The Dartmouth Jubliee craft fair. June 2nd.

GOOOOOD afternoon!
I am delighted and very excited to announce my first ever fair! this is an amazing opportunity for anyone looking to try a craft fair for the first time, or give a new one a go.
Based in the heart of Dartmouth Park, close to Hampstead Heath, Kentish Town and Tufnell Park, the Dartmouth is THE perfect venue to sell your stuff. There are NO stall fees for the launch fair, and stalls will be allocated soon!. Please contact me for more info if you are interested in selling.

S. xx

Mail-shmccarney@gmail.com
FB- Just Sinead
Tweet- @mswonder

wash out weekend..but good things on the horizen

well what a wash out of a weekend!
I'm in the middle of packing up my little home and shipping out to the Hertfordshire countryside (well the green bit of St Albans-to an urbanite like me THAT is countryside!), Im living amongst boxes, piles of clothes and a lot of toys, all of which have to go!.  On the crafting front, Iv been one busy bee, I'm now booked up to do at least one craft fair a month, AND Il be launching my own In Dartmouth Park in June! Its all very exciting, and a lot of work goes in to everything I do. In the next few days Il be posting new items and opening my FOLKSY on line shop...watch this space because in the next 5 years I plan to be stocked in John Lewis and own several craft cafes....lets hope the sun decides to turn up this summer, I don't know how much more rain we need.
Details of all craft fairs Im involve will be up in the next few days, any traders interested in my new Craft fair and would like to be involved please tweet me @MsWonder

Wonderful Wednesday

So,its a happy Wednesday,
Iv been on a fabric spree and am ready and waiting to have many metres of lovely Nordic inspired fabric delivered to my door in the next few days, Iv also signed up to do another craft fair, the Wonder Hill fair in London in July, and am bursting with ideas...I think my next post will be a step by step to how I make my appliqued animals, or if I'm really creative, I may even get round to trying my hand at quilting.
What started out as a pretty miserable Monday, with grumpy toddler insisting on wearing nothing but wellies and shorts, to a pretty busy mid week, I'm not even minding this rain as my little window sill garden has suddenly come to life. Bring on summer and a lot of new challenges!

photos

photos from the craft fair AND a bag design Im working on......

just your typical scrounger really....

So, its been a week off from sewing duty for me, and week of house hunting stress instead,
I desperately want to avoid staying in private rental and ever since I was given my section 21 notice Iv been looking at every angle, can I work and cover the rent of a flat in London?...no, can I work and cover child care costs AND rent in London?...er..no, can I work, cover childcare, pay rent AND feed my child?...that would still be a NO, so wheres the incentive to work? mine comes from always paying my way.
 From 16 I worked, I studied my Spanish GCSE's over a sink of washing up in my local pub, Iv worked long hours in bars for less then minimum wage, Iv put up with dictatorial bosses and crazy colleagues, and that's a part of working life, you deal with the crap because you have to,  and with work does come freedom, and motivation to keep working, like being able to buy yourself new clothes with out feeling guilty that that money should be going on savings, or bills, it means you can plan for a future, for holidays, treats for your child. it means being spoken to like a human being, that peoples perception of you doesn't change when you are asked what you do for a living.
 Living on benefits is not a career choice, it strips away the simple pleasures of life and makes everything a task. the craziest thing about the benefit system is that it is designed to keep you in it. I could save, I really could live on the bread line and save, but if I hit £6k I LOOSE my benefits, whats £6k to most people a nice little nest egg?a car? but to a benefit claimant that is 'proof' you have too much money, how on earth can people climb out of a system that gives them so little, when hard work and perseverance is not rewarded. Im lucky, I have family, friends and a wonderful support network, I have people who want to help me and I also have comparisons I can make, work did pay for me, I liked getting up, I liked earning that money, did I like everything about work, hell no, but I was independent, and could pick and choose how I spent or saved my money. So Im quitting the system, Im not saying how, because nothing is set in stone, but I refuse to be dictated to by a man in a suit (that's too big for him) in a job centre where people dont know your name, your history or your circumstances about how I should live my life, and this is why....
When I was pregnant I had to be on job seekers allowance, I played by the rules, applied for 6 jobs a week, all the while my bump was growing by the day and the looks where getting more sympathetic and less interested in my skills, and at 7 months pregnant, swollen footed whale that I was, I waddled to the job centre and was told I had a job interview, fan-bloody-tastic, I needed money, I was bored, what could this job be??...er full time cocktail waitress 9pm-3am..... and from that moment on I realised no one gives a shit about you in the job centre, in the government, or in society and they are all making this up as they go along.

I did it!!!

So, I did it, I got through my first fair, at 9am this morning I was sure Id not go! worried my hard work wouldnt pay off and terrified that Id look like a novice! how wrong I was, everyone was so so lovely and I got some great advice, even sold a few things to boot!All it has shown me is that hard work and desire is worth it, and this is the path for me now...so a BIG thank you to every single person who has helped and supported me in the past few weeks. I now have a million ideas and goals but right now im giving my fingers and my family a break and off to stuff my face with Easter chocolate!

off to the craft fair

off to the craft fair at Boogaloo, feeling sick with nerves now....

pocket money toys Iv made..

roll on Saturday!!

So its the count down to the craft fair and the first time anyone will see my 'creations', maybe a bit late in the day now, but its dawned on me that this may be a terrible idea! what if I sell nothing?, or even worse, what if people hate my stuff?...plus nothings finished due to a temperamental sewing machine and an irate toddler...time to breathe, put the sewing away and take a break, Saturday is judgement day, and if all else fails Il go and get myself a job in Cath Kidson and pretend I made everything! ;-)
Also, probably not wise to rant about my living situation, but today I came up against a massive brick wall in what I want to do and it was just another example of as soon as someone hears the word 'benefits' and they assume you are a bit shifty, and therefore must jump through many pointless hoops to prove you are a decent human being.