Half Price SALE!

My End of Year Half Price SALE is now on!

Mostly pendants and earrings, some seconds and some end of line, all half price.

Pendants were £26 now £13

Earrings were £18 now £9

I have included a couple of cushions that were £40 now £20

 and one canvas print that was £30 now £15

Sale runs until end of January. There are 70 items still available. Click here to view.

I'll be back in the New Year with updates on new work and previews of what I will be taking to Edinburgh Yarn Festival this year. It's going to be a busy 2018! 

Wishing everyone all the best x

December Update with Lots of Gift Ideas

Well, that's all my craft fairs and events over for 2017 and what a fantastic time I had taking my wares out and about! 

I had to expand my stall at a few of the fairs I did as I struggle to fit everything on a 6ft table now.

Below was my stall 'In The Loft' at Ardross Farm Shop on the last weekend of November. I thoroughly enjoyed being back here near Elie. Although it was an exceptionally cold weekend, lots of people turned out for the fair and the fellow artists and makers were great fun.

This month I have been making as much of my work available online as I can. Lots of photos taken and edited! My Etsy shop is stocked right up with lots of lovely gift ideas.

My lens cloths are back in stock with two new designs added.

Hare Among The Wildflowers and Drying Day at The Bothy.

At £3.50 each these make a great little gift or a treat for yourself.

I also have some new canvas prints in. Light weight and easy to post. 

All these ones measure 20 x 20 cm at £20. 

I had a few seascapes printed as well. 

I think these two go particularly well together.

 20 x 30 cm

£30

and I have a few larger ones at 35 x 35 cm 

£40.

My tea towels also make a great gift, easy to post.

£10 each, machine washable at 40ºc. I washed and ironed one just to make sure and it came out beautifully.

My little keepsake boxes have been flying off all over the world and I only have one left in this size and a couple of smaller ones at the moment.

7 x 7 x 7 cm 

£35

I'll need to make more background felt and get some more made this week or next.

I have lots of pendants and earrings available in various shops and galleries including Silver Linings in Perth, The Atholl Gallery in Dunkeld, The Rowan Tree in Falkland and Maisie and Mac in Cupar.

I am doing my best to keep my Etsy shop stocked up with them as well with more earrings being added today. 

Pendants £26, Earrings £18

I love making my leaf and bird brooches and have quite a few listed. 

Brooches £12

My next event will be Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March! It's a three day event this time from Thursday 15th to Saturday 17th March at Edinburgh Corn Exchange. The social space is being expanded and with the market place running for three days, it's set to be even bigger and better!

The Exhibitor list is available to browse on the EYF website here

 I am so excited to be there again in 2018! This is such a vibrant and inspiring event and I am already planning my wares and thinking about how best to layout my stand.

If you are planning to attend, it is best to sign up to the EYF mailing list as important ticket info is sent out in January.

I will also be taking part in Open Studios North Fife in May 2018. 

That seems like a long way away but these things have to be planned well in advance and you can take a sneaky peek at the participants list on the OSNF website here . It's quite handy having a name that starts with A. It often puts me at the top of the list! 

I'll leave you with this photo I took in Anstruther last week on a rare day off. I'm very much looking forward to some time off over the holidays, a chance to gather inspiration and recharge in readiness for a busy 2018!

New Tea Towels Now In!

I'm very excited to finally have my new Aileen Clarke Tea Towels in stock! I started the process for this idea on September 1st. I have wanted to have them made for years and finally found a UK company to work with.

The original artwork was made using traditional felt making techniques including needle felting with hand stitching and embroidered details. The image has then been professionally printed onto 100% cotton.

Measures 48 x 80 cm 18 x 31 inches. Machine washable at 30°

£10.50 plus p+p

I have them neatly wrapped in cellophane sleeves ready to ship. Makes a great gift and can even be framed!

The tea towels are available on Etsy here or from me at my upcoming events.

I will be at Perth Concert Hall on Sunday 19th November.

And on

Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th November - The Loft at Ardross Farm Shop, Elie, East Neuk of Fife - 9 - 5 pm Free Entry

I'll be very busy over the next two weeks making stock for these events. Other new printed items include these two coo cushions.

Cushions £40

I also have some bags with a few different designs on them. They are polyester and fold away into a pocket or handbag. Make great project bags too!

Bag £19.95

This week has been spent making lots of keepsake boxes in various sizes.

Harris Tweed and Felt Keepsake Box

£45

£35

I also have lots of my textile and resin jewellery available both online and from me at the events mentioned above.

You can also find this jewellery in The Rowan Tree gift shop in Falkland, Maisie and Mac in Cupar, The Atholl Gallery in Dunkeld and Hecla Gallery at Cockenzie House and Gardens.

Upcoming Events for October and November 2017

Events season is upon us and you can find me and my work at the following places; 

Saturday 21st October 2017 Pitcairngreen Village Hall Craft Fair. Pitcairngreen, by Almondbank, Perth. PH13LR 

There is a small entrance fee which includes tea, coffee and cake.

Saturday 4th November 2017 Falkland Craft Market, Falkland Community Hall, Back Wynd, Falkland 10 - 4 pm Free Entry

Sunday 19th November 2017 The Handmade Show, Perth Concert Hall, Mill Street, Perth, Scotland, PH1 5HZ 10.30 - 4.30 pm Free Entry

Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th November - The Loft at Ardross Farm Shop, Elie, East Neuk of Fife, KY9 1EU, - 9 - 5 pm Free Entry

I had a very successful day at Falkland on October the 7th and look forward to taking my wares to all the events above.

New this month are these merino and silk felt ivy leaf brooches. The brooch pins on them are extra long, making them useful as shawl or scarf pins as well.

Brooches £12

Harris Tweed Bird Brooch 

£12

I got into making some green felt using my embellisher machine last week. I have included lots of Shetland fibres as well as green sari silk. This technique produces lots of lovely texture. I then used the felt to make these sheep brooches and keepsake boxes.

Felt Sheep Brooches £18

7 x 7 x 7 cm box £35

The fabric for the sides of these boxes came from Kingcraig Fabrics in Brora. I bought the fabrics to line my boxes but decided they were too nice to be hidden away on the inside all the time.

5 x 5 x 5 cm box £30 

I also made some new Dragonfly Pendants in vibrant blues and purples

Pendants £26

I bought some new fibres to play with while I was at Perth Festival of Yarn. Took me weeks to get around to using any of it! The first piece to emerge was this little cottage picture. I used fibres from a beautiful batt bought from Blue Moon Indigo. It had really subtle strands of pink through it and I added a hint of yellow and green to give a subtle rainbow effect in the sky. The end piece turned out to be quite bold in colour with the purple hills and bright red roof and as it's slightly bigger than my usual pictures, it really 'pops' and makes a cheery splash of colour on the wall. 

Red Roofed Cottage by The Sea

20 x 20 cm in a 36 x 36 cm frame

£125

Lastly I have been working on quite a big piece that I am having printed up as tea towels. They should be available in the next two weeks but in the meantime, I have had the image reproduced as a canvas. It's a great size at 38 x 61 cm and can be hung on the wall as is ir be framed. I don't supply the frames but your local framer should be able to do this no problem.

Cottage, Cow and Cove Canvas Print

£85

I look forward to seeing some you over the next few weeks. 

❤

A Hint of Autumn in the Air

Living in rural north Fife, surrounded by barley, wheat and oat fields, it is impossible not to notice the transition from summer to autumn as the fields turn gold, the harvest is cut and bales start to dot the landscape.

Our roadsides and hedgerows are abundant with rosebay willow herb and every year the contrast of cerise pink against the colour of the ripened crops captures my imagination. 

This year I just had to have a go at including some hay bales in one of my needle felted pictures.

This is loosely based on a scene I see every day on my walk around our area. There is a riot of willowheb and grasses growing up around a dry stone wall with a wee cottage away in the distance. 

After needle felting the hay bales, I built up the flowers and grasses using machine stitch and embroidery.

The finished piece. 

Barley Field Cottage 22 x 22 cm in a 39 x 39 cm frame 

£155

Some autumnal colours made their way into some of my felt sheep jewellery this month as well. 

Sheep Pendants £24

Brooches £18

New to the Aileen Clarke Crafts range of gift items are these high gloss, super cute Fridge Magnets. 

They measure 5 x 5 cm and make a great little gift or treat for yourself.

I also had these Lens/Screen Cloths produced using my designs and they are just the best thing for cleaning your phone or tablet screen as well as making your glasses sparkle!

Lens / Screen Cloths £2.95

They come packaged on card in cellophane making them a perfect little present and light weight to post.

Also new this month are these fabulous bags! They measure 40 x 50 cm and fold away easily into a hand bag. They are really strong and washable. These are not in my Etsy shop yet but will be coming with me to Perth Festival of Yarn on Sunday 10th September.

It is advisable to buy tickets online for the festival as only a limited number will be available at the door and it's first come, first served. 

https://perthfestivalofyarn.uk/

I'm really looking forward to the day, not only selling my wares but meeting up with friends only and new and seeing what all the other vendors have to offer.

I have been playing around with a bit of crochet over the summer. I'm just making it up as I go along and it's just for fun, not for selling.

Not sure if this idea is really working or not. I taught myself how to make the crochet flowers and thought I'd add them as a row onto this shawl. They are only tied on at the moment but I'd like to figure out how to make them more secure and carry on crocheting, making them a part of the shawl or maybe I should leave them as a trim. Or maybe I should have made them less three dimensional. 

It's fun to experiment and learn as I go.

♥