Heavenly Handmades

What a week!

2012-02-12T21:34:00.000Z

Busy busy busy here, what with Grandparent in hospital, school event, and 2 birthday parties, I have hardly had a moment to breathe never mind blog! So, here is a wee peek at what I have been making over the last few weeks...

It was Big E's friends 6th birthday on Friday and I made her an art satchel, the same as the one I made here, from the book Sew Liberated.

She was supposed to get it for her Christmas but the house move meant that that didn't happen! I embellished the front with flowers to break up the orange (which was a table cloth from the Ikea fabric bin in the reject section!) a bit.

I have also made another wooden necklace, this time in red and white with black ribbon. It will be winging it's way to a special friend!

Last but not least, I finished crocheting my small granny square cushion cover.

My hook was too big and the wool kept splitting (it was Debbie Bliss 100% merino as well....) but I like it. I have a real desire to buy some gorgeous coloured cotton and make more but that would not help the de-cluttering exercise going on at the moment!!

Hopefully more to come next week, made myself a hoodie today but put a dress zip in it so it has to come off like a jumper.....will take a picture once I have rectified my rather silly mistake :)

Love is in the air!

2012-02-06T14:13:00.000Z

I have been busy making an art satchel for a friends 6 year old's birthday on Friday so, until I get organised and get some photos of that, I thought I would do a wee round up of all the Valentine's inspired crafting I have done, some old some new...!

Last year I made a rose heart wreath (heart shaped cardboard wrapped in muslin with roses made of muslin and red tartan glued on, simple!)

which might go on the front door this year if the weather improves a bit!

My bell heart I made before Christmas would also make a sweet little Valentine's decoration:

And the latest love heart addition to this house is a teeny tiny glitter heart canvas:

I made this a few days ago as I found a single, lonely, tiny little canvas when sorting my craft room!

Off to take some photos as it is actually sunny!!

Linking to these fab linky parties!

Pretty Crafty Home

2012-02-01T07:00:00.000Z

I am taking part in

Basically if you are trying to pretty your home by doing crafty things this is the project for you to be involved in! Since my house is very much a work in progress I am tackling the rooms that are 'done', my craft room being first on the list!

If mess and clutter stresses you look away now.....

Book case stuffed with craft stuff, you should be able to see the floor in front of it....

My desk, not that you can see it...

The first time I have ever had a sewing desk and the room is too messy to use it..

Yes, I have 7 crates of fabric to be used...

Oh the shame, all that stuff, everywhere!!

After a week of part time sorting and a trip to Ikea later I think I am almost there. I still need some thin shelves to store my glitter collection (!) on and I really need to make things to get rid of at least one of my tower of fabric boxes but it is so much better than it was, ahhhh!

Ikea kitchen storage is perfect for crafty things!

I made the bunting above the desk with some scrapbook paper, I am having a bit of an issue getting it to lie flat though!

Not very pretty but totally organised shelving!

What shall I sew first! (maybe something from the to be mended pile that you can see in the right of the photo!)

Must get rid of some boxes....

It has been 2 years since I had my very own craft room so it was nice to be able to put my wee door hanger up again!

Now to beautify it using some of the fabric, my computer chair is going to be the first thing to get a makeover!

Star Wars ATAT Cake

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000Z

Me: Big E, what type of cake do you fancy for your birthday, how about an Angry Bird?

Big E: Hmmmmm, maybe

Husband: That is a bit easy, how about a Star Wars cake

Big E: Brilliant Idea, I want an ATAT cake

Me: What is that then? (my memory of the films was poor...)

Big E: A big robotic dog thing that walks and everything!

Me: Not sure I can do that...

Husband: Of course you can!!

So, for Big E's 6th birthday he got an ATAT Walker cake!

Husband made the legs and I detailed them and did the cake bit. It turned out a bit rough but they were dirty and bashed up in the films!

I'm in this film!!

For his party we put two indoor fireworks on the front...

The kids loved it!

I dread to think what he might request next year...!

I think I maybe have the best friend ever!

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000Z

I got a surprise parcel in the post the other day, 4 remnants of gorgeous fabric! What a fab way to cheer up a day that had so far been spent cleaning little e's bedroom carpet and rug as she had been sick on them...nice.

Along with these was a note from my oldest and bestest friend, saying she had seen the bargain bin at her local fabric shop and thought of me. Looks like I have not kept my fabric obsession well hidden then...!

I plan on making something for 'super friend' and who knows what the rest will turn in to, although I have a hankering to recover my computer chair!

I heart macro - a stomp around the garden

2012-01-22T07:00:00.000Z

After the chaos of moving house I have finally had a few moments to get snapping some macro shots to join I heart macro again!

It was beautiful last Sunday morning so a stomp round the garden was required!

I am enjoying exploring the new garden, and all the hidden treasures that are popping out of the ground now spring is in the air!

I adore the teasels, they are possibly my favourite thing in the garden at the moment!

The veg patch will be amazing, just need to weed it and get it ready for planting...

and as for the back of the garden, the first thing we are going to do is put in some drainage so the house isn't acting like a sponge for all the ground water!

We are collecting wood to burn, this bit looks pretty fab all frosty

and on the other side of the garden everything was sunny!

Hope you enjoyed your stomp round the garden, who knows what there might be photos of the next time!

Wooden Bead Necklace

2012-01-21T22:49:00.001Z

I have had some wooden beads in my stash for ages and, after attempting and failing miserably at a fabric covered bead necklace, decided to change tactics!

I painted 5 beads purple and one turquoise with crafter's acrylic paint, gave them a skoosh of enamel spray, then strung them together with some silvery grey ribbon, knotting the ribbon in between each bead.

A simple necklace in my favourite colours - perfect!

I don't recommend wearing them as soon as the enamel has dried... they smell awful! I am the hippy who uses eco paint so there are minimal VOC's in the house and no nasty chemicals yet I gave myself a stonking headache wearing these as soon as they were dry, breathing in all the fumes!! I wore them again today and they smell fine!

Linking to these fab linky parties.

And the winner is......

2012-01-19T23:28:00.000Z

Comment number 27:

Emily Jan 19, 2012 11:24 AM

I like Tying the Knot one

Emily, I am off to get your email from your blog, will be in touch soon!

Thanks to everyone else who entered!

Back tomorrow to show you the rather mediocre ATAT Walker cake I made today...!

Giveaway - ends tonight!

2012-01-19T12:03:00.002Z

Just a wee reminder that my giveaway ends tonight at 10pm GMT!

There are not many entries so there is a good chance of winning!

Will be back later with the winner, off to make an ATAT birthday cake (gulp!)....Big E is 6 tomorrow!

Love: Chipboard Letter 'Art'

2012-01-12T07:00:00.000Z

I have a motto for life:

'Love all mankind as you would yourself'

whether you are religious or not I think if everyone adopted this attitude the world would be a lot nicer place to live in!

I made this

a couple of years ago and it used to hang on the picture wall at the old house (yet to find a space here...) but I fancied something a bit more colourful so, using some chipboard letters from my stash, I russled up this

It was so simple to do:

I took a canvas that has been at the bottom of a drawer for a year (hence the dents you can see in the pics) and checked my letters would fit.

Then decided the plain canvas was a bit dull and, seeing an opportunity to use some of my glitter mountain, put double sided tape round the edges of the canvas then glittered them.

I then stuck the letters on using a ruler to make sure they were straight.

I love how it turned out, simple but colourful!

Have you entered my Bloggy Birthday Giveaway??

Linking to these fab linky parties!

Bloggy Birthday Giveaway!

2012-01-09T21:00:00.000Z

A year ago (yesterday!) I wrote my first blog post, how time flies!

Big E at 1

little e at 1

So, to celebrate my 1st bloggy birthday I thought I might attempt to do a giveaway! The only problem is that I only have 47 followers and think loads of them are only following because I followed them and don't actually visit so maybe there will only be two people enter..... but hey, why not spread some love so here goes...

I am giving away a cabucon ring and earring set, either white rose, blue dahalia, or purple dahalia, you choose (oh and the earrings and ring will match just don't have all the dahalia ones made yet!!),

and a fabric flower brooch similar to this one but not the same, I will try and personalise it a bit!

So if you want to enter please be a follower of Heavenly Handmades and leave a comment telling me which flower you would like, rose, blue dahalia, or purple dahalia!

For another entry you could visit my wedding stationery site (www.heavenlyhandmades.co.uk) and have a wee look at the designs then come back here and leave a comment telling me which one you prefer (call it some free market research!!).

I will announce the winner (if anyone enters...) at 10.00pm GMT on the 19th January and it is open to anyone anywhere.

Thanks for following and hopefully the next year will be full of crafty goodness!

2012 'HOME'

2012-01-07T21:00:00.000Z

For me/us as a family 2012 is going to be all about home. Making our forever house into our forever home, well starting to anyway...! It is also the year I going to try and use up as much of my crafting stash as possible, and there is a lot, like 6 large plastic boxes and one large suitcase of fabric, at least 30 balls of wool, 40 tubs of glitter, 6 take away tubs of embellishments for cards..... I could go on but I will spare you the rest!

So, the point of this post, to show you my first stash busting project of 2012, HOME canvases.

I have had the 4 wee canvases since the summer and wanted to try some glue gun 'art' so, using my new tiny glue gun that Big E got me for my Christmas, I 'glued' the letters on the canvases, waited till they were dried then gave them each 2 coats of paint, simple!

My letters could be neater but I like them. At the moment they are propped on the fire place waiting to find a permanent home bit at least they are out of the craft room!!

Just had another idea for some chipboard letters that I have 4 packs of...... back soon!!

Linking to these fab linky parties!

Have you entered my Bloggy Birthday Giveaway??

Dining/Living Room Transformation

2012-01-04T11:00:00.000Z

This is the first room we have tackled and it will be our dining room once the living room is done but for now it is a cosy living room.

It started off like this

green artex (textured plaster stuff) on the walls, awful fake beams on the ceiling, horrendous carpet and mould on the walls, nice!

Husband took it back to the brick and took the ceiling down

then we got some fantastic restoration builders in to clad and insulate the walls.

They were then plastered and after a week of drying I painted.

Oak floor was laid

and we now have a fab room. We still need new doors, skirting and door architrave but it is so much better than it was and we have really enjoyed sitting in front of the fire this Christmas!

Hogmanay Craft Bonanza!

2012-01-01T22:28:00.000Z

I spent some of Hogmanay trying to do some crafting before the turn of the year (also I think my husband would have not been very pleased if I told him the massive bag of baubles was going back in the attic for another year!!).

I have had baubles sitting for a year waiting to be made in to a wreath and finally....

It turned in to an oval wreath but I quite like it!

I got a bit carried away with the glue gun and made a couple of bauble balls

the red one for my Mum and the other one for for me. Photos are not great but they look fab in real life! I don't take the decorations down until Epiphany so they will at least be up for a week!

Happy New Year Everyone, Lang may yer lum reek!

Linking to these fab linky parties!

Christmas catch up!

2011-12-26T21:47:00.001Z

Belated Merry Christmas everyone! Hope everyone is had a great Christmas Day and is enjoying some relaxation now! We had a lovely day with only one minor disaster when little e fell head first in to my parents glass front door and smashed it! She was fine, not even a bruise, the door wasn't so lucky!

My job for the next few days is to tame the chaos that is my craft room. Everything has been dumped in and now it is time to sort it out! Maybe my bauble wreath will be made in time for next year, the baubles have only been maturing for a year so far.....!!

Finally for now I have to say thank you to Twinkle Star from Twinkles, Tutus and Twirls for awarding me the Liebster Blog award a while ago. Sorry it has taken so long to blog about it!

I am supposed to nominate some blogs to pass it on to but since I have left it so long I will just say thanks!

Hopefully I will be back to blogging soon but for now I am off to start box sorting!

We have moved!

2011-12-17T23:06:00.000Z

We moved in to our new house on Wednesday and boy am I glad that is over, I will not be moving again! We are living in a land of boxes and desperately trying to get some unpacked before our Christmas decorations go up so there has been no computer time!

I will be back soon with some room renovation and Christmas posts but here is a wee taster of what we have been doing for the last few weeks.

Little e's bedroom (the easiest room to do):

DIY jingle bell heart - tutorial!

2011-11-30T22:37:00.001Z

I love these jingle bell decorations but have never been able to bring myself to buy one since they looked so easy to DIY, and I was right!

Supplies to make a 12cm by 12cm heart -

100 tiny (~6mm) jingle bells with a loop on the top
Stiff but thin wire (got in the floristry section of Hobby Craft)
Thin nosed pliers

Bend wire to shape and make a loop in one end so the bells don't just fall off.

Start threading the bells on.

Keep threading.....bunch them up really tight so there is no movement.

When you have reached the end bend the wire over

then hook it together with the first loop

and you have a heart!

Tie a wee bit of ribbon round and hand it up!

A cute wee jingly jangly Christmas decoration that you could easily get away with keeping up all year!

Linking up to these linky parties!

DIY Cargo Pants / Trousers

2011-11-22T10:30:00.000Z

Santa's Elf has been hard at work in my house making Cargo trousers for Big E's friends Christmas.

They are a light ish weight cotton camo with a, rather groovy and not at all because I didn't have enough of one colour, fleece lining!

I made them in the same way as I made these except these are trousers not shorts! I added the mandatory pockets to the outside legs, plenty of room for stones and all other things 5 year old boys like to carry about! I have not done a diy for the pockets, if anyone wants one then let me know and I wll be happy to oblige!!

I made both the camo outer and the fleece inner to the stage of doing the waistband then, with the camo the right way out and the fleece inside out, put the fleece trousers in the camo trousers then basted the waist of camo and fleece together then carried on as before doing the waistband and leg hem.

I added a wee label since they are very similar front and back.

I heart macro - just for fun

2011-11-19T21:21:00.001Z

I know this isn't a proper maco but couldn't resist!

What do you think this is???

a towel maybe....

but no

it is a curtain! Tell me it is not normal to make the curtins in your bathroom out of towels...!

We got the keys for our new house on Friday and all I can say is, boy do we have a LOT of work to do....

The great cowl crochet and some labels

2011-11-13T19:33:00.001Z

I meant to post this last week but things have been conspiring against me, mainly trying to sort things out for getting our new house this Friday and our house move which is a month tomorrow....arghhhh!

Anyway, I spent last weekend crocheting like a deamon! I made one full size cowl and 2 half sized ones, all are going to be Christmas gifts.

I figured folk would need washing instructions so made labels, three for the cowls and one for the baby hat I made.

I was pleased with them, really tempted to change the blog name to Coo Creations as Heavenly Handmades is my wedding stationery business, but I think that would confuse things!

I can sometimes be found at these fab linky parties

Simple but cute baby gifts

2011-11-03T11:34:00.000Z

Two of my best friends had beautiful baby girls last week, one a day late the other a week early. How come no one has babies for ages then 2 come together!

Since new babies are lavished with gifts I always try and do handmade, at least they will only get one of the things I give them!

I always make personalised t-shirts / vests for a new sibling

and since one of the babies is a first she got a geeky vest,

her Mum and I studied physics together at uni. I have seen these vests all over the place but refused to pay the £10 for something I could make for £1!

I also crocheted each baby a simple hat (using this video tutorial), it is supposed to be newborn size, I feel for any woman who has given birth to a baby with a head that size...!

Then to complete the gifts 2 personalised cards using gorgeous Penny Black rubber stamps.

On a totally random note, we have sold our house and have to be out by the 16th December (eek) and this is my 100th post!

A pintrest inspired gift for Mum

2011-10-28T21:09:00.000+01:00

I saw this on pintrest

so made one for my Mum's birthday,

I think she liked it, maybe a bit more sentimental than usual, I am a scientist at heart after all, not meant to be all smooshy!

Simple Cabochon Ring Tutorial...

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000+01:00

.....well if you call

'buy ring blank of your desired style, buy a cabochon you like then stick them together with super glue'

a tutorial!!

So easy but I love it! Now to decide who gets the other two I made!

Linking up to these fab linky parties!

i heart macro - last of the dahlias

2011-10-23T07:00:00.000+01:00

Finally one of my favourite dahlias flowered, 2 days before we had our first frost...! Luckily it survived but I will have to lift it next week as we are apparently going to get snow in the next few weeks and if it is like last year we won't see the ground again until February!

What big teeth you have Grandma......

2011-10-19T21:39:00.001+01:00

...............all the better to eat you with!

Managed to prise this off little e, unlike the Dino cape...!

2 little people we know are getting Little Red Riding hood capes for their Brithday/Christmas.

I used the pattern from Growing Up Sew Liberated and they were easy and really quick to make!

The cape and the book make a perfect pressie for a little girl if you are trying to escape from the Disney/pink empire......!

Now trying to work out how I could make a cheap wolf costume for one of the little girls big brother!

Linking up to these fab linky parties.

Technology Malfunction!

2011-10-19T10:27:00.001+01:00

My laptop is broken, so is my printer, not a good week for technology!

I will be back with lots of crafty stuff once my laptop is alive again and I don't have to use hubbys silly netbook.

Pine Cone Wreath - tutorial of sorts!

2011-10-10T16:55:00.000+01:00

Our house went on the market last Thursday and in an attempt to de-clutter I have been clearing out cupboards - fun fun fun! I came across a large bag of pine cones I collected last year to make a wreath with but never got round to making it so, using any excuse not to have to tidy any more, I thought I would make it.

I thought it would be simple, stick pine cones in a circle using my glue gun then hang with ribbon...

It started well , I used a small wire wreath form as a guide so it was circular and then chose my cones.

Then I started gluing and realised that it was not easy to get them to stick together! So after 2.5 glue sticks I had a (not as circular as I would have liked) pine cone wreath! I reinforced it a bit with extra cones at the joins round the outside which worked pretty well.

Fingers crossed it doesn't come unstuck when it is packed up with all the Christmas decorations!!

Owl tunic for Autumn

2011-10-03T07:00:00.000+01:00

I have had this Oliver + S pattern since the summer and finally got round to making the top!

I got the fab Owl fabric when I was in Florida in April and have been saving it for an autumn project.

Little e goes to nursery for 2.5hrs every afternoon Mon to Thurs and manages to get filthy every day and has very few good clothes so that was the perfect excuse to make her a new top!

Now I just have to get her to wear it, she is a fuss pot at the moment and will only wear and do what she wants and if you don't let her she turns in to a screaming ball of fury......what will she be like in 10 years!!

i heart macro

2011-10-02T10:30:00.000+01:00

Only a few photos today, been busy decluttering the house and arranging mortgages, fun fun fun!

This is the one and only flower on a really large plant, hopefully they will grow better next year at the new house!

The Sedum looks nice up close but bugsy the bunny likes the leaves.....

A Crocheted Cowl

2011-09-30T20:16:00.000+01:00

I have been doing the Maybe Matilda crochet along and think I am hooked!

The pattern for the crochet along was this free one and it was great fun and pretty quick to crochet even for a novice like me!

Gosh I hate photos of me!

Now if this mini heat wave (25C here today, hottest day since April...!) would go away I might be able to wear it!

Moving house!

2011-09-24T20:14:00.000+01:00

It looks like we are moving house......................

Went to view the house today and put in a offer there and then which was accepted!
It needs loads of work but it is our dream house with 0.7 acre garden!

It may be quite here for the next wee while!

Art Satchel

2011-09-22T22:22:00.000+01:00

I made this for my friends wee girl who was 3 last week.

It is from the Growing Up Sew Liberated book which has loads of fab projects in it! I plan on making 3 more for Christmas pressies, they are cheap to make but make a nice big sturdy pressie!

Linking up to these fab linky parties!

Ribbon tie necklace - 3rd attempt!

2011-09-15T14:04:00.000+01:00

This is the third time I have made this necklace! I made it for the first time last year using thread to string the beads and tying the string to the ribbon, it snapped after about 10 mins! The next time I used heavy duty thread and it lasted a few outings. This time I found this tutorial and decided to fork out the £3 or so for the supplies!

I didn't even know you got ribbon gripper thingys, what a great invention!

The beads are old, they came from my Great Aunt's house

and the flower is made with muslin offcuts with a sparkly button sewn in to the centre.

I just glued the flower to the ribbon, last time I sewed it but I opted for the quicker option this time!

Now to find an occasion that I am not dressed in jeans, t-shirt and trainers to wear it!!

Linking up to these fab linky parties!

Saturday Steaming / i heart macro

2011-09-11T07:00:00.000+01:00

Can you guess??
?
?
?
?

We spent the day at my in-laws having fun on their 7 1/4 inch gauge railway!

When I started 'going out with' hubby I thought he was joking when he said he was building a railway around the garden with his Dad...!

Fun was had by all

and it wasn't all railways!

My in-laws really are quite nutty though!

My thoughts are with everyone, all over the world, who have suffered as a result of the tragic events ten years ago.

Dino Cape!

2011-09-08T22:04:00.003+01:00

I made this for my friends wee boy who is 3 next month. It was pretty easy, I used a pattern from Sew Hip magazine that was written by Cheryl @ Sew Can Do, can't find it online but you can buy the finished capes from her etsy shop. I went wrong somewhere and it is not wide enough to tie at the front but that didn't bother little e!

I used coloured fleece blankets from Ikea that I had in my stash which was great and freed up loads of room in the box in the loft!

I am not sure I will be able to give this one away, little e loves it!! I think I may be making more.....

Thank You!

2011-09-02T23:00:00.000+01:00

Wow, 2 blog awards in 2 days, how lucky am I!

Here are the rules for the Liebster Blog:
1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.

Thank you Melanie from the fab bear rabbit bear for giving me this award, head over to her brilliant blog and say hi! She has a great linky party every Wednesday of crafts for under twenty's!

Now to pick 5 brilliant blogs to hand it on to;

1. Jenni at Kissed by a Frog
2. Jill at Creating my way to success
3. Jazmin at The Millers
4.Yaga at the shiny bubble
5. Kathy at Ask Ms Kathy

Rules for the Versatile Blogger:

Thank the person who gave it to you.
Share 7 things about yourself.
Nominate 15 blogs you have been enjoying recently.

Thank you Jenni from Kissed by a Frog for passing me the versatile blogger! Go check her blog out, it is full of fantastic ideas and she has a great linky party every Thursday which is sure to add to your to do list!

7 things about me:

1. I got married at 22 and had Big E at 25 and all my friends thought I was far too young!!
2. I have a masters degree in Physics.
3. I have short stumpy thumbs which make tying wee bows rather tricky!
4. My house is never totally tidy.....
5. I love baking and making desserts
6. I am a 'attachment parent' and 'unconditionally parent' (most of the time!!!)
7. I am going to be 31 this year :(

Now, 15 of my favourite blogs to pass this award to:

1. Ashley from Me and My Boys
2. Isa from The M Chart
3. Wendy from The Crafters Apprentice
4. Priscilla at Thrifty Crafty Girl
5. Dorian at busily spinning momma
6. Nikki at nikki joy
7. Sarah at Kiwi gets Crafty
8. Smita at Little Food Junction
9. Heather at Notes from Nelsons
10. Rhiannon at Love, Wisdom, Motherhood
11. Heather at A Handmade Life
12. Lori at Maui Girl Dreaming
13. Maria at Raising 4 Princesses
14 Jacquie at The Barefoot Crofter
15. Lorie at Trash to Treasure

Vintage Dress

2011-09-01T07:00:00.001+01:00

I bought this dress in a charity shop for £9, I fell in love with the fabric, about 75% of my wardrobe is blue...! And it was made in Scotland which makes it even more desirable!

It fitted fine so all I have done to make it less granny ish is take up the sleeves to 3/4 length and shorten the skirt from calf to knee length!

I wore this to the wedding fair I was showing at and really felt like I stood out but not in a 'what the hell is she wearing' type of way! There were loads of really vintagy dressed people there, some burlesque 40's and some granny chic, I was in the second camp!

Linking up to these fab linky parties!

Scrap Busting Thank You Card!

2011-08-30T23:01:00.000+01:00

I am a hoarder of anything card/ paper/ fabric like! I have 2 folders of scrap card

and a jar of wee bits of ribbon

that I can't bare to throw out!

So, in an effort to declutter, I decided to try and use them to make the thank you cards for little e's birthday pressies.

This is what I came up with

I made them like this:

Set up a word document custom paper size 9.5cm x 14cm

Type 'Thank You' in your chosen font, I used Gabriola.

Cut out the required number of pieces of card, 9.5cm x14cm, in a pale colour.

Print them out

Cut Coloured card to A6 size (10.5cm x 15cm)

Wrap a small piece of ribbon round the pale card (I stick it with double sided tape)

Stick pale card to other card.

Now you can leave it like this or make a wee bow to attach to the ribbon!

Cute little scrap buster thank you cards, done!

Now to write them...

The Wedding Fair!

2011-08-29T07:00:00.000+01:00

I went for a simple table, I used some mini easles and some old books to add height and it looked good! The photos are not great as the lighting was very 'atmospheric'!!

I got 7 quote requests and loads of folk took my card so fingers crossed some orders are generated!

i heart macro - the earwig nibbled dahlia!

2011-08-28T19:58:00.001+01:00

My dahlia didn't open as quickly as expected but here are some photos of it opening and being nibbled....

I doubt it will fully open as it has been flattened by the weather today. I think it will end up in a vase this evening!

Busy Busy Busy

2011-08-26T23:10:00.000+01:00

I think the best word to describe the past week in this house is chaos!
My normal week day now goes something like:

7am - Up
8am - Battle little e in to clothes
8.20am - walk to school to drop off Big E
9am - Home
9.15am and then repeated every 15 or so mins - "Is it nursery time yet?" said by little e
11.30am - lunch for little e
12.00pm - little e to nursery
12.30pm - run round crazy squeezing about a million things in a few hours
2.30pm - pick up little e
2.45pm - drop car at home and walk to school
3pm - pick up Big E
3.20pm - home and collapse in a heap!

Here was me thinking I would have more time when they were at nursery and school!!

I have managed to get some more wedding stationery made for the wedding fair on Sunday though:

All have matching Save the Date cards and Orders of Service, hopefully I now have a wide enough variety of styles to attract some orders!

In search of inspiration!

2011-08-23T22:39:00.000+01:00

I am exhibiting at my first wedding fair on Sunday (eek)!

Being totally unprepared means I am still looking for display inspiration!

These are all from pintrest, not sure how 'doable' they are by Sunday though!!

i heart macro

2011-08-21T09:42:00.000+01:00

My Dahlia is being a bit slow to open, and it has been nibbled by something (not a bunny!) :(

There was not much going on in the garden this morning, lots of dew though:

Sedum about to burst in to flower

Slightly fuzzy drops on a leaf

This Lady's Manle remindes me of a black hole sucking in all that comes too close!

And a random, slightly fuzzy one, I took last weekend, the wasp was going crazy for the bacon, it sat there for about 10 mins!

A craft cabin!

2011-08-19T11:05:00.000+01:00

There is a new building in my garden

and it is all mine! Last Saturday, a day it was supposed not to rain..., the cabin went up, mostly built by hubby with a little help from Big E, little e and me!

Hubby is sick of the mess I make in the house when I craft so we bought the cabin for me to use as a craft room! I used to use little e's bedroom until she came along (well, until she was one when I really couldn't get away with depriving her of a room any longer!!). I am so excited to have my own space again!

I am moving all my stuff in this weekend and I can't wait to actually have a desk again!

p.s. number of exclamation marks is directly proportional to how excited I am!!

I was featured....

2011-08-17T16:39:00.000+01:00

I was featured on:

at 'the shiny bubble', thanks for having me Yaga!!

Come join in the around the world blog hop!

First Day of School!

2011-08-16T13:54:00.000+01:00

Big E started school today! I can't believe how time has flown, I am sure there is a fast forward button pressed every time you give birth!!

He looks much older than 5 and a half in his uniform!

Only and hour until pick up time :)

Snow White Dress Tutorial

2011-08-14T22:39:00.000+01:00

Little e fell in love with ~~every~~ the Snow White dress when we were in the gigantic, huge , massive Disney store at Downtown Disney in April. She was like a broken record, walking about saying "For my burfday, for my burfday". Unfortunately having spent a fortune on the holiday I was not prepared to fork out another $60 for a dress and figured I could probably make one myself...

I apologise now, this tutorial is a bit sketchy but very long. I was in a huge rush when I made the dress and didn't get as many photos as I would have liked.

I have made a pattern for the dress and once I have checked my tweaks to it are ok I will make it available on here! The dress I used as a template is age 4-6 which I think is accurate as the final dress is really big on little e who just turned 3.

First you will need to gather your supplies:

- about 1 and a wee bit m of a yellow fabric for the skirt, I used yellow lining material and a sheer yellow glittery material on the top.

- about 0.5m of dark blue material, I used a velvet cushion cover from the reject section in Ikea!

- about 0.75m, of lighter blue material for the sleeves and lining.

- Some scrap red material for the red patches on the sleeves

- about 1m of medium piping cord (if you don;t have any you could always butcher any spare curtain taple that is lying around.... not ideal but it works...)

- matching threads

- 10cm velcro

Here goes:

First measure your little person to see how long to make the skirt then add about 4cm for the top seam and the hem. I used the whole width of the material (1.4m) and cut to 59cm.

Use more yellow fabric and cut it on the bias in strips 2cm wide.

Next, take the bias strips and sew them together to make a long strip, see steps 1-8 here for a how-to.

Now you can draw round a dress you already have and modify the shape to get the bodice pattern or wait till next week and come back to get my pattern.
For the sleeve pattern I actually used one of the sleeves of an old top of mine as the pattern as I wanted nice puffy sleeves. Pattern for sleeves will also be here soon!

I wanted to line the dress as little e is super fussy about rough things against her skin so I lined the bodice with the same fabric I was using for the sleeves.

Cut out your sleeve pattern from the lighter blue cotton and the 6 red drop shapes for the sleeves. I zigzag stitched the red drops on to the sleeves.

Now, take your bias strip and press strip in half lengthways

Put piping cord in crease and sew then end of the cord to the strip to secure.

Use your zip foot and sew as close to the piping cord as you can.

I then sewed the piping to the right side of one of the bodice front pieces, the raw edge of the piping strip should be on or near the raw edge of the right side of the bodice (see pic under the one below!).

Your seam allowance will dictate where you place the piping, you want the actual piping bit of the strip just out of the seam allowance so when you sew the two front pieces together the piping sticks out from the seam. I used a 1cm seam allowance and therefore my piping's raw edge was a few mm in from the raw edge of the bodice. I sewed the piping to the bodice (zip foot again) then sandwiched it with the other bodice front and sew together using the piping stitching as a guide.

The next thing to do is put the piping along the bottom of the bodice

Then sew the front bodice to the back bodice pieces at the shoulder seams right sides together. Do the same for the lining.

Put the bodice to the side for now and sew a gathering stitch (longest stich length inside seam allowance) along the top and bottom of the sleeve.

Pin sleeve to the bodice matching the centre of the sleeve to the shoulder seam and gathering so it fits.

then sew in place

Then (this bit is like magic!) put the bodice and lining right sides together, you are going to sew them together along the neckline, arm holes and sides, making sure you don't catch the sleeves as they will be between the two layers. See here for pictures and a fantastic tutorial and keep it open as you will use it for the next bit! The tutorial is for a sleeveless dress but just fold the sleeves up between the layers and be careful!

Turn the bodice the right way out and press.

Sew the sleeves together then sew the bodice sides together as in the tutorial linked to a few steps ago!

Next you can measure your little ones arm to see what size to make the arm band or use my guesstimate method! Cut 2 bands out of the yellow fabric. My pieces were 26cm x 5cm.

Sew short ends together then fold in half, wrong sides together, and press.

Pin to the right side of the sleeve, gathering the bottom of the sleeve to fit and matching centres and seams.

Sew on.

Now approaching the end....

I treated my 2 skirt fabrics as one but you could make 2 seperate skirts only joined at the top.

Sew short edges of skirt together stopping about 5 cm from the top.

At the top fold over and fold again to hide the raw edge then stitch down. It will look like this:

Sew a gathering stitch along the top. I would do 2 rows just in case one breaks....

Gather and pin to the right side of the bodice. I just ignored the pointed front and just pinned the skirt to the bodice following the shape and it worked fine. If you wanted some extra work you could shape the top of the skirt!

Sew the skirt to the bodice using the piping stitching you can see on the underside of the bodice as a guide so you don't sew over the piping.

Almost there....

Hand sew the lining to the bodice inner folding the raw edge to the inside and lining it up so the lining covers the seam.

Cut out 3 x 2cm (ish) pieces of velcro and sew them on to the bodice back.

Hem the skirt, fold over 0.5cm, press, fold over 1.5cm, press then stitch (don't iron if you are using fancy material like mine, the glittery bits don't like it......!).

Yipee you are done! I would love to see photos if you make one!

I didn't do the white collar since little e hates collars but it would be removable anyway so I may add one in the future! Also a red headband with a bow would complete the outfit but since little e hates headbands as well I didn't bother!

Remember to come back and get the pattern next week sometime, you could also follow me so you don't miss the pattern when I get it on here! ;)

p.s. I know you may have questions as this is not the best tutorial ever so fire away and I will answer them!!

p.p.s Linking up to these fab parties!

i heart macro - Anticipation

2011-08-14T06:00:00.004+01:00

I love Dahlias, they are definately my favourite flower. Mine have not done too well this year (Bugsy the bunny likes the tubers......) but this one is about to burst in to flower.

A couple of years ago I took these, one picture a day:

which means next week I will hopefully have a dahlia almost in full bloom!

Too early for autumn??

2011-08-12T10:56:00.000+01:00

I am feeling tempted to put my summer clothes back in the loft, I am sick of them cluttering up the wardrobe and drawers taunting me with the fact that it has rained almost every day this summer!!

I am wearing my favourite cardigan today

It is a 100% wool by Boden and I got it for £7 on ebay last year. I love the bright crazy colours and the best bit

the blue stripey back! It had a few holes in it when I got it but they were easily fixed!

Now, as long as it doesn't get warmer than the 16 C (61F) we are at now I shouldn't get too hot!

On a totally separate theme, what colour / pattern would you put with this skirt (apart from white?!)

I got it on 2nd hand on ebay a few years ago and it is 100% silk and gorgeous to wear but I am not good with white tops, especially with 2 lively children!! I was thinking of wearing it to a wedding on the 21st but I am not sure what to put with it....and since Recycled Fashion has been talking about pattern mixing I thought there might be some good ideas!

{this moment}

2011-08-12T07:00:00.000+01:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. Inspired by soulemama.com.

Luau Party!

2011-08-09T07:00:00.008+01:00

Little e was 3 yesterday and on Friday we had a Luau party for her friends. She spotted the Luau decorations in the dollar store when we were in Florida so we squeezed them in to our suitcases and brought them home!

For the door decor I used 2 lei's wrapped round a wreath with 3 paper umbrellas stuck in to it.

I got a pineapple and 3 coconuts to decorate the table and we had biscuits, pineapple, blueberries, popcorn, some sweets and yogourts to eat! Needless to say I was left with almost all the fruit and no sweets...!

I made and decorated the top biscuits but the gingerbread people were from the local supermarket. Why do kids always go for the bought ones first?!

Each child got a lei when they came in, little e refused to wear one, or the special grass skirt I bought her! I used some spare leis as curtain tie backs and to hang from random places throughout the house!

Little e requested a pink love heart cake...

I had a bit of fun and made a pink vanilla sponge!

The colours are not as graduated in colour as I was aiming for but it looked fine!

Linking up to these fab linky parties!

My wee girl is 3!

2011-08-08T10:00:00.000+01:00

Little e arrived at 9.45am on 08/08/08, in the living room at home, after an amazing natural homebirth.

A couple of hours old!

Brother and Sister meeting for the first time only 30 mins after little e arrived!

Oh how time has flown!

This is her this morning opening pressies in exactly the same place as she came in to the world 3 years ago.

I managed to finish her Snow White dress in time, it is a bit big but she will grow in to it!

A rather sketchy tutorial for the dress is coming later on in the week!

i heart macro

2011-08-07T00:00:00.003+01:00

We have had a very busy week but I managed to escape to the garden to take a few photos!

My one and only lily. I planted about 20 bulbs and this is the only one that has come to anything and it is only about 20cm off the ground!

My pretty but tiny hydrangea:

Procrastination!

2011-08-02T16:50:00.000+01:00

Like the new background?? I should be doing something productive, anything productive, but instead I am messing around with the look of my blog so please excuse the temporary mess it is in! :)

i heart macro

2011-07-31T20:43:00.000+01:00

We are away for the weekend so this is the only macro I have:

A cute wee thistle I spotted while at Story Book Glen in Aberdeenshire. I also spotted Ashley Jensen (Christina in Ugly Betty) when we were there but it would have been rude to take her photo!

30 down....

2011-07-27T22:12:00.001+01:00

45 to go! Then all the menu's, favours and the table plan, for 2 weeks time....arghhhhh!

Do I really want to do this as a business???

May be a bit absent over the next few weeks but hopefully there will be a Snow White costume tutorial coming, if I get it made for little e's birthday, which is a week on Monday, eek!

i heart macro

2011-07-24T00:00:00.001+01:00

I got this gorgeous necklace and earrings when we were on holiday in April (they are made by Michael Michaud , go look at his site, it is amazing, I could have bought every piece of jewellery).

I am very tight with money (typical Scottish person!!) so really struggled to let husband buy these but I had well and truly fallen in love with them! When I read the info we got with them I realised that they were bronze and we had our bronze (8th) wedding anniversary last week so they were the perfect anniversary gift! Purchase justified, phew!!

On a totally different note, I have a baby pumpkin (I was so excited I may have been dancing about the garden like an idiot...!):

and remember that ever so cute rabbit I showed you a few weeks ago......

he likes lettuce!!! Rabbit pie anyone ??!!

{this moment}

2011-07-22T07:00:00.000+01:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. Inspired by soulemama.com.

Sassy Sites getting to know you!

2011-07-21T22:52:00.000+01:00

I am taking part in a linky party for new blogs over at Sassy Sites.

It is a getting to know you so here are my answers:

Why did you decide to start blogging?

I read loads of blogs and felt that I couldn't really comment on other blogs if I didn't have my own!

When you aren't blogging, what are you doing?

Looking after my two children and making things, anything!

What is your blog about?

A bit of everything but mostly things I have made. I am passionate about the environment so most posts have a recycling theme!

When do you find the time to blog?

In the evenings once the kids are in bed!

Why do you love blogging?

It is nice to know I am not the only person like me! I know no one in real life who likes making things!

What is your favorite post so far that you've written?

Not sure....maybe my latest 'Moneygram' as it was my very own idea!

Moneygram!

2011-07-20T07:00:00.001+01:00

I had an idea, of my very own, I have not looked far but I have not seen anything like this before! This is not that normal unless I am playing with wedding stationery because I see so many inspiring things on the web it is hard to think 'out of the box'!

As I said here it was my 8th wedding anniversary on Tuesday. I had no idea what to get husband as we always try to stick to the thing that goes with the year and this year it was Bronze. Then it struck me, 1p and 2p are bronze aren't they?? After a google search I found out that they were made of bronze till 1992 so I went to Big E's piggy bank (bad mother I know) and removed all the brown money and sat and took out all the pre 1992 stuff so I could use the real thing (sad I know!). I now owe him 73p! I have been wanting to make a monogram for a while and this was the perfect project for using money!

I raked in my drawer of frames that are not in use found one the right size and removed the glass.

I printed a R then traced the outline on to a white piece of heavy weight A4 card. I had to go for a rounded font since I only had 2 sizes of circle to play with!

I arranged the first layer of coins, checked they looked ok then used a glue gun to stick them down.

I did the same with the second layer of coins.

Then I added 3 special shiny coins I had sifted out when going through Big E's money - a 2003 1p for the year we were married, a 2006 1p for Big E's birth year and a 2008 1p for little e's birth year.

I removed any excess hot glue from the card and glued the card on to the backing board of the frame.

One very quick and easy anniversary gift but husband didn't get it, at all. I had to explain and even find the Wikipedia page to prove they really were bronze!! This will only work as a anniversary gift in the UK as having done a little research I think it was only uk money that was bronze for that long but it is still something a bit different!

Linking up to these fab linky parties - go visit them!

8 years ago......

2011-07-19T07:00:00.001+01:00

I married my best friend! Please excuse all the photos, just enjoying a trip down memory lane!

With out Grandparents. Sadly only 2 are living today, my Granny (pink suit) and Grandad (red carnation). My Grandma (Bronze suit is featured here!)

My Mum throwing copious quantities of confetti (which were everywhere when I took my dress off that night!)

In laws, my sis, us, best man, my friend, sis-in-law, my parents

8 years and 2 children later it still feels like yesterday!

I love Dylon!!

2011-07-18T09:00:00.002+01:00

I have an addiction....to Dylon (fabric dye)!

I have dyed loads of things, here are the few things I have photos of,

Once cream capri pants that were bought second hand on ebay and stained the first time I wore them!

Once white and grubbylooking hand towels!

Once white and stained cardigan (straight from the washing line hence the creases!!)

the latest being a white (with some attractive stains from children jumping on it with shoes on!) duvet cover and pillowcases.

Husband does not like the colour but it goes with the mirror (which he very very reluctantly spray painted for me!)

It is slightly more muted in real life!

and the orange in the curtains!

I am sure the colour will grow on him!