Stickers!

Yippee! My stickers have finally arrived from Moo cards! It's just a shame I couldn't get these done in time for the Craft fair last Saturday. Here they are...

I like some of them but not so sure about the colours on others. I originally sketch them before using a calligraphy brush pen to draw the outline. After that the images were scanned and tidied up in photoshop.

I hope you guys like them! If so, I will be setting up shop and selling them. If you can't wait then drop me a line via my email fern_ng23@yahoo.com. I'll you know when I do have the shop ready.

Stockings, birds and pom poms

It's been an uphill struggle lately but things seem to be coming along. Recently been sharing a stall with the lovely Emily at another craft fair. This time at the Royal Masonic school for girls in Ricksmanworth. The building is stunning with beautiful lanterns and intricate stained glass windows. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take some pictures!

However I did take some of our stall and my goods.

Pastel felt ornaments with crochet & button embellishments

Polka dot felt stocking ornaments

Woolly pom pom baubles

It was a fun day with lots of Christmas carols, mulled wine wafting into the room and Santa greeting all the children. We saw some lovely items at other stalls and had lots of interest in our items. But recession has hit hard and not many purchases were made. We don't do it for the morning but it makes it hard when you're not breaking even.

I'll be selling some of cards and ornaments on Etsy soon but in the meantime you can message me if you're interested in any items.

A snapshot of Emily's part of the stall.

Her beautiful jewellary

Emily makes some lovely pieces. There are some that have small ceramic pieces she made and painted. As well as silver which is hand-hammered into intricate shapes. All finished off with leather made on these fair isles. My favourite are her cushions that she design the print and also digitally printed. All sewn by her with british leather tags. The photos don't do justice to the quality of her work!

Anyways here's a picture of the chaos I left behind.

WIP

Just a little "something" I'm working on at the mo! Will reveal later...

The bird and the teacup

A-baking and a-creating!

Well people! It has been a manic and fun week! Last Friday my friend Emily and I had a small stall at Parmiter's school Craft Fair. It was an area where the little ones could come by and make a Christmas card or colour in a hand puppet.

Close up of the last minute made sign

Another last minute sign plus a sneaky shot of Emily in our stall

I even roped in Yellow Panda to entice some customers!

Close of my cards made and waiting to go to new homes

The wonderful people at Moo cards managed to get my order in time for the Craft Fair but alas... No one brought a card. I suppose they were distracted but the elaborate and wonderful equipment spread Emily had laid out. There were paints, colourful card, crayons and lots of glitter! I even to get glitter in my hair!

We had a great day and had lots of fun helping budding new artist create cards and customise their hand puppets.

Working on more items for the next craft fair at The Royal Masonic School in Rickmansworth on Saturday 27th November. Here are some WIP pictures.

At the moment I'm frantically crocheting and stitching these bad boys! I have a few other designs that I'm hoping that I will get done in time. But for now here is "some I made earlier!

On a different topic, it's Children in Need time of year again. On Monday my workplace had a Bake off, little ole me couldn't resist taking part! I decided on 2 types of cupcake flavours. A chocolate with hint of orange cupcake with orange frosting and Red Velvet with vanilla cream cheese frosting.

There was an amazing array of treats and cakes that there was almost too much choice! Lots were brought and eaten and a great amount was raised for Pudsey!

Don't they look heavenly?

Craft Fairs and more!

Last Friday I attended the Blurb London pop-up workshop, which was organised with Etsy and Moo. It was a really good event! I learnt a great deal about Etsy and about self-marketing. The people from all 3 companies were really helpful and lovely. Plus they even fed us delicious cupcakes and yummy sandwiches. All went down a treat with lashings of tea and coffee. Armed with new found confidence and knowledge I've spent many hours designing these card designs for the upcoming Craft Fairs.

I also met some other fellow entrepreneurs and it was really interesting to see the different stages people were at with their business and craft. There were knitters, photographers and jewellery makers.
I also met Irene Strange who is a crochet pattern designer. She was lovely and I was surprised to find out later that I had seen her stuff before. I wish I had known that at the time, unfortunately I was a little dazed by all the information I had collected from the talks. She is talented lady as you can see from the images below (from her website) or you can check out her stuff on her Flickr photostream.

Speaking of crochet I'm creating some to go with more items for the Craft fairs. More details will follow about locations and dates but here is a taster of what is yet to come...

Wait a minute Mr Postman!

Look at what I got in the post... Vogue 1950's dress patterns! Been waiting for these beauties for yonks. Can't stop dreaming of the possibilities.

Alas the sewing machine and I are strangers. I have yet to master the dials, buttons and whistles of that marvellous machine. I will have to wait for my sister to teach me the ropes. But aren't the illustrations on the packets just divine!

I should really apologise as I have already broken my promise of keeping up with my blogging. I promise I have a valid reason... that being that I'm in the process of moving to a new place. All of that has kept me busy! As exciting as setting off on your own is, the spending on the essentials and decorating is stressful!!!

On an earlier post I mentioned my mother's crop for this year. She's gather the last of her veg and it these little guys.

I don't know what their real name is but they are sometimes known as "Angry Melon". I don't suppose you know why someone would nickname them that?

Project...completed!

It's been a while guys since my last post but I promise you that I have not been idle! I can finally post a project that I have finished recently. It also helps that the recipient has now received it so it doesn't ruin the surprise for them.

It's another papercut art piece for my friend's wedding. It was a lovely and special double wedding and I wanted to give them something very unique.

Here are some photos of the process. I begin with some sketches in my sketchbook. I play around with the layout and design.

Once I'm satisfied with my design then I hit the lightbox and sketch the image. Another opportunity to tweak the image.

The design is transfered to the card/paper and I begin cutting.

I'm really happy with the final image. Which is rare for me! But as you can see that the art work was mounted and framed, then in post!

Saturday Night out!

Last weekend I headed into the big city to see my best friend and to celebrate her birthday. She decided on a comedy club in London who do "Big night out". It was brillaint fun and all the comedians were extremely funny. The lineup consisted of Bob Mills, Stefano Paolini, (MC) Paul T. Ayres and my favourite comedian of the evening, Steve Williams. I liked him so much I did a little tribue art for him.

Unfortunately I did not have enough time to add some colour. It took too long trying to figure it out on "Illustrator"! It's just a sketch for now, I still need more practice on the whole digital thing.

This is a belated birthday illustration for my homie, J9!