the patchwork dress

paying it forward... eventually!

11:11:11

we are all one(s)

Resurrection Fern has alerted me to the fact that Amy Krouse Rosenthal's film "the Beckoning of Lovely" is available to watch online today... an experiment in the spirit of co-creativity..

.. - this is the day I am finally getting around to posting about the 'Pay It Forward' project which I started out back in July 2009!  I had an idea at that time to make a book bag which I would send out to Polly, Ginny and Debs, who had all agreed to take part.

I don't know why it took me so long, but things never came together at once, and I wanted all 3 to be the same.  In that time I developed the design for the 'clutterbucket' - so now, 2.5 years on, I am ready to give these away to the Pay-It-Forwardees!

So now they can keep books, clutter or whatever they like in their 'clutterbuckets'.

Here's one I have collected over the summer - a pile of 'not sure what to do with, but keep in one place paperwork' which I am shortly going to sort through!

...for business...

...or pleasure...

There are a couple more bags in my folksy shop, and I'm going to be adding some more soon... as they will make a great gift for anyone who could use organising.  I made them for nearly all my gifts last year, so am going to have to think of something else this Christmas!

earth day offering

As a special thank you and to celebrate Earth Day on 22 April, followed by Easter... I am offering a 20% discount to any purchases made in my OneGoodMarket shop until midnight (GMT) on Monday 25 April.

Just enter the code EARTH11 at the checkout.

10% of sales will still go to Scottish Wildlife Trust, and postage + packing is still free in the UK.

Can you see the tiny sliver of moon in the top left corner?  This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago when the sun was setting on the horizon and sending an amazing beam of light up into the sky.

shop wonderful! the patchwork dress is now on OneGoodMarket.com

...you can visit my shop for handmade, ethical homeware, and cards here.

Free p+p within the UK.  

10% of all sales will go to the Scottish Wildlife Trust charity.

 

I'm here!

...find me here!...

...very exciting at Onegoodmarket.com 

After my fairly recent posts about ethics and why I like to do what I do, and how to find the right balance on marketing - an opening came along to join in with Onegoodmarket.com's new venture - to host a site of ethically minded companies and individuals who want to reach a wider market - the kind of people who use their main site Ethicalsuperstore.

I was lucky enough to be accepted into the first 100 sellers, which meant they waived the £250 set up costs. So far I have found them very friendly and helpful.  It feels exciting to be part of this venture and surrounded by people who like to produce things in a fair way with the planet.

OGM will take 10% of each sale, and I will still give 10% to the Scottish Wildlife Trust (that's double titheing!) Postage and packing is free within the UK.

Would be interested to know what you think! 

what comes first, chicken or egg?

I think a  lot about making things and selling them and the personal processes and ethics involved in both. Shortly before Christmas I fancied reading some new ideas and ordered these two books that were featured in the Cygnus magazine.

One of my feelings about starting a 'business' is that we are often building on ideas that already exist, and the foundations of those ideas may not be in alignment with what we want or truly believe.  Practically, of course, there is a need to achieve sales and find customers, or present ourselves in such a way that these two things can find each other and occur.  

Change is desirable and there are so many out there trying to make this happen, especially in the etsy and folksy marketplace. My confusion stems from not understanding what is at the root of it all and I am keen explore and find the foundations 'within myself'  - ie a belief system I can align with where I can feel truthful.

These two books seem unconnected, but one passage that stood out for me in Clea Danaan's book is when she describes the chicken/egg industry against the 'joy' of keeping them domestically and having a personal relationship with both chicken and egg..

" Animals who produce food on such a large scale are not regarded as animals anymore, so the loss of chicken joy is unconsequential.

Our automated industrial culture has reduced chickens to their product.  The eggs are economic units produced by economic units and sold to us (also seen as economic units).  Its no longer about the chicken or the egg, but the money exchangeable for that egg."

This passage just seemed to bowl it home to me.  The what comes first analogy of the chicken and the egg, or the cart before the horse seems appropriate. When the process of the making and the selling and the reusing of that money are connected with integrity, instead of playing one off the other - then I think the fulfillment of that process is what really 'pays' us on many levels, and if that money is love, then hopefully financially too.. I am still exploring that area!

At the time of reading 'Money Is Love' which also explores the subject of titheing 10% of one's income - I coincidentally stumbled across this article on creative titheing through Diana's blog, and a remarkable lifestyle choice through Mouse's blog.

As a result, I have decided to combine the two ideas and have a form of creative titheing within the patchwork dress, in both online folksy and etsy shops, and through any other sales this year -

I will be donating 10% from every sale to the wildlife charity SWT - Scottish Wildlife Trust, and later in the year also to the SSPCA (Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - who operate both shelters for rehoming pets, and a wildlife shelter near Inverkeithing).

 

Last, but not least, in the spirit of the giveaway - I am willing to pass on the Barbara Wilder  "Money Is Love" book to anyone who is interested in reading it - the first person to claim it, gets it. - 'gone' to Sarah in Canada!

featured

I wonder how everyone feels on the subject of recognition.

On my screenwriting course, we were taught that the desire for it (eg being believed, seen, recognised, successful) is one of the 8 major themes that can motivate the character of a movie (or life!). 

We are often so wary of being 'big headed' or blowing our own trumpets - ironically that is what most blogs are really about - however I think for most artists or creators it is as important as getting paid - to have someone desire your work, to receive feedback, to watch someone's face as they receive a commission you have made for them... these are all things that I like and find most fulfilling about my creative work in whatever form.

It has its light and its dark, yet I suppose the root is about being received and accepted by others.

Yet I also feel quite awkward about it - I cringe at getting too much attention, have a fear of bragging.  It is messily caught up in the areas of advertising, self promotion and exposure. I secretly love and desire to be recognised within a work context, but constantly worry about the scale of it and the context in which it is done.  Does anyone else?

This week it was lovely to receive recognition in the form of having one of my bags featured on anothers' blog in her UK craft roundup - thanks, Talie.  I was genuinely thrilled when the email came through.

On the other end of things I was also delighted to hear that 'Perfect Sense', a film I worked on in 2009, will receive it's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this Monday.  Very exciting.

While this was a much larger project I played a small part in (creating graphics for action and set dressing), I can think of no better place than Sundance for David to show his film and have it received.  

I hope it does really well!  I have a feeling it will, as it has a unique and moving storyline.  Watch out for it, I can't wait.

the little patchwork shop of christmas

... is now open

The first two clutterbuckets like this one have gone already! Thank you x I will be doing more, so please keep checking back over the next couple of weeks, as I will be updating the shop small batches - meanwhile there are similar styles in the shop - also with some handmade eco-cards to come.

There is a special offer of an additional 'surprise' gift of a festive nature for every clutterbucket bought... and if you would like any of your purchases giftwrapped, there is an optional free service - just state in the message section at the payment stage.  (Gifts will be wrapped in a handstamped brown paper with tasteful tie and a handmade gift tag... )

I have decided to stick with UK based Folksy for the time being.  It's rather like Etsy - you just need a username, and then its all done through Paypal, so nice and secure.  I will also mail overseas - and that is all catered for on the site.

More soon!

a visit to jupiter

Hi there! Firstly, housekeeping... I had a lot of fun reading your number 1's from the previous post - now I have a sort of image of each of you, bopping away to your birth tunes!  We even took it a step further by finding out what was no.1 in the US at the same time - mine was Windy by The Association.  This tickled N, as he thought 'windy' and in 'need of love' was very apt for me...ahem... moving on!... 

Anyway... the winners of a set of cards each are the 2 Vanessa's  (guess who put 2 slips of paper with 'Vanessa' in the hat, and then had to decide again which Vanessa! - so they both win.. ) and Susan C came 2nd and gets the set of postcards.  

Thank you all for taking part, it was fun.. and I kind of wish I could send cards out to all of you.  However, the remaining card sets will be available through the shop for a while longer, for anyone who would like some.

Last week mum and I had a daytrip to Jupiter Artland near Edinburgh.  I first heard of it through Jane's blog, and have wanted to visit ever since.  

We were met by a very friendly spacecat, who checked our credentials.. we could proceed.  Perhaps it arrived in the silver spaceship below, fueled by cappuccino.

I cannot stress how unusual and well executed the whole site is - I won't spoil by posting too many pictures - so much of the charm is the element of discovery... but there are artworks by Andy Goldsworthy, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Antony Gormley, Charles Jencks and Nathan Coley to name but a few.

 

(Gormley's sculpture looks out across to a similarly structured Forth Rail Bridge - just glimpsed with white hoardings in the distance)

It's a little tricky to find, so take directions - but once there you will feel part of a different world... Jupiter perhaps?

 

summer giveaway!

I was born during the summer of love of 1967.  A very hot summer by all accounts, not dissimilar to the one we are having now.  "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles was no.1 in the charts.

I wonder to what effect our birth 'time' has on our lives.  I have always been emotionally effected by any footage of the Vietnam war perhaps more than any other.  A kind of 'catch you out' emotional response which seems to rush up from my feet and push out through my eyes with hot tears.  I wonder if this is innate from the time, or from seeing footage etc in later life. The sight of helicopters dropping firebombs of napalm and other poisonous substances while the rest of the world sang of love seems to emphasise the polarity of forces at that time.

On a happier note! July has always been a busy birthday month for me, along with January - friends and relatives.  It is with this thought in mind that I would do a giveaway of one of my new greetings cards packs, and one of my postcard packs.

I have chosen images that I think could be suitable for a variety of occasions and bundled into a group of 4 - so you can always have a card to hand for those birthday months, or just when you need to get a message to somebody.

 

The cards have been sustainably printed by Moo with a lovely matt finish, and come with a recycled high quality white envelope.  The postcards are a gloss finish, and I have added 5 recycled envelopes to those packs which are made from recycled juice cartons!

This ticks a few boxes for me, as I have also been wanting to hear from you if you read the blog but don't comment - so here's your opportunity! What was the song playing at number one (if you are outside the UK and can find out in your own country, even better!) - also do you feel connected to any of the events at the time of your birth?  you don't need to answer to enter, but could be fun!

Leave a comment on this post - first out the hat on Saturday 10 July, will win the set of 4 greetings cards of their preference, and second out the hat will win a set of 5 postcards with envelopes.  Please feel free to circulate and get the word out on your blog too!

All sets of cards are also available in my shop - there is a limited run of 6 on each bundle (8 for postcards), I'll renew the listing each time one sells - so check back if they go! - I really hope you like them!... oh, and ps - free postage if you are in the UK...

(postcard set) 

roses

I love the way dog rose petals are like little hearts confetti'ed on the ground.

 

Thanks for all your recent comments and continued support for my blog, despite my posts having been further apart these last months..  I appreciate all of the comments and apologise if I don't answer them all personally - in fact I wish some of you would delurk and say Hi - would love to hear from you!

I've got 5 weeks off work! and have been getting back to what I love to do... wandering along taking photos of flowers in the hedgerows, catching up with Polkadotfarm sitting outside at the Courtyard Café with its beautiful flowers, and getting inspired to bundle up some cards I've had printed recently... 

Here's a sneak pic of one of the card bundles (thanks for the inspiration Rebecca).  

There will be 3 different bundles each with 4 cards plus envelopes.

In addition, there will also be a pack of 5 postcards with envelopes - featuring some of my 'core' images.

Will post as soon as I put these in the shop!