Small Things

You might have noticed that my shops have been closed for a few days - I took some (planned) time off from the day-to-day running of my online shops and then had to take some (unplanned) time off to visit some relatives.

It was nice to have a bit of a break, but I'm enjoying getting stuck into my usual work routine and am busy catching up on emails, packing orders, working on crafty schemes, etc.

Today's to do list includes making up lots of felt bundles - all 65 of my wool blend felt colours are now back in stock, hurrah!


In other news, I was really pleased to see a couple of my disguises included in a handmade halloween round-up in the lastest issue of Small Magazine:


I can't believe it'll be Halloween soon! This year is flying by so fast.

Pulling Silly Faces

My to do lists often make me laugh - it's hard to keep a straight face when saying things like "right, this morning I need to cut out ten squirrels and then sew a batch of ginger moustaches"!

My task for this morning was no exception: stand outside pulling lots of silly faces at the camera whilst wearing an assortment of masks...
... what must my neighbours have thought! A frog, a rabbit/hare, a leopard/cheetah, some camouflage, a snake and a panda. I'm hoping to get these properly photographed on volunteer models in the spring but for the moment my silly self-portraits will have to do!

PS It was quite early in the morning (to catch the light) and really really really cold. The things I put myself through for the love of felt...

PPS I finished a white rabbit mask too (for all those Alice in Wonderland themed parties) but the tiger one will have to wait as half-asleep I sewed it together wrong and now have to unpick it (curses!)

Distracted by New Things

Last night I was supposed to be re-stocking lots of my masks. I did make a start on this, but then I got distracted working on patterns for new designs which was much more exciting than sewing the same old ones over and over. Here's a quick (and slightly blurry! no light at the moment) snap of some of the new designs amidst my batches...
... a panda, a frog, a snake and a tiger, all coming soon! I'm loving that tiger print felt at the moment - a new crafty find last week along with some rather awesome zebra print felt. Guess what animal might be amongst my other mask sketches?

I Love My Customers

All my customers are awesome. Truly. But some make me smile more than others, and the ones who send photos of my items in use make me grin for whole days! The latest wonderful, grin-inducing photo comes from Jessica who is so lovely that she blogged it too:
You may notice that I've added quite a few links to my "interviews and features" section down on the right there in the last few days, as I've been busy compiling a proper scrapbook record of them all. It's taken me a while having lost lots of links etc during our last batch of internet browser issues but I'm getting there... As well as having guilt at using up all the ink in my dad's printer making said scrapbook, I'm embarrased to discover that there are so many kind people whom I neglected to give a shout-out too! Please accept a belated THANKYOU! for your sweetness, one and all. I will try harder in future I promise :)

Disguise Yourself

There's a bit of a disguise theme going on with my crafting this week, first finishing a batch of moustache disguises on Sunday...
... and then cutting out pieces for making masks on Monday evening:
I was just planning on starting a few "spares" of the masks I've currently got listed on Etsy, but when I went looking for the appropriate felt colours in my stash I discovered some much neglected patterned felt sheets and decided to put them to use! I'm trying out a camouflage version of the bandit and a leopard-print version of the cat mask. The camouflage felt was originally bought to make this little guy:
A couple of sweet mentions to, er, mention today: one of my circles pincushions was featured on a nice-looking blog called One Part Whimsy; and my newly-established Folksy shop got a lovely mention on the always awesome I Like. Hurrah!

Oops

Today I totally meant to take my crafting 365 snap before going to work... and then I totally meant to take it before going out for tea with a friend... and both times I totally forgot and now I have no photo to share :(

To be honest though, it wasn't going to be that exciting as all I stitched last night was a batch of black moustache disguises which though awesome and fun to wear do not look even remotely interesting piled in a heap together!

An English Summer

It is absolutely chucking it down with rain outside (as it has been all weekend) and it's making me very glad to be stuck indoors with lots of sewing to do! Not great weather to take photos in, but luckily it was quite sunny for an hour or two yesterday morning and I managed to take a few product shots and also (finally) get some pictures taken of my beard disguises being modelled (this is what happens to you if you owe me a favour...) :
It was actually so sunny outside that when I tried to take pics of myself modelling one of the necklaces I made with all those circles (well half of them anyway) I ended up scowling into the sun rather too much (less "fierce" and more "slightly frightening) so a dark and grainy indoor shot will have to do: In half decent light, this is the full necklace:
The black cord is elastic, to make it easy to take on and off. I rather like the collar effect - it's not shown off very well on my t-shirt but it would look ace with something with a scooped neckline. And then this is the necklace I made with the rest of the circles - the've been sewn onto a long loop of ribbon, very dangly and fun: The observant amongst you will notice that I skipped a day's blogging (sorry about that). I was going to write about those necklaces yesterday evening but we went to a BBQ instead (an indoor one, obviously, given the rain!) and then afterwards I watched Doctor Who and did some sewing and forgot all about it (oops). I didn't actually get that much sewn during Doctor Who because I was a bit absorbed in the excitement of the finale (literally can't wait for the Christmas episode now...) but I did manage to get a few teacup brooches sewn and to try them out in blue which I've wanted to test out for aaages and just not got round to it...

UPDATE: sew your own little felt teacup brooches - printable PDF pattern now available from my shop, or in my Patreon pattern library.

Subscribe to get instant access to a growing library of PDF embroidery patterns and craft tutorials, and updates when I add something new! 

Photo Shoots and Fathers Day

I totally forgot to send my dad a card for Fathers' Day. What a terrible daughter I am!
However, three of my pins got featured over in the Dawanda Fathers' Day "My Father the Hero" gift guide so it's not all bad news, hehe...
My camera is still dead (no camera zombie as yet but it may happen) so still no crafty photos.

I can however show off some of the shots from Friday's photo shoot (my camera's final blaze of glory) ... Lots of masks:
Some hairbands:
And my newest ventures, floral bracelets and necklaces:Hurrah! Look out for these pics and more popping up in my Etsy listings over the next few weeks. (PS many many thanks to my lovely models: nothing beats seeing these things actually being worn)

Being Busy (365, day 279)

Yesterday I finished a whole bundle of things...
A custom pale pink poppy brooch, a custom Lily of the Valley ornament (I love making special ornament versions of my brooch designs), an assortment of poppy bracelets, and two new masks: a white rabbit (with seriously lopsided ears) and a brown bear. I also made my first flower necklace but foolishly omitted it from that picture. I went to take a quick snap of it to put up on this blog, and DOOM! my camera had died again!! Argh. So far giving it a good whack has not fixed it. Not good :(

I suspect I will be buying a new camera next week, even if it does spring back to life. I have so many new things I want to photograph and list, these delays are just too annoying. Luckily, I did manage to get some fab shots this morning of my masks and hairbands being modelled out in the sunshine. Ooh, that reminds me, I still need to edit those... better go do that really... (I also might try whacking the camera again, you never know, it might work, right?)

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