Rudolph the polka dot nose reindeer

I don't know about you but now that the Halloween decorations have come down I started feeling the cottage was looking a little bare so I thought I'd start adding a  few festive decorations, especially as I am in full on Christmas crafting mode ... it helps to get the festive creative juices flowing ... any excuse !

Joking aside, 

I LOVE CHRISTMAS

BUT ...

over the last few years I've not really enjoyed it.  From now until basically Christmas Eve I know I will be burning the candle at both ends trying to get orders made and run my market stall, attend Christmas fairs and basically be a festive bunny on duracell overdrive.  So by Christmas Day I tend to be 

exhausted dot com

So ....  this year I've decided to forget about people moaning "it's too early for decorations"  and start putting mine up now so I can enjoy them.  Before you start freaking out I don't mean 'ALL' of them, just some.  

I'm starting with this little fella ... Rudolph the spotty nose reindeer.  

I've been seeing a lot of lovely stag heads online and in magazines and have even started a pinterest board for my love of reindeer!

  I've had this little guy planned in my head for a while and finally got round to making him this week.  

I love how he came out, although I'm already planning to make one a little bigger one :O) 

Ho! Ho! Ho!  

Orders to make and products to post in my etsy shop so I better go go go !

Bad blogger!

I'm a very bad blogger I know!  It seems that I always disappear around this time every year as I seem to be busy getting ready for the Roscommon Lamb Festival.

I was also busy getting ready for our local Easter Parade.  This is a pic of me on the back of my Dad's truck in what is supposed to be a representation of me running sewing and knitting workshops in my cottage.  Unfortunately the 'cottage' was still being built the night before so I didn't get to paint it but hopefully the gingham curtains and bunting made up for that.

It was a little embarassing sitting knitting on my own but a fantastic way to promote my business as I've had loads of great feedback.  Wonder what I'll do next year ?

What's everyone else been up to?  Hope you all had a fab Easter.

M x

Country Cottage Christmas Craft Sale 2011

Sorry for the delay, as promised here are the pics from my open house at the weekend

Grab yourself a mince pie and come on through ....

My little country cottage was converted into a pop up shop for the weekend.

 I had embellished berets, applique cushions, handmade cards, card making kits, printed wrapping paper, knitting kits, corsages, gift bags, teddies, dollies, knitted booties and so much more.

 

The bedtime buddies were very popular. 

The come with a little poem hand written on a manilla tag ...

Take me to bed

cuddle me tight

I'll help you sleep

all through the night

The cushions are also very popular this year

Some of my favs were the knitted teddies, and these sparkly red booties too!

And ... my little polka dot teddies too.

So there you go, that's what those of you missed who couldn't make it.  It  was a lovely weekend (if I say so myself).  I'm hoping to have another in a few months as I think it's a great way to showcase your work.  It's been particularly hard this year as there have been craft fairs all over the place every second day!

For those of you living in or near Roscommon I will have a stall at the

Farmers Market

in Roscommon Square

(Roscommon town) tomorrow morning. 

Ho! Ho! Ho!

I better go.

On telly

Sorry for the lack of posts but I was back on telly this week and had lots to prepare for with that and all my workshops.  I was also interviewed by a local paper, will share that with you tomorrow though.

Here's a few pics from my slot on RTE's Four Live show (it's an Irish show on live at 4pm in the afternoons).  Unfortunately due to licensing restrictions some of you outside of Ireland may not be able to view the programme but for those of you that are it can be seen online here.

Luckily I got a few pics for the rest of you :O)

These are my lovely models

Amy (modelling the owl costume I made)

 Connor (modelling the Harry Potter outfit)

and Saoirse modelling the spider outfit.

Connor really got into character, he was great fun.

This is me demonstrating how to make Harry Potter glasses out of wire!

Unfortunately Amy got a little camera shy but she was soooo cute in the owl costume. 

This is Maura, the presenter of the show, modelling the owl mask I made and demonstrated (below)

So that was yesterday.

Today I've been training a group of people how to use facebook, I've been cleaning the cottage and now I've got to get me wellies on and clean out the chicken coop.  

Never a dull moment! 

Are you dressing up for Halloween?  If so share a link - would love to see your costumes.  

Magazine Interview

I was contacted by Confetti magazine a few days ago asking to interview me regarding my Hen Party Crafternoons.

You can read the full interview here.

If you know any hens,

chicks are welcome too

That are planning a party

or a bit of a do

who want something different

something unique

a party from which

they will have something to keep

Put them in touch

with yours truly, that's me!

michelle at michellemadethis dot com

for a fun filled crafty hen party!

Feeling Festive

Look what I just got !

I couldn't wait to get home and have a read.

Of course these stumbled into my basket too

Oh I couldn't resist !!!

I was so excited that I only unpacked the refrigerated stuff from my shopping ... the rest is waiting to be put away!

The minute I got in the door

the coffee machine was switched on,

 a mince pie plonked on a plate,

turf put on the fire

and minutes later 

I sat down with the magazine for a half hour of bliss.

I have spent the entire time going oooohhh, ahhhhhh,

oh that's so cute,

oh I want that,

oh I must make that.

Here's why ...
I want to show you everything but it's my pet hate when I see all

 the contents of a magazine on a blog. 
So ... I'll just show you a few things.

 
How gorgeous are these teddy bears.  The patterns for both are in the magazine.

There's also patterns and instructions to make these adorable mice.

Never thought I'd be calling mice adorable !

And loads of other patterns for fairies, deocorations, wreaths, cards etc etc including this gingerbread couple and felt owls  Sorry about the picture quality but it's been a very wet and grey morning here in Ireland.

There are also some lovely gift sections - all of which I want!

But these really stood out

Soooo cute!

Right I better stop now.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. 

Don't forget to enter the lovely giveway I'm hosting for the gorgeous book Freya & Fred.  Click here to enter.

Have a lovely day.  I'm off to get ready for a dinner party.  I'm hosting a Come Dine with me night - will tell you all about it tomorrow.

Christmas

I know - I can almost hear some of you screaming at your computer screen !! 

But it's only 109 days away! 

Yes I count ...

In fact I started my countdown on 26th December 2010. 

Yes I'm being serious.

I digress.

Sorry my posts have been rather slim of late.  I have been busy working behind the scenes on proposals, my first advert (whoooppeee) and delivering some IT training.  

Now that college is over michellemadethis is my baby - my business!

In between all of that I have been doing a lot of DIY in the cottage making room for my impending workshops (schedule will be up on michellemadethis.com shortly) and squeezing in some homemade Christmas presents. 

Amongst the presents are lots of lovely pink rose scented tea cup candles.  Not sure if they are presents for others or presents for me :o)

Yes I can!

I've been hit with a bug

well actually two

One I'm not happy with

The other woooo hoooo!

My nose is all blocked

I've not tasted food for 6 days :o(

but my head is just buzzing

in so many ways

I've been sketching and sewing

and knitting too

the ideas are just overflowing

wooooo hooooo hoooo hoooo!!

I've had meetings and talks

about all of my plans

I'm repeating my mantra daily 

YES I CAN !

Because of this I'm way behind on my blogposts.  I have so many pics from the Wool Craft Village from the Roscommon Lamb Festival and Kilkenny Sheep Shearing.  I promise to upload them soon!  In the meantime here are some of the applique canvases I've been working on which, as of this morning, are now on sale in the lovely Comfy Cafe in Roscommon.

It's my birthday tomorrow and I've got lunches, drinks and a day at the races planned so I'll catch up with you next week.  Have a fab weekend, I hope the sun shines !!!

In the meantime if you're in Roscommon on Saturday me and the ladies in my knitting group, The Cast Offs, will be meeting up for our annual PicKnit in the grounds of Roscommon Castle to celebrate World Wide Knit In Public Day. We'd love to see you there :O) We'll be there from 11.30 am and if for some reason the sun isn't shining (but I'm sure it will be) we'll meet in Gleesons Townhouse in the Square.

Happy weekend everyone!!

Gift Wrapping Demonstration & Craft fair

Just to let you all know that I will be giving a

Free gift wrapping demonstration

this Saturday at the lovely

Town and Country Interiors in Athleague. 

I shared some pics from there in this post not so long ago.

The demo will run from 3-5.00 pm

I will be demonstrating various ways to

wrap and disguise your gifts this Christmas.  Most importantly how to wrap awkward shapes such as bottles and vases :o)

I will also be having my final

Christmas Craft Sale

in the lovely Comfy Cafe,

Main Street Roscommon

on Sunday 19th December

from 12 - 6.00 pm

Here's a snippit of what's on offer ..

all handmade, homemade and made with love!

Hope to see you over the weekend !

Gorgeous Blog

I just had to share.  I'm sure some of you have seen this but I only recently discovered this fabulous blog called Sweet Paul which you can find here.

Honestly I can't believe I've only come across this now!

To add to the excitement there's an AMAZING online magazine that comes out a couple of times a year too.  The Spring issue isn't ready for 2011 yet but here's last Springs' issue available to view here.

 

Actually, you better put the kettle on before you start.  You have been warned.

Feeling soooo Christmassy :)

Oh the weather outside is frightful

but inside it's so delightful

I'm busy sewing stockings for Christmas

and stamping wrapping paper too

doing a few christmassy watercolours

and making Christmas cards too

Feeling ever so christmassy

Are you??