HaPpY  halLoWeeN !

I wanted to share with you this splendid seller i met on etsy. 

I had spotted a bag charm which i wanted to pop into my lil sis's christmas stocking, but it was pink and she is not a pink girl!

 i contacted Marie at Poshplushie and she kindly custom made one in blue for me.(She actually made two and gave me a choice)

 It arrived the other day and it is wonderful!  she also included a most pretty wee brooch, all of which was beautifully gift wrapped ready for giving. 

So if you have the time do visit her shop, you won't be disappointed   : )

It won't be long now, so here is my halloween  treasury!

I am doing another batch of linoprints just now. 

This is  i think, my favourite stage, no colours down yet, 

just the linoleun cut and ready to go. 

There is so much promise here and as yet, i haven't messed it up!

More photographs to follow.

Just incase you were wondering, it's autum here in Scotland.

Recently i was tagged by the wonderful lauraB, and so i am now going to share with you 7 random  facts about me. Here goes;

1. i love living at the mouth of the Tay river.

2. sometimes i look after my friend's dog for her.

3. i love Neil Diamond, but then why wouldn't i?

4. there are only 4 days between my birthday and my brother's and when i was 9 and he was 8 we got a joint birthday cake in the shape of a grandfather clock. The hands were pointing to 8 and 9, we were thrilled.

5. The list is enormous, but my really, truly,  favourite illustrator is Christian Birmingham.

6. i have way, way too many Christmas decorations, (10 boxes) and yet still i'm tempted to buy more!!!!

snowflake ornament by cynthiacallan

7. i love sugar mice.

Now i think i am supposed to tag some other people to list their 7 random facts so here goes,

sol y sombra and nuvonova tag your it  next : )

This week seems to be turning into a Yellow/Orange kind of week. Whether it's home-made apple jelly, a roll of embroidery thread i found in a charity shop, perfect for  finishing a project i'm working on of a lovely, yummy cake brought round by a freind to accompany our gossip session! 

What about you what colour of week are you having?

One day this week  i got a copy of a gift catalogue through the post and after drooling over the many lovely items in it i began to wonder how it compared with Etsy. After looking up similar items on Etsy it became apparent that not only could you buy something very similar but hand made on Etsy  but often the price was considerably lower. 

I don't want to mention the name of the company since

 i really do enjoy their products too,

 but i though it would make some interesting  comparisons, clearly the items are not exact matches, (that would be odd!) 

but still, you get the idea.

(The images on the left are from the catalogue and the one on the right are from etsy shops).

The Union Jack Flag cushion is by KimberleyDawnCushions

The white button wreath is by fjordscape

The Sweet Dreams pillowcase is by Urbanomic

The Snowflake Decals are by Verdigrisdye

The all natural guest soaps are by Krugsecologic

The Sparkle Dust Wreath is by Ivyandell

The Virginia Toile Door stopper is by DesignerCushions

I  know that things are pretty tough, financially for most of us all right now and with the festive season coming up, perhaps we  have less to spend than in previous years, 

although i know we are truly blessed to have anything spare at all for Christmas presents, 

so it seems to me if ever there was a time to shop at Etsy this is it. And not just for financial reasons but also the ethical reasons for supporting artisans, crafts people and small businesses.

I think what I'm trying to say is...

i heart etsy stickers by TudorDesigns

I took the handmade pledge

Okay i promise that's my rant over : )

I was lucky enough to trade recently with the wonderful  zukzuk. After some confusion, down to me, we traded two print for two prints 

(kinda of).

Any way i am now the fortunate recipient of these two lovelies in return for my two prints. 

(sorry Helen;)