They can't copy what really matters - thank you

It's been a strange week. I started the week a bit down in the dumps. I know that they say imitation is the highest form of flattery but it can be a little exhausting coming up with new things all the time when people copy your ideas. Don't get me wrong - there is never a shortage of new ideas. As someone said to me this week I don't know how you do it, your brian never switches off. Maybe not but the plus side it's full of lots of new ideas waiting in reserve. 

At a weak moment I posted a little something on Facebook and in the morning I felt a little embarrassed but it helped me realise that the ideas and products I have are just a small part of Lúnasa.   

We have an array of supplies who we know by name and who put a little love into each of our handmade products. 
We have amazing customers who love our individual style and our unique products.
We have creative people who bring sunshine to our little store when they attend our courses. 
We have those who like our store so much they let us celebrate their birthday or special occasion with them.  
We have an array of mini makers who come and get stuck in every week.
And we have those groups in the community that invite us to share our creativity with them. 

I had a flood of lovely comments, texts and genuine concern from all of these people and it made me realise I am part of a community that makes me feel valued for doing something I love and for that I am very grateful. 

People can copy our products and ideas but they can't copy our vision and our passion..…and whatever they do they can't copy your enthusiasm for all things handmade. 

Thank you for your continued support 

Radio Silence

Testing, Testing…..It turns out we had a bit of a technology melt down but every cloud…..

Having just got the laptop repaired after coffee gate our new printer bust and we've had very little internet this week so there has been a bit of radio silence. Frustrating as it was I found that instead of surfing the net and replying to the mental number of emails, texts and Facebook messages I get I had to find other things to do. That has never been a problem for me. 

Workflow in the nerve centre

So I got a few more jobs done around the house. I organised the utility. I used to work for Boots opticians and there was a big thing called workflow. It looked at the jobs that you do and how many steps you take to complete them. A bit excessive for the utility you may think but no. I actually moved the dryer, made Tom move all his fishing gear and tools and got 4 laundry bags, whites, colour, darks and woollens. Now doing the washing is a lot less hassle and I have shelves to put the clothes on waiting to be ironed (or not as the case often is).

My Project

I also spent some time on one of my projects. I want to organise myself so that I can work at home but it doesn't take over. I like sitting at the kitchen table to work. The view out the window is always a good destruction and an inspiration at the same time. I can get my endless supply of tea and the dogs seem to settle in their beds. I don't however like taking over the kitchen. So I had a good sort out of my paper used the drawers I'd emptied by getting rid of more clothes and used them as a filing cabinet. Stylish and practical! I recycled a basket I got with a Christmas hamper as a sort of in tray for house stuff and I got it all organised. 

Bathroom

I tackled the bathroom next. In fairness this didn't need too much organisation - I just needed to put everything back in it place. I got some of that daily shower spray in the hope that the next time I need to clean it it won't take so long - I'll keep up posted about that. 

TLC in the living room

I gave the living room a good clean and I've got to say when I moved the sofa I was a little shocked. Turns out a lot of dust gathers under there! I cleaned behind all the cushions and decluttered. Now the only thing I have on the coffee table is the fabulous book on Wakes by a local guy so I can impress any visitors. 

But it turns out I had a bit of a media blackout as well. In getting my jobs done I didn't even watch TV so Sunday Tom went to golf and then I encouraged him to go to the pub to watch the footy. I spent the day enjoying the fruits of my labour. I lit the fire early in the morning and spent the day catching up on Emmerdale and reading my book. It has been a long time since I just spent time relaxing in the house. 

So I'm ploughing on with my home therapy. Someone text and mentioned that yesterday was the first day of spring. I know that the Celtic calendar put is as the 1st f Feb but winter has always run from December to the end of Feb for me. Many a year I remember snow for my birthday at the end of the month and so my spring doesn't start until the 1st of March. That give me one more month to get my home in ship shape before one big spring clean and then it'll be time to start tacking the garden!  

Harmony at home - My 7 day guide

I started the year very motivated and have lots that I want to get done. I realised that I needed to do quite a bit of work to make my home more of a sanctuary to recharge. With the space organised, fresh and clean it feels more under control. The big thing I noticed is it took away some little stresses everyday that just were unnecessary and this gives me head space for other things. It seems to be really working so I thought I'd share a few tips with you. With just a week of January left it seems to be racing by but you can still get a 7 day guide to get harmony. It will be a bit of work but it's worth it. 

Monday
The first thing to do is give the floors a really good clean. I turned all the chairs up onto the kitchen table and cleaned all the floors in the kitchen, the utility and carpets and really freshened the place up. And then something really simple I brought some nice yellow flowers for the kitchen table. Yours can be any colour but they just gave me a lift and lasted for about 10 days which was great. It's been such a long time since I had fresh flowers in the house. I got a bit way laid organising but stopped myself and just went back to the cleaning the floor. I banished the dogs and put the music on and it was quite therapeutic.

Tuesday
Next walk round the house and made a list of all the things that need to be fixed or organised. I really want to make it more mine and a much better living space so I listed everything that needed fixing, and things I want to buy/replace. This took me about 20 mins. Then I sat in the room I finished in and just sat there quietly for a while. I imagined what I would like the room to look at, the things I didn't like about it and how to change them. I thought about how I would feel about the room if it was done and compared it to how I feel about it now. Then with that in mind I added some more things to my list. Some of them a bit more of a project than a list of jobs. I went round each room doing this which took about an hour. Make sure you sit for a while in each room. Then at the end pick one 'project' (not one of the small jobs) and commit to it. Post it on our Facebook page if you like. This will be your project for Feb.

Wednesday
The next thing I did was organise the hallway. Ours had shoes and dog leads and post and keys and all sorts and it the part of the house that I have to clean the most. So I moved this lovely pine cupboard we have and filled it with our shoes. Then I moved pine drawers into the space and put all the dogs stuff in there and made a space for the keys and the post. Each day I try and take a bit of time to get rid of the post that's not worth keeping and put the keys back on the hooks. I put up some hooks for my bag and I try and sort through my pockets and bag each day. Finding the keys and everything else I need in the morning has become less stressful and for those of you that know me you'll know keys are a bit of an issue in out house! :-)

Thursday
I moved the dogs beds and made some space not too far away from the door. I started to declutter and moved some of the things that I wanted to get rid of to this space and then I went round the house and picked up a few things and put them in this corner. I am a bit of a hoarder so this is the first step to getting them out of the house. After a few days I'm sick of them being there so I get rid. There has only been one item that I didn't part with.  (I also have a take to the shop pile as I have fabric and sewing machines and all sorts I bring home to finish off at night) I then spent the rest of the time doing all the washing getting all my clothes clean. This is setting me up for tomorrows task!

Friday
I laid all my clothes out on the bed in piles. A pile of jeans, pile of jumpers, pile of t-shirts etc. Then I went through each pile and made four piles. A pile of clothes that fit and I like. A pile of clothes that fit and I don't like. A pile that I don't want to keep either because they are the wrong size or are past their best and the fourth pile was clothes that I like but are too small. When I had done this I packed my clothes that are too small but too nice to get rid of in my motivation suitcase. I'm trying to loose weight and I'm looking forward to getting back into all my lovely dresses - you WILL see them this summer! Then I got a bin bag and put the pile of 'get rid' of clothes in it and put them by the front door. The next pile, the ones that fit but I don't feel good in I left them in my declutter pile. They will sit there for a week and as I pass them each day I will decide which ones to keep. By the end of the week I was ready to get rid of them. And the fourth pile you can then nearly put away. What I did, but it may seem a bit excessive, I organised them into outfits. I was inspired by something I read about Steve Jobs wearing the same outfit because it took away a decision each day that he didn't want to waste time on. It worked great. But it does need refreshing each week. 

Saturday
Now with the clothes sorted todays task is to give your bedroom a really good spring clean. I turned the mattress and cleared out the clutter and gave it a mini makeover. This is the place you go to at night to recharge your batteries and make sure you can face the day tomorrow full of beans. So I think it's important that its a little sanctuary. You want to look forward to going into your room at night not dreading it. This aids a good night of relaxation. Lavender incense sticks or essential oils can also relax you and help you get a good nights sleep. 

Sunday 
Todays task is a big one. Its to clean out the kitchen cupboards. I put the bin in the middle of the room and cleared out all the out of date stuff and I also cleared out all the junk food as we are on a healthy eating plan. I organised all the cupboards to make it easy to see whats in them (this makes the shopping list much quicker as well) and gave them a clean as I went. The Dyson came in very handy here. And I cleaned out the fridge and organised it so that it was more hygienic with meat together, diary, veg etc. This task took a good few hours so give it the time it deserves!

So that is my 7 day guide to harmony at home and so next week when February comes we can get well on the way with some other projects. 

2015 #makeitcount

January is always a strange month. You’ve over indulged and over spent in December and the New Year comes and you resolve to do lots of things differently.  Last year my New Years resolution was to become more organised and I can honestly say that I finished the year more organised than I started it but looking back over the year I hope that that wasn’t my greatest achievement.

As I crossed the Irish Sea heading home having spent a wonderful Christmas and New Year with both mine and Tom’s family I was looking out at the slightly stormy sea. It was like a blank canvas, full of possibilities and it  was all just bubbling under the surface waiting to come out. That's how I feel about 2015. 

I, like many, can think of all the things I don’t like about myself, my life, my habits and resolve to try and change them. Or for 2015 I could not. This year I am going to give myself a break and simply resolve to make this year count. Good things and bad things will come my way and I can’t control them but I can control myself. I can try and make small changes in my life, watching less TV, eating better, but at then end of the year I want to feel like I gave 2015 all I had and came out the other end a better person.

Having decided to approach 2015 in this way I feel and energy and buzz that I haven’t felt before at this time of year. I fell like each day is going to bring something great because I’m going to make it great by being good to myself. I’m going to make that project I’ve been thinking about for ages, I’m going to swap the fizzy drinks for bottles of water (done that already), I’m going to find time to use the spa voucher and I’m going to make each day count in some small way.

What was really great is that the few nights I have been lying in bed thinking about what my little thing is going to for the following day so when I wake up I know already and I feel good which is a great way to start a new day.

So for 6 days I’ve stopped watching TV before 9pm to make time for other things (thank God for sky plus) and for five days I’ve swapped all my drinks (except one morning coffee) for water. However, yesterdays' thing is one I got really excited about. I took something I didn’t use/didn’t like and changed it into something I do like/use. And the best thing is I might do it for one day, or everyday for one month and either way I’m still sticking with my resolution.  And having over spent a bit during the holidays it is a great way to keep crafting and be rather thrifty about it. I’ll try and post them on Facebook & pinterst so you can check my progress. 

So I'd like to wish you all a great 2015 - whatever you resolve to do have a great year, be kind to yourself and #makeitcount

How many more sleeps…..

December is here and it is feeling a lot like Christmas. The Belmullet Christmas market was last weekend and today the Christmas jumper and music is on! The shop has been decorated and we had a lot of fun doing free decorations. We've posted a few on our Facebook page so we hope you like them. I hear on the grapevine the local scout group is trying out our cardboard chimney so I'm delighted. 

We have so many lovely things in the shop its great to see what people can make. We have lovely handmade decorations, Irish food hampers, Christmas Jumpers, Stocking Fillers for €5 and under and of course our usual array of fabulous handmade goodies. 

The one thing this year that I'm sure you've all heard about if you watched the late late toy show are our fairy doors. They are wonderful for capturing the imagination of the kids. We even had our very own fairy move into the shop. Our fairy door went in and we used our chalkboard paint to get some ideas for the fairy and now we have Finan the Fairy living with us and keeping watch over the shop at night. 

We've had a lot of lovely comments about our Christmas window. With a  bit of imagination we transformed our window into something warm and lovely. The theme come in from the cold is hopefully a nice invitation to our customers. 

So we hope to see you over this festive period and to come and enjoy a bit of cheer with us. 

R x 

Halloween

Well the clocks have gone back and I was very grateful for that extra hour in bed. Each year  the joy of the extra sleep softens the hail of the arrival of winter. The long, stormy nights are here and Halloween is on the horizon.

Halloween has always been a magical, mysterious and superstitious time. And with it come some lovely Irish traditions that I'd not heard of. Last week at the Erris Chamber Bingo they were giving out Bracks (fruit loaf!) and I natively asked what the bread was for. Through the chuckles I was told it's a Halloween tradition and there is a ring buried in the brack. In 18th century Ireland a matchmaking cook would bury a ring in the mashed potatoes hoping to bring turn love to the person who found it. 

A customer told me that on Friday that the Irish never really made much of Halloween which surprised me a little as it has it roots in a Celtic Festival. To quote the The festival of Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the darker half of the year. Celebrated from sunset on the 31st to sunrise in the 1st traditionally it was a time when cattle were brought down from the summer pastures and animal killed for the winter.

It was a time when spirits and fairies and the festival was a bridge to the dead. Feasts were had and a place set for deceased family calling them to return. People would go from door to door in disguise reciting verse in exchange for food. They would light fires and use the disguises to ward off the roaming ghosts. Pope Gregory III designated Nov 1st as All Saints Day and the evening before became known as All Hallows' Eve.

I like Halloween - it's a great excuse to be a big kid again. There are lots of easy decorations and great costumes to do. And next week we will be getting into the spirit of things with our holiday club and haunted house party. With tricks and treats for adults and children we hope to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis West a great charity building a fantastic facility at Castlebar Hospital. We hope you will come along and join the fun. x 

For those of you that want some Halloween Inspiration visit out Pinterest page http://www.pinterest.com/lunasacraft/halloween-autumn/

Warning - some people may find the contents of this blog offensive!

I was in Dublin recently and I lost count of how many times I heard the C word
It's September and the weather is amazing but it was being talked about like it was the middle of December. Unless you are a dedicated crafter you may find it offensive to be talking about Christmas this early (Well what C word were you thinking of?). If you're into making things you've probably been thinking about it already and you don't mind the days drawing in and the weather taking a more autumnal turn 'cause its the perfect excuse to get making. 

In fact the crafting calendar always gives you something to look forward to. The summer ends and you are making for Halloween, two months after the end of August, and Christmas is two months after Halloween. You can spend January recuperating and maybe indulge yourself in the sales and then come February you have half an eye on Easter and all the joys of spring. Then before you know it it's summer again! There's no time to get the winter blues when you crafting. 

To be honest last Christmas was probably one of the most unmemorable ones I ever had. The shop had just opened (which of course was amazing) and we were playing catch-up pretty much most of the first year so I didn't really get chance to think about Christmas until around about mid October early November. Tom was working and neither my nor Tom's family made it over this Christmas. And because I was so late thinking about it, there was no big build up to get really excited about it. 

As soon as 15 August was over this year it was almost like flag to say go go go and I've been thinking about Christmas, all the things I can make, how to decorate the shop and what gifts I'm going to make for everyone. I found a fantastic recipe for a pudding to try tomorrow and although it feels a bit odd to be getting a suntan and then going inside to make a Christmas pudding I love it. 

But don't worry if you just can't bear the thought of it at this time I've put them away in a special little corner. If you want to sneak peak come in and give me a secret Christmas Shimmy and I will show you where it all is. So the first few bits for a handmade Christmas have started coming in. We have some really fabulous fabric, craft supplies, beautiful ribbon, card making kits and lots of little bits.