petite noël

i think i've just about recovered from helping to organise craft markets this december - classique noël, an intimate jewellery event on 5 december, & petite noël, a handmade market just in time for christmas on 15 december.

as you may have guessed, i only took part in petite noël, & trust me when i say i'm not being biased - it was a great night. though we've not had feedback from everyone yet, the general consensus from both sellers & visitors is high-five-heck-yes. the vendors were brilliant, the handmade goods were wonderful & well crafted, the music was great, the crowd was ace & the hall was busy from start to finish - i'm only sorry i couldn't peruse my fellow seller's stalls for more goodies, but i could barely escape from my own table. i had a lot of lovely customers, a few who stayed for a chat & most people i spoke to left with a little something. postcards were the main sellers, but prints, notebooks & cards found new homes too. take a peek at the blogs of my fellow dundee jamboree organisers, nikki & lauren. those two juggle these events with jobs/studies + personal practice - & they do it all so well!

december has been a good one, but a busy one. along with writing approximately a million christmas cards, learning some new skills, having one of the busiest months in my shop so far & all journeys taking an additional ten minutes or so due to all the snow, a project i'd hoped to repeat after the last two years - every day a drawing in december - has fallen by the wayside (though i do have a few images still to upload). but i'm not going to beat myself up about it - one of the things i think i need to do in 2011 is find a little more focus, make more time to see friends/have fun & to remember not to sweat the small stuff.

arrow scarf

with petite noël just around the corner (wednesday 15 december!), i've been trying to get a few more products ready in time to fill up my stall. this includes a giclée print of my drawing inspired by hilary grant's beautiful circle scarves. i did the drawing as part of my annual every day a drawing in december project (which i am on top of, i just haven't had time to scan & post the images), & it got such a good response that i've turned it into a print. you can purchase one if you feel so inclined.

little mint-coloured house

i've sold out of a few items in my shop recently, which is kind of wonderful. the only downside is a dwindling stock, especially when petite noël is next week (!), but i'm certainly not complaining. make sure you order asap if you're in usa/canada/western & eastern europe/uk if want something before christmas - this weather certainly isn't helping post get anywhere fast.

above you'll find a new addition to the shop. this two colour screen-print is an update - & larger sized version - of my (sold out!) there's no place like home gocco print. i wish i could live in this little house. a porch, a veg patch & a tree. & the mint colour is inspired by a house i spied in gothenburg. dreamy!

hello september

long time no speak! the number of readers of this blog drifted over 300 since i last posted, so i felt i was due an update.

august was a busy one (actually, 2010 as a whole has been rather mental). since joining my local print studio, i've been trying to make it in once a week - i wish i could spend more time there, i've got so many ideas floating around. as well as the prints i've posted recently, i printed the above design in the form of a card, have done two more editions (green & yellow) of my life is good print (there's only one left for sale from the original edition!), & i've also produced a small run of a print for an exhibition, toy shop, in manchester, which i'll post at a later date.

as well as gaining two new stockists (the shiny & new hannah zakari in edinburgh & lovely frank in kent), the next dundee jamboree is almost upon us - as part of n_ilk micro-music-festival at the botanics, we're holding a mini-market, with some previous sellers & new faces. it's looking to be an excellent day, you should come join us if you can - tickets can be purchased here.

in other news, my little etsy shop is just shy of being a year old. august has been my most successful month, which has been a nice way to finish year one. i'm going to be having a blog giveaway & shop sale soon so keep an eye out.

i really ought to update more often; these big monthly updates are long and i'm pretty sure the only person who reads them is my mum (hello mum! x). until next time!

back to blogging

as usual, i've been too busy to blog. this is a good thing. the past few weeks have been craft-filled, which is splendid. i don't have time to update about events separately, but here's a quick recap. the handmade nation screening at DCA was brilliant. the embroidery workshop with faythe levine was inspiring & i got to chat to the woman herself. she joined myself & helen & michelle (collectively of craftsville, they had come up for the screening & were staying the night with me) for a cup of tea, & we all ate a delicious dinner with some of the DCA education team before the film. was great to meet some other folks too, namely the ladies of the glasgow craft mafia who had travelled through for the show. great night.

another craft-based evening was the dundee jamboree etsy craft party last friday. it went so well! people came, made, swapped skills & ate cake. kind of perfect. you can view photos over here. so grateful to everyone who helped make it what it was.

now that the craft party is over, i feel like i have time to be getting on with my own work. it's literally been weeks since i've managed to work on something of my own. i'm in the early stages of two very different projects, & i'm looking forward to getting my teeth into them. of course, it's not always easy, especially since i'm in the middle of learning to drive & still taking part in other people's ideas, but hey, it's good to be busy.

a few other things you should take note of:

- amy of pikaland has launched her first pikapackage of the year! you can buy a package here. i'm in this round, & there are so many great artists involved, i'm honoured.

- i added my first new item in what feels like forever to my etsy shop. just five bux for four illustrations that i really wanted to see in print.

- i'm not having much luck over on folksy, & i'm not sure i'm going to stick with it. however, the next two sales get a free mini-zine, so have a nosey.

etsy craft party

18 june is online craft community etsy's fifth birthday & to celebrate, they're launching etsy craft party, a global initiative looking to energise local communities & encourage people to get together to celebrate craft & make art. they want people from around the world to hold meet-ups in their hometowns, so that there's as many celebrations across the world as possible.

dundee jamboree, after having organised similar get-togethers, are delighted to be hosting the dundee etsy craft party. eager to spread the ethos of craft & handmade, the night promises to provide a fun & informal meeting place for those who are already DIY-ing, as well as those who want to learn more or support artists. we're encouraging attendees to bring along anything they're working on & do a little work in the company of like-minded people, & we're also setting up several mini-DIY-projects for people to try their hand at. & there will be tea, coffee & cake (of course).

want to come along? we'd love it if you could! here's the details:

Etsy Craft Party Meetup: Dundee

Date: Friday 18 June 2010

Time: 7.30pm - 11pm

Location: Dundee Contemporary Arts

Open to public (under 16s with an adult)

Free!

if we're one of the the top 50 craft parties in the world we'll receive a pack of etsy party goodies for us to enjoy on the night - but we can't do this without your help. help us out by RSVPing on our meetup page - you can still come if you don't RSVP, but it'd great if you could.

big top jamboree

i am so very tired right now, but i feel it'd be lazy of me to hit the hay without posting about yesterday's big top jamboree (especially when so many have been nice enough to post about their experiences). in short, it was amazing! to start off the day, there were workshops by catherine of pale face, plus fellow jamoree-ers lauren & nikki, & if you fancied a snack whilst making badges, zines & corsages, loren brand was selling her delicious cakes. & as if that wasn't enough excitement for a monday afternoon, we were also proudly displaying cut-click's mail art exhibition on the first outing of it's tour, meaning more artists than i can count took part in our jamboree.

after a smooth & swift changeover, the evening saw a wide range of handcrafted goods on sale from local (& some further away) artists, including prints, plush, bunting & even bread (as you can see in the above photo by joanna montgomery). i made a couple of awesome purchases; a stitched badge by rosie barthram & the most amazing lambswool triangle pillow by hilary grant (i'm enjoying it's softness as i type). was also very happy to get a zine from illustrator extraordinaire, david galletly. as well as stalls there was more cake, a raffle & sweet musical interludes, plus some brilliant projected animation & film-work. i didn't have a stall this time so took the opportunity to wander round, chatting to both familiar & new faces, vendors, visitors & amazing volunteers.

for more information on the night you can read about the run up over on the jamboree blog & see some feedback over on twitter. if reading about it isn't quite good enough for you, then you're in luck; jon mcgill of superfly kindly recorded the event, so take a peek at his mini-documentary of the night.

thanks to everyone who helped make it what it was!

learning to crochet

one of the items on my list of things to do this year is learn to crochet. up until now i've not even had time to think about starting to learn! i was quite excited when a knitting & crochet craft class was scheduled at my work, & booked myself on it straight away. the class was today & i learned how to make the above little pouch, & i'm now the proud owner of my very own crochet needle. i'm going to have a little trouble continuing to learn on my own, but at least it's a start.

in other news, the big top jamboree is tomorrow! i hope any locals reading this plan on coming down, there's going to be amazing array of things to purchase, as well as workshops to take part in during the day & cake to eat. find out more over on the jamboree blog.

beach in april

coming back to 7˚c weather after blue skies in new york wasn't great, but scotland hasn't let me down this weekend. it was so nice out today that my boyfriend & i went to the beach, thus getting me one step further in my list of things to do this year: #5 is 'visit three beaches', so that's one down, two to go.

it's been a pretty good week. the organisers of jumpers & jamboree (that's lauren, nikki & me) have announced the date of the next event: big top jamboree is going to take place on may 17, & we're looking for submissions! have a peek at the blog to find out more.

i also scored off #20 from my to-do list by opening a folksy shop earlier in the week. i'm giving it a trial period to decide whether i want to keep it or not. if you missed out on getting a free copy of climbing out of a canyon in my etsy shop a few weeks back, here's another chance; the first five orders from my folksy shop get a free mini-zine!

couple of other things: i took part in now now's zine showcase a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't attend thanks to being away. also, one of my older pieces (bottom left hand corner) was in design week last week, which was my submission to 'how many ways can you draw an apple?' by something to do zine. would have been better if they'd actually credited all the artists properly, of course. sigh.

i think i should probably try to update more often to save having so many catch-up posts!

jumpers & jamboree

it's high time i updated about jumpers & jamboree, an event organised by lauren gentry, nikki mcwilliams & myself, which took place last tuesday at kokomo's in dundee. all three of us had no idea how the event was going to turn out - we organised it in less than a week from conception to completion! but with twenty wonderful exhibitors/sellers, several live musical interludes, an abundance of cake & some smashing raffle prizes, our little event was a complete success. for three whole hours the places was heaving, we seriously couldn't have asked for a better evening.

you can see some more photos from the event over on flickr, & read a little more about the event here. thank you to those of you who came, saw, bought raffle tickets, listened to music, supported local artists & sang happy birthday (!!). we're already planning our next little jamboree, & are going to give ourselves longer than a week this time (but only slightly!)

jumpers & jamboree preview

here a third of a sneak preview of some of the artists exhibiting/selling at jumpers & jamboree tomorrow night. from top to bottom: filipa oliveira, kieran duncan, jenni mackenzie/frogged, john alan birch & sean mcalister.

you can have a look at the other artists who will feature over on lauren & nikki's blogs. jumpers & jamboree kicks off tomorrow night at 7.30, at kokomo's in dundee. as well as art & craft, there's cake, live music, armchairs, fireplaces (that will be on!), & a raffle with some sweet prizes. excellent combination.

jumpers & jamboree - coming soon!

lauren gentry, nikki mcwilliams & myself are planning an evening of arts & craft goodness next week: jumpers & jamboree! if you'd like to show/sell your work, we'd love to hear from you. e-mail lauren (laurengentry[at]hotmail.co.uk) with a brief description of your work, plus up to five images or a link to your website/blog. if you're in the area, please do come along & have a browse, + drink & chat.

p.s. only three more free copies of climbing out of a canyon are available over in my shop. next three purchases get them!