Making a list...

And so it begins, the endless 'so, what do you want for Christmas?' questioning from family.  To be perfectly honest I hate being put on the spot, I can never think of anything off the cuff and if I'm given money to buy anything I may want chances are it goes on something for the kids!

So I thought I's have a bit of a ponder and make a little wishlist kinda thing, there's a few handmade sellers out there whose wares I have my eye on, starting with the awesome Santa Macabre - Maria is a fabulous local designer who has been building her business for a few years now, on top of which she also organises the Vintage Pretty craft market in Cardiff.  Maria is also vegan so uses only vegan friendly materials in her designs.

    

A little spoilt for choice to say the least but I picked out my 3 favourite pieces (I'm sure some would say the first one is very apt), the attention to detail is stunning!  

As a girl can never have enough jewellery I move on to another favourite of mine, Shottle Bop.  I already own their Strumpet Water potion necklace and I look forward to maybe adding a few more to my collection.  Miss Lydia and The Doctor come up with such delightful descriptions on the miniature bottles and you can also create your own custom piece, not forgetting that they also have a 'Degenerate Gents' section for the man in your life. 

  

Ok, I fibbed, not everything on my list is going to be of the handmade variety! As a roller derby girl I have to have a few pretties creep on there too and on that part of the list is a vest and tee from Derby Girls Clothing I've been coveting for a while, they're another local company who hand print all their merchandise and I can't wait to see the new tote bag they've been leaving teasers about on Twitter.

So, dear family, if you should happen to chance by my rambling for this morning, this should give you more than enough idea into my randomness and thus avoid the 'socks and smellies' tradition (unless its from LUSH!).  I am supporting handmade, I am supporting Welsh made, I am supporting made with love!


*all pictures copyright their respective owners, please click the image to be taken to their pages

Colours of Christmas

Good morning - I hope this post finds you well.  I was sat pondering last night on what colours my Christmas decorations are going to be, needless to say white is going to be included after creating the Glamour Wreath in my last blog.  However I am midway through redecorating (4 weeks before Christmas, ambitious eh!) and to give my living room a cosy rich feel I have gone with a cream/black/pink/silver theme, so do I match my decorations to my decor?? I may just do that this year, OK so it means my handmade snowmen ornaments and tree skirt won't make an appearance this year but it does give me the opportunity for some holiday crafting!  I am aiming to make some tree decorations, handmade Christmas cards and a few gifts too - heck I may even ice the Christmas cake in pink!  

Wish me luck! 

Making Memories

Welcome back :) As it's only 4 weeks til Christmas I thought it appropriate to maybe do a Christmassy post, but I also wanted to do something on recycling.  
As some of you may know, I am a retired burlesque performer, as I still have some of my costume pieces I thought it may be nice to make something with one of my loved pieces to remind me of fond memories and bring a touch of glamour to Christmas.  And so, the feather wreath was born!  In its previous life it was used here and when I went to retrieve it from its bag it still smelled of the LUSH! glitter massage bar that I used to use which made me smile.
For the last couple of years I haven't been big on celebrating Christmas, complaining that its over commercialised and the pressure put on parents by advertisers to go into debt is mortifying but then I realised that I have skills! Christmas doesn't have to be about what you buy, its about creating memories!  To think, I used to do this before, when I used to spend hours sewing sequins on felt to create mini masterpieces (ok, in my eyes they are!) and so I am teaching my children that handmade = love 


And so, to the tutorial! For the feathery wreath you will need:

• 16" natural wreath (I got mine at Hobbycraft)
• 3 six foot feather boas in whatever colour you choose
• glass headed pins
• cling film
• ribbon
• battery powered LED lights

wrap your wreath in cling film (ok not a necessary step but I found it helped the pins to grip)

once wrapped, pin the end of your boa to the wreath and begin to wrap it around, pinning where necessary.  Continue to do this with all 3 boas.

Once all the boas are pinned in place, fluff up your feathers and make sure there are no gaps.

Tie the battery pack from your LED lights to the back of the wreath (I used blue ribbon so you can see it, you may want to use matching ribbon) then wind the lights around the wreath.  When you come to the end, tuck the wire under the boa to secure.  Fluff the feathers to conceal the wire.

Et voila! One light up feather wreath to add a touch of glamour to your decorations.  You can use contrasting ribbon to hang - once I have my trimmings up I will put a better picture up :)

Yes I realise the last picture isn't the best, so I promise when the wreath is 'en situ' I will take a fantabulous photo.  As always, if you're inspired to make something I'd love to see it or if you have a comment I'd love to hear it :)

Movember

I can't believe I nearly forgot to post this one up! Unless you've been under a rock you'll know that guys everywhere have been growing moustaches for 'Movember' to raise awareness and funds for male cancer charities. There's a fab t-shirt blog about it here . To show a bit of solidarity with the chaps who are undertaking this I created a little felt 'tache hairclip (handy photo prop too), you can either create your own or they will be available to buy on my Etsy shop (details to follow).

The template for your moustache masterpiece can be found here and here's the tutorial - I'd love to see what you make or hear any comments!

You will need: Coloured felt of your choice, pins, matching thread, sewing needle, polyester wadding, metal hair clip, embellishments.

Cut and pin your template to your felt, draw around the template and cut out (you'll need 2)

Sew your hairclip to one of the 2 felt moustache pieces

Pin the two moustache pieces together, trimming if necessary

Blanket stitch the two pieces together - I like to do so with contrasting thread, the stitches add a bit of depth :)

To stuff or not to stuff? the choice is yours! I add a little padding as I like the 3D effect. Finish sewing then.......

Voila!! Embellish in any way you desire (I added little black crystals to the black moustache but the photo doesn't show them very well) Wear your 'tache with pride!

Until next time! Don't forget, sharing is caring ;)

Best Bib n Tucker

Definition - your best clothes which you wear on special occasions

So, enough with the history/phraseology lesson and on to what's been keeping me busy eh! Today I bring you my take on the 'bib necklace'. If you fancy having a go I'll be uploading a template later in the day (once I fix the scanner!) but here's my lil tutorial - hope you like it (be kind, its my first attempt at writing one!)

Bib Necklace, a set on Flickr.

Any feedback appreciated, thank you :)

Hi and Welcome!

Hi and welcome to my little blog :) Don't let the title fool you, not everything here will have a 'vintage flavour', it was titled because a lot of stuff I ramble about is just vintage me! To be fair, I'm probably not going to be writing anything profound in here but its a place where you can keep up to date with what I'm up to, be it baking, sewing, crafting or just being Queen of Random.

You have been warned - lets get this party started!

xx