cupcake castles

I'm off on my holidays

2011-10-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

It's holiday time and we're all off to Mexico tomorrow, I know it's a silly time to go just before the christmas order mayhem but I don't think too many people are ordering for christmas yet, I know it's the last thing on my mind at the moment all this warm weather, even here in Cumbria does'nt feel very Christmassy.

So I'll be back making making lots of clocks and mirrors on the 3rd of November and I will be cutting down the time to make them to 7 days not 10 -14 days that it take now so don't panic there will be plenty of time to order for Christmas

Here are a few pics from my website www.cupcakecastles.com to give you some ideas, everything can be personalised with names and messages and because everything is handmade to order I can change designs and colours to suit you.

And back to work

2011-09-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Well, the kids are back at school the allotment is dying down and the weather has turned cold wet and windy ( not much change there then) so it must be time to crack on with getting ready for the christmas deluge of orders. There's so much to do I'm already feeling that yearly xmas panic , there's a million changes that need to be made to my website, tonnes of new design ideas floating around in my head trying to burst out and the small matter of a 2 week holiday to fit into the middle of October !!

Here's the new addition to my workshop, now I've somewhere comfy to sit and work

All ready to to get going for Christmas, lots of hanging Christmas tree box's in the making

A glimse of how much work goes into each piece, each clay part is hand cut and smoothed

then painted twice, varnished twice and decorated with sequins, glitter and dot relief

Everything can be personalised with names on the front and messages on the back at no extra cost

So , there's lots going on and lots more to do before I go on my hols.

See my new designs here first, eventually.

Going Wild

2011-08-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's nearly mid August and the Allotments gone nuts, more flowers than food so I'm putting a lot of pics on today as the colours are just so gorgeous

What more can I say, it's just like painting with flowers

Now enter the jungle of my poly and play hunt the cucumber, I've already decide to buy another one this winter as there is just no room for my kiwi or pepper plants, might even try some grapes ?

All this year I kept a record of all the produce I've brought back and I'm already up to £600 , We're eating lettuce and cucumber with everything ! at he moment I'm picking carrier bags of blueberries and raspberries, my freezer is jam packed full and my cupboards are filling up with jams and chutneys

Busy Busy Busy

2011-07-17T01:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I've not been a very good blogger recently, thats because I've just been so busy, I can't believe how many orders I've had in the last couple of months.

So heres a few pics of what I've been getting up to.

My busy studio

My very messy studio

I have never made hooks before, these are a special request, I think they turned out fab?

A sudden rush on dinosaurs !

Fudge just loves peas! , he loves most green things especially courgettes and broccli, mind you being a Lab there's not much he does'nt like to eat

He actually picks the peas out of the pods

And lastly, I cant finish without showing off some more allotment booty

Back on the Allotment

2011-06-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

I just had to add these gorgeous pics from down the allotment even though they have nothing to do with food, they keep the bees very happy.

The arches have collapsed so many times I dont think they'll hold on much longer, especially when the sweet pes cover them .

How many peas? Many nights of depodding to come.

Losing my onions amonst all the Calendula that just reseed themselves every year

There's more lettuce , rocket, spinach and beetroots than a sane person knows what to do with !

Hopefully I'll get some cherries this year before the birds, ( my biggest expense at the moment - nets, you cant have too many)

14 tomatoes plants, I know, I just cant help myself, looking forward to making lots of tomatoe & chilli jam again ( 11 chilli plants! )

I've never seen cucumbers growing before - there's something very cute about them when they are diddy little things.

Here's how I'm coping with my glut of strawberries

Drying them is so easy - they turn into little sweeties

Strawberry Queen

2011-06-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

We are well into the strawberry season now and we've been eating them day and night, this is the third year I've had my allotment and I've been bringing back a whole carrier bag everynight - I even dream I'm picking them in my sleep !!

So far we've picked 56 punnets of strawberries since may the 29th, yes I have been measuring every load I bring back ( sad I know ) - just to prove to my husband that the allotment is'nt just an expensive hobby , espec. since I bought the poly. Anyway there's lots more to come, the freezers already starting to fill up and all the cream that goes with them is'nt helping my running so I've just bought a food dehydrater - can't wait to play!

More pretty pictures of my strawberry / fairy kitchen

Even Fudge has started eating them

I just love the new colour of my workshop, yellow is such a happy sunny colour, something we don't get too much of up here in Cumbria

Last week ws a busy week for dinosaurs, this week for some reason it's rockets

Allotment time

2011-06-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

What a difference a few weeks make, compare these pics to the ones further down this page!

Everything is just romping away

Time to get the nets out, my least favourite job, trying to unravel them in the wind takes a long time !

I've got so much to net , 3 stawberry beds, about 50 raspberry plants, 7 blueberry bushes, redcurrant and blackcurrant bushes, cherry trees and of course all the brassica's

I've managed to sqeeze onions in every spare bit of space , this year I am determined not to buy a single onion, we only ran out of last years crop in march

Lots of apples on my 3 apple trees, My 2 plum trees are also covered in plums but only 2 of my 5 cherry trees are producing lots of cherries? lots of patience is needed when growing fruit

All the sweetcorns in - about 100 this year, all grown myself from seed, shallots and garlic are nearly ready, wont be buying any this year

Strawberry bed 1 , I now have 3 ,one for every year, I'm picking about 5 punnets everyday at the moment so we're all putting on weight with all the cream that goes with them

My big dilema is do I dig this bed up now as its 3 years old now, I dont think I can make myself do it as it producing so much fruit?

The poly is still standing, we've had a few gales since we put it up, one with 80mph gusts and it did'nt even flinch, its full of tomatoes 12, peppers 11,cucumbers 4, courgettes,melons,kiwi , I wish I'd got a bigger one now as it's jam packed full, I'll put lots more pics on next weekend - things are moving so fast I cant pick fast enough !!

Summer Holidays

2011-05-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

Well, Summers nearly here, time for visits to the seaside, paddling in the sea and scoffing icecream.

Here are a few of my seaside nautical pieces that I hope will bring happy memories of childhood holidays.

Now for scoffing lots of strawberries and icecream

Toadstools Everywhere

2011-04-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

I love all the toadstool designs everyone is producing at the moment so I'm jumping on the wagon with new and updated mirrors and clocks that include these magical little fungi

Hope you like them x

Fairy Wish Mirror £44 now on Etsy and Not On The High Street

Fairy Rectangle Mirror £39

Fairy Toadstool Clock £34

My New Polytunnel

2011-04-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited, my polytunnel is nearly finished, good thing as well as I have tonnes of seedlings sprouting in the kitchen. I thought building a polytunnel would be quite easy but there was a lot of knocking wood together so it's taken a couple of weeks ( thanks to my OH ) and pulling the plastic tight so so hard, I now marvel at other peoples poly's and how tight their plastic is ( sad I know )

My OH busy building - helped by Fudge as always

Everything is just starting to wake up, cant wait to see a bit more green and colour it all looks so drab at the moment. I'll keep you posted next week, hopefully my poly will be all done x

My New Logo

2011-03-17T00:11:00.000-07:00

Since getting my new laptop last year I've lost my (very) old coral program with which I designed all my brochures and logos and I just dont have time to learn a new program. So I decided to get someone else to design a new logo for me, a new pair of eyes with fresh ideas is always a good thing. Then I found http://www.artworkbyangie.com/ on facebook ,loved her use of colours so she has designed my new logo.

I'e also been a busy bee again - meet my new kitchen companions

These bad boys can be found on my folksy shop http://www.folksy.com/shops/cupcakecastles

LOTS OF NEW THINGS

2011-03-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Well , it's been a few weeks since I last blogged thats because I've been busy designing lots of new pieces, so here they are -

Now for some new wall hangings/ plaques -

These are most of them, more to come, hopefully this week I'll get round to actually designing some horsey pieces and some more mirrors.

NO MORE RAIN !!!!

2011-02-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

I know I live in deepest darkest Cumbria and there would be no Lakes if it did'nt rain so much but come on now!, 2 weeks ?

I am not a happy bunny , my polytunnel is piled up in my workshop/shed so I cant get in, and my allotment is similar to walking through treacle toffee, not to mention my wellies - which I havent taken off since October have sprung a leak.

I found these little knitted lovelies on the internet years ago, cant find them now but arent they so cute

eat me

cuddle me

tidy me !

post me

buy me x

Follower Lucky Dip

2011-01-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

Finally I have 25 followers and will be doing a lucky dip on Friday to choose the winner of this cupcake heart clock, it can even be personalised for free.Theres still time to join.

some more cupcakes

What do you call yourself ?

2011-01-21T23:14:00.000-08:00

One of my biggest dilemmas since starting my business 10 years ago is what do I call myself?

Am I an artist, designer, crafter, business person?

I hate filling in forms that ask what your job is, somehow crafter doesn't sound serious or successful does it? This is a question that has perplexed me for years, on going for a mortgage interview and asked what my profession is , my response was ' I make things' ( almost as if it's not a real job ) hardly profession or successful sounding- even though I was making more than my husband!

Just wondered what your views are?

It won't be long now

2011-01-16T12:41:00.000-08:00

All my seed and plant catalogues arrived this week and have got me all fired up for the growing season , so much so that I bought a polytunnel today - a proper one, not like last £50 piece of rubbish bought from ebay last year that blew away before I had even planted anything in it!!!

Hopefully I get it built by the end of February - a little job for my husband, lots of piccies to come.

Spotty roses havent been invented yet, most of my roses are splodgy

Kids

2011-01-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

My eldest son Saul had one or two friends over or so he said, I dont know how they all managed to fit in his bedroom.

Spots,spots and more spots

2011-01-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

The kitchen is turning moe and more spotty these days and this is my little treat to myself this Christmas, a Cath Kidston house - sewing box, not that I have much time to sew but I do have a few sewing projects in the pipeline that I will get done before the allotment season starts.

and heres a few personalised pieces I sent out last week, I've been quite busy since New Year, but nearly through all the orders now just the tax man to keep sweet this week and then I can crack on with some new designs.

Snowy Cumbria

2011-01-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

meet our singing snowman

I think he's singing ( or shouting for help )

A few days later he thinks he's Elvis - or trying to hide from us

A very berry tree - should keep the birds happy

My youngest - Cahal

Fudge waiting to attack any unsuspecting sledger - he downed a few, just wish they'd take their broken sledges home ,the whole of the lake district is littered with bits sledges

Rabbits like Leeks

2011-01-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

Went to check on the allotment last week , just before the snow melted and the poor rabbits have had a nibble of the leeks. I don't mind though, they can eat the green bits and I'll have the white bits, they must be really hungry as we've had snow for weeks now.

not a sign of life down the allotments only me and Fudge

This is my allotment (lottie ) Believe it or not I've managed to squeeze in 6 cherry trees, 3 apple trees, 3 plum trees, 9 blueberry bushes, 300 strawberry plants and so on. I went down to dig up some parsnips,turnips and celeriacs but the ground was way too hard so had to buy some . I can proudly boast that I hav'nt bought an onion for 2 years.

Christmas Decorations 2010

2011-01-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

Fudge peeping over the snowflake stairs

A pink christmas kitchen

How do you get good pics of a christmas tree when the lights are flashing away?

Everything but the kitchen sink on my living room tree

Just spent all day taking my many decorations, took me a whole week to put them up and only a few hours to put them all away. Everything but the kitchen sink on my tree !

Order now

2010-12-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

Not much time left to order before christmas, last date for parcels is the 15th , so may have to close all my shops by the 10th

Christmas mirrors

2010-12-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

Feeling really ill today, very hard to paint when your nose is dripping!!! , anyway I managed to paint 7 more clocks and mirrors today ( orders are really piling up at the moment) but with the help of lots of flu medicine I shall get through all my orders - looking forward lots of mince pies and a few glasses of Baileys ( I've hidden all the christmas chocolates and Baileys at my mums so I cant start them until I've finished all my orders!)

Selling well on Folksy

2010-11-26T12:34:00.000-08:00

A brand new design just out - and I've already sold some on folksy, I love them , looks fab in the kitchen - reminds me of summer which already feels so far away

I Love Dressers

2010-11-26T12:22:00.000-08:00

This was my kitchen about a month ago - before the christmas orders turned manic! and I'm not embarrassed to say that my tiny tiny house is packed with dressers all of which only cost around £50 and then I unleashed my paints on them and it all went very cath kidston.

Chaos in the kitchen

2010-11-26T11:25:00.000-08:00

It's too cold to work in my shed/workshop now so it's chaos in the kitchen again, every year I plan ( dream) of getting a complete new fancy cabin that can be used all year round but never get round to it, by the time I've got the allotment organised by the end of the summer it's time to get started on christmas orders.

Busy Little Cupcake

2010-11-12T03:13:00.000-08:00

Getting really busy again with the christmas rush ,7 days a week at the moment but I'm not complaining, once I have all the shop orders finished I can concentrate on my web orders- had 7 orders alone from 'not on the high street'last week, even some from 'folksy'.

I've just finished some new wall plaques/ hangings ( can never decide what to call them?) - so keep checking all my shops as I keep adding them - heres a few to be going on with. Not sure about the backgrounds in these pictures - think I'll retake all my pics when I've made my next batch!

Cupcake Castles 2010

2010-11-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

Its been 10 years since I started www.Cupcake Castles.com and I am busier than ever especially since joining 'not on the high street'

You can order for christmas right up until the 15th of December 2010.

These cupcake clocks and cupcake mirrors are very popular .

cupcake castles

2007-11-04T23:25:00.000-08:00