Wednesday 14 December 2011

Craft Room

I know I have been promising you all this post for aggggeeeesssss!! So here it is!!

This is my craft room before - Its the spare room in our 2 bed maisonette.  Its a very long thin room and I have to share it with the machine machine and dryer - but hey, I get the washing done at least!


A bit messy isn't it!!  Please excuse the yellow tint to the pics - the walls are yellow - not my choice but no way I had time to paint the walls!!  At the far end is the desk - this thing is huge!! But a weird curved shape and not ideal for cutting fabric - I did this on the bed!! The boxes on the left hold all my finished products and the right is my ironing board (which has definitely seen better days!) 


Lots and lots of boxes! I used to have 6 huge plastic boxes to take my things to craft fairs in - now I use 2 huge suitcases and just wheel them inside - so much easier!! 

Heres a close up of the desk.  Theres a lot of stuff floating around as this was just before I packed everything up!  You can just spot my sewing machine at the back there!!

Isn't that looking a bit better! A nice clean desk! And you can see the floor!! lol :)



Desk removed and new Ikea Expedit units in its place.

This is Gucci - trying to help out!! 




There were plenty of these drank over the week!!

And these! This mug I picked up at a car boot and I love it!!  It holds about a pint of tea!!

Finally getting organised!! I put one Ikea Expedit unit on top of the other and took everything out of the plastic boxes as there was no room for them any more.

Another cup of tea - in another car boot mug - this one is hand painted and is soooo beautiful!!


Looking much more like a craft room now!!  I had no idea what to use as a table as I wanted it pretty high up so I could stand and cut fabric or sew without hurting my back bending over the table. I also wanted a 1/2 metre wide and 3 metre long table so I had plenty of cutting space.  My husband came up with the idea of using a kitchen worktop and kitchen cupboards - a trip to B & Q and I had them. Bliss!  
Note: I put together ALL the Ikea units, and the cupboards myself - very pleased with myself and the husband was very surprised!!


Can you guess what this is???




Isn't it gorgeous!! Its an old letterpress tray that I picked up from 
http://www.montysvintageshop.co.uk/ This place is amazing!!


On my Ikea trip I picked up this spice rack and jars and now it holds (some) of my button stash!


My scissor holder was a bargain from TK Maxx


Close up of the Ikea units and I treated myself to some fairy lights :)




This pic is a bit blurry but it shows you the wall above my desk  - the ribbon storage is two picture rails from Ikea (Ribba range)



As you can see all my ribbons fit wonderfully and yes, I have an East Of India ribbon obsession!!


Lots of bias binding and Christmassy ric rac at this end of the rail.



I picked this basket up from a car boot and it now holds my fabric scraps.

Couldn't resist this mug - its too beautiful to drink from so it holds all my pens


I keep all my thread and these tall milkshake cups are perfect for storing them!


Looting much more organised now!!




Last car boot find - I've been looking for one of these for ages!! Looks lovely on my craft table at fairs.

Well thats it!! Thats my craft room!!  I hope you enjoyed reading about it and I hope I've gave you some storage tips!!  Would love to see your crafty spaces so post a link below! 

Friday 2 December 2011

Share the Love

Well its December!! God only knows where November went!! I have no idea!!  For me it went in a blur of craft fairs, tissue holders and custom orders.  And a new material I brought that I'm way to scared to even touch at the moment!!  (all will be revealed when I have done some tests!!)

Over the last few weeks I have received 2 blog awards!  I'm so grateful to Pretty Petal and Lavender Attic for the Liebster award.


It means 'dearest' and is given to favourite blogs with under 200 followers.  These are my first blog awards and I am happy to pay them forward to these fab blogs below:

Sew Sweet - felt, findings and gorgeous ribbons and buttons galore!!

Meanyjar - Crochet queen!

Sewrayme - Lots of lovely sewing stories!!

Daffodilsandsnowdrops - More sewing loveliness!

MrsDG  - Quick witted crafter!

I will be letting these lovely ladies know about their awards so they can pay them forwards too.

xoxox

Sunday 13 November 2011

Blog love

I'm sending out some blog love today to my top 3 favourite bloggers!! (In no particular order!!)

Lavender Attic - funny crafty friend who won my card holder giveaway and dedicated a whole blog post to me - Thank you!!!!



The lovely, crochet fantastic Attic 24.  If you love to crochet and haven't ventured over here I suggest you do so!!  She has an amazing way with colours and I think she's up to 12 blankets now!! A huge achievement!



Sew Sweet.  If you have a button, ribbon or felt weakness then this is the site for you. It where all of my haberdashery comes from!! She also dabbles in card making too!  Emma at Sew Sweet is having a little freebie at the moment too so get over there!!



Sorry this is such a short post but I'm busy busy getting the craft room emptied! - Not to worry!  I'm just having it made into a 'proper' craft room - at last!! I will do a big blog post on it when its finished.  Can't wait :)



xxx

Monday 7 November 2011

Giveaway Winners!!!

Thank you all for entering my giveaway!!

I got my husband to choose 3 numbers randomly and the winners are:

3) Fran!!
4) Helen!!
7) Lavender Attic!!

Well done guys.  I will email you all to find out what colour you would like and your addresses.

Thanks again guys and I hope you like them.




Tuesday 1 November 2011

Happy Birthday to meeeee!!

Sunday 30th October was my birthday.  And if you reallllllyyyy have to know it was my 28th Birthday :( Though I should be very happy as I got asked for ID in my local Sainsburys the day after while I was buying myself a bottle of wine :)  Well chuffed!! lol :)

I had a lovely lazy morning with my husband who has promised me a spangling new camera! Woo!! Think I'm going to have a Panasonic FZ45 for those interested! Then we saw our friends in our local pub where I got a lovely bunch of flowers, some red wine and a box of Matchmakers (orange FYI) and a huge tube of pink smarties!!  Yum yum!!

I also popped over to my friend Maria's house and picked up some amazingly soft and squidgy chocolate cake and some yummy cupcakes.  She makes the best cakes and you can find her here: I love the Cake

So as its my birthday, and everyone knows you're supposed to bring something into work on your birthday :) I'm going to be having a little giveaway!!

Sooooo who wants a chance to win these??????


My lovely business/credit card holders :)

There are 3 up for grabs!!  All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post to enter!!  Simples!

The giveaway will end on Sunday 6th November at 1pm :)

Hope you all had a lovely hallowe'en and have a great week!!

This is what I'm working on this week:


New oven mitts :)  

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

First off I would like to thank all my lovely likers on Facebook and followers on Twitter for getting me to 200 likes and 400 followers respectively!!

You are all amazing and I hope my give away winners Kate (Facebook winner) and Chriss (Twitter winner) liked their make up bag and book ends!!

I've been working on some Christmas Stock - They are are available on the website now
I think these stockings are perfect for your kids (or yourself!) They come fully lined and have fleece interfacing so they are nice and soft, and can be stuffed full of all sorts of goodies!!
My mom used to stuff ours with an orange (though I keep telling her I don't like oranges!) and some chocolate coins, a sugar mouse and a little present. :) Awh, memories!!

These are for me and my husband :)  



The lettering is 30p each letter and I have loads of lovely Christmassy fabrics from Kate Spain Flurry Range for them :)



As some of you who follow me on Twitter know I have been making some items from clay.
These stars are just gorgeous!!  They will be available at my craft fairs as I'm too scared of them getting broken in the post!!


I especially love the scroll hearts :)



But the most exciting thing is these!!!!

Beautiful, colourful handmade buttons!! 


I have been selling my last batch at my craft fairs to test the waters and they are really popular, so I have made a small batch and they are on the website now.  Heres the little linky link

This little Christmassy wreath is a tester I did for Sew Sweet over the weekend
using her wool mix felt and Mistletoe buttons.  Especially loving the large button and felt ric-rac holly :)
I will be making a few larger versions of these this week for the shop.  But if you wanted a small version (this one is - runs to find the tape measure - 4.5" (11cm) diameter) I'm sure we can oblige :)


Also added to the website is my advent calendars 


24 pockets with a large No.24 pocket.  Perfect alternative to the chocolate advent calendars around

Very plain and simple and made using hardwearing linen so it will last for years.


More clay goodies:

I had a go at making some bowls.  I always enjoyed making things with clay at school and always dreamed of having my own ceramics range - well this is a start!!


HOME bowl - has an imprint on it but it didn't come out very well - I may keep this one!


LOVE bowl with lace imprint


Close up of love bowl and lace imprint


Small LOVE bowl with ruffled edges - very cute!!

 I saw this fabric on a recent trip to Cotton Patch and fell in love immediately.
Its so soft and vintage.  It was begging to be brought home, quilted and made into a tea cosy.


It is now available in my new section of the website called Vintage Home

Also a new section is 'Out & About'  A section for all the things you would use while 'out & about' shopping, etc.  

First up is these business card/credit card holders in some beautiful Tilda fabric I got from Cottonpatch.



I will be busy making other things for this section like iPad and kindle cases and if I ever figure out how to put a purse frame together I will be adding tiny little coin purses too!!



So keep checking in and I hope you had a lovely weekend!!

PS:  It's my birthday this weekend so look out for a little Birthday giveaway :)

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Craft Fair - Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

This saturday I will be at the Waterhall Gallery at the BMAG (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery)

I will be peddling my wares to the public and I hope you can come along!!

I will be showing some new products like the Make Your Own Kits and Some old favourites like my lavender hearts and coasters


I do hope you can come along!!

Saturday 15th October 2011
Vintage, Craft and Collectables Fair
BMAG
Waterhall Gallery
Chamberlain Square
Birmingham
10am - 4.30pm

Friday 7 October 2011

New Product Reveal!!


Make Your Own Kits!!!!

I have decided to start making and selling some kits of my lavender hearts and pocket tissue cases that you can make yourself or give as a present.

Below are the new labels - which took me sooooo long to sort!!

This is what you get in the Lavender Kit:
Enough fabric, lavender and ribbon, buttons and thread to make 2 hearts
Including pins and a needle!

All packaged up in this nice pink bag - perfect for giving as a present - no wrapping required!!


This is the pocket tissue cases kit:
But its made using 30% wool felt from Sew Sweet instead of fabric


It too has its own labels:

It includes 4 pieces of felt in vintage colours: pale blue, rose pink, sage green and antique cream.
It also has the thread, pins, needles, ribbons, buttons and the all important tissues!!

It also has a few scraps of felt and a template of flowers and petals so you can create your own flower like on the picture below (flower by Sew Sweet)



 And again, is packaged up in it's own beautiful gift bag - ready to go!

The kits are priced at £6.50 each and include postage and packaging 
which is FREE on my website for all UK orders at the moment.

These kits will be on the website www.yourhandmadehome.co.uk

And if you mention my blog post when you place your order I will throw in a free gift!!

 I have a few more new gift type items to show you over the weekend
but for now its back to making those darn labels! :)