Illustrated Cufflinks

 These are my new range of shrink plastic cufflinks! I'm so in love with them!

I've been meaning to make more men's pieces for a while now, especically in the run up to Christmas. I got the parts ages ago, but between one thing and another I only got around to making them last week. At the moment I only have 10 sets of them,but I suspect they will be popular at Christmas so I really need to order more parts. It was fun coming up with more masculine designs, and I've had loads more ideas since I finished these.

They are €10 per pair and they come in a little presentation box. I will be selling these in Limerick Craft & Design when we open shortly,and when I get more stock I'll post them on Etsy and put them on my stall too.
To see a full album of images head over to this Facebook album here.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Keep up to date on all my regular posts with my RSS Feed or follow me on Facebook and Twitter

Pin It

What I Will Be Wearing

I'm off to my friends wedding this weekend. even though I had told myself I was going to wear a dress I already owned I couldn't resist when I saw this dress in Awear. It's part of their Closet selection, and is a little pricier that their normal line, but I got it on sale for €50. It's got an unusual cut to it, it's high at the front and low at the back. I have a black netting underskirt that will go nicely under it. I've to take it in a little at the sides as they only had one size left, but it's worth it as I really love it.

A few months ago I got some shoes that look really like the ones pictures above for only €10, but the soles of them were really slippy (which meant that I would never wear them) so I got them soled for about €20, which still meant that the shoes were cheap as chips. 

I was just down town about an hour ago when I realised I don't have a black evening bag...which is what I went looking for. But this little red bag called to me instead. It's retro enough that it still fits in with the dress, and I'm far more likely to use it again than a boring black evening bag. I got it in Pennies for only €3, and the best part is that it has funky yellow lining. The bag is big enough that I can fit my purse, a camera, some makeup and a naggan (weddings are expensive drinking days so I'm just being recession savvy).

I have one of these fab glass rings from Spleodar(not in the picture above but it's read and amazing). I'm still undecided about my earrings, but I'm sure I can hunt something down, or maybe make something at the last minute. I also have some pretty black lace tights that should finish it all off nicely.

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.

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

I Know Why Men Don't Shop

I spent all of yesterday shopping with my boyfriend John. We are going to a wedding just before Christmas and we needed to get him a suit. Thankfully we got the hard part done very easily and quickly. On the way into town we popped into the mens shop at the bottom of our street and he got a beautiful navy pinstripe suit which was in the half price sale. Now I know why poeple go to proper shops with assistants, they can tell by looking at you what size you are, show you what they have, and they are really pleasant. So all we had left to do was get a shirt, and maybe an over coat. Sounds simple right? Oh no, there is that awful issue of sizes, everything is massive, and really badly organised. God forbid you would ever want to buy something that fits properly! Also the selection of clothes ranges from beige to bland to vomit.

I will from now on totally understand when John comes home exasperated after a simple shopping task. I'm so glad I'm a girl and we have things like colour and cut in our clothes.

On a side note I'm toying with the idea of buying a new dress to go to the wedding. It's 110 euro, but I'm broke and I really shouldn't be spending that kind on money when I have a perfectly good dress in the wardrobe.

So to dress or not to dress?

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)

Wedding invitations

I've decided I'm going to open a second etsy shop selling wedding invitations. I've done a few of my friends weddings, and my sisters, but I don't have any representation of this online. There is a thing on etsy called Alchemy, which is basically where people request stuff and then sellers make bids to make their item for them. There are a huge amount of people looking for custom wedding invitations, and they are willing to pay pretty good money for them. I figure, like my cards, they will be a bit left of centre, but that's the whole point, if people want traditional there are millions of sites doing that. I got my first custom order yesterday, for a punk rock save the date card design. What got me thinking about all this is that I'm doing my friends Laura and Richards invitations for them. I figure I'll do up about 10 different samples, post them in the new shop, and then start making bids and hopefully I get a few orders. I like making cards, it's quite methodical and precise, and custom orders are always fun because they make me think outside the box. This will all have to wait till after the move, but I figure it will take about a month to 6 weeks to get properly organised.

Spooky Wedding

I'm going to a Halloween Wedding this weekend, and it's fancy dress! It's a small low key affair which I really respect. I understand that some people really want a big traditional wedding with all their famliy, but the cost of it is what seems insane to me. As of late it's a hot topic of conversation as I'm at that age where a lot of my friends are starting to think of the chimimng of bells. Essentially a wedding is a party where all of your friends and family turn up. Then things like hotels and planners get involved and suddenly you're 30,000 in dept. So this couple have just rented a room to have an evening celebration, so no paying for a big meal, simple but it sounds great to me.
I spent about a week mulling over what I would dress up as. While I was in Scotland my friends convinced me to buy a corset that on later consideration I knew I would never wear. So me the Queen of repurposing based my costume around this gold corset (somehow it's more acceptable to wear this boobalicious corset as a costume). It has evolved into a Marie Antoinette type thing, including large brown frilly skirt. I just got the bulk of it finished about an hour ago, and I must say I'm pretty chuffed with it. I just have to add an extra supporting hoola hoop to the skirt and some lace to the end and collar. I kind of hate the day after halloween, I wish I could dress outlandingly all the time. It would be pretty fecking strange to buy a pound of butter down at the local shop in this dress, but a large part of me wants to.

Photos will be added soon as the boyfriend still has my camera in London at the stag weekend(I just got a call appently he broke a tooth!)