Are you feeling a little blue?

With the days getting colder and it getting distinctly chillier it is easy to feel a little blue.  What better way to cheer yourself up than with a little retail therapy.  Of course there is nothing better than handmade as then you get something truly unique.  Allright then, go feast your eyes!

'Sing me the blues.' by astridsgardenshop

With autumn coming up it is easy to feel a litlle blue. However your mood will lift when you look at all these beautiful blue items!

Crocheted Beret in Purple, B... UniquelyYourDe... $12.50	Vintage long scarf teal blu... AmorousCatsAtt... $19.00	JELLYFISH 8.3" x 11.7&q... AliceJamieson $10.00
ipad Case / ipad Cover / Bl... pomella $25.00	lampwork necklace whirligigjewel... $32.00	Stained Glass Suncatcher Car... ShatteredbyLig... $25.00
Earrings Swarovski Sapphire ... vantageJewelle... $25.00	Universe in a nutshell penda... UraniaArt $16.00	Acrylic semi-abstract landsc... PaulBaileyArt $80.00
Turquoise Garden Lino Print JoolsYasities $39.23	Medium Vintage glass buttons... CraftsbyAstrid $10.00	Art to wear pendant / neckla... cornishcontemp... $14.80
ACEO Original Watercolour Pa... cherrytreehand... $6.00	Clutch Purse - dark denim wi... EssBeeBags $16.00	Small crochet drawstring gra... PollyKrafts $6.00
Tablet or Ipad Slip Cover DrawnThreads $7.25

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Fantastic Friday Felt Wonderful

This is a treasury of some of the wonderful felt articles to be found on Etsy.  There are many, many more but here is just a few:

'Felt wonderful!' by astridsgardenshop

Some of the fantastic felt items available on Etsy

Felt flower brooch/ red Popp... Marywool $25.00	Felt Colorful Unique Linen N... FeltZone $32.00	Ecofriendly Felt Necklace Fe... FELTandGEM $30.00
Artisanal Felt Necklace catrinel777 $63.00	Autumn Marathon / Felted Clo... LybaV $200.00	Red felted slippers with hol... jurgaZa $69.00
Nuno felted vest blue, ye... HandyMaria $170.00	ARtWeAR - 'Flame' ..... Innerspiral $74.00	Blue felt hat merino wool G... jannio $85.00
Nuno Felted Scarf made with ... plumblossomfar... $65.00	Felted Jacket 'Butterfly... doseth $149.00	Custom Blue Felt Bag, Felte... Shannybeebo $50.00
Blue Felted beaded necklace ... DevikaFelt $24.00	Statement necklace felt peac... thelintballoon $250.00	Felt necklace / collar AleksandrabWin... $36.00
Blue Felt Bead and Recycled ... RowanSongCraft... $6.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Last days of summer!

We have been trying to make the most of the last days of summer recently and unfortunately that has meant I am falling behind on blogging. So here I am, what have I been up to?  One night this week we finally got our barbeque up and running and we had a lovely family evening. It was a reasonably warm evening and Beast was enjoying herself running off with the leftover corn cobs.  She was hoping for more but we ate it all!

 On Tuesday it was a mini holiday.  We piled in the car and went to New Quay (Wales) and went on a dolphin spotting trip.  It was pretty choppy but we had a great time. We only spotted a few dolphins in the distance but we also saw a couple of seals, including a little baby one (I took a photo but it was a bit blurry because of the waves) and some cormorants sitting on the rocks.  We stopped for drinks and sat out in the sun.  Silly, we live only about 20 miles from New Quay and we so rarely go there.  I got a few nice photos of the cliffs and I am sure I will paint some of them! They are truly inspiring both in colour and form.  I hope you all had a great summer in spite of the weather.  I am making sure that my family and I will enjoy every last nice day this month!

 I hope you enjoyed this little peek into our summer, now it is back to some art and craft.  By the way these photos on here are my first try at making collages, I just discovered this feature on Picassa.  I think I may have some fun with this!

Thursday Treasury.

'Like a summer sunset.' by astridsgardenshop

As the summer has been a bit of a wash-out just something to remind us of a wonderful sunset.

Red Sponge Coral, Carnelian,... MidnightStarDe... $15.50	Laying Tool Stiletto Sewing ... TJBdesigns $12.00	3 Apples and Cinnamon Scente... ambersaromas4u $5.00
Orange Button Necklace / Bib... Becorations $20.00	Pillow Cover - "Ravens ... floorartetc $55.00	Orange and Iridescent Blue T... DiomoGlass $10.00
Wool Tops. Orange and yellow Thecraftmagpie $4.00	Yellow Resin Flower Flat Bac... magpiesstash $1.00	Natural Baltic Amber polishe... BalticAmberAnd... $13.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Wet Felting Work Shop

My friend Ali makes the most wonderful felt art (you can see it here ) and she offered to do a day of showing me the basic principles of this old craft.  When  I had  tried some wet felting  before by myself I hadn't enjoyed it and I really needed a bit of help.  I followed the instructions in one of my felt making books and I found the whole process rather tedious and the felt was not really what I expected.  So I contacted her and she was very enthusiastic.  So on Monday I got in my car and made my way to the deepest, darkest ... No, no just kidding, it only felt like I was driving for miles along winding Welsh roads.  Well anyhow I got there and had a wonderful time, so lovely in fact that I forgot to take fotos until halfway through, silly me.  Here are a few though:

 Here I am making pre-felt

I  blended three different colours with carding tools

Partially felted

Shapes cut out ready to go onto my  background

 I forgot to take a photo of the background making but that was made with a layer of needlepunch felt and a nice layed of blended colours (black,charcoal and grey) with added silk, bamboo an mohair fibres

Here the tulip pattern had started to felt nicely but it needed a bit more work.

Here it is, felted and fulled, my first finished piece!

Not bad for a first try is it?    I did a multi coloured "sausage" as well as a rope,

A rope in the colours of a twister ice cream

The "sausage".  It has three colours on the inside

I will leave you with a few photos of Ali's workroom as I found it a wonderfully inspiring place

A drum carder, to lay out all the fibres nicely

Imagine this, isn't it lovely?

Lots of lovely colours

A basket full of inspiration.

Home Sweet Home- There's nobody home but us chickens.

Today not inside but in my back yard.  It is rather overgrown and messy as we are still trying to get it fenced and made safe for the chickens and geese.  But they don't care.

 The cockerel is called Button and he was our only chick that we have had hatch.  He's taken over from his dad Chirpy who died about 6 months ago.

These two lavender ladies are called Cinders and Charcoal  and they are perched on top of the gate to get to the weeds that make a tasty snack for them.  It is hilarious to see them squabble to get near to the end of the gate.

The geese (Sid and Gussie) like to patrol the area an keep the chickens in check.  The chickens depart swiftly  but they do return as soon as they have passed!

Home sweet Home is an idea of Barbaramama, you can find a list with all participants on her blog!