Inkmeupdesigns Coupon Code

 When I opened up my new Inky shop recently I was all fired up with enthusiasm but since then I have realised that 4 shops is too many to really keep updated and give the attention they deserve so I am moving stuff  from the Inkmeupdesigns to my main shop ... if anyone wants anything while I do this Use coupon code MOVINGSALE for 15% off Inkmeupdesigns shop www.etsy.com/shop/Inkmeupdesigns?ref=si_shop

I'm hoping to be moved by the end of the week but things are so hectic with Feltmeupdesigns that I may not have managed it so the coupon code shall run until the shop is empty!

 Maybe a good chance for people to grab a few Christmas Bargains!

Getting Festive

It's a well know fact that no matter how much I try I am never ready for Christmas! However this year I am super proud for getting my inky Christmas designs ready before december this year!

 

I decided to make some cute little christmas stockings... and I love them... I had some lovely linen I bought on a whim and I reckon that the red looks great on it! These are teeny little socks perfect for wrapping up tiny gifts, they would look super cute with a little toy and a candy cane sticking out of the top!

Or maybe even one of my cheeky robins! We still have the lovely robin designs from last year too, they are lavender scented so after tehy have graced your tree you can hang them in your wardrobe to make your clothes smell lovely and keep moths away!

We're definately getting festive in our house right now... we can't move for robins!

All my Inky robins can be found here in my inky shop at etsy.

Birds Of A Feather Exhibition 7th - 20th November

  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.

Tiny Houses... gocco a go go!

I've been goccoing crazy... all my ideas are making my head explode but I have managed to get some new designs made. I am loving my tiny houses purses!

My little pixie house is my favourite and it's been good fun working out how to make them and what little buttons and ribbons work best... now I need to get on and make some tiny house brooches!

So many Ideas... so little time!

Tiny houses are available at my Inkmeupdesigns shop here

Ready... set... gocco!!!

I've been super busy lately... my head is so full of ideas it's practically exploding! Here's a sneaky peak at my latest project, these will be going in my Inkmeupdesigns shop when they are ready.

I sat down to draw some Christmas designs but it was sunny and lovely outside and I really couldn't get my head in a festive place so I ended up doodling some little houses. For starters I decided to print just 2 as I can get them on a screen together.. I think they are really cute, especially the pixie toadstool house!

 
I'll be playing about this afternoon with these and making some little brooches and purses... watch this space they should be in the shop soon!

And the winner is....

Drum roll please ladies and gentlemen... and we are proud to announce our winner:

Katherine @TweetieKaz... yay... well done Katherine!

Katherine will receive a goody bag containing their choice of brooch from Inkmeup designs! and a lovely selection of goodies from Inkmeup... thank you to everyone who entered and said lovely things about my new shop... to say thank you we have a special 25% off discount code for  Inkmeup's original shop just enter the code at check out to get 25% off your whole order... why not start that Christmas shopping early?

Discount code: 25OFF (just enter this when you buy)

I'm off to go make more shiny new things for my shops... I'll see you all soon xx

New Shop and a big old Givaway

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.

How to enter:
Go to Inkmeupdesigns and favourite my new shop, pick your favourite item in my shop and then leave a comment telling me which design you like best here with a way for me to contact you (twitter, facebook or etsy usernames, if you leave an email address please leave it as myname(at)somewheredotcom)

For an extra entry you can visit Inkmeup on facebook and become a fan and leave a message for me there to say hello (existing fans just pop by my wall and say hi)

Or you can follow the blog by clicking the follow box in the side bar for another chance to win, then leave a comment to say you follow.

You can also get an extra entry by posting the following on twitter then pop back here and leave a comment to say you have:
I want to win an Inky goody bag from Inkmeup @feltmeupdesigns! http://inkmeupdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-shop-and-big-old-givaway.html

So that's 4 entries and 4 chances to win!!!

Please note your comment won't appear straight away as all comments are moderated for naughtyness! Competition closes tuesday 20th september winner will be selected by random number generator.

Dear Dilemma... what should I do?

If you are a regular reader then you will have seen my new feather brooches that I made recently... they have had a great reception so far, one even made it to the Etsy UK front page, and I really love making them but I wondered how well they sit within my Inkmeup shop. I think they look great by my worry is that the rest of Inkmeup doesn't do them justice and I don't want them to get buried under lots of prints and lavender bags.

I love my Inky shop but there are lots of things in there that I feel I have moved on from... after all we've been going nearly 2 years now. I wonder if a new shop is a good way to mark moving on to a new era, don't worry there will still be prints but maybe my fabric items would work better in a more textile dedicated shop. I need to ponder this carefully before I make any rash decisions. I need to work out if it's just the thrill of opening a new shop that's grabbed me or if there is something more to it.

I read an article about handmade shops a while ago by Mary Portas, that's Mary Queen of shops from the telly! In the article she said that people should carefully consider how they arrange their shops, she talks about product adjacencies... ... in my case I have a fashion item in a shop full of homewares and prints... how does this represent the item in it's best light? Will fashion shoppers even find my brooches buried in the listings of prints and lavender bags?

I think I am leaning towards a new shop... with just quitting my day job I feel I need some freshness... so we'll see... probably later in the week when I have some more stuff made up. In fact the more I think about it the more I'm tempted to do it... so watch this space for a grand opening... and maybe a giveaway!

Wearable Art!

I have been planning a super secret project recently... secret because generally when I announce my intentions I usually fail to see it thru!
It's an idea I have been working on for a while, a way of making my designs wearable... I can't get a consistently good print with the gocco to do T-shirts or other clothing (good enough for me anyway... blame the perfectionist in me) so I decided to start small with Brooches.
I used my new feather designs which I made specially for this project and sewed them to felt with interfacing between them to strengthen and stiffen the fabric. I wanted to make something quite big so it could be wearable art... but I made some little ones too!
I'll be listing them on etsy very soon, they are all unique and the buttons on them are all collected over the last 10 years from various places. It's nice to be able to use them for something, normally I just hoard them!

New Designs, Feathers and Neglectful Blogging

Oh Dear... It's been a while since my last blog so I should probably fill you in on the last months happening. I haven't had much time for Inky things and have been really busy with my other felty business, Feltmeupdesigns... I booked my first fair, and while some inky things are coming with me it's the Wool Weekend in Harrogate so I can only take a few and the rest needs to be wooly things.
I have managed to make time for a couple of new designs the Little Owl prints you may have already seen in my shops and some new feather designs. I got a new riso fountain pen which has the ink that is required to make gocco screens in it so have been experimenting with that, it's lovely and makes the most beautiful fluid mark... the fibretip pens I have been using are great but they don't quite feel right to draw with when you are used to dip pens.I have also been working on a secret project... secret because I wasn't sure if I would mess it up so I am keeping it quiet for now... let just say it involves sewing... and is quite pretty! I might unveil it later in the week but I want to make a few new things before I do.I have been slowly building up my folksy shop... I'm aiming for 100 items in it by early september and I'm getting there... it involves a lot of going thru stock and listing, which can be painfully slow but very necessary.I'm looking forward to getting this fair out of the way so I can focus on more Ink based projects! I have so many ideas my head may explode!!!

Singing Bird...

Here's a sneak peek at my latest drawing which I plan on turning into a print... it's a wood warbler in full song.These tiny little guys are amazing they weigh less than 1o grams but make a migration from Africa to the UK and Europe every year. I thought he would look great on some vintage music sheets and book pages... I also have some fabric collage ideas but that's a secret project for later in the year!I drew this little chap freehand, the first time in a long time I have trusted my skills and not drawn a pencil outline first, it means that my style is a little freer and more spontaneous... I'm really happy with him!