Christmas CRAFTfest is on the way!

Just a quick post to mention that the Christmas CRAFTfest will soon be with us. It's another week long online craft event, where you can browse and buy to your heart's content from the comfort of your Mac, laptop or PC (and probably any other Internet based device you care to mention!).

I'll be there as usual, together with a (growing) number of my online crafter friends. 

It's a great way to buy your Christmas presents and without fighting through the heaving crowds in overheated shops, something I always dread! I'll certainly be browsing for handmade things I can buy for the husband, not to mention my family and friends. If you want non mass produced, unique, unusual, beautiful, handmade, then it's a really good place to start.

If you are interested in getting a stall, the link to Creative Connections (the host site) is here. A stall for the whole week is priced at an excellently reasonable £5.00 and it's really good promotion for your Etsy. Folksy or any other online shop you have. 

The Creative Connections community is really nice too - so even if you don't want a stall it's worth joining and it's free too.  


And a bit more about what else I'm up to this week. I've been super busy with a new batch of freemotion felt tattoos and other freemotion embroidered designs. Which I've been making for The funky Aardvark shop, in Chester. 

A couple of designs haven't worked out as well as I'd hoped, in fact I might have to scrap one piece altogether. But out of the 23 individual pieces I've been working on, I'm really pleased with most of them. 
I still have quite a bit of work to do 'colouring in' the designs and have been experimenting more with machine shading and also some more solid freemotion machine embroidery.  I don't have any pictures to share yet and I keep telling myself that I really should remember to take before and after photos - I like to see how I've progressed with a piece but I get so engrossed in sewing that I always forget.
I will remember to take photos of the finished pieces though. 

Have a good Friday everyone and happy crafting!

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.

Awww what a cute Fluffy duck!

Which, dear readers, is the name of our next Craft Britannia shop of the week! Yes it's the turn of Lucy Breeze's Etsy shop Fluffyduck cards. After a week's break from our team's shop of the week, I'm raring to go and write this weeks review, so here goes!

It's my first review of a card maker and as a fellow card maker, it's a pleasure to feature some of Lucy's cards this week.

 Lucy's been a busy crafter recently. For the last few months, she's been hard at work organising and making things for her wedding, which is in a couple of weeks time (congratulations Lucy!)
I know how handy it is to be able to make your own invitations and place settings, which I did for for our wedding, it's a lovely way to really personalize your wedding with handmade things.
In true crafter spirit, Lucy's made all her own invitations and place settings, with the help of her mom and sister she's made 100 meters of bunting (I can't even begin to imagine how long that took them to make!).
Lucy's also got the whole family crafting for her special day, as her various family members are doing things from baking cakes to making all the decorations and bouquets using foraged greenery and flowers.

Phew! I'm surprised Lucy has any spare time to make such lovely cards for her Etsy shop!

 I've picked 3 of my favorite cards from Lucy's Etsy shop, which can be found here.

Set of 5 Union Jack note cards.

Large red and green bunting Christmas card.

Pink rabbit, baby girl card.

To read the full interview about Lucy and Fluffyduck cards, please click on this link to the Craft Britannia blog.

That's all for today, I'm hoping to pop back for another post later on this week - as it's CRAFTfest time again! We're already trending on Twitter for the past 2 days and I can't keep up with the huge amounts of tweets and re-tweets on there. It's all go in the crafting community this week!

Tatting around with Tatanis Rose

This week it's Etsy Craft Britannia team member, Heather Buckman and her shop Tatanis Rose.

Heather is the only person I know who tats, not in the 'messing around' sense, tatting is a form of lacemaking using a shuttle.

I found an explanation of tatting on an internet site called Ring of tatters, which says
this:

"Tatting is a handmade knotted lace formed with thread, usually No. 20 or finer, and a small shuttle of 3" or less in length. The shuttle works as a thread-holder and, as with a weaving shuttle, it moves between the threads on the loom of the hand - but that is the only similarity with weaving. Many shuttles have an embedded hook which is used for joining elements together. If the shuttle has no hook a separate crochet hook is used."

An example of tatting with a hook

An image of tatting work using a shuttle, photo courtesy orange bloom

Tatting seems very different the the lacemaking I tried a few years ago, the technique I used, had threads pinned onto a cushion and wooden bobbins were used to weave the thread together into patterns (a bit like platting hair).

An example of threads and shuttles used for tatting 

                                                  Image courtesy of Ring of Tatters.

Some examples of Heather's beautiful and intricate lace work.

Beautiful lilac and white tatted earrings.

                                   

Variegated lilac pendant.

Grey tatted lace necklace

Another view of Heather's grey lace necklace, this shows more of the delicate detail.

Heather makes a range of tatted lace items, not just the jewellery I've featured here. She has a range of housewares, bookmarks, Christmas decorations and wedding pieces. Heather can also make custom orders in your choice of colour.

I do hope you'll visit her Etsy shop, she has lots of beautiful items to browse through.

You can find Heather through the links below:

Heather's Craft Britannia SOTW interview is here.
Heather's Etsy shop is here

On a more personal note, my shop is still undergoing some changes, I've yet to amend my CRAFTfest stall links and Google is being a '%$£@' (insert word of choice here!)

because my blog and old email are linked, so I can't add my new email address or identity to sign into Google. I'll figure it out eventually but it's been the hardest thing to get around so far. Oh and my banner has been tweaked but I'll be creating a better one when I have time.

I'm off to do some decorating now, it's nice to have a spot of cooler weather so I can get on with painting our hallway. 

See you next time! 

Katie x

Nature in all it's glory.

Recently we (my husband and myself), have been taking different routes into our city centre. We're lucky enough to be able to walk there, mainly because we live about a mile outside Chester city center, which is where we live. The past few weekends, we've taken the old railway walkway, which we've never tried before and it's made a nice change not to have any traffic (other than bicycles) nearby. It's made me appreciate how green our surroundings are compared to quite a few towns and cities we've visited, and also given me an another place to forage for edible goodies, as we've found quite a few wild blackberry bushes along the walkway. I must remember to take a bag with me next time we go along there, an essential for any forager!

This has, as usual, led me on to this weeks Craft Britannia Etsy team, shop of the week. This week is the turn of Laura, of Lauras Jewellery. Laura's shop is crammed full of her handmade jewellery, from beautiful butterfly and nature inspired pieces, to quirky Alice in wonderland and Wizard of Oz jewellery. I've decided to feature her butterfly and bird jewellery, mainly because of my recent walks to, and around our lovely green walled city. 


One of Laura's beautiful butterfly themed pieces, I especially love the vivid blue colour of the butterfly against the backing paper.

Blue butterfly cameo necklace.

This necklace is another of my favorites, it reminds me of the butterflies I used to see in my parent's garden years ago. Sadly, their numbers seem to be declining and in Chester we're lucky to see a few each year now.

Wooden butterfly necklace.

This sweet necklace has to be my favorite, I love budgies and especially love vintage images of them.

Budgie necklace.

I hope you've enjoyed this weeks feature shop and please take time to
Click to visit Laura's Etsy shop. And click on the link to read her Craft Britannia interview on the team blog

That's all for now.

Something old, something new...

something borrowed, something blue and a sixpence for your shoe.

This week's Craft Britannia Etsy shop of the week is Steph of Six Skeins.
I had a leisurely wander around Steph's shop today and saw that amongst her other handmade goodies and yarn, she had made some items for weddings.
This immediately made me think of my eldest niece and her wedding, which is at the end of this year.

It's a really special to have something handmade for a wedding, it's more personal than something just 'bought' from a shopand is a lovely reminder of the person who gave it to you, as well as a reminder of the day itself.

On to reviewing Six Skeins, Steph's Etsy shop!
Steph's handmade blue beaded garter, would be a beautiful surprise gift for a bride,
It's been crochet with blue and white silk beaded yarn and has co-ordinating satin ribbon ties, with 4 small white organza rose decorations, and it would be just the thing for the something new and something blue off the bride's list!

Blue beaded wedding garter.

And if the bride already has something blue, how about this garter?
Steph made this one from beautiful fine ivory 100% silk yarn, and she incorporated over 140 tiny glass seed beads in a pink/amber colourway around the lower edge.
The garter is threaded with pretty pastel hand-dyed ribbon, which I think gives it a vintage feel.

Beautiful cream beaded wedding garter

Steph's garters are presented in a keepsake gift box, so they can be kept as a memory of the bride's special wedding day. All garters can be custom-made to fit, just contact Steph to arrange the details.


For wedding accessories, she also has these handmade items, the first is a lovely crochet and beaded necklace, which I could see being worn at a very boho style wedding.

Handmade crochet bead necklace.

This scarf would be gorgeous to wear at a wedding, or any special occasion and the cream yarn would go with so many colours. It's been crocheted using fine pure silk cream yarn with mother of pearl chip edging and threaded with cream silk ribbons.

Crochet scarf with mother of pearl edge.

Of course Steph's items aren't just for weddings, you could wear them for any occasion where you want to feel a bit special and her shop stocks so much more than wedding items!

I hope you've enjoyed this weeks post?
On a more personal note, the tax elves did pay a small visit last week, and they lent a hand with my accounts, so the dreaded paperwork is nearly all done now (phew!).


You can visit Steph's Etsy shop here.
And the full Craft Britannia interview is on the CB blog here.

I need a break and this is just the excuse!

I've been busy the past few days, trying to de-clutter and sort out my accounts (and I haven't finished yet!). So I thought I'd take a break from it and do this weeks Craft Britannia Etsy team's 'shop of the week'.

This week's SOTW is the lovely Erica Price of Erika Price Designs. Reading her interview on the team blog made me realise how much energy some people have and give to their lives. Erika's daily life seems like a blur of activity and creativity.

Erika not only makes jewellery but is also a silversmith and makes her own really beautiful glass beads and I've only shown a small sample of her work here.

Crystal Union Jack pendant.

Matching crystal Union Jack friendship bracelet.

Handmade silver and ruby pendant

Handmade glass bead earrings.

I've saved my favorite until last, these have to be the most beautiful handmade beads I've ever seen (and as I used to make a lot of earrings, I've seen quite a few!)

I love the delicate blossom patterns inside the glass beads and to get two beads made to match is quite amazing!

These have to be my favorite. Beautiful handmade glass bead earrings.

You can visit Erika's shop here and her Craft Britannia interview is here


That's all for today, I really hope you'll go and read Erika's interview and visit her shop, both are well worth a visit.

I suppose I'd better make another cuppa and get back to those accounts, sadly the accounts elves must be on holiday in our area, or I'd wake up and find them magically done for me!

Blue Monday

Yes it's grey skies and more grey skies here today and I'm feeling a tiny bit blue with lack of sun (although we did get a peep from it yesterday). The view out of the window from where I sit, is all grey sky but is also filled with the view of large green trees, the silver birch and pear tree at the bottom of our garden, along with the apple tree from next door and yet more trees at the bottom of the garden, that our garden joins with.
It's usually quiet and peaceful outside and I really love the view, but the builders from next door are using a pipe / brick cutting tool again, so I'm wishing I was somewhere else today - maybe by the sea, even on a grey miserable day like today a visit to the seaside can be really peaceful!

Since I'm having a bit of a blue (lack of sun and too much noise) day, and wishing I was somewhere else, I thought I'd do this weeks SOTW early. This weeks Craft Britannia Etsy team's shop of the week is Carrie from Phoenvix, her shop stocks her handmade jewellery and her handmade ACEO cards, which are both pretty and affordable.
I went to take a look at Carrie's jewellery, these pieces made me feel like I was by the sea, very peaceful and relaxed. So I've chosen to feature some of her lovely blue and green pieces today, rather than her other jewellery or ACEO cards.

Chunky green glass bead bracelet

  

This lovely chunky bracelet reminds me of the sea on a glorious sunny day.

Shell pendant with chain and bead necklace.

A more delicate piece, which also reminds me of the sea, beaches and little sailing boats.

Blue green stretch elastic bracelet

Another bracelet that reminds me of the seaside, looking at this , I can imagine myself poking about in rock pools like I did as a child, something I haven't done in a very long time.


I really hope you'll take the time to visit Carrie's shop and also pop over to the Craft Britannia blog to read her interview.


That's all for today and fingers crossed the builders next door go home early so I can get some peace and quiet! Meanwhile, I'll just sit and daydream about being on a quiet and secluded beach overlooking the sea.

Two for the price of one!

Hello again! This week is a bumper edition of the Etsy Craft Britannia team's 'shop of the week', as it features not one but two shops.

Both Etsy shops are run by our CB team member Nadine. Her first shop is called muntjac vintage, which as the name suggests, sells vintage goodies.

These two lovely sets caught my eye, so I had to feature them. The ducks look as if they could have just been bought from a modern ceramics shop and the Russian nesting dolls are a popular theme at the moment, wouldn't it be lovely to own a set of these vintage nesting dolls?

Set of beautiful vintage ducks

Vintage, painted Matryoshka Russian Nesting Dolls

Nadine's second shop is called imynda and features her handmade crochet items. She makes sweet crochet animal brooches, magnets, accessories and jewellery. I love her sweet panda and lion magnets and her brooches are really adorable.

Sweet crochet panda magnet

cheery crochet lion magnet

I hope you'll take the time to visit Nadine's shops, both are worth a look!
To read Nadine's interview on the Craft Britannia blog click here

Nadine's muntjac vintage shop can be found here and her imynda handmade shop can be found here

That's all for today and happy crafting to my readers!

Slightly saucy Tuesday.

Craft Britannia's shop of the week this time is Sarah of Red Ribbon. Her handmade pretties are a little different to those featured previously, not only does Laura make lovely and very glamerous hats and headpieces, she also caters for the more adventurous person, in that she also makes and sells fire eating equipment, stilts and burlesque accessories.
 

A very elegant black and white cocktail hat.

Queen of hearts hat.

Blue swallow cocktail hat.

Interchangeable burlesque pasties

Sarah also offers gift vouchers, including the one below, which would be a fun gift for the more adventurous girl!

 Burlesque tassel twirling voucher.

Sarah's interview can be found here at the Craft Britannia blog and is a very interesting read, not least because together with her Etsy shop, Sarah is also a Circus performer.

Red Ribbons, Sarah's Etsy shop can be found here and I hope you enjoy having a browse around.

Merry Go Round UK

This week's Craft Britannia's shop of the week on Etsy, is Merry Go Round UK.

Julia, who is the face behind the name, makes a lovely selection of goodies, such as crochet mug cozies, bunting and hair clips. Other items in her shop include button magnets, like the red, white and blue ones below and also decorative micro wreaths.

For the full range in Julia's shop, please clock on the link here

Red white and blue button magnets

Red white and blue micro wreath

Pastel micro wreaths

Peach, green and yellow crochet bunting

    

My favorite has to be the beautiful crochet bunting above, it wouldn't look out of place in a photo shoot in Molly Makes magazine and would be perfect for a young girls room or a garden picnic or party.


To read Julia's full interview on the Craft Britannia's team blog, please go here

That's all for today, hope you enjoy browsing in Julia's lovely shop.

End of the week & a special offer!

Hello again!

I've been really busy this week, added a few more handmade goodies to my Etsy shop and I've also been tweaking photos and promoting CRAFTfest like mad on Twitter.

A quick peek at a few of my new goodies. I've had a lot of positive comments about my new brooches.

handmade freemotion applique bird brooch

handmade freemotion applique owl brooch

another of my handmade freemotion applique owl brooches

 

 

While I'm here, I thought I'd also mention that it's the final day of the CRAFTfest online fair tomorrow (Saturday 16th June). To mark the end of our fab week, I've decided to hold a freebie offer in my Etsy shop. The offer is only for CRAFTfest buyers and for readers of this blog.


The offer is as follows, spend £10.00 or more and you will receive a lovely free surprise handmade gift. Spend £30.00 or more and receive two free surprise handmade gifts. All gifts will be handmade by myself and the same lovely quality as shown in my shop.

Just click the link here to go straight to my CRAFTfest stall. From there you can go directly to any item in Etsy that I've listed on my stall. When you make your purchase from my Etsy shop, If you go via the CRAFtfest website, leave a note saying #CRAFTfest freebie or #Blogger freebie if you have visited here first. It's as simple as that.

Just to add that Etsy.com are having some 'downtime' for maintenance from 7am GMT tomorrow (Saturday). Although you won't be able to access Etsy while they are tweaking it, it will be open again later in the day.It's a bit frustrating to UK Etsy sellers but there isn't anything we can do about it.

That's it for now, I'll be popping back over the weekend to add the Craft Britannia shop of the week post!