Spinning in a world of yarn!

       This week's Craft Britannia Etsy team shop of the week is Spinning Streak.

 If you want hand knitted goodies, or some lovely hand dyed and destash yarn for your own stash, then Spinning Streak's Etsy shop is a good place to start.

Spinning also makes some gorgeous hand knitted items, like the tea cozy below, which I love for it's mix of colours and textures.

One of Spinning Streak's gorgeous chunky textured cozies.

Some of her beautiful hand spun and hand dyed yarn.

Spinning also knits some beautiful hats. I have my eye on a couple of her slouch

beanies, perfect for my countryside foraging sessions, or even bad hair days!

To read all about Spinning Streak and her work, please visit the Craft Britannia's SOTW blog post for her interview.

I'm not sure who's going to be the next SOTW as we've had a slight re-shuffle around, due to someone being on holiday when it was their turn. It was my last week, and if by any chance you'd like to read my interview and know more about me and my small world, please click here visit the Craft Britannia blog.

I'd just like to add a huge thank you, to everyone on the Craft Britannia team on Etsy. All their hard work made my turn at shop of the week really enjoyable and I felt very spoiled getting all the attention.

Catch up Tuesday & craft fairs.

I meant to post something about this last week, but time just ran away from me again!

Last week it was my turn to be featured as the Etsy team - Craft Britannia's shop of the week, and what a fun week it was. I had so many lovely comments and items favorited in my Etsy shop that I felt quite spoiled! It's the turn of Spinning streak this week, I'll be posting a review of her shop a bit later on.

I'm going to be a busy girl in June, my next adventures are both in the virtual and real crafting world.  I've already mentioned in an earlier post that I signed up to CRAFTfest, which is a week long online craft event. It runs from 9th June until 16th June and can be found here on the Creative Connections website..

I'm also a stallholder at Cheadle Crafted, which is a craft fair that's been organised by Fliss of Sukistyle.co.uk.
I've been beavering away making some new pieces, which include felt owl and flower brooches and miniature freemotion embroidery and applique canvases like these:

The fair is being held at Trinity Church, Massie street, Cheadle (near Stockport) on Saturday 9th June 2012. The event starts at 10.00 am until 2.00 pm and is promising to be a fab day for adults and children alike. I hope if you'll be able to pop along if you're in the area?

                     
I've been told there's parking in the same street and the church has a coffee shop, which is open until 12.00. There will also be a stallholder selling her handmade cupcakes, from her photos, I'm definitely going to pay her stall a visit!  

     

You can also check out the Cheadle Crafted Facebook page, I've just checked out the latest news and there's going to be a spinning demonstration, which I'll be looking forward to watching.

Oooh it's time for Man of the week!

OK that should really be Craft Britannia shop of the week, but since we're featuring one of the few men in our team I couldn't resist saying it!

This week we're featuring Tony of Axevictimus. He's a wood and metal jewellery crafter, who makes his contemporary pieces from exotic hardwoods, metals and cubic zirconia.


                            When choosing my favorites, this piece immediately jumped                                             out at me. I love the contrast of the metal against the ebony.

                              Limited edition Ebony and sterling silver with a yellow gold rivet, 
                              which can be purchased here

                        Or how about this colourful piece, made from paduak wood, set with a

                        garnet cubic zirconia.

                           A lovely wild olive wood pendant, inset with a sapphire cubic zirconia.

I love the simplicity of Tony's pieces, they're decorative without being 'fussy', and are something both men and women could wear. 

                 And if jewellery isn't your 'thing', why not go for a keyring like this one, which

                 can be personalized.

       

For further info about Tony and his work, please visit Craft Britannia's blog and you can see more of Tony's work here in his Etsy shop.

Just time to mention, that it's yours truly featuring in next week's shop of the week, so I won't do a review of myself (although it's very tempting to see what fun I can have with it!)

Yummy Flying Cheese Toastie!

No it's not a food fight, it's Etsy's Craft Britannia team's shop of the week spot!

This week is the turn of FlyingCheeseToastie (don't you just love that name!)
and Rachel Elliott, who is the face and talent behind the name.

Rachel's shop is full of her beautiful handmade jewellery, glass ware and amazing glass sculptures. My favorites have to be her glass hare sculptures, like the ones shown below.

Kissing hares - a pair of glass sculptures

Patriotic glass hare sculpture

Rachel also makes glass fox sculptures and jewellery, which are stunning.

 

I was never a fan of paisley designs until I saw Rachel's sculptures, now I love it!

A selection of some of the glass trinket dishes that Rachel makes

Rachel is a full time self employed glass artist, with her own studio. She mostly works with glass using kiln-forming techniques, but also incorporate other materials with it, ranging from metals and woods to textiles and paper. She has her own website and she can be contacted via her website or her Etsy shop. Her interview on the Craft Britannia's team website can be found here

I hope you can take the time to visit Rachel's shop, she has some beautiful and unique glass pieces that would be perfect in any setting.
 

It's May and the sun is shining!

Wow what a change in the weather today. For the past few days it's been miserable, cold and raining, today has been so very welcome with it's warm sunny spring weather!
On a personal note, I've been experimenting with freemotion embroidery and my badge making machine. So far I've had really good results and now I just need more hours in the day and lots of new designs to embroider. I'll be giving you a sneak peek in my next post.


Now, it's on to the Etsy 'Craft Britannia shop of the week' spot.

This week I'm featuring Joy of Cutey Critters. She makes lovable knitted and sewn collector animals, artist bears, rag dolls, quilts, blankets and pillows.

Her artist bears are adorable and if you're after a traditional looking bear that's got a more modern twist then please visit her Etsy shop by clicking the link here

              I love this little guy, he's looks like he's ready to take home and cuddle!

                            And this one of a kind panda, called Kiki is adorable!

                                                   "Oh hai there"

Joy also makes lovely crochet items like this blanket, which is both practical and lovely to look at. I'm a big fan of the granny square blanket!


Among the other items Joy makes, are traditional style rag dolls, which I can imagine being loved by any girl (little or not so little).

                                    Wouldn't she look sweet, sitting at the end of your bed?


Well, that's all for the moment. More shop of the week and personal crafty stuff coming soon!