"russian doll button brooch"

some time ago i did a trade with incywincy for some of her lovely fabric covered buttons
{link to her shop on sidebar}
while supposedly making more owl brooches for my shops i got sidetracked and made this
multi-layered button embellished brooch instead!

i'm really pleased how it turned out
it's available in my shops now!

more owls are coming soon too!

my owl swap parcel came yesterday too but i haven't loaded the photo's yet
i'll try and add it tomorrow - lovely stuff!

***** OwL sWaP *****

i've been dying to blog about what i made for the owl swap organised by
MeridianAriel @ http://meridianariel.blogspot.com/
but i needed to wait until my swapee had received her parcel , it went to
Karalea @ http://karalea-karalea.blogspot.com/
in the USA
i'm always nervous when the swap is in transit
hoping it doesn't get lost or worse still that the swapee will be disappointed especially after seeing all the other fantastic owls being sent and received http://www.flickr.com/groups/970960@N24/ here
but it got there safely and Karalea said
"I absolutely LOVE it" - phew!!

here is what i sent to Karalea

a felt brooch - a pair of owl eye buttons & a owly greetings card

unfortunately i took my photo's in a bit of a hurry and most of them came out blurry these were the best of the bunch
i'm glad i take so many photo's of each item!

*******
here is another owl brooch which sold on Folksy yesterday


http://www.folksy.com/shops/maximumRABBITdesigns

i'm really enjoying making these fat owl brooches and so i will be making some more for the shops
do you think the bright coloured ones or the natural coloured ones look best?
I can't decide!

"real life" got in the way of crafting this week!

I've not got a lot of crafting done lately as i actually got some work last week , it will only be temporary but very welcome as i have had to put a total block on "unnecessary" spending.
Anyway as i've not been working lately i feel shattered now AND it's half-term this week so have to do much more entertaining than usual, so far this week i have done softplay {yawn} and we've built sandcastles in the sun on the beach, what a difference a few days makes, we were building snowmen less than a fortnight ago! Today we did the library with very very very overdue books thank goodness they were on my son's card, where we rented out a Tom Baker/Doctor Who dvd and came home and watched the whole thing whilst eating sweeties!

******
I was very pleased to be told {thanks crafter...oo}
that my "forget-me-not" brooch


had been featured on this blog

http://needlework.craftgossip.com/just-beautiful-needlework/2009/02/14/

{brooch is available in my shops!}

*****

there are loads more lovely things appearing in the crafter...oo comic relief shop
thanks to PennyDog for all her hard work
please see link in post below as everytime i try to add it i lose half my post!

*****
I hope all you parents with youngsters enjoy your half-term .

crafter...oo comic relief shop!

Kerry from PennyDog Jewellery has organized a crafter...oo shop on folksy to raise money for comic relief,
http://www.folksy.com/shops/CrafterooShop
all the items are donated by forum members and all the proceeds are going to the charity,
even the listing fees are being waived.
more items are being added daily so be sure to favourite the shop and keep checking out what treasures have been newly listed.

here's my first donation - i may well add more!

***EDIT***

THE BROOCH SOLD ALREADY!
I'M SO PLEASED, I WILL FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO ADD SOON!

*********

PennyDog jewellery

i recently did another trade - this time with Kerry from PennyDog Jewellery.
She wanted some plain tags cutting out for a new packaging idea she'd had and i just happen to have the right size die and a die-cutting machine so she offered to make me some pendants in return - i think i got the better deal - look what she made me - i provided two broken vintage glass buttons, a key charm and a tiny heart button.
i think they came out beautifully.

Kerry makes all sorts of lovely resin jewellery - i have stolen the images below from her flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/kerryw/{hope you don't mind Kerry!} - i love this tapemeasure bracelet and i have suggested a dressmaking pattern paper one would be fantastic

Kerry also takes commissions and recently made this lovely pendant as a memorial

not only does Kerry make all this fantastic jewellery available here http://www.penny-dog.co.uk/ and from etsy and folksy, she also blogs http://pennydog.wordpress.com/ and is writing her own resin tutorial book available to pre-order now!
phew . . . . slow down Kerry i can't keep up!

oh and i fogot to say that for every item of jewellery she sells
Kerry donates a £1 to the "retired greyhound trust"
what a star!

Crafter...oo - the thursday night project

here is my contribution to this weeks thursday night project on Crafter...oo
i've been feeling very "creative" lately and got some dressmaking patterns very cheap at the charity shop - i've been using them to make packaging{images on flickr} and brooches, i love the aged look to the tissue . . . . so many uses!

finished brooch - very inspired by hen'steeths http://www.hensteethart.blogspot.com/ recent brooches,
sorry for the very dull picture - i think i need to build a lightbox for my photo's .

***
more felt brooches in my folksy shop now!

"forget-me-not"

"heart in hand"

***
i recently did a trade with BigBlueBed, she has a shop on folksy http://www.folksy.com/users/BigBlueBed and sells beautiful handmade dorset buttons in really funky colours, knitwear, belts with vintage braid and buckles and lovely purses and bags,

funky buttons

cute purse

meridian ariel

look what came in the post for me!

my lovely friend meridian ariel sent me this beautiful microwavable lavender scented rice bag & a super cute bookmark both made with gorgeous japanese fabrics

and a sweet handmade matryoshka card


even the jiffy bag it came in was lovely
and decorated with "the button thief" - my favourite of Meri's illustrations

meri has a blog here
http://meridianariel.blogspot.com/
and an etsy shop of the same name
{for some strange reason today i keep losing this post and can't add links?}

**** tHaNk-YoU mEriDiAn you are a star! ****

yeah yeah another felt brooch
i'm sure you're all bored of them now but i sold this one and just wanted to show of the packaging!
Thank-you to Katy who bought it!