Featured Etsy Seller

I've been meaning to feature an Etsy seller on here for a while. My first seller that I want to feature is the wonderful TheBannerQueen. She makes fantastic banners and avatars at really reasonable prices. She also runs a blog over at The Banner Queen blog. The reason that I want to feature her is because she and I are usually on the forums at the same time, and she is one of the best people on the forums. She's open, friendly, helpful, and above all positive. Sometimes on the Etsy forums, people get negative and whiny - banner is never one of them. She sets a fantastic example of how to behave online, how to be part of a community, and just be a nice person! And for that, I salute her.

cuteable!!

I'm on cuteable today!!! Check it out here. I'm really excited because it's the first time I've been featured on a blog - yeh!!

buy buy buy!!!

With the economic downturn affecting nearly all parts of retail, including handmade I'm sure, handmade retailers have a decision to make. Do they (a) tough it out, pinch their pennies, and take the slowdown as an opportunity to restock their stuff or do they (b) attempt to kickstart the economy with a bit of retail therapy of their own? Today, I chose the latter, and went on a bit of an Etsy spending spree.


First up is this beautiful print from Madelaine - isn't it sumptuous? I adore the richness of the colours tempered with the look of emptiness and decay. It reminds me of some Sam Taylor Wood photos that were taken in rural Georgia.


Secondly, I bought this great pin from Lupin. I've been following Lupin's work for a while - she writes a great blog over at bugsandfishes, and I've been dying to treat myself to a pin of hers for a while. I love brown, pink, felt, and tea - what's not to love?


I saw this tin from HummingbirdEyes a while ago, and didn't buy it. Naturally someone else did, but when I saw it as available again, I jumped at the chance. It's going to be perfect for keeping my buttons in. Right now, they are in an old honey pot, and my buttons do actually smell like honey. Actually, that's not really such a bad thing, but I still love the tin.


Finally, craftpudding just makes gorgeous stamps. And who would say no to a piece of cuteness like this? Impossible.

As a sidenote, I discovered craftpudding and lupin, not through Etsy itself, but through flickr - another reminder of just how important non-Etsy promotion is.

Oh, and I've spent the day listening to the Juno soundtrack whilst sewing up some more magnets - fantastic. An absolute must for everyone who likes whimsical music and pay attention to lyrics.

bad days all around

It looks like everyone was having a bad day today. Something blew up on the Etsy servers today, and everyone's view counters are shot. I guess it doesn't really mean very much in the long run, but right now my shop looks very lonely and unloved with everything at 1 or 2. Bless! I guess I could do some mad promoting to get views in, but it will even itself out over the next day or so. I did some myspace promoting today that might bring some more people in, for a start. And on my end, I spent last night making some really cool felt whales that I was going to turn into magnets, apart from my bag of 50 magnets completely disappeared. The last time we saw them, my boyfriend was complaining that they weren't candy, and then, well, we don't know. They have vanished. We have turned the flat upside down, and they are nowhere to be seen. Very random. I've ordered more, but in the meantime, no shop updates! I am working on a bright blue octo to join George in the store - I can't wait to take pictures of them together, because that is going to be so cute!!

On a side note, I saw Juno, and it is sooooooo awesome!! I wish I as that cool as a teenager. Well, without the whole pregnancy thing, of course. I'm not even ready for babies now.

one week of no productivity at all!

That's right - in one week, I managed to just make one plushie. One!!! That is shocking. Especially since I made an inventory list of everything that I want to make for the Glasgow Craft Mafia Market (see my new picture for it in my sidebar!), and I am more than sorely lacking. Still, I've had a really hard week for work with a new job which is really exciting. For once, I don't have hours and hours to play with at work, so no more wasting around on the Etsy forums and playing on flickr!

This plushie is using my current favourite technique - felt applique. I just absolutely adore the neatness of the effect, the rythme of doing it, how it all fits together. I think I'll be doing a lot more of it over the couple of weeks. Can't wait!

Design Improvements

My crocheted matryoska dolls have proven to be pretty popular, but I have always had a hard time making their faces in a way that I was totally happy with. I have also been doing a lot of felt applique recently and absolutely loved the look of it, and how easy it is to manipulate to get the effect I wanted. Yesterday when I was making another set of dolls, instead of making crocheted faces, I decided to do felt ones, and it is such an improvement!! I am so pleased with the new dolls - I think they look doubly adorable now. I think one of the great things about crafting is the development of skills - you can visibly see my development. That is so rewarding.

shipping tomorrow!!

I've been biatching for the last week or so about how my consignment order was draining my creativity. Well, I finished a few days ago, and today I was photographing it before sending it to Newcastle tomorrow. I'm really pleased about how bright and colourful they all turned out - yellow is such a shiny, smiley colour!This is my favourite picture I think - he just looks so happy to be surrounded by all his felty friends!
This is my latest creation - aren't they adorable? My dad is a dentist, so it was a matter of time before I made teeth. They are magnets, but I guess they could be brooches are anything.