A Week of Commissions

The title of this post says it all... I'm having a fabulously crafty week this week with 2 separate commissions for totally different things. It's a good thing I'm not back at work for another week as otherwise I would not be able to keep up!

A few weeks ago my flatmate's sister came over for dinner. We have a number of mosaic table mats and coasters lying around the flat (well I do make them for fun as well as for sale...) and, having seen the mosaic coasters but the size of the table-mats, she asked if I could make her a table-mat with a rainbow theme. So I spent most of yesterday working on making a table mat with a rainbow design on it. None of this is stuck yet as I still need to cut some of the pieces a bit more and I wanted to check before I actually stuck anything down. What do you think?

The other commission I have is quite exciting - my first bulk order! I had my first 'business' meeting yesterday. I went for coffee armed with a sketch book, my laptop and some ideas. I've been commissioned to make a set of beach tote bags for a hen party. As the hen party is going down to the Devon seaside for a weekend, the idea is that the bags are personal to the weekend so we played around with sailing boats and beach huts and eventually decided that beach huts were the better design. I have spent all of this morning cutting lino and material and here is a sneak preview of the designs.

How exciting is this week going to be? I am working away like a little busy bee which is fabulous. I'm really excited about these commissions and hoping that the respective recipients love them. A short post from me today  - I'm off to go and start printing some designs!

Project Update

I bet you're all wondering whether I actually still do anything crafty these days - I haven't blogged about my own craft projects for a while but that's not to say I haven't been doing anything... honest! Admittedly, I haven't done as much recently as I would normally have done, partly because it's a new school year and things are a bit hectic and partly because I have had loads of inspiration but no motivation. What is it that Einstein (Eddison?) said? Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration? Well I'm lacking in the 99% bit at present!

I have, however, been doing some things of late...

I know a number of you who read this know me from Twitter as well and may well have noticed that I've been mentioning penguins the last few days. Some of you may also have seen said penguins. I broke a very old keyring the other day but while the charm bit had fallen off, I still had the actual ring. Coupled with a whole load of felt I've had hanging around looking at me for a while now, I got to thinking... I needed a new keyring charm. I can't say I went through a whole load of designs before I got to this one - one of my favourite animals is a penguin and it seemed quite natural to make a penguin. So this is what I made:

Well, I couldn't leave him all lonely, could I? On Tuesday I went to the local hardware store next to work and bought some key rings. So what have I been doing this evening? Yup, I've made some more. The penguin family is now at 5. I have plans for green, red and turquiose ones but at present haven't got any suitable ribbon for them. The red ribbon I have doesn't sit right with my red felt and, when put with the green felt, is a bit too Christmassy. So I need to get some pretty ribbon... I know just the place. I have a question for you: do you prefer the penguins with the white stitching or the ones where the stitching is a near match to the felt? I thought I'd prefer the stitching to be the same but I'm not sure...

What else? Well back in April I wrote a post about bags (you can see it here). The first bag I showed you was the crazy crazy wool bag. I had finished the main part of it and most of the lining but couldn't find any buttons suitable. Do you know how hard it is to find really large wooden buttons? Oh my, it's been a nightmare! BUT... I have finished the crazy wool bag, and in fact have used it a number of times too. I've realised I made the strap a little too long so I am going to pin it and sew it a bit shorter but otherwise I am quite happy with it. Do you like the buttons?

I"m not done yet!!! I have also made a few new mosaic pendant designs! There should be one more but I managed to break it while trying to grout it this evening so I need to take it to pieces and start again. It was my favourite design but the one I knew was the most precarious due to the millefiori I had used in it.

Sadly I've only just taken the photos of these and as it's quite dark in the flat the photos haven't totally come out. The paler one is light green and orange porcelain - totally upcycled materials as they used to be plates belonging to a friend of mine. I couldn't get a close up shot without it all going blurry but once I have the right light I will try to. Of the larger shots, the top one is a repeated red, purple and turquoise mirror design while the lower one has become known as the Google pendant because it's colours match Google's.

Just to let you know - once I have managed to take some decent shots, the key-rings and pendants will be going into my Etsy store - or if you would like one and can't wait for me to take pictures and list them, get in contact with me via the contact section of this blog and I can let you know prices / payment arrangements etc.

A flurry of a weekend with Etsy

Hurray! This weekend was another Etsy BNR by the British Sellers on Etsy Team. I curated twice for this one as I enjoyed curating last time and, being still fairly house-bound, didn't have much else to do. As I'd volunteered to curate fairly early on, I was featured in the initial line up which was great and I did say to myself I wasn't going to go mad and buy lots of things... 

I was bought out on Friday night when someone bought a bunny bag from me, and in total I made 4 sales in the BNR - a pink and a blue bunny bag, a wedding card and my green and blue mosaic pendant all went over the course of the weekend. My etsy store is now looking quite empty! 

 As always it was a great weekend and I really enjoyed chatting to fellow Etsians and browsing through their shops. Of course I bought back in (how else did I get so many sales?) Want to see some of the goodies that I'm looking forward to receiving? Well you get to see them anyway!

Love Altered Eras's steampunk hair clips - and she's making special ones for me! Yay!

House of Hampton are throwing in an extra set of Wine Charms for me as one of the special offers. Thank you! 

How gorgeous is this seaglass necklace by RainbowsOnTheBeach? Love!

Thought I would post photos of what I sold as well - just in case you've all forgotten what kind of things are available in my Etsy store...!

That Friday Feeling...22/07/2011

Today is the beginning of the Summer Holidays for me - and it's being marked by a weekend wedding in France.  The original plan was to get the ferry over with our bikes and then start our massive cycle from north to south, but since I am not able to cycle at the moment (waaaah!) we are going over for just the weekend. We get the overnight ferry to Saint Malo and arrive tomorrow morning, get a second ferry to Dinard and go to the wedding and then return by ferry on Sunday. So, as there are lots of boats involved this weekend, I figured a nautical theme was only fitting for today's Etsy shout out.

Anyone for tea? Cute teacosy by Harlechcottagecrafts

What great buttons by Emmamount

LOVE this beach bag by LifeCovers

As usual, I thought I would tell you some quirky facts you may or may not already know about boats, sailing and life at sea...

• There is a theory that the word POSH comes from Colonnial and East India Trading Company days - the best cabins on boats to India were those which caught the afternoon sun. On the way out these were on the Port side of the boat while on the return it was those on the Starboard side. POSH stands for Port - Out, Starboard - Home and as these were the most expensive cabins the word posh came to symbolise someone with a lot of money. Actually there is no foundations for this theory but I like the idea of it!
• British sailors got the nickname 'Limeys' due to the cargo of lime juice they would carry on board. Scurvy was a fairly common disease that afflicted all sailors in those days and the vitamin C that limes provide was a good preventative. Lime was more readily available than lemons at the time because the British Navy had colonies in the Caribbean. Lemon later became the juice of choice when sailors realised that limes didn't actually have enough vitamin C in them after all. 
• The most famous Ferryman is probably Charon - a character from Greek mythology who carried dead souls across the river Styx to the Underworld.
• The busiest seaway in the world is the English Channel (or La Manche if you speak French) that connects Great Britain to France. At the narrowest point (between Dover and Calais) it is only 34km  although at it's widest it is about 240 km. 
• To dream of sailing can represent how you are coping with your path through life - smooth sailing means that you are in control whereas a rough sail can mean that you are able to overcome life's difficulties. 
• The difference between a boat and a ship is technically that a boat is some kind of vessel small enough to be carried aboard another vessel (a ship) or be lifted out of the water. So: boats are small, ships are big and ferries... well they are for transporting people across shortish passages of water.

So there you are - possibly not the most informative facts about boats, sailing and the like but the ones I thought I would share with you. Enjoy your weekend! 

Not quite a 'Folksy' Friday

Well last week I did a small shout out of some Etsy artists whose work I like, and thought I would do the same this week. I need a name for this post - it'll hopefully become a bit of a regular feature so a catchy name would be good. If you have a good title for the new feature, please comment and let me know!

This week it's bags bags bags...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/72850541/denim-make-up-bag-with-blue-polka-dot?ref=pr_faveitems

Love EvaBdesigns -have to stop myself!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/47960774/little-tote-and-purse
FunkyDivaDesigns is a fabulous person who makes great items!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/59479568/polka-dot-makeup-bag-redwhite
Love the polka dots from asoftblackstar