Eurovisual

This week (21st-27th March) handmade and vintage heaven Etsy turns the spotlight away from the US sellers that dominate the site to focus on those based in Europe.

To celebrate, Burnout Bazaar is offering a 15% discount on all orders placed from now until midnight (GMT) on 27th March - just enter coupon code EUREKA at checkout to take advantage of the offer. There will be special offers throughout the week too, so WATCH THIS SPACE!

You can also check out some of Burnout Bazaar's favourite European Etsy sellers in this new nautical-themed treasury.

Born To Soon

Photo courtesy of Hex.

I've recently got involved with a fund-raising campaign, run by my local friendly body-piercing studio, for a very worthwhile cause.

Bliss, is a special care baby charity which provides vital support and care to premature and sick babies across the UK. Hex Piercing joined the campaign by holding a cupcake stall last Saturday, as part of the Bliss Cake a Difference Week (14-20 February). The scrumptious cakes were baked by one of Hex's piercers, Laura, (who also appeared on BBC3's Snog, Marry, Avoid last month).

The cake event was such a success, raising over a hundred pounds for the charity in one day, that the organisers decided to hold a raffle too so I have donated two goodie bags, each containing a selection of handmade things from my Etsy shop. One of the bags includes a Pacman inspired decoration set.

If anyone out there happens to be in the Blackburn area this week, you can buy raffle tickets from the shop at 3 Lees Hall Chambers, Mincing Lane, Blackburn. The raffle will be drawn next Saturday afternoon (26th). Good luck!

Find out more about Bliss and how you can get involved here.

Instrumental Inspiration

Here we are almost a month into 2011 so I thought it was about time I started a lil ol' blog to tell you a bit about my creative work and share with you some of my favourite links and inspiration. To start the ball rolling I thought I'd give you the background behind one of my current ranges, felt replica guitars...

Photo courtesy of Nathalie O'Flynn.

It all started in late 2009 when my friend Nathalie asked if I would create some guitar shaped decorations for her party bar. At the time, I had just produced a range of brightly coloured Hallowe'en bats so she was expecting something basic and bold until I suggested that if I was going to make mini guitars then why not fashion them after real guitars with strings and all? The first guitar I created for Nathalie was a replica of a shamrock bass played by one of her favourite musicians, Barry Devlin of the Irish Celtic rock band Horslips.

Since then I have created guitars from felt and fabric in all shapes and sizes including ones in the style of Les Pauls, Flying Vs and Stratocasters. I create custom replicas from people's photographs and am about to launch a range of fantasy guitars in unusual shapes and colour schemes so watch this space. Check out my current range on Etsy.