Spring clean sale!

To celebrate the season, my birthday and to help my customers beat next week's postage price hike, I'm having a 25% off sale over at www.girlindustries.etsy.com If you've ever needed an excuse to treat yourself, well here it is!

A new, revamped shop with new products will be up and running over the Easter weekend, and I need to make room for more goodies.

How to build a handmade wedding list

Well, it's on my mind a bit at the moment, as I'm going through a spate of wedding planning, and I tend to talk about it all the time. I was chatting with some fellow mafiosi at this afternoon's Craft Mafia sale at Mono, and mentioned that I was building myself a handmade wedding list. I didn't realise that not everyone knew how to do this, so here are the instructions, for everyone's benefit.

You can do it too! All you need to do is go to Amazon.com (note the .com guys, it HAS to be the US site), and look up their universal wish list builder. Or just click that last link, easy! It works in the same way as you would add books, DVDs or whatever else Amazon sells these days (I like to buy my Fly London shoes from them) to your wish list - you just need to add a button to your toolbar so Amazon know when you want to put something on your list. BUT... BUT... the main thing is you can add anything you like from any sales venue on the internet. Isn't it amazing?

Now, one little potential flaw with this is that some of the items we request from etsy sellers might sell or expire before people get to buy them. So in the four months before my actual wedding I will be emailing sellers and asking them very very kindly to set up a reserved listing in their shop for our wedding list, which I can then link to from our universal wish list builder. So if you are here because you are a seller from whom we have requested such a thing, then I hope it is all clear as crystal now. If you're here because you are a blushing bride, then please consider adding a little something to your list from Girl Industries. And if you're here because you're my friends or family - you will be able to find our list (eventually) at http://tinyurl.com/penman-list

I have 100 hearts

I was checking out my stats on Craftcult and see that 100 people have now hearted me. The most recent is a local, Emma, who blogs here and has a lo-fi but meaningful card range on etsy.com. Emma also draws inspiration from Empire Records, which gives her great taste in my book. I often find myself quoting Liv Tyler's character and saying 'there are 24 usable hours in every day' when people ask me how I fit in work, craft and studying.

I definitely have my eye on this card for a friend's new arrival expected later this year:

I'd actually noticed (and hearted) Emma's shop before when it was recommended to me by Andrea, of Flannery O'Kafka, another locally-based crafter with delicious dolls, highly collectable found objects, and such well-put-together collaged ACEOs which I'm literally in awe of. Such a talented lady. Drop by and see her shop when you can. In the meantime, meet Fern, a Flannery O'Kafka Doll

And don't forget the first Glasgow Craft Mafia craft fair of the season - tomorrow, Mono, 12 to 5pm!

Glasgow Craft Mafia Market - at Mono this Sunday!

Featuring an all-star line-up:
Asking For Trouble
Sarey Poppins
Carrot Coriander
Deep Fired Ceramics
The Rainbow Effect
Covetables
Gutsy Chocolates
T-boo
Merula Pie
Madness of Many
Rhubarb&Crumble
Stella My Star
Miso Funky

Can't make the market? There is plenty more going on this springtime courtesy of the Glasgow Craft Mafia. Get involved!

I like round numbers

A wander around Glasgow

I had a little task to do today, someone has charged me with looking for pressed pennies, the ones you get from tourist attractions. So I decided to do a museum crawl around Glasgow to see how I got on. I started out at the People's Palace, with no luck.

Then I walked into the town centre to renew my bus pass. Oh the glamour of it all! I was planning to hop on a bus to the West End, but instead decided to walk into a gale along the Clyde Walkway to the Science Centre and the Tall Ship. I was glad I did. I saw:

a man practising the trumpet under the railway bridge

the BBC building looking all moody, like

a new footbridge being built

the science centre tower (possibly not open to the public in the high winds) and the paddle steamer Waverley

the Tall Ship

a Police helicopter coming in to land

a lovely view of the University, Kelvingrove and the back of the transport museum

I nipped into the Transport Museum and Kelvingrove, picked up my pennies, and hopped on a bus home.

Hurray for Sundays!

Mother's Day Wallet Tutorial

Recently I was featured in the Glasgow West End Community Times with a tutorial on how you can handmake a Mother's Day present for just pennies. You might even have some of the things you need already...

I've posted a couple of scans of the article in all its glory, it's also available from the Glasgow Craft Mafia Flickr pages. Check out all the members' amazing stuff while you're there.

If you'd like me to post up each step here, with matching photos so that you can make one for your mum let me know and I'll get right on it!

N.B. Mother's Day in the UK is this Sunday. It's on another Sunday later in the year elsewhere in the world, so you have plenty of time...

Something's hiding...

My latest etsy crush and now they have gone and made a video about how amazing and talented they are. I love their home. And their life. And their, ahem, mad skillz. *sigh*

Cataloguing

I've been busy for the last week or so with a huge task, of which I'm about a third of the way through. I've been very lucky recently to have come into a supply of yarn. A big supply of yarn. Three bin bags full of yarn (we're talking 50 litres plus) from a colleague who had odd skeins left over from literally tens of projects, and someone on freecycle who didn't like posh yarns as much as my colleague, but has definitely given me plenty of acrylic to turn into turtles over the course of the year. Of course, this is all in addition to the probably two bin bags (a big-ass drawer full and a hol-full) that I was already hoarding.

I'm still only halfway through my big count (and a little scared to continue). Now I know in bag-fulls how much I have, I'm a little scared to break it down to colours, balls and grams. But never fear, I will do it! I've decided for this year that I'm going to challenge myself to try to get it used up and transformed into lovely new things to make and sell. One of the reasons I want to count up how many balls of yarn there are is to make sure that I make at least one of my Innocent hats for charity for every ball I have been lucky enough to receive. I managed to make around 20 for Innocent last year, and would like to triple that this year.

Photos of the stash will follow, but I'm blogging from the couch tonight and for reasons too tedious to explain, the photos are on the other laptop, which I can't use on the couch. It's a Monday... that's my excuse!

Writers Block

I saw the link for the following kit via the (now entirely online) Craft Magazine. I have plenty to write about but not the time! If you're stuck for something to say, maybe this could help:

http://elizabethdilk.com/block.html

Craftopolis

I'm probably the last Etsy seller to find out about this, but everyone else has heard of Craftopolis, right?

It's like craftcult but for treasuries and features, rather than hearts and views.

Although, craftcult has a new column to which something special may be added any day. If it's a column for treasuries, then I'll probably stick to using craftcult. Every hour, on the hour, usually. I like my stats!

Speaking of which, I had a little experiment with advertising on craftcult a couple of weeks back, and I was very pleased with the amount of traffic it generated. If you're visiting after seeing my ad, welcome!

Tell me where to go

Is it March already? Yikes!

I'm looking for places to visit when I'm on honeymoon later this year. We're going to Vancouver and Seattle, and as well as any tips and hints on sightseeing, I'd also like to hear about any great local finds by way of shops and boutiques where we can buy nice little mementoes to remind ourselves of our first big adventure as a married couple.

First on my list has to be Red Ticking, which I just heard about through SFGirlByBay's blog about design. If you have any more suggestions, please let me know, and I'll revive this blog post every now and again for more updates.