Take part in the Folksy Easter Treasure Hunt!

Interview with Flutterbies!

Another lovely Folksy seller has offered to interview people for her blog, so again, I just couldn't resist the temptation to have a nose into someone else's life by returning the favour!

This time it's Katherine from Flutterbies who makes gorgeous jewellery...

1)First things first, please tell me about yourself.
By day I work in a chemical laboratory, by night I make jewellery :)

2) How long have you been making jewellery for and have you ever tried any other crafts?
I've been making jewellery for about six years now (can't believe it's that long!). Before I started making jewellery I tried every craft under the sun - knitting to pyrography to silk painting, you name it I've probably got a kit for it stashed in a cupboard somewhere! I just love anything creative, making something that didn't exist before.





3) What crafty thing would you like to try next?
I've been looking into resin and making resin jewellery, but I'm not sure I've got the time to invest in it at the moment.

4) Something all creative people like to know – where do you get your inspiration from?
Anywhere and everywhere, I'm always looking at what jewellery people are wearing to try and get an idea what's popular at the moment. I also get a lot of inspiration from the beads themselves, just playing with the colours and letting the jewellery grow.

5) Apart from crafting, what else do you do in your spare time?

Sport! I love to be active; I play netball for a local team and love to go climbing, I'm also doing a couple of sponsored events this year, including a swimathon in April and the race for life in July.

6) On to non-crafty things... Where is your favourite place in the world and where would you love to visit?

I love mountains :) Switzerland was my absolute favourite holiday. I would love to go to Peru and walk the Inca Trail :)

7) What’s your favourite season and why?

Autumn, and not just because my birthday is then! I love the colours of the trees as they change, and the chance to dig out all your wooly jumpers again!

8) Is there anything that you’re secretly expert at?
Erm.... that would be telling ;)

9) If you could live a day in someone else’s shoes, who would it be and why?
I'm not sure... but I think it would be someone really famous just so I could see what it was like.

10) One of my favourite things... food. What do you love? What do you hate?
I love my vegetables, any kind (including sprouts!), and think they should be a compulsory part of every meal! I really really don't like mashed potato...

Thanks Katherine for an insight into your life and jewellery-making!

Interview with Fatcat Felt

Tracy from Fatcat Felt interviewed me recently for her blog, so I thought I would return the favour. I love delving into people’s lives anyway! So here we go...

1) First things first, please tell me about yourself.
Hi, I’m Tracy Markey, I was born in London and I now live in Perth with my lovely partner. I work part-time for a whisky company which helps me fund my felting obsession!

2) How long have you been making felt items for and have you ever tried any other crafts?
I’ve been felting for about five years now and got into it totally by accident – we were out cycling when we passed Twist Fibre Crafts shop in Newburgh, this is a great shop which introduced me to feltmaking and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve also tried my hand at a few other crafts: paper-making, which was great but a totally different experience: instead of working with warm, soft wool I was working with wet, cold plant fibres! I’ve done a couple of pottery courses too and am hoping to do some more this summer. And I’ve recently completed a couple of weaving workshops at Stirling Castle which have been great, just wish I had more time to practice!



3) What crafty thing would you like to try next?
I would love to learn glass making or how to work with cane – my granddad was a chair caner, my mum still has a chair he made and it’s a work of art.

4) Something all creative people like to know – where do you get your inspiration from?
Oh gosh, from far too many places! I can’t really complain but I seem to have so many ideas and not enough time to make everything. Anything can spark an idea – a costume in a film, a painting, colours in the landscape, a pattern in tree bark … I’ve now started to try to capture them all in a notebook so that I can start working my way through them as time allows.

5) Apart from crafting, what else do you do in your spare time?
We love to get out into the great outdoors, camping, birdwatching, cycling, hiking, bat surveys and have just started to get into astronomy! Last year we tried our hand at gardening and now have a veg plot where our lawn used to be. We’re also in the middle of starting a small publishing press which will allow us to publish poets just starting out, which I’m really excited about.

6) On to non-crafty things... Where is your favourite place in the world and where would you love to visit?
I love the Isle of Lewis, I lived there for just under a year and still miss it. The landscape is amazing, massive skies, beautiful beaches, lots of wildlife, there’s nowhere quite like it. I would love to visit Mongolia, it would be great to visit a place which has inspired me so much and which, to me, is the home of feltmaking. I’m planning to visit soon (too soon!) to celebrate my 40th.

7) What’s your favourite season and why?
Oooh that’s tough, I like each season apart from winter! Hhhhhm, probably spring because everything starts to wake up again after winter and it’s so great to see plants come into flower again.

8) Is there anything that you’re secretly expert at?
Wouldn’t it be great if I could reveal a super-hero secret power like flying?! :)

9) If you could live a day in someone else’s shoes, who would it be and why?
I can’t think of anyone to be honest, I’m quite happy being me! The only ‘someone else’ I can think of is me in a few years: a successful textile artist with her own shop and gallery, who has exhibited to great acclaim, and runs very popular feltmaking workshops.

10) One of my favourite things... food. What do you love? What do you hate?
I love love love food, as long as it’s veggie. I have a real weakness for cheese, there’s no meal that can’t be improved by the addition of cheese! Hate: meat and any food which has animal products sneakily added, like gelatine in sweets!

11) Is there anything else you would like people to know about you or your felt making?

All of my work is made from felt which I have hand made. It’s really important to me to make items which people are happy with, I put a lot of time and love into creating each piece individually and no two items are ever the same. If you would like to know more, you can visit my blog at: http://www.narkeymarkeysblog.blogspot.com/ or if you would like to see more of my work you can visit my online shop at : http://www.fatcatfelt.folksy.com/

Thanks Tracy! Good luck with the publishing – sounds really interesting. And I hope you get to visit Mongolia very soon – that would be amazing!

Turning Photos into Outlines

I've been experimenting lately with Photoshop and seeing what I can do with my photos. As it's coming up to Mothers' Day I thought I'd have a go at some simple flower outlines. Here's one of them:




I've put four different flower images on one sheet, which look good. I'll list them on Folksy shortly. Probably a little too late for Mothers' Day, but never mind!

Also just tried outlining some animals.

I thought about turning these into colouring pages for children, but I don't think they're simple enough. I might have a go with my glass painted photos and see what they turn out like.

!