Diamond Jubilee

So this afternoon whilst my youngest was having his afternoon nap & my middle daughter was out helping her Daddy. Me & my eldest daughter made a celebration Diamond Jubilee cake for everyone for tea!

Now, I enjoy baking... but am far, far from perfect so when my daughter suggested a red, white & blue cake I thought, OK, why not have a go!







So after a quick rummage in the back of the cupboard for some food colouring, lots of giggling & a cup of tea each... heres our finished handmade with love, cake! Ta da!!!




... I am now waiting for my red, white & blue (ok, slightly green!) jellies (yes, I know I got slightly carried away!) to set & have just put the bunting up over the table ready for tea! Happy Jubilee everyone!

Louise
*pur-ple

a little sewing time

I had a tiny bit of spare time today (about an hour!) & I have been desperate to get my sewing machine out and practise my sewing & cutting techniques. This is what I quickly made...


a felt 'cushion' to put inside my car boot sale bargain 'pot', so that I could keep my beloved scissors & punch 'safely' inside! Yes, I know (my husband rolled his eyes when I showed him it!)


a little felt & fabric needlecase/pincase for myself as I wanted to practise my stitches.








I think my stitches are a little wonky and I should have ironed my needle cases before photographing. Plus, I should have really used Bondaweb for my applique and my cutting out & lining up is a bit iffy in places but I really enjoyed practising & think my results are quite sweet!


My youngest Daughter begged me to make a little needlecase for her too! I quickly, cut & stitched it while she was getting ready for bed as a surprise!

Louise
*pur-ple

embroidered ribbon

So... I'm really, really excited about this! I now have this amazing embroidered ribbon in stock at pur-ple.

I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and just had to stock it! They are really rather special, and would look gorgeous on so many things, from bag handles, to wrapping around a precious gift, embellishing a handmade card, trimming a cushion, adding to childrens clothing (they are great to cover marks or stains!) to using your last scrap as a pull handle on a zipped bag.

Isn't it just gorgeous!

I also have four other equally delightful designs also in stock at pur-ple available by the meter and I also now offer a small swatch service at just 10p per swatch - to help with your decision making... or you could just have them all!

swatch / samples

I hope you are all enjoying your Easter breaks...

I am currently working on designing a lovely tri-fold printable wool felt swatch chart... which will be available to download from pur-ple soon.

In the mean time I have just added a new page to pur-ple where you can now order a small sample of bakers twine or wool felt to help with your colour decisions. I will add extra samples soon which will also include polka bias binding and my gorgeous new embroidered ribbon!

I really wanted to add this to pur-ple for you, as I know how hard it can be to find the right colour/texture for your project - and this means hopefully it may help to save you a few pennies too!

You can find my new sample / swatch page here

celebrate

To celebrate the launch of my new re-designed website www.pur-ple.co.uk I am giving 10% off all purchase with discount code PUR-PLE10 until the end of this month. Yay!


Louise
*pur-ple

website launch

So I woke up this morning and thought... that's it I'm going to launch my re-designed website TODAY! It's such a gorgeous, sunny day here in Devon, it just seemed perfect!

So many of you have been asking when I am going to launch and I keep saying... when I have a few spare minutes to finish it. Well I found those few spare minutes this morning (actually I haven't stopped yet!)

And, I did promise a HUGE discount code which is TWITTER25 It is a huge 25% off discount code valid for today only. And it is valid on everything at www.pur-ple.co.uk

Yay!

i love shopping

I love shopping for myself but I adore finding special goodies for my own shop even more.

I have gorgeous little felt tape measures in at pur-ple.

My favourite has to be this dear little owl... just gently pull his wing and out pops a tape measure. There is a little button on the back for quick winding ups!

... and watch out for my new polka dot bias binding arriving soon in 18 different colours, along with Hi-Tack fast drying glue, and some new spotty buttons : D

The delivery of my new stock is due to arrive in tomorrow. I have nearly finished entering the bias binding on my website, I just have to photograph all the rolls. It is so exciting opening the boxes of new goodies!

shop fittings

I have been squirreling away shop fittings for months now! So that they will be all ready and waiting to go straight in after my shop roof is done and the inside refurbished...


These are my most recent fab finds... lots and lots of slatwall fittings to go on my oak slatwall and grid wall for my craft supplies.

I also have some oak shelves too. These will also fit on the slatwall along with some clear acrylic card tiers for my card wall (which I have yet to buy)

I must admit that slatwall is not my favourite / ideal choice for my little shop but I think with a bit of care and imagination it should fit in nicely with my vintage / pre-loved pieces... and it is rather handy when you have very uneven walls and you want to move shelves around!

Louise
*pur-ple

how to simply change the word comment

I tend to tweak things quite often... and perhaps 9pm at night is not quite the right time to be fiddling with the html on my blog... but a certain colour was beginning to annoy me.

Now, that was a simple edit and I quickly remembered where to tweak it!

But, with slightly tired eyes and with my face getting nearer and nearer the screen I decided now would be a great time to change the word "comments" on my blog to something a little sweeter!

You know the bit I mean, don't you? You know when you post a comment on a blog or publish a comment that has been left on your own blog that it then says "4 comments" for example.

Well, I wanted this to read 4 fab comments. Could I find where to write this in the html anywhere! No, chance.

Then I worked it out (after quite a bit of hunting around) that it was actually me being a bit tired and that it was actually quite easy. To change it you just simply:

1. Go to Dashboard

2. Click on the word Edit in the bottom right hand corner of the Blog Posts box.

3. Change the word comments to whatever you like. ie fab comments, super comments, kind words etc.

4. Click SAVE at the bottom of the page.

... hope this may help some of you to personalise your blog!

my roof has just arrived!

This afternoon my little shop's roof arrived...


1100 fantastic welsh reclaimed slates & 12 ridge tiles (plus a few spares) to be precise!

They took me ages to source... several months of looking infact. I wanted to use ones off of a local roof if possible & it turned out that they came off of a pub roof in Torrington! (Just 10 miles up the road)


I just know they are going to look perfect on the roof, and they are already weathered beautifully as they are reclaimed... which also feels nice to know that they are being reused.


The man that I bought them from kindly delivered them to me and with the help of my husband (who was busy repairing something, just as they arrived. Hence the overalls - he's a mechanic!) they unloaded them & carefully stacked them all ready for fitting.


My two daughters, who watched... were nearly as excited as me! + I must add, neither of us realised just quite how heavy slates are (although I must admit I only lifted one! I put my back out earlier this week, so I made sure I took lot's of photos instead)

I can't wait to see them up on the roof! It is going to be such an improvement and no more leaks! It will also help to make it warmer too : D


Louise
*pur-ple

Guess what I have got?

During the "summer holidays" I took a little break from *pur-ple...

and guess what I got on my return? A new badge!



A Top-rated seller badge for my ebay shop pur-ple!

I was so excited to achieve this and it is so nice to be rewarded for all my hard work... so thank you to all my lovely customers for giving it to me. (I am considering printing it onto some card & pining it to my top!!!)


I also achieved a new coloured star - for receiving my 1000th feedback I changed from a purple star to red. I now have 1067 positive feedback - 100%, some amazing feedback comments... and a very big smile on my face : D

(I captured the photo of my ebay shop from my iphone's screen... as I am sat on the sofa, snuggled under a blanket "trying" to rest as I have put my back out. How? I have no idea!)

Louise
*pur-ple

new mini brads

These are my fab new mini (or should I say teeny tiny!) mini brads / split pins! ... arn't they sweet!


I have them available in red...


powder blue...


baby pink...


lilac...


and pale green!

... and will be available in my ebay shop pur-ple, just as soon as my 8 year old daughter has finished sorting them into seperate colour packs! (she has been really looking forward to this 'job' but after sorting her first few hundred she is 'slowing' Only a few more thousand to go!

She has shown such an interest in my work over the last couple of years & is just like me! (very particular) she has already picked any 'less then perfect' ones out!

I will make up some mixed colour packs too... for those of you who can't choose a favourite colour!


Louise
*pur-ple

todays car boot sale finds

I thought I would share with you my finds today from my local car boot sale. (please excuse the unpainted wall in the background... it is on my to do list!)

A swordfish guillotine... for my workshop & a bargain at £3.00!

An old basket... which I can use in my shop - 50p

A pretty little bowl... for my shop/workshop - 50p

and, yes a spoon! I liked it & it was only 10p! I'm not quite sure yet what to use it for though?

Louise
*pur-ple

embroidery threads

Here at *pur-ple I am growing our selection of fab craft items on a daily basis... one of my favourites at the moment just has to be these embroidery threads. I use them all the time at home myself, especially with the children, and the choice of colours are fantastic! There are 36 skeins in total for a very reasonable £4.75 including free p&p! ... you can find them here

Louise

*pur-ple