I've Managed It Again...

... somehow almost six months have past me by and my last blog post seems to have been July! First off let me wish you all Happy New Year and I hope you enjoyed yourselves over the festive season as much as I did!

If you are interested here is a quick summary of the more exciting things I got up to in the last half of 2011 (other than reading, I did an awful lot of that!). 

In August I managed to nab myself a table at the Boutique Market in Portsmouth's Guildhall. It was a good experience and I got to meet other crafters from the local community, which was really nice. I was there for about 4 hours and my stuff seemed to get quite a lot of interest which was really encouraging and by the end I'd made £40 (which was even more encouraging!). The day itself was a bit of a logistical nightmare as I was supposed to be working! Luckily 'the management' were kind enough to let me skip work (as I was owed some lieu time anyway) for a few hours. So I ended up starting work at 9am leaving the shop at 10 o'clock to attend the market, only to return again at 3pm and carry on working til 5.30!

My very first table at my very first craft fair!

My table presentation will need some work though!!

In September my boyfriend's parents very kindly took us on a little holiday to Bruges. It's a really lovely city and I had such a relaxing time! I pretty much spent most of my time following everyone else and enjoying the beautiful architecture, it was so nice not to be in charge of the holiday and just go with the flow. The people were so friendly, the food (especially the hot chocolate) was delicious and the best thing of all, people thought I was under 26 years old - we were told you can get discounted tickets for galleries and museums when you are under this age, unfortunately I'm about five years too late to receive that, but it's still nice to be asked!!

Unsrprisingly I've hardly done any crafting (apart from a couple of custom orders) in the last few months! October, November and December were pretty uneventful and merged into one long month as the bookshop got into Christmas mode. Although I can tell you that I managed to sell about 90% of the stock I had on display in Waterstones and I completely sold out of my russian doll totes about a week before the big day! I even had people asking when they would be in stock again (that did made me feel quite proud!) 


Oh, one thing I can show you is something I made for my friend to give to her fiance (the guy I made the felty batman for). As they loved the other one so much she commissioned me to another superhero. He's not a character I'd ever heard of so I had to do some research, and I found he was a bit tricky to make but I got there in the end!

His name is Etrigan The Demon, who looks a bit like this....

...and here is my interpretation in the medium of felt! 

Apparently when my friend saw his gift he was speechless (which is quite a thing to achieve) and I received a lovely text message something along the lines of BEST. SOFT. TOY. EVER! So all the time and effort was all worth it.

Anyway I think that's enough for now, I'll try and blog again soon I'm aiming for one a week but whether or not that will happen is another thing.

Happy crafting everyone!! :)

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.

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.

Oh dear where has the year gone!?!

Well it's nearly the end of August already (where has the year gone?) and what have I achieved since my last post? Well, I moved house at the beginning of July and that kept me busy (I never knew I had so much stuff!) and rather stressed for a while (thanks to a certain phone company!). But once I'd unpacked my books and craft things into my little craft room/library/dining room, I began to feel a bit more at home. The only thing that was missing was internet access and we finally managed to sort that out on Saturday! Yay!!!

Anyway my boyfriend and I had a little trip to Paris at the end of July in celebration of his 30th birthday and I had my first journey on the Eurostar, which I rather enjoyed!

Neither of us had been to France's captial before so we did all the main touristy things and had a really great (but tiring) time. Mostly I was pleased to find out, as we only see each other once a week that we can spend 5 days together in an another country and not want to kill each other! Also we were lucky with the weather as it was mostly dry and into the high 20's - typically I managed to get quite sunburned even thought I was wearing factor 30!! If it had been raining that would have resulted in a rather cold, wet and tired Denise which would have made me an absolute nightmare to be on holiday with!

I was really surprised how much I liked Paris as I've heard lots of mixed reviews from other people who have been there - things like the people are rude, it's really dirty etc - but I didn't experience any of those things! Everyone we met were very polite and helpful and I thought it was no dirtier than any other city I've been to! I'd really like to go back one day as there were so many things I didn't get get round to doing.

And has Cloudberryskies done anything crafty, I hear you ask? The answer to that is... NO. But I have read 57 books so far this year, does count for anything!?! Oh dear, I am such a lazy crafter!!

Holiday. Celebrate.

Well I've closed my Etsy and Folksy shops and tidied away all my crafty things so I think I'm just about ready for my holiday to Egypt. I leave tomorrow and it will be my first trip out of the UK in four and a half years and I'm starting to get a bit excited (it's about time!). I'm sure I'll have a great time, though I can't help feeling a little nervous as it's the most money I've spent on anything, so I have this weird vision of it all going horribly wrong - like some Watchdog holiday from hell!!! I know I shouldn't be so negative but I really want it to be great so it will live up to my mum's expectations (as she is very excited). With all the running around, sorting out money, buying suitable clothes etc I can't help the slight feeling of dread especially when people keep saying things like it'll the 'holiday of a lifetime'. Too Much Pressure!!! I think my main problem is that I find going on holiday abroad extremely stressful! For a start I think my expectations are usually too high so the place can never quite live up to what I've imagined! (this is my biggest worry about Egypt as I've wanted to go there since I was a little kid!) The other problem is I always want to do to much, fitting in as much I can (with the thought going round and round my head that I have to see everything because I may never get to come back again!) so I'm not really enjoying the holiday experience. I'm pretty sure this time it will be very different and I can relax! As it's a proper package holiday with all the food and excursions included, it means that all the organising is someone else's problem and all I have to do is just follow along (which will be really, really nice!). I think what I need to keep telling myself that this is my mum's holiday as long as she enjoys herself then it has been a great holiday!  Well I'd better be going as I still having packing to do. 

Another Sale!

Yay! Another sale and my very first British buyer! Until now I've only sold my bags to Americans (and that lady in Norway). So my Safari tote finally sold, I'm glad as it was one of my favourites.

Most of today I've been thinking to myself  'If only I had more money' then I could create all the weird and wonderful things I think about when I'm at work and buy lots of lovely fabric without feeling guilty! I know they say 'you have to spend money to make money' but I really have to save for my holiday next year. The original plan was for me to go to Borneo next year for a month's volunteering work at an orangutan sanctuary but I've put that idea on hold for the time being as it's my mum's 50th birthday in April. I decided I wanted to take her somewhere special as she's had a hard few years so I booked us a trip to Egypt for a week (4 night Nile cruise and 3 days in Cairo). I can't wait the only problem is that I need to save up for it and I'm not doing very well so far!

I was reading one of etsy's featured seller interviews last week and she mentioned that she created her work around a theme or idea using a different one each week. I thought that was a fantastic way to work and thats a concept that I should adopt, it would help me focus my ideas (as I have so many that I never do anything about!) Anyway I am thinking that I could have a monthly theme to create around - obviously next month will be Halloween. 

I'm also thinking maybe over the next few months -

-pirates 

-dinosaurs

-cowboys

But then again I guess I should be seriously thinking about stocking up my shop for Xmas as it's not that far away! Aaarrgh! Where has the year gone!