First Day in Devon (Saturday 3rd March 2012)

Howdy all!

This post is the first in a series chronicling my recent week in North Huish, Devon with my lovely mum, Crafty Gailie. The point of the holiday: do whatever we like for a whole week!

This also marks the beginning of a new blogging experiment for me: I’ll be attempting to follow up each post with a tutorial article for the techniques I’ve used to make the items for each day of the holiday. Bear with me: I’ve never done this before. I’ll be enlisting my mum and fiancé to take photos of my hands while I explain the basics of each step. I’ll also be relying on you lot to tell me if the instructions are clear enough!!
So...day one. After about four hours of driving, broken up by a lovely ploughman’s lunch at the Eagle Tavern on the A303 near Buckland St. Mary, Somerset (well worth a visit if you’re ever in the area), we arrived in the idyllic setting of North Huish, Devon.

The cottage was stunning; pure bliss. We stayed in one of the gorgeous barn conversions run by Faith and John Scharenguivel of Coombe House. The views from the front and back were gorgeous, and we soon became of our new ‘friend’: a local (and very noisy) pheasant who circled the grounds daily. We named him Gil, and he very quickly became a regular source of amusement and affection for us.
So...after our arrival, and a quick(ish) trip to the nearest supermarket (7 miles away), we had a week’s worth of supplies to fill our cupboards and fridge (a sizeable wine box and bottle of gin were high on the list, as well as some frankly stunning locally made cheeses).

And so...the making did commence! This little lot represents our first evening of crafting: not bad for a few hours in the evening! A pair of decopatched coasters (now available on Folksy) and a wire-crocheted necklace for me, and a couple of gorgeous new-home cards for mum. We were already in heaven!
My first tutorial post (hopefully to be published some time next week), will go through the basics of crocheting with wire, and adding beads to each stitch as you go.

Wish me luck!! :)

New Job, New Obstacles....oh, and a holiday and a publishing deal!! (sort of...)

Howdy all! It's been a while, and I STILL haven't done the touted monochrome 'Folksy Friday' post - or the article on buttons. Sorry about that. It's been a crazy five weeks (or is it six now??) I promise to get them done soon.

First things first: I LOVE my new job!!! It's amazing and wonderful, and I feel like a useful and valuable member of a team. Hurrah! Having said that, the learning curve is steeeeeeeep!!! Luckily, my new boss is supportive and approachable, and I have plenty of other lovely (and much more experienced) colleagues, who readily put up with my incessant questions.

So...what else has been going on? Well, I went on a wonderful crafting holiday to Devon with my lovely mum, Crafty Gailie. It was perfect - idyllic surroundings, and nothing to do but make jewellry (and cards, in her case). I even learned a couple of new techniques!

I won't blabber on about it too much, because I'm planning on writing a series of posts about each day of the holiday, and listing each of the makes on Folksy in tandem. Knowing me, it'll take a while - but the first installment should be up tomorrow. In the meantime, here's the proof that we were as industrious as I claim:

And and and....in other news...

I'm about to have my first-ever magazine project published!! Yes, the lovelies at Bead Magazine have agreed to use a pair of my earrings as their Fast Fashion project for issue 39 (out sometime in June, I think). EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! I'm so excited - and also hopeful that this will be the begiining of something more regular. Look out magazine publishers, I'm about to start bombarding you with my designs!!!

:)