Christmas Tree, Craft Show and Not So Smart Phone

My official mini flat Christmas tree is up and if I say so myself it's pretty awesome! I mean for a start it has a polar bear on the top (already onto a winning formula) and also has homemade baubles and in front of it a light up polar bear and the cutest ever fuzzy polar bear....yes I do like polar bears! Photos will follow when I can work out how to use this smart phone...

Okay so up until today I had a thirty pound Samsung that made phone calls, sent texts and survived life in my pocket but from today I have a 'smart' phone....now one of us is not smart ( I fear it's me).  This smart phone is two years old already and I am still acting like a panda with a smart phone, pawing the screen and growling at it.  So far I sent a text to Virgin that was meant for my boyfriend...so now they know I can't find the internet but I love them.  Not a great start. I have managed to type in all my contacts....not quite contact anyone though...and I want angry birds star wars...but where are they?!? They have obviously gone back to Tatooine.

As well as technological troubles I went to a two day craft show at the weekend and talk about slow. On the Saturday there were more traders than customers! Most disheartening but I did sell a little and got to watch my dear father chat to all the lady stall holders....I think he enjoyed himself! Picked up on the Sunday but I still think I could have had a naked dancing Brittany Spears holding armfuls of puppies and kittens and not got many more sales...but profits were made in the end thank god! Right off to attack some lino and try and charm my phone...maybe if I talk nicely to it through the microphone bit? I think I may have a lot to learn...where are you angry birds???

Come say hi on facebook and visit online! :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BostonStClair                     http://www.facebook.com/BostonStClair

Shows, Bond, Frosty Mornings & Ageless Disgrace Making

Another beautiful frosty morning, all crimson leaves, watercolour sky and iced lawns. Of course this means I am suffering from November lurgy and am on the sofa sniffling looking forlornly out the window. Maybe I'll get the paints out and cheer myself up by creating my own bit of watercolour sky...

Have had a busy few weeks with craft shows left right and centre, not much work I hear you cry but I do have to transport my shop life in the car about twice a week at the moment, on the plus I'm getting Arnie style biceps (in my mind) from all the crates lifting and calves of a cyclist with regular 8 hour standing sessions! Things are going pretty well but some of the shows don't seem to have many people...a distinct disadvantage when you are trying to sell things! So fingers crossed and come on internet don't let me down! (unlike most of university first year when the internet let me down repeatedly...don't have 18 year old boys as friends is the moral message.)

On a much more exciting note I went to see Skyfall and my favourite Bond girl ever Judi Dench, she is just so damn good! So for at least 2 hours (or 3 with adverts) I had a roller coaster life of running, guns and more running...I don't think I'd be cut out for that 7 days a week....maybe driving, slap fight, walking...
The highlight of the whole cinema experience though happened before the movie had even begun...dark cinema, film trailers playing, The End of Watch trailer is playing (gritty, loud, cop drama with Jake Gyllenhall lots of shouting and shooting) the credits for that film come up and a lady of about 65 shouts at the top of her lungs 'BORING!' and her husband next to her just turns and snaps 'Not now Judith!'
Popcorn stops being crunched, quiet advert chattering stops and my boyfriend is having to hide his face in his jumper to contain his laughter...he almost choked on said overpriced popcorn. The  moral of this story is you're never to old to make a bit of a disgrace....or to be told off for it!

Showtime, Rice Cakes and International Woman of Business

This Sunday is the start of 'show season' which sadly is not Broadway or circus related but is the start of 6 weeks of craft shows round the country (ok Ross on Wye, Keynsham, Monmouth and Chepstow) but still in my mind it's similar to being a rock star except with more gluing and sewing and less being awesome.  Anyways with the prospect of 'showtime' and hopefully a good few weeks online I have been busy  making jewellery, cushions, Christmas cards/stockings and clay animals (Yes I know its early to be thinking about Christmas but from what I've read I should have been thinking about it in May!)

Also a recent business plus has been my moving from fledgling enterprise to international worldwide business enterprise. Ok I may mean I've had a sale to Berlin and one to Australia but in my mind I have translated this to Boston StClair airlines, hotels, record stores (not trains that looks tricky). Still it is pretty cool to imagine someone in Oz wearing my earrings and another in Germany reclining on a pillow I sewed...maybe I'll need a headquarters...I'm pondering the merits of a hollowed out volcano (pluses: no need for gas bills, good defenses; minuses: high risk of lava related death, probable remote location for a good postal service). Talking of hollowed out volcanoes I must go see the new Bond.

Ok I will return to my volcano/living room lair of glazing, sewing and gluing...though people near me be warned I am starting a stupid wheat and lactose and fun free diet so am on rice cakes, rice milk, rice and a potato for 2 weeks (not optional diet I hasten to point out.) I imagine 4 hours in I will begin a fortnight of being a jerk...or committing a spree of burglaries of other peoples kitchens :) Thanks for reading and have a good week!  (Btw for fellow nerds Game of Thrones necklace below and online at my shop!)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BostonStClair
 

Halloween, Spandex, Illness and Alfreds

Well it's been a while since my last blog mainly because my life has been absent of grand excitements (no Everest scaling, lottery winning or learning to play the ukulele).  I have been living vicariously through others by getting the Avengers dvd, watching New Girl and FINALLY seeing Dark Knight Rises.  Avengers was awesome and I am suffering from Tom Hiddlestonitis (soon to be a recognized illness) as that man is the definition of great though I am also loving the cast of New Girl as season 2 has kicked off even better than season 1.  And finally Batman which I wierdly was sort of hesitant to see, it had been built up so much I was kind of nervous to see it, I needn't have been. Anne Hathaway aced it as Catwoman and Tom Hardy did the best 1/4 face acting I've seen(the bits I understood the mask needed a speaking hole.) 

Aside from debating the merits of wearing spandex, trying to create a carbon copy of Zooey Deschanel's wardrobe and wondering if Michael Caine would come and be my butler I have been sewing, metal stamping and preparing for a crazy November of craft shows. My flat currently resembles a recently burgled HobbyCraft crossed with my room at uni in Hull....bad times (hence the need for Alfred).  Though on the plus I have rediscovered my love for Keeping Up Appearances possibly one of the greatest tv shows ever, I exaggerate not! It has cheered me up as I battled the terrible disease of season changing which seems to cause a mixture of sickness/headaches etc, you'd think after quite a few thousand years of development humans could cope with a bit of weather change! Anyhoo back to making Christmas stockings, gotta start early in the cut throat world of online crafts :) and attempting to put eye ointment on Alfred (not the one in Batman....though that would be a movie I'd pay to see as my Alfred is a Russian hamster). It's a glamorous life....maybe I should climb Everest?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BostonStClair

Showtime!!

Saturday was show day! Off I went to the Usk Show with a car full of tables and wares :)  The half 5 wake up call did not allow any time for the mass panic which filled Friday, which was just as well as by the time we arrived at 7am we had a ton to do, marquee was wrestled with, balloons blown up, earrings laid out and confetti drastically cut back when my dear father/chauffeur/assistant mentioned the word's 'tacky, ruined it and cheap'.....thanks Dad! But in the end the stand was ready in time for the 9am punters arrival. I found out over the course of the day that 12 degrees and thick mist for some people equals shorts and t-shirt weather, leather chaps and hotpants are an interesting choice of agricultural show outfit and 12 hours on my feet is about 11 and a half too many. In the end it was a good day, people were very nice and bought my wares :)  I will be putting up new jewellery today so if you like t-rexs, wolves, elephants, russian dolls, zebras or music today is the day for you! More to follow in the next day or two. I leave you with a photo of me getting to grips with pneumonia at 9am at my stand! Thanks to all who came and visited and those who couldn't it's all steadily getting put online. Thanks!

New Jewellery:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/BostonStClair?section_id=12011597

Felt, Stress, Fantasy and Waiting for TV

Well it's been a little while and I apologise but I am in the midst of show panic! I am branching out and having a tradestand at the Usk Show this Saturday so have been waking up with felt glued to my face, getting high off varnish fumes and thinking about wearing mittens due to all the needle holes in my hands :(  at last though slowly but surely I have stock and all the paraphanalia that comes from having to have a physical shop not just an online one! Who knew you needed so much kit! Luckily I have been begging and stealing mainly with a bit of customising thrown in! 

In amongst this busy bee lifestyle I have also found the time to get impatient with the summer tv hiatus.  Thank god for the Olympics, Paralympics and new Futurama which are saving me from too much work whilst I wait for September's new series :)  (except damn Game of Thrones not on till next year!)  I am also distracting myself from fantasy tv with fantasy reading, currently the final book in Mark Charon Newton's Red Sun Series which has been a real eye opener for adult, original, industrial, violent fantasy and I have really enjoyed it, anyways check it out if you are in need of new fantasy hit!  Also enjoying spreading the fantasy word with new Harry Potter, Wheel of Time etc badges....possibly the Usk Show may not get these....but that's what the internet is for :)  Ok back to fighting felt and sewing fingers, roll on the end of the month when I can make excuses and escape to fighting vampires, being a socialite and living with my mates and being kooky! Yey!  

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BostonStClair

Chapels, Findings, Norse Ancestry and Possible Religious ties

Well it's been a busy few days which mainly seem to have been in the car! With bags of beads and jewelry findings I set off for what turned out to be 8 hours in the car to Edinburgh to assuage Grandma visiting guilt, travelling with my engineer father I got a blow by blow account of the building of many power stations/bridges/the occasional mill and spaghetti junction and I am now an expert on the strut repairs in Birmingham. 

Having made it to sunny Edinburgh (a miracle in itself) I persuaded everyone to be historical and we went to Rosslyn Chapel which was amazing, not only because yes I have read the Da Vinci Code but also because I studied it at Hull Uni with my dear Mr Townend and also I think I'm probably related to the family that built it. I can hear the skepticism but hear me out...

1) My middle name is St.Clair....it's built by the St Clairs!

2) They are originally from the Orkneys...so are my family!

3) That family has Norse ancestry....so does mine!

So I managed to resist putting a sofa in front of the pews and telling people to get out of my house but I figure I should have at least got a discounted key ring and pencil.  Anyways in amongst finding out I'm at worse part owner of a lovely chapel and at best according to Dan Brown a descendant of Jesus I also managed to find the time to make some pretty jewelry :) There are bows, pirate ships, treasure chests, ceramic fish, zebra and elephant! More to follow this evening.... so feel free to check them out if you want....discounted Chapel visits with every purchase*

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BostonStClair

*I have no authority for Chapel discounts....but can give you one of the postcards I bought if you really want

Sailing, Sewing, Molding and Gaining!

A busy day....well it could have been busier but the Olympics is ADDICTIVE!! I am now an expert on gymnastics, swimming, sailing etc but while they're doing a lot of exercise I think I'm gaining stones in my new  12 hour day tv watching lifestyle! I did use the sport for some inspiration today though and made a fun sailing cushion whilst Ben Ainslie rode the rough sea in the background!! Check it out if you like! I also made a couple of very cute clay figures....pictures of them to follow soon if they survive their cooking!! Hope you're all enjoying the Olympics as much as me :)


https://www.etsy.com/listing/105881037/union-jack-boating-cushion-a-red-and

Sailing Cushion!

New Blog and Exciting Times!

Wow well here I am writing my first blog post! It has been a manic couple of months getting to this point but now I am up and running on Etsy and Folksy and am a busy bee of sewing, painting and claying!  Spent yesterday making cutesome bird bunting and fighting a temperamental sewing machine! Also spend a small fortune on new jewellery findings and I am so excited waiting for new pendants as well as inks and clay :)  I may be broke but I couldn't be happier! Come and visit the shops and see what you think

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BostonStClair or http://folksy.com/shops/BostonStClair

or come for a chat or to ask any questions at http://www.facebook.com/BostonStClair

Can't wait to see where this leads me! :)