My Name Is Raven

My name is Raven. As I sit upon my Ravenstone I ponder in my thoughts. Some consider me a bird of ill omen others a mediator between life and death. I am both the symbol of the sun, and the symbol of a moonless night.

The Scottish Highlanders, a brave and fearsome people, once associated me with the second sight and prophecy. My image flew on the banners of the pagan Danes and Viking ships as tokens of luck on their voyages. I am, however, a contradiction in terms; I am thought of a as trickster and a thief, a representation of death and doom.

While conversely others think I represent magic, creation, healing, wisdom, and protection. I am especially revered by the creative type as I was a favouite bird of the god Lludd, the Celtic god of artists and artisans. I symbolize the void - the mystery of that which is not yet known.

S mis Fitheach. My name is Raven. 

Spring is here, Spring is here!

I planted some seeds that I found in a long neglected package. I really didn't know what they were but I thought I would give them a chance to see life and grow.

I watered them and took care of them. Most of the seeds turned out to be spindly things that immediately went out into the compost to live out their lives. But one seed was special. I watered it daily, talked to it and generally took great care of it.

It grew and grew and finally a bud began to form. Each day I waited with baited breath wondering just what this little treasure would grow into. Finally one morning I came down and what should I see but this beautiful red bloom smiling back at me!

He spoke with such ease and elegance and thanked me for taking such good care of him. He reminded me we all need to take care of one another. If we do then beautiful things will come from it. Well said Red Bloom, well said.

To see more about him click HERE!

Please vote for me?!!

I'm calling on all my Etsy friends to please, please do me a favour?  For the first time EVER I'm in the Storque in the Vote for Your Favorite Ornament Contest!  It goes from today until Novemeber 30th and I really don't want to embarrass myself or my Great White North Santa Christmas Tree Ornament (whew, that's a mouthful!) with a low showing of votes!

You can vote for him HERE or even HERE.  I'm not expecting him to win, there is some pretty stiff competetion, but I would really like him not to be in the bottom...which, sadly, he is right now!

 

So please everybody?  Please Vote for him?  Thank you!!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas Needle Felted Crew

This is a set I've been working on for a quite awhile now. I love the look of white on white and wanted to do a real True North Winter scene.
My polar bear who measures approximately 16.5 cm (6 1/2 inches) in length.
A little snowshoe hare (approx. 7 cm (2 3/4 inches) comes with the set.
How could you not have a snowman in the great white north?!
Finally Father Christmas to watch over the white crew. All listed on McBride House along with a bunch of other new creations!

Front Page Bootwarmers!

As any seller on Etsy knows, it is very exciting to make the front page! I don't get on the front page very often, but this morning I had two convos from the wonderful NoodleNoggin and from a complete and wonderful stranger Fluffy Flowers telling me I was on the front page! This beautiful treasury was put together by the very talented soap maker ThistleDelight!

What a great thing to wake up to! Thank you everybody!

Needle Felted Santa Claus

I'm afraid our Fall season may just be over. It's cold, wet and did I say cold? Oh well, bring on winter, I'm ready for the Christmas season with all of my needle felted Santa's!
This is Flying High Santa. He's my interpretation on how Santa gets all those Christmas decorations on the top of those really tall trees! He just flies on up there with a string of beads and poof! A decorated Christmas tree!

Santa's resting his weary feet and is checking his list to make sure he should leave this beautiful blue present with you. Should he? Have you been nice? Only you know!
What can I say about this little guy, he's a Santa and a Snowman all wrapped up in one! The best of two worlds, hence the name, Santa Snowman!
Aren't you lucky, Santa's not only coming to visit, he's bringing his own Christmas tree! Hmmm... that's a very small tree... and a small tree requires small little presents to go under it! Oh well, as we women know, the best things come in small little boxes! Sorry guys, no big screen TV for you this year!

Happy Monday and Other Stuff

It's near impossible to get a good picture of the kittens while they are awake, but I did manage to snap this one, doesn't he just look so proud of himself!

As you all know, I sell my patterns on Etsy and Artfire, but also on a new site called Zibbet! Today I discovered a blog that is running a contest for a free Lifetime Membership on Zibbet! Paper n Stitch is working with Zibbet and this is what they have to say:

"We teamed up with Zibbet to offer TWO free premium accounts for life to two lucky winners. And we also have a promo code for ANYONE to use to try out the site with a premium account for free for seven days. Use promo code PAPERNSTITCH for a free seven day premium trial. Worth a shot right?"

I think it's worth a shot indeed! I actually won a door prize on Saturday at a craft show, so I'm ready to win some more!

I'm a proud "parent" and I love all my patterns that I create, but I have to admit there are certain ones that I just LOVE! These new Winter Wedding Gauntlets are one of them!

They are made with Bernat Alpaca yarn and are just the softest, dainty things ever! I named them Winter Wedding because they just have such a romantic feeling to them. Plus the winter white yarn with the touch of "something blue" really lends them to the feeling of a wedding.

Of course they are not limited to only women getting married! They make the perfect accessory to any winter outfit!

Windemere Capelet Crochet Pattern.

I've had this one in the works for awhile, and now that Fall is in the air and it's time to not only start crocheting, but wearing warmer clothes, I'm ready to release by newest pattern, Windemere Capelet.
Made with Lions Brand Homespun Yarn that is easily available and comes in those oh-so-nice colours, you'll be making not only one for yourself but you'll be asked to make one for a gift for your friends. Remember, Christmas will be here before we know it!

Winding Roads Mitten Crochet Pattern

When you crochet in the round a spiral seam pattern will form. I'm not sure why or how it does this, especially when you are increasing or decreasing on each row, but it does.

So how can I overcome this spiral pattern? Well, don't fight it, join it! I actually embraced the spiral seam and created these new mittens with a winding road, or vine theme to them!
I think it is one of most favourite patterns that I have designed! Shhh... don't tell the other patterns, they might develop a complex!
I really like the versatility of these mittens since they can be worn in the fall or spring with a t-shirt and vest when temperatures are not quite cold enough for bulky winter coats, but can still be worn under a winter coat when the temperatures drop. There will be no cold draughts coming up my sleeves this winter!
Of course the mittens can be made without the winding vines, and a darker colour wouldn't even show the spiral seam, but I kind of like them just the way they are!

Winding Roads Mitten Pattern can be found HERE.

Maritme Beach Treasury

I'm kind of down and out for a few days from doing crochet and felting since I broke my finger this last weekend, so I'm trying to catch up on some computer work... which is a little bit difficult since typing is a little hard to do! However, I did manage to snag a Treasury last night and devoted it to artist all from New Brunswick. It wasn't very hard to build a beach theme from all of our Etsy items. Click here if you would like to see some of my fellow New Brunswicker's beautiful work!
The fog was so thick this morning you could hardly see past your nose. I snapped this picture and when I came in and put it on the computer I noticed something in the tree.
When I zoomed in I realized that there was a crow in the tree. I guess the fog was so thick he never even noticed me!

Nice Surprise!

I discovered a great blog, For the Love of Cute the other day that devotes it's site "to handmade cuteness". Every day Anna "posts a new selection of cute handmade items found from all over the web".

And this morning I woke up to an Etsy convo from Anna saying that she included my Shu Shu Panda in with some other great panda bears on her blog!

What a wonderful surprise! Then I discovered that Anna is in fact the creator of House of Mouse on Etsy! If you haven't seen her little mice you have to check them out! Fantastic!

Button Brooch

Hmmm, why are reds so hard to photograph? This is a new felted brooch I've been working on, but how am I going to list it if I can't get the colour right? It is actually a maroon colour, not the bright red that it is showing. Back to the drawing board I guess!

Londonderry Hat Pattern

Working on weekends and evenings I am delighted to have finally finished my newest hat pattern! May I present to you The Londonderry Hat.This is me, sipping from my empty mug and contemplating whether or not this was a good idea to try to take my own picture!

Obviously the front view!

Londonderry looks really cute with short hair, but it's roomy enough to tuck longer hair up underneath it, or put your hair in braids. Don't worry though, it looks great with your hair down too.

A nice simple design on the back of the hat just adds that extra something special.

Cover design for the Londonderry Hat Pattern. Don't forget to look for it on Etsy!

Happy New Year!!!

Looking back over the past year, I can't believe how much can change in such a short amount of time. Living in a very rural part of New Brunswick, Canada, I never thought that after only nine months of selling my crochet patterns on Etsy I would meet so many fantastic people from so many parts of the world! I've sold my patterns to most of the provinces in Canada and to all the states, except 4, of the United States of America. I've also, much to my excitement sold to England, Australia, Norway, Singapore, New Zealand, Israel, Mexico, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, Cyprus, Italy, Belgium, Paris and Switzerland! Imagine! I've never even visited half the provinces in my own country and I've met all these people from all over the world!



I also love the coincidences in sales trends. For example, I will often get two sales at the same time, and the buyers will share their first name. Within the last few days, however, I had two sales together. The first sale was from a woman from California who's first name was Summer. The second sale was from a woman in Oregon, who's name was Autumn! No kidding! And then last night, I received a sale from a woman who's last name was Winters! Amazing! It reminds me of the quote “Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” (Max Ehrmann) Now I need a sale from somebody named Spring...or April would suffice!

So as the snow is swirling outside today, and I'm tucked away safely in my house, I'm thinking of all those people across the world that have touched my life in little tiny ways and huge significant ways, and I wish each and every one of them all the best in the New Year. Happy New Year!