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

A Long Weekend at Findhorn and Some New Makes

We're very lucky to have friends with a static caravan at Findhorn Sands and have been invited to stay quite a few times now. It's such a relaxing place with the endless beach and quaint harbour area that on a nice day we just stay put and potter about between the two.

The weather was not great on this visit but it made for some interesting skies.

And a rainbow is always nice, especially when reflected in the bay.

Despite the low temperatures and heavy showers, we still enjoyed a sunset. Could have done with some gloves though! I'm really pleased that we managed to camp and spend two nights in our tent. I thought that maybe last year's holiday cottage for our main summer holiday had spoiled us forever but I still love my tent! Looking forward to using it again in a few months time.

We stayed another two nights in the caravan which was great fun with 4 children......I fell asleep the minute I got home to my own bed! haha

On Monday we went to visit Logie Steading near Forres. I've been keeping up with Diva Designs for years online but hadn't met them in person or been to their studio before.

What a beautiful place! It was lovely to see their felt work up close and to chat with Kirsty. 

Hellygog next door were having their grand opening day. Artists Jude and Steve make a variety of wall art and textile pieces and also stock local handmade gifts. Very child friendly and welcoming. 

Within the Steading there is a lovely cafe, bookshop, whisky/wine shop and art gallery and across the road is a really nice park for children. There are also river walks which I would have loved to explore but the weather was against us.

Kirsty let me raid her stash and I also treated myself to a little felt flower kit.

All these years that I have been making felt and I have never tried making a flower! 

This was my first attempt.

The individual layers are like little petunias.

I tried a second one with some shaped petals and the petunia on top. The colour combinations and textural possibilities are endless! They are quite time consuming to make though.

An alternative way to wear it would be as a necklace. I had some space dyed pencil rovings that I quickly felted to make the cord. 

I'll enjoy wearing these myself and might make some for my next fair at Falkland on Saturday 11th July.

What I will be working on this week are these new long rectangular pendants below. They measure 2.7 x 5.2 cm and come with a lovely 18 inch chain that has an extender making it wearable up to 21 inches.

I'll be making them in various colours with square earrings to match.

Last week I added lots of new Felted Sheep Jewellery to my Etsy shop as well as some felt leaf brooches. 

I'm expecting a delivery of new printed cards and mouse mats this week as well as my 2016 Calendar possibly next week. I know, I know, it's only June but I have to be organised with these things. Having it all ordered already leaves me free to make new things :)

May Update

I thoroughly enjoyed having a stall at the Outlander UK Gathering at Creiff Hydro on Saturday last. 

Over 200 fans of the Diana Gabaldon Outlander books and TV series gathered to enjoy a weekend of tours, talks, craft fayre, traditional music and song, Ceilidh and much more. I met so many lovely people from all over the US, Canada, New Zealand and Scandinavia as well as the UK. The Craft Fayre on Saturday morning was held in the Melville Hall at Creiff Hydro and as well as a fascinating array of Scottish arts and crafts there were demonstrations on waulking the cloth, traditional dressmakers and even a herbalist sharing her knowledge. I was really busy and didn't get a chance to see everything that was going on but there was a great atmosphere and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

A massive thank you to Tina for inviting me and to Yvonne from Tartan Bodice Creations for recommending me and of course to all the lovely people who made purchases on the day!

My next event isn't until July 11th at Falkland Craft Market so I have made everything that I have in stock available to buy online.

'Pink Thistle Bothy'

Outer edge of frame measures 50 x 50 cm

£285

These four pictures are all felt originals, photographed here with their glazing in place so apologies for the slight reflections. The frames on all these pictures are sturdy but light weight and easy to post.

'Sheets On The Line'

Outer edge of Frame 30 x 50 cm

£185

'Cnoc Bua Bothy'

Outer edge of frame 30 x 30 cm

£95

'Fianach Bothy'

Outer edge of frame 30 x 30 cm

£95

I also have these cute little cushions available. They measure 30 x 30 cm and the image is printed onto suede effect fabric which retains the lovely tactile soft feel of felt. The cushion covers are removable and washable with a little zipper along the bottom edge.

Cushions £28

I still have two of the larger cushions available as well.

Cushions 45 x 45 cm

£38

My Etsy Shop is also stuffed full of Pendants and Earrings. I only have two bracelets and two rings left at the moment but both have been listed.

Bracelets £20

Rings £18

Pendants £24

 

Earrings £18

Some of the earrings feature Anne Miller's fabulous handmade ear wires. All my earrings are on sterling silver ear wires but Anne's wires offer something a little bit different.

Felt Heart Pendant 

£24

I have just one of these large felt heart pendants available in this lovely summery turquoise. I wear one of these myself and it looks great on. Not as big as it looks. You can see it on my model 'Tabitha' below. You can also see 'Pink Thistle Bothy' on the wall which gives an idea of size.

Tabitha is also wearing this felt ivy leaf brooch below. These brooches are great for keeping cardigans closed at the front.

Felt Ivy Leaf Brooch

£12

I've made lots of treble clef brooches in lots of different colours including this rainbow one and a lovely navy for a change.

Treble Clef Brooches

£12

You can find all this and more in my online shop here

If you have any enquiries please feel free to get in touch at aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com

❤

A Peek Into Venue 28 during Open Studios North Fife

I can hardly believe that Open Studios North Fife is over for another year. 

If you missed it or were too far away to visit, here are some photos of my venue.

The place I have been using in Ladybank was taken over and renovated by Gillian MacIntosh of Kingdom Osteopaths last year. Gillian has made a fabulous job of redesigning the space and very generously took some days off and left me three empty rooms to exhibit in.

I transformed the main room into a display area with sales desk where visitors could browse my whole range of items and purchase if they wanted to.

The newly painted walls in a pale sage were a perfect backdrop and complimented the colours I use in my work perfectly.

An inner wall and door have been removed letting so much more light into the room.

Having such a wide range of printed goods really adds colour to the display.

My sets of four coasters were a big hit with visitors this year.

Both my big felted pictures on the wall above are away to happy new homes.

We always try to give people a nice place to sit and have a cup of tea if they have been to lots of studios and are feeling a bit tired.

Gillian's waiting room was easy to make cosy with some artwork and flowers and the shelves filled with lots of colourful items.

My new cushions nearly sold out!

Of course Open Studios is not all about selling. It's about letting people see into our creative spaces and explain a little about the processes that go into what we produce.

I always try to recreate my work space by bringing as much as I can down to the venue for the weekend.

 This year I did a bit of demonstrating with the embellisher machine and was able to show how wet felt is made as well.

Some of the materials I use in my work.

Fibres laid out ready to be wet felted.

A little shelving area with some bits and bobs and gifts from other makers. 

I find glass jars so useful for keeping oddments of wool in. You can find the scraps easily plus they add a splash of colour.

It has been a big job taking everything back home again and setting up my work space ready to start again. It's all looking spick and span though and I am raring to go!

Today had to be spent restocking my online shop. Lots of new things have been added.

You can browse my shop here

If you are new to shopping with me and have any problems, please feel free to get in touch at aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com

I'm looking forward to May and June being slightly less busy than March and April. It was a bit of a marathon jumping from one event to the next and having to make so much stock in between. I have plenty to be getting on with though and will keep you up to date with what's new on here, on Facebook and on Instagram.

Thank you very much to all of you who came along at the weekend. Your support for the event is much appreciated ❤