First Craft Fayre

On Thursday I did my very first craft fayre at Dobbies in Stirling.
I fretted for weeks prior to it. First of all I didnt have transport through as hubby has the car for his work in the evening. When he did agree to give me the car and take the train to work I worried about it being dark and driving on the motorway. But thankfully my cousin came to my rescue and offered to drive me through.
I think she had a whale of a time at the craft fayre as she tried her hand at spinning wool on a spinning wheel and she also did a wee bit of basket weaving. She bought a knitted chicken as a present for her mum (my aunty). It was very cute with its little skirt on! My sister came with us also to the fayre. We had a good old chin wag, we laughed and we had a few sad memories about our dads who are no longer with us. We finished the evening off with a bottle of wine.
My other worry about the fayre was that I didnt have enough jewellery to take with me so I was amazed when I managed to cover the whole table with what I had made. I was keen to promote my wire wrapped jewellery so I made 5 new pieces.





It was a very positive experience. The staff at the garden centre were very complimentary about my work and the other crafter's were very friendly. So I hope that this will not be my last fayre.

Demonstrations

Today I did my third ever demonstration. You would think that with the more times you do it the easier it gets but I can honestly say after it was over I was thoroughly exhausted. I have to admire teachers and professional speakers.
My first ever demonstration was to a Depressed and Self Help group (DASH) There I got the ladies to try and make a bracelet. The one after it was at a Ladies Guild. I was led to believe that all I had to do was turn up and show off my stuff until I was introduced and then I realised that I would have to talk. The one I did today, I was under no illusion. I knew exactly what was expected from me and I have to say I was worried. I decided to go through all the questions in my head that previous customers have asked and I would try and work my way through them like I was telling a story. Once or twice I did lose concentration but on the whole I managed to keep going with only one or two lulls in my conversation. I didn't mind that though as it allowed me to concentrate on what I was demonstrating and as a result I managed to make another tiara called Elaine, that I can show off at exhibitions and to new customers. I was paid a fee and one of the ladies purchased one of my wire wrapped pendants and another lady promised to get in touch with me as she was looking for an unusual present for her sister. Here is a picture of the Elaine tiara, although the one I made today, I used cream swarovski crystals.

Thursday Night Ritual

Every Thursday .....ok being truthful here I shop everyday. Usually just for milk and bread and the odd treat for my teenagers. Strange how milk and bread and the few treats usually come to approximately £15 but that's another story. On entering my chosen Supermarket I head straight for the newspaper stand and pick up my favourite weekly paper. The Falkirk Herald. Now I take it home and I leave it on my kitchen table as I never read it till I get back home in the evening. After putting the rest of my shopping away. I feed my husband and see him off to work ( he works backshift) then I spend the rest of the afternoon at mums. I help look after my mum who is semi disabled. At about 5pm I return home, put on the kettle, make myself a cup of decaffeinated coffee, find something nice and sweet to eat, spread out my copy of the Falkirk Herald, find my reading glasses then loose about half an hour of my time just reading all the little and not so little stories in the Herald. I like to read from the front page on to the back although I don't spend very long on the sports pages. There is a couple of reason for that but let me start at the start. I also read all the intimations. Its sad, as the older I get, I find that there is more often someone from my past in the death columns. Also of course if I am doing a wedding fayre I like to see if it is advertised. Then my next favourite page is Letters to the Editor and In My View (usually a witty view on something that is happening in one of the reporters life). Then I like to read Family Matters to see who got married and who was born. I always get excited when I recognise the brides name and usually by checking my copy of the receipts I can confirm if the tiara or jewellery they are wearing came from me. Today was one of those exciting days. In Family Matters it tells you how the couple met, about the proposal, where the wedding was held, what the bride wore and who she would like to thank(usually parents). But for some reason they don't seem to think that the accessories are very important. So I am in a position today to let you know that the bride was wearing a silver plated tiara called Francesca (after my daughter). The central heart was rose and the rest of the tiara was a mixture of clear, light rose and amethyst swarovski crystals. It was really sweet looking. It looked a bit like this.
After the centre pages the rest of the newspaper can usually be viewed in about a few minutes. I do a quick survey of the jobs page in case there is anything my teenagers could apply for. Flick through the houses although these days not as quickly as I used to as one of my nieces is house hunting as she is getting married this year. Finally a quick shifty through the sports page to see if anything is written about my brother in law who plays table tennis but I get annoyed at the martial arts section. For some reason because the club my son is attached to is based in Alloa /Stirling region they never seem to want to write anything about them even though there are classes in this area. My niece who is 27 is a forth degree black belt and my son who just turned 20 attained his 3rd degree black belt and he often wins trophy's at competitions. But despite that I thoroughly enjoy losing myself in this large newspaper every Thursday evening.

Joseph's Technicolour Dreamcoat

Last night I was out at the Theatre with my sister and my niece to see this production. It is the third time I have seen it. Forth if you include a school version. I can honestly say regardless of who is in the show be they professional or amateur, I love it. I enjoy listening to the music, singing and dancing along with it all. Last nights version with Craig Chalmers, Anthony Haston and I think it was Tara Bethan, all from various productions on BBC to find the next new stage stars was well performed and very enjoyable and boy did they have to work the audience! I have never come across and audience that was so unresponsive to such a lively production as I did last night. They were so incredibly boring and I am sure half of them were actually asleep. At one point, when the dancers came into the audience, me and my sister and my niece were the only ones up dancing with the cast. There were a few amused faces around us as we made an exhibition of ourselves. But we didn't care, we were enjoying ourselves and I am sure the cast of this production appreciated our efforts. So please what ever you do, if you go along to one of these productions no matter where in the country, then please join in. These actors/singers work hard for your enjoyment and if they ask you to join in then show your appreciation by doing so!

A Christmas Past, A Christmas Present

A Christmas Past
This morning I woke up early thinking about a friend who has just lost her sister a few days ago. This took me onto thinking about my own losses. My dad 4 years ago and my uncle this September. Then I thought about Christmases past. To be exact I thought about Christmas celebrated about 40 years ago when I was about 5 years old. Then there were just ten of us. Mum & Dad, Zia(Italian for Aunty) and Uncle, my 3 cousins, me, my sister and brother. Our ages ranges from my cousin who was 4 to my sister who was 15. We were all somewhere in between. As a small family (as all our relatives lived either in Italy or Poland), we celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas day together. We would share a big meal on both days, my aunty cooking one day and my mum cooking the other day. We had a tradition of giving out our Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. The highlight would be the visit from Baba Yaga, who brought us our gifts. If you google Baba Yaga, there are many different descriptions of her. Our Baba Yaga was a Polish witch who came to us magically with presents. Looking back on it now I think we were pretty mixed up kids. We knew Baba Yaga was just Zia dressed up. She would put on the traditional red of Santa Clause. This would be a bright red house coat. A white beard of cotton wool was put on her face to disguise her and a scarf wrapped round her head like the witch Baba Yaga may have worn. She would come in bent double carrying her big bag of presents, cackling and ringing a hand held Christmas chime decoration. We, the children would screech with laughter not knowing if we should run up and hug her as she looked a bit like Santa Clause or run away scared because she was the witch Baba Yaga. It was such an exciting lively time. We all got 2 presents. One from our mum and dad and the other from Zia and Uncle. I remember getting Giggles the doll from mum and dad and an article of clothing from Zia and Uncle. They were happy memories but I found myself crying this morning remembering times I will never have again. They were simple and we were content with what we got. I cant remember when Christmas became a time for endless shopping trips and huge expenses. We still have the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day get togethers. But with our own families. There are so many of us now with our partners and our children that it was no longer possible to spend the time together. It now seems we only all get together at weddings and funerals.
A Christmas Present

I have a couple of brides getting married between Christmas and New Year but one that I was quite excited about got married about a month ago. She came to me in September for her tiara. She tried on many styles and she told me that her dress had red in it because it was so close to Christmas. So the tiara she would choose would also be customised with a bit of red. Having almost made up her mind on one design she spotted a tiara called Margaret. She like the asymmetrical shape of it. It was at this point I decided to enquire some more about her wedding dress. Her dress was all white except for this V shaped panel down the back of her dress which was red. At this my creative mind started going into overdrive as she had also mentions she would like her jewellery made. So I suggest that the inside V shape should also be in red. If it didnt look right then I would redo it with every 5th crystal in red. Then I suggest a new style necklace. I would shape her necklace using wire instead of using beadalon so that she kept asymmetrical theme going with her jewellery. She was delighted with her finished tiara and jewellery.

My other new items are for someone's Christmas present. I am fairly sure they are unlikely to read this blog before then so I feel I can show you them now. On my website, on my wire wrapped jewellery page I have a sterling silver bracelet with lampwork beads. My customer ask if I could also make a matching necklace. I was so excited because I had wanted to make a necklace like that for sometime. But as a small hobby business, I cant afford to make something like that and then have it lying around in my collection waiting to be sold. So needless to say I got stuck in. I used sterling silver wire gauge 20, and black and silver leaf lampwork beads. Lampwork beads are individually handcrafted which makes them quite expensive to use but they are gorgeous beads. Rather than have them shown here in the main blog I will put them on the side panel as they deserve to be seen. This gentleman who ordered this bracelet and necklace set for his wife is again delighted as this set is truley unique as it is the first set I have ever made.

My Media Experience

I said back in a post on the 2nd October 2008 that I would tell you a story of my media experience. It happened 5 years ago when I was about to turn 40 and it was a very exciting time. It was my "five minutes of fame" time Its a long read which also takes you to another long read on another website but I am sure you will enjoy both.

Fast approaching 40 as a wife, mother, carer, and involved in a few church things, i.e. children’s liturgy, fund raising for the church organ and webmaster for the SHCTK website, my interest in the computers was about to thrust me into the world of media attention.
A few years ago, I asked Fr Leo's permission to launch a website for Sacred Heart and Christ the King after an old school friend who now lives and works as a policewoman in Penrith gave me the idea. With the help of Andrew Mitchell who runs the Scottish Catholic website I progressed from using Microsoft Word to create the website using a programme called Dreamweaver. Being relatively new to the computer and eager to learn and desperate to have advice without spending a fortune on bringing out professional people to help me every time I had a problem with my computer I needed to find a good online source of computer literate people who would be willing to help me quickly. My brother in law who had a few years experience on me suggested a forum called By Users www.by-users.co.uk/forums I use this forum anytime my computer has a problem, be it hardware or software. Although I couldn’t give any help or advice back I found myself posting threads in the Chat forum and joining in general non-computer conversations as well as getting the help I needed in the technical forums. On reaching my 1000th post I was awarded a title of Waffler Supreme. Obviously by my 1000th post, the regular visitors and the moderators on this Forum were well aware of the Church website that I was running. Then on the 18th of August I got an email from one of the moderators on By Users who had been approached...well here’s the contents of the email he sent to me for you to read

Hi, Di. Hope you don't mind my contacting you like this.

Alex Brown ("Internet Infrastructure Consultant, Internet & Interactive Services, Telewest Broadband") has sent me an e-mail that is (in as many ways) as Top Secret as your "Let's Do The Show Right Here", and I'd like to share it with you.

At the end of the month a vicar based in Bath (Somerset, South West corner of England) intends to give a "streamed" on-line sermon. Blueyonder has stepped in to offer resources, and would like to show it as a "success story" by having someone a long way away from Bath...like Scotland, perhaps... doing a bit for the press, have their photo taken watching the Sermon, something like that.

Alex asked me if I knew of anyone who might fit the bill, and I thought of you (naturally). You're already used to dealing with the media and, of course, you actually know what a sermon is.

I suspect you and the Vicar may bat for opposite teams (as it were), but hope that wouldn't be an obstacle.


Ok so what was my other media experience? You need to read my story being hosted on The Holy Family website. Once there “Enter” the website and scroll down the left hand side to “Archives”. Click on that and when you get there scroll down to" Personal Pieces" and “Diana Hunter Lets Do the Show Right Here”. It’s a really good read with pictures of Jackie Bird and James Macpherson from Taggert. This will explain my other media experience. I was sharing the excitement of this production on the Chat forum of By-users. At that point it was just the production team recording our meetings regarding the show that was to be recorded on 15th September and broadcast on 31st October 2003. I had also posed as a dead body for our local newspaper the Falkirk Herald to advertise the show. So of course I replied to Mr Brown giving my mobile phone number and said I would be delighted to help...having absolutely no idea what it was involving. After agreeing to this my point of contact would be a Mr John Moorwood.
He told me that I had two jobs.... one would be a live broadcast for Radio Bristol and the other an interview at my computer watching the sermon from Bath conducted by Rev Alan Bain and being made newsworthy by Sky News.
My first job taking part in the promotion of Broadband Religion would be to talk to a reporter LIVE on Radio Bristol....mmmmmmm I thought.... that should be easy enough as I have talked to the production team of LDTSRH on a few occasions, but I had to be up early to talk to them about Broadband Religion at 7.30am. The phone call came and I could hear in the background the Radio Bristol show going out live to its audience. At this point I was still very calm but as the minutes passed I could start to feel my heart beat increasing as the time for my chance to give my view on Broadband Religion come closer and closer. I was sat all alone at my computer with the phone in my hand as all my family were asleep in bed yet wishing someone was here to help calm my nerves. Finally the reporter announces that on the line is Diana Hunter from Scotland and asks me what the weather is like. Amazingly I managed to get out that it was a lovely day, which is rare in Scotland but after thatthings started to go downhill. I was asked several questions on what I thought about forthcoming broadcast and I managed to give a few opinions about it but as the interview went on I could feel the nerves getting the better of me and my voice started to tremble terribly. At the end of the interview I was disconnected without any thanks or reassurance that I had done Ok. I went back to my bed and burst into a flood of tears. All day I felt like I had let Telewest down with that interview. At this point I already knew that my next job was to be an interview going out live to the Sky News team in London. I went on the phone and begged my point of contact on Sky News to send a reporter to keep me calm on the morning of the broadcast. This would take place on 31st August 2003. That morning the family were all up early as we were told a mobile satellite van would arrive early to set up the cameras and to wire me up for sound. The van looked very much like a television
detector van with its satellite on top of it. The cameraman came in at set up his camera and all I kept asking was when the reporter would arrive. I was wired up for sound as I would have to talk to the studio in London though the earpiece.... this I could accept as I knew my reporter would be here soon to keep me calm. Sitting at my computer waiting for the first sermon being broadcast live online I could here the man in the van talking to me through the ear piece telling me it would be soon that I would be talking to their newsreader in London.
At the same time I could here the news programme being broadcast from London in the ear piece so sometimes it was a little confusing when the man in the van talked to me. The cameraman would prompt me to reply to the man in the van. I was being reassured that the reporter had arrived and was in the mobile van and would be up shortly. Meanwhile the time was getting closer and closer to the LIVE television interview I would be giving about what I thought about the online broadcast. Suddenly I was told that my interview was imminent and my company was the camera man and my family at the bedroom door.... amazingly I managed to give full answers to all of the questions ask by the newsreader and breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. Meanwhile my husband had been recording the live interview for me to watch which I did almost straight away. The news reported came in that was supposed to be holding my hand and calming my fears congratulated me on a very good interview but I felt totally drained and was desperate to watch the video my husband had recorded. I stood transfixed to the television screen as I watched myself in the interview. It was one of the strangest feelings I have ever had. I was aware of another person coming into the house but I couldn’t take my eyes of the television until my interview had finished. And then I couldn’t stop talking to the reported and the other member of the mobile production team about the experience and about what I thought about Broadband Religion. I was then told that they wanted to record another interview to broadcast later on in the day. So the whole family had to be involved in this...so while I made a cup of tea the children put away the dishes that my husband was washing. Then sitting at the computer again the reporter asked some more questions. After the interview I felt a little disappointed because I felt I hadn’t given a good account of the service Telewest were offering. In hindsight I wished the reporter had just let me say what I wanted to say about it.
But I was assured once again that the interview went well and it was broadcast with obvious editing later that afternoon. But unfortunately I missed it because we were rehearsing with my nieces for the Lets Do the Show Right Here that we had coming up in September. Telewest were kind enough to send me the video tape of all the news coverage of that day about Broadband Religion as keepsake, so I did get to see all of the news reports that I was featured in.
Well between Sky News, Radio Bristol and Radio Scotland LDTSRH fund raising for the church organ you think that would be enough media experience for a lifetime especially as I celebrated my 40th birthday in the month of September but that was not the case. The following year my mobile phone goes again and it is Mr John Moorwood...."I bet you didn’t expect to hear from me again" comes the voice after the introduction..."well err no" was my reply. This time they asked if I would be a case study for the general introduction of Broadband Internet for Telewest. There was to be a special report about broadband Internet involving all the companies but Telwest were to provide a case study of a broadband user. "I'm delighted to help again,” says I. This time I would be interviewed by Chris Torney from the Daily Express over the mobile phone. This happened a few hours later and a photographer would come to the house when all of the family were at home and take pictures and the best one would be published in the newspaper.
The interview was very easy.... it was just like talking to a friend about the benefits of broadband internet and we all enjoyed our photographs being taken, except my husband...he hates being centre of attentions! The picture that was published was one of me looking over the shoulder of my daughter at the computer.
Of all my media experience no one I know heard me on Radio Bristol, no one except my family saw me on Sky News, only family and friends that know about the Radio Scotland show listened to it but I got a few texts on my mobile from friends that saw me in the Daily Express. Oh well so much for media fame!!.... I don't need to wear the dark glasses to avoid public attention or to hide from autograph hunters!!

Busy doing nothing

Its been a while since I have posted to my blog and I can honestly say I haven't got a genuine excuse. It's not like I have been rushed off my feet with orders. More like I have been messing about with my website trying to update it with what I have available for special Christmas presents and setting up an online payment method. Finally I can accept payment via email through paypal. Also I have been helping a florist friend by creating a small 3 page website so that she can get an online presence. She has had her website domain name for a number of years but after a problem with a company that was supposed to be creating her website she hasn't done anymore to set it up. Once I have her live and kicking I will post a link to her website on here also.
Finally while surfing one of my favourite websites I discovered a downloadable picture to promote it. So I will add it to my side bar so that everyone who decides to read my blog will know that I am a member of a craft forum.