The weekend that was

Having managed to cram quite a bit in this weekend, I thought I would bore you all and give you a little run down on what I got up to ;)

Firstly I put 2 Christmas cards (Snow Globe and Gingerbread Forest) and a new coaster featuring my 'Autumn Rain' illustration on Etsy and Folksy:

Sat afternoon we visited town to source some more bits for my spider costume and find something for Dave's get up - a last minute effort. Town was heaving with people and judging by the long queue for the fancy dress shop most had a Halloween night out in mind.
For Dave’s zombie costume (if all else fails go as a zombie) we began a hunt for fake blood. Unfortunately everyone else in Newcastle seemed to have the same idea so there was none to be found anywhere. Luckily we managed to find two phials of the stuff left over from previous years, gathering dust in a cupboard at home.

Our resulting efforts looked like this:

All set we headed off to ‘Fright Night’ at the Baltic, where once again there were some pretty awesome costumes. The best for me (even though he didn’t win a prize) was a guy who went as Jack Torrance in the Shining. The scene when ‘Jack’ puts his head through the door after chopping through it with an axe. He spent the night with his head through a constructed piece of smashed up door and an axe in his hand. Inspired! Wish I had my camera.

Despite drinking too much at the Halloween bash I managed to wake up on Sunday with only a mild hangover and felt surprisingly motivated. So I added the selection of makers and artists getting involved in an online handmade Christmas gift trade, which I wrote about in this post. The trade is now on!
It should be lots of fun and a great way to get some gorgeous Christmas gifts. If you would like to take a peek at the traders taking part click on the 'Maker Christmas Trade (North East)' tab. Also the more the merrier, so if you’re a maker/artist in the North East & would like to take part please read how it works: http://lucyfarfort.blogspot.com/2011/09/maker-christmas-trade-for-north-east.html and send me your info. I’ll only be adding new submissions until the end of this week, so you will need to send me your details asap of you’d like to take part.

So that was my weekend. Hope you all had a good one too.

Happy Handmade Halloween

Rather than a Folksy Friday this week this is an extended post featuring lots of Halloween themed goodies I’ve discovered from a variety of online handmade retailers.
I’m a fan of Halloween as I love the atmosphere, colours and imagery associated with this time of year. I also enjoy a good spooky dress up if I have the energy and time to make a costume.

This year I’m planning on going to the Baltic’s ‘Fright Night’ do. I went for the first time last year and it was a really fun night out. Everyone was dressed up and some of the costumes were brilliantly creative. My personal favourite was a scary version of the milk bottle cartoon character from Blur’s music video for Coffee and T.V. Yes it was random but that’s what made it so wonderful.

When it comes to dressing up for Halloween I’m a firm believer in home-made costumes. Buying/hiring an outfit from a fancy dress shop to me defeats the point. Half the fun is making it yourself and coming up with weird and wonderful ways to get the desired effect.
I plan on going as a spider this year, so I’ll post some photos after the event if poss.

The picks in this post are based on things which would go toward the perfect Halloween party. Here’s a selection of some of the creepy creations I found:

1st things first, you need to get some friends in for the party. These invitations are sure to catch their eye:

or how about this party pack, which would be especially good for a kids event:



To conjure up the right atmosphere decorations are a must. Heres some i found earlier. Spooktacular window decals:



A nice touch for your creepy (or crappy if it was my baking) cupcakes:



If its a more sophisticated Halloween bash, how about a nice wreath for the door?



or



Or what about this for a feature? Wowee!



Now for the party food.
Finger food is always popular....mwahahaha.



Cute chocolate treats. Yum!



I love these fab eye cake balls. They're sure to be a talking point.



Hmm what to wear? If you're as tired as me of seeing sexy witches and cats then its time to opt for something a little less cliche. If you have to buy a costume here are some good options (cash-flow dependent).

A stunning day of the dead costume. You'll be the hell, belle of the ball!



If you need some wings for your costume then these are pretty flipping awesome:



I found a shop on etsy called PoshFairytaleCouture. Go take a look. Some of the stuff on there is out of this world. Unfortunately my dressing up budget at the moment wouldn't stretch that far. However if money wasn't an issue then i'd be getting this:

Okay its not spooky, but it would certainly win you a few fancy dress prizes for the most obscure and wonderful creation.

For those friends who can't make it along to your most fabulous handmade halloween bash, poor sad folk that they are, they'll just have to make do with a Halloween card. These will go someway to help compensate:

Have a good one. If anyone else is going to the Baltic Fright Night, say hello to the friendly spider.

Folksy Friday - wrap up

Getting out of bed these past couple of days has become increasingly difficult due to the arctic conditions that exist outside the safety of my duvet cover. In my part of the world, up in that there Northern place - Newcastle Upon Tyne, it is flipping cold. Its only October and it feels like mid-winter already. To top it off our house is freezing and I sit here typing this post in a huge old parka, relegated for use as a house coat. It may be tatty but its warm and I call it my sleeping bag coat.
Sorry to be the harbinger of doom but judging by the last few days I'm guessing this year's gonna be another freezing winter. So in preparation for the bitter onslaught, I've themed this FF post on things to help you keep warm this winter.

1. The hat to have in my opinion is this gorgeous beret hat from a knit for all seasons who have loads of lovely items:


2. I‘ve fallen in love with the knitting style and colour of this lovely scarf. Its simple and elegant.



3. Still on a scarf tip as you can never have too many, i found this fab neck warmer. I'm a sucker for anything teal/turquoise.



4. This eye catching shawl from shawl the crafty bride will add some colour to your winter wardrobe. Fab!



5. Keep your hands warm, with these cute powder blue mittens:



6. I can definitely see myslf sat in front of the fire with a good book and this blanket over my knees. You must check out the crochet in this shop its seriously good.



7. I love these cute knee length woolly socks, they look sooo cosy.



8. Last on my list is a coat. An essential bit of winter kit and this one is beautiful. Its got such a flattering cut, so you can be stylish and warm at the same time.



Keep cosy everyone.

Calendar follow up

I have now put my calendars into production and you can purchase them from my Etsy or Folksy shops. Each is cut with rounded edges and bound, so you can flip over the pages for ease and hang them from the wall. After looking into costs i have put the price up to £11 so not much more than the orginally planned price of £5. Also i have jigged around a couple of the images as my boyfriend pointed out the bunny balloon illustration would probably be more fitting for April because of Easter, which made sense.

The first batch of calendars i'm printing will be on linen card stock. There will be a total of 9 of these made. I wanted to print all of them on this but unfortunately the company where i get it from has now run out and won't be getting anymore in. So the 2nd batch will be on satin photo paper, which will also look great.
I'll be printing a max of 20 and will list only a few at a time online, as if possible I would like to take a few to the markets i'll be taking part in over Christmas. If you would like one and can't find any left on Etsy or Folksy, please email me (lucyfarfort@yahoo.com) and i will send you one from the market allocated batch.

Below are photos of the printed calendar, using the linen card stock. There is also one image of the calendar cover design + a montage of all the calendar months (except December as this is show in the photo).

2012 Calendar

Yippee!! I've finally finished enough illustrations for my 2012 calendar which i'll soon be putting into production. The 12 images will be a mix of some of my older illustrations and some new ones which i've been creating recently. I'm only going to produce around 10 of these and possibly a few more on request only, so they will be very limited edition.

The format for the calendar will be A4 portrait and i'll be printing this and binding this myself, rather than getting it done at a printers, so it will have a nice handmade feel. It will be some kind of spiral binding as its nice to be able to flip the pages over.
Also i'm not sure about the cost yet as i guess it will depend on what paper is used, but i was thinking about £10. Anyway the most important thing has been decided - that being the images, so here are the 12 images:

January - Home on the ice
















February - Robot Love (valentines)




















March - Whale















April - Love bird















May - Home sweet home




















June - Craft is sweet




















July - Bunny Balloon




















August - The Journey















September - Tree house retreat (autumn)















October - Autumn rain




















November - Resting place




















December - Snow globe
















Looking forward to making them up and i'll put a few online once done. Fingers crossed they'll be ready by mid October. If i get the chance i may even make a couple up for the Make Ends Meet market which i'm attending on Sat 15th Oct. If you're in the area on that day (Newcastle that is) you should drop into Heaton Perk Coffee Shop where i'll be from 4pm - 7pm. Its on Heaton Park Road in yes you guessed it 'Heaton'. Not only will there be some lovely arty folks selling their wares, there will also be free Tunnocks tea cakes and wafers. Get in!!