Folksy Friday – Rain

It’s starting to feel like we’ll never see sunshine again here! We even missed out on the snow, it’s been rain, rain and more rain. So today’s Folksy Friday is, of course, rain inspired!

1. Rainy Day Card by Hole In My Pocket

2. Rain Cloud Earrings by Kayleigh O’mara

3. Butterfly Rain Cloud Pot by Julia Smith Ceramics

4. Pink Umbrella Girl by Picture Frame

5. Rainy Days Card by Accidental Vix

6. Wellies Print by Little Paper Gallery

I think my favourites would have to be the ‘rain cloud pot’ and the ‘pink umbrella girl’, as I love the fact that real buttons have been used. What a great touch.

Folksy Friday – National Storytelling Week

This week is National Storytelling Week, so we decided to do a book inspired Folksy Friday. We hope you like what we’ve found.

1. Pride and Predjudice Butterfly Framed Art by TerrorDome

2. We Are The Music Makers Original Framed Artwork by Wall Envy Art

3. Octopus Woman Print by Rita Reverie

4. Book Flower Brooch by Bookity

5. Why Birds Sing Wood Warbler Print by Inkmeup

6. ACEO Miniature Print Armfuls Of Books by Castle On The Hill

I love that these pages have been rescued from books that may have been falling apart, and no longer able to tell their story, but that they have now been given a new life and are telling new stories.

Is anybody doing anything to celebrate National Storytelling Week?

Wonderful things from recycled materials

Today’s post is from Mr Felted Rainbow! …So let  me hand you over to Joe:

Hello there everyone,

Today’s post is about wonderful things made out of recycled materials. We love the amazing and creative things some people do with junk and we’d like to honour their great work by sharing it with all you lovely readers.

So for this first post in what I imagine will become a bit of a series (and may develop an amusing punning name of some sort), we will be featuring a window display of a traditional toy shop. The shop I speak of is actually one that’s very local to us and so this will be something you won’t have seen elsewhere online as I took these photos myself just the other week.

Behold!

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We were absolutely amazed at how many different materials have been used in the construction of these robots. I can see bits of hosepipe connector, wheels of pins, vent covers, Slinkies and all kinds. It must have been so fun to make them all and must have taken ages.

I’m sure you’re wondering whether or not this was really done by the owners, and I had the same thought. Of course I immediately headed into the shop to ask the owner whether he was the genius behind it and – he was!

So if any of you have a shop with a window display, perhaps you can take a page from this shop’s book. Or if you just want to create some cool looking robots one afternoon, then here’s some inspiration to start you off. Also if you’re in North Wales and you want to meet the man behind the robots, here’s a link to the shop’s website.

They’ll be more wonderful things from recycled materials in future weeks, but for now I shall bid you adieu!

Good day.

Handmade Love

I don’t know where the last week has gone! Somehow we haven’t blogged for over a week, we even missed Folksy Friday! Hopefully you can forgive us, we won’t do it again!

Today’s post is actually our entry for a competition that Folksy are holding on Facebook. We had to pick 18 items that fit the theme of ‘Handmade Love’.  Inspired by our name, we decided to go for a rainbow heart theme. We found some lovely items and hopefully you, and Folksy, will all enjoy them.

1. Red Heart Button Earrings by Hand Over Your Fairy Cakes

2. Personalised Cut Out Heart Card by Quite Contrary Crafts

3. Love Mouse Couple (Red Heart) by Quernus Crafts

4. Valentine Orange Heart Stone Paperweight by SeeQueen

5. Heart Handprinted Linocut Cards by Miss Pettigrew’s Prints

6. Czech Heart Linocut Valentines Print by James Green Printworks

7. Hand Cut You’re Amazing Thank You Card by Storeyshop

8. Lemon Yellow Heart Ceramic Brooch by Laura Potter Ceramics

9. Yellow Loveheart Ring by Lilley’s

10. Apple Green Felt Heart Brooch by Plowmen’s Clocks

11. Green Heart Lego Necklace by Kitschen Sink

12. Congrats Hanging Heart Card by Ello Design

13. Blue Fused Heart Necklace by Phoenix Glass

14. Blue Murano Heart Necklace by Leeski

15. Blue Striped Lavender Heart by Little Brown Dog

16. Constance’s Heart Handcut Greetings Card by Enveebee

17. Recycled Lambswool Fingerless Gloves by Artyzan Crafts

18. Purple Heart Leather Notebook by Artisan Leather

Folksy Friday – Born To Be Wild

This week’s Folksy Friday is going to be a little different as all the items are from one shop! The shop in question has just been opened by my little sister. She designs, prints and sells tattoo inspired baby clothes. They are incredibly cute and if you know of a baby that deserves to stand out from the crowd, then you should get yourselves over to her shop!

Each vest is an absolute bargain at only £9, and they are available in sizes to fit up to 12 months. Now get yourselves over there and have a look around!

New Facebook Fanpage

Thank you to everybody for all the votes and advice as to whether or not we should get ourselves on Facebook. With your help, we have decided to go for it and have now set up a Felted Rainbow fan page.

Large, Self-Inking, Facebook Inspired, Like Stamp for People Who Like Things by Wacodis

We’d love to have you all come and join us over there and we have come up with 5 reasons that we hope will persuade you to come and give our like button a quick click!

     1. You’ll be able to keep up to date with all the latest news, competitions, tutorials and more!

     2. You will be in on exclusive offers that are only available to our Facebook fans.

     3. Joe will hopefully amuse you with haiku about our felt like this one:

Soft to touch and stroke,
Colours from muted to bright,
Make yourself a hat?

     4. We will love you forever!

     5. And finally, when we reach 100 likers, we’ll have a giveaway!

So, who’s been convinced? We’ve got plenty of comfy chairs, and there’s tea and biscuits, so come and say hello!

Folksy Friday – Black Cats

It’s time for Folksy Friday again! Yesterday we went to meet our new cat, he’s gorgeous and we can’t wait for him to move in. So, to celebrate our new family member, this week we have gone with a black cat theme.

1. Black Cat Bell Charm by Hand Over Your Fairy Cakes

2. Home Is Where The Cat Is Paper Cut by Wiv Wuv

3. Watchful by the beady eye

4. Black Cat Ceramic Soap Dish by POTSTOP

5. Big Curiosity Black Cat Brooch by EllyMental

6. Cat And The Bird Wall Decal Sticker by Ode by Jolyon Yates

We hope you enjoyed today’s Folksy finds, we’ll see you again soon!

Rainbow Cakes

We thought it was about time we did another post of rainbow finds, and this time we’ve found loads of rainbow cakes!

First up is this 6 layer birthday cake by Flickr user Conor Keller. It’s a pretty delicious looking rainbow. I love the complete contrast between the brightly coloured inside and the completely plain, creamy outside.

The swirly, rainbow pattern of this cake by Flickr user Better Than Bacon is great.

I love the idea of this monochrome version of a rainbow cake by Steven Depolo.

For those of you on diets, don’t worry, we’ve got something for you too! These rainbow cake earrings are by Miss Matched Shoppe on Etsy and they don’t contain a single calorie. Believe it or not, they are made from polymer clay!

To Facebook or Not to Facebook?

Facebook inspired necklace by Silver Tongue Devil

It seems that the whole world is on Facebook…. except for us! We have a bit of an issue with the privacy on Facebook & so, until now, we have been perfectly happy in our own little, Facebook-free world. As my husband and I are running 3 online shops between us though, we are starting to wonder just how much business we might be missing out on. We are also aware that it would be a wonderful way to build closer relationships with our customers.

So, we would love to hear what you guys think of it, especially those of you who have your own online businesses. What percentage of your sales do you think you get via Facebook? Are we completely crazy to think that we can sell online and not have our business on Facebook? We really believe that our felt is fantastic stuff and we really want as many people as we can to hear about it and start using it. So tell us what you think!

Please feel free to expand on your thoughts in the comments. We are really torn over what we should do here and all your thoughts and opinions will be very much appreciated!

* The image at the top of this post is of a Facebook inspired necklace made by Silver Tongue Devil. Click on the image to visit their Folksy shop.

Folksy Friday – Clocks

It’s time for our first Folksy Friday of the year! 2011 went unbelievably quick. As new year always makes us very aware of time passing, this week we have gone for a clock theme.

1. Green & Gold Wall Clock by Reclaimed Time.

2. Clock with Wings by Julia Smith Ceramics.

3. Fused Glass Bottle Clock by The Glass Boutique.

4. Green 7″ Vinyl Clock by ReVinylise.

5. Vintage Wall Clock Upcycled Waverley Cigarette Tin by Fizzy Popov.

6. Seashore Ceramic Clock by Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics.

I love the clock with wings! It makes me think of Harry Potter! Which is your favourite?