Taking a quick 15 mins out, from my preparations for the Funk Fair, in Edinburgh tomorrow.  It’s a great event, which has a mixture of vintage and collectables, plus art and crafts stalls. I really enjoyed it last year. The turn out was great, despite all the snow we had at the time. I’ve got high hopes that it’ll be a good day again tomorrow – fingers crossed!

I’ve made a mock up of my stall. I’ve still got a few things to do, but hopefully it won’t be too late a night because I want to be fresh as a daisy in the morning.

Well, I like bright colour, but I’m not sure if I’ve over done it this time.  Hopefully it looks cheerful!

This is the first time I’ve used my old pink suitcase .  I hope  everything will fit inside…

I always worry about not having enough stock, until I actually try to fit it on the stall, but people do enjoy a good rummage don’t they?!

The Funk Fair is on Saturday 5th November at Picardy Place in Edinburgh, from 10-5pm .  See you there x

funkfair on facebook

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Coming up soon is the Magpie Market Summer fair, at The Hub, which is at the top of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.

I’m really looking forward to it for 3 main reasons:

1. I have a stall and it’s always fun to get out for the day to talk to my customers.

2. It’s a really great event with more than 30 hand-picked designers from Edinburgh and beyond and it’s held in an amazing venue, which was formerly a church.

3. There’s a pop-up cafe in the middle of the hall, which sells tea & coffee as well as a delicious selection of tasty treats. Last time I couldn’t resist indulging in a huge cupcake, with Magpie themed black and white butter cream icing – yum.

So all in all it’s a pretty good way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Make sure you mark the date on your calender ;-)

There’s lots of great photos of the vendors, as well as pictures from their last Fair on Magpie’s facebook page.

Magpie Market Sunday 17th July 2011
The Hub Castlehill, Edinburgh

For more information see magpiemarket.blogspot.com

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Looking forward to taking part in the Magpie market Spring Fair on Sunday. This is a new venue for Magpie -  at the Hub. It’s in a great setting, at the top of  Edinburgh’s historic Royal Mile,  not far from the castle.  If you come along be sure and get there early,  as there are goodie bags promised for the first folk through the door,  and music from the fabulous Horndog Brassband.

Visit  magpiemarket.blogspot.com to find out more…

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At about midnight, the night before a recent craft fair, I realised to my horror, I’d run out of business cards,  so I made these handmade ones and was really surprised at all the great feedback I got about them.  I’ve just made another batch today, and they’re so simple!

Here’s how I made them…

Starting off with white A4 card,  I cut it to size using a craft knife, and patchwork ruler. The card was nothing fancy, just from a children’s activity pack .  I made my cards 3 and a half inches by 2 and a half inches, and was able to get 9 out of each A4 sheet. Of course you could change the size to whatever suits your needs.

When I had cut all my cards to the right size, I used a self inking stamp to add my details. I think the stamp came free one time when I ordered cards from vistaprint.com .  You don’t need a stamp of course…if your hand writing is neater than mine there’s nothing to stop you writing them by hand.

I laid each one out after I’d stamped it, to let the ink dry.

The motifs were all made from bits and pieces I had ready to hand. These fabric flowers were left over from greetings cards I made years ago.  They were cut out from non-woven interfacing, which I’d coloured with fabric transfer paints. They have a nice fuzzy texture, like a very fine felt.  Sewing through card isn’t a problem but blunts the needle quickly, so I used an old needle which was already past its best, and a long stitch length.

The stars had also been in my craft stash for years. They were bought from a sale of Christmas wrappings at B&Q one January, and already have sticky dots on the back.

And these felt shapes were from a children’s craft pack which had a selection of different ready-cut shapes in lots of lovely bright shades.

easy peasy!

These cards could also work well with photo copies of your work, scraps, odds and ends of fabric, buttons etc, etc, etc…

If you’ve made your own business cards I’d love to see them, please feel free to add a link to them in the comments.

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I’m feeling all enthusiastic about a new project I’ve begun. I was looking for an idea, which I could devote a small amount of time to most days. What I decided on was to take an object which I no longer have any use for and try to recycle it creatively into something slightly more interesting. It’s just a chance to experiment and see what happens.

For the want of anything better I’m calling the series Refashioned Objects, but that may change…it’ll do for now.

I was intending to spend a maximum of just an hour on each piece but so far the quickest was the spoon at an hour and a half…Happy took more like a day and a half!

Refashioned object 1 (above)

started out as an Ikea coaster now it says UP…feeling up beat I suppose.

Refashioned object 2 (below)

An old CD is transformed into something more happy.

Refashioned object3

A spoon treated to a fabric, thread and paint makeover.

and the way they were…

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Primrose Rabbit and Lizzie Kitty: The newest guys relax and have time to pose for a photo, before their outing to the Byers Road Makers Market in Glasgow tomorrow.  I have high hopes of them finding lovely new adoptive owners at the Hillhead Library venue…if not, they’ll find their way to my shop next week ;-)

Meanwhile, I’m slightly frantic, trying to get organised. It’s my first fair this year so am looking everything out and making a few changes to my display. It’s a new venue – the first Glasgow Makers Market took place there last month and this is the 1st time I’ve been there, so I don’t know exactly what to expect.  I don’t can’t drive, so when I was offered a lift by Claire, I jumped at the chance. It’s in a great location, full of interesting shops and loads of students around, so I’m optimistic…

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Hello!  We had a wee bit sun earlier in the week,  so in celebratory mood I made this cushion (it’s been such a loooonnnnng Winter!)

I used new, recycled and vintage  fabrics, and added a few hand-embroidered details.

Now available here

Got ideas for more to come soon…

Been applying for some fairs, which I’ll let you know about as soon as they’re confirmed.

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Well…it snowed, and it snowed some more…

If there was somewhere I really need to be, there’s still public transport running…I think.

But it’s at times like this  I feel really lucky and grateful to be able to work from home. I know many people are struggling to get to work by any means possible because they have no alternative,  and my thoughts go out to them.

So what have I been going while I’ve been stuck indoors?  making bunnies a plenty!  For stockists and fairs in December.

My button stocks are starting to get low – I’ve already put out an appeal on my facebook page for more.

I know it’s a bit cheeky to ask , but if you have any going spare I’d be very grateful to have them .  Unfortunately I can’t offer any cash in return, but if you include your address I’ll send a thank you card and a  discount voucher to use in my shops. The address to send to is here Thanks in advance x

Tomorrow I’m going to try out an idea I have for owls…I’ll let you know how I get on.

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At some stage I’d like to get back to blogging more regularly…honestly I really would, but it seems that in order to get the important (to me) stuff done, other things have to be neglected.  So this is a messy catch-up style post, with a wee bit of everything shoved in for good measure!

I’ve been busy sewing cats, like Pattie Pussycat  seen above, who is now available here I’ve also been  making some things for The Spider & The Fly, which is an exciting new ‘pop-up’ shop and gallery, you can find at 65 Bread Street, in Edinburgh. It has a great selection of new design, art and craft work…find out more here. The cut-click mail art exhibition, which I made this for, is also being hosted at The Spider and The Fly,  so if you’re in Edinburgh over the festival it’s a definite MUST see!

Next month I’ll be setting up my stall at Frugal Cool’s Eco market and Summer Fete , at the Loretto gallery in Musselburgh.

I love the Frugal Cool ethos and am very pleased to be doing my first fair this year at this event.  Right now I’m working my socks off, making lots of purses, brooches, and cat creatures to fill my table.  I’ll just be there on the Saturday, but it’ll be a great weekend so be sure to add the date to your diary ;-)

What else have I been up to? Oh yes…I’ve been back to life drawing sessions, after a gap of 20 years!  I decided it was time to knock the fear on the head and just do it.  The drawings aren’t up to much yet so it might be a while before I’m comfortable about showing them to a wider audience but I’m happy to have made a start.

I’m still trying to find the time for painting…there’s a small board on my easel just now…

I’ve had a couple of interesting things in the post recently. I signed up for this  travelling sketchbook project (in a moment of madness) and now have a completely empty grey moleskine sketchbook staring blankly at me…or is it me staring blankly at it? Also, Spoonflower sent me a sample of this and it turned out well. The colours are just  how I wanted them. It’s a very large repeat and I can imagine it as curtains for my bedroom. May be that’s slightly extravagant for my finances to cope with right now, but I’m going to order a small amount of it soon and try it out as cushions covers.

Of course,  I’ve still found time for my favourite indulgence - procrastination, which has taken the form of posting to another blog on tumblr. Tumblr is great for quick posts and I’m mainly using it to post photos by other people, that I find inspiring. I’m looking for more tumblrs to follow,  so if you have one let me know.

That’s about it for now… won’t leave it so long next time.

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