Busy Busy Busy - Two New Shops!

Blimey, I've really neglected the blogging thing lately, but here I am to let you know what's kept me out of your hair.

So I've at long last opened an Etsy shop and have some fabulous sterling silver wire wrapped rings and earrings lurking there, just waiting for a new home. Things are going well on Etsy. I've made a few sales and have had my items featured in 54 treasuries already.




Having got used to rushing around like a blue-arsed fly on a daily basis I found myself with an hour to spare last week so what did I do with that time? Did I chill out with a cup of tea and bar of chocolate? Did I go for a lovely walk through the heaps of October leaves just waiting to be kicked into the air? Did I take a long hot soak in a bubble bath? Don't be daft! I did what any craft-obsessed person would do and I opened another Folksy shop. This one stocks my funky handspun art yarns that are all softer and fluffier than kittens or bunnies, and I hope to add more wild and unusual wool as and when I spin it. The shop is called Gimme That Spin (did you see what I did there?) and I made my first sale within two days of opening. Feel free to get the sudden urge to knit someone a handspun scarf or neck cowl for Christmas!




I've also been playing with silver metal clay, an amazing medium that I just adore. I can use my ceramics skills with this stuff and have designed a few solid silver boho rings that are most definitely one-of-a-kind pieces which are now in my Folksy bling shop

I Had Lunch With.....?

I've been busy opening my new Etsy shop! Oh yes indeedy, this shop stocks sterling silver wire wrapped rings and earrings and today I made my first sale! I have been promoted by one person in particular who, if you know your Etsy, is something of a star in many people's eyes and it is because of her amazing endeavours to selflessly promote newbies like me that this sale occured. I adore her wild and funky jewellery designs and have 'known' her for a while through Facebook but we had never met until today.


So, today I had lunch with ..... Vicki Diane. Yes, the one and only! As she was escaping the drab and cold climate of the UK and heading back to her home in warm and sunny southern Spain we had a chance to meet up at the airport for a couple of hours and boy, did we talk!! None stop natter as if we'd known each other forever! Let me tell you, Vicki is one sassy, sexy, raunchy, vibrant and gorgeously glamorous woman and always the first to help others. So I'm packing my bags at the weekend and moving into her spare room! If only!

Incongruous Alpacas

Last weekend we ventured out to the Cheshire plains to collect some fleeces from an alpaca farm. I had planned to drop into the farm shop, choose a couple of fleeces and leave, all within half an hour, but best laid plans of mice and men.... So, choosing a fleece was not an easy task. The farm has 80 alpacas in a range of 21 different colours. Luckily the farmer had selected 7 colours for me to choose from, but if you know me and fibre you will understand my dilemma. I finally plumped for a creamy mink and a chestnut fleece.


We couldn't go all that way (a mere 14 miles) without visiting the fluffy alpacas themselves.


What an incongruous sight - 3 fields of these gentle, timid and weird looking creatures in the middle of leafy Cheshire, noshing on the summer grass and making the oddest sounds - a cross between a falsetto horse whinny and a bee.


These two little babas were only a couple of weeks old. So sweet. How we managed to leave the farm without buying an alpaca I do not know!

In the past few days I have handspun both colours seperately and they don't half pong of gents' urinals, until they are washed. Super soft and fluffy, the yarn is well worth the effort, as it's not the easiest stuff to prepare for handspinning.


Yes, I found my dream house, bang slam in the middle of a field of alpacas, next to a field of wallabies, only to discover that it is about to be demolished.

Big Deal

I've branched out with my makes and am now making doggy jumpers for dogs - not very sensible considering we are approaching summer, but I'm not a logical kind of girl. I've listed this cute handknitted roll neck dogs' sweater in my Folksy and Zibbet shops.

As I'm among friends here I feel the need to spread the word about Zibbet. A lot of you guys probably haven't heard of this site. It's based in Australia, but works in US dollars, but they have plans to have multiple currency options soon. I have had a shop there since the beginning of February and had only listed 6 items as I was focussing on my Gimme That Thing Folksy shop at the time. Consequently I only had 200 viewings in February, but Holy Moly, in March the viewings shot up to over 1300 without me promoting it at all - more viewings than I get in a month on Folksy with all the promoting I do. Apparently a surge in interest has occurred as many Etsy sellers have transferred their shops to Zibbet bringing their customers with them and raising its profile. It looks like things are just going to get better and better.

So here's the deal. Zibbet started enticing people to open shops with an offer of 500 shops at $6 then $7 a month with no commission to pay. Now the fee is $8 and when those 500 have all gone, the fee rises to $9 and so on. When you sign up, you get a referral link to promote the site and for each referral you get $1 off your monthly fee. So at present you need 8 referrals to have a free shop for life. When you join up you can contact me for help, but I'll be writing to welcome you anyway

If you would like to get yourself a bargain deal on a growing site, here's my referral link for you to use:

http://www.zibbet.com/GimmeThatThing/sell