Monday, February 28, 2011

Let the crafty preparation continue...

Things are remaining super busy in my life as I frantically spend every waking moment preparing for my upcoming craft show. My last fabulous finds show in november was super fun and successful and as soon as I was invited to sell at the spring sale I jumped on the opportunity! I fondly remembered all the fun people I met, all the customer feedback/showers of compliments I received, and what a positive experience it was for me. I didn't take the huge amount of work/slave labor into consideration and since the last show was so successful I didn't really think about how much product I needed to recreate for my next sale! Whew! Well now that I've spent the last month trying to get a head start on crafty preparation and not getting very far I've decided to kick my crafting into high gear and get creating! So far I've managed to restock my illustrative goods (buttons, magnets, mirrors, post cards, stickers, and the like) and now successfully finished making more plush microbes! That's right - previously sold out e.coli and pseudomonas have rejoined the adorable infectious crew (and in full force):


Woo hoo! Check out that tower of wide set eye smiles! I ordered more safety eyes off etsy in january (since you certainly can't find them in kamloops) and once they arrived I started plush making! After many hours of cutting, sewing, stuffing, and finishing they are done and not a moment too soon! The plush microbes aren't a huge seller of mine online (the shipping is pretty much the same as the germ cost - darn you canada post) but they do sell quite well at shows which is awesome. After all who wouldn't want a little chlamydia, e. coli, pseudomonas, or anthrax as a present? I'm in - especially since these are the cute non infectious versions. Who is your favourite?

Sunday, February 27, 2011

spring please!

I'm not sure about you but I am pretty much done with winter. This recent cold snap is less than enjoyable and I feel myself preparing to give that groundhog (who predicted an early spring) a good piece of my mind! Snowy chilly days are great during that festive pre-xmas weeks but come late february they can take a hike. Since the cold doesn't seem to be listening to my ranting I figure I'd share a fun craft to artificially trigger spring - a grass rug:


Nothing quite says "goodbye winter" like being able to walk barefoot in the super lush greenery and since there is no sign of the ground defrosting where I am this is probably the closest I can get for the time being. Lion brand does it again with more wonderful free patterns and best thing about this one? You can knit or crochet it! Hooray! Finally a non bias craft pattern we can all do! Any takers?

Saturday, February 26, 2011

A sheep in the hand

When I started selling on etsy back in 2008 I was overjoyed to join the mad scientists of etsy (msoe) group! It gave me the wonderful opportunity to meet and share with other science loving crafters and have some fun participating in group events. Each month we do a crafting challenge where each member is invited to make an item based on the month's sciencey theme. February's theme was Keith Campbell (one of the scientists in charge for cloning dolly the sheep) and I was thrilled to get back in the swing of doing the monthly challenges! Since I am a sucker for felt, brooches, and cuteness I decided to make a dolly felt brooch - take a look:


Isn't she cute? I am really happy with how she turned out and I especially like how her face looks:


She's got wide set eyes and everything! Plus I am a strong believer that brooches are highly overdue for a comeback so hopefully someone will snap this pin up from my shop! Heck, if it's successful maybe I'll even start a line of felt brooch creatures! Any ideas? What do you think?

Friday, February 25, 2011

Friday Find: Sugar Cookie

I came across missy's super cute etsy shop sugar cookie the other day and instantly fell in love. Why you may ask? Easy -

1) Buttons! Wonderful pinback buttons!
2) Wide set eye smiles!
3) Anthropomorphic everything! Yay!

Yup - pretty much a non-sciencey version of what I'd like to think my etsy shop is. Take a peek at some of my favourites:


How adorable! It also really makes me want to get into wooden brooch and note pad making. Check out missy's awesome blog to check out her 365 days of buttons challenge too! So many buttons and so much cute! Happy friday!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Felt Owl Brooch for Mom

Do you find buying birthday presents a ridiculously difficult ordeal? It's great if you see something the birthday recipient just couldn't live without but most of the time I find gift buying extra challenging! It's hard to find something thoughtful and useful for someone who pretty much has everything they'd ever need - so I often try to make presents as an alternative. I've been thinking about making one of the small wood's felt own brooches for my mom pretty much since xmas so it was a perfect project once her birthday rolled around! The owl barn posted a tutorial on making them many months ago and voila! My version of the project:


I have been wanting to share this with you for some time but I had to wait for my mom's birthday to roll around (so I wouldn't wreck the surprise for her - she is probably my most loyal blog reader after all). What do you think? When we talked about the brooches back in december she mentioned liking more natural owl colours over the bold bright ones on the website - so brown, grey, and yellow it is! What do you think?

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Upcycled Pesto

Amidst my daily internet addiction surfing I came across the most amazing paper doily jar project from pilli pilli:


As many of you know I am a sucker for mason jars, doilies, and instant gratification projects so I figured I was destined to attempt this! After all - pilli pilli promised it as a 5 minute DIY and it seemed easy enough to squeeze in my busy schedule right? Yup she was spot on - check out my upcycled before and after:



Hooray! I successfully turned that ugly pesto jar into a lovely new cactus pot! Just in time too - I don't think the noddy cup was going to last much longer:


I'm sure you're wondering, "why would you plant that little stub of a cactus in a paper cup in the first place?" Well I assure you I didn't do it just so I could write this blog post (although sometimes I think about posts based on lamer excuses). I've been wanting to get my hands on one of those cacti for quite a while. My grandma used to have a huge one by her front door and I remember visiting her as a kid and thinking how cool it was that you could pull the little leaves off the ridges of the plant and it would ooze milky stuff out of it (aren't all kids into that sort of thing?). I'm not entirely sure where that giant cactus of hers ended up but I've been wanting to get my own for years ever since. I've tried to find one in a store or online but it turns out that's a pretty hard task when you don't actually know what the plant is called. I had pretty much given up hope until I spotted one of those tall milking cacti at one of my favourite mexican restaurants! I decided to try my hand at growing my own from a clipping of their plant and headed up to my mom's house to steal her plant potting supplies. Perfect! She had little pebbles, soil, and the all important root hormone powder to help my little cactus stub establish itself. The only thing she didn't have was a pot to plant it in so we improvised with the paper noddy cup. I was planning on transplanting him into an actual pot once I could find a suitable one and pilli pilli doily jars seemed like the perfect match! Doesn't the little cactus look at home in his new jar?:


I think so! Plus I saved that old pesto jar from a livelong existence on a shelf in fraser's studio as a paintbrush water container. Perfect! Now I just need to try to not kill that plant! What do you think?

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

No Sew Teacup

For some reason I am all about the mug tutorials these days (like this one and this one) and just in case you need a little more motivation to re-purpose all your tea cups - check out this wonderful no sew cup pincushion from punk projects:


I love the idea of using a cute little tea cup of pins during my next sewing project and this tutorial is super simple! Just get yourself a mug, a scrap of fabric, and a little stuffing and you're set! Plus it gives you an alternate use for my cupboards full of mugs! Double win! What do you think?

Monday, February 21, 2011

more moo

My moo order finally arrived and boy am I excited for all my moo goodies! Take a peek!


What crisp bright packaging holding so much kate stuff! Let's take a look inside some of those packages. First off - my business cards:


After running out of cards at my last fabulous finds show in november I knew I'd have to restock sooner or later. I ran into a few issues with the print shops in town and without my graphic designer (quinn moved to the coast) to assist me in my printing, I figured I might as well go with moo. After all their printing is reasonable and consistent, the colours are always great, and their cardstock is awesome (super thick and screams, "I'm amazingly high class!"). Sounds perfect right? Well...not completely ideal. Their business cards are a different dimension than your standard card (moo is 55 x 85mm while standard cards are 52 x 90mm) meaning the wonderful card design quinn made up for me back in 2008 wouldn't do! I didn't want to bother quinn and her fabulously busy life in the big city (and I had a coupon code to save on my order that was going to expire the night I decided to order) so I thought I'd test out my photoshop skills and rework the design to fit the moo cards. My redesigning ended up taking me about five hours to complete (oy!) but thankfully my novice skills aren't noticeable in my fantastic new cards! Oh! And this also means I get to use the showcase business card holder moo sent me for free a few months back for being a loyal customer (yet another reason to love moo). I'm not entirely sure how useful the carrier will be, but apparently it can hold credit cards and it does look fancy:


Hooray! Onto moo product number two - stickers:


I had stickers printed up before my last show and even though they weren't overly popular there, I still think they are super fun! I ended up almost selling out of them at my kate party back in december so I figured I should restock! Since I'm still testing the waters with them so I am not overflowing with sticker sheets, but if I have tons left after the show I'm thinking about selling them in groups on etsy. Since I'm asking $1 for a sheet of 3 it isn't really worth my while to post them individually online (with that 20 cent listing charge and epic shipping costs) but maybe groups of sticker sheets will be a hit! I mean who doesn't love stickers?

Product number three from moo is a double order of mini moo cards:


I use my button illustrations on these little gems and whip them into mini moo bookmarks I give out as freebies with orders. If you haven't seen me make them before you can check out my ultra easy instructions I posted a while back (link). Even though I don't really make money off the bookmarks I feel that they add a little extra nice touch to all my orders and hopefully hey help amp up my advertising a smidge. This time around I ordered 200 cards and bought a whole bunch of fun brightly coloured ribbons to make them with! Fun!

My final moo product from my order was more labware art/postcards:


Postcards aren't the most successful product I offer online and at shows but they pull their own weight. You can frame them for a super fun and inexpensive art installment or send them out and keep in touch with those far away from you! I still have quite a few sets left to sell but the labware cards seem to be the most popular on etsy (hence the restock). I'm super excited that moo now lets you customize the back of the cards too! I added my ciliated bacillus logo under where a stamp would go and added my site url there for a little added branding and personalization! Yay!

Whew - that was a lot of moo rambling but I am pretty excited about all my new goodies! Oh! And if you're new to moo you can use the coupon code "2RB2CK" at the checkout and get 15% off your first order - and if you aren't all about making your own illustrations like I am they have loads of premade designs to chose from. As for me, I best get back to work - those mini moo bookmarks aren't going to make themselves...

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Beard Box

Just in case you're looking for a quick little project to perk up your sunday - why not try this beard box from man made diy:


All you need is a wooden box, drill, and some yarn and you're set! Sunday project is a go! In completely unrelated news, it's my mom's birthday today! And although she really likes tins, crafts, and sort of funny weird projects - I'm pretty sure she isn't overly fond of beards (at least on my dad) and doesn't need one of these for her birthday. Happy bday mom! and happy sunday to everyone else!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

W T Fleshtones?

Last thursday a few of my friends and I decided to take a mini afternoon road trip to kelowna to catch a wonderful micheal bernard fitzgerald concert at the habitat. We saw MBF back in september at rifflandia and fell in love with his adorable accent and catchy tunes and decided we would have to see him perform again! After spending a few hours downtown shopping, eating dinner, and catching up with my consignment shops (frock and funktional - so amazing! I love consignment selling!!!), we took a quick trip to the mall to kill time before the show started. As I wandered through the sea of retail shops I came to the dreaded conclusion - flesh tones seem to be the upcoming colour for spring. Ack! Flesh tones? Do those look good on anyone? Seriously!? My pale complexion certainly can't deal with all those beiges and pale pinks washing me out - and they were everywhere!

exhibit a - dark bottoms and blush tone tops:


exhibit b - more pale pinks and whites - and racks of flesh tone:


exhibit c - window front flesh tone florals:


exhibit d - enough pale pink tops to make me disappear completely:


and finally,
exhibit e - skipping the dark bottom half and converting to 100% flesh tone apparel:


Oh my! And this is just what I managed to take pictures of! Believe me, that mall was plagued with beige! Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the light airiness of spring and florals but I need my jewel tones and muted colours to make my wardrobe complete! Is this flesh tone trend everywhere or can we demote the pale pink pandemic to a kelowna store specific infectious disease? Or maybe you are lucky enough to be one of the few that these colours actually look good on - in which case - get buying! I'm ready for some bright colours to welcome spring and summer! Yay!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Friday Find: mayicarles

Yet another week has come where I find amazingly fabulous felt goodies to share with you! Etsy just seems to be an unlimited source for supremely awesome inspiration and products I totally drool over! Check out the fantastic felt goodness of mayicarles:


Oh my! I want every single item in her shop! The rich jewel tone (and eco friendly) felt is to die for! I'm not actually sure I'd be able to pull off some of the bold hairbands - but throw some of those flowers on a brooch and you've got me. She's even for some DIY kits for the crafters out there and a wicked blog for added projects and inspiration! Mayicarles' shop has also convinced me that I need to get my hands on some sweet high quality felt squares like the ones she uses for my next felt adventure! Anyone know any good felt sources?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

new hobby time!

Even though my spare time is usually at a minimum, it seems that I am always looking for new hobbies to partake in. I suppose if I aspire to become a modern day martha stewart I need to be a woman of all trades - and this time I've decided to take on bird watching! It's not like I need to dedicate my entire life to tracking bird migration patterns, but I certainly do enjoy birds and biological identification so I figure I've got nothing to lose! Heck - I'm already not so secretly an old lady so I might as well roll with it! What triggered this new found love for aviary enjoyment you ask? Well two things really. The first has to do with my front yard. I shared this snowy picture of it with you a few days ago:


Looks like a plain old yard to you right? Well there is one thing you may have missed - my pathetic bird-less bird feeders (yes there are two there - a seed cone and suet brick):


I've had those feeders out there pretty much since we moved in this fall and I was yet to see a single hint of a bird coming to visit - that is until just the other day...I was so thrilled by the little flock of birds that stopped by that in all the excitement I only managed to snap one terrible picture:


See it? No? Well....there were birds there. I have no idea what kind of bird they were (little chubby brown ones? Mom? Any ideas?) so I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be cool if I could identify birds?" Poof! Reason 1 to start bird watching as a hobby!

The second thing that pushed me to move bird watching forward on my list of hobbies happened just the other day as well. You see, I have been trying to convince my friend jim that we should take up bird watching for years now. We would always go for walks in the spring down to the park and I'd tell him about all the bird species at the pond. They are all super easy to identify there (i.e. "that black bird with the red on its wing is a red winged black bird") and I only had to sort of recollect what I learned during that bird watching project in grade five. Well - the other day the sun decided to come out (thank goodness - I'm tired of winter!) and we both thought a walk downtown would be a great way to spend a friday morning! On the way there we both spotted a bird climbing up a tree fairly close to us and it reminded us of our failed bird watching endeavors. I told jim the bird we saw looked like some sort of woodpecker - maybe a flicker? Jim decided to prove me wrong by checking out the answer on his phone....and...I was right! Imagine that! So it was decided - we would officially take up bird watching.

I ended up spending the left overs of my xmas bookstore giftcards the following week on what seemed to be the best bird watching supplies:


Woo hoo! I liked the super in depth descriptions and multiple illustrations the larger national geographic book offered and figured the region specific smaller book (with actual photographs of the birds) would be great to tote around for further reference! Throw in a moleskin for documentation and I'm set! Bird watching is on! Oh and jim - in case you were interested that bird we saw was actually a male "northern red shafted flicker":


Hooray! I love new hobbies! Now I figure I just need to get my hands on some binoculars and I can get to identifying and appreciating nature! Does anyone out there bird watch? Or know anyone who does? Any tips on binocular buying?

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

more porcelain pens please!

Last month I shared with all of you the sweet monogrammed mugs the folks over at man made diy did and when I saw doe-c-doe's porcelain pen crafty feminine version I just had to show you:


Oh my! Those little cross stitch lines are just lovely! She uses the same simple instructions (design, write, bake, use) and voila! Instant personalization! Now I really need to keep my eyes peeled for some cheap (hopefully thrifted) mugs asking for me to write on! What do you think?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Why, Hello Newton and Franklin!

After many weeks of being sold out of way too many button/magnet sets I'm finally stocked back up! And boy oh boy, do I ever have buttons now - take a look:


This is officially the largest batch of buttons I've managed so far and I'm hoping they last me a little longer this time (or at least manage to keep me stocked up for my craft show in march)! This time I even managed to add some new friends to the button crew as well. I've had quite a few emails asking me to remake my set of five famous scientist finger puppets and although I highly doubt I will find enough time to take those on (they are ultra time consuming) I decided to turn my trio of scientists magnets into a quintet! Let me introduce you to sir isaac newton and rosalind franklin:


Hooray! These were some of my quickest buttons to design too - although I did have the puppets to base them off of so I guess that explains their speediness a bit. My original scientist set (including curie, einstein, and darwin) have been stirring up some attention with their appearance in treasuries, blog posts, and on etsy's facebook page/twitter feed so I figured I may as well feed into their popularity! Check out the full crew:


Hehe! I'm really pleased with how they turned out! I'm planning on offering the scientists as a set of five magnets (or button upon request) just as soon as I figure out the best way to package them. Then I just need to take a few pictures and get a listing up (easier said than done - believe me)! I did have some fun getting images of them for this post though - especially because they look so cute holding hands:


Aww - what good little scientists they are! What do you think? Who's your favourite scientist?

Monday, February 14, 2011

singles awareness day!

It appears as though we've managed to make it to yet another february 14th and day dedicated to gushy love crap has arrived! I'm (clearly) not big into the holiday (if valentines even counts as one) but I do enjoy appreciating those around me and I am rather fond of hearts! I am also quite fond of dinosaurs and this card from the regional assembly of text pretty much sums up the level of romance I can tolerate (mind the terrible picture - I planned this post late last night when good lighting apparently wasn't available):


Hooray! But I wouldn't say I'm a complete love grinch - after all there are a few things I really enjoy about today - like cinnamon hearts! and that glorious influx of mail! Oh! And I also really enjoy the morse code necklaces from coatt! Just check out this one that spells "love:


That's my kind of love declaration - simple, gold, and amazingly subtle! Woo! How do you plan on spending your valentine's day?

Sunday, February 13, 2011

DIY Button necklace

Do you ever find yourself following random links on other people's blogs? Well if you answer is no, not to worry - I do it enough for both of us. Well, amidst my internet addiction bloglovin reading list one day I managed to pop into a blog called "the spotted fox" which is truly awesome. It is full of inspiring images and stories and quite a few fun DIYs. One such tutorial I'm dying to try out is the super simple button necklace:


When I said simple - I meant amazingly simple in fact. Just my sort of project - quickly gather up some materials, throw them together, and wham! Insta-craft! Certainly worth a quick glance if you ask me - I didn't even know those were buttons when I saw that image! Looks like I'll need to take a trip to my mom's sewing room (full of buttons galore!). Mom - do you think you could spare seven buttons to your darling youngest daughter? Hope so...I'll let you know how this one goes...

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Upcycled Envelopes

With 2 mere days left before valentine's day I figure I need to share all the cute heart projects I can! Check out the fantastic upcycled valentines pouches made from old envelopes at zakka life:


Not sure about you, but I usually have a huge stack of used envelopes sitting in my recycle bin and why not reuse them as little love pouches perfect for notes, candies (ooOOOoo cinnamon hearts! yum!) or whatever else your heart desires! These would be cute for kids or your sweetie and can be as creative as you want them to be! Fun for everyone! What are you plans for this valentine's day?

Friday, February 11, 2011

Friday Find: The black rabbit

If you weren't already aware I am a huge fan of room 6 - an adorable little shop in deep cove that is full of completely drool worthy goods! Because I am about 4 hours away from north vancouver I can't make it there often so I get my between visits fill on the room 6 blog. The other day they did a post on the amazingly wonderful products of the black rabbit and I was sold - just check out these wonderful organic lavender filled lovebods:


Even more reason that I need to work knitting into my crafty realm! And it doesn't stop at the lovebods - there are also adorable knit blackbirds, kitties, egg cozies, and hedgehog pin cushions! Whew! And if knitted goods aren't your thing (which they should be if you listen to enough aidan knight), you can always check out the black rabbit's lovely selection of cards, mugs, brooches, and clasp purses! Once again proving that everything is cooler when it comes from the UK (seriously). But if you aren't in the UK or north van for that matter you can always pick up some black rabbit goods from the room 6 site or directly from the black rabbit herself! Mom - we'll need to start saving lavender this year so we can try to make our own knitted friends. Any other takers?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

creepy cool

I don't have cable tv. I'm actually quite against getting cable tv and definitely think my life is better off without it. I don't have to sit through hours of advertisements tricking me into buying things I don't need and I don't have to run my life around when my favourite shows are programmed. That being said - I do enjoy buying seasons of tv shows and I often get addicted to them (which is wonderful since I can watch them ad free whenever I'd like). One show I'm quite fond of is dexter. I wasn't sold on becoming a fan of this one (after all it's about a serial killer in miami) but after getting season one in a sale bin for $12.99 I'm officially hooked. I've now blown through seasons 1-4 and am patiently waiting for season 5 to be released. A few of my coworkers share my passion for dexter and even if we do disagree on some things (like how much I dislike rita), I'm sure we would all agree that this dexter themed dining room from elle decor is pretty neat (and pretty creepy too). Take a look:


Those pops of red on white are stunning but the whole plastic lined floor thing is just a bit much for me. Check out a few detail shots:


I'm not quite at the fan stage to start redecorating my house based on it, but I think it would be super fun to throw a dexter themed party! Hey - I could even make dexter blood slide suckers from instructables:


Fun! And yes...very disturbing too. But if you haven't given dexter a try I certainly recommend it! As for myself, I've been catching up on a few other seasons while I'm waiting for dexter season 5 to be released. So far I've watched (and re-watched in some instances) flight of the conchords, freaks and geeks, fringe, black books, smallville, glee, and sex and the city - all perfect companionship for my hours and hours of crafting on the couch. Anyone else a dexter fan out there? Or any fun show recommendations for me? I'm all ears...er...eyes I guess...

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

even more mirrors!

Preparation for my next big craft show are underway and I'm determined to avoid the last minute scramble this time around. I've decided to work on restocking some favourite hot items from past shows first and if time permits work on some new items afterwords. First on the restocking list? Pocket mirrors! Loads and loads of pocket mirrors in fact! And I've even added a few new designs to the mirror crew:


Bowtie, pipette (and epindorph tubes), squid, amanita, and stegosaurus are the newbies for this round and we'll see how they do at the show in march. I'm also really hoping that I have accurately determined which designs will be the most popular (based on the sales and feedback I've got from past shows) and I've stocked up based on my guesses:


Woohoo! Now I've just got to whip up 100+ felt cases and I'll be set. Speaking of - if anyone feels like hanging out and helping me cut little felt circles OR wants to recommend/lend me several hours worth of dvd entertainment I'd be greatly appreciative! Oh and just in case any of you fabulous readers are unable to attend one of my shows I will gladly sell you whichever mirror tickles your fancy over etsy. I don't think I'll get to posting any of the mirrors to my shop before the show (I'm a busy crafty girl after all) but I'd love to send one your way if you're so inclined. Yay! So which ones do you like best? Any bets on which will be the top sellers?

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Lion Brand V-day Freebies

With just a handful of days left before the 14th (a.k.a valentine's day/singles awareness day), I thought I would share a few cute crochet patterns perfect for the occasion (and there is still enough time to make them too!). My sister sent me the links to the cute love birds and envelopes and once I signed up to be on the lion brand pattern list (which was super easy and free) I fell in love with the little bear and rabbit too! Aren't they adorable?


Oh my those are sweet! Maybe I will have to take on fewer craft shows next year to spare up some time to make these! (okay - that probably isn't going to happen...but maybe...) And best of all, now that I have a niece to smother with presents I actually have a reason to make amigurumi toys! Hooray! Now just bring on the unlimited free time and I'm set! (Oh and no strained wrist too please...) Oh! - and be sure to buy enough yarn to make the whole project too - you wouldn't want to end up in the same "sold out of vanna white's speckled grey yarn" boat my mom fell into for a few weeks there. How is that knit monkey coming along anyways?

Monday, February 7, 2011

Snow and Kells

After reading about all the snow many of you from the east and south have been getting I thought I'd post a picture of what I woke up to yesterday morning:


A nice white blanket of snow! I actually haven't seen it snow for that long in a while and it certainly brightened up the neighbourhood from the mucky dark wetness that was hanging out just a few days back. I hear it is supposed to be 7 C today so that nice crisp snowfall is sure to have melted by now but it is nice to appreciate the quiet that snow brings. Mmm!

All that snow and cold gave me the perfect excuse to spend the day inside crafting (even with my bum wrist) and I watched the most wonderful film called "the secret of kells". It is a charming movie about a young monk's journey in combating fear and illuminating an ancient unfinished book. We decided to rent it under my friend jim's recommendation (which is always a little sketchy if you ask me) but I decided to go for it (pretty much only because there was a cute white cat on the cover). The film turned out to be completely amazing and full of breathtaking imagery to keep you hooked! Just take a look at a few shots:


Lovely! And the perfect companion for a day of embroidering little wide set eye smile faces on unfinished plush toys! If you haven't seen the secret of kells yet, I highly recommend checking it out - even if only for the animation...oh..and the cute irish accents...

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Not a bowl of cherries.

Well as I sort of suspected - my saturday goal of being "the most successful crafting weekend ever" didn't exactly come true. I guess the weekend isn't technically over yet, but unless something magical happens in the next 24 hours I will have to settle for "a somewhat successful crafty weekend" (which, by the way, is still fabulous). I did manage to whip up some goodies to help stock my craft show table in march - just take a peek:


OoO! A wonderful selection of spring-tastic flower earrings! Combining my amazing abilities to buy cute vintage cabochons and white gold plated stud earring posts and then epoxy them together! Woo hoo! Now all I need to do is come up with a really aesthetically pleasing cards to sell them on and I'll be set! Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

In other crafty news, I may have been a wee bit overzealous with my felt cutting and embroidery resulting in one very sore left wrist:


Boo. Looks like that brace I bought during the preparation for my last craft show is getting put to use again! Oh dear. I'm hoping the brace will give my poor tendons a little r&r so I can go back into full force crafting! Or here's hoping anyways...how has your weekend been so far?