Saturday, November 12, 2016

Feature: The Purple Pumpkin Patch




So a while back... a looong while back... lol  I featured a little Etsy shop named 'Pookledo'.  This time around, I get to feature her new Brick & Mortar crafty (consignment) shop in Loughborough UK, called ' The Purple Pumpkin Patch '.





If you're ever in the area, drop in and see what she has in :) I love seeing her post about the items brought into her. so far I've seen everything from beautiful knit and crochet work,  homemade jams and jellies, adorable ceramic/clay/porcelain critters, homemade soaps and candles... actually, I think I've seen a bit of everything! 

And guys.. she hosts classes and such, too! I wish I lived close enough to attend her  'Knit & Natter' get togethers... I doubt my ability to learn to knit without a ready helper nearby to keep me on the right track, so this sort of thing would be the only way I'd be able to do it :)










Now, all of those glimpses inside her shop are from scattered times over the past year, but considering it IS the Christmas shopping season, I think I should show off some of the 'seasonal items' , too, right?

https://www.facebook.com/PurplePumpkinPatch/photos/a.481413805384368.1073741829.165295860329499/1114072225451853/?type=3&theaterhttps://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14953880_1114072142118528_5182808417757832442_n.jpg?oh=9d38653f123baf50a6e0f5eead724685&oe=588EBE12


 The gingerbread man wreath is just classic Christmas without being overdone, and those lace roses... wow that must have taken forever to put together ! I'm not one for glitz  or flowers, so if I had to chose between these three in person, I'd go with the gingerbread man for my door ;) There are tons more in her shop, in a variety of looks, and the old fashioned looking lacy ones are SO PRETTY!  Like this one -







And SO much more! You should pop over to her page and browse through some of the goodies :)
 For those who are NOT in her area, don't despair, she still has the etsy shop where she has her jewelry, including her AWESOME Christmas Earring Advent Calendars


and if you see something in the PPP shop that you MUST have, message her about it and maybe the two of you can work things out with the shipping... you never know ;)

AND, for a reward for visiting her shop & page, she's offered up a little prize :) this set of  3 pairs of Christmas earrings :)  The center pair are Swarovski crystal :)




And, since this is ME and you all know on my blog I make you 'work' for your ballots ;)  Pop over and visit her shops, either/both The Purple Pumpkin Patch and /or  Pookledo , ( and check it off in the entry form ), and tell me in the comments about  your 3 favorite items :)

The winner will be selected by Random.org, and notified by email ( if they've provided it) or in a blog post (if they didn't provide an email) and will have 24hrs to respond. If they don't, a new winner will be chosen in their place. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Last of the Catch Up

After lagging on posting again, I decided/realized that just blogging for the sake of getting back in to it, wasn't working. I need that drive to get it done right now, and with so many things on the go, it's just not there. SO, with that in mind, I'm going to try diving back into things and see about a schedule of some sort in the next week or so. What sort of schedule will depend on how much writing I can get done amid everything else, but right now it looks like it'll stick with weekly.

That said, I'm now at least one post behind, so I'll see about getting that second post out over the weekend ;)

As for the catching up, well, with so many things on the go, and the majority of it being 'in progress', I'll save some of those to share with the finished products.

Last post ( or so) I showed you a pic of my peacock necklace that my muse shoved in front of the owl stuff I was supposed to be making. I DID finally finish an owl piece. Just one, mind you, but it's a start.

not the best picture, sorry. It was taken with my iPad, which I have mentioned previously, IS possessed, so...*shrugs* sometimes I get great pictures, sometimes I don't.

And an autumn themed bracelet I was doing at the same time as the owl...

I was going to add an owl charm or two in, but decided I like the maple leaf charms instead. Like the orange and dark purple, but I'm not sure about the light purple flowers... they may end up removed...and those 'brown' beads are actually all different shades of purple. The only other colours in here are those orange leaves and the  copper chain, toggle, and charms... everything else is purple.

And that's it for the new jewelry. sorry, but I'm STILL getting back into the swing of it. I have a wire wrapping project ( several actually) that I'll be starting just as soon as I clean up a work space, and that, while   NOT jewelry, will be taking its place for at least a month... maybe two.

Another project (s) I mentioned were some Halloween themed items. Only one is actually completely finished... sorry, two... kinda...  but I don't seem to have a picture on here of the other one....the ipad must have eaten it...

Anyway...

The finished -  The 3D Skull Mirror ala  Epbot.com 


It was surprisingly easy to make  AND.. despite playing with knives and hot glue, I neither cut myself nor burnt myself :D All is well!  I think I want to play with it a bit to ditch the shine on the frame, but otherwise, it came out awesome and I love it :)  Go check out the site for the tutorial to make your own, although now that the Halloween stuff has been cleared out of the stores, you made need to improvise or change it up a bit... or wait for next year.

The not finished... the Goblet... as I said, this was just a cheapo white cartoony plastic cup that I decided to play with while painting other stuff at the same time. And forgot to take a before picture of, of course...
He looks better black, but aside from that, I still don't know what all I'll do to him. Maybe wrap the stem in some twine? Maybe just add some detailing? Haven't decided.

The last one that's still in progress are my bottles. I have more of these glass bottles, mostly maple syrup jugs because they're great shapes. I'd considered doing the faux coloured glass treatment to some, but haven't gotten around to that yet. So instead... I did this - first I glued on some stuff, here I did a front half skull slightly tipping downward with some centipede halves, a half skull cut level, and a giant spider *shudder* don't ask... I really don't know why I did a spider.


Then I got messy. The black one is done with strips of newspaper soaked in glue, and the bronzey one is done with stripes of paper towel. The spider one is missing because he crapped out before the paint stage... he was a newspaper one, but it didn't let enough detail through, so it'll get cleared off and redone with tissue paper ( now that I've bought more)


As you can see,  the paper towel one has a lot more texture to it. I think it'll be either paper towel or tissue paper for the rest when I get to them.  The black one needs a few fixes with it's paper before I move on with it, but they'll both get a bit more done to them to bring out the texturing and such, and then I'll wrap the necks in twine... maybe the bottom too. I have a cork for the one, and the topper that's attached to the other one will get some attention too :)

And yes whenever I finish them I will share a pic.

So that's it I guess. While I've been doing plenty of stuff, most of it is just bits and pieces that have yet to be fit into a whole ( the name 'chaos' is there for a reason, people ;) ), plus there's my writing which... probably wouldn't fit in here without some tweaking... and warnings lol. I did try doing a newsletter years ago to go with my website the writing was housed on, where each newsletter had a chapter of a story done just for it. Maybe I'll figure out a piece to do here like that? Have a set day just for that so those who aren't into it can safely ignore that day's post without worry. Something to consider I guess.


My next post will a return to my artist/shop feature posts :) I know so many talented and wonderful people and it's past time to get back into showcasing them!  And Sarah, of Pookledo, who I believe I have featured here before ;), has made that leap that many of us would like to ( in theory anyhow, while in reality we're just terrified of doing ;) ) of getting her own brick & mortar shop !

Not sure if there will be a return of the giveaways and such, since current shipping costs are rather daunting, and my funds are bit lower than I'd prefer this time of year ( I have a set amount I like to keep my savings at, and while it's still healthy, I did dip a bit deeper into it than I meant to over a few splurges ) but I think I will at least do one for the Christmas season. whether it'll be something to ship out to the winner, or just a gift certificate, I haven't decided yet. And who knows? I might end up doing more than the one... I do enjoy them :)

So keep your fingers crossed for me to keep this ball rolling forward! And feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email with any suggestions of things you'd like to see me tackle, post or schedule wise, concerning a feature, contest/giveaway, or about my 'ongoing story' idea. I mostly write a blend of paranormal/drama with a bit of action and romance tossed in, and my current work is more that but in a  fantasy setting. I've done some sci-fi in past as well, but while bits of it might crop up in my work, it's not a genre I work in much now.

 Just put 'blog' or 'chaosblog'  in the  subject line so I'll know it's not spam ;) And don't worry, I always check my spam bin... whenever I remember to check my email, anyhow :) lol

  (skyescreativechaosATgmail.com ... I'm sure you all know to substitute the @ for the AT ;) )