Angel Bunny Finished - better photos this time!

Hi there! I hope you're all well today and looking forward to Christmas.  I spent a couple of hours last night putting up our Christmas tree - and when I say "putting up", all I mean is constructing the big artificial tree we've had for about six years now. It has around 60 individual branches that need to be 'fluffed out' and slotted into the 'trunk' ie metal pole. I was listening to a couple of very festive CDs (and chatting with Mathew, which was nice) to while away the time, Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Christmas Carols", and "Dona Nobis Pacem", and drinking port & lemonade like I did when I was a little 'un. Lovely. So now I'm just about to start loading the hundreds of baubles and ornaments onto the 6ft 6in monstrosity!

Anyway, here's Angel Bunny! Mathew said I could have taken better photos but there you go, I'm feeling slap-dash today.  I still don't have a name for her so if you'd like to suggest an angelic-sounding name (or an actual angel's name) please leave a comment for my consideration! That would be really nice.

I promise I will be posting the patterns and instructions but at this rate, it might not be before Christmas! I have a lot to do, but I'll try my best! I've got masses to do before the New Year (secret squirrel, but it involves sewing... could it be another magazine project? wink wink!) so as my old mum used to say (and probably still does), no rest for the wicked!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Warmest Wishes

Joey xxx

Old McJoey Had a Farm, ee-i, ee-i, o - progress

Farm animal brooches so far... nearly all the features embroidered on

Good morning!

Yesterday was wetter than a fish's wet bits, the rain poured and then poured some more. Which was actually sort of good in a way as it kept me imprisoned in my little stitching sweat shop (actually freezing until we splashed out and put the fire on in the evening! trying to be good to the environment and our gas bills) and made good progress on the lil' critters.

Embroidering the features has to be my favourite part of making brooches and stuff, because it feels like I'm giving them their character.  That's just made me think, you sometimes see dolls and characters in illustration without a nose, occasionally without a mouth, but I don't think I've ever seen something without eyes.  Interesting.  I think somehow that would make the doll very very disturbing.

Maybe something like this?



Travel by Leaf Number 1 by Eva Funderburgh
http://www.etsy.com/shop/EvaFunderburgh



They're wonderful, aren't they? I love all of Eva Funderburgh's ceramic sculptures, she has such a compelling and imaginative menagerie of beasts that look a bit like a familiar animals, but so other-worldly that they are quite unsettling in a very satisfying way.

Have a creative and warm day everyone!

Joey xx



I Vote Green!

And it's not even my favourite colour (which is orange)... Personally I don't go in for personalities (ie politicians) and tactical voting. I vote for the Green Party because I believe that their policies are the ones which will help us all, even those people at the very bottom of society. Read more about the UK Green Party here: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/

Here's an Etsy treasury I've just made, which you will like if green is your favourite colour (but there's some rainbows in there too, for hope)... (click on the image below to see the items in more detail)

Whatever your political persuasion, don't forget to vote tomorrow!

Best wishes

Joey xx

Dimple, the pink and grey owl brooch

Hi! I've finished another cute little owl brooch, complete with moving wings, and she's on my Etsy shop now!  The colours remind me of April skies; grey and heavy with rain, but also pink cherry blossom bursting from branches.

I do like making these little owls, but they are quite fiddly to make! The favourite part of making them is doing the french knots in shaded thread, because I love seeing the little knots appear in a different colour each time! Yes, I know, simple things for simple people... ;-)

I'm going to be soon making some purses with buttons and embroidery, similar to my tote bags (like the one below), but obviously on a smaller scale. I saw a lovely little purse today in Accessorize, the fabric was slightly sparkly and it had some delicate embroidery.  I want to create the same sort of feeling I got when I handled it, something precious to hold something else which is precious... it was far too nice to put dirty loose change into!

My pastel circles bag... hand-sewn, with hand embroidery and cute buttons!

So watch this space for some work-in-progress shots very soon!

Joey xx

Tutorial: Etsy/Dawanda/Folksy DIY photo business cards

If you have a shop on Etsy, Dawanda or Folksy (or any of the other similar sites) where you can sell your handmade stuff, you probably have some little cards to advertise your shop.  It's nice to put in a little card with orders you're sending out, so your customers can remember you and perhaps pass on your name... or to have at a craft fair that people can pick up and then visit your online shop at a later date. However you may have been put off buying expensive printed ones.

My partner had the great idea of setting up an image which can be printed and then chopped up using a paper cutter (or craft knife and ruler) at home.  I'll show you how I created my little cards, which I think are cute and collectable but cost a fraction of the price  of similar cards! (mine worked out to be less than 2p for each card)

Obviously, they will be on photo paper (unless you have a decent printer at home, then you can print on anything you like!), but you will have the option of either a glossy or matt surface, and will be one-sided.  Although you can always create a back and front and glue them together!

First of all, you need to have Google Picasa installed on your pc. It's free of course!

I'll assume that you've already taken the photos you want to use for your cards, so open Picasa and select them.  Now follow the steps in the pictures below.

When you receive your prints through the post (or immediately if you've used your own printer), you can carefully cut them up with a paper-cutter (guillotine). This is a lot neater than just using scissors, and safer then using a craft knife/scalpel and ruler.

I'd love to know if you've had a go a making your own photo business cards using this tutorial - please leave a comment below!

Cheers

Joey x

A Celebratory Giveaway!

Kitty 1000

I hope you've been having a good weekend.

I had a lovely surprise this morning when I went through my usual daily bad habit of checking my Etsy stats (yes, I am very sad!) on the "Heartomatic" bit on Craftcult.com...

I was very happy to find that 1000 people have now hearted my shop, Joey's Dream Garden! I can remember way back, when the number of shop hearts reached 100, I was so pleased, but never thought I'd reach 1000 hearts!  Good things come to those who wait... ;-)

I've had so much fun since I set up my Etsy shop, back in September 2007. The first thing I listed in my shop was a little yellow bunny brooch (pictured below). I'd made a few little bunnies from felt like this a while before, but not as brooches.  So when I discovered Etsy, I decided that I just wanted to join in with the crafting fun!  I'm really glad that I did.

Anyway, I think this is a good opportunity to celebrate with a giveaway! I have made a special commemorative Kittypip brooch, called Kitty 1000 (pictured at the top of this post), in golden yellow felt, with lots of metallic thread stitching. To win her, all you need to do is leave a comment to this post, by 17:00 BST, Sunday 18th April 2010 (so if you don't live in the UK, check here for your time: http://www.timeanddate.com/)

I'll be using the random number generator to pick out the winning comment at random (the first comment will be number 1, the second number 2 and so on) and then post the result very soon after!

Only one comment per person please.

Good luck!
Joey x

Happy Easter!

I always love the spring, but especially this year after the long, cold winter we've had here in the UK.  It's lovely to see our garden springing back to life.  Just look at the lenten rose (hellebore orientalis) above; isn't it pretty? I've had this plant for about 5 years, I think I bought it as a tiny thing from one of the Sheffield Botanical Gardens plant sales.  In the picture below, you can see the seed pods just starting to form on one of the flowers; they're the green pod-like things right in the centre of the flower.

The next photo shows what our clump of lovage looks like at the moment. In the summer, this grows to a massive 7ft!

Now, look at the picture below... this is what the lovage looked like just 14 days ago!  Tiny, isn't it!  All that growth in just 14 days...

Now for some Eastery-crafty goodness!  Here's a few of my recent Etsy favourites...

Art Textile. Sparkle Cloth - contemporarystitches

I love Karen Ruane's work, it looks really pure and clean, and pretty.  Her embroidered art is unusual in some aspects (like how she adds little loops of fabric to the edges of a piece) but traditional in other ways, with the flower motifs.  Just gorgeous.

Pattern to make a little baby Bun - VivianneGalli

I would love a little bunny like this.  I think it's that worn, "well-loved" look that a little bear of mine has (which I had when I was little, and cried when some boy turned his legs the wrong way! There was no lasting harm though) And that old bell around her neck is just too gorgeous! Tinkle-tinkle!

Spring Bunny Schnibbles Lampwork Bead Set by keiara SRA - bykeiara

Keira is SO talented with glass, I just marvel at how cute and perfect all her little beads are.  Look at the bunnies!! She is a lovely person too, so friendly and is happy to make custom beads for you.

Couple of Love Birds - Gingermelon

How lovely and sweet are these? Very very much so. And if you go to the Etsy shop, you'll see that they both just fit in the palm of your hand! What is it about tiny things that makes them so adorable??

Finally, I wanted to show you my little efforts to make the kitchen look slightly Eastery...

I've had these felt die-cut rabbits for about 3 years; I bought them from Paperchase and I've only just got around to doing something with them!  All I've done is simply string them together with invisible thread to make a garland for the dresser.

I bought these little glass egg ornaments from John Lewis Stores (otherwise known as Cole's here in Sheffield... it will always be Cole's to Sheffielders!) for half price and happened to have a child's clothes hanger lying around so hung them on it, sellotaped them at the back to secure, and used a jolly bit of braid to hang them in front of our kitchen window!

Have a great day!

Joey xx

Come With Us! to see a new embroidery pattern...

Here it is - my new embroidery pattern! The boy bunny has found something to show the girl bunny, and you can tell she's really excited about it! What could it be... a pretty little beetle, or a cloud shaped like a dinosaur, or even a new picture which he's just drawn for her?

You can get this embroidery pattern from my Etsy shop: Joey's Dream Garden.

I've got lots of ideas for other patterns (mostly involving bunnies, of course!), so watch this space...

Best wishes

Joey x

New Embroidery Pattern... Sneaky Peek!

I've finished designing and embroidering my second embroidery pattern PDF, so I thought I'd share a bit of the process I went through with you, and you get to see a preview at the same time!

The first picture shows a couple of sketches, the one on the left is a preliminary drawing to establish the position of the bodies and limbs, to suggest a feeling of movement and balance. I referred to a photo from a magazine; it was a picture of a boy and girl half-running, holding hands with their mum who was in the middle. I missed out the woman and just concentrated on the two children. The drawing on the right is the “finished” sketch, which is still fairly rough, and from this I traced the final line drawing which I scanned in (thanks Claire for use of your scanner!)

The second photo shows a few of the steps (but not all! I need to remember to keep taking photos, but I get distracted...) I went through to make the finished embroidery (which will be revealed in the next couple of days – watch this space!).

The pictures explained: (1) Starting the embroidery – close-up of stem stitch around outline of face, (2) continuing the stem stitch, (3) sewing the split-stitch of the inner ears and (4) almost finished the first bunny...

So, what do you think so far?

Stay tuned to see the finished embroidery (hopefully) tomorrow!
Joey x

Bunnies in Love - PDF Embroidery Pattern

Hi!

It's the first sunny day for a long time here in Sheffield, UK. About time too! Sunshine really lifts my mood & makes me feel happy! Spring might be coming along soon, I hope so... and as they say, "in spring a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love..." hee hee!

So the embroidery pattern I've just created has a love-bunnies theme! This time I've actually embroidered it to show you what it may look like, if you have a go too. You can get the embroidery pattern from my Etsy shop: Joey's Dream Garden.

Ahh, a couple of bunnies who are very much in love... bless.

Here's a close-up of the flowers, which I seemed to get a bit carried away with! Whoops!

best wishes

Joey x

The Owl and the Pussycat

Hiya everybody!
I hope you're all looking forward to Christmas, I know I am... I love the run-up to Christmas when all the lights are up in the streets and houses, and you get to ogle all the gorgeous Christmas ornaments in shops and on places like Etsy.

I've done my first ever Christmas craft fair the other week, which was organised by Craft Candy. The Craft Candy fairs are always a lovely way to spend a few hours looking at wonderful handmade things, and a great chance to buy some unique gifts. Me and my friend Claire of The Pin Factory shared a stall (click here: to look at photos of our stall) and the centrepieces of our wares were some things which we had collaborated on.

As we both like cute things, we decided to make a couple of owl and pussycat in a pea-green boat sets (which you've just seen in the picture above!). Claire made the boats, and I made the owl with his little mandolin and the cat (the ones pictured here includes Tototl the owl with Minoo the white pussycat, the other set was sold at the fair and included a green owl and pink pussycat. Very cute if I say so myself!)

This is a close-up of the tiny mandolin:
We also made a couple of sailor foxes in blue boats, the fox pictured below is called Kai; the other fox is called Sorley. I'm really pleased with this because the fox's tail is "jointed", meaning that you can move it to different positions.

I will be listing the sets pictured above in my Etsy shop very very soon, so watch this space!

Have a happy weekend!

Joey x