Lego!

We are Lego mad in this house. My boys eat sleep and live for Lego. I'm quite pleased really as they prefer it to computer based games. They do like the lego website though, especially the design games.

Did you know?

LEGO is an abbreviation of the two Danish words "leg godt", meaning "play well".

During the moulding process, the plastic is heated to 232C until its consistency is that of dough.

In 2003 LEGO changed the minifigure's yellow facial colouring with a more authentic skin colour.

In 2006 the LEGO website had an average of 8,137,062 individual visitors a month.

If you built a column of about 40,000,000,000 LEGO bricks, it would reach the moon.

On average there are 62 LEGO bricks for every person on earth.

The LEGO Club has 2.4m members worldwide.

There are 915 million ways to combine six LEGO bricks.

Approx. seven LEGO sets are sold each second.

Laid end to end, the number of LEGO bricks sold yearly would reach more than 5 times round the world.

http://www.webuser.co.uk/websites/online-fun-blog/websites/393104/10-amazing-lego-facts

This weeks featured shop in the crafty folk ETSY team is 'Colour me Fun' .

Creating bright, fun, educational, and original crayons for children as well as the bigger "kids" in your life. Making styles from ballet slippers to dinosaurs.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ColourMeFun

I created this lego inspired treasury today and was amazed at the variety of items inspired by the famous toy. So tonights a lego night then.

The Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

I've finally finished reading this novel!

After reading 'The House of the Spirits' a few years ago I have been an avid reader of Isabel Allende. I haven't however found any in the same style, until now.

Yes, it was interesting reading autobiographical work such as 'Paula' and short stories from 'Eva Luna' but I love the family saga style novels best and this met all my expectations.

In 'The Island under the Sea' we journey with  Zarite, who weaves a tale of slavery across generations and continents. Zarite is a strong central character who shows amazing strength and love in times of crisis. There are also fun, colourful characters such as the loveable rogue 'Sancho' and characters that are so perfectly human in that they are complex and flawed such as Valmorian.I felt a range of emotions towards this character as the book progressed, disgust, anger, and pity to name just a few.

The story is initially set in Haiti and I found the historical details about the revolution fascinating to read about. Later the story moves to New Orleans and suddenly the French link to the city made sense!

This is a good old fashioned proper story and I can't recommend it enough.

Of course you don't have to read it in Spanish!

Every year as a child my parents always used to ask me what I wanted for Christmas and every year was the same. Book tokens! I think my mindset has changed slightly now though as no way would I pay full price for a book. I love the charity shop collections and prefer to read something slightly off beat than a blockbuster that everyone is reading.

So what to buy a bookworm for Christmas as well as book tokens?

WoodenNickelsJewelry  

Themed jewelry that tells a story

EpicDesignsDecor  
Wall art, graphics, stickers, home decor vinyl

RunningInPlace  
Handmade Scrabble® tile jewelry pendants and more!

Raffle Results!

Black Friday through Cyber Monday was a mad selling weekend and yes it was my busiest ever! I think I got all the packages to the right people and hopefully they have all arrived safely. I've been trying out some new ideas with packaging as in the UK the item has to fit though a hole to get a lower rate of postage. The postie recommended corrugated card instead of bubble wrap.He even game me a bundle to use. I hope this has worked out for everybody. Please let me know if not.

Anyway over the weekend anyone that bought an item got a raffle ticket and I have finally drawn them in a santa hat of course. (none of that newfangled number generator business!)

Numbers in!

Number out!

Daisy is on it's way to ticket holder 11

Thanks for playing everyone. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Remember blog readers can always use 'blog10'for 10% off purchases in my ETSY shop.

There's still time before last posting.



Rendlesham Forest

Last post I wrote about our husky encounter in Rendlesham forest, Suffolk. It's a fantastic place for a low key day out.  You can rent bicycles and play all day on the amazing new playground equipment. The play areas are set in clearings in the woods. There are rock climbing walls, spider webs and log tunnels to start! Hundreds of small branches have been left lying around for the most perfect den building opportunities.

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/rendlesham

We walked the UFO trail. It's about 3 miles long and visits some of the key places where in the 1980 a UFO was said to have landed. This is a spooky except from Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendlesham_Forest_incident

Around 3 a.m. on 26 December 1980 strange lights were reported by a security patrol near the East Gate of RAF Woodbridge apparently descending into nearby Rendlesham Forest. Servicemen initially thought it was a downed aircraft but, upon entering the forest to investigate, they saw strange lights moving through the trees, as well as a bright light from an unidentified object. One of the servicemen, Sgt. Jim Penniston, later claimed to have encountered a "craft of unknown origin" and to have made detailed notes of its features, touched its "warm" surface, and copied the numerous symbols on its body. The object allegedly flew away after their brief encounter. Penniston also claimed to have seen triangular landing gear on the object, leaving three impressions in the ground that were visible the next day.

After daybreak on the morning of 26 December, servicemen returned to a small clearing near the eastern edge of the forest and found three small impressions in a triangular pattern, as well as burn marks and broken branches on nearby trees. Plaster casts of the imprints were taken and have been shown in television documentaries.

We had read this before we went and were spooked as we started the walk through the fog. When the huskies started to howl it really became quite 'Blair Witch Project!

Quick search for UFO on ETSY reveals these unique items. Please click on the picture to be transported by alien machines to the ETSY shop!

happyfamily  
Birthday tshirts, dinosaur tees, geek t shirts

      
 VeganSudzShop

Changed from vegankittyxoxo on 18 Oct, 2011

Vegan Sudz Shop - Vegan Soaps & Natural Lotions & Balms

ArmadilloDreams  

Natural, Fun, Handmade Wooden Toys!

Black Friday

NOW  until Cyber Monday specials in my ETSY shop

1.        Any order of more than £15 will receive a free glass Christmas Decoration.

2.        Free raffle ticket with every item purchased between now  and Monday 28^th      November.

Winner receives a daisy pendant.

3.       Valid discount codes that you have still can be applied.

Please click on the shop tab on the right hand side.

A perfect present for a hostess gift. Also makes a great keep it handy present.


More discounts from the Crafty Folk team

15% off all items in  www.etsy.com/shop/missbohemia

       the discount code is 'BLACKFRIDAY15'

Also 15% off
www.missbohemia.com

using the same discount code

Miss Bohemia


MISH73 for 15% off

www.etsy.com/shop/mish73
Eclectic Vintage Finds

Natalia Lovat -

 15% discount - Coupon code NLBF01

 Valid  valid from 25th November-Midnight 28th November.

Natalia Lovat - fine silver jewellery
www.etsy.com/shop/natalialovat

FREE SHIPPING from Moody Cow Designs

Bags, purses and  glasses cases
www.etsy.com/shop/moodycowdesigns

Harmony Designs & Soaps

www.etsy.com/shops/harmony5

 5% off coupon Friday 11/25/11 only!
Please use coupon code fridaysale to receive this discount!

Free Shipping worldwide and 20% off on handpainted pottery (no code needed)
Original art work
www.etsy.com/shop/craftunikat


I seem to have got in a complete muddle as the items are not centred correctly , the captions have taken over, the fonts are crazy and generally it's not the best, forgive me. I really don't have the time to start this again. I want to start shopping!

Please feel free to add your own promos in the comments.

BNS open

Come and join the fun.

Husky Racing

We drove through thick fog this morning to eventually arrive in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk. In an attempt to get fit as a family we are dragging the children through forests and along beaches as often as we can. We've been carefully chosing circular style walks with ice-creams along the way and playgrounds at the end as bribes we find work very well.

 It was a bit spooky through the woods as we started walking as the fog was still pretty thick and the trees tightly packed together. Beams of morning sunlight light penetrated the gaps and the boys thought they were pretty cool. The light seemed to be attracted to frosty spider webs which were obvious sources of excitement to boys with sticks!

Howling back!

To make things even more spooky there seemed to be a pack of wolves howling through the woods! As we continued the eerie noise got much louder and suddenly we were taken aback when a person on a three wheeled contraption passed in front of us dragged along by a pack of huskies. We had inadvertently wandered into a British husky racing event. To be honest I didn't even know this sport existed.

It was really exciting listening to the teams approaching and watching them hurtle around corners.

I've included a link to the British Husky website which has a lot more information.

www.huskyracing.org.uk

Just had to have a look on ETSY to see how huskies have inspired artists worldwide.

I have a thing for belt buckles at the moment and am starting a collection (Christmas hint!)

BEAR WEAR DESIGNS

Pretty Cool Tees
Love the Andy Warhol inspiration.

Unique Dog Breeds Gifts Nobility Dogs
How unique is this!

One day sale!

In a rare and sudden moment yesterday I had a flash of inspiration. After listing everyday for a while now something was expiring in my shop all the time. In a last moment ditch attempt to save relisting fees I thought about how to turn those items into sales. I can't think why the one day sales so popular on FOLKSY hadn't occured to me  before. It started a trend and a new thread was started. On the first day at least 3 of the items listed sold. I'll try to keep this going although it's another item to add to the 'to do' list everyday.

So if you're looking for a bargain go to the back page of my shop everyday for the one day sale item. If you're cunning you go work out the next item up for grabs and beat the opposition!

Up for renewal this week.....

Bargains a plenty!



Featured Seller of the week!

This week the featured seller in the Crafty Folk team is Amy's Moving Castle.

Please visit her shop for the most amazing art photographs.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmysMovingCastle

My treasury for Amy features the colours orange and lilac as inspired by the crocus photo. I would never have put these two colours together but I think they look great. I guess nature knows best!

November Nexus Listing Team

I've been inundated with orders for snowflakes this week and it's making me feel all Christmassy. Many thanks to a repeat customer from Norway, I never thought I'd be shipping snowflakes to Norwegians!

I've seen a lot of gorgeous decorations this week. Here are some of my favourites from the FOLKSY November Nexus listing club. I'm still hanging in there but finding it quite exhausting.

Ra Ra Bazaar

Baban Cat

Esme Dodsworth

Pants and Paper

LittleLiliMay

Aunty Joan

Fencing!

Colchester Junior Foil League Under 9's

Proud mum post

We've just come home from a long day out at the first round of the Colchester Junior Foil League. After battling all day Number 1 son came home triumphant and very tired with his first gold medal for fencing. The competition was tough and tense. There were wounds and tears, enemies and friends!

Just started thinking about Christmas presents !

Please click on the picture to go straight to the ETSY shops.

Vintage ClipsFaithful RootsJudy CaronAustin CreationsBonspielcreationFencing Artist

Folksy Friday!

Well that was a quick week. I've been so busy I'm sure the soles of my feet must be worn through. I've hosted  a jewellery making class, had a mad rush on snowflakes and am getting ready for a fair on Saturday. I've been bitten by chickens, burnt the motor out on my glass grinder and painted my face green for Halloween.   The listing clubs have started well and lots of sales to report all round.  I've chosen some  new daily listers to showcase today. Please click on the link to go straight to the shop.

Purple Pebble

Afternoon Agatha

Tara Winona

Dear Duck

Mud Meddling

Daisy Beth

National Sausage Week!

We love sausages in our house and eat them in all sorts of disguises. Sausage rolls in town on a Saturday morning, as 'proper' hotdogs at summer barbeques,  sausage pasta, sausage sandwiches, English breakfast and recently we have moved into the Winter phase of sausage casserole!

Did you know?

*During the second world war a lack of ingredients for sausages meant that sausage makers would often add water to  the mix. As this turned to steam it often exploded with a bang. This is where the slang term 'banger' originated.

*The first sausages were believed to have been made by the Sumerians over 5,000 years ago.

* A German sausage holds the reord for the longest sausage at 1,500 m but rumor has it that a British banger once measured 35 miles long. Apparently it was never checked by Guiness records and so not offiially recognized.

We are lucky enough to live in an area of great farm shops and farmers markets. I live near Primrose Pork, a local family run farm that really know their pigs. The animals are well cared for and happy which makes for delicious pork products. They have won loads of awards for 'best sausages'. They come in a range of shapes and flavours. I like the tomato flavoured ones best.

http://primrose.heartdesign.co/

I've had a browse and found a selection of crafty sausage items.

Toad in the hole sausages - STARSGEMINI3

Sausage on Fork - Painted Side Plate - Shebbo Design

Sausage/Pickle Letterpress Card by Slow Industries