The FATTIES are here.... *new felt balls*

I know, i know.... i AM up to my eyeballs still in paint and packing boxes and i cannot find anything and i am stressed and i have run out of savings to buy furniture -  -  - my friends, it's allllll good.

I have FAT BALLS!

The very most totally grrrrrr thing about moving house though, is i have no time (or place) right now, to play with my new supplies. I have so many fabulous ideas for my *new* fat friends. I am itching to play with them. 2cm across and such amazing colourways.

New stock - packs available in the http:// BigFish.etsy.com shop and in the new UK shop LovePaperFish.com as soon as it is open (mid Sept at the latest ready for Xmas)

THIS IS THE AUTUMN PACK  x40balls

WINTER  x40 balls

SPRING  x30 balls

SUMMER  x40 balls

and these POMPOM BALLS - just soooo cute.

I literally have a basket full of them that i keep running my fingers through - i want to M A K E stuff!

Want to Play?

Hooray for shopping handmade - on FOLKSY.com

I bought this huge bow for my head - how amazing? I love it so much, from HERE DollyKnits.
THIS IMAGE BELONGS TO DOLLYKNITS

I have bought a bunny print from this delicious artist DEEBEALE and i sooo badly want her new FOX print in Autumn Orange...

THIS IMAGE BELONGS TO DEEBEALE

This shop THE LINEN CAT is just stunning. I have so many things on my 'Wish List' from here and i bought every girl in my life a Lavender Bunny each :)

THIS IMAGE BELONGS TO THE LINEN CAT

I love these sachets - so vintage x i bought my mum one - Ragged Roses

THIS IMAGE BELONGS TO RAGGED ROSES

AND last, but by no means least... i *might* be this artists biggest fan...? I have erm, 4 of her prints and several cards. She is just fantastic and they are every bit as gorgeous in *real* as they are in her photos = ZEBEDEE

THIS IMAGE BELONGS TO ZEBEDEE

I had to share all that with you... they are inspirational artists x

ooooh, they're *new*...

It is amazing how quickly i turn an idea, into a product, for myself, and then some more for sale... it is like a 'compulsion' - i swear, i need help!

I love my PinPots for the individuality and quirkiness... but i wanted a cushion for my pins to go in my new travel sewing basket (see previous blog post to this!) ... as the PinPots were more for my sewing table. I use loads of pins as i am always pinning items together in "anticipation" of sewing, and then leaving them like that for weeks. So, i found some of the sweetest fabrics i had in my stash that seemed to have gone unused for a while or were too small for much else. Then i decided to make a cushion (or 10).
I am so pleased with how they look :)

BUT,,,, that isn't even my favourite bit!

They are stuffed with polystuffing AND gorgeous organic lavender. So even if it sits in my travel basket or in my fabric stash for a while, it is still doing a job. Making everything smell subtley sweet.

I am slowly listing a few of these for sale:

HERE on etsy

HERE on Folksy

and some i am keeping for my next big Craft Market which is the "MaKe" event in Milton Keynes.

Below is the reverse on some cushions, with a lovely cotton flower.

There is a ribbon tag on each cushion as part of my design style but also so you can hang the cushion on your NeedleBook if you want to.

Summersville avenue fabric has worked really well as a little cushion - possibly my favourite.

And photographed with a bits and pieces from my vintage haberdashery and stationary hoarde.

I do apologise if a bore anyone with my endless pincushions and craft talk, but it is my life you see. It is what makes me happiest (after kissing my little girl to bed) x

PinPot Progress...

PinPot progress has been somewhat interrupted due to the snow....
"What has SNOW got to do with PinPots?"... i might be missing a key photo here that could explain. I hang the pots along my washing line when they are getting painted and dried... so the line that was hung out have frozen.. and a few got cracked in teh freeze :(

I managed to make a few new beauties to put in the shops, before the snowfall. I get obsessed with making these as they just look so cute! And i always have scraps of fabric that i want to do something useful with.

There are a few new designs here to match some of the NeedleBooks.

I know i have said it a million times before, but..... i just LOVE making stuff.

Happy Snow Days - i am a bit bored of them now and want the roads cleared.... x be safe!

Craft Room Chaos for Tuesday....

What's that grumpy face for MsFish? - i don't feel grumpy, honest!
That is me wearing my newest vintage dress. Liz Clairborne, bought for £1 and worth every penny. It is red and very eighties in a Laura Ashley sort of a way. Drop waisted and calf length. The sleeves are huge and i luffs it. I made these today - and photographed them (despite the dreadful lack of natural sunlight)

And i made these: Gingerbread Cookie Hearts. Sold as a pair in chocolate brown shades and rosy pink. I am determined to make a huge Gingerbread Cottage this year and so i need to get some more delicious looking decorations...

The trees are my Folky Forest: currently listed for sale as a set of 5, each one a different colour. I am stupidly happy with how these turned out.

It can be tiring making the same designs over and over again, so it is of little shock that i constantly 'update' the shops with new creations.

The best feeling is getting a real 'public' reaction to new designs, when i get them out on the Craft Stall "Oooh, these are lovely" or "Oi, Jan, look at these. They're nice aren't they" Never a guarantee that an item will sell - but i can't help making more... I LOVE crafting x

Tuesday Musings.... thanks for popping by!

Photography for the internet...

So sorry if you arrived at this post thinking it might be full of good 'TIPS'...
I find photographing products for the internet, sooooo hard! Nothing ever seems to look as good in the photo as it does in 'real life' And how can you get a good sense of scale and size from the picture alone. I am not adding a ruler / measure to the picture as it doesn't add to the 'scene'.
Putting my head in the shot is not really an option either!

This wreath is quite a large size but really, only the shot with my head in, shows it's size... so i have been around the house looking for appropriate hanging spaces with the right amount of light...

It is like a QUEST that never ends.

An internet shop needs: clear, colourful pictures that are as 'true' as possible.

The picture needs to convey the size and the 'usage' of a product.

The photo needs to look professional and clean.

It needs to be in focus.

It needs to be cohesive to the rest of your shop.

It need to pop out of the screen and see "LOOK, i am interesting and a bit pretty"

I love the possibilities that photography offers.

I am often disappointed in my own execution of the shots.

Other shop owners know what i mean??

That's a good idea....
I'm not sure what they're actually doing. Something with paint / water / washing-up liquid. Blowing the bubbles and putting paper over the top to form bubbly pictures.
I think there is ONE rule only to this - BLOW do not suck!
(i love LittleFish's sideways glance here, checking out what daddy is doing)


yippee for bubble pictures!

not recommended for very small children - for obvious soap filled mouth reasons....

And the winner is....

Oh you all KNOW that i would love to send everybody something?!
I can't x but it's fun to put ourselves forward for stuff? "it could be me...." :) So, there are 3 winners of the GOODIE SURPRISE BAGS! don't worry, i'm going to make up 3 bags - you won't have to share 1 between you all x

ANNA - i left a note on your blog, did ya get it??

MENOPAUSAL MUSING - your blog wouldn't let me leave a comment so i'll try again

RHIANNON - i left you a blog note too

please let me know your postal address' kirstyfish@googlemail.com

(don't worry, i won't send anything sinister mwaahhaa OR sell your details to the mafia)

So congrats to you my sweets, leaving me lovely comments!

And a genuine THANKYOU to old blog readers and new! xxx i've found some good new reads too x

I am sooo distant right now!

I feel bereft! bereaved! b-b-bloomin lousy!
My camera is broken (***Kirsty WAILS and throws arms in a dramatic fashion***)
It isn't right for someone like moi not to have a working camera. It hurts my heart.
I managed to borrow my dads for a blip of a minute to photograph some new buttons:

the RETRO BUTTON MIX!! Cute - 1.5cm - amazing colours - small but chunky (that black is a layer of the button and not 'coloured on') i am excited to see what people might make with these!!

I have been baking these gorgeous new batch of felt GingerMen and Ladies and adding some of the new buttons. Excitement! i luffs these people :)

Cheeky smiles x uploading into the SnowFish shops on Folksy and Etsy!

But no cheeky photos of the Fish or SmallFish as the camera must be returned :(

I miss blogging! I miss larking about in front of the camera ..... i have some WICKED new vintage clobber to share.... i feel a tantrum coming on (***Kirsty exits left to wail some more***)

Colour Fix...

The Sun went in :(
Colour Fix needed...
A vast selection of BARGAIN priced "50% extra free" embroidery silks (from, dare i say it, Hobbycraft!) OOooooh that colour x Photographing a trio of supersized buttons, ready to list for sale in BigFish

And these lime buttons... make me smack my tongue and lips - i love the taste of limes!

And what i wanted to share was this: A wonderful linocut handprint by Zoe Badger!

http://zebedee.folksy.com/ when i saw it i thought it was perfect in so many ways.

Love the reds and teals and mint green. Love the shapes and patterns. Love the spotty centres. Just delightful...

SO....., uUuummm, i got one in yellow too!

I didn't think i'd love it as much as the red, but i think i love it even more now i have it propped up behind my laptop work station.

Cannot wait to get them framed Zoe x x thanks for selling your artistic brilliance, i luffs them so much x i will be back!!

see ZEBEDEE over at FOLKSY.com

scrap bags....

Post and run... I'm incognito (you've not seen me, right?)
P.s. *NEW* Lulu Guinness sunnies x Just wanted to say there are 4 Scrap bags of MINI felt in the Folksy shop....

And 4 new Scrap bags of light cotton square scraps in the Folksy shop too.

They are all pretty much identical, mostly Japanese quilting fabrics BUT with a FAT Q of my yummy Toadstools and Apples fabric too....

It's good to share x