Happy 4th!

Patriotic buttons by ThisOnesMineDesigns on Etsy

I thought I'd help celebrate what I just heard described as 'the day the UK and America had a break-up' by doing the blog equivalent of 'drunk-dialing' to reminisce about old times.  Sorry for the lack of photos - you'll have to go clicky on the links.

Here's the first half of a list of my top ten places to visit in the States, and why I like them...

Fannette Island

I took an afternoon cruise around Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe back in July 1999, and was told about an English eccentric who built a castle on the island and had her butler row her out there every day to take afternoon tea.

With a little investigation, this lovely vignette turns out to be somewhere on the scale between borderline and absolute CLAPTRAP but it's a great story and the real information behind the place is just as interesting.

Lake Tahoe is on the border between Nevada and California, and my friend Jo and I were actually there to see Tom Jones. We weren't disappointed! Although the flight into town from Las Vegas, over the mountains in a single engine plane, was pretty hairy.

Lost River Caves, near Bowling Green

Apart from playing a key role in the American Civil War, and also being the rumoured hideout of outlaws like Jesse James, the best thing about this place is the fact that it was used as an underground (literally and perhaps figuratively) nightclub back in the 1930s. A bar area is hewn into the rock and there's a substantial dancefloor area too. Our tour guide when we visited (me and Jo again, but this time in July 2007) told us that the advent of air conditioning alongside laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol did for the bar in the end, but it's great that it's been restored and kept so well - a really interesting day out.

The Intersection of 1st and 1st, East Village, New York

Before I even noticed this wonderful hidden gem, this particular intersection has some great memories for me. These are mainly to do with shrugging off hangovers on the way to the 2AV station to catch the ever-useful F train, drinking coffee outside in snow or heat to wake me up for a day's shopping or sightseeing or trying to fortify myself for a day out with family! It's just around the corner from the storefront radio station, EVR.com where you can see Mark Ronson, Andy Rourke and other well-known musicians broadcasting all day every day. I've spotted everyone from Moby to Chris Klein and overheard all sorts of bizarre conversations right here - 'you've lived in New York your whole life and you never ate felafel? We're going for felafel RIGHT NOW' - three club kids heading into SoHo at 6.30am, presumably heading for home but with breakfast first. I also had to chuckle to myself as I overheard a girl chatting to her dachshund, Nathan - great name for a sausage dog! And you know where the F train goes... Coney Island! I think that's synchronicity (or something...)

Mount Hood, Oregon

I think I've probably mentioned this place to everyone I know at least one time too many, now, but I can't recommend it highly enough! On our honeymoon, the husband and I drove up the first 6000ft of the mountain, as I'd heard about the brunch at Timberline Lodge on the internet and wanted to give it a try. As soon as we arrived, we changed our plans, we were going to stay! After the super-helpful reception staff gave us a mini-tour of the rooms available that night, we splashed out on a lovely little room near the bar bwah ha ha. Best spur of the moment decision ever. The scenery, the facilities (outdoor swimming pool!), the staff, the restaurant, the bar, the brunch (wow, the the bloody mary here is excellent), the history (and I'm not just talking about the exterior shots for The Shining, or Roosevelt's visit in the 30s) and if I hadn't pretty much ruled skiiing out of my life when I realised quite how accident prone I am without the added bonuses of snow and sheer drops, I'm sure I'd love the outdoor pursuits available almost year round, too.

Roosevelt Island
Okay, so like many of my working days in midtown, I'm back to the F train. I spent New Year's Day 2006 exploring Roosevelt Island with my cousin and his wife (who just had a baby daughter on Monday - hooray!). All of us had worked in midtown only blocks from the island, but none of us had ever made the trip across on the tram (or cable cars, as I would call them). At that time, gentrification was just beginning, and new apartment buildings were springing up or being sold off plan. We walked a full circuit of the manmade island, and managed to spy plenty of cool sights, like an abandoned and empty swimming pool (this photo by Alex Guidouk is so much better than the one I took), the former hospital at the south end of the island that was used in the creepy Dark Water movie, and even managed to fit in some time for delicious lemon meringue at a diner, yum yum.

So those are my first five....

More to come!

Mardi Gras

I know, not yet.  But this ornamental facade on a building near my house made me think of all the prep people are doing to finish their floats in time for next month, and that if we were in New Orleans, this fleur de lis wouldn't be a dull dismal sludgy grey colour, at the very least it would be purple, gold or green.

Bring on the Hurricanes!

Stuck in a book

Oh this book is such a treat. Bear with me because most of this post won't make much sense if you aren't from Salford, or Manchester, or 1978. Don't let that put you off the book, though, it's a must read for any fan of popular culture, youth culture, the DIY/punk ethos, or the film 24 Hour Party People.

I keep grinning away to myself at snippets of Tony Wilson's ridiculous banter, a mention of the Town Hall pub in Eccles, St Mary's Hospital, where it is claimed that proper Mancunians are born, and the confirmation, in print, that Mick Hucknall was never there.

To counterbalance this, I am sad that the gig was at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, as I have only sung on stage (with my school choir in the Sting rainforest musical, Yanomamo) in the actual Free Trade Hall. Now it's a hotel, anyway. And I'm sad that Tony (Wilson) and Martin (Hannet) and Ian (Curtis) are no longer with us to reminisce. And I only have 20 pages left to read :(

Stirling sunrise

I was running a little late for work yesterday, but I didn't mind so much because I watched a glorious sunrise from the train. This shot was taken on the approach next to the rugby club, just before the river.

Birthday day out

For my birthday, back in the Easter Holidays, Amelia and I took a little jaunt to the Lake District to catch the World of Wool exhibition at Rheged.  Rheged is a strange beast, kind of a glorified service station, with shops selling lovely little things by local and national designer/maker types (including the lovely Julia Smith Ceramics), a soft play centre and outdoor play area (a lovely surprise on arrival) and a few different coffee bars.  There's some office/meeting space and also a huge exhibition space on the top floor.  It looks a bit hobbity from the outside, too.

As well as having been keen on visiting the exhibition for a while, we also had some friends in town from overseas with their new baby, so it was definitely worth the trip!

After an hour or so in the soft play, making friends and riding foam horses, Amelia seemed to enjoy it too. 

Amelia doing incredibly well not to touch the lovely tactile display

I didn't get to take photos of everything, what with the child wrangling and the don't touch policy, but my favourite part of the exhibition were the handmade houses with stories of the inhabitants.  I love the idea of building a whole new world out of just needles, yarn and imagination.  There's a pun about spinning a good yarn in there, I'm sure, but let's just gloss over that...

Some well known names like Emily Peacock and Donna Wilson were on display, alongside more local and less well known exhibitors.  Sadly the exhibition finished last week so I can't tell you all to go and see it.  Unfortunately, since I got my iPad and traded in my laptop, blogging has become more of a challenge, so hopefully someone can improve the blogger app soon and I'll get back to more frequent blogging. 

I loved the handmade brochure and had to buy one as a souvenir - it is even handbound with local wool.  Just perfect!

Find me in Sheffield!

I'm returning to my Northern English roots... sort of! The wonderful boutique Vertiline in Love has relocated from Edinburgh to Sheffield. I've been busy putting together a few boxes of new stock for this gorgeous little shop and here are some of the things I've been working on...

New tags... exclusive to Vertiline in this rich green colourway!

New packaging... especially for bricks and mortar retailers so they can price it up in house - and no web address on the packaging, just my business name.

If you are anywhere near Sheffield, or visiting Yorkshire in the next wee while, I can definitely encourage a visit to Vertiline in the Nichols Building. Otherwise, Vertiline will be open for business online shortly!

Strange coincidences

So I was getting ready to send out the latest zines from the Answers on a Postcard project to one of my subscribers, as well as the winnings from my recent Haunt contest and I was looking for a postcard to write a little note on.

Would you believe that the first one that came to hand was one from the same area where Haunt is based? I visited the Catskills in 2000 on the most amazing rickety old Adirondack Trailways bus out of Port Authority with my room-mate Sophie for a fun weekend out in the wilds.

Photo by: http://www.seaoats.etsy.com/

Also, I was randomly browsing Etsy and this pencil case by seaoats leapt out at me from someone in my Circle's favourites list... The photo the designer has used to make the screen print for the fabric shows the skyline of Exchange Place, a swift glance to the left from where I used to live, and a very familiar sight from days when I would take the World Trade Center ferry in to work. I tried to find out if the ferry still runs (it doesn't) and this led me to the PATH website, and their photographic archives, which are available for sale. I love this shot from 1912, the railroad has only added a handful of stations in the last 99 years.

And now I feel all homesick for NJ, so I put together this treasury to help me wallow in it then feel better. Enjoy!

Next time, I may bore you with places I have lived in Edinburgh... or Paris maybe.

Something lovely in the post

I'm getting more and more keen to try and make my own recycled paper from the offcuts of paper I generate in my crafting. I try to be as practical as possible with getting the most from my supplies, but I'd love to take it one step further and be super-green about it. Especially so when I receive handmade paper items like this beautiful card from my good friend (and bridesmaid!) Jen, who's currently living and working in Nepal.

Looking back

I'm home alone today, and doing a little bit of work on our huge family archive of photographs. Here are a couple of photographs from our travels in the last couple of years that I thought I would share with you...

At the moment I'm looking thorugh photos of our trip to Vancouver Island in 2009, and admiring some of the quilting exhibit at the Sooke Heritage Museum, which was a lovely little spot to visit not far from the house on a lake that we rented for a week. I have a number of sewing projects on the go at the moment, and this little wagon is encouraging me to get a move on! It's part of a larger quilt to illustrate the history and scenery of Vancouver Island, which was 'discovered' just over 160 years ago, with much indigenous history prior to that.

One of my Christmas presents was a negative scanner so I can digitise my old fashioned analogue snaps, which is a project I can see taking quite a while...

A long weekend at Craiglush

Every year around Thanksgiving time, I get away into the Scottish countryside for a long weekend together with my closest group of friends. This year we stayed in a lovely house with floor to ceiling windows over both floors, right on the banks of Craiglush Loch, near Dunkeld. For those of you who know your Shakespeare, we were right near Birnam Wood.

It was lovely to involve Amelia in our little annual tradition, and we managed to go the whole weekend without keeping everyone awake at night!

This is the view from our bedroom terrace every evening at sundown...

If anyone is interested in spending a weekend or a week at this lovely private location, drop me an email and I'll put you in touch with the friendly owner.

With all the extra hands available, I'm also delighted to report that I managed a little bit of knitting - it's a secret Christmas present project that I'll share with you all soon.

Armchair travelling

I use a nifty little widget called Statcounter to see how many people are reading my blog, and whereabouts in the world they're checking in from. As well as seeing lots of familiar names of places I've been (Brooklyn, Ards, Sheffield, Munich, Eugene, Madrid, Providence, Dundee and more), there are a few places on the list that are new to me, so I thought I'd do a bit of armchair travelling and find out something new...

First up is Curitiba, Brazil - one of the cooler places to visit in South America. Not just because of its relatively mild climate, but also because of its enviable and sustainable public transportation. Local Etsy seller GlassGift is one to watch, too. Look at this fantastic sushi set, it's making me hungry...

And where better to head next than Shizuoka, Japan? In the shadow of Mount Fuji, the scenery here seems so much more dramatic than the Ochil Hills behind my house! This stunning photograph is by Altus, on Flickr.

Next stop on this impromptu world tour is Castellon, Spain. It turns out that this is pretty close to a part of Spain I visited in 2006, when I attended the famous La Tomatina festival, near Valencia. Here's a photo of one of my favourite prints at home, which reminds me of Bunol, Eivissa, Palma and just about every small Spanish town I've visited. If you like it, go to Blancucha's Etsy shop to get a copy for yourself.

I visited some pretty interesting places when I lived in New Jersey, but I don't think I ever made it to Verona. It's home to the charmingly named Kip's Castle Park, which was restored recently after falling into disrepair. The photo comes courtesy of The Keystone New Jersey, where you can find more information about the history of the house and the grounds.


Staying in the USA for the last stop on today's itinerary, we're heading west to Granite Bay, California. Notable as home to Eddie Murphy, I thought that a little look at the local real estate would be in order. I wasn't disappointed. For just under $4m, look what Real Estate Ground want to sell me....

Quick, someone, buy 5 million upcycled envelopes from me and help make my dreams come true!

Volcano!

Here's another shot of me, this time me and the bump are modelling my new constant companion, an Asking for Trouble shopper, which I bought on Zazzle.com. I bought the organic shopper version, but there are bookbag versions and allsorts, or you can even buy the design on a t-shirt.

I also picked up some cards with the same design, which are now available directly from the Asking for Trouble website shop. They make a great alternative to a postcard if you're having a staycation this year!

Lucky dip

I'm such a sucker for tombolas, lucky bags and surprises. So how could I resist when the proprietor of Hannah Zakari was having a clearout of her fabric stash, prior to the exciting launch of her new bricks and mortar shop in Edinburgh?

After placing an order yesterday, I was delighted to see a little red van pull up outside the house this lunchtime with a big old parcel just for me!

And here is a selection of the delights inside:

I've been itching to get back behind my sewing machine for a while, but I have a feeling it needs a service and a new needle before I let it loose on such lovely fabric. If you'd like to score a similar (but entirely different) addition to your own fabric (and notions!) stash, hit up HZ's ebay shop, where you can pick from entire bolts of designer fabric, alongside the mystery bags. To visit the new shop in person, keep your eyes on the website for launch details.

Photo via SBJM

And speaking of good times in Edinburgh this summer, why not do your bit to improve cross-pond relations and help two Brooklyn-based comedians on their way to do almost daily free shows at Whistle Binkies during the festival? I'm hoping to get along to catch a show and say hi, as long as I'm not busy having a baby while they're on, I can manage the stairs and remember if any embarrassments from my student antics preclude me from entering WBs. Last time they were here, Leah and Katie were named "Biggest Revelation" by The Guardian, became addicted to haggis and deep fried mars bars, and even got SUED! Help them make all their dreams come true, and more, by pledging as little as $5 to help them on their way.

As a side note, I'm really impressed with Kickstarter.com as a model for creative types to fund their endeavours - have a look at the main page for an explanation of how it works. It's kind of a justgiving site for the arts rather than charitable organisations. I wonder if Wired UK or one of our Dragons might be interested in a British outpost of the same type of site...

We Make London

I have such mobility envy at the moment! Quite apart from tonight's trip to Dundee I really wanted to make this evening, I'd hoped to hop on a train to London before the baby arrived but circumstances have conspired against me. I would really have liked to pop along to some of the great crafty events taking place this summer, and We Make London in particular caught my eye.

On Saturday 26 June, at Chelsea Town Hall, Etsy will be sponsoring this showcase of nearly 50 indie crafters and maker. Answers on a Postcard regular, Hatastic!, will be there, alongside the long-admired Laurafallulah (she of the exquisite flowers), star knitter Strikk (cable cushions to die for) and some new to me artists like ILikeSleeping and boutique of postable pressies, Love Post.

Of course, all of the exhibitors have a web presence so I can always indulge myself at home instead. Those of you in the area, I'd encourage you to check it out on my behalf!

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.

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!

Replacement knitting

My friend (and bridesmaid) Jenn is off to live in Nepal again soon, and was hoping to take with her the shrug I made to match her bridesmaid dress last summer. So in preparations for setting off, she popped it in the washing machine and forgot that hot water and agitation is NOT the best friend of animal fibres.

So here I go, making her a new one in her signature colour of hot pink to match the legwarmers and gloves I also put together for her last year. I think I'll be making one great big clothing care label to go with it, before I'm able to give it to her in person next weekend at our friend Sarah's wedding.

Jenn on the left, and Sarah on the right. Photograph by Malin Widstrand.

Weekend blogger

I think I've become a bit of a weekend blogger. Most of my crafty shenanigans right now revolves around my inbox, while I prepare for the first Answers on a Postcard zine. I should be receiving all the final entries in the next few days which gives me, eek, about a week to sort out the first issue for distribution starting on 31 January.

Next weekend I'm off to Manchester, home of some very crafty things indeed, and of course, my home town. I'm going to the hen weekend of a former flatmate from our time in New York. It's strange that we grew up 5 miles from each other, but met in a city of I don't know how many millions of people.

And I'm also in a treasury right now - those same envelopes that you can find featured in this book are also in a lovely collection of my old pals' work over at Hoarders Unite. I'm not officially a member right now due to my somewhat heavy workload, but it's lovely when they remember me! Thank you, whoa it's me!

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.

Happy Old Year!

Photo by The Jersey City Independent via Flickr

What a year 2009 has been! So much has happened that I hardly know where to start for a recap. But first of all I want to say thank you to everyone who has read my blog over the last year, joined in on a challenge, left a comment, subscribed to be notified when I post, or been inspired by one of my tutorials. Thank you to my fellow bloggers who have invited me to write guest posts, featured my work or arranged great collaborations for the New Year.

My stats show that over the year, more than two and a half thousand people have visited my blog, and about a quarter of my visitors have actually come back more than once! Wow! So hello to you, if you're reading this in New Westminster, Beverly Hills (seriously?!!), Lisburn, Queensferry, Groningen, Princeton (Jersey represent!), Kópavogur, Obregon, Doncaster, and yes, even you, Brooklyn.

In terms of Etsy sales, I started off the year just doing my thing, testing things out and seeing what would work. My sales really started to take off towards the end of this year, and I've been listing a few pieces on Folksy, too, where there's been quite a bit of interest but no sales as yet. Next step will be setting up my own site and shop, but I'm putting that on the back burner for a little while as I have so many projects lined up for next year, I want to try to focus on doing a few things well rather than a lot of things, um, acceptably. I've been interviewed on BBC Scotland (radio) and I've co-presented a craft segment on STV, our local TV channel, and I'd love to do some more of this in the New Year.

On top of all this, I've been plodding away at the day job, I planned and did a whole heap of crafting for my own wedding, and I had the most amazing honeymoon in Seattle, Portland, Astoria, Mt. Hood, Vancouver and points in between.

I can't help but compare where I am and what I'm doing now to where I was and what I was doing ten years ago. I was lucky enough to be working in New York for a business incubator, which financed and supported tech start ups with business advice and contacts. I don't think I appreciated at the time quite how much that environment fostered in me the actual mechanics of running a business. I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but because I wasn't brought up around anyone who was self-employed, I never really thought it was for me. Working in NY around the time of the dotcom crash also instilled in me the very real prospect of great ideas going horribly wrong, or being way before their time. If you ever get the chance to see the movie startup.com, you should. It's very much of its time and what's more, it's based on a company some of my friends worked for, too, so a very real slice of life.

This very day ten years ago, I was getting ready for a big night out, much in the same way I'm getting ready today. Except then I shared an apartment in Jersey City with five other girls, and now I just have to contend with the cats and the husband - not quite as much getting ready fun. It was frosty outside (same as today) and we were going to a restaurant (same as today). We'd considered doing Times Square but being British and sensible, we were a little wary of crowd situations and personal safety, plus the fact that we thought something was bound to go wrong, severe weather causing cancellation, security threat closing the area, millennium bug causing panic/crushing...

I think we had a fab time, but it was so long ago I honestly don't remember too much now - I do have some photos tucked away which I will post at a later date - that's another thing about this year, we are very much trying to move house as soon as possible so lots of things are packed away in storage right now. I also have some amazing black and white photos that I took the next day of our apartment building from the obs deck at WTC, we took a ferry from the marina outside our apartment over to WTC and made a real day out of it, good times. Some of the fall out from that weekend was that we had to leave the apartment and move somewhere else... but that's another story for another day!

So inbetween that new year and this new year so much has happened. I finished up the first year of my MBA and came back to Edinburgh, in the UK and continued to work in business, this time for a major retail company. After a period of illness I gave it all up to use my brilliant young, dynamic business mind to improve the NHS... that particular project is ongoing, shall we say? All the while I was making stuff in the background, and when I bought my first flat in Glasgow, I started to build my crafty stash in earnest, still making things for a hobby and wondering if there would ever be some kind of market for what I do. Eventually I met my wonderful husband, around the same time that I travelled to Tennessee and saw first-hand how it was possible to make a living from craft and spend all your time doing something you love. I signed up to Etsy later that year and set about making it happen. I couldn't have got as far as I have without belonging to the Glasgow Craft Mafia, too. It's going to take a while before I experience success on a large enough scale to even do this for a living part time, so I can't quite quit the dayjob yet (which, I must admit, I do rather enjoy), but I've hugely enjoyed this great experiment so far, and long may it continue!

With good luck to all of us for a happy and crafty 2010! I'll be back early in the New Year (possibly tomorrow...) to give you an update on my plans for 2010. Whatever you're doing tonight, I hope you have a wonderful time. And thank you again for reading, shopping and sharing over this past year. It has been a real pleasure to get to know you all.