Loving Crafts Is A Way Of Life

So what is this post all about? ... Well I have decided to do something a little mad, a good mad but it is still mad all the same.

I have been enquiring about various different courses for just over a year now with a textile or jewellery course base subject. Since I have a degree in Chemistry it has been hard to find a course that didn't cost me £9000 per year (this is because of I have an ELQ (equivalent learning qualification) which bumps up the price three fold even before all the high increase in fees next year).

However, perseverance and faith have served me well. I went for an interview for a foundation degree last Monday and they have accepted me onto the course. It is a jewellery design foundation degree and sounds really amazing. So, what is the mad bit? I had to decide on Monday night whether I wanted to do the course or not and then to tell work the very next day that I wanted to hand in my notice. I have given up my very good job within the Pharmaceutical industry to go and learn about something I love to do! I still cannot quite believe it. I start the course in a few weeks from now. My aim is to make precious metal wedding jewellery and set up my own company selling bespoke items. I am in the process of making wedding tiaras at the moment and will post photographs soon of the ones I have made already.

It feels really great to be making such a life changing decision and to follow something I love doing. I cant wait to start!

Stephie :o)

OOO Just Listed My First Folksy Item :-)

OOOooo I'm very excited to say that I have just added my very first item to my Folksy shop   StephieStephie!

Laura Lovebug is a very conscientious ladybird and enjoys protecting your keys and keeping them safe on her key-ring :-)

Laura Lovebug handmade felt key-ring by Stephanie Orman, StephieStephie at Folksy.

Take a look and say hello ... She loves visitors!

If you are following this blog and want to buy one from my shop, please let me know in the comments section when you buy and I will give you something extra as a thanks for reading :-)

Take Care

Stephie x

Birthday Bows

I made my very first bow hairclip last night for a lady at work as it is her birthday today!



Felt Bow Hairclip by StephieStephie

I only got chance to take a very fleeting photograph and I was not fully awake either... oops!

It has given me some inspiration to make a few more, maybe in different colours with different stones or beads? ...The possibilities are endless!

or even into brooches? Hmmm ....

This is me distracting myself from having to sort out of my craft room that is a little ... messy? It comes from lots of things on the go at the moment. Does anyone really ever have a tidy craft room???

Stephie :-)

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Recently I visited Yorkshire Sculpture Park with some friends and had an amazing day out! The weather was great, lots of sunshine, and there was a fantastic array of artwork.

I love to document days like these with lots of photographs so here just a few that were taken...

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Friends through a Barbara Hepworth Sculpture :-)

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

Yorkshire Sculpture Park photograph by Stephanie Orman

It was an amazing day out I would definitely recommend it :-)

Thank you for reading - Leave a comment below if you wish.

Stephie x

Blogging Journey.

It has been a long time since I have been able to come back to the world of blogging through one thing or another. One thing that is for sure is that the 365 blogging really hasn't been happening for the last month.

Unfortunately I do not think that I can carry on with blogging every day, however, I am going to keep this blog updated regularly and give my shops a revamp.

Giveaways and discount codes for my followers will be blogged about ... maybe even some extra items for free with certain purchases? :-)

I will also give mention to some of the workshops that a friend and I will be doing running up to Christmas and the craft fairs that we will have stalls at too.

Museum trips and inspirational days out will feature with reviews along with photographs.

Watch out for the next installment soon ...


Thank you for reading!

Stephie :o)

Flower Purse, Vintage Buttons - Day 71

I have done some more work on the purse that I started making yesterday!

StephieStephie

I added some small vintage buttons and made a spotty fabric flower from the same material that I used as the lining fabric.

I have also started on making a mini purse but I will have to see how it goes.

I really just need to get making some bags so I can use up all the fabric that I have in my craft room!

Stephie :o)

Sunday Rain And Purses - Day 70

It is incredibly wet here in Hudderfield, the Sky is that miserably gray colour and everywhere is soaking wet.

I have been making a purse today and this is one of the initial photographs. It is still in the making process so I will have to post another photograph later when it is finished.

This is a close up of some of the side stitching on the purse.

Stephie :o)

Chicks Party - Day 69

My freind is going to get married on the 2nd July and today was her chicks party. We all went out bowling and then went for a lovely meal. I have had a truly great day today and cannot wait for the wedding. I have also just found out that another friend is also getting married in just a few weeks. I am so excited for them both and wish them all the happiness in the world as they definately need it :o)

Wet and needle felted beads by StephieStephie

When I got back in I started wet felting some of the beads that I prepared yesterday. I have only done a few so far but will have to do the rest soon. I cannot wait until they are made into the finished products.

I will keep you posted.

Stephie :o)

Making Felt Beads - Day 68

I have been making a few felt beads to make into some earrings. So far I have just prepared the roving into balls by needle felting them. They all still need wet felting before they can be made into earrings.

Felt beads WIP by StephieStephie

I have also had Miss Patch out tonight (our bunny) and had her sat on my lap stroking her for a while. She is ever so well behaved! She even licked my hand after stoking her -  I have never had a rabbit lick my hand before, it was very cute although I did go n wash my hands straight away :o)

Stephie :o)

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Flowers And Hearts Felt WIP - Day 67

Hasn't the weather been rather crazy lately? First sunshine, then heavy rain, then thunder and lightening, then sunshine, then more heavy rain, then sunshine! These weather people must be having a hard time :o)

So tonight, aside from making a lovely delicious lasagna and playing with out new bunny rabbit, I have been cutting out some bits of felt.

Work In Progress by StephieStephie

I think that I am going to make the large white felt flowers into headbands and make the hearts into ornaments? Or maybe key rings? I am not sure with the hearts yet. I am planning to add a few beads to them all too if i can find any that suit :o)

Once these are made I will be adding them to my folksy shop as some of the first items to go on sale in the new online store. I am thinking that my folksy shop is going to be entirely felt oriented? I will have to have a think on that one.

Have a good night

Stephie :o)

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More Earrings on Etsy - Day 66

Tonight we have had some friends over and all had dinner together then played some games. It's been a lovely night but now starting to feel a bit tired therefore no crafting has been done tonight. So in light of this I have been posting another pair of my felt earrings so at least I have done something vaguely craft like :o)

Rainbow Felt Earrings by StephieStephie

Rainbow Felt Earrings by StephieStephie

Rainbow Felt Earrings by StephieStephie

You can see these Rainbow Felt Earrings  featured in my etsy shop StephieStephie

Stephie :o)

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Earrings On Etsy - Day 65

I have now put my black and purple stripe earrings online is my etsy shop StephieStephie.etsy.com

Purple and black stripe hand felted earrings by StephieStephie

And to make this better I currently have FREE POSTAGE WORLDWIDE in my shop too!

I will be adding more felt earrings soon to my shop.

Stephie :o)

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Ribbons - Day 64

It is so nice having an outdoor market in Huddersfield, it's filled with stalls selling an array of different things from furniture to fabrics!

I am sharing with you today some of my gorgeous ribbons that I now have in my treasure trove waiting to be used for bags and the likes.

Ribbons from the market by StephieStephie

The blue one with the pink flowers and the copper edging is my favourite!

Stephie :o)

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Home again - Day 63

Miss Patch by StephieStephie

We have been travelling for most of the day to get home to lovely Yorkshire with a little bundle of love! Her name is Patch and she is very cute, fluffy, and totally bonkers :-)

Miss Patch by StephieStephie

She is about 6 weeks old and loves her new salt block. I am going to see is I can find some recipies for making rabbit treats for her to have - Does anyone know of any?

Stephie :-)

Bournemouth and bunnies - Day 62

We have been out in Bournemouth today celebration at an 85th birthday! Later on we then went to Bournemouth beach and played in the sea. It was so lovely being on a beach as there are not any close to Huddersfield! I have got a couple of tiny stones and shells so I can make a picture frame.

We are now relaxing with the bunnies and later will be getting packed up to go back home.

Hope you all have been enjoying the sunshine?

Stephie :-)

Day Out In Horsham - Day 61

I am going to be having a day out in Horsham today with my husband. It is such a lovely sunny day to explore.

Stephie :-)

More Felt Earrings - Day 60

I have made a second pair of hand felted earrings. I am really liking the way that they have turned out with both the colour combinations and the overall texture of the earrings. They are also incredibly light, you don't even feel like you are wearing them at all!



I cannot wait until tomorrow as we get to see out new bunny for the first time eeek! :-) Photographs will follow soon.

I hope you all enjoy this very warm weather that we are having here in the UK (Incredible rare!)

Stephie :-)

Clay Hearts - Day 59

 I have been painting and varnishing these cute little clay hearts that I made using my cutters I got the othe week from my Nan through the post.

Clay hearts by StephieStephie

I am thinking that I will make these into rings? or mini brooches. I am not sure yet but I am going to have a little experiment to see what will work best.

I am also starting to get very excited about a new member that we will be adding to our family this weekend. It is not a baby but it is definately still cute. We are going to be getting a little bunny rabbit :-) It is all fluff at the moment! We are getting it from another family member as their rabbit has had bunnies. I will be posting photographs of it soon.

Thank you for reading

Stephie :-)

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Fabric Flower Rings - Day 58

Fabric Flower Ring by StephieStephie

 There is a pearlised slightly pink bead stitched into the center of the flower that is attached to an adjustable ring as seen below.

Fabric Flower Ring by StephieStephie

I really do like the way this ring has turned out. This fabric is very nice to work with and I look forward to making more things with it!

Stephie :-)

Remember to enter teh FREE GIVEAWAY featured in day 52 blog post and leaving a post here for your chance to WIN one of my tea cup brooches and some other lovelies!

Felted With Love Earrings- Day 57

Purple and Black stripe felt earrings by StephieStephie

These are the felt earrings that I have been working on. I love the contrast of the purple stripe on the surface of the black hand felted beads!

Purple and Black stripe felt earrings by StephieStephie

I also have been playing around with how I present the things I make i.e. the packaging. What do you think of it?

Purple and Black stripe felt earrings by StephieStephie

I am going to be adding these earrings to my etsy shop StephieStephie so please go over and have a look :-)

Stephie

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Yorkshire Countryside - Day 56

It has been a fairly relaxing day today. We have been out today over in Keighley (in Yorkshire,UK) visiting some family. I have had a very sore back/shoulder for most of the day due to a trapped nerve (I think?) so have had a day away from crafting again. 

On the way back me and my husband pulled over to take a few quick shots of the surrounding countryside to share with you all.

Moooo by StephieStephie

I really love being so close to the countryside! I think I need to start doing some more walks through the hills.

West Yorkshire by StephieStephie

Tomorrow I am going to make a start on some of my felt earrings and will most likely be the topic of my blog.

See you soon

Stephie :-)

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Bunny Rabbit - Day 55

Flowers In Your Hair - Day 54

This is a photograph of some hair clips that I have made. Each one has a pearly type bead in the center of each flower.

I'm not entirely sure about these? What do you think?

Stephie x

Rice Pudding - Day 53

Tonight I have been having a night off from doing anything crafty. I have been relaxing and watching some Smallville with my husband - we don't really get chance to do this normally so it is a nice treat :-)

I have also made some rice pudding...

Rice pudding by StephieStephie

It tastes so good! I have enough for tomorrow too, I just love the stuff.

Remember to enter the free giveaway in the post below. It ends 31st may 2011 so be quick.

Stephie :-)

FREE GIVEAWAY FINALLY - Day 52

So I have a FREE GIVEAWAY for one of my brooches today aswell as other prizes  :-)

I have been making these cute little tea cup brooches for a while now and this is one of the first ones I ever made. If you would like this to be yours then enter for the chance to WIN now!

Tea cup brooches by StephieStephie

 I have decided to promote my little tea cup brooches over on kati's blog who is organising the giveaway with other things you can win too. Read all below on how to enter...

How to enter:

1) Visit my etsy shop StephieStephie and leave a comment by scrolling to the bottom of Kati's blog (<-- click Kati's blog link) letting people know what your favourite item is in my shop.

2) Become a follower of this blog for an extra chance to be entered into the giveaway, just leave a comment to say so on katis blog.

3) Then cross your fingers and hope that you win!  :-)

You can also get more extra entries by following Kati's blog - see it for more details :-)

If you are not lucky enough to win they never fret. My brooches are available HERE and just because you are reading this I have decided to offer FREE SHIPPING on all my items for the first 10 people who buy from my shop using the code FIRST10ITEMS but be quick, only 9 more left to go!


Happy blogging everyone and good luck

Stephie :-)        p.s. Please leave a comment below to say if you have entered the giveaway :-)

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You can leave a comment by CLICKING HERE and scrolling to the bottom!   Thank You :-)

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New Tea Cup Design - Day 51

So in tonight's post it was going to be about the free giveaway of one of my brooches. Sadly due to time differences between countries the time at which the free giveaway starts it will actually be tomorrow here in the UK. So I have had to change my theme for this post but the free giveaway will finally be on tomorrow :-)

I was going to post about these later on in the week but here they are ...

They are my new design for the tea cup brooches soon to be hitting my etsy shop!

See you soon

Stephie :-)

New Listings YAY! - Day 50

Wow I really can not believe that I have made it to DAY 50! I am so thrilled. I only have ... erm ... (365-50 =315) .. 315 more days to go :-)

I just hope that I am managing to keep you all interested in the things that I have been making and other bits and bobs.

Tonight I have been busy adding some more brooches to my etsy shop. I love making new things and I have found it quite hard not to post these in the making but I think it was worth the wait as they look so beautiful! What do you recon?

Turquoise and mint green flower tea cup by StephieStephie

Turquoise, baby blue and black flower tea cup by StephieStephie

 These are a few more of the collection that you can shortly find in my etsy shop StephieStephie! 

There is also free postage for the first 10 items sold in my shop (Only 9 more to go) so be quick to get YOUR FREE POSTAGE!

Flower Tea Cup Brooches by StephieStephie

 Also these are my newest collection called CIRCLES AND DOTS tea cup collection by StephieStephie

Circles and Dots collection by StephieStephie

Do you like them?

You can find all these and much more over on my etsy shop StephieStephie.

I also have a FREE GIVEAWAY for one of my tea cup brooches so be sure to come back tomorrow for the details of how to enter and WIN!

Thank you for looking and see you soon

Stephie :-)

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Parcel From My Nan - Day 49

Cutters by StephieStephie

<>I have received a another parcel from the postman and boy was I happy to look inside. My Nanna Val very kindly sent me these lovely petties...

The are little tiny cutters to use with my clay for brooches and rings and things...

Cutters by StephieStephie

So I am going to do a little experimentation with these and I will post all about it soon :-)

Cutters by StephieStephie

Thank you very much Nan! :o)

Stephie x

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