A Handmade Shopping Affair

If you pop by regularly you'd know that I sell my crochet creations on Felt and Etsy.  One of the things it has made me more aware of for myself is the want/need to buy handmade goods directly from the people who make them, just as I want people to buy from me. 

I've been incredibly fortunate recently to have bought some incredibly gorgeous creations (all for myself!) so I thought I might share :-)

A Bit of Mystery

Based in Huntly and is a great shop on felt that has loads of bags  from recycled mens ties, this is the one I bought, it's a perfect size, beautifully finished - I love it so much!
 

trash footwear

 Based in Raglan, all their shoes are made from recycled or upcylced material.  I loved it that he could tell me where the material for mine came from :-)  I got some ballet shoes in a lovely retro purpley flower material and some boots which have green leather (where the brown is) and a fab red and green tartan

 

By Nature

Based on Waiheke Island the lovely Mel is showing off a petticoat made from bamboo cotton.  Mine is black without the lace panel. Made to measure, it's the most comfortable piece of underwear I own!

Lavage Handcrafted Soap Boutique

Based in Wellington, and with a factory shop in Plimmerton, the amazing Jayne comes up with brill creative treats for your body.  A great fan of Lavage I use her handmade soaps and body mist daily. And fighting off my germs a few weeks ago, this eucalyptus soy Melt Me was great to burn in the room. 

These are just a few of my recent purchases.  Jewellery would need a couple of posts just for itself, what with the fab earrings, nose rings, ring rings, bracelets, pendants and brooches I'm a bit of an accessory nut! :-) Shamefully I haven't keep a note of everyone I have bought from from I strongly recommend having a look on www.felt.co.nz there is something to suit everyones tastes!

Ultimate in Kitsch?

A toilet roll doll that is dressed in granny squares, popped in the Etsy shop this morning.

My need for kitsch ness this week has almost been sated. 

Next.... finish my macramé

Fab stuff

This month Linda is the Etsy Blogger team member of the month.  Linda makes some really cool things for Jewish people as well as a load of other fab beads and magnets.  I spent quite a lot of time having a look around her shop, she makes so many interesting things!

This caught my eye: 
 

 Its a Kippah, and I think even if you weren't Jewish it'd be a great accessory!
 I also like these recycled bottle caps (because recycling is nice for the environment).
  

Also while I'm here, you might want to pop to T's blog for a fun Royal Wedding quiz (it's stiring the ex-pat within and now I want to go to a street party! )

Wrapping a Plunger

I've been wrapping the coffee plunger

Before Christmas I bought some posh yarn that was lengths of different yarns all put together.  It was on sale and even then was pretty expensive, so on Monday I realised that I had lots of posh yarn in my stash,so I could make lengths, join then together and make my own fancy yarn... and voila!  I now have 6 big balls of posh yarns all for free! (Well not really free because I did buy them at some point...) 

The coffee pot wraps are like a tie - fat at one end and and skinny at the other, and wraps around the plunger and the skinny end tucks in kind of like a tie or scarf.   

I've given the pink one to the Australian Flood Relief shop on Etsy, who are raising money for the poor Australians caught up in all of the floods.

Indulge me....

I've opened a new 'not totally crochet' related shop on Zibbet (this is just a Gill shop - I think I'm addicted to craftyness) and a new blog to match it, if you fancy a visit :-)http://broochnbauble.blogspot.com/ and I promise not to cross contaminate too often (I was going to say 'ever again' and changed my mind.... just incase!)

Also if you have a moment I do like this blog because she lets me say random stuff, and also check out her shop

this is not a teamy thing - just that Rebecca seems like a really cool chick and makes very funky gear that I'm crochet jealous of even though she hasn't been exposed to Dr Who

Day Walkers and Night Walkers

Getting back into my etsybloggers groove here is the featured blogger for the month of July:

There are 2 shops to browse through and I've named this post day walkers and night walkers because one the shops is Twighlight inspired and the other has fab photos (in the daytime)

http://sykin.etsy.com/ & http://nwwonders.etsy.com/

My sister and someof my friends are Twighlight addicts, I have yet to discover this delight, so my favourite is in the other shop :-), it reminds me of New Zealand beaches and conjures up all sorts of ideas of what to do with the drift wood :-)

There is also a very cool blog to compliment the shops and to learn about other Etsy shops which can be found here http://sykin-at-etsy.blogspot.com/

Into the groove

Finally, after months of change I feel like I'm getting back into the groove.

I had had some not very flattering feedback about the pictures of my tea cosy's in my Etsy shop, so I spent some time yesterday having a play...

I've also started to sort my shops out a bit:

Kitsch for your home at Etsy

Everything granny squares & scarfs at Zibbet

And in Felt, I'm thinking accessories.... have yet to figure that one out :-)

I've also joined Ravelry which is a crochet and knit community where I'm hoping to learn more crochet techniques.

My first assignment I signed on for is a 'Dalek a-long' - knit or crochet a Dalek during July. The 4 pages of instructions were doing my head in and were a great help starting the fire yesterday and so I'm winging it.

The story so far.....

I think he might turn out a bit camp with all of this fluff....

A mental step backwards

I love yarns, the colours, the textures and the inspiration of what might be.

This months featured etsy blogger is Vicki of DizzyDragonflies.

And looking at Vickis' shop

http://DizzyDragonflies.etsy.com and blog http://knittingdragonflies.blogspot.com has made me take a mental step backwards.

Vicki knits and she spins and dyes her own yarn........

Her blog has some amazing pictures that show how she progresses with the dying

And her shop has the results........

This one is called Tropical Waters and reminds me of the harbour around Tauranga :-)

This and That

I’m trying to build up a collection of granny square scarfs for the Felt shop for the kiwi winter since they seemed to be quite a popular item for the northern hemispheres colder days, this means I’ve let my etsy shop sit there having renewals. Which is okay I think for a week or two as etsy is undergoing some kind of change in the way it does the relevancy search, so I thought I could keep an eye on it from afar and see what happens. The Felt shop is ticking along; I’ve just had my 3rd sale there which is really fab!

I’m also wanting to do something creating with variegated yarn as the etsy hookers team are having a challenge and I’d love to take part, so I have the yarn and now I just have to do something with it… I’ve found that I’m crap at creating when I really want to, the whole pressure of it! So I’m trying to relax and forget about it and one day just pick the yarn up and voila – a masterpiece! Fingers crossed :-)


Talking of variegated yarn... Pip the pink fairy was featured here this week:

http://satinstitchery.blogspot.com/2010/01/sunday-shopping-on-handmade-highway.html

Monday is a holiday here this weekend – Fantastic!
We have some plans – perhaps pop to the races on Audrey for an arvo (she’s fixed – hurray!), finish off stripping an old desk and a bike ride of course. Long weekends are brill :-)

Happy weekend!

A Mermaid and a Fairy

I’m trying out one of the mermaid dolls (Beatrice in green) in the new felt shop to see how she goes and I also put a new fairy doll (Pip in pink) in my etsy shop last night.

The market was incredibly busy, lots and lots of “isn’t that cute,” and “do you have a card” no sales though, seems to have been a trend with the other stall holders so I wasn’t too upset. I enjoyed chatting to everyone and met a fellow that used to live on a sheep station who used to spin wool and knit his own jumpers, he told me that lichen off a gate post will dye wool orange. I love learning new titbits like that

The barbecue is well and truly christened, we used it Sunday and Monday and plan on using it tonight too. It’s so much easier to cook outside when the weather is warming up. The cottage has a tin roof so when the sun has been shinning all day it gets incredibly hot inside.

I thought I might try my hand at writing a tutorial over the holidays. I’m off work until the 11th January so I’ll have time to write the steps and take progress photos. I just have to decide what it is I’d like to share….

Felt like Etsy :-)

I found a New Zealand site that has some similarities to Etsy and ArtFire so I'm going to try it out and see how it goes :-)

This is the shop www.JacBer.felt.co.nz I've taken some stuff from the shophandmade shop which wasn't doing well - I'd basically opened it, put some of our stuff in it and left it to itself, and after 4 months we were averaging about 2 views a month which was pretty crappy, so we'll see if we do better here. It's also were I can point New Zealand customers too without having to worry about exchange rates. I just have to wait for the first 5 listings to be approved, so hopefully that will be soon!

We're christening the new Barbecue tonight! We're having posh sausages, chicken drumsticks and vegetable kebabs

Last craft market of the year tomorrow and I'm predicting a total sell out!

Hypnotic Treasury

One of the loo roll dolls got itself in a Treasury on Etsy.

I do believe that this is a really good thing

She might be picked for the front page if they decide to do pink stuff, and from what I've read, to be on the Front Page is like winning the lottery!

So I thought I'd share the linky thing should you want to check out other pink stuff, it's there for a day or so http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=99970 and big ups to http://www.etsy.com/shop/FancyFairieGirl who chose her for the treasury.

We had my 'work do' on Friday night. They had a hypnotist and people volunteered to go and be hypnotised and do silly things. I think people making fools of themselves is great (it takes the spotlight off me for a bit!) for some reason though, the being hypnotised and doing it really got to me, the whole mucking with someones head, I have no idea why, just that I didn't find it entertaining. At least I know not to go and pay and see someone hypnotise people now :-)

Resurgence!

My move from the great and fantastic granny square to other types of crochet began with Loo Roll dolls. I wanted to make kitschy stuff that was a bit funky and I am quite passionate that Loo Roll Dolls will adorn the cisterns of toilets everywhere.

For the past 8 months I have been trying to convince the world that no loo is quite complete without one.
My passion was begging to wane.

I was starting to give up hope.

Perhaps my dream wasn’t to be.

Hello etsy……

One of my favourite ones was featured on etsy storque a couple of months ago!
I had hearts and views – hurray!

There are other Loo Roll doll lovers out there!

Last week I sold 3 of them!

Toilets around the world are being glammed up.
The resurgence has begun!

Even better - now I've got a great excuse to make more :-)

Spare Time and Some Shopping

When I have some spare time or just want to hang out on the computer I like to do these 3 things in this order:

1. Read the blogs on my bloglist and add comments - which is like a “Gill waz ‘ere” stamp


2. Play addictive time consuming games on facebook and try and beat my friends (they are usually those ones with a 1 – 3 minute time limit so I have no idea where an hour goes!!)


3. Stare in a trance at Time Machine 2 on www.etsy.com
   

I usually just have time for the first one on the list, however just the other day I skipped down to number 3 (bypassing addictive games) and did a bit of Christmas shopping. Which I can't show you in case any one I bought for is reading..... so here are a couple of other shops that I love

www.JeByJa.etsy.com has this fab mushroom made from an old record which I think is the coolest thing ever (and might have to be my next purchase!)

www.dzfantasy.etsy.com has fab fairies and mermaids (not this fairy head brooch though cos I bought it! I wear to work to brighten up my uniform and have gotten loads of compliments – big-ups to DZFantasy for that one!)

Creations Galore

Well, we didn't get on the bikes, but we created so much!

Below is a brother to a new addition to the etsy shop, a mouthy mushroom. And above is a fancy dancy sparkly wrap that Andrew thinks looks like the Milky Way

I even approached the sewing maching (dum dum duuummmm) and I didn't even break it - hurray! On Saturday I bought 10 ties from an opportunity shop, unpicked them, sewed them back up and made a skirt. This is my first attempt at sewing a bit of clothing, and I'm almost impressed! I'll pop a picture on during the week. (It's on the line at the moment - I had to wash it to make sure it didn't fall apart!)

I'm tentatively thinking about having a bit of a stall at work one lunchtime. Isn't it funny, I'll go to the markets and sell on line and yet having a table at work scares the beejeezus out of me! Shame I can't have dutch courage at work!

Escape

Hurray!

It's nearly time to escape from the working week and enjoy a fabulous weekend of creativity, cycling and relaxation.

We're going to be sewing & crocheting lots for the last couple of pre-Christmas markets and we've also started to organise a cycling holiday in the South Island for the end of March, (when it's not to hot!). So it's on the bikes for some practice :-)

To go with the feeling of escape I'd like to show you some items from a fellow etsyhooker.

Here are a couple of fabulous items from http://www.juliaemily.etsy.com/

(I personally love her masks so much pop along and have a look :-) )

Technology is my friend

Technology is my friend
Technology is my friend
Technology is my friend

I chanted as I set up a Facebook fan page with the help of a cold glass of Riesling, and then I tried to link it to my blog.
Do I really need one? Well apparently so!
Just like the blog, the twitter, the etsy shop and the artfire shop, plus I need to

Promote! Promote! Promote!
Forums and threads, chat rooms, join a team, do a challenge, do a giveaway.
Give out my card (after I’ve made one using some fancy pants computer application)
Wear my creations, go into local shops and show them my stuff, try and convince them to stock it and sell it.
Do the local craft market twice a month, and the other local craft market every Saturday.
Do the housework, the washing, the shopping and the cooking

(phew that I don’t have children as well!).
Read all the forums and threads that tell me to do all this stuff
Go to work at 7.30 a.m., get home at 5.00 p.m. and start all over again
No wonder I love it!

What a buzz :-)

Engaging writers block

I recently read an etsy forum thread that was called something like "you blog? why should I care?". It basically questions the writing style of bloggers, why they do it and how they engage the reader. So I've obviously been over thinking how I put together my blog because I now find myself with writers block.

So today I am going to show you some fab creations by a fellow EtsyHooker http://www.bagsandmorebypam.etsy.com/.

Just before I do, the etsy hookers team have a EtsyHookers Creative Challenge - Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose competition going at the moment and if you fancy having a vote, it's really easy just pop by here: http://etsyhookers.blogspot.com/.

Now back to Pam :-)

I like the name of this bag "Bead me up Scotty" it appeals to my Trekkie side.

The green in the scarf is one of my favourite colours, and the cats collar is something I've never seen crocheted before, very fab :-)

I think that I'm in love.

I finished the doll I was making and introduced Emelda to the world through my Etsy shop.
She's so cute! She is very different to other things I've made so far, and I love her. In fact so much so I've started on a sister for her and I'm thinking of doing a range of them, and making them fairies and princesses. And maybe some boys, though I'm unsure how to go about making their bums/shorts.

Also my friend who was being the Super Hero won the radio competition - hurray!

The rest of today's blog all about another fellow Etsy Hookers team mate.

Here is www.thecrochetloft.etsy.com

I've picked a pair of her fingerless gloves that I've admired on her blog www.thecrochetloft.blogspot.com

They remind me of icrecream.

And a very unique scarf that has a pussy cat on it.
Although after the other night when our two woke me up at 3.00am crashing about I shouldn't be finding cats cute lol!

Hand Made what a Doll

I had one of my favourite tea cosies chosen for a gift guide on the Handmade Highway http://www.handmadehighway.blogspot.com/ it's called Black Forest because it reminds me of a gateaux :-)




Anyway I've ended my creative mudbath and picked up a hook and some yarn and now I'm in the middle of trying to create a different kind of doll than I've made before. I've got it's main body (it's a frock) now I'm trying for the shoulders, neck, head and arms. I've unravelled it 4 times so far :-) I'm hoping that tonight is going to be the break through!



Since I started on etsy and more recently on artfire I've noticed myself leaning towards buying hand made products rather than mass produced.

First off

they are usually unique items and no one else will have one and the things I have bought have had so many comments.

Secondly

I love creating and am so honoured when others buy my creations that I think that other people that make hand made stuff feel the same, and I love how it makes me feel so I want to spread that joy There are heaps of amazing soap makers on etsy and one day I will try them all, in the mean time at the end of my road (the one in the picture up there) there is a shop that sells handmade soap that I never ever had thought to buy from before and now it's all we use. Doing what I'm doing has made me look at hand made products with new eyes.