up and running on folksy

woohooooooo...
i'm on folksy now, selling the christmas tags and other bits and bobs which i'll put on soon.  i'm hoping to get started on etsy after christmas - want to start once i've got more stuff made.
here is my folksy page; there's not much on there at the moment but i'm still working on it!

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christmas trees!

ciao ciao
so for the last few days i've been strimming, sticking and trimming these gorgeous christmas card toppers. i'll be selling them in packs of five once my etsy is set up (having teething problems which is irritating)
as you can see, i've started off with five delicious shades of green with different patterns on each. i'll be moving onto christmasy crimson and icy cold blues too!
apologies for the poor quality - did it on webcam as i was too lazy to get my camera!! will do some proper ones once i have more colours finished.

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massive sort out

ooooooooooh organising! i've been sorting out all my craft stuff...wow i have a lot! need to start making things and using it up......so many beautiful things to use and create other beautiful objects with, hopefully. will get started on christmas cards - shall post some here! x

new sewing machine!

my elevenyear old sewing machine finally gave up the ghost last week - i got sick of the bobbin not sewing properly, so i was stitching metres of bunting thinking it was working fine, only to flip over the bunting to realise it was not attached in any way! so i splurged and bought myself a janome dc3050, an electronic machine with 50 stitches and all sorts of super duper bits and bobs. it arrived yesterday and i've had a little play and it is fabulous. so quiet! although i will have to get used to it sewing one extra stitch when i take my foot off the pedal. my mum has just bought one too - it's her first sewing machine so i'm going to help her when i go down next week. better practise a bit more before i go.......

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wedding invites ... beth and mike

back to B for Beth!

my baby sister got married in july, and these are the wedding invites i made. they wanted simple, rustic and natural looking invites, not too grand or ornate.

i use square cream cards with loads of different inserts, depending on who the invite was for! beth and mike chose a photo and edited it so it looked a little vintage, and changed the colour balance so it looked warm. i stuck that onto a square of natural, handmade (not by me) hemp paper.

they wanted a simple ribbon, but i made the invites before they chose the colour scheme so we kept it neutral and natural with a cream east of india ribbon decorated with simple silver grey hearts. i found a lovely hand carved stamp in my local craft shop and did a simple red imprint on the back of each card as it was important to beth and mike that people knew they were handmade and individual! phew!

everyone said how lovely they were, and how 'beth and mike' they were too - so mission accomplished!

here are the various elements of the card design....

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new home embroidery card

this is a little card i made for one of my oldest friends who has just moved in with her fiance! i was inspired by the felt and lace houses i saw in the shop windows in bruges, by the detail and the irregularity of stitching.

embroidery

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embroidery hoops

this is the embroidery picture i made for my mum's birthday. i enjoyed it so much that i have now started a slightly more epic embroidery project, sewn onto a natural linen canvas. as i did the present for my mum i started using new and different stitches, and realised that i am really neat and tidy with my sewing! also with lettering.

when sewing, i don't draw patterns on the fabric, i just sew freehand and try not to restitch - i like being able to look at a piece and know that it is handmade and not machined by a robot. although, my mum still doesn't believe me when i say i sewed it by hand!

embroidery hoop

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b...b..b..engagement card?

well, the letter b trend has ended before it began.
unless i said 'betrothed,' instead of engaged, which makes this blog sound like an extract from pride and prejudice.
anyhoo, this is an engagement card i made for my sister's maid of honour, jo, who i've known since she was born. her fiance's name also begins with j, so i had to get the letters in!
the quote on the luggage label is from Dr Seuss and reads "We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love"

engagement card...with sparkle!

which i love! might be finding my way onto more things i make
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bug birthday card!

i just noticed that the titles of all the posts so far begin with the letter b.
let's continue this.
here's the little bug birthday card i made for charlie, the bug birthday boy!

bug birthday card

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bug bunting....DONE

So, the bug bunting is finished and i'm really proud of it. the bugs are really cute, and although i had a piece of black felt attached to my thumb for about 5 minutes (when the superglue said it bonded skin within seconds it was telling the truth) i am extremely pleased with how it turned out - hope the birthday boy loves it too!
i changed the construction as i went along, and although it meant i didn't need to have cut out roughly seventeen thousand pieces for the original templates, the finished design worked out a lot better than it would have been.
so i can now add bugs to my repertoire....and everyone seems to have a favourite. i love the scorpion - he looks like a little muscle man!

bug bunting - finished

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bug bunting

Bonjour

I'm making some bug bunting for a friend's son's birthday party! these are the sketches and the leaf fabric i'm using for the triangles. also, most importantly - googly eyes. will post some pics when it's finished 

bug prep

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bonjour world!

this is just to say hello, really.

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