Swan update!

 My poor swan is really not liking the rain and has taken on a two toned water mark look!

 I popped over to Wells this morning to have a look and she is puddling in her middle,

 her beak is sodden and

 blue, wet patches keep popping up!

 Hard to believe that when I first designed her, I was worried about the sun fading the coloured paper, not how she would cope with 2 months of persistent rain!

She has until the end of August, early September to survive the elements and can be found outside the very lovely Maddie Brown Gift shop in the Market Place - Wells,  where you can also find a number of dots and spots goodies.

From this Saturday until September you can also buy various Swans of Wells souvenirs from a stall on the Market. I'm hoping for a dry, sunny day during the Summer holidays to go on the trail - I may be waiting a long time the way the weather is going!

Have a lovely weekend.

Enough rain now!

 So this morning we woke to that all too familiar sound - rain!

 Nothing too unusual, given it is the wettest Summer on record but this was torrential - a cloud burst over Shepton Mallet that dumped 30mm of rain in just 30 minutes over a very localised area.

 The road just up from our house was flooded so we had to do a 3 point turn and head through town on the school run this morning. I haven't seen rain like it. Although just 10 minutes up the road it was wet but nothing out of the ordinary.

 I headed back towards Shepton after dropping the children at school and made my way towards Wells, as I had an appointment with a customer at 10am, to hand over a personalised print but I had to abandon my attempts after an hour and 2 different journeys, as the roads were flooded and impassible. Local schools have been flooded  homes and businesses in Croscombe affected - terrible.

 Jeff took these pictures of the local park which is flooded - crazy weather for July.

 2 hours later and the road is improved and passable and.....

the SUN is shining as if nothing has happened!

My evening entertainment.

Gone are the days when I just sit and watch the telly in an evening - I often have something to do on my lap whether it be list writing, sketching, looking through catalogues or magazines. I then not only have the TV on but also the laptop perched beside me, to catch up on all I've missed throughout the day. Plus a cup of coffee and often a child snuggled in beside me - multi tasking whilst relaxing, at it's best!

Paper and Tape

So what do do on a rainy Saturday - have fun with paper and tape of course!

 Sophie has just signed up to the Autumn school production of FAME and as a cast member has come home complete with script book.

 As everyone will have the same copy and as they will be thrown around the hall when busy, they were all told to make their copy their own - cover it, decorate it, individualise it, so it's easy to identify.

 So she choose the multi star wrap - her favourite and chose the pink star tape to use to reinforce the edges

 I think it looks great and fingers crossed it will remain in one piece until the main performances in October.

 More importantly Sophie likes it!

 You can find our tape *HERE* it really is good stuff to have around and

you can find our luxury, double sided gift wrap *HERE* it really is super quality.

Remember we do have our 2nds tape too - perfectly good tape, just the inner core marked so cheaper in price. I'm going to go and see if I can find anything else to cover.

Have a lovely weekend 

A lot of progress......

....in just one morning. I spent the early hours awake, my mind in active mode, moving shelving and organising boxes. So once awake the day was planned.

 Today, with the support of my lovely ladies who help me, we started to move the big racking into the new bit of premises which I had marked out the other day. We made a super team and in about 3 hours we had done the lot.

 All the big racking had been dragged through to the new bit which is going to be the 'raw' stock area - it will house all the stuff that comes direct from the printers before it is cellophaned, packet topped and packed ready for packing.

 There is an area in the back corner where I have my clutter from home and as I said previously, there will be a small area set up permanently, for taking product photos or it will last until we are desperate again for more space.

 Our current big space will be for all the products once given the dots and spots finishing touch - it will be completely allocated to products ready to be picked and packed. I am waiting for some shelving to arrive on Tuesday and have my Ikea trip booked for Monday - hubbies first day of the holiday! Aren't I kind?

 It's so easy to get between the two areas, just a curtain in the way, also a major draught buster in the colder months.

So I still have a lot of organising and sorting to do but am relieved at how much we achieved today. I can now look ahead to the next waive of products with enthusiasm rather than dread, wondering where they would all go! 

So a huge THANK YOU to Rachel and Ashley for all their help today - it was so appreciated and I promise coffee and cake next time we're all together.

Normal Stuff!

 Okay I will try not to dwell on this dismal weather - nothing can be done about it and I guess, when I'm busy over at the premises it really doesn't matter. Today was a normal working day, nothing too exciting.

 We had a mug delivery to check over and find homes for, an array of trade, web and NOTHS orders to pack and at last, a bit of time to think about our new extra space.

 Back in the Easter holidays, workmen knocked through to an adjoining room (our first smaller premises) to give us some extra space. I never intended to use it until the Summer when Jeff could help me jig things around and build some shelving etc. So with his holiday fast approaching, I marked out and measured where things could go.

 I also moved this lovely cupboard that I'd treated myself to into position. I fell in love with it but have nowhere to put it at home yet! so I am keeping it over at the premises for now and will use it for some lifestyle shots.

I have also kept this wall blank - next week I am dragging my lovely husband to Ikea to buy a table and I intend to set up a permanent photography area for all those product shots that need doing. 

Behind the scenes, progress continues on all our new products and designs for our 2013 ranges which will hopefully start materialising over the next couple of months. So we continue to be busy but busy doing normal things, routine things and continue to hope, that the sun will shine soon.

Walking......

.....has resumed!

 It's been at least 5 weeks since I last walked, I can't say a huge chunk of my life has been missing because of not walking but I've just 2 stubborn pounds to shift before I reach my 2 stone goal and I need all the help I can get!

 I don't, not enjoy my walking, it's just another thing to fit into an already busy day but I still have more weight to lose and also want to improve my fitness levels, so walking it is!

 It was a beautiful morning to start out again - hardly another soul out and about, just the baby ducklings to keep me company.

 I am lucky to have this on my doorstep too, so here's hoping my new resolve will last. I want to lose another stone by the end of September for the posh Swan Auction event in the Bishop's Palace and then another by Christmas. I then have a University 20 year meet up in March next year to get to my target before....

Source 

.....a week in Ibiza next May to look forward to (YES! I just booked next years holiday!)

So motivation and goals a plenty, just need to stick at it. Oh, and there's a denim jacket I haven't worn for years and years I'd love to get back in to.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, keeping my fingers crossed the sun will shine.