New Pattern Project

I'm really excited about the new pattern I've been working on! It's for a new pair of mittens to add to my collection and I just love them so much I might just name them the Bella Mitten Pattern... or maybe the McBride Mitten Pattern!


It's a good guess that if they are named after me then they must be PINK! The first prototype is complete, the pattern is written and proofed, now all I need to do is remake a pair and get some stunning cover page shots... sigh... is that all!?


Not only are these mitts pink, but they have grey trimmings! Ahhh, my hearts all a flutter! My favourite colour combination, Pink and Grey!

Speaking of things that set my heart all a flutter: Remember the little "runt" kitten that we got? This is him sleeping out in the middle of the deck getting some sun. His name is Piggy because he has a bit of a cold and he just kind of goes around grunting all of the time. He is feeling much better and is starting to put on some weight, but not as much as his brother Porky... hence the name!

Is It Just Me Or....

Has anybody else out there noticed the trend that Etsy is leaning towards when they choose their pictures for the front page? About 90% of all pictures have either plain white backgrounds or another solid colour. Well I certainly have and this led me towards a shopping trip to find the supplies to build my own light box.

This is a first time try of one of my Santa Clauses in the light box. I still have some adjusting to do with the lightening with my camera settings... don't get me started on that soapbox, but this is what he looks like with a plain white background.


Now here is the same Santa taken with a background of wood tones and old books. I don't know about you, but I like the textured background better. Call me old fashioned I guess!

This is the full view of Santa and his Snowman. Again, in the light box with a plain background... boring... but what do you do? Etsy clearly leans toward the minimal look and if you can't make it to the front page your chances of selling is decreased, and who are we kidding, we all want to sell, sell, sell! I'm still not decided if I should sell my soul for a sale, or stay true to what I personally like... anybody else struggling with this?

Some Days...

Some days when you want to just throw in the towel and forget all this nonsense business, you receive a beautiful gift.

The gift came from Beth at IndieNorth who featured me in this fantastic blog post! Now how can you be mad at the world with kind words like that? Thank you Beth!

Sooo Cute!

Just had to share this picture! Is he not the cutest little kitten you have EVER seen! Of course I'm biased, but you just have to admit he's adorable!

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!

Rain, Rain, Rain and More Rain

It's been raining again all weekend! Now I like the rain, but it rained all of June and now July is not looking much better! Sigh... at least I'm getting lots of work done inside and on my new McBride House site. Look on the bright side Bella, look on the bright side.


I added Mr Mouse and his Flower Pot House to McBride House yesterday. As you can see Mr Mouse is peaking out his Flower Pot House to see if the coast is clear before he heads out for some food for his little flower pot family!


I also added my little Gnome Home which is a set of three red and white mushrooms. They are going to be featured in a great blog on Friday! I'll let you know how it goes!


This morning a added a set of three evergreen Christmas trees. The yarn I used as garland is an old yarn that was donated to me by that wonderful Auntie. The label says 70% wool and 30% goathair, made in Sweden. Isn't that cute? I don't know why, but I laugh every time I look at the label!

The trees also come decorated with little bits of red, yellow and maroon roving. I haven't listed the decorated trees yet, but they are coming!

McBride House is Now Open

I've done it! McBride House is officially open for business! I only have a few listed so far, but over the next few days I should have a lot more! Keep watching!

New Venue

I've just spent part of the day setting up my new Artfire store! I've been finding both views and sales on my Etsy site are waaaayyy down and it was suggested to me to try ArtFire.


This is my Artfire homepage. Nothing too special, but it has potential and that's what I'm looking for right now. Apparently if I sign up 12 different friends to ArtFire then I get a lifetime free membership! So if any of you bloggers out there are interested, use this link and don't forget to mention where you heard it from!


On the kitty front, Frosty is getting much more accepting to the two new babies. He's not thrilled about the bigger kitten (that we discovered, after a kitty bath, is in fact a boy!), but he seems to like the little one that is the runt. It's hard to see, but BB (temporary name) is laying right on top of him! Soooo cute!

McBride House is coming along. This is Gallagher, another felted wheeled animal.

Side Tracked!

I've been working diligently on my new store McBride House but I got a little distracted! We have two new additions to our home!

We were suppose to only get one kitten to keep Frosty company, but when we got to the place with the kittens I couldn't leave the poor little guy on the right there. He is definitely the runt of the litter and has an eye infection, but I fell in love with him right away.


And this little girl was suppose to be a boy! Again, we fell in love with her and couldn't leave her there! For the first time in all the years that I've picked out kittens I felt as if these two picked us. It was like they were waiting for us to come and take them home!


On the store front, I decided I needed new pictures. The previous ones were just too dark. This is the first of my "wheeled" animals I made and what started me down the path to making more wheeled animals.


You gotta have a bear on wheels! This bear took me weeks to finish! I just couldn't seem to get his body shape right. However, I'm very pleased with the way he turned out. He's what I call a great "chunk" of a bear.


This lion will be a hard one to let go, but as Maggie asked in my last postings comments "Have you bonded long enough with them to let them go??!!". Almost! Give me a few more days and I think I can let them go! Of course if nobody buys them it won't be a problem! I'm hoping to open the new store sometime this week...hopefully?

Should I, or Shouldn't I?

I've been thinking long and hard whether or not to open a new Etsy store to sell some of my felted creations. Should I integrate them in to my already existing store that has lots and lots of feedback? Or should I open a new store so that my patterns won't get overlooked by people tired of searching through too many pages? I've signed up on Etsy with a new shop name, McBride House, but I have yet to list any of my new creatures. I am aiming for an opening date of mid July... if I decide to open it!


These are some of the creatures I've been talking about. A menagerie of wheeled animals! If you don't already know, needle felting is a process that involves poking and prodding different colours of wool with a very (and I mean very) sharp needle until you reach the perfect shape.

These are my mushrooms... a blend of beige's, moss greens, and deep orange and reds. It's hard to tell in this picture, but they are just about life size.

This elephant took a lot of time to make. I couldn't find the right colour roving for him, so I meticulously separated Briggs and Little 100% yarn to get just the right look for him. I'm really pleased with the way he turned out! I LOVE elephants!

This set will be a hard one to sell. The reindeer was my first attempt at a realistic animal and the catalyst to keep me going on some of my other animals. I'm also very pleased with the Father Christmas, instead of the more usual Santa Claus. Stay tuned! I'll be adding more pictures as the opening date approaches...if I decide on my new store! LOL!