Taking Pictures

I think I finally did it.
I do believe that my felt shop looks quite professional.  And it was all in the pictures!.

As with most amateur online sellers I have read a lot about how important the picture is to views and then to sales.  I have tried playing with the macro button, taking pictures when it's not sunny, replicating how magazines take pictures (in situ), and have plastered flip chart paper over things to make a light box, and yet I have never been happy with the result.  No to say that these things didn't work, because my pictures have definitely improved over time, they were just never as good as everyone elses.  

And then I grabbed the chance to get a free mannequin top.  She is my new best friend. I love her.   Now she has taken over my felt shop, and I like it.

 So much cleaner and easy to look at, I wish I'd done a before and after :-)

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!

Chocolate or Jane Austen?

Could have been Chocolate (Juliette Binoche is very cool and does wear some nice shawls) or it could have been Jane Austen where shawls abound.

Either way I've been keeping busy crocheting my first ever shawls.

I've also decided that I should be a fashionista and I think shawls are where it is at this coming season :-)

Here are the 3 so far.. (I've popped them in the felt shop)

Another one bites the dust

Man, I'm on a role!

Finished - the Amazing Technicoloured GrannyGhan.  

Felt Shop

I've just about ran out of WIP's (okay, slight exaggeration.... I've made a bit of a dent in them anyway :-))

 

And whilst relaxing in the park  yesterday I made these wrist warmers/long fingerless gloves from some gorgeous wool I found whilst sorting through the WIPs.  It's amazing what's hiding in there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WIPs Whipped

I started this mosaic table before Christmas, it's an old dining table which we chopped the legs down.  Only after we'd chopped a couple of the legs did we realise they were Rimu (oops!).  

The mosaic is called 'Not' mainly because when I put the tiles on as complete tiles the men in the house thought it looked like a public loo, so I smashed the tiles so it's 'not' a public loo, and also of course because it's 'not' a pattern :-)

A GrannyGhan - finally completed this granny afghan (which I've popped into the Felt shop).  It's only taken me 7 months!
 
Man it feels great to have some finishes.

Searching for Kiwi's on Felt

bibliographica

$22.00

shelzart

$100.00

craftmeup

$60.00

relique

$79.00

cheekpinchy

$24.00

jewels

$20.00

nativecre8ve

$15.00

maisie-moo

$10.00

funkyslipper

$44.00

wendyj

$20.00

softearthart

$20.00

amandajaned

$25.00

Felt like a bit of Kitsch

At the beginning of the week I read a fab tutorial on how to do macrame, (thanks Mel) so that has set me up for a kitschy week.  I'm about to attempt a granny square loo roll cover doll.

In the meantime this is a collection of Kitsch I found when I did a search on Felt.  We just need a couple of pink flamingo garden ornaments to really round it off  :-)

alxmackenzie

$45.00

greyststudio

$110.00

reallyreally

$20.00

nicoladawn

$16.00

oddoneout

$48.00

reallyreally

$8.00

Felt like Crochet (as usual!)

I'm working away from home this week and can't upload photos to show you what I've been making, so in the mean time enjoy these fabulous crochet items from Felt :-)

crochetnz

$28.00

ruffle

$25.00

paisleyjade

$10.00

eejaydesign

$20.00

poppynbee

$54.00

alxmackenzie

$40.00

Felt like a change

Sometimes a little something just cheers you up or can add pazzaz to an outfit :-)

sarah_hyder

$30.00

wildflower

$41.00

relique

$49.00

glennieknits

$10.00

pinup

$18.00

lippy_ladies

$25.00

justforfun

$22.00

meggymoo

$45.00

A serene crochet world

With the craziness of moving it feels great to pick up the crochet hook and go off into a more serene and creative world for a little while. This crochet world feels better than 'real life' at the moment and the amount of things I've made attest to that, I thought I might just share photos until I'm ready to come back and write stuff :-)

What to do?

Watching the news and feeling helpless 

I donated my spare cash to the Red Cross

Some lovely ladies have set up a TradeMe account to auction off crafts so I've sent them all the berets I had left

Felt.co.nz are talking about setting up FeltAid again to raise money, however with them based in Christchurch it's been hard for them to organise, and so they've suggested we label things in our shop with FeltAid in the mean time. I've recently popped 3 pairs of fingerless mittens in the shop which I've labelled FeltAid, which means that all proceeds go the the NZ Red Cross.

Heck I'd give all of everything I've ever made to help, though I think there is only so much crochet New Zealand can take at one time!