Just in case I've never mentioned it (which strangely, I don't think I have) I'm Cardiff born and bred and the twists and turns of life led me down to the South of England back in 2004 where I worked for an insurance company for 2 and a half years before I was made redundant. At that point, Mr Sparkle (who conveniently had also been made redundant) and I decided on a fresh start in a new place, and we chose Bath. Closer to home for Mr Sparkle (North Devon) and closer to home for me (Cardiff, I mentioned that already didn't I?)

I love living in this part of the country, and travelling around a bit with Purple Sparkle means I get to see much more of it. Today I took Purple Sparkle Crafts to the beautiful National Trust village of Lacock, and we were also over the bridge in Porthcawl, where my Mum Bryn was running a stall.

Next week we are going multinational on an even bigger scale! I am back in the crypt in St Michael's Church in my new home town of Bath on Saturday, and then on Sunday I'm in the Red Dragon centre in my other home town of Cardiff... I'm very excited!

Back to today.. unfortunately I don't have any pretty pictures of Lacock to share with you, although I'm tempted to travel back there for a day to have a look around when I don't have a fair, but here is a picture of where I was today..

The Purple Sparkle stall is just on the left hand side of the picture!

Another thing I love about craft fairs is meeting other crafters and getting to see their work. The organiser of todays fair was Deborah Burr, who designs beautiful cards amongst other things. One range that particularly caught my eye was the 'sayings' cards. I bought one to pin on my wall.. it says this..

'Be who you are

and say what you feel,

Because those who mind

don't matter,

And those who matter

don't mind.'

You can see some of Deborah's work at http://www.littlebeedesigns.co.uk/

I've got lots of plans for this week - the summer range is still in the pipeline, due to come out in May, which appears to also be this week! I'm also planning on making some more of these..

Raspberry brulee wax melts.. topped with whipped wax, pink glitter and a pretty pink raspberry embed - they were a sell out at Lacock today, so they will be the latest edition to the website!

That's all for now, come and see us soon at www.purplesparkle.co.uk

Purpley :-) xxx

I was waiting until I had pictures to post this, as my Betsy car is looking so pretty, but still no pictures. However if you look here...

http://www.hippymotors.co.uk/p/product/0710221035-Promo+Banners/

You can see the banner that Hippy Motors made for my car! As well as that, I've got a few cupcakes and sprinkes decorating the back.. they're so cute!

On Monday afternoon I tried to wash my car with a dishwashing sponge and some washing up liquid to prettify her ready for her banner. That is really not recommended to anyone!

Anyway, onto cleaner news, I've got really into these wonderful body scrubs and body whips which you can buy from the US. I love cosmetics, I remember my Mum going on trips to America and bringing me back US magazines and I used to spend ages looking at the cosmetic advertisments - that's why I love to be able to offer the American Lip balms in my Ebay shop.

Some of these scrubs have fantastic fragrances, and it's got me playing around with my fragrance oils to see if I can come up with some new Purple Sparkle exclusives! I've got a huge list to try, but so far I have come up with 'Send in the Clowns', which is a green apple base, topped with cotton candy and sweet vanilla sponge cake, and 'Sugared Pink Marshmallow', which is a blend of toasted marshmallows topped with pink sugar on a base of fresh cream cakes.

This in turn inspired me to widen the range of cupcakes we have to offer.. today's new cupcake is fragranced throughout with 'Sugared Pink Marshmallow' - and it's a giant one!

And yesterday's cupcake is a deliciously sweet white chocolate and cherry blend...

Both will be availlable to buy at http://www.purplesparkle.co.uk/ from this evening!

Just to squeeze in another new product before I go back to making my lemon drizzle cake melts, I have also created some room spray for you! It's fabulous, and handmade to order in any of my fragrances!

This one has a 'Halo' label on it, as this is Mr Sparkle's favourite fragrance, simply because it's the name of one of his video games.. I wonder if I could make a fragrance based on 'Call of Duty 4'? That would take some imagination!

Purpley xx

It's been one of those days today, so grey and cold, and with little things going wrong here and there.. Although one good thing about having a grey day is that I don't have to put up my make-shift curtain in the Purple Sparkle Kitchen! I'm lucky enough to have such a gorgeous view from my window, but I have to block it out when the sun is shining as my candles won't set when they are in the beautiful sunshine! Here is the view from my window..

This picture was taken on Christmas Day, and it is so beautiful in the sunshine, but I have to protect the Purple Sparkle candles with an Ikea Rosali pillowcase which I tape to the window! Should I really be admitting to that?

Anyway, another plus to my grey day was that I decided to treat myself to some creative time, and I've come up with some lovely new products, some of which are setting next to me as I type, and some of which I can share with you now..

These are my new angel cake delight melts. Pink and sparkly and highly scented with my 'Angel Cake' fragrance, which smells absolutely delicious!

And these are my Karma Sparkles! Do you remember how excited I was about the arrival of my 'Lush' scents the other week - well now I have another one, and once again it is a fantastic duplicate.. so I couldn't resist making some special edition sparkles!

We're not visiting a craft fair this week, but next Saturday we will be multi-tasking, with a fair in Lacock Village and a fair in Porthcawl. So I've got a busy week coming up! I'm hoping to fit in even more new products this week too, so I hope to see you soon at www.purplesparkle.co.uk

Purpley :-) xx

When I was little, Easter and Half Term holidays sometimes saw Mum, Dad and me in pretty little Cotswold towns and villages. I remember a gorgeous little chocolate and sweet shop that did the best Easter eggs, and proper sweets that you bought from a big jar by the quarter!

Well now we're back with some different kinds of sweets! New in our Ebay shop you will find coconut ice wax melts for your burner (pictured above), and little hot fudge pieces. (pictured below!) Both smell absolutely delicious, and I think you will find give you the sugar rush without the comedown! They'll even be delivered to you in retro sweetie paper bags, with a purple candy stripe!

From 8th April 2008..

Hello, and welcome to the first Purple Sparkle Blog!

I'm Becky, or Purpley as I'm often known, and I am the owner of Purple Sparkle Crafts. I make delicious, cute and unique highly scented candles and wax melts, which are availlable to buy on my website http://www.purplesparkle.co.uk/

So much has been happening recently I thought I would start this blog as a good place to keep everyone updated!

My first exciting piece of news last week was the arrival of the new 'Lush' duplicate fragrance oils! I can now make you pillar candles, votives, tealights and wax melts in your favourite Lush fragrances! I have duplicates of Rockstar, Honey I Washed the Kids, Alkamaar and Snowcake. I'm really impressed with the likeness and they're already proving very popular!

Over in the Purple Sparkle Ebay Shop, my outlet for wonderful kitsch goodies, I have a new stock line all the way from the USA - Lip Balms! I am such a big kid, and these really appealed to me! I've got Hersheys, Reeses Pieces, Peeps, Twinkies, M&M's, all sorts of things! Here's a small selection of the pieces that are already added.. more to come!

Saving the best news for last, Purple Sparkle Crafts has been out and about! We had our first craft fair of the year on Saturday 5th April, in the centre of Bath, selling a huge selection of handmade candles. It was a great day and I met some lovely people.

The Purple Sparkle stall did prove confusing for some though, as alot of people thought I was a cake and sweets stall.. what do you think?

Next week we are in Tetbury Market Hall, and we've got dates lined up for more shows. In the meantime, visit us at www.purplesparkle.co.uk for the complete hand crafted range.

Purpley xXx