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful weekend we had dear followers! The 2000 Trees Festival didn't fail to disappoint.

We're just getting used to normality and have quickly popped by here to announce the winner of our Giant Human Bean giveaway which we have had running for the last week.

Soo, get your drums at the ready and start rolling them....

An over sized tea cup suited the giveaway drawing purpose

Ready?...

So congratulations to Clare, i can't seem to find a contact email for you, so if your reading this Claire please can you email us your address within a week of this post and we'll get busy sending you a little package...(if your not in touch by a weeks time we'll re-draw it and let someone else have another go.)

I've no idea why, but i thought it might be a good idea to post up a picture of the creators of StuffedNonsense (that's me and El) after we'd consumed the better part (meaning the whole part) of a box of wine and quite a bit of spiced rum...following this consumption we then had the time of our lives at the Head Phone Disco at 2000 Trees...if your saw us we apologise.

xxx

In Honour Of...A Give Away.

2011-07-12T05:41:00.000-07:00

Some of you may or may not know but StuffedNonsense's annual holiday is always The 2000 Trees music festival. Its local to Cheltenham (only a 20 minute drive) and we've been going for a fair time...this years visit will be my third year and El's fourth year. We always have such a lovely time whenever we go...fond memories of dancing like a lunatic during the Headphone Disco and nursing somewhat delicate heads (courtesy of too much cider) whilst sitting on a bale of hay in The Leaf Lounge.Anyway, we're quite excited about going to this year,we could do with the time off. The last four weeks have been very busy so a whole weekend off with a box of wine for company is looking very appealing.

Which brings us onto the title of this post....

In honour of our annual holiday we're going to have a giveaway. You could soon be the proud owner of a Big Human Bean...these guys are brand new to StuffedNonsense (i only just finished listing some on our folksy and etsy shops) Here's a snap of the guy that you could soon get your paws on...(and who's to say that we wont pop in a few extras??)

all you have to do is leave us a little comment and we will enter you into the give away. Comments are open until Tuesday the 19th of July....Ready...Steady...Go!

(don't panic people who live over seas!...the give away is open to people not in the U.K.)

The below pictures is the beginnings of an embroidered picture for this exhibit...sounds exciting doesn't it! We're really quite chuffed to me asked to take part in it!

Right, i'm off to buy a camping stove.

Good Luck Everybody!

Pictorial Review No. 3

2011-07-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

Hello lovelies!

Its been a busy busy week...what with a Craft Fair to attend and lots of extra hours at the day job (due to an awesome music weekend.)

So with out further ado...

In the run up to the craft fair I had sewing on/with me at all times...these Warm Thoughts were given their eyes during a coffee and crumpet break at a lovely cafe called Moochoos (I'm a regular customer there. If your local please pop in and say hello to the gent who runs it...the coffee is great and the cakes are wonderful!)

Another current obsession of mine...putting succulents into china cups (I'm concerned I may have posted this picture before...my apologies if I have)

Dust Bunnies.

Crabbittz and Little April tags waiting to be attached.

A tiny gap in sewing meant I could do a bit of work on the printing tray that Arthur brought me...I'm going to stick some lovely scraps of Sanna Annuka wrapping paper (which I've been saving up for ages) into some of the bigger spaces to break up the brown.

Yes dear readers...believe it or not that's a picture of one half of StuffedNonsense (can you see me?...I'm the one behind the suitcase...with a gormless grin on my face)

And here is a picture of the other half of StuffedNonsense...El. Being the highly organised duo that we are we were still cutting business cards by the time the craft fair started.

New Stuff...we thought we would make the Human Beans big...they come in a brown kraft shoe box which have Human Bean stamped on them.

And here are the more traditional sized ones.

This lovely lady was our neighbour. I was super pleased that she was next to us because I discovered her work a few weeks back and sent her a rather embarrassing email saying how awesome I thought her stuff was and how I was pleased that she was based in Cheltenham like us. It was lovely to meet her in person and have a good old chinwag about trying to go it on your own. Her name is Megan Alice and she's the talented lady behind Megan Alice England....click on her name and follow the link to her website and shop...do it!....you wont be disappointed.

Whilst your over on her website please buy me the coral coloured purse you can see in the back of this picture...thank you.

There were lots of classic cars at the craft fair.

It wasn't an official Craft Fair it was called Cheltenhams Midsummer Fiesta.

unfortunately for us crafty types people weren't really expecting wondrous hand made items and as a result were reluctant to a)look properly and b)part with their hard earned money.

It was also a bit awkward as there were a few charity and religious stalls handing out leaflets which kind of put people off looking closely because they thought we were going to try and preach/get money of off them.

everyone deserves a stall and what not...I just think it could have been better organised i.e. having all of the hand made stalls together and all of the charity stalls together...does that makes sense? (oh dear...I hope that doesn't come across as a rant)

How much would we give for a Moris Minor Traveller?...(the answer is a lot)

One of our last customers of the day didn't have any shoes on...it made me chuckle when I saw his feet...so I took a picture of it.

Right, i'm off for an early night...

My apologies if the rant half way through this post annoyed anyone

Lacey Lanterns.

2011-07-05T12:36:00.000-07:00

I work in a lovely pub called The Swan in Cheltenham, its a wonderful place to work. We're having a music festival there this weekend it's called SwanFest...it's going to be super weekend and I can't wait!

My lovely boss asked me to make some lanterns out of glass jars and wire (given my crafty credentials) to go on the tables. I made the lanterns (much to my fingers distress) but couldn't resist adding a little something to them...what do you think?

I made 13 of them in the end but there will be more by the weekend...

I stuck the lace on with watered down PVA glue...I think they look quite lovely, and i hope that once there is a candle in them the light of the candle coming through the lace will look lovely.

P.S. The picture below proves that i don't just make Human Beans...

I also make ridiculous amounts of Warm Thoughts.

Pictorial Review No 2.

2011-07-03T04:19:00.000-07:00

Prepare yourselves for the onslaught of pictures of things that caught my eye this last week...a little snippet into the life of a StuffedNonsense creator...if you like.

I'm supposed to be sewing these labels into Warm Thoughts...but I'm not doing that...because I'm doing this post instead.A cake stand being put to good use and holding some of our many threads and a little solider bottle opener...(you can also see some of my succulent plants in pretty tea cups)A Jay feather and a Magpie feather...spotted by the eagle eyed Arthur.Sweet Peas on my bedside table/chair (it was quite lovely to wake up to the smell this morning)MORE Human Beans (we do make other things apart from these guys...they're just so popular that we're building up the stock levels of them big time)A pretty snail shell (snail-less now though...if you look closely you can see the hole that a hungry bird pecked through)A rather wonderful typewriter in a charity shop.Our newly acquired Green Man ( he cost us one whole English pound) hanging in his new home.Little Aprils and Human Beans waiting to be posted out to the MaisonetteAnother obligatory messy desk shot.A rather fantastic record player in a rather fantastic shop called Olive... (there facebook page is here) if your local to Cheltenham and like wonderful clothes then hold onto your purse strings because I guarantee that you'll want to buy everything in it; they also have a brilliant zine section (its where I buy my copies of Frankie Magazine from)

And some Sunflowers to finish it off.

Now to get back to sewing the labels.

How was your week?

Suspicious Beans...

2011-07-01T04:59:00.000-07:00

We've had to 'step up' the making dans en StuffedNonsense. This has resulted in there being lots of piles of half finished creations...piles of Little Aprils on the breakfast bar, stacks of Warm Thoughts Eyes on the book shelf and...Human Beans in 'suspicious little zip-lock bags'

Catch my drift?

I'm really quite taken with these three Beans. The 'bodies' of the stack of beans pictured above are 100% vintage, we brought the little packs from this wonderful etsy shop, quick postage and awesome product...if any of you delightful people are on the look out for some vintage fabric related wonders we strongly recommend them!

As mentioned in this previous post, this is becoming too much like a distraction and not enough like finishing the beans so i'm afraid i must leave this place.

I'll be back Sunday with another Pictorial Review...did you like the last one?

The Pictorial Review.

2011-06-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

Heads up lovelies....There are a lot of pictures and not a lot of words. It's been a busy week so I thought I'd give you a 'Pictorial Review' (which I think sounds kind of cool...don't you?)

My desk at the start of the week (N.B. it hadn't changed much by the end of the week and is still quite messy right now)We went to Cirencester on Thursday and Arthur took me out to lunch at Jacks cafe...gorgeous cafe, good coffee, yummy quiche and loads and loads of cakes (and nice table numbers as pictured above)The conservatory where we ate... attached to the museum.A table FULL of cakes!Some awesome/cringe worthy packaging found on a pair of tights.Crabbittz in pieces (can you see the new fabrics?)Coffee, Cake and Naked Beans (hehehehehe)Me, Arthur, Ed (our lodger and friend), Vicki (my extraordinary crochet able friend) and her lovely little tot went to the boot fair. It was SCORCHIO (as it was in most places)...i had to take a picture of this man's stall which was full of 'lava ware'...look at the colours!!Cheltenham boot fair is close to a little local steam train line and Vicki's lad has a healthy appreciation for anything train related (or bus relates, or bob the builder related or digger related) so when we heard the steam trains whistle we dropped all potential bargains and hot footed it over to the station so he could wave at the train driver and marvel at the wonder of the lovely green engine.How cute?!Yes readers...it is true...I have the most wonderful boyfriend. I was busy at another stall, when I finalised my purchased at this 'other stall' i headed over to Arthur who was just handing over his hard earned dollar...'What have you just brought dear?' I asked him...'Ohh something for you' and he handed over the large plastic bag...i peeked inside (and I'm not ashamed to admit because it is soo wonderful and I've been wanting one forever) and did a little scream. My bearded wonderful boyfriend had brought the above pictured item for the tiny sum of FIVE POUNDS!!!There were even a few letter blocks left (cover your ears if you are adverse to crude jokes) enough to spell out the word 'fanny'....yep...I'm 25 years old and find that hilarious.I also picked up this beauty for one pound...I think this brings the collection of cameras which we think look lovely but will probably never use up to 10!And finally...i foraged these lovely sweet peas on the way home...they were hanging over the side of a wall and were practically in the road so it was fine for me to pick them...right?

What about you dearies...what did you do last week?

xxx

Distractions...

2011-06-21T03:07:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be knuckling down from now on...which means that whenever I'm not at the day job (a.k.a. pint pulling job) I'm supposed to be cutting, and sewing, and stuffing, and sewing up and packaging up and all the other related activities...but I'm finding there are rather alot of distractions...

Distraction Number One.

When I'm working I give myself frequent coffee breaks...and occasionally on said coffee breaks I'll pop into town for a nicer than instant coffee...and occasionally (as in every time) when I pop into town for a nicer than instant coffee I'll pop into the charity shops and find something good...like this wool (which I didn't buy, instead I took a picture because the packaging made me smile)

Distraction Number 2:

When I'm supposed to be doing something else I seem to develop an amazing ability to notice tiny little things that I wouldn't normally notice. Once I notice these things I then have to take pictures of them (even if they are only a lump of moss, a feather and a pretty leaf)

Distraction Number Three:

I'm a magazine fiend, I love them, I love the smell of them, I love the weight of a newly purchased one in my bag, I love the stock of the paper, I love the articles, I love the pictures, I love the thought / daydream that one day StuffedNonsense will be in one.

Distraction Number Four:

Clyde...and his need for me to play tug of war with his string of sausages..what can I say?...I'm a sucker for a little dog that sometimes looks like a pig.

I fear that if I continue to list distractions then I will have to put up Distraction Number Five: Writing Blog Posts

What do you do for distractions??

Rocking and a Reeling...

2011-06-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

Hello lovelies,

How are you ticking along?

We're still busy busy busy here, but it is wonderful! The last few days have helped us to realise that our StuffedNonsense dream is obtainable...one day.

We've come to realise a few things about our products. After placing an order for some more stuffing (which we buy in bulk) and finding out that it has gone up in price by about ten pounds (gasp!) we've had to come to the conclusion that a few of our prices are going to have to go up. Its a scary decision for us to come to because we don't want to lose out on customers, but through feedback we've had from friends and creative peeps our prices are too cheap anyway

(without even taking into account materials now costing more.) We're not going to put them up straight away (you've got about a week of normal prices) and when we do put them up its only going to be by a few pounds at the most. We hope your not annoyed or put off, StuffedNonsense's curios and creatures are of the highest quality and even with a little bit of an increase they are still super good quality and value!

Right...that's the boring business-y bit out of the way...would you like to see some cool stuff?

I'm in love with this super cute button soap available from Hello Crafty on Etsy...I don't think I could bring myself to use it.

This beautiful necklace is made by the wonderfully talented Emily Green, this lovely lady also has a delightful blog...why not take a gander?

Some followers out there will know of my appreciation for facial hair, and this guys beard is what first attracted me to him but on closer inspection the amount of detail is unbelievable. He's made by a talented lady called Rita Pinheiro and her etsy shop can be found here, I guarantee you wont be disappointed, she also has a blog here.

Rightio dearies, I must be off, i have an order for a lovely shop in leeds to finish off...

I'll leave you with this picture...

(They are taking over the studio!)

Wow! What A Couple of Days!

2011-06-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Boy oh boy have we been busy the last few days!

The eagled eyed 'folksters' of you will all ready know that we have been made one of the four featured sellers on folksy for the next two weeks! It such an honour! Folksy was the first ever place that El and I started to sell StuffedNonsense from and to be recognised by the people in charge is awesome. So, thankyou Folksy, may you keep spreading the hand made love for a very long time!

Thanks to being a featured seller we've had quite a flurry of orders

to wrap up and post out, which is fun because it means i get to play with the tissue paper and pretty tape...

(psssst....we've even had a trade enquiry through the feature...but we're trying to keep quiet about it incase it all goes wrong).

So, thats about it around these parts...we've been wondering around with big giddy smiles on our faces and sewing up a storm.

I hope to be back tomorrow with a more informative and interesting post...as apposed to this jumble of words.

P.S....Look who i'm looking after...he's called Clyde and he

s come to stay at my house for a little while and tomorrow i'm going to look after him at his house! how exciting!

(my apologies for the blurry photo but Clyde was too concerned about killing the tennis ball to pose for a photo.)

Roll up! Roll Up!

2011-06-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

I've just finished a rather hefty listing session on our Folksy and Etsy shops.

You can now find new Crabbittz, Human Beans, Dust Bunnies and Dust Bunnie key rings...(before you go any further i apologise for lots of pictures and links...if they all work it will be a miracle...if they don't work and you want to see our shops just search StuffedNonsense on Folksy and StuffedNonsenseUK on Etsy.)

Theodoric the Crabbittz is on Etsy.

Eldrida the Crabbittz is up on Etsy.

Bardolf the Crabbittz is on Etsy.

This little fellow is on etsy.

This little blue chap is on Folksy.

This lovely lady is up on Etsy. (I think she's my favourite human bean to date)

This collared gentlemen is on Folksy.

This lady is keeping the two boys company in the Folksy shop.

This lady is on Etsy.

Dust Bunnie Keyrings are on etsy (hopfully they will be up on folksy by tomorrow)

Normal Dust Bunnies are now up on Etsy (and as above, should be on folksy by tomorrow)

Right...i have laptop shaped eyes after staring at the screen fro three hours, im going to cook some food and go to a lindyhop lesson!...how exciting

Things That Brought A Smile To My Face Today...

2011-06-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

1)Having a coffee & cream cheese bagel with my superdooper boyfriend in a superdooper lovely local cafe.

2)Walking home and seeing two men sat outside a barbers playing backgammon in the sunshine.

3)Stopping off at the local craft shop to buy a bag of ric-rac and lacy trims and as a consequence of which walking the rest of the way home with a rather goofy grin on my face.

(As you can see it was quite a grin inducing bag of ric-rac and lace trim)

4)Spending my day making 'Human Beans' and the fact that spending my day making 'Human Beans' is my part time job and in a few years time it will (hopefully) be my full time job.

I must say a very big thank you to Laura, all of the fabric used in these human beans were very generously given to me from her after I won one of her giveaways...so thank you lovely lady)

(8 of them all together, I'm thinking that most will be put into pairs and ,fingers crossed, be put on the etsy and folksy shops on Thursday)

I do apologise if this a bit of a sickly sweet post for you but its been a while since I've really enjoyed making and i was beginning to worry that it had lost the spark but after today's hours in the studio I'm pleased to say my spark is back! (because I knew you guys were worrying about it as much as me!)

Hope you enjoyed the Beans

New! Human Beans....

2011-06-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

Isn't it quite lovely when you have an idea in your brain box or sketch book for a long time and then you eventually get around to making your idea and it turns out just as you wanted it too??

I can actually remember doodling these guys before I started working with El on StuffedNonsense.

Its really good to have finally prised them out of the deep recesses of my head...

What do you think?

They are going to be called 'Human Beans'

I'm very taken with their little outfits and as a consequence there are several pages in my sketch book full of different types!

They are the perfect size to fit into tiny little Kraft card boxes....

Like so.

I dont think they will always be in pairs, i just got a bit obsessed with making these two match.

Sooooo, yay? or nay?

Must dash, time to get my hair snipped.

xxx

Birthday Party.

2011-05-30T07:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday was my birthday party (my actual birthday is this Wednesday coming), i had a super fantastic time. I was surrounded by my super fantastic friends, i drank lots of super fantastic gin and ate lots of super fantastic food, i danced lots of super fantastic dance moves (which in hindsight probably weren't all the super or all that fantastic) and i laughed lots of super fantastic laughs. Thank you to all who came, you guys really are....well...

Super Fantastic.

Here are some pictures taken by the lovely vicki of Lilley Stitches (pssst...we do an allotment together dontcha know?...and we also drink coffee together...and go to charity shops and boot fairs together...shes quite lovely), and a few taken by El on her fancy new phone.

(thanks to my super fantastic mum and dad who understand the need for such a wonderful mustard yellow pleated dress in their eldest child's life (I apologise for the stupid grin about my face.)

(This young man was the number one dance partner...the cheeky raspberry munching monkey!...he's vicki's (and johnnys) little man.

(See!! number one dancing partner! we were twirling for some time!)

(I apologize to all my friends that were there...but this canine was my favorite party guest...may I present to you...Clyde Edskip, he's the canine companions of two of our dear friends and it was an honour to have him at my party!)

(Don't even get me started on this incredible lady on the left, she's been with me through thick and thin and she will be for the rest of my life, her names Amy and I've known her for just over 10 years now, the dashing young fella on her right is Jack (he was my gin drinking buddy) the crochet poncho he has on was mine but now it is his...how could i take it away when he obviously loves and appreciates it for the wonder that it is!)

Well, i figured you.ve probably seen enough pictures of a tipsy lady in a yellow dress, i'll leave you to enjoy your bank holiday!

Our Sincere Apologies.

2011-05-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

We're terribly sorry for our absence from this little virtual space...we're still alive don't worry. The same old excuses really its just been a bit manic...and with everything else we've had going on its been a bit harder than normal to cope and manage stuff. We've kind of self medicated this week as a week off (its Bex's birthday soon and we're having a little party on Saturday to celebrate) but we promise to be back soon with some pictures and better stories than our excuses for not posting here more.

In the mean time...here a few pictures that we snapped whilst out and about.

Cutting and Sticking:nice pictures destined for Bex's 'Things That I Like Book'

Moris Minor Traveller Love: When we 'grow up' we want to drive a moris minor traveller...just like this one.

Dot On Her Two Wheeled Bike: This little lady (who is called Dorothy and is Arthurs baby sister) learnt to ride a bike with no stabilisers!!

Craft Fair Cases: Suitcases laden with Craft Fair goodies.

Crabbittz In A Basket: En-Route to El's house to be all sewn up.

Hang in there folks, we'll be back to normal soon (fingers crossed)

A Give Away & Something New...

2011-04-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

Ohhhhh...the magic 'G' word!

This is our 100th post and we thought it would be nice to hold a little give away in celebration.This past month has been a rather trying one and this blog has been an almost constant relief. To be able to come here and see what all of you crafty people are up to is a pleasure...sooo thank you, and 'heres to another 100'

This past month there has also been a flurry in new creatures emerging from the StuffedNonsense studio; there's been

Long Johns,

Frowny Puss'

Sweet Cheeks,

Slim Jims,

Little Aprils,

& Hup Two's.

Theres a few more critters waiting in the shadows too...including this guy

He's almost right, we're just waiting for the right nose. They are supposed to be akin to wombats (but with the nose he's got here he looks more like a bear) Do no fear though...we've found the right ones and are just waiting for them to be delivered. The idea is that they have a little pouch/pocket on their front which will have a piece of paper inside it and written on that piece of paper will be something to make you happy...for example 'the smell of freshly cut grass' etc etc. We think we will call them 'Wombats of Happiness'...what do you think??

Anyway, back to the giveaway.

If you would like to win one of our newer creatures (or in fact one of older ones...take a peek at our folksy shop, our etsy shop or our flickr account) all you have to do is tell us: if you could have a Wombat of Happiness what would you like its happy thought to say??

Sound like a deal??

Right...im off to make some dust bunny keyrings (how seasonal...kind of)

Happy Easter.

xxx

We're Not Very Good At This...

2011-04-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

Dear followers i'm soo terribly sorry to all of you for being unbelievably rubbish at keeping everything up to date.

The last month has been at times really rather hard and upsetting for us and at other times it has been truly amazing.

Soo...shall we start with the hard stuff (i'll hold your hand if you hold my hand...deal?)Right...around a year and a half ago myself and Arthur ,my partner, (i know that sounds silly but after over six years together boy friend doesn't really seem to cut it does it?) found out that his dad was terminally ill with a brain tumour. He held on for much longer then we thought but last week he past away peacefully in his sleep. He was terribly ill and to see him suffering as much as he was was heart breaking. Whilst it is terribly sad that he has gone, in some ways it is a relief to know that he can now rest without any pain.

I was in two minds as to if i should write about this here but as its one of the main reasons as to why things have been so quiet around here. The whole family is holding up OK and right now we are just piecing everything back together again...trying to get back to normality.

Its not all been sad this month though.

On the 3rd of April we had a stall at the first ever Norwood Feast.

It went soo well, we had an awful lot of fun (even if we did get lost) and we even sold out of some stuff!

We also put the finishing touches on our first order from The Maisonette (i've literally just finished sellotaping the address onto the box!)

AND...

Yesterday we were at the second Crafty Fox Pop Up Market at The Dogstar in Brixton. It was an awful lot of fun and we met lots of lovely people. I had no choice but to be frugal with my purchases ( thanks to my pitiful bank balance) so i left with this really lovely wooden wren brooch

I brought it from Fabric Nation...it took me ages to make my choice (i had to go and get arthur to come and help me!)

and the lovely El and John brought me this awesome bear print from seventy tree..

i love that the picture is made up of the word 'bear' written over and over again.

In other good news i've spent the last two and a half hours listing items on our folksy shop and also on our etsy shop...have a gander if you like.

Well...i imagine that things will still be a bit quiet around here for a bit longer....we've still got some fixing to do...but rest assured i'll be back on full cylinders soon.

Still Here...

2011-04-01T08:11:00.001-07:00

...Just about.

Sorry for the lapse in StuffedNonsense news.

Lots and lots have been happening.

Since our last post we have kissed goodbye to our bricks and mortar shop...which is a bit sad but a bit exciting at the same time; it now means we can concentrate on taking StuffedNonsense onto the next level (sorting out the business plan, sorting out the website, sorting out some savings, sorting out some new stockists...and lots of other grown up things like that)

In the midst of the shop removal we have been trying to frantically prepare for a craft fair in London...which is this Sunday ( and yes we are freaking out about the lack of stock...but we wouldn't be StuffedNonsense if weren't chronically unprepared for anything)

We also found out an extra super special shop called The Maisonette would like to stock are creations! Its crazy good news, as they were one of the first shops we approached since the shop closing; so its given us lots of confidence in our products and also in our approach to possible stockists. The shop looks soo wonderful, im gutted that StuffedNonsense is in Cheltenham and many many miles away from Glasgow. The Maisonette has also just opened an internet shop which is rather dandy too...why not head over and have a gander (im 100% certain you wont be dissapointed)

Right...soo heres a sprinkling of pictures....

This cute little desk used to be in the corner of the shop but now its my work in progress desk (full of: four Hup 2,3's waiting for labels, ten Little Aprils waiting for their cardboard tags and twenty one dustbunnies waiting for eyes...i mentioned it has to be done by Sunday didn't i?)

These guys are new and in the same 'range' as the Long Johns...they are called Slim Jims (we're still ironing out the creases in their background story)

Again, in the same range as the Long Johns...this one is called a Frowny Puss'...

And this one is called a Sweet Cheeks....i LOVE the fabric its body is made out of...i want to make PJ's out of it.

What do you thing to the new guys?? Will they fit in under the StuffedNonsense roof?

These ones are still on paper but will be given a lease of life soon...in between this craft fair (on Sunday don'tcha know) and the next one (a two week gap in case your wondering...we must be mad)

Hopefully we will be back soon

(please feel free to send soothing and calming thoughts/comments our way)

Day off Frivolities.

2011-03-13T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hello dearest readers, hope you are enjoying your Sunday. This is my last day off before the madness of Cheltenham Gold Cup descends (50 hours in 6 days...ohhhh yeah)

Its been lovely so far i went to a new boot fair (pictures of bargains to come another time) with my number one charity shop/boot fair/coffee shop & cake companion...vicki. You may know of her because she is super talented at lots and lots of things...you can find her over here for her stitchy things and over here for her ninja things. Go and see and wonder at all the wonderfuls she makes.

Here are some snaps of my last day off (we went for lunch at a new cafe...it was delicious)

Vicki has a super cute little boy and he has super cute toys too, i couldn't resist taking a picture of this wonderfully made mouse in a tonka truck.

Honey and Vanilla cheesecake which i had for pudding...

And shared it with this young man.

Then we returned to vicki's house and had tea and gazed in wonder at her new wonderful Japanese pattern book...psssst...did you know that vicki made the top in this picture?...she did you know...and it looked great.

And this is here just because the sun is out and spring is on its way....

Right, time to prepare for this craft fair and this craft fair, they are within a week and half of each other...because we love to make it easy for ourselves!

Sunday Off Times...

2011-03-06T09:07:00.001-08:00

Today on my day off i saw...

Your eyes are not deceiving you! That is indeed 'Blue Sky', i'm sure you have heard of it before.

Some Moda fabric that i picked up at the boot fair; along with a vintage table cloth and apron it cost me the princely some of 50p! (theres about two meters of it!)

Today on my day off I did...

Making some samples to send to a seriously wonderful shop (but we're not going to say where yet...in case)

Soo please wish these guys good luck...my fingers are crossed very very very tight!

p.s. four more posts then theres a giveaway!!

A Gift From Us To You...

2011-03-04T04:33:00.000-08:00

We were feeling a bit generous today, and whilst listing some new lovelies on our etsy shop we decided to offer up free postage on any item to anywhere for a whole week!

Thats right peeps...a whole seven days of free postage!

How exciting...to get your free postage just pop this code into the coupon option at the check out:

marchfreepostage1

as well as a few other things!

Happy Shopping!

Day off Frivolities...

2011-03-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

Ham, Cheese and Mustard Foccacia from a superb little cafe called Tiffins.
Mine and Arthurs shadow avec shopping basket.
Crocus' trying to open up in the sun despite the cold.
A rather fantastic metal flower display bike.
New to the StuffedNonsense shelves i present to you 'Little Aprils'...they are cute droplet shaped plushies with ribbon to hang them from...we are selling them individually at the moment but intend to sell them in packs of 6 (your own little 'April Shower'...get it?) we are just trying to sort out the packaging (egg boxes we think)
Today was also made all the better by going to visit a fantastic illustration show at a small local gallery...i really enjoyed the bird pictures by an illustrator called Philip Rhys Matthews (there aren't too many pictures of the birds on his website but please go and have a look nonetheless its beautiful work.)

So in short things are looking a little bit better... thank you to you lovely people for lending me kind words (i hear February is a common month to get down in the dumps)

I'm off to work on some 'Sweet Cheeks' 'Frowny Puss'' and 'Slim Jims'....intrigued?....you should be!

P.S. Do you like the Little Aprils.

P.P.S. We are going to do a giveaway soon...how exciting!

We Made Some Cushions and Found Some Good Fabric.

2011-02-25T04:09:00.000-08:00

Hello StuffedNonsense followers?

Hope you are all ticking along and enjoying the first snatches of Spring.

I was supposed to get these made yesterday but had a terrible day involving absolutly no self confidence and a rather large grey cloud about my head for the whole day...as im sure you are aware these conditions are no conductive to a productive

day.

I woke up this morning feeling marginally better and manage to get these out of the sewing machine....

We've been stashing lots of vintage fabrics away and found ourselves being a bit to precious with them soo we took the plunge and coupled with some vintage doilies I made these (hopefully) lovely cushions.

This one is made from the same fabric as the curtains in my work room.

I love this fabric, sweet peas are my favorite flowers so i was very chuffed to find this fabric!

Im unsure of this one, the fabric is amazing but i'm not sure if it is too much. What do you think?

I know they are effectively 'only cushions' but do you like them?? (im rather taken with the off white shade of the doilies)

It would seem that the vintage fabrics gods smiled upon us on Sunday and i left the boot fair with this stash, which meant i didn't mind using up some of our other fabric on the cushions...afterall i have these beauties to replace them!

And lastly i wondered if you would like to see a corner of my work table that is making me smile a little bit...The daffodils smell lovely and every time i look at the little gnome playing the accordion he makes me chuckle.

Hopefully i'll be back soon with a more cheerful disposition but for now i'm still trying to see through the gloom...sewing is helping though.

Straight Out of the Workroom...

2011-02-11T06:24:00.000-08:00

Just some pictures of items fresh off of the sewing desk...they are all destined for By Local a lovely shop in Cheltenham that we have the pleasure of selling in.

From 10 triangles of fabric scraps we give you..

Some Desk Top Bunting.

Some coin purses and pencil cases.

Also the rather handsome mustard chicken is called 'Norris' because chickens are sometimes called 'Chooks' which sounds like 'Chuck' and Chuck Norris is the best Chuck...I'm cool like that.

Just a small post to give you a heads up, if your local then you can purchase any of these lovelies from the By Local shop in the Regents Arcade.

(hope you don't think this incredibly boring...we intend to return in a few days with some new creatures of the plush kind....)

How exciting!

Posted by Bex.

A Considerably Large Amount of Buttons & Cute Cardboard Animals.

2011-02-09T00:43:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post before i drag my sick body into work.

I went to the car boot fair Sunday,when i arrived it didn't look good,less than half the normal amount of stalls but nonetheless i persevered and at the last stall i stumbled across a lovely (but very crazy) old man who had lots and lots of buttons for sale. i was there for a while and carefully made my button related decision. The wise old/crazy man could clearly see that i was a

connoisseur of buttons and offered me all of his mixed button tubs...totalling 10 Tupperware pots full....for £20. I ummmmed and ahhhhhhed for five minutes '£20? is that alot to spend on buttons...if i brought them on Ebay it would cost me that much just for the postage'...before deciding that it was a rather sensible thing to do as the button collection was getting depleted. So that was it, I'm now the proud owner of, what some would say. 'too many buttons'.

This isn't even half of them trust me.

In other non-related button news, Arthur and I went to Cirencester to see the lovely ladies of MADE (to show them new stock) It's such a lovely shop and it was great to see iro iro's work gracing the shelves. As is normal i left with a few 'necessary' purchases.

One of which were these ridiculously cute cut out and stick 3D animals (I've got one more left to make....a squirrel). They are made by Mibo, if you go and take a look please be careful...the other animal sets are so cute i worry that your bank account my lose some £'s.

Anyway, I'm going to search out some strepsils and think up spring designs...cos I'm cool like that.

xxx

Posted by Bex.

Things I Don't Normally Notice...

2011-02-03T13:28:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, when I'm finding things a bit tough and everything seems grey I find myself noticing things that I wouldn't normally notice.

It's as if my brain is saying 'Hey there sad face....its not all that bad...take a look at this...that's pretty cool right??'So, with that thought in mind dear StuffedNonsense fans, here's some of the things that 'picked me up' today whilst I was at work.

A small sign nailed onto the back of one of the chairs.

Just one of the lovely lights, when I'm a 'grown up' and have a big house I would like some lights like this one in it.

The weaving on the back of one of the chairs...its normally covered up with a cushion but my helpful brain box spied it out.

And another one of the cool lights at work.

Soo, that's all I can muster up for now, hope you enjoyed the pictures

xxx

Posted by Bex.

The Grand Opening Of Our Etsy Shop & Another New Creature...

2011-01-30T03:00:00.000-08:00

Yep.

Believe it or not tomorrow El and I are going to pull an all-dayer (i do believe that is an actual word) and list some handmade wonders on our new and shiny etsy shop.

We wanted to be able to list throughout the day so we have spent the last week or so concentrating on sewing up a storm for it.

If you head over to the shop sometime tomorrow (evening is probably best) you should (fingers crossed....) find some little creatures that look a lot like this...

The light is a little off in this photos, its a bit cloudy in the land of Cheltenham...but hopefully you get the idea.

Which brings me on to the 'other new thing'...you can see him at the back....hiding behind the Warm Thought and Crabbittz....next to the rather handsome teal coloured pigeon...

That's it, you've got him...

The shy looking Elephant...with the lovely patch on his back...

They are going to be called 'Hup, Two, Three's' (you've seen the jungle book right?)

We've tried to make these ones as child safe as we can, the ears are machine embroidered on, the eyes are safety toy making eyes and the back patch is hemmed and machine sewn on...so hopefully it can hold up to most things.

What do you think?

Have a lovely Sunday (I'm off to have a nap...pesky new bar job and change to routine...I'm used to going to bed at 10pm and getting up at 6am!)

Posted by Bex.

Long Johns and New Shoes.

2011-01-27T07:53:00.000-08:00

I think the title of this post would make a good title of a song.

Except this post isn't about a song with a cool title its about a new addition to StuffedNonsense.

This rather disgruntled looking creature is called a 'Long John'

As you can see he's tired and grumpy. You see the poor guy doesn't know how to fall asleep; he's tried it all...Horlicks, Camomile Tea, Lavender Oil, Counting Sheep. He just doesn't know how to fall asleep...no one ever showed him. So he lives out his days wondering aimlessly around trying to understand what the fuzzy feeling in his head and eyes means. Poor guy.

This is where I need your help loveliest of lovelies.

Most of the plushies that we make at StuffedNonsense are 'cute' and 'pretty' and I'm concerned that these guys are none of those things. Don't get me wrong i like to make 'Cute & Pretty' things but it felt good to come up with something not so.....ermmmmm 'nice'. Does that make sense?

These guys are definitely for 'grown ups' and coming up with something more grown up was one of StuffedNonsense's aims for the New Year.

The stuffed Long John in the above pictures was the first one I made and since then I've made a few changes...the face is a little smaller and I've changed the eyes...they are now french knots instead of seed beads...

Yay or Nay???

I haven't stuffed the 'new' ones up yet... but I think you get the idea.

Also....i brought some new shoes...

(please excuse the rather gross floor...I took this picture whilst I was at work and I work in a pub that doesn't have a very nice floor behind the bar.)

I love them a little bit.

Anyway, your feedback on the Long Johns is greatly appreciated!

Peace Out!

Posted by Bex.

Playmobil, Milkshakes and Where I Sew.

2011-01-11T07:42:00.001-08:00

Hello lovelies?

How are you all doing...hope you are enjoying your 2011 so far.

I've just returned from a wonderful trip to Bath Road (for non-Cheltonians...bath road is a mecca of charity shops and lovely cafes, i went with the lovely Vicki. It was a lovely day and we came across a few bargains...I left with a Playmobil set, a sweet little glass with flowers on it, a scrap book with the title of 'A Scrap Book Of Britain, including the most important Foreign Events 1688-1937'(This has all ready been snaffled up and taken to the 'geekatorium, which is the spare room/Arthurs room...home to comics,a large Bat Man mural on the wall, many comic figures, film posters,an N64 games console, and Books on battles and such things...it probably deserves

a post all to itself really)

I couldn't resist getting the playmobil set out when we were having lunch (tasty looking milkshake, hey?)

Also, thought I would share a few (rubbish) pictures of my workroom.

The chair I sit on at my work table is a vintage one from a hairdressers...which Arthur and I rescued from the street! (can you believe that someone would throw that beauty away??)

This is just a little corner that I quite like, I found the embroidered picture of the girl at a boot fair, I think i paid 20p for her!

And here is my collection of coloured knitting needles.

There not very good pictures but I know that I love to see pictures of peoples studios so I thought that you might like to see a few of mine.

Well I've procrastinated enough...time to get on.

Have a lovely week

Posted by Bex.

ooohhhh the possibilities...

2011-01-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

The problem with having a shop next to a fabric shop is that the fabric shop occasionally has sales and then you end up leaving with a big pile of fabric that looks a little bit like this...My fingers are itchy just looking at it!

More pictures to follow soon.

Posted by Bex.

Hello 2011.

2011-01-01T06:08:00.001-08:00

Well dearies, that came along fast didn't it?

I've spent the afternoon looking through everyones first blog posts of 2011 and it made for lovely reading. it was exciting to hear of everyones creative plans for the coming year.

Our plans are similar to most peoples (and with the bricks and mortar shop going we think there's a chance we might actually accomplish some of these plans!...fancy that.)

a. Get new designs and ranges sorted.

b. Be better at blogging.

c. Make our Folksy shop better.

d. Fathom the world of etsy and create a totally wonderful shop for us there.

e. Do trade shows and get more suppliers.

f. By the end of 2011 we want a website, a proper business plan and (this is a big one guys so prepare yourselves) a wage from StuffedNonsense.

I guess that's it really...if you put all of those plans into a big pot it would boil down to 'just carrying on'...i predict big things for StuffedNonsense and i think that will mean some stressful times, some sad times, some incredibly exciting times, some happy times and most importantly some creative times.

Happy New Year dear followers, may 2011 bring you everything you want and deserve!

Here are some little snaps of a work in progress (the outcome of all of the embroidered picture 'research/window shopping')

What do you think so far??

xxx

Posted by Bex

Get In The Loop...or Hoop??

2010-12-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to think up some wonderful new items for the shop...as per the plan of conquering the handmade Internet storm (in between feeling sorry for myself about the closure of the shop and other things.) whilst thinking up a stitchy storm i came across these handmade wonders.....

Embroidered Paper Lanterns by crazybutcute...i love the green one the best.

Lobster Embroidered Wall Art by tributary.

Booyah Giraffe Embroidery by kngo...I'm almost 100% certain that there is a need for this in my life....FACT.

Suitcase Stack by Moxiedoll...boy, this lady knows how to stitch...take a gander at her etsy shop for more delightful treats.

Large Wing Embroidery Hoop Wall Art by OneLittleRedFox...i think this is such a good idea.

Soooo...as you can guess I'm looking to get some new embroidery ranges on the go...and some of you may have also guessed that as the above wonders are all from etsy; StuffedNonsense has opened up an etsy shop . Its a bit scary because etsy is soo big and we have also heard some scary tales about crazy competitiveness but we want StuffedNonsense to eventually pay our rent and its never going to do that unless we start being grown ups and doing scary things.

Anyway, i hope your Christmas was truly fabulous and I'll be back soon...

take care

Posted by Bex.

We Have Some News...

2010-12-12T02:45:00.000-08:00

We've been drafting this post in our heads over and over again for the past week or so.

We've had to come to an important decision at StuffedNonsense HQ and rest assured it is one which El and I have spent a lot of time going over. So with out further ado and a deep breath here we go...

As most of you probably know we have a bricks and mortar shop in Cheltenham. It is something we are immensely proud off...however by the end of January StuffedNonsense at 40 Albion Street will close its doors. Whilst it is incredible that we have a shop so early on in our creative adventure we have skipped soo many things in getting there. Things which are essential if we are to one day make a living off of StuffedNonsense. So with a heavy heart but with the knowledge that it is the right thing to be doing we are going to be closing up shop.

Rest assured...we will be back...with the bestest,awesomest, incrediblest shop; but for now the bricks and mortar is on hold.

The plan for the coming new year is to get some trade shows under our belt (and therefore...hopfully...some more stockists), take part in some more craft fairs further afield, sort out the blooming website (which has been on the list from the start!) and FINALLY give some sense of organisation to the Folksy shop.

We really hope that you will hang in there with us and that you understand why we've made this decision...trust me its one of the hardest we've had to come too.

Sooo, i guess we finish this with...Watch this space...because given a year or too you will find StuffedNonsense in its own handmade haven on the high street...see you there.

Love

Bex and El.

P.S. We went to Crafty Fox yesterday and had the time of our lives...Team StuffedNonsense pulled it off big time.

Believe it or not...

2010-11-21T05:01:00.000-08:00

we are still alive.

Some hectic times have descended upon StuffedNonsense and we are battling through and as is usual when stuff like this happens something has to give, in this case it was the little 'ol blog, but things are looking up so hopefully we can come and play here a bit more...hopefully!

i think anyone that makes stuff can testify that November and the start of December are crazy times...festive craft fairs are looming and folksy shops need stock in preparation for the purchase of Christmas presents (fingers crossed!)here at stuffednonsense we've been sewing up a storm making crabbittz and more crabbittz and dust bunny Christmas decorations and more dust bunny decorations and button jewellery and more button jewellery and....well you get the message right??

I've only got a few pictures for you which i some how managed to remember to take (and if I'm honest I'm not 100% sure if I've put these up on the blog yet...so my apologies if they are repeats!)

15 Crabbittz all sent off to MADE in Cirencester. As you can see we decided to carry on using both of the fabrics...and have now come across some beige woolly type fabric close to the original so i guess the Crabbittz are going to be coming to three shades!
This fine example of the Crabbittz breed is called Hannlore, she likes Astronomy and Poirot re-runs and some how by some miracle she's made it all the way into the folksy shop!Find her here if you want a tad more info on her.
This picture shows how much of a mess the desk gets into when we have to make jewllery...jars of buttons everywhere!
These guys are also up in the folksy shop. They are called Fat Bears and we think they are the cutest thing to come out of StuffedNonsense for a while.
The new dust bunny Christmas decorations, i was hoping to list these this afternoon but the pictures i have just aren't up to scratch so they will have to wait a little bit....but what do you think? good or bad?, yay or nay?
These are mini button wreath decorations...which are really hard to photo...we came up with these to help overcome the increasing population of white shirt buttons at the shop, they are just a metal ring packed full of white buttons with a few coloured ones thrown in for good measure, they have a pretty ribbon loop to hang from your tree...would you hang one in your tree??

Right...its time for me to off,such exciting things as food shopping and cleaning the bath room await me!

Bring On The Trumpets....

2010-10-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

Soooo....(late as usual) we have the give away winner...

I carefully wrote out all the entries onto some paper, folded them up and placed them all in my lovely black bowler-ish hat....

(see isn't it lovely??)
And then i picked out one lucky winner.....

Congratulations Beth from The Linen Cat....I'm rather chuffed that it was this lovely lady that won because i have followed her blog from the beginning of my blogging adventure, and every time she makes something i fall a little bit in love with which ever item she's made. Please go and have a look at her blog because the things she makes are truly wondrous!.

Right, i shall return tomorrow with pictures of the result of all of the manic sewing i have been doing.

xxx

We Havn't Forgotten...

2010-10-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

We will announce the giveaway winner tomorrow, once we have recovered from our ridiculously long Sunday shifts (one of these days the two of us wont work in the service industry and so our Sundays will be free for carbooting and reading Sunday papers....until then we will pipe down and carry on with our 10+ shifts.)

Speak to you tomorrow!

Look What I Got..

2010-10-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

For the princely sum of £2 (and quite a few peculiar looks from passers by, whilst 'wheeling' this wonder home)....

Isn't it wonderful?? To some it may seem like a horribly tacky old tea trolley, but to me it is a wonderful retro solution to the impending storage crisis about to arise with the on set of frantic Christmas sewing. You see my sewing desk was getting to be a mess with various projects awaiting completion, but with this wheeled wonder i can carefully stack the half finished projects into neat piles and kid myself that by shifting them around and neatly stacking them i am actually getting closer to completing them.Also my jars of buttons and knitting needles look cute on top....i wish i could crochet...if i could i would make some of these like the talented Tif...

Another 'essential' purchase on this recuperative trip to the charity shop (i was sick at the weekend) was this lovely tartan coat...

Well...i was supposed to start work on the dustbunnies at 12...and its rather past that now!
Speak Soon..
xxx

Aren't Mums and Charity Shops Great?....

2010-10-07T09:36:00.001-07:00

Even better if your mum volunteers in a charity shop and brings woolly wonders such as these when she visits!... I almost cried when she handed them over! and as a bonus she washed them so they smell of 'home'! There is now a definite need for a blanket box in the house!

And when she brought these exceptional flannelet sheets out I'm not ashamed to say that i did actually cried! They are soo soft.

Other wondrous items rescued from dusty charity shop shelves include....

A lovely brown horse shaped glass aftershave bottle, its an Avon one, i find it quite amusing that you would of had to take off its head to get any smell out (i imagine the smell would have been akin to Old Spice...or something like)
A fantastic old Kodak Camera with the orignal case.
A grumpy looking owl money box which i find appealing despite it looking quite naff....but in a good way.

Rightio, that's all for tonight....don't forget the giveaway!

xxx

We Think Its About Time.....

2010-10-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

We had a give away....don't you???

If you would like to bag yourself a little collection of StuffedNonsense loveliness all you've got to do is leave us a comment telling us whether you prefer the Crabbittz in their new dark brown winter skin or their stripey winter skin...we're torn between the two so need your help!!
We will leave the give away open until next Thursday and then we will pick a name out of the hat (if there's anyone who enters!) You can get another entry if you blog about it too, just head back here and let us know that you've done it...make sense??
Right....onto the Crabbittz....

So here's the lovely brown woolly fabric, its a lot darker than the normal fabric, we've had to have a switch around because we cant get hold of the old stuff!! Out of the two its the most similar in texture.

And here's the stripey version, which is similar in colour (well similar-ish) but not very alike in texture.....

And here they are all together...in a crinkle....which is definitely the scientific name for a group of Crabbittz....FACT.

Sooo, there you go, hopefully some peeps will enter and then we can send out a package of wonderfulness to one lucky StuffedNonsense fan (said package will include a Crabbittz...of course)
Ready...
Steady....
Go....
xx

Give Bex One and A Half Days & What Do You Get??

2010-09-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

Lots & Lots & Lots of Jewellery...We found the plastic vintage animal tokens in a charity shop a few days back, but its taken us a while to get cracking on them. I'm a little bit taken with the bird ones. We also made some more scrabble necklaces and earrings and also some vintage button bracelets.They are all to go to MADE Cirencester so we couldn't put them out on the shop so we decorated one of our shelves with them.
Then i played around with some manila gift tags and came up with some new packaging ideas.

Lots of the Jewellery is now up on the folksy shop...i think that's a good few days work...don't you?
xxx

Posted by Bex.

We Rather Like Rob Ryan And His Work...

2010-09-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

We're sure that many of you savvy people out there all ready know about this man and the wonderful things he does with paper and scissors (and probably a craft knife and other sharp cutting things); but we thought we would just mention him here....because we rather like what he does....

So, onto some pictures for y'all!

(photo taken from stellab1's flickr stream)

Wonderful plates with his designs on....

(taken from UtilityDesigns flickr stream)

(picture taken from stellab1's flickr stream)

(photo taken from Suzy Que's Flickr Stream)

He also has a lovely blog!!

Well, its been a terribly long week with far to many boring day job hours and no where near enough fun StuffedNonsense hours. Tomorrow's plans include not making a cup of coffee for a single customer, making some button jewellery and also making some Scrabble necklaces.

Hopefully the camera will be remembered and I'll take some pictures for you!

Sleep Tight.

What We Did on Friday...

2010-09-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

Before i get going i feel that first i may have to apologise if there is a melancholy air to this post, its a rather hectic time here at the moment with lots to get my head around and tonight i am feeling the effects of everything. but do not fear! i have some pictures of some 'warmish' sewing that i did in the shop on Friday...

On Friday I:

Cut up, stuffed and sewed up some lovely soft grey socks...

Then i got distracted by my blue tights and £2.50 new skirt (I'm now 8 months into my not buying new clothes challenge! i cant believe that since February i have only brought clothes if they are from charity shops or 'vintage clothes shops'Following my detour i cut out some face panels and sewed on some eyes.

Then i got distracted by the washing line of Crabbittz and felt that they had to be photographed...After the 'urgent' distraction of a washing line of Crabbittz was dealt with i cut out some lovely belly shaped pieces of fabric...Then i sewed these pretty pieces of fabric onto the grey balls of loveliness in order to make some lovely Warm Thoughts...

Soo cute and soo squishable, they are now (well hopefully will be in the next few days) winging their way to MADE in Cirencester.
It was rather lovely to lose myself in some hand stitching for a few hours.
Next week (Thursday-Sunday) El and I will be at the End Of The Road Festival running more monster making workshops. We're both really excited about it but I'm worried i will be teaching 8 year olds to make monsters when i could be watching this rather wonderful lady sing her rather wonderful songs....fingers crossed hey??
Because of our trip to Dorset the StuffedNonsense will be shut, but do not fear! we will return post haste with lots of new and exciting ideas for you all!

Stay Safe!
xx

P.S. Pictures of the most recent Craft Night In are now up on the blog, take a gander!

Rain Rain Go Away...

2010-08-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

As the title suggests its raining here in Cheltenham...in fact its been raining for the last 8 hours...and i got soaked riding Caprice home from my new job (that's right, for some reason they thought it was safe to give me a job working with coffee!); But I'm all dried off now and if I'm honest have kind of enjoyed sitting in my sewing room listening to the rain fall onto the conservatory...

(just a little snap of the sewing desk; i apologise about the poor light. You can see my 75p charity shop Scandinavian style horse in the back ground, i like him.)

I went on a walk with Arthur the other day and took some pictures of lots of nice Typography whilst out and about, it would appear there are some rather nice examples around Cheltenham!

(Whats that??? Surely it can't be??? Is that really.....BLUE SKY?)
(We also popped into a Charity Book Shop and i was thoroughly tempted by the lovely burgundy book, if only for its title!!)

Well, i really should stop procrastinating and cut some lopsy lapins.
Just so you know the shops going to be shut this Friday (new job getting their heads around my availability, Also on Saturday the shops shut but we will be running a stall at the Brewery in Cheltenham which is about 10 minutes from the shop so you could come and see us there if you want??

Anyway, stay dry!

We Did Something New!!!

2010-08-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

Hello lovelies? Are you enjoying your weekend?

We've been busy working on something quite exciting. A few days ago the lovely Jo from The Love Of It got in touch with us and asked if we could come up with some Monster Making Kits as prizes for a treasure hunt she was organising.

We were more than happy to give this a shot as it was something we had been thinking about doing anyway!!

Here's the finished product!!

(We made fifteen in total!)(These three are up for sale on folksy.)Inside each pack is enough monster making supplies to make a rather sweet palm sized monster.There is also a sheet of instructions included with some of El's rather lovely illustrations, we liked the little pictures of monsters soo much we have decided to come up with some stationary sets with them on. What do you think??

Anyway...time to get on with the rest of our Saturday.
Take Care
xx

Some Fabric, Some Tomatoes, A Butterfly, Some Buttons and A Bike

2010-08-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

Freshly laundered and neatly folded vintage fabric.
Freshly picked, home grown tomatoes (i grew these!!!)
A pretty butterfly on a flower....which i also grew!
Newly purchased vintage buttons.
Arthur's newly purchased Raleigh Bicycle. It doesn't have a name like some Raleigh's do, instead it just says 'The All Steel Bicycle'....which makes me chuckle for some reason. This two wheeled wonder set Arthur back the princely sum of £15. We were in the charity shop when it got donated by a lovely old man who really loved the bike but had to get rid of it because he was too old and as he so aptly put it ' you shrink when your old you see?....so my doctor has told me i can't ride it any more.'

What about you guys? do you have lovely bikes? what did you take pictures of this week?

More pictures Saturday...hopefully!

P.S.

I apologise for the title of this post, i was struck dumb and thought that a list of the pictures a) sounded like it could be a band name and b) was mildly amusing....

the problem being that a) i don't know much about band names and b) i have a rather rubbish (some would say bizarre) sense of humour.

xxx

Stitching & Vintage Fabric

2010-08-08T01:16:00.000-07:00

Hello dear followers!

How has your weekend gone?

I'm sat typing this in my favorite 'le moustache' t-shirt in an effort combat the fact that at 12 o'clock I'm lost to cineworld for ten hours! don't worry for my sanity tho', i have come up with a handy trick for surviving the dreaded 12-10...i just think of it as two five hour shifts, one with an hour break the other with a half hour break...its not as bad that way....kind of.

Anyway onto news of the stitchy kind...

we are busy preparing for a craft fair on the 28th of August, for this one we have decided to mainly concentrate on Plush Toys, so we've been sewing up a storm upstairs at 40 Albion Street. Would you like to see??...

(We made these guys with the intention that they would be 'special' toys, you know the ones which a kid keeps forever, ones that sit on the shelves of their bedroom...that sort of thing)

So you have 'Bert' the dinosaur (originally a giraffe) and Paul the possum bear (originally a plain old bear)(he's got quite a cute face, i think he looks a bit shy.)
We've been working on some Misc Monsters for the fair to. They are made out of some super soft fleece. Most of them are patterns which we have made before apart form this little guy...
(He makes me think of a Boxer dog...you know when their top lip gets caught up and their front teeth stick out...like its smiling at you?)

We also struck gold on the vintage fabric front. We are lucky enough to have a really good relationship with our local craft store (they order us in extra large bags of stuffing...and we mean large...like i have to carry them back to the shop on my back like a sack of potatoes!) Anyway the lady that runs the craft shop asked if i would like to have a look at some fabric she had downstairs...my eyes nearly fell out of their sockets!

There was sooooo much amazing stuff down there...i believe i shall treat you all to some snaps of them drying on the line... (I think that the awesome orange 70's one is destined to be cushions and perhaps a lion plush, there's also about 2 metres of some lovely pale blue linen)
(There is sooo much of this grey fabric, i do believe that the flowers are sweet peas which is good because they are my favorite!...this fabric will definitely become lots of cushions)
(Another awesome sample from the 70's...I'm rather taken with the lion and its rather smug look on its face! at the far end you can see some wonderful red and blue flowery cotton as well.)

There were lots more fabrics but i didn't want to over do the 'fabric drying on a washing line photos' so i shall take one of those lovely 'fabric in nice neat piles' pictures once its dry...deal??

Anyway...time for some breakfast...

Speak soon

xxx

Monster Making At Cheltenham Art Gallery...

2010-08-05T03:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we packed our monster making supplies and headed on down to the Art Gallery in Cheltenham. There were 15 expectant kiddos waiting for us to divulge to them the secrets of how to make a monster StuffedNonsense style.

We set up and enjoyed a cuppa and five minutes peace before we began...(That's right dear readers....contrary to popular belief we stuff our creations with clouds not stuffing...or so this picture suggests.)(El got her tea in the most awesome dinosaur mug...but perhaps I'm biased as the Stegosaurus is my favorite dinosaur)
The talented young pipsqueaks arrived and set to cutting, stuffing and sewing with great gusto. It was great to see them all going for it and enjoying sewing. The results were fabulous!...

(I loved this little girls guinea pig, she made another one in blue as well, i think she might go home and make lots more! she seemed to enjoy herself loads!)

(The blue one had tap shoes on!)

(The kids that made these four paid so much attention to detail it was fascinating! check out the wings on the one on the far right!)

(These two guys kind of stole the show though....please may i introduce you to...'Super Bat' & 'Bug Boy', the little guy that made these two had such fun playing with them after, it was seriously cute.)

(I love this ones accessories...an apron, a scarf AND a bow in her hair!)

(A super talented mother and daughter sewing team made these two guys.)

Hope they weren't too scary for you!

We will be back soon with some new creations.

xxx

More Snaps and Tidbits for You.

2010-07-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hello dearies,

Hope your feeling fine and dandy. The shop has been a rather pleasant place to be of late. Our day jobs are rather busy at the moment so the calm of our handmade haven is very welcome!

We spent the most of today working on some fleece creations, there's a chance we might be able to have a stall at a craft fair specifically for kids so we wanted to explore some 'child friendly' fabrics. The fleece we brought is soooo soft, i had to resist stroking it! we used some old 'Misc Monsters' templates, and think we are pretty happy with there look. We are just going to make sure that all of them have felt face panels as the fleece is super fluffy, so if we sew straight onto the fleece you cant see it! I think my favorite is the purple Kangaroo, it looks like hes being held up for his money or something.

(sorry for the fuzzy pictures...the camera was not playing ball...as is the way with technology.)

Its El's nephews first birthday soon so she spent some of her day working on this little beauty for a birthday present...You cant tell in the picture that well, but his body is a big 3d ball made from beige cord (a bit like the pipsqueaks but a lot bigger) There's a chance we might make a few more for the shop, what'cha think??
We also took delivery of some amasing jewellery by the talented Bijoux Des Fauves. For those of you who love rather 'quirky' jewellery i think your going to like what this lady does. I'm rather taken with the big grizzly bear necklace myself...i think there may be a genuine need for on in my life!

The tags which she uses are simply amazing, i do believe there will send an email to her shortly asking if she would be interested in making up some prints of them to sell at the shop.

On that zoological note I'm going to sign off, but not before bestowing my words of gratitude to all of ya'll that listen to our sporadic ramblings here...we truly wish we were better at this blogging malarkey but sometimes it is hard to find the time between running the shop and going to work, so if your there....THANK YOU. the support you provide is immense and we would be lost without.

XXX

Save Me....!!!!

2010-07-14T09:27:00.001-07:00

For i am drowning in a see of buttons!!That's right dear readers, its jewellery making time at StuffedNonsense which means that the jars of two, three and four holed delights are out in full swing!! On the menu today we have Chunky Buttons Necklaces and Extra Long Strand Necklaces.StuffedNonsense fact for you....

Did you know the ideal length for an extra long strand necklace is precisely the same length as Bex, which is around about 5.3!! Save that little nugget for a rainy day i guarantee it will come in handy!

As is usual, lots of comings and goings have been going on in our little old world. We had a manic weekend last week and did 2 craft fairs in as many days, we had a great time at both and met some really lovely people, so if you are one of those lovely people 'hello! and thank you!'.

Then we had orders to meet for the wonderful Sheena and Louise of M.A.D.E, as well as all the usual hubbub associated with keeping shop (said hubbub includes...not dusting, not hoovering the rug and not putting fabric away once your finished with it!)

We also had a day of coping with around about 2 hours sleep (house parties always seem like such a good idea at the time don't they?) whilst finishing Pigeons and Warm Thoughts (ohhh fiddly hand sewing we do love you soo!)

That pretty much brings us up to date.

All that's left to say is starting from 12.30pm tomorrow we are on holiday until we re-open on Wednesday 20th.

Both of us are soo ridiculously excited to be packing our tents and wellies and heading off to the 2000 Trees festival, which is just down the road. its a bit of a tradition now, every year we have soo much fun and this is just what we need to re-charge our brain boxes. Bands we cant wait to see include 65 Days of Static (again), Johnny Flynn (sigh....of course that sigh and dreamy look in my eye is regarding the lovely songs he sings...definitely not his handsome face) Bombay Bicycle Club and Jim Lockey to name a few!! We don't consider ourselves experts or anything but we reckon you might like some of these guys, why not click and have a look???

Ohhhh, and did we mention the open air silent disco? (hazy memories of me jumping around like a crazy person to rage against the machine, Rich singing his heart out to the lion king and all of us performing a perfectly in tune rendition of the Kings of Leon.)

I do apologise for the rather long post....but I'm excited! if there are any half decent photos will pop them up here....perhaps you'll see my new super short hair and glasses??

Stay Safe Lovely StuffedNonsense Followers

xxx

Familiar Faces...

2010-06-28T01:58:00.000-07:00

Hello out there? How are you all...not too burnt we hope?(i grew these in my garden dont'cha know?...)

We have been preparing for two craft fairs we are doing this week...one after the other...this could prove to be a bit crazy...in fact we are fairly sure that we could eliminate the 'could' from that sentence and replace it with a 'will'.

The manic levels of making which always accompany StuffedNonsense whenever we prepare for craft fairs resulted in the production of some lovely dustbunnies, which are like old friends now. They were one of the first things El and I made together as StuffedNonsense. The first one we made was huge (we remember him fondly!). The design has changed a little bit since then, they are now fairly small and cuter for it we think.

Some of the dustbunnies have taken it up a level and now come equipped with key rings...ohh yes they are definitely living it up in the 21st century!

The fair which we are at on Saturday is at a school so we thought we might come up with some bits that kids would like, which is why we made these sweet little flowery headbands...

We thought that the girlie's would like them and perhaps some trendy mums maybe?
Well, that's it for today. will try and take some more snaps of bits and pieces for you later on in the week!
xxx

Eye Candy Anyone??

2010-06-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

Fellow bloggers and fans...

we feel that it is essential that we let you know about something wonderful, and we are ashamed to say that we have known about it for a while but have been selfish and not told you about it for some time. please please please forgive us, we have come to our sense and now realise that it is only fair that we let you in on it.

We are, of course, talking about the INSANE skills of Abigail Brown. we're sure that some of you all ready know about this very talented lady but for those of you who don't she makes wonderful fabric bird sculptures that look like this...

I can only marvel about the level of skill required to make these beauties. it is now one of ambitions to own one of her feathered creations.
As is usual with us creative types Abigail also makes other delights...
Which means that i now need this little fella as well as a bird, they are both a necessity!!

So ladies and gentlemen we can now leave the laptop with a clear conscious because we have let you in on our feathered discovery...what do you think??

In other news....

We are busy trying to prepare for a craft fair filled weekend on July the 4th and 5th...except we took dear old Nina in to be serviced so that she would be in tip top condition for the flurry of activity we predicted but there's a chance she wont be with us in time!!! eeeekkkkk!! I'm sure all will be fine and she will be with us safe and sound before too long.

I've been giving myself a hernia over a dentist phobia which is going to have to be confronted sooner rather than later...i took a positive step today though and registered with an NHS one (which specialises in anxious customers!)

We have been preparing for a Ma and Pa Smith visit (and apparently they come laden with wonderful vintage gifts...i have heard rumours of hand embroidered aprons, scrabble sets, children's books and china! phew...like mother like daughter hey?!)

We will hopefully be welcoming two new sellers to our lovely little shop, we will let you know a little bit more on that when we can take some snaps of the wondrous items!!

Anyway! I'm going to go apply a splash of after sun to my right shoulder, the only part of me that caught the sun today!!!

Have a lovely evening!

Jewellery Jewellery Every Where!!

2010-06-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

We have just returned from a marathon folksy listing session. whilst browsing through the shop we realised that it was in dire need of some jewellery which was a kind of pleasant coincidence as we have been tinkering away upstairs coming up with some new jewellery designs. So up for sale on the folksy shop you can now find....

Scrabble Necklaces and Earrings...

Domino brooches and necklaces...

And we've saved the best till last ladies and gentlemen....

yes...that's right people we are working on a range of embroidered pictures of world famous moustaches!! being firm fans of facial hair we thought it was about time we stitched a few. what do you think? we love them but are worried they are a bit to specific...and perhaps a bit strange!Right....time to head off, looking forward to your feedback on the new items....if your happy to leave it!!
xxx

Do You Know About...

2010-06-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

The rather talented and lovely artist/illustrator Amanda Visell?

We didn't until yesterday when i came across her book on a birthday trip to Bristol, i very nearly brought one of her books but opted out (and brought a wind up tin robot instead...as you do). Luckily i jotted down her name so i could do a bit of research later...would you like to see??? i think her stuff is rather good....This one is called Carniverous Giraffe.
I'm not sure what is about her work that i like so much, i think some of it is the simplicity of it all, her work reminds me of Richard Scarry in some ways, but i think that's down to the colours used.

This one is called Evil Poopicorn.
I'm quite taken with the eyes that the creatures have on some of her work...you've got to love the sleepy eye.

This one is called Birthday Dragon.
I had to put this one in because a) it is amazing and i would like it very much and b) i like dragons a lot...but only nice ones...not the nasty dragon war ones (this probably has something to do with the fact that at least once a year i re-read some fantasy books i first read when i was around 14...I'm now 24 and should probably consider growing up some time.....or not!)

Anyway, that's Amanda Visell, i hope you like!
Lots going on around here...
A little move around in the shop
The beginnings of a new embroidered moustache picture range (ohhhh that sounds exciting doesn't it)
Lots of felt buying for the Wychwood Festival (if your going please come and say hello...we will show you how to make a real cool monster we will!)
Ohhhh yeah...and freaking out about the whole weekend and the fact that the two of us are responsible for bunches of people, felt, needles, thread, buttons etc etc for ten whole hours!!!

Until next time lovelies

P.S. we found the pictures on BamPop's Flickr and also PrettyinPlastic

The First Ever Craft Night In...

2010-05-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well my dears...

Saturday evening arrived and i loaded up my wonderful Raleigh Caprice (imaginatively called Caprice) with some favorite sewing books, some wool & a crochet hook and rode her into town for the first ever Craft Night In...

It was a lovely success and everyone had a great time!

Boy! were the ladies there talented! it was a great night and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

I've made a separate blog for the Craft Night In so that its all kept separate and what not, so please head over to have a look...i will leave with you this little snap...

in the far background...hooked to that ball of red yarn is my granny square...which I MADE!!...there is a better picture over on the blog.

Right...that's it for this evening...i must a) make an embroidered picture of a famous moustache and b) have a bath in preparation for my ten hour bank holiday shift!

Not Too Many Words...

2010-05-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

Alright people?? We've been rather busy in a "ohh bugger is the craft fair really that soon!" kind of way...

lucky for you (or un-lucky...i'm not very good with the camera!) we made time to take a few snaps of the many processes we've had going on upstairs!!

Ready yourself ,my dears,for a riot of pictures which will aptly demonstrate what it is we have been doing!...

Un-packing and putting out hand made wonders from the talented lady that is Lou Peajeux, here is her folksy shop, and here is her blog...say hi...shes a nice lady.

Sitting in that patch of sunlight and making that pile of Crabbittz...

Continuing to sit in that patch of sun and stuffing Crabbittz...

Still sitting in that patch of sun...but this time admiring a rather lovely font we came across whilst making envelopes out of old books.

Making lots and lots and lots of Tell Tails and Crabbittz....we made soo many El could only just pick them all up at once! (please note the rather handsome huge grey Tell Tail...we are both quite taken with him.

Over coming the fact that we didn't have enough trusty brown card to package up our new scrabble necklaces by using some rather scary happy families cards...which we brought but got scared by the pictures so didn't use....but any way, what do you think about the necklaces??Playing with old jigsaw puzzles and making them into bracelets...do you see the one that has a lovely parrot on it (right there on the left)?Admiring our previously empty 'stock for craft fair box' (please note the lovely looking bunting which was,excuse my french a bitch to sew). i accidentally brought bias binding that was thinner than the stuff I'd used before...and i also used thicker fabric, the consequence being i swore lots and lots, abused poor old Nina's ears and got thoroughly fed up...but its all good, cos i made something pretty!Arthur got in on the action and tagged up this rather rowdy bunch...if you listen carefully you can hear them telling everyone all of the gossip they now...well....they have to do something with here huge mouths i guess!

Right...that's it for now, we will try to remember a camera to take some pictures of the stall but if any of you have seen us on the morning of a craft fair then you know that it is a miracle that we manage to remember the stock yet alone a camera!!

xxx

Five Things We Like This Week....

2010-05-20T01:11:00.000-07:00

O.K, so we realise that this blog is tad on the boring side sometime (there's only so many times we can tell you that we've been sewing lots at the shop right?) So we decided to join in with Pips Five Faves (we are sure that you lovely people all ready know about this crazy cool, super talented lady, but if you don't may we suggest you head over to her blog and take a sneaky peak...her shop is all that we hope StuffedNonsense could be!)

Sooo, here are our five things this week...

1. We've spent a lot of this week drooling over the mad skills of Cat Rabbit, we love the many wonderful details on her work and they just look wonderful, please can we have them all??

2. We think that anything the talented Murgatroyd and Bean makes is great but we are especially taken by these gorgeous brooches...

3. Hunting out charity shop finds of the embroidered birds in frames kind...

here you can see Franz, the incense smoking man...another charity shop find. i tried to tell him that i was just taking a picture of the birds but he wouldn't have it.
4. This wonderful knitted head band bow...for those of you who don't know, I have rather a lot of hair and at the moment am a fan of the 'scrapping it up into some sort of bun thing and hoping for the best!' method of hair presentation, so feel that something like this lovely creation would really help my cause...

Its from the talented Dolly Knits on Folksy.

5. And last but by no means least...have you heard off Gemma Correll? Woweeeee does this lady know how to draw! we are in love with here pocket mirrors; and to top it off shes from Norwich which is close to where i am from!

Well dearies, that's it for today. we hope this was a tad more interesting then normal broadcasts!Time to go to the shop and make things!
xx

2010-05-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

Phew!! have we been busy?

we rather foolishly forgot about some stock we had promised to MADE, so after a phone cool from one the lovely Louise politely asking when we would be able to send the stock over to them, we launched ourselves into a frantic sewing frenzy. seriously...if you had looked carefully you would have seen smoke coming from poor old Nina (the trusty and wonderful singer we do all of our sewing on), and in the words of dottie angel, el is now suffering from a CCSI (we are sure that lots of you know about the wonderful blog and skills of dottie angel but if there are any of you who don't, we strongly suggest you drop on by because the lady's skill is amazing, her house is wonderful, and her dog is the cutest thing ever....in the whole world)
We've also been super busy with about a million other things...here is a list of things we are busy at

1.trying to make stock for a craft fair we are due at on the 28th

2. planning the craft night in for the 29th

3.worrying about and trying to organise a tutorial/making session we are doing at the Wychwood Music Festival, which is very local to us.

4. trying to remember to apply to all of the craft fairs we have enquired about

5. busy forgetting to send out giveaway parcels

6.trying to plan when we can make a catalogue to send to this rather wonderful sounding shop

7. trying not to think about how wonderful it would be if said shop did sell our stuff

8.getting excited about Bex's birthday (but that's mainly me who has been doing that)

and forgetting many other things whilst writing this post.

just a little snap of some craft fair stock in the making.
Thanks for hanging in there with us, and just so you know...we are dead chuffed that you are here to accompany us on this journey to making a proper living off of our shop, we hope you enjoy your trip!

Anyway...there some washing that needs to be hung out and some Lord of the Rings that needs watching (for the millionth time...and that's only a slight exaggeration.)

Until next time!

The Night Bex Played with PVA and Scissors...

2010-05-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

Evening Y'all...

How goes it??

O.K. sooo this isn't exactly shop stuff but i think its something pretty cool (and its good to mix things up right?....if your nodding your head than do not fear...we have plans to shake the blog up a bit...eventually...once we've done the million and one other things we have to do...)

Anyway where was i?

My sewing desk at home cost me the grand total of nil pence. Eleri found it by the bins after she moved into her new flat. I guess who ever owned it couldn't be bothered to take it to charity. It was in almost perfect condition, the only issue being that where the desk top had been out in the rain it had kind of warped. I wasn't going to let that stop me. No Siree...

So i took it in, returned the 'dining table' to its rightful place and set up the new desk.

I spent a few days trying to find the right paper to cover the warped top with but found myself going round in circles. You know when you over think something and find yourself unable to come to a desicison? Well i was almost at that point. So i took the plunge...

On one of my weekly bargain hunting jaunts i came across a 50% off all books sale in a second hand book shop...

'Ohhh' said I 'I wonder if there may be something in here to aid with the desk covering conundrum?'

I stepped in through the door, got lost in the shelves for half an hour or so and came out with something....

Something i then proceeded to butcher and cut up once i got home....

I made rather a mess...(ehhem...note the lovely newly painted walls and shelves...apologies to people that follow by rather sporadic posts at bexsbuttons you've all ready seen them.)

I cleaned up my mess and took a step back, I observed my work and thought aloud 'Oh dear Bex...what have you done??' my conclusion is either something wonderful...or something bad....i haven't decided yet. What do you think??

Your thoughts, are as always, very appreciated!
Normal StuffedNonsense broadcast will resume very shortly...she says with fingers crossed as she remembers that StuffedNonsense has a stall at a craft fair in two weeks....and no stock to go on said stall!!
xx

Posted by Bex

Craft Night In Anyone...

2010-05-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

well hello there!

what is this not being at work on a bank holiday business?? i think we should do it more often!

We have been busy planning and plotting wonderful little events to do with StuffedNonsense. The first one off of the press is (ehem...drum roll please)

Craft Night In.

On the 29th of May in Cheltenham at 7-9pm there will be a gathering (hopefully!) of lovely crafty peeps at a lovely cafe called 'cafe 51'.

The aim and hope is to meet up with other creative peeps, have a chin wag, drink some tea and eat some cake.

Hopefully they will be every month and every now and then we will maybe do a group project or theme.

We're inspired by groups like the craft mafias and Brown Owls.

So if you are local and if your not local but want to travel down for a trip please let us know, we think it will be £2 each to cover the cost of hiring the cafe. it would be wonderful to see you...absolutly everyone is welcome.

Just bring along whatever you are working on at the time!

See You Soon??

Phew!!

2010-04-24T06:58:00.001-07:00

Its super hot in our lovely little boutique! the sunshine is streaming through the window, straight onto the sewing table....lovely. We've been busy putting our vintage sheets and lace find to good use...We've made around nine metres of bunting, a pencil case, a coin purse and an owl. not bad for a week hey?

As soon as we saw this sheet we knew it would be perfect for an owl...and i reckon it is spot on. El highlighted the 'feathers' by sewing around the outline is some nice coloured embroidery threads. i think he is lovely and he has had to be priced up and put out in the shop quite quickly...else he was going to come home with me!

Our zip purse making world has been totally rocked with the creation of these two. it turns out that all the zip purses we have made prior to these two were done in a super long winded and awkward way...thanks to a new tutorial everything is clear....and a million times easier!! (hopefully these two will be up on folksy by the end of the day!)
Yellow Flowery Bunting.
Purple and Yellow Flowery Bunting

And My Favorite one Super Flowery Pink Bunting.

All of the bunting is for MADE but we are thinking of making some for folksy, what'cha reckon?
Just a little reminder that there's a giveaway dans en StuffedNonsense at the moment, its on the previous post...we are going to leave it open until Wednesday (if no one else wants to play then we shall send a selection over to the two peeps who have entered at the moment....guess vintage bed sheets and lace aren't every ones idea of fun!hehehehe)
Right...lets get these purses up on folksy
Have a wonderful weekend!

Posted by Bex

Weekly Goings On...And A Giveaway.

2010-04-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Lovelies!

How wonderful is all of this sunshine, Its been lighting up the shop wonderfully!! Its been a quiet week in terms of customers spending their pennies!! but we've been busy stitching...

We've just finished a big Folksy Shop Update so its fit to burst!! Here's a little taster of some of the HandMade wonders now up for sale...A Few Soul Bird Embroidered Pictures, in lovely teal and a light green.Agnita the Crabbittz is up there too (she likes to disco dance and collect 70's wall paper clippings.)

Her good friend Herman is up there too...(He likes re-runs o f 'Allo 'Allo and collecting 2nd class stamps)And a whole bunch of tweed whales! That's it on the folksy front.
We've had a fair bit of luck in the old charity shop find departments this week...

Six flowery vintage duvet covers and four sandwich bags of vintage/antique lace. All for the princely sum of £13.80!! The ones with the poppy type flowers our old school Marks and Spencer ones!!Here they are getting 'prepared' for the washing machine.

Anyway, because we are nice and don't want to anger the 'finding good things in Charity Shops gods' we thought it would be rather nice if we did a giveaway....Up for grabs you have a fat quarter of each of the fabrics in the top picture and some lengths of lovely lace. All you have to do is pop over to our newly updated folksy shop, have a gander at the wonders up for sale, and leave a comment telling us what you think (is there anything else you would like to see for sale/...stuff like that)
Anyway...we can hear the barbecue calling from here!!
Have a super fantastic weekend my dears!

Posted by Bex and El

Well Hello There....(Post Edited at the Bottom!)

2010-04-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

Fancy meeting you lovely people!! We hope you are having a lovely Easter. Unfortunately our day jobs mean we have to go and sell tickets, scoop popcorn and pick up rubbish the whole weekend!! but rest assured we will be fitting in some bank holiday activities where we can (I'm planning on painting the sewing room at wessex drive in lovely shades of teal and ochre yellow!)

Anyway....we've been busy stitching and sewing as is the normal around these parts...so without further ado we bring you a round of photos from our little shop up the stairs!!....

We had a big order for some more Crabbittz from MADE so we spent a lot of last week working on those, and of course we had to buy new fabrics to play with at the same time!! (its a rule dont'cha know?)We are both rather taken with the fabric used on the top Crabbittz and the fabric on the third one down (which you can get from fabric rehab.)

We also had a young gentleman pop into the shop for a few days to do some work experience for his degree...I'm pretty sure we terrified the boy guy...but he left knowing how to use a sewing machine which i guess is something (although I'm pretty sure the things we taught him about sewing machines will make textile teachers all over the world turn over in their graves!! He made a Cat plush with a monocle...If you like why not pop over to his blog and say hello, his illustration work is rather good we think.

We also helped a young lady called Jody who asked if we could run her through how to make plush creations...she made lots and lots of these critters...Shes a very nice person who has a lovely eye for cool vintage things so we recommend her blog to you too!

We also made some new labels thanks to the wonderful tutorial over on bagladee's blog and now we want to sew them onto EVERYTHING!!!the cream cotton tape we used makes them look rather professional!

Hmmmm what else have we been up to?? ohhh, we brought three new sets of rubber alphabet stamps so spent most of yesterday stamping messages onto calico fabric in preparation for a brooch making session!!you should have seen the state of my fingers after all of that stamping!

Last but by no means least....i came across a Finnish tradition/fable called the soul bird or Sielulintu basically the soul bird is what gives and takes away your soul. in Finland they have ornamental ones on their bedside tables because the soul bird is also mean to keep you and dreams safe whilst your asleep which we think is just so cute. We felt an urge to make some sort of embroidered picture of one...

Theres the rubber stamps getting put to good use!!
What do you think? we made them with the idea that people would hang them by their beds?Well....we think this marathon post has lasted as long as it can!!
speak soon

P.S. Have just finished uploading photos from our first proper photo shoot on flickr, take a gander if you fancy it.
xx

Thankyou!

2010-04-01T02:58:00.000-07:00

wow...stuffednonsense followers...thank you for your responses and offers to join in on the swap. unfortunately the rules of the swap mean i can only get 6 people on my team so I'm fully booked. I'm going to edit this post in a few hours with the names of the people who are on my team (as soon as i locate the pieces of paper i wrote the first 6 people on!!) so that the people who aren't on my team will know. if you still want to play perhaps you could follow the links over to the people on my team who will need 6 people each to play...make sense?? anyway...stay tuned for tomorrow ('yeah right...so that means in about a week?' i hear you say!) for some snaps of whats been going on up the stairs in 40 Albion Street!

speak soon

EDIT: the people playing in stuffednonsense's team are: Holly Knowlman, Lowisa Warburton, Nikki Moulton, Bagladee, Olly and Sarah.

Thanks to everyone who wanted to play!! and i so sorry if ive messed this up...to be honest it kind of got the better of me so im sorry if anyone thought they were playing but now aren't...sorry

posted by bex

Would You Like to Play?....

2010-03-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hello dearies? how are you all, we hope your head didn't hurt too much from your St. Patrick's days festivities. We've spent a lot of the time hiding from the drunken race goers who descend on Cheltenham once a year...its been quite an adventure!

Anyway....if you could please lend me your ears (or eyes) i would be most grateful...

We are going to take part in an arts/craft swap. it is an international swap, and all you have to do is make one lovely hand made piece ( be it a picture,a card,a purse,something beady,something sparkly...anything goes!) in return you get 36 pieces sent to you from all over the world. it works on a sort of chain type system...when i think about it too much hurts my head...but trust me it will work.

soo if you would like to play in this art/craft swap please get in touch by leaving a comment or dropping us an email.

we decided to do it because there are some rather talented people already playing and stuff like this is kind of what blogging is all about. think of the all the new people you could get in touch with just through making one small thing.

anyway....hopefully hear from you soon!!

Warmest Regards!

(Thanks for listening to this StuffedNonsense broadcast!)

Posted by Bex.

Well Lookee Here...

2010-03-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

Spring has definitely sprung here in sunny 'ol Cheltenham. I'm sat here typing this in my lovely sunny and bright sewing corner supping on a cup and saucer of St Margaret's Hope First Flush Darjeeling (ohhhh that's sounds fancy doesn't it!?) whilst listening to my shiny new (belated Christmas present from ma and pa smith) DAB radio...readers let me tell you, it is a thing of beauty all retro style with cream and brown and a big dial on the front....wonderful!

Anyway, we have been a little bit absent around these parts and its most definitely time to get spring cleaning....i think I've gotten rid of most of the cobwebs but things are still pretty busy so please hang in there if there are a few still floating about.

Right...the PipSqueaks are finally up and running!! It took El and I about 6 goes to get the design right. It was great to see our design process working, we sure do make a good team i think!! Here they are...

These four are the free standing ones that have squeakers in them (there were five of them but one got snapped up by ma smith) please note the lovely flowery background fabric which is destined to become a pair of ohh so fashionable culottes for me to wear in the summer...if my jedi sewing skills and stretch that far!

(please excuse the chipped grey nail varnish! i went to a party at the weekend dontcha know! and i haven't taken it off yet cos I'm classy that way!)i like the way that this one looks like he is asking a question.this one has nice old bit of Amy Butler Fabric for her tail and wings.and i think this one just looks a bit mean, don't mess with her!

I like it when we make things like these little guys. At StuffedNonsense we make a conscious effort to only work from loose patterns so when we make little critters like these guys each one is guaranteed to be different in one way or another...I think that's a nice thing.

What else? Hopefully telling all of you lovely people this bit of news wont jinx anything...but I'm too excited not to tell you all. If , at the end of April, you happen to by a wonderful magazine called Sew Hip! you will probably (fingers crossed...) find a tutorial on how to make the PipSqueaks (written by our own fair hands!) and also (and rest assured my fingers and toes are crossed even tighter for this one) you may find a bit of a feature on us!!! EEEEEKKKKK!! we are soo honoured and happy to be asked to help with this magazine (I've brought it since issue one!!) So if you please, send all your good luck thoughts to us!!

Also, StuffedNonsense is going to be rocking like true felt princesses at TWO music festivals this year!! Wohooooo, from the 4th-6th of June we will be running felt monster making tutorials at The Wychwood Festival in Cheltenham; And from the 10th to the 12th of September we will probably be at The End Of The Road Festival in Dorset, showing the lovely people down there how to monster it up!!

Soooo, there you have it that's all of our exciting news....we hope we haven't jinxed it for us but we had to let you all know because loads of you have been there with us from the start and its only fair. It looks like the StuffedNonsense journey is getting more and more exciting doesn't it?! We're glad your here to join in with us!!

P.S. the PipSqueaks SHOULD be up on folksy by the end of this afternoon.

Posted by Bex