Mad Hatters Tea Party!

Hello lovelies....hope you are all well!? We have had the most glorious few weeks of sunshine here in Cornwall...such a rare treat! It's been super baking hot but I've been hiding out in the shade and trying to do as little as possible! (not so easy with two little kids!!)

I had a stall with two fellow crafters at the Cowslip Studio Mad Hatters Tea Party Craft fair yesterday. I met so many fabulous artists and crafters and hopefully there will be some interesting collaborations to follow! This was the somewhat unusual hat I made!

Needless to say it drew quite a bit of attention.

The latest venture is a stall sharing crafty cooperative with two friends of mine, artist Chloe from Woolly Soup and  Ceramicist Sue Newell. We are collectively called 'Fox & Finch' and we are hoping to run a few stalls together. Unfortunately the sales yesterday were really poor, I'm not entirely sure why, but we had a fab day anyway!
Here are some snaps of our stall...

brooches by me..vases by Sue Newell

Our vintage case display

Pinch vases by Sue Newell

Bird Folk Dolls by Woolly Soup

I was also lucky enough to meet up with the lovely Kirsty Elson, Teresa of Willapark Designs, Emma Stead, Sian of Lancaster & Cornish to name but a few...so many wonderful stalls!
I was coveting this beautiful little cottage by Kirsty Elson...her little creations are just dreamy..

and I just LOVE the work of mixed media artist Teresa Dunne

 and finally I must mention the lovely folk at The Flower Mill, they kindly let me snap a few shots of my butterfly brooch in their gorgeous flowers! He looked so at home amongst them!

Phew...sorry for the photograph overload! There was just so much to see and I wanted to share it with you all! :)

Well, I'd better be off...got more nests to build! and butterfly wings to sew! (and tea to drink ...and rubbish tv to watch...ahem...and biscuit tins to raid)

Take care my lovelies xxxx

Love Dotty

Butterflies butterflies everywhere!

I have been a little butterfly obsessed lately..they are appearing on my cards, brooches and arty things all round.  As you can see.....

yikes!!

My new hand stamped packaging ♥

I've been tinkering around today with making an arty patchwork picture and I think I'll frame it in a box frame. I need to get a mount made for it..but I think it's rather pretty!

Yikes...I've got to dash...I'm off to dance...hope you are all well...so sorry I've been a terribly neglectful blogger lately..it's all busy busy busy here at dotty headquarters!

Take care my lovelies and I'll be round to visit all your lovely blogs soon xxxxx

A busy busy Springtime!

Hello there my lovely blogging buddies...how are you on this fine Spring day? I'm feeling mighty fine, albeit exhausted after looking after crazy kids single handed seeing as Mr Dotty chose the Bank Holiday weekend to be ill..waah! Poor Mr Dotty...I am so bad at giving sympathy!

I have been feeling very inspired lately, not sure if it's the Spring time vibe but ideas are emerging at quite a rate..but, alas,  I have so very little time to make them real!

But first...i must show you the most lovely little transistor radio I found at a carboot on Saturday. It cost all of 50p and I thought it would make a fab prop on my stall at craft fairs. I was even more happy to find out that it actually works and I now have to it tuned to a fabulous French radio station. ♥ I love it! ♥

and now on to some of my makes since the last post...

I was asked to make a tea cosy by my sons teacher. It is the first one I've made and I'm rather pleased! I think it may the first of many. I must make myself one next!

next..I was asked to make an owl cushion by a friend... meet Miss Hoot!

and I'm making a window panel for another friend..

and a crocodile tail for a little birthday boy! (a last minute pressie!)

and a card for my father in law...

and finally a new little project I'm working on!!

and LOTS of washing fabric while the sun is out

phew...

I am starting to panic a little though because I've booked in for quite a few craft fairs over the Summer and I really need to get making some stock. I just can't stop myself from taking on random orders though!

Well I hope you have had a lovely sunny bank holiday weekend too! Do let me know what you are up to...are you feeling inspired too?

Take care 

Love Dotty

xxx

Barn Owls and bugs!

Hello lovelies, I just realised its been 2 weeks since I last posted ..waah how time does fly! I thought I'd take this opportunity to write a quick post as I'm lying around feeling rather sorry for myself :( I have a tonsillitis and its horrid horrid horrid! 

Here are a few pics of projects I've been working on...

 A Barn Owl for my Mama's 60th Birthday! The pattern is adapted from Abilgail Glassenbergs 'The Artful Bird'. A very lovely book indeed and a very lovely Owl too!

He took quite a few hours t make, but he is a handsome chap and he looks lovely in their house. They are going to mount a piece of driftwood in the corner of the room and stand him on there.

I've also made a few more leaping fox brooches.

and finished off making some nests, hearts and bird feet...a random collection! It's surprising how productive I can be when I'm away from home, this lot got finished when I was babysitting!

and finally...I recieved the most beautiful papercut from Kirsty M as part of our craft swap. I made her a blackbird, a brooch and I am still thinking up a third piece to send her. She is s incredibly talented, I cannot believe how delicate and detailed the papercut is. I honestly don't feel worthy! I have had it framed, sandwiched between to sheets of glass and it now lives over my Rayburn. I am a happy happy bunny!

You can see the original papercut here... 'Our Love Nest'

Well, I hope you are well and happy :)

I'm back off to bed now..with more painkillers..waah! 

Take Care, 

Love Dotty xx

Retro fabric foxy heaven!!

To cut a long story short...the other day I came across a lovely lady with a rather large stash of vintage and retro fabrics who was selling them for a donation to a charity she helps out with. I chose these pretty lot to take home with me! I am so very very happy indeed. Some of the prints seem so familiar to me, I must have had clothes made from them when I was a little bird!

I have been dreaming and scheming up many ideas for how I will use them. I really like the idea of making some half person/half animal woodland/bird folk so that I can make tiny clothes for them out of the retro loveliness. Some of the prints are so small they would lend themselves perfectly to tiny clothes.

My other new crafting fad has been foxes. I've been making a few of these foxy brooches using freehand embroidery to draw and colour in the fox. They do take rather a while to make and I'm pretty googley eyed by the end but I do like them so I'll make a few more and hopefully get some in my etsy shop. What do you think?

 

  Well, I must dash now...off to bellydance now on this cold ,windy and wet evening!

Sweet shimmies to you all

Love dotty 

xxx

New Tricks!

I was shown by a very kind and most talented friend how to make a lampshade! I've wanted to learn how to do it for a while now as Id love to make one with fabric that I've embellished and embroidered. I'm thinking owls and trees and birds birds birds of course!

A lampshade....I made a lampshade! It is really quite sad how excited I am to have made something so "proper"...a real grown up thingamajig!!

Here is my first little offering...I am so very pleased with it (despite its many flaws...which are well hidden!). the fabric is quite a cheap one from Ikea but looks brilliant in its new role. I'm eager to get practicing and practicing some more until I get the hang of it. I need to make a few more for my house and my mama has asked me to make some for her house too..my first customer hoorah!

  I'm going to have a bash at making one with sunflowers like the one I embroidered on my Mum's curtain.

 and here is the "before" pic...poor dull lamp ..now so bright and fresh!

BEFORE

AFTER

Do any of you crafty bloggy folk make lamps...can anyone recommend a good (and cheap) place to place the fixings online? They seem quite pricey to make unless you buy in bulk.

Thanks for reading..I'm sure no one else is really that bothered about a lampshade but.. ha ha!.. I felt the overwhelming need to share my new tricks! 

Love Dotty

xxxx

and what on earth is going on with the weather...we are on a weather warning for snow again now??. 

It's dropped from 15 degrees to -1 in a couple of days... bbbrrrrrrr I'm so glad I've been slack with the gardening..I've no seedlings to worry about! :) 

love is in the air...

Hello there friends!

Hope you are keeping warm on this chilly winters night. I'm tinkering about with some designs for Valentines day cards. I'm going to keep them simple and not too mushy! Of course...they are mostly birds...I'm a bird crafting addict...I confess!

Here is this evenings work in progress...

and I might have to make some Owly cards too (a printed version of Owl dance card is in my etsy shop).

well...really must stop faffing about and procrastinating...it's Friday night and its time to party craft!

take care my lovelies

sending some love, light and laughter to ya'll

New makes...

I was asked by a lovely friend to make a little something and this little chap is the end result.

He is a door hanger/wall hanger/tree decoration...or where ever you like really! I will be personalising him with a name across the banner he is holding in his mits (but shhh it's a secret so I've left it blank here!)

I was also asked for a more boyish door name hanger and came up with this retro rocket...

and finally I've made this wee owly for my sons Montessori nursery...and I'm making another for his other village preschool!

I thought he would look rather sweet hanging on the entrance door, looking down on all the little ones.

Well I'm off for a well deserved cuppa. 

Take Care and **Thankyou** for all your lovely feedback , it means a lot to me!

xxx

(and I thought I'd add a splash of colour and cheer to my blog so I've gone all yellow!! What do you think?)