Monday, 31 January 2011

Cute Crochet Motifs

Over the past week, when I haven't been cutting my fingers to shreds with shards of glass or accidentally letting tiny bits fly off across the room, I have been sat snuggled up on the sofa under a duvet with my crochet hook in hand. And here are some of the results.

Crochet hearts, stars and flowery-cloud motifs which can now be sewn on to other things (hats, scarves, legwarmers, socks etc) or, as I have just done myself, incorporated into cards and other crafts. I just listed a new card on Etsy using some of my little red hearts (http://www.etsy.com/listing/67072604/valentines-heart-card )and am looking forward to using my new-found skills in other projects too!

Sunday, 30 January 2011

How to spend a Sunday afternoon...

I think I have been productive today. Not only do I have a new listing on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/listing/67072604/valentines-heart-card but I have spent half of my afternoon happily pinging pieces of glass around the living room. Andy is concerned about flying glass and asked to borrow my goggles at one point, but I think he's probably safe. Anyway, the results of what I have been doing are here. As with the pendants I made the other day, I haven't yet grouted them as I am waiting for my grout order to arrive. And in fact in the case of the blue/green pebble pendant, I haven't actually stuck the glass down either as my sanding block is also arriving and there are some sharp edges in there...

Valentine's Heart Treasury

I've been really slack recently at keeping up with other artists - and am long overdue on creating a treasury for some of the Pay It Forward team. So today I have tried to apologise in some small way by creating a new treasury. It came about because as I started looking through the various artists' work who had kindly featured my work, I realised that many of them had created a jewellery line for Valentine's Day. So here is my Valentine's Heart Jewellery treasury for you to go and look at. It looks better on Etsy as the layout works - for some reason I can't work out how to use images from a webpage as part of a blog post. Go look at it: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d4578fe54338eeff4b0cfa6/jewels-for-my-heart?ref=pr_treasury



Wednesday, 26 January 2011

I can see a Rainbow

Having got my lovely rainbow tiles and pendant backings on the same day, it seemed only fitting that my first jewellery attempts combined the two deliveries.

So voilà - my first ever attempt at mosaic jewellery. As with the other mosaic pieces I have made recently, it still needs to be grouted, but I am saving up to a couple of bits before I make forays into grouting - I am always worried about grout consistency so need to build up to it!

As to why my blog seems to always feature mosaics before the grouting stage, it must be because I get too excited about the nearly finished stage and have to take photos! In this case I actually need to get some grout too - of the unsanded variety as some of my gaps are quite small. I think I will have to do a mass grouting session in a week or two; it's unavoidable.

Monday, 24 January 2011

Pretty pretty shiny shiny

Ooooh, I'm all excited - I received 2 parcels today - one from www.mosaictraderuk.com and one from Eolith who sells on www.etsy.com. Eolith sent me these pendant backings and Mosaic Trader UK sent the vitreous glass tiles and the really cute millefiori. I LOVE the black ones with the yellow stars - they are sooo great. Can't wait to get to work!

These are actually for two totally different projects - the tiles are for some drinks coasters I have in my mind but need to get down into reality, whereas the pendant backings are for, well, necklaces; I'm going to experiment with some mosaic jewellery and am all fired up about it.

So why am I on here then? I need to get to my desk and start cutting up some glass...!

Saturday, 22 January 2011

Work in progress...

I haven't posted on here for a few days or so. It's been a busy busy week and there have been all sorts of reasons why not to post. We went to an awesome comedy night, have been on a few cycling courses, went for a swim, then dinner, then drinks... etc etc etc. Of course I am just full of excuses really!

Actually one of the reasons why I haven't posted is because I've been working on lots of things. I have just finished a new Kindle cover - in blue this time, which will be in my Etsy store soon (www.etsy.com/shop/creatingtrouble).

And then while working on that, I started thinking about making patchwork a little easier, and so my latest project was born: Lellie the Ellie - a felt patchwork elephant! She seems to have taken on a character already despite being 'new-born'; I thought I'd take a photo of her doing what I believe she does best - hiding behind things trying to creep up on people and play jokes on them.  Because she is patchwork, she's different on each side - she has more spots near her ears on her right.

She's hiding behind my other project of the week. I got out my glass for the first time since moving to the new flat and made a small drinks coaster with a heart in the centre. It isn't grouted yet - I want to have a few more things ready before I start grouting, so you're getting work in progress. But it has inspired me to go and order lots of things from www.mosaictraderuk.com which I am excitedly looking forward to arriving...

Monday, 17 January 2011

New Listings


I've just put up a few new listings on my Etsy storefront - go and have a look at what's there! As a newbie, I'm wondering how to promote my work - getting plenty of views, but have a feeling I'll never make any sales!!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/creatingtrouble

Shouting it out for some other artists...

As I think I have mentioned before, I sometimes find this blog a little narcissistic... which I am sure we are all guilty of sometimes, but every now and then I realise how self-absorbed I am. So now to remedy the situation a little.

I have recently been quite active on Etsy and Twitter and as a result have got to know some work by some great artists / designers /crafters and the like. Here are some whose work I really like, and also who have made me feel really welcome in the new communities I have joined...

http://www.emmas-attic.co.uk Chic Unique creates jewellery and also promotes other designers. As soon as I get my new mosaics order I'm hoping to do some designing in collaboration which I think is going to be super fun!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/loves2crochetuk Loves2crochetUK makes some really cute crochet designs, crafted into jewellery, hair accessories, general household items and all sorts of other things. I love the hearts and wish that I knew how to make them!

I've only just discovered http://www.zygotegifts.co.uk/ today and I love the designs!

http://anliedesigns.blogspot.com/ and http://www.etsy.com/shop/AnLieDesigns - Will someone please get me one of these bags for my next birthday? Please?

And some people who I'll be using for my craft supplies... http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetCuteHandmade
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thesupplystop and http://www.etsy.com/shop/Eolith

Clearly this is just a very limited selection of new creators that I've discovered - but I really think you should look at some of their work!

Sunday, 16 January 2011

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...