Final Bits & Bobs Before Craft Fair

I've been having a final splurge of creating before the Craft Fair Saturday. I've made a couple more pairs of earrings and made a second rack for my earrings to be displayed on. If any of you are in the St Albans area this Saturday (26th November 2011) between 11am - 3pm, Woodle Doodle Dandy Designs will be at the Creative Arts Christmas Craft Fair at Verulam School in St Albans.

Here's the flyer the School have sent advertising the event :) Wish me luck. Its my first ever Craft Fair so I'm a little nervous, but also very excited.



I've also been busy with my website and now have a section to display and eventually sell my artwork and email using my domain name. If you want to reach me I can be emailed at kat@woodledoodledandydesigns.co.uk :)

Also don't forget, my blog is moving home. My new home will be here and I've already started blogging from here ready for the move on the 1st December 2011. I really hope that you will all come and find me at my new home, and maybe even leave me a message or several :) You can follow me using networked blogs or by adding the link from my RSS feed to your Reader. Hope to see you all soon :)

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.

Preparing for my First Proper Craft Fair

I've been creating more stock for my stall and now have 9 little cat brooches. I'm really chuffed with them and hope people like them. Here's them all together :)



I've also been shopping for cheap picture frames today and picked up a couple from my local Pound shop. The plan is to remove the glass and cover the backing in black fabric and then use them to display me earrings. I'm planning on getting some bowls to put my brooches and bracelets in and then hanging my necklaces up somehow. I also need to pick up a cheap mirror as I've learnt from past experience that people like to see what items will look like on.

I'm so looking forward to doing the fair and it would be even better if I sold enough to cover the stall cost. I figure either way it will still be great experience and a great opportunity to give out some business cards and SHHIM flyers :)

Cats & Pots

I've just got back from a nice hour down the plot. The weather has been glorious, better than the summer! We got a visit from the black and white allotment cat and she was extremely purry and excited. She was especially lucky as I had a cat stick in my bag for just such an occasion =).



I've also been making lots in preparation for the craft fair I have a stall at, at the end of November. I've been making more brooches and have been lots of these little cat brooches. I'm really chuffed with the design and how they are coming out. I'm also going to make some keyrings too, so watch out for those.

As my giveaway hasn't been whipping up very much enthusiasm I'm also going to throw in one of my new cat brooches. I will leave it up to the winner to select the colour scheme as I have masses of different colours of felt, so I should be able to accommodate. To enter just follow the instructions on the previous post :)

Finally, my Boyfriend has also had a successful time with his crafting. He works in ceramics and had his first open studios last weekend. It went so well and he sold loads, far more than he was expecting. I feel extremely proud :). He's also set up his own blog so if you want to follow his tales as a potter then pop on over to his blog :)

Latest Doings

I've been pretty busy lately. I've been trying to come up with some new designs for my stall at the Craft Fair I'm doing in November. I've also been busy down the plot. I want to get as much clear and in use as possible. So far we've dug up our onions and they are nice and dried out. I used my first one Thursday night in my dinner and it was very tasty :)

We've also dug up our first row of potatoes and they are scrummy. They're a good size, seem to dig up pretty clean (so less scrubbing \o/) and cook up nicely. They're quite floury and make very tasty mash. We keep the skins on when making mash so I was chuffed that they cleaned up with minimal scrubbing. I wish I could remember what breed they were as I'd be very happy having more of the same.

The courgettes are almost at the end of their life but we have had some amazing harvests from them. I'm also very pleased to say that we've only had to compost one. The rest were all eaten up by either us or our neighbour (who makes very tasty cake as payment).

The squashes are looking amazing. We only planted 2 that a friend gave us and they've taken up so much room. Very handy as they are extremely low maintenance and easy to grow. They look a little like the courgettes and have already got some squashes coming on them. I've never grown squash before so this is going to be an experience. I'll have to track down some recipes so they don't get wasted.



Finally, I've got in all the onions and shallots I bought in Wilkinsons and just have the garlic to put in. I'll probably do that tomorrow, providing the weather stays fine. The sweetcorns are also ready to harvest \o/.

On the making front, I've been experimenting with felt and making brooches. So far I've made a pretty flower one and a cute pumpkin. I'm thinking of making more halloweeny ones as I've got a ton of zombie green and pumpkin orange felt to use up :)



Also I've reached 60 followers of my blog and 105 twitter followers so I'm planning another giveaway to celebrate. I want to make something new for it so watch this space. Something is on the horizon but haven't quite decided what :)

More Makery :)

I've finally got back to crafting \o/ I got some great owl charms from ebay which have already made their way into my Folksy shop in the form of some cute earrings :> I've also been using some of the blue glass beads I got from Oxfam and combined them with some silver ball beads I picked up second hand ages ago. I'm very chuffed with the results and it feels great to be making again.





I've also signed up for a Chr*****s craft fair that's running on the last week of November so I need to get my crafty arse in gear and get stuff ready for that. I've been playing around with some ideas for brooches and have so far made my first successful flower brooch. Its made from odd scraps of fabric and beads and some cool wool I picked up in Cancer Research shop in Hemel. I forgot to take any pics so will get some done next time I play with the camera.

After my unwelcome, non-cultivation notice from the council, I've also been down the plot loads. I got some great bargains in Wilkonsons last week - they had bags of 50 mixed onions for £2. I also got some shallots and garlic, also for the same price. I've also picked up some spring bulbs from the Pound shop too and they were on offer - 2 for £1. I'm hoping to get as many of them in over the next few weekends so I can keep up the growing over the autumn and winter.

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 ;)

\o/ Fame at Last \o/

Just a quick post to share my excitement about finding out that my Recycled Business Card Holder is the featured project on Cut Out & Keep :)

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 :)

Ammonites

I've been having a lot of fun with fimo of late and have been making some jewellery pieces inspired by ammonite fossils. So far I've made a necklace, earrings and brooch.



I'm quite pleased with results :) I gave them a slight dusting of gold glitter so that they sparkle ever so slightly in the light and their backs are painted with bronze acrylic, which seems to work really well.

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 :)

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.

Busy week in Katsville

Last night I went out to see Mark Thomas live at our local theatre. He was utterly amazing. I think to say he was a comedian would do him a disservice - he's kind of like v witty, v human and engaging human rights activist. Last night he was talking about his recent trip to the West Bank and how he walked along the wall that divides the West Bank from Israel. I've been a fan for years but never had the chance to see him till now and I would definitely recommend it.



Completely different and much lighter note, I've finished making all my geeky crafts for the Geeky Swap on Cut Out & Keep so I should be posting those off by the end of the week :) I love making things for others. I think its probably my biggest source of inspiration. Hopefully Kiddo will love the bits I've made her as much as I've loved making them :)

I'm also reading loads at the moment. I finished Gentlemen and Players and I'm now reading another of Joanne Harris'. I'm reading Chocolat. I've seen the film a few times so wasn't going to read it, but after reading Gentlemen and Players I got really into her style of writing. I'm loving Chocolat and I'm already near the end.

It's been a bit of the wet and soggy side the last few weekends so I haven't got the down the plot for a couple of weeks. I have been starting some seeds off at home though. I have chili and onions on the window sill.

Geeky

I've signed up for my first swap in absolutely ages so tonight I've been making all things geeky (as thats the theme of the swap) :) My partner for this swap is Kiddo and we've been partners in a couple of swaps so I'm really having fun. So far I've made 3 items and I have another couple on the go. I even used polyvore to help get me inspired. This is the set I made based on the geeky things she said she liked.

Geeky Swap by kathakana featuring green tops

Crocheted cuffs

I've been having fun and getting back into crocheting again. I've been having a go at making some crocheted cuffs and have been using some of the inchies I made before Christmas and using them as details on the cuffs. Its also giving me an opportunity to use some of the buttons I made last year too. Heres the first one I made. I'm pretty chuffed with the results :)




I've also been reading a lot too and I'm currently reading Maya by Jostien Gaardner. I read Sophies World last year and wasn't majorly impressed considering the hype it got but then read the Solitaire Mystery and loved it. I also read Through the Glass Darkly by him just before Christmas and that wasn't all that but Maya seems far more along the lines of the Solitaire Mystery and I'm enjoying this one far more. I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.

I've also been down the plot at the weekend. I mainly wanted to pick up the seeds we had stored in the shed and just assess any snow damage. I was pleasantly surprised. All the weeds seem to have been pretty much killed off so there's a lot of tidying to do. Most of the veg and herbs we had growing over the winter seem to have survived. Even the Strawberries weren't too bad. They'd got a bit water logged because we'd left them in a tray but once I tipped the smelly water off they looked okay. I can't wait for a few dry weekends so we can get down and do some digging and planting. Roll on Spring :)

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 :)