I'm a little teapot...

...short and stout...

...here's my handle...

...and here's my spout!

This lovely little teapot is a birthday present for my nan-in-law and to make it even cuter I decided to make it a wee tea cosy.

I have never made a tea cosy before, and it was surprisingly easy. The sewing machine behaved itself and apart from me having a blonde moment and sewing the bottom sides together and then having to unpick it all and start again, it was a fun project. I may just write a tutorial for it during the hols!

I used a charming fabric with different teapots and teacups on it which I think adds to the cuteness of the mini teapot and its mini cosy.

Now, time for a cuppa. How do you take yours?

PS - I bought this teapot in Sainsbury's and it comes with a box of fairtrade teabags. It is the perfect size for one person who is very thirsty or two people who only want a small cuppa.

Catch up

Ooh, it seems such a long while since I wrote a proper post! Apologies, but I have been busy making things and so will have plenty to blog about when my To Do list is finished!!

I am most excited about my Christmas presents this year. And I don't mean the ones I will (hopefully) be receiving but the ones I shall be giving. As I mentioned before Hubby and I decided to have a homemade Christmas this year, and while I haven't managed to make ALL the presents, I would say at least half are 'made to measure' presents. So I'm quite pleased with that. And some of them are edible which is great as it means I get to taste test them, for quality assurance purposes! That is all I can say about the presents so far cos I can't spoil the surprise for all the lovely people receiving a homemade pressie!

Non-sewing things in the making at the moment include: finishing the Christmas cake, an 80th birthday cake for my nan-in-law, mince pies and cookies in time for Christmas Eve, and the wrapping paper for the pressies. Now this might not count, but as I am going to be trying a new way or wrapping (for me anyway) I am most excited to see how that turns out. Will post loads of piccies once theses projects are done!

In other news, the Christmas Market last weekend went very well and I received some bespoke orders for french memo boards, so I'm so excited to make these up and deliver them this weekend.

I shall leave you with a few pics of my WIP:

Christmas Market Piccies

The Christmas Market at Marks Hall is going very well this weekend, and at the end of the first day, I'd like to share with you some photos of the Princess Crafts stall. Pleas, please stop by tomorrow (Sunday 12th) if you are in the area, there are all sorts of lovely goodies on sale at all the stalls and it's only £2 admission per car!

Anniversary Cake

During the summer I posted about a three tier cake I made for my inlaws' 30th anniversary (read this post for more info).

We finally got the photos recovered from the broken memory card so I thought I'd post a few pics to let you see:

Christmas Market

Yesterday I mentioned a two day craft event, well here are the deatils for those of you who'd like to pop along:

Traditional Christmas Market at Marks Hall, near Coggeshall in Essex
Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th December, 10.30am to 4.00pm
Includes a variety of food market stallholders with a Christmas twist as well as a range of craft stalls, providing an assortment of gift ideas for everyone.

I'd love to see you there so please come along if you are looking for a nice Christmassy day out with the family. Hope to see you there!!

Giveaways galore!

This christmas season is a time for giving and lots of the bloggers I follow are having great gievaways. This is one of my faves so far and I think you should check it out. These pillows sounds absolutely amazing!

Sounds Asleep Pillow Giveaway

Mrs Thrifty also has a giveaway on her Facebook page so why not take a look at that too!

Christmas Bazaar Success

It's been a whole week since I did my first Christmas Bazaar and what a long week it has been!! I am now all organised for the two day craft fair next weekend (more info coming up) but I thought I'd post some photos of the Bazaar.

Please note that the stall was in a classroom, hence the random selection of items in the background!

Candycane Tree Decorations

Ok, so now it's December 1st, we can all officially start getting excited about Christmas!! Here is a quick and easy project for those who like to make new decorations for Christmas but are short for time.

You will need:
A box of candycanes (I bought mine in The Works, 10 for 99p)
A glue gun
Mini bows ( I boght 10 for 50p from my local fabric shop)
Narrow ribbon to hang the decorations

Take 2 candycanes:

Use a little bit of glue on the top and bottom to glue them together

Then turn it over and use a little bit of glue on the top and bottom to make sure it is properly stuck together

Use a tiny amount of glue to stick on the mini bow to the middle of the heart shape

 Turn over again and add another bow to the middle of the heart

When the glue is dry, the decoration is ready to hang!!


Use a length of ribbon in the colour of your choice and simply tie round the top of the heart.

This literally takes 5 minutes and the heart shapes would look particularly good attached to your pressies instead of bows. And the best part is you can eat them so they make a good alternative to chocolate tree decorations!

Happiness comes when selling your crafts

The school Christmas bazaar went really well on Saturday and was a great practise run for the upcoming two day craft fair in 2 weeks' time. Thank you to everyone who popped in and double thank you to everyone who made a purchase!!

It is so thrilling to a) have someone say they like something you made and then b) for them to buy it. People actually paid money for the things I made with my own fair hands!! That makes me so happy :)

When I have moments of doubt about whether my crafts are good enough, Hubby always says they are great and of course people will want to buy it. But it is even more fulfilling for a total stranger to say they like it and want it for themselves. **huge grin**

There are photos of the stall but they are still on my sister's camera so will follow shortly. I do however have a pic for you. This scarf was the star of the show and if there was a prize, it would win 'Most Coveted Item' :

PS. Extra special thank you to Hubby and Sister who helped on the day and also to everyone who contributed their crafting skills to boost stock levels!

Princess Crafts' first assistant

Thought I'd post you a pic of the newest member of staff to the Princess Crafts team:

Christmas bazaar on the horizon

Only two days to go until the Christmas Bazaar (Buttsbury Junior School, Billericay) and the house looks like a bombsite! There are boxes of fabric, candles, teacups, tissue, bubble wrap etc etc everywhere!

On the upside, I can marvel at the cuteness of some of my teacup candles, so here is a selection of my favourites:

Secret projects in the making

Although I may have been a bit quiet recently regarding what I'm making, fret not, there is plenty on the go! Most of them at the moment are secret makes which will eventually become Christmas presents, so I can't speak too much about them for now.

I can however reveal that I've been made a few bits which are destined for a new little person born to the world last Friday. (and before you ask, no I have not had a baby) Once his mummy receives these in the post, I will blog some pictures. I must say I'm particularly pleased with one item in particular...

My most recent finished project is some Christmas bunting which I shall be selling at my upcoming craft fairs, here are some piccies although they're not great due to the fact that it is dark long before I get home from my day job! Let me know what you think of them!

French horns and Christmas holly on one side and golden snowflakes on the other

 Black and gold snowmen on one side and gold snowflakes on the other

Teacups make it to the big time!

Remember last month I mentioned that I sent some teacups to the USA to be featured on a telly show? (If not, read this post) WELL they were!!! I have yet to get my hands on some video of the show but check out these two links to see my lovely teacup candle on their website!

Link 1
Link 2 on this page, my teacup candle is item 10

Learning to love the sewing machine

I have previously mentioned that I'm scared of the sewing machine but as it turns out, it's not that scary after all. In fact, I'm becoming rather fond of it.

This used to be my Granny's sewing machine and it saw a lot of use in its day. It has now had a bit of a revival and has been helping me get to grips with the whole concept of maching sewing.

I even have the original instructions and boxes she used to keep the bobbins in!