Spotlight on......

Wow can't believe a week has gone by since I last did this, where does the time go?

Anyway enough of that this weeks Spotlight on... is the very talented

Mel of Inkydoodlecrafts

Mel has been crafting since a very early age , she learnt to knit at the age of 6 and consequently had the best dressed dolls amongst all her friends!

In her teens she used to suppliment her pocket money by knitting jumpers for people - not so many of todays kids would be as enterprising! Her mum also introduced her to the world of cross stitch and her sewing background heavily influences her current passion of papercrafting

 Mel now specialises in toppers, embellishments and greeting cards

How beautiful are these tile toppers?

 

This butterfly design has been made using 6 tiles that have been enamelled , what a beautiful design and they look just like glass

 

Both these can be found in Mel's Etsy shop 

 My favourite item of Mel's is this fabulous card , the dragonfly is her own design and I think it looks amazing on this card, I would be over the moon if someone sent me a card like this

 

All in all I think this is one lady who will go far or at least she should, she is so talented and her designs so unique.

If you want to find out more about Mel and her creations you can find her on Facebook or why not pop over and read her Blog .

Spotlight on......

This week's spotlight is on the very talented Di Sandland, she lives in Devon with her husband , was previously a midwife and is a published author . It really is so interesting what you find out about people when you delve a little or is that me just being nosey lol

 To borrow a quote from Di's blog her ' major love affair is silver' and boy I have to confess I now have a major love affair with her creations!

Just look at this focal silver bead which has been etched with the words from 'Beside The Seaside' it is gorgeous and can be found in her etsy shop

plus this jaw droppingly gorgeous necklace

 Whilst doing this spotlight series I have been truly amazed at the amount of talented people out there , true artists who never seem to get the recognition they deserve and I have to say Di really is a true artist 

You can also catch up with her on facebook

I will leave you with one more of Di's creations to drool over

Spotlight on........

Today's spolight is on another very talented and I must say very busy lady Jolene Wolfe of Kitzbitz Art Glass

 

I first came across Jolene on Frit Happens, at the time I was making lampwork beads and used to buy some amazing twisties and shards off her 

to use on my beads

Jolene is also an amazing lampwork artist herself, just look at this bead how beautiful is it?

 

She is also a very talented poly clay artist , I spotted these tattoo beads aren't they just amazing, I wouldn't know where to start trying to produce something with this detail 

 

 Jolene also offers beginners lampwork tuition in a fabulous looking studio

 To top all this off she is...............

• a mum of two,
• is the brains behind Craft Pimp forum,
• runs her Etsy shop, 
• her website,
• her blog 
• AND is an active member of a couple of Etsy teams

PHEW I have a feeling she is superwoman in disguise either that or she knows the secret of finding more than  24 hours in a day lol

New Bag

Finally managed to finish off a new felted bag today ,

and here it is in all it's glory

HOT PINK !

 

and here is a pic of the lining it's so pretty and so perfect for summer

 

Spotlight on.......

Today I would like to introduce you to another very talented lady Donna Sanders aka Delicate Sparkles, this is a lady who loves a bit of sparkle and  is a genius with those pesky little seed beads ( can you tell those beads and I never got on lol) My favourite creations by Donna have to be these flower necklaces which she combines and matches perfectly with the silk strings from
Diane at SowZerE, 

 

A little bird tells me she is planning to make these into kits , I might just be tempted to try and tame those icckle beads once again

I also love this cuff , how much work must have gone into making this - WOW

To view more of Donna's work why not visit her

Facebook Fan Page and Facebook Shop

You can also visit Donnas blog and see what else she has been up to

 

Flaunt it Friday

I thought I would create a weekly blog post so I can have a bit of a shameless flaunt of one of my bags or perhaps someone elses fabulous creation that takes my fancy .For today though I am flaunting one of my bags

I adore black and white it looks so classy

Introducing 2 fabulous crafts people

There are so many talented people out there who create such amazing things I thought it was about time to introduce a couple to you.

First of is the amazing Dizzykitten aka Kayleigh she does fab things with polymerclay.

I am in total awe of people who make beads out of this medium, I have had a go myself but the end result just ended up in the bin - think I need to stick to knitting lol

Here are a few examples of here work (apologises for 'borrowing your photos but needs must ;-) )

 

How cute is this bracelet :-)

 

and I LOVE these :-)

Find more about Dizzy Kitten by reading her blog here or catch up with her antics on FB here  where you can drool over more of her creations

My next crafter is someone who I regard as a friend, the lovely and very talented Caroline or CJ from http://www.curiouscatcreative.co.uk 

she makes the most amazing jewellery and flowers out of leather

 CJ and her gorgeous cat

I first met CJ at a craft fair near Stockport a year or so ago and it struck me how after all  my years doing craft fairs I had never seen anything like her creations, I was smitten from the start with them and continue to drool over the pictures she puts up both on her blog and her FB page where you can read about all the craft events she attends ( wow I have never known anyone do so many) and the other antics she gets up to.....all I will say is Smurf ;-) hehe

Here are a few of CJ's creations 

 

 

Felt

After making my felted ( or fulled) bags using the washing machine method I decided I would love to have a go at wet felting with the thought of maybe making some bags using that method. It makes such a hardwearing fabric I thought it would be perfect. Although I haven't managed to make any bags yet but have made some cute little brooches and some phone cozies

 This is the felt I made

 which I turned into a phone cozy

.

A butterfly brooch

and some heart brooches

Tuesday Ramble

I sat looking on the net and reading other blogs and it got me thinking why don't I blog more??  Is it a time issue or is it because I don't have much to say? To be honest it's most likely to be a bit of both as I don't really say very much anyway , I am quite quiet and shy ( good job I married someone who can talk for England lol) 

So I thought I would just explain how I took up knitting my bags... I have always loved making things and a few years ago I was diagnosed with depression, I cut my hours down at work as the travelling was a large part of the problem ( I have since found a job closer to home) so I wanted to find something I could do on my days off. I first took up making greeting cards , started to sell them at craft fairs and at one of these fairs I met someone who made jewellery, now I have always loved earrings so I thought I would have a go , so gave up my card making and started making jewellery. I sold quite alot to friends and did some craft fairs but found the fairs were always oversubscribed with jewellery so didn't have a great deal of success.  Whilst making my jewellery I discovered lampwork beads and fell in love. For my 40th birthday I bought a basic set up to make these beads  and although I wasn't very good I loved it. I then progressed to a proper setup with a big girls torch, oxycon and a kiln . I started selling my beads online and even won a competition with one of them ( only the newbie section I hasten to add lol) Unfortunatly after 18 months I made the decision to sell my equipment, I needed more time to practice  which I didn't have plus torching in my front room was not ideal so with heavy heart I said goodbye to lampworking ( or as someone said I am now a resting lampworker) so now I was without a craft , what could I do? I used to knit alot many years ago and when I spotted a kit for making a fluffy scarf I bought it and I was hooked again!  I then spotted a knitted bag in a magazine and thought why don't I have a go at making something like that and the rest as they say is history ... and so ends the Tuesday ramble 

Have a good day everyone x

Terrible Blogger

Well  it's confession time - what am I like such a terrible blogger it has been over a month since my last post oops 

Since I last blogged I have done my first fair of the year , it wasn't a great success sales wise but I met some fab people some of whom I speak to on forums and face book . So a big Clasibag blog HELLO to
Vickie from http://www.beads4breakfast.co.uk/  who makes the most gorgeous lampwork beads and is a mad as a hatter
Caroline from http://www.curiouscatcreative.co.uk/ her leather jewellery is out of this world 
Anita from http://itsamistrydesignstudio.blogspot.com/ who makes such beautiful jewellery
Wendy from http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog/ her creations are fabulous and my hubbie bought me a little plaque for my craft room door ( ok it's the 2nd bedroom but I have taken it over with my craft things! )
and the lovely Kate from http://www.turtle-doves.com/ who makes the most wonderful items of clothing from recycled fabric

New bags listed on my website

Phew slowly but surely I am getting some new bags listed on my website. I was in 2 minds about listing them as I am trying to get stock together for my next craft event in March but I decided 'what the eck' get them listed, if they sell it will be an added bonus :-)

So here they are one felted and one knitted

Neglected Blog

Oh dear I have seriously been neglecting this blog, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything I want to. I am madly knitting bags in any spare time I have because as usual with me I book fairs and realise I don't have enough stock - when will I learn ! 

My next fair is http://greatbritishcraftbazaar.com/ on 26th and 27th March so not many more weeks left eek

I do have 4 bags in various states of completion so hopefully by the weekend they will be finished, everyone keep your fingers and toes crossed

Off to do some more knitting TTFN

New bags

Phew finally managed to list a few new bags on my website  www.clasibags.co.uk as it was looking very empty due to the fact that most of my items are on display @ Ramsbottom Library

Here they are in their full glory !

 

  

 

Linings

Well today is all about lining bags, I do have to say it isn't my most favourite part of making my bags but I do love to source the actual material I use for the linings, there is so much amazing fabric out there!

I have recently discovered and fallen in love with the shop http://www.seamstar.co.uk/index.php , I get so tempted by all the gorgeous material that I could spend a fortune if I was not careful! 

Oh well back to the sewing and fingers crossed i should have some new bags up on my website very soon

Strange Places to Knit

It has been my weekend off work but my poor hubbie has been working so I have been out with him to keep him company. To while away the hours sat in his van whilst he does his jobs I take my knitting, I sit listening to the music on my IPhone and knit away. It struck me tho how funny I must look to passers by sat in a van knitting away.

Hubbie is a service engineer and mends microwaves in stores such as Tesco, Weatherspoons etc  so this weekend I have sat in 2 tesco carparks, I multi-story carpark and quite a few KFC carparks with my knitting! Well at least it gets me out of housework lol

Booked my first Fair of the year and exhibiting my bags in Ramsbottom

Well I have booked my first fair of the year - just waiting for confirmation! I will be at http://greatbritishcraftbazaar.com/ on the 26th and 27th March, can't wait as hopefully I shall meet up with people I speak to on forums and facebook which will be nice .

I am also exhibiting my bags in Ramsbottom Library http://www.bury.gov.uk/LeisureAndCulture/Libraries/BranchLibraries/RamsbottomLibraryandAdultLearningCentre.htm from this Friday for a month, they have just had a display cabinet  added to the library and yours truly will be the first one to put something in it - hopefully I will have some sales too. I used to work at Ramsbottom a couple of years ago and still keep in touch with the staff but haven't seen them for a while so it will be nice to catch up when I go with my bags on Friday

First post

 I have finally arrived in the world of blogging woo hoo ! Must say it does feel like I am talking to myself which seems slightly weird lol

I am frantically knitting to try and expand the selection of bags on my website but it does seem an uphill struggle ...wonder if I can learn to knit with my feet??

Oh well back to those knitting needles, catch you soon x