A Black Cat for luck?

Yes, i'm back with the Etsy favourites. This week I have picked a semi-topical theme - Black Cats, which are of course related to Halloween which is all over Etsy at the moment. The other reason for choosing Black Cats was for some ideas for my Mum's Christmas present as she has a mental little black cat. So here they are, my favourite Etsy shops for the week:

glass4mankind

Gorgeous handmade stained glass items in as many different shapes as you can think of. Most of the items in the shop are pendants and all have a lovely whimsy look to them - perfect for creating personalised Jewellery for loved ones. The featured pendant is Spooky, a cute black cat. The body is black glass and the wire is copper tinned wire that then makes the legs, ears, whiskers and face. The items are so cute in this shop and very unique as well as being very reasonably priced.

A. N. Original Jewelry

One of my favourite materials for Jewellery is silver and this lovely shop is full of handcrafted silver items. All items are hand pierced, sawed or filed and are so delicate. The little cat featured is only half an inch across and so pretty. The shop also features oxidised silver items and earrings to go with the pendants. This shop also has a regularly updated blog: http://www.anoriginaljewelry.blogspot.com/

Dwayne Bulla

"One man's junk is another man's treasure" is the slogan for this shop and it is truly amazing what gorgeous items Dwayne produces from 'rubbish'. This black cat is created from horseshoes, discarded bits of tools and nails! Other items in the shop are things like a saw blade flower and a drill bit dragonfly. This shop is the place to shop for something entirely unique and different to decorate your home or garden with.

Riricreations

This shop features handmade items such as cards, lunchbox notes, personalised gifts and blessing blocks. I have to admit to not knowing what a blessing block was when I discovered the lovely BOO blessing blocks in the photograph. They appear to be decorative blocks that are given to celebrate a blessed event, eg: birth of a child, wedding, anniversary or even halloween. I think they are lovely. The set featured are 2 and half inch square, handmade and hand decorated with lots of halloween inspired ghosts, spiders, cats etc and can be customised pretty much any way you like.

Susan Faye

You will notice my favourites often feature art and jewellery. These are two of my favourite things and the artwork in this shop is brilliant. I really like the bright, whimsical style of Susan's portraits. The featured artwork is an original ACEO, obviously with a Halloween theme, hand painted in watercolour. However I think my favourite things in this shop are the 'Custom cat lady' portraits - if you know anyone who loves cats (and I know several!) this is the perfect gift, an original portrait featuring the cat lover and their cat(s) all at a very reasonable price. Susan has a blog featuring her cat ladies at: http://www.365catladies.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoyed these (slightly spooky) favourites as much as I enjoyed finding them and happy shopping!!

Etsy Favourites - Autumn

Decided on a seasonal theme for this week's Etsy Favourites feature, now it's September already and it's starting to get dark by 8 o' Clock. I find it such a depressing time of year, but these beautiful items are enough to get a smile on anybody's face!

Blue Heron

This shop features hand made Jewellery, Pottery and fused glass items, such as the lovely item featured which is a glass sculpture, which can either hang in a window to catch the light or be displayed on a stand.

Little b Bunny.

This lovely shop is the place to shop for some gorgeous handmade cards. I liked the cat on this Halloween themed card. The seller named her shop after her daughter's nicknames, which I think is soo cute. It's little personal details like this that make shopping somewhere like Etsy so nice. The shop features a wide selection of cards for all occasions and in a wide range of styles. Little b Bubby also has a blog: http://littlebbunny.blogspot.com/

Radiant Mind Designs

I love this shop. It is full of absoloutely gorgeous beads and also has stunning photographs. Definitely on my list of Etsy shops I will be purchasing from! This shop features handmade lampwork glass beads in small co-ordinated sets or larger focals. Some are one-offs to purchase before they're gone, others are from the custom line that are re-made when sold. They also sell lampwork recipe e-book tutorials for those who fancy trying their hand at making their own beads. Radiant Minds also have a blog: http://www.glassmuse.blogspot.com/

Humblebeads Gaden Party

Another lovely handmade bead shop. Humblebeads is owned by Heather whose beads are inspired by textures and colours in nature. Her beads are made from polymer clay and hand buffed to a matte finish. The shop contains smaller disk beads and really nice focals and pendants, including things like hedgehogs and owls! Another shop to add to my shopping list! Heather also has a blog: http://www.humblebeads.blogspot.com/

Lavender Cottage

This shop features handmade metal Jewellery, using fine silver, sterling silver, copper, brass and occassionally gold. The findings are even handmade as well! The pendant i've featured is hand drawn and cut from sterling silver, resting on a background of hammered copper. The stone is a carnelian. It measures an inch across, so is a pretty delicate little piece. Lavender Cottage is a blogger: http://lavendercottageoriginals.blogspot.com/ and also a Twitterer: http://twitter.com/lavendercottage.

I hope you enjoyed this week's autumnal favourites and have been inspired to do a bit of seasonal shopping.

Going Green

It would seem that being 'green' goes hand in hand with being creative. Perhaps because creative people see colour and texture where others see rubbish? Who knows. I decided this week's Folksy Favourites would showcase sellers creating from recycled materials. Here's my 5 favourites from the many I found.

Kerli
This shop features lovely handmade, recycled earrings and embroidered brooches amongst other bits and bobs. The earrings pictured are made from paper beads, coated with PVA glue to make them watertight and hard. They are really pretty and certainly will make a statement, then you can tell everyone that asks about them that they are created from recycled paper! In her profile, Kerli says: "I do like mad jewellery, corduroy, colourful things and board games. And recycling. And sometimes I have little animals in my head that need to come out... " Kerli also has a blog: http://kerliandanimals.blogspot.com/

Cat Loves Bear

This shop deserves a mention just for the gorgeous photo in her shop header! This shop features lots of lovely textile work, including shopping bags made from discarded shop curtains, which is what the photograph is of. You can help save the environment twice, not only by not using plastic bags for your shopping but by putting your shopping in a bag that's already using recycled materials. The shop features a fantastic range of a huge variety of bags in many different colours. A shop I feel I may well be shopping at myself.

British Cream Tea
Ooh, I love cream teas, you can't come from the West Country (which I do originally) and not be exposed to the yumminess of Cream Teas. And this shop is just as yummy. It is full of felt food. I have to admit I didn't know what I might do with felt food but that didn't stop this shop making me want to buy some! Some ideas of uses are pin cushions, holiday decorations or party favours. The featured item is obviously a French Fancy Set. They are all original designs, handmade and stuffed and use recycled felt. Absoloutely gorgeous.

Handmade by Tigerlily
This shop features a range of items from paper goods to bags, all created using ethically sourced materials. The item featured is from Made by Tigerlily's range of note books. It is 5" x 7" and made from 100% recycled card and paper. Ethical as well as being very pretty.

Faye Wilson

Stuff made from things. Sounds interesting, hey. This is Faye Wilson's subtitle to her shop. Faye says this about her shop: "I love mixing materials and textures to create different and unusual pieces. I try to recycle as much as possible and LOVE bashing old copper water pipes and hot water cylinders into delicate earrings and brooches." As well as gorgeous earrings made from bashing hot water cyclinders, there is the lovely pair of Earrings in the photograph, made from an old painting that was damaged. As she said, they are totally unique. What a fantastic idea.

I hope you enjoyed this week's shops. I think recycling is so important and I love it when people have the creativity and imagination to create something gorgeous out of some old rubbish.

Waiting for the postie - Etsy Favourites

Don't you just love it when the postman arrives with a mystery letter or an eagerly awaited parcel. The best bit about online shopping is the arrival of parcels, like Christmas whenever you want it!

Today's Etsy favourites theme is therefore based around the excitement of the postman arriving.

Weaver Copper Designs

What better place to receive your letters than in a fantastic handmade mailbox. This gorgeous mailbox is made of steel then covered with a sheet of antique copper, which is embossed, hand coloured and then lacquered. It is approved by the United States Postal Service. As well as gorgeous copper mail boxes, this shop also features bird feeders and rubbish bins.

Gwynstone

When you've collected your letters, you need a beautiful letter opener to open that seal. And Gwynstone is the place to shop for one. The item featured is a letter opener and magnifier set, made with recycled glass beads. The shop also features lovely items of Jewellery and Bookmarks featuring semi precious stones.

La Rea Rose

When you've opening your letters you need somewhere to store them. Why not use this pretty cottage style mail holder. It is a vintage mail holder that has been rescued and painted by this very talented Etsy seller. This seller specialises in romantic, shabby and chic decor and the items in the well stocked shop includes bird house, plates, trays and keepsake boxes. If you like traditional cottage style items this shop is the place for you. This seller also has a blog at: http://larearose.blogspot.com/

Petite Maison

Perhaps you want something a bit more more modern to store your letters. How about a Wall Pocket from this seller. The Wall Pocket featured has a French Kitchen theme and would look lovely hung in a kitchen or office space to store your bits and bobs. It is lined and contains a webbing tab for hanging it up. The seller, Julia, says she loves to create pretty things and she certainly does. She also has a blog: http://simbiosis-lifeinasmalltown.blogspot.com/

Mesquite Woodworks

Would you prefer something to put on your desk to keep your correspondance in order. Then how about a Mesquite & Maple Inbox. What a gorgeous, unique way of keeping a desk tidy! This shop is quite new and only contains a few items but the ones it contains are lovely. They are handmade from Mesquite logs and the Mesquite used in the Inbox featured comes from a tree in the seller's own backyard.

So there you go, now you can collect, open and store your post in style. I hope you enjoyed today's favourites, I certainly enjoyed finding them.

Saturday Shopping List - Ceramics

Well Ceramics wasn't actually the theme I had been planning my shopping list around but I was a bit disappointed with the offerings on Folksy for my original theme so after some rummaging I discovered the following lovely shops, all based around the theme of ceramics.

Lauren Ceramics


Lauren Ceramics is a shop containing all manner of ceramic items from brooches to pen pots. She describes her items as modern and delicate. They are all handmade and designed in Lauren's studio in Reading using a method called slip casting. Lauren has her own website and a blog at http://laurenceramics.blogspot.com/

Blacklyne Ceramics

This shop contains some very pretty handmade ceramic buttons created using a technique called Raku firing. These buttons are truly individual and would look lovely on some chunky handknitted clothing or maybe even incorporated somehow in jewellery. I'm thinking of a way to do it!!

Sea Urchin

This shop contains some really striking and different ceramic jewellery. Lisa, the owner of the shop says she is obsessed with texture, colour and new materials and loves to experiment. Many items, like the pendant featured incorporate fused glass and precious metal lustres.

Much In A Little

Isn't this nodding dog gorgeous. I just couldn't resist him. As well as the nodding dogs this shop contains quirky cuff links, plaques and ceramic eggs. The shop owner describes her shop as Poignant, humorous work in porcelain and mixed media inspired by classic toys and curios. This is definitely a shop to visit for something a bit different.

Jude Allman

This is another store that creates items using the Raku technique but this one contains pendants and brooches as well as buttons. Jude is based on the Isle of Wight and creates her gorgeous items in a tiny studio in her house by the sea. Sound absolutely gorgeous. The pendant featured has been glazed with crackle glaze and is a totally unique piece.

So there you go, the Folksy shopping list. I keep forgetting that Folksy doesn't feature nearly as many sellers as Etsy and therefore I will have to remember to create wider searches when doing my favourites feature. As you can see though, from this week's sellers that it is quality not quantity that really counts.

Designer Saturday

Not really sure exactly what I want to do tomorrow. I need to work on a handful of new designs of Knotted Jewellery. I got a couple of very nice books last week, which have given me some ideas and one has some fantastic knots that I am going to practice and see how I can incorporate them into Jewellery.

My hubby is off early in the morning to work so I'm planning on getting up nice and early to so I can spend all day designing and making. As well as a few new designs I also want to make at least a couple of things to sell as I need to get more of the knotted designs in the shops. I may also at least start a new design for some cards and I really should do my Thank You Cards. I will be in deep trouble with my Mum if i don't!!

On the non creative side of things I need to clean out my rats and post my Dad's Birthday present.

I will also have a Saturday Shopping List from Folksy and I've already got a theme decided. You'll have to take a look tomorrow to see what it is though!

Etsy Favourites - Get Knotted!

No I haven't suddenly lost all my manners. Today's theme is based around one of my favourite things - knots. Today specifically Macrame. This fantastic craft is based around 4 or 5 main knots than can be combined in as many fantastic combinations as you can think of. Here are 5 sellers that show how creatively it can be used.

Melanie Miljan

Melanie makes Jewellery & Accessories, including this fab Belt tied with hemp and featuring green Aventurine nuggets and a Bamboo buckle. She uses natural materials and her shop mostly features Jewellery, made with either Fine Silver or Sterling Silver. Melanie also has a blog at http://macramewithmelaniemiljan.blogspot.com/

Intrinsic Imagination

This shop is full of amazing items that are works of a very creative imagination. The Barefoot Sandals caught my eye mainly because I'd never heard of them before! They are made with hemp and glass beads and can be worn in bare feet at the beach or a summer party or to brighten up plain flip flops or sandals. I think they're lovely. The shop also features handmade jewellery, hair falls and some very funky feather eyelashes.

My Imperfections

This is only a new shop but already has some really nice items in it. The knotted cord necklace pictured is made with silver rattail, shells and rings. This shop features big, bold Jewellery that are real dramatic, statement pieces combining so many different elements into pieces that just shout gorgeous at you!

Freedom Market

Freedom Market features lots of lovely Hemp and Beaded Macrame Jewellery. The Necklace featured contains Hemp with fire agate, antique brass, wood and hand carved bone beads. Hemp creates a lovely natural look especially when combined with natural material beads and the items listed in this shop are very wearable.

Katie's Basement

Handmade & Custom Jewellery from a modern day hippy. This is what Katie says about her shop. Being a bit of a modern day hippy myself I fell in love with it. It's a fairly new store, only opening at the end of May this year but already features many items that are all beautifully photographed. The bracelet featured is a Jasper Hemp bracelet, tied with hemp with a Jasper centrepiece and smaller wooden beads. Katie also has a blog: http://katiesbasementblog.blogspot.com/

Folksy Fairies on Friday

My first Folksy favourites list, based on the magic of fairies at the bottom of the garden...

Heartfelt

There are lot of Tooth Fairy cushions listed on Folksy, but I just loved these because they are so different. They contain a little pocket for placing the tooth in and it is here that the Tooth Fairy leaves her payment. They are made with felt & fabric and the Tooth Fairy Monsters are made to order. Heartfelt is owned by a busy Mum of two who makes personalised felt creations such as padded names as well as Tooth Fairy Monsters.

Soaps by Laura

This Handmade Sugar Plum Fairy Soap is just one of many very sweet, pretty handmade soaps in Laura's shop. Her soaps have been certified and comply with EU regulations and are not tested on animals. Soaps are made fresh to order and Laura also sells bath salts, gift sets and bath bombs.

Cherryloco

Cherryloco is Lauren's shop. She sells handmade jewellery created in her home and she describes her pieces as unique, colourful & somewhat naive, laced with a quirky sense of fun. This pretty fairy pendant is hand pierced entirly from Sterling Silver.

Golcar House

This fairy image is a Limited Edition Hand Printed Screenprint. It's called 'Eat my dust'. Golcar House is an independant design studio that produces silk screen prints, printed textiles, eco friendly bags and hand made accessories, all handmade. Many of the designs in this shop are Limited Edition or originals so the perfect place to visit for something truly different.

Mirabilis

I thought the fairy on this charm bracelet was so cute. This bracelet is very girly and would make a perfect gift for a real 'girly girl'! The Mirabilis shop is run by Vicki who handmakes the Jewellery on offer, which includes earrings and bag charms amongst other items.

So, whether you believe in Fairies or not, i'm sure you'll agree there's some magical items for sale in these shops. Happy Shopping!

Friday To Do List

I know, it's Thursday and I've not done my favourites. Again. I ended up having to go in to work 4 hours earlier than I was meant to so didn't get a lot done today and had no time to compile my favourites. I did, however, compile a pretty impressive list of articles about sales and related issues on Etsy. I will put them in some sort of resources blog post at some point. One good thing about going in early today means I get tomorrow off. Woohoo! So I have compiled a To Do List for tomorrow:

• Start on my Thank You cards
• Make a cross knot & seed bead bracelet
• Do some more chain maille experimenting
• Do an Etsy Favourites & Folksy favourites blog posts
• Put my resource list into a sensible blog post
• Start a new ACEO for cards

I also have some bits coming through the post for my exciting new project so will get a look at those, and my lovely hubby has bought a load of craft stuff worth £100 for £20 off of someone advertising on a local website, so it'll be like Christmas when he comes home!

See you tomorrow.

Etsy Favourites - Tartan/Plaid

I stayed on a bit of a Scottish theme this week for my Favourites, but mainly I was inspired by the tartan textile beads purchased from Jilly Beads on Tuesday.

Salt Of The Earth:

This is a Fairy Door. It is placed in your home and is the way that the fairy folk pass to this world from theirs! Apparently, the door only opens from their side. How cute is this! I just thought it was gorgeous. There are many different themed ones in this seller's lovely shop. This one stands 7" tall and they are made from Salt Dough.

Elylow

These lovely, highly practical and very pretty backpacks are made from reused and upcycled material. All are handmade and designed by the shop owner. Pretty, practical and ethical, what more could you ask for?

Marjji

I fell in love with this cat's gorgeous expression. He is 8" tall and made from upcycled, prewashed wool. He is weighted so will sit up nicely. He is handmade from an original pattern of the sellers, inspired by cats her Grandmother used to make. I like shops that include a story about where their creations come from. He would make the perfect gift for a cat lover - I am likely to be shopping here for my own Grandnother!

Thistle Cottage Studio

Do you want a cool, handmade hat? Then visit this shop. It contains a multitide of hats in different styles and colours. This hat is part of the seller's new Scotland collection. If you have a love of hats, Scotland or both, definitely check out this seller.

Leaping Lizards

This is another shop I will probably be shopping at. This seller has porduced some gorgeous, handmade, ceramic pendants. This particular one measures 1.25" in diameter and comes strung simply on a ribbon. This shop contains pendants in a variety of shapes and designs and also some cool slogans and phrases. If you individual Jewellery, this is definitely one to check out.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks favourites and I have inspired you to check out at least one of these shops. There will be more next Thursday. See you tomorrow.

Raising the roof!

We currently have visitors so unfortunately I don't have a lot of time for blogging, tweeting and certainly not creating, which is a shame as I am very focussed and inspired at the moment. However there will still be a daily blog post and everything will be back to normal Tuesday. I have had two dispatch notices from my shopping yesterday, so cannot wait for my goodies to arrive! Maybe I will be able to sneak in an hours making when our visitors are busy.

Today my hubby and his brother took the grass roof off of our old barn. At the base of the roof there were enormous slates led against the roofing timbers and when they came to do the second side, they discovered if they removed the slates the rest of the grass was then fairly easily dislodged by pushing a ladder through from the inside! There were some entertaining moments when, sat outside, all we could see was two ladders coming randomly through the roof, or, even funnier, a great lump of roof would move, then flop back down again, looking like the barn had come alive and had a giant grassy mouth it was opening and closing!!

The first half all removed:
Second side with the grass still on:
The highly technical push-a-ladder-through-the-roof technique!

But it works!

Roof all gone. Just got to tidy up now!

You may have noticed it's Thursday and there is no favourites. I have a theme ready but Etsy appears to be having maintenance, so i've given up for the evening. Fear not, there will be favourites for you to peruse tomorrow.

Etsy Favourites - Scotland

Today I followed the Shop Local link on Etsy's Buy page and searched for Scotland. The Shop Local feature lists the latest 100 shops to update at that particular location. So here are my 5 favourite Scottish shops:

Ali Bali Jewellery

Handmade and designed Silver Jewellery, made in Edinburgh. Most items are made from eco friendly recycled silver. This shops contains all types of Jewellery including Wedding Jewellery and this seller takes customer orders. One of my favourite items is her silver crocheted cuffs. You can visit her blog at Ali Bali Jewellery Blog.

Starry Blue Sky

Fantastic Photographic Prints, again from an Edinburgh seller. The shop features gorgeous images with a dreamy quality that makes them look more like a painting than photographs. She has some fantastic collage prints. I just love the dreamy affects and fantastic colours. They create a lovely, modern look that would complement any home. You can also visit the Starry Blue Sky Blog.

The Dog House

This shop features hand printed bags, t-shirts and bandanas with the seller's own greyhounds as the subject. I love dogs and the products in this shop are just perfect for any dog lover, particularly the Greyhound owner. I am seriously tempted by a canvas bag. As an extra bonus 5% from the sales goes to a Greyhound rescue charity, Gracehounds. The Dog House also has a blog: Max & Molly Designs.

Numpty

This shop features modern, funky cufflinks, earrings and hair barettes. The subjects are things such as aliens, lego and minis. Very cool and different. Perfect for anybody that loves something modern and different.

Fuzzy Dragons

Fantastic fantasy and animal art prints and ACEOs. Her preferred medium is coloured pencil which is a medium I also use so am always interested in coloured pencil artists work. The art is lovely and bright and features some lovely subjects such as dragons, horse and flowers. You can also visit the Fuzzy Dragons Blog.

I hope you will take time to visit at least a couple of these shops as they really do feature some superb stuff.

Sooner or later I will work out how to add photos to go with these favourites as photographs are so much more descriptive than my lame descriptions! - ETA: I did it, just saved them off Etsy and added them here, I will of course, notify the sellers and if anyone isn't happy, i'll remove them.

Thursday Favourites - Polymer Clay Beads

As promised yesterday after discovering fellow sellers on Etsy had 'favourited' me I went on a search this morning for something special. After quickly realising I could quite easily spend 3 whole weeks solidly searching and always finding something different, I decided to narrow the search slightly. I decided first I would search for 'beads', as these are an essential part of my own jewellery making and great fun to look at, then I narrowed the choice down to Polymer Clay Beads. I am fascinated by Polymer Clay and it is definitely something I would love to learn how to use and I was not dissapointed today in my search - the variety of beads and jewellery produced with this medium is astounding.

So, here they are, my Five Thursday favourites:

Fimo Flora - The creations in this shop are just fantastic. All are handmade. The little characters are all very cute and very original. The choices range from elephants to peanuts and my favourite (for all those Winnie the Pooh fans) is the Heffalump. The prices are very reasonable as well. This shop is definitely one I shall be purchasing from in the future.

Jelly Beads Designs - This shop is full of handmade polymer beads in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. These include animals and characters, but also food and shapes. A lot of the beads are flatback but can also be purchased with holes and can also be glazed or left natural. They are also very reasonably priced and all beautifully photographed.

Tiny Ark - I found this shop by looking for rat beads and found some little mouse buttons instead. I liked this shop because it was a bit different, as it sells lovely, original buttons as opposed to beads. I have seen buttons used on jewellery though so felt it warranted inclusion. There are buttons of all shapes and sizes as well as animals such as some very cool bees. They are also machine washable so very useable.

Creative Spirit Too - I always thought of polymer clay being used to create beads in the shapes of animals, flowers, food etc. This fantastic shop showed me that it can also be used to create fantastic focal pendants and 'normal' round beads. The creations in this shop are just beautiful and I will definitely be shopping here for some beads to complement my knotted jewellery.

New Forest Beading - This is another seller who uses polymer create to create beads and pendants instead of objects. The pendants in this shop are highly detailed pieces in fantastic colours and would be perfect for one of a kind jewellery for someone very special.

So that's my five for today. I had great fun with this and hope anyone reading will find something useful. I have tried to find five shops that show the amazing range of things that can be done with polymer clay. Etsy is not just about buying handmade items, its also a fantiastic place to buy supplies for creating your own special pieces.

There will be five more on a different theme next Thursday.

Sharing Hearts

One of the sections on Etsy is somewhere you can 'heart' favourite shops. I checked mine today for the first time for a couple of weeks and was delighted to find that three people heart me. So I thought I would say thank you publicly to those three people:

JJM Jewelry - This shop sells jewellery supplies, clasps, beads, findings as well as handmade jewellery. They also have a sale on at the moment. I will definitely have to have a good look through this shop as some of the beads look brilliant.

Blue Girl Jewelry - Hand crafted and wire wrapped Jewellery at a very reasonable price.

Sassa Lynne - This Etsy seller is another British seller and sells hand dyed yarns and threads as well as hand dyed scarves and other fiber art supplies. The items in this shop are truly unique, being created from random dye pots, so would be a perfect investment for someone making individual textile based art & crafts.

I have had a look on some of the other shops on Etsy, but will pick 5 tomorrow to add to my favourites and then 5 next week and so on...