Busy Week - Part Two

My busy week ended on a definite high.

I took Friday off work and me and Mam went to Durham for the day. It rained on and off, and it was very cold, but we spent a lovely day together enjoying each other's company.

We had a browse round the many shops and had a lovely lunch in a little cafe. We had a mooch around the cathedral too, gazing at the fabulous stained glass windows and architecture whilst enjoying the voices of choirs from various Durham schools who were rehearsing for a big charity event that evening.

On our way home I popped into work to pick up a parcel that had been delivered for my birthday (my birthday being on the Saturday, and me not being the patient type I couldn't wait until the Monday morning!). As I usally do, I got off the bus in Gateshead and walked over the High Level Bridge into Newcastle, spotting the beginning of a rainbow on the way.

Which developed into a full rainbow...

... uniting the two sides of the Tyne, before it faded and disappeared. A pretty end to a lovely day.

And so to the mystery birthday parcel. Kirsten (of Quernus Crafts) and I had been chatting online about our latest makes when she mentioned some polymer clay panels that she'd made for some friends of hers. They sounded so different to the wee creatures that she's so famous for and I was definitely intrigued. She emailed me a photo of them and I was just blown away! The colours and texture and detail in these small panels were just amazing and I raved about them to hubby non-stop for days. The upshot being he commissioned Kirsten to make me a picture for my birthday, and here it is...

Isn't it gorgeous? And here's a close-up of the panels themselves, depicting the four seasons...

I love it! Many, many thanks to Kirsten - you are SO talented! And to my special hubby, mwah! (that's a kiss by the way). And big thanks to all my lovely family and friends who spoilt me with many gorgeous birthday cards and pressies too. You're all very special to me (big mwah!).

Saturday (the last birthday of my 30s - oh no!) was quite hectic. I set up the Bliss Knits stall at the Grainger Market Arts and Craft Fair and then disappeared after an hour (leaving hubby in charge) to visit Mam. We had a lovely lunch with my youngest niece and her 3-year-old daughter, and then spent the afternoon playing (very energetically!) with the balloons that Mam had kindly blown up for my birthday. I may be 39 but I'm not too old to celebrate with banners and balloons she says!

I got back to the craft fair for the last hour or so. Hubby was his usual cheerful self, but the day had been very slow. Over a delicious Italian that night we discussed the fair: we didn't sell that much but we had lots of nice comments. Hopefully when people have a bit more spare money in their pockets they'll come our way. I'm starting to wonder if this sort of market fair is right for our products, though, so I'm going to have a look and see what others events there are locally.

The other stallholders are lovely though, and one in particular has been very supportive of us from the beginning and I wanted to give her a little 'thank you' pressie. I know from previous purchases and comments that Joan's favourite colours are pink and black, and that she loves cats and wearing brooches - so I think this fitted the bill perfectly, and she loved it! I was really happy with it too and I may do some more in different colours and designs to sell on Folksy. What do you think?

And this week I noticed that I've gained my 100th blog follower. I'm so thrilled! It's nice to know that I'm not speaking to myself and it's fantastic when you lovely people leave comments. Thanks to you all! A lot of my fellow crafty bloggers have giveaways when they reach a certain amount of followers, but saying that I've reached 100 already I'll have to do one at a later date. I think person 100 (ejcameron) deserves a special prize though, so I'm off to make something now - and to have a think of giveaway ideas. Watch this space...