Crafty!

This year I decided to go less high street and more local, small and crafty for Christmas presents. Twitter and blogs have proved to be a goldmine when it comes to discovering individuals running small craft based stores and I've been getting my own craft mojo on too. I figured I'd share my questionable efforts with y'all as well as giving a cheeky wee plug to a couple of the best shops I've come across.

So, it's my blog - let's start with me. I started with some fancy nail painting last night:

 I am no artist - this will become apparent when you see my Christmas cards - but I was feeling inspired while watching Kirsty's homemade home.

I have a gorgeous H&M maxi dress - it's orange and has peacocks on it. It's lovely for wafting about in, in summer (remember summer?). Or it was until some punk cycled too close to me, making me rub against a fence which snagged then ripped the dress irreparably. I spent the rest of the day having to be on constant guard against accidentally flashing lady garden (well, knickers but still...). Anyway, as I love the dress so much, I decided I'd keep it and do something with it. Here's what I did...

 

 Et voila! An owl cushion for my friend's house warming present!

And onto the Christmas cards:

 

 

I was one of those kids who quite enjoyed art but was ultimately sort of shit at it. I haven't got much better but I don't really care. And who doesn't love the personal touch?

So that's about as far as I go craft-wise. When it come to jewellery, I have to rely on others. I mean I could knock out something and have made the odd brooch here and there but I'm not massively skilled when it comes to jewellery. Unlike the lovely Stars n Scars, who I discovered through Twitter.

 

 

I can't show you what I bought from her as it's for a Christmas present and I don't want to ruin my friend's surprise but look how prettily presented the, er, present is! How lovely. Here's a little selection of some of my favourite pieces from the store:

 

 I believe all the designs are hand drawn/doodled by Vicky, the talent behind Stars n Scars. I also believe she's doing free P&P today so pop on over and have a look! 

Next up is Crown and Glory whose stuff I came across on Magpie Girl's blog. I saw her teapot and cup hair slides and couldn't resist popping over to the shop for a look.

 

 

I love how cute and kitschy they are. Crown and Glory sell all kinds of, mainly hair related, goodness, including clips, slides (some of which double as brooches), fascinators and hairbands. It's not your usual run of the mill fair though and items are adorned with flowers and laser cut felt. Here's a wee look then get yo' ass on over there!

 

Time to head off out for dinner!

Lady Luck Rules OK. OK!?

Yay! The sun shone today and it didn't rain at all! (well, it's not yet 6pm so there's still time) And I headed up town for a talk by Lady Luck Rules OK's Leona Baker at the Hannah Zakari shop on Candlemaker Row. 

For such an exciting event, only gold lurex, leopard print and a silly 'ooh' face would possibly doodle-doo. Plus, holy-mary-mutha-of-tha-baby-jebus it's got freakin' cold of late and so today was finally the day that I re-busted out my ye-olde-faithful frilly bosom-ed knitted gold lurex dress. Much like leopard print, I believe gold lurex to be a staple wardrobe neutral and this dress is warm, comfy, sparkly and hides absolutely every degree of bloating. Plus, it has ruffles! If anyone knows anyone out there who has the black version and wants shot of it, I'll buy it (it's from H&M)! For anyone who hasn't had them rammed down their throat already (sorry), the boots are Clarks from schuh.

So, back to the day's events! For anyone who didn't come across Lady Luck Rules OK while it was still going, firstly, you can read about the company here, secondly, sad times for you! The brand brought us some of the cutest and kookiest pieces of the, er, noughties (sorry, forgive my momentary twat-sounding-ness there - I hate the phrase noughties.) and some of my absolute favourite pieces of jewellery came from the site. In fact, I'm geeked up enough that I got married in an awesome personalised LLROK necklace, so there's a bit of smooshy sentimental value in the brand for me too. Aw! (Brace yourselves, you're about to get a wee swatch [that's a Scottish word for 'look' BTW. As in "Geez a swatch ae yer new dress" which means "Ooh, may I please have a look at your new dress? Splendid"] of Mr Scribbler)

Picture by Nick Mailer www.fotonick.co.uk

Ooh, look at the pretty necklace!

Sadly, having decided she wasn't feeling the love for her subject anymore, Leona (who started the LLROK after success selling re-worked vintage pieces at London's Portobello market and, amazingly, didn't have a design, jewellery or business background pre market selling.) made the brave decision, late in 2009, to bring Lady Luck Rules OK to an end (it closed up after Valentine's day 2010). Here's a coupla sheets of some of their early designs:

Forgive the picture quality. Being the toppermost awesome blogger amateur that I am my camera battery was dead this morning so the pics are from my phone. Hopefully you get the gist of their early designs, which were bold and colourful and, at the risk of sounding twee, just a bit 'different' from other things out there at the time. Something I think remained true of the brand throughout it's time, in spite of the imitators.

So, being the apparent LLROK geek that I am, when I heard about Leona's talks I decided to go along for a few reasons. Firstly, out of sheer nosiness! I was curious to know what went into one of my favourite brands - more about how it came about, how it grew and why it ended. Secondly, for inspiration. Like many people, the idea of building a business by myself for myself has always appealed - I'm, er, just waiting for the right inspiration to strike. Hmm - we'll see. But I figured the talk really might throw up some valuable info and it did - there were loads of helpful tips and tidbits (what Leona feels she did right and wrong, advice on copyright and legals, trade fairs, PR and much more) in there for anyone looking to start up any kind of business, not just something craft based. Thirdly, I've dabbled in the odd crafty thing here and there (just for myself and friends) and I was really curious to understand a bit more of the 'making' side of the business and that aspect of the talk was fantastically interesting. I'm not gonna give away all the tips and secrets but it was really amazing to hear about how the various items were sourced and made and it was a great reminder that, in business, you can never overestimate the value of a bit of lateral thinking! Another thing I really took from today was a sense of possibility. The fact that Leona developed such a successful business without having any kind of background in the field just goes to show that with a bit of determination and imagination, you can do whatever you want. Unless you're a tone deaf weirdy type and your ambition is to win the X Factor. Reality check peeps.

Here's a wee bit more of the back-catalogue (the owl is one of my absolute favourite pieces!) and, excitingly, a picture of our hands making our own necklaces! Ooh!

And the finished article:

So all that remains to be said is that today was well worthwhile - interesting, entertaining and really, really informative too. I'm just excited to see what Leona does next. Whatever it is, I don't doubt she'll make a success of it.

mmm - pretty things

Well hello there my dears. In the absence of time to go scouting round Edinburgh to see if there are any fashionable looking folk out there (and to re-define, by fashion I mean people looking particularly fabulous, working their own groove and/or cutting a dash. Working a look with confidence. Not fashion slaves - that's just boring.), I've decided to enthrall you with some recent delicious purchases. Pretty things, not groceries or owt! And first up, I got this absolutely gorgeous leather neck lace at a local craft fair at the weekend. Now I'll be darned if I know what the girl's 'company' is called which is crappy because I'd love to be able to give her a bit of a push here. She does lots of lovely rosettes (which she crafts with frightening precision) and pretty little lace bits and bobs and the foray into leather goods is new for her (so she was telling me). I hope you'll agree this necklace is beautiful and that'll you'll join me in worshiping her awesomeness for a moment...

Second up was today's cheeky wee purchase. I wasn't planning on shopping, really I wasn't but sometimes something just grabs you, y'know. And this bag grabbed me bad. Let's be clear; I'm a shoe girl, not a bag girl, as a general rule. Bags are nice and I have plenty but shoes are my thing. But when a bag is this pretty...well you just gotta say yes. Blue felt, with red gingham, an adorable red and white polka dot bow and a gold cord cross body strap. (and weirdly orange velvet lining but it's what's on the outside that counts. Isn't it?) It's from schuh:

Note how the evening sun casts it's shadow across my living room, creating dimensions of colour. Haha - I'm messing with you! I'm a good humoured wannabe writer, not a photographer!

Laters xxx