Trying to do a little more of this & trying hard not to fret & worry so much. Its a struggle as i am a natural pessimist.
When you work from home its often hard to get perspective on things & keep motivated. In 2011 i am going to try & focus on the good and clear of all things negative. Wish me luck
Be You Be True Poster is from yumalum shop on Etsy
This past weekend we headed out to the country house and estate of Lanhydrock. Its only about 10 miles from where we live & as one of our New Years Resolutions is to spend more time together without distractions – we though it was the perfect place to go.
As it was winter the main house was closed, but we did get to walk throught the gardens & extended grounds for free. If your ever in the area its well worth a visit & if you have a little four legged friend they are welcome too. Very dog friendly.
Thats what i have tried to do anyway. January normaly is still busy for us as we are quickly into Valentines Day & St Patricks Day quite soon after the Christmas madness. It seems that our customers are very organised & get their badges ordered sooner rather than later. So here are a few shots of whats been keeping us busy.
All badges are available on my site www.koolbadges.co.uk – pop by and check us out if you have time.
Short & Sweet. I just wanted to share my favourite purchase of last month. This amazing Lip Balm from DressGreen on Etsy. I have been using it for almost 3 weeks and take it everwhere. Its so smooth & once applied to your lips gives them a slight shine. Almost like a lipgloss, without being sticky. My lips have felt great during this cold wintry weather.
It arrived in England from the USA very fast even with the Christmas Post. I was very impressed. So if you get a minute check out her shop she stocks some great goodies. I highly recommend the lip balm. Support Hand Made!!
Vanilla-Bean Lip Balm – From DressGreen on Etsy
This Christmas i received some amazing things. – My fave was my 2 PEZ that my brother brought back from his trip to New York! I have taken photos of a few gifts i received. I was a very lucky lady.
I have a few more pressies to show you – but they will have to wait untill tomorrow as we are still unpacking from our trip.
I have so much to fit into 2011 – i have made a list of all the things i want to acheive this year. I will share some of them with you as the months unfold.
Blogging more is a goal i have set myself. In 2010 i seemed to fall out of love with my blog – so in 2011 i want to reconnect with it.
Cute Calendar From spreadthelove on Etsy 
Friday was a really busy day. We got up really early and headed out to Mevagissey. On the way to Mevagissey we stopped at Costa and treated ourselves to takeaway Latte’s (a legacy of living in city for years, we miss the convenience of coffee shops in the city). We then drove the scary (and tourist filled) back roads to Mevagissey. One of the things I loved most about the city was getting up early in the morning and out before the commuters. Walking around the city as shops were being cleaned, florists setting up, newspapers being delivered.
Whilst Mevagissey is far from a city, it still felt a lot like that, with the cute little shop owners setting up for what will become a crazy day with the tourists. Now that we live here, we tend to do what all the other locals do. We get out EARLY in the morning, do everything we need to do for the day and get home before the hoards of tourists hit the roads (at which point even driving a few miles can take the best part of an hour).
First we hit the craft shop in Mevagissey for some new necklaces. They have so many colours & options to choose from that it can take quite a while (with a lot of counting and untangling at the end to get a price). Now we are fully stocked for Pendant Pixie
Following buying our supplies, we had a walk down onto the harbour. Because it was so early, it was mostly locals walking dogs or stopping for a chat, which made a really refreshing change. Even the fishermen where unloading their catches. A few hours later, this place would be crawling with tourists so it was really nice to see it quiet.
Next we hit the road back to Carlyon Bay to our studio to make and package the orders for the day. Done by about 4pm we walked to the post office to post out our Pre Bank Holiday orders, then onto the local village (Charlestown). We ended up sitting in the pub all afternoon & evening, scheming about new ideas & projects and life in general. It was quite a productive afternoon, and a whole lot of fun. We got so carried away, we ordered beer & food and made an evening of it.
On the way home we stopped to chat with the Lambs (who were too cute) and made it home about 9PM. After checking and replying to emails, John & I sat down on our Huge sofa and watched Chris Morris’s Four Lions. It was funny as hell “Rubber Dinghy Rapids Brother”.
That brought another Friday to a close, and the hectic pace of the day almost made us forget that this weekend is our 5-Year wedding anniversary. We are so bad at remembering dates :S
Below are some pictures from the day.
Well it has been a busy couple of months. John & I have been working on our next big project, Pendant Pixie and the site is now up and running. I saw Pendants made from Scrabble tiles years ago at a craft fair, then later on etsy, and I’ve always wanted to make them myself. With koolbadges being so busy, it is often hard to find the time to start something new, but over the past few month’s I learned how to make them, started gathering all my supplies together and began listing pendants on etsy & folksy. The response so far has been amazing, and we have already sold loads on etsy & folksy.
I never thought that demand for the pendants would be so great, so last month John started work on the brand new Pendant Pixie website. The site is now up and running and we are already taking orders. Pendant Pixie already has around 250 pendant designs listed, and the feedback we have had so far has been excellent. Be sure to checkout Pendant Pixie.
All this aside, koolbadges has been busier than ever. This week we have started shipping out Christmas orders (some of you are very organised). It feels really weird to be making Christmas Badges in the middle of the summer, but it is also very exciting as Christmas tends to be our busiest period, and the workshop is always full of christmas spirit (well we wear bad christmas jumpers, eat mince pies and listen to cheesy christmas tunes). We are really looking forward to the busy period this season and we look forward to receiving all your orders.
We also have some new machinery coming our way in the form of a 58mm badge machine. We will be producing custom 58mm badges for you, as well as 58mm Pocket Mirrors & keyrings. This should be really exciting as many of you have already asked for your own designs on 58mm badges, not to mention the amount of people who ask us for bigger badges for Birthdays, Stag & Hen parties.
Exciting times in the workshop, which is bound to keep John & I busy.
I think it was last week, we went to a really cute fishing town near where we live Megavissey. We had Fish & Chips, had a walk around the narrow cobbled streets & on the way back to the car spotted a little craft fair that was taking place in a church. I purchased some hand cream & this extra cute Hen (called Gurte).
She is made from a vintage table cloth! She was made by Claire Maxwell & you can visit her blog here.
