Spring Woodland

Walking in East Blean Woods today, the ground was carpeted with wood anemones

The coming of spring always makes me think of Dream by the Moody Blues

When the white eagle of the North Is flying overhead

And the browns, reds and golds of autumn 

Lie in the gutter, dead

primrose

Remember then, the summer birds 
With wings of fire flaying
Come to witness Spring's new hope 
Born of leaves decaying

periwinkle

miniature forest of moss

As new life will come from death
Love will come at leisure
Love of love, love of life
And giving without measure

celandine

Gives in return a wondrous yearn 
Of a promise almost seen
Live hand-in-hand 
And together we'll stand 

On the threshold of a dream....

 Love these trees, they seem to have their arms around each other!

Experimenting with my flower loom

A while back I found some flower looms in a charity shop but it's taken me till now to get around to finding out how to use them. As you can see, there are retractable plates on the back holding the teeth. The plastic is quite brittle, not sure how long it'll last! I'd also prefer there to be a hole in the centre, but after all I only paid 50p!



I found a very helpful website here: http://www.knitting-and.com/small-looms/index.html and have been busy playing.

I have several different sizes, some round, some square - the bigger flower here is made on the square loom, and I just don't like it. Neither of them have enough "rows" of yarn, either - but it's all trial and improvement.



I soon discovered it is *not* as easy as I'd expected, and that some yarns just don't work out as well as I'd thought. I'd hoped to use my stash of fancy yarns which I rarely use for my meerkats - but turns out that for the moment, simple old acrylic is a lot easier to work with.



See what I mean (above)? The eyelash yarn just isn't holding the shape. I quite like the effect of the toning set below though. I tried using one strand of each of the yarns for one flower, and then decided to snip through each loop. I quite like the effect, rather like a flat pompom! They'd probably go together better with the same button, but I'm stash-busting.



Another experiment - this is a cotton yarn I'd knitted something in, didn't like and unpicked. The yarn is crinkly from having been knitted so I wasn't sure it'd work, but it gives extra interest to the flower I think.



I tried weaving in and out of each petal - had to make myself stop, it's quite addictive!



Now to decide what to do with them...

And if you'd like to see how a REAL professional works a flower loom, I recommend a trip to Ffflowers who seems to have no trouble at all with fancy yarns!



Plum Fizz flowers by ffflowers

She also sells gorgeous handmade wooden looms, so if you fancy a go, check her out!

Spring in Kent UK

I meant to post these photos from the local countryside a couple of weeks ago, but real life got in the way of blogging. The weather's turned colder now, so they're probably even more attractive!



Our favourite bluebell wood. The bluebells needed another few days to be at their peak, but they're still pretty good!





wood anemones



Wild garlic - the areas where these grow can be smelled long before you arrive!



The hedgerows are all blossoming

This is… Yael

who can be discovered at her Etsy shop The Joy of Color
on Twitter: @thejoyofcolor
and on Facebook: Yael on facebook


Favourite colour?

Tough one, I love them all , but if pushed I'll say Blue and Green



Favourite smell?

The smell of a fresh baked Bread, nothing like it to give you an appetite
and I bake a few times a week so I'm in a big problem!

Favourite place?

After my home? Paris is my favorite city, and Portofino Italy is the place to feel the Dolce Vita.



Favourite way to spend your time?

Sitting in a Cafe with my hubby or friends or even just to enjoy the coffee and to look at the people around me.

Favourite item in your shop of all time?

Usually it's the latest, and now I really like (if I may say so) my latest Poppy flowers.



Why?

I love them because although simplified I think they keep the grace and passion of the real ones.

Favourite shop that isn’t yours?

Wow, I have so many, you just have to look at my favourite to see. But one I like a lot is the painter Jessica Torrant



"How I believe" by Jessica Torrant

Why?

It's emotional, I love her abstract painting, the way she uses color.

What has been the most useful lesson you’ve learnt so far that you’d like to pass on to our readers?

I'm still struggling to find my place, but one thing that I don't apply yet very well is time management, to keep the right balance between creating and marketing. That said I'm still far from finding the right marketing strategy but i'm learning something every day.



Thanks Yael! Don't forget, you can find more from the Joy of Color here:
Etsy shop The Joy of Color
on Twitter: @thejoyofcolor
and on Facebook: Yael on facebook

If you would like to be interviewed on my blog, please get in touch through my shops or website ;-)

Fabulous watercolour for free!

I've just happened upon the blog of watercolourist Laura Trevey and discovered she has a giveaway for the month of April. It's not a draw - if you fulfill the requirements, everyone will win!



Frankly, the only difficult part will be choosing! To see more of Laura's work visit her shop

Let's meet ... ffflowers!

I've known Helen for *ages* as a fellow UK seller, but ffflowers.etsy.com is her newest innovation.



Cats or dogs?
I love the independence of cats – dogs are far too needy for me – but sadly I am allergic to them so I will have to say neither.

Star Wars or Star Trek?
Definitely Star Trek TNG – I just love Patrick Stewart’s voice!

Fruit or chocolate?
Can I have bananas and chocolate? Or better still, chocolate covered bananas… yum!

Favourite colour?
Last year I went to a big textile show with 2 friends – an old friend and a new friend – and they ended up arguing over what MY favourite colour was! The old friend insisted I loved blues, the new friend swore that I liked natural browns and neutrals better. So I guess the answer is, I like all colours, depends on the situation. (And I’m not too sure about pink…)

City break or weekend in the country?
City break – I am a total townie! I love galleries and museums and too much fresh air makes me sneeze.

Soaps or documentaries?
Our TV only seems to work on the Sports channels. Mostly I ignore it.

That's so strange. Our TV is quite the opposite ;-)

What brought you to Etsy? Tell us about your shop (or shops) Do you sell anywhere else?
I first discovered Etsy nearly 2 years ago through reading various blogs. I was at home having given up work to spend more time with my 2 sons, looking for something to do with myself. After 6 months or so I plucked up the courage to open my first shophmsdesign.etsy.com where I sell mixed media art and cards, and then handmade sketchbooks.



(Niftyknits remembers using one of hmsdesigns' lovely seascapes in one of her first ever treasuries)
It is still there, but sadly neglected at the moment. I realised that the photographing/listing took up a ridiculous amount of time and to have a shop that was in any way sustainable I would have to make some repeatable products. So I carried on experimenting – I just love to be making things – until I came up with my flowers. It took a fair bit of trying to get them just right and also to decide on the yarns to use; some which look as if they will be good just don’t work at all. And at the beginning of this year I opened ffflowers.etsy.com and so far, so good!
I also have a shop on folksy hmsdesign.folksy.com selling a mixture of items from my 2 Etsy shops, but that is sadly neglected too at the moment.

What’s the favourite item you’ve made so far?
Every time I make a new colour flower that is my favourite! But I am also very keen on the mixed paper sketchbooks I make for my hmsdesign shop. I know I should do a lot more drawing than I do but too much white paper makes me nervous, so the different pages help somehow.



What has been the most useful lesson you’ve learnt so far?
Don’t undersell yourself. Make sure you consider every bit of work you put into an item – it soon adds up - from buying materials to making to photographing to listing, before you set the price. You may still decide not to charge for every minute of your time, but you should be aware of it. If the rush does come, you want to make sure you are making a reasonable return for all the hard work you are putting in.

If you could start again, is there anything you’d do differently?
I don’t think so. Maybe I would have had a bit more confidence in myself! It would have been nice to know then what I know now, but this past year or so has all been a learning experience I wouldn’t have missed.

How do you see your store developing?
More flowers, bigger flowers, really big flowers, smaller flowers, flowers with leaves… I would also like to expand my range of mixed media art in my hmsdesign shop – when I have time… There are so many things I would like to try!

What have you been doing today that I’ve interrupted?
Not ironing shirts.




What’s your top marketing tip for today?
Photographs are everything! And particularly the first picture; this need not show everything about an item, or even very much of it all, but it needs to be enticing and above all, a beautiful picture in itself. And join a team – they help so much.

Thanks Helen! For more, check out seastrands.blogspot.com, and of course Helen's three shops:
hmsdesign.etsy.com
ffflowers.etsy.com
hmsdesign.folksy.com

And finally...don't forget to click here to enter yesterday's competition to win your own meerkat!

In Spring, a meerkat's thoughts turn to...

walking amongst the spring flowers and looking for knitting inspiration!






Oh oh, time to go home!

Still time to enter my competition!

I've been playing with my new Light Box

I don't know about you, but I struggle with my photography. It's much much better than it was, mostly due to help from lovely fellow Etsians, but with all the bad weather we've been having I decided to splash out £33 on a
light box from Amazon. I told so many people they've put the price up (sorry!)
I've set it up on a table in my spare bedroom.

I'll probably leave it out until I need the room, but it all packs away (box, lights, camera tripod) into a neat little bag.


It comes with several different backdrops, so I've been experimenting.


It's so nice not to have to wait for the rain to stop!

To try out the dark blue and black backgrounds I've taken shots of some flowers I've made using

thread packs from Overspill