Purple Sparkle Crafts

I hope you're having a ball...

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:02:00 +0000

Today my Nana would be 99 years old. I couldn't find a card with 'Happy 99th' on it, but I did find a card with cupcakes on it :-) Unfortunately she didn't get to see it as she passed away on Saturday.

She was such a character. I went to see her last Sunday, and as I haven't had the chance to go back home to see her very often, she was suprised, even though she barely knew I was there for most of it. When she was told I was coming to visit she did manage to say 'Good God!'

The photo was taken at Christmas 2006, when Nana had just turned the grand age of 96! :-)

Nana, I hope you're having a ball today. I love you very much. Rest in Peace.

xxxx

It's my favourite scented time of year!

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:39:00 +0000

It's time to make Christmas candles! I absolutely love the fragrances of these, cranberry, vanilla, christmas pudding - delicious! Here's a peek at what I have been working on..

They're available right now from my Etsy Shop and will very soon be available on my main website at www.purplesparkle.co.uk

There are actually going to be a good few changes to the Purple Sparkle website over the coming weeks. Alot has been going on since my last blog post, and I have taken the decision to stop trading from the Purple Sparkle shop in Wincanton. It wasn't an easy decision to make, in fact it was absolutely horrible, as I loved my little Purple Sparkle shop, but I'm pretty sure now that it's the best thing to do for me, and for Purple Sparkle.

The good news is, that all of the lovely crafty goodies that I stocked in the Purple Sparkle shop are now going to be made available online for everyone.

Amongst other things, we're going to have these beautiful teacup pincushions made by Julie at Shabby Chic..

and these scrumptious Snuggle Baby Boots handcrafted by Tracy at Sugar Pie..

These are made from luxurious cashmere and merino blended yarn, and Tracy is even making some Purple Sparkle special edition snuggle boots!

It has always been my dream with Purple Sparkle to bring beautiful and unique handmade crafts together, for gifts and treats at reasonable prices. I was lucky enough to be able to do this in my little retail shop for the past year, and I have had the most wonderful customers, and fantastic support from the other traders in Wincanton. Now it's time to move in a new direction, and I'm confident that we're going to keep on sparkling! :-)

Everything happens for a reason..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:35:00 +0000

My two nice surprises in my last post turned into three nice surprises as I was lucky enough to win Kathryn's blog giveaway over at Lazy Daisy Glass. I stock some of Kathryn's gorgeous jewellery, and Lazy Bones Fishies, in the Purple Sparkle Shop, so I'm so excited to be getting a Lazy Daisy pendant of my own!

After my very lucky day, the universe seemed to want to balance things out a little bit, and gave me a very tough rest of the week. Honestly, how mean of it!

So, I thought I'd share these very wise words..

Everything happens for a reason.

Nothing happens by chance or by means of good or bad luck.

Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul.

Without these small tests if they be events, illnesses or relationships life would be a smoothly paved, straight flat road to nowhere.

If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to who you open your heart to.

If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you but because they are teaching you to love and opening your heart and eyes to things you would have never seen or felt without them.

Make everyday count.

Appreciate every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again.

Talk to people you have never talked to before, and actually listen.

Hold your head up because you have every right to.

Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself, for if you don't believe in yourself, no one else will believe in your either.

You can make of your life anything you wish.

Create your own life and then go out and live it!

I'll be back soon with some more Purple Sparkle news.. including some brand new fragrant products, which will be up on the website by the end of this week :-)

Two nice surprises..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:13:00 +0000

As I pulled up outside the Purple Sparkle shop this morning I was met with this lovely surprise..

A new shop sign! Or rather a shop sign full stop, as it's the first one I've ever had. I did know it was coming of course, but I didn't realise it was being installed whilst I was away being a soap hermit. I absolutely love it, it's fantastic to see my Purple Sparkle cupcake logo up there looking all shiny and new! I'm thinking of it as a first birthday present to the shop. It's about time really, can you think of many shops you know without signs?!

Secondly, when I opened the door to the shop, I found another surprise in the form of this green piece of card..

I won (joint) third place in the window dressing competition! Maybe my candy floss tree wasn't such a bad idea!

I seem to be incapable of taking a good picture of this window display, but there's another attempt!

As you can probably tell, the next very important job is to get the shop front re-painted. A year ago I tried to pretend it was 'shabby chic', but I don't think I can get away with that for much longer..!

Soap Hermit and Sugar Pie..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:54:00 +0000

I made the mistake in my last blog post in saying that I had completed a huge soap order. The mistake was in the word 'completed'. Did you ever do an exam at school and finish the paper, only to realise at the very last minute that the question pages were two sides, so you had only completed half and it was too late to do anything about it? Well it was that sort of feeling here last Monday evening!

After recovering from a huge wibble about it all, I recruited Mr Purple Sparkle to help with the wrapping (I had to promise payment in Xbox games) and we have just finished another week of being soap hermits!

I did manage to spend some days at the Purple Sparkle shop though, and completed my Halloween window decoration to be entered into the window display competition which is part of the Wincanton Carnival. Sorry for the very poor picture, my camera told me that the battery was exhausted (know the feeling!) so I had to use my phone, but you should be able to make out my inspired idea of a spooky tree. The one with purple candy floss on it. It was only looking back at the picture I realised it looked like candy floss and not spooky cobwebs at all. Ah well! I do love the cute purple spiders and the witches though. And the owls can be made from the craft kit which is available from my website.

I'm looking forward to getting back to the Purple Sparkle shop again tomorrow, where I'm working on some new products for Christmas. And some things for my first craft fair in a long time - the Sugar Pie Craft Event in the Methodist Church Hall in Gillingham on Saturday morning. I'm really looking forward to that, not least because it is being run by Tracy of Sugar Pie Artisan Cupcakes. It's a brand new craft event, which will include real edible cupcakes! Just my cup of tea!

Which brings me onto edibles.. or in my case, inedibles (in a good way) and the winner of last week's Chocolate Week Giveaway! Thank you so much to everyone who commented, blogged and tweeted about the giveaway. I've entered everyone into the random number generator at www.random.org, who chose the winner to be Merry from Merrymade Cards and Crafts. So my raspberry truffle wax melts will be winging their way over to Australia shortly - lucky things!

Hope you all have a lovely week,

Purpley :-)

It's Chocolate Week!

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:13:00 +0000

I noticed over on Lazy Daisy's Blog today , that this week is Chocolate Week!

Which is great timing really, as I have spent today making chocolate themed products for a new customer, who happens to own a chocolate shop!

We have some chocolate box wax melts, fragranced with Raspberry Truffle..

And a new chocolate themed Celebration Cake Candle..

I'm also making chocolate scented body scrubs, bath melts and whipped shea butter!

Now I know a few posts back I said that this month is the Purple Sparkle Shop's first birthday and that I was planning something special for the month of October, but unfortunately so far that something special hasn't quite happened. I've spent most of the past week working on a very large soap order, which meant that the poor Purple Sparkle Shop was closed three out of five days last week, one night I didn't go to bed at all, and I started to look rather like a panda. This afternoon I finally finished the last soap, so now I can get back to civilisation, candles, and catching up with anything I may have missed while I have been a soap hermit!

So, I think it's about time I started on this 'something special for October' promise I made, and I think a good way to start would be a themed giveaway for Chocolate Week!

So to be in with a chance to win one of Purple Sparkle's scrumptious calorie free chocolate boxes all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. To gain an extra entry you can promote my giveaway on your own blog, or tweet a link to my giveaway, or add it to your facebook page if you have one. For three extra entries you can do all three! Don't forget to leave an extra comment for each entry with a link to your blog or your tweet, whichever is relevant. If you don't have a blogspot account, remember to leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you are the winner.

Closing date is Monday 19th October at 8pm GMT, when I'll draw a winner from all the entries at random.

Have a great week!

Purpley :-)

Trick or Treat!

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:56:00 +0000

When Trick or Treaters used to come to our door, my Mum Bryn always used to respond with 'Treat Please!' and hold out her hand for her treat. Strangely it didn't really work, we didn't get many treats given to us that way...!

There are plenty of treats for you over at Purple Sparkle Crafts this October though, our Halloween Range is finally online!

I hope you enjoy them. The pumpkin pie fragrance is my absolute favourite, it smells delicious!

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend. I'm working on a super big soap order and also working on some new handmade jewellery both for the Purple Sparkle Shop and for some upcoming craft fairs! It's been too long since I have attended a craft fair so I'm really looking forward to these.

I've also started reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I thought I'd get straight back into something different after finishing the fantastic 'Pillars of The Earth'. Mr Purple Sparkle made the mistake of waiting and hasn't read anything since he finished it. So I had to do the kindly thing and order the sequel.. :-)

Purpley :-)

Pretty in pink and sleepless nights..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:29:00 +0000

I went to my first and last car boot sale of the year last weekend and was very excited to find a stall with a big box of vintage greetings cards, they were so pretty! They were quite expensive so I limited my selection to just a few, but my favourite was this lovely lady..

I thought rather than confine her to a shoebox for the rest of her days, I'd pop her out on display, so I decorated a canvas with lots of lace and gave her a sprinkling of glimmer mist for papercrafts. Quite extravagant, but she looks like she approves!

Feeling inspired by all that lovely lace, I thought I'd attempt to decorate a shadowbox. I love shadowboxes, and will keep them for absolutely ages before I decide what to do with them. I purchased some cupcake picks from Etsy which when they arrived I thought were too cute to be used even for cupcakes.. so I have given them a new home, with, of course, lots of lace!

In other news, I'm feeling a little bit sleepy this week. As a self employed crafter, I find that I am doing something 'work' related most of my waking hours. Anytime after around midnight I let myself stop, and in this time I usually sleep. That's until I discovered this..

Every time I have tried to describe this book to someone I haven't done too good a job. So all I will say is, just read it. It is absolutely fantastic. It made me laugh and it made me cry. It's just such a wonderful story. I'm at a bit of a loss now I've finished reading it. After I've caught up on the lost sleep I will miss being able to get lost in my book. Let me know if you have any recommendations!

Purpley :-)x

I heart spray paint..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:02:00 +0000

Looking around the Purple Sparkle Shop in Wincanton recently, I had the feeling that I wanted to take it all out and start again. It tells me that it's in desperate need of new fittings and furniture and a complete rearrange. It may have something to do with this picture I received of the beautiful Love and Roses Boutique in Aberdeen, who are one of my stockists..

Isn't it lovely? All that gorgeous white furniture, and I love the way that my products have been displayed. I received this picture by email and looked up at my own wax melt display and thought something had to be done!

In the absence of funds to refit the entire shop as I would wish, I brought home the worst offending article in the shop and plonked it onto the patio for a makeover..

Isn't it just stunning?! Hmm.. I'm afraid to say that this is what I was using to display the wax melts in my shop. So I brought out the spray paint..

A bit better..

Maybe I'll turn it pink..

I know, pink and blue together!... Ok, I think I've ruined the poor shelf now, it looked better in the first picture...

The only thing for it was to paint over the whole thing! And then add some butterflies..

And here it is in the shop window!

Well.. it's a start..!

Spooky spooktacular..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:28:00 +0000

It's nearly that time again! On 27th October, our Purple Sparkle Shop in Wincanton will be a whole year old! So I'm hoping this year's spooktacular will be a little more spooktastic than last year. I'm planning something special for the month of October. Still in the planning stages at the moment, but I'll get there!

In the meantime, the Halloween soaps are now available in the Purple Sparkle Etsy shop!

Fly Me to The Moon Soap Set

Halloween Cookie Soaps - Calorie Free Cherry Ice Cream Flavour!

Things are a little crazy here at Purple Sparkle. I'm busier with orders for both new and existing stockists than ever before. I've been creating custom 'soap cakes' and making lots and lots of cupcake candles. I'm anticipating spending some long days and evenings at the Purple Sparkle Shop over the next week!

Hope you have a great week,

Purpley :-) x

Scrummy Yummy Soaps..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 10:25:00 +0000

Some scrummy soaps from my Flickr favourites. I love Emmy's sign. (From Nature With Love) I dissapoint people when they find out my cupcakes aren't edible, but Emmy's Chocolate Bath Tubs Whoopsie Pies are just something else. They look truly delicious!

1. Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Scrub, 2. Jabon crema de coco, 3. Neopolatin Ice Cream Scrub, 4. Coconut Macaroon Scrubbie Soaps, 5. Perfect Rose Vegan Handmade Soap by DeShawn Marie (6), 6. Bath Tub Whoopie Pies (Stacked), 7. Sapone - Soap, 8. Rubber Ducky Love, 9. Soap, 10. daisy soap

Now I'm off to do some soapmaking myself. Have a great Saturday!

Purpley :-)

Introducing Amy May..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:18:00 +0000

I was browsing through the wonderful shops on Etsy not so long ago, and noticed how tidy and organised they looked. A jewellery shop, a soap shop, a crochet shop, a supplies shop.. makes sense doesn't it?

Then I had a little look at my own shop on Etsy and noticed my listings were looking a little like this..

Cupcake Candle
Handmade Bracelet
Vintage Doll
Sheet of Stickers
Selection of Beads
Handmade Bath Melts

What a mess!!

So, the first step was to turn my Purple Sparkle Etsy shop into a proper Purple Sparkle Etsy shop..

and the second step was to open a brand new Etsy shop, for everything else.

So now I am able to introduce Amy May, my shop for handmade accessories, supplies and vintage..

It still needs alot of work, but it's great to have a proper home for everything that just didn't fit into my Purple Sparkle shop! It also gives me a good excuse to keep coming up with new creations, and sourcing supplies, and of course buying vintage treasures!

I hope you like it.

Purpley :-)

http://maysparkles.etsy.com

Inspiration overload..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:01:00 +0000

There is so much going on at the moment, with most things just being an idea in my head at this stage, or still in the planning stages, or not there quite yet. I've been doing alot of thinking, alot of planning, and not alot of sleeping! Maybe writing a blog post with such limited information will make sure that at least one of the ideas comes to fruition, so I can tell you about it!

In the meantime, here are some of my recent Flickr favourites.. aren't they gorgeous!

1. *CoLLaGe iMaGe FReeBie* atc background paper, 2. Hello Kitty's Winter Cottage, 3. Untitled, 4. Tea Cups, 5. Thought of you swap!, 6. Turquoise Dish

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday weekend!

PS: If you fancy some Purple Sparkle shopping, Bryn is at the lovely Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay. Oh, and we're now on Misi too..

Summer Holiday..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:08:00 +0000

I did something big and scary the other week. I closed the shop and took a week off. It's the longest I have gone without making a candle or soap for years, and I must admit I really wasn't very keen on the idea!

We are such sticklers for routine. Our local takeaway eatery begins to cook our meal before we have even wandered through the door to order it on a Saturday evening. Sad, but very true!

Anyway, after a last minute panic, I did eventually find my way over the Irish Sea on a very choppy ferry crossing, and I ended up in a place called Bunratty in County Clare. I cheered up immensely when our first trip to explore took us driving around the beautiful Burren..

and to a wonderful place called The Burren Perfumery

The Burren Perfumery is hidden away amongst the beautiful landscape. It was a long trip to get there, but it was definitely worth it. The building on the right was a tearooms, and the building on the left was the soapmaking room. There was another building behind me as I took the picture, which housed the shop, full of wonderful lotions, potions, perfumes and soaps..

If you take a wander behind the soap workshop, you find the perfumery's herb garden..

I even saw a soapmaker at work, which made me feel right at home!

Then, after visiting the shop and treating myself to some shea butter soap and some rose and vanilla scented spray, sitting in the cosy tearoom drinking Earl Grey tea from a proper teacup and tucking into a homemade chocolate brownie, I began to think that this holiday idea was perhaps not so bad after all.. ;-)

That said, I was very pleased to get back a week later to my own workroom and shop. And my own bed, and my own giant mugs to drink tea from.. mmm.. there's no place like home!

Purpley :-)

Parties and Pink Lemonade

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:55:00 +0000

It's time for a new cupcake candle! I have some gorgeous new fragrances that are begging to be made into cupcake candles, and this is the first of the bunch..

The fragrance is 'pink lemonade' and it's so realistic, smells delicious!

I also finished a custom order this week for party favours. My customer decided on fairy cake sized candles, fragranced with 'Angel Cake', topped with white icing, pink sugar sprinkles and silver sparkle - as favours for her guests at her pink cupcake themed birthday party!

This is where you need to use your imagination because I didn't take a photograph before I posted them off, but my customer was very happy, which has encouraged me to add cupcake candles to the wedding and party favours range. I'm working on that this week as we are attending a 'wedding and events' evening on Friday at The Park House Club in Cardiff. You can read more about the event and book tickets here..

So for now, it's back to the baking..!

More from the world of Etsy..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:57:00 +0000

I am still quite new to the world of Etsy, and I learnt about treasuries earlier this week from my fellow team members at The Eclectic Artisan Team. Treasuries are a group of items hand picked by Etsy members, usually along the same theme.

Then this morning I got a message from Love at First Blush to let me know I had been included in her treasury! Then with a little help from Michelle from Michelle's Charm World I worked out how to take a screen capture of it.. it's pretty!

I've been adding some new goodies to my Etsy shop over the past few days, there are some gorgeous vintage finds, and my new bobby pin hairclips..

These are the first ones, but I have ordered some gorgeous new fabrics so I hope to make lots more of these soon.

In other news, the new handmade goodies are still filling up our Wincanton shop. Today I took a delivery of some gorgeous handmade bags, all one of a kind! And we're still busy with candles and melts going to our stockists in the Isle of Wight, and a new stockist in Northern Ireland.

Hope you're all having a good week!

Purpley :-)

The beading bug is back!

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:54:00 +0000

I've got a few new projects that I'm working on at the moment, and I'm finding myself wishing for more hours in the day so I can fit them all in, as well as sleep, and as well as playing the new Harry Potter game on the Xbox, and as well as baking and then eating cupcakes.. it's a toughie!

One thing I have managed to complete in the last week is some new beaded jewellery.

This bracelet was alot of fun. It's made from memory wire, so it's one big stretchy wire with no need for any fiddly clasps! I also made some pretty petal earrings to go with the bracelets..

in lots of different colour combinations..!

I had a handmade surprise gift to make for another fan of beading, so I got a plain wooden trinket box and decorated it, and filled it up with different beads..

This is winging it's way to the United States as I type, so I hope it gets there safely!

Last but not least, and nothing to do with beads, let me introduce you to Fleecy..

Fleecy is for another handmade surprise swap, for a lady who lists amongst her likes - 'sheep, prim style, original artwork'. He was another one that was alot of fun to make. He's on his way to Texas right now!

In Purple Sparkle news, our little shop is filling up with more and more handmade goodies..

In the past week we've got in some beautiful glass jewellery, love tokens and lazy bones fish from Lazy Daisy Glass, and some gorgeous fabric goodies from Julie at Shabby Chic.

See you soon,

Love from Purpley :-)

WOW! Wincanton's Art Trail..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:29:00 +0000

There are exciting things happening in Wincanton this week, the home of my little Purple Sparkle shop. Yesterday launched WOW! Windows of Wincanton, which is an art trail on and around Wincanton High Street..

Almost every shop window is displaying artwork, and it's amazing how much talent there is here. I tried to take a picture of the work in my window, but my photograph just doesn't do it justice!

The artist is Eve Nicholls, and this what is difficult to see in the photograph is that this waterfall is entirely embroidered. The theads and the fabric sparkle in the light, it really is beautiful! The artist bio tells me that each piece takes months of work. I won't want to let this one go at the end of the week!

I have also this week stumbled across the work of The Artificers, who create incredible sculptures in their workshop in Wincanton. Their website has an online gallery which is well worth a visit.

Another artist who just amazes me is Tamsyn G. There doesn't seem to be anything that Tasmsyn can't put her hand to and create beautifully! So I'm very excited to have some of her creations in the Purple Sparkle shop.. these arrived yesterday...

Aren't they lovely! There is so much more over at Tamsyn's website and you must see her paintings too, they're stunning - and a selection is currently being displayed on Wincanton High Street!

So, I really think that Wincanton is the place to be this week. I'll be here too, I'm mainly making candles that look like cupcakes, but then you probably know that already...!

See you soon,

Purpley :-) x

PS.. If you're wondering about the stamps reference in the jolly postcard.. it should be explained here.. Discworld Stamps

:-)

Happy Fathers Day

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:44:00 +0000

To my wonderful Dad!

This picture was taken in October 2007 when we had a 'retro weekend' on the Isle of Wight for Dad's 60th Birthday. It was a fantastic weekend, it was as though someone was making sure for us that everything that could go right did!

Dad was telling us a story about when he used to get the train to Ventnor when he was younger, and he used to love the sign in the train station, telling him that he was 294 ft above sea level.

That night we found a pub for dinner.. and what sign should they have recovered to hang up in the pub?

We were so excited, I'm sure the staff thought we were nuts!

My lovely Dad has been quite ill for the past year, and is now going through radiotherapy. But he's doing great, and is putting up with all the 'zapping' that he has to have, with the help of his allotment! He's also a star for putting up with the constant Purple Sparkle chatter whenever Mum and I get together!

Love you Dad, Happy Fathers Day

xxx

All that sunshine..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:18:00 +0000

Has gone to my head and given me writers block - so here are some pictures for you instead to show what we've been up to at Purple Sparkle Crafts recently! Much better than reading my ramblings I'm sure..

We got all dressed up for the Homecoming Parade

We got lots of new handmade goodies in the shop

We've attended lots of craft fairs

We've made some wedding favours

We got patriotic by making red, white and blue cupcakes...

...and candles in vintage teacups for the Great British Tea Party - Purple Sparkle Style!

We got mentioned in the Blackmore Vale Magazine..

And a review at Lushious Beauty..

And we've been making lots and lots of candles and wax melts for new Purple Sparkle Stockists in Kent, Aberdeen, West Wales and Holland!

This weekend, Bryn will be at the Welsh Game Fair in Llandeilo, and I will be at the Horsington Village Fete on Saturday.

But before then, I need to drive up to Wales to deliver some stock for Bryn, so I'd better get a move on!

Hope you are all having a great week,

Love from Purpley :-) x

Handmade Holiday..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Sat, 23 May 2009 21:35:00 +0000

What a beautiful day it was here in the South West today, it's starting to feel like summer!

There are lots of exciting things happening at Purple Sparkle this weekend. Firstly I've got some fantastic new handmade goodies courtesy of Plump Pudding. There are pocket mirrors, keyrings, badges, all sorts of lovely things!

In honour of their arrival, I got back into the flat pack furniture and built a new table for their display in the Purple Sparkle shop..

I'm especially excited about this as it's another step in the direction to making Purple Sparkle Crafts full of gorgeous handmade goodies! Whilst I adore all of the ranges I stock, championing handmade is something I'm very passionate about, and I would love Purple Sparkle to reflect this even more than it does already.

Back to the holiday weekend, Bryn has a Purple Sparkle stall at the Joie de Vivre Boutique Market at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff on Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday.

If you can't make it to Cardiff, then you must pop over to www.purplesparkle.co.uk to take a peek at all of the new goodies we have. Including another brand new summery cupcake candle!

This one is summer fruits, it smells absolutely scrumptious, and it's a limited edition fragrance, so be quick if you'd like to try one!

Also, to celebrate the sunshine, if you use the discount code 'HOLIDAY' at checkout this weekend, you will receive a huge 20% off your order! This is valid to 26th May 2009. I have also added international shipping options to make things easier for international customers. If there are any teething problems with this then please give me a shout!

Enjoy the long weekend,

Purpley :-)

Moving, cupcakes and crochet..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Well we made it! I feel as if I have been rushing about like a crazy thing (which arguably I may be) this week. But the main news is that Bryn and I acheived the moving of the Purple Sparkle kitchen down to Wincanton!

There have been a few mishaps whilst getting used to working in a space alot smaller than I'm used to, (including a very nasty bruise on my arm from the chair collapsing underneath me sending me crashing into my newly built shelves - luckily there were no customers about at that time to witness that one!) but the two days I was there were really quite productive!

Saturday saw Purple Sparkle stalls at Hazlegrove School near Yeovil, and Bryn at Brecon Town Hall for her monthly craft market.

And the evenings! It's been very strange not having my candle kitchen at home, and this week I have been so exhausted it hasn't made too much difference, but I did manage to make this altered matchbox..

This is for a 'free theme' matchbox swap on Swap-bot, and I chose 'vintage' for the theme. I found the sheet music in a charity shop for pennies and it's so perfect for collage. I'm also working on an altered journal which I will take some pictures of to share with you soon.

And.. I won Tamsyn.G's cupcake giveaway! I almost forgot all about it with the rushing about, so I was very pleased when postie brought me this on Wednesday...

Cupcake fabric and a gorgeous handmade cupcake brooch! And you can get one for yourself I discovered, if you visit Tamsyn's colourful shop on Folksy or Tamsyn's website - tamsyn-g.com.

Tamsyn also has a bricks and mortar shop in Gillingham, Dorset, which is very close to the Purple Sparkle shop in Wincanton. If you visit Tamsyn's website you can see lots of pictures of the shop, and it looks absolutely wonderful. If I ever manage to finish this Sunday's project, I think this would be a fantastic place to visit for supplies!

Today's project? Here it is so far..

If it ever develops into somethin functional remains to be seen!

Purpley :-) xx

Time for tea.. and time management..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:11:00 +0000

It's a very sleepy monday here after a very busy Purple Sparkle weekend! Yesterday I had a lovely day at Lacock where some more new products from my 'Time for Tea' range made their debut!

Handpoured Vintage Teacup Candle by Purple Sparkle Crafts

Heather and Hawthorn Handmade Soap and Vintage Plate by Purple Sparkle Crafts

Time for Tea is Purple Sparkle style of course, and none of it is edible or drinkable - but delicious in it's own way! :-)

As for time management. I'm bad at it. Very bad at it. It clicked at some point in the middle of last week, when I had stayed up until 3am working in the Purple Sparkle Kitchen (in Bath) and then got up in the morning to go and open the Purple Sparkle Shop (in Wincanton). This is a regular occurance, as is having a quiet day in the shop, then rushing home after I close at 4pm to start work in the kitchen. Wouldn't it make alot of sense to combine the two?

So this is the plan. After I've finished this blog post (whilst I am making some strawberry cupcake candles at the same time - multitasking is good) I will be taking a trip to Ikea to purchase oodles of storage for all of my supplies at the shop. Tomorrow I'll be going to Wincanton to clear out what is currently my junk room behind the shop, and build flat pack shelving (there may be tears!) and Wednesday Bryn and I will be loading up with all the supplies and equipment, and moving it all away from the soon to be ex-Purple Sparkle Kitchen!

Teatime ATC as a break from my rambles.

So.. the benefits of this should be...

~ Increased opening hours at the shop
~ Time in the evenings to work on other projects
~Orders completed in a better time frame
~Having a kitchen at home to be a domestic goddess in enabling me to cook nutritious meals using vegetables dug from my organic vegetable patch and becoming slim and beautiful

Am I getting a little carried away? Maybe we should scrap the last one on that list, but even doing that it seems to good to be true. I'm used to living in chaos, and I can't quite imagine things any other way.

So I'm a bit nervous. But it has to be done!

Wish me luck!
Purpley :-)x

The Random Number Generator has spoken..

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:58:00 +0000

Well how exciting! The time has come for a winner of my 100 post blog candy giveaway! The original post is here in case you missed it - I have been rambling on at you alot since then.

So I took a visit to random.org for a random number generator, which I thought would be fairer than shouting for Mr Purple Sparkle to pick a number. Random.org - what a great idea for a website!

Anyway, the random number generator decided that the winner of the custom made giant super scrumptious candle is..

Vonnie of Blotted Copy Book!

Vonnie's blog is also well worth a visit - she has some scruptious looking sounding recipes over there - for food that is actually edible! ;-)

Thank you to everyone who visited my Etsy shop and left a comment.

Have a great weekend, and if you are anywhere near Lacock, near Chippenham, on Sunday, then pop by and visit the craft fair in the village hall - where I will be taking all of my new summery candles and melts!

Purpley :-)

I'll never manage to eat all that!

purplesparklecrafts@gmail.com (Purple Sparkle) — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:24:00 +0000

Blythe's encounter with a giant cupcake :-)