myfuroshiki advent calendar 14

* Day 14 *

... and the final lot of fabulousness from the Coriandr Express!

Tiny Pretty Things
Sweet Treat
Heart and Soil Baskets
Ruby Spirit Designs

Tomato Tea

myfuroshiki advent calendar 13

* Day 13 *

... more current goodies from the Coriandr Express crew ...

Snapdragon Beads
(Alice's Coriandr shop is closed until 2010 but check out her website)

FruteJuce

CeeGee Jewellery

Lej Jewellery

Love, light and peas

myfuroshiki advent calendar 12

* Day 12 *

... more of the original Coriandr Express crew ...

Creativesque

Nic's Knots
Mrs Toad Designs
Debbs Elliman

(I think she may be on holiday at the moment, but do call back)
myfuroshiki :)

Try TomatoTea!

Welcome to TomatoTea, the latest and, sadly, last Coriandr Express VIP (from this train anyway). It's been a great journey of discovery, the train's been bursting at the seams with so many talented people and it's been a pleasure browsing and buying such lovely items ... and at the wonderful TomatoTea's shop you'll find even more.

Katrina says that she loves to dabble in all things textile but frankly anyone who can hand dye and hand spin wool into lovely colours like this (and on a traditional wheel)

AND dream up fabulous patterns like this furry hood


AND then whip up lovely little items like these cute keyrings (don't they make a great mobile?)
has taken dabbling to a whole new level!

There are lots more of Katrina's creations in her Coriandr shop (with 10% off all yarns until the end of the month) and you can find out more about other special offers on her blog ... and for the answer to the question that everyone wants to know read her Coriandr Express interview.

Ruby Spirit Designs

I'm really happy to introduce the latest Coriandr Express VIP, Ruby Spirit Designs. This is the place to go for unique jewellery pieces which bring together new and broken or forgotten vintage items into a fresh new whole - beautiful and eco-friendly!

Having seen Tracey's work online, I was thrilled to meet her at my first market and was so taken with her creations that I had to buy one of her bracelets to mark the event. It's a beautiful blue bead charm bracelet, similar in style to this lovely summer pudding bracelet, and a real delight to wear.

There is such a range of lovely things available in Ruby Spirit Design's Coriandr shop that it's hard to pick just a couple. There are pretty bead earrings and unusual brass ones featuring swallows, butterflies and, my favourite, dragonflies.



And then there are these striking vintage button rings which are only £5 - and even better there's a further 10% Coriandr Express discount until the end of July. At that price how can you resist?



You can find out more about Ruby Spirit Designs at her blog and don't forget, there's a 10% discount on all items in her shop until the end of July. See you there!

Exmoor Express

The Coriandr Express is now steaming its way through the glorious Exmoor countryside to pick up Hen of Heart and Soil Baskets.

As well as caring for woodland, pasture, meadow, river and miles of hedgerow in Exmoor, Hen weaves beautiful baskets from Somerset willow and carves curvy spoons! It's a real joy to come across lovely items such as these, crafted in a sustainable manner; here are a couple of my favourites.

You can find out more about Hen in this Coriandr Express interview and please have a look at her blog where the beauty of her woodland and her love of the environment shine through.

So sweet

Morning! It's quite early, the sun is out and there's that lovely new day freshness in the air; the kind of day when you should be wearing Debbie Thompson's Sweet Treat jewellery. Debbie combines vintage and new beads to create pretty drop earrings and delicate necklaces that look like a summer garden


or good enough to eat.


Debbie is the latest in a long line of fabulous Coriandr Express VIPs - find out all about them on Coriandr Express blog - and go and treat yourself to a summery Sweet Treat now.

Small is beautiful

Welcome to the latest Coriandr VIP, Molly McCausland, creator of the charming Tiny Pretty Things, lovely little drawings of strange but cute characters. Molly's tiny drawings are not only beautiful but eco-friendly, being done on recycled and reclaimed packing card.

My personal favourites are the Inspiration Ninja


and this whistling giraffe (I always wondered what they were up to up there!)


but have a look at her shop to find the one for you.

Love, Light and Peas

Welcome to our latest Coriandr Express VIP, Lottie of Love, Light and Peas. Lottie has a great talent for transforming something old into something new. Here's what she says about her work

"I like to focus on using up stuff that other people would think was rubbish. In the past I've made baskets from drinks cartons, bags from plastic bags and jewellery from train tickets. At the moment I'm focusing on stationery sets made from unusable books. There'll always be some knitting and other fibrey goodness in there, too! I try to keep my waste and packaging to a minimum, because waste is just so unnecessary. It's very rare that something from my crafting sessions goes to landfill." There's more about Lottie's creations and inspirations in this interview with her on the Coriandr Express blog.

It's great to come across someone who is so committed to reusing and recycling. I particularly like this stationery she has on offer

all things bright and beautiful ...

Welcome to the 14th Coriandr Express VIP, lej jewellery. Joanne who is the creative force behind lej not only makes a range of pretty, colourful jewellery but also bookmarks and suncatchers, which would make perfect gifts. There's a lovely summery theme running through her shop with a mermaid charm bracelet, seashore pendant and pretty shell bracelet. So get in tune with the heatwave and hurry along to her shop!

Pretty in pink ... (and lots of other colours too)

Have a look at CeeGee Jewellery for a range of delicate sterling silver jewellery using Murano, lampwork and semi-precious gemstones. Carolyn, who's the latest Coriandr Express VIP, creates simple designs which let the beads and stones speak for themselves. They make me think of summer weddings and gifts for god daughters. For myself, I love her seashell pendant which looks like a planet swirling in space. Carolyn's very generously offering 10% off all items for the next week, so hurry along to her shop and read more about her in the Coriandr Express blog.

The Coriandr Express has stopped again to pick up a new VIP, the fabulous Frutejuce who can make her sewing maching sing with her edgy free motion embroidered babygros and vests for toddlers with attitude and cute bags.


I especially like her felt fridge magnets, particularly this colourful little bird


and she has a keen eye for funky fabrics, like this amoeba purse



Alison is offering 10% of all her items until the end of June so make sure to visit the FruteJuce Coriandr shop and read more about her on the Coriandr Express blog.

And here, as a founder member of the cuddly Panda Pops appreciation society, is a panda furoshiki :)

A Very Important Person

Welcome to the latest Coriandr Express VIP - Alice of Snapdragon Beads! Alice specialises in off loom bead weaving (something which I'd never heard of before) and the results are a range of circular motif pendants, earrings, brooches and hairclips in an array of absolutely gorgeous colours. These range from the delicate shades of her Primrose Pin


to the glowing greens of these wonderfully named Frog Princess Earrings


to the royal richness of this Purple Velvet Pendant.


There's free shipping on all Snapdragon Beads until the end of June so take a look at Alice's shop for more of her vibrant designs and read more about her and her work on the Coriandr Express blog.

Coriandr Express furoshiki challenge (2)

Well here we are, my second batch of furoshikis dedicated to our fellow Coriandr Express VIPs.

First up is a plant pot wrap for Dig the Earth:


An aubergine coloured kitty for Kitty Ballistic:


And a blue bookwrap for Creativesque to go with her blue bookmarks:


You can find my earlier attempts for BlueFishHandmade, Julie Mills, Pirate Pixie Crew and Mrs Toad Designs here and, coming soon, Nics Knots and Debbs Elliman .....

Hope you like them :)

It's magic!

Just look at this apple wood wand. No, it's not from Ollivander's but Debbs Elliman's magical Coriandr shop, which is full of beautiful dichroic glass jewellery like this glowing heart


and this amazing bracelet which seems to take on different colours in different lights.


Debbs is the latest Coriandr Express VIP and donates to FLEECEHAVEN sheep sanctuary www.fleecehaven.org.uk. So please hurry along to her shop and look out for the Fleecehave logo next to certain items where a percentage of the sale price will be donated to them.

Coriandr Express furoshiki challenge

Life's been a bit busy the past couple of weeks so I've a bit of catching up to do on a challenge I set myself of doing a little fun furoshiki something for each VIP on the Coriandr Express. So far I've managed a sort of fish shaped wrap with a blue fish design furoshiki for Blue Fish Handmade (how easy was that!)


and a bird wrap for Julie Mills with all her beautiful bird designs.



And here for my latest offerings are a panda furoshiki as a pirate bandana for the bucaneering Pirate Pixie Crew (featuring one press-ganged son)

and for Mrs Toad Designs, the nearest amphibian I could find - a frog patterned furoshiki :)


Still pondering .. Dig The Earth, Kitty Ballistic, Creativesque and Nic's Knots....

Sparkly and sweet

Gosh, the Coriandr Express really seems to have picked up speed now and here we are hurtling to pick up the next VIP, Catherine of Mrs Toad Designs. Her shop on Coriandr is the place to go when in need of something small, sparkly and sweet ... and on these gloomy British summer days, who isn't? Catherine has been designing and making beaded jewellery, as well as hand stitched felt brooches for five years and recently began making her own felt, using wet and dry felting techniques and Merino Cross wool. Her experience and attention to detail shine out in this lovely little beaded felt brooch
and dainty beaded bracelet
and then there is a whole range of delicious looking felt food brooches and pincushions. Here's a picture of the cakes
and you can go along to Mrs Toad Designs Coriandr shop yourself to get your own taste of summer with an ice cream cone brooch!