Craft Supply Sale Preview

On the 10th, 11th and 12th July Bird's Yard in Sheffield is holding a special sale...and not just any sale - it's all about craft supplies! Their independent designers have been having a sort out and are setting up a special section full of bargains for customers to get crafty with.

As one of the sellers in the shop I'll be taking along some supplies, but I've also been having a little nosy through what others are selling too. I've just got to make sure I don't come home with more than I take...

There'll be supplies from lots of the shop's designers covering lots of crafts. Expect to see treats from: Galabeer and the Dog, Handpicked Books, Inkling, Life's Big Canvas, All Wrapped Up By Alice, Atelier Raniera, Talented, Shadowcrafts, Molly Rouge and lots more!

Here are a few sneak previews of what you might find (if you're quick enough!)...

Pink Flamingo (me!) ... lots of embellishments. Look out for fabric, scrapbooks, stamps, vintage papers, craft kits and beads too.

Galabeer and the Dog will have lots of vintage choices... this is just a little taster of what you'll find

Life's Big Canvas is bringing lots of origami inspirations... as well as buying packs to take home you can also learn how to do it yourself on Thursday the 10th July.

Handmade Christmas Decorations - Some Ideas

I love Christmas! I love everything about it from buying and wrapping presents to cooking Christmas dinner. And there's nothing I like more than decorating my house with all kinds of festive ornaments. I have a very eclectic mix (I can't resist buying what I like, I'm not disciplined enough to stick to colours and themes!) ranging from old, and slightly tatty, favourites from childhood, to brand new store bought decorations and of course lots of hand made ones too.

Here I thought I'd share some of the decorations I've made for myself and love to take out year after year to make it feel like Christmas. These are just some of the ones I've made (it gets quite addictive; or I make them to sell at fairs but they never leave the house) with some ideas on how you could make some too.

Heart Garland

My handmade Christmas heart garland

I made myself this garland a couple of years ago when I was stuck at home in the run up to Christmas with Whooping Cough. I didn't feel like going shopping for decorations (nor did I think other shoppers would appreciate witnessing one of my coughing fits!) so I made quite a few for myself with what I had in the house. These little hearts are made from Christmas coloured fabrics, stuffed and finished with bows and buttons. A hanging ribbon then holds them to a length of cord and little jingle bells are spaced between them.

 

I've since made these garlands in different sizes and colours with various decorative features and they now also hang in quite a few peoples' houses. Not bad for a garland made from scraps I had!

Gingerbread garland

My handmade felt gingerbread garland

 

I love gingerbread men (and women!). They always look so festive and cheery. When I wanted to make a garland for the rail across the top of the stairs last year they were my first choice. I used felt to give a bright and homely look choosing a gingery colour for the people and hearts and festive red, white and greens for the candy canes and holly leaves. The people are made simply by drawing around a gingerbread man cookie cutter twice, decorating one side with ribbons, bows, buttons and white embroidery thread then using blanket stitch to sew the two sides together. The gingham ribbons hold them on a length of cord which I then covered with felt holly leaves and big red buttons to look like berries. It took quite a while to make but I think it's definitely worth it!

Felt hanging decorations

Felt's a great fabric to work with as it's easy to cut, doesn't need hemming to stop it fraying and comes in an incredible range of colours. That's why I make so many decorations out of them! These hanging decorations are made in a similar way to the gingerbread men above but are stuffed to make them 3D. They hang from virtually every handle in my house at Christmas - doors, cupboards, drawers...

  

I also have them in lots of festive shapes including Father Christmas, puddings, snowmen, stockings, gifts, baubles, reindeer ... and they're just the ones I can see while sat here writing this!  You can let your imagination run wild with them as they also look great in more simplistic shapes which are easy to sew. 

 

Cross stitched pictures

 

When I used to have more time (and patience) I used to love doing cross stitching. I have quite a few decorations and pictures that are stitched but this little elf getting ready for Christmas is my favorite. It was part of a larger pattern of Santa's workshop which was then made into a stocking, but I didn't have the time to complete the whole project so I just took part of the pattern to make this picture. 

Well, there are a few of my handmade creations, I hope they inspire your Christmas crafting too!

 

 

My Favourite UK Crafter of the Week - for lots of little treats!

There are so many pretty items in this shop it's difficult not to spend a lot of time looking through them all! I've visited the site a number of times to look through all the lovely handmade items and can't helping oohing and aahhing over all the delightful treats.

As usual, this post is in no way sponsored or influenced. The crafter featured is genuinely a favourite of mine; all quotes are the crafter's own and the opinions are mine. So, with this in mind this week's UK Crafter of the Week is...

The Homemade Haven 

What I love most about this shop is all the little treasures and treats you can buy. Zoe, the crafter behind The Handmade Haven, says she's toyed with selling her crafts for a while 'doing the odd Christmas fair here and there' before starting to sell online too. The items she makes are exactly the kind that I'd stop to admire (and buy!) at a fair. These gorgeous clothes peg magnets come in lots of different colours and patterns but my favourite are these with maps on. I think they'd be ideal for holding photos of a holiday or trip.

Map magnet clothes pegs by The Homemade Haven £3.25

The main reason Zoe started selling her crafts was so she could 'stay at home as much as possible' with her 3 children. I think this homely feeling of family comes across in her pieces which offer a little bit of homemade and handcrafted. These fabric covered buttons are wonderful to add to your own crafts or decorate a bag or some clothing and give them a handmade feeling of their own. (Or if you're like me, hoard them with all the other hundreds of pretty buttons I just can't bear to use!)

Make Do and Mend fabric covered buttons by The Handmade Haven £2.50 for 5

As well as making accessories for the home and crafting, Zoe also makes a range of pretty things to decorate yourself too! She says she 'loves to make all sorts of things' including hair slides, button bobbles and these lovely fabric flower corsages. There are so many uses I can think of for these: decorate a bag, coat or hat; pin them to cushions in your home for a pretty little touch; pinning them on a makeup bag or pencil case for extra cuteness... well, lots of uses and reasons to buy them!

Fabric corsage brooch by The Handmade Haven £12.50

Zoe's also added a range of knitwear 'designed and made exclusively' by her to her shop. I love the design of this scarf for the upcoming winter. I don't usually like wearing scarves until it's really cold as I feel too bundled up in them, but this design is great to fill the gap in the neckline of a coat without all the crossing of layers or knotting to stay in place. Zoe has made her scarves in 'a flexible shape that offers mutliple ways to wear' so they can be useful to cover up wherever you've got a gap!

Hand knitted wool scarf and corsage set by The Handmade Haven £75

So, if you're looking for a little treat for yourself or the perfect stocking filler (not long now!) take a look in The Handmade Haven. 

To see more of The Handmade Haven's pretty creations take a look here:

The Handmade Haven's shop

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My Favourite UK Crafter of the Week - beautiful embroideries, cushions and other treats by Mirry Mirry

Just a warning first. It's impossible not to fall in love with this shop - once you take a peek you'll want to see everything in there! And all the profits are donated to the charity Invest in ME who fundraise for research into the cause and cure of ME. Another great reason to take a look around (and maybe start planning that Christmas list...)

As usual, this post is in no way sponsored or influenced. The crafter featured is genuinely a favourite of mine; all quotes are the crafter's own and the opinions are mine. So, with this in mind this week's UK Crafter of the Week is...

Mirry Mirry

Mirry Mirry is the crafty creation of Mirry as a place to sell her work. She's not always made embroidered and sewn items but started it as a hobby when she became ill in her early 30s and had to give up a career she loved in the travel industry. Mirry wanted a hobby as been at home meant you need to 'find new ways to help you pass the hours in the day' and first took up cross stitching but 'didn't like being told what to do' so turned her skills to free hand embroidery instead! This allows her to create works are art which are her own designs and ideas and make them one of a kind - like this fun Halloween picture which combines printed fabric and 'blood burgundy' embroidery.

Halloween Embroidery Picture £14.53 by Mirry Mirry

As well as embroidery Mirry also enjoys sewing and spends 'hours and hours ... scouring for new fabrics' to create her projects with. This adorable cushion uses a printed fabric cut and stitched to maximum effect to create a cute character. Mirry finds a 'great joy in crafting' which clearly comes across with the bright colours such as these that she chooses for many of her pieces as well as the delicate details in others.

Japanese Doll Pillow £15.17 by Mirry Mirry

Mirry loves the fact that she's able to sell on Etsy as it gives her an opportunity to keep on crafting as she 'couldn't bare to see a cupboard full of crafts without a home'. Everything she makes would make a beautiful gift for someone and I think this is great as reading about Mirry and her work it's clear that she enjoys crafting and sharing her work so giving it as a gift carries on this idea. She loves 'all beautiful materials' and will 'only ever work with premium quality supplies' which means you can rely on buying something special for your loved ones. These little lavender pillows would make a lovely present for lots of occasions.

Set of 3 Embroidered Lavender Pillows £11.06 by Mirry Mirry

It's wonderful to look around Mirry Mirry and read the stories and inspirations behind pieces as well - something that makes buying handmade and direct from the creator even more special. This picture is based on a watercolour Mirry created and turned into an embroidery, the yellow background fabric 'represents the sunny day'. Being able to get these details makes the pieces come to life and shows the thought and care it takes to make something. And Mirry says herself she loves 'observing the works come to life' as she makes them.

Embroidered Picture - Been Swimming £24.64 by Mirry Mirry

So if you're looking for some little gifts and treats and like the ideas of supporting research into ME at the same time, take a look at Mirry Mirry.



To see more of Mirry's work take a look here:

Mirry Mirry's shop on Etsy

What I Made With My Prize...

I can't resist entering competitions. Over the years I've won a few nice prizes, nothing major but all lovely - especially the hamper of Divine chocolate! A few weeks ago I saw a competition on Facebook from evajeanie and the sewing machiney that was running on their blog and so I entered - and was lucky enough to win (thank you Lindsay)! The prize was a piece of lovely yellow fabric with big white dots and apples; pink and red rickrack; and a card of buttons.

My lovely little prize

Now, I love the idea of sewing and buying lots of gorgeous fabric and buttons, but I'm not very skilled at it. I can do basics and if it involves sewing two pieces of fabric together and adding stuffing I'm fine. My brain and sewing machines never seem to be on the same wavelength so I hand sew items; and patterns puzzle me so I either take things to pieces and try and work out how they're made or play around with paper to make a pattern of my own. And with my prize this is what I did. I tried to think of a few ideas and something I hadn't made before and settled on the idea of a roll to keep my crafting tools in.

Even though I don't do too much sewing, I have a sewing basket to keep my supplies in. Over time it's become the go to place for keeping any crafting tools and has got a little overcrowded. I'm usually very neat and like everything to have a place, but again when it's linked with sewing my brain goes haywire! That's why I liked the idea of making a place to keep all the tools I'll need for the project I'm working on instead of having to search through my basket all the time.

 

This very messy sewing basket led to this idea...

First I cut the yellow fabric into two pieces with one of the pieces being just under a third of the entire length. On this smaller piece I folded along one of the long sides to make a hem and sewed it in place. I then pinned this piece along the bottom of one of the short sides of the bigger piece of fabric and drew some lines with marking chalk for where I wanted the pockets to be.

I then sewed along the chalk lines with yellow cotton to secure the pockets in place. I thought about which crafting tools I wanted to keep in it (scissors, pen, pencil, tape measure and so on) and measured the pockets to be able to hold these.

The pockets sewn in place with yellow cotton

Next I wanted to use the rickrack. I thought about adding it just as decoration (originally I thought along the top of the pocket section but then realised I should have done that before sewing the pockets in!) but then I thought I should make it useful.  I decided to place a row of each colour above the pockets - one to help hold longer items in place and one as a place to keep smaller accessories such as paper clips and pins. I pinned the rickrack in place and sewed it just in a few places above the sewn lines of the pockets so tools could go behind it.

I then placed the two right sides of the fabric together and sewed down the two shorter sides. I added a small loop of the red rickrack to one side to use for the fastening on the front before I sewed the right hand side. After this I turned the fabric the right way around again and inserted a piece of thin wadding into the 'pocket' and sewed along the bottom edge turning the two raw edges in first to give a neat finish. I finished the tool roll by adding a button to where the rickrack loop reached when the roll was folded over.

I was really pleased with the results, especially as I don't class myself as a 'proper' sewer. It might not be the most advanced project, but it was an achievement for me! And I get to have a neat sewing basket again thanks to the lovely prize that Lindsay sent me.