Week Fifty-One: Christmas Window Wreath

This week's project is appropriately Christmassy, seeing as it is now December!

I wouldn't put it on the front door or outside as it could get wet, but it makes for a lovely wall or window decoration.

I went for a peach and cream colour scheme, using scrapbooking paper to make it firmer than regular quilling paper.

It was a beautiful two sided paper with pink, green, blue and yellow butterflies on one side and peach and cream stripes on the other.

I did the same treatment to this as I usually do to my snowflakes such as those mentioned at the end of this post and last week's pegs, with my favourite glitter glue and a spray with Crystal Clear.

I added a ring of the paper at the back to slip the ribbon through, I didn't want it through the front at all as I think it would have looked messy. This works with my 'kid safe' set of ornaments for our tree, which are shades of peach, cream, white and aqua. My toddler can't be trusted around my old glass ornaments. I look forward to the day I can use them again, but at least I have a soft and pretty alternative.

 

 I have hung it in a front window of our home. Next week is the final week of my year long Challenge!! I can't believe it, and I have heaps of things left on my list to create, so not to worry, it won't be the end of my blogging I promise.

 

 

xnata

Week Thirty-Five: Butterfly Nursery Mobile

This week I have attempted something a bit different, and I gave a clue a week or two ago on the Facebook page, and I must say I'm quite chuffed with the end product, it is gloriously sweet.

A Rainbow of pretty husked flutterbies for little babies to watch as they fall asleep!

 

 

The fantastic thing about these husked butterflies for this purpose is that they are so light and seem to catch the teeniest tiniest breeze, so it's basically constantly moving, which is perfect for the little bubby watching, it's quite mesmerising and so happy and bright.

 

 

I've used the classic husking technique as displayed in Week 7, in various sizes and all the basic colours of the rainbow.

The frame is made of the inside ring of embroidery hoops of two sizes, and I've painted them with a pearlescent white paint, then it's all put together with white embroidery thread, nice and thick to hold up the rings but one strand thick for the pretty butterflies. I've sealed the knots with fabric glue to avoid it unravelling, and I've sprayed the butterflies with 'preserve it' to avoid colour fading and make them a little tougher. And it's all held up by a simple silver ring.

I've seen ways to make the structure to attach it to a crib, but as it's so delicate I would suggest hanging it from a hook in the ceiling would be much better, and you can add string to the ring to have it lower down without it ending up within reach of your little munchkin/s as even a baby would crush these within seconds.

Here's a shot of what the little ones will see...

It was hard to pick a photo of this nursery mobile, as the breeze changed it so often that each picture was different in a lovely way. Getting this to hang evenly was the hardest part of this project I must say, it took a few tries and lots of wasted thread, but now I've got the hang of it I am sure I won't have so much trouble in the future.

So, that was lovely wasn't it? Makes you wish there were more real live butterflies around. We should do something about that. Having said that I found one in my kitchen last week, perhaps she saw these others and knew we were butterfly-friendly. Anyway, next week we're going to see something really purple!


xnata

Week Thirteen: Love is in The Air: Part I

I have so much to say this week that I've split it into two posts, I don't want to overwhelm anyone!

I changed my mind on this week's project. The whole 3D bunch of flowers thing just didn't grab me, I wasn't inspired, and it's probably been done by every quiller there is, so I'll hold off on that one until I have a real vision for the piece.

Instead, inspiration came from two places: My 11 year dateiversary/Valentines Day, and my son's obsession with the alphabet.

The first part explains itself, right? He asked me out ll years ago on the 13th of Feb (and this is our thirteenth week of quilling! Didn't do it on purpose, just a cool coincidence).

The second part is an inspiration because my son found my calligraphy/lettering book in the bookshelf and now insists on having me read the alphabet to him in various designs (not complaining, I love reading to him), and so staring at all this lettering inspired me to include some on the designs this week.

I hope that is an obvious message. Please tell me if you don't get it.

Again, if you don't get it let me know, I can always pen in the missing word!

I also received an order of quilling tools this week, so the second post will show you those and the things I've made with them so far!

I'll leave you with a look at what my lovely husband bought me for our dateiversary...

There are 11 of them :)

 

On to part II!

 

 

xnata

Seahorses and Hot Air Balloons

MARKETS THIS SUNDAY!!!

Petrie Markets Sunday 8th of August

8am-2pm

That's right, its the second Sunday of the month this Sunday, so my market buddy and I will be at the Petrie Markets from 8am-2pm. I'm very busy with uni and various other life stuff at the moment so I apologise for my slack posting both last week and I'm guessing in the week that is ahead of me.

I'll be heading off to Cairns for five days on Thursday of next week, a much needed break from everything, but I promise to take pictures and have a wonderful time. But before that I'll be doing a test for one of my uni courses, cleaning this house and packing everything we need, and of course, going to the markets.

I've made thirteen cards for this market, and I won't show you all of them but here are some of the treasures to be bought by willing customers:

A happy birthday cupcake, of which I have another in purple and green.

A seahorse to keep the whale card company because it is still with us at the moment.

Some green trees for a change, because Autumn isn't the only season.

and a hot air balloon to float away in.

I've also made some flowery cards, some dragonflies and some butterflies. All good fun and pretty.

So if you like what you see there's more where that came from, I'll see you this Sunday!

xnata

Eye Candy

Tomorrow we'll be down at the Petrie Markets once more, and I have made lots of cards in preparation, though not nearly as many as I wanted to have done, but there's not much I can do about that at this late stage. In the last week I've painted the walls of the dining, lounge and hallway areas of our house, and I did such a good job that now my husband wants me to do the whole rest of the house 0_o. This has taken up a lot of my time, thus leaving me only one full day to try to quill as much stuff as possible. But hopefully the items I have made are enough and we have another lovely day at the markets.

Come and see us please, we love our customers and friends :)

Now I'll quickly show you some of what will be on offer, and remember, if you want it you need to come to the markets to get it because the early bird catches the worm!

Speaking of birds...

He's so tweet.

And for the Christmas in July theme I've made a whole bunch of these gift tags:

Then there's a very girly rose card that looks like it'd be perfect for a girl with attitude:

And some lolly cards...

and some dragonfly and butterfly cards...

I love these long skinny cards and want to make more, but they are sooo expensive compared to the ones I usually use. Must seek out a source for them at a much cheaper rate, because these have turned out so very well that I desperately want to make them again.

These and much more will be with me at the markets tomorrow, and then we'll be there again the Sunday after, so next week I'll be making lots more cards to keep my stocks up, so watch this space for more pretties.

One last thing before I rush off to my saturday night plans - I've had a lot of requests for teaching quilling when I've been at the markets and other places, and I am attempting to find a way to make that possible I promise. If you are one of the people that wants me to do this, keep checking this site regularly and hopefully I will soon have the resources and a venue to be able to do this with you!

See you tomorrow!

xnata

Markets, Quest and I've Madeit!

Well my sales on Sunday the 13th of June didn't go any better than the last one, but I broke even so that is fine. As long as I break even every time I'll be happy. Lots of lovely ladies were admiring but not buying, and lots of them asked if I taught quilling, so perhaps I should be looking to sell 'how to' sheets and starter packs. I'm going to contact a company that sells the quilling tool and see if I can start selling the tools at the markets as well. 

The table looked lovely, I know if I'd been a shopper I definitely would have stopped at our table. Rosey did very well, I'm so happy for my market buddy and I hope our stall becomes more popular with every Sunday that we go.

These vintage bottles for sale in Rosey's half of the store are so so pretty. And this little bag of babushkas are sooooo cute!

One of my gift boxes, which as it turns out, I held up while a photographer from quest newspaper took a photo of Rosey and I! I have my doubts that it will ever actually be in the paper, but if it was that would be super cool and free advertising to boot :) even if it doesn't get in the paper, he took our photo just like he did for lots of other stalls and shops there, which makes me happy to be fitting in and looking like a real market stall, worth photographing.

I think that my low sales may in part be due to my prices, and also in part due to not having a wide enough variety of designs. On our first stall I had lots of flower, dragonfly and butterfly cards sell, so I went home from there and made lots of them, and now thats mainly what I've got, so I think I went too far with it. I'll start work on some new designs as soon as the uni week from hell is over.

 Meanwhile, in my other sales division, I've just sold the framed green butterfly on madeit!!!

It is so beautiful, I'll miss it, but its better to be on display in someone's beautiful home than sitting in a storage box here isn't it. I'll make more and then hopefully find homes for them too :)

You're my satellite,

nata

(today's signoff - Satellite by Guster)

Our Market Debut

Yesterday the lovely Rosey and I had our very first stall in the Petrie Markets.Ah, the smell of success.Yesterday it was in the atmosphere along with smells like fresh air, camp fires, kettle corn and lavendar.



The day went very well, and lots of my creations have gone home with new owners. I sold 17 of my quilled cards (hmm, caught 18 fish, sold 17 cards...weird...)I will be very busy making more of the ones that sold, so more pretty cards will be available soon. If you missed out on one that you wanted, let me know via the email address to the right and I will make you one (keep in mind it won't be identical, I am doing this all by hand. But hours will be spent to make your card wonderful.).



By the end of the day the table was starting to look bare, so I'm hoping to make more than I had this time, so that I can keep placing more cards in the empty spaces as they appear.



I have learned lots from this experience. Like-
1: Bring a calculator next time. When you are all flustered and excited because you are making a sale, it takes longer to add up in your head, and that could look unprofessional. Plus it will just make the experience easier and I'll have more brain power to chat with.
2: Going by what sold early on in the day, I now know the style of items that sell best, and can focus on them.
3: Lots of stalls sell jewellery, so my little bit of jewellery was hardly noticed. None of it sold. I haven't decided for sure whether I will try to sell it there again, but clearly the cards are where my talents lie.
4: Get some sort of brochure-type stand to display the better cards in a way that will draw people in more. We did get lots of sales, but I think with more of the good stock and displayed better, it could do even better than that.
5: Wind is a factor. Don't have anything displayed on anything that can fall over due to the wind.
6: People are interested in quilling and it might be a good idea to sell starter kits and instructions, and perhaps even do some quilling while I'm there to show people how the cards are made. I'm going to start a "How To" page here on my blog too.
7: The Petrie Markets are wonderful. Beautiful place, great sounds and smells, fresh air, lots of families, delicious food and so many cool stalls there are too many to list. I sincerely recommend them.
8: Rosey is an excellent market buddy
9: People are nice. Thank you to all of our shoppers :)
10: People in my family who came out just to see my stall are the nicest. Thank you to my Mummy and my Grampa, my husband's Mum, Dad and sister Louise, to Kathy and Matt, and to Rosey's beautiful family and friends. You all helped our debut go very well, and you are all gorgeous.


My First Sale. An obvious choice I must say. I will be making lots more of these butterflies in lots more colours to sell at future markets and on my madeit shop.

We won't be at the markets every week, as my fingers just don't work fast enough to create that much stock, but we will go regularly, like once a fortnight or once a month or something. We haven't settled on the dates for sure just yet, but I'll of course be posting here when the next one is coming up. So stay tuned.


Stay gorgeous,

xnata

Weird Thing With Butterflies

I have had many weird experiences with butterflies, particularly in the last few years. One landed on my arm as I was standing out on the deck at my mum and dad's house once, one flew by my face and it's wing touched my nose, things like that. Sometimes they fly towards me and go past narrowly, one even came up, circled around me twice and then flew away! They seem to head straight for me, maybe I smell like pollen, I don't know.



here's one that followed me inside after I hung the washing out one day last year.



And here's one sitting on the handle of my front door while his little friend flew around him. He sat there for about fifteen minutes and the other one would go away, comeback and hover and then go again. Fascinating.



Another butterfly encounter happened today, as I stood out the front of my house talking to my lovely husband. This huuuuuuuge black and white butterfly, with just a few bits of orange at the bottom of his wings, flew straight at me, then turned and flew past us both, then went and sat on a flower, which tipped over because the butterfly was so huge. It was almost the size of my hand. I've never seen one that big in real life before. Beautiful.

Didn't have my camera with me though. Oh well.

This thing with butterflies has gotten me a bit transfixed by them. Suddenly, they are appearing in my art.



In watercolour paintings






And on cards, in quilling paper. I'm currently working on one like this bottom one, with greens as the colour scheme. It will be going into a deep photo frame to be sold.

So what is it with me and butterflies? Am I made of pollen? Do I resemble a large flower? Or, is it like my aunty says, my lovely sister Tegan saying hello? What ever it is, I love them.

More soon,

xnata.