Hearty Birthday!

It was my lovely friend's birthday recently so I made her a wee trinket with love. I had a blank wooden heart shape and covered it with two coats of chalkboard paint. I got my paint in Hobbycraft but am sure other retailers will stock it too. (I like to support local craft shops too. Use them or lose them, I say!). Link to the particular stuff I used here: http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/decoart-americana-chalkboard-paint-59-ml/563790-1001 

I then halved a piece of chalk and stuck a small bit of paper round it to pretty it up. I stuck 

on the large flower with a sticky dot as it came on one and the two smaller ones I used 

tacky glue on. It's fairly sturdy so they won't fall off! I never got a photo of the ribbon I used

 but it's beautiful candy-striped chevron stuff I got free with Mollie Makes. gorge!

(The heart behind it I used washi tape on to create the stripes then painted various shades 

of coral and grey and added the wee acrylic flowers.)

Yee-ha!

Finally! I can finally post these pics! This is the make-up roll that I was making for my sister. It only took me a couple of hours one Sunday and I finished off the closing stitches during the week. I wanted to wait until I posted it to her so she wouldn't see the secret bits I added!

The pattern was from an edition of Craft Seller from a couple of summers ago. I simplified it as it was made from almost patchwork style bits and I wanted a solid  print. 

Quite simply,

- cut two pieces of fabric to 21 x 30 cm. these will be the outside and inside of the roll.

- cut another piece of fabric to 16 x 30 cm. this will be the pocket.

- iron interfacing to the back of all three pieces of fabric. This gives your work structure and stiffness. You might prefer a looser roll so feel free to skip the interfacing on the two larger pieces BUT do still interface the pocket fabric as it will make it more hard-wearing and professional looking.

- take the pocket material and fold over half a centimetre and the top long edge, then fold it over again. Iron the fold to smooth it down the run a quick straight stitch along it on the sewing machine.

- Put the pocket material wrong side down on the right side of the inner fabric piece, pin together and sew vertical lines starting at 1 inch from the left. Carry on sewing along 1 inch intervals to create the brush pockets. You will have a wider gap for the last pocket but this was intentional as my sis wanted to make sure she could fit her big blusher brush in!

- Pin the outer piece and the now-joined inner piece and pocket right sides together, pin and sew a straight stitch seam about 1 cm from the edge. Remember to leave a gap to turn right side out.

I added a ribbon in before I machine-stitched the piece. I simply got a length of ribbon - up to you what length - and pinned it into the seam with the ribbon being tucked out of the way inside.

- iron, turn out using a chopstick if needed to push corners out neatly. Before I turned mine out, I chopped the corners off diagonally to try and get sharper corners.

- add button or any other embellishments, hand-stitch opening closed, roll et voila! :)

Sis had picked the fabric from my stash. It's Cath Kidston Cowboy fabric and it's quite thick. She then chose red polkadot for the pockets and I added the handmade fabric button and swallow ribbon. The ribbon was free with Cloth magazine and you might remember I added it to a hat I bought a few weeks ago. And to the photos...

Roll up!

My lovely sister was over at the weekend. I love my Saturdays with my big sis! We made tapas and other snacks for lunch - chorizo in red wine, red pepper Spanish omelette, lemon houmous and breads, since you ask. Sis brought homemade sunflower bread and it was YUM! :)

She also helped me to sort out my craft brain (see previous post re too much inspiration and not enough focus) so I am thanking her by custom-making a make-up brush roll for her holidays. Sis picked the materials from my stash -Cath Kidston cowboy print and some red and white polkadot - and I started working on it the next day. 

It's a pattern I tweaked from an old edition of 'Craft Seller' magazine and basically you need to cut two pieces of fabric measuring 21 x 30 cm and one piece of 16 x 30 cm (for the inside brush pocket).

It's actually almost done with just the final slipstitches needed to close it. I'll post more when it's done but here's a sneak preview of the button I made from the cowboy fabric and one of those self-cover buttons. 

Can I get a big YEEEEEEEHA!!!! xx

Pinned Down!

Happy Friiiiday, everyone! Yes, it deserves all those extra letters in there. It's Friday share time so I thought I'd show a pincushion I have been working on myself from scratch.

I made a template for my wee doll and cut out two pieces of fabric. Before I sewed them wrong sides together, I added in features like a bonnet and waistband as the photos show.

It was a fun project as it really got my brain going and it was genuinely something I needed!

She just needs her wee head hand-stitches once I decide if I want to add a loop for hanging. What do you think?

Card-spiration!

With the beautiful spring weather finally making its long-awaited arrival, it's time to get cracking and crafting! I've been reorganising my craft to-do list to make it easy and accessible and make it work for me. I'll blog about that later but meantime, I had two cards to make and I planned my time thanks to my new system!

The first is a card for a colleague who just had a baby boy. It's a different friend from my previous posts about handmade baby gifts but it sure was a cute coincidence they both had baby boys within a week or so of each other!

The second is an RSVP (as you can see!) to an evening wedding reception. I just wanted to keep it simple.

Both cards feature some lovely craft tape I got in the Pound Shop of all places. I got three rolls for guess how much?! Clue's in the title! ;)

And to the pictures...

Time for Tea!

Next month, my lovely parents celebrate 40 years of marriage. Wow! I'm so proud of them and their wonderful, inspirational marriage. But how could I show them? Ah ha... Handmade!

I thought really hard about what to make that they could big share and enjoy and since I was practically raised as a tea Jenny, I thought a tea cosy was perfect. Someone had one made for my hubby and me for our wedding last year and we adore it and use it every day.

So here goes... I didn't have a pattern so drew round our tea cosy and cut out two outer pieces, two lining pieces and two bits of batting. I then did some freehand machine embroidery on a heart shape I cut out (embroider before cutting shape or it won't fit in your hoop!).

This weekend I have to sew it all together. I'm thinking of adding another heart on the back with 'since 1973' embroidered on it. Will post more pics as soon as it's done but here is the progress in the meantime...