U-handblog

U-Handbag 'Thursday First Five' Offer!

I'm guessing you're wondering "What is this: 'Thursday First Five" all about then?"  Well, I'll explain it's a simple way for us to treat the first five U-Handbag customers who visit the shop and....(do thing that is explained in the offer on that day (which will always be on a Thursday).  The first five customers who do that thing will bag themselves a nice freebie treat (as always our treats are non too shabby and are deffo worth having!).

So every Thursday (until further notice) I'll blog the "Thursday First Five" offer. If the offer takes your fancy, it's yours for the taking - but only if you are one of the first five customers to grab it!  

 

OK now for our first Thursday offer:

  "The first five customers who purchase a Baguette Purse Making Kit (pictured below) will get a FREE matching Bronze Curb Link Purse Chain (worth £6.00). Cool eh? That'll make a nice treat for yourself or a sweet summer pressie for a friend!"

To apply for the offer you need to:

1. Purchase a Baguette Purse Making Kit
2. During checkout enter the code:  CURB CHAIN

 

Fine print:

• Offer strictly for the first five customers only. No exceptions - sorry. 
• Customers MUST enter the code in the checkout comments box. No exceptions - sorry. 

Hold a ray of sunshine in your hand with this lovely clutch purse.

 

Inside the House of Amy and David Butler

As a lot of you already know (because I went on and ooon about it!) that I spent the last few days of my USA Quilt Market, filming bonanza visit, relaxing in Chez Butler with Amy & David (and their friend Kevin) and the 4 Butler feline fuzzies. 

Whenever I appreciate any kind of human creation - be that: a book, a recipe, a picture, an item of clothing, a bouquet of flowers and of course scrummy fabric I love to imagine what the creator is like.  And when I do that, one of the things I like to wonder about it what their home looks like.

The first look around the Butler pad reveals the couple's confident and individual sense of style.  A closer look tells you that they are a generous couple; they want you to feel comfortable, be well fed, well rested and to have something attractive/interesting/playful to look at wherever you are. Both Amy & David are designers and it was fascinating seeing the differences in their styles and it was great checking out their their little displays of vintage and modern treasures (or 'vignettes' as Amy calls them) dotted all about their home. 

Both Amy & David were tolerant gracious in letting me click all around their home. Me and my camera pretty much had backstage access to their home and studios (they both do their design work at home), I'm not sure if I'd be willing to afford such a free reign to anyone over my own home (not even my house proud Mum!)

I hope you like the pics. This is only a few of a gazillions that I took. In fact I took so many that I've decided to split them up into 3 blog posts; 1) this post, 2) Amy's studio, 3) David's studio

You'll find the rest of the 'Home' shots on my FB.

 

 

Outrageously good chocolate chip cookies by Mr DB, and he even watches by the oven whilst they cook (he don't put no trust in no timer!) And in his spare time he is also a rock band drummer and singer...

 

Every morning Amy & I supped coffee served in these gorgeous silver rimmed mugs and we drank them outside on the gorgeous deck...

...it felt like we were sitting in the tree tops.  The green view is heavenly and nourishing.

On chilly mornings we both had a fluffy "wubby" (Amy calls em 'Wubbies', I can see why!) to snuggle into.

Check out the fluffy slipper action!  She even looks serene first thing in the morning (how does she do that?!)

 

I hope you enjoyed nosing in Amy & David's home.

There are loads more craft videos action pics in my Face Slap. I simply have too many to post on the blog :)

 

If you want to see the other 'Butler Home' pics please join my Faceslap page.

☜ Click to join my U-Handbag Facebook page. Thanks!

 

More pics coming next: 'Amy's Studio'

Lights, camera, and (craft) action! Fliming Lisa Lam Craft Videos

 
Yeah, so how kooky does 'Lisa Lam Craft Videos" sound?  Never in a million years did I imagine I'd find myself in a studio grinning (for aaaall I'm worth) at 3 cameras whilst talking about sewing bags. Sometimes in life you find yourself in totally bizarre situations.  I think you might as well throw yourself in, get your hair wet and go for it because it could be a once only thing and it makes for good conversation with your bemused parents. And being filmed is a wacky experience I can tell you!

As some of you already know, I went to Cincinnati to film 2 x 60min craft vids with my publisher: F&W Media.  They have a very very groovy hightech filming suite with several studios, props and a dedicated team, they also have studios for craft book still photography.

I was there to film a video based on my current book and another video for my next book (out next spring).  My publisher is working hard on getting the first video out there as soon as poss.  As soon as I have any news I'll keep you posted as to development on the first video - not least because I HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT I LOOK LIKE ON FILM!!  During filming I made a point of not looking at footage of myself in case I thought: "No way!!!  I'm such a dork on camera!! - and that would've put me off my stride (somewhat, hellofalot).

Here's are some-behind-the-scenes craft video action for your amusement :)

 

So before we can film anything we have to create a set (because unfortunately we couldn't fly everyone over to my workroom in Brighton). Here's the amazing Christine primping and preening the set.  She did an ace job!

There's one of the cameras to the right.  There were 3 cameras in all; one to my left, one above and one facing forward.  "Just forget the cameras are there and act natural" they said. "Hmm, yeah right!" I said...

I was so happy to see my machine (actually, this is one of my machine's sisters - this was on loan from Janome USA - thanks guys!). I'd had jittery withdrawals having not used her and sewn anything for over a week.

"Well, hello!"  (please don't let there be any pizza in my teeth!!)  Here's me on set grinning like a happy sewing thing (or maybe a car saleswoman, it's a close thing don't you think..?).  The delicious fabrics were kindly lent to us by the folks at Sewn Studio (which is a lush shop! I visited it on my day off and wanted to take rather a lot of their wares home with me).

Without this smiley face machine on set I would have a been a gibbering fool person. I didn't have to memorize my lines, I could read them as I was filming. This here is a Teleprompter (and my best friend) and it allows you to read lines and still look natural whilst filming. During filming when you look into the screen to read your script/notes you are essentially looking directly at your audience at the same time.  Before I went the to US I wrote my own script and emailed it to the filming crew in readiness for filming.

 

Here is Julie (left) whose job it was to ensure the flow of the Teleprompter as I talked - not an easy job. She has to move my script down to the right speed according to my talking speed.    So, what I see get to see (as an actor type person) is very different from what you (the viewer) gets to see - at least that's what we are aiming for!  You (hopefully) get to see a chirpy friendly person talking about sewing in a sewing type setting, whereas I get to see bright lights, a team of 5 (patient) people, lots of computers, cameras, reflectors, cables and movable walls. Yup, the magic doesn't just magic itself y'know!

We were pretty good at keeping the number of 'takes' down to a manageable level.  If I remember correctly we never needed more than 4 times for anything.  Yeah, we're professionals!

No cookie + no brownie + no choccie = no worky   Damn fine snax they were. I really love USA snax BTW.

 

These 3 monitors were for the 3 different cameras. The team could see at a glance what I was up to just by looking at these 3 screens. Important when you want a choice of angles for your final film.

 

Yayyy props galore!  If I was less professional I would've not showed up for filming and had a good nose around the prop room instead :)

 

I hope you enjoyed nosing behind the scenes.  Thanks for lookin'!

There are loads more craft videos action pics in my Face Slap. I simply have too many to post on the blog :)

 

If you want to see the other filming pics please join my Faceslap page.

☜ Click to join my U-Handbag Facebook page. Thanks!

 

More pics coming next: 'Inside Amy & David Butlers lush pad '