Adorable, Alice and adventures!

Just a quick post for today, things are always so rushed coming up to the new year and this year is no exception!  We're off doing some visiting this afternoon, it may get emotional as its the Mr's grandparents and (at their request) we haven't seen them in about 4 months or so (actually I think its about a year for me!), they're pretty old school and as they're ill have been worried about not being able to 'play host' but we finally convinced them they don't need to worry. 

As the 'crafty one' in the family I get the odd request for things, my sister text me 2 days ago asking if I could help her with her Alice in Wonderland costume for NYE - to be fair I'm happy to help I just didn't want to put myself under a tonne of pressure making the entire outfit so I said if she could get a dress I'd make the apron and give her the ribbon for her hair.  A couple of hours work yesterday afternoon and this is the result

Not the best picture I grant you but hopefully I'll get to see it in action!  I made it out of a Winceyette type fabric as I wanted it to be quite thick and its the best the fabric shop could offer me!  

In other news, I've also got the logo for my little venture done, we debated whether to keep the teapot or go with a button, the button won! I've had some great feedback so far and alot of support - 2012 is going to be a fantastic year I just know it!

Well I'll sign off for now before I start waffling but I'll catch you before NYE 

Happy crafting!

xx

I made that!

So, as Royal Fail have still yet to deliver anything I've ordered in the last 5 days and I still need to make a craft 'to do' list I thought I'd have a look back over the last 12 months at what I'd actually made (and remembered to take pics of!) and see what I could recall :)

OK, starting when the snow was down a year ago and I was busy creating something fabulous for the derby wife to wear on Christmas day - we are both all about handmade and to make this even more bargainous the fabric for this was found in the remnants bin at the local fabric store!  We had so much fun making this, I'd made one of these previously totally out of gingham fabric (so retro eh!) and to be honest I'm probably going to make another, its one of my favourite styles!

From there I went on to discover macarons.  Tricky little buggers that they are, my first batch totally stuck to the paper and some turned out the size of the saucer!  However I am not one to easily be defeated and after another bash they turned out beautifully!  ok I make them in some really weird combos (thai curry anyone?) but they are really yummy!

After that, I'd re-ignited my love affair with baking and decided to attempt to get a new business off the ground.  Unfortunately it wasn't to be, however it did lead to some fab creations! 

Including a big 'birthday present' cake and Pirate and Princess cupcakes for Cardiff based roller derby team Tiger Bay Brawlers that went down a treat :)

To be fair, I didn't do much crafting over the summer months, I was a bit busy co-founding the Valleys Roller Dolls, however I did make these rather fabulous helmet panties (if anyone's interested I'll do a tutorial on them, just let me know!)

Now things have settled down a bit I've started again and, well, you've seen what most of I've been upto since!  Oh, I did try my hand at knitting again - I now have vowed to only knit with either chunky wool or that fab frilly stuff, I don't have the patience to do anything else! 

Just a last pic I wanted to share as it is so beautiful! I hadn't made a hair adornment in a while but when I do make them I like them to look classic!  And so I give you 'Margot'  

Well, I hope I've inspired you to go and create something, anything! Don't be afraid of making mistakes, half the fun is in the creative journey 

Happy Crafting! 

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!


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