Friday 25 November 2011

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........


 

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

Wednesday 23 November 2011

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

Friday 18 November 2011

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




Thursday 17 November 2011

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

Wednesday 9 November 2011

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

Tuesday 8 November 2011

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

Sunday 6 November 2011

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?!