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

A Successful Event At Sywell

Last weekend saw the start of our 3 big christmas events that we have booked for this year.
This one was run by Penine Fairs and was at Sywell Aerodrome and was a 2 day event.
As usual it was well set up and it was lovely to meet up with lots of members of the craft forum that i am an active member of.
We did really well over the weekend and sold lots of the £3 items that i had made which i was pleased about. Unfortunately my new gingerbread men and ladies didnt do well but i have now listed on my folksy site so maybe i'll have better luck there. If you fancy having any of these lovely gingerbreads hanging on your tree this year then you can buy them here from my folksy shop.

My favourite item at this weekends craft fair were these wine bottle cheese boards
made by Aldridge Architectural Glass .

Unfortunately i had no one to buy this for as a christmas present but i did think they were brilliant and quite unique.

It was a real priviledge also this week to be opposite Cuckoo's Nest Pottery. Kate, from Cuckoos Nest, is another member of the UK craft forum and it was lovely to meet her and chat with her.

I also bought some toadstools off her for a christmas present.

Kate demonstrates at fairs and below are some of her pieces that she was working on.

She also runs her own handmade fairs in the Leicester area and i'm looking into booking with her next year.

A lovely weekend both socially and financially.

Until next time.

xx

Fabric Flower Brooch

I am still using up all my material scraps and, this week, was asked by a lady at work if i could make her a fabric flower brooch for her new pink coat. She gave me one of the spare buttons so i could match colours but unfortuntely none of my scraps were the right colour. What a lovely excuse for a trip to my favourite fabric shop!!
If you have never been to The Bramble Patch in Weedon, Northants it's well worth a visit. For me it's one of those shops that i could stand in the middle of and drift off into my dreams, i love it. They also do many quilting classes in the rear of the building and the staff are so helpful.
So finally i picked 2 fat quarters of material that would match my button. And 2 totally extremes of design i think as well. The flowers look classy whilst the dots are a bit more mad and adventurous.
So i got to work as soon as i got home. If you recall ,from one of my earlier posts in the year, the tutorial for this brooch can be found on folksy tutorial page
and is really quite a simple but effective make.
Below are the final products and she decided to keep both. They match the coat colour well.


Until next time xx

Holidays, Hikes And Makes

It is half term this week and, for a change, i have had 5 days holiday from work and have had my sister and nieces staying with me.
On Sunday we chose to go walking and picked a walk out of my "Country Walks In The Rugby Area" by Jim Watson. This is the 1st walk i have attempted from this book so was interested to know how good the directions would be and how easy they were to follow.
Our walk was entitled Braunston, Sawbridge and Wolfhampcote and was 4.5miles long.
We started from "The Boathouse" in Braunston and along the canal before treking across
many fields and seeing many different animals, much to the kids delight.
The photo below is the view half way round as we walked down a bridleway. As well as all the animals we came across we also collected berries and conkers. And below is a photo of a mushroom we came across that i found fascinating. We did try and research it when we got home to see if edible but to no avail. The photo came out well tho i think!

Today my family are returning home but, before they left, my niece begged me for one of my new butterflies. Unfortunately her favourite colour is pink and i havent as yet made pink yet so we sat together and went thru my scraps and put her own unique one together for her to wear with pride!

xx

Creative Material Scraps

Dreamstar havent done many craft fairs this year but now the christmas season is approaching we have 3 big events booked so i'm now trying to think of some new ideas to add to our stock. I've always said we need some cheaper items, pocket money items, as some call it.
Whilst trying to think of ideas last week i realised just how much scrap material i have accumulated over the past couple of years. So i had a good look through my craft box and as well as all my cotton fabric i found a huge pile of felt and bags of keyrings, key fobs, and brooch clasps. The latter items were in sealed bags, i think they must have been there years.
So i had a look around the net, through books and a bit of people watching to see what was fashion nowadays and here is what i come up with.
All of them were easy and quick to make and i'm looking forward to seeing if they are a hit at the christmas fairs.
BUTTERFLIES AND HEART KEY RINGS AND BAG CHARMS
BEACH HUTS

And for those people who need their needles keeping safe here are some lovely needle cases.

xx

Bathroom ReVamp

As you know i moved house recently and it has taken me a while to settle in. It is a rented house so there is only so much i can do to the property but i really want it to feel like home.
So i decided, at the weekend, to begin to put my mark on things and i have begun with the bathroom.
As you can see from the 1st photo it was painted with a dark terracotta paint which made the room look small and dark. The curtain, kindly put up by the owner, was made from an old bedspread and looked like an old rag hanging at the window!
So where did i start? Well on a trip to Ikea last week i looked in the bargain basement and found this roman blind that was reduced due to ripped packaging. A bargain at £4.70! It was far too long but was easy to cut down and re hem.

And from under the bed i searched out this beach hut print that i bought in Cornwall during the summer.

The print wasnt framed so i looked at the local car boot for inspiration and i found this picture for 50p! I removed the picture from inside, found some dark green paint in my craft box and set to painting the wooden frame.

While the paint was drying i sought out some various green material scraps from my craft box and cut out some beach hut shapes and stuck them along the top of my blind

All the prep work done and i spent Sunday painting the bathroom with a lovely pale green paint . Once again a bargain as my friend had given me a half tin that she had left over from painting her sons room.

After 3 coats the wall was finally ready to hang my lovely new picture.

And finally my lovely beach hut blind, and on the windowsill a lovely candle and pebbles on a plate which i found in a charity shop for 99p!

I love it!

Finally I'm Back!

Well, as the title says, I'm back! It feels like forever since i have blogged and i have missed my normal daily routines of life but unfortunately life has had to come before craft and the computer for a while, but not any more!
Since i have been away i seem to have gained a few new faces following my blog so can i say a big thank you for joining me and WELCOME to Dreamstar Diary.
So what has kept me away from the computer?
First i moved into a bigger house so my boys could have their own rooms finally and we could all have just a little more space!
It's only a rented house but there is a lot to do to make it feel home.
This is the slightly over grown garden.

And this is the house from the front. Grubby nets still to be removed from the windows!

After moving house we went on holiday to Devon and Cornwall. Always active on our holidays. Here are the boys in a massive hole they dug on the beach. They were the envy of all the other children on the beach!

And here is my partner and I desperately trying to canoe and failing miserably!

My boys and I!

After returning home and to work for 3days i got a call to say an old family member that i hadn't seen for 20years had been diagnosed with cancer and i was so distraught i flew straight out to Las Palmas, where he lives,to see him. The 3 days i spent with him i will treasure always.

The rest of the summer was spent working extra hours at work to cover staff holidays and by the time the boys returned to school i was exhausted!

But then it was time to plan my youngest son's birthday. A teenager at last. I found the candles in a shop in Las Palmas and had to buy them as i haven't seen them in England. And the sparklers made the cake just a little more special.

And after all that it is time to return to normal life hopefully.

I have missed my crafts and hoping to get back to the work bench very soon with, hopefully, some new ideas for christmas.

Even though i haven't managed to create anything new myself can i just finish this post with a beautiful hanging plaque that i have received from Wendy at 1st
Unique Gifts this week.

It was for my boyfriends daughters birthday as she loved seeing the campervans on our holiday.

Wendy added a few flowers on her normal campervan design, at my request
so that the plaque looked more hippyish.

And just a final note to say Olivia absolutely loved it when we gave it to her yesterday and you can order your own personalised plaques through the 1st Unique Gifts website.

And tell Wendy that Dreamstar sent you!!

Until Next time xx