The Home made year....Christmas 2013

Happy New year!! Did you all have a wonderful Christmas?? Are you full to the brim with turkey and mince pies?

How quickly it has flown by, so much preparation and its all over in a flash. But in all honesty I wouldn't change a single thing. I love this time of the year, its hard to choose between this and Halloween, and I enjoy the preparation as much as the day itself.

So needless to say I've made lots of things and rather than waffle on for ages I've put them into a visual collagey feast. So take a break from putting away the decs, grab that last mince pie and cast your eyes over this lot.............




 

Clockwise from left : countdown door hanger for Jacks room, which says Santa's been on the reverse, cupcakes with cinnamon butter cream.

 Flying reindeer applique blanket. Those that follow my facebook page will have seen this in the making.

 

 

 

 

Tulip decoupage card made with a kit by Papermania.

 

 

Cards made with digital stamps from Pink petticoat, and handmade sentiments.

 

 

Handmade Polar Express picture. I love the Polar Express and watch it on Christmas Eve every year, and yes the bell does still ring!

 My special Santa and reindeer that came home with me from Lapland last year.

 

 

Homemade gifts.

 Finnish piparkakut, gingerbread to you and me. We had this in Lapland last year and it was so lovely I knew I had to find a recipe for it, its different to our gingerbread as they use different ingredients and its much more spicy.

 Sweet chilli jam normally I make red pepper relish at Christmas but I'm told its not hot enough so I made this for a change.

 

 

 

Homemade mince pies and homemade apple and cinnamon ice cream. Those who follow me on Instagram will have seen this in its early stages, and I have to say its tastes amazing. Recipe courtesy of the icreamists.

 

 

Felt Christmas trees,

 yarn wreath,

 felt reindeer's, with button noses from nans button jar.

 

 

Jingle bell wreath with ribbon flower.

Close up of card made with digital stamps from pink petticoat.

 

So all that's left to say is have a fantastic new year I hope it brings you all you dream of, and don't forget in between blogposts you can always catch up with me on facebook, twitter, instagram and pinterest by clicking on the links at the top of the page. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Thursday crafternoon......beside the seaside

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.......

At last were finally starting to see some sunny weather which makes me dream of summer holidays. Which has inspired me to begin creating my 'Beside the seaside' range, but I'm not talking about exotic holidays in the Maldives (although that would be nice) no I'm talking good old fashioned kiss me quick bucket and spade British seaside holidays. Blackpool, Brighton, Skegness, Margate, every Brit has been on them.

 

 Me and my six year old business adviser sat down and made a long list of all the things that remind us of the seaside. Beach huts and boats were definately on the list along with ice creams, shells, and sticks of rock, and so I made these fridge magnets.

 

 

Normally when I make stuff I'm a bit like 'yeah it's nice' but I've got to say I'm a little bit excited about these as they turned out loads better than I imagined. I even put a little sneaky peek on my Facebook page.

 

 

The beach hut one is definately my favourite, but I love the decoupage sea on the boat. Every year we go to New Quay in wales for our own seaside holiday with my mom and step dad, last year on the way there Jack declared 'New Quay, where the sea tastes like lemonade'. What a cute thing to say!

Maybe next time I will make a glittery lemonade sea. It would certainly taste a lot nicer than all that salt. lol

 

OK off to dream about more holidays.

Thanks for looking and don't forget you can now follow me on Facebook. Just click the link

 

Xxx