Handmade Monday 9 - Looking Back Over The Years

Welcome once again to Handmade Monday organised by Wendy of 1stuniquegifts where clever crafters join together to share stories via their blogs. Having spent this week attempting to finish all my bags and failing miserably i tried to think of something different to share with you this week and i thought of looking back at other crafts i have tried over the years. Ever since i was a child i have always been making one thing or another ,as i guess most of us crafters have, usually as presents for family. I love to try anything but dont always have a lot of patience if things dont turn out right straight away. When i left college many years ago it took me a few months to get a job so my mother and i got into decoupage. We didnt make cards though, we did pictures on tiles and plates and personalised them with letra set letters. We cut all our pictures from wrapping paper and covered with a plastic covering. All seems so basic now especially after seeing ,at the NEC this week, all the latest equipment for card designing. Please excuse the photos as they are 25 years old and not that clear!! We booked a christmas craft fair at our local civic hall in Kent, there didnt seem to be so many events in those days and the novelty factor brought in so many visitors. I can remember us having crowds round our table, it was a fantastic feeling and we sold loads.

A few years later i had my first son and took a year off work and got into salt dough for something to keep me occupied.

Again i got transfixed by it and built up a massive stock of wall decorations, kids mobiles and clown name plaques for kids bedrooms. The plaques especially sold well but after about a year i gave up when, at a school fair, i overheard a child saying to his mother "oh we did that in school this week. It's easy!"

A couple of years later i bought a felt picture hanging kit. I loved it so much when i finished i knew i had to make it my next project! Only did one fair with these and sold what i'd made plus a few decoupage bits provided by my sister. (Once again please excuse the quality of the photo)

So by this time i had 2 small kids and a full time job cooking and i turned my attention to novelty cakes, mainly for my boys birthdays.

This forever friends teddy on an armchair i made 2 or 3 times for different women, i loved making it coz i loved the end result.

Mr Potato head was quite a funky one.

And i was really proud of this one though it took ages making each footballer. And that little boy isnt so little now and nowhere near as cute!!

And just to finish off i would like to share with you the only wedding cake i have ever made and am extremely proud of.

It was for my bosses daughter and was really nerve racking to make as it obviously had to be perfect for her and would be viewed by 100 people.

Each flower on top was individually made and if you look closly round the outside edge i tried a sort of lace effect and each piece made and stuck on individually.

It's lovely looking back at things but even better to look forward as there is still so much to learn and achieve. Cant wait!

Thanks for popping by and if you have the time please pop by Wendy's blog to find out what other crafters have been up to this week.

Until next time.

xxx