Getting a bit Batty and other animals

Bat and Robin

Can't wait to display these bats @Crafted

So, as we approach Halloween which is a big deal in the States much more so than in England I thought I should make a plush or five. If chocolate actually tasted like real chocolate, (sorry America your chocolate tastes horrible) I would love Halloween, but as it is I get into the spirit of things but I  know that my heart's not really in it. However I may have turned a corner, I decided to make a bat the other day out of wool of course, I made a bird too but he needs adjusting. So the bat, after discussion with husband resident Halloween and bat expert, some adjustments were made to the beak placement. "Haven't you ever seen a bat ?" he said. "Well, no actually" I replied. In my defense my plushies aren't meant to be anatomically correct. So beak was moved, the Earth kept on spinning and I sewed him up. I was quite pleased so I shall be making some more.

In other news, thrift store finds galore (over the course of a few weeks not one crazy splurge). 

A Wooden Dog

I will display my felted doggie poop bags holders in this.

Squirrel and Nut Ceramic Combo

I'm not usually a big ceramic animal purchaser but the nut has storage and storage pretty much allows for any purchase in my book. The eyes are a little scary.

Tortoise mini stool

How have I only just realized that everything is animal themed in this blog post? This tortoise spoke to me, it has Alaska 1969 written on the bottom, I could use it as a giant pincushion among other things. The colors are bright and someone clearly put a lot of love and effort when they made it so it's found a good home. I am going to have to have a yard sale if I am going to have any more room for new purchases.

Desiree B. Lookbook

Click here to view this photo book larger

So on my day off I decided to make a lookbook. I haven't got the hard copy yet. After a couple of hours fiddling about with images I hit the order button. I then received an email about all the cool new features that I hadn't used when making the book. Next time, i was a tad annoyed though. Some of the photos were taken by my talented photographer friends Lindsey Kliewer and John Santoni. Those of you with an eye for these things will instantly know which ones are mine !

Oh dear , August is almost over

So it's been a crazy Summer, what with Art Camp (regular job) Crafted (new job) and actually making stuff there's been little to no surfing/ sunbathing or summery like activities. There's been a lot happening hard to tell given that I stopped blogging but I have proof. As one busy time spots there's no rest, holiday merchandise needs to be ready by Mid October !

 Makeovers - Just afters no befores

Mini Supermarket Trolley. I still need to brand but almost there.

Phone Bench for the Crafted Booth it sure is bright and beautiful

New Stuff

Foxes, Bears and Squirrels

New Magnets of my favorite doodles

Mr Fox Purse

There's also new cards and I've been making snailpace progress on a Children's book but hope to give it more time now ...oh who am I kidding it'll have to be squeezed in. I've added some links on my new Press page to the blogs that in recent times have mentioned the brand just in case you were curious.

Rush Rush

Wow, it's a whirlwind action packed Summer. Having a permanent shop front means you have to keep it stocked and that has been a challenge. Casae Larae Photography stopped by a few weeks ago to shoot my very messy craftroom as part of her artist series and managed to successfully frame each shot to not reveal the piles of fabric everywhere. The pictures are lovely so head over and have a look.

I still need a work table for the booth and some storage for all the clutter I seem to bring with me. I found this old wooden box covered in stickers (for at least 10 years according to the other half) at the local goodwill and it's been de-stickered but still needs a little more work doing to it before it makes it into the booth.

I have been making a lot of stuff but it's been selling well that I don't seem to have documented the new stuff, oops. I have begun my first bowtie and bought some hardware to make the back strap which is kind of exciting to have a new project. I also made a scrap doll and I think I'll take my bag of scraps with me to CRAFTED and make some more or maybe some furry travel buddies, too much choice but I miss those funny little creatures.

News just in, Mr Fox will be making his Crafted debut with a couple of pals. I seem to Instagram everything these days must get better at using the proper camera.

Crafted -the opening weekend and beyond

Well the moment of truth arrived and we rose to the challenge. Sleep deprived and sewing into the early morning it was all worth it. Excited customers,tv crews, media were all there for the grand opening. It was a great turnout and the booths looked amazing. It really was such a relief to have gotten to that point and realized that the hard work was justified. It went so well that I have not been able to take much of a break as I battle to restock, a good battle to have I might add. Poor panda is still waiting to be made but on the upside lots of bears, rabbits and owls have found new homes.

I could have sold that chair many times over.

Look it's my card wall.

Hello owl wall.

and more stuff.

Exciting projects are in the works, a collaboration with another crafted vendor to make some bags as well as a potential children's book. I cannot complain these last couple of weeks have been fantastic. Apologies for the blog delay, after all that build up !!

Here's some video footage for you, I do appear about a third of the way through, standing in my booth trying to string a sentence together.

Crafted - 2 days to go....

 So you'll remember at the end of the last post I was unhappy with the raw finish of the walls and so I bought a whole lot of paint and with a full crew dismantled all the shelves and decor and painted the whole thing. May not be interior design standard but it gives the space a finished feel. I'm glad I went with my gut and did it. We still need to put the colored flags up and product in but there's a much cleaner backdrop and the back wall is still wood. I'm excited to get everything in and there will be more tweaking no doubt.

There's our booth at the end.

The Silver Blue Glass Side.

4 days to go....before CRAFTED

So in the blur of preparations I was slightly terrible about documenting the transformation of the booth. It was kind of hot and exhausting. The shelves were painted beforehand but with the walls being less than 6ft tall I went for less is more and reduced the number of shelves I'd planned. The sign had to be rethought after I realised the yarn letters were just a fraction too big but I had a plan B and I think it worked out. The flag idea ties the two sides Silver Blue Glass and me together.

Mr B. hard at work

Pennants for a festive feel

Bright Green Paint

The Vision

The sign that goes on those two long planks on the back wall.

Yarn letters, sadly too big for the sign so this was plan b.

I put these shelves up myself.

A few props

I am really starting to think I need to paint the walls white, that would mean taking all the shelves down, recutting a bunch of flags but I know it would look a lot cleaner. Can't paint the back wall but at least its a nice dark color. How long does paint take to dry anyway ? It's going to be a loooonng week.

Just in, look who's sitting pretty in the July issue of Sunset Magazine. Praise is due to Lindsey Kliewer the wonderful creator of the image they used. Interestingly they took out the sky and reversed it, even handmade plushes can't escape a little bit of photoshopping !