candles, cars and feeling cold…..

…it’s freezing! It’s March on Friday and I am back to carb overload and the heating on full whack!

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Last Friday my kids had an inset day so PP took the day off and we went to The Eden Project. As usual (too much coffee) I needed to stop and use the loo in Lostwithiel where I encountered this furry car….I have since found out that there is one in our village too – covered in astro turf…WTF? (am sectretly planning the recovering of my Citreon Picasso – I’m thinking tin foil…?)

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I love Eden, the kids went skating & I did some herbal candle research and took some pix…

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I particularly like taking pictures of doorways through doorways….what d’you think?

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It was lovely and empty before the half term rush & we got “local” passes which were £7.50 each for the year – bargain! I sniffed my way around the herb garden and decided that thyme, orange & geranium would be a nice, new candle scent and I have come up with a satisfactory concoction today (actually, I had decided upon thyme & mint but Helene was here earlier and we made a joint decision to not produce a candle that reminded anyone of a toilet cleaning product!)

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My next fair is The Vintage Bazaar on Saturday in Devizes, although I’m beginning to wonder why as it appears I will have to exit my bed at 5am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The only blog I read religiously (I waste enough time already!) is that of the lovely Fee (of Chipper Nelly) and what did I spy with my little eye last week? She did a blogpost called “Another place” and I get a little mention don’t I? A little mention AND a little pic of the Pip Studio candle I made her! Bless….

this week I have been mostly making candles…

…..and I had forgotten how time consuming it is!  I now have 8 full crates ready to take to Tavistock (Devon) Vintage Fair on Saturday, an order of 10 jelly moulds packed up and ready to go to Berkshire, and I’m a quarter of the way through my order for Paul Burrell. I even managed a Saturday morning walk in the sun with PP (poor Pauly)

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Just look at that lovely blue sky… where’s it gone?

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This is the beach at the end of my road – how lucky am I? I just need to remind myself to get down there once in a while…..

I have been getting to grips with my izettle, it all seems very simple but I’m sure I’ll manage to mess something up when I have to use it to take an actual credit card payment.

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I did a swap with lovely Fee from Chipper Nelly who took a candle rather than payment for some baby boy blocks she made for my friend Nikki.  As she has just finished a bathroom make-over at her house and used some gorgeous Pip Studio wallpaper, I bought a Pip Studio sugar bowl from John Lewis and filled it with a relaxing Lavender & Sage candle (she’s just messaged me on facebook to say that she loves it – phew! – breathes sigh of relief). Another great swap I did with Trixie Hewlett was for a fab 1950s lamp, she in turn had 6 of my jam-jar candles. The lamp looks perfect on my G plan desk!

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This morning I received another order from Claire (Good Golly Miss Molly) for some candles in vintage trio’s so I really should go and do some work!

But can I just say that one of the best things about life at the mo is that I’m back in touch with my best mate Shazza who I met aged eleven as she got off a bus in Beaconsfield. As a girl with lots of brothers she really was like a sister to me as we went through the highs (and lows) of growing up, drinking, dating, clubbing & flat sharing in Kentish Town (blimey – so long ago!). Anyway for one reason or another we lost touch when I moved to Devon in 2006 but 2012 saw us sorting it out & now we chat away on the phone as though time stood still for 6 years – it’s never too late to look someone up and so, so worth it….

Sam x

The Biotic Woman….

…..had to steal that from my friend Ben who called me it when I told him that I was on my 3rd course of anti-biotics! Haha!

Feeling so much better than I have done since the beginning of October, my little cold turned into a chest infection, which turned into sinusitis, which basically ended up as chronic sinusitis as the anti-biotics failed to work. My 3rd course were a load of huge white tablets, three times a day, plus decongestant, ibuprofen and steroid nasal spray! Nice! Last tablet tomorrow morning so fingers crossed for me as Christmas quickly approaches…..

Through my snotty haze I have managed to see Mumford & Sons (in Torquay of all places) Florence and the Machine (at Westpoint in Exeter) all down to my lovely friend Lucy who sent me free tickets to both. I took my girls to see Florence (& a few friends) it was great to see them bopping around, singing along – it’s just a shame it took us an hour to get out of the car park (well – field) at the end….worth it though!

I’ve managed (with a lot of coughing) to do all my fairs this Christmas (4 in Nov & 7 in Dec) the Craft Hub fair at The Castle in Exeter was brilliant. It was the busiest day I have had – ever! I nearly sold out of candles! Fortunately I had taken my trusty assistant (& great pal) Helene, who held the fort – especially as I had a surprise visit from a London friend who was down in Devon for the weekend and managed to drop by (lovely to see you both Val & Deb’s)

I had a stall next to the talented Kirsty Elson (been next to her before in Portscatho so we know each other) I had to buy this Christmas card holder, isn’t it fab?? You can’t really see  but there is a long string hanging down from the centre with a large red bell attached to the end so you can clip all your cards on, I love it!

I also ordered some gorgeous blocks from Fee at Chipper Nelly. I sent her an old book from a collection I have and she created these so I can use them as a decoration year after year. She must have tiny little fingers as she manages to work so intricately. We were messaging away on facebook like we were old friends, she’s a real sweetie – check out her blog….

Getting ready for Christmas in our house always involves a hug slab of Rocky Road so you can see that the prep for the big day is underway! I stupidly decided to start moving the house around as I wanted the tree to go in the bay window in the lounge…why oh why did I do this? So the rest of my week now includes painting a cupboard, putting up shelves and emptying boxes to add to everything else!

The tree is still on top of the car (been there since the school run yesterday!) and I am still in my PJ’s (it is only 9am) so I had better go and start crossing things from my list (a blog post was one of them so I’m not doing too badly am I…?) I might do another when I get the tree up. Thank you all for your support with my little business, I had the busiest Christmas yet with loads of regulars returning for candles & full of “peagreen” praise, it was heart warming, not to mention inspiring. I love what I do and have let it grow slowly and naturally over the past 3 years. I’m thrilled that it is pretty much a full-time job now and is encouraging people to reuse old things in a way that maybe they wouldn’t have considered in the past……

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone

Sam x