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

A Busy Weekend

Only 3 weeks to go til we move house. What an exciting but busy time at the moment. Tonight i have painted all the skirting on the stairs only to find we have no turps in the house to clean my brush! Total frustration!
So i am now on a break before bed and thought i would just catch up on some diary notes.
This weekend ,on Saturday ,Dreamstar had a stall at a community fundraiser event at Daventry College. It was a lovely day weather wise with plenty of activities going on in and around the college campus. We were in a marquee on the field and was pleasantly suprised to be positioned next to Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics who i met through the craft forum a while ago and have often seen at various events in the county the past year.
It was a slow start to the day. Unfortunately at these events you tend to get people just browsing, just for something to do. As the afternoon events got going we were fortunate enough to make a few sales so our day wasnt totally wasted. Our table was free which was a bonus although i did receive a phonecall today from the organiser asking for a donation. A weird way of doing things i have to say!
On Sunday it was a great pleasure (and pain!) to once again take part in the Rugby & Coventry 10mile bikeathon in aid of leukaemia and lymphoma research. For my boys and i this is the 3rd year running that we have taken part, my boyfriend has done a couple more. There are 3 rides on the day and over 1000 entrants. You can either participate in 50, 26 or 10 mile ride and at the end there is a well deserved pig roast for all entrants. We are still at the 10 mile stage as we have a 10 year old in our party but my hope in the next couple of years is to attempt 26miles which for me would be a massive achievement. The ride takes you through all the country villages and on a day like Sunday it was an enjoyable family day out.
The photo below shows us with our medals at the finishing line an hour and a half after we started. According to the Coventry Telegraph organisers expect to raise £50,000 in this their 16th year of organising the event.