Friday, 5 October 2012

Birds in Progress

This week I've been making lots of birds.

I've been sewing lots of brown owl masks and barn owl masks (which are both proving popular at the moment with Halloween just around the corner) Here's a pile of them, half-finished:


I've also been cutting out lots of pieces ready for making some British bird ornaments.


I love that pair of photos together - lots of sewing happens in between those two steps!

Thursday, 4 October 2012

Something New: Cards!

Do you remember back in the summer I posted a quick snap of something new I was working on?

Well, it turned into a design for the first ever batch of  "Lupin Handmade" Christmas cards...

 

What do you think?

I'm really pleased with how the design turned out (I can't wait to send some of these to my friends this Christmas!) and the "taking a photo of my work and getting it printed on cards" process went okay for a first try.

When I got the cards back from the printers I unfortunately spotted a small bit of fluff that was sitting on the design when I photographed it (oops!). It's pretty small but still, I'd never want to sell anything at full price that wasn't 100% perfect so I'm listing this first batch of cards in my shops at bargain prices.

Single cards are available over in my Big Cartel shop for £1.50 each, and sets of 4 cards are available from my Big Cartel shop and my Etsy shop for £4.50. 


While I was ordering the 'Winter Robins' cards, I thought it would be a good opportunity to finally get round to something that's been on my "to do at some point" list for simply ages - get some cards printed with some snaps of some of the gorgeous haberdashery bits and bobs from my grandmother's sewing box (inspired by this photo).

One card features some gorgeous vintage spools of thread...

 

... and the other features an assortment of scissors & shears:


As with the Christmas cards, the first batch of these unfortunately aren't 100% perfect. In this case, the images printed out a bit darker than I'd expected (the background is more grey than white). I'll be tinkering with the images and getting them reprinted, but in the meantime these prototypes can be found in my shops at the same bargain prices as the Christmas cards.


Single scissors and threads cards can be found in my Big Cartel shop, and mixed sets of 4 cards (2 scissors, 2 threads) can be found in my Big Cartel shop and my Etsy shop.

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

Handmade Christmas

I picked up a copy of "Handmade Christmas" magazine last week.


It's jam packed with festive decorating ideas and crafty, creative projects for the Christmas season... and two of my designs get a mention (yay!).

My snowy owl ornaments make an appearance in a snow-themed shopping guide ...


... and my vintage felt baubles tutorial gets a mention in a round-up of ideas for decorating with baubles:


It's always lovely to see my work in magazines! If you like the look of Handmade Christmas, I got my copy from WHSmith but it's also available online.

Monday, 1 October 2012

Remembrance Poppies

I hope you guys enjoyed all those angels! I had hoped to finish the week by sharing some angel-themed paper crafting projects at the weekend but unfortunately life got in the way and they're still in my "work in progress" pile. I'll share them as soon as I have the time, I promise :)

In other news...


For every felt poppy that I sell from my shops during the next couple of months I'll be donating £1 to the Poppy Appeal, supporting the work of the Royal British Legion.

The poppies are part of my range year-round but customers buying them from me at this time of year often mention that they're buying their poppy to wear for Remembrance Day, so I think it's important that I make a donation! (Last year I was able to donate £42 to the Poppy Appeal, from poppies sold during November).

I'll be donating £1 for each poppy sold during October and November this year (2012), including those in my clearance sale. The poppies are available from my main shop, my Etsy shop, my Folksy shop and my DaWanda shop.

UPDATE: My poppy design is now available as a sewing pattern! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns