Domesticity & Ex Batts

What a lovely morning! OK, the sun's not shining, it's 18*C, clammy, sticky and warm BUT it's very peaceful in the garden. I was up at stupid o'clock (05.30) as usual, making Himself some butties for lunch & sticking a potato in the microwave for mine, when I came over all domesticated!

Now this is a phenomenon that doesn't happen very often so I grabbed it by the horns, put all thoughts of leaping on the PC, once He'd tootled off on his way to Brum, out of my head and began sorting the washing. I slightly startled the chap from down the road, on his bike, on his way to work, by nipping out with the re-cycling in nowt but my jammies and turquoise Crocs. I didn't have my glasses on so ~ it never happened!

I know! Get a life!

Mmmm lovely!

However....I did decide that I would take some fruit to work and picked some fresh raspberries and strawberries from the garden, at which point I was hit by how peaceful it was and only the presence of my chooks would have made it perfect! I could picture them scratching away in their little run gently chuckling away to themselves.

Chicken Shack Phase 1

We're getting our Ex-Batts in August but I have to treat/paint the hen house first and Himself has big plans for extending the run. I must confess to being slightly nervous having bought a book and reading about what dreadful things they can get in terms of lice (yuk, yuk, yuk I hate stuff like that makes my skin crawl!) but, hey, I've had kids! Nuff said!

Government Expenses...the answer:

Just a quickie...resurrected an old favourite which might just give us a solution to present farce:

That darn cat...again!

We have a cat, well 2 actually, one is sweet & gorgeous & snuggles and looks up at you adoringly from your lap but never hangs around for photos then, there's the other. She's not evil, she can be affectionate, she's a bit lot of a tart & is very un-ladylike in the manner in which she likes to be stroked. She prefers you to lift her up to her food (we keep it out of reach of the dog) but will jump if she thinks you're not watching ; she's the runt, but boy, is she in charge!

Merry (yes, the other is Pippin - Tilly could/can quote whole scenes of dialogue from Lord of The Rings!) has already had a mention in this blog and deserves another for her chuffin cheek. Apart for sneaking in once again while I'm taking stock photos, she thought it would be more comfortable if the bedding she had her eye on for snuggling on top of, was more accessible...

She won't notice if I just stick my head under here, then it'll be a quick shove and 'ooops did I do that...me bad'

Tadah....easy peasey. Look out duvet....incoming!

Testimonials

I get lots of lovely emails from customers of The Stroppy Cow and I thought it would be nice to share...

We received a request for a customised charm bracelet with a butterfly and star theme from Jade in Glasgow. Here's what her mum had to say:
Hello just to let u know recieved bracelet today jade was over the moon with it she loved it many thanks for being able to create what she was looking for . ( It was just a wee gift from me to her for her highers this week ) and Jade: Hi, It's absolutely gorgeous. Thank-you so much.

Save the Date Magnets for Nicola and Paul in Liverpool for their wedding in 2011, fantastic idea...
Lynn, THANK YOU. My magnets look great! They arrived today and i have printed the cards and stuck them on with didi gluedots! They are perfect! I shall send you some photos as soon as i gt myself organised. Please feel free to put them on your site if you think it will drum up some orders! Nicola

Archery achievement badges for 2020 Archery. Hi Lynn - really pleased with the badges. So pleased in fact that we'd like to order some more!

And they did!

Just some of the Worcester round badges

2020 Archery logo badges

Pub saving in Guernsey:

Hi Lynn
Just a note to say that we have won round one towards saving our pub !! Our badges being worn proudly !! Corinne

Great graphic supplied by Ian in the Midlands made great 44mm magnets.

So happy with the customer service and the actual items, i will order more! Ian

Custom Badges

What a week! My poor printer has really been hard at it this last few days trying to cope with the custom badge orders we've had this week.
Here are a few of the orders:

Save the Date magnets for Nicola (more details of this service to follow...)

Save the Date Magnets

500 x 58 mm badges for Shelter (UK Charity) being cut out

Several hours later,
badges ready for shipping

Himself has been a great help and is a wiz on the badge machine now. He took this pic

to illustrate the chaos in which I work...didn't like to tell him that this was tidy!!

Archery Club badges

With scores

There were a few others too, but I forgot to take photos!!

Check out flickr for more details.

Successful Advertising

We have seen a marked increase in the number of custom badge sales here at The Stroppy Cow these last few months. This is probably down to a number of factors.

Not only do they represent great value in terms of advertising for your business but the cost is not prohibitive if you want to sell your badges on, either as a band or organisation. Everyone is feeling the pinch at the moment and getting your name out there in the market place can be expensive.
Here at The Stroppy Cow we've been able to stream-line our prices thanks to careful buying on our part and this is reflected in our new bulk pricing list.

High quality button badges are a fun, cost effective yet powerful way of getting your message across ~ promoting your business, band, organisation or event.

Just imagine 100's of people promoting YOU from as little as 12p*

By creating an interesting talking point between fans/customers and staff, promotional badges are proven to help increase awareness & sales. So what better way to promote your company, product, service or event than with a button badge?

1 of 100 25mm badges made for Vespa restorer.

*1" badges start from 12p each for 1000 and make brilliant give-aways at Meets, Rallies,Clubs...

1 of 100 25mm badges for campaign to save St Saviour’s Tavern on Guernsey

And what about selling them on?
Well, at 23p each for 100 there is plenty of scope to more than double the cost price to make a very attractive retail price.

But, don't forget, we don't just make badges.
We have magnets and mirrors too.
And we're currently working on Save The Date magnets for Weddings, so watch this space.

Spring???

"One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy."

Good old Aristotle, I reckon he was a glass half empty sort of chap!
But he may have had a point about the swallow though. I saw my first two on Sunday while enjoying driving though the Cheshire country side in glorious sunshine. They were swooping out of a farm barn chittering as they went (probably going on about the state of the place & wondering whether it was worth popping over to Ikea).
Sending a silent prayer to the goddess of camping (yes, it's staycation for us), I speculated out loud, to my other half, about the coming of summer...

I have now switched the heating back on and am grateful for not being able to disconnect my electric blanket on my bed!