Saturday crafternoon in my studio...

Sometimes I get really frustrated with unfinished projects that are laying around. I truly believe that too many unfinished projects "block" my creative energy, stopping it from flowing freely bringing me new ideas! 

 I was tired of looking at the pile of already sewn together key rings so I got them ready for the shop. They only needed a few hours of hand-stitching and labels attached to them. 

I cross-stitched them while on holiday in London so I was slightly influenced by Autumn in my choice of colours. However,  I've picked a few that I always wanted to try like this mint one at the front. Beautiful pastel colour with perfectly matched screen-printed fabric by Umbrella prints at the back... 

Now, I need to list them in the shop for the new owners to enjoy!

Hope you are having a lovely day:)

Make-pack-post my routine this season

That's what my craft table looks like at the moment and that's after I cleaned it... A little messy isn't it?

At the moment, most things are half made which can be intimidating at times and it does make me feel like there has been no progress made for days... 

However, in the next day or two, it will all come together - more and more parcels will be packed and posted. It's a great feeling to tick one order after another off the list. 

 Like a racehorse (a pretty one with plaited forelock and pink bows), I put my blinkers on and race until I cross the line - 16th of November, the orders cut off date.

Surviving the Christmas season takes long hours and patience but it's fun too! It makes me so happy knowing that so many people will get a Plushka gift this year. 

I am also curious to see if the number of robins I've made last year will be larger this year. That's what I am aiming for anyway, there is nothing like a little competition to keep it interesting. We will have to wait and see!

Hope you are having a lovely day! 

P.S. If you are wondering why the little mouse is laying like that on the picture, the robin flew by and knocked her over but she is ok! 

I already moved her to a more comfortable place. 

While packing...

If you are wondering why it is a bit quiet here on my blog, it's because I am getting ready for my trip back home! I had two busy days of cleaning, decluttering, updating my ipad for the trip and just pottering around the house... There are so many little things to finish but I am happy that my list is getting smaller each day! 

Here are a few embarrassing pictures from my studio. What can I say?! It's messy. again. 

It's getting better though:

I like coming back to a clean studio so I am using my holiday as an excuse to give more attention to the space we live in and get those things done that I "forget" to do while working! 

Happy Friday lovelies! 

The "organized" mess...

That's what my table looks like in the middle of stock building and orders completing exercise! It's not always pretty and organized but at least I know where everything is. The only thing I don't like about cleaning my craft table, I have to spend at least half an hour after that getting everything out again before I can create.... All the ribbons, buttons, beads and scraps have to be around me where I can see them:)  

So, today, I am here, in my lovely space. The breeze is coming in from the balcony and it's nice a quite Friday so far outside.... The Christmas collection is almost finish and I will blog about it soon but you can get a preview on my Facebook page:) 

Enjoy your Friday afternoon!

Organizing, managing, scheduling...

Today, it's all about stock intake, scheduling and organizing Plushka's life. I love being organised! I used to love my uni years when I had a schedule, deadlines, assessments as I knew what I need to do and when. There is a little bit of control freak in me (ok, maybe a bit more then a little bit).

With a few customer orders mounting up, I felt a need to go back to "organized me" and stop keeping things in my head. I followed a great advice from Jane and Jake that you can read here. I agree with her that to-do lists can be hard to manage and very time-consuming when you need to move tasks from one page to the next according to their priority. I adapted her method a little bit though to suit my needs. I took:

*cute post-it notes

*some washi tape

*pink paper that I cut out little squares from to brighten up the page

*my journal that I keep my inspirations in (see a few pages here)

So, the urgent things to do on the right page and Easter orders, that I've got a few weeks to complete, on the left. I will use pink squares for the orders that I need to post or payments to track so I can easily remove them when it's done.

I still use a calendar so I can see the whole month in front of me. I'll see if this system will work for me and report back:)

How do you keep yourself organized? Which system do you use?

Messy business....

Making felt toys can be a messy business. Sometimes I even forget how clean my space used to be....

Occasionally, it gets out of control with felt fluff and fabric scraps all over the table. I guess it's all part of the toy making fun though:)

A few more bunnies in the making for the shop...

There are less then 2 weeks left till Mathilda's Market and it's time to do stock intake and make more goodies. Nic from Yardage design posted a great link to Top 10 tips from Finders and Keepers about setting up your market stall which I found very useful! Today, I am going to analyse my stock and see what I can improve in both items diversity and display:)

Plushka's stall last year

Have a lovely Monday!

My creative space....

My creative space this week is..... tidy! I spend a good 4 hours yesterday cleaning, going through scraps, reorganising and chucking things out..... Why? I had to take picture of myself, which is already pretty scary, in my creative space!!! Oh, I didn't look forward to that but I did it. I cannot show my picture yet as the interview will come out only in a few weeks but I can show you my space:)

I couldn't resist buying this storage boxes in Typo the other day! They are French themed and SO useful for small things that laying around like threads, buttons, stamps, elastics etc.

I love that I've got so much more space now! Before you couldn't even see the table, it was all covered with felt fluff and projects in piles.

I found stashed away crochet butterflies. I was thinking about using them somewhere but don't have time at the moment so, temporary, they are available in my shop. They will be great for handmade projects for kids.

However, some shelves still need work. My personal stash looks a bit overwhelmed with new fabrics.....

My little helper can now sit next to me. He is one of those "trial" toys that I make when I create a new design and not all of them end up for sale, some stay here. His name is Monster and he loves this space;)

More creative space here.

Have a lovely Thursday!

P.S. Only one day left to enter Plushka's Makery giveaway. Click here to enter!

Plushka's space little makeover

As I shared with you in my previous posts, I've got a new space now to create in. Yesterday, I felt that I need to tidy it up after a creative week (or two). I also had a project on my "Make it!" list for quite a while: I got some fabric by Isso Ecco for Lecien on one of our trips to Bowral. I bought it thinking that one day I will stretch it on a canvas and hang it in my studio. Yesterday, I finally did it! It has my favourite brown and orange colors as well as some green that matches our launch. I like that my creative corner now has a *separate room* feel to it.

Inspirations board, pile of felt and fabrics, button jar, suitcases, washi tape all look nice and organized till the next wave of cutting and stitching.

It looks more like a studio now and I feel very happy and inspired! My new collection of headbands is on it's way, as well as a new toy and a few baskets.

This week will be very creative here!

Hope your week is full of happy moments:)