Cards on sale

I will receive my new holiday card collection any day now, so exciting! Therefore I have decided to sell the ones I've got left from last year on sale. The cards have actually never been on sale in my Etsy shop before :) The card stock we used for these is plain, not the one with structure I prefer. Be quick if you want a bargain or stay tuned if you want to see the brand new ones. The cat and pig will be amongst them, they said they could stand one more celebration (I still think they look a little grumpy). My new banner is a sneak peek of what there is to come...

And for those of you who think I should shut up about Christmas already I will refer to the long shipping times close to Christmas. I'd rather be out early than to late ;-)

Features and Factory work

A few notes about what's been going on in my crafty life this week:
My road cushion was featured in Koti ja Keittiö 11/2008! This is actually the only home deco mag I order so it was a very pleasant surprise to open it at my lunch break yesterday just to find this beautiful picture! And as if that wasn't enough my friend also spotted my house card in Glorian koti recently.

This is one of 60 fairy-angels I started making yesterday. I quite enjoy working like a little factory sometimes and along the way I still come up with new embellishments for the dresses so there is some room to be creative anyway! The one on the picture is decorated with a piece of a handmade lace cloth, one of my thriftstore finds. Talking about secondhand shopping I realise that the vintage polkadot ribbon is a find by my sister and the seashell button comes from the treasure box I got from a fleamarket in Zürich, Switzerland where my sweet sister lives. She gifted me with more treaures when she visited last week. I also got a pair of zig-zag scissors as on early birthday gift. Got to show them off soon, they are sooo great!

Verner, Alfred and Melker are already on their ways to their new homes in Germany and the US, so exciting! This is Lars, a new member of the tomte family. As soon as I get more stuffing the family will continue growing. I have six fellows looking at me from the shelf right now, I wonder what they are up to during night time....
These are the fabric squares I sent in Chickpeas's Spare Change Swap. Click on the picture if you want some information about the manufacturers! I can't wait to see what I receive! I've seen some pretty awesome fabrics in the flickr pool.

Tomte 2008

The children have been on holiday since Thursday and my attempt not to work has not worked very well, I've spent far to much time by the sewing machine. We did however visit the old castle and the art museum here in town, which was very nice, so I haven't neglected my family totally. At the art museum I discovered a local artist, Teija Lehto. I love how she pictures everyday scenes in her woodcuts. I couldn't find my favourite pieces online, but I did find a few that I think are representative for her work. Here is a kitchen mess, and another messy kitchen scene :)

What makes it hard to take it easy is the long to-do-list that I have in the back of my head. I need to stock up for Christmas and have a bunch of orders to take care of. So I need my time in the studio! I got a call from a home decor magazine a few days ago, they wanted me to send over some stuff for a photo shoot for their Christmas issue, very exciting and on very short notice! I have had so fun combining fabrics for the new tomte* collection! Since the fairies have girls names I decided these will be boys! Names is one of my "hobbies" so I enjoy naming my tomtar very much! I just love browsing though the name book. Some names I love so much that at times I think we will have to get another baby just to get use for them. Not a very good reason to get children, I know... I will be listing tomtar in the shop over the coming week(s). More fairies are on the go too. And a holiday edition of house ornaments! Oh, and the feet you see above belong to Melker!

*gnome, elf, Santa's little helper...

Beware! I'm talking about Christmas!

Sometimes it is good to be early. These retro Christmas cloths will become the 2008 tomte collection. I bought them on sale in a thriftstore right after Christmas last year, darn cheap. I can't wait to start cutting in them! I know they are really cool as tablecloths, but they are a bit too much for me, so I'd rather make something fresh and new out of them. I am especially fond of the one on the right, the colours and patterns are just amazing! I have also finished my last Christmas cards today so now they are off to the printers. Hope they end up nice, it is always as exciting!

I think one of the advantages with having a craft business is that it is ok to start early with the Christmas crafts, I love it!

Interactive project stage 6

I started an Interactive blog project in July 07 and it is still going on, even if the progress is slow. However I decided not to apologise for being so slow, my intention was never to compete with McDonalds :) The winning suggestion for the sixth round was given by seemownay, she said (back in February): I would love to see a blooming meadow. Today was the day to follow through with the assignment. Hope you like it! Here comes the rules if you want to join in for round 7/10:

I will:
1. wait until I have got (at least) ten suggestions for the next motive
2. draw one of them
3. do my best to do as you wish using fabric and thread (and buttons?)
4. go through 10 stages
5. draw a winner among all the people who has come with one of the ten first suggestions at any stage. This person will win the finished piece of art work.

Feel free to join in! You can see the whole process in my flickr. To be continued....

Rain

Today this happy little girl has accompanied me in the studio. The fever from yesterday seems to have rained away (it's pouring down outside). She decided to get out of bed, peeked in and said: "I quite like sewing." And we came to the conclusion that her Barbies were in desperate need of new pillows. She wanted to make them out of felt. And I helped her with a little appliqué, a heart for her and a star for him. I just love the windows in their bedroom :) I made the bed from foam plastic and wire a year back. The Barbies do have a quilt too. I made that for my little sister some 15 years ago. It might have been my first quilt!



Talking about kids I have totally forgotten to share the great news that some of my stuff is now available at:
Craftsbury Kids is an on-line shop specialising in handcrafted products for children made by independent artists. The selection of items is beautiful and the mission is just great! Read more about Cecilia and her shop here. On of my dino cushions will be up for sale later today :)

Yesterday and today

Yesterday I finished a secret quilt project, therefore the quilter's thumb above. I also got my new printer/scanner/all round machine so I will be able to do something about my pattern making plans. But it might take some time. It usually does. But I'm excited anyway :) Even if the machine is huuuge.Today I had to take a break between my custom orders so I designed this bird key fob. My key fob just broke (again), so I decided to invent something more durable. I used natural linen for the front piece with the appliqued bird and a patterned fabric for the back. I put some reflective tape in the side so it can be hanged as a charm on a bag as well. This black bird is in the shop, but there are more on their way. I kept a pink one for myself.

I just found a fantastic blog, BloesemKid's open house. Irene knocks on different artist's doors and lets them tell about themselves and their homes, there are so many lovely creative homes presented! Many of them are small, but still full of life and smart ideas! I got so inspired to do something about our home! And I will definitely buy that polka dot tea set for little E for his birthday next week (very important note to myself)...