The British Sellers on Etsy Team £100 Give Away....

I'm taking part in this team give away where the winner will have the chance to win £100 (approx $160) worth of goodies.  

The give away is international so everyone can enter!

For all the lovely details please visit the teams web site

http://britishsellersonetsy.blogspot.co.uk

The give away closes on Saturday 6th October at 4pm BST.

Yummy to look at only....

 But you had better not try and eat one, as these lovelies are not edible (well unless your a goat and I don't think goats read blogs).

 They have been made by Lorraine from wool mix felt and they are purely stitched by hand.  Coming as you can see in a selection of yummy choices and in my opinion are super cute.  

Why not have a look at her shop and see what else you can find =)

Just click here!

Free Mirror Offer.....

Well its that time again and if your anything like me, Christmas shopping seems to ponce on you at the last minute!

So with that in mind maybe its worthwhile doing a little early Prezzie shopping before the last minute panic kicks in and you buy and spend too much on things you maybe wouldn't of really wanted to get, had you more time to think about it.

So this week I'm offering a free mirror if you spend £15 and if you Spend £25 you get 2 Mirrors whilst stocks last! 

Please note that the £15 and £25 total has to be before postage and packaging, although there is no charge for sending the mirror =) 

Just let me know which colours you like best in note to seller and I'll try to give you that one =) Offer ends 30th October. 

There are lots of lovely sellers on Etsy also offering discounts and free gifts so its well worth a look.  But don't leave it too late, as it has to make its way to you through the post!

Here's a link to my shop Blossoming Silver or you can use the Mini Etsy here on the side of the blog!

 Look down the side of my blog page & you'll also find links to other crafty shops!

Well I'll be plum'ed...

 But I didn't realize that I hadn't posted any picture's of my Autumn collection, other then the Honey Bee Set.  So here's the eye candy if you haven't been to my shop for a look around =)

I love these colours, Autumn is just so pretty when its not pouring down with rain and windy.  The fact that I'm creating jewellery has made me think more about the colours of the season and appreciate them more!

 So as you can see I've been using Amber's, coppers, yellow's and plums with a touch of green.  I might add some more greens to the collection and even some reds in the near future.  

These earrings are all made with sterling silver and Czech glass beads and briolettes. 

Swarovski crystals and fine silver beads added to compliment the designs.

The fine silver beads were made by Karen Hill Tribe and are Fair Trade.  You can see them in the picture below. I love using them and love that they are not just plain and round in shape.

Which colour is your favorite at this time of year?

I'm not quite sure which is my favorite, but combined together they are beautiful =)

 And here is the plum, although I'll have to make some more with green crystals, so they are a bit more like the fruit, which I'm happy to munch on at this time of year, along with fresh figs!

I hope you get to enjoy the colours of the season, even if its with a bowl of butternut squash soup or some coppery ginger biscuits!

Twittering like a little bird...

Well this week I've been getting into the hang of Twittering a bit more and I have to say that I defiantly saw an increase in views to both my shop and my blog.  I also found it to be a really good source for information on events, guides and relevant websites to me as a crafter and a seller, rather then just goggling.  The reason for this maybe that most of the people I follow at the moment are craft connected.  But it is a great format for sharing on and promoting yours and other peoples work and the things you like and want to share.  I'm still learning new things, like the twitter lingo and trying out different #tags, but I'm getting there =) 

Here's a handy link if your new to Twittering, 7 Instant Social Media Tips for Etsy Sellers,
by Heidi of Etsy's UK & Ireland Seller Support Team.

I Still Love Making Treasuries....

 And I made this one in honor of this weeks Craft Britannia's Shop of The Week Cwtch Bugs.  I'll have to write a proper blog post for that shop, but in the meantime I couldn't resist showing you this collection of gorgeous super cute baby and little one finds!

Why not click here to go to this treasury and have a good look at these shops for yourself =)

Friday Night Crafty Chat...

Well its the start of the weekend and tonight I went with my friend Melonie to the Little Paris Shop in Islington, for a Custom-Made party.  Its always nice to see what other creative people are up to and to be tempted to buy beautiful things.  Melonie makes hand crafted lovelies using leather, I think I've metioned her before but still need to get a hold of the pics to show you!   Any way it also gave us a chance to chat about the whole sphere of pricing, trends, ideas, taxes and everything that goes along with selling your handmade goods.  So much goes into what we do that the buyer only really gets to see the tip of the ice burg.  I myself am really in love with the Handmade Movement as it were, because I love the fact and the idea of supporting other people in being creative, maybe spending more time with family, the quality I've seen is high, its not massed produced and the variety of choice is amazing.  I've never believed in buying cheap, I think its false economy, although I do love a bargain =)

Well those are my thoughts tonight and I've just made a HAPPYWEEKEND10 coupon code for a 10% discount in my Etsy shop this weekend, as its the weekend so why not =)

Craft Britannia's Shop of the Week Ministry Of Shiny

 

This weeks Craft Britannia's Shop of the Week is Abbie's  Ministry Of Shiny, which offers handmade and crafted fine silver and gemstone jewellery.  

 

One of the lovely items in her shop is this Fine Silver initial, that has been made by her using metal clay, which is a product made using recycled silver and one that I'd love to have a go at using, although I'm not sure how safe it would be to have a blow torch in my house.  I remember my other half not being to keen on it a few years ago when I was looking into it, but Abbie does say that its fun to use in her interview with Craft Britannia's Nadine.

To read the interview just click here =)

Crafty Weekend...

Well I had a bit of a busy weekend.  On Friday I went to visit the Barboot event at Little Paris in Crouch End, My friend had a table and its always nice to see what she's up to as she handcrafts a variety of handy items using leather.  I know she took some pictures too, so I'm going to try and get her to put them up on the web.  

  

On Saturday I went to the Festival that was being held at the South Bank, there were soo many people it was packed!  I managed to get through to the area where the handmade stalls were, the team We Make London was there with their beautiful goods and I spotted Molly Moo and Jessica too there (how could you not with the eye catching Union Jack Steggies!) and meet the lovely and very friendly Gemma Payne who makes all these beautiful items.  Etsy was there and I meet Amity who curates shopping content for the public and press, specializing in European Etsy products, who was there giving helpful advice and free tote bags, which I forgot to take, oh well. 

I had taken my two daughters so after all the looking we tried a chicken burrito and then churros  and chocolate =)  I wish I'd taken some picture of the stalls, but as I didn't here is a pic of one of Molly Moo's creations to give you a taste of what was on offer.

On Sunday I had family visit and found out that not only does my sister in law sew, she makes lighting sculptures out of various materials, so I can't wait to see pictures of her past work.  We spent time talking about and looking at Esty and all things crafty =)

Blossoms and Waves Range of pocket mirrors....

These just arrived today!  

I've been faffing around taking photo's and listing the mirrors in my Etsy shop, I even added the pics to my Facebook page in a album.  So once that was done it was time for ice cream of course;)  I've joined a team thread where you try and list a new item or more if you can everyday, so I've been trying to keep that up!  I think it does help to keep you motivated =)

New for the Autumn...

This is a necklace I made using some of my lovely Maya Honey Lampwork beads. They remind me of honey and honey on toast with cinnamon and have lovely little bits on them that look like suar crystals, so I added them to a lovely Shiana bee pendant thats been waiting to be used =)

 See what I mean about the sugar crystal, just like the ones you get in a jar of honey!

 You can see the beautiful peacock prints on this bee's wings and the lovely little flowers =)

The earrings to match =)