Hen Party Badges

I've been getting quite a few hen party badge orders lately. I think it's really helped having my details and price list for custom order badges on the back of my flyer. One the the traders at the market suggested to me the other day having a brochure of work that people could choose from. I thought this was a fantastic idea, so simple, I don't know how it didn't occur to me beforehand. For the past few days I've been putting together some designs that would suit hen parties. The idea being that people can then alter these images to suit themselves, changing the date,name and colours. I also will continue to do once off custom order ones, but at least this can act as a spring board for people to get ideas for what they can order. I forget sometimes not everyone else is image based, and sometimes people prefer the ease of ordering from a set selection, rather that the intimidation of endless choice.

I tried to cover lots of different tastes, rather than just sticking to my usual retro style. This was both hard and kinda fun to step outside of my comfort zone. I never normally get to design brash pink hyper girlie things, so it was a fun challenge. I also couldn't help but stick in a few alternative designs to offer a choice to those who are neon willy bearing bridezillas.

To view the full catalogue go to my facebook album, and to view a full list of custom order badges click here.

Market Stall Display

It's been ages since I showed you any pictures of my stall. A market stall is one of those things that evolves over time, especially if you are like me and you have no money for fancy displays. I'm happy with how the stall is looking these days, but I'm sure I will continue to tweek it over time. I want to work on my upper display, hence the fact that I was making bunting this week, and also my friend is making me some lights at the moment.
It's difficult when selling lots of little things to communicate at a glance what I'm selling. But I think things like the jars and shelves for the buttons, and also the mannequin help to solidify the display. Over the years I've learned that people like to touch things when they are buyng them, so that;s why I have pots of items that people can riffle through. Also I took all my brooches out of their packets and attached them to the mannequin so people can see and feel them.

Cheerful Bunting How-To

I've been saying since I started at the Milk Market last year that I must make some bunting for my stall and yesterday I eventually got around to making some. I had a good root through my fabric collection to find yellow and blue prints, as I wanted the colours to match my sun and cloud logo. I then made a cardboard template, cutting my fabric 1cm bigger all the way around. I cut out two triangles for each piece as my fabric is only one sided. You could use felt or a vinyl if you wanted to make faster bunting where no hemming is necessary. Or earlier this year I made newspaper bunting for Johns birthday party, by ripping the papers with a metal ruler and sewing the section onto some white ribbon on my sewing machine. It only took about an hour to make 20 meters of bunting....super fast for a large party....and also nice if it's for a guy as it's not too girlie.

I then sewed a straight running stitch most of the way around, and then turned them inside out, and stitch around the edge in a straight stitch. This means I'll me able to bung them in the washing mashing without them fraying. If you are making bunting for a once off occasion there is no need to go to all that extra effort, but I need mine to last for at least another year or so.

After you have all you triangles done, then co-ordinate them in a bundle, thinking about what colours and patterns would look well next to each other, trying to keep it balanced through your whole string of bunting. Then find a spacer, I used a paint brush, something that will help to give you a consistent gap between all of your panels. I used a zigzag stitch to attach the panels.

Voila! Here is my bunting at long last, an idea that's been brewing for ages has eventually come to fruition. Excuse the photo of my bedroom...I had nowhere else to hang it from to show you guys.

Hotty But Notty: David Thewlis

Hotty But Notty(Part 11): David Thewlis

I first saw David Thewlis years ago in Divorcing Jack, but most people will know him as Professor Remus Lupin in Harry Potter. When I was googling him for this blog post John mentioned the film Naked that he was in, his first film role. It's a Mike Leigh film that won lots of awards at Cannes, I've never heard of it, but I'll certainly be renting it next time I'm down in Moviedrome, as I'm a big Mike Leigh fan.

Tidy studio and Great New Apps for My Smartphone

I mentioned earlier this week that I was on a bit of a spring cleaning buzz, as I had let my studio /bedroom get pretty chaotic. I wanted to show you proof that I finished it, and it's also an excuse to use my favourite new app on my phone! I had made the striped curtains for the Prudence article to attempt to hide the madness of crafty stuff that is on my shelf. My card making supplies have expanded a lot recently to now include bulging boxes on the floor, so I fluffed out the curtain to envelope this ugly site.

I also got lots of new fabric that my friend Toni was clearing out, I'm really excited to think about what I can make, there was a yummy turquoise thick cord. There was also a great mix of brightly coloured tartans and tweeds. I got to sort through a box and pick what I wanted, it was so typical that I chose all the really vibrant colourful fabrics.

I also wanted to show how I made a dressing table out of nothing. I store a lot of my buttons in a high chest of drawers, but it's one of those cheap ones from Argos that nobody wants to spend their like looking at. I also Had a large piece of wood from my college days hanging around the studio, so I placed it behind the drawers and draped it with this funky fashion print. I them dressed it with some jewellery boxes and a brown leather vintage bag(which you can't really see in this image). I propped up a mirror from the euro thrift shop, et viola at long last I have a dressing table.

I had to get a picture of my desk, because it almost never look looks like this. I actually need to put the stereo into storage to get a bit more space, I listen to all my audiobooks now on my phone

Speaking of audiobooks and apps, I was in an app browsing mood the other night and I found this fantastic app that has 1000's of free audiobooks that you can listen to directly on your phone. I haven't listened to a whole one yet as I'm in the middle of a Stephen King one, but I listened to a section and the quality sounds fantastic. I love reading classic books anyway, so my brain doesn't totally go to mush reading lite fiction all the time. So it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there are some amazing classic books out there. The only thing I'm concerned about is the download limit, I don't want to end up spending a fortune on my bill. I read up on the reviews and nobody else has mentioned this problem though, so I'm hopeful it will be fine.

I also got another app which marks the cycle of my period, I'm always forgetting when I'm due so this is great. It is also a good app for anyone trying to plan a pregnancy(which I'm certainly not!!), as it gives you a calender tells you when you're fertile, and you can mark the days that you've had sex. Wow the wonders of technology!!

Impressive Birthday Card

It was my birthday at the weekend, and I treated myself to a few days off work. As I mentioned before it was John's brother's wedding. So after much Irish wedding shenanigans most of my birthday was spent in bed recovering.
I was mightily impressed by the card that John for me. He has agreed to give me money towards a new exercise bike so that means I had no present on the day to open. So instead he got me this fab pop-up bunch of flowers card. Since I've started making cards people always make a big effort to send me nice cards...which amuses me. like I'm some kind of good card police. Having said that if John ever got me a bad card I'd be pretty grumpy, he has to listen to me rant about bad cards enough to know better.

Ps: Do you like my new polaroid app on my phone, it has the nice ad on that I can put marker type text on it. I'm having a hipster moment....speaking of hipsters, check out this pretty funny video...my favourite quote is....

'Basically I'm a part-time blogger, and I design my own jewellery line,which is like, a mix of religious iconography kind of with a 'Saved By The Bell' vibe'.

Spring Cleaning

It's that time again when I've to clean the studio...it seems like I've done 20 of these cleaning blog posts, and I always fell so pleased with myself and promise to keep the place tidy, but I never do. I have an addiction to collecting things in bags and then leaving them around the house. I come in from the market, put them down somewhere, and I never unpack them. This week I found  a long lost bracelet, necklace, cardigan and a bit of bread(and considering I have't eaten bread in 2 months that's pretty gross). I reminds me of when my mother would make us clean out our school bags and bits of forgotten lunch would rear their ugly heads.
I also found 4 packs of blank square cards, my heat gun mixed in with a box of scarves, and 2 copies of the same crafting magazine! I won't lie to myself and say that it will stay clean, I'll just enjoy it while it lasts.

Hotty But Notty: Christopher Eccleston

Hotty But Notty(Part 10): Christopher Eccleston

Yummy yummy Mr.Eccleston! Question: how great an actor is he?...Answer.... he is feckin fantastic!Question: How creepy and scary was he is 28 Days Later?...Answer..... really scary, a horrible role, scared me so much I stopped fancying him(just for that film, and maybe because of the awful blonde hair too).

Most people would probably know him from Doctor Who, which I've never seen in any of it's incarnations weirdly enough. But he was also in The Others, Shallow Grave and Elizabeth.

I'm Not Superwoman and That's Ok

Sometimes I try to take on the whole world, I think if I just work hard enough and focus I can get it all done. It was refreshing today to give myself permission to not try to be Superwoman. I have a million things to get sorted before the wedding tomorrow, iron my dress, finish making the brides bag, change the buttons on a cardigan, make 3 separate urgent badge orders, deliver some cards, go to an exhibition, and go on a family dinner tonight. On top of that I was trying to squeeze in working at the Pop-Up shop...which is totally insane! On top of which I couldn't sleep last night because I was running through everything I had to get done today. It was at 6am this morning that I decided not to open the shop and to give myself a little time today to breathe....it was then that I eventually drifted off to sleep.
I'm gonna add this lesson to the new me, there is no point eating lots of healthy organic foods and then walking around like a stressed maniac. I'm gonna take more time to just breathe, and get done what I can but not get in a frenzy trying to tick all the boxes.

To the Bride and Groom

John's brother Paul is getting married this Friday to the lovely Shelly Cox. I actually met the two of them before I met John, and it was through them bringing John into Tom Collins for drinks, where I worked,that I got to know John. They are having an alternative wedding, with a humanist ceremony and Shelly won't be wearing white, and the groom is wearing a suit he got made in Thailand. They are not buying into all the cost and fuss of a regular wedding...and they are my new heroes for making these decisions!

In their honour I've picked out some funky wedding stuff from etsy...enjoy!

Romantic Threads-Beaded Lace Gown

LaPlume Ethere-Bridal Feather Fascinator

Mybluetulipdesign-Vintage Circus Poster Wedding Invitation

Lunatiqueart-Design your own wedding dress tutu

Littleretreats-Photo Booth Props

Celebratewithfun-Just Married Burlap Bunting

Thequirkycorncrib-Love Birds Cake Toppers

Father's Day Cards

Men's cards are notoriously difficult to make. It's impossible to get good supplies for them in Ireland that don't look like golfing cards made in the 80's. I got some 'Boyfriend' paper ages ago and used the end of it to make some Father's Day cards. I found it tough to get any embellishments so I ended up drawing my own pictures and cutting them out.

As usual my cards are only on sale at the Milk Market. I won't be there myself this weekend as i have a wedding to go to but my friends will put out my card rail for anyone getting last minute Father's Day cards. To see more images, click here.

Hotty But Notty: Giovanni Ribisi

Hotty But Notty(Part9 ): Giovanni Ribisi

Giovanni is unmistakably hot, but he never plays the hotty in any movies, he is always the soldier that dies, the nutty friend, they wiry bursting with energy character actor on the side. This makes no sense to me?? I suppose none of the Hollywood hotty decisions make any sense to me. Please someone explain to me why men like Tom Cruise are considered attractive when he is plainly just creepy??

Mark Halpin Illustrations

A good friend of mine Mark Halpin is selling his work in the Pop-Up shop in Bourkes on Catherine St. As soon as I saw the first picture here I told him I was buying it, it was hung in the shop with a red dot on it so nobody else could buy it(but still displayed so people could see how great his work is). Then when John saw the balloon piece (above) and he couldn't resist it either. I lived with Mark during and after college for 5 years and I was always surrounded by bits of his work, mostly odds and ends of sketches. So now it will be great to have two finished pieces on the wall. I'll add them to my growing collection of art that I'm gathering this year...here...and.... here.

His A4 illustrations are at a crazy reasonable €40, with smaller works starting at €25. He uses any materials at hand, like pencils, pen, paint, crayon, but his current favourite is Pantone Makers, which have a really lovely flat finish, with a wide range of painterly colours. Mark has been away in France for the past few years, and it's great to see how his work has evolved while he has been away. He has now returned to Limerick, and his work was a great success in the Pop-Up shop. I'm currently trying to convince him to set up an Etsy shop as I think his work would sell really well, and he has such an edgy and textured style.

In the meantime you can see his work on Deviant Art