Would you like a cuppa?

A new lease of life to unwanted teacups!!

I love a good cup of tea (green only!) and I really like antique teacups and saucers. They just remind me of a time when afternoon tea was a daily 'must' and not a special treat like it is nowadays. So, when I found some lovely teacups at an antique shop I had to buy them! However, I'm more of a mug person so these teacups were destined to become functional decorations, in the form of candles!

I'd never made candles before and am surprised how easy it is to do, although I was a bit scared that the melting wax might catch fire, esp as we don't have a fire extinguisher. Our next door neighbour is a fireman so at least I could call him to save the day. But it all went hunky dory except that I ran out of wax before I used all the teacups! So must buy more wax next time.

This one is my favourite and will live on my coffee table as I can't part with it.

All the other ones are for sale, so take a look at the teacup page for more info. Here are some more pics for you:

Matching antique coffee cups

Japanese Noritake antique teacups

Contemporary teacups - these have a Moroccan feel to them

A string of stockings

At this time of year I start thinking about Christmas and what new decorations can be made/purchased to add to the collection. When I was little, my mum always made new things for each Christmas and we still have some to this day. The biggest project she did was the cross stitch advent calendar which we loved opening to see what goodies were in each box! And there were tons of cool and original decorations for the tree. But I digress.

Since hubby and I have been in charge of our own Christmases (this year will be our third), I have made some bits and bobs each year as well as spending probably too much money on lots of shiny new ones! The first decoration for 2010 is a lovely string of stocking shaped bunting.

'Before'

'After'

I used three different Christmas themed fabrics and a lovely green satin ribbon. As I had a limited amount of ribbon (needed a specific shade of green that apparently is hard to find) I decided to make the stockings double sided and I finished the loops of with two snowflake buttons.

So this bunting goes into storage ready for the holidays!! My other Christmas projects for this year are patchwork stockings and a cross stitched nativity scene. I'm sure there may be a few other things along the way! Ooh and I'm also going to be making my own door decoration and will probably do the golden pears again as they worked quite well. And I'm making the Christmas cake this year too!

OK, enough about Christmas, I do know it's still July!!!

Bags of fun!

I finally found some heat and bond transfer stuff at the weekend so can finish a few things I had on the go. My prototypes for the drawstring bags turned out in the end but were hindered be a couple of things:
1- My rubbish miniature sewing machine. It's just not powerful enough to go through more than two layers of cotton.
2- My clueless-ness about making bags! Am thinking I should have made more of an effort in the sewing classes at school...

Anyway, they are finished now and while they're not going to win any prizes they are presentable enough.

This is the first one I did, and it turned out a bit of a square shape cos I measured it wrong, so it's a bit small... And I changed the ribbon as it was too wide for the gaps I made. All in all though, not bad for the very first one, me thinks!! I didn't know how to make it more interesting, esp as it was finished and it was too late to sew anything on, so I experimented with ironing on letter shapes.

This is the second one and it turned out much better! I ironed on the zebra print bra and knickers to liven it up a bit. I just love this print, even though animal prints are not normally my thing! And I used a white cord this time which looks really nice and does a good job.

I think more practice is required but it will probably only take one or two more to perfect them!

Clip it!

Today I managed to work out some ideas and this is what I made:
Covered hairclips!

 

These little hairclips have come out quite nicely, and I think they look quite unique. 

Pink gingham with round pink button

Dark pink with lilac heart button

Pink felt with pink buttons

Plain red felt

And, my absolute favourite:

Red felt rose

I saw this great idea for the rose on a cool blog and I just has to make them! I won't be able to sell these but I do think I can make them in every colour!

 If you'd like me to make you some hairclips like these, just let me know!! £3 per pair

Don't wear you heart on your sleeve...

... hang it on the door for decoration!

I made this the other night with some scrap material, and it turned out quite nice. I also tried to make a star shape out of some blue stripey material but I cut to too small and it just didn't work. Ah well.

I'm currently working on some more french memo boards so watch this space for piccies. My fave one at the mo is the zebra print with fuchsia pink, so will pop that up as soon as I get my hands on some black studs. I wish there was a Hobbycraft nearby...

PS - how do you like the new look? I think I'll stick with this one for the time being until I decide what kind of brand I will be!

A plethora of patterns

Now that I have a good stash of fabrics and ribbons etc, the ideas I've been working on will come to light soon! Check out what I bought yesterday at the Aladdin's cave for a fabric shop:

It doesn't look like much but added to the pile of stuff I already have, there is plenty to play with. The next thing is to decide which combinations to do! I also LOVE this fabric which I'm going to turn into ballet bags:

And in preparation for Christmas (yes, I did just use the C word in July!) I have bought these which I am going to turn into stocking shaped bunting as soon as I find some nice green cord or ribbon.

I love making stuff for Christmas and this year I'm hoping to do some great wee projects to add the the Christmas decorations. It may be uber early to think about Christmas (hey, I haven't even had my birthday yet!) but I need time to get them all finished! Luckily, And Sew On which is where I get my supplies, have just started stocking the Christmas prints and all the goodies to go with them!! : )

An old project from last year

I thought I'd post this pic of a cross stitch project which I made last year. I bought it as a kit at Hobbycraft, and it was my first cross stitch for about 5 years! It makes me smile to look at it, altho it was a nightmare to stitch as it was a printed pattern on cotton which made it difficult to sew the x shape. I wasn't allowed to hang it in the kitchen so I have it on top of the bookcase in my office.

In other news, I made a trip to the fabric shop and spent an hour um-ing and ah-ing over what to buy, and came back with a pile of goodies which I can't wait to start playing with! Will post a pic of the 'before' later.

If you want to get ahead, get a label!

I am so excited to have my new labels which arrived over the weekend!!! All of my new projects will feature one of these from now on, and I'm so pleased with how they turned out! 

I ordered them from a great label website and they arrived within a week, which is brill as their lead time was 21 days. Here's a close up:

They are so me!

On a separate note, here's a pic of a french memo board I made for my mum in-law. She has a bit of a duck theme in the lounge, and this brings it into the kitchen too. The best bit is that it's the same colour as the walls so looks ab fab, even if I do say so myself!

 

I had some spare fabric so we trimmed it down and it's doing a great job of dressing up the drinks trolley. Plus, it also comes in an oil cloth so she has a matching tablecloth for the kitchen too!

By the way, if you have one of my items and want a label to put on it, just let me know and I'll send you one!

Ta-Daa!!

Last night I managed to finish a few of my little projects which have been on the go for a while. Will post pics soon - most of these are surprise pressies so will wait til the receiver has had them!

I did however finish my first protoype for something new (to me anyway). Gave you a sneak peak yesterday but here are the finish articles!

Large coasters to fit your tea (or coffee!) and a few biccies!!
I've made two, one turned out slightly smaller but that's cos I was using scraps of material. One side is pink and the other has a shoe pattern. I'm quite please with them but I think I need to make a few more before I've perfected them. Must sort out a template for cutting them out...

What do you think?

Also, just had to show you a pic of my 'sewing machine'. I put a mug next to it so you can see how big it actually is! If this crafting thing is going to take off, I may just have to get a proper machine, but so far it has done a good job, me thinks!

My first blog ever!

So, after a considerable amount of deliberation, I've finally 'taken the plunge' and sorted myself out a wee blog. It might be a process of trial and error, esp with the general look of it so any feedback is welcomed.

I am currently (eagerly) awaiting some labels I've ordered to put on all my handmade goodies and I'm really excited to see what they look like! Pic to follow when they arrive!

I have a number of exciting wee projects on the go and have started a little book of ideas so who knows, it might all take off and I'll be self-employed in no time! That's assuming anyone wants to buy the stuff I make...

Well, I am off to get crafty, but before I go here is a sneak peak of what I'm working on at the mo:
Can you guess what they are yet??