Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! I hope you all have a lovely holiday which ever way you choose to spend it, whether it's with presents and turkey or chilled out with the fire and the tv. Anyone driving home for Christmas(as I will be in 10 minutes) safe journey and mind those icey roads.

New Camera....and Xmas Tree Pics

John let me have my new camera a few days early!! We went shopping today and picked it out, I chose a canon IXUS 95 IS, it's a handy point and click, with a pretty good macro for it's price range. We figured we would get by on this one until we can afford a better one later next year. I'm delighted to have a camera again, it's been so long since the last ones were robbed.

In the run up to Christmas I've been selling every day this week at the Bedford Row market, it has a lovely atmosphere there, and everyone seems really positive and cheery. On the other hand it is some of the coldest weather we have had in years. Today I thought my fingers were going to fall off with the cold. But I did come home to the lovely treat of a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the front room. While I had been out in the bitter cold John got and decorated our tree. ...isn't it so lovely!!! ( The close up shots are of some decorations I made)

I heart 'I HEART CRAFTS'

Thanks a million to I Heart Crafts for posting some lovely pictures of her prizes that she won in the giveaway that I had this month. Go check out her blog, she makes very lovely things!

Christmas Cards

Here are a couple of quickly scanned images from the Christmas Cards set that I'm selling this year. There are 10 in the set for only 12 euro. Here are just a few samples as I don't have the full 10 scanned in. I must say it was really nice to do some lino printing after such a long absence( I did print in college and have don't any since I graduated in 2004). I could help but stick on some lovely buttons to finish them off.

Pretty Pretty

More jewellery news!
This week I ordered a custom made necklace and earring to match my dress that I bought to go to the wedding. Magpie and Button is a regular customer of my supplies shop, and I really love her work, so I sent her buttons in the exact colours that I wanted. Here is a bracelet version of the necklace I ordered, I can't wait to see it!!

Also I just found this amazing jewellery shop on etsy. I'm totally in love with her work and want to buy ALL of her things. The turquoise necklace is only $45, you wouldn't even be able to buy the beads in Ireland for that price! I think I'll have to treat myself to something in the new year, a reward for all my hard work.

The Postman Brings Christmas Cheer

I was in a chatroom on Etsy last week called FS. It's where sellers go to browse other sellers shops, and if you buy something you get free exposure for 5 minutes when people post lots of pictures from your shop. I had never done it before so I gave it a try. I bought these lovely earrings from seller hrtfeltgifts and they arrived this morning in the post...very speedy delivery I must say. They are so cute, and with shipping included they only cost $9 for the two(about 6 euro), and on top of all that she gave me two pairs of xmas earrings free!! I think I'll wear my snowflake ones over Christmas in the restaurant. Sadly I didn't get any sales from the FS chatroom, but at least I found a really cool shop out of it.

Happy Bunny

I had a great day today selling in the Art College in Limerick city. It was nice to be back and see a few familiar faces. I was totlly shocked at how many things I sold. Lots of people bought my pocket mirrors as Christmas gifts. I sell them at 5 euro each or 3 for 10 euro, so that went down well with the frugally challanged art students. It was lovely to be selling indoors for once, so I could wear normal clothes and not have to layer on half on my wardrobe to keep from freezing half to death.

All in all I'm a happy bunny this evening. I'm gonna treat myself by not working too hard tonight. A bit of leisurely sewing while watching a movie should do the trick.

Brown Paper Packages Tied up With String.....these are a few of my favorite things

Sales have been going pretty well in my button shop lately, and I must say I get a great sense of satisfaction parcelling everything up and heading to the post office. Lot's of sellers find this a chore but I like looking at a bunch of brown envelopes and thinking about them whizzing about the world. I've 4 things to send off today and last week I trundled down the road with 5 large parcels. It's also an added bonus that it's just at the end of my street and the lady in the post office is lovely and sweet. I keep reading on Etsy about angry/evil UPS men, so I feel quite lucky.

I hope this run of good sales continues in the new year. I can't wait to get my hands on a new camera so I can start listing new things, it's driving me bonkers. Since we were burgled a few months ago I've been sans camera, but Santa aka John has promised me a new one.

PS: This is my 200th post, yey!

Etsy Finds

I've been browsing around Etsy a lot lately, doing some shopping, or even looking about for inspiration on what I could buy locally for presents. Here is some cool stuff I spotted over the past couple of weeks.
Yarn Bowl by Maid of Clay

Red Earring by mxmjewelry

Photo by ketzelphotography

Rainbow earrings acanthsujd

Jewelerry Box by Sisterbutterfly

Wholesome Fun

As you know we decided not to hook up our television when we moved into this house. So it's been about 9 months with no tv and I love it. It does help that we have broadband so John can still get his fix, but to be honest I never really bother. In all that time I think I watched Off the Rails and Brides of Franc on the RTE website about 4 times and that's it.

Last night we had a wonderfully retro evening and played board games all night. We started with a game of trivial pursuit, which John won by the skin of his teeth. Then we had a little bit of Jenga, and I, thankfully, lived up to my previous title of Jenga Queen. After that John showed my the joy scalextrics (well a mini version). I got a little bored of that, and I really don't understand how you can play with it for hours on end. Lastly we finished of fwith a few games of mariokart on the Wii. It was a thoroughly wholesome and brady bunch night, and I loved it!

Be Fabulous and Swap 'Til You Drop

A new swap shop has opened up on Shannon St in Limerick City, called Be Fabulous. The guy there, Will, has a great selection of clothes, especially loads of evening wear for Christmas. The deal is you bring in your clothes, you both decide on a price and you get 50% of the sale when it sells. Great deal!! I know I'll be bringing in a few dresses. He also has a few locals designers work for sale too....and as of today that includes me too!! I dropped in some of my accessories like the brooches, pocket mirrors and Christmas decorations. I'm delighted he is taking a few bits and bobs, it's really easy with a local shop, I just walk down and deliver them, with no worries about postage costs or delivery times. It's a great shop, and Will is really lovely, if you are in ther area you should definitely check it out.

Yesterday I was selling at the UL farmers market. For 3 weeks in December they invite a few craft stalls to join the regular foodies to help all the students and lecturers with their Christmas shopping. The day started out pretty awful with rotten weather and very high winds. Our gazebo lasted about 10 minutes before it decided to fold itself inside out and snap in half. We were faced with the decision to pack up and go home or stick it out. So we moved inder a small sheltered area, set up all our stock and hoped for the best. Considering the awful start we had it was a pretty good day. There was lots of interest and more thatn enough sales to make it worth our while treking out. Having said that it was freezing cold, but the lovely ladies from the USIT office brought us out mugs of tea, so that it made it a lot easier! People are so nice sometimes! So we'll be there for the next two Tuesdays, not sure what we'll do about cover but hey we'll figure something out.

...And the Winner Is....

Well done to Gillian of I Heart Crafts who just won my Christmas gift set giveaway!!

Best of luck to everyone in the new year for my next draw when I'll be doing a supplies giveaway.

Ps: Sorry for the lateness in posting the results, I've been at a market all day.