Drum roll!! drum roll!!!.....

I thought it was about time that I had a "GIVEAWAY" on my fb page for all the great support I have had from "Likers"...so last week I left a message saying that I would really love to reach 500 fans...well you lot have been fab and in less than 24 hours I reached the magic number! I did say on fb that the draw would be on Friday at 7pm, unfortunately wee Mushy was vomiting at just about that time! and for the rest of the evening.....First thing this morning still in his jimjams wee Mushy had a special role to play ...picking from the hat the lucky winner.

With over 150 names in the hat , he managed to place them all in his sunhat.....

Shake.....shake.....shake....

pick out a name.......

Drum roll..................................................................

............................................the lucky winner is..........................................

Cara Aitch Homer!!!!! well done Cara and thank you so much for taking part in my first "proper" giveaway.

Look out for next months "giveaway"......

Taking risks

I have been very busy over the last month organising, planning and plotting!

An opportunity came along which I thought long and hard about ... a local lady was opening up a shop at our local garden centre for local crafters, you pay for the space/unit/shelving on a three month selling licence... a little shop inside a shop!

The pessimistic side of me was saying..Mmmm too expensive...what if nothing sells etc etc

but the positive side was saying, a shop open 7 days a week...location is fab everyone likes garden centres?...I sell well at craft fairs when customers get to touch and feel....it's only money I'm losing!

So yesterday I dragged a friend along (Thank you Sophia) to help me set up "my space", a white wooden shelving unit. I signed on the dotted line and paid up!

It opens tomorrow morning at 10 and the grand opening will be in September.

Am I taking a risk?!....Watch this space.

You don't NEED anything but you WANT it!

Most things I make you don't need but you may want!....I sometimes struggle with this, I know that most things I buy I don't need but I DO want, is it a girl thing?? as most of my girlfriends are exactly the same we googoo and gaga over handbags, shoes, jewellery and anything else that is a bit "special"...often it's an impulse buy where "you have to have it now" and other times it's a oh I'll think about it....boy do you think about it from the moment you leave the shop or website, justifying why you should have it until you decide you can't live without it, then as you decide you will have it, it's gone! too late someone else has snatched it up!
How do you feel when you see these items...some I have bought on impulse and others I am deciding upon...but how long before they are gone!

Superwoman..and she doesn't know it

Over the month of may I joined the Mad Mayhemmers on Folksy, it's a personal challenge to list one item a day for the full month.
I found it quite challenging but it helped me to achieve something daily, and it was a great way to fill up my shop, I tend to make things, then pop the finished item back into a box..."How is it going to sell if no-one sees it?" is the question my other half would often ask me.
During the month of May I "met" some fabulous folksy folk and one seemed to stick out..Natalie from NOfkantsCurios, Natalie was always around morning, noon and night to answer questions.... she was full of praise for us all, bringing us all together as friends... doing silly "happy dances" when we had a sale..... as well as playing the sales fairy herself a few times!









These are a few of my favourites from Natalie's shop.

I don't know a lot about Natalie but what I do know is that she has two full time jobs....a family..at least two children but I am sure it's three....time and patience for others...without her help I would not have been able to do this blog with photos!
What I do know is Natalie lives in my neck of the woods so we WILL be meeting for coffee and that I now have a fully stocked shop!

Oh and I am part of the June Loonie Gang!

Something to read..

I bought this fabric a wee while ago as I thought it was a little different, I also thought most of the goodies I create are female led and maybe I could make something more manly...not sure I succeeded but teen Mushy does have his eye on the bunting, although he did say "why didn't you make it into a cushion or better still a mobile phone cover"..watch this space!

A Third of the way there!!

http://http//www.folksy.com/shops/maxineveronica13

http://http//www.folksy.com/shops/STEAMPUNKSTOR

http://http//www.folksy.com/shops/ArtBazaar

http://http//www.folksy.com/shops/clairezcardz

At the beginning of May I joined a group in Folksy for all the mad people!..well not quite but by joining I have "signed up" to list a new goodie in my shop everyday through out the month of May, well I have made it a third of the way through! yippee.

Here is a little selection of my favourites from day 10 only 21 more days to go....

Tea and Cake

Everyone loves tea and cake or is it just me and my friends?

I purchased a lovely collection of fabric a while back and amongst it was a yummy collection of tea, coffee and cake fabric, the pieces of fabric were too small to really make anything with so I thought I would cut out as many cups of tea and doughnuts as possible then I sewed them onto contrasting fabric and made them into little lavender bags/keyrings.

They look almost as yummy as the real thing...don't you think?

Buttons..buttons and more buttons!

Can a girl ever have enough buttons??? Ok so I do have a problem but I am sure a lot of you crafters out there are exactly the same?!

Just before I went away for Easter I received a huge amount of buttons...I spent days drooling over the colours and deciding which colours would be the most sensible to buy (see I'm not all consumed), I love to make Button Bracelets and I use a lot of buttons on various sewing creations.

I started thinking even I won't get through this amount of buttons for a while so I've decided to share them! They will be listed on my websites over the next few days so you can indulge with me!

Bunting...bunting...bunting...

I have busy this week making bunting using some of the material which arrived from Japan... I have appliqued the Russian dolls onto the flags, which look good, I sold a set really quickly and thought I should probably make more...

Next I made Blue, red, yellow balloon bunting, I contrasted it with a deep blue which looks great...so good that when I was making it, wee mushy asked to have it in his bedroom, so that is where it is hanging!..yes I will need to make more...

Lastly I made pink and blue stripey bunting contrasting it with white..my thinking behind this one was that it could be used easily for both boys or girls, well I am helping to organise a friends baby shower for this weekend and yes you have guessed ...it will be hanging up in the room to decorate along with the blue and pink balloons!...Off to make some more!

The bunting can be purchased from my website.. www.mariefinlay.co.uk

Swap.....

As many of you know I have a "thing" about buttons, ok, ok I have an obsession with them...Well how delighted was I when this arrived in a wee parcel on Saturday morning.

I had joined my first folksy swap which Zoe http://www.folksy.com/users/jewelbox had organised.

I added my name to the list hoping I would "get in" and I did!

This arrived beautifully wrapped and presented ...it felt like my Birthday.

One of the first things I did was check out who "Mai" was on Folksy to see what other delights could be found in her shop... I wasn't disappointed and you won't be either.. http://www.folksy.com/users/CraftyLittleMia I feel I have found a new friend with an obsession too!( obviously in a healthy way!)

I have also found Mia here http://twitter.com/CraftyLittleMia and have been enjoying getting to know her a little better..I hope she doesn't feel I have turned into a stalker...I just like to get to know like minded friends a wee bit better.

Wee mushy has taken a liking to the bookmark too!

Creating for girls

If you look at everything I make you would think I was surrounded by girls, but I'm not......I don't have any daughters...... sadly my Mum passed away when I was in my early twenties.... I have no sisters.... no mother in- law (maybe that's a bonus) and no close female relatives.

What I DO have are some fantastic men in my life....my two brilliant sons, Mr.H, my brother and my Dad.

Creating brings out the girlie girl in me, I love being surrounded by lovely fabrics, buttons, ribbons it reminds me of my childhood, spending hours making dolls clothes from remnants of fabric and knitwear(my best friends mum worked for Lyle and Scott knitwear and used to bring all the cut offs back to us to use!). I also used to make houses and furniture for my Sindy doll from cardboard and fabric....There is light at the end of the tunnel I have a niece who is two and is showing signs of being a girlie girl...she won't wear trousers and LOVES dressing up...pity she lives 500 miles away!!!

Half Term Fun!

Ow I love half term holidays maybe it's something to do with teaching for years! It's great to stop that mundane routine for a wee while.

I love spending time with my boys... Wee mushy is home with me everyday, he is only two but Teen Mushy spends a lot of time at school and studying after so we don't have lazy mornings...days often.

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday so any excuse to make pancakes!

Special Delivery

1. Cute Matrioshka dolls
2. 2.Vintage looking figures!

3. More Matrioshka dolls 4. A yummy mix

Oh I am sooo excited I just love when the postman arrives with a parcel for me....especially when it's FABRIC..all the way from Japan!
I do have plans for some of it but I am open to suggestions too?

I love the characters on some of the pieces they have a retro feel, as a child I had Holly Hobbie (does anyone remember that?) wall paper in my bedroom in shades of purple and pink which I loved, this has the same feel about it..

Pinch, Punch....first of the month!

Phew! February has arrived, January is such a long month or at least it feels that way.



I have been surrounding myself with romance and yummy hearts! ( it was my Anniversary last week too) This is a few of the wooden hearts I have been working on... who doesn't love hearts?

The larger hearts are Hair slide holders a long piece of ribbon is attached to the bottom of the heart where you can clip all your hair accessories, no excuse for losing hair clips!
The smaller hearts will just make fab little gifts for that special someone... go on surround yourself in love!

"Happy Birthday Mr.Burns"

Today is a special day in our family, we celebrate the birth of Rabbie Burns with a wee burns supper..

Haggis, tatties and neeps! even wee Mushy loves Haggis.. not really sure if a 2 year old should be eating it, but hey he had seconds and cleared his plate.

It seems we are not the only people who celebrate the "Bards" birthday as over the last couple of weeks I have sold a few of my tartan brooches.

Back in November I had an order for sixty of these little beauties to be used at the http://www.tartanclef.org/ which I was very proud of (being Scottish).

This week I have been asked to make something else in tartan.... I'll give you a peek when it's finished!