Point of Pinterest

I’ve spent some time recently (a bit too much time actually!) pinning stuff to my Pinterestboards. It’s very absorbing. For those of you who haven’t come across the joys of pinning yet here’s a brief explanation from the site of what it is “Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.”

Anyway, I thought I’d use ‘pinning’ as my Folksy Friday theme this week. Lots of lovely items follow…

Fabric covered push pins – Hollie Lollie  ‘A set of six pushpins embellished with a button covered in pretty designer 100% cotton fabric. These pushpins are noticeably larger than my other sets measuring 1.7cm each.’

Clear headed sewing pins – The Pincushion  ‘These fab clear head pins are great for adding a touch of glamour to your sewing projects. Also ideal as a gift for someone who loves to sew, or is just starting out.’

‘PIN’ cushion – Sixes and Sevens ‘Don’t worry you don’t need to pay each time you use this fun, useful mini cushion! Just pop in your pin, (or lots of pins) to keep them safe and at hand!’

Cactus Pincushion – Hattifer’s hand sewn gifts  ‘This cute miniature cactus is one plant that doesn’t need watering! It is handmade from felt and is planted in a terracotta pot.’

Vintage Bobby Pins – Josephines  ‘Elegant set of 3 bobby pins unique hand made pieces.’

Heart Shaped Mini Pin Boards – Random Loveliness  ‘Painted wooden heart shapes with added mini cork boards. Perfect for pinning an important memo or photograph to. Complete with twine for hanging on hooks or even door handles.’

Just click the pic or shop name to find out more. Happy pinning and feel free to leave your Pinterest links in the comments. 🙂

‘avin’ a giraffe! Folksy Friday

This week I tried to design a Sock Giraffe – hence the title ‘avin’ a giraffe! It looks nothing like a giraffe, although it does have a quirky charm with it’s grumpy face and droopy eyelinered lids. So after my hilarious attempt let’s have a look at some ‘proper’ giraffes made by some of the talented shopkeepers at Folksy…

Little Giraffe on Vintage Meccano Wheels – Northfield Primitives ‘Little giraffe is so quiet you wouldn’t know she was there. She tells me that she feels rather awkward most of the time, which is unfortunate as she is by far the tallest animal in the Nursery (25cm on her little red wheels) and is difficult not to notice….’

Giraffe in Stripes Print – ialbert  ‘The design is an original illustration created digitally.This print is the perfect a gift for family or friends’

Flower Giraffe Brooch – iloveyou  ‘The original giraffe Flower brooch decorated with flowers with Swarovski crystals.
You can not be overlooked.’

5 Scoops High Card – Lisa Hunt Illustration Doodle Shop  ‘Although perfect for a birthday, this card can be used for any occassion or just to say hello! All cards are printed on quality silky finish card with a white envelope and Left blank inside for your own message.’

Giraffe Print Coasters – Melting Point  ‘A set of 4 fused glass coasters with a Giraffe print pattern, each completely unique in gold/black and French vanilla glass’

Knitted Giraffe – Kent Crafts – ‘Giraffe toy, hand knitted in Stylecraft 100% acrylic yarn with soft polyester filling. Colours dark brown, light brown and camel. ‘

Just click on the pic or shop name to find out more about these long necked lovelies. Happy weekend from me and the creature! 🙂

Chartreuse Celebration – Folksy Friday

CHARTREUSE, probably my top favourite colour for fabrics and jewellery although I’m not sure whether I’ve ever tasted the liqueur that gives it’s name to the colour. Cribbed from Wikipedia – ‘Chartreuse is a French liqueur made by the Carthusian Monks in the 1740s. There are two varierties: Green Chartreuse is a naturally green liqueur flavored with extracts from 132 plants with its coloring coming from chlorophyll; Yellow Chartreuse which has a milder and sweeter flavor and aroma.’

I’ve found some rather lovely Folksy items to celebrate this delicious colour…

Moka Express silkscreen print – Mengsel – ‘Great gift for a “coffee” person – in a very retro-ish chartreuse colour. Hand pulled silkscreen print of my original hand drawn illustration. Printed with a water based ink in chartreuse on 300g snow white Snowdon paper. Signed and numbered limited edition of 50 prints.’

Porcelain Dot Pin – Seaurchin Porcelain  – ‘I make these porcelain pieces at my home studio, meticulously texturing each one by hand (no stamps or texture sheets), sanding and glazing them. As they are fired at a high temperature, they are very strong and durable and easy to clean’

Green Ombre Kanzashi Flower Corsage – Cuttlefishlove Kanzashi – ‘This many-layered kanzashi flower brooch uses the layering of the coloured petals to create a fresh green ombre effect. Perfect for a subtle green corsage!’

Chartreuse Crushed Velvet – Violette & Rose Fabrics – ‘There are two pieces of this delightful fabric available’

Beaded Cuff with Antique Gold Toggle Clasp – Bloomin Gorgeous  – ‘I designed this cuff to show off the lovely green tone knitted wire background, having fewer beads and making it a light and airy style.’

Opaque Chartreuse, Blown Glass Bauble, Light Catcher – Corrina Field Handmade  – ‘Bright and colourful glass ornaments handmade for you. Each one is unique! The very best quality glass colour is used, this is combined with clear furnace glass, blown and then shaped by hand’

Just click the pic or shop name to find out more. And if anyone reading has tasted the Chartreuse liqueur I’d love to know what you think. Happy weekend. 🙂

Painless Tattoos – Folksy Friday

We don’t go to the cinema very often, mostly because it’s way too expensive but we went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last Sunday as part of Mr. Sock’s birthday treats. We’d listened to all three Stieg Larsson books last year and thoroughly enjoyed them so didn’t want to miss the film. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea as there are one or two ‘nasty’ scenes, but we were totally engrossed and thought the main character casting was perfect – sometimes it can be disappointing when you’ve already got an image in your head. Anyway, enough babble, getting to the point I decided my Folksy Friday this week would be based around what I could find by searching for ‘TATTOO’ – and here are some of the amazing results!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Handpainted Canvas – Ghettogran Stencil Art ‘Original stenciled artwork on canvas’

Applique Skull, Rose & Heart Tattoo Cushion – Dollydrip ‘Handmade Cushion with tattoo style embroidery.’

Safety Tattoo Cat Collar – Mog’s Togs ‘This cat safety collar is perfect for the hard man kitty in your life who still loves his mama!’

Tattoo Woman Digital Print – Emilythepemily ‘Rockabilly Gals….This is what you’ll look like in 50 years time. I think she looks great!’

Swallow Tattoo Felt Brooch – Summer of Dub ‘An extremley cute rockabilly tattoo style swallow brooch/badge. The blues, reds, yellows and greens mixed with white makes this felt brooch adorable! ‘

‘Tattoo Ink’ Messenger Bag – Divinearts ‘Handmade from excellent quality black waterproof cotton canvas and 100% cotton fabric.’

Just click the pic or shop name to check out the details. Happy weekend. 🙂

Folksy Friday Tidy Up

After taking the Christmas tree down yesterday it prompted a bit of a ‘tidy up & chuck out’ – alongside the ‘tidy up & eat it’ of course! I thought ‘tidy’ would be a good word to search to start off my Folksy Fridays for 2012 – here are a few of my finds to help you keep on the right track…

Desk Tidy – Record Time

‘A very useful notepad and pencils carefully positioned on a shaped 45 single record. Handy for shopping lists, reminders and “your dinner’s in the dog” type messages!’

Toy & Book Tidy – Cherry Picked by Mimi Handmade

‘This is an item intended for a small child’s room. The pockets are big enough to hold an average sized book. The bag is fully lined and large enough to hold the average sized magazine. This is also suitable for holding soft toys, jigsaws or other child paraphernalia.’

Letter & Business Card Holder – MijMoj Contemporary Furniture Design

‘Oak business card holder and letter rack. Store all those letters and business cards tidily on your desk. Made from solid oak with red perspex inlay detailing.’

Wrapping Paper Storage Bag – Maggie B Crafts

‘Handmade wrapping paper storage bag to keep your rolls of gift wrap or brown paper tidy and clean. Two handy storage pockets on the front for scissors and tape.’

Papier Mache Pyjama Pant Pot – Imperfections

‘A ‘Pant Pot’ created around one balloon and two polystyrene cups, papermached and painted.  Fleece and bow slippers, a belt tie have been added and then spray varnished for extra strength. Can be used for parties, or just for everyday items, such a mobile phone, wallet and keys.’

Clutter Bucket – The Patchwork Dress

‘Clutterbuckets’ are designed as loose bucket bags to have around the house. This version is a lovely soft reclaimed charcoal wool outer, and reclaimed flannel stripe inner – with added detail of braid to handles and side tab detail.’

Just click on the pic or shop name to find out more.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL 🙂

Folksy Friday Feet

We managed to get a couple of pleasant walks in this week during the sunny spells and quite enjoyed that lovely ‘get your shoes off’ moment when you get back home.  So today’s Folksy Friday theme is FEET…

Just click the pic or shop name to investigate the goodies from these talented Folksy shop owners. Enjoy 🙂

Skeleton Feet Handpainted Custom Shoes – Inkheart Custom Kicks & Caboodle

Real Crow Feet Earrings – Sweet Delirium

Garden Pot Feet – Geoff’s Garden Goodies

Funny Feet! Lino Print Card – Little Red Press

Custard Cream Biscuit Footstool – Floois

The End of the Night 12×8″ print – Lola’s Room

Pink & Green Baby Girl Booties – Loralou Creations

Put your feet up and have a great weekend 🙂

Well Well Wellie – Folksy Friday

Looks like it’s time to get your wellies out already! I took this pic last weekend at our local nature discovery centre. The sun had been out until the moment we got out of the car, still at least we had an umbrella with us.

So to celebrate the return of yet more rain here are a few wonderful Wellington Boot finds from a selection of shops at Folksy. Just click the pic or shop name to find out more. Enjoy 🙂

Wellies pack of 5 cards – Little Paper Gallery

Festival Wellies lavender bag – Magpie Terrace

Hand painted porcelain cup – Unique by Dominique

4 pair Wellie rack – The Pine Studio

Rainy Day card – Hole in my Pocket

Festival Girl Necklace – Tea Please…

Happy Weekend – maybe we won’t need our wellies this weekend after all 🙂

Folksy Friday – Folksy Shops at Winchester

On Sunday I’ll be at Winchester Handmade Fair which is taking place in the Guildhall between 10.30am and 4.30pm (free entrance).

Knits – Bags – Clothing – Ceramics – Jewellery – Fused Glass – Textiles – Accessories – Homewares – Bookbinding – Silversmithing – and more

There are going to be over 50 designers and makers exhibiting their handmade goods and I’ve discovered that there are quite a lot of them who have Folksy shops. Here are just a few of them…

Queen of Hearts Hair Comb – Soobird

Caroline Bag – Coco Crafts

Jug & Bowl Set – Caroline Green Pottery

Fingerless Crochet Gloves with Flower – Isamo Crochet

Solar Powered Lantern – Glow Box

Scottish Terrier Magnets – Forever Foxed

Biscuit Soap Set – Bits n Bobs

…and some Sock Owls from me – OddSox

I hope there’ll be a bit of time to meet some of my fellow stall holders and have a chance to see their creations for real. I think it promises to be a really good day. Plus there’s a Farmers’ Market going on in the Town between 9am and 2pm, so lots to spend your money on!

Hope to see you there 🙂

New Folksy Favourites

I’d like to share a few Folksy shops that are new favourites for me this month – some are new shops and some have been around a while but I’ve only just discovered them.

Lots of quirky little needle felted creatures and accessories –  Needle Felted Dinosaur  – Felted Fluffies 

Everything in this shop is bright, pretty and beautifully illustrated – Kitten Mug – Freckleface

Pretty fabric gifts, sewing notions, homewares and accessories – Vintage Travel Cushion – Bluebells & Oyster Shells

Brilliant! Miss Kitty Art Doll – Button Box

Clever embroidered stuff – contemporary applique & free machine embroidery – Pretty Blue Zombie (eating brains) Notebook – Fiona T

All kinds of shiny baubles! – Sugar Skulls Charm Bracelet – Flame Haired Jewellery Designs

I hope you enjoy – just click the pic or shop name to see more lovely goodies.

Happy weekend. 🙂

Acting Up – Folksy Friday

It’s been a while since my last blog as I’ve recently been rather busy looking for a job after being made redundant in February. I’m now lucky enough to have found a new position at The Watermill Theatre, Newbury. They often host productions of Shakespeare’s works (the next one is ‘Shakespeare in the Garden’ on Sunday 7th August).

The Watermill is a resource for the surrounding community and beyond. Their aim is to spread knowledge and understanding about the arts and in particular the art of theatre, through the production of plays and related activities, including touring, working in schools, with youth and community groups and with businesses.

My Folksy Friday choice today is Shakespeare, and as usual there are plenty of Folksy shops offering an interesting array of Shakespeare related items, here are just a few…

Shakespeare Confetti – Bookity 

This heart shaped paper confetti is handstamped from an old copy of Shakespeare’s plays. The paper is very thin and smooth, and they flutter wonderfully in the air!

Shakespeare quote Brass Cuff – Jezebel Charms

‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I, Scene I.

Shakespeare Corsage – Nellie & Elsie

Bright Yellow felt and paper flower corsage. Made from the pages of Shakespeare Love Sonnet books.

Shakespeare’s Comedies Notebook – Paperbound Notebooks

Hand-bound and covered with the board of The Shakespeare Game.

‘Eternal Summer’ Bangle – Red Kyte Designs

Hallmarked, Sterling Silver twisted solid bangle with oxidised stamped Shakespeare quote. The wording is ‘But thy eternal summer shall not fade’ and is taken from Shakespeare’s Sonnet #18. The oxidisation of the words is to make them stand out.

Blue Snake Tiny Book Sonnet #18 – Marcade Arts Press

This is a teeny tiny version of the Nag Hammadi Codex, so small it can be used as a book pendant. The pages are printed with Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?’.

Just click the pic or shop name to find out more. Happy weekend 🙂