Meet mojo

Sorry I have been MIA - it is all go at the shop - work has finally begun this week (photos at end of post)

On tuesday Anita, Margaret and I did some crafting, we were all working on this and that and then I found some beer mats/coasters and challenged the girls to do something crafty with them, here is what I made with mine.

The coasters had the usual ugly motif on the front so I covered it with some Bo Bunny patterned paper and then set to work adding some pretties, the frames are Spellbinders, I think they are mainly used sideways to house titles and greetings but I wanted to try something a little different and couldn't resist using the fancy bit at the bottom to hang a dangly. I can't wait to see what the others have made ( don't worry Nicki I saved you some xxx) The flowers are all handmade and the lovely lace at the top was a gift from Margaret - thankyou xxx The hearts are chipboard and have been painted with Tim Holtz crackle paint and then inked ( Frayed Burlap) Greetings are all computer generated.

 Next I have my ATC's for next months Stampman swap ( yes you read that right I am a whole month ahead lol), the theme was birds and I remembered having this Crafty Individuals stamp which is perfect for the theme.

I created the background by blending four shades of Distress ink ( Old Paper, Weathered Wood, Bundled Sage and Scattered Straw) I stamped the image in Black soot, the flowers were all made in the same way, but I used a dotty texture stamp before punching out with a Martha Stewart punch. The centres have a little dot of Distress Stickles and I have coloured the foliage in with my Polychromos pencils.

  Now it is time to meet Mojo, I made this little guy this morning and Amy chose his name. He is my first ever sock monkey and ended up much larger than I planned, and don't look too closely at the handstitching, please be kind because we already love him dearly ( so much so we put him on a pedestal )

I can't decide whether he looks more like a monkey or more like an extra member of the Simpsons !!!

I have been asked by quite a few people to share progress of the shop renovations so here goes, this was at the end of wednesday, just before we left for home I took a couple of photos ( Amy buried her head in her homework to avoid being snapped  - must get the camera out more often !)

The first one is from the back of the shop facing forward and the second is from the opposite end, we have had a massive clearance sale which was a huge success, we managed to halve the stock, making it much easier to empty the shop ( and made lots of room for all the gorgeous new products) You can tell from these photos just how bumpy the floor had got.

And this was at the end of thursday and my little army of helpers had packed up and removed all the stock and shelving - thankyou all sooooo much xxx

And the next two photos were taken at the end of friday, after the builders had removed all of the wooden flooring - what a mess !!!!!! You can see how deep it is -  the wheelbarrow is almost lost !

 At the end of today, all the wiring had been sorted, the rubbish removed, the hardcore laid and the damp course installed.  Massive thanks to the builders who all worked their little butts off and also to my landlord Jaz who has been  fantastic, thankfully none of this part of the repairs was my responsibility, it's so reassuring to know you have a landlord who you can rely on - so thankyou Jaz.

As my customers all know the insurance side has been long winded, we were unfortunate in that it happened in one of the busiest times they have had, all the cold weather at the end of last year caused millions of claims so it has taken longer than usual to sort out but at long last we are on  our way to a new and improved Running With Scissors, thankyou all so much for you patience and support xxx