My latest ETSY treasury

This is my latest treasury I thought it would be nice to feature some of the shops that have linked to my cool shops page ( click on cool shops on the tab bar to have a look) As there wasn't enough shops to fill the treasury I have added some other cool items into the mix.

Unfortunately I cannot use the tool created by "packagery" to upload the treasury direct from source as Safari isn't yet supported so I had to resort to the old fashioned screen shot method. This is my first attempt at screen shots and I have no idea if it is possible to include all the images, as you can see the bottom 4 pics are missing. If anyone has any screen shot advice I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. Sorry didn't mean to shout.

If you would like to view the entire treasury and perhaps even leave a comment here is the link http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cf3c11d6f876d91f4fb13b8/blog-love-and-other-friends?index=0

Ok I hope you like it. Why not link your shop to my shops and I will continue to make treasuries from new shops.

Free promotion for handmade web shops

Ok so I am offering a free promotional thumbnail slot on this blog that will link directly to your web shop.

If you are interested in a little free publicity just click on the tab that says "cool shops" on the tab bar above and follow the instructions. Click the "Linky" link if you would like to have the same tool on your blog.

Let's spread the handmade word!

Giveaway number two reslut

Hello everyone. Well the result is in! Picked at random...lol Bananasaregreat is the winner of this giveaway. The booties will be winging their way to you on monday. Thank you very much for playing the game.

Keep checking back for more giveaways leading up to Christmas and the prizes will just keep getting better as I am determined to have a successful one!

Black Friday sales and promotions

Just a quickie to remind you that It's the last day of my Black Friday Christmas bootie giveaway! So enter now if you would like to win them, see instructions below. You cannot deny they are cute.

Also I have Special Black Friday offer on in my ETSY shop 10% discount upon checkout with code black101fri and I have extended the sale till sunday night... so get shopping!

For other great sales go at look at http://www.etsycoupons.com

Black friday 10% off coupon code!

Hello, I am offering my readers and followers a special Black Friday offer. You can profit from a 10% discount on any item in my ETSY shop between now and saturday 27th november 2010. All you need to do is enter this code on check out BLACK101FRI to obtain you special discount.

Hurry stocks are limited!

giveaway number two

So welcome to my 2nd giveaway. The first was a self confessed flop! Hopefully this one will do better.

So this time I am giving away the adorable Santa's little helper booties as shown in the photo above. These would make a lovely Christmas gift or even would look fabulous hanging from your Christmas tree as mini Christmas stockings, you could put some candy treats in them or a tiny toy!

They have been handmade using 100% merino wool fleece.

RULES:

The competition is open to anyone over the age of 14

worldwide, no exceptions

The competion will end at 5pm Uk time friday the 26th of november 2010

Go to my Etsy shop ( click any of the etsy buttons on this page) leave a comment to this post telling me which item you like the best.

You can also have a second entry by liking my page on facebook ( see link above right)

Don't forget to leave a way I can contact you if you win so I can send you the cutie booties.

Good luck!

Christamas shopping night craft fayre

So I went across country last weekend to partake in the Christmas shopping night at my nephew's school. I went armed with a wheelie trolley full of new felt products hoping that my big sis had spread the word amongst the other mothers.

I almost didn't make it as there was a land slide the day before I was due to leave as storms smashed the south west. Luckily though the train line had been cleared and a normal service was running...phew!

I nestled into my seat for the near on 5 hour journey, I got out my threads, my felt shapes pre cut ready for stitching, my needles and buttons and got to work. I think anyone wanting to sit next to me may have been put off somewhat by the frantic pulling through of needles and threads.

On arrival to my sister's house she was eager to see my new stuff " I haven't brought that much jewellery this time" I said which was greeted by a look of horror and "Oh but i told everyone it was jewellery!"

AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Ho hum well they would just have to be disappointed as I pulled forth from my Mary Poppin's bag, scarves and clips and brooches and bags and booties...oh and a bit of jewellery.

I began setting up my table only to find my fabric to cover the table was too short. "Great start," I thought. I had too much stock and couldn't fit everything into the display, I had forgotten to include the bracelet kits on the price list, I was filled with doubt...It was going to be a flop.


But as the initial rush dropped off I started to sell the little hair clips and brooches, in fact they flew off the table. Then a very nice lady bought a scarf for a neice she didn't like but needed an excuse to buy something...sweet. I even sold a couple of necklaces and a few more scarves.


I was very pleased as the journey into felt land hasn't been very long so it was very encouraging to hear lots of very positive feed back and have a few more sales than I was expecting.

Roll on next years Christmas shopping night, I think I'll make a regular appearance.

Giveaway result!

Well due to the overwhelming response to my giveaway...lol I will be giving the earrings to my sister in law. But fear not I will be back with another one fear yea not and next time is gonna be a winner I promise.

Until then I am biting my finger nails waiting to hear if I will be able to get to london for a craft night and a decent hair cut. Due to a landslide in Cornwall, the debris blocking the line I might not be able to get there. Bugger I've been making so much felt I've barely got any skin left on my poor little hands.

Ho hum shit happens, fingers crossed.

Check back for the new giveaway, due on monday.

It is FREE you know

I am aghast that no one, NO ONE out there wants something for free! I don't get it. I am confused. Most people will take something for nothing even if they don't like what's ben given away.

I posted the giveaway below on like thursday and I know people have looked but no one has left a comment, I'm crushed. Is it the item they don't like? Is it the tiny speck of cotton in the picture putting people off? Do they think that the earrings are going to come with a free bomb? ( I'm just not that clever)

If someone would like to give me some giveaway advice that would be sterling!

Giveaway numero uno!

This is my very first giveaway! I'm very excited. The item I am giving away are these lovely chandelier earrings made using sterling silver ear wires and green aventurine beads, very classy. The earrings have a drop of just over 3 inches or 8 cm from the top of the hook.

So all you have to do to enter is like me on facebook (see icon above) then go to my ETSY shop and leave a comment on this post telling me which item is your fave and tell me a joke. That's it, so simple I was going to make you follow me on twitter too but i thought come on enough is enough! lol.

So it's one entry per person ya da ya da Cut off time is tuesday the 16th nov at 5pm UK time. I will announce the lucky winner on wed morning.

Come on everyone loves a competition.

Top tips on blogging and creating healthily part 1

I was reading a message from scoutiegirl ( check out her blog for lots of great tips see link below) about how the TV is the devil and stops us being creative and lures us into it's evil grasp when I had a thought. I thought I would write a post about being creative healthily.

What I mean is there is a certain amount of time in the day when our creative juices are flowing or a certain amount of time when we are physically able to create and if you are anything like me I try to fit in far too much. In doing so even if I have the best intentions I do think that my health suffers.

I try to see in the dark I forget to drink and may as well have a sugar drip stuck in my arm. So I am going to try and do as I say and I invite you to join me in being creative healthily.

HYDRATION:

This one is very important and the one that goes out of the window first. We need to drink. Period. Try and stop for a drink break every hour or so and try to make at least half of them water. Sugary drinks, tea or coffee aren't going to benefit your brain or body as much as water will.

Increase the amount of water you drink and see if your creativity lasts longer.

NUTRITION:

I find when I'm on a creative roll I just don't have the time to eat! I tend to grab for the cookie jar, for those little bite sized eats that enable me not to really stop and even carry on with the other hand.

bad bad bad!

What happens when we do this is that we over load the system with sugar and carbohydrates (No Im not going to try and sell you the Atkins diet don't worry) This in turn prevents the body from naturally burning fat. I'll not bore you too much with the science of it but the bottom line is that if we just snack through the day on cakes biscuits and the odd bit of bread we will become tired and hungry quicker. We will increase the risk of diabetes and put on weight.

So make sure you stop for a proper lunch even if it's just a sandwich and you stop for ten minutes and snack on some nuts perhaps or fruit or yoghurt or veg+dip maybe.

SIGHT:

We only get one pair of eyes. Be it needle work, updating blogs,making jewellery or felt or whatever it is that you do we must look after our eyes, without them we wouldn't be able to do what we do.

So as tempting as it might be don't work in bad light. At dusk or at night make sure you have a really good light to work by as working in bad light puts masses of extra strain on the ole peepers.

And wear your glasses! Even if you don't think that they work and that you prescription is far to weak to even make a difference wear them. Your eyes were tested by someone who knows a damned site ( pardon the pun) more about eyes that you do.

I never used to wear my glasses and now I have doubled the strength of my lenses and have probably done irreversible damage.

For us long sited types try to look away from the computer or the embroidery or whatever regularly and focus on something at a distace. This will excersise your eyes and help them to relax. When I 'm doing clos work `i try to do this a couple of times a minute.

LIGHT:

If you have the luxury of being able to work during the daylight hours, do so somewhere well lit with natural light. Sunlight is so much better for us than electric light. It helps rejuvenate the soul and up lift the spirit ( blah blah but it does) It also helps the development of vitamin D which defends the body against lergies, and it helps defend against S.A.D seasonal affective disorder.

That is it for part 1. Come back for part two where I will be having a rant about back health,music,singing,rest and workspace.

If you liked this post please do leave a comment, thanks for reading.

Dawanda V'S Etsy

So I have been getting right into this trying to promote my Etsy site thing recently. Fed up with no sales and low views, I have to admit I did start looking abroad you might say.

I joined Dawanda ages ago but i had never opened a shop there( Dawanda is the European version of Etsy). I had been reading very useful posts on the Handmadeology blog and Scoutiegirl about SEO I think it's called Search Engine Optimization.

Anyway I started to do a bit of research on the google shopping pages to see where Etsy sellers were coming up when I searched for products I know are in abundance on the site. Now Im no computer genius and I dare say that probably neither are most of our client base but when I went hunting for Etsy sellers i have to say the result was pretty poor.

"Odd" I thought last year if you searched for something on google Etsy always popped up. I thought that perhaps it was because I was using Google UK so I had a look at Google.com too. The result was better but not tip top, I found that there were not quite as many Dawanda items popping up as Etsy one but they were popping up. Where as on the Google uk pages Dawanda sellers were popping up everywhere but still no Etsy sellers.

I asked Why this might be in the Etsy Forums and was greeted by a feeble response of guesses by a few other sellers but no reply from anyone from ADMIN. I am more than a little miffed. I buy all the time from Etsy and even though it's a US based site it doesn't stop me and I doubt it would stop a lot of other British or European shoppers either; but if you can't see it how are we going to know that it's there????????

So to cut a long story short after sniffing around a little more on the shopping pages I decided it was high time I took the plunge and opened a Dawanda shop too. So we'll see in the coming months if I get any joy from the European market on Dawanda.

Cobweb felt photo tutorial

So here we go again!!! This time I want to give you a beginners eye view of how to make a cobweb felt scarf from wool fleece. I have never been one for doing things completely by the book, so I read, I absorb then ultimately I do it how I want to.

You will need the things shown in the photo below.

A spray bottle filled with soapy water ( you can use washing detergent, hand soap etc)
2xlong length of bubble wrap
wool fleece
wool yarn


Lay out your underlay of bubble wrap on your table bubble side up. Begin to tear off very wispy bits of wool fleece and lay them directly onto the bubble wrap. Many books will tell you to use a netting or calico or something but I find it works perfectly well straight onto the bubbles.



As you can see in the photo above after you have laid down your first wispy layer of fleece it's good to run two or more lengths of wool yarn down the entire length of the scarf and intermittently across too to give you scarf a little structure. Don't worry too much about the fleece properly overlapping like in a classic felt project, the gaps and holes just add to the scarfs character.



After laying out your yarn you will need to trap it in, this is really important if you are using a yarn that is not 100% wool. So continue to layer wispy bits of fleece over the yarn and the rest of the scarf too.

When you are happy with the lay out of your scarf spray it all over with your soapy water, be careful not to drown it! Then cover with your 2nd length of bubble wrap.



Like in other felt projects pressure and friction are key so spray the bubble wrap with soapy water to make it slippery then start a rubbing! Up and down and up and down, turn the whole lot over and rub some more. Do a roll or two, roll the bubble wrap up tightly and roll like a rolling pin for a minute or so. Then flatten it out again and peel back a corner of the plastic to see what's going on.



Dont be afraid to touch it, it it super thin and still very delicate at this stage, so cover her up and carry on rubbing and rolling and spraying. You don't want your scarf to be sopping wet but not dry either.



I like to finish off my projects by hand be it booties, bags or scarves. I like to pick it up and rub it between my palms that way I can check it over to see if there are any areas ( the edges especially ) that need any extra attention.

When you are happy that it has felted well and it has shrunk the way you wanted it to, put it in the sink with boiling water for a few minutes. Be careful not to scold yourself! Wring it out and rinse again in warm water or cold water no matter. Wring it out then lay out to dry.




So this is the finished article, I hope you like it and liked the tutorial, I like to put a beginners spin on things to let people know that you don't have to be afraid of what looks like a complicated process with lots of scary equipment, I like to simplify. Simple is good!

Felt in Falmouth

So I have gone from being at 1100 meters above the sea to almost having my toe in it in one fail swoop. This is a photo taken from the window of where I am living at the moment. I am going to be here in Flushing, Falmouth for the next three months or so.

When it is sunny the sun pours through the massive old bay windows and envelopes my work station. My only gripe is that its a little cold at night and the table isn't quite long enough for optimum scarf making.Oh and I do really miss having a towel dryer in the bathroom to hang my wet felt projects on to dry, laying things over the slightly dodgy looking electric storage heater gives me the fear.

I have put together a "how to" for making cobweb felt scarves I am just waiting on hubbie to take some pictures of me wearing the finished piece so watch this space!