Treasury feature: strings

I've been lucky to find girlindustries items in a few treasuries this week - thank you to everyone who comments on and browses these lists, and a huge thank you to the lovely people who compile them.

Lovely shopping

I haven't been to the V & A museum in oooh, ages. But I'm signed up to their email news service and love it when news of their shop sales come through. At the moment there are excellent bargains to be had out of season for Christmas decorations with a handmade feel, and I quite often buy stationery from the museum for Christmas presents - they have a great range of designs and I feel good knowing the money is supporting the museum in these troubling times for the arts and public institutions. How wonderful is this memory book, in bright powder blue?

If you stray away from the sales section, you can browse fabric reproductions of vintage designs available by the metre, many of which are also reduced in price. But the sale itself is worth a look, with offers like this felt feather decoration, a snip at 30p! Or a crocheted Christmas tree bauble for just 50p! It's a good reminder that now is the time to be thinking about Christmas stock for our own shops - 2011 is flying past and it'll be Autumn before we know it...

A different Amelia

I just noticed that one of my Etsy addictions, Made By Hank, has a new style of bag for her new shop over at Big Cartel.

How tempting!

Get yours here once they are back in stock...

Houses

We're off to take a look in Habitat shortly, and have been browsing the Crown website this morning (yes, things sort of changed for the better with the house situation, phew!), so I thought I'd take a quick browse of some fun housy-type things on the internet.

First up, via the popular lifestyle blog A Cup of Jo, this fantastic bedside table:

Not quite a house, but I expect at least one room in our new place will be quite industrious, I'm delighted to see that Pearson Maron have a sale to celebrate their third Etsyversary. And I just had to pick up my own miniature factory what a lovely thing!:

I've been busy starting to make change of address cards using these fantastic and repurposed house stickers from Answers on a Postcard contributor, Swirlyarts. I just hope I can find my address book once we start to unpack!

I was so thrilled when I found the new home stamp at my local Hobbycraft because our new house has three storeys, so it matches perfectly!

The range of non-human houses on Etsy never ceases to amaze me. We can't have birdhouses in our garden because of the furry predators living in our house, but if I could pick one, it'd be this work of art from Reedsbeachbirdhouses - I almost want to move in!

And let's not forget dolls houses - I'm more used to Barbie's pink plastic dreamhouse, so I would have loved to have had a friend with one of these amazing creations from Adobedollhouse's shop instead. What a sense of place and history in this perfect scale model!

Him indoors is really looking forward to having a shed again, so I'd love to invest in one of these mugs for him to take with him while he's doing whatever men do in sheds, from British artist Esther Coombes:





Esther uses ceramic paint and her modern urban illustrations to add new direction and purpose to her charity shop finds. She takes custom orders and I'm really enjoying her style, so maybe she would take a commission for a set based on the front of our house...

I'm off before I get started on decor, wall art and furniture. That's a post for another day!

Feeling wintry

All this snow and ice we're having is making me think about the forthcoming winter olympics in Vancouver! Well, that and the article I read in this morning's paper about Paris Hilton currently being in on holiday in Whistler...

Everyone was getting pretty excited about the winter games when we visited in October, and the fun officially begins in just over a month's time.

So I did a bit of hunting on Etsy and found some great olympics-themed souvenirs...

First of all, this necklace and upcycled map pendant by dlkdesigns



And extra cute, these needle-felted little darling Snow Birds by lojo55n

I wanted to look for some more, but frankly, I'm too in love with the little tiny birds with the little tiny hats to carry on looking! Have a great weekend everyone, and stay warm.

The Coveted magazine and random thoughts on fashion

I'm looking forward to the next issue! Have you read it yet?



One of my big jobs to do that I've been putting off is to have a good sort through my wardrobe so I'm slightly obsessed with fashion/good clothes at the moment. I was even reading Vogue the other day at the hairdressers - their annual 'dash cash' issue is out at the mo, which is about looking good and spending less. A key theme was upcycling so I'll be eyeing up my old clothes to see what I can make...

I was thinking about putting my sewing machine to good use and whipping up one of these patchwork sewing bags from Quilting for Peace, so pretty! Make your own here.

Portland, and Seattle

We've been to Portland, and now we're done with Seattle. Check out local etsy seller, Lemon Lollipop. This stuff would definitely blow away the cobwebs on a grey morning - and no, it's not a link to a vat of Starbucks.

Stopover in Amsterdam

The land of Miffy and windmills also brings us LeiLiLaLoo. Follow her blog here. I'd like to live in a house like this one day.

Mmmmm, toast

We don't have a toaster on our (mainly handmade) wedding list, but if we did, I think we'd have picked one of these. They're available from Aria (where I've just been buying some early Christmas presents) and made by Bodum.

I can't decided between the red or the brown...

Awww, weather, play nice

All this drizzle is making me feel like this:





Find the adorable Dreary Mouse over at MossMountain - a shop after my own heart, on Etsy. But don't hang around, because I have my eye on her, too.

For a depressing 10-day weather forecast, I urge you not to look at this link. Slightly more reliable than the rubbish BBC weather forecasts, though.

Things I like

A quick look at a few things I'm coveting at the moment:

New tshirts

A new craft area

Swishy dresses

Lovely!

Flower of Scotland

How cute are these notecards? They are definitely on my 'to buy' list! I was initially drawn to the design as the thistle is our national emblem here in Scotland, but then I read the story behind the cards and I was immediately touched. Curious? Find out more in nouveaudesigns etsy shop.

Smile!

The other day I was in the mood for a right good cheering up, but with it still being before payday, I had to content myself with window shopping. Here's what I found...

Naughty Bertram, by Hardyharhar

Pretty much all of Blancucha's work captures the colour and vibrancy of one my favourite places to visit, Spain.

And on a writing tip, the descriptions in this shop (Mixed Species) made me chuckle to myself. Good work!

'Music too cool for monetary exchange' is much more positive than, you know, what they're really saying. And they upcycle!

I also heard about this crafty event, and wished for a nanosecond that I was in Toronto tomorrow. Then I remembered that I'm off to Edinburgh for a hot date with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at Taste of Edinburgh tomorrow evening, and the Handmade Haven at the Buff Club on Saturday here in Glasgow.

I now consider my frown turned upside down.