see what I meant about miniaturisation?

Roll up, roll up! Allow me to present to you, the miraculously miniaturised bunting in a box! Yes, this bunting is so teeny tiny that it fits inside your averagely miniscule matchbox. I am in love with this bunting. I was going to save it for the forthcoming markets, but couldn't resist using it to make my etsy shop look a bit more lively. I'll be adding it to my shopify soon, too, but for now, you can find it here. I really enjoyed designing the packaging for this and it turned out just how I had imagined plus a little bit better. Don't you love it when that happens?

Today's act of miniaturisation was a revisit to something I was toying with a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I have upgraded from black and white to colour television and here is the new and improved test card girl and clown to prove it.

Still as tiny as ever, she is totally stitched by hand this time around and has also had some colouring pencil excitement in her life - ooh la la. (Like the bunting, she is also in my etsy shop just now and should be up in shopify soon too.) I am really liking her, but am curious to see how she goes down with other people when I take her to markets. When I showed this to Graham earlier, he said, "That's crazy." I took that to mean crazy in a good way, crazy that I had stitched something so small and detailed etc. Sadly, he then clarified his comment with, "It's like something a crazy person would make." Ha! Well, as most crafters seem to, I do often question myself as to why I make any of the things I do and I cannot think of a single reason why I made (and love) this embroidery... Fetch the straightjacket!

Also added to my etsy shop tonight are some kits to make your own pinwheel brooch, rather like this personal favourite of mine, here. I've made a big bag of pinwheel brooches to take to markets (and they look so summery and jaunty in all their beautiful colours and patterns!) and a big bag of make-your-own kits too.

Again, I am so pleased with how my illustrated instructions turned out, and my packaging too. I don't think I had realised how much I actually like designing things with a notepad/pencil and a computer. Like I said last night, the EastEnders ban seems to have been a good idea!

Talking of EastEnders (I am still allowed to talk about it!) I have been rather traumatised by the turn of events this week. Have you? I won't say any more in case (like me) you're having to catch up on i player a lot thanks to the schedule being all over the place, but suffice to say I don't like the way things are going...

Right, I'm off to drink a couple of gin and tonics and hopefully watch The IT Crowd that I taped earlier. I'm aiming to eke the evening out as much as possible because I don't really want to go to work tomorrow. There are no opportunities for miniaturisation at work, you see, whereas at home, the possibilities are endless :)