Whitstable Craft & Gift Fair

Well *cough* apologies for not posting pictures before now. I did say I was going to post up some pics of the bits I'd been working on to take with me to the fair at Whitstable, but alas time slipped away, so albeit a bit belated, here are a few of the textile treasures that traveled with me to the fair on Saturday.

some colourful bloom brooches


fragrant shabby chic hearts


more petite and clutch purses


what more clutch purses?!?


And so to the Fair.................


the sweet building we were all tucked away inside


a few pics of my stand


my clearance area! well everyone likes a tidy up and a clear out of older items!


my wee birds just wanting to be let free and given new homes!


And for your delectation here are Two for Joy Originals! they have a wee shop on etsy, not fully stocked yet compared to their beautifully vibrant and colourful stall at the fair. Gorgeous work ladies, so covetable!


I couldn't resist this wee monster from them, I've yet to name him/her?......


And the most lovely and wonderful Helen of Simply H Designs, a shot of her stall, although many items had already found new homes by the time I got round there with my camera to snap it!


Helen's dolls and mermaids are sooooo sweet!


Phew! what can I say?! Thank you Helen for having a last spare stall for me to jump in and take part! It was a fab day, made good sales (yay!), met some lovely peeps and now have even found myself volunteering to do a small workshop during Whitstable Oyster Festival!!???? what moi??!!! will keep you posted as and when I know more. I've never taught in my life, but I like a challenge!
Hope you're all enjoying the gorgeous sunshine! ;0 X

Artwash Menu now up............

Hello!
Just a v wee post today.
The 'Menu' is now up on the Artwash blog of the Art Take-Out Exhibition my 'ascophyllum nodosum' aka 'seaweed' is taking part in, take a peek here!!
Fingers crossed that someone wants to fulfil my 'pledge' and give it a new home.....

On other fronts I'm finishing the last few bits and bobs for the craft fair this weekend, I always work to the eleventh hour! be posting some pics in a day or two.
Enjoy your half term if your par-taking in one! ;0

Feminine pales and pinks..............

Just a wee post as I should really be doing something productive as opposed to procrastinating on my laptop!! ;0

I thought I'd show you a few pics of the items that should now have arrived safely at The Bowery, Leeds.

Some petite purses and highly textured dot brooches. All in creams, pale pinks, dusty pinks and floral patterned fragments. I was asked to make everything in similar colourways so that they would all sit well together, which I hope they do. You've already seen the clutch purses in a previous post so this is the rest as it were........

A close up of the bits of textural detail.

Not a v good pic I'm afraid with the flash back from the plastic, these are the lavender scented dots they asked for, a bit of sensual pleasure for your nose!

dots of texture, little splashes of colour and fun to pin to your lapel, bag, hat, scarf etc.


And just to let you know that I'm taking part in a Craft & Gift Fair on 30th May in Whitstable. Organised by Helen of Simply H Designs - can't wait to say 'hello' properly Helen!
It's my first fair since moving here, so it will be interesting to do and just nice to meet other creative bods down this way as well. So if you live in the area or nearby pop along and say Hi!

I'll take my camera with me to snap what goes on that day. I'm trying to be good at taking my camera with me places these days, you never know what interesting things you'll see!


Oooo also a small question, above you'll see the little origami pig my sis bought me, I love it! as I find the practice of origami fascinating. I'd like to learn to do some and wondered if any of you out there actually do any yourself? or could perhaps recommend a good book to learn from? something simple, easy and basic please! I can't bear those with inordinate amounts of details that I'd get lost in!!!! ;0 thank you. Hope you're all enjoying your week

Tagged.........

Well I have been tagged by Sweet Lovely Afternoon.
I'm not v good at taking part in such things as this but as she is such a lovely lady I am!

So I have been tagged to name five things I can never be without (fashion wise) and five things I wouldn't touch with a 25 ft. pole.
so, here goes...

Five things I can never be without:
1. Jeans! I seem to live in them
2. Colourful socks, my feet get so cold all the time!
3. Aromaco deodorant from Lush - love it
4. Neat little jackets
5. Scarves for summer and winter

And so to the things I wouldn't touch:
1.Unmatched sets of underwear!! what if you got run over??!!
2. Synthetic static causing fabrics
3. White trousers (its just waiting for a spillage!)
4. Anything with a high waist
5. tacky sovereign rings (apologies to anyone who likes them!)

Phew lets hope I haven't offended anyone there!
Will be back soon with some pics of the work now making its way to The Bowery, hope they like it, fingers crossed ;0 x

Artists Open Houses - Brighton

Well, A little later in the week than I was hoping to post about my weekend nosing in and out of other peoples houses(!) but here it is.
It's quite a long post but mostly pics so you can get a glimpse of the visual side of my 'artist's open houses' weekend.

Brochure in hand my sister and I set off to walk the streets and burn some serious shoe rubber! and believe me we did, over the weekend I think we visited around 32 houses !!!!!! Oh my word how nosey are we, but then if you're going to open your doors............

My wee pumps all ready to burn their rubber soles

the sights you see a strolling the streets, old style telephone boxes still make me smile, wonder if it's still in working order ?! should have checked!

The Dragon Fly House - full of amazing work and such a great sculpture/metal work on the side of the house

Oooo a gorgeous front garden to one of the houses

And although it may look like we hadn't been anywhere before we stopped for lunch, we had! and a lot of the houses didn't open until 12pm so we were due for a bite to eat.

salami, mozzarella, rocket, yum

Deservedly empty plates left by us both......

And so back out to pound the pavements.
Lovely window box

Houses visited down the 'twitten'

And featuring................................House number 15 on the Central Brighton Artists trail - AK@37 Dean Street.
This is a house that's doing its first year of the open houses and definitely worth a visit. It hosts the work of 15 fab artists (and such nice peeps too!) Work varies from paintings, illustration, textiles, sculpture, photography, drawings and jewellery.
What a fab curved window, shall we go inside?

Here we are in the entrance hall, I love the fact that in most houses on the trails, every possible inch of space is used in a way to display art and craft

quirky and original jewellery, so fun, laser cut from I think perspex and plastics. I love how the pieces are framed and displayed

fab gorgeously colourful textile purses and bags, just how cool are these fabrics?!

sculptural pieces

sweet pieces of beaded and fabric/textile jewellery

You can't see very well from this image but these, I think they are casts(?) and sculptural pieces of building fronts and little seaside huts

this wave piece of skirting board is so cool, love it!

bright vibrant paintings in the 'outside' room

where we found that v yummy cakes and drinks were being sold, how cool is this little cabinet between the two rooms that the cakes were displayed in?!

Out in the garden were pots of colourful plants and flowers with pieces of v colourful sculpture peeking through

a view from inside the garden looking back in at the house, how pleasant it was to sit outside with our drinks and cake!

Oops unfortunately I wasn't quick enough with my camera before we had devoured the scrummy goodies......

So thank you to all those at Dean street for letting me snap away with my camera. Lovely creative and talented people producing some wonderful work!

Phew! so many lovely houses with some beautiful work. I was less snap happy on the sunday, but I did take a couple of garden pics below.
We loved the sculpture in this garden as well as the perfect ball shrubs, sculptural in themselves

Fabulous water feature

And yes more cake on the sunday too! well....... you have to treat yourselves and indulge one weekend in a while surely??!!!!

So if your are in the Brighton area or near, I cannot recommend doing the artists trails enough! It's so worth the visit each year. Fabulous work, some really lovely people, amazing houses, wonderful gardens and obviously delicious homemade cakes!!!! ;0 x

Well this week I've been working on new pieces to send up to a lovely gallery/craft/workspace in Leeds called The Bowery.
A selection of items all in spring like creams/pinks/peaches and pale tones. All v feminine, I hope that they are well received.
They are a various mix of print/embroidered and fabric collage/embroidered pieces, with some recognisable images and a lot of abstract touches, constructed in to textile accessories. I have more pieces to make and will be taking photos and posting about them when they're complete.

Up close and personal! detail of my faded floral print and stitches


Four finished peachy/pink/cream clutch purses


I have also been setting up my new shop on Folksy. So all UK bods will now be able to buy from here too! I've added a few brooches for the moment but plan on filling this and my etsy shop with more stock over the next few weeks.

Both of the sweet bloom brooches below are now available in my folksy shop.


I am all packed and ready to go and visit my sis this weekend in Brighton, setting off shortly!
It is 'artists open houses' all this month in Brighton and IT IS FAB!!!! We've been several times over the past few years and had great fun following the various trails, visiting the open houses (some v v v gorgeous abodes out there!) and seeing all the wonderful art and craft work being created. Whatever the weather we will be out there!
So I am off with my camera in hand to hopefully get some good pics so I can come back and blog about my weekend next week.
Hope you all have a fab weekend whatever you're doing, Enjoy! ;0 x