What do you mean it's Monday already?

Happy Monday everyone and oops apologies - I'm way behind with my Etsy shop of the week post (again!). So, I'll have to do a double post this week to make up for it. 
I do have my excuse slip all filled out though.... my excuse being that 'the husband' suddenly reminded me that it was the Beaulieu auto jumble weekend last week, so in a mad panic I tried to find somewhere for us to stay for an extended weekend. 
We had a lovely few days away (with amazing weather too!) but sadly it cut short my time to do CRAFTfest promotions and also put back last weeks review (apologies to Abigal). 

Last week, the Craft Britannia Etsy team featured 'Ministry of Shiny', run by Abigail Fulbrook, so here's a bit about Abigail and her shop.

Abigail hand makes silver and gemstone jewellery, which includes personalized initial silver clay necklaces, amongst other things.
Here's what she says about using silver clay " Silver metal clay, it’s absolutely magical stuff. You take a boring piece of grey clay, shape it and texture it. Leave it to dry and then fire it. When you come to polish it, suddenly the grey disappears and there is a piece of real silver in your hand. Fantastic. You also get to use a blow torch which is fun!"

So, what's new in the future for the Ministry of shiny? Sadly, Abigail's Etsy shop will be closing soon, as she's going to work in Japan but as she herself says, Japan is the home of metal clay, this is probably not the end of the Ministry! We wish you well in your new home Abigail and good luck for your future venture! There's only a short time left to buy from Abigail's Etsy shop, so I recommend you hop over there after you've read the rest of this post!

 Here's a small sample of what's in Abigail's Ministry of Shiny shop....

Lovely silver clay letter K necklace

Hematite necklace

This ring would go really well with the necklace shown above.

You can read the full Ministry of Shiny interview with Abagail here on the Craft Britannia blog

                                      
Onto our second shop of the week interview, called 'Cwtchbugs' which is run by Laura, ably assisted by her mum Kim (Cwtchbugs chief knitter & crochet person).

As you've probably read on an earlier post of mine, I'm not really one to "oooh" and "aaaahhh" over babies (or children), but Laura's handmade baby bandana bibs, Kim's hats and other goodies make me wish I had a little one in my family to spoil rotten with some of her gorgeous handmakes. 

Here are just a few of my favorites and I know you'll agree that her items are really really cute! 

     Oooh I wonder if Laura's mum makes this in big person size?

Babies can now look really stylish when eating out!

This also comes in a different colour way.

As you can probably tell, I have a bit of a thing about owls! 

To visit Laura's shop, please click here  and her full interview on the Craft Britannia team blog is here.


Oh and before I go, I've some news of my own in the pipeline - no spoilers yet, just a little hint that Kipper Tie and Cake will soon be selling outside of Etsy & the virtual world. I'm really excited about my news and promise (yes really!) that I'll post some more news very soon!