Another wet and grey Monday morning.

Yes it's raining... again! To be more accurate, it's hammering down.... again! So we're in for another really wet week, here in wet and soggy England. 
I don't really mind it raining (as long as I don't have to go out in it for very long) but it's the really low light that drives me potty. Anyone who handmakes really needs a lot of light to work with, craft lamps and daylight lamps never seem to work as well as actual daylight and low light conditions can be the bane of any crafter.
Just in time to cheer me up, comes Alison of Frutejuce - our current Craft Britannia shop of the week. I'm seriously in need of something summery and cheerful and her handmakes fit the bill nicely.

Here's a small selection of the items in her Etsy shop.

Freemotion camper van t-shirt

Sweeten your undies drawer or scare the moths off your socks with these!

Some of Alison's pretty bunting.

OK, I'm sneaking in one more picture of Alison's lovely bunting, because I'm in love with this sweet blue and white shed.


Here's a link to Alison's Etsy shop and her Craft Britannia blog interview can be found here.


Onto some news I promised you last week. Well it's official Kipper Tie and Cake now has some retail space in Chester! 
A couple of weeks ago, I found a brand spanking new shop and art centre, called The funky Aardvark, had opened it's doors on the rows in Chester. I popped in to have a look around and got talking to the owner Bex Raven, who's a pretty amazing, creative person! Anyway, to cut a probably long and boring story short, she was looking for people to rent retail space in the shop and after looking at the info on her website, I decided this was just the type of place I had been trying to find for my handmakes. 

So as of last Saturday, I now have a selection of my handmakes, in the shop (including handsewn bears, freemotion felt tattoos and freemotion felt brooches). As you can imagine, I'm pretty excited about my news, and it's given me the extra boost I needed to get moving and make more things! 

Here's are the links to Bex' shop and the project. It's only 10 weeks into being open, but already it's becoming an amazing place to show and sell art and handmade. There are also workshops,  and photographic walks available, plus the creative hub will be opening soon, for anyone interested in computer graphics.

The Funky Aardvark 51 Bridge Street East, Chester 

Also, The Funky Aardvark Project 

Oh and here's a teeny selection of the things I have in The Aardvark at the moment.

  Some of my freemotion embroidered felt brooches.

Singing birds freemotion embroidered felt

Freemotion embroidered felt tattoo.

A current work in progress, I'm thinking of making a canvas out of this particular piece.

You can of course find me on Etsy still, I'm not giving up my online shop anytime soon.

Fingers crossed for my new adventures in a non virtual shop and I'll pop back again soon.

It's that shop of the week time again.

And this week it's Bex' turn from Rebecca's Emporium. You can click here  for a peek at her Etsy shop.

Bex is of course another member of the Craft Britannia Etsy team and she makes one of a kind fabric and felted sculptures. Her Etsy shop is filled with beautiful felted jewellery and little creatures like the ones shown below.

                           Felted mushroom rings

                          And I love this little cute bear brooch!


Along with her other felted treats, Bex makes  unique felted creatures called Pheeples, they're  one of a kind and really adorable.
I'd love to see how someone could make an animation based on her little creations.

    This little one's in disguise! A cute blue felt Pheeple

   I think this little one is a bit shy! 

 A cute smiley purple and white Pheeple.




This is what Bex has to say about her Pheeples: 

"You might've seen a Pheeple recently; They use to hide all over the place, being scared of humans. But recently, they've started scuttering out from behind sofas, peering out from the bookcase and sneaking out from under the fridge. 

Pheeples are curiously inquisitive, and just like to watch us going about our lives and some of them have become quite friendly with us humans and have made lots of new friends in the process.   

Some try to be scary, using fake fangs and other bits and bobs but they just wind up looking adorable! (but be sure to pretend to be scared or they get upset!) 

Others find every little thing we do hilarious, and can be found rolling around on their bums and doing high pitched belly laughs on desks all over the country. 

And some are just happy to quietly sit and observe us going about our days, taking in the new giant world around them."

 You can also find Bex on her blog here.