Crafty Folk!

Last day of the Crafty Folk daily listing club! We're a small group but have made over 200 collective sales this month. This is an amazing tally as most of us are new to ETSY. The power of a team has really hit home for me this month. Everyone does their own thing blog, tweet, facebook, BNS's,treasuries etc and together we seem to have all bases covered. It's really worked for me. Thank you everyone who has helped make  this month a success. Let's do it again in November. Who is going to join us? You!

Sorry I haven't included you all yet! I've gone for a green and lilac collection today. Mish73 for great vintage finds. Thanks for favouriting all of my work. Brenda at Teabreaks - Your encaustic art amazes me.RenaisyDaisyDesigns - Such fun skirts for little girls. A unique idea.MadMumKnits-your fingers and thumbs work so hard tweeting and knitting. Thank you star tweeter!Gimmethatthing- Your work is stunning and you have something in every colour. AndreaDawn1-Your jewellery is simple,elegant and beautiful.

A final few days for the October Owls.

Please click on the picture to go straight to the shop.

Alibali Jewellery - The copper colouring of this pendant is really striking

Artyzan Crafts - These look so warm and soft.

Uniquely Yours - These scarves are so much fun and unique.

Ritzy Swish - Great one for the boys, they're always hard to buy for.

Raven's Stained Glass - This pendant is so delicate and on such a pretty colour.

Audrey's Cat- Fantastic colour and a great design.

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N

Not crafty but life. 

I can't get enough of this song this week. The chorus is catchy and great to sing along to when no-one is listening! 

Life is good, it's the school holidays!

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N by NOAH and the WHALE

http://youtu.be/Y8XuMDi-wIk

Please click on the pictures below to be transported to some shops with great 'whale' items!

Moby Blue Sperm Whale Fish Ocean Coastal Beach Decor
 by Slippin Southern

Cachalot Whale- Burlap Feed Sack Doorstop

by Next Door to Heaven

Grey Whale on a Bicycle Shirt
by Dark Cycle Clothing

I wish...

I wish....it was school holidays everyday.
A treasury inspired by Lilly's Night Garden for the 'Crafty Folk' team challenge.

Folksy Friday - October Owls

I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween. ~Author Unknown

A vaguely halloweenly collection of items from the October Owls. I must admit that orange pumpkiny things with zombie embellishments were a bit thin on the ground.

Artyzan Crafts

Imogens Imagination

Audrey's Cat 

Eccentric Ella

Red Devil Crafts

Ravens Stained Glass

Crafty Folk

A selection of beautiful items listed this week on the Crafty Folk daily listing club. I've really enjoyed the support this week folks. Thanks to everyone that's tweeted, blogged, stumbled and liked. What a talented team! A special mention to Dawn from Lilly's Night Garden for holding us all together.

Orange Bee Mirror, Vanity Mirror in Acrylic Paint by lilly's Night Garden

Blue Glass Beaded Memory Wire Bracelet by Pretty Beautiful Designs

The blues in this bracelet remind me of holidays in the sun
 but also warn of cold ice on it's way!
Either way beautiful blues.

Moonlight Dance Black Beaded Necklace by Clover Jewels

This would really finish off a black party dress this season.

Patchwork Tote Bag by SimJaTa

I love the different fabrics on this bag.They look fantastic together.

Cherries!

Week 3 of the featured seller treasury challenge. As part of the 'crafty folk'team on ETSY we are featuring a seller every week to feature in a treasury. When it's your turn you could be featured in lots of beautiful treasuries in a week.

This week it's moodycowdesigns. This seller creates unique bags and purses in delicious fabrics and with great attention to detail. The cherry purse inspired this treasury.

Zebras!

Did you know...

• that the stripes on zebras are as unique as human fingerprints.
• the skin underneathe the stripes is black.
• Zebras sleep standing up.

I listed these zebra print hair grips this morning. It just got me thinking!

I did a quick search and found these fab products in ETSY and FOLKSY shops. Click on the picture to go straight to the shop.

Ialbert

Leeski

Kezbirdie

Folksy Friday

No theme this week. These are some of my favourites from the owls listing club.

 

Damselfly Gemma

I love the rainbow of colours in this pendant that looks like it would feel super smooth on your skin. It reminds me of those sweets of old. I think they were called Spangles.

Made by Lolly

I love this monochrome collection. They would be a perfect presents for co-workers.

Photography by Gail Griggs

How much fun is this photo! It made me smile all day.

Sew Happy

I love this fabric.

Created by Kelly

I love the originality of these badges. The style really appeals to me.

Dottery Pottery

What amazing buttons! They make me want to rip buttons off things and replace them with these!

BNR's

Well as you know a new team has started on ETSY,  'Crafty Folk' . Originally started after the UK site FOLKSY made it's true feelings about 'assembled' goods known. Lots of shops have now moved to the 'other side' and have collected together. Everyone is welcome though. As well as a daily listing club we have been coming up with new ideas although mostly stolen from other teams! The latest is a BNR . It's well under way and we have had 5 sales in the first few hours.

A BNR has a starting line up in a treasury format. If you'd like to buy from one of the shops , go ahead and then post the transaction link making sure to call out the shops name in CAPITALS. Your ETSY shop then gets that persons spot. You get to stay in the treasury until you are bought out. Anyone is welcome to play.

Now if you become an addict and you may well,there's a few teams that have fantastic BNR's or BNS's (Buy and Stay). They are a great way to promote your shop and usually lead to a sale. I can recommend http://www.etsy.com/teams/7574/shoppers-paradise-bnr-team. They're a friendly lot and such a global team there's always someone hanging around for chatting.

If you haven't tried  a BNR/BNS then yet it's time to have a whirl.

Wordless Wednesday!

The Last Raspberry

Conkers!

This weekend we collected some nuts from a nearby horse chestnut tree, grabbed a drill and some string and prepared our boys first conkers.

Conkers is a traditional game played in England with the shiny brown nuts from horse chestnut trees. The game dates back to the 16th Century when horse chestnut trees were introduced from Europe.

The game was played every Autumn and was a particular favourite in school playgrounds. I remember playing the game for hours. Unfortunately the game has now been banned from most schools on the grounds of 'health and safety'.

Conkers is a two-player game. Player 1  has to hang his conker by the string, holding it at arm's length, whilst player 2 swings his conker, also by the end of its string, to strike the conker.Blow by blow the game continues until one of the conkers dies.

 It becomes more complicated when the scoring starts. 

 

 If a conker has never been used before and succeeds in breaking another unused conker, it scores "one" and becomes a "one-er." If in its next game it breaks another new conker, it becomes a "two-er" and so on. BUT if this "two-er" is broken, its score is added to its winner  which, if it was previously unused, becomes a "three-er" (one for the conker it's just broken plus that conker's previous two.) If the conker that broke it had already broken others, the scores of BOTH conkers are added together and awarded to the winner. I remember having conkers of values 20 + and reused them the next year.

Some people try to harden their conkers by adding vinegar, baking, or leaving them in an airing cupboard. Others believe that the oils from your hands harden the conker and so they should be kept in a pocket all year.

We had a great afternoon and it brought back some great school memories. I'd forgotten about the large red lumps that appear on your lower arm and the danger of flying conkers! We ended up with a 3-er by the end of the challenges. We'll keep this for next year.

Had to browse ETSY and just have a look to see what came up with a conker search. Look what I found!

Friendly Conker
Stained Glass Window Decoration
 The Round Window

Conker Cozy - Lazy and Vain

what a conker gift card -
Martha and Hepsie

A-Z of Me!

I've really enjoyed reading lotrs of these A-Z's this week. I think it's helped make you 'real people'not just an avatar. Well here's me.

A- Age 42 and proud I've crossed over to the other size unscathed and now ready to stand up for myself.

B - Bed - Double with King size duvet. 

C - Chores you hate - Cleaning windows. I never manage to get them streak free.

D - Dogs - Totally freaked out by dogs and can't stand cats. Got 4 chickens though!

E - Essential start to your day - a kiss

F - Favorite colour - Purple

G - Gold or silver - Silver.

H - Height - 5' 7"

I - Instruments you play - none not musically inclined at all.

J - Job title -  Housewife, ex-teacher

K - Kids - two boys

L - Live - A tiny village in Essex but close to Colchester.

M - Mother's name - Ruth

N - Nickname - None really, used to be ape at school.

O - Overnight hospital stays - I had to stay a week when I was 29 weeks pregnant as contractions started. Luckily they stopped.

P - Pet Peeves - Lateness,  people who think they're superior

Q - Quote from a film - it's a big long but it doesn't make sense otherwise. I've bleeped a few bits out too so as not to offend delicate crafters ears! It's from Pulp Fiction.

Vincent: All right. Well, you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don't mean just like in no paper cup, I'm talking about a glass of beer. And in Paris, you can buy a beer at McDonald's. And you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?

Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?

Vincent: Nah, man, they got the metric system. They wouldn't know what the **** a Quarter Pounder is.

Jules: What do they call it?

Vincent: They call it a "Royale with Cheese".

Jules: "Royale with Cheese".

Vincent: That's right.

Jules: What do they call a Big Mac?

Vincent: A Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it "Le Big Mac".

Jules: [in mock French accent] "Le Big Mac." [laughs] What do they call a Whopper?

Vincent: I don't know, I didn't go in a Burger King.

R - Right or left handed - Right

S - Siblings - Two younger brothers

T - Time you wake up - Between 6am and 6.30am - when my husband brings me a cup of tea. What a star!

U - Underwear - Gap

V - Vegetable you hate - None I love veggies - as for fruit I could quite easily not eat any ever!

W - What makes you run late - nothing, I hate being late so always end up being early.(Direct copy from Dawn.) I would rather sit and read my book for half an hour than be late. I always get to the airport a day early just in case!

X - X-rays you've had - Had an MRI for prolapsed disc. More painful than having babies! (Never thought I'd say that!)

Y - Yummy food you make - My brunch pancakes have become a bit of a signature dish!

Z - Zoo animal - We are lucky enough to live near Colchester Zoo. It is absolutely fantastic. My favourites are the spider monkeys. There always seem to be baby ones that are so cute!

(Emerging from a hole at the top of a prehistoric tower in sardinia)

I believe in Pink.

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.Audrey Hepburn

Baban CatInfinitiAnn Chandler OriginalsDamselfly GemmaSew FlairJessicas Jotters
......and my own pink pendant  

 

A selection of items from my Folksy teams mates October Owls. Yes,  I am trying to do both  Folksy and Etsy Daily listing clubs. I hope I can keep up. I guess I'm having a bit of a competition between the two. I'm really going to give it my all until Christmas. I've put in a new order today for glass and made leaflets for book bags, I've made posters for classes, blogged, stumbled and generally hurt my fingers typing!