Sunday 31 July 2011

A new experience!

5am.

This is the time I woke up this morning!  And I was fully awake!  And theres only one thing you can do when you get up that early on a Sunday - CAR BOOT!!

So I logged on to www.eboot.com and found that there was a car boot local to me. So off I went at 8am with my husbands words ringing in my ears ''Don't buy anything!" - Yea, right!  

Wanna see???





HOW BEAUTIFUL!!!  These are the first additions to my teapot collection :) and they were only £1.50 for both!!  WOO!!  
My husband was rolling his eyes when I showed him them!  
But I explained that they are for my (imaginary - at the moment) Tea and craft shop called 'The Tea Cosy' or 'The Fabric Tea Cosy' (so named by a friend on Facebook - thanks Pamela!)  

I will tell you more about my The Tea Cosy Fabric Shop (Oooh, I like that name too!)  in another post :)

Below I've added a few pics of the lovely Lime Place in Lichfield - handcrafted goodies and fabric galore!!



Oooh, and lastly (before I go for a quiet Sunday afternoon drink with the husband) please let me know what you think of my new banner and background!  I'm a little upset the banner isn't centred and I didn't want to make it any bigger as it would stretch too much and distort my lovely label.  Hope you like it!!  

PS: Labels are by Crafted HOME a fab lady called Fiona, who makes the best labels!!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend xxx

Wednesday 27 July 2011

News!!! Good good news!!!

Hi All!!

Have some fab news!! Do you wanna hear???
Well I'm bursting to tell you so here goes!!

I've got my first wholesale shop order!!! Wooooooo!!!

I'm so chuffed. It really makes it all worth it to be stocked in a local shop ;)

Had the appointment today and it went great!!! Eeeek!!

Here's the details if you ever visit lovely Lichfield or live locally and want to have a browse:

The Place
And opposite is the handmade shop where my items will be stocked !!
22 Dam Street
Lichfield

Tel: 01543-253-115
Email: contact-the-place@hotmail.com
Www.the-place-Lichfield.co.uk

I'm so grateful to Paula for giving me the time out of her busy schedule to let me show her my items :)

I do hope she likes them and you all do too!!

I have a few prototypes to perfect which I'll be sure to tell about them as soon as soon as their perfected! Also got some current items to make in different fabric that I picked up today.








A little bit of new beautiful linen French napkins I picked up today from La Maison Bleue.

I also tried out some new things yesterday.







This is my attempt at printing on linen fabric with a stencil and black fabric paint. Not too bad. Just need to make sure I line it up and it doesn't splatter!!

Very very keen to try this again.

Also tried a bit if button making. Fimo style!! Lol

Whatcha think?







I'm very very happy with these. And seeing as Hobbycraft has BOGOF offer on ceramic paint at the moment I can see me making a fair few of these beauties!!

But for now I will leave you with a pic of my present to myself







A beautiful metal birdcage hanging thingy!! The plan is for me to use it for taking pics of my items and for hanging things off it at the craft fairs. Brought at Heart of the Country. Swinfen at Magical Story.

It comes with these pics







What do you think their story is then??

Night!!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday 22 July 2011

Market research AKA shopping!!

Thanks for following me over from www.yourhandmadehome.co.uk/blog

I hope you can bear with me while I sort out this new blog page and hope you enjoy the changes :)

But for now I will tell you about my day today.

I went out this morning on the pretence of going to get some more fabric for these:




New potholders and double oven gloves edged in white or red.


















But I ended up with a bit more than that!!

I'd heard about a fabric shop in Lichfield called THE PLACE and decided to go and look for some Amy Butler fabric it was rumoured to stock, which would be closer for me than driving allllll the way over to Solihull (and cheaper too - husband says :)  )  So I shuffled over and OMG!!!!!  SOOOOOOO beautiful - I forget how nice Lichfield is.
And the lovely Paula helped me out with a few bits and pieces and I'm going back on Wednesday to show her my wares and order some more lovely fabric :) WOOOP!! I came away with some lovely FQ's of stripy and dotty red, blue and green for new egg cosies and some cute little wooden buttons that will be the centre of the flowers for my egg cosies.  I have it all in my head already planned out for this weekend!!

On the way out of Lichfield I decided to stop off in another place that is close to me that I've never ventured to Swinfen - The Heart of the Country Village.  Which is a beautiful mix of different shops.  I went a little crazy on the oil cloth but I knew straight away what it was going to be and had to make it as soon as I got home.  Do you want to see?   Are you sure?  Oh okay then.....


Isn't it beautiful (it I do say so myself!! lol)

Its beautiful oil cloth by Au Maison and brought from La Maison Bleue which is a beautiful shop with an amazing mix of french furniture, homewares and accessories.  *One day I WILL own a shop like this!!* 

The bag has pockets on both sides edged with tea dyed cotton lace and has a zip closure for the main part.  Would be lovely to use as a cosmetics bag for holidays, or would look lovely on your dressing table.  It's quite large (10" wide) so will fit shampoo/shower gel as well as make up, etc.  
I will also be making this is blue.  Love, love, love it!!

I also treated myself to this little solitary napkin.



Poor little thing was sitting in the sale box all alone with such a beautiful pattern I couldn't let it go!  So I'm going to give it a new lease of life and it will become lavender hearts :) I think it will be happy with that don't you?  I also brought a thick ticking stripy table cloth that will become more pot holders, oven gloves and a few aprons me thinks :) 

I can't wait to show you my new makes and will be adding them to the website as fast as I can make them!! 

But for now I'll let my new tea cup tell you what I'm doing tonight: