Feltmeup Designs

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

Hello felty fans!!!

Well yes we are halfway thru January right now but after Christmas this feltmaker kinda crashed and was beset by lergi and post Christmas blah so I never had a chacne to wish you a Happy New Year!!! Since this is the start of a brand new year and the very first blog post of the year let's start with some new year's resolutions. I don't generally make them because I usually break them pretty soon but I thought we'd have some more realistic ones for a change.

1. Make new friends!
I found that when I quit my job I was free to pursue things that I must admit terrified me like supplying some shops and galleries, I made some lovely new contacts last year with Me & Mrs Fisher in York, Lazyhill Gallery in Dorset and Cambridge Contemporary Crafts in, well Cambridge! I also had a little exhibition at Eatme Art Space in Scarborough and found out that talking to real people is actually quite good fun! SO this year I am hoping to make some more new friends and supply some more shops... I've made a start with a lovely shop called Pippin Gifts in Edinburgh and am currently felting like crazy to get some birds to them very soon!

EatMe Art Space

2. Get out more
The worst part of my job is that I can go days without talking to anyone except for my boyfriend so I am going to hopefully be spending some time working in the Eatme Artspace and hopefully meeting some nice people in the process!

3. Be more creative... yep, ok so I spend every day making but it's easy just to get stuck doing the same things so I will be making sure to keep learning new things with ceramics classes and making new designs... gotta keep changing it up to keep interested folks!

And really that's it... except for the main one which is to be more awesome this year then I was last year and not go back to a tempy job for Christmas! I'll also be consolidation my blogs and places so you'll be seeing Inkmeup posts here as well because I can't keep up with 3 blogs... what was I thinking! I hope you all manage to keep your resolutions and will try very hard to keep mine!

Boxing day Sale

2011-12-26T02:48:00.000-08:00

Well folks we hope you had a very very merry Christmas and took it reasonable easy on the Sherry! I had a lovely day filled with fabulous pressies (new Rob Ryan Book) lots of food (belly pork slow roasted in honey) and some yummy wine (pink of course)

Somewhere in the gap between opening pressies and eating Christmas dinner I got a little bored and decided to set up my boxing day sale. I am clearing the decks for a brand new year so pop along to the shop to check out my sale section where selected tweets have been reduced by a whopping 40% and blog followers can get an extra 10% off with the code DISCOUNT10 as a belated Christmas present from me!

I know I am a little bit behind with my blogging so I'll be catching up in the New Year, it's been a hectic december but I hoping to be able to relax a bit and start working on new designs and an exciting new collaboration... ssshhhh it's a secret! *:D

Right now I am off to spend some Christmas money in the sales and get to work on those new year resolotions ... see you soon!

Drumroll Please... Competition Winners Are....

2011-12-02T04:26:00.000-08:00

1st Prize A Hoot... big owl goes to SunnySweetpea who would help me celebrate by drinking my vodka with me!

2nd Prize Choice of baby owl goes to Anna over at The House of Mouse who is going to help me celebrate with chocolate... mmm chocolate!

3rd Prize Baby Robin goes to Dina Fragola who will help me celebrate with cake!!!

All winners have been contacted and the all have lovely shops too so pay them a visit and check them out! yay... well done to the winners and thankyou to everyone who entered. I am going to frantically wrap parcels for the post office now but as a special christmas present to my blog followers you can get 10% off at Inkmeup and Feltmeup using the coupon code DISCOUNT10 at checkout and if you buy from both shops I shall combine and refund you some postage as well.

Last Shipping Dates for Christmas are as follows... and they are creeping closer at an alarming rate! So don't miss out! xx

Mon 5th December South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia and New Zealand
Fri 9th December Eastern Europe, USA and Canada
Mon 12th December Western Europe
Wed 14th December UK

Don't miss out!

1000 sales grand giveaway...

2011-11-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

When I first opened my shop in February 2008 I could never have imagined that I would have made over 1000 birdies (and bunnies and monsters and monkeys OH MY!) but here we are a few years down the line and not only have I managed to turn my silly hobby into a business but I have hit 1000 sales! This means that with gallery orders, wedding cake toppers (2 birds a piece!) and craft fair sales I have made well over 1000 birdies!

This calls for a celebration... for me that means breaking out the special vanilla vodka which I have been saving but for you guys, my lovely fans, followers and friends, that means (you guessed it) a GIVEAWAY!!! Yay... and just in time for Christmas too so you shall get a lovely present in the post so I'll be strapping on my big white beard and playing santa!

I have decided to pick 3 lucky winners because my lovely facebook followers decided they would like more chances to win rather than one huge prize stash.

1st Prize... a hoot of your choice and a nice bag of Inkmeup goodies too
2nd Prize... an owl baby of your choice and some goodies
3rd Prize... a baby robin and some ickle goodies!

To enter simply first leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favourite item in my shop is and how you would celebrate 1000 sales with me!

For extra entries then if you can leave a Twitter comment mentioning this blog post with link @feltmeupdesigns or become a fan at facebook ... and if you want an extra chance you can become an Inkmeup facebook fan too... If you do all 3 you get 3 bonus entries. Just make sure you come back here and tell me in a separate comment that you have twittered and facebooked, if you are already a facebook fan just let me know to get your extra entry!

The winners will be picked at random using a random number generator... I do read all your comments and they are moderated for naughty words so they won't appear immediately. Winner will be contacted within 3 days of close of competition so don't forget to leave me a way to contact you a facebook, etsy or twitter username will do... don't leave an email unless it is in the form of myname(at)hotmaildotcom... this is so spam bots don't get your email address and spam you!

Competition will close on the 2nd december so I can get all prizes posted out to arrive in time for Christmas! Here's to the next 1000... cheers!

Birds Of A Feather Exhibition 7th - 20th November

2011-11-03T03:23:00.000-07:00

The lovely peeps at Eatme Artspace have very kindly loaned me and a couple of pals, Iona Calvert and Sara Adams, use of their small, but perfectly formed, gallery space for a couple of weeks! So we are having a little exhibition entitled "Birds of a Feather". All the work will be bird themed and it's just in time for Christmas too so you can start your shopping early and grab some unique hand crafted gifts!

Eatme Artspace is tucked away behind Stephen Joseph Theatre on Hanover Road in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. It's just opposite Eatme cafe (damn fine coffee and the best fish finger butties and banoffee pie ever!) and has just opened as a gallery space.

We're setting up on Monday and cramming the space with as much birdie loveliness as we possibly can, there will be prints, ceramics and of course a whole pile of tweets and hoots and feltmeupdesignsgoodies, as well as greetings cards and whatever else we can sneak in there to make it all look super fabulous!

I have been working madly to get some of my prints framed and mounted so they look like proper art and we'll have a good display. Iona and Sara have been printing and pottering (that's ceramics to me and you) like mad things too... there'll be pictures of their work on the blog soon.

We open properly on Tuesday and will be open at least 11-3 every day except Sunday, I'll be there with a pile of felt probably making robins so pop along and say hi if you are in the area! We're hoping to have a preview but watch this space for details.

I dream of tiny Robins part 2

2011-10-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

My giant order for Cambridge Contemporary Crafts is all parcelled up and ready to go, I still have a few tiny robins to make but am going a little robin crazy so am sending the bulk out now and the rest later after a short break from robins to prep for a little exhibition in November.

I couldn't resist laying them all out on the table to see what they looked like en masse, they look like a tiny army of robins!

And they look super cute in their individual little packaging!!!

I can't believe I made this many tiny robins!

I dream of Tiny Robins!

2011-10-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

I recently started supplying Cambridge Contemporary Crafts with my birds and was delighted when they asked me to do a large order for their Christmas exhibition. How large? Well have a gander at all this lot!

I have pretty much been in tiny robin mode since... although I did take a break to complete the owl portion of the order... this lot all need to be sewn into little christmas wreaths... and I still have a few more to make! Phew!

It's a lot of robins... there will be 60 of these tiny ones eventually, some will be going two by two into some 4" wreaths and some will be perching by them selves in a little twiggy wreath for one!

I am starting to feel a little robined out I must admit... I can't wait to get back to making some new designs so I can stop dreaming about these little guys!

Felt Robins Now At Andrea Willis Designs

2011-10-17T03:56:00.000-07:00

I live in the lovely seaside town of Scarborough, it's a beautiful little town and has lots of lovely little shops tucked away down side streets. One of my favourite places is Hanover Road, just behind the theatre and that is where the very talented and very hard working Andrea Willis has her shop.

Andrea is one of the busiest people I know! She works very hard and her little shop is like an Aladdin's cave of lovely craftiness. Handmade cards, drawings, notebooks, lovely ribbons and buttons, every surface is covered with loveliness! Plus she now stocks my Robins!

I found Andrea's gorgeous shop the same day I discovered my favourite cafe, Eatme Cafe. At that time she was in a teeny tiny shop just opposite it, she's now moved to a bigger shop a little further down the road and the tiny shop has turned in to the Eatme Artspace, a teeny gallery which Andrea also helps run along with the Eatme boys and where on the 7th November for 2 weeks you'll be able to find me and some buddies having a little exhibition called Birds of a Feather... It's very exciting but we'll leave that for another blog post!

So if you are ever in Scarborough, make sure you pop around the back of Stephen Joseph theatre, just opposite the station and visit Andrea's shop... make sure to say that Mel sent you!!!

The Felt Invasion

2011-09-22T03:33:00.000-07:00

I feel sad lately... maybe it's the night drawing in and getting colder... maybe it's my pitiful bank balance... who knows. I do have a sure fire cure for the blues tho, when I feel sad I turn to the feltanomicon to cheer me up! I have been making some new designs recently, just playing and having fun with it all and my fevered brain came up with brain squids!

They are super cute little one eyed aliens that sit on your head and suck you brains out! I think they are great fun, it very hard to feel sad when you are wearing one of these all I have to do is catch my reflection in a mirror and I'm giggling!

Old Thu face, the dark god Cthulhu Feltathulhu is back for halloween again too and I am planning my Christmas lines too... lets hope that the sales follow soon!

New Shop and a big old Givaway

2011-09-13T03:12:00.000-07:00

Oh yes I did it! Not content with having 3 etsy shops I decided I needed a 4th for my new range of Inkmeup designs! And what better way to celebrate then to have a giveaway... yay! So what's the prize? Well you can win your choice of brooch from my new shop and I'll even throw in a bunch of goodies from the original Inkmeup print shop Including a lavender bag and notebook and a bunch of mini prints for good measure so it's a prize fund worth more than £30. So head on over to Inkmeup's Blog for details on how to enter!

Don't worry we will be having a Feltmeupdesigns giveaway very soon... running 2 at the same time might make my brain explode!

Silly Sale Half Price Tweets for a Limited Time

2011-09-06T05:33:00.000-07:00

Sale time... I think I want to clear some space for all my new designs and reinvigorate my shop a little bit so for one week only all spotty tweets and lovebird tweets will be half price... that's just £6.25 to you my friend!!!

Visit the shop to pick up a bargain... and of course when we reach 900 sales we'll be planning a giveaway!

Harrogate Wool Weekend

2011-09-05T03:09:00.000-07:00

I'm back folks! I had a whale of a time in Harrogate and have so much blog fodder that there will probably be several blogs over the next week or too about my fair experience! As you know me and my mother decided to share a stall at the Harrogate Show Ground British Wool Weekend event. We packed far too much stuff into the car and set off early Friday morning to get to the fair and set up!

We took our time getting there as Mum had just been to enrole for her degree course starting soon and was a little bit shell shocked from it all (she'll be studying fine art at Scarborough College) and got there after lunchtime and set up. The stall looked fab and we were very happy with our display, it was lovely and bright and jolly and we thought it stood out in the dingy hall! We tucked everything away for the night and headed off to stay at my Grandad's house for the night.

The next morning we were filled with enthusiasm after some early sales and lots of squeeeeees and positive comments but after the initial rush things died down and we started to wonder where all the people were! We got our needles out and started demonstrating and lots of people asked us where they could buy the needles and equipment to do it themselves! Looking around we realised that it was more a supplies fair then a gifty kind of fair... had we made kits to sell we would have sold loads!

By mid afternoon the fair was so quiet that it was mostly just stall holders wondering around and chatting so we got a coffee and discussed tactics for Sunday, we decided that we had to make every customer count, everyone who looked at our stall needed to leave with a postcard with a discount code on it or at least with a business card tucked in their pocket and a good experience to make them remember us! We practised on the few customers who were left for the rest of the day... one of us demonstrating while the other chatted away. (here's where all those years of dead end retail jobs came in handy!)

Sunday was better and a bit busier... people seemed to be staying much longer and walking around several times, we had one lovely lady and her daughter come back 3 times and eventually buy one of my mum's pictures. We gave out at least 100 cards and leaflets and kept up our chatting with customers all day... we talked to some lovely people who really wanted to buy things but couldn't think of a good enough reason and made sure they took our cards and knew about our online shops and had discount codes tucked in their pockets!

Financially the fair wasn't so great for us in the end but we made some good contacts in some of the other stall holders and had a lot of mother daughter quality time together which was nice! I'm not sure I would do it again but I might try other venues in the future... I think it was just the wrong venue for us. I'm looking forward to seeing if there is any comeback from all the leaflets we gave out too... we hope people will remember us when they start buying their Christmas presents!

We both learned alot this weekend and now know what we will do if we get an opportunity to do a fair again... a good time was had by all!

Craft Fair Prep

2011-08-31T02:31:00.000-07:00

I'm just about ready for my first proper fair at the Harrogate Show ground for the British Wool Weekend. Now I should say this isn't my first experience of craft fairs when I was growing up my mum had her own business, Joybears, so most of my weekends were spent getting up very early and packing a car to drive to a fair and set up so I know what's in store for me... it doesn't stop me being really nervous though!

I'll be taking all my new designs with me including my new wreaths and my inkmeup feather brooches (which I love!) a huge pile of lavender bags and of course all the tweets! We're pretty much ready but there's always something else you can be doing! I'm still trying to finish a big wreath as a centrepiece for my display and I have to stamp all my boxes with my logo but I'm getting there.

I have been thinking about my brand and how I want to promote it so all my carrier bags have been stamped with my logo and I have made special promotional postcards with a discount code for fair goers so I will be able to track where my orders are coming from! (hopefully!)

On Thursday I shall be putting all my shops in holiday mode so I don't have to worry about them while I am away... I have big plans for when I come back but I shall keep that under my hat for now!

My First Proper Fair!!!

2011-08-07T04:24:00.000-07:00

I just booked in for my very first proper craft fair with my mother this week... The very first British wool weekend at Harrogate show ground. We're both very excited, my clever mum is a feltmaker too, you can find her at Joyfeltcreations, and we both really wanted to do the fair so decided to split the costs and share a stall.

I'll be taking the full Menagerie with me and closing all my shops for the weekend and there'll be some special show offers for visitors. It sounds like a fab weekend and hopefully will continue and become a Yorkshire version of Woolfest! I shall be in a state of panic for the next month until it's all over now trying to make extra stock and sort out my prices etc... squeeeeeeeeeeee.... we can't wait!

British Wool Weekend 2011

Hall 2, Event Centre, The Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate HG2 8PW

Saturday and Sunday September 3rd and 4th 2011

Yeti Summer!

2011-07-04T08:42:00.000-07:00

A while ago it snowed very hard... this was probably over a year ago because I was still at my old home. I wrapped myself in blankets and made 3 little yetis with soft curly fleece... I had a surprise last monday when I went to The Feltanomicon and found that 2 had sold!!!
What really surprised me was the tug on my heart strings as I wrapped them in tissue paper and wrote a little note to go with each one! I am really going to miss those yetis, they were very special to me! Immediately I sat down to make some more... these ones are for me to keep but being the business woman I am I made some for the shop too!
I've also been working hard on other Feltanomicon beasties both old and new... Cthulhu... or Feltathulhu as we like to call him... or Old Tentacle Face as we really like to call him! Has had a make over... he now has more elegant tentacles! He like them as they are longer... better for grabbing things to nom!
And I made a teeny thu... a pint size lesser evil minion! There are other projects in the pipeline but I'm keeping them under my hat... or somewhere near the top of my head at least!

This Is my world...

2011-06-18T02:26:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I'd do something a bit different... It's open studios across the North Yorkshire this week, artists throw open their doors and invite the world in to see the place where the magic happens... I've only had my studio space a few weeks and it's in my flat on the top floor so I can't invite the world in... instead I have made you a little tour over on flickr...

The Studio Tour

20 pictures of the place I spend the vast majority or my time... please visit my studio... each picture has notes or a description so feel free to click thru them all and leave notes where ever you like... and all the time I had a song in my head... which was this

"This is my house
And I live in it
It’s made of cracks
And photographs
We rent it off a guy who bought it from a guy
Who bought it from a guy
Whose grandad left it to him
And the weirdest thing is that this house
Has locks to keep the baddies out
But they’re mostly used to lock ourselves in

This is my house
And it’s fine
It’s where I spend the vast majority of my time
It’s not perfect
But it’s mine
It’s not perfect
But it's mine"

Tim Minchin, one of my favorit comedians sings it and you can hear it here

Owl babies

2011-06-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

I've been busy touting my competition in conjunction with Inkmeup this week, it's all about owls and closes thursday and is drawn on friday if you haven't entered yet... and since my head was already in an owlie frame of mind I decided to have a play with some felty things and make owl babies!I started out just making small versions of my big owls but then had a dig thru my box of natural fibres and came across some lovely curly wensleydale wool and thought it would be the perfect thing to make owl babies from! I think they came out quite well... I love using this wool and have been hoarding it for ages until the perfect project came along!
Owl babies will be hitting the shop soon (I've started listing them today)... if anyone wants one reserving just let me know (convo me at etsy and I'll put one by for you)

Want to win a Feltmeupdesigns owl?

2011-06-02T03:35:00.001-07:00

Well you are in the wrong place!!!

To celebrate my first new Inkmeup design since becoming self employed I am giving away a huge Owl goody bag to one lucky winner with a plethora of owl goodies including a notebook, prints, a lavender sachet and a Feltmeupdesigns Owl

So head over HERE for a chance to win.... hurry up!

Cockatoooooo Two!

2011-05-06T03:28:00.000-07:00

Old cockatoo design

For a long time I haven't been happy with my cockatoo design... sure he was cute, sure he had attitude but he didn't have verisimilitude (word of the day)
I did love him deeply but I felt I could do better... so last week I decided to have a play and came up with not 1 but 2 cockatoo designs... the first was a redesign of my sulphur crested cockatoo... his crest is more back to his head like a cockatoo at rest (they only generally raise their crests when displaying or alarmed)The second is a cloud cockatoo, a pure white breed of cockatoo I found in a book... I just loved the name... I have also discovered that there are cockatoos with blue eyes, with salmon plumage and a wonderfully named Major Mitchell's Cockatoo I think I may have to have a crack at some more designs to keep these guys company.You can find the new cockatoos in the pet birds section of my etsy shop which is looking a little empty and in need of filling with bright pinions!I can't wait to get started making more things... only 1 week left till I finish my notice at work and shall be full time self employed... squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

New Beginnings...

2011-04-22T06:49:00.000-07:00

I made a big big decision a couple of weeks ago, I decided I was finally ready to quit my day job... you might have seen my facebook and twitter announcements in the past couple of days.
I guess the driving force behind this was moving home, we moved into our lovely new nest with a nice big room for me to work in and since then I haven't managed to make anything. I was starting to feel a little sad... here was a nice shiny studio and I wasn't using it, except as a dumping ground... my day job was really starting to get in the way!
I had tried to quit last year in September but I realised that I wasn't emotionally ready... I've never left a job where I wanted to go but still liked the place I worked and the people I worked with... the only problem with my job in a book store was how much head space it took up, I'm not one of those people who can just turn up for work and then switch off the second I leave the door... and it's hard to be creative with a head full of all the things I needed to do at work the next day!
So I have 2 weeks left to work out my notice which is very scary... soon I shall be a full time self employed craft worker and will have to get my head down and felt like the wind ... I have so many ideas, I hope I have time for them! My next big thing is I really want to reopen Feltanomicon because it is so much fun to make little monsters... and hopefully I'll be getting up and running on Dawanda too... squeeeeeeeeeee.... I can't wait for my big scary adventure!

And the winners are...

2011-04-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

Phew what a week... lots of fun for my house warming and you all brought such lovely things to the party too!

We've had a great party with lots of birds, 2 cats (probably not the best idea... the mess ,oh the mess!) ,disco balls and dressing up... lots of 80's music (I totally back combed and hairsprayed the hell outta my hair did you notice?)... sooooooo much food ...cupcakes, flans, chocolates, candy, brownies, cakes (knitted and sponge!), champers, pimms, lambrini and a whole cocktail bars worth of booze... and some mac a cheese too... so all that's left to do is to sweep up the glitter, wash up the glasses and announce the winners of the party prizes.

1st prize Green Pixey

2nd Prize Anji

3rd prize Stephanie/Pandacub
Thanks guys... I'll be washing up for a week here and just so you all don't feel left out I have some party favours for everyone too... if you didn't win then here's a code for both Inkmeup and Feltmeupdesigns to get 25% off your order just enter PARTYON at checkout to get your discount... phew... I'm never moving again!

I'm off to settle down with a glass of left over champers before I tackle the tidying up... thanks guys it's been a blast! I'm also off to think big scary thoughts about my direction for my business in the coming year... oh yeah and maybe do my accounts too...
x
mel

The New Nest Housewarming Party Giveaway...

2011-04-02T12:33:00.001-07:00

I'm all settled down in my new home... I've nearly found the floor of the studio and am ready to start making some new designs especially some Inkmeup lovelies... but wait... I feel I should share this momentous occasion with someone special... you guys!!! I've hung up the bunting and laid out some snacks and treats and now you're all invited to my house warming party...No house warming is complete without games and no games are good games without PRIZES!!! I have decided to pick 3 lucky winners because my lovely facebook followers decided they would like more chances to win rather than one huge prize stash.

1st Prize... a hoot of your choice and a nice bag of Inkmeup goodies including a lavender bag, print and a note book!
2nd Prize... a tweet or pet or real bird of your choice and some Inkmeup goodies including a lavender bag and a print!
3rd Prize... a teeny tweet and, of course, some inky goodies including a lavender bag!

All winners will receive loads of postcards and goodies too.To enter simply first leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favourite item in my shop is and what you are going to bring to my housewarming party... it could be a special cake, an interesting guest... a great party CD...a pink unicorn... just help me get my party started... this is all you need to do to be entered once...For extra entries then if you can leave a Twitter comment mentioning this blog post with link @feltmeupdesigns or become a fan at facebook ... and if you want an extra chance you can become an Inkmeup facebook fan too... If you do all 3 you get 3 bonus entries. Just make sure you come back here and tell me in a separate comment that you have twittered and facebooked, if you are already a facebook fan just let me know to get your extra entry!The winners will be picked at random using a random number generator... I do read all your comments and they are moderated for naughty words so they won't appear immediately. Winner will be contacted within 3 days of close of competition so don't forget to leave me a way to contact you a facebook, etsy or twitter username will do... don't leave an email unless it is in the form of myname(at)hotmaildotcom... this is so spam bots don't get your email address and spam you!

Above Us Only Sky...

2011-03-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

So the move... I'm sure you're wondering how the new nest is coming along, well, it's great thanks!We're settling in but there's still alot to do before the studio is usable as such, so far we have just sorted out the kitchen and a cosy bit of living room to let us collapse in at the end of those hard days at work. As such the rest of the new flat is a bit of a tip and as much as I would love to show it to you it's all just slightly embarrassing!
I will however show you the thing that really sold the flat to us... forget the squeaky floorboards (the nightingale floor as I rather poetically dubbed it!), wobbly walls and the queer smell that comes up from the flat below every time they cook... look at those views!
I can safely say I now have no reason not to know what time it is... and there is even a teensy triangle of sea we can see... bliss eh?

Bye Bye Old Nest... Hello New Nest

2011-03-18T02:26:00.000-07:00

We're moving!

The Menagerie has found a lovely new nest high up in the sky and have closed all the shops while we orchestrate the biggest tweet migration in the Northern Hemisphere. All the tweets are gathering on the roof top ready to start the migration, they are flapping their wings and warming up in preparation for the short flight to a much bigger nest with a room of their own for me to use as a studio.We'll be back after the 30th March but will be around to answer convos in the meantime it just may take a few days so please be patient. When we return we'll be having a nice big house warming party with (yes you've guessed it) a giveaway and maybe even some discount codes too.
I'll show you around the new nest once we are settled... it really does have some amazing views... we can even see the sea! (if you stand on a chair to look out of the window!)Back soon
xx
Mel and the Tweets

Heading to the New Nest and a Discount Code

2011-03-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

We got the keys to our new nest today and I'm very excited... although it looks like I will have to close the shop for a few days after the 19th as our internet access may be a little hit and miss for a week or so. If you need tweets then you might want to order now as normal service may be interrupted for some time!

So until the if you enter the code NEWNEST at checkout you can get 25% off your order.I'm really looking forward to the new home, especially as it will have my studio in it! I can't wait to show you my pictures of the flat and some of the best views in Scarborough... we can see the sea if we stand on a chair from one room!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/feltmeupdesigns

In Which The Feltmaker Is distracted...

2011-03-09T01:27:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys... no blogs for a while peeps and I am sorry about that. All my energy and attention has been focussed on moving house and on friday we get the keys to our new nest!
The the tweets and hoots are very excited, mostly because the will be getting their own room in a big flat high, high up in the sky. That is to say I shall be getting my own space to use as a studio/office... I really can't wait.

Post Fiasco...

2011-02-20T09:05:00.001-08:00

This little feltmaker is a little sad today as she has had to refund yet another item that has been held hostage by US customs.

According to the post office website:

"The United States Department of Homeland Security is continuing to require increased security measures for items carried on passenger airlines. As a result, some mail entering the US from around the world, and including the UK, that would normally be sent via passenger aircraft must now travel by other means, including ships and cargo planes.

Most items, including personal letters and cards, magazines, CDs, DVDs and lightweight packets, will be delivered in the US within a few days of posting. However, there are delays of about two weeks for some heavier packets. These delays are currently affecting stamped items, franked items, and items posted under contract, with the exception of Destination Sort and/or M-Bag items.

Royal Mail is very sorry for these unavoidable delays. We have implemented a number of contingency plans to ensure as much of our customers’ mail reaches the US as quickly as possible and are continuing to work to minimise disruption to our customers, whilst ensuring we comply fully with the US directives and regulations."

These postage delays (2 weeks my furry bum!!!) are upping some delivery times to up to 5 weeks which means that I am having to issue refunds to unhappy customers.... I am very sorry that items are being delayed but I am having to change my policies to state that USA and Canada deliveries may take up to 5 weeks

So if you are wanting something for a special date customers are advised to buy well in advance... I'm gonna curl up with a hot chocolate and feel sad now

Sniffle*

Moving Sale...

2011-02-16T03:03:00.000-08:00

We've found the perfect new flat with panoramic views of the town and a spare room to act as a studio for me... I am so excited that I thought I would share my excitement with my fans and friends with a coupon code to use on my etsy shop.

Just put some tweets in your cart and enter coupon code ONTHEMOVE at the checkout to get 30% off your order.This is a limited time offer which closes march 1st ... we'll be moving early march and I may have to close the shop for a couple of days... squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... I can't wait!

*note: does not apply to custom orders... please don't be cheeky xx

OWLS!!!!

2011-02-11T06:16:00.000-08:00

OWLS!!! OWLS EVERYWHERE!

Today's blog is brought to you by some owls... head on over to Inkmeup if you'd like to read a proper blog... which also has owls in it.

And The Winners are...

2011-01-07T08:58:00.001-08:00

We have our winners!

1st Prize Carmen @craftywhoopidoo wins a hoot
2nd Jules @Jujudollie wins a tweet
3rd Nicola wins a teeny tweet

All winners have been contacted, thanks to everyone who entered and the fantastic response...

As a special thanks I want to offer blog readers a 20% discount code... just input the code IDIDNTWIN at checkout for your discount.

The whole menagerie wishes you a very happy new year and hopes that 2011 will be a great year for everyone... we'll be back soon with a new blog post and lots of new birdies
xx
mel

700 Sales... A great Big Thankyou Giveaway!

2010-12-30T02:49:00.000-08:00

I have had a totally awesome huge Christmas and a great year, I just hit 700 sales in my shop and very nearly 700 facebook followers! How best to celebrate this? In traditional stylee with a giveaway of course!I'm feeling generous, I must have come over all festive like! I have decided to pick 3 lucky winners this time.

1st Prize... a hoot of your choice and a nice bag of goodies!
2nd Prize... a tweet or pet or real bird of your choice and some goodies!
3rd Prize... a teeny tweet and, of course, some goodies!To enter simply first leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favourite item in my shop is. For extra entries then if you can leave a Twitter comment mentioning this blog post with link @feltmeupdesigns or become a fan at facebook ... If you do all 3 you get 3 entries... simples! Just make sure you come back here and tell me in a separate comment that you have twittered and facebooked, if you are already a facebook fan just let me know to get your extra entry!The winners will be picked at random on the 7th of Jan to give all you party people a good chance to get your entries in!

There are also a few tweets left in the silly sale if anyone would like to grab a bargain tweet but they are going fast so hurry!

A Very Merry Felty Christmas

2010-12-20T04:38:00.000-08:00

I've had a crazy busy few weeks here at the Felt Menagerie but now the last orders are wrapped and posted and have decided to take a well earned rest. So all that remains is for me to wish you all a very merry felty Christmas.
I'll be back in the new year with a nice little give away since we're only 1 follower away from 700 on facebook and we'll be wanting a big celebration... until then Merry Christmas from all the Tweets!

Last Posting Dates for Christmas

2010-12-06T02:09:00.000-08:00

It's nearly time, there are just 19 days to go which means that for all you international buyers out there you need to get a wiggle on and get your orders placed if you want something Felty or Inky in you Christmas Stocking!
Remember to use the discount code CHRISTMASPUDDING in both of my shops, Inkmeup and Feltmeup to get 10% off your whole order and any combined orders can fly together so over payment of postage will be paid back vis paypal.Sun 5th Dec 2010 South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia and New Zealand... sorry it's too late now *:( orders may still arrive in time but it's touch and go especially with our snowbound little island over here in the UK

Thursday 9 Dec 2010 Eastern Europe, USA and Canada... hurry, hurry, hurry!!!

Mon 13 Dec 2010 Western Europe

Monday 20th Dec United KingdomTuesday 21st... I pour my self a large brandy and tuck into some mince pies!

Hope everyone is enjoying the festive season!
x
mel

Let's Get Crafting!!!!

2010-11-30T04:05:00.000-08:00

I'm slightly dopey... no, no really I am. I have the memory of a fish and a teeny tiny attention span so when I received a message from JuJuDollie saying "just looked at Toddler Knits & saw you there! Random but a lovely surprise." My response was "ooo what's that then?"
This is mostly cos my daft little brain forgot that I did a little interview for Let's Get Crafting magazine a while ago and that it was due out this month in their intro to felting section.And here it is! Dopey head aside I am really chuffed with how nice the article looks (even tho it does have my little face in the middle there).Big thanks to the magazine for such a lovely article... now I just have to work out what to do with my balls of wool and knitting needles that came with it!
x
mel

Bird Lovers Gift Guide

2010-11-29T02:40:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have noticed my obsession with birds... I'm not quite a fully fledged birdwatcher yet but I reckon I am pretty close to buying some binoculars and spending my days creeping about in the undergrowth! I thought I'd share some of my favourite bird related items for the bird lover in your life!

Kingfisher note book by Inkmeup
Copper Bird Pendant by Alibalijewellery
Springtimebird by Whileshenaps
Kenny The Kingfisher by ME!

Last Posting Dates for Christmas 2010

2010-11-24T01:39:00.000-08:00

Crikey O'Rielly people! I can't quite believe it myself but it's almost upon us... the last posting dates to guarantee your parcels arrive for Christmas from my lovely shop are as follows:Sat 4 Dec 2010 South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia and New Zealand

Thursday 9 Dec 2010 Eastern Europe, USA and Canada

Mon 13 Dec 2010 Western Europe

Monday 20th Dec United Kingdom

As always the sooner you get your order in the better... International buyers remember that items can occasionally get trapped and held hostage by customs so order now to be sure! UK buyers... we love our Great British Post Office but remember they aren't always as good as we'd hope!As an added incentive I am running an coupon code in my shop for all my lovely blog friends just enter the code:

CHRISTMASPUDDING

At checkout for a very tasty 10% discount on all your orders... offer is running right up until Christmas eve so you have lots of time to get those great gifts sorted or even just treat yourself because I know you have all been very very good this year!

Robins, Robins and more Robins!

2010-11-20T03:06:00.000-08:00

Last Festive season I couldn't keep up with orders for robins so in an attempt to get ahead I have been stockpiling!We have the now traditional feltmeup designs Robins and Chestnut RobinsAnd Little and Big Robinsons Mctweets all decked out in santa hats!Phew... and yesterday I saw the Christmas Coke advert on TV which means folks that we are officially in Christmas mode... sorry guys!

An Online Crafter's Guide to Surviving the Holidays

2010-11-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

So the nights are drawing in, the adverts full of Christmas lights are on the telly and this afternoon I heard Christmas music playing in the local shopping centre. Yes It's that time of year again!This will be my third Christmas as in The Felt Menagerie and over the last 2 I have learned a couple of lessons that I thought might be worth sharing in my guide to surviving the holiday season and here they are in no particular order:

Launch your Christmas lines (if you haven't done so already) mine will be hitting the Felt Menagerie over the weekend, have you got your banner and avatar prepared? Do it now even if you don't intend to make you shop festive for a few weeks then it's just a case of changing it and you're ready to go!Sort out your packaging now and set up a packaging station, it's so much easier if it is all set out for you. Make sure you are fully stocked on tape, business cards, boxes, envelopes, shipping labels... what ever it is that usually goes into one of you packages.

Know the last posting dates, last date the UK post office will guarantee a Christmas delivery to the states from the UK is the 6th of December... that's only 1 month away!!! Do your customers know this? You'll need to make sure you let them know early so they can get their orders in! (you can find the dates for elsewhere here if you are UK based)

Preparing your parcels will always take longer than you think it will... and don't forget those post office queues make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to post things, if you do work another job like me (veteran bookslave!) try and avoid doing this on your lunch break... you still need to eat!

Enlist help... John is limbering up for his role over Christmas as Postmaster General as we speak! You can't do it all so even if you aren't getting help with your work ask your family to pull their weight a bit more and help with chores or enlist a pal to stick postage labels on things... I find bribing them with cake helps! Boy is Santa lucky to have an army of elves at his disposal!

Learn to say no... when is your cut off point for custom work? Set one and be firm about it... you already have enough on your plate!Look after yourself, wrap up warm, make sure you get lots of vitamins, make sure you get lots of sleep... set aside some you time because it will get hectic and even you, yes you, need to breathe occasionally!

Enjoy it!... ok it's crazy mad panic but isn't it every year? Find a way to make it fun because it will be over before you know and then you'll miss that buzz!
So now I'm of to put the finishing touches to my Christmas collection, maybe have a Baileys and a Mince Pie and sing some carols while I work....

The Feltanomicon Re- Openth....

2010-10-27T04:24:00.000-07:00

I have finally got around to reopening my side project shop The Feltanomicon... I know I have been a bit rubbish with it but recently I have dropped a day in my day job which should mean I have more time to dedicate to creating a little felted chaos!

Felthathulhu's, yeti's, dead bunnies and aliens are on the way plus my brand new needlefelted bat design which I am very proud of.

In my head this little bat is a Russian spy bat... I could tell you why but then he would have to kill you!

Competition Closed.. and the winner is...

2010-10-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Besty!!!

Congrats Betsy you have been emailled, thanks to everyone who entered... look out for a special blog post tomorrow once my laptop has received a good kicking and is no longer playing up!

xx
mel

Sew Hip Owl Mobile Giveaway

2010-10-16T02:42:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened this past month, my head is still spinning from it! The Menagerie passed 600 sales... and it doesn't seem that long since 500! We were featured in sew hip magazine with our mobile tutorial, Inkmeup had it's first Etsyversary, we helped orchestrate the UK Etsy silly sale... It's been a seriously busy month!

So to celebrate Feltmeupdesigns 600th sale I thought I should do it in traditional stylee with a giveaway.
The prize is the exclusive, one of a kind, never to be repeated Sew Hip Owl mobile! Plus some goodies, postcards, magnets and generally whatever I have in the felt goody box at the time!

How to enter:

To enter simply first leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favourite item in my shop is.

For extra entries follow me on Twitter and Twitter this message

Win an exclusive owl mobile from @feltmeupdesigns http://feltmeupdesigns.blogspot.com/

Follow the blog by clicking on the follow button in the right hand column of this page, leave a comment to say you follow me!

Become a fan at facebook .and the leave a comment to say you are a fan, if you are already a fan just say "I'm a fan" and you automatically get and extra entry!

.. If you do all 4 you get 4 entries... simples!

The competition closes 23rd October

Let the Silliness Ensue!!!!

2010-10-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight at 7pm (GMT that's 7pm in the UK folks) all silliness will break free in the first coordinated UK Silly sale, 24 hours of silly prices, reductions and promoting each other like crazy.

Uk sellers have banded together to bring you a whole world of silliness by reducing their goodies, offering free shipping, standing on their heads, juggling monkeys... no wait ... I'm getting carried away again!

Just go to etsy and type in UK SILLY SALE to find all the bargains on sale and begin your Christmas shopping maybe! This is the best time to pick up a bargain so get on board! I will be offering half price on selected tweets and silly prices on selected prints at Inkmeup but remember it doesn't kick off in earnest till tonight!

Sew Hip Magazine... Feltmeup Feature

2010-10-01T04:43:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered how to make a felty bird? Well now you can make your own woodland mobile from an exclusive feltmeup design original. This is a design that will not be appearing in my shop so if you want one you have to make it your self! Issue 22 of Sew Hip is on sale now in all good UK newsagents!
I don't know who did these lovely little thumbnail drawings but they are gorgeous! I shall certainly be keeping this copy safe!Lots of great projects and free pull out patterns inside too! I'm going to make some handy hampers for my felt!A big thankyou to Sew Hip for the opportunity to do this and for making the How-to so good looking and fab.
x
mel

My Baby is 1 year old!!!

2010-09-29T01:32:00.000-07:00

My little inky shop has been going for 1 year... how fast time flies! So I have decided to celebrate a year of success by sharing the wealth and having a blog competiton

http://inkmeupdesigns.blogspot.com/2010/09/1-year-on-anniversary-giveaway.html

the prize is worth $50 and you get to pick it! Head on over to Inkmeup's blog to see how to enter... where did the year go?

SQUAWK!!!SQUAWK!!!

2010-09-22T05:37:00.000-07:00

I'm always looking for new ideas for felty birds and these guys are two that have been percolating around my brain for a while now. There have been a few abortive attempts with ended up looking a bit like transvestite melodrama rather than classy parrots but I think I have finally got it right!The Blue and Yellow Macaw stands at 3.5 inches and has a long tail and distinctive facial markings and the red macaw is just under 4 inches with bright blue wingtips with yellow and red markings, he has blue and red in his tail although you can't see this from the pictures.

The Hardest part was doing the beaks as these are only3 quarters of an inch long... meaning very pricked fingers for me. They have lots of detail but often it's more about the details you leave out and of course each has the little trade mark feltmeup white dot in the eye which helps give them life and character!

When the Red Red Robin...

2010-09-13T03:08:00.000-07:00

Goes bob bob bobbin' along...I've been thinking alot about Christmas lately, as a craftsperson it's my busiest time so I want to get new designs in... where to find the time tho? I'm still working as a bookslave and struggling to balance my hectic schedule, I've already given up a social life and sleeping so there not much else I can do!
Traditionally I tweak my robin design for Christmas but I love last years design so much that I just decided to do a darker version of him using this gorgeous chestnut colour, I think they look supercute as a pair!

No Blog this week...

2010-09-03T07:01:00.001-07:00

Ok so this is kinda a bit bloggish... I am wiped out and too tired to blog so here is a pretty picture for you instead!

New Packaging...

2010-08-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

I recently decided to try and make Feltmeup a little greener... more environmentally friendly. We already use organically farmed wool from happy sheep so I felt a change in packaging might be required.
I love my little takeout style gift boxes but I import them from the US and then send them all back one at a time... which can't be great for my carbon footprint! I love the boxes but I love the planet more!
New packaging is made from 100% recycled fibres and is totally recyclable! Very nice! But it needed a little extra to make it special... cue custom *stamp* from littlegreyclouds on Etsy and a little shredded pretty coloured tissue paper... there, that's the ticket!

I Now Name This Tweet

2010-08-28T01:05:00.001-07:00

Rosehip Wine!
Thanks to Kreativlink for the suggestion of Rosehip... you reminded me of being a child, picking rosehips from the hedgerows to make wine with and they are almost exactly the same colour as this little tweet!

Renata also makes these stunning Journals so why not check out her gorgeous shop over at etsy, I'll be sending you a little pack of goodies soon, thankyou so much for the inspiration
x
Mel

Autumn Creeps In...

2010-08-27T04:19:00.000-07:00

A nestful of Autumn tweets

Pumkin Pie Tweet

Things have been a little quiet at the menagerie, lots of making but not a lot of new things going on, and then this week I noticed a slight chill to the air which hails the end of our all too brief British summer.Chestnut Tweet

Pretty soon the leaves will start to turn and we'll be settling into the Autumnal season, long rainy days, windy nights and an extra blanket on the bed. Copper Beech

Autumn is actually my favorite time of year, an excuse to get out all those big jumpers that I packed away at the end of winter, harvest festival, crunchy dried leaves underfoot, the kids all back in school, the tourists all gone home.

Sweetcorn Chowder Tweet

Inspired by the change in the weather I decided to make some Autumn colour tweets and am enjoying naming them all. Am having a little trouble with this last fella tho... any ideas... he's a cutie no doubt but he doesn't want to settle on a name! Sweet potato? maple leaf? He just can't settle... any help would be gratefully received and the person who suggests the best name will get a little goody bag of postcards and magnets as a thankyou!

Did You Really Mean to Make it That Colour?

2010-08-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

I love my boyfriend I really do, but sometimes they just don't get it do they? This is what John asked when he saw my new yellow and black emo's.
Ok so emo isn't really that big any more but lets face it, I like making them and they are cute! Beneath my fluffy exterior beats the blackened heart of a former goth so when I see a little emo kid looking all skinny with his hair over his face I just wanna take him home, give him a good meal and play him some proper music!
Bless!

Tweet Family Robinson

2010-08-06T03:52:00.000-07:00

Every year I promise my self I will be ready for Christmas and every year I fail miserable and end up sitting up till midnight making robins!

I decided to get a head start and make some early, which was a great idea... but then I sold them and now I have to make more.

I am resigning my self to the fact that no matter how successful my business get I shall never be organised... oh well... they look cute tho!

To A Needle Felter...

2010-07-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

...There are few things in life more pleasing than a brand new piece of foam!

Especially since the old one is so trashed on both sides too since I use one side for dark colours and one side for light!
The toucans came to investigate and they agree!

Yes I am officially a felting geek...

Budgie Fun Part 2

2010-07-23T00:58:00.000-07:00

My first budgies met with a general cry of "you need to make them girlfriends, so I did! I didn't know that boy budgies have a bit of blue on their beak and girl budgies have pink... well my fans set me straight.

By popular demand... the girls have arrived.
Pretty blue and improbable pink budgies... yes I know there's no such thing as a pink budgie but I like pink... OK?

Budgie Fun

2010-07-19T01:40:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up my best friends dad kept birds, he bred all sorts of little cuties but my faves were always the budgies!This week has been spent making budgies! I am learning lots about them like did you know that boy budgies have a little blue bit above their beak? All the budgies I have made so far are boys because the book I was using for reference on has boy bugies in!It's always a fun process working on a new bird design and getting the character right, much of the design process is about what to leave out and what to put in. Too much detail and you lose the cute factor to little and they don't look budgie enough.
I have really enjoyed this project and I think I will make some more, I know they don't occour in nature but I am dying to make a pink budgie! (Just for fun!) Budgies are now available in the Pet Birds section of the shop!

Inkmeup Blog Launch Giveway

2010-07-16T06:16:00.000-07:00

Inkmeup has been going strong for 9 months now and it's been a really fun ride so far. Ink has spent a lot of time piggy backing on her big sister shop Feltmeupdesigns and it's time for the baby girl to break free and have her own identity and her own blog!

So to launch said blog what better way then to have a giveaway! The winner gets to chose from a Kingfisher, Owl, Wren, Blue Tit or Chicken Goody bag. I'm offering a prize of 1 notebook, 1 print and one lavender bag and a goody bag with some postcards, mini prints and other bits in, this is a fab prize worth $40.
Head on over to Inkmeup's New Blog to find out how to enter

Christmas In July... What's that All About Then?

2010-07-16T03:17:00.000-07:00

Every July lots of Etsy sellers go a bit crazy and offer all manner of discounts, deals, bargains and offers in their shops. This year felt and inkmeup have decided to join in the fun!

Feltmeupdesigns is offering free shipping ALL birds until the 25th July

Inkmeup has a fabbo sale section where you can pick up a bargain till 25th July, lots of reduced prints and mini prints for just $5 which is quite a silly price if you ask me, so you might wanna grab them before I change my mind!

If you want to find out more about the 3rd annual etsy Christmas in July sale visit the Etsy blog to find out more about how you can pick up a bargain and get organised in advance for Christmas.

Where Wild Birds Sing...

2010-07-11T05:12:00.000-07:00

Invitation
Come, leave the city's toils and din,
The Weary Strife,
The cankering cares and sordid aims,
That deaden life.

Come, leave behind this restless rush,
This anxious strain;
Dame nature tenders healing balm,
For the tired brain.

Come, by yon grassy, shady lane,
Rest tired eyes
On yonder meadow's vernal green
On cloudless skies.

Come to the wood where oak and beech
their shadows fling.
Come weary toiler, rest a while
Where wild birds sing.

S. Whiting

When I first started Inkmeup, I found a book held together with sellotape and falling apart at the back of an old book shop called "Where Wild Birds Sing" by James E Whiting. At the time I was far more excited about my new gocco press and making prints then I was about the book but one day I sat down and read a few pages and fell in love.

I then rather foolishly checked ABEbooks.co.uk to see if I could get another to keep and found to my surprise that the poor broken spined thing I had taken apart had been worth quite a bit of money if it had been in good condition. Since then I have been longing for my own copy but couldn't afford it. For my birthday this year I got one present from my mum, wrapped in calico with a big red bow... and it was Where Wild Birds sing!

The book is very important to me as it was the beginning of my inky adventure and I am really happy to have my own copy now, this one won't be getting taken apart and my inky fingers will be staying well away from it's crackling pages!

Send me a Postcard, Drop me a line

2010-06-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

New to the menagerie... postcard and magnet sets, coming very soon in owl and pet bird designs

Sunny Days and Blue Jays

2010-06-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

It's far too nice to stay in doors today, too hot to work and far too hot for blogging so I am heading to the park to take pictures of the ducks!
Before that I will leave you with the 2nd bird in my American birds series, I've been wanting to do a blue jay for a while now and when I found this beautiful blue I knew I had to make you. Here he is perched on my Birds of North America guide, I'm really happy with him... he looks a bit like a bandit with his eye markings!

And the winner is...

2010-06-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

We Have a winner!!!

I have to admit by being overwhelmed by the huge response to this competition... you all really wanted an owl didn't you? Thanks to everyone who supported feltmeupdesigns over the last few years, everyone who bought, hearted, facebooked and tweeted and of course tried to bribe me with chocolate to declare them the winner... this little feltmaker is unbribeable (unless it's Hotel Chocolat!)The winner is... Rachel Lucie Johns, Rachel said:

"I LOVE the punky cockatiel,reminds me of the one we had when I was a kid"

Rachel now gets to chose her owl and I will be sending her a bag of goodies ASAP! Rachel also has a gorgeous jewellery shop on etsy Why not pay her a visit? I love this pearl and silver chain from her shop

As a big thanks to all the blog readers I am offering a free shipping deal to anyone who orders before the 21st... just enter the code "Felty Fan" in notes to seller and pay as usual and I will refund postage thru paypal.

500 Sales Celebration Blog Giveaway... Who Gives A Hoot!!!

2010-06-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

I remember not so long ago in 2008 saying to my boyfriend "Do you think I can make 100 sales by Christmas?" Well we smashed that goal and the following Christmas we passed the 300 mark. I can't believe that in so little time I have sold 500 birds and that doesn't include families and pairs... which all equals a quite scary amount of stabbing felt!To celebrate I have decided to have a giveaway and for the prize 1 lucky winner will receive a Hoot! I am offering the winner their choice of owl from my Hoot section and a goody bag with lots of felty and inky goodies, a prize worth $50 all together. Which would you choose? A barn owl, a tawny owl... or maybe you'd like a cute pink owl?To enter simply first leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favourite item in my shop is and then if you want leave a Twitter comment mentioning this blog post with link @feltmeupdesigns or become a fan at facebook ... If you do all 3 you get 3 entries... simples!Winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator (otherwise known as John!) and the competition closes Thursday 17th of June

Lesser Spotted Colourful Owls

2010-06-08T05:22:00.000-07:00

My recent owl obsession has slipped into unreality today... You have to face it as lovely as browns and greys are sometimes you need colour, especially when the sea fret has engulfed Scarborough in a foggy white cloud and even the seagulls don't want to come out to play.
I was feeling kinda blue when I woke up today so I finished off a blue owl but he looked a bit sad I felt a distinct need for more colour on this misty morning so I made him a little pink girl friend! Don't worry tho I still love my little naturalistic owl friends and added a burrowing owl to the Parliament of Owls over the weekend. The Hoots now have their own section in the menagerie and I spent the morning shuffling the shop around a bit and tidying up my policies and profile.

I am also loving these owl post items from celestefrittata at etsy... I reckon they would make great gift wrapping for one of my little hoots and come in sets with tags too... how cool is that!

That Friday Feeling...

2010-06-04T01:43:00.000-07:00

After a full week of blogging last week I felt you needed a break from me... plus I am back at work and thus have achieved very little this week. Instead of my usual felt based gabble I thought I would treat you to some of my faves... enjoy!
Speckled Sparrow Bird Earrings by alibali
Slippers by Thisgeneration
Raspberry Marshmallows By Sweet Treats Bakery
Fairytale Earrings by Lazy Giraffe

I've been Stalked!

2010-05-31T01:29:00.000-07:00


Well it's back to the day job today, I have had a very creative week on my "holiday"... all together I have made 12 tweets, 5 teeny tweets, 1 giant moorhen, a voodoo doll, an alien and about 15 printed chicken lavender bags... I've made a huge mess of the flat too!
So today's blog is just to announce my solo exhibit and giveaway at Etsystalker. Head over to Beatrice and Violet's blog for a chance to win a teeny tweet and check out my little interview.
xx
mel

Blog a day 6 Some Days Require Pins!

2010-05-30T02:05:00.000-07:00

You know those people who really annoy you? They make you angry and they break your heart? Or worse... they break your best friend's heart!Maybe it's not so dramatic as that... maybe they just talk too much, the eat the last cupcake, they step on your toes and don't apologise... maybe they are those people who are rude to you in shops, maybe they are those people who are rude to cashiers in shops, maybe they wear clompy heels and walk down the street behind you clomping away but not saying excuse me...Well those people... I have found a way to deal with those people. I keep my little voodoo doll in my pocket and while they aren't looking I stab it with pins!
They don't feel anything but I feel better!

Blog A Day 5 Not Tweet or Hoot but Coot!

2010-05-28T03:52:00.001-07:00

For a while now I have had a burning desire to make some life size or at least bigger sized birds. I have a real craving to make a large flamingo but I thought Maybe I should start with a less ambitious project!I started making a Raven but then decided against it as it would be BLACK and I doubt it would photograph well at all so the creature got longer and thinner and I remembered the Coots and Moorhens we used to see drift around Roundhay Park Lake in Leeds as a child, they had such fun characters and a funny bobby kind of walk!I have christened my coot Christopher... I don't know why I just have. Christopher is 6.5 inches tall and a little intimidating to the average tweet but he is a very friendly chap!
Now I am going to start on my flamingo... I really hope it works!

Blog A day 4 Take 2... Gloria to the Rescue

2010-05-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

Phew... finally the plumber has gone and there I was getting annoyed cos I couldn't work! He's coming back tomorrow so I thought while I had the chance I would get a sneaky bit of work done.

I decided to make a chicken friend for Doris to stop her getting lonely, I called her Gloria... for a while she was called Florence but she had more of a Gloria feeling to her!

I took the opportunity to stamp several Gloria's on to cloth in prep for tomorrow so while the plumber man is finishing off my boiler I can sew some Gloria's together!

Blog A day 4 Doris saves the Day!!!

2010-05-27T06:19:00.001-07:00

My fabric experiments yesterday were an over riding success with everyone agreeing that Chicken shaped lavender bags were the way to go so I have had a morning making more! My chicken has been christened Doris and Doris's are available to buy at Etsy Inkmeup http://www.etsy.com/shop/inkmeup and Folksy in Great British Pounds http://www.folksy.com/shops/Inkmeup
Ok and I know this is a bit of a cop out for my blog a day but I can't get anywhere near my work today cos there is a plumber ripping apart my kitchen and I don't want to get my work covered in plaster dust!
If he goes away I'll try and do a proper one later!
xx

Blog A Day 3 Stamp Happy or Gocco Loco

2010-05-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

I couldn't wait to try out my gocco stamp yesterday when it arrived, so many ideas were rushing around my head but I decided to start by using one of my existing screens to work out the principles of the stamp.The gocco stamp basically works with the screens you make with the gocco machine, so you still need a gocco to use it. It has a sticky pad on the base which attaches to the cover on the screen and plastic clip on bits which hold the screen above the fabric so you can position it correctly without getting ink everywhere. All in all it's a simple bit of kit

I stamped alot of chickens all over this lovely white cotton I bought, snipped them out and sewed them together with a ribbon hanging tag, I stuffed them with stuff, popped a little lavender sachet in each one.

I am totally in love with my gocco stamp... plans for future projects include tea towels and tote bags, draft excluders, aprons, mini plushies and Christmas decorations... squeeee... can't wait.

Chicken lavender bags will be available in Inkmeup very soon... just as soon as I decide which design I prefer square or chicken shaped! Which do you like best?

Blog A Day 2- Free Shipping

2010-05-25T04:21:00.000-07:00

As a special celebration for my holiday I am offering free shipping across my shop. The offer includes all full size tweets, real birds, pet birds, owls, cake toppers, pairs and families and runs for 5 days until sunday the 30th May (Offer does not include teeny tweets or hatchlings tho, cos our margin is very small on these guys!)I have even made a treasury of free shipping items to celebrate!
And look what came in the post today... my gocco stamp! Yay... it's a massive indulgence but means i can print on fabric and different surfaces! I hope I get to use it this week!

A blog a day... Holiday Project

2010-05-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

It's not often that an unexpected holiday falls in your lap! This week I checked my rota at work and found that I had been given a holiday to use up holiday hours... yay! Totally unplanned and I'm broke so I can't go anywhere... Oh no you might think... but you would be wrong!This little crafter is totally chuffed to have a week off and has major plans to work my butt off and do all those thing I would do if I didn't have to be a bookslave 20 hours of the week!Wren Notebooks

Starting Monday I plan to do a blog a day to motivate myself, monday is about sorting out so today I am cleaning the house, tidying my craft stuffs and I received a lovely delivery of ribbons and am wrapping all my notebooks for Inkmeup, I may even do some paper work!

Kingfisher notebooks

Keep your eyes peeled for Tuesday's blog... hopefully I'll have lot of interesting things to show you!

Check out these Hooters!

2010-05-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed my blogging has been slightly irregular of late working a day job as a book slave and trying to run the businesses has been taking all my time and energy up so I thought it's about time I brought you all up to date with the goings on at the Menagerie.
What have I been up to? Well I have reopened my Folksy shop since the pound is so wobbly at the moment I thought my British customers would appreciate a shop in Great British Pounds. I also opened an Inkmeup on folksy.
I've been working on developing the Hoots range for the Menagerie since they are so much fun to make and very cute too! I'm loving my little grey owls and have redesigned my barn owl to match the new set... although I'm still kind of attached to the original owl design so maybe I'll have both!
I also promised you a blog giveaway when I hit 500 sales... well we are edging ever closer to the big 500 so watch this space. I'm still pondering what to give away... hmmmmmm...

Lucky Tweets

2010-05-13T03:24:00.000-07:00

Are you feeling lucky punk? Just working on the new lucky tweets which seem to be very popular across the pond in the USA.
And wishing a happy birthday to my John who's fault it is that I haven't done a proper blog post this week!

Pincusion Swap

2010-04-27T06:12:00.000-07:00

I recently got involved in a swap... now I don't normally do these but when Clairepayne asked me if I wanted to join in I had to say yes! After all I took part in the monkey swap last year!

And look at the awesome goodies i got from my swap partner Jill. Lots of lovely buttons and beads, some gorgeous crocheted flowers (I do not have the crochet gene!) flowery pins, a kitkat (which John ate!) and this wonderful retro fabric heart pin cushion!Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.... I am a very happy bunny! My heart is currently hanging out with my heart collection in my kitchen window until I can find my sewing stuff which is still buried from when John moved in!
This is what I sent to Jill with lots of goodies! Jill has blogged her end of the swap here.

Mother and Daughter Gocco Day

2010-04-21T02:19:00.001-07:00

At mother's day (which is earlier in the UK in case you were confused) in this storque article I rather foolishly promised my mother that I would show her how to use my gocco printer. One month on we finally got the opportunity and where both of us were able to get in the same room at the same time!
Mum was a little tentative at first but she had brought lots of ideas with her, she drew a little boat and burned it on to a screen.
She inked up her screen...
And began printing...
On prepare backgrounds she brought with her...
And cards, and papers and soon we were searching for more things to print on and after a while she had what we generally refer to in our house as... AN INKSPLOSION!!!!! I counted 105 prints! Mum had a really good day and was all inspired so much so that she wants to come back soon and try and do some coloured prints!
We rewarded our selves with a coffee and a little bun!

And the winners are...

2010-04-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who entered, tweeted, facebooked and helped make the blog competition a huge success!The winners were drawn and I am proud to announce that they are:
1st Prize Craftjemima who wins a tweet of her choice worth $20 and a bunch of goodies
2nd Prize Princesssamy who wins a teeny tweet and goody bag
and the 2 runners up goody bags go to ladylamb and surfjewels.
Congratulations to all the winners, I shall now lie in a darkened room to recover from all the excitement!

Watch this space, the next blog competition will be when I hit 500 sales in my etsy store and I am planning a super dooper prize...

Blog Competition Time

2010-04-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

Well I promised you a blog competition and here it is! To celebrate 400 positive feed backs on etsy I feel the urge to share!This time I am giving away 4... yes you heard me right 4 prizes
1 lucky winner will will the main prize of a goody bag... with goodies from feltmeup and inkmeup. and a tweet worth $20 from my shop... you can even chose your own colours

The 2nd prize is a teeny tweet in your own choice colours worth $10 and a goody bag of goodies!
2 runners up will receive goody bags with post cards, mini prints and magnets.

How to enter
To enter simply first leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favourite item in my shop is and then either buy an item from from either shop or leave a Twitter comment mentioning this blog post with link @feltmeupdesigns or become a fan at facebook ... If you do all 4 you get 4 entries... simples!But you must come here and tell me that you have facebooked and twittered me so I know to enter you multiple times!
Competition will close on friday 16th April and the winners will be announced as soon as I get round to it! Winners will be chosen randomly with a random number generator... random like!

Blog competition.... coming soon!

2010-04-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well As I limp ever closer to 400 positive feedbacks on etsy I feel a huge wave of generosity and good feeling towards my fellow man.
As soon as I reach 400... well there will be a special giveaway... I must find a prize and a good one too!
Ooooooo! What will it be?
xx
mel

Louchelab gets Teeny Tweet Seal Of Approval!

2010-04-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today I got a lovely little parcel in the mail. I was very excited to open it.I turned my back to find some scissors and the teeny tweets beat me to it!They were very curious, naughty little blighters!It turned out to be my little cup from L ouchelab on etsy! I love these so much! The colours are so pretty and obviously the tweets liked it! There was a bit of a scuffle to see who could get inside first but after a little pushing and tweeting (and a stern look!) they came to an amicable resolution and shared!Well done little tweets! And well done Louchelab for being so talented!

Happy Easter... Easter cupcakes

2010-04-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

First take a lot of chocolate and an over excited woman wearing bunny ears...
Add the Primrose Hill Bakery Cupcake book
Take a bunch of mini eggs
Lick out the bowl while secretly listening for John coming home!These were actually made with my grandmother's tried and tested sponge recipe with primrose hill butter cream... which is awesome. It has 250g of icing sugar and 125g of really good dark chocolate in, I thought I would be quite bitter but it's yummy and smooth... I should know I just ate a bowlful!Happy Easter xxmel

New Designs... Zebra Finch

2010-04-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

Oh dear poor blog how I have neglected you!

Well I have been a busy bunny! Making tweets, prints and baking not to mention coming up with new designs.Like my brand new zebra finch, I am very proud of him. A lot of work went into this fella so I am not sure how many of these I will be making but it was good fun... zebra finches are a different shape from normal tweets and have a bigger bum!

A Lesson in Ornithology

2010-03-19T04:14:00.000-07:00

Probably the most surprising thing to have come out of my little felty business is my new found love of birds. I am amazed how much I am learning and am always on the look out for new birds to sculpt. My stack of vintage bird books is getting pretty big now!

Pay close attention now!

Who knew that this city gal would ever know that there was a difference between an American goldfinch and a British one? my inspiration file is getting really big now I think I need to quit my job to make all these guys!My current favourite is the Tufted Titmouse... now we don't get these in the UK so I always thought a Titmouse was some kind of... well... mouse! Then I found a book called "why birds sing" from the 30's with a chapter called the circuit of the titmice! Well wasn't I wrong... having spent several housrs googling the Titmouse and going aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw and squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... I made one... I made 2! lol I love them so much!
I'd love to hear your suggestions of what I should make next... what's your favourite bird?

So we're not mice then? Who knew?

Frazzled!

2010-03-05T03:53:00.000-08:00

Well peeps, sometimes it happens that you work so hard you get a little burnt out... phew and I am frazzled! So have nothing really to report for this ol' blog this week!So I shall instead just leave you with some pictures of my latest projects... here ya go xx

These guys are a real handful!!!

And the Winner is....

2010-02-24T04:10:00.000-08:00

Drum roll please! Ladies and gentlemen I am proud to announce the winner of the first inky giveaway is...

Creamrose of etsy! well done creamrose... the random number generator has smiled upon you! Creamrose will recieve a wren print, notebook of her choosing and a whole pile of inky goodies and loveliness!

Creamrose has a beautiful etsy shop with lots of gorgeous buttony items, check it out here
I love this little handmade piggy clutch!
And her packaging is adorable!
So congratulations! I am gonna kick back and enjoy my holiday with a nice big cream bun and a cup of coffee... and do a lot of felting and inky stuff, crafter don't get holidays... but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Blog Giveaway Inky Prizes!!!!

2010-02-18T03:27:00.000-08:00

I am feeling generous this week, I am looking forward to my week off and moving my boyfriend into my flat and I reckon I need to declutter a bit! So I am having my first inky give away. You may have noticed I have another wee shop on etsy called inkmeup which is edging ever closer to 100 sales. I am offering one lucky winner a great big inky prize of a music wrens print , a blank notebook of their choice plus a great big inky pile of post cards and mini prints... in a big prize haul worth over $50
How to enter
This time there are 4... yes 4 ways to enter!

To enter simply leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favorite item in my shop is or buy an item from from either shop or leave a Twitter comment mentioning this blog post with link @feltmeupdesigns

Finally become a fan of inkmeup at our face book page here ... If you do all 4 you get 4 entries... simples!!!The best thing about having a week off from my day job is I will be getting my fingers well and truely inky and working on new designs. Yay! I will draw the competition by the scientific and totally random way of sticking the entries in a hat and making John pick one out, with his eyes closed, probaly looking dopey... there may even be pictures ... competition closes February 24th.

New Arrivals at the menagerie

2010-02-09T05:22:00.000-08:00

Spring is in the air and at the seaside here in Scarborough the sun is shining and the birds are singing (well the seagulls are screaming!) and the tweets have been having babies!

Ok so they haven't... I made them! But it would make life easier if they reproduced on their own! Teeny tweets are returning to the menagerie and over the next few days I shall be listing some mummy and baby and daddy and baby pairs and I shall be offering families on a custom order basis.

They are super cute little families and I love making them. I am often asked for wedding cake toppers including a baby tweet or two!

My favourite of my little families is this little pale yellow and apricot coloured family, I think they would look fab perched on the top of an Easter cake! Then of course they can be on display all year round!
The teeny tweets are looking forward to more new arrivals soon and keeping an eye out for the next giveaway!

Welcome to the Family

2010-02-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

Just a quick blog post this week since I am a bit poorly. I'd just like to introduce you to our 2 newest family members. The adorable masked love bird and peach faced love bird have joined the pet bird collection along with yellow lovebird and cockatiel. You will be able to find them at the menagerie soonxx
mel

That Time of Year Again...

2010-01-27T03:46:00.000-08:00

Well it seems that it's that time of year again... custom cake topper time!

I'm just recovering from christmas and trying to get the shop nice and full again looking at my photos I am surprised how much better with a camera I have got. I'm not very technical so it's nice to see that my trial and error approach has started to evolve into something a bit more presentable.As a result over the next few weeks I have decided that I need to retake a lot of photographs for my shop, spring clean and generally tidy up my listings... phew... it's gonna be a big job!

I've had my first custom orders for the season and have been experimenting with new layouts, compositions and props for pictures... I'm very happy with them and I love my bird house from Timesandchimes!

And the winner is...

2010-01-20T04:08:00.000-08:00

Well the entries have been counted and this time between the blog and twitter we had nearly 200 entries. Thanks so much to everyone who entered it was such a fun competition to run. The winner is:

Lizzie

Check out her blog here and her etsy store here.

Lizzie makes these lovely scrapbooks and handmade journals... and a tweet will be winging its way to her soon!

Watch this space for more competitions and updates... we're nearly at 400 sales so there will be another celebratory giveaway when we hit the 400 mark.

xx
mel

Sharing the Love Lovebird Giveaway

2010-01-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

Giveaway time again!

I am so filled with love this week, I am getting ready for valentines day and Mr John brought me biscuits! So I thought I would share the love by having a giveaway. Yes you could win a love bird of your choice up to the value of $20 from my etsy shop.

How to enter

To enter simply leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favorite item in my shop is or buy an item from from either shop or leave a Twitter comment mentioning this blog post with link @feltmeupdesigns ... If you do all 3 you get 3 entries... simples!

Competition closes on the 20th January so that's lots of time for your lovebird to reach you before valentines day even if you live internationally. You can give your love bird to your sweet heart or even keep it for yourself! With love, from me xx

(please note all comments are moderated so your comment will not appear till approved xx)

The Big Fat Blog Of The Year

2009-12-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

It's been a big old year for me over at the Felt Menagerie both professionally and personally so, as is traditional this time of year, I decided it would be a good thing to reflect on all the things I have achieved this year.

January
Was mostly filled with being loved up in a new relationship and recovering from Christmas!
Celebrating my first 100 sales

February
Saw the first felt giveaway and the Menagerie's first birthday, the first of the real bird tweets, the Cardinal was created and the great escape from the world's coldest flat was planned!

March
A time for mad Hare's and moving house, the great bunny giveaway, John's bringing creative input to the menagerie by demanding Feltathulhu's and the invention of the emo tweet. Not to mention a wedding cake topper frenzy where I felted my fingers to the bone with custom orders!

April
April saw our most ambitious giveaway/ competition, the Have It Your Way Giveaway where I asked you to design your own tweet... this was the most fun and the most hard work. Big Blue Bed's canary design won the day!

May
I opened my 3rd shop the Feltanomicon... mostly to play with crazy characters and have a bit of fun. Mythosian designs, aliens and dead bunnies followed. Just wait till you see what the Feltanomicon has in store for 2010

June
Feltmeupdesigns wedding cake topper came 2nd in the etsy voter poll and another birthday giveaway of teeny tweets.
July
I turned 30... eep.... don't tell anyone and turned down a fulltime job because I prefer the felt to the bookshop!
August
UK retreat... amazing fun! Met the most amazing people, Learned to gocc from Fabricnation, marvelled at Alibali's capacity for wine (kidding) admired Debsmuddle's tweet making skills and tasted Marmalady's nommy marmalade! Split my jeans (whoops!) and modelled T'shirts for the lovely tinyisland aka Debbie in unsplit jeans thanks to Debbie for the lift to tescos on an emergency jeans run!
September
Hit 300 sales and bought a gocco and opened Inkmeup... that's shop number 4 if you are counting!

October
Introduced the real bird tweets to the menagerie and gocco'd till the cows came home!

November
Made Tweets for South Street Gallery, held a twitter competiton which nearly drove me mad! Crowned John postmaster general and wrapped many dozens of parcels.

December
Featured in christmas voter and the etsy finds email, plus a cheeky bonus in the form of a Christmas day front page feature. Which about brings us up to date...

So often when you work for yourself you forget to look back and reflect on your own achievements and give yourself a big old pat on the back. Instead of making resolutions I am writing a business plan... watch out 2010 the Felt Empire is on the march!

Happy new year peeps, don't forget to give yourself a big old pat on the back from me and celebrate your achievements. And if you do make resolutions try and keep them achievable... and as I have done, throw out the size 10's and be happy with your big bum!

xx

A very Merry Felty Christmas

2009-12-19T01:57:00.000-08:00

This post was going to be a big rambley review of the year but I am far too tired my friends. Ah yes I am worn out from too much feltyness!

All that remains to say is thankyou to all the people who have supported me this year and have a very merry christmasOr as we say in my house Merry Cthulhumas!

xx
mel

Leggy's Surprise

2009-12-10T05:08:00.000-08:00

Hi

I am leggy, I work with Mel, I help her by putting all her fleece into colour coordinating piles. Often while she is out and I don't tell her so when she comes home it is a big surprise!

She is very very busy but I know she appreciates me because she just bought me a present from Kittypinkstars, the person who made me for Mel to adopt!

Look it's a new friend!

And a nifty little Christmas ensemble!

Thanks Kitty and Mel

✻´¨)

¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)

(¸.•´ (¸.•´✻

xx leggy

The Little Red Door

2009-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Now I don't often do swaps with people but when Thelittlereddoor made me a proposition how could I refuse?

I love these adorable little houses and have wanted one for ages so I was so happy to get a wee goody bag thru the post. The tweets investigated immediately and now are demanding a whole village to play with so they can pretend to be Godzilla! Really I can't blame them, they are so well made and one looks so lonely by itself!

Visit The Little Red Door at etsy and get a village for your home today!

Inkmeup... my other self

2009-12-04T04:40:00.000-08:00

As you may or may not know I cultivate several etsy shops and have had a few changes in directions Since I started this etsy malarky. I felt it well past due the time to have a blog about my latest venture Inkmeup.

I opened the shop at the end of September, listing a few little wren prints, thinking Hey Ho this will never catch on and as a result didn't really have a proper opening celebration. 50 sales later I may have to put my hands up and say whoops I was wrong!

Inkmeup came about mostly because I bought a gocco... for those who don't know what it is the best way to describe it is a miniaturised Japanese screen printing system... and then I had to pay for it, which was problematic being a poor bookslave and feltmaker! Well I am also a frustrated artist too... I work in pen and ink mostly and spend hours on tiny details and then can't sell my work cos I spent hours on tiny details and the price gets too high! The gocco machine seemed a reasonably cheap and effective way of reproducing these drawings in a repeatable and affordable format. It's such an effective little printy machine that often my flat is covered completely in inky little prints which my boyfriend has started referring to as Inksplosions!

Inksplosion in progress!

I've also started introducing some of my sketches to the shop... I have to admit Ink has been great fun so far and I find myself sitting at home trying to decide between ink and felt quite often as there are not enough hours in the day to do both!

I've been so surprised how sucessful this venture has turned out to be... I was just hoping to pay for my equipment! I am especially taken by printing on moleys (moleskine journal covers to the uninitiated) I love prettying them up with some ribbon for packaging as gifts!

So pop by and visit the ink mice at Inkmeup, let me know what you think my ext inkventure should be!

And The Winner Is...

2009-11-23T03:19:00.000-08:00

Phew... what a weekend!

The winner is @VickiBrown

She also has the cutest etsy shop so head over there and buy some ninjas... and while your at it get one for me!

Congratulations! You shall be getting a robin and a wee goody bag in the post as soon as I have your details! This has been so much fun! Why not pop over and congratulate the winner at their Twitter?
As a special thank you to all my twitterers and tweeters I am offering a special twitter deal at my shops... all of 3 them so if you buy from Feltmeupdesigns, The Feltanomicon or Inkmeup in the next 5 days (ends friday 27th Nov) you'll get free posting. Make sure when you purchase you put "Twitter" in the notes to seller section.

Both Inkmeup and Feltmeupdesigns have had christmas make overs so pop by and let me know what you think of my new banners and avs! Big thanks to everyone who took part.

Kisses.
mel x

Giveaway Time. Twitter Competition

2009-11-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

Last night I hit 300 positive feed backs at Feltmeup designs so to celebrate I have decided to have a giveaway. This is also a thankyou to my followers for all your retweets, feedback, witty comments and John Barrowman clips.

HOW TO ENTER

To win a Feltmeupdesigns real bird Robin it's simple. Twitter this short message:

Win a Robin http://tiny.cc/wjNN2 retweet to enter 500th tweet wins, only 1 retweet per hour. See Blog for full details http://tiny.cc/Hgg5U

Please limit your tweets to 1 per hour even if you really really want to win, I'll only be counting the first one you do each hour anyway!

The winner will be the 500th tweet... will try and keep you updated with stats as the competiton continues. Good luck... get tweeting!

Big thanks to HautTotes for the idea... keep up the goodwork!

Littlewaltz asked how i was keeping track of this, little waltz... a good question, I have a saved search which I am counting the tweets in rather than @feltmeupdesigns, especially since I am getting lots of lovely messages from people too, the search is "Win a robin 500th" which is why it is important to retweet the exact message so I can find them all!

*:)

Have You Missed Me?

2009-11-19T00:05:00.000-08:00

Well you may have been wondering where I have been since I haven't been around for the last couple of weeks.

My poor little fingers have been felted to the bone getting some birds read for our first gallery show and the hard work has paid off, the tweets are all ready for their trip to South Street Gallery, Scarborough. I am all felted out now but keep tuned this weekend for a special giveaway and more news from the gallery.

Anyone near Scarborough who wants to visit the tweets in South Street can do from the 27th November.

Thurs/Fri & Sat
12 – 5pm
Sunday 11-4pm

And you can find the gallery details here

xxmel

The Big Knit... adventures in shopping part 1

2009-11-04T07:33:00.000-08:00

What's that!

I paid a visit to the shops today for my weekly shop and fancied one of my favorite smoothies and look what I found on top of it!

I'm having this!

This little hat is part of Sainsbury's and Innocent's charity campaign to support Help the Aged and Age Concern 35p of the price of your Innocent product will go to these charities and you can only get them in Sainsburys. So get yourself down there and buy a tweet hat... I mean innocent smoothie!

And I shall be the envy of all my friends!

There may be a lot of tweets with little hats this year and I intend to dust off my needles in time for next years knit-a-thon! So much fun... and it's very very cute!

Innocent's blog
The Big Knit