Introducing Gertie

Gertie spends a lot of time wandering and thinking. She is a bit of a loner really, but she's ok with that. By wandering she has seen a lot more of the world than the other bunnies from her town. They all know she's about to go off again when they see her pack some carrots into her bag, sling it over her shoulder and start off down the main street. Lots of the bunnies secretly wish they were as brave as her and could see the things she's seen, but instead they just wait in anticipation for her to return and tell them tales of places far away. Gertie is available in my Etsy Shop.

Shopping

This has been a good week for me and Etsy! I made 2 sales, and one of the dolls sold just minutes after I listed her!

                           
I've been adding something new to my shop everyday this week - and there's more to come. So if you like what you see here, why not pay me a visit at outoftheframe.etsy.com :)

Announcing the winners...

The giveaway is over and it's time to announce the winners! There were 6 entries and I listed them 1 to 6 in the order they left comments. You can see above the numbers generated by the random number generator... So the winners are, number 5 - Wally and number 4 - Irit :) Congratulations you guys. I'll be sending you an email with the coupon code very soon. To everyone else - thanks for entering and look out for more giveaways during the year.

Birthday Cake!

I came across ThePudgyRabbit on Flickr. She makes super cute amigurumi. Her range of birthday cakes is my favourite. You can find out more about her at www.thepudgyrabbit.com.

The leaves on the trees are turning

It's September tomorrow and the leaves on the trees are starting to turn. So I've been stocking up on Autumn/Fall themed amigurumi in my shop.

Amigurumi Cacti

You see quite a lot of Amigurumi Cacti popping up on Etsy. Some people make realistic looking ones and others go for the cute kawaii option with a little face. This pattern by mutts is one of the cutest and most original ones I've seen. She sells some fantastic patterns in her Amigurumi Friends Pattern Shop and she also has her Studio Shop where, if you're not much of a crocheter, you can buy the finished articles.

MochiQtie

I'm loving MochiQtie's Etsy shop at the moment. Her amigurumis are all so cute and little, and I love how she photographs them. Make sure you check out her shop to see more of them.

Fairytale of New York

When I got my Amazon Kindle, one of the first books I read was Fairytale of New York by Miranda Dickinson. Why did I choose it? Because at the time it was free, and I liked the cover. Shallow answer I know, but in this case it did work to judge the book by it's cover! Because I enjoyed it, I then bought her other book Welcome to my World and started to follow her on Twitter - @Wurdsmyth.

One day I saw she had tweeted asking if anyone could read cyrilic because Fairytale of New York had just been published in Bulgarian and she wanted to know what the quotes were on the cover. I replied saying I could but in Serbian not Bulgarian. I knew that the languages had some similarities so I said I'd give it a go. They do have some similarities and I could translate some of the words, but thankfully she found a real Bulgarian to translate it all properly! Anyway, to say thank you for the help I gave her, which was not much at all - I translated about 5 words, She sent me this parcel which arrived today. In it were signed copies of Fairytale of New York in English and in Bulgarian and a bar of Galaxy chocolate, which just happens to be my favourite English chocolate and something that I can't buy here in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It made for a lovely start to the day!

If you read my blog regularly you might have seen this doll before. Her name is Tulip and she is available in my Etsy Shop. I got the inspiration for her from reading Fairytale in New York - the main character in the book runs a florist shop.

Hand-painted Plush

Happy Craft Party Day to all you Etsians out there! Here's another example of one of the things we're going to be making at our Craft Party on Tuesday.



and the back view!

It's almost Craft Party time!

Are you hosting or going to an Etsy Craft Party this Friday? I'm hosting one here in Jajce but it will be on Tuesday next week because this week is the Theatre festival in Jajce. Today I had a go at making a simple sock creature - this will be one of the things people can make at our Craft Party.

Giveaway winners announced!

I put all the entries into a list randomizer and then used the random number generator to find the winners.

Congratulations to Cybil Morris for winning first prize - the bunny and a copy of my pattern.


And to Jill Price of Monkey Gang for winning second prize - a copy of my bunny pattern.

To everyone else - thank you for entering, and better luck next time!

If you would like to buy a copy of my pattern it is available on Etsy and Ravelry.

(don't tell anyone, but it's cheaper on Ravelry!)

The Bearded Man is finished!

If you read my blog regularly you will know that I was struggling to make a beard last week. Well I did it! and I'm qutie pleased with the result. This was a custom order. The customer sent me photos of her friends and asked me to make amigurumi caricatures of them. If you would like a caricature made of someone you love - or even of you then please contact me at my Etsy Shop.

Custom orders in progress

I've got 4 custom orders to do in the next couple of weeks. They are all caricatures that have been ordered by people to give as presents. I was going to blog yesterday and show you this photo of work in progress - but I forgot! So now you get yesterday and today's work in progress pictures.

Nearly finished this one! only 3 more. I'm always a little bit scared when I'm making caricatures - what if the person is really offended by my impression of them! So far so good - so I hope it continues that way. And if you would like to order a caricature amigurumi doll then please contact me by clicking here or leave a comment with your email address and I'll contact you :)

The Return of the Eco-bunnies

My Eco-bunnies have returned from from their visit to Stampington and Company where they took part in a photo shoot and appeared in the Winter 2011 issue of Stuffed Magazine. They will now be available in my Etsy shop.

Major Periwinkle

After serving Queen and Country for many years Major Periwinkle is now a retired gentleman. He spends his days at the Rotary Club, looking after his grandchildren and walking in St James Park. His shock of white hair is a little alarming at first sight but when you get to know him you will find him very friendly and always ready to entertain you with stories of his adventures in Her Majesty's Service. Oh - and contrary to popular belief he doesn't have a sword hidden in his cane - honestly....

The Cupcake Bunny

If you're feeling hungry and in need of something sweet, call the Cupcake Bunny and she'll bring you something to eat. She works at the bakery not far from here and her cupcakes are famous for bringing good cheer.

The Cupcake Bunny is available in my Etsy Shop.

What do you think?

I've been adding new items to my shop the last couple of days. Here are some of them and there's more to come! What do you think? Which is your favourite?

Making a good start to the year

I've been properly selling on Etsy for a year now. Last year was ok, I made sales but I also learned how hard you have to work to get sales! This year I want to do better so I guess that means even more hard work. I've been busy these last few days making new amigurumi for my shop so it's full of new exciting things at the start of the year. It's looking quite empty at the moment and when I take the Christmas stuff out it will be really empty! So keep an eye out over the next week or so and you'll see lots of new things appearing in my shop :) Here's a sneak preview of some of what I've been making.

Black Friday Discount!

I wanted to let you all know that for the first time ever there is a special offer on at www.outoftheframe.etsy.com. If you use the code BLACKFRIDAY2010 you will get 15% off any order. The offer closes on Friday at midnight. Enjoy shopping :)

Janey and Travis - Santa's Little Helpers

Here are my latest Christmas Creations Janey and Travis - Santa's Little Helpers! They are both available in my Etsy Shop.

Janey works in the post room sorting all the letters that come in for Santa. She opens the letters, reads them and then sorts them according to continent then country, town and street. She loves reading the letters and seeing what people write and she can reveal that some people who are in their 60s and 70s still write to Santa - who says he's not real?

Travis works in the packing department making sure all the orders are boxed up correctly and sent to the right address. In quiet moments he enjoys popping the bubbles in the bubble wrap.