Wednesday 6 July 2011

Another Quick One...

...to show you guys the new batch of bunting added to my Etsy shop. There's...

Carole's Cosmic Bunting



Kat's Autumn Bunting


Tilly's Pretty Bunting

As you can probably tell I've gone a bit bunting crazy so there will be more to come in the following weeks.

Happy Crafting. :)

Sunday 3 July 2011

Trying Something New...

Here is a quick sneaky peak at one of the new creations I've been working on whilst on my little break from work.


I've got a lot more sewing planned for the next couple of days so hopefully I'll be adding more pictures here and new items to my shop very soon.

Monday 27 June 2011

Following by Example...

After my complete craft space blitz today and following feltmeupdesigns' example I decided to post a few pictures of my new and improved work area. I went through every single box/ drawer of my crafty things and rearranged them so I (hopefully) can find them again!!! I dusted every single surface and I even hoovered!!!!


I am terribly messy and unorganised so I'm (again) hoping that this will motivate me and that having a properly defined and designated work area will help me to be more professional and treat my crafting as a business rather than a hobby.


I decided to put up the Cloudberry Skies bunting I made to take to craft fairs but it's far too long but I think it looks perfect hung over my bookcase (BTW this only contains a small selection of my many many books). Also I would like to point out my TinTin poster, I love it as it reminds me of my Ottakars bookshop days.


As you can see I have organised all my fabrics by colour, I've even integrated all the guilt ridden items I mentioned in my last post so hopefully that will be the end of that and I can move on.



One last thing, feltmeupdesigns also had an inspirational image in her studio tour, this is mine!! Not all that inspiring but every time I read it it makes me feel a little better, this card basically sums up my attitude to life!!!

All in all I've had a productive day and just maybe this will mean a step in the right direction for  cloudberryskies.

Happy crafting. xx

Saturday 18 June 2011

I'm Not Sure How I Should Feel...

About two years ago a friend gave me a huge bag of fabric as she was moving away to Liverpool and couldn't take it with her. I had a lot of things going on at the time so didn't go through the stash properly till I was about to move house last year and at the bottom of the bag was something I really wasn't expecting... it was the partially made nursery wall hanging that my friend had been making while she was pregnant! It was mostly due to this project that the two of us really got talking at work (and we soon became good friends) she would ask me for the odd sewing tip and I gave her leftover fabric to use but unfortunately a couple of months later she had a miscarriage. I'm assuming (understandably) that the project was tidied away and forgotten...until the day I found it! Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am not the most emotional of women but when I found this item I have to admit I cried (a lot) and to this day I still haven't used any of the fabric that was in that bag.

A few months back I inherited another lot of fabric from another friend from work when sadly her aunt passed away. She knew that I liked sewing so I was an ideal candidate to take some off her hands, when I went through the bag I couldn't help but notice that some of the fabric had labels pinned to them and I had that horrible feeling once again. It's just so sad, this woman had so many plans for this fabric and now she never would get a chance to use them. I've had this fabric for a while and again I have not used a single thing.

I've been thinking about this for a while and I guess my main problem is that I'm not sure how I should feel about this fabric (sounds strange, I know) and the sad circumstances in which it came to be in my possession. Perhaps I even feel a little unworthy (does that make sense?) because I'm not the greatest crafter and I'm really still learning the ropes. My biggest worry is that I'll ruin the fabric by making something rubbish that'll end up being thrown away! So I've been telling myself that I'm just saving it for the right project and when that idea presents itself I will make something wonderful in tribute but I don't know if that will ever happen. I guess it just goes to show that you never can tell what's going to happen in the future and we should all try make the most of each day. (That goes double for me!!!)

Sorry that this post was a little miserable but it's just been weighing on my mind and just had to get it off my chest.

Happy Crafting. xx

Tuesday 10 May 2011

To Boldly Sew...

Do you remember I made that felty batman a few years back? Well the friend I made it for is getting married in July next year to his lovely (and equally geeky) girlfriend and I want to make them a particularly awesome and unique wedding present. I've bandied around a few ideas but kept coming back to the same one! I'm not going to tell exactly what I'm making yet (I don't think they read my blog but I need to check as I don't want to ruin the surprise) but below is a small clue. So with most other potential projects on hold I've got just over a year to achieve my goal, so fingers crossed I've got enough time (you know what I'm like) and I'll let you know how I get on as I'm going along.


In other news you can now get free shipping on all items in my Etsy shop until the end of May. All you have to do in type in the code BLOGGER into the special box at the checkout. So please feel free to have a good look around see if anything takes your fancy.

Happy Crafting. :)

Monday 9 May 2011

Sunday 8 May 2011

Little Bit Pugly.


This is a brooch I made for my friend's birthday. It's meant to be a pug! But I'm not sure if it really looks like one or not? Still the friend I gave it too was very pleased and I guess that's the main thing!*

*Addition if you would like to said brooch on the birthday girl in question there is a picture on my facebook page.

Saturday 9 April 2011

And I Almost Forgot...

... here are a few photos (that I promised to post months ago) of the brooches I have been making, and I will be listing them in my shops very soon. Fingers crossed they will be really popular as I am quite proud of them!!





Thank Goodness For Weekends Off!!!!

It's been a strange old week for me (but mostly in a bad way). It all started when the shop I work in had a big theft (about £700 of very specialised military history books) on Monday afternoon in which two of my bags were also stolen (these were used to help the thief on his way out of the shop with his swag!). This annoyed me a lot (but I comforted myself with the fact that he stole the 2 cheapest ones and not ones that I had spent a lot of my time on) however the worst thing was, that later (after CCTV footage was watched) I was told that my colleague and I had been near the thief when he struck and we didn't notice a thing! (Clearly I'll need to be more observant in the future! My manager reiterated this when I was called into the office for a 'chat' the following day!) Anyway the thief made another (and rather drunken) appearance on Wednesday but this time the shop was ready for him and my (fellow in the dog house) colleague spotted him and had him thrown out before he could do any real damage (we think he may have stolen a birthday card, how sad is that!)


Anyway Thursday passed without incident and Friday started well, with a young girl coming into the store specifically to buy one of my bags for a present (I was so chuffed). But my happiness was short lived as later that day an email came through about another branch being scammed by a nice man in a suit. After reading this strangely familiar sounding story I realised that I too had served (and was completely conned) by said scammer earlier in the day!!! I never make mistakes like that normally *repeatedly hits palm on forehead* and I always follow the rules but he really caught me off guard as he seemed so genuine and I just really wanted to help him get the book he was after. I feel like such a complete fool and I'm just glad that I have the weekend off to forget all about it (I never want another week like this one!) and from now on I'm going to have to be more vigilant and on my guard because you never can tell what people are really up to, however nice they seem.



Saturday 26 February 2011

Five Sales and a Theft.

I'll try and make this just a quick post today (as I know I have the tendency to waffle on) and tell you about what I've been up to. I recently had a two week break from my day job in which I spent lots of time creating new things (there was also quite a lot of eating and sleeping as well, it was bliss!!) like a new line of sweet Matryoshka and Little Bird brooches (pictures to follow) as well as a couple of bags.

This creative time off made me realise all over again that this is what I want to do as my full time job! At the moment it can only be a far off dream but I'm determined that one day I will achieve this, I just need to work harder at it (and I know it'll be hard work)!!!

Anyway my craft stuff has now been on sale in Waterstone's for five weeks and as the title of this post suggests I have had 5 sales (not too bad) and 1 theft (v. bad). So far I have sold 1 Matryoshka tote, 1 Heartfelt Decoration, 1 Matryoshka and 2 Skully brooches. Also one of my Cloudy bags was stolen! I'm trying to take the latter as a compliment but I've got a horrible feeling it was just used as a receptacle to steal books from the shop!! But then who knows what goes on it the minds of shoplifters, they may also love to 'shop' for local products!?!

Guess this wasn't such a quick post after all!

Happy Crafting.

Monday 17 January 2011

So Much To Say, So Little Time.

Where to start? Well anyone who has been following me on Twitter or Facebook will already know my good news!!! In my real life (when I'm not wasting time on the internet) I work in a branch of the bookshop chain Waterstone's (I look after the craft books, naturally!) and about a week and a half a go I was asked by my manager if I would like to sell my craft stuff in our shop. I jumped at the chance obviously and had a few of my crafty items on display within days (as you can see)!!!


So far I only have on display 13 felt decorations and 4 totes as I'm still undecided as to what sort of items I should sell. For the moment I think it'll mostly be on a trial and error basis, but I will be adding more items over the next few days. Things like brooches, bunting and hopefully if they're finished a new range of book bags, I bought a few sweet little cotton bags which are just big enough to fit a paperback in. They come in such lovely bright colours I had to get one of each, I just need to decorate them now. So I guess we'll just have to see what sells and take it from there.


Also with this new opportunity (and renewed enthusiasm) I decided to try some new designs one that I think has worked particularly well are my Russian Doll totes! I have been thinking about making something like this for a while now as I just adore anything Matryoshka (and Kokeshi) but I guess I've just been too lazy. I made 2 a couple of days ago I think they came out really well and I've cut out the pieces for 10 more in various different fabrics - I may have gone a little Babushka mad but I think they have worked really well and will (potentially) sell.


I have been so nervous about having my craft on display in the shop but all my friends and colleagues have been really encouraging and supportive. Their confidence in me has been rewarded as I sold my first item today (the tote below) which is great as they have only been on sale for 3 days, so even if I don't sell anything else I'm still really pleased (although I hope I do sell more!!!).

Right I guess I should really be heading off to bed now as I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow (mostly sewing Russian dolls).

Happy crafting everyone. xx

Thursday 6 January 2011

Oh and I almost forgot...

one of my brooches is in this lovely (purpley) gothic treasury by VioletPaw.



New Year, New Me (I hope!)

HAPPY 2011 EVERYONE!!!!! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year, I unfortunately had a bad cold and seemed to be surrounded by ill people over the festive season!!! I had really been looking forward to Christmas but it turned out to be a bit of a non event for me, however I can't complain as there are many people out there much less fortunate than I am!! Where has this 'counting your blessings' attitude come from I hear you ask? Well, I haven't made any resolutions this year (I never keep them) but I have set myself a few personal challenges for 2011, one of those being that I would think more positively!! (Another was that I would try not to worry so much although that might be a hard thing stop doing as I maybe just a natural worrier!!!!) Anyway 6 days into the new year and things are pretty much on track, just need to get more motivated in the craft department and I'm sorted!!!


Anyway about my crafting, well there's not much sewing going on at the moment but in November and December I went a little cloud crazy, adorning totes and brooches with fluffy cloudy loveliness! Here are a few examples, I apologise for the quality of the photos, they were a few quick snaps I took with my camera phone (but you get the general idea).



As in previous years, in the run up to the festive period I took my finished craft creations into work for my friends and colleagues to take peruse and (hopefully) buy a little something. This time round was particularly good for sales!!! I sold 4 totes bags, a skully brooch, 2 xmas puddings and a gingerbread man!! That made me a grand total of £52.50 not bad eh? Especially when you take into consideration that I sold all those items to only 4 people!!!!


I'll hopefully be listing my new cloudy collection on etsy soon, I'm just waiting for a nice day so I can take some better photos!!! The weather down here in Portsmouth has been pretty drab for a while now so the lighting never seems right for photography. (It's hard to put a positive spin on that one!)

I've got so many things I'd like to make but I think I'm going to wait until I've got some sparetime to experiment, I've got two week holiday coming up in February, so that may be the perfect time!!!

Happy crafting everyone!!!