Friday 29 October 2010

Lake Vyrnwy

 



Images courtesy of my wonderful Steve Poxson.  Take a look at his Flickr here :)

a handmade Christmas (5)

It feels like forever since I have written a new post - I have been so busy over the past couple of weeks!  Christmas is getting closer, and I still have so many wonderful craftsters to share with you all!
Today I have chosen the amazing Mr.Wick.  The work of Katie Figiel, Mr.Wick stocks a wide range of cute and quirky candles - Katie will literally make a candle out of anything!  Prices start at only £4, a perfect gift idea, especially with these dark nights creeping up on us! 
 Here are some of my favourite items from her Folksy shop.

Scents include bubblegum, banana and candyfloss - mmm!  


A big thank you to Mr.Wick for allowing me to use their (beautiful) images :)

Friday 22 October 2010

a handmade Christmas (4)

Today's choice is very appropriate, as I found out a few days ago that I have been lucky enough to win one of Tea and Ceremony's wonderful notepads through a Craftsville competition :) Woo!  To start off, I will share with you the AMAZING item that I am eagerly anticipating falling through my letter box!

Tea and Ceremony designs are by Sandra Igbodo, who is influenced by Scandinavian and folk design, alongside simple, clean and bold lines.  Tea and Ceremony sells a range of items, including greeting cards, badges and prints, and all for very reasonable prices.  Here are some of my favourite items from Tea and Ceremony's Folksy shop.
Christmas badges
£1.50 each
'I don't speak French' badges
£2.00
Love Birds notepad
£3.75


Bluebirds 2011 Desktop Calendar

£8.00

As you can see, Sandra's designs are really beautiful, and from her wide selection of makes, you could certainly find a few Christmas presents for your loved ones!
To find out more about Tea and Ceremony, visit the website.  You can also follow on Twitter.

The Leicester Vintage Fair has finally arrived!  I have just about finished packing up all of my crafts ready for tomorrows event (I am one of these people that always leaves things until the last minute, throwing things into bags on the way out of the door 'just incase').  Steve is in Derby for a few days at the moment, and I feel lost!  Normally he is here to remind me of things that I need to take (and usually makes me sandwiches so that I don't go hungry!)  He is taking part in the UK Young Artists exhibition this weekend, his new series of work was chosen - you can take a look at some of it here :) I was in Derby until late last night, and saw some really interesting artwork, spanning across many art disciplines.  Definitely worth checking out over the weekend if you are based in the midlands - after you have visited my stall at the Vintage Fair of course :)

Hope that you all have a fantastic weekend, wish me luck for tomorrow!  



Saturday 16 October 2010

the gingerbread fox.

When I woke up, it was such a beautiful, sunny Autumn morning :)  
We headed out to a bric and brac sale at an animal rescue centre in Hancote (a village not too far from us) late morning, and my oh my, did we find some treats!  I wish I had taken some more photographs now so you could see how amazing it was!  
Steve was very happy, as he managed to get himself a bag of cameras and accessories for £5, including the Box Brownie cine camera and polaroid cameras below, and a slide projector in full working order.
The animal rescue centre also has a permanent charity shop on site, and this is where I found this old circus jigsaw for 25p.  am. az. ing.
What was most exciting though, was that I brought 3 bags of fabric for only £3!  It should have only been £2.40, but I felt so guilty that it was so cheap that I gave them a little bit more!  All of the money was going to an animal charity, and we all know how much I love animals!  Here's a photograph of my extremely large bundle of fabric!  Unfortunately the best bits are hidden underneath, but as you can see there is a lot of beautiful floral fabrics and stripes in there!
I also found myself a beautiful dark red floral scarf and a brown vintage Marks and Spencers checked shirt, which are perfect for this Autumnal weather!  I will try to post some photographs of these and some better images of my fabrics once they have all come out of the wash!
When I got home, I was itching to do some baking, and decided to attempt gingerbread.  Having never made it before, I have to say it was so easy and the results were delicious!  I used a recipe from the Waitrose website, you can find it here if you fancy giving it a go :)  Oh, and it also meant that I got to try out my woodland animals cookie cutters which have been sat in my cupboard for ages!
I hope that you are all having a great weekend so far!

Thursday 14 October 2010

badges, badges, badges!

I have had a bit of a love affair with our badge maker this week! I have managed to make some new packs of bird badges (made from vintage books), and some vintage fabric badges.  I have also been thinking about the festive season that is approaching, and have made some Christmas themed vintage fabric badges and some robin badges (again, made from vintage books!)  
I would love to know what you think of the badges, which ones are your favourite?

Sunday 10 October 2010

a handmade Christmas (3)

I have a wonderful shop for you to feast your eyes on today!  Nikki Made creates badges, prints, cushions and other items, all inspired by Nikki's loves - a cup of tea and a biscuit, baking, sewing, drawing and sculpture.  With items for sale from as little as £2, you can certainly find a few stocking fillers on Nikki's Folksy or Etsy shop.

I love this large fry up pin badge, I must add that Nikki made it and ate it herself!  I think that this is a great idea , it's really cute and quirky!  Oh, and it's only £2!  :)
I could think of about a hundred people who this bone china mug would be perfect for!  Who wouldn't think that a cup of tea solves everything?  Nikki originally created the artwork on the mug using tea- she really does have some fantastic ideas! 
The mug costs £10.

These Tunnock's Teacakes hand screen printed cushions are my absolute favourite item!  They measure 16" in diameter and are made from 100% cotton, and all for only £15 each!
I really love how much thought and effort has gone into Nikki's designs, which has resulted in some high quality items for very reasonable prices :)  You can find out more about Nikki and her crafts on her blog and also follow her on twitter.

I hope that you are all having a great weekend?  My sister gave me a huge vintage fabric bundle today, so I'm off to root through it and hopefully gain some inspiration!  Only 13 days until The Leicester Vintage Fair so I have lots to do!

Thanks to Nikki for allowing me to use her images :)

Thursday 7 October 2010

handmade patchwork quilt

You may remember that a few weeks ago I decided that I would begin to make a patchwork quilt... well, I am still making it!  To be honest though, I had sort of forgotten that I had started this project (I have been so busy with my new job and making things to sell on Folksy and at fairs!)  
So, I thought you may be interested in seeing how it's going?




Phew, there's a lot of squares of fabric sewn together there right?!  And this is not even half finished yet!  I'd better get a move on, it's getting colder and colder by the day!



The photographs above are some little snap shots of my favourite squares - I particularly love the horse one (how amazing?)  A colleague of a friend of mine kindly gave me some bags of fabric, and this little treat was inside one at the bottom!  There is quite a bit left, so I'm hoping to make myself a bag, or maybe even a skirt if there is enough!  Ooh I'm excited!

Sunday 3 October 2010

a handmade Christmas (2)

I have just returned from a very lovely weekend in London, where I stayed with my friend Ruth and her boyfriend Pat.  It was so much fun, but I am not a big fan of London.  It's just too busy, and after a couple of days there I feel exhausted!  Most of my friends have moved to London, but if I'm honest, I would much prefer to live in a village in the countryside!

Anyway, the main reason for this post is that I wanted to share another one of my favourite Folksy sellers with you.  Today I have chosen a very talented lady, Cassia Beck.  Cassia is an artist and photographer from Brighton, and creates some very beautiful prints and collages.  Lola's Room is where you can find Cassia's wonderfully pretty pastel prints of cameras, buttons, books, teacups and typewriters (to name a few).  Prints cost between £9 - £25, and there are also badges and postcards on offer!

Here's a little sample of her work, which happen to be my personal favourites :)



Cassia's second venture is Violet May.  This shop has an array of quirky and nostalgic collage prints, which I adore!  The prints cost £15 each.




I think that a framed print would make a lovely personal present for a friend who loves all things nostalgic (or even a treat for yourself for your bedroom, office, living room etc!)


Cassia can also be followed on Twitter.  Speaking of Twitter, this is something which I have been meaning to sign up to for a while, and I have finally done it!  I haven't 'tweeted' yet, but please follow me for updates on new blog posts, new products and information about craft fairs :) 


Thanks to everyone for the fantastic comments regarding Emily's (Skull and Cross Buns) stamps, and thank you to Cassia for allowing me to use her amazing images for this post!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...