A busy day dying

Spent a very busy day last Thursday dying feathers non stop to create the various shades of colours I needed to create my new headbands for AW/11.

The idea is that they will be gradients of colours on a wide band, very elegant and using beautoful tones.

The dying process at home is time consuming and involves patience, old clothes, plenty of newspaper to protect furniture and then a hair dryer....there has to be an easier way, but for now, patience is the key!!

Mini Wedding Fair

This Thursday I will be taking part in a mini wedding fair at the beautiful Daintree paper shop on Camden St Dublin 2. I love Daintree, its right up my street with all the lovely papers etc they sell. My idea of heaven...!
Anyway - out the back, in front of the amazing Cake Cafe (used to be best kept secret in Dublin!) there will be a number of exhibitors to give anyone getting married great and unique wedding ideas for their upcoming Winter Weddings!
Best of all - its FREE!

Will post pics up afterwards x

Waterford Tall Ships

Ahh June is over! It was a busy and exciting one.

The Waterford Tall Ships event was great, really enjoyed it. The weather was good which helped massively and the crowds came in their hundreds of thousands. Still waiting to hear exactly how many made it down.

Sales were good and I made lots of new contacts with future customers. Always lovely getting the opportunity to talk to my customers, get feedback and discuss what I do. Its the perks of the fairs.

Here's a few pictures from June to give you a flavour of what I've been up to.

July = GET WEBSITE FINISHED!!!

Busy June

I haven't blogged in a long time - sorry about that.

All go in Astrid land this month. I was at the Marlay Summer Fair the weekend before last which was enjoyable. Lots of new customers and interest in Astrid work. Hoping for new commission pieces as a result.

Now have a big one this week at the Tall Ships Race which is in Waterford for 3 days. Its going to be intense and hard work and long hours but I'm ready for it. New stock arrived today just in time which I am delighted about - amazing coloured peacock feathers Im excited to work with. Once this week is over new pics of new stock will be posted. I promise!

The Confetti Pictures!

They didnt link to last post - here they are.

Confetti Magazine

Astrid bridal accessories are featured in this seasons Confetti magazine. The pictures were taken at the beautiful K Club by Ali King. I love them, the complete images are stunning.

If you are getting married or you know somebody who is please let them know that I make all sorts of bridal pieces customized for the bride.

Its been a hectic few days but things calming a bit now - Phew!

Sunny Saturday

What an amazing weekend. The weather was unnaturally warm for Ireland in Spring, we hit 22 degrees on Sunday. Beautiful!
The Designer Mart @ Cows Lane was full of people and there was great atmosphere. Sales were good and everyone was in good spirits. Apart from one very rude lady who decided to criticise my products and their prices. She was extremely ignorant and I'm glad to say I fought my corner, in which she seemed to take a complete U turn and started to compliment me. Her damage was already done however.
Oh well, thankfully she is a minority and not everyone acts like this.

Great day and weekend.

:0)

Website

The talented people at www.35designstudio.com have just finished my new website. This is only a temporary website while the real one is being made, but I think its pretty darn cool so far!

The website has been a long time in the making, who knew I had so much work to do to put a site together? Excellence takes time though and I am planning for the real www.astrid.ie to kick ass! Patience, patience...

Planning an around Ireland trip soon to get my pieces into more boutiques across Ireland so busy getting prepared for that.

Sun is shining, temperatures are up and all is great.

x

Astrid is now on Etsy!

Astrid is now up and running on Etsy. The AMAZING site that I just love. If you've never checked it out now is the time, make sure you have plenty of time on your hands cos its addictive!

Anyway Etsy is an online shop and you can now buy my pieces through this site and they will be delivered to your door.

Take a look, let me know what you think.

Enjoy x

Not sure why the link won't attach but here is the link

http://www.etsy.com/people/AstridCrafts

Bridal Collections

Its a beautiful sunny day and I'm working on bridal pieces. This is going to be a big direction for me this year. For the bride that wants something unique, contemporary, romantic and stylish - Astrid is the way to go.
Check out Nicola looking stunning on her wedding day in a vintage dress and Astrid custom made hair accessory. Beautiful!

Beautiful Astrid piece on beautful girl.

How beautiful does this Peacock band look on this American girl who bought it from me on Saturday?? Stunning!

The Designer Mart @ Cows Lane is back!

Delighted to be back at the Designer Mart on Cow's Lane again. This year we are sharing with the food market which is great, it has a big following which meant a LOT of people there making for a great atmosphere. Alongside that, the tempting smells of roast pork and roast potatoes on a cold afternoon made everything better!
It was heaving with people, a lot of tourists which was great to see. With St Patrick's Day just around the corner its busy in Dublin.
Just hope the murmurs of (*snow*...shhh!!) are not true and we get a glorious day instead.

Early Start

This morning I went to a 7am Networking meeting in The Glenview Hotel. Have been to a few before but this one was a bit different, there was over 100 people at it, LOTS of suits...! They are funny things to go to, its all about the schmoozing...you don't know what people do for work so you usually get chatting to lawyers/insurance people/IT people/management people...nothing that interests me specifically. However, once everyone gets there 30secs of fame, standing up in front of everybody (*kinda scary!*) and says what they're business is, you can target the people who are of relevance to you.
All in all, not a bad morning and they are certainly worth going to.

After that I headed to south Wicklow to meet James of Cheveu Studio, which is a fantastic hair salon in the small town of Carnew. James is now stocking ASTRID hair accessories which is great news and I am delighted to be a small part of his beautiful salon. Anyone in that area must go check it out, its a salon that wouldn't look out of place in Dublin city. Its fab!

Good day.

Paris

Beautiful Paris...

My dog

Have to share a picture of my very tired dog!

His name is Barney and he is probably one of the most doted on dogs around...

ASTRIDAM?

Was recently in Paris and Amsterdam for a break. Absolutely adored Amsterdam, its such a great great city. Right up my street, or should I say canal...

It made me want to find reason to go back, stocking in some Dutch boutiques perhaps...I'll see what I can do!

Like all holidays, they leave you refreshed and ready for action! So I've been busy creating new ideas. I'm currently working on bridal pieces for an upcoming photo shoot I've been asked to do which I'm excited about.

Designer Mart starts in 3 weeks time, so enjoying my Saturdays while I still have them to myself before we start up again. Looking forward to it though I must say.

Astrid is going to be bigger and better this year. The website is in the process of being created, I might eventually find something worth saying in this blog, I will be stocking in more shops and custom pieces are what I will be working more towards. So if you have a wedding, party, special occasion and you are looking for something special and hand made - you know what to do!

x