New Cards, Mouse Mats and Calendars

My new cards are finally here! Pink Thistle Bothy, Sipping By The Stream and Stepping Stone's to The Bothy's are now available individually or as this set of six along with Heather Bothy, Thistle Cottage and Harvey The Highland Cow. 

My cards are all £2.50 each or £12 for a set of six.

I have also has Pink Thistle Bothy and Sipping By The Stream printed as Mouse Mats.

Mouse Mats £6.95

And although it's not even quite midsummer yet, I have released my 2016 Calendar.

I think it's my best yet!

I decided to go for the square format this time as all my best pictures from the last year or so were square and it makes the images really easy to frame after use.

All the favourites are included.

I have used this seascape for January.

The calendars measure 21 x 21 cm and the printed images measure 17 x 17 cm.

Pink Thistle Bothy for June

A nice hairy coo for April!

Sipping By The Stream for September.

You can see all the images used in the montage below.

I have kept the price the same as last year at £10. 

I know I sold a lot of my 2015 calendars off half price in January but that was because I had to reorder late in December to fulfill an order and I was left with quite a few. I'm not planning on doing that this year!

I do however plan to have plenty available over the next few months and will have them with me at all my events.

My next event is Falkland Craft Market on Saturday July 11th.

This was my stall earlier in the year. I'll have some cushions with me as well as some original felt pictures.

I added 'Oak Tree Cottage' below to my Etsy shop this week.

The picture itself measures 12 x 12 cm with the outer edge of the frame measuring 25 x 25 cm.

Oak Tree Cottage

£85

So that's all my news for this week. 

You can find a good selection of my Textile Jewellery for sale at 

The Rowan Tree in Falkland. 

Gemini in Thurso is also now stocking my mugs, notebooks, cards, coasters and a wee bit of jewellery as well.

You can also find my work in 

Maisie and Mac in Cupar

Room 15 in Oban

Wild Thistle in Braemar and in Braemar Castle Shop

Little Thistle in Dunfermline

Ballahullish Visitors Centre

The Craft Cupboard in Dunkeld

and The Atholl Gallery in Dunkeld

October Makes

It's the October school holidays here in Scotland and I cannot believe how quickly they have come around. Seems like no time at all since the children were heading back to school after the summer! It's always difficult to fit crafting time in around holidays so I was delighted when my Mum said she would take my children for a few days to let me get on with some work. They all had a great time and I put all my child free hours to good use.

I've been making some small felt landscapes ready for my upcoming fairs.

(See Upcoming Events on the right hand side of the page for details)

This vibrant piece below is available in my Folksy shop and has been featured on Folksy's front page this week.

These little snowy scenes below have been a delight to make. I had one go off to Alaska last week and had a nice email from the customer to say she loves it and that she hopes to visit Scotland some day and trace some of her ancestry. Coincidently, I happen to have family with the same surname as hers so who knows, we might be distantly related! I love the connections we can make across oceans and continents via the internet.

Snowy Cottage and Sheep £35

In keeping with the season I've spent hours making lots of leaf shaped brooches this week. Here's a sneak peak at the cut felt pieces waiting to be stitched.

These leaves are not just cut from ready made felt. I use the finest hand dyed merino and silk fibres to make the felt then cut and match each piece, making each one different. The hand dyed fibres add to the uniqueness of the finished brooches.

These mauve and green shades are so pleasant together.

You can find these for sale in both my Etsy and Folksy shops as well as at Studio 222 in Newburgh, An Cnoc in Crieff, Zigzags in Dunkeld and Room 15 in Oban.

If there is a colour you would particularly like, just ask and I can list one especially for you

aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com

The birds are all made with Harris Tweed that I brought back from our summer holiday in the Outer Hebrides.

The wing pieces are handmade felt to add contrast and texture.

Brooches are all £12

I'm really looking forward to my upcoming fairs. I've got a new card stand for my stall and can't wait to see how it looks.

Right now I have to go and bake cakes. Flap jacks and fairy cakes I think.......and a big apple crumble!