Experimentation

I'm always a bit sporadic with my use of social media, so have been trying to work out how to get a bit better.

If this has worked, it's a photo edited via Instagram that i have used for an Etsy shop update and shared to here, Twitter and Facebook! Ta da! :-)

Dinosaurs

This week has been all about dinosaurs (well in crafting land anyway)! This week in 'real life' has been jobs, stress about jobs, lots of work, cleaning, Christmas decorating, more thinking about jobs, woodland walks, more cleaning and more Christmas decorating. Its been nice in places but mainly just bit exhausting, so I've been very pleased to spend time in my crafting corner later at night working away on my final few pre-Christmas makes...and that has been all about dinosaurs.



This custom made crown is on its way to its owner today and several sets of dino bunting will be making their way this week too. :-)



I have to admit I find it really gratifying when I have a design that people really like (to a point anyway). The dinosaur crown gets a good few likes on Thisel & Bean' etsy store and after selling a set of the dinosaur bunting recently, I had a run of other people wanting it too which has been awesome! Hilariously (well actually not hilarious at all) someone liked the design that much that they copied a photo of the bunting and posted on their Facebook page as their own work! Grrrrr! They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I cant say I'd ever imagined someone actually trying to copy my work! Anyway, that has managed to take the shine off the dinosaurs for me a bit. It also means that I am having to think a bit more about how I present my photos online. I have a watermark that if I remember to I'm going to try to use. It annoys me a bit to be honest as it makes me feel a bit suspicious about peoples intentions when I know that a lot of the online crafting community is lovely and friendly and wanting to help each other out rather than anything else.

Speaking of lovely communities I'm linking for the first time in a very long time with Handmade Monday held on Lucy Blossom Crafts

Diggers

One of my recent favourites orders has been this crown and bunting order. The little boy this was made for was turning 3 and loves vehicles (especially diggers) and bright colours…

So vehicles and bright colours it was…

I have to say it was pretty hard to give away, as there was a little boy in this house who would have loved this crown and bunting too! 

A busy but crafty week

Its been an eventful week or so at Thisel & Bean. My first sale to a completely unknown person was swiftly followed by a custom order by someone else...who then also bought a second custom crown! It was all very exciting. 

These were the two creations...

The first crown I made was for a little girl having her 1st birthday. The lady requested lavender with butterflies. Here's the first sketch and the colour options. 

  

I wanted the butterflies to look like they'd landed on the crown for a moment so only attached them in the centre.

The second crown was for a little boy who was also celebrating his first birthday. I was told that his favourite things were giraffes and balls, so this was the first sketch and colours.

 

I think my sketches are a bit on the basic side, but they seemed to give the right idea. I have to say I really enjoyed the process of discussing the options with the customer and then creating something that felt quite special.

I'm looking forward to making more!