End of year sale!

Hi everyone.

I hope you've had a relaxing and festive break so far - I certainly have. Far too much Tres Leches cake and general merriment, so now it's back to business as usual.

Yesterday was the first day of the sales here in Glasgow and we dashed into the city at 10am, and were away again by 10.20. I am now the proud owner of £100 worth of Lush goodies for a £21 outlay and I smell delicous! Maybe tmi there...

The big news of the day is that my very own sale is on in the shop and I'm delighted to offer buy one get one free on everything but the new cats. Spend over $40 and get an extra surprise with your package too!

I have inventory of more than one on everything in the shop, with the exception of the plarn and the bunnies, which are all one-offs. If you want two of the same item, convo me and I will set up a special listing just for you.

So come on over and have a browse. New products will be listed after this clearout, and... and.... I'll be launching it all with a giveaway on New Year's Day right here on the blog. See you then, if not before!

Christmas and collaborations

So a little while ago, before all the Christmas craft market madness got into full swing, I had a few irons in the fire that I wasn't ready to chat about just for the moment. I'm glad to say that the moment has come and I'm proud to present what our American friends call the 411.

Keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of days at the beautifully composed blog of Sydney-based Etsian Tabidesigns. Still staying fairly tight-lipped on that one, but it's worth a look out!

If you're here via Tabitha's blog, welcome, and just for you I'm offering FREE SHIPPING down under from 19 to 24 December. Get stuck in!

A surprise collaboration came about when one of my photos was spotted over at Flickr. I celebrated my 30th birthday last summer with a life-changing road trip across North Carolina and Tennessee, by way of the Smoky Mountains, then down through Mississippi on to Louisiana and finishing up with one long and unforgettable night in my old stomping grounds in New York City. A shot I took of the Grand Ole Opry has been selected for use in an online guide to Nashville. I'm so very proud of myself! You can check it out at Schmap.com Nashville, just clicky!

For more photos, check out my flickr account...

Etsy is often the source of great collaborative efforts, and I wanted to thank Glitzy Gallery for giving away some samples of my envelopes at her recent craft fairs. She blogs her experiences right here: http://glitzygallery.blogspot.com/ and is also an all-round lovely person. My hearts and views shot up the weekends of her fairs, so I know she did a great job in promoting my etsy shop. Thanks a million!

Another project still in the pipeline is being worked on over in the States on an ongoing basis. We're trying to find out if fluffnfixings can make similar envelopes to these using some of my enormous stash of video plarn. I mean, it has to be good for something, right? If this is the case, I'll be sending all future purchases in super-eco friendly mailers.

If that isn't busy enough, I've also been spending some time getting to know more local sellers and finding out how multi-talented they are. Tahira, of TahiraIqbal.com doesn't just make amazing cards, she has an intriguing novella unfolding over at Soul Wipe - go and check it out!

I also had tons of fun at the recent Glasgow Craft Mafia Christmas Social and am looking forward to lots more Crafty get-togethers in the New Year. Hurrah!

And of course, besides all that, I've got a shop to run. And new products. Double hurrah!

Look at me, I'm multi-tasking!

Right now THIS MINUTE I'm listing some of the products I previewed at Made in the Shade this weekend over on Etsy.com.

Here are some teasers....

The craft factory

My flat looks like a bombsite, but I'm on top of everything I need to do for the fabulous Made in the Shade indie market tomorrow.

Just about all of my craft mafia colleagues from here in Glasgow are lined up with stalls, there's a choir booked and absolutely no Cliff Richard on the jukebox - hurrah!

Hope to see you there!

p.s. serious moment: apologies to anyone I may have neglected in the last week or two while I've been getting my stuff together for these markets. Except for the dust bunnies in my flat, your days are numbered....

Ah, tranquility

Like a one-woman crafting factory, my weekend away allowed me to unwind and prepare for the forthcoming fairs at the Lighthouse and Mugdock Country Park in calm and idyllic surroundings. Every year I spend a weekend away with friends I’ve known for years (some of them for 20 years!), and this year we booked out Wheen Farmhouse, which is just near Forfar in the north of Scotland.

Come Monday morning, the roads were iced over and snow was on its way. We had plenty of supplies left (well, except for toilet paper, we were down to our last roll, TMI fans) but not enough of an excuse to call ourselves snowed in. A good time had been had by all, in fact most of us had *too* good of a time the night before and were feeling the effects, and we were all sad to leave. Between us, we spotted a stoat, many rabbits and sheep, an alleged seal off the coast at Montrose, mucho sheep poop and 45 of these critters.

Up to my eyes in stuff...

Well, that's how it feels anyway. I am prepping away like nobody's business for Made in the Shade, with works of progress just about up to the rafters in my little one bedroom flat.

Hopefully it'll all come together as if by magic in just over ten days. I'm going to be away from my computer for 4 days at the weekend, holed up in a little cottage up in the snowy north of Scotland, with mulled wine, good company and plenty of wool. I'm looking forward to the perfect picture-taking light, too, as it's always dark by the time I get home from work these days. And mornings... well, I'm not really a morning person.

Hope everyone is avoiding the traditional lurgy that lurks at this time of year...

I feel like a princess

I can't wait to take and upload some pictures of me wearing this at a friend's wedding tomorrow, but in the meantime, here's a shot of the package I received this morning (in the nick of time!)

This wonderful, beautiful object came from the lovely Emily of whichgoose, on Etsy. I realise I am spending a lot more than I am making on Etsy at the moment, but when you see such well made and pretty little things like this, you can understand why. I feel like I just found the most amazing treasure and was a little reluctant to share my sources, but Emily scores high on price, packaging, customer service, and sheer likeability, how could I not spill the beans?

The cat factory

A little update on some works in progress - these little darlings have been stitched on trains, in cars and quite often, on my sofa.

And here's what they should look like when they're done...

You'd never guess they used to be blouses, would you?

A visit to London

Well, I was in London this weekend and had a just fantastic time. I deliberately didn't take my camera as I was travelling super-light, so no exciting photos to share. Well maybe one, but my hostess will need to email it to me first!

I've been busy since I got back working with a couple of Etsy sellers to spruce up their shops in terms of the Queens English and I'm having a really good time in the process. My day job involves translating complicated scientifc information into words and phrases most people are familiar with, and hopefully a good read! One of my colleagues doesn't speak English as her first language and one of my favourite challenges at work is to polish up her documents without getting rid of her personal style and warmth. So I'm thrilled to be helping Etsians with the same task, and if you think I might be able to help you, drop me a line to katy@girlindustries.com. I used to be a bit of a music journalist back in the day and have always loved writing, so this is right up my alley.

Craft-wise, I'm working on some lovely home-fulled coasters in shades of grey and pastels for the market I'm taking part in at the Lighthouse on 6 December. A full line up of sellers is due to be announced any second over at Made in the Shade. Looking forward to it!

All change!

Well, it seems like just yesterday I was blogging about my awesome Alchemy find. However, if I'd found my new stamps today, I'd be blogging about my cool-i-o Custom find. Because Etsy.com have changed the name of the darn thing. So if you're not an Etsy regular and head on over there and wonder what the heck this Alchemy talk is all about - it's now called Custom on your front page, but Alchemy when you find it.

Back to school

Well, my degree programme is back up and running for winter term and I'm in the process of finalising my dissertation outline. So I can forecast fewer updates on here if I'm to fully restock before I hit (drumroll please!) MADE IN THE SHADE on 6 December. My top tip - arrive early and browse before the crowds arrive. You'll nab a luxury goodie bag and pick up the best of all the treasures on display. I can personally vouch for the fantastic contents of these bags, and the fact that people were running up the stairs of the Lighthouse at 10.30am for the last Made in the Shade. Lunch at the Doocot is pretty unmissable too, although having eaten at Bar Soba recently, I'm torn between the two. Yum yum.

You never know, you might get to meet some of these lovely sellers, the full list of stalls will be posted on the MITS website in a few weeks.

I'm putting together a new range of products which you won't find in my etsy shop until after the fair so I can give any visitors and well-wishers a much-deserved exclusive. If you're out shopping in Glasgow 3 weeks before Christmas you deserve a medal, but exclusive products are the next best thing. Here's an extreme close up sneak preview!



What else is going on around here? Well, I'm off to *that London* on Saturday for some very special clothes shopping and to catch up with friends from my old stomping grounds of New York and the equally fun times of being 18 in Manchester. I think we have some arty thing lined up for Saturday night so that should be very exciting.

And in between, plenty of crafty activity. I even managed to cut and piece 40 fabric toy components on an inter-city train travelling from York to Edinburgh on Sunday afternoon. Luckily I had my own table...

Hurrah for Asspocket Productions

I got my super-special custom-made stamp. I love it! The wonderful Stacey even threw in a little extra stamp for me, which I'll be using on my thank you cards for buyers. I was in such a hurry to show it off, I stamped the nearest thing, which happened to be a lined cue card which I've had sitting in a drawer since revising vocab for a French exam. Nearly ten years ago. What can I say, I love stationery!

Little Silver Box update

I received an email last night from the organiser of Little Silver Box to let me know that the box release date is delayed until 8 December. While the delay is making me a little impatient to get my goodies, it's really a blessing in disguise... It means that more people will get the chance to participate with samples, and also to buy the boxes. And the little treasures I donated will find new homes all over the place!

You can find out more on how to participate or buy a sampler from the Little Silver Box blog at http://www.littlesilverbox.blogspot.com/

Taking part not only supports the handmade movement, but means a donation to charity and a whole host of new goodies just in time for stocking stuffing, if you buy a box.

More markets - check them out!

Alchemy

You know, it's a funny coincidence but I've heard the word 'alchemy' on 3 different occasions in the last couple of days. Once on the radio in some political debate programme yesterday morning, once from my fiance in some lame conversation I don't even want to remember about an online game thing he plays, and once when I was explaining to him about alchemy in the etsy.com sense.

It's a brilliant tool, and I've always had excellent results from using it. The latest is today! I had a seller in mind on etsy to make up a rubber stamp so I could personalise the back of some note cards I'm about to work on. It was looking a little bit on the pricy side, so I clicked onto Alchemy to see if anyone could put something together for the amount I wanted to pay.

Within literally seconds of my placing the ad, I had a response from etsy seller AssPocketProductions. In the ten minutes it took for me to stop laughing at the name, I had a mocked up design in my inbox and a price quote exactly half of my original find.

While I was putting together new photos and listings for my Laura Ashley envelopes, Stacey came up with the idea of 'thank you' stamps with my logo and some promotional extras to send me, which I'm planning to share out with my new Glasgow Craft Mafia colleagues. All in all, a successful day.

I can't wait for the stamps to arrive so I can show them off here. In the meantime, thank you Stacey, and everyone else, go and check her out!

Made in the Shade - tomorrow!

If you're looking for an escape from the crowds on Buchanan Street tomorrow, and want to rest your feet, check out some art, or continue your shopping in style, check out the Lighthouse.

All the exhibits are now free to enter on a Saturday, and the Doocot restaurant is one of my favourite little hideaways. In fact I'm going there today for a work lunch. Everything from their soup to their scones is utterly irrestible.

Tomorrow has the added advantage of being a Made in the Shade sale. A treasure trove of oodles of crafty sellers with everything from bespoke designer clothing to handmade soaps to gorgeous art for your walls, your shelves, your life!

I'll be there bright and early (not just for the promised goody bag!) but because I'm off to Pitlochry for the weekend, to take in a sound and light show in Faskally Woods. An ideal opportunity to road test my latest product - fingerless gloves. Now where's my tapestry needle...

I got made!

Check me out on Glasgow Craft Mafia...





I'm so excited about working with such a lot of talented individuals, especially now the nights are drawing in and it's definitely crafting weather...

Shhh, top secret...

I have a few projects that are just waiting to come to fruition before I can tell you any more about them. I have a new self-designed product, which just needs a little bit of sewing before it's done, I have a collaboration with a fellow etsian all lined up, which I'm very excited about. I've come up with a design and materials, she has the skillz - if it works, it'll be awesome, if it doesn't well, we tried.

I'm also waiting for news on a collective project, an application to another festive craft fair and another couple of things I'm keeping quiet on... Oooh, hope you like a bit of mystery and intrigue on a Wednesday night.

Weekly roundup

What a week! I've been subscribing to the watched pot theory over at etsy.com and have taken a little time away from the internet this week.



Mainly I've been working on research and development of all things crafty. I've been experimenting with self-designed patterns for fingerless gauntlet gloves, building up stock for the two fairs I'm hopefully signed up for in December, and putting more destash items in my shop. This flat won't empty itself.



Craft fairs are very much on my mind. I visited the excellent Mugdock Makkers fair yesterday - it's still on today if you fancy a run out to the leafy suburbs and the countryside beyond - and found a delightful mix of traditional crafts like glass bead making, soap making and wicker work, to more of the neo-crafts I'm used to seeing at these events, cool cuffs and brooches, retro aprons and super snuggly phone cosies. There's also a record fair in a back room of the same venue, as if we didn't need excuse enough to visit, we spent a happy half an hour flicking through Scottish 45s from the 80s and early 90s. I recommend it, and hope people will make the trip on 13 and 14 December, when you can visit the Girl Industries stall.



I've been catching up on recording some of my old videos onto DVD over the past week - it's a task which lends itself so well to knitting on the sofa! I've caught up with social commentary from the 70s to the 90s, with a look at a not much changed Glasgow in Just Another Saturday, life against a backdrop of the Queen's silver jubilee in The Spongers, far too many episodes of South Park, YTS and the 80s in Brick is Beautiful and disturbed Canadian teens running wild in the heady days of 90s grunge in Fun.



I also managed to take in the Coens' new film on Friday night - phew, what a week! Friday was the deadline for submission of hats in Innocent's annual big knit campaign, and I managed to take a photo of part of my contribution before it went in the post, too...

I'd love to hear if you see one of my hats at a Sainsburys near you!

Keeping it green

In my etsy shop I have a mini-range of plarn (with more to come). What's that you're saying? What the heck's plarn?



Contrariwise explains it far better than I ever could over on her blog. There are plenty of completed plarn articles for sale over on etsy, but if you're all about doing it for yourself, but have moved on from plastic bags or don't have the patience to make your own plarn, that's where I come in.

Taking up the gauntlet

Yesterday was a very inspirational day! I came up with a couple of new product ideas, which will help me get rid of my fabric mountain. Recently I was given a pair of curtains, second hand, which I can't use as curtains because I tried that once, and my cats climbed them.

I had been toying with ideas of what to do with them for a little while, and in response to a call for recycled Christmas decorations on the etsy forums yesterday, I got myself into action and quickly sewed up a prototype to pop into my shop as a taster of things to come. Of course I started at 5.30 when I got home from work, and didn't finish until 7, by which time the light had gone, but I managed to take a shot outside which kind of works, and here it is:

I've put this one into my shop at a prototype price of $3. Next time I won't be so rushed, so future ornaments will be retailing at $4.

I'm delighted to share the following items which popped up on the same thread - handmade and reused by sosorosey, misscourageous and eastcoastkitsch.

Mugdock Makkers Christmas Fair

Now I've been on my hols and due back to the day job tomorrow, it feels like it'll be whooosh downhill all the way to the end of the year. I've prepared a to-do list, and being a bit of a procrastinator, coloured it in and taken a photo of it. Much more constructive is the application I've just filled in to take part in the Mugdock Makkers Christmas Fair.

The one I'll be at takes place on 13th and 14th December, in a marquee in the main park's courtyard, and I'll be selling edited highlights from the Girl Industries range, with a predominantly homewares theme, all made from upcycled materials to keep your home looking pretty and your conscience clear.

I'll look forward to seeing you there! I'll also be attending their next fair, on 18th and 19th October, as I've never been before and love meeting other sellers, too.

I'm back...

... relaxed, and raring to go, having received craft inspiration and chilled right out in Ibiza. I came home to find that I'd sold another fall inspiration craft pack on Etsy while I was away, so today I've been curating a package for a local buyer.

I also popped out for some new soft toy filling and just happened to see some orange cotton yarn in the discount corner, so plenty to keep me occupied in the evenings and weekends to come.

While I was out, I noticed Glasgow craft activity all over the place - at the Merchant City Festival street market, another swanky craft fair in the Corinthian of all places (if you don't know Glasgow, think 'Footballers Wives') and the weekly Sloans Market at the foot of Buchanan Street. Wow!

On vacation

I won't be posting for the next week or so while I take a total break from everything on the amazing island of Ibiza, just in time for the legendary closing parties. Hopefully this time tomorrow I'll be on a boat listening to St Etienne's cover of Only Love Can Break Your Heart having just seen the world's most amazing sunset. I'm looking forward to a week of good food fresh out of the sea, swimming, chilling, a good stroll around Dalt Vila and a reasonable amount of tempranillo. Yum!

Hope the sun is shining wherever you are, too.

First sale on Etsy!

I'm not sure how much more I could possibly be excited, but put it this way, the big event happened 3 days ago and it's only now I can bring myself to sit and blog about it.

I sold a couple of items (oh yeah, two at once) to a customer in Baton Rouge, LA, which, as everyone who loves Ignatius J. Reilly knows, is where he went to university. I didn't manage to visit on my trip to Louisiana last year, but I at least know where it is, I like to know where my stuff's going.

One of the items was one of my fall craft packs, which I only listed a week or so ago. I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours putting together an assortment of items, and drafting up then writing out a handmade zine explaining where everything came from and how old it was and so forth. Here's a snapshot:

I really hope she likes it as much as I had fun putting it together. Not to mention all those years I was collecting and stashing. Whoo it feels good to have a clear-out, too.

Little Silver Box

Here's something really interesting, and for a worthwhile cause, too.

http://www.littlesilverbox.blogspot.com/ is an initiative started up by a fellow crafter here in Scotland. We're trying to get a bit more visible out there in the wide world of craft, so if you want to receive some Scottish goodies, or if you're a crafter, donate and potentially access new customers, take a look at the blog.

I'm donating some of my upcycled items and also buying a little silver box for myself - all in a good cause. Get in touch with Aileen by the start of October if you want to take part.

Anyone around here use mini Moo text cards?

Then check out my shop for perfectly sized envelopes, in colours that pop!

Enjoying the autumn

My favourite season is upon us! I love going down the woods, getting my 'back to school' stationery, wearing thick tights and dainty wool skirts. My favourite colour is brown and I'm starting to warm to shades of orange and gold too.

A weekend away in the country last week only heightened my anticipation of the nights drawing in, that smoky bonfire scent you get towards the end of October and (at last!) the end of eating courgettes with everything, after my late-summer glut in the garden.

Fall-themed products are soon to appear in my shop (if the weather plays nice this afternoon). In the meantime, some blurry but definitely autumnal snaps I took last weekend - as good as it gets when you're shooting through patio doors into the sideways rain. This red squirrel had the good sense to shelter under our patio table, while we abandoned our barbecue and retreated indoors.

The Big Knit

Check out my big flashing hat box right down there at the bottom of the page! Between now and 17 October I'll be knitting up a storm on behalf of Help The Aged and would encourage anyone with leftover wool and a spare half an hour or so to chuck one together - full information and instructions can be found here.

My current record is 3 in the space of one episode of The Riches, as tested out during the new episode last night, and I even managed to make 4 during a round trip by train to Edinburgh for work yesterday.

I'll be posting photos right here just as soon as I can, and also I'll be attempting my first ever tutorial soon - I've modified the pattern to include a special motif and would love to share.

Stats

So my little Etsy shop is a little undersubscribed at the moment as far as sales are concerned, but I love how Etsy reassures you that people are looking at your work, and even bookmarking your items or shop for a return visit.

A neat little tool over at Majaba.org takes this a step further and with its Heart-o-tron 3000 can pull all your hearts, views and numbers together so you can drool over your stats to your heart's content. I'm slightly amazed I've been sucked into this but numbers can be addictive, just check out http://www.spudworks.com/ to read through the aspiring author's rejections log. I feel a little like him at the moment, I might not be having any sales success yet, but creating and not selling is, in itself, a project to track and discuss right here.

A sunny day - at last!

And where am I? No, not at home taking photos to make my blog and flower brooches look a million times better, but stuck in the office, hoping the weather holds out until home time...

London Town

I've been away in London to bid a fond 'au revoir' to a friend who is off to Nepal for a good six months. Being in travel mode, we were at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden and I got slightly obsessed with the old fashioned posters.

This one, in particular, struck a chord...

Winning streak

Tonight I want to take time out to reflect on my recent good fortune. I've been entering competitions and to my surprise I've scooped quite a few goodies over the last couple of months from crafty types out there in the blogosphere.



First up is this awesome tapestry, gifted by Carrie aka Lady Wurlitzer, at one of her recent Fuzzy Felt Folk events. Since my road trip across the Smoky Mountains, Nashville and Memphis last summer, I'm more into country music than ever before. We have our very own Opry here in Glasgow, which I'm itching to visit and compare to the one in Tennessee! Anyway, I love this rendering of Kris Kristoffersen, especially the colours - I even redecorated my hall to match! While Fuzzy Felt Folk arranged the event, the artist responsible for the tapestry is Clare Nicolson, and you can see more of her creations here. It took Clare more than 50 hours to work on this tapestry, and I'm glad to display it in my home.





Honorary mention goes to Marceline Smith, who sent me a lovely gift pack just for signing up to her blog's mailing list. What a sweet surprise! I'd been sporting this tree badge of hers for a little while since happening upon it at a local craft fair, but had been coveting the daschund badge on her website. I mentioned this and, lo and behold, it arrived in the post just for me. I love Marceline's trading name, askingfortrouble.org - awesome!





Now, as you know, I'm destashing, and buying new wool is reluctantly off my agenda. So I was delighted when the very lovely Sylv of Chez Plum picked me out of the hat for her summer raffle. Just look what I won - my own hand-dyed and hand-spun yarn in my two favourite colours, lovely rich shades of grey and green. I have a feeling that using Sylvie's yarn will be a little bit like that one time I was upgraded on a transatlantic flight, ever since then, economy just hasn't been that much fun. Once I'm destashed, I think I'll be back to Chez Plum once my destashing project is complete. And I'll be blogging about my adventures in sock knitting right here. My yarn has been posted and should arrive any time now, exciting times!

Grrr, day job

Today my day job (and my freelancing work) put a halt on daytime creativity, but this evening I'm continuing with the washcloths. Here's a shot of the work in progress.

Buttery soft washcloths

Today I'm working on my huge collection of cotton yarn. I got into knitting with cotton after collecting some supplies from a freecycler in Tollcross and finding a mini-stash of variegated orange yarn. I've been knitting up eco-friendly scourers and dishcloths today, and moved on to a lovely Debbie Bliss cotton yarn this evening. I'm going to use hers to make some facecloths and washable make-up remover pads. So much nicer than cotton balls and you get to wash and use them many times over again.

Only one problem, I don't know if I'll be able to part with them and put them in the shop.

Day 2 in the big destash flat - and a giveaway

Day 2 of the big destash is underway. I’ve collected all my paper and cardmaking supplies together and will be offering them in my etsy shop as mystery craft packs. Each pack comes to the lucky recipient with a selection of 50 items from this table. This includes gift wrap, origami paper from Japan, lightweight card in a range of colours and sizes, heavier corrugated card, coloured notepaper, stickers, luxury wallpaper samples, and some paper goods which are ripe for upcycling. By this I mean pages from day planners, calendars, and other printed goods, like the Winston Churchill speech, which might be inspirational or make an interesting accent for a card, collage or other decorative items.

As much as I love working with paper, I am going to focus on knitting next, as I find it very relaxing and items I’ve made in the past have always sold well at craft fairs. Eventually I’ll rescue back my fabric collection and get more into that – it’s a relatively new and therefore exciting area for me.

Back to the paper packs – each of them is no bigger than A4 in size and they are available in my etsy shop now. Mention my blog when you check out and receive a 10% discount on the item cost. First comment on this post gets a freebie pack…

Too much fabric

So you might be thinking ‘who has a supply of lovely notebooks just sitting there ready to go?’. If you aren’t thinking this, then, like me, you’re a hoarder. My craft stashery is getting out of hand and my one bedroom flat is being taken over! I’m due to move to a bigger house on the outskirts of Glasgow next September, and I feel like I have a house-full of stuff already.

In light of this, my challenge for the next 365 days is to use up all the craft materials I have, and try my darndest not to accumulate any more.

Day 1 is a bit of a cheat, I have packed up my fabric collection to go into temporary storage at my friend’s house. Bye bye for now, lovely material.

Mmm stationery good

Today was tax return day – I took the day off to get a few things checked off the ‘home admin’ list. My return is due in September so I decided not to procrastinate any further. I also took steps to register Girl Industries and find an ‘accounts’ book from my supply of lovely notebooks.

There’s nothing more satisfying than a crisp new notebook to start a new project with. Next time I’m in the market for a new one, I’ll be sure to check out lolaandemilin, katysshop and pumpkinsputnik on etsy.com. Lovely!

Where to start?

I've been wanting to start this whole 'girl industries' thing for ages, but I'm a world class procrastinator and I genuinely didn't know where to begin.

I'm a big reader, and I've attended enough English classes to know about beginning with a significant event. But that doesn't translate suitably to something I've been doing for more than 25 years. I've gradually become more crafty this year, as my day job workload has decreased I've become better at managing my study time. This coincided with the start of a project to transfer all the family video tapes to DVD. Naturally I found myself knitting more and more, you can't beat a vintage BBC serial or television play and the old needles and wool for an hour of relaxation.

But back to the question, beginnings, and how does one go about them? Having graduated in Lit some 8 years ago, I'm on my way to starting a PhD, and what has preparing for this taught me... do your research!

So I hopped on the internet to take a look at some of my daily must-reads. Usually I take a look when I need colour, trend or technique inspiration. If I'm super-busy I like to do a quick tour of my favourite blogs just to feel creative or crafty without having to pick up needle or scissors. Today I'm looking at their first ever posts to see how they did it...