Yay! We're into March and its officially Spring!! I've been busy with some seasonal makes... thankfully the sun came out after a week of cloudy gloom just in time for me to get some pictures of them to show you :)
Hand Painted Ceramic Easter Eggs
Making A Birds's Nest
Have you ever tried making a nest? I've a new found admiration for birds having had a go at making one myself this week... its not as easy as it looks to get the whole thing to hold together! I wanted one to display the ceramic eggs i've painted.
I have to say i had great fun foraging for the materials. It was one of those lovely activities that involve you so completely that you forget about everything apart from what you're doing... until one of your dogs runs off with a mouthful of your precious twigs that is!
Hand Painted Ceramic Egg Decorations
I painted these with Easter in mind but i think they'd make really pretty decorations at any time of year... what do you think? I'm wondering whether to order more of the materials and make them a permanent fixture...
They are 6.5cms long and have soft white, pure wool loops attached for hanging (which could easily be removed if someone wanted to display them in a bowl - or a nest! :))
Fabric Gift Bags
If you saw my recent post about my Birds Of A Feather fabric designs you'll know what i made these little gift bags for my eggs from...
...that's right, the samples i ordered have arrived! I'm loving how they turned out :) The designs are much more delicate and subtle once they're printed on fabric - the eggs, you may recall, appeared quite bold as a digital image but hopefully you can see from these photos how much softer they are on fabric.
I'm really happy with how these little egg gifts turned out... I think they'd make cute Easter pressies :) I hope you like them too!
They're available in my Etsy shop now priced £9 for a single egg with cotton gift bag, or £18 for a set of three eggs on their own. (they will be listed in all my usual outlets very soon).
Nesting Birds Blue And White Ceramic Tile Coasters
Many of you were kind enough to leave lovely comments about the fabric design i came up with featuring the silhouettes of nesting birds gathering twigs (thank you!) I was pleased with that design too, so i decided to create a set of four hand painted ceramic coasters featuring the same images..
... they can be used individually for mugs or glasses or put together to hold something larger. They have wool felt bases so they won't scratch table tops.
I just love the blue and white colour combo... to me its a timeless classic :)
These will be available soon from all the usual places priced £25 for the set of four.
Rose Garden Lavender Pillows (Organic Cotton)
Do you remember when i showed you my first fabric designs a few weeks ago? (catch up here if you missed it!). Well, i ordered some small swatches printed on organic cotton to see what i thought of both the design and the fabric and i'm happy to say i am really pleased with both!
I'd really like to use more organic cotton in my work as regular cotton has pretty dismal eco credentials... the Spoonflower one i got my rose garden designs printed on is soft and quite fine with a faint sheen.. really pretty and perfect for delicate pretty things - so i made more lavender pillows!
I'm so in love with these pretty spring colours :)
They will be available to buy in the next few days from the usual places - priced £12.50 for a set of three.
All of my 'rose garden' and 'birds of a feather' fabrics are also now available to buy from my Spoonflower shop, should you feel like making some pretty spring things from them yourself!
In Other News... Economics
Its been another busy week for me... as well as nest making etc i've begun the process of adding UK postage charges to all my listings... the sums have been done and i just can't afford to offer to post for free anymore, however much i would like to! It won't necessarily be the full amount - i'm charging £1 for the lavender pillows for example. The crux of the matter is, i need Free Spirit Designs to be a financially successful as well as creatively successful business if i'm to continue dedicating the time to it that i do. I do hope my lovely customers understand..
Has anyone else had to make adjustments like this recently? I've found that the current financial climate makes it increasingly difficult to be as generous as i would like to be. I've lost count of how many times i've had to restrain myself from purchasing beautiful items created by fellow crafters that i would have snapped up in an instant in more buoyant times! I do still try to support small businesses where i can though. I'd be interested to hear your thought's and experiences of buying/selling handmade during tough times...
I'm off to find out what those super duper Handmade Monday crafters have been up to now, do pop along too if you have a moment, there's always lots to see and learn!
Thanks for popping by x
