Oh My!

(Close-up pic of Gretchen's beautiful embroidered Matryoshka)

Oh My! Because that's all I could say when I opened the beautiful parcel I received in the post from Gretchen today! A few weeks back, Gretchen and I decided to do a swap and after a few e-mails to and fro, we decided that it would be a Matryoshka-doll inspired swap.

In between arranging the swap, I also won Gretchen's Giveaway prize of 3 beautiful embroidered cards - well, I never usually win anything so I was totally delighted! She has always inspired me with her beautiful embroidery and I was really pleased when she opened her own Etsy shop recently. Here you can buy some of her fantastic patterns and some beautiful hand-embroidered items, which have been snapped up pretty quickly - so you need to act fast!

Well, between the Giveaway and the Swap, I was the recipient of a wonderful parcel, which was beautifully put together - I tried to take some pics of everything today before the light faded. I had requested an embroidered Matryoshka in exchange for a set of my own Matryoshka 'tweedie' softies - well I was not disappointed, it was simply stunning!

I couldn't get all the little extras into the pics - a lovely little lavender cushion, some ribbon, buttons and the beautiful fabric which you can see in my photos.

Thanks so much Gretchen - I'm afraid my little parcel seems quite humble in comparison but I was eager to post off my Matryoshkas in case they wouldn't reach in time for Christmas, as I think they are intended as a gift.

I'll have time to drool over my lovely gifts once 'Little S's' pal has left after his afternoon visit - plenty hoots of laughter and a huge mess - well I got a little crafting done while they were raiding my kitchen and turning his bedroom upside down. There's a price for everything isn't there, hehe!

Bye for Now :)

P.S. You can purchase the pattern for this lovely Matryoshka doll in Gretchen's Etsy shop - I've got mine, but I might have a job making one as beautiful as this!

my creative space . . .

. . . getting ready to make some tweedie gift tags for a lovely girl I met at the craft fair. I'm not sure that this space will change much today but I'm all ready to have a go with these at the weekend :)

I'll post a pic of them when they're all done.

P.S. The red plier tool may look impressive but it's absolutely rubbish, so I think it's back to the hammer for me - it's a long story!

More creativity over here :)

Something Completely Different!

My first ACEO - there, I've said it! A fun e-mail from Lynsey at the weekend prompted me to take up my pencil and do some drawing, which I haven't done for a while (apart from designing softies, of course!).

Today, I decided to take it one step further and have a go at creating an ACEO - I'm really not sure why, it just sort of happened. Anyhow, I really enjoyed the freedom of the pencil, and of course some Harris Tweed managed to make its way into the picture too! I decided to use the tweed to make 'accents' on the drawing, which to my mind worked quite well. I always think of Harris Tweed as part of the landscape, so perhaps it was a natural progression.

This one's available in my Etsy shop (the grown up one!). Well, it filled a space where my 'tweedie' draught excluder was! (The view is from my kitchen window by the way - the above pic is a detail from the ACEO).

P.S. ACEOs are miniature works of art for trading, collecting, framing, or just treasuring, and measure 3.5 inches x 2.5 inches.

Added Later: I spent some time at the weekend taking photographs of the landscape around my home - I thought this blurry one taken through the sun and the rain was quite interesting! Blurred because my camera wasn't powerful enough to zoom in this far (we live a mile or so from the sea):

Bye for Now :)

my creative space . . . where it all began!

I've been feeling a bit reflective this week after winding down from my craft fair and a very busy month or so spent mostly making stock for the local Art Gallery shop here in Stornoway (I hope it all sells over the Christmas rush!).

Earlier in the week I hauled these two Harris Tweed jackets out of the back of my wardrobe. Believe it or not I made them myself many years ago when I was actually capable of following a sewing pattern (prior to having two children!) and made a few simple items of clothes for myself. They are both still waiting to be lined as I got a bit stuck at that point!

It was the remnants of these two tweed jackets which inspired me to start experimenting with making soft toys at home. I thought it would be a great fun idea to do something a little creative at home and earn myself a few pennies at the same time (I'm not so sure if the last part worked out according to plan - haha!).

It suddenly occured to me this morning just as I was about to do this post that I still had the prototypes I'd made with the remnants of fabric and here they are!

You can see the same brown and blue Harris Tweed in all the prototypes - they look really funny to me this morning, but I'm glad I kept them intact in their original packaging (I toiled for some time over how they should be packaged!)

It's now pretty much 3 years since I started my little 'tweedie' enterprise - I did my first craft fair on December 2nd 2006 to be exact! I'm not sure where it's all going to go from here but it's fun to look back at how it all started! Off to enjoy our Thanksgiving holiday now :)

More 'creative' types over here!

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving if you are celebrating it!

Craft Fair Update

Tadaa! Here's the craft fair venue - our very own local Town Hall, lovely and draughty, and I froze my butt off (sorry, there's no polite way to say that!), sitting right next to the main entrance all day, hehe! Oh the glamorous life of a crafter - and would we have it any other way? Erm . . . don't answer that one!!

I think this was the start of the day where there was still some unpacking being done. I had a cosy spot in the corner which was actually quite well lit so it had some advantages (apart from being draughty!). I wouldn't say it was a very busy day but there was a slow stream of visitors and I made enough sales to make it worth my while (OK, about 50% of my customers were people I knew, but . . . hey, that's cool!!).

Here's a pic of part of my stall . . .

. . . and the stars of the show - my little lavender pouches!

. . . of which I sold 4 out of the 5 I had made for the fair! Well, it's only taken me 3 years to find something slightly less time consuming to make which I can price quite reasonably - these things take time you know! I did think they turned out quite nice and would make sweet little Christmas gifts - one lady was going to post her's off to family in Dubai, I hope it arrives safely!!

I was going to take my 3 'tweedie' draught excluders but only managed to take 2 as the previous evening I sold one on Etsy, which will be travelling all the way to Illinois, USA - needless to say this caused me great excitement and lots of jumping up and down! (Well it was quite exhilarating at the time!!)

Hope you are having a nice relaxing day - I plan to :)!

Cheerio an Drasda :)

More Bling!

Sorry I have not managed to respond to any of My Creative Space comments - I feel very rude! However, I will be catching up with everyone over the weekend after my craft fair tomorrow. Here's a close up of the 'tweedie' baubles I've been working on. I did manage to do some more quick items, but I will post pics of them later. Off to get organised, and hopefully will enjoy my day out, whether I make many sales or not!

Bye for Now :)

my creative space . . .

Getting ready for my craft fair this Saturday . . .

Scrabbling about on the floor making some of my 'tweedie' Christmas baubles, they look nice and take an age to make - crafter's dilemma - eeeek! I'm making them because I like them, so there! Harris Tweed, toy stuffing and some 'bling' - what more could a girl ask for!!?

I heard on the grapevine today that the craft fairs have been really quiet of late - just what I wanted to hear! Och, it's a day out - I'll report back on my return and hopefully will list some of my 'tweedie' bling in my Etsy shop.

The weather's not sounding too wonderful either and it sounds like the wind is whipping up here - another reason to keep the Christmas shoppers at home - Aaaargh!!! Wish me luck :) (I think I'll need it!!)

More creative space-making over here!

Cheerio an Drasda :)