HAPPY NEW YEAR

Myspace Graphics, New Year Graphics at WishAFriend.com

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous 

New Year!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

FRONT PAGE OF ETSY

Congratulations to Jolijoli for her fabulous treasury that was featured on the front page of Etsy.  A fantastic early christmas present for me to be featured on the front page of Etsy and to actually see it.  The first time one of my items was on there I missed it so this was a great feeling to go onto Etsy and see something I had made have pride of place.  Thank you so much Jolijoli for featuring one of my items.

FEATURED IN A TREASURY

Thank you to Jolijoli for featuring my Sydney Elephant  Pincushion in her fabulous treasury on Etsy.  She has some beautiful jewellery in her Etsy shop and to read more about this talented jewellery artist, visit her blog at http://jolijolidesigns.blogspot.com.

NEW ITEM ARRIVED IN STORE

I have been making these amigurumi figures for quite a while now and I really love them. I am always trying to think of new ways to use them.  I have had a pink elephant in my sewing box for quite some time and I have been using it as a pin cushion.  So I thought why not make one and put it in my Etsy store, so here it is. Sydney is absolutely gorgeous and he makes a great pin cushion.  Always have needles and pins to hand with this cute guy.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - G'DAY MATE

TODAY I FELT CREATIVE

I haven't made any jewellery for several months, I have been concentrating on my crochet and knitting. But last time I was in the craft store I saw some memory wire. I knew I had some beads at home that I could use with this so I bought it and you can see the result above. I am pleased with the way it has turned out. I love the colour combination cream, gold and bronze. I really enjoyed making this one and now I can't wait to have a go at another one.

MY 50TH SALE ON ETSY

It was a great feeling today when I checked on Etsy to find that I had made my 50th sale. The item shown above, a lip balm holder keyring was bought by a fellow seller on Etsy, Zozocards. Check out her shop for a fabulous range of cards, prints, magnets and keyrings. My favourite item is this tote. I am putting it on my wishlist for Christmas to see if anyone takes the hint. As a thank you I am sending a free gift, this pretty pair of earrings. I have tried to match the colours of the earrings to the hot pink and yellow of the holder.

I'VE BEEN FEATURED

Many thanks to NiftyKnits for featuring my pretty blue teacup keyring buddy in her recent treasury. The treasuries on Etsy are a great way for a sellers to showcase their fellow Etsians work and there is the added bonus that your treasury may get picked to feature on the front page of Etsy. They are also another way for buyers to see the fantastic range of items that are available for sale. If you are stuck for Christmas present ideas this year take a look at Etsy, do your gift shopping from the comfort of your own home.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I know this greeting is a bit late. I wanted to share this picture with you of my daughter, my 2 granddaughters and Jasper trying to get in on the act. Hope you all had a happy halloween.

WORK IN PROGRESS

I just thought I would share with you some of the things I am working on at the moment. The first one is a new idea I have been thinking about for some time and thought it was about time I had a go. It is going to be a cheeky monkey. I have seen images of these monkeys and fancied having a go at recreating one in crochet. I don't know if the finished item will look anything like a monkey. I will put a picture on here when I am finished.

The second one is another amigurumi sock monkey, I love these. The first one I made sold immediately, I have another for sale in my Etsy store. I think they are really cute and if you love sock monkeys they are a great way to keep one with you at all times.

WE HAVE OUR VISA!

I can't believe it, it has actually happened. We checked our online application and there it was 'Applicant Approved'. We now have our permanent residency visa for Australia. It has taken 4 months and 2 weeks to get which has surprised me as I always thought it took over 12 months. We have until September 2009 to validate the visa and 5 years to move over there. Hopefully it won't take too long to sell our house and we will be able to move there early next year. I think selling the house may prove harder than getting the visa as house sales have fallen dramatically. Fingers crossed that someone will fall in love with it, offer us the asking price and then we can start our new life in Australia.

MEET KEVIN THE KOALA

Amy, my daughter, has been asking me to make her a koala for some time. I finished one for her last week and then decided to make another, and here he is. I chose the name Kevin only because it started with a 'K'. I have yet to add the keyring to his head, I think he would look great hanging from a bag. He is not going into my Etsy shop straightaway as I have not decided if I want to sell him. If anyone would like to purchase one though, just get in touch with me either through my shop on Etsy or via this blog.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Well it has come around again and today I am celebrating my birthday. This birthday may be the last one I spend in the UK. We have had an email from the agent who is dealing with our Australian visa application in which she tells us that we should have our grant letter in the next 1 - 2 weeks. I have such mixed emotions about our move to Australia. It is somewhere I have wanted to live for so long, but going there means leaving my son and daughter and my 2 grandchildren back here.

My daughter has just started her training to become a nurse and I am really hoping that once she has qualified they will join us in Australia. My son has always fancied moving over there so he too may join us. But of course then they have to make that decision because they will be leaving their dad and other family members back here.

Nowadays with the internet it is so much easier to keep in touch. I have an aunt in Australia who I am able to 'speak' to using MSN and, when it is working, use the webcam to see and speak to her.

THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who has dropped by my blog over the last few days and left comments for me about my aunt. They have been a great help and all are very much appreciated.

SAD TIME

My Aunt died on Saturday, 4 October. She was in hospital and the staff told us that she died peacefully in her sleep. She was 90 years old and a great lady. We will all miss her very much.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE

NEW SCARF

One of the things I love to do when I am on holiday is looking round yarn shops. I have to rely on the internet for buying yarn at home, but nothing beats going into an actual shop and seeing and feeling all the different colours and textures. I was in Cornwall earlier this year and whilst there I had to re-visit one of my favourite shops which is in Penzance. I bought some fabulous yarn, one of which has been knitted into this scarf. The balls of yarn are made up of all different textured yarns it is amazing. I am really pleased with the finished item and feel tempted to keep it for myself.
Now available to buy here

I'VE BEEN FEATURED ON THE ART ZOO

It was very exciting to discover that one of my items was recently featured on The Art Zoo. Petunia, my purple amigurumi bunny, who is for sale in my Etsy store was there as large as life staring back at me from the page of this great blog. Go check out The Art Zoo which is a photoblog featuring handmade products by independent artisans and crafters.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - FEEDING THE PELICANS - THE ENTRANCE, NSW, AUSTRALIA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASPER

It is Jasper's birthday today, he is 2 years old. He got some new rubber balls to play with and some extra special doggy treats to chew on. He is being very uncooperative and will not let me take a new picture of him. Therefore I have used this one which is one of my favourites. He has a habit of jumping up into my chair when I take a break from the computer. I regularly find him asleep here. He is not looking so clean and tidy at the moment as this photo was taken not long after he had returned from his pampering session at the doggy beauty parlour. I think I might get him booked in soon as an extra special birthday treat.

INTRODUCING .....

Thank you to Purrprints for giving me the idea of purple and green for my sock monkey. The colours have worked really well together and I am pleased with the finished result. The first amigurumi sock monkey was put in my Etsy store last week and was sold immediately to a regular customer of mine.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - AMY ON BIRDIE BEACH, AUSTRALIA

THANK YOU TINA

I had a google alert in my mailbox today and I was both surprised and very excited to find that I had been mentioned on a fellow Etsian's blog. Check out Craftheart's lovely blog.

AMIGURUMI SOCK MONKEY

I first saw sock monkeys on Etsy and fell in love with them. They are so cute and colourful and it is hard to believe they are made from Socks. So when I found myself thinking of something different to crochet, it isn't too difficult to see why sock monkey popped into my head.

I wanted to make this into one of my keyring buddies but it has turned out too big. I think this size, approximately 6.75" (17 cms) is perfect for hanging from a bag or even for sitting on your desk, a pocket sock monkey. I am hoping to start another today, but I have not decided on the colour combination.

NEW KEYRING BUDDY

Here is my latest keyring buddy, a cute little octopus. I already have Sunshine Sally for sale in my Etsy shop, but she is a little larger and probably too big to hang from a keyring. I did make a pink one like this one before, the same size as Sunshine Sally, her name was Polly and she is now residing in Kazakhstan. I think I will call this one Ellie. I have also made another Nellie the Elephant keyring buddy pictured here with her brother Sydney.

BEST SELLER

This cute keyring buddy, known as Tina Turtle, has become my bestseller. The first ones I made were in a different colour combination, they were orange and yellow and I also made one in blue and green. Most of them have found new owners in the United States, another has gone to Greece and several are residing in the UK. This latest one went on sale in my Etsy shop last night and has already had 16 views. I have now adopted Tina Turtle as my Etsy avatar so hopefully she will attract more customers to my gift shop.

I am now trying out different colour combinations, but I think the yellow and green is very eyecatching.

HOME AGAIN!

We arrived home in the early hours of Saturday morning. We travelled back through the night to avoid the traffic. We have had a good holiday and have enjoyed relaxing and being away from work. Unfortunately the British weather let us down and we had rain nearly every day.



It was a little sad being in Cornwall this year. I have so many happy memories of family holidays spent there with my parents and this year may have been the last time I will visit. As I have mentioned in earlier posts we are in the process of applying for our Australian visas and next year we are hoping to move there.

Amy got to see the Dr Who exhibition she was so looking forward to, this is her with one of the many 'monsters' on display.

We did have a few days of good weather there and we managed to get on the beach a few times. Amy was able to practice her surfing skills ready for her new life in Australia.

Thank you to everyone that has continued to visit my blog whilst I have been away and dropped there entrecard and for all the comments left. I am going away again on Wednesday, this time for 5 days. We are going to a family wedding and taking the opportunity to have a few days away. After that things will be back to normal and I will be catching up on dropping and commenting on all your lovely blogs!

HOLIDAY TIME

We are going away tomorrow for a couple of weeks to Cornwall. I hope the weather stays as good as it has been here for the last couple of days. It is has been beautifully warm and sunny. It is about time we had some good weather in the UK. I am looking forward to searching for new beads and yarns whilst I am there and getting inspiration for new items to make.

The picture above is the cove near to where we are staying. That picture was taken last year. We had some great days on the beach, in the sea, searching the rockpools and having barbecues.

This second picture is taken at Lands End. We had a great day there too. There was a Dr Who Exhibition on, Amy loved it and she wants to visit it again this year.

THIRD COLUMN

I have been wanting to add a third column to my blog for ages but I know nothing about html code and I couldn't find simple instructions to do it. That is until today. I came across this fabulous blog Blogger Buster which is written by Amanda Fazani. Her instructions for creating a third column are so simple that even I could follow them. There are other tutorials on there but I have yet to look at them. Thank you so much Amanda!

BEADING SUNDAY

I wanted to have a relaxing day today so I decided to have my second lesson in beading. I recently bought a book, which I mentioned in an earlier post. It is a beautiful book and has some gorgeous projects, but I think it is probably for someone who has a little more experience than me in the art of beading. I am still learning the basic stitches. I would love to go to a beading class, unfortunately there are none close to where I live.

I have discovered the second best thing to classes is You Tube. There are some great videos on there which show you how to do these stitches. I find it so much easier watching someone actually doing it rather than just reading and looking at diagrams. So today I have learned ladder stitch and herringbone stitch, it looks a bit wonky but apparently the beads are supposed to be offset like that.

FIRST CUSTOM ORDER

I was recently asked if I could make a guinea pig keyring buddy. I must admit I was a bit worried about getting it to look like my client wanted. I wasn't given any directions, just 'no pink'. I can picture finished items in my head, but sometimes they don't turn out the way I hoped and can take a few attempts to get it right. Fortunately this little one looked right after my first attempt. I checked with my my daughters to make sure he looked like a guinea pig and they both agreed that he did and that he was cute. He is now with his new owner in America. I was pleased to get a message from her to let me know that he had arrived safely and that his new owner was pleased with him. If you would like your own keyring buddy, I have others for sale in my Etsy shop.

FREE SHIPPING

Purple & Lilac Fantasy

by LizzyT Designs

I have reduced the price of all the bracelets in my Etsy shop. PLUS you can now save even more money because I am also offering FREE SHIPPING on these items. There are even more bargains to be had in the Sale Section of my shop. Here you will find some great items at reduced prices PLUS a lovely selection of scarves. All the scarves are shipped free of charge.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Can anyone see my pink elephant?

FIRST ATTEMPT

On an earlier post I wrote that I was going to have a go at beading. I have seen some wonderful blogs that have given me the inspiration to have a go at this craft. I have 2 favourites they are Triz Designs and Smadar's Treasure. The pieces they produce are just amazing and I am sure I will never reach that standard. But anyway here is my first attempt, a beaded tube, hopefully the first of many. I used the book I bought but I also found it very helpful to go onto Youtube and watch videos of people beading.

IS TIME PASSING BY FASTER?

Is it just me or does anyone else think that this year is passing really quickly? I went part-time in my job just over a year ago in the hopes that I would have more time but it is not happening. I can't believe how quickly the weeks are passing, it is Thursday again and the weekend is almost upon us. There are so many things I want to do but I never seem to have the time to get round to them.

We were hoping to go away this weekend but have cancelled due to increasing fuel charges. We are going to Cornwall at the end of July for a fortnight, so we have decided to save our money for that instead. We have a caravan and bought a diesel car to tow it with as at the time the running costs were cheaper. Unfortunately the price of diesel has increased and now it is more expensive than unleaded petrol.

Jasper was sick on Sunday and when he is sick he always does it in his bed. Anyway I put the cushion out of his bed into the washer. When I went to get it out all the contents of the cushion had come out and the washer was full of polyester filling. What a mess!

We had to rush to our local pet store to get him a new bed. I picked him a very smart red tartan one, brought it home and put it in his corner. He wasn't impressed. I made him sit in it for this picture, look at his ears. I don't think he has slept in it yet.

I sold one of my favourite pairs or earrings this week. They were bought as a birthday present for the lady's mum. She sent me a message to let me know they had arrived safely and that her mum was pleased with them. I thought it was really nice of her to let me know.

SOMETHING NEW FOR ME TO TRY

I have just bought myself a new book 'The Art of Beaded Beads' and I can't wait to have a go at some of the projects. I have been looking at the seed beads you can buy and the choice is amazing. There are some gorgeous colours available. I also need to get some wooden base beads, beading needles, beading thread and apparently I need to get wax or conditioner for the thread.

TWO AWARDS!

It was such a fabulous surprise to receive not one but 2 awards from Kay's K9s. I adore her handcrafted miniature felted dogs, they are amazing. The first award is the 'Arte y Pico' award.

The “Arte y Pico” award was created and to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and their talents, be it writing or artwork in all media’s. When you receive this award it is considered a “special honor”.
The rules are as follows:

1) The winner of the award must choose 5 bloggers that they consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, posts, and contribution to the blogging community, no matter the language.

2) Each award given has to have the name of the author and a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award winner and the giver of the award must show the link of the 'Arte y Pico' blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5) Post these rules.

This is the second award I received and this too has to be passed onto 5 other bloggers.

These are the blogs I have chosen to pass these awards to:

Artistic Flair

Time2cre8

Daisy the Curly Cat

Seaglass Things

Out of the Pink Sky

FIRST BLOGOVERSARY TODAY!

I cannot believe that I have been blogging for a year and also I have had my shop on Etsy for a year. It was through Etsy that I discovered blogging. I read about it in the forums where it was suggested that blogging was a great way of advertising your shop. I know I have had one sale through my blog. But it is not just for advertising, I love blogging.

Etsy has also given me another interest, photography. I took so much time trying to get my photographs right for my shop and I think they are pretty much ok now. I recently got a new camera, a Panasonic DMC-TZ3. I chose this one because of the zoom. It has also got a macro setting which my old one didn't have and this is great for taking photos for Etsy, but also I have taken some lovely pictures of flowers and wildlife. I am never without my camera, I have got some great shots when I am out walking with Jasper. This was taken on one of our weekends away at the coast. Jasper loves the beach.




I started on Etsy selling jewellery. The only problem with this is that there are zillions of jewellery sellers on Etsy. I rekindled my love for knitting and then crochet so I now include these items in my shop. I love crafting and Etsy is a great way to finance my crafting habit.

Then earlier this year I discovered Entrecard. I can't believe that some people manage to make 300 drops in one day. I usually manage just over 100, I get sidetracked when I am dropping, reading the latest posts and commenting.

I am going to make an effort to post more on my blog over the next year. It is going to be a strange year for us, as long as our visa application goes through ok, we will hopefully be moving to Australia. Before we move though we have to sell our house and then we will have all the goodbyes to our family and friends. I am not looking forward to that bit.

NEW DESIGN - THE MUMPH

I started this about a month ago, hence the name Mumph (month) get it? Anyway I think he has turned out kind of cute and he will be on sale later today in my Etsy shop. I am planning on designing some different ones, I think the next one may be a baby Mumph and I will also like to make one into a keyring buddy.

My keyring buddies have been very successful, in particular Tina Turtle. I listed her yesterday evening and within an hour or so she had sold. She will be on her way to America tomorrow morning.

THANK YOU

I would like to say thank you to a fellow Etsy Hookers Street Team Member, FairyDC2008, for featuring my Sunshine Sally Octopus in her lovely Treasury on Etsy. Treasuries are where Etsy members get to show off some of the items that are for sale. It is a great feeling when you are looking through the list of treasuries and you see a gold star that indicates that one of your items has been chosen to be featured. So if you get time go take a look at her lovely shop where you will find some really pretty crochet and jewellery items.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY

It is my daughter's birthday today, she is 8 years old. Amy is my youngest daughter. We are having a birthday tea later when she gets home. We got her a Wii for her birthday and she has already been bowling before she went off this morning. It is a beautiful day here, it's a shame she had to go to school. I think everyone should be able to have a day off on their birthday. This picture was taken on last year's birthday. She loves watching Dr Who and a Dalek was at the top of her birthday wish list.

IT'S ALL HAPPENING TODAY

Today is our tenth wedding anniversary and today our Australian visa application has been submitted to DIAC (Department of Immigration and Citizenship). I cannot believe we have actually gone and done it. I know there will be ups and downs along the way but at least the paperwork is done and it has gone. The next thing we will have to go through are the medicals. Anyway till then we are going to celebrate tonight with a bottle of wine.

BRACELET SALE

Please take time to look at the show. I have some fabulous bracelets which have all been reduced and all are available at my Etsy shop. Great gift ideas or even as a treat for yourself. As a special thank you to my blog readers if you find this sale through my blog I am offering you a further 10% discount on any of these bracelets. Don't pay straightaway, put in note to seller that you are a blog reader and I will send you a revised invoice. Thank you!