Adventures in Shrink Plastic.....at long last

So the exciting news is at long last I finally have a Etsy shop!!!!!!

Yes I know its taken such a long time but I'm proud to say I've finally managed it.
So lets talk about what's in it. Well those who know me will probably already know that I am obsessed, just take a look at my Pinterest board, with the 1950s and rockabilly in particular. The whole thing, the clothes they wore, the cars, the clothes, the tattoos, the clothes and the hair! Don't even get me started with Bettie bangs!

So I decided that it would be nice to start with a small collection inspired by that, I'm calling it 'Rockabilly Radness'.
I was also aware that valentines Day is just around the corner and no valentines would be complete without some hearts and no rockabilly valentine would be complete without a traditional heart and scroll.

Another classic rockabilly staple is a swallow. This one is done in pastel pink and blue flying across a fluffy cloud. There are lots of meanings behind swallow tattoos but my favourite is that sailors used to get swallow tattoos as they believed that if they drowned the swallow would come down and lift his soul to the heavens. I also thinks its beautiful that swallows choose only one mate for life!

I don't know why but I always associate cherries with rockabilly, and I'm a sucker for anything in cherry print. So I knew I had to have some cherries in this. On their own they looked kinda weird so I put them on a striped star and now I'm really happy with how they look. In fact I wore this necklace out and received so many compliments!

Aaah my Birthday Girl brooch, when I first designed this back in September I did it with a tattoo/rockabilly style in mind. I wore it all day on my birthday and loved it. I have put this in the shop with an option to have it customised, so you can change the colours or have a name or something else written on it.

And last but not least glitter hearts. Now I know that this doesn't really fit into the rockabilly category but it does fit into the GLITTER category and who doesn't love a bit of that? and like I said I knew that valentines day was fast approaching.

So to celebrate the opening of my shop, the month of romance, and all things glittery I'm giving away one of these heart necklaces to one of you lucky people!!

 
TO ENTER
Go to my facebook page, like the page, like and share the post

The winner will be drawn at random on Saturday 15th February

P.S I just want to say a massive thank you to my husband for his ace photography XX

The homemade year......I'ts my party

 

Yup it's my birthday...

 

and you know when you think of something and think that's a great idea then when you start to do it, it turns out it's not that great after all?? Well I definitely did that this week.

 

I always make cakes for my birthday so this year I thought I'll make a gingerbread house seeing as I never find the time at Christmas. BIG mistake, take it from me if you ever decide to make one put aside a lot of time and definitely practice first. I made 2 lots of gingerbread and both ended up in the bin. So what did I do to rectify the situation?

 

Made cupcakes of course.

 

Play to your strengths that's what I say..lol.

 

 

So hear they are. Yeah I know they don't LOOK that special but they ARE. These are margarita cupcakes with tequila icing!! oh yes!

 

Mmm margarita and cake two of my favourite things mixed together.

 

 

and these are for those too young to enjoy a good margarita. White chocolate chip with vanilla icing, and those things that I always call jazzies, but have no idea if that's the real name!

 

 

 

and no birthday is complete without a badge, here's mine. Made by me for me. Am I gonna wear it all day??

Hell yeah!

 

So you might ask why I've called this post the homemade year. well I was thinking about all the things we celebrate throughout the year, and it gave me an idea for a new feature/content/section, whatever you call it and what better way to kick it off than with my birthday. So I'll take us through the year and show you all the stuff that doesn't really fit into any other category.

 

 

 

So I'm off to open presents and eat cake but before I do I found this birthday questionnaire on good old pinterest and I thought it would be fun to answer it so here goes....

 

1. How old are you.

Mmm, mentally or physically? Mentally anywhere between 15 and 21, physically, old enough to know better!

 

2. who is your favourite person in the world?

Has to be my little man no question.

 

3. what is your favourite colour.

Predictably, pink.

 

4. what is your favourite TV programme?

Not really got one and it changes all the time. at the moment I'm loving The returned, and me and my little man love regular show. Mordecai and rigby are the coolest.

 

5.Favourite sport?

None, I avoid doing any sport at all costs!

 

6. what song do you love?

Oh there are way too many. I listen to loads of different music but I particularly love Drive by Incubus, pretty much anything by the wonder stuff, or frank Sinatra

 

7. Who is your best friend?

my husband, nobody makes me laugh the way he does.

 

8. what do you want to be when you grow up??

So many answers to this, what's a grown up?, I don't intend to do that anytime soon, see question 1.

 

9.Favourite book?

To kill a mockingbird by Harper lee. Read it too many times to mention.

 

10. Favourite ice cream flavour.

Banana but only the one sold in Rhodes old town, Greece.

 

11. what really annoys you?

Narrow mindedness, really grates!!

 

12.what do you hope to do before your next birthday?

Mmm lets think, win the lottery and jack my job in lol

 

 

 

So I'll be back soon hopefully with something exciting to share X

 

 

Thursday Crafternoon....shrinky madness

Hi so I know I've been missing in action for a while now since I got back from my hols. It always takes me a little while to come back down to earth after a holiday and especially when Ive been to Lindos. We had a great time and its still every bit as beautiful as it was when we were married.

That said I have not sat and done nothing since I've been back. Oh no I've been busy busy busy. Jacks bedroom was in serious need of a face lift, he still had a border and curtains that he had when he was born!!! Its still not quite finished and when it is I  intend to move on to my bedroom and carry on until the whole house is just the way I want it. I'm calling it project house. If any ones interested in seeing the before and after let me know and I might blog about it.

But in the tiny amount of time I have had I've managed to make a few things. I'm still having a love affair with shrink plastic (hence the title) but its definitely been a period of experimentation, which is another reason for the lack of posts. Any way I'll stop waffling and show you the pics........

 

This little lady is Rubie. I love her so much shes so cute, and in my mind I can see her in lots of different vintage outfits. This Rubie is a brooch but she can come as a necklace or key ring too.

 

 

I wanted to do some key rings in the style of those old vintage tin signs, these are what I came up with.

 

I cant decide which is my fave the beach huts or the ice cream.

 

 

All the nice girls love a sailor...These two honeys are both called kitty. Again I see them in lots of different retro outfits and I'm dying to do one with pink hair. They have come out a lot smaller than I expected so I might have to do a bit of a rethink. I thought maybe I could put them on a heart background or something. It would also make them more sturdy as I managed to drop another one and her leg fell off..lol. I did say it was experimental!!

 

 

I am totally in love with this one. I wanted to do something with a rockabilly/tattoo feel. then I saw a tattoo sketch by one of my favourite tattoo artists Leah Moule , and the cogs began to turn. I changed the traditional rockabilly swallow into a seagull, and I can see it with a lighthouse or helter skelter instead of the ice cream too.

 

So there you have it, I hope it's been worth the wait. I'll try not to leave it so long next time, and I might have a new collection coming up too. Stay posted and don't forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, pinterest, and Instagram.

 

Xxx

 

 

 

 

Thursday Crafternoon...shrinky plastic

Well we're back to rainy cold weather again. Two days of warm sunny weather and out came the shorts and sandals and dinner was a barbecue. We all went a bit mad, as we do, and then in true Brit style it disappeared as quickly as it came. Oh well I suppose we should be used to it by now!

Unfortunately, just to rub it in, I'm going to make you think of sunny days again now. The bad weather has not stopped me making, and I've been banging on about shrinky plastic on my facebook page for a while now. So I think its high time I showed you what I've been doing with it.

keyrings

 

 

 I'm not going to lie, it was more challenging to work with than I thought and is definately still a work in progress. Having said that this stuff is magic. Honestly you put it in the oven close the door and when you open it again, poof its shrunk. Its amazing!

I'm so easily pleased lol.

 

Brooches

 

 

The keyrings have definately turned out better than the brooches. Which is a shame as I was so excited about the brooches. Like I said its a work in progress, the white shrink plastic is difficult as its really shiny and hard to colour on. I'm trying to find a way of colour it without seeing the pen marks.

 

oooh as I type the postman just bought me some more, yay. Right then that's me off to play and make more shrinky magic, lol

 

Xxx