31st British Tarantula Society at Warwickshire Exhibition Center

I did it! I went to a Tarantula Convention and had a terrific time! I met so many wonderful people there, such a warm and friendly bunch!

The organisers - Ray and Angela Hale

Ray and Angela have been organising this annual event for the last 25 years!
www.thebts.co.uk

The queue started to form quite early. By the time the doors opened at 11am, there the queue was massive!

Almost time for the doors to open

Tree carving guy

I never even knew Tarantula Conventions existed before 5 weeks ago. I was a vendor at ToyCon and it was there I met Mike and his wife Katherine. Mike saw one of my little red spiders and told me all about this tarantula event and suggested I try to get a table there to sell my spiders. I was instantly intrigued and decided it would be something I want to witness, even if I was not able to go as a seller. Mike gave me Ray's contact and a table was instantly reserved for me!

Now, I am so happy to have been able to get a table before they completely sold out! Not only that, my table was situated right in front of the entrance!

 My sister Naomi came with me and was such a big help! She kept things in order while I was just creating chaos... Actually she was very adamant about not coming at first, as spiders are not her most favourite creatures. Luckily she changed her mind, and in the end I think she enjoyed herself, apart from getting hardly any sleep and being exhausted.

Spider, spider, Naomi, spider, spider, spider

 My plush spiders were so well received. Both big, and small spiders, found new homes.  For me, it really is was so much fun talking to people, as I normally spend most of my days not talking to anyone! And it was even better when someone made a purchase.

My very first customer!

I did not have the chance to go around and see what everyone was selling.Because of this, whenever someone came to my table and they were holding a container, I asked them what they had inside. It was fascinating to see what people were buying!  Next time, I will have to check out everything!! I like the idea of having a couple of real jumping spiders.

Being nosey

Beatles i think

Stick insects

The Zoo Family

I even met a guy who owns a Zoo!!! Bugtopia.

The team

Carl

Carl kindly gave us a signed copy of his book - Fangs for the memories.

Laura and Jake

The winners

My sister and my parents

If my parents had not driven that day with all of my spiders, I have no idea how I would have transported everything to Warwickshire. 15 big spiders, would have been a massive problem!! Luckily, my parents were happy to come along. They also enjoyed the day, something they had never seen before.

 Hopefully I we be there again next year!

Preparing for The British Tarantula Society

Spiders

Ok... I have failed once again to make more time to blog... but I will make up for it after this Sunday!

I will be going to the 31st British Tarantula Convention! Yup, a TARANTULA CONVENTION!

Hopefully I will have the opportunity to go around and take photos of this unusual and grand event!

I have spent the last couple of weeks sewing my fingers off, making furry spiders. I'm exhausted.... 3 days to go and i'm still sewing like crazy!


This would be my very first Tarantula Convention, so I have no idea what to expect, really. My goal was to make a variety of different spiders, of all shapes and sizes. After making the first few I realized how much work there was ahead of me.... 8 legs is A LOT of legs!!!

I'm surprised I haven't had any nightmares about spiders yet...

So if you happen to be in the area or wish to come along, here are the details:-

The All New BTS Exhibition 2016
The Warwickshire Exhibition Center
Open from 11.00am-4.00pm
Sunday 22nd May 2016


exhibition.thebts.co.uk/

Come say hi if you go!

Hello foxy squatch!

Today was a non-sewing day, as I am feeling a bit under the weather...

The mini photo-shooting session with the Foxsquatches cheered me up a bit. These foxy little sasquatches struck their foxiest poses for me so they can be listed up on my Etsy shop. 

Tomorrow I may even attempt working on my website!!!! ( have you noticed I have not come up with any new years resolutions this year?? ).  Let's see if this will be the year I finish my website...

Happy 2016!

Arrrrgh!!! I have once again fallen so behind on my blog posting!
I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year ( even though now it's February...)

So much as happened since my last post!

The biggest news last year, is that me and Francesco married! I would like to share some photos of the all the preparations and photos of our special day but will save that for another post. :)

And the works on our house is still on going... Dont' ask...

So...this first post, for the new year, is about a group I am part of. It's called the Crafthulhu Collective. Each month, a member of the group chooses a theme and we then make something in our own style.

This month's Theme is Circus, selected by Angel (from Saint Angel Productions) and what a great theme it is! So many wonderful makes!

Collage Made by Creepies

And here are the creators:

Saint Angel Productions 
Creepies 
Glamasaurus
Kittypinkstars
Nobody Likes The Boy
Steventon's Monster Emporium 
The Pencil Pirates
Totemly Weird 
With Love from Hollie
Yarntistry


I almost forgot to mention some other artists that are part of the group, but did not take part in this month's challenge. 
Katie Abey Design
Sophie Corrigan Illustration
Heart Felt Design


Do go say hi, if you do not know them already. They are a super friendly bunch with wacky imaginations.

There were a ton of ideas I wanted to implement! I LOVE CIRCUS!!! Choices.. choices!! It was almost impossible to choose... I grabbed my poi, swung them around and my mind was made up!

I love poi. A character with pose-able arms and legs was required for poi-ing and this was a good opportunity to try something new.

So I began making a character had a little wire skeleton.

The wire skeleton

All ready for posing

All ready for action!

I made her a dress and a little jacket to keep her warm.

Tying out tricks

But, for the final touch...she needed her furry balls to be on fire!
Using photoshop, I did some rough passes and painted in some fire trails.

The final images

Whooooosh... swoooosh...whoooooosh! Now I am itching to do fire poi again!


I will try my best to keep up to date with my blogging and do some catching up too. Hopefully, my next one won't be in February 2017!

Colour Me In!

Here's a colouring in page I drew to wrap up with an order.
Will be working on more pieces which will hopefully will be lots of fun to colour in.

Feel free to print it out and colour it in!

DOWNLOAD file here