Catch up on Answers on a Postcard

Can't get your fix of my zine project while the Girl Industries etsy shop is on vacation? Fear not! AskingforTrouble.org has a great deal on all the zines in her shop at the moment, including your favourite interview zine. The buy one get one free deal is too good to miss, and there are a whole range of good reads in the shop, so if you're up to date with Answers on a Postcard there's still plenty more to treat yourself to.

I'm a big fan of Asking for Trouble designs and products, so hop on over to the shop and pick yourself up something lovely. And a couple of zines, of course! My current favourite (and best recent buy!) is this fantastic volcano tote with an Asking for Trouble illustration over at Zazzle. Luckily the volcano doesn't look like it'll be out of fashion for a long time, and with Fuji threatening to blow its stack later in the year, I'm going to be the best equipped and most trendy shopper at the supermarket for a few months to come!

Image (c) Marceline Smith/Asking For Trouble

Pssst - wanna see my new craft room?

So the moving in process (for me, at least) is on hold while I've not been feeling very well. Eventually this room will contain a fabric cutting desk and generic crafting area, a computer desk, and a curtained off storage area. Which I have promised myself and my husband will not get out of control!



At the moment it contains a ton of boxes waiting to be unpacked, and a newly-built shelving system. But this is what it looked like on the first day we got the keys...

And this is the view from the window. I think I might be spending a bit of time at the window on Saturday afternoons.

This is my former craft area, and as we discovered when we were packing to move house, I had crafty bits and bobs tucked away in nooks and crannies all over the flat. I can't wait to be up and running in my new space and will show you more photos once we're settled in.

Under the weather

Hello troops!

I've had a bad back all week, but needless to say, I had a wonderful time at Benmore Botanic Gardens on Sunday. Here are a couple of photos I took during quiet times in the crafty marquee.

And in the meantime, you can read how we got on over at the Asking for Trouble blog.

I'm closing shop on Monday for a couple of weeks to focus on moving house. But I'll be here blogging in the background and keeping my fingers very tightly crossed that our new phone line and broadband provider doesn't let me down.

Find me tomorrow at Benmore Botanic Garden

Photo by Trekearth.com

Here’s a quick reminder that I’ll be at the craft fair in the lovely surroundings of the Argyll peninsula this Sunday afternoon. It really is a lovely part of the countryside, and frankly, they had me at homemade preserves. It sounds like a wonderful day out, so I’m glad to be sharing a stall with Asking For Trouble so we each get a chance to explore the grounds, and the rest of the stalls on offer.

Here are all the details:

Benmore Open Day & Craft Fair
Benmore Botanic Garden
Free entry to Garden all day, regular trips aboard the Benmore Explorer, guided tours of the garden including the restored Benmore Fernery, Chainsaw Carving and a marquee shall host Tombola, Preserves, Cake & Candy Stall and our annual Craft Fair.

Date: 9 May 2010
Time: 12:00-17:00

More info: http://www.gardens-of-argyll.co.uk/events/benmore-open-day-craft-fair

p.s. if like me, you are scared of driving onto the ferry across to Dunoon, you can also go overland around the peninsula, which takes roughly the same amount of time, but maybe a little more gas and no pesky ferry fare to worry about. Don’t forget to call in at the highly-recommended Inver Cottage on your way home for a delicious and locally-sourced dinner.

Lots of news!

What a busy weekend! We got the keys to our new house on Friday, so I was pretty quiet over the weekend while I cleaned and prepped our new kitchen/diner/living space for painting. Mr P had the luxury of going up the ladders and getting up close and personal with the paint can. In the midst of all the activity, I managed to distribute subscription copies of the latest issue of Answers on a Postcard, which is available for purchase in the zines section of my Etsy shop. Contributors, as ever, can get a copy by clicking here.

I had a good response to my blog contest and now have a collection of new questions to ask contributors. I’ll be writing out to you once I’m all set up in my new attic craft room. Pictures to follow sometime in June when we officially move in, I want to get it just so before I share some photos! The lucky winner of the contest is Bronwyn, with her excellent question "what's your favourite tool/material/supply and how do you use it"

Thank you to everyone who took part, both posting on the blog and by emailing me directly. Bronwyn is a local crafter based in Glasgow and a fellow Glasgow Craft Mafia member. She makes some lovely things from found objects under the temptingly tasty name of Rhubarb Crumble and I’m always envious that she has managed to whip her sewing machine into serious good shape. If you’re already here, I know you’ll appreciate her upcycled treasures, so have a look at her shop on Folksy, and her tutorial-packed blog, too:

Commiserations to Marceline but all is not lost as she wins the pleasure of my company this weekend when we drive out to the countryside to set up stall at a craft fair in the beautiful Botanic Garden at Benmore, on the Argyll Peninsula. If you can’t make it (or want to make a shopping list before you set out), visit Asking for Trouble and Girl Industries to stock up online. Marceline is a huge supporter of the Answers on a Postcard zine and has copies available in her shop. She's currently running a special offer, too, so take a look. Also, now the Icelandic ash cloud is rearing it's gritty grey head again, take a look at the selection of products on Zazzle.com which Marceline has designed. I have a tote bag on its way to me as we speak!

Benmore Open Day & Craft Fair
Benmore Botanic Garden
Free entry to Garden all day, regular trips aboard the Benmore Explorer, guided tours of the garden including the restored Benmore Fernery, Chainsaw Carving and a marquee shall host Tombola, Preserves, Cake & Candy Stall and our annual Craft Fair.

Date: 9 May 2010
Time: 12:00-17:00
More info

This is your last chance to shop Girl Industries in person this summer, as I’m having a baby! All being well, I’ll be back in time for the autumn market season in October, with all the new goodies I’ve been planning for ages, including some brilliant collaboration opportunities with some of my favourite crafters. I have to apologise in advance for any baby-themed shopping features over the next couple of months as I sloooooowly get sucked in to the lovely handmade and very much non-essential baby things on offer around the internets. Between the house move and the new arrival, I’ll be closing my shop periodically from now until September. If you have custom orders for envelopes, please let me know as soon as you can, so I can schedule them around my other commitments. And I’d like to reassure everyone that normal Answers on a Postcard service will continue as planned, with subscribers’ copies out on time and new issues uploaded to the shop every month as usual. Hurray!

Remember to take part in my contest

Which closes in just a couple of days!





In the meantime, have a look at these little notebooks I made, when I recently attended an introductory course on bookbinding.

It's really addictive, and the repetitive nature of cutting pages and sewing bindings is very relaxing. I'm looking forward to getting my own awl and doing a lot more practice. If you're based in the central belt, and fancy learning a new skill, then have a think about the lessons at the Owl and Lion Gallery in Edinburgh. Attendees at the taster session (including new Glasgow Craft Mafia member Frayed at the Edges) were warned that their courses are for learning and working, not drinking tea, eating cake and having a bit of a try at something. So your money will be well spent. And as they are based in the lovely Grassmarket, you can always go for cake and tea, or something a little stronger, afterwards!

Since attending that one session I've been experimenting with colours, papers, and threads for binding. I can't wait to learn more!

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!