my creative space

My creative space is a bit difficult to find today because I'm in a bit of a 'burach' (Gaelic word for muddle)! A still-dodgy heating system and some other things going on. Anyhow, I've been snatching moments this week and concentrating on getting some products quickly into my Etsy shop - which made me decide on some simple collage cards.

My poor Etsy shop has taken a while to stock up but I think it's on the way at last! I'm using it for stock which is immediately available - items can be made to order from my own website. The whole process of photographing products is quite time consuming, esepcially if the light isn't so accommodating

So here's what I've been working on (this week mostly!). Yes, I'm in a different room this week and have moved from the living room! Sometimes I just work in whichever room happens to have the best light. I like to move around - much to everyone else's annoyance!!

Here's the cards I'm hoping to put in my Etsy shop:

and more here:

I might try for a double post today but I'd better not promise anything too soon! Maybe see you later . . .

See more creative spaces over at Kirsty's.

Bye for now!

New cards

A quick post today as I'm trying to get going with my crafts today (catching up after my brief IT problems last week - something about a laptop and a hoover!). I had fun creating some complementary cards for my "Beastie Tweedie" range of soft toy collectables, at the weekend. I ordered some "joggle" eyes from Fred Aldous as I thought they would be fun to use on cards.

I think I enjoyed the 'cheekiness' of using plastic joggle eyes and Harris Tweed together - a bit of a paradox! It was quite relaxing just to get the glue and scissors out - I had anticipated using some blanket stitch embellishing but I've decided to keep them simple for the moment. Here's the lady bug version.

. . . and the bumblebee:

and a quick preview of all four . . .

I think I can safely say that I released my "inner child" with these little fellows!

Hope you're having a fun day!

A little 'Dickens'?

I'm only at home today 'cos 'Little S' is off school - we've got a big coal fire on as our oil central heating has been on the blink. Anyhow, there's a bit of a 'Dickensian' feel about the day - I lit a candle to get the firelighter started and 'Little S' was fascinated by the pattern the wax made as it melted, so we took a pic. I'm fascinated by the way children make you look twice at some things you might not normally take much notice of. Inspiration on tap!

No crafting today but I'll be posting some pics of my new cards later in the week. Hope you are having a happy Monday!

Bye for now!

More hearts and other stuff!

I've had an 'interesting' week, concentrating on smaller projects and actually managed to tick off most of my "To Do List" - which makes a change! I was also featured in two lovely blogs this week, which I was really delighted about.

At the fantastic Cuteable blog, which is always one of my daily reads and also in Linda Boucher's lovely blog. Linda paints beautiful paintings of glamorous women and shoes! I love her glamorous artworks but I'm particularly drawn to this print of sneakers - they seem to conjure up an image of relaxed Brighton living, somehow.

This week really made me realise how much you actually learn by running a small business - I managed to overcome some laptop 'hiccups', so I'm now an IT 'expert' (Haha!), as well as book-keeper, blogger, maker/designer - there's always some new hurdle to overcome and resolve! I definitely wish there were less hurdles sometimes though!! (OK - I took the hoover to my laptop, but that's another story!!)

I continued with my Harris Tweed hearts and managed to add more to my Etsy shop - I particularly liked the sequin version - I always like a bit of bling! I've been working on some new cards to accompany my 'Beastie Tweedies' - some 'googly' eyes were involved in the process - more on them next week!

Still on the topic of stocking my Etsy shop I've been looking at my crafting stash and realising there are items just waiting to be listed like this aran wool hand-knitted doll's jumper. So I'll have to have a good old rummage and see what other 'goodies' are sitting waiting to be listed! Seeing my huge ball of aran wool yarn is making me think of getting the needles out again - maybe later though, I'm not the world's most patient knitter!

P.S. It's snowing outside! (and we didn't get blown away by the gales after all!)

my creative space

HaHa!! I actually managed to remember the Thursday "my creative space" slot. So here I am revealing my creative 'guddle' to the world! I had high hopes of a crafting frenzy this week, but it's ended up more of a crafting 'trickle' between one thing and another. I decided to start on some simple projects though to get back in the way of things.

Yesterday, I started work on some simple Harris Tweed decorative hearts. I love to hand sew and predominantly sit in the living room with simple projects like these. You're getting a good view of the living room chair which I've monopolised to keep my stash of crafting goodies. Needless to say nobody actually gets to sit on this chair! My note book is propped up at the back - I've been jotting down some ideas this morning for new applique cards to compliment my "Beastie-Tweedie" range of soft toys.

Scraps of tweed, thread, fabric glue, some old tweed rosettes, pens, notebooks, scissors .... It's all there - on my living room chair! I'm off to oggle some other crafters' crafting mayhem at kootoyoo now - bye for now!

P.S. If you have time you could always pop over to the fantastic Cuteable giveaway! It's a cracker!!

Happy Valentine

I was going to make collage cards today but realised I had run out of glue just as I was about to start! So I did a bit of a body swerve and decided to get into the Valentine mood instead and made this little Harris Tweed heart instead. I even managed to get it into my Etsy shop here! What a feat! I'll probably make some more of these (possibly in different colours) and add them to my own website. Maybe even my Folksy shop if I get it together - Valentines here we come!

Just an Update!

I'm all set to start a crafting frenzy this week - so just a quick post with a pic of the view from our back 'garden' today. I sometimes walk down the croft in the foreground to catch my bus to town.

You can just see the lamp post where I wait for it to arrive - not much shelter on a gusty, rainy day! Anyway, that's island living for you - the weather is a dominating force here, but I love it (most of the time!!).

I might be making some of my collage cards this week - they were inspired by looking out my bedroom window at the headland, sea and sky beyond. They're an abstract design but I love playing around with the colours and patterns of the tweed and they seem to tie in with our landscape views here - big skies!

Hope you're having a nice day, wherever you are!