Hot off the press

Issue three of Answers on a Postcard is here! This month’s theme is Ultimate Crafting Goals and we have a grand total of 27 contributors. As ever, it’s not too late to take part, so convo me via Etsy or drop me an email (address over to the right, there) if you want to take part.

I’m also accepting suggestions for new questions to go on the list, so post here, or shhhh, keep it a secret and contact me in either way suggested.

A huge thanks to everyone who’s been involved so far, as a customer, contributor, and the many of you who are both! The promised blog features on individual contributors are coming soon…

Market day

Today's the day - remember the clocks have gone forward!



If you forget, never fear, there's another Mafia event tomorrow - called Trade Secrets. Mafia members and local crafters alike will be getting together at Creation Studios to swap skills, tricks of the trade, and have a good old chinwag in this creative hotspot right in the heart of Glasgow. It's at 16 Trongate, just along from the old clock tower. It all kicks off at 7pm, and promises to be a fantastic evening! Click here for a taster of some of the kind of discussions we're hoping to have.

New for Easter – Egg cosy kits!

A lovely little project for young ‘uns and more experienced crafty types alike are my new bunny egg cosy kits. All wrapped up in an upcycled egg carton, is everything you need to make these adorable little rabbits to keep your eggs nice and warm on Easter morning, and every day of the year. All you’ll need is a spare hour or so, and your own pair of scissors.

Each box contains a full colour tutorial with photos for every step, written and compiled by me, and formatted by the lovely Marceline of Asking for Trouble, who is nothing short of a genius at these things. You’ll want your eggs to dress up every single day. Once you’ve mastered the basics, why not make personalise your bunnies to match your pets? Or turn the basic pattern into yellow chicks or other easter-related (or not) creatures, depending on what yarn remnants you have available.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to knit on a clothes peg, this kit is for you! It’s easy as pie once you get going, and you can use the same technique to make coasters, placemats, coffee cosies, decorative trim for your gifts and parcels – all kinds of useful things. I’ll be working on a couple of tutorial PDFs to pop into the shop shortly, so keep your eyes peeled for those if you’re too late for Easter. I’d love to see any creations you make from my kits and tutorials, so drop me a line with your pictures, or leave a comment pointing to your blog or flickr pages.

Out of time, or not in the mood to be creative this Easter? Get some ready made craftiness with my hand knitted easter chicks.

Remember, catch me at the Handmade Haven this Sunday.

It's my first market this year, and I'm looking forward to catching up with the other mafia members, and meeting some new vendors, too.

Hope to see you there!

Supplies mania!

I'm destashing with gusto over on eBay, where you'll find me under the pseudonym Kippersmum. I've got ribbons, buttons, yarn, fabric and notions galore. I'll have stampers, punches, paper and stickers, too.

Winners of multiple lots always get combined shipping, so hop on over for a bargain. I need to lighten the load before our house move later this year. And of course the extra cash never hurts, either :-)

I've also put together a button pick'n'mix for the Glasgow Craft Mafia Handmade Haven I'll be at over in Mono this weekend. Woolies, eat your heart out!

I've also been busy today making up some new cushions - they are for the new house but it never hurts to test them out, right?

500 things update

My goodness, this little challenge has been keeping me busy! One of the jobs I keep putting off is organising my collection of newspaper clippings. One of the traits I’ve definitely inherited from my dad is cutting and keeping, or clipping and sending articles from newspapers and magazines to friends and family. And they all do it for me, too. You’d think that tweeting links, as well as blogging, would satisfy this need to share good information in a more up to date way, but I like to keep it old-school, too. As long as my dad takes the time to send me interesting things to read, I’ll continue to think ‘how thoughtful’ and place them in my clippings box file (yes, I have such a thing).

So I’ve found a new way to combine technology with this hobby, and vowed to keep on top of it. I now scan all my must-save clippings, and I’m trying to be more discerning in what I feel that I need to keep.

For example, I was a huge fan of quilling as a teenager, as well as very interested in music. I love these feature covers from the Guardian and the Observer last year which combine these two loves to a tee.



So now I’ve been able to add my box of clippings to the recycling pile, and I can update my list from numbers 18 to 23.

I’ve decided to be a little more strict with myself and count the weekly newspaper clearout as one (22) and on the more lenient side, I’ve included at (20) the prevention of more things coming in…

For six years we’ve been receiving organic fruit and veg deliveries from the good people at Stair, and with great sadness we’ve cancelled our regular order in anticipation of our move. As I start to shop from our freezer and cupboards, I’ll spare you the details and count this as a single tick off my list instead. Sound like a deal?

Today is Sport Relief day!

I’ve been forgoing my twice-weekly latte for the last couple of weeks to support the efforts of my friend Shonagh's little boy, Euan, who wants to help others who are in need. Click here to find out what he’s doing to raise money, and here to find out more about Sport Relief.

You can also help by clicking here - a penny is donated to Sport Relief by the company hosting the website.

Glasgow Craft Mafia Market in March

I'm so excited to be taking part in a market - as a vendor! - this month. I was so sad to step down from my organising post last month, but as those of you who follow me on Twitter will know, I'm in the process of moving house and it is not easy to do right now.

The Glasgow Craft Mafia has a Handmade Haven at Mono on Sunday 28 March, as well as a fantastic social event lined up for Monday 29 March at Creation Studios. Creation is a great hub for all sorts of well, creative, activities here in Glasgow. It offers practice and performance space to musicians, dancers, singers and its cafe area often hosts art exhibitions and other 'happenings'. We're aiming to bring crafts to the creative party, so you can come along and meet members here, too.

Creation is situated at 16 Trongate, in the Merchant City. It's a stone's throw from our friends at Mono, and metres away from the tollbooth clock at Glasgow Cross.

Looking forward to it already!

500 things in 50 days - a new challenge

For those of you who have been following the blog, and particularly my tweets, you'll know that my husband and I are planning to move house this year. A couple of months ago we found a property we like, and following some legal work and many visits and phone calls to the bank, we look 60% likely to be moving at the end of April!

If the sale falls through, we've decided to stay put and ride out the current financial climate at home. Either way, we need to think about seriously decluttering as running a business and a home at the same time can get out of hand in a one-bedroom flat. Particularly when one's strapline is 'making new stuff out of old stuff' - there's a lot of old and new stuff kicking around right now!

So I've decided to keep you up to date here, as it will keep me focused on the task at hand. My birthday is also coming up, and while I love to receive presents I think this year I would really love to get gift cards, particularly Amazon, the proposed demise of 6music is making me think I should get ready to start buying CDs and downloads again... Although if you absolutely want to buy me a present, I want one of these, please.

Yesterday I got started with the following little list:

1-7 items of clothing to the charity shop
8+9 unwanted candles and holders to friend for car boot sale
10 boxed Habitat bathroom fittings (as above)
11 boxed collectible mug (as above)
12 Donation of yarn to a non-profit organisation


13-15 Magazines in the recycling
16 + 17 Made by Hank purse and Origins product to my mum for Mother's Day

Needless to say, a huge eBay destash is on its way later this month, and Asking For Trouble-style I'll let you know how I do in my Etsy shop and also I'll be at the Glasgow Craft Mafia handmade haven later this month, too. Hopefully I'll be finishing off projects I'm halfway through and doing well for sales and not just throwing and giving things away :-)

New for spring!

My wedding rehearsal, photograph by Malin Widstrand.

I've decided to put some of the heart-shaped button wreath decorations I made last year into the shop for you to buy and decorate your home, or wedding venue, in handmade style.

With a ribbon for hanging and a beautiful mix of muted and natural colours, this will look beautiful indoors or outdoors, or even on your front door.

Snap one up right here, right now.

Pay it Forward: Confession time

I've finally managed to get another PIF in the post all the way to Australia. I have to confess that I misplaced it just about the minute I emailed Amanda to let her know it was ready.

I made a little knitted purse, which is the perfect size for business cards, a dinky camera or a mobile phone - or anything else you can think of.

Here's a photo to show you what I made - this is similar to Nancy's PIF, too, which I was so keen to get in the post just before Christmas, I forgot to photograph it.

And here's confession time, number two. I'm still working on a successful lining so that Marceline's DS will fit snugly into the cover I made for it. I'll get there, I promise!

A few fun things to do

I've just entered a fantastic draw to win some amazing artwork from final year graphic design students, as well as established artists, courtesy of http://www.thea4draw.blogspot.com/ - get your ticket over at folksy.com for the next couple of weeks before the draw takes place.

I'd love to win one of the pieces by Gemma Correll, Rob Ryan or Sophie Evans, but really, all of the work on offer is brilliant.

I'm the world's worst at drawing, but I'm still tempted to help the ingenious founder of http://www.onemilliongiraffes.com/ win his bet against his pal. He's nearly there, but still needs our help.

And speaking of giraffes, Claire of MisoFunky, whose logo features a giraffe named Hamish, has tagged me in a photo challenge. I have to go to the tenth photo in the first folder on my pictures section of the computer, and explain what I find there.

Well, my first folder is tagged AMNH, and the tenth photo is this guy. I hope he didn't stay fast asleep until the museum closed, because we all know what happens then...

The full story behind the picture is that it was taken on 2nd January 2008, during my last trip to New York. I was at the museum with my sister and her husband, taking a break from hanging out with my cousin and my dad. I was feeling over my mild new years hangover, obtained in style at the lovely home of Brooklyn-based jeweller Grayson Mae.

My good friend and super-host Colin was catching up on work after being sick for a while, which appears to happen whenever I visit over new year, so being at a loose end, me and the Buchanans decided to go and do something none of us had done before - I was more keen on eating sushi, buying high-end stationery, celeb-spotting and generally being a bit of a poser down in SoHo when I lived in NY - spending my weekends as far away as possible from where I spent my weekdays shuttling between offices on Madison and Central Park West.

I am trying not to think too hard about the fact that the elephant's rear end may be haunted. I think I'm in the dust corner on the mighty dust vs. orbs debate.

I'm supposed to tag five other people, and I'm spoiled for choice, so I tag YOU!