Mini House Sewing Room

 know...a while ago I said that I didn't want to see another Tando House for ages hahaha!  But when it comes to miniature anything I just had to reach for one :D  Its 'Miniature' week over at *The Craft Barn Blog* !!!!  I turned my little house into a sewing room with the help of a sewing machine charm!

The houses come flat all ready for glueing together so it makes it easy to decorate first, I used paint and stamps for this.  I covered the roof with teensy bobble trim...

Can you see that I made a little door???  Bet you want to know whats inside eh?

I had sooo much fun putting this together, hope you like it! HUGS XXXXX

Tando Creative Mini Houses

PaperArtsy Fresco Paints - Vintage Lace & Beach Hut

Versamagic Chalk Ink

Indigo Blu Bubbles Background

Bobble Trim & Lace

Crafty Individuals Book 7

Sewing Machine Charm

Fabric

Brads

Vintage cotton reels

Tando March Challenge!

Hellooooooo!  The weather here in Cornwall has been glorious the last few days...real t-shirt weather so spring is here at the moment!!!  Its the 1st March and there is a new challenge over at the ~TANDO CREATIVE CHALLENGE BLOG~.  Di is having a rest from the challenge blog and the lovely ~Carol~ and myself will be taking it in turns to run it.  This months theme is celebrating Spring...

'SPRING IS IN THE AIR'

Although Tando don't make a chippie spring (yet!) we would still like you to use one in your entry.  Here is my effort...

I used a spring to attach the little chippie scissors from the sewing set to the top of the mini canvas.  Lots of fabric going on here......it makes a change from paper.  I have loads of the stuff in boxes hahaha!  Here is the nekkid chippie...its a lovely set.

Thanks for popping by and remember that you don't need to use Tando products to enter this challenge.  HUGS xx

ART JOURNAL - the beginning!

Hello lovely bloggers....a BIG thank you to those that have recently started to 'follow' me, I am delighted XXX

Now then...after hearing how wonderful it is to have an Art Journal I have actually taken the plunge.  BUT....how hard was the first page???  Incredibly hard!!!  I faffed & worried for ages before realising that an art Journal is actually for ourselves...no-one else...so as long as we are happy with what it 'says' then it has to be right..yes???  This actually isn't my 1st page as thats a bit too personal to show but my 2nd...

I have used an A5 book and painted, glued, painted again etc.  Its actually quite a bumpy page and I had to add a piece of the manky fabric hahahaha!  I know I have a long way to go on these as there are some amazing works of art out there, but its a start!

Thank you for popping by today , HUGS XXX

BABIES ARE A'COMING!

Hi my lovelies!  There are two special babies due in my family soon.....a new nephew (a brother for Millie) and a step-grandaughter...its so exciting!!!!!  Jeremy's 1st grandaughter comes first so I have been busy getting together a little something to welcome her!  Now I have to be careful not to step on her Grannies toes so I have kept it simple.  Don't want anymore family rows hahahaha!!!  As I am going to the Baby Shower (never been to one before)  I thought of a little gift which is always useful.........thank you cards!!!!

Tamara is one of these lovely people who always does thank you's.  There are 12 in the box, all Beatrix Potter stamps which have been watercoloured and a little GA & glitter added.  I got some ready embossed blanks and chalked them.  For her main present I made her a little bag to put baby stuff in for taking round the house...

...and shall fill it with the usual bits & pieces plus a pressie for the new Mum!  Can you see a theme going on here???  Yes...the nursery is BP themed!  I got the lovely fabric from COTTON PATCH who are worth a look if you love fabric!!!!

Thank you for taking the time to come & see my blog.  Please leave a comment if you have the time, LOVE & HUGS XXX

MEET DOLLY...

Helloooo on yet another beautiful day in Cornwall!!!  Hope you are all using sunscreen & wearing hats???

For her 3rd birthday I made my sister a rag doll out of bits of old fabric my Mum & I had collected (Mum was an avid sewer so there was loads to choose from hehe)  I can imagine you all doing your sums now hahaha My sister was born when I was 16 haha!  Now said sister adored that doll...even when it fell apart :(  Anyhow....now that her little Millie is coming up to her 3rd birthday she asked me to make another for her.  oooooo  got excited by that and my head was buzzing with ideas for updating the doll.....but noooooo.....she wanted it to be a 'twin' to the original.....noooooooo!!!!

I sooo wanted to do piercings and tattoos.....multi-coloured hair and girly bling...yet alone go wild with some arty stuff, would have been good eh???  Never mind, I have done as she has asked.....meet dolly...

She stands about 2feet and has 'joints' at her knees & elbows.  Sis chose the dress fabric from my store..it has a deep frill round the neck.  She has a lacey petticoat and the required lacy bloomers...well she has to have knickers on doesn't she hahaha!!!  I made the hair curly by knitting up some wool, washing it & then unravelling again!  She has felt eyes though I was itching to embroider the whole face and I used some pink chalk on her cheeks...though it looks muddy in the photo.

She has no name as yet...any ideas???  Thank you for taking a look today, HUGS & SUNSHINE to you all XXX

BAGS AND LAUGHS!!!

A couple of things for you today :)  I have been crafting but its DT work so I can't show you yet...sorry!  But I can show you a couple more bags that I have made...so look away now if you are fed up with seeing them hahaha

Now then.....fancy a laugh????  Am I the only one who can never resist these???

Thanks for taking a look today, HUGS & LAUGHS XXX

DRESS IT UP ATC'S FOR JUNE!

Helloooo!!!  You all know how much I am enjoying MARGARET'S Dress It Up Challenges every month don't you???  Well the lovely Margaret is the Guest Designer for the ATC Challenge at ARTIST TRADING CLUB this month and guess what she has asked us to do??? hahaha Yes...make little dresses tucked into pockets on our atc's.  ooooo how I have loved this...right up my street hahaha

Margaret has even provided instruction on how to make the pockets and a template for the dress...though I have to admit that I went my own way and made my own.  For the background I used a Tim Holtz stamp which I love because its all about sewing and then decided to go with that theme....sort of :-D

A neat trick (which I picked up somewhere) for glueing beads in a row is to thread them onto cotton before hand than just pull the cotton out when your work is dry....wonderful tip!!!  Though you all probably know that already!!!

Its not too late to enter this swap so pop over to see Chriss to see what you have to do.  Mine are winging their way as we speak haha.  Thank you for looking today, HUGS XXX

STASH BAGS!

Hello lovely people!!!! Sorry...but there is no WOYWW from me today as I have been away and my desk is far too tidy for a minute...you would be bored rigid!!!   Do you remember a little while back I made myself a stash bag???  You can find it HERE!  That particular one ended up in the charity raffle at the retreat that I went to recently.  (ooo just have to tell you that we were so thrilled to raise £200 for Action for M.E.).  Anyway...as I lost that one I made myself another one......

Hubby actually picked out this fabric for me as I could not decide...or I was actually taking too long hahahaha!!!  When I took it to the retreat my friend, Nicky, liked it so much she asked me to make her one too..

The patterned fabric had little ladies on so I made her a tag for her bag which also had her name stamped on the back! 

Thank you for taking a look today and please be safe in the sunshine, HUGS XXX

VANILLA SUGAR - MAY BAGS!!!

Did everyone enjoy the long weekend???  We certainly did, though we didn't do too much or is that the idea??? haha

Today I would like to show you my VANILLA SUGAR CHALLENGE DT piece.  For the month of May we are asking for you to make BAGS!!!  Can be any kind of bag at all, whatever you fancy as long as there is a bag in there somewhere.  As I have a load of handbags I decided to make a Stash/Craft Bag.  I was given a bought one by a lovely friend (you know who you are :D) and used that as a guide, sort of!

The whole thing is made of cotton.  Some of you may recognise the spotty red as it came free with a magazine recently.  I doubled up the pocket fabric to make it stronger and then lined the whole thing, adding a pocket inside.

 the inside pocket...

 with some stash in it to give you an idea of size...

Please pop over to have a look at what the other designers have made...they are pretty awsome...just follow the link above.  Thank you so much for looking today, HUGS XXX

VANILLA SUGAR CHALLENGE - HANGING HEARTS x

Hello from a pretty white Cornwall!  Thought we weren't going to get any more but I woke to white stuff this morning.....again haha

As its the 1st February its time for another VANILLA SUGAR....Sweetly Handmade CHALLENGE for you.  The object of these challenges is to make gifts for friends, family & home....or in my case a bid to get some Christmasing out of the way ahead of time hahaha!  The theme this month is

HANGING HEARTS

Please, please pop over to the blog to see what has been made.  There is a huge variety of hearts using so many different techniques its a joy to look at!!!  Here are mine...

I have one of those hanging elephant strings and have wanted a heart one for ages so I made my own!  Each heart is about 2inches long.  I would have made it longer but I only had a few scraps of the fabric I used!  I think I shall be making more of these in different colours!

This one is a large wooden heart that I got for 20p in a charity shop!  The paper is by Creative Imaginations and has gorgeous love birds over it as well as hearts & text.  The pic is one my daughter took while hubby & I sneaked a quick kiss under her misteltoe at Christmas :)

Again...do pop over to have a look at the DT work as its really lovely.  Hope you get a chance to join in this one.  Its a MONTHLY challenge so plenty of time.  Thank you for looking today & I hope you are all warmer than me! HUGS XXX

SEWING CLIPBOARD!

Hello lovely blogging friends!

As you know I am on the DT for VANILLA SUGAR.....sweetly handmade! which is part of the BUBBLYFUNK online craft shop.  Caroline, who owns it, sent me some lovely Studio Calico papers to play with...you can find them here. 

As a lover of all things sewn I adored the paper with the sewing pattern on and used that to alter a cheap A4 clipboard!  While I was at it I added a little notebook & pencil....cos I am always scribbling down notes when I sew hahahaha

Ok...so who is going to show their age & admit they remember Family Circle patterns then lmao ???  This pattern was the first I used at school & the teacher thought I was far too inexperienced to use it.  I had been making clothes since I was 6 so I felt very smug when it was done.  Sorry no pics but it was in pink!!!!!  OMG...how awful when I think back now but I thought I was the bees knees hahahaha

Anyways...Caroline has popped the clipboard into the BUBBLY SCRUMPTIOUS E-MAG...how cool is that???  This e-mag has some amazing projects in it, complete with instructions!  Its so worth having a browse through them as they cover all topics & styles.  Here are a few examples...

I think I have put in a sample from each of the DT members...sorry if I missed anyone :(

Thank you for taking a look today and do pop over to this lovely e-mag for a browse, HUGS XXX

BUBBLY FUN CHALLENGE #4 - CUPCAKES!

Hello again!!! I have to apologise to you all as I have only just thought to put these challenges onto my blog!!! Over on the Bubbly Scrumptious Blog I organise a new challenge on the 1st Sunday of every month. This month the theme is:

CUPCAKES!

This can take any form that you like and anyone can join. If you take a look ~here~ you will see our Design Teams take on the theme. One even did some cooking!!!!!

I made a cupcake pincusion for my take on the challenge. It started life as one of those cardboard cups you have for take-away! I cut it down and stuck concertina'd paper all round and edged it with ric-rac which I had sewn some beads onto. I cut a large circle of fabric for the top and (after adding a beaded flower & a button) I ran a thread round and stuffed it! A bit of glue and pushing & shoving and there was my cupcake made. Darned useful it is too hahaha

It would be great if you would pop over to take a look at the challenge and hopefully we can encourage you to have a go! Thanks for taking a look today, have a great weekend, HUGS XXX

BUBBLY FUN CHALLENGE #2 - FELT BIRD!

Hello on a dull Monday morning!!! Over on the BUBBLY SCRUMPTIOUS BLOG there is a new monthly challenge to make a felt bird! It can be used in whichever way you like as long as there is a felt bird in there somewhere!!!

Well, I had to have a think about this one but while I was sewing the little birdie I glanced at my needle case and decided that after 40 something years it was time it was retired to my memory box!!!!! I can't believe that I still use this little book which I made when I was 6!!!! The wording was my first attempt at embroidery and the little duck was one of those that you used to be able to get to sew onto baby clothes....ahhh!

The new little bird is a die cut spotty felt, which I love. I cut a separate wing and then added beads to the lot. Sadly the little eye doesn't show up too much but is better irl. The bird is stitched onto tie-dye fabric and the pages inside are felt again.

To see more little birds made for this challenge pop over to HERE for a looksee, the DT have really done a lovey job on these!!! This challenge is open to anyone so...go on...have a go!

Thank you for looking and have a glorious week XXX