October - part two!

I've been lucky enough to have some spare cash in my paypal account at the moment so I've treated myself to some lovely handmade goodies and I thought it might be a nice blog-post :)

Aren't these wee robins just the cutest!? My lovely friend Carrie makes them and is selling them on her lovely etsy page  here -- they tend to sell out very quickly so grab one while you can...click here

I ordered three of them, and I am soo excited about putting them on our Christmas tree this year - I love decorations that remind me of friends/family/happy memories so these are super-special as Carrie has made them herself from scratch. The detail in them is amazing; tiny even stitches, the little gold feet and the red sequins sewn into the redbreast...they're just adorable! She even sent a free gift - a small but perfectly formed red love heart tree decoration with miniscule cross-stitch detail and it's scented with real cloves and cinnamon - our house smells of Christmas already!!

In my previous post I mentioned how I had been acting as a 'mentor' on two lovely EtsyIreland shops - one of which is ClaycatBijou - one of the first things I noticed in her shop was this little fridge magnet, so I just had to treat myself to that!

it's so cute and will have pride of place on our fridge door! She sent me a bookmark as a thank you pressie - it's just beautiful, with red and black swirled beads which she made herself from Fimo clay. click here that's a link to her Etsy shop if you'd like to take a peek!

...and last but by no means least I bought these GORGEOUS earrings from the wonderful Alia at Terramor click here  -  check out her Etsy shop, though she has a lot on her facebook page too! I'd seen her post these earrings on her facebook page and fell in love with them but as I can only wear sterling silver earrings she very kindly made me some silver ear hooks for them :)

They are just perfect - and the spotty bead kind of swivels around, which I hadn't noticed in the facebook photos but which I just love - it makes them so quirky and different!

And I must have been a very very good person indeed because Alia sent me a free gift too! A stunning cord bracelet in turquoise -- don't ask me how she made it but it's very intricate and I love the colour!!!

I feel really lucky!

Finally I thought I'd share a photo from yesterday- you need to click on it to see it properly - it was just the most wonderful day :) I'd driven over to the far side of our bay to Ballinskelligs to meet up with a friend and give her some wools for making hats for charity (I was going to take it to the charity shop but then thought that her and her Mum might use some of it) and then fitted in a little beach combing on the way home.

I really do have a good life :)

October!

Oh wow, how did it get to be nearly the middle of October already? The ferry finished up last Sunday so I'm now unemployed and trying to keep myself busy with my crochet, beach combing and life in general. It's only been a week but it already feels like it's been a month already, not sure if that's a good or a bad thing!

A few things to catch up on this month....

I was absolutely bowled over to have been contacted by the EtsyIreland team and asked to fill in a questionnaire - they wanted me to be their 'designer of the month' for the month of October!!  oh my goodness! It made me feel all grown up and 'official' :) This is still very much a hobby for me and I think it always will be but being asked to take part in something like this is really validating and exciting at the same time :)

Also in Etsy-related business, I'm delighted to have been taking part in their 'mentor month' -- initially I'd asked if I could have a mentor to help me (as I feel I am still learning all the time) but they asked me if I'd like to actually be a mentor instead! Eeek!! Please take a look at the two lovely shops I mentored lovely handmade jewellery and more! and fantastic upcycled silk purses, ties and more!  I hope I was some bit of a help -- I think all of us Etsy-sellers could benefit from a fresh set of eyes looking at our photos, titles, tags etc.

In my own shop, I'm now up to 115 listings, trying to get ready for the (hopefully!) busy 'holiday' season (as well as craft fairs and the like) ---- I'm also up to 442 sales! I'm still very dubious about reaching 500 sales before the end of the year but you never know - if it happens it happens!

At the moment I'm busy making wrist cuffs - and trying to get them listed -- I have another two pairs to get in my shop sometime later today, hopefully. After that I think I'll move on to more headbands and maybe hats again...we'll see... I could happily just make wrist warmers all the time, but it's good to have a bit of diversity in my shop, and especially at craft fairs.

some close-ups of my wrist cuffs and wrist warmers -- oh I love the colours :) all of these are in my Etsy-shop, feel free to have a look!

In beach combing 'news' it looks like I've found something special!!

I found these shells on Loher beach at the end of September, though I'm sure I'd walked past them a dozen times or more before finally noticing that they were something unusual. It looks like they have come all the way from America! -- we're still waiting for a 100% positive id on them but it looks very likely that they are Dendostrea frons (or frons oysters). I'm sending a couple of them off to a marine biologist who is going to positively id them (hopefully!) and then pass them on the natural history museum in Dublin!

It looks like there's only one record of them in Ireland before, from the 1970s in Mayo, though I'm sure they must wash up here more often than that, just that no-one notices them, or bothers to report the sighting. I'm keeping my eyes out for more now though.

I'd better finish up for now, there's more to say, so hopefully I'll be back for another 'update' before the end of the month ;)