Ruby’s Workshop Pt.2

Work on the inside of Ruby Spirit's workshop is now under way :)

We both have a tendency to hoard, or should that be 'an inability to throw anything away if it looks like it may have a possible use in the next millennium', and most of it eventually ends up in 'The Shed'! so before we could do anything constructive, everything had to be emptied out into the garden. A few posts on Freecycle, a few trips to the recycling depot and a trip to the metal scrapyard later...we were ready to begin!

All the flaking, crumbling and mouldy white paint that covers the walls has to be scraped and wire brushed to leave a clean surface for repainting or boarding out. Very messy and not very exciting! I'm hopeful/praying that after three weeks work it will be finally finished this weekend.

I knew that the woodworm had been quite rampant in there over the years, but some old shelves that I pulled down turned almost completely to dust. There were so many woodworm holes that the shelves just crumbled. Just a pile of beige dust where the shelves had once been! I'm amazed that the beams holding up the top floor are still in such good condition. Fingers crossed we won't get any nasty surprises.

We know that the rickety stairs and a couple of beams need replacing, so next stop is calling our reliable builder for advice (and a quote) :(

You can read part one of Ruby's Workshop here.

Coriandr Express Pt.4

Today's Coriandr Express VIP is the very fantastic Kitty Ballistic Creations!

Behind the Kitty Ballistic Bond Girl/Superhero mask is Helen (a Liverpudlian who now lives in the Netherlands) and she makes bead jewellery and quirky felt creations (such as Christine below).

You can read Pirate Pixie Crew's great interview with Kitty over on the Coriandr Express blog, where all is revealed about starfish, doughnuts and I.T.!

Take the time to visit the Kitty Ballistic emporium over on Coriandr and check out her full range of fantastic handmade goodies! It's well worth a peek!

You can also follow Kitty on Facebook, Twitter or read more on her blog!

Etsy Storque

One of my cards (Pop!) has been featured in the Etsy Storque today, in a Dude's Perspective post. You can read the post, and hopefully spot my card here!

Work In Progress

I've finally started another hand drawn mirror frame this week, and have taken a couple of shots to give you a 'sneaky-peak'. I've been concentrating on greetings cards over the last couple of months, so my doodling is a little rusty!

This one is very 'folk-art', but it's still very hard to get away from drawing circles! Not quite sure what to call the frame when it is finally finished yet. Any suggestions welcome!

As you can probably see, my freehand circles are very definitely freehand... which randomly led me to this video clip on YouTube...very impressive stuff!

Coriandr Express Pt.3

Today's Coriandr Express VIP is JulieMillsDesign...I only just blogged about her work last week over on the Coriandr blog, you can read the interview here.

Julie is a talented textile designer who uses bold colours and simple repeats to create fantastic fabric.

Here what Julie has to say…

"My name is Julie Mills and I am a Northumbria Fashion Design graduate, specialising in textiles - mainly print and embroidery. I love bold print and bright colours. I am inspired by the English countryside and romantic visions of the past. I love pattern and for some reason I am strangely drawn to pink and birds - or pink birds! :)  I like to make bags, purses and scarves and I have recently discovered a love of knitting, by hand and machine. I pride myself on making quality items with high quality silks and cottons, which may be hand dyed, hand or digitally printed, knitted, appliquéd or embellished. I also take on commissions, please email me: juliemillsdesign@hotmail.com"

You can follow Julie on Twitter, or find out more from a visit to her website.

Coriandr Express Pt.2

OK...my stint as Coriandr Express VIP is sadly over (which means I'm now in the engine room shovelling coal!), so it's time for a brand new VIP!!!

Over the next few weeks I'll be featuring work from fellow Coriandr Express VIPs, with links to their own blogs, so you can find out more about them and their work.

First up is Izabela who creates beautiful crochet work as Blue Fish Handmade.

Izabela lovingly makes everything from gloves and scarves to jewellery and corsages. Here's what she has to say… "My grandmother showed me when I was 6 how to knit and crochet, since then I realized that what I enjoy is making things... I love fibres, alternative fashion, accessories inspired by a history, colours, textures so I make things I love, I like everything I made and if only I didn't have to make money for my living and staying at home with my little ones I would make all just for me..."

Blue Fish Handmade has a fanpage on Facebook, you can follow her on Twitter, or catch up with her blog here.

PLUS if you head over to Coriandr Express you can read about an exclusive discount that runs right up to June 13th (Happy Birthday!)

Ruby’s Workshop Pt.1

You may have heard a bit of banter between me and my other half about 'The Shed'. It's a two storey, turn of the century outbuilding that occupies a big chunk of our small back garden, and after many years of neglect it's finally getting a new lease of life as Ruby Spirit Designs' jewellery workshop.

I would have loved to have seen it in it's heyday, as underneath the slate roof tiles there's a full glasshouse...that would surely have been proper fancy back in the day! I'm sure that health and safety would quickly intervene if the slates were ever removed now – not really the safest thing – a precarious 100 year old greenhouse 20ft up in the air!

Over the years the weight of the slate tiles had bowed the roof timbers and some of the panes of glass were dangerous, so last year we had new supports built and double glazing installed (which puts to shame the old PVC draughty things we have in the house!)

Over the next few weeks (though knowing us, it will be months (and months)) I'll be posting a few pictures of the renovations...the plan is that downstairs will be a space for making lampwork beads, and upstairs will be more comfortable, where wifey can make jewellery and maybe have an office space that's out of the house.

It all sounds rather swanky, but money is tight so there's a very strict budget! Here's to getting everything done by late summer. Fingers crossed.

Coriandr Express Pt.1

Coriandr Express has left the station!

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, a group of fellow sellers over on the utterly fantastic UK site Coriandr have formed a 'promotional train' called Coriandr Express. There are twenty people on the train, and for three days only, all the other riders on the train must plug and promote the first person on the list. This will hopefully generate much needed sales for that person but more importantly promote Coriandr and all the other sellers and lovely handmade products that you can buy there.

Well guess what?

Today it's me! I'm truly honoured to be the first V.I.P. on the train...and it looks like it's working, I'd already had a couple of sales before starting work this morning! A big, big thank you to everyone who is plugging my work on Twitter, and blogging about my Coriandr store.

*****To celebrate the launch of Coriandr Express, all my greetings cards are now half price throughout May. Grab a bargain here while stocks last!*****

I'll be blogging about all the other Coriandr Express V.I.P.'s over the next few weeks!

The Bretttorrium

I'm still playing catch-up with my blog posts, so my apologies – this is a couple of weeks old now...

The Bretttorrium Creativity Emporium featured my Carousel cards in their ‘four for friday’ weekly round-up on April 23rd and said some lovely things.

You can read the post by clicking here...

In case you haven’t come across The Bretttorrium before, their mission statement is this: ‘our purpose is simple: support small creative businesses. We comb the web looking for innovative artisans in a never ending quest to highlight the best and the brightest creative hearts.’

Well worth having a peek!

New Coriandr Blog!

OK OK, it’s hard keeping up with things! Just a small post to get me back in the blogging spirit...

I have a new Featured Seller over on the Coriandr blog this week, you can read all about Mich from myfuroshiki, by clicking the link below...

You have no idea what furoshiki means? Neither did I, but I'm very impressed!

clicky clicky