Posted: April 30th, 2009 under Events.
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I’m keen to try and keep all my house posts separate from my crafty ones but, until I get A Home For All Seasons up and running, She’s Crafty will have to do.

This is a picture of our front door!

We went out for our first full day of gutting and cleaning yesterday and, while the weather was unusually gorgeous for April in Glasgow, we didn’t spend much time in the garden and instead set about the house. I took a little time out to take some pictures of the front and hall to whet your appetite as well as some of the great patterns and packaging we unearthed – all of which are now up on Flickr.

Posted: April 26th, 2009 under Inspiration, Life stuff, My Projects.
Comments: 1

I think I’ll stick to working on one swap at a time for now but if I hadn’t already signed up for a May swap this would definitely be top of my list.

The lovely Claire Payne has set up the wonderful ‘Secret Monkey Swap’ on her blog which is open for signup until May 4th.

“You can make whatever takes your fancy be it knitted, sewn, crocheted, painted, quilted, wooden, woolly, card, soft, etc…as long as it is monkey themed and handmade. You will need to keep your recipient a secret until you know that the parcel has been received – obviously pop a note in with your monkey to make sure they know who it is from!

Sign-up will be open until Monday the 4th May and I will assign your monkey recipient by the 7th May. Monkeys should be made and posted by the 7th June giving a whole month of monkey madness and plenty of time to get your thinking caps on!

 Here’s what you need to do if you are interested in the fantastical secret monkey swap. Send me and email titled ‘monkey swap’ with your name, address, blog address (if you have one) and if you are happy to post internationally to: claire [at] paynedesign [dot] co [dot] uk“

Posted: April 24th, 2009 under Swaps.
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So despite a couple of health woes (remind me what healthy feels like again), I really have no excuse but to get on with everything I shelved until after the honeymoon. So, tonight I’m tackling the ‘get out the house more’, ‘do more crafting’ and ‘learn how to knit’ promises by popping down to Pins and Needles being hosted at Mono by the Glasgow Craft Mafia. Productive eh?

Not only that, I also signed up for the Gardening Swap over at Pennydog’s blog which I’m  really excited about as it’ll force me to make something soon and give me something for my new garden (which I’m itching to get stuck into!!). Though, if you’re contemplating signing up for the swap, please take note the last day to sign up is TODAY.

Posted: April 23rd, 2009 under Events, Swaps.
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So, I am now able to spill the beans. The above key belongs to something I never thought I’d be able to own and never thought I would find (well, at least not again). It’s special, oh so special!

I mean, will you check that badboy out for a start? Have you ever seen such a beast of a key? (I specifically photographed it in my hand to give you a sense of scale). So, what’s it the key to? …… It’s the key to an amazing house!

Yup, as if the stress of getting married wasn’t enough, 2 weeks before the wedding we went to view a house. Now, as you all know, we’re currently a single income household and are in no position to move, so we were essentially playing with our emotions and stress levels – but it really was at a price and location too good to ignore.

Then we saw it. It may have been built in 1863, but it’s also not been touched inside for about 50+ years. My dreams of what we are now calling ‘doing an Allsopp’ were in overdrive but it just wasn’t practical. Heart, head, and, more than anything, pride went into battle and I swallowed the latter and called in the financial troops and a number of investments and set out to try and get it (it was fixed price and therefore a race).

We had to try and put all thoughts of it to the back of our minds while we got on with the wedding and then the honeymoon, but I also knew we had to because I’d been in this position before when, about 3 years ago, I had an offer accepted on an amazing house only for it to be dropped a week later. So, with my emotions as in check as I could get them having seen the treasure trove of original features in there, I tried to do my best not to think about it all until I knew for sure it was ours.

We picked up the keys on Friday and dashed out to see it as soon as we got in from the airport. I’ll confess I got a dose of the wobbles when a closer inspection showed the mountain of work that needs done before we can even think about moving in – hopefully for Christmas (?) though. But what really stunned us was how much the previous owner left behind. His story is a real tear-jerker and we actually met him on Friday while we were there.

We tried so hard to convey to him our gratitude and reassure him how much we would look after this place and not bastardise it. Still, we felt a little guilty running around oohing and ahhhing over the things like an old wall clock or a fabulous art deco sideboard that he’d left behind.

So, out of the frying pan and into the fire. A mere couple of hours after getting back from the honeymoon I’ve now saddled myself with the ultimate crafty project. It ties in nicely however with ‘A Home For All Seasons’. What is that I hear you cry? Well, AHFAS, is the name of another site I’ve owned for a while (make that years) which will be home (no pun intended) to my handmade homewares and now also to my blog on renovating Casa Crafty. I’ll write about all the great things I’ve found or made and include plenty of before and after shots.

I haven’t had the chance to take any proper pics yet but here is a tiny sneak peak of one of the many great ceilings/lights.

Posted: April 21st, 2009 under Life stuff, My Projects.
Comments: 1

If there’s one thing I love about crafters it’s their willingness to share their knowledge with each other. The number of excellent tutorials online is staggering and it seems, no matter what you’re looking to make, there’s something out there to help and inspire you.

I’ve yet to post any of my own tutorials here but one lady who has recently taken the leap is fellow Glasgow crafter, Girl Industries, who has posted this great little quick make the other day.

May it be the first of many!

Posted: April 21st, 2009 under Tutorials.
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The wonderful Claire of Miso Funky has posted some tips she has on how crafters can make the most of the craft fairs season, gleaned from years of selling her great items. Check her advice here.

Posted: April 21st, 2009 under Tutorials.
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Deadline: 12 May 2009
Troika 7 ’small art’ exhibition
DRAGON HALL
King St. NORWICH, UK
17th MAY – 31st MAY 2009

The exhibition is open to everyone and each contributor may enter as many works as they like. This will be a ‘no frills’ exhibition where unframed unmounted works will be pinned to a board and spaces will be filled when and where items are sold.

We are asking contributors to send us works no larger than postcard size (6″ X 4″) . All media accepted (painting, drawings, photos, collages or anything else) but it must be able to be pinned to a board…if we can’t pin it, it can’t be exhibited.

We ask contributors to remain anonymous until their piece is sold by clearly PRINTING their name and email address ON THE REVERSE side of each of their works, along with date, signature and any other information they may wish the buyer to have i.e. web site.

Works exhibited will be on sale for a fixed price of £10.

All entries must include a stamped addressed envelope with enough postage to return work and any payments due.

We are a non-profit making organisation of volunteer artists working for the benefit of other artists and art lovers. TROIKA cannot be held responsible for damage or loss, and so if required, we request that contributors make their own insurance arrangements. However, we shall endeavour to avoid any such problems. We ask contributors to enter into the spirit of this exhibition, which is designed to show the public the divesity of contemporary artists, and also to give the artists an opportunity to step outside of their usual boxes.

INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTORS

To avoid mailing complications, we suggest that contributors, wherever possible, get together in small collectives to send packets with a self-addressed envelope and enough cash (in notes) to cover returns inside. NO CHEQUES PLEASE. Please make sure that you enclose sufficient value, as I remind you that this is a non-profit exhibition run by volunteers with no funding. Please make sure that you send early enough for us to receive by 12th. May 2009.

CONTACT
David Ancell
tel: (0)1692 652287 [UK]
email: david.davies@ymail.com

Visit webiste for entry details: www.troika-arts.net

Posted: April 21st, 2009 under Events.
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Being a proud member of the LWA (Letter Writers Alliance), I’m looking forward to finding some time to sit down and writing some letters (once I plough through the mountain of Thank You cards still to write!).

It’s a bit of effort that really pays off (I absolutely love getting mail!) and have stumbled across a couple of other great ways to bring some cheer into your mailbox.

First off is Igotanenvelope – “a continuous art project where people leave empty self-addressed stamped envelopes in public places to be picked up and filled by others, who then send them back”. If you receive something back you post it up to the site. It’s amazing to see what people have been sent.

The next is UK-based Post Letters – “a movement to encourage, promote and take delight in the activity of writing letters and sending post. Bringing people together to think about Post in the Twenty First Century, organise letter readings and writings, present you with new ideas for your post, commission artists and writers to produce new mail art, produce Post Events and much more”.

Posted: April 21st, 2009 under Inspiration, Swaps.
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