More new goodies in my shops

Just a quick post to show you a few of the new items in my shop on Artfire. It's a mixed selection of knitted and crochet goodies.

This is Pervival the Owl. He is looking for someone to adopt him and take him on adventures.

In an attempt to get children to like vegetables I've been making amigurumi carrots. They will come with instructions on how to grow your own carrots. Learn, grow and love.

Amara and Udo are mother and son monsters that originate from Nigeria. They have travelled far in the search for a new home.

Shamus is modelling the latest Pirate Pixie Crew hat. When you own a hat from the PPC you become a crew member. Captain Skulduggery Dug is always looking for more members to join!

This is a pretty little crochet clutch bag so that you can take all the essentials with you when you go out. Phone, check, keys, check, lipstick, check... good to go!

And finally, the Pebbles... all seven of them. They are so sweet and all they want is a new home where they can make friends.

Thanks for stopping by!

Handmade Toys

As this months Creative Challenge topic is 'Children' I thought it would be fun to take a look at some handmade children's toys. With all the problems that have happened in the last few years with mass produced kids toys I think a lot more people feel happier buying toys from people they know have lovingly handmade the toys themselves from safe materials than from the large companies that only seem to be concerned with churning out huge numbers of toys as cheaply as they can.Huzzah for crochet Giraffe! Reeneegurumi's created this tiny masterpiece.I would have adored to own this critter as a child. I was always intrigued by these long necked creatures that towered above my wee short self.

These kitties from temporalmillionaire are just so cute. They are not just your average cat these are Travel Kitties! Imagine the excitement and fun that a child could have taking their kitty everywhere with them.

Puppets are another of my life long loves. I adore this blue and green glove puppet monster from TheHookery. Puppets feed children's imagination. Jim Henson is one of the people responsible for my puppet love.

Diamond Isle Treasures' spinning top made from reclaimed hardwood reminds me of battles with spinning tops that me and my sister used to have. We would spend hours twizzling those tops and seeing who's was the last standing.

Lullaby Lily's tiny knitted cat appeals to me on three levels. It's a cat (I love cats), it's purple (one of my favourite colours) and it created from pure hand spun wool (yes I have a fibre fetish). He's just so scrummy!

Toys in the high street shops today all seem to be so plastic and uninspiring. Once upon a time toy shops used to thrill me, but now they just make me sigh and wonder who designed the toys within them and more importantly why did they create them. More often than not the answer to the second question is they made them as merchandising for a TV show or film. I find that too limiting and stagnant. Children need to be led away from the TV screen and back to books and toys that fire their imagination. Well that's what I think anyway.

Written by Lynne of the PiratePixieCrew and Hyperloop Hoops

Artfire Europe Guild

Today I thought I'd share with you all some of the work I like from the Artfire Europe Guild members. I thought I'd pick a bit of a child's theme after reading the blog of The Toy Society and did a bit of research into what they did and what they were all about. Please go over and have a look around their blog and see if you can support them in anyway. They have such a simple, but wonderful thing going on. They deserve lots of support.

arbOOz created this gorgeous picture of chirpy little birdies on a purple background with orange branches. I love the bright cheerful colours and the simplicity of the shapes. It would look fabulous on a nursery wall.

Blue Shed Crafts has made this cute trio of hand knitted bunnies. They look so cuddly. Each one is a different colour and they are just the right size for cwtching down in bed, sucking your thumb and rubbing your nose with their big floppy ears... or is it just me that does that?

Dish Dash Bags has made this lovely 50's style space fabric purse. Retro is so in now and any little girl or boy would love this to keep crayons in. They will be the envy of all their friends when they get this out of their bag and slap it down on the colouring in table at nursery school.

Ignis Fatuus's sheep are so flippin gorgeous! How much fun would it be to have a whole flock of these baa lambs on your bookshelf? Each one is slightly different because they are hand crafted which is great! Real sheep are all slightly different too. The maker of these is 86, so it just proves you are never too old to let your talents shine.

Fugsly's print of one of her original acrylic paintings makes me smile. I love the way the little girl figure looks like she is trying to figure out how to get down from the star whilst the little boy looks like he is resigned to the fact he is stuck on the star for now. Fabulous!

The Artfire Europe guild has many talented people as members, visit our blog where you can find links to all our shops in the right hand sidebar if you feel like taking a look for yourselves. Don't forget to check out what The Toy Society do and show them some love and support for all the good work they are doing.

Written by Lynne of PiratePixieCrew and Hyperloop Hoops

Coriandr Sellers

Today is all about sharing with you some of the beautiful goods you can purchase from talented artisans through Coriandr. This site is fairly new, but it has lots of style and has attracted some amazing artisans to set up shop there. It's still looking for new sellers, so if you are creative and looking for a new venue to sell through, check it out.

I have been looking longingly at Katcha bags for some time. This lady makes the most amazing bags that tick a lot of my boxes when it comes to buying. They are stylish, well designed for purpose, made from recycled rubber, car seatbelts and they are hand sewn. No electricity used. Fabulous!

The Shy One doesn't need to be shy about her work. It is gorgeous! This Autumn thistle print of a watercolour is one of a limited print run of 30. I love the colours, textures and feeling of motion in the picture. If you look in Carols shop you'll see her talents don't stop at watercolour painting.

Miss Bumble is very talented in a craft I have tried and failed at. Needle felting is very hard to do well and Miss Bumble does it amazingly well. This giraffe is proof of that. I'm somewhat jealous. I chose to show you a close up of his head so you could see the intricate detail.

Sarah Watkins Fairbourn is the designer of this beautiful wardrobe. It would be perfect for a nursery or young girls bedroom. Sarah collaborates with a local cabinet maker who builds her designs. I think they do a fantastic job. Click on the photo so you get taken to the listing where you can see close up's of the pretty details.

Kaytea grabbed my attention instantly with her purple and orange coloured blocks. What baby could resist playing with these? Beautifully soft fleece makes them cuddly as well as fun to play with and they are fully washable, which as any mother knows is very important.

There are many other really talented, creative people selling over on Coriandr. Have a visit and a little surf around the shops and see if you can resist buying or recommending goods to other people. I couldn't! I hope you enjoyed my choices.

Giraffes!

Here’s another set animal themed items for you. This time it’s giraffe. They just happen to be my favourite animals. I love how they’re so tall and elegant but can also be amazingly silly looking things, with blue tongues. As you may have realised, giraffes also feature in my shop name. Unfortunately I’m yet to make any giraffe themed items – so a wasted advertising opportunity there! Luckily there are plenty of much more talented people who have produced some yummy giraffe items for me to look at.

The first of said talent people is Nell Smith. This shop contains a large variety of hand screen printed items, ranging from baby wear to purses and scarves. The designs are clean cute and bright, producing some very desirable items. My favourite, of course, is this cotton baby t-shirt featuring two incredibly sweet giraffes.

Now, some amazingly elegant giraffes in the Serengeti sunset, from tracychong. This pop up card is beautifully designed and crafted, making it a perfect greetings card for everyone, including people like me who are slightly obsessed with giraffes! I love pop up cards and books and are amazed by anyone who can make them this well! Maybe that’s a theme for another week….

Another children’s item again - I just can’t seem to help it! Two sets of friends are expecting babies this week and I’m all excited! I can’t wait for an excuse to start buying clothes, toys and general mini sized things. Anyway, I really loving this giraffe and the whole range of old fashioned wooden toys made by oppsthatsart. I’m so glad that people still make things like this. They are so simple but so much fun! This shop also contains a hippo, camel, elephant, dinosaur, duck, pig, train, helicopter and a car - all wooden, all with wheels on!


This gorgeous T-shirt by Rainbow Swirlz on Etsy. Bold, colourful, fun and very cool – I love this top. It comes in a variety of different colours and sizes. Perfect for the weekend happiness!

To finish with, a personalised giraffe, in note card form, from perideau designs'. This set of 6 digitally printed giraffe note cards are extremely cute and great fun. This is just one set of a lovely range of personalized cards and accessories for adults and children.

So, that’s all the lovely giraffe items I found this week. Just thought I’d mention that my boyfriend wanted me to title this post Giraffic Park. I didn’t find it quite as funny as he did, but I don’t think he’d forgive me if I didn’t get that in there somewhere. Hope it makes someone giggle somewhere!

I must return to the sewing machine now. I’ve had a small panic this week about my first craft fair, which is the first week of April, Handm@de Cambridge. I’m finding the organization quite hard – whether I have enough stock, what my stall should look like, how much I could charge etc. Maybe someone would like to write a piece about this for Autonomous Artisans to help me out?!

Written by Rose of FeltGiraffe

Dinosaurs! WooooHoooo!

Admit it, you love them too. Dinosaurs may have died out millions of years ago, but we are all still fascinated by them. Maybe because they are long gone is why we are so interested in them. From the smallest child to the oldest person on the earth dinosaurs capture our imagination. The variety of shapes and sizes astound us, especially the Massive ones like Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus, and brontosaurs. Lots of artisans use dinosaurs in their work. Lets have a look at some.

Love Yu has created this cuddly cute blue patterned dinosaur. He's very stylish and anyone would love to have him as a squishy pal to keep them company. At 14 inches high I'm tempted to buy him to put on my sofa so that when a scary movie comes on the telly I can hug him and he can protect me form all the oogally boogallies.

Just how cute is this? Yes I do mean the baby and the bandanna bib. Kewt Kids made this great dino dribble catcher. The main problem I've found with bibs in the past is that babies have a naughty habit of moving their head to watch the cat go past and they drool past the side edges of conventional bibs. This one, however is beautifully wide. It's sure to keep your babies clothes nice and clean.

Wood, wood, wonderful wood! Eenie Beanie Threads has combined a fabby dinosaur design with one of my favourite materials and created this beautiful jigsaw. This smiling T-Rex looks like he has spotted dinner and is about to go off and catch it. I hope I'm not dinner *gasp*

The Polka Dot Tot Spot's shop is chock full of beautiful soft toys. There are building blocks, soft balls and bunting. These dino blocks would make the perfect gift for a new born. Soft, safe and tactile. There is a matching ball to go with them, which would be great to encourage babies learning to crawl and walk to chase when rolled across the floor.

Sugar and Cream's print made me smile. The little kitty is willing to share her ice cream with the big red dinosaur. Is it just so the dinosaur won't eat her or is it just because she is a kind kitty? I think it's the latter. The print looks utterly stunning when framed (there is a photo in the listing). A perfect picture to hang in a playroom or child's bedroom... or in my bedroom.

I adore all the items I found to day. So much love and care had been lavished on each of them in their creation, how could you not adore them? Go and put "Dinosaur" into the search engine of your favourite handmade shopping site and come back here and leave a link in the comments to the item(s) you most like. Share the dinosaur love!

Written by Lynne of Hyperloop Hoops and PiratePixieCrew

Tweetingly good

More Twitter finds for today. You can find some amazing handmade goods on that site! Just join and ask people to show you what they make, or if you are looking for something specific just put out a call and you will get the answers. These people featured today are a selection of links I was shown today.

Ali Bali Jewellery's bracelet was the first to catch my eye. The fabulous lampwork beads, by artist Emma Baird, are perfectly set off by the cranberry fresh water pearls Ali uses. This bracelet is beautifully made with such lovely attention to detail. There are matching earrings in her shop. Take a look.

These soaps from KB Shimmer are just so pretty and colourful I had to feature them. KB allows you to pick 6 different shea and cocoa butter cold process soaps from her shop and you get a fabulous discount. Check through her shop to find out the colours and scents you can buy. Just how inviting will they look stacked by the side of your sink.

This Kaleidoscope from La Beq reminded me so much of my childhood. My grandfather was so good at wood work and wood turning that he made us lots of much loved toys. This beauty is turned from purpleheart wood and has brass fittings for the eye piece and to hold the lens. Being only 2 9/16” (6.5cm) long, it means you can keep a rainbow pattern maker in your pocket. Fabulous job La Beq!

Marcie Jane designs showed me two necklaces on twitter and I decided to feature this one, because of it's lovely earthy colours. The greens, browns and golds reminded me of the start of Autumn when leaves are starting to turn but there is still lots of rich greens to remind you of summer. The simplicity of the beads with the flamboyant detail brass bail really work well together.

Siansburys' work has long since caught my eye. She makes the most amazing sock monkeys and monkey related items. Each monkey is so lovingly created that they all have their own individual personality. Now Lucas isn't your average sock monkey, he is a monkey with brains. He's doing an Open University degree in zoology. Not many sock monkeys can make that claim.

Here is the perfect big breakfast for slimmers or sock monkeys. Imogens Garden has created this all but calorie free plate full of goodies. It might taste a little woolly but it won't add inches to your waste line. This is a great buy for children to help them in games of make believe, something that I think is very important. The rest of Imogen's shop is full of fabulous felt and fabric toys and a lot more besides.

I love being shown lots of hand made goods and I enjoy sharing them with all the people that read this blog. Long may people create and share their talents with us all. Mass produced goods just don't give me that buzz of excitement when the post man delivers them and I get to unwrap them. Go one, buy something and find out for yourself just how exciting it is to open up that parcel containing something lovingly handmade.

Written by Lynne of PiratePixieCrew and Hyperloop Hoops