Phone & Kindle Cases

I've been busy over the last couple of days making lots of little phone cases and a few Kindle cases too, to fit the new smaller Kindle. The phone cases seem to be quite popular - they've been selling really well - so I decided to make a few more to keep 'in stock' for any craft fairs coming up. The Kindle cases are lovely to make, they're really just larger versions of the phone cases, but look great all stacked up. It can get a bit repetitive making them, but I do enjoy it - choosing the fabrics, the linings, the trims, then just methodically piecing them all together - it's really quite relaxing! Having said that, I'm now ready to get creative again, so no more phone cases this week.
There are still some available in my Folksy shop, so why not have a look and treat your phone to a new outfit for Spring!

Too Early to Think about Beach Bags?

No....I don't think so. There must be a few of you planning an early holiday somewhere warm and exotic (lucky you!) and where else will you find a nice new beach bag at this time of year? It's practical, stylish, completely unique and it folds up nice and flat for packing...what could be better? Check it out here...

'Coral Wave' Beach Bag on Folksy

Or maybe something more seaside-y instead? How about one of these.....roll on summer!

'Seaside' Beach Bag on Folksy

'Seahorse & Fish' Beach Bag on Folksy

Website Update

Yes...the websites actually worked! I'm amazed, but very pleased. I now have two working websites - the original one for my textile art (www.christineshephard.co.uk), which is a very simple one with just three pages and a slideshow of some of my artwork; and the second one is an online shop for some of my classier bags (www.ciessetextiles.co.uk) which has a few more pages and all the paypal buttons and links added.
I'd love to know what you think, so please take a look and let me know. (Don't be too harsh!)

Weebly Website Fun

I finally took the bull by the horns and had a go at creating a website. I decided on Weebly, as it looks good and I'd been told it was easy to use, so I went ahead and set up a site for my textile art under my own name www.christineshephard.co.uk. It was fairly straightforward, mainly uploading photos and adding a bit of text around them. I like the way you can just drag & drop elements onto each page and move them around easily. It's also very simple to link things to other sites and add pages. I had to do some slightly tech-y stuff to link it to my existing domain name, but the instructions were very clear and easy to follow. Mind you, I've yet to see whether it was a success as it takes a while for the changes to kick in. At the moment, my domain name still takes me to the 123reg. website - hopefully this will change soon!

Flushed with supposed success - I'm an optimist! - I decided to carry on and set up a selling site for my handmade bags. As before, I happily added all the details and photos but hit a bit of a wall with the 'selling cart' add-on. I've read the instructions and the guides on Paypal, and I'm sure it's really simple but, for some reason, I'm a bit nervous about adding it. Maybe my brain has had enough for today...let's have another look at it tomorrow!

Spring Greens

The colour for spring 2012 is GREEN...in all its wonderful shades and hues, from pale spearmint to olive, lime and emerald. The shops are filling up with lovely fresh green clothes and accessories, so I'm joining the green party and showing some of the lovely green creations in my Folksy shop at the moment. Here are just a few of them....visit the shop at www.folksy.com/shops/ciesse to see more.

Amberley shoulder bag with pleat detail

Flora knitted handbag with fabric flowers

Carolina padded handbag in green and orange

Grassmere large shoulder bag

Hand-felted cuff bracelet

Mobile phone or gadget padded case

Green knitted furry scarf

Upcycled felted wool scarf kindle case

Vintage Hermes Scarf

It's been a mixed weekend so far...some good bits, some not so good.
I received some long-awaited funding from Arts-in-Action to promote and support my felt-making workshops (good) and on one of my textile treasure hunts, I picked up a vintage Hermes silk scarf (very good), which will probably make its way onto my Etsy shop at some point. It's from 1993, so not quite old enough to sell there yet, but it will meet the 20-years-old rule next year, so I'll sit on it until then.
As for the 'not so good' - well, I haven't been in the mood to make much this weekend and I haven't sold anything at all - Folksy is very quiet and so is Etsy. I also picked up a vintage designer handbag that, on closer inspection, is obviously a fake...buyer beware...but at least I didn't pay much for it!

Vintage Hermes scarf  'Alfred Dedreux, Peintre du Cheval' by Zoe Pauwels (1993)

Your Perfect Bag

It's over to you now...I want to know whether you have (or have had in the past) a favourite bag, one that was 'just right'. Describe it - is it large or small? Handbag or shoulder bag? Leather or fabric? one or two handles? Lots of pockets or soft and slouchy? Black or hot pink? I'd love to know - what makes a perfect bag?