Dublin – Page 5 – Beastie HQ

May in Beastie Towers

Posted on June 14, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Info, Knitted Beasties

Wow, May was a busy month for us this year! It feels like the Beasties and I were on the go all the time, taking full advantage of all the fun and games that the crafting and blogging communities have to offer! So, today I’ve decided to follow the lead of Jem Arrowsmith Knits and Claireabelle Makes, and do a roundup of everything we got up to last month. I’d like to relive every moment in glorious technicolour – and hopefully it will keep you all entertained until I can share the top secret projects I’ve been working on lately behind the scenes!

First up, new arrivals! May saw the addition of two new Beasties to our worldwide monster family – another Diver Beastie and a sweet little Fairy Princess Beastie!
We also got updates from a few Beasties abroad – Antonello and Tiziana Beastie headed to Perugia with their Beastiekitty in tow, MiniBeastie discovered some appropriately teeny alpine plants at Wisley Gardens, and Finn McSpool settled into his new home in Portland, Oregon!
Oh, and of course Paddy and Plunkett were out and about!
But for once, they weren’t the only ones living the high life! Explorer Beastie and I ventured out of the Beastie Towers craft lab and learned about taking better photos, met some fellow bloggers over dinner and took some time out in the countryside!
We also enjoyed meeting up with some of our crafty colleagues – it’s always fun for me to talk shop with other people who find wool and fabric as compelling as I do, and Explorer Beastie likes making new friends too! Here he is hanging out chez Guadalupe Creations, and getting up close and personal with some felt viruses at Niki Collier‘s studio!
You’d think after that little lot, we’d be ready for a rest… but no! Here’s a taster of one of the Beastie projects we have in the pipeline for the coming months…
…AAAAAND I’m really excited to announce that, for the summer at least, I’ll be cutting back on the amount of time I spend in Other Work to focus more on all things Beastie! As well as working through my latest batch of commissions, I’m hoping to convert some of this extra free time into market appearances, testing out some new designs and, dare I say it, starting to get ready for Christmas! That, and we might finally squeeze in a holiday somewhere!

(I wish… :D)

We’ll be back on Friday with more monster shenanigans! See you then!

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Explorer Beastie, Sommelier - CrawCrafts Beasties

Social Beastie-Flies!

Posted on May 24, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie's Dublin, Info

Phew! What a busy week it’s been! After our Etsy photography course a couple of weeks ago, Explorer Beastie and I decided to keep our socialising momentum going… so when an invite to a special sneak-preview-tasting-menu dinner at Oscar’s Bar and Kitchen dropped into our mailbox, we were pretty quick to RSVP! As an extra bonus, the event was being organised by the Irish Blogger Association, which meant that we’d get to meet some more bloggers – in person for once!

Now, I hope you’re hungry… Here come some of the highlights of the meal!
Clockwise from top left – wild boar black pudding starter (proof, if any were even needed, that black pudding is more than just a component of your typical full Irish breakfast), the bbq ribs that were so tasty that I forgot to photograph them first, rhubarb panna cotta for dessert and Explorer Beastie looking on enviously at my Moroccan lamb with aubergine.

Yum! There were also plenty of opportunities for Explorer Beastie to pose with an almost-Beastie-sized wine glass…
… Relax among the tasteful decor…
… And atone for the rest of us eating all that black pudding.
Looking back at my photos as I was putting this post together made me think about how I wouldn’t even have been there enjoying all these delicious delicacies if I hadn’t started writing a blog about the Beasties and their adventures. Blogging has introduced me to people I never would have had the chance to meet otherwise – people who share my interests, or who have introduced me to new ways of looking at the world. People whose work inspires me, or whose stories make me laugh out loud when I read them. In the last week, I was delighted, excited and a little surprised to see I’d passed the 300 followers mark! So thanks to all of you for reading, and especially to those among you who regularly like my posts or comment on them. The Beasties and I are so chuffed to have you all along with us on our adventures!

Further “thank you”s are due to Fiona and the Irish Blogger Association for organising a great night out, and to the staff at Oscar’s for looking after us so well. It certainly looks like I wasn’t the only one who left happy!
Join us again on Friday, when we’ll be checking in with another Beastie abroad! And if blogging has taken you to interesting or unexpected places, we’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Explorer Beastie at the Etsy Offices - CrawCrafts Beasties

Ready for your Closeup?

Posted on May 17, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Crafting, Explorer Beastie, Info

Explorer Beastie and I have been quite the social butterflies recently – we started with the Irish Blogger Conference at the end of last month, and then last week found us hanging out at the Etsy offices in Dublin city centre! We were there for a one-night Product Photography Course, organised by the Etsy Ireland team. When I heard they were running this, I jumped at the chance to go – my own Etsy shop has a hard time competing with my market setup, so I was hoping to pick up some tips to make it a more fun place to visit!

That, and Etsy’s HQ is an excellent place for an adventurous Beastie to explore…
Once everyone had arrived, and helped themselves to some cake…
…We got started! We all had a chance to introduce ourselves, and talk about what we make, and then we tackled the tricky subject of lighting.

We’re always told that it’s best to take photos in natural light, but in Ireland this poses something of a problem. I’m certainly guilty of holding out for a sunny day to take my pictures, and it seems I’m not the only one! Even in the middle of summer, a rainy day here can mean really limited daylight… and correspondingly dark and unimpressive pictures! Some of the others also pointed out that it’s difficult to get consistency in a set of photos, because natural light changes so much from season to season – or sometimes from one minute to the next! Gaaaah! How do you fix this?

Why, you build a lightbox of course! So we did – well, two of the team members took on the task of transforming a simple cardboard box (free from your local supermarket) into a glamourous miniature photoshoot setting!
Here it is, being used as a backdrop for a couple of beautiful Brookwood Pottery mugs! If you’d like to have a go at making your own, YouTube is just brimming over with “how-to” videos… We watched this one before we started. And most of the things you’ll need are either free, cheap or something you’ll already have at home! We all had fun testing it out, too…
…And here’s Cheerleader Beastie enjoying her moment in the spotlight, as Explorer Beastie watches admiringly from the sidelines!
But of course, he couldn’t resist the lure of the limelight…
The light in this lightbox still has a bit of a pinkish hue, but this can be fixed by using daylight bulbs instead of standard lightbulbs. Javier from CartabanCards showed us another way to make a lightbox, this time using LED camping flashlight tubes and pieces of a simple slot-together storage unit. I think the lighting in this one works much better for showing off Beasties in their best light!
Doesn’t Explorer Beastie look handsome? And look at how well this setup worked for this stunning vintage-style doll’s dress from DinahsDolls…
… And how it makes the colours pop in Maeve Croly‘s embroidery sample!
All in all, we had a great time and learned loads! It was super to make contact with some other local Etsyans as well, and swap tips and stories. I’m especially interested to try out Snapseed, which allows you to edit photos on your phone or tablet!

Thanks to the Etsy Ireland team for organising the course, and especially to Claire from mIrishDublin and Javier for teaching us! Claire also put together an Etsy treasury afterwards featuring some of the goodies from each of our shops… if you’re in need of a treat for someone (or for yourself), you could well find it there!

We’ll be back on Friday to check up on a Beastie abroad… in the meantime, if you have any top photography tips of your own please share them with us in the comments!

Have a great week!

So, What Have We Learned?

Posted on May 6, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Ideas, Info

I love it when a plan comes together.

Last week, I thought I would try my hand at seeking out some Dublin-based blogging events. I was expecting to find something to look forward to a couple of months down the line, so you can imagine how lucky I felt when I found that one of the main events in Ireland’s blogging calendar was happening that very weekend, in a hotel a mere stone’s throw from Beastie Towers! SCORE!

So, Explorer Beastie and I packed our bags and spent last Saturday at the 2016 Irish Bloggers Conference. We heard from loads of different people, and I thought it might be fun to share some of the things we learned with you all. Plus I’m more likely to remember it if I write it all down.

Now, if you’re all sitting comfortably, let’s launch into…

The Monster Guide to Blogging Bliss!

And we’ll kick off with…

Entertaining complainers are as rare as virtuoso musicians and masterpiece-painting artists. Who wants to read a series of rants about the fact that no-one is visiting your blog? If you’re blogging, chances are you want to share something you’re interested in or passionate about with the world. Talk about what you love with enthusiasm and humour, and people will surely come back for more.
…Even if what you’re into isn’t popular. Talking about something you genuinely believe in will win you more loyal readers than slavishly hopping on every bandwagon going.

And while we’re on the subject of readers…
Don’t be shy! If you like what you read, say so. Start conversations. Reply to your comments. Join online groups based on your interests and pitch in on the forums. And if you’re sharing links to your own online places, don’t just drop them in there – ask for feedback, or tag someone who you think will enjoy it.
Ah, something I need to be doing more. But it makes sense – for example, by finding out when most of your readers tune in, you can tailor your posting habits to ensure that your words of wisdom reach more people. You’ll also start to notice patterns in what appeals most to your readers, or what draws new ones in, and you can use this knowledge to plan what to talk about next. And that just makes everything easier!
Being consistent doesn’t mean that all your posts have to be exactly the same. But your regular readers will come to expect certain things from your blog, and being consistent in things like your tone of voice, what you talk about and when you post will set them at ease before they’ve read a word. You’d all be pretty freaked out if the BeastieBlog morphed overnight into a foul-mouthed diatribe on contemporary economic policy, wouldn’t you?
I can’t claim to be an expert photographer, but nothing detracts from your blog more than pictures that are grainy, or that have been squished and stretched until they look like something from the world’s worst hall of mirrors. Always start off with high-resolution photos – you can make big pictures smaller, but you can’t unshrink small ones!
Ah, can there be anything more annoying than reading an entire article, only to find out at the end that it’s basically just an advert? If you’re doing a sponsored post, be a good human and make it clear from the outset… Your readers will trust you more.

And finally…
One thing that a lot of the bloggers (and other speakers) at the conference had in common was persistence. They all made it clear that any success they’d had didn’t just happen overnight – more often than not, it was the product of long hours, hard work and a few people along the way telling them that their ideas were terrible. So keep going – you never know what’s around the next corner!

Thanks to the Irish Blogger Association for a really interesting and informative day out. And if you have any blogging tips of your own to share, let us know in the comments!

We’ll be back on Tuesday with a new Beastie for you to meet… In the meantime, have a monster weekend!

RED-dy, Steady, GO!

Posted on April 19, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Knitted Beasties

I promised to introduce you to a new Beastie today, and here he is! Fresh from the Beastie barber, it’s… Redhead Beastie!
If I asked you to describe what a “typical” Irish person looks like, chances are that bright red hair would feature in there somewhere. Here in Ireland nearly half the population carry the gene for red hair, and around 10% of Irish people have hair that falls in that auburn-to-strawberry-blonde range. So I thought that a Barróg Beastie (my most Irish Beasties, made from 100% Irish wool) with luscious fiery locks would be an excellent addition to the family here at Beastie Towers!
I used a wool and mohair blend yarn to get the perfect combination of vibrant colour and awesome curls – which means this Beastie’s hair is enviably soft and strokable!
This little monster also insisted on getting his own teeny Aran jumper. Oh, okay then.
(Any excuse…)Sharp-eyed readers will notice the lovely bright green stripes on this dark green Beastie’s legs, too – a perfect colour combination for this time of year. The trees here are bursting with fresh spring leaves, and Dublin seems to be getting greener by the hour!
I still have a few Barróg Beasties to kit out with accessories, so you’ll get a chance to meet them soon! And don’t forget to pop back next Tuesday, when we’ll be seeing what Paddy and Plunkett have been up to lately…

Enjoy your week!

The Trouble With April In Dublin…

Posted on April 12, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie's Dublin

… Is that we take the concept of “April showers” to a whole new level. I’d promised Explorer Beastie a day out yesterday (Other Work kept me pretty busy over the weekend), but on Monday morning we were greeted with teeming rain and grey skies. What to do?
Anything outdoors was totally off the menu. And all of our lovely free museums and art galleries are closed on Mondays! Fortunately, I remembered about the Book of Kells!

The Queen at the Book of Kells, from www.tcd.ie — Good enough for the Queen, good enough for us! Image borrowed from http://www.tcd.ie

So I grabbed my umbrella, and Explorer Beastie hopped into my bag for the journey. But when we arrived…
Oh no! Clearly everyone else had the same idea! What now?

“Hey, why don’t we go in here?”

“Here” is the Douglas Hyde Gallery, a small, FREE art space located just inside Trinity College’s Arts Building. I must have walked past it thousands of times when I was a student here, and I never thought to go inside! Time to fix that… Good call, Explorer Beastie!
The exhibitions change fairly frequently, so there’s always something new to see. The current one will be running until the 4th of May, and is definitely worth a look. We especially enjoyed Bill Lynch’s work!
Unfortunately, it hadn’t stopped raining by the time we went to leave…
… But we did get to pose with Douglas Hyde himself on the way out! It’s not often that little woolly monsters get a chance to rub shoulders with former Irish presidents!
As for the Book of Kells… Well, we’ll take you there another day. And it definitely won’t be on a rainy Monday morning!

See you all next week, when I’ll have some more new Beasties for you to meet!

Out and About With Explorer Beastie - CrawCrafts Beasties

Exploring Georgian Dublin

Posted on March 18, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie's Dublin

Hello there, Beastiebuddies, and happy Friday!

Today, Explorer Beastie and I want to take you to another part of Dublin you may not have seen before. Come and join us as we wander down the side of Merrion Square, and head towards the Grand Canal!

Around here, you can see some great examples of Georgian townhouses – a style of architecture which still dominates large areas of Dublin’s city centre, both north and south of the river. The first “Georgian-style” buildings date back to the 1720s, when many of Dublin’s narrow mediaeval streets were widened, and a property boom encouraged developers to build new houses on what were then the very edges of the city. It’s strange to think that what I consider to be the heart of Dublin was once almost the countryside!

Unlike modern-day developers, the Georgian builders were given pretty strict guidelines about how their houses should look. So in these areas, you can expect to see big, often brightly-coloured front doors, with a semi-circular “fanlight” window over them…
There are usually steps to raise them up above street level, and they tend to be tall (by Irish standards) with a basement underneath. To pick up extra Georgian status points, add an imposing door knocker…
… Or an elaborate iron boot scraper!
And of course there’s a prize if you spot a house with a famous former resident!

You can also find out more about what life was like inside these houses a little further down the street, at Number Twenty Nine – a faithfully restored Georgian-style house, which is open to visitors all year round. We didn’t go inside this time, but we’ve been before and it’s definitely worth a look!

Further down Mount Street, we stopped for a quick game of hide and seek…

…And then carried on to find one of Dublin’s lesser-known landmarks – St Stephen’s Church, affectionately known to Dubliners as “The Pepper Canister”!
Building work began on the church in 1821, as more people starting moving to this part of the city. It’s a perfect spot to stop for some photos…
… Before heading back home!
I wonder where Explorer Beastie will pop up next? Tune in next week to find out!

Spring Has Sprung in Dublin…

Posted on March 11, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie's Dublin

…So Explorer Beastie and I could hardly wait to get outside and enjoy some unexpected sun yesterday afternoon! And with St Patrick’s Day coming up next week, where better to hang out than in St Patrick’s Park? The park is right beside St Patrick’s Cathedral, so you really can’t miss it… The Cathedral’s tall spire dominates the skyline for miles around!
And once you get up close, it’s really striking.
The site of the Cathedral was chosen because St Patrick is said to have baptised people into Christianity here, back in 450AD. There has been a church dedicated to him in this area for more than a thousand years – its first documented mention was in 890! Although it has grown and changed a lot since then, most of what you see here today was built between 1220-60. The exterior is covered in interesting little details, for anyone with the time to take a closer look…
…Although only one of us was small enough to be able to sneak in for a full investigation!Once I’d managed to persuade Explorer Beastie to rejoin me on the right side of the fence, he had a great time tearing around the park. There were trees to climb…
… Steps to scale…
…And of course, he had to take a look at the fountain in the centre of the park!
They’ve also been busy filling the flowerbeds with brightly-coloured plants for Spring, as you can see.

“Check these out – they’re the same colours as me!”
All this left him pretty tuckered out, so we sat on one of the benches for a while and watched the world go by…
…Before heading off into the sunset!
If you should find yourself in Dublin, St Patrick’s Cathedral and Park are open year-round (although the park does close earlier in the winter). A visit to the Cathedral will set you back €6 (€5 for OAPs and students)… but access to the park is totally free! Although it’s a popular tourist spot, many locals also use the park as a place to relax, walk their dogs or enjoy a bit of greenery on their way to work.

And once you’re there, you’re well on your way to exploring the lesser-travelled paths of Dublin 8… But we’ll save that for another day!

Do any of you have a favourite local park? Let us know in the comments!

Explorer Beastie Holding My Colouring Pencils - CrawCrafts Beasties

An Arty Day Out!

Posted on February 5, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie's Dublin, Ideas

In Ireland, it’s very tempting to hide yourself indoors at this time of the year… and remain there until dire necessity (buying food, going to work, zombie home invasion) forces you outside. I for one could happily spend February living on instant noodles and baked beans while binge-watching “Murder, She Wrote”, but fortunately Explorer Beastie is a more active fellow, who constantly demands entertainment, fresh air and brain food (surprising for one whose head is literally full of fluff). So yesterday, I put down my knitting needles and took the two of us off to another of our favourite destinations – the RHA (Royal Hibernian Academy) Gallery, a mere stone’s throw from St Stephen’s Green and Grafton Street in Dublin’s south city centre.

This great little gallery deserves more visitors than it seems to get – I suppose a lot of people overlook it, and head to the National Gallery a little further down the road instead. But while the majority of the National Gallery’s exhibitions remain static, the RHA always has something new on its walls. In fact, I’ve never seen the same thing there twice! It’s also small enough that you could see everything in a short visit, and it’s also FREE IN! What’s not to like?

When we were there yesterday, three artists had their work on display. We started out with Maeve McCarthy’s “The Return”, a collection of nightime landscapes in charcoal inspired by a visit to the farmhouse where she and her family spent summers as children.

The artist also collaborated with her brother, a filmmaker, to make a short film showing the decaying rooms of the abandoned house.

2016 is an important year for Ireland – it’s the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, which was one of the most significant events in setting Ireland on its way towards independence from Great Britain. The other two exhibitions we saw drew their inspiration from this – Mick O’Dea’s “The Foggy Dew” included portraits of some of the key figures in the Rising…

…And in a separate gallery upstairs…

… A combined installation of large-scale canvasses and sculptures.

Then our final port of call was “Before, During, After… Almost” – an exhibition of David Farrell’s photographs, which shows how much both Dublin and rural Ireland have changed since the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, in 1966.

And suitably inspired by our artistic wanderings, it seemed like a good time to tackle the first prompt in Tammie Painter’s Sketchbook Saturday. Yeah, I know I’m late. It’s my… um… artistic temperament.

Anyway, the theme was “Round and Around”, which made me think of all the circles and spheres that cropped up in my drawings and craftings when I was a kid.

…And in case you want to read the scribblings…

And of course, Crablet and Explorer Beastie were on hand to help out with the colouring in. Thanks, lads.

AND FINALLY… Eagle-eyed Noémie at FocalHeart spotted one of my knitting notebooks in the background of a photo I posted recently. Here it is up close!

I use these books to record patterns, jot down ideas, count off rows and (as you can probably guess) keep track of the yarns I’ve used. And I had a great time going through past books today, snapping some of my favourite pages to share! So, since this post is already MASSIVE, here’s a taster for today…

… And I’ll have more next week!

Hope you all enjoy the weekend – why not check out Sketchbook Saturday for yourself tomorrow?

Beastie Burgers!

Posted on January 22, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie, Explorer Beastie's Dublin

Happy Friday, everybody! And Explorer Beastie is back to share another of our favourite Dublin haunts with you all! Today, we’re going in search of Dublin’s best burger… A quest that has been an ongoing preoccupation of mine for the last couple of years.

Now, after countless hours of research, we can reveal that the burger that has most tickled our tastebuds (for at least the last twelve months) is made by… Bunsen!

But why? First of all, I appreciate the simplicity of their menu. Here it is.

So unfussy that it fits on a single side of a standard business card, this menu means that the chef can’t hide burger deficiencies behind fancy toppings or a crazy selection of different styles of bun. It HAS to be good. You will get a say in how your burger is cooked, though (I always go for well-done, but they entertain my friend Mike’s preference for ultra-pink insides as well) and you can take as many or as few of the toppings as you like.

Oh, and I have to get a chocolate milkshake. Sometimes I’ll even consider sharing it…

Hooray! The burgers are here! Unfortunately, excitement got the better of me and I ate half of mine before I remembered that I was supposed to be taking a picture of it.

For much better food photography than a hungry Beastiemaker can manage, I recommend visiting Bunsen’s own website or Facebook page. I’m afraid I couldn’t wait to put my camera away and polish off the second half of the burger! Oh, and I am absolutely one of those people who has to loudly slurp up the very last dregs of my milkshake…

I’m already looking forward to my next visit! And if you want to go yourself, Bunsen have two restaurants in Dublin city centre to choose from – the original one on Wexford Street is my local, and they added a second branch in Essex St East in Temple Bar last year. Both open at high noon (1pm on Sundays) and serve up burger deliciousness until 9.30 pm (Monday-Wednesday and Sunday) or 10.30pm Thursday-Saturday.

By the way, all opinions expressed here are 100% my own – no sneaky sponsorship deals afoot! Although if Bunsen were to offer me free burgers for life, I wouldn’t exactly turn them down! I also want to give Jo’Burger and Bobo’s a special honorary mention – especially since I realise that Bunsen is a little light on vegetarian options!

Explorer Beastie will be back with another Dublin gem in two weeks. In the meantime, don’t forget to enter our Great January Begone Giveaway! Oh, and to anyone who was good enough to click the “Share on Facebook” button at the end of my last post, could you please let me know so I can log your entry? Unfortunately WordPress has no way of telling me who you are! Thanks 🙂

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