NEW ear-rings from fatcat felt

hot off the fatcat felt press and just listed on folksy. i've made these ones to match the bracelets and necklaces i've got in stock at the mo.

these are new for me and the first time i've made ear-rings so would love to know what you think.

green felt ear-rings

blue felt ear-rings

pink felt ear-rings

orange felt ear-rings

wonderful, happy, joyous, exciting, marvellous news

my brother and his partner are having a baby!!!!!!

j & m couldn't wait to tell us so we've known since just before christmas and it was even more special to get to spend time with them both at new years. my brother just couldn't stop grinning like a cheshire cat, he is totally over the moon.

baby minni is due to be born on august 18th (our grandad's birthday!) and i couldn't be happier for them, they will make wonderful parents and we'll get to be the eccentric auntie and uncle, heeheehee.

august seems like such a long way off at the moment but at least it's plenty of time to make lots of lovely baby gifts.

fatcat felt finds easter treats on folksy!

well, it might seem like a little way off but just in case you wanted to make an early start on your easter shopping, here's a wee selection of my faves from folksy.

how about some ‘easter bunny love’ fabric buttons from Mollimoo?


or some easter gift bags from HollyJollyStockings?


then there’s this lovely easter bunny trail sign block from Sparrow Primitives


SoapAroma has an easter gift with a difference - easter egg soap x 2 in gift box


or how about this adorable moon bunnies in love pendant from Jewellery designs by Sarah Birt

i have totally fallen in love with this one! (hint hint in case you’re reading this m?!)


can you give a loving home to pinky the sock bunny from Widget and friends


or how about this lovely pack of 3 hand finished easter cards sold in aid of cancer research?

the lovely folksy sellers, have made available a selection of their handmade goods to be sold in aid of cancer research uk.


happy shopping :)

happy hols :)

i'm so excited, this is where we're going for a whole week in april ...


just hope it's as sunny as it is in the pic!

i'm taking my mum away for a wee break and although she knows we're going away for a week, i'm not telling her where it is or what i've got planned, and there are a few surprises in store too!

oh i'm useless with surprises - i get so excited thinking about the surprisee's reaction and then i want to tell them so they can get excited too, but then that will spoil the surprise! how can i keep quiet for so long?! i'm sure to blurt it out, or explode!

officially a grand weekend :)

well thankfully we had a break in the clouds this weekend and managed to make the most of the blue skies and sunshine during the day and the clear skies of the evening.

we went for a hike into the hills and woods not far from home and had a glorious day! we spotted: deer; great tits; blue tits; coal tits; long tailed tits; buzzards soaring overhead, one or two being mobbed by rooks; something that looked like a pied flycatcher but moved too quickly for a proper identification and great swathes of snowdrops; and rather bizarrely a passenger plane which looked like it was being tailed by three fighter jets?!

then the following evening, m persuaded me out into the chilly night for some astro-photography (not sure if that's the proper term but that's what we're calling it!). we were dressed in so many layers we looked like michelin men to try and keep the cold at bay. but we got some amazing pics from the top of a hill close-by.

it was also great to play around with the camera and get some good results for a change! i've never been entirely converted to digital and still love my old manual slr and have happy memories of hours spent in the darkroom - somehow this new fangled digitary nonsense isn't quite the same. having said that, it is great to be able to see the results immediately. and we got some pretty good pics of the night sky, although my knowledge of the constellations doesn't extend much beyond orion's belt and the big dipper these days - must brush up on the night sky :)

on our way home we crossed a bridge over the dual carriageway so stopped to play around with the shutter speed some more ...

no patience!

i applied for a part-time voluntary post with a charity this morning and i still haven't heard anything yet???!!!

i really, really would like to do this job and i can't wait to hear back. this is when your inbox becomes the 'watched kettle'.

when will they call, when will they email - i hope it's soon or i will become insufferable! will i get the job ........................ ?

meet a maker monday

being the inquisitive little feltmaker that i am, i thought it might be interesting to hear about other maker's stories. so a little while ago i asked if anyone would be interested in being interviewed for my blog. i was hoping to make it a monthly feature but have been so overwhelmed by responses that it is now a weekly feature!

so, grab a cuppa, put your feet up and lets meet bonnita of momoaby ...

Please introduce yourself:
My name is Bonnita Moaby but also known as MoMo. I am 32 (nearly) and have a 9 month old daughter.

Who, or what inspires you:
Sanna Annukka is amazing! Her work is just mesmorising and her colours amaze me, get googling if you have never heard of her, another one is Charlie Harper (not the 21/2 men one lol).

Do you sell your work? If so, what helped you decide to start selling your work?
Yes I do, my crafts and my design. I started to practise crafts again as I knew I wanted to do it with my daughter when she was old enough, it was friends and family that said I could sell it, this led to me setting up: momoaby's folksy shop

My personal work has also proved popular especially my t-shirts, these can be found at: bmphotographyanddesign

Do you have a website or blog address?
As well as the folksy shop and website mentioned above I have a blog:
made by moaby's blog

And this site too:
bonnita a deviantart


If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be...
BALD!

What do you do to relax?
Crafting of course :)

Marmite … love it or hate it?
Love it and it is the subject of my Final Major Project at uni!

What’s your weakness?
Vintage


wow, what a stunning collection: cards; textiles and photography - looks like you have plenty to keep you busy so thanks for taking the time to chat bonnita.

farewell old pal

well, we waved goodbye to the bike recently :(

i'd never been one for bikes, being a bit of a scaredy-cat but when we lived on the isle of lewis m persuaded me to become a bit of a biker chick instead!

we have so many happy memories of riding around the island in the sunshine. however, moving back to the mainland a few years ago put me back into the scaredy-cat category ... so much traffic going far too fast and only a few layers of leather between the hard tarmac and our skin!!!

plus, the bike had been rendered almost impractical due to many more new hobbies and interests - try strapping a canoe to the back of the bike! so the tough decision was taken to sell it thus ending m's 30 years as a biker dude.

although i do feel a little sad too, i'm also excitedly planning what to do with the new space in the front garden that used to be occupied by the bike! new tree ... new shrubs ... or many, many more flowers :)

fatcat felt gift certificates

well, even if i say so myself, i'm quite chuffed with the gift certificates i created recently! i thought these might be a good idea for my fatcat felt folksy shop so that folk could let the lucky recipient choose their own gift from my shop. i've created them in a range of £10, £15, £20, £25 versions or i could tailor to a customer's specified amount too.

lucky me ...

i was overwhelmed to receive this amazing necklace from heather at my pink cow in the noodlebubble folksy heart swap ...

i was going to wait until sunday to wear it to our poetry event but love it so much that i put it on straight away! my parcel also contained two lovely pink and white wooden hearts - thank you so much heather :)

you can pop over to heather's folksy shop to see more of her lovely work, or across to her blog to read all about it.

my pink cow folksy shop
pink milk jewels blog

new scarves

well, fatcat felt has been a busy little felter recently, with her wee furry nose to the felt grindstone! but look ... three new scarf designs listed in fatcat felt's folksy shop.

these are quite new for me, so i would love to hear what you think.

orange scarf


green scarf


blue scarf

anyone for ... bubble wrap?

yes, i know, not quite what you would expect on my folky shop but i thought that other feltmakers might find it useful as a resist or for laying out larger projects onto and also other makers could use it when packaging or storing delicate items. ooooh it's also good stress relief too - never mind popping each bubble by hand, have you ever tried standing on a large strip of bubble wrap? :))))))

i always found it hard to buy bubble wrap in just the right amount, so thought other folk might find it useful to be able to buy as much, or as little, as needed - i can sell in one metre lengths and it is 300mm wide, either email me or visit fatcat's folksy shop

poetry at the...

fancy something a little different for valentine’s day ... ?
then read on!

poetry lovefest at the grv

on 14th february from 7.45pm to 9.45pm at the grv (guthrie street, edinburgh), come and hear 20-30 poets reading a poem written especially for this occasion.

poets were asked to write an original poem, each one based on a different verse from the song of songs, that ancient love poem.

bring your partner if you have one but don't be shy to come alone or with a friend. the poems will all be on the theme of love, but that can include everything from romance, sticking together and first dates to endings, loss, and bitter memories.

excellent writers such as kona macphee, alexander hutchison, kapka kassabova, andrew philip, kevin cadwallender, morgan downie and many, many more will be reading so it looks set to be excellent evening. there will also be a few other surprises and … who knows? you may even find love. what else is poetry for?

tickets, which can be purchased on the night, cost £4, or £3 for concessions.

poetry at the … is run by a small group of people on a non-profit making basis. they aim to hold live poetry events which demonstrate the range and vitality of poetry in the uk today, particularly (but not exclusively) in scotland. it was formed in november 2007 and has since become known as one of the best poetry-related events in the country, featuring some of the uk’s top poets alongside new and emerging writers.

valentine's heart swap

the lovely noodlebubble has been very busy recently organising a fantastic valentine's swap for folksy folk.

you can see a selection of the items folk have made for swapping on flickr

and here's the bag charm i'll be swapping ...

meet a maker monday

being the inquisitive little feltmaker that i am, i thought it might be interesting to hear about other maker's stories. so a little while ago i asked if anyone would be interested in being interviewed for my blog. i was hoping to make it a monthly feature but have been so overwhelmed by responses that it will now be a weekly feature!

so, grab a cuppa, put your feet up and lets meet susan bonnar from dottie designs.

Please introduce yourself … I am Susan Bonnar, I live in Lee-on-the-Solent in Hampshire beside the sea. My maiden name was Cotton and I spent 20 years in the Royal Navy being called Dot - hence Dottie Designs.

How would you describe your work / style? My work is quite simple, hand decorating photo albums, guest books and keepsake boxes with simple, stylish designs. I have a slight obsession for butterflies!

Who, or what, inspires you?I am inspired by all sorts of things. The album I am working on designing now has a heart of seashells as its main feature and is tied up with raffia. I live by the beach, so my inspiration for this was just a winters walk along the beach with my 3 children.

Do you sell your work? If so, what helped you decide to start selling your work? I do sell my work. Initially I made cards and sold them to family, friends and colleagues. This gave me the confidence to do Craft Fairs and eventually to approach retail shops.

Where can I buy your work? My work can bought primarily on line at my website: dottie designs website
my ebay shop: dottie designs ebay
and my Folksy shop: dottie designs folksy

Do you have a website or blog I can visit? See above! I also have a blog: dottie designs blog that is very new!

How did you learn your particular craft? How long have you been creating? Just picked it up and have been creating for about 5 years.

Is there any other craft skill you would like to learn? I would love to learn to knit as I'm hopeless. I'm really envious of people that can draw too.

Anything exciting planned for 2010 you’d like to share? Nothing as yet!

Have you had any work featured in magazines/books/galleries? Featured in the Navy News! How to survive life on the outside by working for yourself!

Has your work won any prizes/competitions? Not yet!

If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be … Working as an Air Traffic Controller....

I couldn’t do this if it wasn’t for … An understanding husband as my craft has taken over the house!

Any funny stories you’d like to share? I sold a large photo album last week and was very proud of how it looked so took a photo of it. As the cover slants down slightly without photos in, I put in some socks (clean/odd) to hold it up. Photo done, parcel posted, ahhh feeling good. 2 hours later I gasped with horror, I’d posted out the odd socks inside the album…Tweenies, Star Wars etc!! Nightmare!

Describe your perfect day. Happy kids (no fighting) somebody else cleaning my house, doing the ironing, a couple of proper hours to myself (very rare) to work on new ideas.

Describe your proudest moment. When my 2 sons (6 &9) won a trophy for a duet they did at the Portsmouth Music Festival. The looks on their faces as they collected it were unforgettable. They had worked really hard and deserved it. I was also happy that they hadn't fought over who had the most stool to sit on!

What do you do to relax? What's relaxing?

Marmite … love it or hate it? Love love love it!

What animal would you be, and why? An eagle. Power, freedom....

What’s your weakness? Chocolate, red wine, chocolate, red wine, chocolate, red wine....

How do you keep motivated? Try to picture the end result

What do you wish you’d known when you first started out? How thick skinned I would need to be for knock backs!

What advice would you give to someone just starting out? Follow your instinct, stay focussed and keep proper accounts!


What question did you hope to be asked but weren’t? What would I like to be when I grow up?

What would your answer have been? A Zoo Keeper!!!

thanks to susan for a really interesting chat, i would have loved to have seen the face of the person who opened their lovely new photo album to find tweenies socks!

please pop back next monday when we meet amanda robbins from chicita

our first snowdrops

spring is on the way, spring is on the way (although waking up to more snowy scenes yesterday you wouldn't have thought so!).

m finished his set of shifts the other morning so i picked him up at 8am laden with binoculars, bird book and picnic! what a glorious morning we had, we headed onto a little island on the tay (right in the middle of perth) and saw: deer; a seal; goldeneye; heron; goosander (a first for us!); cormorant; goldcrest; blue tit; chaffinch; goldfinch; a massive flock of domestic white geese and a few birds we weren't quite sure about because they wouldn't stay still long enough! and we also saw our first snowdrops of the year :)

then we sat on a fallen tree to enjoy our picnic, aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh what a blissful way to start the day :)

for me ... really? how kind :)

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, i'm so chuffed to receive a sunshine blog award from claire at black cats whiskers (my first ever blog award!), thanks claire for making my day :)

the sunshine award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity & creativity inspires others in the blog world.

the rules for accepting the sunshine award are:
(and i'm also going to add a rule of my own: please feel free to ignore these rules and just enjoy the award!)

- put the logo on your blog or within your post
- pass the award onto 12 bloggers
- link the nominees within your post
- let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog
- share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award

my 12 nominees (in no particular order) are:

angela barrow
fabulous threads
aileen clarke crafts
the bunny maker
fibrespace
permutations in fibre
noodlebubble
feltbug
filzfrosch
karens felt works
atelier kiki
fibrefrolics