Birthday Giveaway - And the NEW winner is.....

Laura Carrol!!

The original winner of my birthday giveaway did not come forward so I have selected a new winner at random. Please get in touch if it is you and I'll arrange for your treat to be sent to you.

Christmas is coming, must start making things!

This year I am having a handmade Christmas. I have lots of great ideas for presents for people which for the moment I shall keep under wraps, but I can't wait to share them with you at a later date!

Last year, when I was watching Kirstie's Homemade Christmas, I was inspired to make some stockings like she did but the programme was on too late to do them in time for Santa's visit. I bought the fabics to make one for me and my hubby ages ago but they are still languishing in the fabric box... It all stems from the fear of the sewing machine but if I am to get it done in time for this year, I'd better get my skates on!

If you fancy making your own, here's where to find the instructions: Stockings

Here are some pics of Christmas things that I have managed to finish and which are available in my Etsy shop:

Confronting the fear of needles...... (part 2)

You may remember my post from a week or two ago about starting to learn to knit, well needless to day, the novelty has worn off!

My "knitters' thumb" got better but my knitting technique has not! At the weekend, my auntie tried to help me but it was a lost cause really. And among the various hints and tips and fiddling about with the wool, the whole lot got unravelled and Barbie's scarf no longer exists. If you've no idea what I'm talking about read this post.

So, the knitting is out the window, so to speak. Glad I didn't buy decent needles...! I may pick it up again one day but for the time being I'm happy to leave the knitting to those who enjoy it! Does anyone else struggle to knit or is it just me?

Cushie number!

I made my first ever cushions last week and now that the recipient has received these (my auntie who does the knitting for me - it was her b'day), I can show you some pics!

I used a fabulous cotton fabric with lots of girlie pictures of shoes, bags, dresses and makeup. These pics don't do them justice really, they are a very girlie combination of pinks, blues, greens and purples.The cover is removable so you can wash it or change the cover altogether so I think that's pretty cool! I did sew on some cute pink buttons but you can't see them in this pic sadly. I was sad to part with them although will be excited to see how they look in their new home! I love seeing things that I've made for people when I visit their houses : )

I am a bit scared of the sewing machine so tend to shy away from these sorts of projects but I was surprised how straight forward it was to make! I used the instructions from Kirstie's Homemade Home that was on channel 4 last year. You can find them here if you want to have a go at making them. For those of you in the know about these things, they are envelope cushions. Probably the easiest cushion to make for a scaredy cat like me!

Is anyone else scared of the sewing machine?

Let them eat cake

Today is my birthday and I just had to show you a pic of the cake that my wonderful hubby made for me:

It was a Brooklyn Blackout Cake from the Humming Bird Bakery Cookbook and it was A-MAZ-ING! If you don't have this wonderful book, go and buy it right now! It is the best cake book ever and every single recipe that I've made so far is to die for!!

My hubby never bakes (I'm in charge of the cakes round here) but as I believe it is wrong to bake your own birthday cake, each year he rolls up his sleeves and makes a fabulous cake for me. It may not have a fancy icing design but it was so yummy, there's none left! (Please note that I did not eat it all myself).
 

On the subject of cakes, these Halloween cupcakes made by my sister's friend (aka The Bad Fairy) were equally delicious and absolutely gorgeous to look at. Check out the detail on the decorating!

Facebook Love

A very quick post to say thank you to everyone who 'likes' the Princess Crafts page on Facebook. On Friday night, I have 12 'likes' and at the time of writing this, I had 138 'likes'! That's a massive increase in such a short space of time and I'd like to say thanks to all of you who have been recommending me to your friends, I really appreciate it.

It makes me very happy to see people like my stuff :-)

The answer to your cuppa going cold

If you're like me, you prefer to sit down and put your feet up while you enjoy your cuppa tea/coffee/hot chocolate. But sometimes life gets in the way of enjoying the cuppa while it's hot - the phone rings/there's someone at the door/you pop out to hang the washing and then forget the cuppa is waiting for you...

Well, I may have the perfect answer to this problem!!

Introducing...

..The Cup Snug!

Knitted by my auntie and embellished with beads and sequins by my sister, this is our first prototype. Now, I can't guarantee that it will stop your cuppa going cold but it might help keep it warm for that little bit longer! And it will definitely liven up a boring paper cup from your fave coffee shop! We are also working on a mug snug which will accommodate mugs with handles.

Would you like to see this and more like it in my shop??

Birthday Giveaway - And the winner is.....

"Drum Roll Please................."

The winner of my Birthday Giveaway is............... Selene16!!! Please contact me with your details so I can send you your surprise treat!!

Congratulations to you and thank you to all of you who entered. And, if you like giveaways, stay tuned as there will be a Christmas giveaway in the next few weeks!!

will be back soon

You may (or may not) be wondering why I haven't posted in a while... well due to my once again being in gainful full time employment, things have got a little hectic around here! Once I get myself organised, I'll be back posting my usual drivel. Hope you're not too lonely without me!!

Confronting the fear of needles...... (part 1)

...knitting needles

So, if you have been reading my posts you'll probably know that I don't know how to knit. This is a bit silly when I think that both my grannies were avid knitters and crocheters, as were my mum and aunties, "back in the good ol' days". My grannies did try to teach me how to knit but I never got very far with it and this was down to several things:

• They could knit me anything me or my dollies wanted, so why did I need to learn?

• I didn't find it interesting enough to plough on past the difficult bits - the biggest thing I knitted was a blanket for my Barbie doll...
• I lived in the Caribbean for a while as a child and therefore had no need for knitted (ie woolly) items
• By the time I was old enough to take any interest, it just was NOT COOL to wear anything knitted (handmade by your granny or otherwise)
• I never did textiles at school where they taught you how to knit (I did cooking)

Anyway, I digress! The re-interest in knitting happened a couple of months ago when my auntie took up the needles again, after some 20 odd years, in a bid to help my get my online shop started. Then when I started showing people the knitted scarves etc they asked me if I knitted them - so I had to explain the scenario and laughingly said I would probably learn to knit at some point.

It turns out that point in time was yesterday!

When shopping in the orange supermarket (as they refer to it on Radio 1) I spotted this magazine which came with a free set of knitting needles (4mm in case you're interested):

I figured that with the free needles and a random ball of wool which I have in my crafty stash it could turn into something with the help of this mag. I just had to hope that there were some instructions in it (it was in one of those plastic bags that stop all the junk leaflets falling out). Low and behold, when I got it home, it did have instructions at the back! So I set to it and after a few false starts and discovering that you can't pull it too tight other wise the stupid stitched won't budge off the sodding needle, and having to start again three times, this is how my 'knitting' looks so far:

It's looking pretty good, but now I'm getting to the point of losing interest. It is just too much like hard work. My unconventional way of holding the needles is probably not helping but it is the only way I can stop losing the stitches. And now, I have an injury which I shall name 'knitter's thumb' because they are both bloomin' sore and probably developing bruises as we speak (see pic below).

I have no idea how many stitches or rows I have done but if I decide not to continue, it would make a nice chunky scarf for Barbie. Please note that I do not have a Barbie (anymore) but if I did, I would gladly give her this knitted item. If you think your Barbie would like it, please let me know!

my 'knitter's thumb'

I am aspiring to use this whole 50g ball, which to be quite honest, will probably take me a month to achieve. Will post my progress as I go along. All I can say is, give me a good cross stitch any day!


PS - I quite like the blue cardi on the front cover, so if anyone's granny would like to knit it for me I'll gladly supply the wool and the pattern...

October cup still up for grabs!

This lovely 'October' rose scented teacup candle is still available for purchase. It would make a fab pressie for anyone celebrating an occasion this month. Pop along to my Etsy shop to purchase by clicking here !

(please, please, please do not be put off by the price showing in dollars, this teacup is only £15 and paypal will sort all the currency conversions for you)

Pleased to be part of a treasury

The other day I received a lovely message from fellow Etsy seller Greene Stitches to let me know that she featured me in one of her treasuries all about roses. My cute little vintage rose pattern french memo board is sitting alongside some gorgeous vintage and handmade items all featuring beautiful rose designs, and I am so pleased!


Please take a look! Decorating with roses

Christmassy Accessories

Having spotted some fabulous Christmassy shaped buttons, I had to buy them to turn them into festive hair clips!! Watch this space for piccies...

Also, don't forget to enter my birthday giveaway!! Click here

Who else is gearing up for Christmas??

Christmas is coming...

In preparation for 'The Big C' I have been keeping an eye out for ideas on what I can add to my shop to add some festive cheer. This is what I have come up with so far:


Christmas card boards:

Available to buy on in my Etsy shop, and will most probably come supplied with mini pegs to attach the cards with.

What do you think of these?

Memo boards on Etsy!

After a weekend session of making memo boards, I spent yesterday afternoon listing these new goodies on my Etsy shop. Click here to take a look!!

Here's a preview of the memo boards for sale:

Memo boards in the making

This weekend saw a trip to the fabric shop where I buy most of my goodies and an hour was spent oo-ing and aah-ing over the delights on offer. My hubby was very helpful and patiently put up with my complete inability to make a decision while we were there! There is something about that shop that turns me into someone who just cannot make up her mind, and those of you who know me will probably find that amusing as I am usually a very decisive person!

I spent most of Saturday afternoon making new memo boards, which will be listed in my Etsy shop this week. But I just had to give you a sneak peek before then!

 Have you spotted the Christmas fabrics? More to come soon!!

 This print is one of my personal favourites!!

Proper photos of each board to follow!

Princess Crafts is on Facebook!!

I have had a whole week of behind the scenes admin and one of the results of this is a Princess Crafts page on Facebook!!

'Like' us and keep an eye on this page for all sorts of interesting information and photos etc! The more fans the merrier, so please tell all your friends about how fabulous Princess Crafts is!!

Birthday Giveaway

It's my birthday this month and in celebration of this, I have a surprise giveaway for one lucky person!!!

To be in with a chance of winning a surprise pressie, please leave a comment at the end of this post and I will select a winner at random. Make sure to leave your name or a pseudonym so that I know who you are (anonymous comments will be discounted)!

Entries must be made by 10pm Saturday October 23rd, and I'll pick a winner on October 24th. Check back here then to see who wins!

New items added to shop

The last few days have given me the much needed opportunity to do some admin stuff for Princess Crafts, which means that there are new items listed in my etsy shop!!

Take a look and make a purchase (or two, or three, more!) - plenty more items to come soon!!

This is one of my faves:

Exciting opportunity

Last week I had an interesting email from a media company in the USA very politely asking if I would like to be featured in one of their TV programmes called '15 Fresh Handmade Gift Ideas' on the HGTV channel. My immediate answer was 'absolutely'!! 

So two of these gorgeous teacups are en route to Tennessee to be featured on American telly! 

I was sad to see them go as they are some of my faves (namely cos they are pink) but I am also excited that 89 million households (so I am told) will get the chance to see my humble little teacup candles. How exciting! I rescued these particular teacups from the back of a sad and dreary charity shop, and after a bit of titivating, they're now going to be TV megastars! I'm so pleased for them : )

This is the box all ready and waiting for FedEx to collect:

There was a lot of paperwork involved in organising the FedEx delivery, but thanks to some help from my hubby, it all got filled in properly and they should be there in 24hours. I was rather paranoid of doing it wrong but a call to customer services and several stupid questions soon sorted that out!

So there you have it, Princess Crafts' first TV appearance! I now need to get my skates on and sort my website out before the show airs on Thanksgiving Day...

Need a birthday pressie this month?

Look no further!!

I have this fabulous one off teacup candle which is ideal for anyone celebrating a birthday in October!!

Royal Albert "Flower of the Month" series, dated 1970 - pink coloured eco soy wax, rose scented £15.00
Visit my Etsy shop to purchase, or contact me by leaving a comment on this post. Only one available, so if you want it, buy it now!!

Glorious Teacups Galore!!

Not posted for aaaaaages but have been uber busy doing all sorts of things: admin for princess crafts, work, wedding shopping, housework, the list goes on!

Anyway, here is a wee smorgasbord of what I've been up to: