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Friday 11 May 2012

TODAY'S GUEST BLOGGER IS....


Happy Friday everyone!  And let me start by thanking Jill for letting me be her Friday guest blogger today – it’s a pleasure to be here, and I’m very excited about it!

Of course, I have no clue what to write about and can’t think of a deep and meaningful topic for us all to discuss (probably just as well), so I think I’ll chat to you all about me and Tickled Pink Crafts (www.tickledpinkcrafts.co.uk), in the hope that some of you will find it interesting.

I am Ann, one half of Tickled Pink Crafts. I’m the needle-felting blogger, although I do other crafty stuff too (tatting, papercrafts, sewing). Originally from Leeds, I went to Bristol University where I studied German, obtaining a BA (Hons) and then an MLitt (Master of Letters).  In spite of saying I never would, I spent my working life in sales, selling specialised paper and then specialised materials into the composite industry (think Formula 1 cars, aeroplanes, boats).  I married my lovely husband in 2006, had my gorgeous daughter in 2007 and was in the fortunate position to be able to give up work to look after her.  I live in the beautiful Golden Valley area of Herefordshire on top of a hill with a wonderful view and lots of peace and quiet (if you exclude the family, 3 dogs, 7 hens, parrot and 4 fish!)!


As lovely as it is to be a stay at home Mum there comes a time when you want to do something for yourself and reclaim your identity as you rather than just being Mummy, and here’s where Tickled Pink Crafts came to the rescue.

My lovely friend Amanda, now residing in London, made some beautiful utee pieces which inspired me to turn them into jewellery like this


And that is how Tickled Pink Crafts was born! Neither of us want to go back to work for somebody else, we both love crafting and so we are trying to (and going to) make this work!   We still have the jewellery, although we have moved on to other things. Amanda has always been an avid card maker, and creates the most wonderful cards, notebooks and paper items.



She also knits and crochets as well as finding the time to run our website (www.tickledpinkcrafts.co.uk)  (you can have a look but she is re-jigging it at the moment so it’s not that interesting!)!

About 18 months ago I discovered needle-felting and, whilst nowhere near as good as Penny (www.planetpenny.co.uk) and the amazing Gretel Parker (www.allaroundus.blogspot.com), am really pleased with how my skills are developing.



I have recently started felting onto polystyrene shapes which keeps my fibre usage down but is also enabling me to develop a “style” of my own.



Who knows where this “style” will lead? I do wonder how many things you can base on a sphere or oval! 
Thank you for reading my waffle, and thank you again Jill.  You can find Tickled Pink Crafts on Folksy (http://folksy.com/shops/T1ckledP1nk), Twitter (@T1ckledP1nk) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tickled-Pink-Crafts/140604072638445) and keep checking our website for the launch of the shiny new version.

Have a lovely weekend, and here’s hoping for some sunshine!

Ann

8 comments:

  1. It seems more and more of us are turning to 'home industries', hens and veggie plots. I think that's a good thing, but does it pay? Does it matter? I don't know, but I'm very happy doing it - and it seems you are too.

    A great post, thanks Ann - and Jill, of course.

    Lesley x.

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    1. I'm not sure it pays financially, but definitely does in terms of sanity, satisfaction and contentedness.

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  2. A lovely read Ann, good to get to know you better and agree working for yourself whilst hard work is so much better than for someone else.

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  3. Another great guest post Jill, I love a good waffle and enjoyed reading about Tickled Pink. I'm off to check out the links :o)

    Jan x

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  4. What adorable items you've created there! I just know you're going to make it- so don't give up!

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  5. Another great guest blogger Jill

    D x

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  6. Hi!

    I'm Julie, a publisher of the Learn Your Christmas Carols blog with more than 25, 000 visitors. You know what? I found some good holiday content on your site that deserves a wider audience. Can I ask if you have something to share with me? This year, I'd like to include links on recipes, decorations and crafts on my web site http://learnyourchristmascarols.com . The only requirement would be a link back in your sidebar or footer. If you are interested please email me at juliegallaher@gmail.com or tweet me at http://twitter.com/juliegallaher

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comment - it is always lovely to have feedback and I hope you enjoyed my post.