Come find me in Blackpool!

The Super Duper Itsy Bitsy Handmade Fair is in town, and I'll be there with all my lovely wares! It's this coming weekend, Sunday 18th, so if you fancy a nice day out in Blackpool mixed in with a good bit of handmade (can you ever get too much?!), pop in and say 'hello'! It's the first time I've done a stall by myself, so would be lovely to see some friendly faces!

Admission is free, and there's over 30 stalls in 2 marquees, all with a stunning array of gorgeous handmade items. It's 12-4pm, and is based in Stanley Park - which also has a boating lake!

I'll have my Folksy sign out on my table so you can spot me easily - I think all the Folksy folk attending this are going to have little signs, so come find us all!

You can find all the details on their website, including a list of all the stall holders: http://superduperfair.blogspot.com/

Featured on Folksy!

The lovely Folksy peeps have picked my 'I♥Tea!' mug to go on their featured items list this week - a selection of goodies suitable for end of term presents for those fab Teachers. Thank you!

You can find all the featured items here, and my mug listed here on my Folksy page. Coasters are also available for something a little cheaper (or to make it into the Tea lovers perfect set!)

I ♥ Cake! - Exciting delivery!

After the brilliant popularity of my 'I♥Tea!' mug and coaster range, I decided to be brave and venture out with my other popular design, 'I ♥ Cake!' You just can't beat a good cake can you! I was a very happy bunny when they arrived all nicely packaged on my doorstep this weekend.

So, for all those cake-o-holics out there (myself totally included!), you can now bag yourself a fab bright Mug or Coaster, in red, blue or yellow! They're all listed on my Etsy shop, and if you click on the pictures below, it will take you to the page. What do you think?

Now who fancies a cuppa and a piece of cake ;0)
One final bit of exciting news - my little Folksy shop is ONE sale off 100!! The lucky 100th customer will get some fab goodies in their package, and keep your eyes peeled here for a Giveaway when I hit the 100!

Folksy Friday - Cool me down!

Now that our weather has finally clicked it's summer, and we're all getting a bit hot n bothered (especially last weekend standing in open fields at Glastonbury!) I thought I'd create a nice selection of things which would cool us all down. So, here's my refreshing little collection!





Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Fun in a Field!

Quite Contrary HQ was put on holiday mode last week whilst I tootled off to revel in the delight that is Glastonbury! Our fellow Festival Revellers and partners in crime were my best bud Pippa, of The Owl & The Party Hat fame, and her fella. And what an awesome weekend it was - so so hot, so unlike Glasto!

So, amid the constant liberal lashings of Factor 50 Sunblock, manic hunts for anything like cool water, and trying to keep a check on my ever reddening poor little self, here are some of our favourite moments...

On Thursday, our first day at the festival, we came across the brilliant idea of a Piano-free for all, and this chap created a very rousing singalong of All The Saints v. Rule Britannia!

Opening the festival on the Pyramid stage was the legend that is Rolf Harris, complete with accordian and wibbly board!

This made me chuckle - all the way from London, we found a special Glasto Welliephant!

They had a huge Arts & Craft field, mainly with wood turners and jewellers where you can try and make your own bracelet, wooden stool or pot (I stayed away for fear of creating a clay lump!), and there was also this campsite with a difference. It reminded me of Mr Ben's world...

Now for the funniest picture of the weekend. We found a Village Fete (that may have been for kids but we wanted fun too!) - and Pip & Jonny went carrot bobbing. Hilarious!

There was one victim of the weekend though. We brought along sweetie supplies to keeps us going, but we forgot about a bag of Haribo, left unloved in the bottom of Dan's rucksack inside the very very hot tent...oops!

Not to be put off by my sugar supply melting into a set gooey mess, I did attempt to find some sort of 'cola bottle' or 'egg' amongst the mush - turns out this is what you should do if you fancy getting a Cubist take on the regular Haribo sweet!

All in all it was a fab weekend, Stevie Wonder rocked, Muse featuring The Edge was amazing, and the weather was just unbelievable! I'd definitely recommend it next year to anyone (especially if U2 end up doing next year instead of this one!)

Relocation back 'oop North!

Hello from lovely Lancashire! After a mad week of becoming 24/7 unpacking/cleaning/ sorting/tidying machines, it's finally all sorted and I can settle into the new Quite Contrary HQ in the country. Yey! I will be coming back down to the big city quite often though, for both friends and Fairs - I've already got 3 dates for this month and next :)

So, to give you a peek of why I came back here from the crazy fun of Londontown (other than for my man, awww...), here's a picture of the view around the corner of the cottage, overlooking the River Ribble. Pretty scenic!

I also got very excited on our recent Ikea trip for my brand spanking new desk - meaning for the first time, Quite Contrary actually has a permanent HQ and I no longer need to tidy things away each night (and my very patient London friends now have their dining table back!)

In theme with this week's activities, I've also managed to fit in a few first hours at the new beloved Craft Corner (TM) and created a new design for a 'New Home' card, now available on both my Folksy and Etsy stores.

And, finally, we were lucky enough to have a family of Blue Tits choose the ivy-covered garden wall to nest in this year. We managed to see the little babies on their first day out of the nest attempting to fly. So cute!

Right, so back to the cutting board for me now - got some new ideas to get out, along with finding some sort of money fund and throwing myself into my Exhibition piece for an exciting event in July!

Folksy Friday - London!

It's my last week living in London, so it's a very special Folksy Friday theme today. Quite Contrary HQ is picking up her cutting board and moving back to the great Northern Lancashire...so if it rains next week up there, blame me! I've had a brilliant 3 years in London, and will be sad to leave, but a new exciting Northern adventure does await! So, here's a selection of some of my favourite reminders of life in the big London town!




The big move is this coming Sunday, with a white van and a car coming to take all my stuff! (and yes, I have a lot of 'stuff' :D ). So have a lovely weekend everyone, and next time you hear from me, I'll be a Northern lass again!