Criccieth Castle

Earlier in the year, we had a long day out on the Lleyn Peninsular, beach combing for sea glass and a beautiful walk. We had food with us to cook for tea, but we were uncertain about the time at which the car park would be locked and we didn't want to be evicted mid- stir fry! We weren't sure where else we might find a suitable parking spot, with good views. Fortunately Criccieth came to our rescue. Lovely views of the 'back' of Black Rock one way and Criccieth Castle at the other end of the bay - floodlit as it turned out.

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I'm hoping to have my felting session today. I need one piece for a piece of work I should do. I do need to get to the Post Office and its snowing. Then Brownies - but the water in the Scout Hut is frozen - so far not the drains at least - so I need to load the car with lots of big bottles of water. If I manage to felt I'll post some pics - happy snow balling!!

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I have just finished this item - (still uncertain whether or not the felting will happen today):

This brooch was sold last night:

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Caernarfon Castle

Its now some weeks since we visited Caernarfon. My photos file is a little out of sequence. I thought I would show you these all be it a little late:

I am sure that I should have some other images but they were down loaded into OH's laptop and these are the only two he has emailed to me. We had not looked back at the castle and the town from the other side of the harbour before. It is easier to get a senses of the defensive importance of the castle and the walled area of the town which it protected. A long tall building to the left of the whitewashed pub, is roughly where more modern court buildings are and I assume this has once been the gaol. Very similar design to Ruthin Gaol where I was once involved in a craft cooperative. I hasten to add that Ruthin Gaol is a tourist attraction and houses some of the county archives.

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I have just listed these two items:

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New Colours

I have had a great day today. I met two fellow Folksters in Oswestry this morning. I enjoyed chatting and we have arranged to meet again in March. Visited one or two local shops - including Honeysuckle for organic, gluten free, Christmas treats!

I was happy to get home in time for the 'parcel postman' to bring me a fabulous parcel from My Heart Exposed yarns. Lovely packets of fibres in wonderful natural colours. In an attempt to 'understand' the limitless possibilities I constructed a palette. It was done very inexpertly - if I did it again the colours would be in a different sequence. I picked most of the 'solid' colours but the wonderful blending of dyes in Helen's processes has given me blends in many, many combinations of these. Wonderful - Thank you Helen!

Tarn Hows

One of the prettiest of the 'waters' in the Lake District, and only about 1 1/2 miles from Coniston. My daughter decided to walk into Coniston with her Dad (see yesterday's post), whilst our son and I set off from the Lake Coniston car park up towards Tarn Hows. At 17, and stronger and fitter than I am, its pay back time for all the outings with cries of 'Muuummmm can you carry this pleeease?" He now gets the rucksack, 2 litres of water, first aid kit etc., I just have my walking poles. Shame we didn't carry a torch on this occasion.

The light was fading at Coniston and our way lay through Woodland. I snapped this creature at the beginning of the walk. Anyone know what it is please? Yes - I know its a sheep, but, as someone who uses a lot of yarn, I'm ashamed to say I don't know what breed. I was taken with the lovely fleece, my son was more taken with the strangely 'fat' woolly legs. Anyway it posed obligingly!

Onwards, and upwards, the path was well marked and quite easy. Across a minor road and carry on up. We reached Tarn Hows very much at dusk. I only know how to use the camera o settings with which I am familiar. Husband wasn't there to ask and I was without the tripod! Son improvised a slab of slate-like stone  with a smaller one underneath as an attempt at levelling it and set them up on a rocky outcrop. I scrambled up to him and managed to get the camera to balance on the 'platform'. 'Composing' the shot was trial and error - thank goodness for digital technology! The exposure time was about 5 seconds and, without the shutter release cable, I had to manually press the shutter control and try to keep my hands and the camera still for long enough. The results were not brilliant but you get the idea of the view. Son happily picked up very large and small stones and scrambled up to another viewpoint for a different photo.

Yes the Tarn does tip to the right in the top one and to the left in the bottom one - why do you think tripods normally have tree legs - a stone doesn't quite do the same job!

We set off back down the hillside. On the way up we had just kept going 'upwards' our path occasionally joined by others from the left or right. We both have quite good night vision and seldom use a torch. We had both remembered the map quite well but going downwards we were constantly presented with forks in the path, either of which might have been correct. Knowing there was a road to our right we chose that direction if doubtful. I was glad of the walking poles which saved me from a number of stumbles over tree roots. My son seems able to place a foot, check for balance and move his weight onto it at the same pace as my normal, 'daylight' speed.

Eventually, we reached the minor road again and decided to follow it back, rather than struggle back through the woodland. It was then that we needed a torch, as protection from on-coming traffic. We used  my son's phone screen to give some warning. Will carry a torch next time. People drive way too fast in the dark!

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Have just sold these two brooches:

and listed these two:

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Coniston Conkers

I was only part way through showing you my images of the Lake District, taken at half term, when I was overtaken by Lynwoodcrafts' Folksy anniversary. So to resume normal service...

It took us a while to agree which direction to head off in. We were still feeling a bit wet and soggy from the previous day's soaking. Finally we decided to head towards Coniston and then decide. The light was starting to fail when we reached the car park. Bounded by horse chestnuts we were amazed how many could still be found - they were long gone at home. I have always loved the thrill of prizing open the prickles to find such a shining fruit. Even my son spent a while searching with me - although in his case he was also keeping a look out for skimming stones.

Although the best of the light had gone the lake was still attractive

 all be it icy cold. The following have been added to my inspirations file:

I must remember to use the image of those yew berries over the next few weeks!

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I have listed this new brooch today:

New light tent....

... spot the difference!

I need a little time to practice and I need a second daylight bulb. The first results seem encouraging though. The photos below are before and after light tent:

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I have just listed this new choker:

Fuscias

I must get my photos organised this week. I have ordered a budget light tent, apparently it has been delivered to my husband's business address so I may pop out to get it later. I'm hoping that it will help me to improve the quality of the images of my items. I must also look for the remaining photos of recent excursions - the Lake District, and Caernarvon Castle (floodlit), my anniversary celebrations got in the way a little last week.

I'm afraid that all I have ready to show you at the present are my two latest items in a new design. I hope you like them:

5.15pm ish

A choker is nearly ready to list with a pendant to follow - both in this fuscia design. Any other ideas/suggestions please?

Lynwoodcrafts - First Anniversary Give Away - The Winner

A big thank you to everyone who has entered my first Give Away. You have made some very generous comments and I have found your choices of favourites very interesting. Thank you again!

Not finding the random number generator program which I thought I had located, I returned to the old fashioned method of drawing numbers from a hat (plastic box). My 13 year old daughter (eyes shut and fishing around in the proffered sandwich box) picked: ....

DRUM ROLL

No 1

Gelert Design

Cogratulations Dave!

I need to know your preferred colour choice and shape please.

Snowmen - Folksy Friday No. 28

Some cheeky little Christmas characters today. Before you view them - could I just remind you to enter my Anniversary Give Away ( if you have not done so already) - just visit Tuesday's second post on this blog!

I hope you like my choices this week. Click on any item to view it on its Folksy shelf.






Diomo Glass
The Mosaic Garden
dinky daisy
PatsParaphernalia
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Thank You for your advice!

Following advice from the Folksy Forum regarding new items which I might consider designing, and the comments of people who have picked the poppies design as their favourite - including those kindly responding to the Give Away question (if you have not yet entered - please visit yesterday's post and do enter!), I have designed this Poppies in the Harvest Bookmark. I hope you like it - now listed in Lynwoodcrafts' Folksy shop.

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Lynwoodcrafts - First Anniversary Give Away

The winner will receive an embroidered Daisies in Wool brooch, specially made for them. They will be given the opportunity to choose either a rectangular or square brooch in one of the following colourways:

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To enter -

- please follow this blog (if not already doing so)

- please leave the link to your favourite embroidered item in my shop by leaving a comment on this blog.

- please leave contact details.

The winner will be drawn from the entries at 5pm on Sunday 21st November and invited to choose their prize. The brooch will be stitched for them and despatched by the following Friday.

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GOOD LUCK - Thank you for entering

Sue

Lynwoodcrafts - First Anniversary of Folksy Shop!

A BIG THANK YOU to all the lovely people who have made this first year so enjoyable including my customers, fellow Folksters - who have helped me enormously with practical and design advice, (particularly with 'on-line' tips) and to the Folksy team, who have rescued me from one or two difficulties - including Haptree - who's patient tuition enabled me to start blogging!

This year has marked my return to being self-employed, offering my hand-crafted items for sale, after a few years of doing other things. Tottering on the brink of opening an on-line shop, but hesitant about some of the overseas platforms, I happened across Folksy through a Google search, spent a week or two browsing and learning and then took the plunge. With very limited on-line skills and many craft designs and ideas in  mind, but without a particularly distinctive 'craft direction', I was very excited to achieve my first sales and to receive such generous feedback.

Having reviewed my sales during the year, the feedback I have recieved, and all the very many comments supportively offered through the Folksy Forum, Lynwoodcrafts now has that direction.

EMBROIDERY will now form the focus for Lynwoodcrafts on Folksy. I already have a number of different styles, employing different techniques and materials and have more planned. The range of items which Lynwoodcrafts offers will gradually be extended - all with embroidered embellishment.

I have been looking back at my crafting achievements over the last year. To those of you who have shown your support by reading this blog post so far - Thank You. Give Away details will be posted later today - so please pop back! The following list of small milestones might be a little too tedious for many followers, but I'm thrilled by how much has been achieved.

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Lynwoodcrafts Contacts: 228 people 'like' Lynwoodcrafts Folksy shop, 128 people follow this blog, 104 people like Lynwoodcrafts' Facebook page, Lynwoodcrafts has posted more than 1780 posts to the Folksy Forums

Visits to Lynwoodcrafts Shop My original target, of 30 visits/day for the first year, has now been exceeded with more than 50 visits on most days.

Sales - I have been thrilled to sell 48 items through Folksy - thank you for your support everyone!

Skills learnt - 'How to': (set up and use a Folksy shop!!), blog, use Flickr, begin to network on Facebook, employ my craft skills in new ways, promote/share through Craft Juice, etc.
Collaborative Project with Amy of AmyOrangeJuice - I worked a brooch, based on one of Amy's designs and Amy produced a wonderful stained glass panel based on one of my brooches.
Folksy Friday - I have greatly enjoyed the 27 Folksy Friday blog posts which I have compiled so far. I love to celebrate the wonderful craft skills displayed in Folksy shops. Thank you to everyone who has kindly featured my items in their posts!

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I am now reviewing the targets I have set for the coming year. New banner designs, which better reflect Lynwoodcrafts Embroidery, are top of the list!! 

Thank you everyone for a great first year!

Sue

New designs

The two latest items in my shop. A mirror case, with mirror compact included and a gadget cosy. First Folksy Anniversary tomorrow. Give away details will be on this blog.

The week in which ...

..Lynwoodcrafts celebrates the First Anniversary of the opening of its Folksy shop.

I try to make a point of blogging about many and various topics with a smattering of Lynwoodcrafts in between. For this week I shall be making an exception and focussing on Lynwoodcrafts - normal service to be resumed next week!

Lynwoodcrafts will now be concentrating on the design and production of hand-embroidered items - more information about this - including give aways - later in the week.

The hand-knitted scarves and gloves in Lynwoodcrafts' shop are now being offered at 25% off the original price in order to make way for new items. They have received lots of attention on their Folksy shelves and have many 'favourite' tags. Here is a selection:







The items shown now range  in price from £7.50 for the gloves to £22.50 for the red rose scarf - why not take a look - you might find a bargain!

Embroidered ring

Just a short post today to introduce my latest item - a fun ring embellished with daisies:

Ivy - Folksy Friday No 27

Having been working on some winter landscapes this week, I have been trying various techniques for embroidering ivy leaves. I thought I would show you some other Folksy representations of this very pretty leaf! Click on any item to visit it in its Folksy shop.

Artifex
Court & Spark
Chain of Daisies
Rama and Jude
Gelert Design
Indian Moonmoth
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I hope you don't mind me showing you this one of mine:

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