good reads : Gatherings, Fall 2011

Today I am so excited because the new issue of Gatherings is here, all 120 delicious pages of it, yay!

"Indulge your senses with an inspired creative living publication featuring articles on crafts, food, interiors, style, and vintage collecting. Gatherings offers a collection of ideas for home and heart."

good reads : a Spoonful of happiness

Hello, hello! I do hope everyone in the UK is safe and well after the wild winds yesterday!? I know the forecast is still 'breezy' for today as Hurricane Katia passes us by. Stay safe you guys!

Now then, lets get on with some of that exciting news I've been promising you. Have you seen the latest issue of Spoonful yet!?

Spoonful has to be one of the loveliest wee indie zines I have ever had the pleasure of reading and delivers just as it promises on the cover, to be a wee happiness companion! This wonderful publication is the vision of the fabulous, passionate and creative woman Anthea Krook who has made it her mission to spread a wee bit of happiness one spoonful at a time...

going to the olympics!

The 'Handmade Olympics' that is....... eeek!!!

I am so excited this morning as I've just found out that my custom forever flower garlands have not only been nominated for the handmade olympics, over at the rikrak studios, but have also made it to the finals, woo-hoo!!! They are in 'event 4' which is 'honouring handmade goodies that inspire loveliness and wellness'... wow! I can't tell you how sweet and touching it is to know that some folk think of my work in this way... I'm almost speechless, thank you so very much!

So, now I'm going to ask all you lovely blog readers for a huge, huge, huge favour... (imagine me smiling ever so sweetly and batting my eyelids furiously at you, almost like I'm trying to casually remove a an irksome wee bit of grit from my eye!)... please, please, please would you mind popping by the event 4 voting page and possibly casting your lovely wee vote my way? Please... :) If you do I might even pop round and share some of my precious chocolate stash with you... ahem, well maybe... ;)

Before I go I would like to say a very special thank you to those lovely folk who nominated my ladies, to the lovely Ez who juried 'event 4' and to the super Kristal for holding such a fabulous event... :)

Wishing you all the most fabulous day!
Emma, x

good reads : Inside Crochet

Yay!!! So yes, some of my super duper exciting news for this week is that I have a wee interview in my very first crochet magazine and what I'm more excited about is that it is a British one - the February issue (no.14) of Inside Crochet!

super exciting!

So have you been on the edge of your seats all afternoon? Waiting for another instalment of exciting news? No? Oh well, I don't blame you, it is a gorgeous sunny day and if I hadn't got a wee bit too toasty yesterday I would be out there too!

Kristybee Photography

So yes, I have more exciting news - another guest blog post in fact! This invitation being from none other than the fabulous Victoria, of sfgirlbybay, who is treating herself to a wee 'staycation' and has called upon some fellow bloggers to help keep her lovely blog ticking over while she takes a well deserved break. Seriously, I can't tell you how thrilled I was when her wee e-mail dropped into my inbox! That was until I had a mad wee panic wondering what on earth I could write about for her!? However, after browsing both my Etsy and Flickr favourites I had a plan and if you'd like to know more pop on over to sfgirlbybay for a wee read of my post!

A fabulous day to you all!
Emma, x

Friday is my day

So last Friday you may remember me mentioning some exciting things that were happening? Well one of those lovely things is happening today, yay! A few weeks ago I got a wee convo from a lovely lady called Heli asking me to be a guest on her blog 'My day is Friday'. Intrigued I hot footed it over there to have a peek and found the most wonderful blog! Heli tours around Europe (in the virtual sense!) inviting fellow handmade artists and crafters to visually document a day in their life and post it on her lovely blog. Such a fabulous idea! Obviously I said yes immediately, but since I've been a wee bit busy of late I was only able to get around to doing it this week. So if you would like to see what I had for breakfast or where we took Spanner for a walk on a random working day last week, hop on over to see my 'Friday is my day' post.

Also, while you're over there I recommend you take a peek through Heli's archives to find some lovely posts from some of my favourite Etsians such as - Carambatack, Lila Ruby King, fric de mentol, La Pomme, Yoola, Star of the East and so many others! Oh, and be sure to check out Heli's Etsy shops too where she sells her beautiful handmade bags and adorable wee brooches!

Emma, x

published!

Look what dropped through my letterbox this morning! My very first copy of 'Artful Blogging' and guess what - my wee blog has been featured in it!!! How exciting is this!?!?

I'm so thrilled to finally see some of my pretty pictures and lovely ladies in print as I've been sitting on this exciting news since January. I know! It's taken me every ounce of restraint not to blurt it out - with my tipitty-tapping wee fingers of course!

The response I've had so far has been so lovely and I want to thank everyone for their sweet messages and comments. A big 'hello' to all the lovely new faces that have been stopping by recently too. I'm so thrilled to have you all here and I do hope you enjoy my wee 'mood board' style blog and maybe even find something new to inspire you too :) I also want to give a wee shout out to some of the other lovely blogs featured in this summer issue, of course all of them are beautiful but these ones in particular caught my eye today, some of which are already in my favourites and some new ones to completely fall in love with...

- Simply Hue
- { a-black-pepper }
- Paintings by Cathy Nicols
- a creativeMINT
- twoandsix
- lavender and limes
- show & tell

Wishing you all the most fabulously colourful day!
Emma, x

shoptalk : garden party

Hello my lovelies, I just wanted to drop in and show you all this gorgeous treasury featuring one of my 'forever flower garlands'. It was curated by the lovely Jessica Torres and is themed around a spring garden party. I think it's about to expire soon, but if you get the chance do pop by and have a peek at these lovelies, I promise it will brighten your day no end just as it has brightened mine!

At the moment our wee garden only gets the sun very early in the morning, like 6~8am, and as I don't haul my ass out of bed til at least 8am there's not much chance of any kind of garden party just yet! However, the lovely thing is that I get to throw open the bedroom curtains and let the sun stream through my windows for the last lovely half hour in bed. It has been so sunny here the last few weeks that I've been able to do this nearly every morning. Do you know, I've just about forgotten the trauma of the chilly winter snow!!!

Wishing you the most wonderful spring day...
Emma, x

exciting news!

So now to my big and exciting news, although I know a lot of you already know about it, I want to say how excited, speechless, thrilled, honoured and generally shocked and amazed I am by this said news! I want to say that it completely stopped me in my tracks on Friday, I had to have a wee moment to myself to let it sink in and to realise that yes it is my name there in black and white and yes it does link to my very own wee Etsy shop, eep! Even now, as I type this, I'm a wee bit giddy at the thought that...

...yes, I got a second placing in the Crafters category, in the Jury's Choice Awards in the Poppies!!!

...woooooooo~hoooooooo!!!

Really, I can't thank the lovely jurors enough for this honour, for picking out my wee cushions and garlands especially when there were so many talented artists and crafters to choose from! Speaking of which, here are some stunning items from the 1st and 3rd place winners of this category...

OMG, The Poppies!

OMG!!! I have been nominated for one of the 'Poppies' in the 'Crafters' category! The 'Poppies' are the first annual virtual awards run by the Poppytalk blog, and aim to honour all those who are part of the ever inspiring handmade community!

Firstly - A huge, huge thank you to every one who nominated me, I am utterly thrilled and stunned and can't stop smiling :)

Secondly, and yes I am going to be shameless here - If you like my crochet work and want to make me extra specially super happy and smiley, please click this link, choose my name from the list and click 'vote', easy peasy!

Thirdly - thank you!!!

Lastly - Oh, and did I mention you're looking lovely today, have you done something new with your hair? And might I say that outfit you're wearing today looks especially fabulous on you! It's your pyjamas you say, well I never! I wish I looked that good in my pj's!!! - Shamless compliments over ;)

Emma, x