Recent sales

One of my mini paintings on canvas and a painted notebook have both been sold recently - also, I had a commission from my friend for two painted photo frames, so these were completed and handed over on Friday.

Last minute entries.....

Please tell me I'm not the only one who leaves it 'till the last minute to send in application forms/enter exhibitions or competitions etc! I'm not quite sure why I do it, as I consider myself to be fairly well organised and plan events well in advance usually. However, when it comes to getting things in on time for exhibitions, I tend to think "Oh, it doesn't need to be in until the 24th of July (or whatever)" so I wait until the few days prior to that before I even start to think about it. Why? I've no idea. There is no logical explanation for this behaviour, and I really am not good at working under pressure, so I do wonder why I act this way. Does it make me more focused, having to think hard about which items to include in a short space of time rather than deliberating for weeks on end? I like to think that's the sole reason - I am not good at making decisions and unless I make a quick one, I probably never will!

When I entered the Ferens Open Exhibition last week, it was within an hour of the closing time that I finally managed to take my paintings in. Granted, I'd only found out about it two days earlier, which was unusual, and I had been unwell and was busy performing in a play that week. However, I have just completed my application form for possible selling of my craft related items in a local gallery - Artlink, in Hull.  I received the email request for artists several weeks ago, stored the cut-off date (and time) in my head and knew I would wait until one day this week before I completed the form. Sure enough, I've emailed it just now with 3 hours to spare. I think I've written a decent artist's statement, I've made sure I've included all the relevant information in all the right places, and remembered to attach the document to the email. Now I just wait to hear from them.

Anyway, that job done, I'm going to spend the rest of the day helping to write a play for our Junior Section at Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society. Having trawled the internet, as well as looking through our own vast selection of plays, we (my husband, Keith and I) thought we'd have a go at writing our own, based on the children we currently have in the group. I will let you know how it goes, but I'm sure it will be a long process and there will no doubt be many arguments on the way!

Here's a selection of the 10 items I have included in my application for possible selling at Artlink, Hull.

Colours to Cheer

Without wishing to sound like a moaning old woman, I've been feeling a bit crap lately. I try to stay positive as much as possible and generally do achieve this, but this lead up to winter and the prospect of cold, dark days and even colder, darker nights for months on end really do depress me. On top of that, I've been feeling pretty fed up of the cold I developed last week, which is making me ache and has given me a sore throat which in turn prevented me from going out to sing last night as usual.  Not really something to complain about, I know, but I thought I'd cheer myself up a bit in a creative way and spread some of that cheer to others by curating a Treasury on Etsy. Entitled "Seasonal "Cheer", I included items that I liked the colour of and that appealed to me for various reasons. I simply had to have a cat in there, for instance, and some knitted/crocheted items - that is something that I don't think I will ever be able to do with any success so I always admire those that can!

You can view the Treasury in detail by clicking on the link to it here.

Please feel free to click on the individual items in the Treasury and check out the rest of each member's shop - also, you can share this treasury on your web-site if you wish, or on your FB page, twitter etc - just use the link I've provided above!

Christmas Craft Fair

I know it's early yet to start using the C word, but I just thought I'd share my plans for a craft event I'm planning this year, since it's the first one I've organised. It will be held in the auditorium of the Bilton Theatre, home to the Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society (of which I have been a member the past 20 years).

I have already contacted several of the sellers on Etsy who are in the list of "Shop Local" when I do a search in Hull, East Yorkshire. I'm hoping to have 6 or 7 various artisans present - either for one or two days, whichever they can manage. The idea is not only to create a unique selling event for local creative talent based on Etsy, but if it proves successful, it will also raise some funds for our Society as well as promoting the theatre at the same time.

Lowlander Dye - Trinket Box & Mini Painting with Easel

Decorated notebook

I will be selling my decorated notebooks, trinket boxes, magnetic shopping pads, mini paintings and hand-made cards. I have bought some more notebooks today for decorating, and Keith is planning to make some more notepad holders for me to paint.


I may even make some more fudge and tiffin to sell.

Cranberry & White Chocolate Fudge

Tiffin

Other artisans already interested include a photographer specialising in flowers, an illustrator who creates wonderful cat designs and a jewellery maker/handbag creator. More details will be divulged once I've confirmed all the sellers - with links to their Etsy shops. Next thing I will be designing is an application/entry form - no craft fair is complete without one!

Card Making Supplies, Craft supplies, Pound shop, Card Blanks, Scrapbooking, Cardmaking Ideas, Projects

Card Making Supplies, Craft supplies, Pound shop, Card Blanks, Scrapbooking, Cardmaking Ideas, Projects

This is a great online store for locating all sorts of items for card-making! The prices are amazing, too!

Just thought I'd share that with you all in between my usual posts on here.