Halloween ghosts

When it comes to making my miniature clay sculptures - Christmassy and Halloweeny are always my favourites. My hanging ghosts especially.... I love these cute little suckers. So I was delighted to discover that they had recently been featured on the front page of Etsy...twice! TWICE! They were included in two delightful treasuries which made the front page (deservedly so if I may say!)

Here are those treasuries, enjoy browsing through all the deliciously spooky items as I have...

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you all had a spooky time :)

Witches

Ah, the end of September...just a few days until October and my most favourite time of the year, autumn! Give me a duvet and a cosy night in over a picnic blanket and a day in the sun any day.

Crunching leaves, fresh breezes, golden colours, nippy air and warm radiators...lovely. Except we seem to be having a heatwave..it's flipping 80 degrees outside! Pfffft.

Only one thing to take my mind of the heat...Halloween! It's time to dust off those witches, mummies and ghosts and get spooky in the sunshine! I've been added some new witches to my growing collection, like these two little spooky ladies...

I've been experiementing with a little rouge on the cheeks of my witches and I like how it has come out, gives them a cheeky happy glow, like they might have had one too many ladel-fulls of witchy brew...

 

It's hard to find them too scary I'll admit!  I have lots of other little witches in progress too this week, though I have unfortunately been struck down with my dreaded ulcerative colitis yet again, which is hampering progress slightly.  But I shall not be defeated by by defective body. 

Stay with me for more spookiness this week!  And as usual all these lovlies are available to purchase in my Etsy or Foksy shops!

The return of Mudmeddling

Well hello there.  I am back at last from what has turned out to be a nine month break from this blog and shop.  What was supposed to be a two month break became rather a lot longer, ooooops!

So what's been going here over the last nine months?  Well our second daughter Phoebe arrived on the last day of November 2010 just as a snow blizzard hit Kent and brought the county to a near standstill.  The ten minute drive to the local hospital took over two hours, most of which was spent stuck on the motorway whilst in labour.  Fortunately we made it in time and I didn't become the local "Woman Gives Birth on Motorway" headline :)

What followed was an exhausting (and cold) few months and by Spring I was enjoying motherhood and being an at-home-mum so much that before I knew it summer had arrived!  But now with September fast approaching my thoughts are turning to my favourite time of year - autumn and winter!  And with those seasons comes Halloween and Christmas of course - perfect for witches, wizards, ghosts, santas and elves, just the things to fill my shop with :)


So today I have re-opened both my Etsy and Folksy shops and I have a brand new web address too!  If you are a follower of my blog you will need to change it to www.mud-meddling.blogspot.com (my previous address didn't have the hyphen).  You can also access my blog from www.mudmeddling.co.uk.... pretty good, huh?

I have plenty of old favourites to list, such as my spooky sparkly ghosts...

and cute toadstools...

Plus there's a few new items on the way too...

So watch this space for updates and ramblings from me...it's good to be back!

Ali
x

Why I believe in handmade

I love to make my own handmade things, and I love to buy things handmade by others.  In fact I feel rather strongly about it. 

Why buy a generic gift set from the high street when you could spend less, or the same, and get something totally original whilst supporting small producers?

Halloween Spiders by Diomo Glass on Folksy

I am sure those that read my blogs need no convincing, I am more than likely preaching to the choir.


Hair flowers by Calexendra on Etsy

This is all rather indulgent really, a blog-post equivilent of a cuppa and slice of cake :) 

The spiders are my most recent purchase - for my Halloween decorations - they are simply too cute for words, I am tempted to keep them out all year round.  The flower hair clips are from one of my most favourite Etsy sellers who happens to also be a fellow Kentish girl! I wear one or two of her flowers every day, it makes it look like I have made an actual effort with my appearance rather than just scraping my hair back in a hurry :) 

I have a very talented best friend who is a fiend with beads and a wire cutter.  She made the above necklace for her shop and I nicked it before it could get listed.  I wear many of her items every day and I always get comments.  It's great to say, "This?  Oh, it's handmade...I got it from Folksy..." in reply to the where did you get it question. 

Blue and Pink Rose Clock by Elibee Gifts on Folksy

The creativity that is out there in the UK, lurking on Folksy and Etsy, is amazing.

The Green Collection Button Ring by Maisie Wilson on Folksy

And so many people don't even know about such sites!  Folksy especially seems to be rather unknown.

Key to Your Heart Earrings by Lonely Hearts on Folksy

The whole process of buying directly from sellers on Etsy and Folksy is wonderful.  When your item arrives it is often wrapped so beautifully you feel you are getting a gift sent by a friend.

Sterling Silver Textured Surface necklace by Esme Dodsworth Design on Folksy

And the best part is that you are getting something totally original as something handmade will never be totally uniform, will never look as though it fell off the production line.

Vintage Image Christmas Decorations by Silent Theatre on Folksy

So you can always be safe in the knowledge that you carry a little bit of originality with you wherever you go.  Like the brooch on my shopping bag which gets used every single day...

Flower brooch by June at Noon on Etsy

So with Christmas season starting more or less now (yay!) don't forget to buy handmade - your friends and family will be delighted and you will get a reputation for being a great gift-giver!  You know it makes sense.

More fairy magic!

With a little fairy dust, and the help of some paint of course...

A rather naked looking fairy is brought to life...

She was really very fun to make, it's always nice to have an excuse to indulge in lots of pink and gold :)  She's a little...um..bustier than I intended, but I think it adds to her charm.  I particularly like how her mossy head-dress came out, I may have to take that a bit further...I'm thinking Christmas wreaths perhaps?

Now this lady is up in my Folksy shop waiting for a new home!  Speaking of shops..I've added a couple of badges to my sidebar *points* and I am adding more items every week.  I am hoping to add a silver clay jewellery section to both shops really soon, I am really excited about that.  So far my Etsy shop contains more than my Folksy shop because, sorry to say, Etsy is a lot more user friendly and is much more of a sleek operation.  That said, there is something very delightful about the slightly clunky newness of Folksy and I really hope if finds its feet as the UK craft movement moves forward.

Rather excitingly, and very much to my surprise, my little hanging ghosts were featured on Etsy's front page today!  The Hollow Men treasury I showed you yesterday was selected for the front page today...

I promise not to go on about every treasury I am in, if I am lucky enough to be in more of course, it's just exciting to be in some for the first time so I am indulging myself :)

My first Etsy treasuries

I have recently discovered Etsy's treasuries - a place on etsy where members can put together little shopping galleries of lovely diverse things that are being sold on the site. They are quite addictive once you get browsing through them, I find myself losing large chunks of time to gawping at gorgeous collections of yummy handcrafted things.

So imagine my surprise when I discovered my little hanging ghosties had been featured in TWO treasuries no less!

Excitement!





I'm really chuffed!  I may even have a mug of horlicks to celebrate!

Opening Ceremony!

Well here I am popping the cork on a bottle of non-alcholic elderflower cordial fizz (dammit!) because, yes, I am the proud proprietor of an Etsy online shop!  AND a Folksy online shop!

*fanfare*

Announcing MudMeddling on Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MudMeddling
And MudMeddling on Folksy:
http://www.folksy.com/shops/MudMeddling

Woo!  I finally bloody well did it.  I opened a shop!  That alone is satisfaction enough for me, for now.  I am realistic, I am not silly, I am fully aware that opening an online shop does not equal selling in an online shop.  I need to work on my business, nurture and grow it, learn and improve, but most of all love doing it.  As long as I love it I will do it, even if I never sell a thing :)

So want to see what's up for sale?

Some of the rather naked looking sculptures in my last post have been transformed into much more lively looking creatures...

I love how much a little bit of paint can transform things...

I set up a little photoshoot area in the garden to get some natural light and it worked quite well I think, though I still have a lot to learn where photography is concerned...

But I think the pictures came out rather well, the colours in particular are pretty true to the originals...

There are more than just Santas available though so do skip on over the either Etsy or Folksy to take a look :)  And I will of course keep you fully updated on new additions, but this blog will continue to focus more on the process and the fun of the creating, rather than just harping on about selling and shops. So there!

Now excuse me whilst I go and sip my elderflower cordial and wish it was real champagne :)