Been really busy lately with moving in with the in-laws while we build a house and space and time (and sanity!) are precious commodities right now.

My Etsy shops will be staying in holiday mode until I have time for them again and I’ll be letting go of my domain name when it comes up for renewal in April so this blog will disappear.

I’m keeping my twitter account so if you want to know when I’m back or if you just want to rant at me for giving up so easily when you desperately needed some monkey cake toppers: http://twitter.com/raspberrypink

Goodbye domain and the few people who read my (very) infrequent blogs. And to all the spammers, we all know it’s spam, please stop.

So after thinking I wouldn’t be doing any more markets this year, a spot opened up at the BIDM and I’m in!

I’ll be at St Augustine’s Church Hall and Grounds at Racecourse Road, Hamilton this Saturday from 9am to 4pm inside in the middle of the hall.

I’ll have kits and jewellery and accessories and I think I even have some monkeys hiding in my market box!

And anyone wondering where I’ve been can wander over here and check out my awesomeness. And for anyone who does that and doesn’t get it - I wrote a novel. In a month. I even have a t-shirt to prove it. Editing to commence when my brain, life, and husband recover. Can’t wait for next November!

I’ve had to give up the Boutique Markets. I just don’t have the time and support to get out there once a month with an attractive stall filled with stock and work five days a week and look after my husband and have time for myself.

My Etsy stores are still open though and I’ll be at the BrisStyle December market so clay addicts can get their fix before Christmas :D When I get the motivation I’ll have some Christmas activity kits listed on Etsy so keep an eye out for those!

Apologies to anyone looking for me at the last Boutique Markets too, I had the flu

Are slowly making their way into my Etsy shop!

I now have penguin kits..

And these adorable bear kits!

Coming soon: turtle kits, monkey kits, kitten kits, updated glow kits and some mix and match Christmas kits.

Boutique Markets next weekend as well in the likely event I forget to post again before then! Sunday 13th of September 8am-1pm

Happens when you’re not paying attention apparently!

Last week I was happily waking up to watch Pokemon and spending my days creating things and then it hits.

Thursday - I was contacted about a job opportunity at a place I worked at last year.

Friday - Had a meeting about said job.

Monday - Got said job.

Monday Afternoon and Tuesday - Ran around like a nut trying to organise new work shoes (old ones mouldy), a new work bag (old one old), some new work clothes (old ones old) and posting some orders.

Wednesday - Started said job.

Friday night - Recovering from a hectic week! And trying to organise five orders I have on the go for clay and custom orders!

Saturday night - Dog sitting for in-laws.

Sunday - One order down, four to go..

In other news..

I got the hair accessories I won from Please Eloise!

So cute! I got the clips for my sister but now I’m not sure I want to part with them!

I made my husband a banana man from the Extra ads. I couldn’t get him to stand up properly so he got a bit deformed falling over in the oven but my husband was happy so that’s all that counts.

Ignore the mess on his desk..

I got a new lot of clay so I have most colours in stock again except for two which have sold out since (emerald and dolphin grey) and I have liquid clay now! I don’t have it listed for sale anywhere yet but I’m getting around to it.

I made a new batch of rainbow barrettes which will be listed soon as well. I got some 100mm barrettes in my latest order of supplies so I’ll have some of them available soon along with the usual 80mm ones so people with thick hair can wear my barrettes too!

I also have a bee kit ready to list!

This is the first of my properly photographed kits with full blocks of clay and lots of findings including earrings!

And I had to share this..

How cool is that?? You add some hot water then your favourite drink and make your own flavour! I can’t wait to try coke flavoured jelly!

And now I have to go make some 3″ ducks for a wedding cake. I’m a little bit nervous but fingers crossed they look as good as my 1″ trial run..

to do and not enough time! Again! Blah.

The markets on the weekend were great, the BrisStyle market was wonderful, so many people and so many wonderful stallholders! Twinkle Star Art took this photo of my (very messy) stall:

And then I got up and did it all over again on Sunday! And I’m doing it all again this Sunday! There’s a chocolate and coffee market thing on at the same time in the same place so come down to Portside to the Boutique Markets between 8am and 4pm on Sunday and say hi and eat lots of chocolate :D

Leanne and her two boys bought a kit from me on Saturday and commented with a link to some pictures! Check out their creations here. I’ll have more kits and 25 different colours of clay available this Sunday for all you crafty people!

Ooo.. And last week I won a gift voucher for Please Eloise! I picked out some gorgeous hair clips and hair ties. I’m watching the mailbox waiting for them to arrive

I’m madly getting ready for the BrisStyle market tomorrow and I got asked today to do the Southbank YDM on Sunday as well so this is just a really quick post and I’ll see you all tomorrow or on Sunday or both! I was also in the Mx today if anyone spotted me

I know, I’m a day late, but the winner of my giveaway is… Bec!

It didn’t turn out exactly as I thought it would but I still like it, I hope you do too!

Don’t forget to pick up your prize on Saturday

To enter my giveaway! Just pick a new colour combo for my barrettes and comment on the Giveaway post below and if I like your suggestion, I’ll make it and you can pick one up for free at the BrisStyle market next weekend!

I’m also going to be on the Great South East tonight as part of a segment on BrisStyle (if they didn’t cut me out!) so make sure you’re watching!

I’ve added some new things to my Etsy shop as well so go check them out!

I get a lot of people making (incorrect) assumptions about how I make by barrettes and it’s not an easy process to explain in words so here’s some pictures to help!

Step 1: Pick the colours and roll them through my pasta machine so they’re all the same thickness

Step 2: Cut out circles with a cutter and stack them all up in the order I want them to come out in (raspberry, raspberry mixed with white to make a light pink, then white for this one). It takes about 16 circles per line so I need at least 48. These were going to be part of a rainbow barrette but I got lazy so they’ll probably be chopped up to make beads:

Step 3: Roll the stack until it’s thin enough to go in the extruder. It only fits enough for two rows so I have to do this in two parts. This is my extruder and some of the shapes I can make:

Step 4: Extrude the clay through the square disc and cut up the extruded clay into roughly even pieces. The pattern is created because the clay on the inside moves faster than the clay on the outside as it’s pushed out because of the disc. Here are the scraps and the ends of the extrusions for the pink barrettes I just listed on Etsy:

Step 5: Stack up the pieces so the sides are staggered because it’s groovy that way and you get two staggered barrettes as well as some flat ones. In the background you can see some black and white rectangular extrusions.

Step 6: Slice up the block and totally stuff it up so I only get three decent barrettes and a few salvagable bits for cards and a whole pile of scrap clay which is now one ball of a rather nice shade of pink. I suppose that’s one advantage of using shades of one colour. Mushed up rainbow scraps turn into a gross shade of red.

Step 7: Bake the barrette-suitable bits on the metal barrettes so they bake in the right shape then glue the baked clay onto the barrettes (metal and clay won’t stay together), then take pictures!

Don’t forget to come up with a colour combination you’d like to see me make. If I make yours for the BrisStyle market, you can come along on the day and pick up one of your designs for free! The market is at Hamilton on the 4th of July, I’ll be inside the hall somewhere!