Little Landscapes and Latest Leaves

It has been all about pictures and brooches this week. I've had a real run on pictures since we got back from our holiday in August. Lots of commissions and these little landscapes flying off the shelves as soon as they are listed.

 

 

Wildflower Meadow Cottage

£55 Framed

 

Available now Here

 

Fraoch Cottage

£55 Framed

 

I have also been busy building up a stock of brooches.

I love making these as each one is different. Choosing just the right area of felt to cut the leaf shape from, stitching it up then sitting by the fire of an evening sewing all the beads, wires and brooch bars on is a never ending project. I'm not good at sitting doing nothing so always having a wee stock of brooches to work on is very satisfying.

 

Ivy Leaf Brooch Pin/Cloak Clasp

£15

 

The Ivy Leaf design is loosely inspired by the cloak clasps given to the Hobbits by the Elf Queen in Lord of The Rings. If I remember rightly, the clasps in the film (which I only saw this year and fell asleep half way through), were green enamel and silver. Mine have extra long brooch bars on the back making them perfect for keeping a cloak, shawl or cardigan closed. I often wear a brooch on my bag as well and they would also work on a hat.

 

 

 

 The red Ivy Leaf has sold but all the rest are available in my Etsy shop here

 

 

The Birdie Brooches are Harris Tweed with little handmade felt wings.

 

Hopefully I will have some new sheep pendants and earrings available next week.

Playing At Shops in a Shed

On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending at Open Day at Gillies and Mackay, makers of fine sheds and summer houses an Errol, near Perth.

The idea was to install various artists, crafters and beauticians in different sheds and summer houses to show how they could be used for more than just sitting in or for storing a few tools.

 



 

 

 

I really enjoyed playing at shops in this beautiful summer house.

There was plenty of room for a little work table as well and if I did have this one at home in the garden, there would be room for a comfy chair to relax in and plenty of shelving as well.

 

 

As you can see, it was a lovely day on Saturday. Really bright and frosty in the morning but warming as the sun came round and filled our sheds with lots of light.

This one was inhabited for the day by The Beauty Room, Errol.

 

 

This incredible structure below is a proper living space complete with wood burning stove! It would make a wonderful home office, studio, guest accomodation or therapy room. It was being used for the day by a lady offering massage, manicures and Partylite Candles.

 

 

Another of the summer houses was occupied by Sutherland based artist Catherine Mackay. Catherine also makes beautiful enamel jewellery. Her butterfly pendants are absolutely stunning!

 

 

 

 

Even the smaller of the summer houses would make a great garden studio. In fact, I rather fancied the potting shed as it had a big window, lovely long work bench and plenty of shelving.

I will carry on day dreaming though and continue to work from my little space in our cottage. It's handy as we have a wood burning stove that keeps everything toasty through the winter and I can still look out onto the garden.

 

 

Two artists I met during my visit to Perthshire Open Studios earlier in the month do work from garden studios.

 

 

Ceri White Ceramics, Dunning

and Lorna Radbourne, Catriona Glass, also at Dunning.

 

 

 

 

 

If you fancy a visit to Gillies and Mackay, they are right next to the Cairn o' Mohr winery which has a lovely cafe, wine shop and tasting room.

 

 

 

 

Don't all these bottles look lovely with the sun shining through them!

My favourites are Spring Oak leaf and Elderberry.

 

 

 

View across The Carse of Gowrie, Perthshire

 

 

I spent some time this week listing new things in my Etsy shop and spent all day yesterday making felt so look out for lots of new pictures, boxes and jewellery coming soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open Day at Gillies and Mackay, Saturday 22nd September 2012

 

I will be at this event tomorrow with all my wares.

Gillies and Mackay are based near Errol in the Carse of Gowrie between Perth and Dundee. They make wooden sheds, summer houses, play houses, garages and more and want to show you all how these structures can be used for so much more than just storing a few tools!

 

 

I will have my full Aileen Clarke Crafts range with me

and my embellisher machine to do a little bit of demonstrating.

The Cairn o Mohr winery and cafe is right next door so guess what I will be relaxing with tomorrow night!

 

 

I can vouch for this wine being an aid to creativity.

 

I also have some new jewellery pieces made including these new hearts pendants.

 

 It's been a busy few weeks with commissions so I'm a bit short of framed pieces but will have a few on display.

 



 

 

 I do have lots of new brooches though.

 

 

 

 

 Perfect for keeping your cardi or shawl closed at the front or for brightening up a lapel, handbag or hat.

 

 

 

 

 I also have a few new boxes made and they now come with their own little cardboard

gift box.

 

 

The new notebooks flew out of my Etsy shop and the cottage design is sold out! There are more on order though and I will have some of the seascape design with me.

 

 



 

I will be listing new things on line next week and will let you know when the new notebooks arrive.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and that we can all enjoy some Autumn sunshine.

Notebooks

I love notebooks. In fact I have a bit of a thing for paper products and stationary in general.

When I was a girl a got a big desk as a present one year and oh my goodness how I loved to arrange my notebooks, pens and papers on it and keep it all tidy. You'd never believe that if you could see my work desk now!

I also like the idea of my art being useful and so I had a couple of my favourite designs printed into notebooks.

 

The books are high quality, professionally printed and spiral bound. Measuring 12x12cm with 38 paper pages alternating between plain and ruled. Perfect for sketching and journaling.

To make them even more extra special, each notebook comes wrapped with a pretty ribbon and little tag making them the perfect gift or treat for yourself.



Available in both my Etsy and Folksy shops now or from me at any of my upcoming events.

Next event will be the Open Day at Gillies and Mackay, Errol. Perthshire.

I will be exhibiting my full range of items and demonstrating with the embellisher machine as well. Hope to see some of you there!



New For September

New cards are back in stock in both my Etsy and Folksy shops.

 

 

There are many designs to choose from including this new Apple Tree and Sheep design.

 



All cards are £2.50 each with a discount on the sets of  four or six.

 

 

Also new this week are these two landscape pieces.

They both come framed at £55

 



 

Although these pieces feature the same little cottage, the difference is in the background felt. I have added a lot more texture and different fibres into the landscape making each piece even more unique.

 



 

Both are available in my Etsy shop now.

 

I have also listed a few new boxes on Etsy.

This little box features beautiful purple Harris Tweed that I bought straight from the weavers shed on Lewis. It is such a gorgeous colour. I have complimented it with my own handmade felt in toning shades.

 

 

Also new are these two little sheep boxes.

 

 

 

All the wee boxes are £25 and can be found here.

 

 

And as the season turns, I thought I'd add a few more apple trees to the collection.

 

 

Sheep Pendants £20 including Gift Box