All change!

Hey! Long time no speak!! You may have noticed there's been a few changes since I last blogged (if you haven't then take a closer look lol)  You may recall I was getting ready to launch Adorable Little Extras, well I sat and pondered, got some advice, spoke to a lot of people and decided it was a bad idea.  If the logo and branding wasn't exciting me then how the heck was I going to get others excited about it?? So instead I decided to re-launch Miss Sweets Boutique!  I loved running it before and the challenges my lovely customers used to send my way, and heck with branding like this how could I not??

Excited doesn't cover it to be honest - I've been scouring my pattern books and files to decide what to bring to the store and I've got some fab things in the pipeline!  Of course, it wouldn't be Miss Sweets Boutique if I didn't offer my staple hair-flowers so I've been busy creating a few gems, including starting a range of budget hair-flowers.  

I'll also be offering my felt pill box hats (just waiting on a delivery!) and am pondering whether to bring back my fascinators, as seen here on the beautiful Missy Malone - what do you think?   If you'd like to take a peek at the store so far just pop over to http://www.misssweetsboutique.bigcartel.com 

While I'm re-stocking and making, I thought I'd run a little competition to win one of my very limited Rainbow Aloha! Hibiscus hair-flowers 

To be in with a chance of winning simply leave a comment below! You can earn extra chances to win by tweeting about my competition (if you're not following me just look for @Madame_Sweet) or by spreading the word on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MissSweetsBoutique), just let me know you've done it in the comments :) This competiton is open to everyone no matter where in the world so have fun and I'll pick the winner on Valentines day! 

Til then, happy crafting!

xx

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

Calling all crafters!

I was sat looking through some of the things I've created over the years and remembering how I love to 'potch' with things when I discovered a small box with some of my favourite rubber stamps in that I'd kept back from the cull.  It got me to thinking, maybe its time to start something a bit fun for 2012, so, calling all crafters - would you like to be involved in a 2012 ATC swap?

For those of you not in the know, ATC's are Artists Trading Cards which are miniature works of art or stamping projects, collages, whatever you want them to be. There are only two rules, they must measure 2 ½” x 3 ½” and should not be sold, only exchanged for other cards.

Artists usually make a set of cards on a similar theme, they are called series. The artist records the name of the set on the back of each card, signs and dates it and allocates a number to show how many were made and what number each card is in the sequence, for example 1/6, 2/6 etc. Single unique cards are called originals and sets of identical cards are called editions.

ATC’s can be made from plain cardstock or by altering poker playing cards (standard playing cards are not the right size) or trading cards such as Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh etc. Any media can be used but they need to be sturdy enough to survive the mail and not too thick so that they can be stored easily.  You can see some lovely examples on the internet, unfortunately I was only able to find pictures of 1 I'd previously made (and we are going back years here!)

I am proposing a monthly swap with each month having a theme (maybe bi-monthly if we think that would be better?) so all the crafters involved and up with a lovely set of artwork for 2012 and something to get them creating!

So, what do you think? Interested in taking part? I'd love to hear from you!

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! 

Podsock Tutorial

Ya didn't think it was coming did ya? eh? eh? Hehe well its not an overly complicated post but a nice easy tutorial for a Sunday evening that can be completed in very little time! I've made these for both myself and my youngest firstly as a little bit of protection and secondly so I can find the damn thing when I put it down!!  Have to thank the Mr for the tutorial name too "ooh it looks like a little podsock!" 

Off we go then! You will need

• felt
• template
• Needle
• Embroidery Thread
• Scissors

First of all cut out your pieces, you will need 2 of each of the back and front template pieces (I know there's only one template but the back is just the front piece without the windows cut out!)  I've done mine in contrasting colours but you feel free to have fun with it.

Put the two front pieces together and blanket stitch around the windows and the top only as my dodgy arrow on the pic shows! (Yes I know mine already has the back on and sewn all around but I forgot to take a pic, sorry!)

Put the two front and the two back pieces together and blanket stitch all around the edge (except for the top back piece which only needs sewing at the top!) Don't forget to leave a small gap at the bottom for the headphones jack plug!

And there you have it! a little felt podsock for your iPod to nestle in.

Its easy enough to make a template for your own version if you don't own the little squat version like me, simply draw around it, add a little extra around the edge for the stitching and, well, I'm sure you get it.

Happy crafting! 

yeah, yeah, yeah....

You got me! I *still* haven't posted up the promised tutorial - it will be up tonight without fail! Ok, happy? Phew!


To be fair, its only because there's been so many exciting things happening here - I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to finally do something with the two years of college/uni training I did and actually do some pattern drafting/designing! HA! Betcha didn't know I could do that did ya!  I can't reveal much at the moment as I'm working on something I'm hoping to release for 2012, nothing too fancy but its a babystep and babysteps lead to bigger bits of awesome!


I need to go and get more coffee now, after partying with my roller derby team last night I'm a little worse for wear and want to make sure the pics for the tutorial come out in focus!!


See ya in a bit ;)