So, in the last month or so I’ve been reviewing all the crafty things I do and trying to figure out what I most enjoy doing which has turned out to be no easy task.  I feel like I’ve been living in chaos for the last few months so the time has come to get organised.

I’m having a huge destash of my craft supplies – most of which are being given to charity or being sold on trademe (for NZ buyers only).  There is a LOT of stuff to get rid of!!

I’ve also parted with some of my Blythe dolls and have still a few more to let go.  Two  Custom House BJDs did join the household today though so I can’t feel too virtuous about that one!! 

Getting rid of stuff is very cathartic and I actually feel more inspired by my reduced supplies than I did when surrounded by a whole lot of stuff.

Over the next few weeks I am going to focus on stocking my felt and etsy stores – with paper and stationery goodies and Blythe outfits.   I will also make a very few OOAK bears for Christmas.

So that’s the plan…now to get to work!

Where has the time gone?  It seems only a couple of weeks since Christchurch Craft 2.0 and here we are less than a week out from the next Lower Hutt show!

Here’s a sneak peek of some of my newest creations – cute little cars which will be available as both pushpins and buttons.

Catch up with all the other fabulous people who’ll be attending on Saturday over on the craft2.0 blog.

why do I feel as if I’m forever catching up on my blogging?  I vowed a few weeks ago that I would begin blogging every other day and yet here I am writing yet another catch up post.

Craft2.0 in Christchurch was fabulous.  I so love my old home town and the fact that it was held in one of my very favourite Christchurch landmarks made it extra special.

The show was busy all day.  I thought that I’d made way too much product for the show, but was pleasantly surprised to almost sell out.  Now I have to get my skates on and work hard for my upcoming shows and to get some stuff on my Felt shop.

I had a nice couple days holiday before and after the show which was good because I came back to a very full on week at work.  That and the grim days of winter have seen my crafting mojo disappear a little.  Lets hope it’s back for the weekend.

Just over one week to go until the Christchurch event.  I am almost ready…just a few final products to get into shape!  This will be my first trip down to the Christchurch Craft2.0 and I’m so looking forward to it.  I’m looking forward to shopping with some sellers new to me.  You can find out more about each seller over at the Craft2.0 blog

So I’ve been making lots of pushpins to get ready for Craft2.0 in Christchurch.  I’m really liking  this new robot fabric in green.  I like that these so closely resemble 1950s tin robots.  I might have to invest in a piece of the other colorway available (yellow I think).  I will have a few of these in rings and brooches too.

It’s double sided fabric and has pretty lilac polka dots on the back – not the colour I’d have picked to go with these geeky little robot men.

And there’s a few more sets of my orignal robot fabric – a slightly coarser linen weave in cheerful red and blue

While I was pondering some new designs for bears recently, I was looking back at some past favourites and trying to pinpoint what about them appealed so much to me.

Actually, I shouldn’t call them favourites, as every new bear seems to become a favourite – rather there are bears that marked certain points in my bear making  journey where something new was achieved.  Sadly I don’t have photos of many of my bears after a computer crash but here’s a nostalgic look back at some past Honeythorpe creations.

In late 2004 I started a total rethink of my bears.  My new designs were small-ish – between four and five inches for the most part and had big feet and a chubby tummy.  By 2005 I was happy with the new look and Plum Puddin’ was my favourite bear of the year.  Pandas are my favourite bear to create and I love the soft matte finish of alpaca.  This guy measures around 4.5″

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I have always loved bears with “chops” and when the high quality woven synthetics suitable for small bears arrived on the market, I was so excited….and very very intimidated.  I was so sure that I wouldn’t be able to make a cute bear from this fabric, as it was so different to the sparse mohairs I favoured.  I still haven’t used this fabric as much as I would like – Alaina and Kaia were two of maybe three bears I’ve made in it.

I love fairy bears – and  a lot of the bears I collect are very feminine – but I don’t do “frou frou” very well myself!  I wanted to make some fairy bears but to do them in my style.  The purple bear (whose name escapes me) was my first attempt at a masculine-ish fairy bear – I love the sculpted eyes and bridge of the nose – the complete opposite of the two smooshy faces above, but still recognisable as my bears.  I love the caramel and blue colourways of the bear on the right….wishing I had more of those wings right now!  These two measure about 4 inches and 3.5 inchres respectively.

So…what aspects of these bears will be incorporated into my new bears?  We shall wait and see!

Meet Alexander – the first Honeythorpe bear for 2009 (yes, I know it’s May already!).

Alexander was created from my favourite vintage velvet.  A warm caramel colour, this velvet has a matte finish and is sooo soft to the touch, helping give Alexander his baby bear appearance.

Alexander measures a tad under two inches tall when standing.  He has rounded limbs and a chubby tummy.   His nose and claws are stitched from dark brown cotton.  Alexander wears no adornment as I think  he is perfectly sweet without it.

Alexander is available from the website .

I spent most of the weekend finishing up my goodies for craft2.0 on Easter Saturday.  Sue is adding profiles of stall holders to the blog daily (which means each day I figure out new ways of spending my money!)

Just over a week and a half to go and I’m feeling semi-organised.  This will be my first time at craft2.0 and I’m a little nervous.  But I’m really pleased with my product so that’s a start.

Blythe dresses will be on hold until after Easter.  I do have a couple more dresses finished to add to the shop, maybe I can squeeze in some photo sessions after work this week and get them in the etsy store.  I’ll try and get some pictures of my craft 2.0 goodies as well.

A few weeks ago, I showed a preview of an A-line dress with inverted pleat.  That dress needed a few pattern tweaks and sat on my sewing table unfinished for longer than it should have.  Adjustments are all done and a couple of these dresses are now available in my etsy store

The dress is mini length  and works well over tights or even over trousers.  The inverted pleat gives it a nice shape and I deliberately lined it in the bodice only, so it would retain the triangular shape at the bottom.

Prices start on these dresses at just $12 depending on the amount of trim I add.  I think they look best in retro style fabrics.  I’m especially fond of this teal and green number.

Cate, my French Trench Blythe has become my go-to girl for photographing these dresses – there’s something about her bed-head hair and slightly sassy attitude that makes her look the best in them.  She does tend to look incredibly smug though!

This one is sold – I think it’s one of my favourite dresses I’ve ever made. I wasted a bit of fabric fussy-cutting so that the little piggy was centred in the pleat, but it was totally worth it.  I think I am going to have to try and hunt down some more of this fabric.

Another that has sold – more Japanese fabrics – retro mushrooms which at that scale give the dress a nice retro 60s look.

I’m trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and to sew things for blythe that go beyond the skipper patterns.  Today’s attempt was very basic but I’m pleased with how it turned out.  A three tiered skirt.  I wanted to avoid elastic so drafted a curved yoke and it worked pretty well.

Hopefully i’ll get a couple of these made during the week for the etsy store.