Return to the Sunday Market

It looks like I'll be going back to the Sunday market this week. Not in my usual incarnation as all my clothes are in Kilkenny, but I will be selling my pocket mirrors and handmade felt brooches at my friends stall. I will also have a selection of my buttons and ribbon up until the Christmas season starts and I'll replace them with yummy handmade Christmas decorations. I'm still deciding whether I'll make Christmas cards this year, as last year it took up a huge amount of my time for not much money. I might just make a small selection of xmas themed 1950s pinup collages.
So if any of you are looking for me down at the market head towards the gluten free cake stall. I would also highly recommend her merangue it's to die for!!I won't be at the stall myself as for the next few months I will be surgically attached to my sewing machine, but Orla will be there to answer and questions or queeries.

Bedford Row,Limerick City
Sunday 12-5pm

Getting the Ball Rolling

I've been posting lots lately about all the other things that I do apart from sewing, but on Saturday I got back into making some new clothes. Since then I have made 2 dresses, 2 skirts, and 3 tops. But sadly I can't take any pictures of them because I am still sans camera. It's good to get back into work again(it's not like I really stopped working, just stopped sewing) it was starting to feel like the big elephant in the room that I was avoiding. I had foolishly convinced myself that I had burnt out and run out of ideas. The easiest way to break this was to jump in with both feet. I always find it inspiring walking around my studio, looking at different garments until an idea springs to mind. Thankfully I got a lot of donations of clothes recently so all the pieces were fresh to my eyes ,and it was easy to see what I could do with them. Hopefully this creative ball keeps gathering momentum!

New Painting, and Busy Season

I'm already starting to freak out that there isn't enough time between now and Christmas. Lots of new things have popped up and I came to the conclusion yesterday that I'm going to have to sprout 16 extra pairs of hands and never sleep, of get about 3 volunteers to help. The money isn't exactly rolling in yet so I can't afford to pay anyone.Over the past few years I've already pul;led in all the favours I could with friends and I think that gravey train has run out. On the up side my work is in demand which is something I feel very lucky to be able to say in todays climate.

In some other news myself and John have become the proud owners of a new beautiful painting by Limerick artist Emmet Kierns. His work has been exhibited throughout Europe, and America so I feel really honoured to have one of his pieces in my house.

Drawing 28 Days Later

This is a slight change in topic from my usual but I was just over at my friend Declan Shalvey's blog and I just had to share. At the moment he is doing the artwork for the comic book 28 Days Later,and issue 2 has just been released of this series. Back at the very start of my blog I did an interview with this old college friend of mine, but I just thought he warrented an extra mention because his work has come on SO MUCH, and I'm really proud of him. So if you are A: a fan of comic books or B: love really beautiful linedrawings or C: you reaslly dig zombies...check him out

Graphic Design for Brad Pitt..

Today I was doing sketches for the new Brad Pitt Light Orchestra (BPLO) album. I've done work for them before, some posters and single covers, and we have a good working relationship. They want to stay with their black white and red colour scheme as it suits the dramatic caberet feel to this seven piece band. I'm working on a series of drawing of the band members, in pen, which I will be later scanning in to play with composition. It's been hard work but I feel it coming together and I'm quite excited about what I'm gonna do with it.
There album will be released in the next few months ,and I will be doing their t-shirt designs too, which should be lots of fun.
The above is a poster I did for them a while ago.

Selling in LSAD

Today was my first day out in the big bad world selling my supplies. It was a bit of a scramble to get things together, as I had only rang the Art college yesterday to enquire about selling, and the Students Union President said 'Yeah sure, come in tomorrow'. They had organised a small fair thing, on campus, very stall indeed at there were only two other sellers. I'm not sure if this will catch on as a regular thing as I don't think the other people did very well. Considering I did not advertising and people weren't expecting to spend money I didn't do too badly. I had 50 different types of button there, plus a lot of ribbon, and my own pocket mirrors and badges. Not bad for about 15 hrs notice!

It was a weird feeling being back in the college that I spent 4 yrs in, but it's still a pretty cool place, although it's maybe a bit trendier than when I was there. Hopefully I can go back again, but a little more prepared next time.

Note: I will be listing my 15yrd rolls of ribbon in my etsy shop as soon as I get my hands on a decent camera. Also thanks to Cliare Ann for buying buttons today and saying these lovely things about me...aw shucks :)

(Other) Note: My 1000 moo cards were delivered on Monday, I'm using them as packaging on my bags of buttons. I thought they would last a little while but alas I'down to about 60 already, and I'm only at the tip of the iceburg with the bags of buttons...eek!

Words of Warning...Shop Around

I know people always say shop around but I just came accross a crazy difference in prices today. I'm getting the paper inserts for the wedding invitations printed today, I got a quote off one printer of 150 euro (about $200), which thank god I had the sense to say no to. I went to another guy and he is going exactly the same job for 40 euro( about $55)...that is totally insane. I've worked with both places before and they both have really high quality, and good service, so it's not like I'll be getting a lesser product. How can people justify this!!

Madness I tells ya.

Bad Day

We had a bit of a bad day yesterday, we were burgled while I was in bed asleep. I'm feeling better about it today but yesterday I was very angry and more than a little bit freaked out. John had popped into town in the morning and I pressed the snooze button to get a little extra shut eye. While I was in the land of nod, some people shouldered in our front door, and got away with both of my digital cameras and Johns MP3 player, about 900 euro worth of stuff (about $1200). I don't know how I slept through the whole thing, usually the slightest noise wakes me up, but I had trouble sleeping the night before so I was shattered and out to the world. I'm pretty glad I wasn't pottering around the house when they came in God knows what would have happened.

John tried to make me feel better by saying 'don't worry it won't happen again, what are the odds of getting robbed twice'...but funnily enough a few years ago I was robbed twice in the space of 24hrs.

I know it was a random event, and it will take me a while to totally relax and not listen out for odd noises while I'm trying to sleep. It could have been a whole lot worse, so I have to count myself lucky.

Heartfelt Favours and Invites

I've had a busy few days. As you can see here I cut out all 400 hearts needed to make the 200 wedding favours. They'll be sewn together, stuffed, with a nice purple ribbon, with a pretty tag and some felt heart embellishments....and voila Christmas decoration wedding favours. There was a whole lot of prep work in them, but I think they'll be worth it. This week I think I'll put a listing for them in my etsy shop and hopefully I'll get some custom orders for them.

With those all sorted I turned my attention back to the invitations, 90 invites, 30 evening invites, 120 rsvp cards, 180 place names...eek!! I'm nearly there I have about 85 invites finished, and I'm waiting on a delivery to finish the rsvp cards, but they are pretty simple. I'll also be listing these in my etsy shop, so I'll post some pics when I have some snazzy pictures of them.

In case you know anyone getting married the price is 450 euro for

100 individual unique handmade cards (with personalised insert)

100 rsvp cards (with personalised insert)

200 place name cards

a map insert designed to suit the esthetic of the cards (if need be)

Insomnia

I had a very weird bout of insomnia last night and I have yet to sleep. On the upside I was up (VERY) bright and early and I just figured out how to fix my buggy problems with yahoo and facebook, so now I can reply to emails at long last!!
Today I think I'll make some headway with some wedding invitations I'm making for friends of mine. 100 invitations all indiviually handmade and unique from each other, but using the same palette of papers to design them. I actually find it far more interesting to do this then to repeat the same process 100 times.
I might just treat myself to an extended nap later I'm still feeling truely awful

New Ideas

Well it's taken a good few hours but my studio is back to sometihng resembling normal. There were many sneezes, as I have quite a severe allergy to dust, and I nearly gave up a few times but I persisted, and it payed off. I didn't take any pictures though because I want to do a bit more work on it tomorrow...there are still about 5 bags of unsorted clothes. But at least my rails are back up, all my trimmimngs have been sorted and packed away, my table is clear and the floor has been swept. I also sorted through about 4 bags of clothes that were donated last week, and there was some really funky stuff in it..like a purple corset, and some very nice dresses from Villa.

Before I jump into work I think I'll spend some time this week doing some drawing, figure out a few new ideas. I know when I'm in the thick of it over the next few months I'll be happy to look to a notebook for some ideas rather than my addled busy brain. It's been nice to take a break from sewing 7 days a week, but I', also excited to get cracking on some new work. I learned a lot from doing the show, and now it's time to put some of those ideas into practice. Even the small thing of being able to see a full body of work being worn by models, gave me new ideas on what to work on next.

Button Talk

I just thought I would show you guys some of my lovely metal buttons that I'm listing at the moment. Some of them are actually metal, and others have a very convincing coat over plastic....either way I think they're yummy!

Anyone know a fairy?

Help...does anyone know where I can find a magiacal cleaning fairy. Just for one day...or even 5mins as she would be able to blink or flap her wings and all my troubles would be over. My studio has exploded and imploded at the same time. Picture the mad run up to the show, add a splash of manic packing in two days before we left, a good dollop of hangers and unassembled rails, a pinch of dumping all our gear when we got back, and at last a sprinkle of two bags of donated clothes...and you have the recipe for my disaster zone. I have to wave my hand in the air and admit a healthy dose of procrastination is half to blame for my predicament. I took a week off, then another week just sorting buttons, and tomorrow I have to start back making clothes.

So if you happen to glimpse a flutter of silver wings in the magic of twilight can you pass on the message that I need a bit of a miracle thrown my way.

The Little Things in Life

It's always the little things in life that make a difference. The other day we eventually sorted out our lack of wardrobes after months of living in this house. It's so nice to wake up in the morning and not have to dig through piles of clothes that have been living on the floor. It's really not the most beautiful wardrobe in the world...but in my eyes it's magnificent

In other news I am still buttton washing and listing, I roped John into to helping today, but we watched Rambo while we were sorting them so it was reall manly...I swear. As you may have guessed John is a bit of a superhero boyfriend. He may not cook, but he emties the bin, helpes with laundry, and now and then does very girly things like sort buttons, and staples labels onto packages. Gold star and a mexican wave for John.

Recessionista Fashionista!

I really shouldn't be spending more money but I went into A-Wear yesterday on my way home...'just to have a look'...and I came out with two pairs of pants and two dresses!! I have never in my life done that strange thing of buying two of the exact same garment but there is a first for everything. I bought two pairs of black harem pants, I've been looking for a good pair for AGES and these are lovely cos they are fitted at the waist like suit pants, and they tie in a bow at the calves, which is a look far more forgiving on me. They were only 5 euro, and I figured I would wear one pair to death so it seemed to make sense in my head. I also got a great denim dress that buttons up the front with cute pockets, and then strapless knee lenght dress made out of grundgy check...oh so very Pearl Jam. I figure this dress was also only 5 quid, and I'll customise it with some denim and make it look a bit more Miss Westwood. I usually wouldn't go for this style of dress, being a DD cup, but it looked surprisingly good. Not a bad shopping spree for only 25 squids?!?

Another notch on the recessionista bedpost me thinks.

Bargain Audiobooks

I just found this great shop Dazawoo that sells MP3 audiobooks, I got a little trigger happy with that dangerous mouse that is attached to my paypal account and I bought, all the Harry Potter books, all of The Lord of the Rings, and ....wait for it....all of Terry Pratchett, and The Talisman by Stephen King. Now I know that seems insanely extravagant but it cost me less that 30 euro! I've ordered stuff off the guy before and the recordings are great. You just get a cd in the post, slap it onto your computer and listen away, and you can transfer it to any MP3 player that you want. Johns arguement was why don't I download them myself, but to be honest I tried this and I got hopelessy lost, and ended up after two days of effort with an awful abridged version of Jane Eyre that cut out all the time. I figure at times like these, delegate, I'm more than happy to spend 30 quid and somebody else does all the donkey work.

I'm bursting with excitement I can wait until the postman comes knocking with my lovely parcel.

In other news my big sister Karen called over today to help me with the button management task, we delved into the pretty tricky metal ones and got a fair bit of work done. We also did a good bit of chatting and catching up too, which is always great!

Button Supplies Shop

My new etsy shop is up and running! It's so much easier to set up a button shop, easier to photograph, and they all pretty much have the same description. I have 18 things listed already after two of sitting at the computer, and I have booked a showcase for Sunday (have any of you done a showcase on Etsy?). I started with my basic plastic buttons so that my glitsy metal ones will be at the front of my shop.
Anyhow here are some pics!

Button Washing

The mamoth task of washing and sorting my 100,000 buttons has started. I've gotten a good bit done already, I have a system where I wash them in hot water, put them in a cullander, towl dry them and sort them into small plastic bags. I've been doing all this while listening to the audiobook The Stand by Stephen King. I had to choose a very long book to keep me going, as this may take me a little slice of eternity.
Instead of finishing all the button sorting first and then set up my new Etsy shop NiceDaySupplies.etsy I thought I would do the two in conjunction. So last night I put up my first listings in my new supplies shop At first I'll just be selling buttons-a whole lot of them- and then I'll list some extra supplies I have, like ribbon and paper. I had lots of fun yesterday taking photos and making my new banner and avatar.

Fashion Show is Finished

I've come back at last!

Hopefully this will be the first of many posts over the coming weeks. The fashion show is over, it went fantastically, although I think it was the most stressful day of my life. In the end the total was 51 full outfits, with a good few spare pieces that were for sale at the end of the room. I had never though of the logistical nightmare of matching clothes with models sizes, age, and shoes size...and I only met them the day before the show! But all the volunteer models were great, including my very handsome male models. 'The Shoe Box' in Kilkenny city were very good to donate shoes to the show, and they were truely drool-worthy, if I would have had more time I would have taken photos of all the shoes, if i was a killer heels woman I would have broken the bank buying them.
The one thing I really regret is that I didn't hire a photographer, but it just seemed to slip to the end of a long list of priorities. So I don't really have any decent pictures to post of the show.