CUTE NEEDLE FELT BROOCHES

TODAY I made a selection of brooches.  

 
Hearts, pigs, bluebirds, a aeroplane and a marmalade cat.

 
After needle felting each brooch I outlined them with black thread before putting on the finishing touches and attaching the brooch back.

As these are for my shop at CREATIVE STORES http://www.creativestores.co.uk/DREAMTIMEMAKES/ 
I have taken individual pictures before packaging them.

 I am really pleased with how these have turned out - in fact I liked making them so much I want to do some more.  Here's hoping they are popular.

 

APPRECIATION OF DARK FLIGHTS ART

I have been following what I consider a very talented artist of Facebook over the last few months.  I like her style of fantasy - dragons, unicorns and other beasties.  

http://www.darkflightsart.co.uk/index.html 

Her website shows her paintings, her published work, her sketches and some rather fun sculptures she made a couple of years ago from a heavy fall of snow.
http://pinterest.com/pin/25966135322965740/ 

I think this shows how good a sculptor she is as snow is not the easiest medium to carve.

She is currently working on some designs for jewellery.

I hope you can take the time to look at her work, and that you enjoy it as much as I do.

MY SHELF IS NOW A REALITY

SO NOW AFTER A BUSY WEEK MY SHELF IS A REALITY. 

 The second shelf up from the bottom is all mine - filled with handbags, needle felted purses, snail fridge magnets, and decorated jars of sea glass.

The beautiful items on the shelf above make me feel I am in good company and have made the right decision. 

 It took me longer than I thought to get everything labelled and priced.

I must remember this when I do a craft fair, and make sure to leave enough time.

 Once everything was priced and put onto my practise shelf I listed it all so that I wouldn't forget what stock I had taken to ROUGH TRADE.

second shelf from the bottom

my display

TODAY IS THE DAY OFF TO ROUGH TRADE.

THIS IS IT THEN a morning of frantic finishing, one last shelf run through before loading up this afternoon and taking my wares to ROUGH TRADE.  http://www.roughtrademargate.co.uk/#!__rough-traders

I am quite excited about this.  The people who I have met so far are friendly.  And although it is slightly away from the main area of Margate's Old Town it is on the way to the sea and the Turner Contemporary. http://www.turnercontemporary.org/

MY PLACE ON THE SHELF - at a collaborative trading place

After signing up for a shelf in ROUGH TRADE  in Margate Old Town.  http://www.roughtrademargate.co.uk/#!  I have spent a few days writing descriptions for labels for my stock. This has been both more fun and harder work than I had imagined.  I have decided to do largish product labels with smaller removable labels for the prices.

I am using a shelf in the dinning room to get a rough idea of a layout.  This also means I should know if I need anything to display the items I want to sell.   The display has already changed several times but I think I have a prospective layout. Six days before I go to Margate so things could change a lot before then.

I feel that this could be better than a virtual shop because sometimes being able to see items is more enticing, although the audience is smaller.  Hopefully using both methods will get me noticed.

I found some inners from the cigar boxes I have been making into handbags that should work perfectly as display trays.  

ART OR DESTRUCTION?

 I RECENTLY read an article in a craft magazine that gave instructions on how to make a cushion from old embroidered tray cloths, chair covers, doilies and table cloths. The way to do this was to collect these, cut them up and arrange the pieces prior to sewing them together.  

SO MY question as I begin a new project is when does 'upcycling, re-purposing and altering' items stop being art and become wanton destruction.  
I have just purchased this
little wooden pot froma junk shop for £1.00,  as you can see the original design on the lid has been quite badly damaged.  After conversation with my mother we decided it probably dates from the 1930's.  We also decided that the amount of damage that has happened to it means that it will be acceptable to do pretty much what I like to it.  So is this just me being precious
or do others feel the same at the start of a new project?  Is it right that we believe we can improve on the crafts and skills of our ancestors or are we really paying a form of homage to them.


I started to sand this pot and found when I (quite easily) removed the varnish that although the original design would take a lot more effort to banish on the bottom part of the pot the lid has only remnants left.  Not quite sure how to incorporate it and I do not want to paint over.  Some thought is needed.

Treasures and family history

I have always treasured special things.  I still have several toys - played with constantly throughout my childhood.  The Noah's Ark that my father made me, the Barbie doll size wooden table and chairs that were given to me before I was five, the china dolls tea set brought for me by my Grandfather (the only present he purchased himself) and so many books that were loved and re-read over and over.

To these personal treasures I have now added some family possessions.  The tiepin my Gran wore when she was working in one of the banking houses in London and her wedding present tea set (in pride of place displayed in a kitchen dresser unit).  Pencils that belonged to my Grandfather.  The notebook my Mother brought with her first wages (with some of the original pages)  The Rosary given to my Great Grandfather in Flanders at the end of the Great War by one of the liberated people.  Each one of these things is a link to my family and our history.  

These are calculators. One is pre decimal and  adds and subtracts in pounds, shillings and pence.  The other is a decimal calculator in the same style.

 Recently my Mother shared some of her collection of delights - with her memories of why they should be treasured.  With much of it Mothers recollections were essential to know each piece's true worth.  A cherry stone with 'the worlds smallest elephant' inside it. This had been carved from the cherry stone and has a carved stopper to prevent the elephant getting lost - this came from the Ideal Home Exhibition during the 1950's. 

Teeny tiny elephant carved from a cherry stone,

 A pair of frogs purchased in Bournemouth also in the 50's from BRANKSOME CERAMICS, these she told me were the only thing that She and my Dad could afford although what they wanted was everything in the showroom. 

 A small heart shaped pendant that my elder brother and I had save our pocket money for and got for her from Woolworth's - over forty five years ago.  

There were items that had belonged to my Great Grandmother, circa 1900,   These included a small clear topped metal tin, an enamelled floral bracelet and a beautiful mother of pearl sewing kit case made in the shape of an egg.

 Something else that I am now proud to say I own is my mother's Civil Defence badge from the fifties.

Something that might have been thrown away unknowingly was a small pink plasticy looking elephant that had once been part of a necklace (given to my Mother by her Grandmother). 

The inside of the egg purse