Monday 24 June 2013

Sleepy needle felted lion in my garden

Shhhhhhhhhh! Don't wake him up! :)

My latest needle felted animal is made from 100% Alpaca wool, ethically produced, from animals in my local area. (as all my felted animals are) He was great fun to make, I especially loved making the pink pads on his paws :D

He is for sale in my Etsy shop here: OOAK needle felted sleeping Lion by Mrs Plop's Shoppe


Sunday 23 June 2013

Crafting For A Cause - Crafters/Artists! The UK's Pound Dogs Need You!

This week things are starting to come together. In some ways, maybe a bit too many things. It's all good, but I'm juggling so many projects, that trying to divide my time between them without compromising on any of them, isn't an easy task.



As well as being Mrs Plop and needle felting, I'm in the process of launching a charity album for pound dogs on death row in UK pounds. This came about because I ran a dog rescue up until quite recently and I'm also a musician/songwriter/general pain in the backside as musicians often are ;) Yes I know that's a generalisation, but it's kinda true in a lot of cases. (My parents are musicians, my husband is one, my brother in law is one, my cousin, another cousin, and so on etc etc. So that's how I know ;) )

Anyway, I'm waffling again. Get to the point! Ok! Quick history: Me and 'him indoors' (my lovely husband) wrote a song together some years ago, and it became the charity single for death row dogs. (quick stats: one dog is un-necessarily destroyed every hour in a UK pound, due to lack of space - pounds are just overflowing with unwanted dogs :( ) Funds were raised via downloads of the song. We had an alternating list of rescues on our beneficiaries list, and we raised over 3,000! Then all these musicians from my husband's songwriter forum heard about it and were so touched by it they each wrote a song for the dogs to add to our original song. Tada! The charity album for death row dogs.

Except we're not quite there yet. Thankfully him indoors is a website designer, and bless his heart, he's working madly on the album website, trying to fit it around his paid work. I'm also working madly on the content side and with any luck we'll have it finished this week.

I decided to donate 30% of any sales from My shop, Mrs Plop's Shoppe to add to whatever funds come in via album downloads. I would love to donate all of the money from sales of my felted animals, but if I did that, our own dogs would go hungry! 

The album website is here: You Could Save Me - The Charity Album For Death Row Dogs 
Please check it when you can, as it will soon be live. Your support would be greatly appreciated! 

If there are any crafters/artists out there who would like to donate a percentage of a sale or sales to the cause, I would love to hear from you! We will be having a 'Marketplace' on the site for handmade items with a link to where folks can buy your item, so as well as helping the dogs, you can be sure your work will be seen by a wide audience. 

Just email me, Catherine, at songfordogs@gmail.com

Thank you :) xx



Wednesday 19 June 2013

Lotties Trinkets

Featured Artist Lotties Trinkets

Share the Love, Blogger’s Unite

This Weeks Featured Artist on Share the Love, Blogger’s Unite is Lise Spence-Parsons of Lotties Trinets!
You will find fabulous, handmade jewelry piece at Lottie's Trinkets! Truly One of a Kind designs that you can wear with pride! Make a statement with a gorgeous jewelry piece by Lise!
FindLise On:
Website
Etsy
Facebook
Blog
Twitter


Are you On Fire for Handmade? http://onfireforhandmade.com Grab the Code for your Blog HERE

Saturday 15 June 2013

Website driving you nuts? Ask my other half to make you one. He's fab!

A pic of Anthony

Today I will be pimping my husband. Not literally! Obviously. LOL! But, if you want a genuinely brilliant website, he's your man. Well, actually he's my man, but you know what I mean

He's freelance, so he's not all corporate nonsense and he really DOES care about his clients. He won't do it for free (ooh err mrs! Well, he will for me, otherwise he gets a slap) but he is very reasonable, and everyone NEEDS a good website. It's more than worth investing in a website made by someone in the know. One that is user-friendly, clean and professional, knows how to get the most traffic from the right content, and is SEO optimised (a site that google LOVES, and that's about as technical as it gets from me!) Nobody wants a site that looks shoddy, takes centuries to load and is impossible to use. Free sites may cost nothing, but they are horrible. There is no other word for them.

I'm always astounded at what he does and how he does it. It's literally another language to me!

His client list is impressive, but he doesn't charge the earth. He just charges the right amount for quality, and doesn't get all hung up about negotiating. And, he's extremely kind, which always helps immensely! I must have done something right to be married to a man like him!

Here's a testimonial from one of his clients: Lucinda McAlpine - Horse Guru & Dressage Guru. It sums up what's brilliant about him indoors :


"Anthony came highly recommended and he did not disappoint. He took the time to find out what my business was all about,and translated it into a website that has turned visitors into customers. His aftercare service is second to none and is always happy to answer questions no matter how simple! His integrity shines through and he is a pleasure to deal with. - Lucinda McAlpine"


Anthony is also happy to help you with technical issues and glitches with your existing site (if you have one) or with computer issues, he's also a computer tech - whatever is making you tear your hair out, he can fix.

TO CONTACT: His name is Anthony Lane (you can call him Mr Plop if you like, but I'm not sure he'd like it lol!!) and you can contact him via EMAIL to:
anthony@branchofdesign.co.uk
 

Here is an example of a website Anthony created for Estervan Interior Design:

Estervan Interior Design
 
Branch of Design

Tuesday 11 June 2013

RSS Designs in Fiber

Featured Artist RSS Designs in Fiber

Share the Love, Blogger’s Unite

This Weeks Featured Artist on Share the Love, Blogger’s Unite is Ruth Sandra Sperling of RSS Designs in Fiber! Beautiful Home Decor made with Love by Ruth!
Find Ruth On:
Artfire   Facebook   Twitter   Blog   Pinterest


 Are you On Fire for Handmade? http://onfireforhandmade.com

Thursday 6 June 2013

Needle Felted Cocker Spaniel

My other half has been happy this week as my latest needle felting project has silenced all my usual constant babbling and waffling on about anything and everything.

I've worked very hard on making this little Cocker Spaniel. He began his existence as a wolf. Well, that's what I intended on making. But he insisted he was meant to be a Cocker Spaniel. So, here he is :) Woof!

His listing is in my Etsy shop here: Needle Felted Cocker Spaniel by Mrs Plop's Shoppe


Yeah baby, I gots a mohican

My baby boy Fred and his fabulous hair-do xx