All Go

Its been a busy few days at Woodle Doodle Dandy Towers :) I've made my first sales from my new site \o/ and I've been making more earrings. I'm guessing earrings will be my biggest sellers at the craft fair but I know I need to get down to making some more necklaces and bracelets too.

I'm also really chuffed. My new business cards from Moo turned up at the weekend. I absolutely love them and have already given a few out. I also got my new order of elasticated thread and jump rings from Beads Unlimited in the post today. I've had a splitting headache all day today so that has really perked me up.

I'm finally extra excited as the new Support Handmade However its Made site is up and looking fab. Shirley at Diddybears has done an amazing job. Everything looks so tempting. I've already done a tiny bit of shopping via it and hope to do some more at the weekend. There's a great mix of items on show, everything from lovely toiletries, gorgeous candles, beautiful homeware, great jewellery and loads more.

I've uploaded my latest creations to my shop but just in case you haven't had a chance to look, here's a little taster :)

More Makery :)

I've been slowly working through my stash of broken jewellery and disassembling them. I've also been having a brutal look at some of my older jewellery that I made. I've had a bit of a cull and taken those pieces apart too. I'm quite chuffed with the amount of jump rings I've salvaged. It may sound a bit odd but I find the whole process of taking dead jewellery to pieces and sorting the parts really relaxing. Also by sorting them by colour I've got inspired by some nice colour combinations. I made these earrings last night and I'm so happy with how they look.







All the earrings have also been added to my shop so if you fancy snapping any of them up, just pop on over to here.

Finally for those of you who are reading this from my blogspot account, don't forget I'll be moving over to my new site permanently from the 1st December 2011. My new site address is here.

Feeling Creative \o/

After all the goings on on Folksy its been a relief to get back to making jewellery again. I've been going through the stash I got from Oxfam earlier in the month and taking the broken jewellery apart and sorting out what findings I can salvage. So far I have managed to get some really nice copper jump rings and loads of pretty beads and spacers. Here's what I got in the jar.



It only cost £4.99 so I was chuffed to bits :) I've so sorted a lot of the beads and made a pair of earrings. I used some blue beads I got given a while ago and added them to some spacers I got in amongst the latest haul. I'm really happy with how they've come out and have just listed them in my shop.



Finally, a note to all my followers, I have decided to move over to my new blog permenantly on 1st December 2011. For the next month I will post all posts on both sites but from the 1st December I will only be posting at my new address on my site. The address for anyone wanting to make the move over now is here.

Beading for Breast Cancer

Following from my last post, I thought I better get some pics up of my creations :) I've also loved looking through the pics of what other people have created so thought I'd share some of my favourites here too.


Bead Soup Pink Jade Jewellery Set



Bead Soup Challenge Necklace



Bead Soup Pretty in Pink Herringbone Wrapped Bracelet



Bead Soup Party Necklace



Bead Soup Challenge Necklace



Rose Quartz swarovski bracelet


The proceeds of all sales will be going to Breast Cancer Research.

Bead Soup

I've been feeling a little uninspired of late and have barely touched my beads or other crafty bits and bobs :( I think the meh weather has something to do with it. Plus I got a non-cultivation notice from our local council saying that we had failed to cultivate the minimum of 50% of our plot!!! I was not impressed and have emailed them to tell them exactly what we have grown so far and what we have happening on our plot. I was a tad cheesed off to put things mildly.

Anyway, I have signed up to the Bead Soup beading challenge on Folksy in aid of Breast Cancer Research. About 30 of us have signed up and we were each allocated a partner by the organiser, Putting on the Charms. We then picked out 10 pink beads and 2 feature beads and sent them on to our partner. The challenge was to make one or more jewellery items to sell and raise money for Breast Cancer Research. Here are the beads I received from my partner :)



They were sent to me by Shabby Cottage Corner and were made from the beautiful and vibrant, pink Jade. The goal is to make our items ready for a grand revealing on Friday 26th August.

I've created a necklace and earrings all ready to post piccies of on Friday. I was going to post a pic or two here but then decided it would more fun to hold off a few more days till Friday :) I can't wait to see what others have created. I'm hoping it will get my inspiration nicely fired up again ready for the dreaded winter holiday that can not be named ;)

Holy Marrows Batman!

After all the wet weather it was lovely to have some nice weather again before going back to the day job. I got down the plot today after 2 weeks break and the courgettes had gone a little mad. There were about 4 marrows and a few other courgettes. I picked them all and left a few on the communal table by the gates of the plot as we are never going to eat all of them. Here's our harvest.



We also got some marigolds given to us and they are flowering too. They were a lovely surprise as we weren't even sure they had come up. I'd been cautiously been holding back on weeding the patch were we put them and was very pleased I did as they look stunning. They're like little Sunflowers :)



I also managed to get in a good forage of the local charity shops and vintage emporium on Friday and got some real treasures. I picked up a book on Marc Chagall, which I'd been after for ages, a CD of the Theatre of Hate Live, 2 strings of beads (one of which feels like pearls) and a dog collar with loads of cool charms on it.

Heres the beads. The blue ones are glass and have a really nice finish to them which looks a little like petrol.



Finally, I was very sad to hear that Amy Winehouse had died. I think she's the 3rd female singer I like to have left us this year (Ari Up from the Slits and Polystyrene from X-ray Spex). Well, she has left a great legacy of great lyrics and catchy songs.

Nice Smells

I've been down the plot today and harvested some courgettes, some more raspberries and some oregano. As the courgettes are probably going to start coming thick and fast I've already stuck two in a Vegi Goulash, that's doing its thing in the oven as I type :) Its smells yum!

I have also been getting to grips with the scanner and have uploaded a couple more pics to my art shop. I've now got the original of the pencil sketch I did of Ari Up from the Slits and another abstract. I've also learnt some new tips from my bf so I can edit the pics in Gimp so that they're okay for Folksy. Folksy like pics to be square and I was having some problems cropping my pics square so I have now learnt how to add a boarder so that Folksy can crop them without loosing any of the pic.

I've also been beevering away making more jewellery. I wanted to make my neice something for her birthday, so I made some pretty earrings which incorporate some Carnelian beads I'd bought for the occasion :) Carnelian and Ruby are apparently her two birthstones and Ruby is a little out of my budget so I went with Carnelian. Like a twit though, I didn't take any pics before sending them! Doh. I also made a ruby red heart pendant. I have a few other goodies to send but I had to wait till one arrived in the post before sending so that will go in the post tomorrow.

Rainbows

I've been feeling extra creative of late and have made some more bits for my shop. This time I've been making more colourful stuff and thought I'd share it with you all on here too :)

Rainbow Bracelet & Necklace


Rainbow Swirl Earrings


Blue Cats Eye Earrings


Green & Silver Ball Earrings


Purple Fimo Pendant


The wire earrings with the silver and green metallic beads were made with some wire I ordered the other day from Beadtime and they were my first attempt and making wire jewellery. I'm really pleased with how they came out and I've got about 15m of the wire, so plenty to play with :)

I've also got some brass finding from them too so I can have some fun with them too.

Best of all, I found a copy of Grub on a Grant today in Oxfam Bookshop. This was one of my favourite and most used cookbooks ever and I lost it a few years ago. It was on 99p, so smiles all round for me today :)

Latest Makings

The weathers been really sunny and warm so I've been down the plot quite a bit. I also have been continuing on the decluttering/reorganising spree and have reorganised my beads so that they are now sorted by colour, not type. I saw the tip on another blog I follow (sorry can't remember which one) and thought it was a cool idea.

It took a little while to do but it was well worth it. Its a really good way of seeing what works well together and it has also help get me inspired.

Here are my latest creations (also in my Folksy shop :) ) All the items are made from recycled beads.

Icicle Necklace


Lavender Necklace



Buddleja Bracelet & Earrings


Rock Pool Necklace


Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway. You have until midnight Sunday 29th May (1 week) to enter :)

Clearance Sale at Woodle Doodle Dandy :)

I'm having my first ever sale at Woodle Doodle Dandy Designs. I want to clear some space and get making some new stuff. I've been really inspired by the weather so will probably have some new spring/summery stock in very soon.

To take a look at the wonderful bargains pop on over to Woodle Doodle Dandy at Folksy.

Also, watch this space - there's going to be a giveaway very soon too :)

Spring has Sprung :)

The weather has been absolutely glorious just recently. Its been lovely. I've been down the plot loads and that's coming along well. We have onions, courgettes and potatoes already in and tomatoes, lettuce and sweetcorn started on the window sill. We also have chilli peppers and hopefully some more catnip for the allotment cats :)

I've also been reading The New Messies Manual by Sandra Felton and thats been getting me really inspired to get things organised and decluttered.

I've also been whizzing through Joanne Harris novels - I've read Chocolat, Lollipop Shoes, Blackberry Wine, Five Quarters of the Orange and Gentlemen and Players. I'm currently reading Coastliners and I'm about half way through. I'm really enjoying her style of writing so I'm looking forward to tracking down some more. I've already spotted another in the library :)

I've also finally been feeling a bit more creative \o/ I've been making jewellery like there's no tomorrow and painting. I picked up some cheap canvases from one of the pound shops in Hemel last week and have already used one. I've put some of the new jewellery up in my folksy shop and have some new stuff on the way :) Heres some pics of what I've been working on recently.

Beads, Beads and a bit of Daniel Craig

Its been a good week for cakery and beads. On Monday we went out for the day to Oxford to visit the Pitt Rivers Museum and I had a great time exploring all the cool collections. Unlike a lot of museums where things are organised by their origin or the era they come from, everything here was organised by what it was. There were tons of cabinets full of jewellery from all over the world and all through time. I also enjoyed looking at the weapons and all there ornate and decorative handles. The work that must have gone in to making some of them was amazing and very inspiring.
Heres some pics of some of my favourite bits







I also saw in the news that it was International Womens Day yesterday and loved the video made by Sam Taylor Wood highlighting the inequality that still exists in the world for women. I thought I'd share it with you all here.

Free Beads

Look what I got in the post today :)



They were a free sample I got from Wholeport.com . Now I just have to decide what to make from them. I think I'll definitely be checking out the shop for more beads and jewellery findings as they seem to do a nice mix of quirky bits and bobs. I especially like the cat charm.

Spring has almost sprung :)

I've been enjoying all the extra sunlight the last week and I've been doing a fair bit down the allotment. I've been mostly digging, pruning and clearing ready for our mass delivery of poo tomorrow morning. We're also getting some seed potatoes delivered so we need to be down the plot bright and early tomorrow.
I'm also planning on waving goodbye to my vinyl collection this weekend. After a scour of the web I've found there is a second hand record shop in Letchworth that takes vinyl so I've dropped them a quick email and we're planning a trip this weekend. It will be a bit of a wrench saying goodbye to my record collection but I haven't had anything to play them on in donkeys years so I'd rather someone had them who could play them and enjoy them.
I've also been playing with all my new beads but haven't made anything wearable yet. I'm just experimenting with some old wire and the new round nosed pliers I got from beads unlimited. I'm getting the hang of looping the wire so I'm hoping to make myself a bracelet with my new goodies so watch this space.
I've also been reading loads just lately. I've finished Nick Hornbys' Juliet, Naked. I read it in less than a week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very likeable characters and very funny in places. I'm now reading Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. Its also really good so I'm already about a third of the way through it.

I've Died and Gone to Beading Heaven :)

All the goodies I won in the competition on CO&K arrived today at work and I'm so excited. I normally get most of my jewellery making stuff second hand and have learnt most of what I know about making jewellery from taking apart old or broken jewellery so having some brand new and proper jewellery making things is about as exciting as it gets! Its even come with instructions on some items I can make with my new stuff. Here's some piccies of my new stash :)





Now I'm off to play :)

I haz a win \o/

I got an email yesterday to say I had won joint first prize in a beading competition on Cut Out & Keep. I'm not totally sure what the prize is but I'm just so chuffed to have won something :) My winning entry was my tutorial for a crocheted wire bracelet (piccy of one I made for myself below).



I've mailed back with my address so hopefully a prize will be winging its way to me. I can't wait!

I've also had a fun and cheap day today visiting some of the charity shops in the Fleetsville area. They're a bit of a stroll but usually well worth the walk. Today I picked up a new work bag for £1.99, some more beads and chain for £2 and a book by Joanne Harris. I'm pretty chuffed with the bag. Its just the right size for work and has lots of handy compartments for my phone, purse and other assorted stuff I carry round with me.



On Friday I was also able to pick up some more seeds for the plot. I've picked up some cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn, lavender and courgettes. They should go nicely with the ones I fished out of the shed last week. I found tons of squash and pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, parsnips and onions (red and white). I just need to get my arse in gear now and do some digging and weeding so they are ready to go in when the time comes. Fingers crossed it will stay dry.

Owls, owls and more owls.....

I've gone a bit owl crazy of late and have been making little tiny owls like theres no tomorrow. It all started when I was searching from some inspiration the other night in one of my Sew magazines. I saw these cute owl buttons and liked the simple design so I set about making myself a very simple pattern.
I've now made 4 owls and I'm on my fifth! Heres a pic of the little brood on my craft desk :)



Here's my tutorial that I uploaded to Cut Out and Keep.

See Cute Tiny Owl and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

I'm also really chuffed with myself as I won a £5 voucher from Beads Unlimited for one of my tweets over Christmas \o/. I've already got a little wish list so I can't wait to put in my order.

Latest Makery

I've been on a bit of creative roll this Christmas holiday and have made quite a few new bits of jewellery. I've been having a play around with some pink wire I picked up from Hexton earlier in the year and have made been making my own head pins and eye pins. I'm pretty chuffed with results.



Also, while scouring the charity shops for bargains before Christmas I also spotted this cute Miffy pencil case for 25p. Its absolutely perfect for my crochet hooks and assorted paraphernalia and so unbelievably cute :)

Beaded Allotment :)

I've been itching to get down my plot and start work on it but the weathers been far too cold. I started trying to sketch out a plan for next year but abandoned in for a beaded, felt allotment plot :) It took me a couple of days and I used up odd scraps of fabric and stray beads I had laying around along with embroidery thread. I'm pretty chuffed with how it came out.
I have even put in a little, ginger allotment cat at the front of my shed :)