I'm off on my holidays

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

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

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

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

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