My Funny Valentine…

If you believe Valentine’s Day is a special, romantic date in the calendar I will not have to convert you. But for those cynical grumpies amongst you, who consistently claim us soppy, cheesy bunch only propel the commercial machine that is Valentines please, please read on.  For what I’m about to show you is not commercial, not cheesy or soppy for that matter. The little selection I’m presenting to you consist of beautiful items, which were handcrafted by people of various talents, who believe in non-commercial production of unique items of their own design.  So if you decided to say no to the white fluffy acrylic bears and cards sparkling with rainbows of sticky glitter consider these – one of a kind, uniquely designed gifts – not a fluffy bear or a speck of glitter in sight. Enjoy!

Huge thanks to all the artists featuring in My Funny Valentine selection. The showcased items and a variety of their other designs can be viewed and purchased from:

1. DIG THE EARTH              2. LynwoodJewellery

3, 4. MrsGKnits                   5. Harvey Crafty Cards

6. Glassprimitif                   7. Silky Prudence

8. Talking Beads                 9. PANTSANDPAPER

Beat The Blues…

After a spell of white wintery fluffiness we are entering a drab, dreary phase.The snow is melting away, revealing dark pavements and untidy streets. Here and there dried up, stripped bare Christmas trees are dying in front gardens. Everybody is feeling post Christmas malaise - the winter blues has truly set in.

Despair not! For in the busy corners of the world wide web there are gems aplenty to put a smile on your face, just waiting to be discovered.

About six months ago I discovered Folksy – a site, which, like a virtual shopping centre, houses a huge number of individual shops run by an array of talented people, who joined the handmade revolution. I am a proud owner of two shops – MrsGKnits, a luxury knitwear emporium and QueenOfHerts , a fledgling quirky jewellery collection.

Folksy sellers design, source the materials, hand make and sell beautiful, unique items, which you can’t get on any high street. The range of products is overwhelming, the packaging absolutely divine, the customer service superb and many sellers welcome custom orders, which makes your purchase that little bit more exclusive and more personal.

So there you have it – found on Folksy, my selection of “Blues” to beat the blues…

 

1. Wintry Skies Baby Alpaca sock yarn from Wharfedale Woolworks

2. Silver Filigree Ring from Fen and Ned

3. Fabric Buttons - Tiny Sprigs from Mollimoo

4. Gorgeous Fabric Brooch from PantsandPaper

5. Earrings silver with emerald green freshwater pearls from Lynwood Jewellery

6. Clip Frame Purse from PantsandPaper

7. Polly Cowl – Teal from Silky Prudence

8. Small Butterfly Cards & Envelopes from Harvey Crafty Cards

9. Time for tea! from nelli D – for her

I hope you enjoyed my favourites and they will inspire you to seek out all things beautiful. Click a few buttons, have a browse and find how you can express your individuality in time for beautiful spring.

QueenOfHerts has arrived!

 Today for the first time QueenOfHerts opened for business. The shelves in the shop will be filling up steadily. Still lots of designs to list, lots of photographs to take and of course a bit of promoting to do.

In one day the shop has created a fair bit of interest and with time and with more designs I hope to delight you all and satisfy your need for unusual, edgy, one of a kind, stand out from the crowd jewellery.

I hope i have whet your appetite with my selection of photos and you will visit the new shop.

I appreciate all feedback and tips how to improve QueenOfHerts and make it a shop you will truly love.

Queen Of Herts!

With the New Year there’s a new venture taking shape. I wouldn’t like it to overshadow MrsGKnits, which has been a success in its first few months of existence. Success, which I will be shortly confirming on this blog with the satisfied customers’ comments and hopefully some pictures of lovely people who appreciate finer things in life and live to enjoy the unique, luxurious knits from MrsGKnits. But another time about that…

This post is dedicated to MrsG’s little sister. Ladies and gentlemen I give you QueenOfHerts!

QueenOfHerts was born from my exploration and pushing knitting and crochet to see what else can be done with a few unorthodox materials. First it was beaded crochet bracelets, then crochet and knitting with wire and then the imagination was truly let loose. Like most of my knitting designs, which you can see in MrsGKnits (my luxury knitwear emporium), the final results are not obvious until the late stages of completion of the piece. I enjoy the whole creation process, from gathering a few eye catching bits through the discovery what shape they will take. At times this might be a very long time until the Eureka moment when the idea how to finish the design comes suddenly and the piece takes its final shape. And from there I found I actually enjoyed teaching myself how to make other jewellery pieces and that’s where QueenOfHerts became a mixed bag of crochet and knitted wire, beads, knitted and crochet necklaces and corsages and a few other bits put together.

The new shop will be opening on Folksy soon and I will be back here to announce the launch officially. Watch this space folks!