Ace of Spades

My mum liked to dress us kids up in fancy dress in the 70's. Here I am as the Ace of Spades on a carnival float - I was feeling the love from everyone.

Wendy House

Hi - I guess I always wanted my own sweet little home to get lost in and now I've got one :) This is me as a 70's child in my well loved Wendy House where I remember feeling very safe and secure.

Colourful day!

Colour makes me a very happy person and I just found this blue scarf that my friend Vici bought for me when I was at university - so I thought I'd let you see just how it makes me feel ;)





A few weeks ago I went to the village fete on The Moor in Sheffield. Here are some beautiful pictures from the day - the Women's Institute had a stall with cakes and Craft Candy's very own Sarah Waterhouse was on hand to help out. There are also some lovely artist's displays in empty shops on The Moor in Sheffield at the moment - check them out!!

x

Why the big gap?

Hi everyone - nice to be back. I've had a crazy few weeks a bit up and down - my little doggy Cassie passed away so I was so sad. But my friends and family have been coming around to cheer me up - thanks very much. Plus someone crashed into my car on Halloween - remind me not to go out on that night next year!! So I'm still off work with my injuries. Luckily I've got MTV to sing along to which has brought me back if I've been getting a bit down. The good news is that I can still use my old e-mail account through Sky - so no phasing out of my e-mails is necessary after all :)

Here are some awaited photo's - note one of my A5 cards framed xx






I also discovered some of my old vinyl records - one of which is this cheeky Madonna L P. Just a pity I don't have a record player anymore. I was a huge Madonna fan in the 80's and I prefer her old stuff to the songs she brings out at the moment.



Here's me in a dreamy mood today :)

Update

Hi I am still alive (ha ha) but I have been doing lots of paperwork to do with moving house and organising everything at my new home hence the lack of posts. Sky are fitting my phone line on Tuesday - so up to 15 days after that I will have an internet connection which will mean more regular updating again. (Still using the internet at my dad's at the moment.) Please still currently use googlemail and my contact form to get in touch.

If you haven't received a reply to any BT macmails you have sent to me from 10th October onwards this is because it is not currently receiving all mails and I will now be phasing that e-mail out over the next 17 days. I will notify all of my current contacts of my new e-mail individually when I get my Sky internet connection.

Pic's to come soon :D

x

My new home :D

Hi everyone just a quick update to let you know that I have finally moved into my new apartment. It went pretty smoothly but I finished packing and lifted/unpacked boxes from 9am - 10pm on Sunday!! Exhausting stuff :) I'll try and take a picture of inside my new place tonight.

I've realised that the things I had squashed into my little room at my dad's house actually nearly fill my new bedroom and studio. So all I need to buy for the studio is a large table and chairs to do my work on.

If you are trying to contact me over the next few weeks it will be best to fill in my contact form or use my link to googlemail (both are in the left hand column.) I can use the internet at my dad's house to access these.

My BT macmail is not fully accessible until Sky fit my phoneline (which will take 2 weeks from me moving in)and then give me access to the internet (which could take 15 days from then.) I am told that this is standard practice.

x

Craft Candy Mini's

Craft Candy is holding a marvellous new fun craft fair (Craft Candy Minis) at Bungalows and Bears on Saturday 10th October.

Bungalows and Bears is a bar located on the bustling Division Street in Sheffield City Centre and the fair will run from 2 to 6pm. So go along and support your local crafters!!

Lucia has organised 10 stalls of fantastic contemporary handmade goodies at this fair and the event is free to the public. There will be jewellery, accessories, homewares and up-cycled goodies to get your mits on. I don't have a stall there this month but might in the future :D

La Boheme

Ahh last night was sweet indeed!! I went to see my dad perform in the chorus of
Sheffield City Opera's latest opera Puccini's La Boheme Bravo dad!! My dad has been rehearsing every night for nearly a week prior to the performances from 30th September 2009 to 3rd October 2009 at Sheffield University Drama Studio.



© Photograph Copyright Event Sheffield 2009

The cast includes Nick Sales as Rodolfo, Andrea Tweedale as Mimi and John Savournin as Marcello, with SCO Principals, Chorus and Orchestra. I'm not surprised that these lovely people were chosen as they are outstanding along with Elizabeth Menezes as Musetta. So inspiring!!

Candy Cane Christmas Extravaganza!!

How pleased am I? Very is the answer - I got a stall with my favourite crafty girls (and now some boys) at Craft Candy's next big Craft Fair
Candy Cane at The Workstation in Sheffield on Saturday 28th November 2009.




The fair is also there on Sunday 29th November where I won't have a stall but I will hopefully be visiting to see the other stalls :D

Keep looking for more updates!! Don't you just love the posters? - they are designed by Kate Sutton who creates all of the crafty logos for us girls and boys!!

I love my new home :D

OK - so it's official - I love my new home!! I've got the moving date sorted and will be in by 12th October. Got to get used to budgeting more again - pooh :( . I've lived with my dad, youngest bro' and sis' for the last 5 years so it's a big change!
If you've got one of my business cards my business P O Box address will remain the same :D

My dad is selling our house next year to buy a small one now he's retired so I'm saying goodbye to the last 5 years and 6 other years when I lived here as a teenager with these guys and my mum and second born bro' who have both since passed away. I was so sad when I found out that I had to move that I bought this little 'Lola' pocket mirror from
Matilou which reflected how I felt at the time.



I'm hiring a man and a van and my considerate brother to help me move!! Got a few cardboard boxes to carry things in - packed my first one last week. I need to call at supermarket and beg for some more and pack everything else next week!!

I'll let you know how it goes :D xx

This is Bazaar!

Here's a quick post to advertise 'This is Bazaar' - a small craft fair at the fresher's fair at Derby University tomorrow. East Midlands based designers will have a stall there including Apple Strudel textiles so if you're in the area go along and check out some beautiful craft stalls. Unfortunately I won't be visiting as I am sorting out things for my new home.

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair

Here's a plug for the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in Manchester. I went last year and thoroughly enjoyed it - especially the textiles. Last year I spoke to many designers about their work including Teresa Green, Alice Kettle and Hannah Nunn. My textile design agent Susan Kane of Calico Angel won an award for best stall!! This year Teresa Green and Hannah Nunn are back again - there's also Rachel Howard, Ellie Evans, Louise Gardiner and Derbyshire's Claire Gage!!

Today Visit The Woolfest in Sheffield - Wow!!

Just a quick post as I'm off to Leeds this morning to take my sister to see one of her favourite
bands :D

If you'd like to see a textile extravaganza - get down to St Mary's Church Hall in Walkley Sheffield . There is a craft fair in the hall which continues into a large room upstairs where you will find Craft Candy has a stall.

Photo's in order below - My work, Vyctoria's work, Sarah's fabrics, Leah and her jewellery, Sarah and Leah and finally a pic' of me - eyes closed!!





Myself, Sarah, Vyctoria and Leah from Craft Candy have some work on the stall. I was there yesterday morning with Sarah, Leah and Vyctoria and we met lots of lovely people who admired and bought our work. Great to chat to you all!!







Kati will be there today - so go and say hello! The fair is to raise funds for a new church roof and there is a raffle for Bluebell Wood in the church. For more pics see Craft Candy's Flickr account

What else have I been up to?

Well on the 12th September I spent a couple of hours at the The Wirksworth Festival where the houses on the main street are turned into artist's galleries for the weekend and the town hall and church halls are transformed into maker's markets.

I purchased two small prints from Anne Menary's 'Time Traveller' collection (pic's to come this evening). It was nice to see Anne and her work again - beautifully stitched and collaged artworks.

I also bought 2 badges and a postcard from Apple Strudel who are Reimara and Regina. These two lovely ladies studied for an MA Textile Design at Derby University at the same time as I was doing my BA Textile Design and it was a pleasure to see them again. This was their first craft fair - although I would never have guessed as their stall was amazing!! Below is a picture of one of their 'deer' badges and their delicious printed lampshades, purses and 'pets in pants'.


Wow - it's the first time that I have been and I loved it!! I would definitely recommend it for next year. Other makers that I know who were there included Dierdre and Claire Gage from Created gallery in Derbyshire. Unfortunately we weren't there long enough to see them as my sister wanted to go to Meadowhall. I was going to be having an exhibition at Created this October but due to me moving house I had to cancel and it will now be held next year - more details to come.

I also met Ella Louise Designs who prints delicately textured scarves. Ella had previously had a stall at the Craft Candy Spring Fling Fair.

It's been a long time :D

Hi - you may have been wondering what's happened to my blog posts? Well I've been trying to find a new place to live and it's taken most of my time over the last couple of weeks. I've finally found a lovely apartment to rent so I've been sorting out everything for when I move.

When I had recovered from being ill last month I bought 3 things to cheer myself up - the Magic Alice bracelet that you've already seen and two bright and beautiful prints that I am thinking that I will put up in the 'Candy' themed design studio of my new home :D. I think that the prints speak for themselves :)

The first one is 'Candyland' - a print by Lucy Lettice below.



The second is the bright pink print 'Tweet Tooth' by Boopsie Daisy

Missy from Boopsie Daisy also very kindly sent me four mini prints too to help me chase the last of the sickies away and they definitely did cheer me up - aren't they sweet? Including the first one below - which is 'Sickly Sweet' and the second is 'Band Aid Kitty' .Thanks so much Missy and Lucy!!

Astraea - you got the cards!!

Well done Astraea - I printed out all the names of the people who entered my Bank Holiday Giveaway and folded them up. My dad then drew out a name from 'the hat' and Astraea's name came out :D . Thank you to everyone who entered the draw and I'm sorry that there could only be one winner. Please do try again next time I have a giveaway :)

Astraea - please could you send me your address details on my contact form in the left hand column? I can then send you the cards below that have been waiting on my table until today to be posted.

Renishaw Hall

I had a short walk today around the floral gardens at Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire. It made me feel really relaxed and contemplative as I took numerous photographs - some of which are here. It was beautiful to see the palette of colours that the flowers provided and the fountain, which as I got closer gave me a refreshing blast of fine water on my face. Ahh - it's nice to be out in nature again. I have always been a nature/countryside person as it feels great for me to be out in the elements.









When I was a young child my mother (who has passed and is now my angel) would send us 'out to play' a lot to get out from under her feet and I loved exploring the area where I lived with my friends and two brothers (this was before my sister was born). I spent most of my primary school years in rose gardens, fields, trees, dens, woods, country parks and playgrounds when not at school. I also had a friend whose garden was an orchard and we would pick apples and push each other on her swing. We would also go blackberry picking quite a lot and eat them which gave us a tummy ache.

I have been thinking lately that I would like to do some designs inspired by my childhood memories - so I'll let you know how those ideas develop over the next few months :D

x

Crocodile

Hi - only six hours left to enter my bank holiday draw - follow post Bank Holiday Giveaway to enter.

One lucky winner will receive 4 x A6 Indian inspired cards. I will also throw in my newest card taken from my first ever gouache painting that I did on a textile design placement at Skopos in Dewsbury whilst I was at university. (pic's below) The crocodile cards are now available at The Bessemer Gallery, Sheffield.


















This crocodile card will be available to buy on Etsy soon :D xx

Charley Dreams

Another freelance illustrator and textile designer that definitely caught my eye at Candyfloss was Charley Dreams aka Charlotte Holman. Charley has created design work for high street retailers such as Top Shop and Monsoon/Accessorize. She now also has her own Etsy shop at www.charleydreams.etsy.com. The way that Charley dresses truly reflects her unique design work and fun bright patterns. (see below for yourself - Doozer, Fairy Angel and Woodland Girl :D)





l

Magic Alice

You know when you've been ill and you need something to cheer you up, well I bought 3 things which I think that I deserve and here's one of them. A 'Rainbow' bracelet from Magic Alice which arrived in the post this morning.

I think that I initially found Jen who designs the jewellery through the New Designers Online website.
It arrived beautifully wrapped with a pretty badge (in the centre of the pic') and a playing card - a nod to Alice in Wonderland - magic :D I can't wait to wear it!! Here it is shown on my purple velvet pashmina that I created for my degree exhibition. I used devore to print the elephant and expandtex to print the turquoise motif.

Julia's win!

This is my 20x16" Limited Edition print that Julia from Hand Knitted Things chose as her gift as winner of my last print giveaway "Back to resting."




My current giveaway (also featured on Julia's blog) to win a set of my 4 new graduate collection cards is still open until this Sunday 6th September. Just leave a comment at Bank Holiday Giveaway to have a chance of winning :D . I will choose a winner at random on the evening of Sunday 6th.

Good luck xx

Candyfloss Report

OK so here's my long awaited report on how the Craft Candy 'Candyfloss' craft fair went on 18th July 2009. Well it seems like a good day was had by all with over 900 people attending The Millenium Gallery in Sheffield. It's always exciting setting up the stall after preparing really hard for the event. I was in a great position opposite Fine City Friends from Norwich, whose illustration work is very cute and individual (below) :D



There was lots of very colourful original work on display and it's great to chat to other makers and share our experiences. Visitors really seemed to enjoy themselves and I sold lots of my cards and had orders for prints after the fair - which is great!!
So thank you to everyone who came along :D

I am an active member of Craft Candy and it's a friendly, welcoming group determined to raise the profile of contemporary craft in Sheffield.

We have some talented members who use 2D visual imagery in their work including Sarah Waterhouse who is one of the founding members and group organiser of Craft Candy. Sarah is a sewing, craft and printing enthusiast who enjoys everything kitsch and retro. She has just got her own lovely studio to screen print her distinctive textile designs and makes lots of textile goodies from them including purses, glasses cases (below) and cuddly pugs - oh how I want one of those cuties :)



Janine of Dilys Treacle Treasures (below) creates wonderful stitched illustrations which she turns into greetings cards, mini prints and canvasses. I've already purchased some of Janine's cutie badges and I've got my eye on her butterfly card. I had the pleasure of seeing one of Janine's stunning original designs at the fair and lots of hard work goes into them. Janine won best stall at 'The Spring Fling' (picture copyright Sarah Cole photography 2009).









Phantoms Siren is the alter ego of Vyctoria - who is a multi media artist with excellent illustration skills (artwork below). Vyctoria has recently started selling cards of her imaginative original artwork including signs of the zodiac (which would make great birthday cards), Steampunk and Art Nouveau cards. 'Candyfloss' was Vyctoria's first stall with Craft Candy and it looked great :D
I first met Vyctoria at Joey's origami workshop and she helped me figure out where I had gone wrong with the folds on the paper a few times :)







Left- Gorgon by Phantoms Siren.

More Candyfloss stallholders to come!!

x

Happy Birthday to my dad!!

My lovely dad is 67 years old today - Happy Birthday!! Since retiring he has taken up keyboard, opera, tai chi, music theory - the list goes on. He certainly knows how to keep himself happy :)

We celebrated tonight by going out for a meal as a family :D.

Also as a treat my sister and I went shopping the day before and bought a vintage inspired cake stand and some strawberry and lemon cupcakes - which we decorated with 'Happy Birthday' candles. We just thought that we'd try something a bit different to a birthday cake :)

Bank Holiday Giveaway!!

Happy Bank Holiday!! One lucky person will win a set of 1 of each of my 4 new A6 Indian Graduate collection cards. To enter leave me a comment below.
I'll draw a winner at the end of this week on Sunday 6th September - so you've got another 6 days to enter. Look forward to hearing from you.

Also Happy Birthday to my friend's little girl who is 2 today :D

Below is one of the cards from the set. See Etsy to the left for my other cards :)





x

Hello again :D

I'm back - thanks for all your kind words and love :D

Well I really enjoyed my holiday a couple of weeks ago - I spent my time walking around Newquay, St Ives, the beach, an indoor market and the zoo- where my favourite animal was the zebra below :D .



I had a lot of time to read and relax with my sister and dad which was great. We stayed in a caravan and did a lot of goofing around - much needed :D

I literally fell for The Driftwood Gallery in Newquay (below) when I sprained my ankle entering the gallery.



Luckily on hand were the gallery owner who came to my rescue with frozen peas and a female and male member of staff - who was a handsome, intelligent lifeguard trained in first aid (right place right time) who kept me entertained until my dad rolled up to take me to get it checked out. Cue 2 days of resting and reading - but no big problem. That aside you really should visit the gallery - it's got some fabulous paintings including some Banksy prints if I remember correctly :D

I took the two purchases that I made at Candyfloss with me. A lovely turquoise cushion that Julia from Hand Knitted Things bought in for me when she visited my stall. www.handknittedthings.co.uk





I also took my Lili Draws Pictures hippo purse that I've wanted to buy for a while now from Kay at LiliDrawsPictures- I love it :D








Send some hearts to our beautiful little border cross doggy 'Cassie' who had an operation to remove a big (possibly cancerous) lump on her side on Friday. (she's 17 years old ) We're all nursing her at the moment and she looks so weak. She's getting lots of cuddles and we're waiting to get the results of the operation :D

x

Poor me

I had a lovely holiday in Cornwall last week. Unfortunately on my return from my holiday I became ill and I need to stay in bed for a few days so hopefully I will be back again next week. I will answer any e-mails, messages etc next week :D



Beach at St Ives - beautiful :D

x

Holiday!

I am now on holiday until 25th August - so any comments / messages etc I will answer on my return as I will not have access to a computer :)

Louise
x

Well done Julia :D

Well done to Julia from Hand Knitted Things - she gets a gift of one of my 20x16" prints from Etsy. I will be in touch soon Julia so that you can choose which design that you would like :D

Julia left me a comment with a link to a lovely website that definitely cheered me up when I was ill.

x

Let's try again :D

OK so I'm thinking (hoping) I'm better again :D - I'm going to give myself the weekend just to make sure and then be back working for a week from Monday 10th August so my Etsy site should be back to normal for buying and posting textile goodies from Monday for 1 week.

I will also draw my giveaway on Monday 10th August - so if you would like to enter leave a comment on the previous thread.

Then I'm on holiday for a week in Cornwall from the 15th August.

xx