Funky Photo Frames

I have been getting some car boot bargains again.
These red pyjama bottoms cost me 25p on Sunday. Brilliant fabric with tiny white and pink hearts on.
Read on and i'll show you a little project i used them for.
I cut out a couple of squares of pelmet vilene with a square hole cut out of one piece.

I cut out slightly larger pieces of fabric and glued them to the vilene and glued a square of white lining fabric to cover all untidy edges.

Cut a small length of red ribbon.

Then glued both pieces together with the ribbon in between leaving the top unglued so that i can slide a photo in.

Of course i had to accessorise with fabric flowers!

And VOILA a funky little photo frame for your favourite print!

I enjoyed making it so much i made another with some scrap fabric i had and accessorised with some fimo flowers .

Thanks for popping by and don't forget to pop along to 1stuniquegifts blog and see what other crafters have been up to this week for handmade Monday.

As for me i will be selling at the Coventry City Football Club Family Day on Thursday which is being held at The Ricoh Arena from 10am til 5pm. Be sure to say hello if you are there!

Until next time

xxx

Hobbycrafts And Sewing For Pleasure At The NEC

One of my christmas presents this year was a ticket to The Hobbycrafts and Sewing fo pleasure show at the NEC this week, 24th - 27th March. Details can be found here .

I went on Friday and the show was absolutely packed with women. The car park was home to several coaches from all over. Many women walked with trolleys, obviously intending to spend spend spend!! The first hall was mainly for card makers with each stall selling everything you could possibly want for card making. It had been my intention before i went to make sure i looked out for a stand selling the BigShot Sizzix machine so i could have a demo and see if it was really something that would be worth buying for myself.

I wasnt disappointed as THE CRAFT BUG had a stand there specialising in machines and dies and they were able to answer all my questions which resulted in my OH declaring that he was buying me one for my birthday! They were £20 cheaper than the one i had looked at in Hobbycraft the other week so it made sense to buy it then and there.

And here it is.




As my OH had bought the machine i needed to get a couple of DIES to get me started. They were selling at £12 each with an offer of 3 for £33 so i went with the offer! These are the 3 i chose but have since had a look at their website and made a list of 6 others i want!

Another purchase i made yesterday was some fabric that i spotted looking very lonely in a basket on the stall of a lady selling wooden hanging plaques. Not sure what i'm doing with it yet but i'm sure i will think of something!!

As i said the lady was selling hanging plaques and very kindly let me take a photo of the stall, as it was one of my personal favourites and she was very welcoming and friendly.

You can find more of her work at www.woodenheartco.com and i see she also has a shop on folksy .

As well as all that i also bought some fabric squares for pin cushions from a company called PINFLAIR .

Have a look on their site for all your craft requirements as they seem to do quite a range of items.

And then i found spotty buttons so i had to have some!! They were supplied by CRAFTY RIBBONS and what a selection of ribbons they had. Take a look at their site for more info and i've also just found their blog which i will be having a good read of when i have time.

After a quick spot of lunch we came across two lovely ladies working hard at a small table with polymer clay. Now i bought 4 or 5 packs or fimo in the summer with the intention of making buttons but the ones i made didnt really look quite right and i was interested in learning more so they talked me thru a few processes.

Even my OH found their demonstration really fascinating and we both felt we had learnt something. You can buy clay and other materials from their website CLAYAROUND .

To end my days spending spree i popped by the JANOME sewing machine stand to ask for a new foot for my machine that i could use when trying to embroider a design, as with my present foot i cant see the pattern i am sewing and this foot has a wider eye so i can see.

I will let you know the result. If you are a janome machine owner you may be interested in this blog i follow SEW JANOME

I left the show at 4pm feeling exhausted and rather poor, but excited by my new goodies i had purchased. Definately a great christmas present.

The HobbyCrafts show returns to the NEC in November from the 3rd to the 6th and will be accompanied by Crafts For Christmas Show. One ticket gets you into both shows. Full details can be found on the ICHF Events site .

Thanks for popping by.

Until next time.

xxx

End Of Year Blog

Well the end of 2010 is now approaching and time to reflect on the year and look forward to new challenges for the New Year.
I started the year with hopes and dreams of opening a shop with my friend and end it with that dream gone but replaced with dreams of new ventures but on a smaller scale.
The best thing i did at the beginning of the year was to sign up to the uk craft forum. Through that site over the past year i have learnt so much, passed on advice, attended new craft fairs and above all met some lovely new friends.
During the final month of the year i have been busy experimenting in some new fields of sewing.
My cousin asked me to make some draught excluders for her house. Not something i have made before although not something that is really difficult. She was really pleased with them and has asked if i will make her a bench cushion in the New Year.
Material was purchased from my favourite shop The Bramble Patch.

My favourite challenge for the month was to create a secret santa present for Silverthistle from the craft forum. I didn't manage to find out too much personal information about her other than 4 kids and living in Scotland and loves beads!!

So i put together this gingerbread man garland representing her and her husband in tartan clothes and their 4 children. I was chuffed with the final results especially with the red beads inbetween as they were my 1st experiment with fimo clay.

Stocking fillers were high on my list of makes this month also and i am really pleased with these pen/pencil cases i designed. They are so handy in your handbag and no more routing around in the bottom of your bag for a pen!

I am enjoying the idea of puting different patterned material together at the moment.

I will also be able to personalise these in the future as i seem to have mastered lettering on my sewing machine as you will discover further down the page.

Was rather choked when i opened my own secret santa present on christmas day from Samigail (alias Fiona) on the craft forum. She had taken the time to read my blog and make 3 presents representing my recent decorating of the bathroom, my love of teddies and the fact that i cook for a living.

So personal and will definately be hung with pride.

You can find more plaques on fionas website here .

And finally another twist on gingerbread men for this year.

As you know i work as a cook and for the week before christmas we have a 3 course christmas menu and usually serve around 350 customers. It's always the hardest week of the year so for a laugh this year i made the 10 main staff badges with nicknames.

I am so pleased i have now mastered lettering on my machine and it's definately a new direction for next year with many ideas for personalising my crafts.

So there we are, the end of yet another year.

Looking forward to next year with many new ventures and dreams to explore.

Happy New Year to you all and see you in 2011 xx