2020 Wall Calendar and Events for Autumn

My 2020 Calendar is now available! The calendar features a different image for each month with a whole calendar page to write on.

Some favourite images include the wee alpaca, Big Sand beach and new for December is a red squirrel with snow capped highland mountains in the background.

Available now on Etsy and Amazon

£12.50 including UK postage

Please place International orders using Etsy.

My first event for Autumn 2019 is Loch Ness Knit Fest in Inverness.

The marketplace for the festival takes place on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th October in Inverness Leisure Centre. 

The vendors list looks really exciting! 

You can buy tickets online here 

You can also find me at Pitcairngreen Village Hall Craft Fair on Saturday 26th October. This is a lovely little fair that I have been exhibiting at for the last 15 years! There is a small entrance fee but it includes tea, coffee and home baking.

Then on Sunday 17th November I'll be exhibiting at The Handmade Show in Perth Concert Hall. This is a fabulous annual event with lots of fantastic artists and makers exhibiting their work for sale.

 Free Entry too!

As usual I am busy making things for all these events while trying to keep my online shops stocked and send things out to stockists as well. Remember you can keep up with what's new on Instagram and Facebook.

♥

Moving into March

I always assume that I will have lots of time to play and experiment with new ideas throughout January and February but things have remained really busy here for me so far this year with commissioned pictures and requests for various other items.

 I'm trying my best to make plenty of original felt landscape pictures available but so far only have one up for sale.

Aubrieta Cottage came from inspiration gathered last summer. A cottage behind a wall that I saw on Kerrera combined with cascades of aubrieta along a wall I saw in Dunkeld. 

I have always loved the sight of aubrieta tumbling down a dry stone wall so here is my first attempt to depict it in felt.

Aubrieta Cottage

£85

Measures 19 x 21 cm and comes with 32.5 x 34 cm Mount, Wrapped in Cellophane

Available here

I took a mad notion to move my whole work space to a completely different part of the cottage last week. My efforts to contain my sprawling piles of felt and boxes of fibre, fabric, wool, tweed etc etc to one corner of our open plan kitchen/sitting room were in vain so I moved the lot to another room.

This room was originally a smiddy many moons ago but had already been converted into a spacious room before we moved in. We have used it as a sitting room in the summer in the past but as we had no summer to speak of last year, we just stayed through in the warm by the fire and hardly used this area so I've taken it over for now.

 

I must say I am loving having all this space! I've been working here for a week now and have even managed to keep it tidy.

The best thing is that the area I used to work in is so tidy now and I have my favourite windowsill back.

I have since hung a beautiful trailing ivy up here and rearranged the bits and pieces. I think it will change according to the season and what happens to be my favourite object at any given time.

 Another fantastic advantage of moving room is that I can now see right out into the garden and watch the birds at the feeders.

We have a pair of woodpeckers frequenting the nuts and hope that they will produce young ones as they did last year. They give me a little 7.15 am alarm call each morning with one drumming and the other responding. It's just so great to glance up and see their black and white plumage and that flash of red among the branches.

I bought these wee heart peg clips up in Perth at Whispers of The Past, a gift shop on George Street. This card is by Carolyn Saxby and won't be alone on the string for long as the 'to do' lists will be going up beside it!

This is not where I will be doing Open Studios North Fife from. I will move everything down to Ladybank for that weekend only. The premises I use in Ladybank is owned by family and I could use it all the time if I wanted to but I much prefer working from home. There is much more light and I like being able to work in the evenings as well as do other jobs around the house throughout the day 

This week also sees a batch of Sheep Brooches and Earrings going off to a new stockist in America! Lupine Blossoms Fiber Arts in Center Sandwich, New Hampshire already use my cards as Gift Certificates and one of my little felt landscapes as the business logo. 

It's lovely to have a stockist overseas and this little flock will be available there as of next week.

A new batch of stock will also be heading off to Room 15 in Oban soon but in the meantime you can find Sheep Jewellery and other items available in mt Etsy Shop

 The Notebooks, Sketchbooks and Prints are also available in my Folksy Shop

Guest checkout is available with Folksy and remember that I am always happy to send direct to the recipient if your item is a gift and will include a little card with a note from you at no extra cost.

 Notebooks £5.95 Sketchbooks £8.95

Sets of Six Cards £12

Small Prints £12

Brooches £12

Makers Market at The Steeple, Newburgh, Fife Saturday 9th June

You can find me and my work at

The Makers Market

The Steeple

Newburgh

Fife

Saturday 9th June 2012

10 - 4.30 pm

Hope to see you there!

I have been so busy making new work for this event and for stockists that I really have not had time to share anything new on the blog. Hoping to remedy that next week with some photos from our recent camping trip to the west coast. Thankfully we had beautiful weather unlike the constant driech we have had since we got back.

Here are a couple of snaps taken on Kerrera Island.

Tune in next week for a more detailed installment!

:)

The Handmade Show

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Craft Fair at Pitcairngreen Village Hall on Saturday. I think it was the busiest one ever! I certainly had a great day and really enjoyed meeting customers old and new.

I was up at 6.30 this morning making lists of everything I need to do this week in order to be ready for The Handmade Show this Sunday.

Sunday 6th November 2011

Perth Concert Hall

Mill Street 

Perth

11-5pm

Free Entry

I absolutely LOVE taking my work out to fairs and shows and because I don't do it every weekend I never get fed up with it and always get really excited about upcoming events.

The Handmade Show looks set to be an extravaganza of talented designer-makers from around Scotland and beyond with a wide range of arts and crafts on display. I have 'met' one of my fellow exhibitors via Facebook and I am really looking forward to meeting her and her work in real life.

Alison Moore hails from Orkney and brings with her a stunning array of individually handmade jewellery pieces made from copper and sterling silver.

I'll be back on here later in the week with photos of new things to tempt you along on Sunday.

Meanwhile if you are on Facebook, why not become a fan of the new Open Studios North Fife Facebook page. This will keep you up to date with local events that our participants are involved in throughout the year as well as updates on the main event as it draws nearer.

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

5.30am on the north east coast of Scotland.

The promise of a lovely sunny day.

We didn't spend all of our holiday sitting on wind swept beaches. Having children aged 6 and 13 can be quite a challenge on holiday as they both like doing different things. The beach is usually a good option for both but some days it's nice to go and find other things to do. 

Scotland is great for museums and places of interest.

While my husband took our daughter to the 'Tain Through Time Museum' in Tain, I took my son to visit an old friend of mine from college. 

Brodie Nairn and his partner Nicola Burns run the contemporary glass studio 'Glasstorm' in Tain.

It was great to catch up with Brodie again. We haven't seen each other in nearly 20 years!

My son and I were delighted to be able to watch Brodie at work and he explained to us about his latest commission pieces. 

You can follow this link to see some superb glass work and read more about the Glasstorm Studio.

I also met Fiona Byrne who works at Glasstorm. Fi makes her own glass jewellry and has an Etsy shop which you can visit here 

Below is one of my faves from her shop.

'Summer Anchor Pendant' by FiFi Loves Jewellery

Another highlight of the holiday was visiting the lovely village of Dornoch.

Lovely cottages in warm sandstone with beautiful gardens.

A castle on the main street which is now a hotel.

Ahh.... the relaxing scent of summer roses.

And where did this inviting door lead to?

 

 A peaceful and enchanting walled garden.

It was so nice to just amble around and wander in and out of some lovely shops.

Since we got back from holiday I have been busy making small framed felt landscapes and felt bookmarks for Room 15 in Oban.

Today would have been a good day to be in Oban. They set the World Record for the longest 'Strip The Willow' ceilidh dance this afternoon! Some german tourists apparently thought they were going to witness some nudity!

I have also had a couple of orders for 'Highland Coo' pictures.

Not difficult to find the inspiration with a whole herd living next door.

I went out to lock the shed the other night and heard lots of munching and snuffling going on behind the hedge.

I turned round to see this little cutie peeking through.

Just look at the length of those lashes!

It's easy to order something from me. Just send me an email telling me what you are looking for and we can work out something unique to suit your budget.

aileenclarkecrafts@tiscali.co.uk

'Wee Chubby Coo'

SOLD but you can order similar.

Last but not least on my list of things to share is that despite the dreadfully wet weather we've had for the last while, it dried up enough to go out picking flowers this evening.

These are all from our garden or the verges beside the farm track.

Can't wait for the honeysuckle to come out and fill the house with it's heavenly scent. I also can't wait for the sun to come out again....maybe tomorrow?

Snowed In

I have to say that we are thoroughly enjoying the deep snow that has fallen over our part of the world over the last week or so.
Last Wednesday we got officially snowed in with both roads in and out of our pocket of Fife blocked and iced over. There was nothing to be done except stoke up the wood burner, rustle up a pot of soup and go for a lovely walk in what felt like a different world.

Our Cottage.

The View East.

Hazy Sun on the Horizon.

Spanish Oak on the Lane.

And just when we thought we couldn't get any more snow......we got another four inches last night and woke up to this today.

Rowan Tree

The Rowan tree above is where I hang the bird feeders and it is a hive of activity at the moment. There are robins, sparrows, great tits, blue tits, dunnocks, black birds, bullfinch, wrens and a woodpecker having a real feeding frenzy out there. I was shocked to see a Sparrow Hawk swoop in the other day and pin down a wee birdie but it escaped unharmed. We also had a family of long tailed tits for a while last year and there are a pair of Jays that make an appearance every so often.
It's a wonderful place to live and a real inspiration for my felted landscapes.

I haven't been able to get to the studio over the past week but I'm hoping to be there on Thursday the 31st Dec. So if you are passing please pop in between 10 and 4. I'll be working on some new felt landscapes and I also have a new toy to play with. It's an inflatable ball for making felt vessels. I'm very excited to try it out. It looks for all the world like a bouncy foot ball made out of bubble gum! Photos to follow.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the winter holidays as much as we are.