Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!

Christmas is one of my favourite times of year. Although I've not made masses in the way of seasonal stock this year, there have been a selection of Christmas earrings selling well, and I've spent lots of time drooling over Christmassy things online and in all the beautiful books at work that only seem to be out on the shelves in November and December! (note to self... must find out where they keep them all year round).

Here's me decorating work's enormous Christmas tree in silver & purple... don't know how I ended up at the top of a ladder, but look, even my jumper matches the tree!

Anyway, I've decided that when I finally have space for a tree of my own, it's going to be fairly big, probably artificial as real ones make me sneeze, and the first year it's going to be done in blues, purples and pinks... deep vibrant jewel tones. And as one book told me today, "don't forget, your tree is not fully dressed without a skirt"! Methinks I'll have to start rather earlier than I did this year...


In the true spirit of the season, tonight is my second of three roast dinners this week - little miss piggy, lol! Thursday was Julia's speciality lemon chicken, tonight is beef and tomorrow I'm off to Mum & Dad's for pork with all the trimmings... yum yum!

twas fun, but oh so cold...

Hehe, more than 24 hours later I'm sure I'm still defrosting! It was a gloriously sunny but very crisp, cold winter's day for Sunday's fair... the wonderful Sar came with me to man (woman? girl?) the stall, and I had some lovely conversations as always, lots of brilliant feedback and comments on my work and several orders on top of the day's sales. Which is always lovely!

Also managed to fall into conversation with a couple who had four greyhounds and work at Clarks Farm Greyhound Rescue, which is near where Mum & Dad live... they said even irregular volunteering is fabulous, so I shall be haring over there as soon as I have a free few hours, to go greyhound walking :D

Next one's Wickham Bishops on the 20th, then Hylands' Christmas shopping evening on the 25th, then that's pretty much it for 2010. And it's looking like 2011 might be all about the online selling, as much as I love the craft fairs, I'm finding fitting them around a full-time job (where I work regular weekends too) much less doable than I'd hoped.

We shall see what the next few months hold! :)

Four fairs this month!

I've been a little quiet over here and on Twitter lately... this is because I've been frantically making things and coming up with new designs for you lovely lot, so that I have enough stock for the FOUR fairs I'm doing between now and December.

First up is this Sunday, weather-dependent... I don't mind the cold but my stock and packaging won't survive the rain, so provided it's dry I shall be at Hylands House from 10am on Sunday (7th November).

Next up is the one that started it all, Wickham Bishops Winter Bazaar, 20th November at Wickham Bishops Village Hall. I'm not certain of timing but I imagine a 10am start. It's indoors so I'll definitely be there!

Thirdly, Hylands is hosting a Christmas shopping event on the evening of Thursday 25th November, again indoors and I shall be there - I even have time off the day job to get there and set up! Shopping is from 6 till 9 and I'm reliably informed all the usual yummy food stalls will be there - so come and stock up on stocking fillers and last-minute Christmas pressies!

Lastly for this year, the final regular Hylands Sunday market will be on the 5th December from 10am. Again weather depending, but I hope to be there because everyone will be properly in the Christmas spirit!

So I hope to see some of you there, I have new lines (hairslides, domino necklaces & cufflinks, Scrabble tile necklaces & cufflinks...)

Carla :)

Monsoon season!

Ok, so I'm exaggerating a bit, but it seemed quite monsoon-like this afternoon! Had a really good spot at today's fair at Hylands, mostly thanks to lots of people cancelling at the last minute due to the weather forecast. However, I was there at 8 anyway, and my dad turned up like some kind of knight in shining armour to help me put the gazebo up - i had what felt like eighty-five poles scattered on the ground with no clue how to put them together to create a working gazebo to protect my stock (and me!) from the rain!

By the time we were set up, the sun was actually, gasp, shock horror, SHINING! Stayed that way for a few hours, and we got some passing trade from the brave people running 10k for cancer research as well as the Stables centre visitors.

Lovely friends came to visit and help out, but sadly by 2pm the rain was heavy enough that everyone was packing up, so we packed my stock and took down the gazebo in record time (there were four of us) and retired to the nearest pub!

This was the first fair where I've been alone on the stall for the majority of the day, and it was surprisingly productive... I was a bit flappy about leaving it for food & loo trips, but the other stallholders are all really friendly and were happy to keep an eye on it for me, and I also discovered that I got lots of actual making done while sitting there. It seemed to be a good icebreaker with customers too, and they clocked onto the fact that I make everything I sell much more quickly than they usually do, which I can only attribute to spending most of the day with dominos, wire and pliers in my hands!

Looking forward to November's, and the special Christmas (indoor!) market in late November too... I'll get some sneak peeks of my new designs up on here before then, but the next few days will be quiet on here, Facebook and Twitter as my lovely housemate is taking me away for a long weekend! We're not sure where we're going yet, but probably a spa somewhere and it's going to be technology-free and ultra-relaxing! (and I shall come back inspired, relaxed and ready to throw myself into Ducking Fabulous with a new burst of energy!)

it's that time of the month again - Hylands time!

So a whole month has flown past and it's time to pack for the fair again - this weekend will see me swapping my totally impractical car for my Dad's much more sensible one, picking up the gazebo and the table, and heading off to Hylands House again on Sunday for the second monthly craft fair.

I'm excited, but reservedly so this time... last time the excitement and build up was exhausting! Here are a few photos from September's fair:

The car, packed to capacity (I had to sit pretty much under the gazebo box on the way home)

The finished gazebo and tables :)

And a few close ups of my table and stock (not forgetting the ducks!)



So if any of you are in the Chelmsford area on Sunday... come and see me between 10 and 4! (or if you fancy turning up at 8, I'll buy you a bacon sandwich in return for assistance with the gazebo!!)

a very busy month in the world of Ducking Fabulous

Hello lovely patient readers, my apologies for having not updated for an entire month. *blush* It's nothing personal, it's just been crazily busy and I don't seem to have had five minutes to blog, read other people's blogs or list anything in the shop - bad squishy!

Sunday 5th September was the first of my Hylands House fairs - was so busy I didn't actually take any photos but I believe Mum got a couple of us putting the gazebo up, and of the stall when it was finished, before the fair opened to customers, so I'll find those and add them in later :)

It was a lovely day, everyone was really friendly, people I knew came to visit me and complete strangers complimented my work, and most excitingly I've been approved as a regular trader, so I'll be there the first Sunday of every month from now on :) At least until Christmas, the early months of 2011 are insane already but I'll do my best to be there :) Enormous thanks & hugs must go to my parents and Julia, for getting up at daft o'clock, rushing around in cars, helping me put the gazebo up and the stall together, and staying with me all day... massively appreciated!

Tuesday was Autumn Fair International and lots of research - Mum and Dad went off to look at whatever it is they were looking for, and I got to wander round, meet suppliers, look at products, pick up catalogues and generally get an idea of the sort of products I'll stock when I have the shop. (And of course Ducking Fabulous will feature, hehe). It was a really interesting if very tiring day, and I managed to catch up with a dear friend at the same time, which was lovely. I think I shall be at Spring Fair with an actual budget to spend rather than just for research purposes, but I also think I'm going to need to do at least two days with a hotel stop in the middle, there's far too much to get around in one day. No photos of that at all I'm afraid, I didn't want to even take a camera in case people thought I was pinching their product ideas.

So my evenings are now made up of going through catalogues and creating a stock list, and extending my own range for the fairs in October, November & December. I'm still hovering between trying to make every single thing unique, and having a defined range in which each piece would be handmade so no two would ever be identical... I'm leaning towards a defined range, but we'll see. 

Off to a gallery & studio opening this evening which should be interesting and informative - all in the name of research as well as drooling over art & pretty things!

Things I love this week: Moleskine notebooks and their Flickr group, A collection a day by Lisa Congdon , appearing in Japanese Performance Magazine on the 14th and being full of inspiration and motivation.
Things I'm not so keen on: Not being able to justify spending on a waterproof mp3 player, not having enough time to get to JAE and some Talk Photography meets :(

I've been accepted!

Squee! Accepted to Hylands House craft fair, which is once a month at the rather lovely Stables centre there - I've no idea how successful it'll be but I'm SO chuffed my stall is deemed worthy of a monthly spot :)

Hylands is a gorgeous listed house just outside Chelmsford, nestled in 574 acres of beautiful land, and its Stables centre is home to several very talented artists and craftspeople... I'm very much looking forward to meeting them at the first fair, which is on 5th September!

I haven't left the planet, honestly :)

So I'm still here, so is Ducking Fabulous... it's been a very busy month, with the 'studio' move... ok, just me moving out of my parents' house and into a flat I'm renting with Julia - we're calling it The Penthouse and spending all our free time making it look pretty :) We also don't have a phone line or internet there yet, so I'm reliant on finding time & a free computer in my lunch hour to squish blogging into!

So my table and sewing machine are set up, I'll be doing the majority of everything from there for now as we don't yet have a dining table, either. Lol! The joys of a new flat. Actually everyone's been very kind and we're overflowing with furniture and kitchen stuff and general goodwill... just struggling with the last boxes of bits now, the kind of stuff you shunt from room to room but that doesn't actually live anywhere!!

My aunt is hosting a charity event next Thursday with some stalls to raise money - I won't be there myself, as I have to work, but I will be providing her with a selection of accessories and donating if they sell :)

Otherwise I'm exhibiting at the library in August and continuing my application for the monthly fair at Hylands - hopefully I'll be accepted but you never know!

June is shaping up to be a particularly gorgeous month...

So far this month, I have:

participated in a photo shoot at Longcross test track in Surrey for Japanese Performance Car magazine, which involved, among other things, driving up and down these test slopes, originally intended for tanks, not my little low sports car! Was fantastic fun and resulted in fabulous pictures from the very talented Michael Ward :) Can't wait for the pics & mag to be published, me and Poppy will be famous (sort of)!

been to Jo & Tim's wedding - it was beautiful :) Here's me with, left to right: my best friend Lou, the bride's sister; Jo, the bride; and Kelly :)

To this wedding I wore the beautiful blue and silver dress you can see in the photo, which I fell in love with back in November and would still happily wear as my own wedding dress, and this bracelet, which I made to go with the nature theme and the colours of the dress... forgive the terrible photo, the lighting this evening is terrible! The charms are leaves and feathers, and the beads were a present from the lovely Jen at Ordinary Little Art, at Christmas time.

went to Woodbridge Vintage & Contemporary Fair with Mum, Em & Em's mum... it was rather lovely and I came home with a wooden vase which will go in the Penthouse and will match the sofas we're borrowing from Mum & Dad :D Here it is:

On the way home Mum & I stopped in Tiptree, where I found what may possibly be the most beautiful trainers in the universe... they're K Swiss, and although I normally don't wear either trainers or labels, I need comfy shoes to walk to work in when I move next week, and I couldn't resist these... look at them!

Along with popping into the craft fair I hope to shortly be a regular face at, which is held at Hylands House in Chelmsford, and packing a lot and wondering how on earth it's all going to fit into the Penthouse when we get there!

By Friday evening I was feeling a bit up-fed with the day job, and I've been trying to be good recently and not buy magazines unless they're absolutely essential... so imagine my pleased little face when I went to fetch the post on Saturday and found this waiting for me:

Lots of thanks to Ellie, bless her :D Made me smile, and the 'Knackered Cow' showergel that came with it made me giggle and smells lush!

So yes, June is good.... and I move a week tomorrow, which can't be bad! Exciting stuff...

tote bag goodness

I've been wanting to add bags to the DF line for a while, but hadn't had much of a chance to play and come up with something that was easy to do... yesterday I took a day off from the packing-to-move project, and popped out to town for a few bits that I needed. Dangerously also popped into TK Maxx, and as well as bringing home two dresses, fell in love with the print on a pillowcase... bought it thinking I could make it into something when I got home... and then on the way back it occurred to me that pillowcases would make the loveliest bags!

So I chopped and I sewed and I turned inside out (and I must confess, I stole the idea of stitching the triangle at the corners from the bag-making class I went to the other evening with the girls from work) and I sewed it together and this is the result :)

I'm rather pleased (although it's a terrible photo and definitely needs ironing) and am already experimenting in my head with putting a pocket inside. Will be keeping my eyes peeled for lonely pillowcases, or perhaps just plain pretty coloured ones that I could applique...

I put it on Facebook last night and lots of people have liked it and commented on it, which is encouraging. See, time off work IS useful :)

a bargain of a camera

I've spent even more time than normal in charity & thrift shops recently, hunting down exciting things for the new flat. I'm trying very hard to stick to housewares and 'useful' things, but when I saw a little beauty of a camera for £3, I couldn't resist. After texting Chloe over at Slightly Triangle to make sure I had the right end of the stick, I bought this:

Yep, it's a Kodak Brownie! I have no intention of using it with film in it, but she'll look very pretty in my new bedroom and will add to the vintage vibe I'm trying to create, and more importantly for Ducking Fabulous, I hope to experiment with some TTV photography with her and my Canon... again, watch this space! (Although I anticipate this taking place after the move, all my photographic equipment is being lovingly wrapped up so it doesn't get damaged in transit...)

results of my attempt at sewing

So I mentioned I'd inherited a sewing machine and was determined to try it out. Until my Sidewinder arrived, I only had black thread wound onto a bobbin, so I loaded it up, picked up what was going to be a book bag, and turned it into a cushion cover...

I'm rather proud of it considering it's my very first attempt at sewing anything at all since I was rather younger :) Apologies for terrible photo, just wanted to get it online. Now trying to work out how to get/make a cushion to fit inside it, so I may dig out the handles and make it into a bag after all... watch this space :)

a sewing machine and some sausages

How on earth is it May already?

It's all go at the DF studio... the move to the new flat is scheduled for 19th June, I'm so excited I can't think straight! Just trying to sort out all the boring paperwork stuff, and I'm spending most of my lunchtimes sneakily buying (mostly vintage, and all vintage-inspired) things to put in it... today's acquisition was a gorgeous patchwork throw for my bed... photos when I'm home in daylight :) (I seem to say that a lot - must get more organised!)

Actually, talking of organisation, once I move and the internet etc is all set up, I've decided I'm going to have a bit more of a schedule for Ducking Fabulous... a day each week to blog, a day each week to update my shop, and so on. It was going really well until I decided I was moving, and now everything's in disarray and chaos, lol!

I haven't introduced my new sewing machine yet, either, have I? Her name's Vi, and she used to belong to my Gran - having had my confidence boosted by a bag-sewing class with some of the girls from work, I asked if I could borrow her, and Gran told me that as long as I looked after her, I could keep her :) Which is wonderful! She's perfect to learn on, and the only down side is that her bobbin winder function is currently refusing to work. I have solved this by ordering a Sidewinder, which arrived today - as I was working late I've yet to try it out, but it looks fab! Thanks to SewCraftyFox for the tip!

Have so far made one cushion cover and a lot of mess, but have many things planned once I've got space & time to myself :) I haven't given up on the jewellery side of things either, just taking the opportunity to explore new crafts while I have spare money, as once I'm paying full rent there's no way I'll have any left over :S So hopefully that'll be when my productivity goes into overdrive and lots of weird but wonderful things will emerge from the Ducking Fabulous studio (and into the Folksy shop, which has sadly had to be put on holiday as I've packed away all the stock, listed and unlisted, until after the move :( sniff.)

In my non-crafty pursuits, work has been insane but very funny recently, although I've not had a lot of time to blog about it, and I spent some of the bank holiday weekend barbecuing sausages in the rain, and the rest of it under the front of Poppy (my car), taking off her brake discs and discovering that
a) I need new ones; and
b) I am clearly never going to be a mechanic!

Right, on that note, bed, I think...

a wedding, a flat and a new addiction

... like I need any more addictions! Sewing is the latest one, or at least I'm trying to learn.

Went to Ali & James's much-anticipated wedding last Saturday, it was absolutely gorgeous. Held at Marwell Hall in Marwell Zoo, and the loveliest ceremony and day I've ever been to :)

Followed by a 600 mile roadtrip, during which I picked up a lot of inspiration from Lou as always, ended up buying this gorgeous fabric (left) and some vintage-inspired fat quarters...

This obviously meant I had to find a sewing machine, so I asked Gran if I could borrow hers. She's given me hers on the condition that I look after it!

So now all I have to do is actually learn to sew... lol!


Excitingly, I also put a deposit down on a flat today, so I have the perfect excuse to make things... cushions, throws, placemats, bunting... :)

I've fallen a little bit in love

with the city of Krakow. Everyone should visit at least once in their life, it's an unexpectedly gorgeous place to be, and even with the cold it was impossible not to love it! Didn't bring any amber beads back with me, but did find a beautiful pair of studs which match my peridot independence necklace, and also a rather lovely little four-leaf-clover brooch, which has two leaves of golden amber and two of green amber - perfection!

It was a perfect hen weekend, and I've already decided I must revisit Krakow one day armed with my DSLR and a sketchbook for all the bits of jewellery it inspired!

Photos to follow, I'm writing this on a friend's laptop, on the evening before we go to Italy - lol, such a jetsetting month this is turning out to be!

Today has been mostly made up of driving down the M25 singing, trying to swap pounds into euros and getting very confused about what can go in which suitcase for tomorrow. I feel bad that I've neglected Ducking Fabulous, the blog and my Folksy shop for the last few weeks, but there's been so much going on that I haven't been able to do anything much :(

On the plus side, I have remembered to bring a sketchbook with me on this trip (anticipating loooong delays due to British Airways striking, sigh) but hopefully I'll at least be able to capture my ideas as they arrive!

Ciao for now!

 C x

To the home of amber...

I'm off to Poland for a hen weekend early on Friday morning, which has come round unexpectedly quickly!

Poland is, apparently, a wonderful place to buy amber - so I'm hoping to find some beads and chunks of it to incorporate into pieces when I'm back home in England :)

It's going to be minus six while we're there, so probably minimal opportunity to show off any of my latest creations even if I do take them with me!

Hmm... I foresee lots of inspiration from the architecture over there though - watch this space!!

four days of creativity

For the last few days I've been down in Wokingham, staying with one of my best friends who also happens to be a fashion designer. We seem to work better together than alone on admin-y things, so we've set up office in her spare room and are tapping away happily at our computer keyboards (sad, I know...). On the plus side, I've got more done today than in the last month, we have Montezuma's chocolate buttons which are actually the best chocolate buttons in the world, and we're off to drive my car around with the roof down on the way to the printer's shortly. Lol!

Ducking Fabulous is extending its presence online, among today's projects were sorting out the fairly inactive till now Twitter account (@duckingfabulous) and creating a Facebook fan page (Ducking Fabulous by Carla). So now I have to work on getting followers and fans!

Hmm, what lovely photos can I share with you this week? I know, the Christmas-present scarf for Julia I finally finished... I'm quite proud!

Badly lit, but shows the stripes off quite nicely. Here's a better idea of its actual colour, with my label sewn onto the bottom!

 

One is excited! In keeping with the knitting/crochet theme, here's one last photo, of a necklace I made for a dear friend's Valentine present, using the crochet flowers I mentioned in my last post...

 

 

The lighting's a bit strange, but it shows the general gist!

Right, back to editing and suchlike, I've also decided to link this blog to the main website, which should be happening later today!

Today is my birthday :)

And as such, I've taken a break for the day from Ducking Fabulous... have had a gorgeously lazy day, and read, and eaten a lot, and had cake for breakfast, and hunted for houses - shall resume normalness tomorrow, when among other things (and my day job, lol!) I need to rework a commission, go to the bank and re-stock my Folksy shop :)

But I've been spoiled rotten for the day, being 24 is rather a good feeling so far!

xxx

musically: a surprisingly busy February

I've been a little quiet recently (I've never been the best at blogging regularly, lol!) but mostly because I've been rushing around making Ducking Fabulous things :) I love it when my creations go to good homes, and the most recent ones definitely have :) I was expecting February to be really quiet but it's been wonderfully and surprisingly busy!

My latest commission is this one, I'm sure the customer in question won't mind me posting before she gets it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/creamykiwi/4352134114/ 

(picture should link but in case I've done it wrong, here it is on my Flickr :) )

The musical notes are sterling silver, and the commission was for me to keep it simple (simples!!) but make it pretty, so I chose to incorporate some clear quartz chips with wrapped loops, which added interest and sparkle, but will also go with everything! I like the way this particular set of charms hang together, almost as though they're on a sheet of music!

Have been playing with crochet flowers, I still can't make them myself but Gran's been inventing new designs, so hopefully there will be some in the shops soon! The ones I make keep selling before I get anywhere near uploading them to Folksy, which is rather lovely :) And one or two will be presents, squee! 

Spent yesterday in Cambridge with two wonderful friends, it was one of the nicest Valentine's days ever! I'd love to have a stall at the craft market there one day, it's so inspiring wandering around and seeing everything handmade. Including the cakes - I wonder if you can ask to be situated next to the cake stall?!

Suppose I'd better go and do some work at the day job now - more soon!

Carla x

Crochet Flowers :)

Here's my new favourite thing - crochet flowers! You might remember the necklace I made myself a few weeks ago... there was so much interest in it that I asked Gran if she'd make me a couple more flowers... I came home from work the other day and she handed me these:

Crochet Flowers on Flickr

Aren't they just the most beautiful things ever? One or two of the blue ones are going into a commission, the others are free for me to play with - so keep an eye on the shop in the coming weeks to see what pops up!

I'm being very inspired by friends at the moment, most notably Chloe of Slightly Triangle, Kerry of PennyDog Accessories and Louise of Contrarity Rose. It's wonderful to know that so many of us are doing things we love and sharing them with the world!

Right, sappy bit over with, back to work :)

Updates all round :)

Just a quick one today, the gallery has been updated with new things, and I think it gives it a more spring-like feel :)

My shop has also been updated, I've added all the bangles that are currently for sale, and a couple of the very popular giant button necklaces :) 

In other news, my boxes have arrived, squee! Each Ducking Fabulous creation now arrives through the post packaged in one of these (once you've got through the protective outer layer of jiffybag/bubblewrap etc):

Isn't it pretty? I have smaller ones for rings & necklaces, too :D

All outstanding commissions will be finished and posted this week, and I feel I must mention eBay seller saph1re for agreeing to send out replacements when a set of buttons got lost in the post - not many people these days with customer service that good! It's much appreciated and she's made her way to the top of my favourite sellers list :)

Lastly, here's what seems to be the most popular thing in my shop at the moment - the 'Monocream' narrow bangle :)

You can find it in my Folksy shop here :)

That's all for today!

Carla x

Gift boxes!

Yay, ticked off something that's been on the Ducking Fabulous to-do list for AGES - order boxes to post with. Most of my orders to date have been either deliverable by hand, or posted in recycled boxes and bags from other parcels. However, with Christmas out of the way, my stash of postable materials is rapidly dwindling, and I think gift boxes are rather lovely, so I've ordered some silver ones in three different sizes which will hopefully accommodate everything I make except the chokers! Now for some labels to duck-ify said boxes...

an abundance of kntting needles

Knitting seems to be uppermost in my mind and list of things-I-want-to-do at the moment, and I had a moment of inspiration last night which was thwarted by my lack of knitting equipment. So at lunchtime I went to investigate buying myself some wool and a few different sized needles. No such luck, the wonderful knitting stall in the market doesn’t open on Thursdays. Hmph. So as I finish at half past four today, I may have to venture up as far as Franklin’s on Moulsham street, but then again if I get home early enough, I can just steal some of Gran’s needles. Decisions, decisions. I appear to have lost my enormous chunky ones (and that reminds me, I must extract my scarf from the glove compartment that serves as a boot in my car) which is a shame, must have another proper sort out and see if I can find them again. They’re metallic sparkly blue so they shouldn’t be difficult to find! (Shouldn’t have been so easy to lose, either, in truth…)

Trying also to update and organise my LibraryThing catalogue, I must get myself a scanner so I can add everything that’s at home! Can’t wait to get all my books out of storage in a few months’ time, squee! Julia’s up this weekend so we can talk about houses, maybe look for a few and possibly go to Colchester and see roughly where we want to live! Not sure how we’re going to remember the roads we like, or find them in the first place come to that, but two heads are better than one and suchlike.

My pretty papers arrived yesterday! So Ducking Fabulous and the Folksy shop will hopefully have some more gorgeous things listed over the weekend if I can tear myself away from househunting with the lovely Jules. Lol! That new year’s resolution isn’t going brilliantly so far, I really must update the shop, but at the moment I’m lacking packaging and ways of posting, so although it would be wonderful for my things to suddenly sell out, I’m not entirely convinced it would be a good thing for my reputation!


Right, if I sit here any longer I’m going to doze off from sleepiness and the heat, so will disappear and do some useful things!

***

Later on
Typed that at work in a break, on my way home I had the brainwave of going to the British Heart Foundation (it's my favourite of Chelmsford's charity shops, everyone in there is always so helpful and friendly) and asking about knitting needles. The lovely lady there disappeared for a few moments and returned bearing two ENORMOUS bags full of knitting needles of all shapes, sizes and colours - squee! So after selecting a whole bunch, and a beautiful roll complete with eight graduated pairs of wooden (possibly bamboo?) needles, I danced out of the shop :) I'm so pleased, not only have I got more needles than I could previously have hoped for, the money has also gone to charity, which has to be a good thing!

However, lacking narrow yarn for the inspiration I had yesterday which made me want to buy needles in the first place (raiding Gran's house in the middle of the night really isn't an option), I have also pilfered-with-permission (so not really pilfering at all) a ball of string from Dad's desk drawer. It's worked much better than I'd expected and I'm hoping to embellish and put the finished results up just as soon as I find my camera lead! Until then, the mystery will have to continue (although considering my passion for jewellery, it's probably no great mystery really).

Till a few days hence, when I *will* have found my camera lead...

C x

Yet more snow, and an exciting commission

More snow! Honestly, I'm thoroughly fed up of the stuff now! In its defence, it's only slushy sleety kind of stuff right now, and as I'm at work till 7pm I hope it doesn't freeze till tomorrow. Or, you know, at all.

Had a lovely email last night, a customer from my very first craft fair would like to order some more jewellery, yay! So now I'm in the process of ordering all the components which is highly dangerous, it's so hard to stick to just the things you need and not the things you want!

Wearing my crochet flower necklace which has been a great success, definitely going to list a few of those on Folksy and/or Etsy - I feel it's time for a burst of Spring optimism!

Have also emailed for information about a knitting club - squee! And trying to track down some craft fairs to attend in 2010. Hope to see you there!

For now, that is all :)

papers and flowers

Ooh, I've ordered some fabulous Decopatch papers, very excited about them arriving :) Have all sorts of plans for them when they come, and then perhaps I'll finally get a chance to update my Folksy shop!

Have been a bit sniffly today, stupid snow and ice and cold weather - but have managed to persuade Gran to make up some more flowers like the one I posted last, for me to incorporate into neclaces, so that's good :) A partnership of sorts, it's rather exciting! I hope to learn to crochet myself at some point so I can design and make some different flowers and leaves, but for now this is the perfect solution.

Today's been quiet but useful, am hoping the snow will melt properly so that getting to work tomorrow isn't a potential death trap!

Also adding lots of gorgeous craft blogs to my Bloglines account so I can catch up with them on my lunch hours, it's inspirational to see so many wonderful things being designed and made here and abroad by so many talented people!

The soft splat of snow

Welcome to Ducking Fabulous's blog!

So we had a snow day after all - spent most of yesterday fretting that we wouldn't have any, and now I'm fretting that we have so much I won't be able to make it to work tomorrow! Today was my day off, and having cancelled the planned trip to London to meet a friend, I spent the day relaxing, it was lovely. I also went for a walk, which was incredibly peaceful and interrupted only by the 'splat' of snow falling off trees.

However, true to form I couldn't resist playing with some of the beads I got for Christmas, and a combination of some large-holed glass beads, a knitted flower (designed and made by my Gran!, organza ribbon in a beautiful pale gold and a wonderful little flower clasp turned into this:



 I'm rather pleased with it, and it will be living with me as all its components were presents :D May have to sneak a few similar ones onto Folksy though :D Perhaps on the next Snow Day?

I was also planning to bake cupcakes. brownies and a giant cupcake today, but unfortunately we have no eggs - the hens aren't laying, we have none in the fridge and a walk to the One-Stop discovered they'd run out as well. Fail. Another thing to go on the next Snow Day list, I think!

Otherwise has been a rather lovely day, outside is a bit perilous but inside crafting is as safe and cosy as one could possibly wish for!

Happy New Year!

So 2010 is here, that happened fast! Ducking Fabulous (and me) have all sorts of plans this year, some of which found their way into my list of resolutions... learn to sew, make cupcakes, expand my jewellery-making skills :)

A few pictures of some Christmas commissions, and then it's off to bed for me!