Handmade Happiness - the window now

All lit up at the end of the day yesterday

A selection of things for sale in Handmade Happiness

Some of Sue Inglis' work in the window of Handmade Happiness

 A hectic time in the shop yesterday. It is now officially ok to mention the 'C' word. The Christmas lights are up in town and customers are buying presents. I have an idea for my Christmas window but won't install it until next week. I wish you ' merry and bright'!

Chocolates from Belgium

Dumon chocolates

Chocolates from the shop Dumon

This week I had an impressive gift from my lovely shop neighbour Tara Wake (aka Tara Interiors.) Tara visited Bruges last weekend and gave me these delicious chocolates on her return. They had creamy ?ganache fillings and were simply the best I have tasted. Tara said she picked the chocolate shop with the longest queue out the door!

Sue Inglis who makes popular knitted creatures came in yesterday with new designs. They are really sweet and make ideal little Christmas presents. She knits cats, rabbits, hedgehogs, pigs, Christmas puddings, robins, polar bears in fact it would probably be quicker to tell you what she doesn't knit! Answer: dogs but after customer requests she's working on dog designs right now!!!

Making flower brooches

Red poppy by Jenny Stacy

Big flower brooch by Jenny Stacy

Same flower photo taken under energy saving light bulb!

 These are the flower brooches I'm currently making. I want to do a few more using what I've learned to make better ones. These are made by using my left over bits of handmade felt and felting them into petal shapes (silk) on the embellisher then assembling them and sewing on a felt backing to give them substance.

I get up early and at around 6.30 am I tried taking photos when it was pitch dark outside and, as you can see the artificial light makes a red flower look orange. Maybe some people would prefer orange... but I was thinking of doing some in purple/pink. I would wear that and red of course.

Champagne Charlies

A giant bottle of champagne in one of Selfridge's Christmas windows

I just heard on the news that someone has paid 105 million dollars for a painting by Andy Warhol in New York. Presumably they think it's an investment that will appreciate in value over the years. But in the short term what  a lot of good that money could have done if 'invested' with the poor and homeless in New York. Or used to airlift blankets, tents and food to the stricken people of the Phillipines. (On the same news bulletin they said that because of blocked roads supplies were not reaching villages devastated by the typhoon.)

 I know I'm being simplistic but the painting in question, called 'Silver Surfer' apparently shows a body across a crashed car. But I dare say the new owner won't have it on display anyway. As it's so valuable it will probably have to be stored in a bank vault somewhere. What a strange world we live in!

By the way the US is currently the number one giver of aid in the Phillipines. I don't mean to imply that the country is not doing enough. According to the BBC it is giving 20 million dollars (UK 16 million dollars) and I'm sure those figures will rise...

Meanwhile back at the coal face (aka Handmade Happiness!) I made poppy petals yesterday. Hammering away with my embellisher. I was meshing wool into silk and this morning I've made a large piece of red felt on the draining board which I'll now cut up into poppy shapes for the silk petals to be sewn into. I also need to search for some large detailled black buttons to act as centres. If they look all right I'll show you a picture.
Enjoy your day.

Liberty fabrics

Arty fabrics

Soft needlecords

Summery fabrics

Brushed cotton - wouldn't the middle one make a pretty baby girl's dress?

Pretty but pricey

Crackers in Liberty £45 

Pretty velvet flowers

Fat quarter fabric packs £49.95 each

Pretty decor in The Bath Shop at Liberty

My son gave me a Liberty coin for my  birthday. It is worth £50. So yesterday I had a good look round Libertys to see what I wanted to spend it on. After all, I love Liberty and with it's impressive wood panelling and galleried layout and gorgeous fabrics I imagine it's a top tourist destination.

Now you could argue, and my children frequently do, that I'm a bit of a country bumpkin. But who pays £45 for crackers? That sort of thing shocks me. In fact, are you thinking the same? Scan and print fabric on to paper, 2 to 3 toilet rolls per cracker, bit of ribbon, done. Or to be even more parsimonious, iron last years gift wrap - I can't bear to see nice paper get thrown away - and use that to make individual crackers.

I like the pretty velvet flowers, I've got quite a lot still that I bought when we lived in France. I could have spent my whole coin on a pack of fabrics (above) but I'd rather choose my own selection. Often in these packs there's one or two fabrics that you really like and the rest not so much. I'd rather have a pick and mix area where you could choose any little piece of Liberty fabric you liked and pay per piece. Lovely for quilt makers.

So I came away having spent nothing.( You can see from this post I'm revving up to be a real 'bah humbug' person this Christmas.) More London pictures tomorrow.

Reindeers are back

Knitted reindeer by Natasha Rothschild £9.50; wool reindeer by Michelle Green £7-00

Reindeer in lots of colours by Natasha Rothschild.

 Reindeer have migrated back to Handmade Happiness in time for Christmas. There are lots of new items in HH but these are too good to give up. The picture above was taken two years ago and I also love the bird in the window. The bird's maker popped in to the shop on Saturday and I am hoping to have some more of her birds in December. Those birds are another item in the special category.

Really excited about going to London today. It's been a while. That reminds me. Better put the camera on charge!

Popular wrist warmers by Kate Box

Kate Box's  new wrist warmers in Handmade Happiness

 These wrist warmers are flying out of the shop. No sooner had Kate dropped three pairs off yesterday afternoon than two pairs sold. I've never known anything sell as quickly before! I love everything that Kate makes and now that she has set up a studio here in Petersfield I look forward to stocking a bigger range of her things.

In spite of the awful wet weather Handmade Happiness was really busy yesterday.  If you want to do your Christmas shopping in a less crowded shop, come during weekdays if you can.

I'm looking forward to a trip to London tomorrow. I'm planning to have a really good look round some of the big stores and to take loads of photos for this blog!
Keep warm!

Christmas gift wrap with stampers or potato

Fun wrapping paper

 Yesterday afternoon as the rain lashed down turning the road outside HH into a temporary river I was on the floor with a big sheet of plain red gift wrap, a white ink pad and various wood stampers. 
Children would love doing this.  You could use brown parcel paper and other coloured ink pads. An easy way of making your own gift wrap with a difference.

 You don't even need to have stampers and an ink pad. Paint on a side plate and a cut in half potato. To make a perfect star shape (or any shape) in the cut surface of a potato push in a metal cookie cutter then cut round the outside of it so the image is raised.

 Have kitchen roll paper on stand by to blot the wetness of the potato and to take excess paint from the potato so when you print the image it's going to make a clear outline.

Paperchase currently has a very simple tree image on brown paper which reminds me of potato printing.

Needlefelted birds

Michelle Green's needlefelted birds at Handmade Happiness

 These are the birds Michelle Green makes. They are very popular and make lovely presents. I am delighted that Michelle will now be making needlefelted dogs for HH as well. (See yesterday's post.)

Now is the time for selling the things you make. Yesterday afternoon I was shown some chunky wood puzzle decorations including a nativity scene. I liked them and the next person who entered the shop bought one. I phoned the maker to ask for some more, not sure whether she'd had chance to walk home yet!

If you've got something to sell come to Handmade Happiness and show me. I am always looking for special things designed and made by individuals living locally. Right now I'd welcome handmade felt slippers, scarves, woolly hats, warm clothing... And with Christmas in mind handmade gifts and decorations. Quality materials make quality items and sorry but I don't accept things knitted from acrylic yarn or sewn with man-made fabrics. I like to keep it natural. 'Champagne taste, beer money' as my mother would say and no apologies for that! 

Needlefelted dogs

Needlefelted lurcher by Michelle Green

Michelle Green's lurcher

 Billy the lurcher came to stay at Handmade Happiness on Saturday. He's a fine dog, needlefelted by Michelle Green, who is already well-known in HH for her realistic needlefelted birds. I am hoping that Michelle will soon be providing other breeds of dogs for Handmade Happiness to foster until good new homes can be found for them.

Making an early morning sea necklace

Bringing the right colours together including my painted beads

The finished necklace apart from the clasp

Same necklace different lighting

 I like blue greys at the moment so I thought I'd do a sea necklace this morning. It will display well with the red coral one I did the other day. What takes the time is deciding what to use and what to discard. Lots of experimental threading up and grouping of beads until it looks right. I like the real thing better than the photographs of it. I always get too much light in my pictures so there's a lack of definition and the shapes of the beads in the middle don't show up at all in these pictures.

Michelle Green has made a lurcher which is now in the window of Handmade Happiness. Michelle needlefelts birds and dogs and she is very good at it. Everyone loves her garden birds and now I am glad to say that she is making some dogs for Handmade Happiness as well. Picture follows.

Painting lace

Using watercolours on thick lace

Lots of colour

 This is a fun thing to do. You could then cut out flowers or leaves or any other motif to make part of a collage or mixed media art or textile jewellery.

Today I thought: what shall I write about? Then I saw a bit of lace on the table, painted it, photographed it and hey presto in a few minutes I had a blog post!!
But actually I like this and I'm thinking I could use cut up pieces of painted lace in inspiration boxes of unusual craft materials to sell which I've been planning for ever and they might just see the light of day this week.



  

Wooly wonderful

My knitting and crochet from way back

Handmade Happiness will have a selection of wool from a local small holding from Tuesday. People often ask me for wool. Petersfield has no wool shop and I like the idea of local sheep providing wool for a shop that likes to keep it local.

Interesting textile technique

Sheila Barrow's silk specs case

When Sheila Barrow, the artist I wrote about yesterday, showed me this long purse she has made I was fascinated by how she'd done it. If you look carefully you can see that the texture is created by knitting lengths of silk and then machining over the top. Great texture. Can you imagine a jacket or coat made like this? 

The shop got crowded yesterday which was great. People are checking out where they will buy their Christmas presents this year.
 The artist Sandra Izard visited with a wonderful oil painting of Cobnor Point at Bosham near Chichester. This seascape is a first for Handmade Happiness. Although the shop has sold watercolour paintings before it has never before displayed an oil painting. Check it out.

As I get older I am more and more convinced of the power of positive thinking. And of the importance of trying to mix with positive people not draining, negative people. Often we have no choice in who we spend time with but doesn't it make a difference when conversation is upbeat and looks forward to the future with optimism!

Sheila Barrow's pictures

Painted and embroidered by Sheila Barrow

Painted and embroidered by Sheila Barrow

View of the rolling South Downs by Sheila Barrow

Artist Sheila Barrow and her husband went on a long walk over the South Downs. They walked every one of the 100 miles of the South Downs Way taking it in stages, weekend by weekend and as Sheila walked, she sketched.

 The South Downs Way is a path which runs between Winchester in Hampshire and Eastbourne in East Sussex. There are pubs and bed and breakfast stops en route. If you walk it every weekend over the course of a year you witness the changing seasons and their effect on the landscape as Sheila has done.

These painted and embroidered pictures are framed in white painted wood. Which one would you choose? Or would you prefer to have all three? They are in Handmade Happiness now but I have a feeling they will sell today, Saturday. Like Kate Box's soft wrist warmers which sold out immediately I think these pictures are irresistible and yes, if I had the money I would buy them myself!!

In the window...

In the Handmade Happiness window this week

From the top: Jill Martin's lino cut cards £2.00 each;  Michelle Green's needlefelted bird £29.00; Sue Inglis' sheep £6.50; Jenny Stacy fairy box £5.00 and lavender stuffed heart below £9.50; Ali Cooper ceramics bowl (sold); butterfly mug £17.50 and pink spot mug £14.00; Lindsey Agostinelli patchwork bear £29.00;  Kirstie Turner inscribed knife £9.50.

Dave Tull card £1.20; Frank Higgins kaleidoscope (sold); Natasha Rothschild knitted reindeer £9.50; Jacqui Watkins lino cut design notebook £4.50; Harriet Gardiner crochet lobster £6.50 and Eve Deary cut slate heart coasters, set of four £16.00.

Yesterday Sheila Barrow visited the shop with some beautiful embroidered pictures of the South Downs. Sheila's work is very popular - I'll show some photos tomorrow. Handmade Happiness also stocks her covered notebooks, embellished purses and velvet scarves. Come in and see her new pieces!

I have just finished reading Edith Wharton's 'Summer'. It's a powerful book as is 'The Colour Purple' by Alice Walker and 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett which I've recently read. I love to have a good book on the go although I do find that what I'm reading has an effect on my day to day life. Do you?

Handmade Kaleidoscopes

Kaleidoscopes by Frank and Janet Higgins 

Close up of kaleidoscopes by Frank and Janet Higgins

Here are the kaleidoscopes on display in Handmade Happiness following their maker, Frank Higgins' visit on Tuesday. I urge everyone to pick them up and look through them. Not necessarily to buy one but to enjoy a bit of magic - that 'wow!' moment - that looking through them gives you. The shop is lucky to stock them. 

Hasn't it turned colder? I might have to dig out the mobile radiator in the shop today and it's Halloween...... I haven't dressed the window with witches and pumpkins. I know all the supermarkets have pulled out all the stops to persuade us to buy Halloween stuff but sorry, I don't buy it. Christmas is one thing but Halloween is an American celebration that is optional for us Brits. I don't want to be 'tricked' so I buy in 'treats' for children callers and of course I want them to have fun. But as for all that orange merchandise - who needs it?

Chichester's ancient stones

Chichester cathedral

The cloisters

An ancient cut through

Through the arch to get to the Bishops Palace Gardens

An ancient doorway

 Chichester is an old Roman town now grown into a big city. 
See the cathedral's cloisters pictured above? A friend says she saw a man there who appeared to have no legs. It was only afterwards that she realised he looked like a Roman centurion  or soldier and in his day the ground would have been much lower...

Yesterday Frank Higgins brought in more of his marvellous handmade kaleidoscopes to Handmade Happiness. Some new styles for customers to enjoy. 

As they are quite precious I recently moved Frank's work to a glass cabinet. I soon realised that this was a mistake as sales came to a halt. The kaleidoscopes are now back in their original display position where customers can pick them up freely.

 I wonder whether anything you put behind glass in a display cabinet is unlikely to sell as well as if it is out in the open available for people to touch it. The answer, as Frank suggested is to remove the door of the glass cabinet (it's tall and thin) so there is no barrier.

Inside the shop...

In the entrance room. Slate items made by Eve Deary.

In a corner of the entrance room old fabrics and cushions made with old fabrics.

A table of Sue Inglis' popular knitted animals.

I'll take some more photos today after I've changed the window and cleaned through. Tuesday is the day the floor gets mopped, the rest of the week it's just swept.

Yesterday I didn't go out, much as I would have loved to. I made phone calls and did paperwork and sorted wool so quite a boring day but I felt I'd achieved something at the end of it. Now that people have started to buy for Christmas I'm expecting a busy day in the shop today and I also want to make some 'statement necklaces.'

Image overload

Dress by Basia Zarzycka click on photo to visit her website

Do you get image overload? When you've looked at so many pictures that your brain ceases to register them properly. Whether looking at Pinterest or going round a big show like the Knitting and Stitching show, after a while you realise that you're not giving what you're seeing your full attention. You feel a bit dazed because you've seen so much. 

When it comes to designing and making things I think the best ideas are the ones that pop into your head in the moments between sleeping and waking. Often such simple ideas that you think, Why haven't I thought of that before? Then you have to make yourself grab a pencil and paper before the idea drifts off again like vapour, never to be remembered again!

I enjoy looking at pictures like I enjoy looking at Vogue magazine. But I think looking and doing are miles and miles apart. I look to put off the doing ie the making and actually I'm realising that looking is not useful. I've seen enough for my brain to sort through anything meaningful and to sieve the occasional gold nugget to show me in those precious moments between sleeping and waking.

New! Kate Box wrist warmers

Colourful and soft woolies designed and made by Kate Box

The new wrist warmers in Handmade Happiness by Kate Box. Also pictured is Michelle Green's needlefelted bird and my fairy boxes and buttons.

These wrist warmer gloves are so soft and fluffy. I love them and I think they are ideal Christmas presents.

How are you coping with the clocks going back? It takes me at least a week to get used to it. Meanwhile it's nice to have an extra hour in the early morning to get more done than usual. Note I am writing this before 6am new time. But really it's just before 7am and quite normal!

Strange handmade beads

Beads made by Jenny Stacy

 When searching through boxes of beads this morning I came across these I made from Fimo years ago.

 I remember making jewellery for children with the Russian dolls. These ones weren't used because they aren't good enough.

 I remember making the fruit which I thought would be good for necklaces but actually they are too fat and don't sit well.

 The beads I like best are the black and white bead - imagine a necklace made with lots of those and the abstract one far right which would be good incorporated into a collage.
I keep thinking of indigo colours at the moment. The shades of faded blue jeans and new jeans. That would be good inspiration for a necklace I think.

Yesterday Kate Box came into the shop with the softest wool wrist warmers she has made. I'll try to remember to take a picture of them today. I'll have to be quick because I have a feeling these will sell fast!
  

We're in the Petersfield Post this week

Another shockingly bad photo by me - trying to avoid the reflection of the buildings opposite and still failing to do so!

It is so nice to have my daughter Amy staying. That is why I'm running late this morning. We talk and talk and now I must rush to get everything done before work.

Pleased that the Petersfield Post used my press release and you can see Tara, my shop neighbour and I on page 19. I absolutely hate having my picture taken but this is good publicity for our shops, to let people know that we are here and hopefully they'll come by and check us out.