Some Christmas Present Makes

Hello everyone! Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, I almost cant believe its all over.  I kind of feel my house has been through some kind of tornado as there is literally, stuff everywhere!!  Still, a fab time was had by all as Santa came with lots of presents.  I've obviously been a very good girl this year!

So now that its all over with, I thought I'd share a few things I made for my lovely sister for Christmas.  I dont make stuff for everyone, as not everyone appreciates the handmade look (cant imagine why!) but I knew exactly what I wanted to make for my lovely sis.

"The Nook" sign for my sisters cosy corner

My sister has a lovely little corner of her dining room where she has a comfy chair, blankets and she can cwtch up and read a book!  This is to put up in that corner!  She was very pleased with it as she'd asked for it on a canvas but I decided I wanted to try the embroidery hoop thing I'd seen on so many lovely blogs.  Was really pleased with how it turned out!

Close up of some flowers I embroidered.

Coasters made from vintage fabric

She is also mad on vintage and the vintagey look.  Now Im not quite at the clothes sewing stage, so when I found this fab vintage fabric on line, I decided to make some vintage coasters with my new sewing machine!  Again, really pleased with how they turned out.

Close up of the corner, tied up with some twine.

Felt and yarn necklace

Some of you may recognise the last one from an issue of Mollie Makes magazine.  My sister said how much she loved it at the time so I made it up for her for Christmas.  A fab present and quite thrify I think you'll agree!!

I also received some lovely handmade gifts including crocheted scarfs for myself, Maddy and Lillie made by my lovely mother in law.  She's so clever!  Will take photos of us modelling them and put them up as they really are so lovely - and they match!!

Finally, heres a picture of me and Maddy at Trafalgar Square in London on Christmas Eve.  We spent Christmas with my hubbys family this year and we were truly spoilt with presents and lots of food!

Maddy is a dalmation!!

Hope everyone had a fab Christmas too!

x x

How Many Sleeps??

The words I wake up to every morning, and have woken up to, for the last week! Yes, Christmas countdown has definitely begun in our house! Coincidentally, so has half term. So not only do I have a very excited five year old on my hands, I have to keep her and her sister entertained all day!!

So in true crafty mummy style, I have plenty of things for us to make and do until Santa delivers things far more interesting!

Yesterday we made gingerbread men, proper ones from flour and stuff, not felt and thread!

They turned out pretty well, although I did take the whole decorating thing a bit seriously! Today, Maddys just informed me we're making snowmen from toilets roll tubes and cotton wool. Sounds good!

Can't show you anything I'm making at the moment as they are all Christmas presents!! But here are the gingerbread men we made yesterday, plus my gingerbread family and their house-heehee!!

Hope you are all feeling festive!

x x

Nearly Time To Relax....But Not Quite

Well my last craft fair of 2011 was on Sunday. It was a disappointing turnout as the weather was shocking but the atmosphere was festive and the people who did turn up were ready to buy and more importantly chat, which is always lovely!

I do have some photos of the craft fair but we are having a few technical difficulties with our pc at the moment (hubby has been "fiddling" with it and now it's not working. Lucky for him I have my phone *rolls eyes and wonders when he'll learn*)

So no more making stock for me for now. I've decided to take January and February off from craft fairs because a) they're not the best months for selling anything in my opinion b) it's my birthday and I'm going to be away and c) I have another project I'm working on and hope to get going by March.

However, I've got lots of lovely presents to make before Christmas! Some lovely vintage fabric arrived yesterday which I'm going to use to make "something" for my lovely sister. She's really into vintagey stuff so the fabric was a good find, I just hope she likes what make!

So will leave you for now with a picture of my Christmas tree. As I write this, I'm sat with my feet up, looking at my twinkly lights with a mince pie next to me waiting to be eaten. Lovely!!

x x

Its Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Everywhere we go!! Think that's how the song goes anyway?!

Just thought I'd share the latest batch of stock I've made up for the coffee shop. Lots of christmas decorations and christmassy brooches which I have pinned to Christmas stockings. The shop will then fill them with old fashioned sweets and wrap them in cellophane as gifts for people to buy. I hope people like receiving my handmade items for Christmas!!

Right off to get ready for this weekends craft fair. It's non stop here at the moment, but I am loving it!!

x x

My New B.F.F.

Having dropped several heavy hints (think concreate blocks) and emailed a very specific list of gifts I would like for Christmas to my husband (with links to the appropriate Internet site) imagine my complete delight and slight shock when he came home one day last week with a brand new sewing machine!!!

My new B.F.F!

Now I'm not that much of a brat to want presents before Christmas but, seeing how hard I was working on the coffee shop orders, he decided to give me my present early.

Can't tell you how much fun I've had and how much easier it's making life for me! Up until now every single stitch was sewn by hand as my mini sewing machine just wasn't up to the job. Now things have such a better finish and I can't wait to try out some new projects! There are still some elements of my things that have to be done by hand but the world us my oyster now I have my new BFF!!!

The photo of Lillie is just because she's cute and pulls such a cheesy grin every time I get the camera out!

Thanks for reading! Off to sew more cupcakes :)

Latest Batch of Cupcakes

Lately I've been working on some new ideas for cupcakes for Christmas. The sewn variety, that is, not the baked (although you never can tell with me as I have a loyalty to both!)

The coffee shop owner I told you about before is eagerly awaiting these but wanted to know what you thought first. Are they Christmassy enough?! I love the chocolate polka dot fabric, think they give the cupcakes something different.

Linked up to Creative Itch: Sew Cute Tuesday

Thanks for reading! x x

p.s. The cupcake chopping board was an early present from hubby which I've had my eye on in hobbycraft for quite some time!!

My Exciting News

Been meaning to blog about this for ages, but then we had the winner of the giveaway to draw and, as always, time isnt my friend!

A few weeks ago, a friend of a friend saw my christmas decorations.  This friend of a friend (who's name is actually Sarah) owns an adorable coffee-shop-come-gift-shop here in South Wales and said that my things would fit in perfectly with her shop, would I put together some things and pop down there.  So thats exactly what I did and, long story short, The Honey Pot and Bizzy Bees now stocks Pretty Petal Handmade loveliness!!

These are a couple of items I've supplied so far...

Ten make your own gingerbread man kits.  These are for their craft mornings they run on saturdays.

And thirty stockings with Chritmassy brooches - ten have gingerbread men, ten have Christmas cupcakes and ten have Christmas hearts (which Im ashamed to say I havent taken photos of - bad blogger!)

Im now in the process of making thirty gingerbread man decorations, Christmas cupcake decorations and Christmas heart decorations. 

So all very exciting to have my first wholesale order and to be stocked in an actual shop!  It was hard work getting it all done in time though and involved more than a few nights of going to bed at 2.30am! 

Off now to sew more Christmas decorations.  Im very lucky I love what I do and can do what I love!

Thanks for reading x x

We Have A Winner!!

Wow!  I am overwhelmed by the entries to my little giveaway.  Also, I have well exceeded fifty followers too, so thank you and hello to all followers old and new.  Thanks for reading my ramblings!

Onto more important business - THE GIVEAWAY! 

I chose a very technical and fair way to choose a winner...

First I wrote out a name for each entry, then I got my happy little helper....

to pick a winner!  Please excuse the bed head, she is actually in bed watching a dvd as is customary in our house on a friday night.

So, Maddy picked....

 
The Krafty Cupcake as our winner!!!  Congratulations, I hope you like the gifts. 

Thanks again to everyone that entered and are now following my blog.  Its lovely to have you with us.

Will be back tomorrow with news of my busy busy (busy) week!

Bye for now x x

A Few New Makes

There's still a week to enter the Christmassy Giveaway, the winner will be announced a week today.  Full details are........

 

....here!

Thought I'd share a few makes I've made recently.  The large letters are proving very popular!

I never get bored of making pink name banners, although the blue one has turned out really lovely aswell!

In other news, I had a "business meeting" today, which, if all works out, I hope to be able to share news of soon!  I want to see how it pans out over the next week or so as its a different direction from what I've been doing, but I will say Im going to be very busy sewing in every spare minute over the next few weeks!  All very exciting and nerve wracking at the same time!

There are a few people I consider my "bloggy friends", people who's blogs I love and comment on regularly and who are so lovely whenever I post something new, or ask a question about something.  So Im so happy to say that Emma over at Sweet Williams, launched her brand new website today.  It looks amazing and Im sure much money will be spent there!  To celebrate this launch she's having an AMAZING giveaway, which can be entered either via her website or her blog.

Right Im off to get organised and start work on my newest project!

x x

I Would Like To Thank....

My lovely sister!!  Who has awarded me with my third blog award.

This is a lovely award to receive as it means "Dearest" in German and is for blogs with 200 followers or less, which I think is lovely.

However, as always, there are rules.  You'll be pleased to know I dont have to share anymore "interesting" facts, I just have to pass it on to five of my favourite blogs.

I've tried not to give it to anyone who has had it already recently, but also want to give it to the blogs I love reading.  So here goes.

1. Dinki Dots - we started this blogging malarkey at around the same time and her blog is full of lovely crafts.

2. Sew Sweet - fab blog of the fab shop selling so much lovely stuff from felt and buttons to ric rac and ribbon!  Definitely worthy checking out, although be warned, much money will be spent!

3. Faiths Craft Box - love reading what the lovely Leah has been up to and creating recently.

4. Your Handmade Home - a recently discovered blog for me but so glad I did because her makes are so beautiful.

And last but not least...

5. Pickle-Lily - not only because this is what we call our youngest daughter (well, its evolved into Lillie Pickle) but they are a lovely mother and daughter team who make fabulous things and are having a giveaway over at their blog, right now!!

So there you have it, my five picks to receive the lovely Leibster award.

Dont forget, there's still time to enter our Christmassy Giveaway!!

Thanks again to my lovely sister at Yummy Mummys Galore for the fab award!

x x

A Christmassy Giveaway!

Hello lovely people who follow my blog!  Welcome to my very first Giveaway!

I've been loitering around the 40-something follower mark for a little while now and am so happy that I've nearly reached fifty followers!  It never fails to amaze me that people actually read my ramblings.  To celebrate this, and the fact that Christmas preparations are well under way in our house, I've put together a small Giveaway!  The prizes are as follows...

Some handmade embellishments.  Christmas trees with tiny glass beads and some cute little robins.  Perfect for cards or scrapbooking.

Two lots of Christmassy fabric.  I love the candy cane one!

A set of four handmade Christmas decorations

Some Christmas stickers.

A Christmas stocking for you to decorate.  The possiblities are endless with this one!  Im in the middle of making a "Maddy" and a "Lillie" one :)

And last but not least, a little box of chocolates because Christmas isnt Christmas unless you have too much chocolate!

So I hope you'll agree, a very Christmassy Giveaway!

Entry into the Christmas Giveaway is simple, just be a follower of this blog and comment below.  However, for extra entries, you can....

1.  Follow me on Facebook. 
2.  Follow me on Twitter.
3.  Blog about my Christmas Giveaway and grab the giveaway picture from my sidebar!

Comment once for each thing you've done for lots of lovely entries!

I'll pick a winner on Friday 2nd December (the day before my sisters birthday!) so you have two weeks to enter.  Good luck everyone!  Im off to eat a mince pie as now I feel really Christmassy :)

x x

A Bad Mood and A Craft Fair

Thankfully not on the same day!  Today has been one of those bad mood days.  Not really sure why - maybe it was the thought of all the housework I have to do, or the fact my cat brought me a dead squirrel this morning, either way, I wasnt a happy bunny this morning!!  So what did I do to cheer myself up?  I made cupcakes!!  A guaranteed way to put a smile on my face is to either make cupcakes or buy something with cupcakes on.  Seeing as I've put pretty much all cupcake merchandise on my christmas list to Santa, I thought I'd have a go at making some.  Here is the result...

They are chocolate and orange cupcakes with white chocolate frosting.  Ooooooo get me!!  The recipe is here if anyone is interested.  However, dont panic, this isnt turning into a food blog - I still cant get the frosting right.  It was fine til I added the white chocolate, maybe the recipes wrong *looks confused*.

Anyway, they served their purpose in that they cheered me up and they dont taste half bad!!  Im eating one as I type, just to prove it :)

I realised the other day that Im nearly at 50 followers!  Yey me!  Im planning a little giveaway for when I reach 50 so keep watching this space for details.  It will tie in nicely with Christmas too, as Im feeling all Christmassy of late.

Speaking of which, my Christmas decs went down a treat at my latest craft fair.   As did my large hanging letters.  It was a quiet day but fun all the same.  Here's a few photos...

I've made this for a lady who ordered it from the craft fair.  Have three more to make and two name banners too so the orders are doing well!

I'll be back soon with details of my giveaway!

x x

Still Busy And Something New

Am I mad to be trying something new so close to the fair??  Yes, maybe a little but thats another post for another day - heehee!

Been busy busy busy getting stock ready for Sunday.  This pile is still a pile...

Things look so cute in piles!  I plan on starting to sew that little lot tomorrow.  It has now been joined by this pile...

These (I hope) are going to be personalised Christmas decorations with initials on, ready for Sunday.  I always struggle to know what letters to take when personalising stuff.  Every letter of the alphabet would be nice but, as you know, time is not my friend!  Im going to make some of these for our tree this year, and one in pink and white for Maddys pink Christmas tree.

And now for the something new!  For ages I've wanted to make purses for little girls and have been playing with the idea in my head - how to fasten it, strap or no strap, what kind of design, if any.  Well today, I gave it a go...

They're going to be little coin purses with zips on (please excuse the lighting, its so hard at the moment to get good lighting during the 3 hours of sunlight I saw today!).  After much deliberation and a good talking to (my machine not me), I used my machine to stitch up the sides and handstitched the little flower.  Now I just have to tackle the zip, which is something I've never done before but I've pinned them up and they look good!  So these will be for sale as presents for little girls on Sunday too.

So all good here, now to crack on with it! 

x x

Back To Normal!

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my last post.  I really had lost interest for a little while but all your lovely comments and an hour or so in Hobbycraft, seems to have sorted me out!!

I've had a few ideas for Christmas decorations, I've got lots of ideas of things I want to make for people for Christmas presents (my sister will be getting LOTS of handmade stuff this year!) and some more ideas for some crafty things I want to do with my girlies for Christmas.  So my crafty mojo is definitely back!!

Had a lovely browse around Hobbycraft this morning with the intention of buying supplies for Christmas decorations for the craft fair at the weekend.  This is what I came back with...

Does it look like christmas yet??

Got this little lot home, threw the rest of the shopping in the kitchen, luckily Lillie stayed asleep so I had an hour or so to start snipping!  Results so far....

As Im sure you can tell, they are going be robins, snowmen and penguins!  They need eyes but have put in my order at the lovely paper-and-string so Im sure my lovely decs will be able to see soon :)




Spent an hour on Pinterest last night too which was fab.  It was here I've found some lovely ideas to do with the girls for Christmas.  Take a look at my Christmas Craft Ideas board and see what I will (possibly) be getting up to over the next few weeks!

So, crafting is, once again, taking over in my house!  The housework has been left, dinner will be a takeaway, but hubby wont mind as long as there is a clear route from the front door to his xbox (some new game came out today so conversation will be at a minimum for the next few nights!)

Thanks again for helping me get back on track!

x x

Lost My Crafting Mojo :(

Not completely but it's not what it was! I only seem to want to make stuff for myself rather than what I should be doing which is making stuff for my next craft fair!

Ive been so busy with my "day job", plus the kids and I've been struggling to come up with some original ideas for Christmas decorations to sell. There are so many clever talented people out there making beautiful items, that I couldn't think if what to do that was different. Well I finally came up with some decorations I like and think I can make a few of before my next fair. So watch this space for updates (hopefully).

Remember the cupcake fabric I bought I little while ago? Well the notice board I'm making is finally finished!! I really like it! I made some cupcake pin to go with it too.

Have any of you lost your crafting mojo? What did you do to find it?!

Back From Holiday and Happy Halloween!!

We've just come back from a lovely ten days in Turkey. We had a fab time although it was a little stressful with Lillie running around like a loon and wanting to jump in the pool like Maddy. So I'm not very brown but I was glad of the break!

Got a craft fair this weekend though so I'm looking forward to getting started on some Christmas stuff. Feeling very Christmassy now the dark nights are here and the weathers getting colder.

My holiday did mean though, I wasn't able to throw our usual Halloween bash! I was gutted when I realised how late we got back! Not wanting to let my girlies down, I did do a little Halloween tea which we ate whilst watching Monsters vs Aliens:Mutant Pumpkins. Then Daddy came home and took two very cute witches trick or treating. Was Lillies very first time but she soon got the knack if knocking on doors!

I included a few little handmade touches to my decorations this year-my handmade "Boo" bunting, some really yummy cupcakes with bats and orange frosting and some ghosty cups! I also made Maddy and Lillie a nice drink of toad slime (which was really water with green food colouring-I couldn't catch any real toads).

Hope you all had a happy halloween!