T52MMMC week 4

Well it seems that I have somewhat trailed behind in the 52 MMM Challenge but I have not been completely idle in the creative sense.

During the summer hols I decided that at the beginning of the new term I wanted to start an after school club; making stuff using affordable materials e.g. secondhand, recycled or just plain cheap (the local pound shop has proved useful for curby grips and hair bands so far!)

But before I even started the club I needed to design a poster. I used this opportunity to have a crack at Photoshop. I don't have the full creative suite, it's out of my budget at the moment, but I did get Photoshop Elements 4.0 free when I bought a Bamboo drawing pad on ebay.

Since I installed it at the beginning of the year it has remained unused, until now that is. Now, I am not one for sitting and reading through tutorials for computer programmes, I just like to fiddle about with it and then perhaps get some useful little tips after I've mastered the basics.

At first it was slow going, it took at a least a couple of hours to work out how to add a image to a layer; it wouldn't let me copy and paste or open and insert, but I eventually discovered that the option "Place..." under the "File" tab was what I was looking for, and after that it was rather easy.

Anyway this is what I came up with, and I was really pleased with the finished article.

Most of the images I have used on it were free downloads from the lovely blog, Pugly Pixel, which I stumbled over a while back, and I am so glad I have finally been able to use them for something. The lace was a download from the Martha Stewart Weddings website.

So the poster is my week 4, and since then I have hosted three weeks of my little Craft Club; in which we have made the bow hair grips from here, the pom-poms from here, and we made a start today on a cute fabric corsage from here (the first blog I ever read). So I think that brings me up to week 7 which isn't as bad I originally thought (Although I need to photograph and blog them to make them count.

On a completely different note; tomorrow, Danny, Ella and I are going away for a long weekend with friends which I'm pretty excited about (it will be my first holiday this year). We are going glamping here. It's 20 mins from York, it's in a forest and has a woodburning stove, real beds, and our own real toilet and shower. To top it all off it looks like that the sun is making and appearance in England this weekend, whoo hoo!

photos from the Jollydays facebook page

Looks lovely doesn't it! It is also Ella's 7th birthday on saturday so hopefully it will be a memorable one for her. I can't wait to get there and see if it is really as lovely as it looks in the photos.

I'll let you all know when we get back.

x

The 52MMM Challenge week 1

That stands for 52 marvellous makes madness challenge.

The challenge is to make one thing a week for the next 52 weeks, and that doesn't include dinner!

O.K, so I was a bit slow on making a start, but this week I made my first thing. A cute little blind for the spare room/sewing room. made from a vintage embroidered tablecloth and a bit of lace from my stash.

Very simple, it's unlined, without any rods, and just pinned to the window frame, but I sewed on some rings and threaded it with cord so it goes up and down easily. I'm really pleased with it!

Looking at the photos now, I probably should have given it a bit of an iron, but hey, I'm not known for my ironing skills!

While I was fiddling about I decided that the ikea lamp above the bed need prettifying too, so I tied a ribbon in a bow and clipped on a old china rose earring I had in my box of trinkets.

Going round in circles...

This week I have been mostly...............

............hooking

RE:

I made some of these little tea light holders last year, we live on pesto in this house, so I always have loads of these little jars around. I especially like the sainsburys own brand, because they have a pretty ribbed neck. 

They look so pretty on a warm evening, hung on branches, or lined up along walls or tables. Last time I just left them plain, but this year I thought I'd pretty them up a bit.


my first thought was to use some of my ribbon stash, but then I thought I could use some left over fabric scraps instead, which is more along the reuse, recycle theme, so out came the box of fabric scraps, useless for most sewing projects, but I just can't bear to through them away.

I think they look really pretty, I really like the effect of the torn fabric, and the only thing that I bought to make them was a reel of wire which I got from the florist for a couple of quid, and I still have loads left. They would be lovely for a country style wedding on a budget, you could use baby food jars as well, and because they require so little money and effort to make, you could afford have loads of them dotted around.

I've decided that I'm going to use them for little posies of flowers for my birthday lunch at the end of the month, it's going to be outside on our soon to be finished decking, so I will be praying for a sunny day, and in the meantime I better be cracking on with making some more bunting. I think I will have rhubarb eton mess (new family favourite) in pretty teacups for pudding too.

Reasons to be cheerful No.2

spring flowers


my first attempt at crochet


now I just need to go shopping for yarn !

Craft Fair Fun

As promised here are some pictures of my stall at the craft fair, we where so lucky with the weather, I even got burnt!
I didn't make an absolute fortune, but I did make enough to make it worth my while, and it was such a lovely afternoon.

Mum came and provide transport there in the form of her old volvo estate (which is as old as my soon to be 21 year old sister, but it's still going!) and she kept Ella amused all day, there was also another little girl there, and they spent most of the day playing together, pestering the shop cat, and eating the cupcakes provide for customers! I must say, I was very proud, as lots of people came up to me and said how well behaved she was (shame she's not like that at home!)



As I said it was a beautiful day, and there was steady stream of customers, so It had been well advertised, although buying was a bit slow, and some people hadn't brought any cash.
I'm not sure what it would be like if it's raining on the day as it outdoor and there is no cover provided, I'm booked for the next one on Saturday May 31st, so fingers crossed it doesn't rain next time either.
Even though buying was slow, I still managed to take home £76, also I had invited a few family and friends who turned up through out the day to break things up a bit, and one customer even asked to take a picture of my stall, which was very complimentary



It was lovely to meet some other bloggers and etsy sellers there too, Piccolo, Lottie Frank, and Cheeky Leopard



I had asked Sophie at Sophie Stansfield Designs if I could take some of her super cute jars filled with felt 'sugar cookies' as I thought they would look lovely on the stall. They were very well received and I managed to sell a couple of jars, and lots of people took her moo cards home with them, so I hope she might get a few orders in the next few weeks.




I love this picture of Ella, even though she is scoffing her face with yet more junk!

Feburary sun

I managed to get some photos taken yesterday afternoon, I decided to take them outside as we've been having some beautiful weather here, crisp frosty mornings slowly warming into bright sunny afternoons. I have four of the vintage embriodered cushions to go for sale on the website each with the same floral design, but in slighty different colours, two large (20"x20") of the Green Gate Filippa fabric with ric-rac and pom-pom trim, and two 18"x18" in Cath Kidston Boat Fabric with blue and white pom-pom trim, hopefully they will be available to buy on the website at the end of the week, if I can get my finger out.





While taking the photo's I decided to put in a pretty book, which later got me wondering where I could find other books with pretty covers, and I tried to do some research on the internet, but couldn't find anything. I want to find some more books with pretty covers, the ones that I have already are 'Apples for Jam' by Tessa Kiros and 'Minus nine to one' by Jools Oliver. Have any of you noticed the pretty book they use in their displays at Ikea, I think it has pink roses all over it, everytime I go there I wish I could buy one, but they are display only, I can't remember the tile either, but I think it's Scandinavian, if anyone knows what it's called could you let me know? Also if anyone knows of any others could you let me know?



Last week, Mum brought me a pretty lace doily when she came over, which she thought I could make something out of, but the other day I held it up at the window with the sun streaming through, and it looked lovely, so I pinned it to the window frame, and it's been there ever since. I took these photos yesterday because it was making such a delicately beautiful shadow on to the linen curtains.

lovely

Just to wish you all a lovely valentines day, whether your going out somewhere nice or just snuggling on the sofa with a bottle of wine and something chocolatey.



I've just started trying out embroidery and I did this poem a few weeks ago to make into something for valentines day, but due to the unexpected holiday it got forgotten, never mind there's always next year!

I've finally finished some lovely new cushions created from vintage embroidered linens that I mentioned a few weeks ago, and hopefully tomorrow I will get the chance to photograph them so you can take a peek.

Festive fun

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has ordered from my new shop, I hope that your orders reached you ok, and you are happy with them.

As my last sewing order has been delivered, I can now chill out a bit and enjoy the run up to christmas without feeling guilty that I should be working instead of having fun.

So in the last couple of days, I've been doing a bit of crafting for myself and Ella, which is nice to get back to, because although I love sewing, and love that it's part of my work, it does tend to get a bit repeatative, when your doing the same thing over and over.

On Sunday my sister came home from uni, and I went over to Mum and Dad's to 'Do The Decs'. So Libby, Mum and I, with a little help from Ella got the christmas music going and set to work on decorating the tree. You'll never guess, all the lights worked! Hurrah, this was a good christmas sign, and apart from a little bit of gold bead untangling, and dad complaining after realising that mum had given me their pale duck egg blue baubles, because they match my living room, things went quite smoothly.

For lunch we had homemade chicken soup made from the roast chicken that we had the night before, which was very yummy, and Danny who finally made an appearance (he watched the boxing that night or should I say morning) took Ella to see his dad, so that left me child free for the rest of the afternoon, so Mum, Libs, and I set to work on make some mince pies, and I could be a daughter, rather than a mother for a while. I don't know about you, but sometimes I like to revert to my childhood, when life was much simpler, and the only worry I had was bickering with my siblings!

My aim in life for Ella is to try and recreate some of those moments in my childhood, that I remember with fondness, like baking, and making things with Mum, days out on my own with Dad doing 'grown-up' things, like going to his favourite antiques shop in Hertford, and getting a special treat for behaving nicely.

So with that idea in mind and my most pressing jobs all done, I wanted to spend this week doing some 'nice' things with Ella, and give her some memories to look back on, except things don't always go according to plan do they!

Tuesday morning we set about constructing the 'flat-pack' gingerbread house that I bought from Ikea, and it was a bit of a messy start to say the least.

It said on the box to stick it together with melted sugar, ok, I thought, I can do that, so, sugar in the saucpan, melted, ok, right, how to get it on gingerbread from pan, knife maybe? Lets try, mmm.., bit messy, - by the time the melted sugar went from pan to cold knife to gingerbread it had already set so wouldn't stick the two bits together. Ok, plan B, dip edges in pan and stick together swiftly, yes, that seems to work, ohhh, until you get to the last corner, what next, how about..., ahh yes this wooden kebab stick, so about an hour later, and with sploges and stringy bits of harden melted sugar all over me, the hob and the worksurfaces, eventually the house was complete.

However all this time, Ella has been standing next to me on her stool, saying 'can I do some', 'when can I help', etc and me saying, and getting more stressed, but trying to stay calm, 'In a minute' (my favourite sentence) 'careful darling, this sugar is very hot!', 'I'm nearly finished, and then you can help me decorate it with sweets', and finally resorting to 'why don't I put cbeebies on for a bit while I finish putting this together'.

Next step, the decorating of the house, this went slighty better, as I iced, I got her to stick the sweeties on, working well, good, this is fun, that is until Danny arrives home early from work, and for Ella, all things gingerbread go out the window, while she cuddles and plays with Daddy, Oh well, never mind, I had fun finishing it off anyway, it even has a curly-wurly fence, and it smells absolutely delicious!

Yesterday, I finally got round to getting the tree, and in the morning, before nursery, Ella and I decorated it, after a half and hour of moving all the furniture around, and struggling with the stand to try and get the bloody thing to stand straight!
I'm not that happy with it this year, when I got it home and in the stand it looks a bit lopsided from some angles, but I suppose thats just the way with a real tree.
I always have trouble with the tree, because we don't really have a good spot for it, no corners available, due to the fact we have a corner sofa, and two many doors! so it has to go on a table, against a wall, not ideal, but I have to have one.

The glass star baubles are my new purchase for this year, not cheap at £2.99 each, but I limited myself to three.

The other day I got an urge to make a pomander so I spent the evening on the sofa sticking cloves into and orange, with Danny looking at me funnily, here's how the conversation went:
'what are you doing'
'making a pomander'
'what's that then'
'it's an orange with cloves stuck in it, it smells all lovely and christmassy'
'bit of a waste of an orange isn't it'

Mmmm...., men just don't understand, well mine doesn't anyway.

Hope the run up to christmas is going well, or as best as it can for you lot, Good Luck!!!

Cushy Galore!

Yesterday, I got round to making a couple of new cushions for my Etsy shop, and a new one for me, aswell as updating an old favourite that my mum made when I was little.

This is the old cushion, I took it apart and added some pom-pom trim to the sides ( you can never have too many pom-poms!) It's a bit old and faded, but I love the birds and butterflies, and on the back it has these gorgeous peonies

after finishing that I caught the bug a bit and pulled out some remnants from the shelf, This one is made from a pretty oatmeal linen printed with tiny blue rosebuds, and some Cath Kidston 'Rose Bloom Blue' cotton with a pale blue pom pom trim (yes, I know, it managed to sneak in again!)

The next one is made from a pretty white linen fabric embroidered with a leaf design in two shades of blue which I think is Jane Churchill, but I'm not completely sure (let me know if you recognise it) and a plain white linen, trimmed with blue grosgrain ribbon.

The above two are now in my Etsy Shop for £17 each ($32) including a feather or polyfibre cushion pad, which ever you prefer.

Finally I made this little cushion out of an embroidered linen cloth that my mother-in-law gave me, backed with some white linen, and I'm using it as a lumbar support for my sewing chair, which is a large Lloyd Loom armchair, not really ideal for sewing, but I haven't found a nice old solid office chair to cover in pretty fabric yet, they all seem to be made from black plastic, and I want a metal one!

After that I did the weekly shop at sainsbury's and decided to treat my self to this little beauty from the bakery counter, which I don't normally do, but it looked so pretty!

And imagine my joy when it was given to me in this surprising pretty box! I was debating on whether to keep it or not, but some of the strawberry cream from the cake had got on the inside, so it went reluctantly in the recycling.

Anyway it's friday, so roll on the weekend, I hope you all have a good one! xxx

Jessica, Eco Warrior and Giver of Gifts

Got a little side-tracked from work today, came over a bit Dave Angel and made a bag, something that I have been meaning to make ever since the Anya-Bloodly-Hindmarch, 'I'm not a plastic bag' fiasco, maybe I'm just a bit bitter cause I didn't get one (I turned up at 7pm and they'd given them all way, even though sainsburys said they weren't selling them till 8am!) but I didn't think it was worth getting up and there for 5am.

Anyway, so I made an 'Eco Grocery/Shopping Bag' from the bolt of cotton that I got from the car boot at the weekend for £2.50, it's about 14"wx16"dx5"d and I've sewn creases on the edges to help it keep it's shape, I'm quite pleased, now all I have to remember is to take it with me when I do the shopping! (does anyone else have this problem!!) Luckily It folds up quite neatly so I shall have to keep it in my handbag at all times, maybe I should make a little bag to keep the big bag in, what do you think? Cute? Excessive? Bonkers?

With regards to the giving, I have signed up to the Pay It Forward Giveaway, via Kimberley @ Tullulah House, So, according to the rules, I'm announcing my own! Here's the original text of the challenge, as copied from Kimberley's blog:

"Now here is how it works! I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange! I don't know what that gift will be yet, and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week...LOL... but you will receive it within 365 days, that's a promise! and it will be something yummy!! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog..."

So for the first three people who leave a comment, I look forward to reading all about you in your blog and the things that you like, and making something special for you!