Autumn Blog Giveaway

I am doing my first ever blog giveaway, hoping to make this a regular thing, will maybe do something every season.

So for the first Autmn Giveaway to celebrate Autumn and life in general I am giving away to one lucky person, a small unframed Personalised Flower Picture.

The picture meausres approximatley 17cm x 23cm and is mounted on board which measures 21cm x 29.5, it will fit in an A4 frame. They are available to buy from my Folksy shop.

To enter please leave me a comment, include the name you would like to have embroidered (if you were to win) and a sentance about who it is for. You have until Friday 9th October to enter. All enteries will then be put in a hat and drawn on Saturday the 10th and then I'll get busy sticthing!! If you are a follower, I will put your name in the hat twice, so you hve more chance of winning!! Go on, tell your friends.

Please note - unfortuantley due to postage costs I need to limit this to UK based people only, sorry!

Just an inbetweener

My real job is fairly busy at the moment, and I am in the middle of working 12 days without a day off, which is a shame as I am not getting much new stuff made. Boo!

I also don't have much on the go as I have been busy most evenings and had a real push at the weekend to finish things. I hate not having a project, I found myself sitting down last night and watch telly without crafting, a very odd sensation and can't say I liked it much.

Its also a strange time, as I feel I need and want to develop some new designs and styles for my felt pictures and move away from flowers for a while. But I am thinking that now (leading up to Christmas) is probably not the best time to start developing new ideas and I should maybe just concentrate on increasing stock levels for Christmas and save my new idea for the new year. But it just feels a bit clinical!

Anyway for now, I think I need a mini project to help through this busy week and then can start working like mad in a couple of weeks to fill my Christmas stock box.

Sorry its an old photo, no new work to show, boo!

Its so wee

I have finally completed the samples for the small personalised pictures. I have actually manged to do one using 'boy' colours which is a major breakthrough!

The felt picture are approximately A5 in size and mounted in a A4 white frame. I was thinking of trying to sell them for £25 framed and £17 unframed. Does that sounds reasonable? I find pricing so hard. Hoping to put them in my folksy and etsy shops later.

Also wanted to show you some lovely button's my friend brought me, they are massive! I love them, will I be able to bring my self to use them in a piece.... probabaly not.

Workspaces

This month I am featured in Nottingham Craft Mafia's workspaces blog feature. Its a bit of a cheat really as this is something I will be writing for them each month. But I thought it would make things easier if I went first, so could work out the format and questions etc... But I have found it really hard to write about my own workspace.

Hopefully it should develop into an interesting feature, especially as I love looking at where people work and find it really interesting. We have some great people lined up over the next few months so hopefully should be good.

You should also look out for other Nottingham Craft Mafia blog features such as sketch book peaks, monthly giveaway, reviews and makes. www.nottinghamcraftmafia.com

Its all down to size again.

I have been working on a range of personalised pictures for a while now. I produced the large samples really quickly and was quite pleased. I love working on a large scale and wish I could work even bigger than do most of the time, but framing, selling and storage become more of an issue the bigger things get.

So after making the large samples (they are not even that large, in this case ), I decided to try making a medium and small sample, as I thought it was good to cover all price ranges.

I love making this style of picture as I can sit on the sofa and needle felt and embroider to my hearts content. So although I had a very nice time making these, I discovered that it takes me more of less the same time to do the medium and small ones. So I have decided to scrap this idea and just do small and large. So I am in the process of making some samples which are sized somewhere in between the large (the one at the top) and the small (the 2 without names).

Hopefully I'll be able to show you these in a couple of days. Then I just need to decide on a price, I was thinking maybe £25? Its approximately an A5 Picture in an A4 frame.

Ps - I think I mentioned on my last post about getting stung by a wasp. Well my ankle is still swelling, its huge and very painful to walk on. I am hoping it will reach its swelling peak soon and start to return to its normal size. Bloody wasps.

So easily distracted

This weekend I set my set the simple task of actually finishing, some of the many projects I have on the go at the moment. An easy task I thought...

After an hour fighting with my sewing machine and ruining an applique cushions cover I had made, I decided to leave the machine to think about what it had done and go and do some work in the sunshine.

I took some Christmas card I have started and finished them and some burnt samples I want to make into cards. But during my card making session got thinking and my mind started coming up with some printed Christmas card ideas. This lead thinking about some print blocks I had I made for some bags I did a while and ago and wondering what they will be like on cards, so off I went and did that for a while.

And after that I got distracted by some gardening, got stung my a wasp and now have a very swollen leg...... and that was the end of my Sunday creativeness. And I still have a big pile of unfinished things.

whoop whoop

Well I had some good news last night. I have sold my first pieces in Get Made the Nottingham Craft Mafia Shop. I was starting to think it would never happen, so I am absolutley delighted. I think I am even more delighted that the items were some of my artwork. I think its just the little boost I needed.


If you have never been to Get Made and find yourself in Nottingham its well worth a look. All the items in the shop of made by Nottingham Craft Mafia memember and the shop is run by members as well. http://www.nottinghamcraftmafia.com/

Here are a few of my favourite things - part two

Here is the second part of my favourite things. I was lying in the bath the other day (the shower has broken), thinking about the next few items I would include. I chose 3, and then realised there is a theme. Now I never really thought I was into birds, but I suppose I must be. ....

Flying ducks - I always wanted a set of flying ducks, so when we moved a few years ago the search began for a set to put in the hall way. I looked everywhere and couldn't find any I liked, so was delighted when Jon got me some beautiful ones for Christmas. Unfortunately I can't remember where they are from or who made them, but I seem to think they were handmade some in Leicestershire. Anyway I love them.

Bird Mosaic - My friend made me this for my birthday and its beautiful, not only because she made if especially for me, but also because its a gorgeous mosaic. Its hung about the bath, which wasn't a good idea as its starting to bow.

Bird and tree necklace - This is a recent Etsy purchase, I had been eyeing it up for quite a while. Its made by a Nottingham jewellery designer called Helen Shere. Here is a link to her blog http://sheredesign.blogspot.com/ .I get so many compliments when I wear it and it goes with everything, so I wish I had brought it sooner, now I have got my eye on some earrings.

PS - The cake and summer pudding where a big hit and actually tasted very lovely!!

Summer pudding and cake

I was hoping to be able to show some more new work, as I was having a really productive couple of weeks and hoped this would continue. But had a cold this week and haven't felt like doing much. Feeling better today, but have my parents visiting tomorrow, so have spent the day cleaning and cooking!

Its my mum's birthday on Monday, so have actually baked a cake, I hope she like the barbie sprinkles on top!! I have also made a summer pudding, although I am not sure its going to work, the bread is still looking very white. I am not a bad cook and do enjoy it, but can only do savoury things, so a cake and a pudding in one day is probably pushing the limits. I'll let you know how it goes!

Will hopefully try and do some new work tomorrow.

Ps - After much thought and some advice from some lovely folksy people, I have lowered the prices of my personalised felt pictures, so hoping to get some orders soon!

Another sneeky peak

As promised here are some photo's of the personalised pictures I have been working on.

These are fairly large, so I think I am going to do some samples of medium and small ones, so hopefully there is something to suit everyones budget. They are also fairly girly, which is not a problem with the letters as I can do 'boy' colours, but need to think of something else other than flowers.

I will be putting them in my folksy shop soon.

Let me know what you think, feedback would be really useful?

Sneaky peak....

My collection of Christmas decorations is getting bigger......

Use the force

I am feeling much better after my little wobble last week. Thanks for everyone's kind words it really helped and its good to know its not just me.

I sat myself down and gave myself a good talking to and decided to more or less carry on as I was. But I am going to try and not get stressed or disappointed and try and enjoy it. I have decided to see how things go up until Christmas and then maybe take another look then. Hopefully I may sell something before xmas!

I also feel much better when I am busy and organised and my day job is starting to get a bit busier, so that kind of helps. Although it means I have less time to surf craft sites! But also means I have less time to dwell on things which is good, I am not very good when I nothing to do.

So in my new and positive frame of mind, I have booked onto a couple of Christmas craft fairs, and written a plan of what I want to make for them. I am also working on some new personalised children's pictures, which I should be able to show you next week. I am also trying to put on paper all the ideas I have in my head, which I think will also help. So hopefully I should have a productive and positive couple of months.

The photo at the top is of a new cushion cover, I just need to do the button holes and then put it on Folksy. The picture below is of some special fabric I had printed using a company in American called Spoon Flower, the petal is the same petal from my logo, I can't wait to use it.