A few weeks ago, ViviBijoux, a fellow member on the Etsy Ireland Team announced an ATC swap for us all to participate in.  I have never done ATCs before, but I’m always open to new crafty things so I signed up.

I was partnered with Fi of patchworkdelights who told me that she liked red, silver and gold… and beads.

BEADS!

Before that info was revealed, I admit, I was a little lost with where to start. But, beads… beads I have.

So…

I opted for a bit of bead embroidery for my card. I chose a sort of summer theme and went with the colours Fi was keen on.

This is the result…

I’m quite pleased with it!   I also made her a little pair of coordinating earrings. I hope she likes them!

The rest of the entries will be posted on Saturday on the team blog so do check back to see what everyone else was up to. I can’t wait to see all the craftiness!

September 3rd, 2010 | 7 Comments »

As I spoke briefly about in my last post, I picked up all sorts of treasures on our trip to the beach the other day.

These are a few of my favourites…

Collecting nature is fun. Join me and show off your finds in Poppytalks Collecting Nature flickr pool!

August 31st, 2010 | 5 Comments »

This whole adventure started because I wanted a stamp with my new logo, but while looking for custom handmade stamps and comparing prices I came to the conclusion that I could just make one. And it would be a lot more fun.

I found this basic tutorial and sought out my supplies.

I purchased my rubber material, called Speedy-Carve, and my lino cutting tool from Dharma Trading Co. I got the smallest size to start with which was a 3″x 4″ block for $2.99. And the shipping charges were also very reasonable.

If you follow me on Twitter you already know that my first attempt at the logo came out… backwards.

But, my second attempt was much better and I’ve now made 5 stamps in total.

I managed to salvage the first bad logo stamp by carving into the reverse side to make that simple leaf outline stamp above. For anything very specific it’s best to go by image transfer, but I enjoyed just freehanding a design onto the rubber and going from there much more.

I didn’t have any scrap wood laying around so I used some thick cardboard for the backing. It’s not very pretty, but it works grand for me.

I still have quite a bit of rubber left from that small block I purchased, so depending on the size of your stamps, you can get quite a lot from one little block.

You can also carve into rubber erasers which is equally fun.

I had a lot of fun making these! If you haven’t tried stamp carving yet, I highly recommend it. It’s my new favourite hobby. After jewelry making, of course.

August 12th, 2010 | 9 Comments »

I can only eat so many bananas, so I made us some delicious Banana Bread the other day using this recipe from Simply Recipes.

It’s an easy peasy recipe, took about 5 minutes to throw all the ingredients together. That’s my kind of recipe!

I went with 3/4 cups of sugar and added some mini White Chocolate chips. It’s a good thing I took these photos of it when it came out of the oven because it’s all eaten up now!

July 30th, 2010 | No Comments »

Well, the blog is done. For now. It is a constant work in process, but I’m happy with it for now.

Of course I didn’t take a screenshot of the before, but here is  a tiny image I found online.

I got rid of all my shop flash widgets, changed theme colours, etc. I’m hoping to eventually create my own original share icons again, but for now these will do.

I never did get around to retaking my packaging photo, as discussed in my last post comments, but I will! Hubby is home ill so I’ve been tending to him – that is my excuse!

And if you’d like to see even further back, you can check out this old post.

I have a whole new appreciation for web/graphic designers.  I wish I could afford a professional, but alas, it’s just me.

Thoughts?

July 26th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Poppytalk has started a new group over on Flickr called Collecting Nature. These are just a few of the photos I have submitted myself.

Join in!

July 16th, 2010 | No Comments »

Remember these?

They are now finished  and I am thrilled with how they turned out.

They’re a little glam, a little modern and a LOT of sparkle!

And they are now listed in the shop! Silver Pods Earrings

July 15th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Just something I’m working on.

I’ve decided that the craft room/studio needs some bunting!

I have to have things to work on that are not related to jewellery in any way so I don’t lose my sanity.

July 14th, 2010 | No Comments »

I won these little “wooden” birdie wall stickers ages ago in a competition on DaWanda. They come from the very talented Enna. I’ve been wanting to put them up, but seeing as we’re renters and I wasn’t sure I could remove and relocate them, they’ve just been sitting, waiting to be put to use.

So, I simply stuck them to a bulletin board.

Now I can take them with me should we ever move!

ta da!

July 13th, 2010 | 3 Comments »

What will they be? You’ll just have to wait and see!

July 9th, 2010 | 1 Comment »