Heartfelt Handmade's Blog

Time for an update

2012-02-29T20:47:00.000Z

Heart Name Banner - Isabella

I've been buried under felt again, just popping up to say hello :o) and show you some recent makes before diving back under.

Pink and Green is always a popular gorgeous girlie colour combo, I run out of these colours ALL the time, it doesn't seem to matter how much felt, ribbon, thread and buttons I collect, I'm always running low - you'd think I'd learn and just buy more wouldn't you?.

Butterfly Hairclip Holder

Padded Name Garland - Elena

Bright Juicy Fruit Star Banner - Layla

And then sometimes an order surprises me and shouts HELLO, GET A LOAD OF MY FRUITINESS. Just like this custom made banner, in bright, pinks, orange, yellow and purple for Layla....so summery.

Other news....Hedgehogs are in...

Hedgehogs like this Double Ribbon Hair Bow Holder in brown and shades of pink.

As well as some pink birdies too, what's a girl to do when you have sooooooo many hair clips? Get 2 Hair Clip Holders of course, simple. I keep 2 downstairs and 2 upstairs in my home....with 2 girlies in the house it's absolutely necessary!

My Birdie Necklace Pendants have reappeared too, not seen since May 2010!

These are for a Birthday Party...

such sweet colours.

Other makes include these Heart Names for sisters...

and a boyish Star Name Banner too.

Phew.....sorry about all that me me me stuff.

How about something else? Like showing you some recent purchases... well....

Firstly, I couldn't resist this lovely Lemon Orla Purse from local Textile Artist Thirtyfive Flowers

Some more lovely magnets from The Green Daisy

I bought these 'tache ones a while back and they are so well made and super strong, I love them.

My recent shopping spree didn't stop there either, it's no wonder I never have any pennies left!

This wonderful chicken, we call her Elsie, is from Holly-Blues & Quirky-Birds

I couldn't resist her.

I have a few other yummy things too but I'll show you those when they arrive. They are for my girls as they are soon to be going into their own bedrooms, they argue way too much to share a room for too much longer!

Anyway, they are getting a few new cute things to personalise their new spaces. I'll post pics if I ever actually get round to redecorating their rooms any time soon :o)

Right, I'm off now, the girls are in bed, Mr is out this evening and I am going to cosy up in front of the tv and stitch away - hedgehogs, bunnies and a cupcake tonight!

Have a lovely evening all.

Love

More stitching...

2012-02-16T11:23:00.001Z

I'm still getting through all my recent lovely orders, things are taking a little longer but I have a couple of days off the day job now to spend with my girls before they go back to school and some extra time for stitching too, phew!

Here's an update of recent makes so far...

Rainbow coloured cake bunting for twins

Happy Birthday Banner

Hair Clip Holder for Willow

Butterfly Hair Clip Tidy

Blue and Red LOVE sign

Large message heart

Jessica Hearts Banner

I'm just finishing a few more banners today along with a special order of Pokemon Hair Bands,

so shall post a new update soon.

Are you crafting today? What are you making?

LOVE

2012-02-14T20:26:00.000Z

Before Valentine's Day is over I had to post some pics of this years Valentine's Tea Party. I downsized a lot this year and the girls only invited their best friends from school over for some seriously girlie fun!

First we decorated cupcakes, I totally cheated and bought pre-made chocolate chip muffins, placed them in some pretty cupcake wrappers and gave the girls some (pre-made) chocolate butter cream and sprinkles to decorate them with plus a bit of glitter on top too. These very cute cupcake toppers were a freebie from the fabulous ARK Designs , the girls loved them. Thank you Anna x

We decorated some big sparkly foam hearts too with some stickers and gems, then I made a hole in them for some ribbon, all from my favourite shop hobbycraft!

I had to have a go at making the heart garland too, I think the felt I used was a bit too thick and my scissors weren't long enough or sharp enough but it looked good from a distance! Here's where I found the tutorial.

I couldn't stop there though, oh no, so I made this Valentine's Banner too...

and some heart decorations for the party bags...

Other activities included making cute necklaces, using pretty things all from my bead and button box and marshmallow pop decorating (lolly sticks with a marshmallow dipped in melted choc then dipped in a bowl of sprinkles, yummy).

All over for another year now, just enough time left for sharing a take-away with hubby.

Oh, and finally a special request for a Valentine's day gift for a colleagues girlfriend.

It's made in their forthcoming wedding colours and with their initials, awww bless, young love! I and my hubby on the other hand celebrated 12 years of marriage at the weekend.....oh my.

Happy Valentines day to you all, even if you hate it!

love

busy making stuff....

2012-02-07T15:18:00.000Z

My Facebook page has been seeing a lot of action of late thanks to a couple of page sharings by some fabulous pages = lots of lovely new orders = being very busy making stuff! At this rate I may have to give up the day job...again!

Here's a run down of some goodies I've been stitching of late...

Button name garland

Star Name Banner

Heart Name Banner

Embellished Name Garland

Dotty bird decoration

Rose brooch

Owl Name Hangers

Name Signs

Tooth Fairy Friends

and even a Wreath Kit - in a WILD Animal prints theme

No rest for me though, still got a couple of heart banners, some party favours, hair clip holders, birdies, birthday banners, 'taches on gingies, 'taches on sticks, LOVE signs and much more to finish off. What am I doing here chatting still, gotta dash.

Thank goodness the snow is now melting and not getting too much in the way of everyday life.

Happy crafting!

and the winner is.....

2012-01-29T10:15:00.000Z

which makes the winner.... Dinki Dots ...congratulations! Email me your address and I will pop them in the post to you in time for Valentine's Day :) my email is info [at] heartfelthandmade [dot] com.

Thank you to EVERYONE who entered, and for all your lovely words. In answer to a couple of questions, I achieve the scalloped edges by using my lovely scallop edged pinking shears bought from ebay! As for the lettering, I use paper templates, pin them to the fabric/felt and use the tiniest, sharpest embroidery scissors to cut them out!

There you have it....easy peasy!

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I'm off to my favourite place now, hobbycraft!

See you again soon.

Love

Show me a sign

2012-01-21T16:47:00.001Z

Today I've had a mostly crafty day, my eldest joined me at the kitchen table this morning to make her own creation (an apple hairclip), my youngest has been happy playing with a huge tin full of coins most of the day, don't ask, and OH has been food shopping and generally staying out of the way of the creative flow, can't blame him really!

I decided to make this sign for ME, just me, I never make anything for me these days and I'm addicted to these colours at the moment so I made it!

But I couldn't stop there....

I decided to make one for a friend of my youngest, who shall be having her 6th birthday party tomorrow. I've got out of the habit of making the girls' friends birthday pressies recently, mostly due to the fact that they ALL have hair clip holders, tooth fairy pillows, hair clips, key rings, name banners and anything else I have made in the past too. Poor parents of Berkhamsted, you must all have a Heartfelt make in your homes!!

Anyway, I thought, this is new, no-one has one of these.....YET!

But I couldn't stop there either, so I made this version too for some friends and their new baby girl. I now have a list of words that I need to make, but the girls have started to get bored and are squabbling and my brain is starting to ache from the screeching so I'd better stop there for now and do some proper parenting.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. Have you been doing any making today?

Giveaway time!

2012-01-19T16:04:00.001Z

It's almost that lovey-dovey season again, love it or hate it,

Valentine's Day will be here very soon.

We don't make a big deal out of it here in the Heartfelt home, just some fun crafts and cooking with the kids, maybe a little tea party with a few of their friends, red and pink decorations....hell who am I kidding....we LOVE a theme!

To help spread the love this Valentine's Day one lucky person will be receiving this handmade flower brooch and 'Love' sign, made by me.

All you need to do to be entered is to leave a comment after this post.

To gain extra entries you can like my Facebook Page, follow me on twitter, pinterest, flickr or follow my blog.

Be sure to leave a comment here after this post with every like and follow you make.

My Giveaway is open worldwide and closes on Saturday 28th Jan 2012. The winner will be picked at random (via random.org) and announced here on my blog soon after.

Thanks all and good luck everyone.

Keeping it tidy girls

2012-01-13T16:35:00.000Z

Ever since my eldest daughter began to accumulate a rather epic collection of hair things, I have been making these pretty, and very useful, hair tidies.

We now seem to have one in almost every room and they continue to be one of my top sellers.

These cute personalised cupcake versions are off to the lovely, and talented, Becky from Diddy & Bo Creations, as gifts for some lucky little girls.

They are a great way for the girls to 'keep it tidy' and saves you from hunting around for them! Just hang them up and clip them on, my hair clip holders also have a ribbon loop for keeping some of those headbands under control too.

As you can see, over the years, I've made them in all shapes, sizes and designs, some with a pocket for holding pony bands in addition to the ribbon for clips. You can take a closer look at them over on my flickr page.

I don't think I shall ever tire of making these.

Wishing you all a very lovely weekend!

Rosa & Lucie

2012-01-10T15:57:00.000Z

To me the first week of the new year is spent slumped in post festive blues... I miss all the fairy lights (although I have kept some) and my body goes into shock when it realises all the After Eights have gone, the party is over.

The second week is a fresh start, with a good vacuum around (even along the skirting board and in all those nooks that I normally leave dusty and slightly cobwebby), a change of throw on the sofa (from red to pale blue), fleeting thoughts of a healthy diet, pinterest overload as I like and repin all those fantastic organisational ideas, crafty tutorials, decor for your home, kids party themes, ways to dress your hair and recipes to try.

When a lovely old friend placed her umpteenth order for two name garlands and left me free to choose the colours, I decided a fresh girly scheme it should be.

I present to you my first name garlands of the year, for Rosa and Lucie, such sweet names.

♥ I hope they like them. ♥

yellow and grey

2012-01-05T17:07:00.000Z

It's been a while, but lets not go there, I seem to always start my (non existent) posts these days apologising for not posting for eons and yada yada yada, lets just skip that bit and get straight to the makey stuff shall we?

Well I start this new year off with my favourite colour combination of the moment, yellow and grey, although I must admit I do remember the last time this colour combo was popular back in the '80's and the wonderful 'Casual' period, (youth sub-culture to those not in the know!). May I just confirm that I was never a 'Casual'. Anyway, moving swiftly on, when I was requested to make an Owl Name Hanger in these shades I had to say yes, yes, YES.

I always enjoy making these little fellas and fellarettes, hopefully baby Cormac will be pleased with his, just as his big brother Cashel is with his green and blue version.

Now, just time to squeeze in a wee....

....to all.

100

2011-10-31T22:09:00.000Z

Recently I was asked to make some special birthday decorations for Annie, who was turning 100, yes that's right, 100! I jumped at the chance, it's not every day your services are requested for such a momentous occasion. So, here are some of the special gold and cream themed creations made by yours truly...

Door wreath

Happy 100th Birthday Annie!

cupcake toppers

Happy Birthday to Annie, I hope she had a wonderful celebration.

More creations coming soon.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:03:00.000Z

It's that time of the year again, we love a theme here at Heartfelt Handmade and later on we will be hosting a Halloween tea party for 10 little scary monsters followed by a spot of trick or treating.... can't wait, although, with the girls off school for an INSET day I'm not sure how I'll get everything ready in time.

Yesterday I spent all day making chocolate skeleton bones ....

Carving pumpkins...(stencils c/o hgtv.com)

and putting up decorations...

and cutting, sticking and gluing some wonderful Halloween printables from

the TomKat Studio on Etsy.

Now we are just waiting for the remainder of the food shopping to arrive and will start with the mummy style sausage rolls, as seen on my pinterest BOO! board....

along with some skeleton cake and many more goodies.

We wish you all a fun filled safe Halloween!

what a hoot...

2011-09-11T12:00:00.000+01:00

There have been many winged creatures created in the Heartfelt household recently, so many owls and birdies......my first flock of Owl and Birdie Hair Clip Holders flew off to the lovely Miss Gracie...

The next parliament of Owls, this time hanging decorations, flew off to Nevie-Pie Cakes for a special little girl's birthday party...if you check out her blog, Amelie's House, I'm pretty sure you will soon see some fabulous images from the Owls & Ladybirds' party.

Finally, a Birdie Heart Hair Tidy for a little girl's birthday...

Now I'm off to get started on a new name banner and some fun Halloween goodies for a custom order, I love creating new things.

Hope you are having a lovely, thoughtful weekend.

...it's over

2011-09-06T14:57:00.001+01:00

...the summer holidays that is! After a lovely holiday the girls are back at school and I'm getting back into the swing of things, so here's a picture heavy update of some creations from the last couple of months....

Latest hair clip tidy, more of a bag really, so lots of space for bobbles and bands plus 3 ribbons for clips and slides, no excuses now for hair clip untidiness!

Large squashy letter banners, each letter is about 20cms tall, this order took me MONTHS!

Luckily not required until next year, organised customers, I LIKE it :)

A little extra for the birthday boy, some cake bunting.

A sneaky peek at a future project....my Maddie's 8th Birthday Party...watch this space!

A pretty pink and lilac hearts and cupcakes combo name banner, pretty.

A super girly cupcake name banner.

Finally, not forgetting a boyish stars name banner for a little boy just turned one.

So there you have it, just a few pics for you, so what's next?

Christmas creations I guess, yikes!!

Hope you all had a great summer.

We're all going on a Summer Holiday....

2011-07-25T13:15:00.000+01:00

I've been out of the bloggersphere for such a long time I can't actually remember everything that's happened since my last posting.

I've still been stitching, although on a much smaller scale,

as family life and the day job have taken priority.

However, I have some time off now which gives me a small window to try and catch up. Hooray!

Today is the first day of school holidays, we have already cut out huge initials and decorated them with scrap fabrics, made new crayons from old broken up bits and I think next on the agenda is biscuit baking....all being documented and shared by my daughter on her new online diary for our family and friends. To say my blogging, creating and crafting world has influenced and inspired Maddie is an understatement. For as long as I can remember she has talked about being an artist or designer when she's older.....

she's not yet 8!

we saw this crafty letter idea here

and How to make your own crayons

So, the title of my posting? Well, we shall be going on a short break by the seaside soon and we will be staying in a caravan! The park is right on the beach and it's quiet and peaceful (I'm hoping). I still have lovely childhood memories of caravan holidays and I hope my girls will have fun, staying for the first time ever in a caravan.

The photo of the caravan at the start of my posting is one I customized recently for some friends, it was their 10th Wedding Anniversary, so I made a few crafty decorations, this shabby chic caravan makeover being one of them and placed at the top of a tiered cake-stand, surrounded by some homemade cupcakes...

(sorry about the rubbish photo quality)

Finally, my love of Pinterest has grown and grown, you can find my boards here

Right, I'm off to bake and sew. Hopefully see you again soon!

Birdies for miss gracie

2011-05-14T13:49:00.001+01:00

You may remember a couple of months back I received a wholesale order from the very lovely Miss Gracie. If you are not familiar with this wonderful site, then hop on over and take a look at all the gorgeous hair bows available.

My daughters are the very proud owners of several and love love love them.

In the 'What's New' section you will find this green dotty bird hair clip holder, a design that is exclusive to Miss Gracie and is not available anywhere else and made by none other than me :)

Same goes for my matching Tooth Fairy Pillow Birdie (the tooth is placed in his wing).

So if you fancy getting hold of these then head on over to Miss Gracie, while stocks last!

Another year older

2011-05-08T19:52:00.001+01:00

Can't believe it but my youngest turned 5 on Friday and we've been enjoying a week long celebration, that's what happens when you hold the party the weekend before the actual day!

So, we started out with a party at a local gym, with bouncy floor, trampoline, ceiling swing, huge slide and many more child-energy-user-uppers, as well as the parents who just HAD to have a go on most of the apparatus too!

Of course the birthday girl had to have a turn on the parachute while

we all sang 'Happy Birthday'.

We had a special chocolate cake made by the, always wonderful, Nevie-Pie Cakes. We asked for a pastel pink and yellow dotty creation and she did not disappoint us, it was gorgeous and completely delicious as ever. I wanted it plain as I planned to decorate the top with some cake bunting that I had made and Georgie and her big sis painted a large cardboard '5'. I added a little last minute bunting trim around the bottom of the cake too, just using the party napkins, although it got a little squashed in transit.

Would you believe, preparations began many months before the special date, collecting pink and yellow goodies here, there and everywhere and placing them in our PARTY BOX, which always seems to contain a 'party in progress' (I mean, we've already started collecting white, black and hot pink goodies for big girl's 8th birthday in ..... December!!). Cute bunting and pink pegs below purchased from the fabulous Reilly & Moss.

Of course I HAD to add a Heartfelt Handmade creation to the goody bags, so I made some pink and yellow windmill hair clips for the girls and some silly moustache bookmarks for the boys...

I even had a go at making some lemon and chocolate (separate flavours, not mixed up) cupcakes, which I kept just for the grown ups, well the kids had their marshmallow pops as well as a plethora of party rings, choc chip cookies, plain marshmallows and other sugar filled delights.

Lots of fun was had by all ...

... only to do it all again, on a much smaller scale, with a picnic in the garden on her actual birthday, with lots of bubble blowing.

Happy 5th Birthday Georgie!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Spring is coming!

2011-03-17T00:08:00.000Z

The next More Than A Mama fair will soon be upon us, check out the website for details on the fabulous sellers. In the meantime I shall be at The Swing Gate School Pamper Evening this Friday (18th March) with my red nose on!

I may even get round to doing a proper catch up post soon, here's hoping!

Hope you are all well.

earlier this week...

2011-02-16T23:03:00.000Z

...you may have noticed it was Valentines Day, well, I'm not interested in extravagant flowers, chocolates, diamonds, no, really I'm not, I'm more of a 'happy with a card' or a sweet gesture, or a Chinese takeaway type of gal. However, the kids love a theme and who am I to deny them, so somehow I managed to cobble together a little Valentine's Tea for them and a few little friends, the photos are a bit naff as I didn't get a chance to photograph all the goodies in natural light, but here's a little insight...

...firstly I had a go at making my own Valentines Day wreath, this one actually started out as my Christmas wreath but I never got round to finishing it!

Then, remember the sparkly heart cake toppers I made?

well, I cheated a little and bought some 'ready-made' fairy cakes, popped them into heart themed cake cases, swirled on a generous dollop of pink vanilla butter cream icing, yummy, and added a sparkly topper, et voila...

I even had an attempt at making a bunting cake topper for a teeny coconut sponge cake, that we added heart-shaped marshmallows to, using the aforementioned butter cream as 'glue'...

...and there you have it, a speedy Valentines tea, over and done with for another year.

Also, the winner of my Valentine's Giveaway, Sarah from FunkyFairy, received her goodies...

I'm nearly at 600 'likers' on Facebook, so maybe I'll run another giveaway then :o) so get 'liking' everyone!

Have a lovely remainder of the week all.

news!

2011-02-10T01:13:00.000Z

I have some news....2 bits of news actually, first off I met up with the lovely Patricia from Miss Gracie recently and enjoyed a coffee and a lovely chat, isn't it great how you get to meet some super people just through blogging, twittering and facebooking! Anyway, firstly Patricia presented me with this gorgeous collection of freebies,

my girls ♥ them so much and have not wanted to wear anything else in their hair since...

...then we discussed me making some goodies for her cute website, so watch this space, more shall be revealed, I'm just really pleased to be working with Patricia.

Also, isn't it funny how things happen somethings, they just kind of fall into place and make sense. I know it's a rare thing, that's why I fancied mentioning it. Little did I know 3 years ago when I embarked on my Heartfelt Handmade journey, that all the self taught social media marketing and self promotion that I've learnt along the way could lead me into a 'proper' job, well it has, fancy that eh? This is my first week at a local firm, within walking distance, doing just the things I like, during the hours that fit round school and there you have it, me... with a job, yikes. I'm still keeping up with Heartfelt though as the majority of the stitching gets done in the evenings anyway. So, there you have it, that's my news for this week. Blog posts may be on the thin side for a bit while I get into a bit of a routine, so I'm off to bed now for a snooze, note to self: stop 1am blogging.

and the winner is.....

2011-02-06T12:07:00.000Z

CONGRATULATIONS TO......

Sarah from FunkyFairy - well done!

Please email me with your address Sarah (info@heartfelthandmade.com).

Thank you to everyone who joined in with my little Valentines Giveaway and took time to leave a lovely comment and follow my blog, Facebook and Twitter.

I'll be running an Easter giveaway too so check back soon :o)

blue love

2011-02-02T18:31:00.000Z

I had the urge this afternoon to make a Treasury on Etsy, I was inspired by the gorgeous heart in a jar art print from A life through the lens so here it is, lots of lovely powdery blue and a touch of red, yummy.

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY

2011-02-02T01:22:00.000Z

It's time.....the Valentine's Day giveaway is here, hurrah!

Fancy a love filled delivery that could very possibly and almost definitely include something like this...

a cupcake decoration?

an owl embellishment?

a corsage?

a hot pink 'tache?

sparkling cupcake toppers?

Well a goody bag full of such delights and more could be yours, all you need to do is leave me a comment here on this blog post and you will be entered into the free prize draw. You can gain extra entries by becoming a follower on Facebook or Twitter or here on my blog, be sure to let me know when you make your comment if you are a new follower on any of these, or indeed if you already follow me :o)

Thanks for taking part, the winner will be picked at random on Sunday 6th Feb, also the competition is open worldwide, good luck!

it's coming....

2011-01-31T09:38:00.000Z

all will be revealed this week, keep those eyes peeled...

flowers and more...

2011-01-28T12:06:00.001Z

Nearly the weekend, hurrah, do you have anything fun planned? I have a weekend of sewing ahead as I need to get on with a couple of banners, in the meantime though I've been practising my flower brooch making...

using some lovely satin like fabrics in juicy bright colours....

hot pink

turquoise

green

they can be worn as brooches or hair flowers.

I'll add them to my shops next week, but for now I need to finish my tax return (eek), finish some orders, start some others and all the while, in the back of my head, I am planning my youngest's 5th Birthday party, not until May but I've started on the decorations and party bag ideas already! I just can't help myself.

Have a wonderful weekend all, see you next week :o)

shopping fun

2011-01-25T14:17:00.000Z

Now, I don't do much shopping, not for the lack of wanting to, it's just that my pennies normally get spent on my little girls, craft supplies or general boring stuff, so recently I had a tiny wee splurge and these are the goodies I couldn't resist. The gorgeous green gloves (above) were a Birthday pressie for the talented Nevie-Pie Cakes who celebrated a rather significant little birthday last week, I really actually wanted to keep them for myself, always the sign of a good pressie I think, something you don't want to give away!

I love these other ones too, all from A little birdie told moi on Etsy, I may have to treat myself very soon.

I've also had my eye on these cute magnets, from The Green Daisy, with my love of the 'tache how could I resist, these are a pressie to myself and will adorn my magnetic board in the kitchen where they will never fail to raise a smile whenever I look at them :{D

With our wedding anniversary and Valentine's Day looming I also ordered two cute cards from Storey Shop, I think I'll frame them too and place them on either side of our bed!. The first one is self explanatory from me to Mr...

the second is a bit of a little joke, and although Mr should be the one purchasing this for me, I had to get it on his behalf and will take great pleasure in framing it in an ironic kind of way, as I'm not really sure I am loved more than WoW!!! Are there any other WoW widdows out there? You may very well understand my plight then :o)

I couldn't resist a few supplies too, I love the JosyRose site and ordered some sparkling fabric in red and gold to make some Valentine's Day hearts and, dare I say it, some Royal Crowns, possibly for a future Royal Wedding themed post, got to get into the spirit of things! On a final note, if you keep seeing a different background here on my blog, don't worry, you are not going mad, it's just me being incredibly indecisive, although I'm liking this green bunting one, at the moment anyway.

flying the flag

2011-01-24T14:20:00.001Z

I have a bit of an obsession with bunting, I can't get enough of it. With that in mind I've been meaning to make some of these for soooo long I finally had to make these this morning. I normally hold a little Valentine's Day kids' tea party and have wanted to make some cute felt cupcake toppers to decorate this year's cupcake creations, although these could be adorning a plate load of teeny sausages or heart shaped sandwiches too. They are so incredibly easy to make too...

Firstly I drew a small diamond shaped template on graph paper and cut it out. Using this template I pinned it onto red and white felt and cut out lots of diamond shapes. In the meantime my trusty glue gun (this has become my companion of late while I've been working on my fabric flowers) was warming nicely and I raided my kitchen cupboard for some cocktail sticks. Next stage was to put some dabs of glue down the centre of the diamond and one blob on the pointy part only on one end though. Then I placed a cocktail stick in the centre along the glue line, not right to the top though as I didn't want the sharp pointy cocktail stick poking out. Carefully fold the felt over, the glue WILL be scorching hot so mind those fingers. Keep it pressed for a few seconds and there you have it....

It's so simple, you may even find yourself slightly addicted...

Enjoy!

hues of blue....

2011-01-20T19:28:00.000Z

There seems to be a theme to the orders shipped recently....

I love these bluesy, greenie, brownie shades...yummy.

one of those mornings...made better

2011-01-19T10:25:00.000Z

Today started off with ..... overslept, no milk = no coffee, quickly make lunches, quick play with Mr. Nibbles (our handsome and captivating new addition to the family - a hamster), rush to school, forget girls' book bags, rush back home, rush back to school, go to office, sign girls in as now LATE, finally skip to the playground where a group of mums are taking part in the morning chittah chattah, speak to Mrs Nevie-Pie Cakes, desperate to give her her birthday pressie (tomorrow is actually the BIG day) and persuade her to take it off me there and then, I'll show you what I got her in another post, don't want to spoil the surprise, rewarded with a truly scrumptious looking cupcake. Did you know that Mrs Nevie-Pie Cakes makes a birthday cupcake for her very own birthday? I should now be showing you a picture of it, however, truth is I ate it, and enjoyed it sooooo much, it was chocolate, with chocolate, with more chocolate, topped with popping candy AND gold leaf, OMG that hit the spot this morning ;o) thank you ♥
No doubt you can read (and see pics) of these wonderful delights TOMORROW on Nevie-Pie Cakes' wonderful blog, Amelie's House.

So, today I should be stitching, I have two orders that need to go out today, so after this I'm off to sew, in the meantime, here's some more moustached creations for you, these pencil toppers have proved rather popular and it seems my moustached gingies are not just for the holidays after all......

Going LARGE

2011-01-14T14:15:00.002Z

I wanted to show you something new from me today, yippee. I've been making my felt padded name banners for quite some time now and I recently had an enquiry for a custom order for larger padded letters about 20 cms tall and an inch thick, of course I accepted this challenge thinking no problem I can do that, thinking I'll get over the 'thickness' issue somehow. Turns out that, although I had my doubts, I can actually do that and here's how it turned out...

It took me a while to decide if I should do hidden seams but thought I'd try it this way first and liked the look. So letter E was my test run...

followed by...

and ...

then another E...

finally I strung these ones together with cord...

and there you have it. I made my own letter templates using a ruler and graph paper too.

I'll be adding these squishy squashy letters to my shops soon, hope you like them.

Happy

2011-01-11T12:16:00.000Z

There seems to be a bit of a theme with some recent orders....

it all seems to be about celebrating, and why not, so here is a mint and sky star banner reading 'Congratulations', why not add the name of the congratulatee in question, oh OK, here you go...

What about those birthday people out there? Here you go...

we do it in red...

we do it in pink,mint and lilac...

we do it in pink multi...

or we can go larger with added bling...

and added polka dots too...

how about cupcakes?...

and what about a badge for the birthday boy or girl...

Phew, all these celebrations have got me in the mood for food, I'm off to eat some cake :o)

Happy Birthday to you if it's your special day xx

SALE!

2011-01-10T16:48:00.001Z

I fancy a clear out - making way for new creations - so here you have it....if any of these creatures or creations take your fancy please send me a message (info@heartfelthandmade.com) if you are interested and I'll send you a paypal invoice.

My Tooth Fairy Monsters will arrive in a cello bag with a poem on it's label reading, "In this pocket I will lay, the little tooth I lost today. Please dear fairy, tonight as I sleep, leave me a coin, my tooth you can keep."

WERE £6.50 NOW £4.50 (USD 8) plus postage (£0.80/US$1.40)

Alternatively, I have these.......Tooth Fairy Birdies

WERE £5 now £3.50 (US$6) plus postage (UK £0.80/ US $1.40)

These cute birdies will also arrive in a cello bag with a poem on it's label,

"In this wing I will lay, the little tooth I lost today. Please dear fairy, tonight as I sleep, leave me a coin, my tooth you can keep".

Finally, I have a these Moustache/mustache Pencil Toppers

WERE £3 each, NOW £2 each (US $3.50) postage UK £0.80/US $1.40)

Happy Shopping! :o)

New Year and Rainbows

2011-01-06T01:59:00.000Z

Hi there, hope you didn't mind me abandoning you all there for a minute...well 6 weeks to be exact, just not enough hours in the day recently. Sorry. I'll try not to do that again. Until next Christmas probably!

So, what will 2011 bring us? I'm experiencing a bit of a January boom from Etsy since reopening after the silly season, so all is busy busy busy again, which is wonderful, long may it last.

In the meantime I just wanted to bring you news from Australia, from Lou and Jane at Home Made Parties to be precise. Jane is organising a special rainbow themed birthday party and has kindly featured my Georgie's Rainbow Birdie Birthday in their lovely blog. Thank you ladies, I love all the inspirational photos, I think I'll try and incorporate some of them into Georgie's next birthday, in May! Yes, we have been talking about it already :o) and have almost decided on pink and lemon colours.....this could very well change, possibly a few times, before May is upon us.

photo and cake by Nevie-Pie Cakes

By the way, I've got some of these coming from colour ribbon shop.... hoping to have a go at making myself some fabric flower rings.

Short and sweet from me, it's pretty late and, although I am a night owl I feel I must be heading for my nest very soon. More updates to follow, in less than 6 weeks time, I promise!

Banner Time

2010-11-25T10:12:00.000Z

Waking up to a light sprinkling of snow made me feel so Christmassy this morning, although that soon changed when I got brain freeze on the walk back from school, must get myself a big woolly hat.
So, what with the snow and all, it may very well still only be November (and I'm not normally one for decking the halls this early), but I've been in the loft and brought down the boxes marked 'XMAS'. I surprised myself at how well packed they were, I must have had a burst of organisation as I packed them away in January. I don't know about you, but I have an expensive addiction..... to Christmas magazines. I've bought so many that I got home on Monday with a shiny new plastic wrapped magazine of Christmas promise only to realise that I'd bought that one already, so that's it now, I am STOPPING with the magazine obsession....I've even kept old Christmas mags from 2007.... please tell me I'm not the only one?

Anyway, I'm off now to post off an order, I was there the other day with 8 parcels all going Air Mail to various far off destinations (all needing customs labels filled out and proofs of postage) and there was quite a queue forming behind me - but I never look back these days as I know there'll always be a few huffy puffy noises coming from the queue - oops).
But here's a few new banners in the meantime.....

Hope there's not too much snow where you are today, I ordered 2 new PINK sledges the other day for the girls (of course) just in case we get snowed in again like we did last winter! Have fun.

Giveaway Time!

2010-11-24T13:32:00.000Z

Want to win this cute Owl Hair Clip Holder? Then head on over to Scented Sweetpeas' blog and enter the competition. There's is also a little interview to read too :o)

The giveaway will close on 6 Dec so get your entries in soon. Thank you Scented Sweetpeas for hosting the giveaway for me and for the lovely interview too, good luck everyone :o)

eeeek!

2010-11-22T14:51:00.000Z

Okay, so lets ignore the huge elephant in the room and not mention the severe lack of posts of late.... right so, apart from a couple of local fairs, sewing orders in time for final Christmas posting dates to the States and Australia and sickly children what have I been up to? Well, I guess that's about it really. The More Than A Mama fayre on the 12th Nov was enormously successful so I'm looking forward to the next one on Wed 8th Dec, with mulled wine, pampering, twinkly lights and festive music, not to mention it's my birthday that day, I may have to give away little gifts to the first 10 customers at my stall that night :o)

I had a stall at Craft Fair last Saturday too which was slow but not too sad, I'm glad I brought along some sewing, not to mention the HUGE advantage of having Nevie-Pie Cakes at the stall next to me, breakfast and lunch that day consisted of a mince pie, a vanilla cupcake and a delicious macaroon too, I think that covered most of the food groups, oh and I chomped on a home made sausage roll, so that's the protein box ticked too!

Anyway, to keep you updated on some festive creations, here's a few pics to keep you going until the next posting, whenever that may be....

There you have it, short but sweet, I shall return soon (ish). Hope everyone's doing well with their festive creations, fairs and such-the-like, have fun :o)

Blip

2010-11-10T13:13:00.000Z

It's true, I'm guilty of a blog blip yet again.
As I've said before, I'm doing lots of fairs this month and next and I've been stitching away making stock and trying to get on with some very lovely orders too. So, before you think I've gone and left the country, here's some of my latest makes, these will be on my stall on FRIDAY, eeeek, still so much to do. I shall be at the More Than A Mama Christmas Fayre at Berkhamsted Civic Centre on Frriday 12th Nov from 9am-12.30pm, hope some of you can make it.

So here are some of the goodies I'll have at my stall...

as well as some...

Tooth Fairy Monsters, Little Birdie Tooth Fairy Pillows, Bookmarks & Moustache Pencils.

So much to do still, I'm off to sew, hope you are all having a productive week.

Display dilemma...

2010-10-20T14:54:00.000+01:00

so....I've signed up for a billion and one fairs over the Christmas period and thoughts always turn to my table and genius ways in which to display my wares...

I've done a fair few of these now and always plan to be able to set up my stall in record time, all priced and labelled in advance but inevitably I'm always up all night labelling and still faffing around with my display as the first customers begin to trickle in.

This year I have two sets of shelf units, painted white, that I plan to string up some of my banners in between, but I think this calls for a spot of practise and some new labelling/packaging, just to give myself some more to do.

I'm hoping to have cute photos of my products 'in action' displayed on my stall too and will need to rope in the help of my two girlies and maybe even their friends... there could be a 'moustache photo montage' coming soon!

My favourite stall set up so far was for last Easter, I felt my table was fresh and bright but I do feel I need more stock to bulk it out a bit more, or is less more? I guess I need to find a happy balance so the table doesn't look too crammed or too empty!

O dear, I feel I have a lot to work on. In the meantime here's a pic of my own fave stall set (yes it's all about me!) and some others too that are ingenious, bright and inspiring...

my stall last Easter at the More Than A Mama fayre

the inspired use of a bright thread rack put to a good purpose as a stand for a whole motley crew of cute finger puppets for abbey*christine

a beautifully romantic vintage display from ittybittybirdy

using a chest of drawers to display monda loves' wonderful wares is a fabulous fun idea

and finally I love the use of these old suitcases in Lockette's display.

So, feeling inspired I'm off to do some more thinking and trawling through flickr pics for stall inspiration....

do you use any every day objects in your stall displays? I'd love to hear your ideas...

Have a happy Tuesday, I'm off to put another jumper on, brrrrrr, it's chilly at home today.

taking things too far?

2010-10-14T10:44:00.001+01:00

...... too much?

making progress

2010-10-10T15:40:00.001+01:00

I've been going on about not being ready for Christmas, with my first pile of decorations cut out and laying in my project box since the summer, looking a lot like this...

I thought I ought to pull my finger out and get a little bit of stitching done,

now it looks like this...

which is mildly better but no where near the amount needed for all the Christmas Fairs I said I'd do. Why am I doing all these fairs I ask myself, well, you need to make the most of it don't you, especially as January is normally such a slow month.

Are you doing any fairs this season? I'll put a list of events up here on my blog soon, once I've got organised!

I've been making some personalised Christmas Letter Decorations for the tree too...

these are available in green (dark, mid, light), red, burgundy or white with bright green holly leaves and a red pompom berry and only £2.50/USD4 per letter. I'll have a selection of popular letters made for selling at my various fairs but can make them to order too, contact me direct at info@heartfelthandmade.com or via my Folksy or Etsy shops.

So, what does this coming week have in store? Well, there's more name banners on their way plus the gingerbread man tutorial I promised, and who know's what else...

have a great week everyone.

moustache madness

2010-10-08T14:42:00.000+01:00

Who doesn't love a fake moustache every now and then? Well, I am loving them at the moment and have read about lots of fantastic Moustache Themed parties on all the party blogs I love to ooo and ahhh over.

So, a couple of weeks ago I had a fair and I'd been thinking of what to make for the boys as my stall is often totally girlie, so I bagged me a pack of old-school-style HB pencils, drew me a 'tache template and made some moustache pencil toppers...

I only made 8 for the fair and surprisingly, even though it was a very slow day at the fair, I only had 1 remaining by the end of the day. Even more surprising is that most of them were bought by teenage girls, so much for trying to cater to the boys then, I guess the girls are just natural born shoppers... it's in our genes.

I had to make something else too with the moustache theme, so I made some Moustache Monsters which are actually key rings and some bookmarks (not pictured, sorry)...

So, with my love of the 'tache in mind I thought I'd go on an imaginary Etsy shopping trip and found all these wonderful things that I want want want ...

1. Eco Friendly Moustache Man Tote bag by PaisleyMagic

2. Scented Recycled Crayon Moustache by zeebree

3. Wooden Moustache by Little Alouette

4. Laser cut Moustache Necklace by Superficialgirl

5. Hand carved Moustache Rubber Stamps by Skull and Cross Buns

6. Incognito mustache ring by Melanie Favreau

7. Moustache Pint Glasses by modern madness

8. Moustache Pillow by Freaky Fleece

Do you make anything with a moustache?

I'd love to know so I can ooo and ahhh over your creations too :o{

Sweet Treats

2010-10-07T14:30:00.000+01:00

Following on from my last post, I mentioned about leaving Christmas stock making to the last minute, well, here is one I actually made earlier, just the one mind you, but they can be made to order...

It's my Christmas Candy Sweet Treats Garland, although I do think it could be suitable for all year round. It would look cute at a birthday party, especially if there's a dessert table or maybe a sweet shoppe theme. I had a similar garland in my Etsy shop a little while ago, with a doughnut, rocket ice lolly and ice cream. My lovely customer asked me to tweak it a little to add to a hanging mobile she was making...

...which reminds me that mobiles are still on my 'One Day I'll Make One' list, which is getting longer and longer may I add. I've also made a little new addition to my gingerbread family...

and I shall do a wee tutorial soon on how to make him.

I'll still be making my other gingies though, at some point (see previous post!)...

On a different theme, I've been loving all the moustache parties I've been reading about on lots of party blogs of late and will post details of my own 'tache-tastic creations I've been making next time. If anyone is my friend on facebook you will see my profile pic is of my Maddie holding up her moustache on a stick, makes me chortle every time I see it :o{)

In the meantime, I'm really interested in knowing what you have all been busy creating for the coming Holiday Season or are you saving it for a last minute sewing frenzy like me? I promise I will catch up on my blog reading soon too, I'm so way behind ... bye for now xoxo

Hello Autumn.....

2010-10-06T12:41:00.000+01:00

... s'long Summer. It's been raining here...... so, thoughts turn to Autumn and all those gorgeous colours. The new season has inspired me to make some hair accessories for my girls and a few extras too, although not necessarily all in the seasonal colours, I made a blue leaf hair clip for a little girl at school, and why not!

I've roped my girls into doing a spot of modelling for me at the weekend too, we took the pics outside in the garden, in between rain showers and before the light completely faded, the wonders of Picnik and it's amazing edit functions.

With Halloween season coming up I made a new head band for Maddie too with a great big web on it...I'm making a hair clip for Georgie, she's not all that into wearing head bands yet.

I also made an Autumnal Happy Birthday Banner too for a little girl, perfect colours for an October birthday.

Must poodle off now and do some more stitching, it's crazy season soon and I'm already feeling a tad frazzled, need to make a list of all the fairs I said I'd do and get my gingerbread man stocks up! I always start out with good intentions by doing some Christmas cutting out during the Summer months but then it just lies around in my project box waiting for a mad sewing frenzy at the beginning of November! When does everyone else make their Christmas stock? Why can't I get organised and ahead of the game? I guess I'd better stop blogging and get on with it! Hope you all have a happy and productive week :o)

twit-twit-a-woo

2010-09-27T17:01:00.000+01:00

Oops, it's been over a week since I promised to post more regularly..... mmm, sorry 'bout that.

Here we go anyway.....

I've developed a bit of an owl obsession of late and have been making Owl Name Hangers,

Hair Clip Holders.....

Halloween Decorations...

I've even made some Owl bookmarks and Christmas Card Holders... don't worry, 'normalness' will resume sometime soon, whatever that is anyhoo. Most of them are listed in my online stores, Folksy and Etsy.

In the meantime I've been blogging over on More Than A Mama and confirming new exciting fayre traders for our forthcoming events, more about that soon though. Hope you have a wonderful week.

Twenty Questions Tuesday

2010-09-14T10:00:00.000+01:00

Well, it's been a while but I'm getting back into the swing of things since the lovely long summer holidays, girls are settling back into school and I'm slowing settling back into stitching.

When the lovely Hello Gorgeous asked me to take part in a regular fun feature over on her blog I jumped at the chance and it was the kind of kick up the butt that I needed to get back into blogging. So, check out the Hello Gorgeous blog and read my little interview, the questions are great fun.

I promise I'll be back soon with an update on my recent creations, bub-bye for now.

It's about time...

2010-08-02T10:23:00.000+01:00

Dear Blog Readers,

It's been an awfully long while since I last posted...oops, very sorry 'bout that, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth or anything. It's just that the last term at school was a busy one, with summer fairs, millions of school activities, dance shows and surprisingly quite a few custom orders too. This has certainly kept me out of mischief but also out of the blogging world for far too long and guilt ridden too from spending every spare minute day and night sewing. But thanks to some lovely blog readers who contacted me earlier in the week asking ever so nicely for a little blog update - If it wasn't for you I may still be sitting here thinking "I really must update that old blog of mine..".

So, what's new?

Well, it's Summer Sale time over in my Facebook Shop, feel free to grab a bargain. Sale ends real soon though as, after next week, I shall be shutting up shop for a little while, just until school starts back in September and I shall be spending some time with the family having some summer fun and making up for the neglect inflicted on them since my sewing marathon. But not before I've updated you on my latest makes and creations, so sit tight, this posting is a bit 'me, me, me'....in particular, I have been indulging my love for all things 'Pin Wheel', making some cute hair slides...

brooches...

garlands...

and my new fave.... Pin Wheel Name Banners...

I'll be adding these Pin Wheel Name Banners to my online shops in early September, along with some other newbies, you never know, I may even blog about it.

Cupcakes have featured large in my recent catalogue of makes too, here's a 'Happy Birthday' banner with a matching name banner, that was a whole lotta cake...

along with my padded and embellished letter name garlands, here's some I made earlier...

as well as some Happy Birthday padded letter banners, one with a matching name banner too, I love this pink and blue colourway, such eye-candy...

I've made other name garlands in this style too, these were made for a christening of twins, with added butterflies and baseballs!

Another new style banner for me has been this gingham style star garland...

and even some one-eyed monster badges, great for party bag fillers and halloween...I'm making another set as party favours for a Pink Party, more about that in September though...

This is my Sweet Treats Garland, I tweaked it though, on request, to suit my customer's needs, I'm good like that sometimes. She is very cleverly making a hanging mobile and wanted the Sweet Treats to hang vertically and divided into three garlands instead of one, I can't wait to see her finished mobile.

Cupcakes, Flags, Stars and Hearts banners have not been forgotten either, here are some of my latest makes, along with a fab bright stars banner that wasn't just one name but a whole starry message, I love it!

not to forget a run on Summer hair blooms in the form of hair clips, head bands and pony bands, these went down well in June when we had so many sunny days in a row, where has the sun gone now though? come back!

Oh, and rather randomly, we dropped in on a wedding at the weekend, 'we' being myself and my eldest girlie. Her best friend's mummy and daddy were getting spliced at a gorgeous church just around the corner so we had to take a mooch along and see them all coming out after said nuptials...a very glam black and white theme, then off to a fabulous art deco venue for their wedding breakfast, love it...

Work still in progress though.......

it's part of a wholesale order for Hair Clip Tidy's and Mini Hair Clip Holders, on their way to Singapore before I finish up for the summer. There's been more too, but I shall bore you no longer with 'things I've made', blah de blah de blah, 'me me me me me'!
Looking back on all these creations from June and July though, I do have to ask myself, why on earth am I still broke? Money management, along with time management, organisation and many other skills still evade me.

So, I'd better get stitching my last orders and look forward to a summer break. All orders received before Aug 9th will be made and dispatched as normal, any new orders after that date will be made upon my return in September. Happy Summer Hols to everyone. See you in September with exciting Halloween/Fall/Christmas Ideas!!! Here's a taster...

p.s. Welcome to the world babies Felix and Grace and possibly an Oliver by

the time I've come back too!

more birdies.....

2010-06-15T13:09:00.000+01:00

I've been sewing sewing sewing, I have a few fairs I'm making stock for as well as getting on with some custom orders, so needless to say the blog has been a bit neglected and the housework, well, that's been positively forgotten long long ago!
I've made some more Tooth Fairy Pillows, my Toothy Monsters are always popular but, even though I make some girlie monsters too, I'm often asked for a more girl-friendly alternative, hence these birdies. Their wings double up as pockets where a little tooth can be safely placed, the birdie can be hung up and then the tooth can be replaced by a bright, shiny coin.

Three of these little fellas are off on a journey to Australia to a lovely Etsy customer, the rest will be on my stall. The first fair is this Saturday, so I'm stitching quite a bit this week and going to bed very late, but I thrive on the challenge to create enough stock for a stall in record time! Wish me luck and lots of caffeine! I'll see you on the other side with some photos of my latest stall set - up...x

dreaming of a tropical breeze....

2010-06-07T14:00:00.001+01:00

I'm in my own little world today, although the girls are here, they are busy drawing, playdoughing and painting, watching a bit of tv and generally making a mess, as long as I feed and water them regularly they seem happy enough to be in their own little worlds too. So, feeling a bit dreaming I thought I'd try out Etsy's new Treasury East, and to be honest, the tropical treasury theme is all down to my youngest. Little G came over to me earlier asking me to open an ice pop she'd helped herself to from the freezer and guess what flavour it was....yep, tropical!

I now feel like stretching out on a sun lounger, with the sound of the sea in my ears and the tickle of a breeze on my toes, the scent of coconut sun screen and a tall pina colada next to me...........how dreamy.

In reality though, it's time to tidy up (again), make sure school uniforms are clean, shoes polished, homework completed, nail polish removed, PE kits ready, 'To do' list updated.......then I can squeeze in a bit of sewing and dream of palm trees again.......

If you fancy a bit of tropical daydreaming, take a peek at my Treasury for some gorgeous goodies.

catch-up

2010-06-06T11:36:00.004+01:00

This could be a long post, it's been a while since my last one, all down to a mix of computer gremlins, school holidays, a flurry of recent custom orders plus my usual procrastination. So to make up for it, here's what's been going on, this could be a picture heavy post.....

A new Tooth Fairy Pillow, 'A Little Birdie Told me you have a wobbly tooth', it's in my facebook shop, etsy shop and folksy shop too.

Orders have been stitched and dispatched.......

These flower brooches were little birthday presents I made for friends, the fabric and felt flower on the bottom was inspired by the awesome Kitty Eden, be sure to check out her lovely creations and wonderful blog.

I'll be making more of the felt rose brooches (2nd from last) for some fairs I'll be showing at this summer.

My new little labels arrived too, from etsy seller Remember Wynn, so I've been adding them to my latest makes and I'm very pleased with them...

I've also had a couple of exciting packages in the post too. Firstly a Fabric Swap (hosted by Crafty Helen at Home). My assigned partner, the very clever Kath aka Juicy Fig, sent me such a gorgeous parcel, thank you.....

and I sent her a wee parcel of fun too.....

...then I found out I'd won a giveaway from The Felt Fairy, she very generously runs a monthly giveaway, be sure to sign up, I won 10 sheets of wool felt in colours of my choice, I chose pinks and reds,

a special thank you to The Felt Fairy xx

It being half term hols, we managed to squeeze in a visit to the seaside as well, Tankerton to be precise, I really love the huge expanse of well groomed lawn, with the view of the pebble beach and a cafe selling ice cream and slush puppies as well as yummy chips..... perfect and very quiet for such a sunny day.

The girls are pictured below, running towards said cafe....

The girls will be back at school again soon and normal stitching can recommence. I have a couple of events I'll be sewing into the wee small hours for over the next couple of weeks, firstly a local school fair, followed by a FANTASTIC Pimms & Pamper Night, followed by another school fair...........I'm off to get organised.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

is it here?

2010-05-21T10:36:00.000+01:00

Is what here I hear you ask? Well, dare I say it without jinxing it?

I'll say it quietly........summer!

It's been walk to school week and we had a school assignment to take a pic of our favourite view on the walk to school. We live on top of a hill and have a beautiful view of the other side of the valley. To the left are rolling hills, I promise!!

Anyway, starting off the day with sunshine is pretty good, maybe the experts are right and we will be having a mini-heatwave. I shall be dipping my toes in the paddling pool then!

Meanwhile back in the world of felt, a couple of name banners were polished off and are now with their rightful owners,

A bright yellow 'Patrick' for a little boy and his giraffe themed bedroom, and

a heart and star 'Madeleine', a present from a God Mother for a christening this weekend.

I've been working on some fabric flowers too......

these ones can be worn as a brooch, attach them to your bag to give it a summer makeover or put a flower in your hair as they all have a hair clip and a brooch back sewn onto the reverse....

Other news this week is I've been ummming and ahhhing about which labels I should get next for sewing onto my wee creations. Well, I finally ordered some from etsy seller Remember Wynn (great name!) and they will look like this...

I can't wait to start sewing them onto my next batch of felty makes. I absolutely adore the wooden buttons she makes too, I think I will have to order some of them too.

Last, but not least, I hosted a Stealing Candy Home Party, look at all this eye candy! Lots of lovely friends came along after school drop off and had tea and cake and frothy coffees (my coffee machine is my baby) with a touch of shopping too, what more could you want on a Wed morning? (Husbands please look away, the life of a SAHM is not ALL about coffee mornings and chitter chatter.)

As a host I got this gorgeous Eva Beaker from nkuku plus I got to spend 10% worth of the morning's shopping total on goodies for myself.....yippee. Thank you everyone who came and thanks to Jo from Stealing Candy for bringing all her wares to my front room, I was sad to see it all go.

So, it's been a lovely week and I'm looking forward to spending some time stitching in the garden this weekend. More banners are on their way, cupcake style, hearts and stars and quite a few more, I'd better stop gassing and get on with it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

All you need is love...

2010-05-13T10:29:00.001+01:00

This past month or so has seen some fun custom orders come and go, take this one, a hearts banner for 'All you need is love'. My lovely Etsy client requested that it be made in the 'Yellow Submarine' poster colours and I really, really enjoyed making it, I love all these bright colours together. The banner is to be hung across a bright yellow wall, I think it should look great.

..and then there was 'sam', whose mummy is a driving tester and his daddy drives the light city trains in Dublin! My client, another Etsy favourite customer, requested that the banner reflect Sam's parents' jobs so here we have it....

...my final banner I wish to show you today is for another little boy, Jared, with an American mom and an English dad.....

my very lovely Folksy client requested that I make these flag style stars to reflect the little man's dual nationality family! Cute.

In the land of cupcakes, oh how I wish there was a Cupcake Land, I would visit it all the time! Another lovely Folksy purchaser requested a pink hanging cupcake for a special friend's 40th birthday.....

...and I'm in the process of making a '30' one too, this time in purples and blues for an order received yesterday - yay!

So, with the sun shining today and the little ones at school I had better get on with some stitching. This afternoon me and my Little G will be making some Thank You cards for all her sweet friends and the yummy goodies she got for her 4th b'day

.......I feel more birdies coming on!

Have a fun day!

Facebook Shopping

2010-05-12T12:38:00.000+01:00

Did you know that you can now open up your own shop on facebook, well I never did, until I saw a facebook contact do that very thing earlier this week. What a great idea, right? Well, it costs nothing and it's worth a go for very little effort.

Anyway, you can find mine here, and if you become a fan of my Heartfelt Handmade page you will also receive 10% discount on any purchases made via my Facebook Shop. It's only available to ship within the UK at the moment, but my Etsy shop is available for all International purchases and, if you mention you are a Facebook Fan, I will reimburse you the special Fan discount of 10% too.

This discount will be available for a limited period of time only, so get shopping!

Back to show you some latest makes soon.

A Birdie Birthday

2010-05-09T12:16:00.002+01:00

A few weeks in the planning and an hour and a half of party fun and it's all over again for another year, but what a lot of fun was had, and I thoroughly enjoyed making the party bag fillers, icing the cupcakes, dipping the marshmallows on sticks into a bowl full of sprinkles, setting up the dessert table and making Georgie's name banner not to mention the excitement of picking up the birthday cake from Nevie-Pie Cakes and ooohing and ahhhhing over yet another triumphant creation....she is a clever caker.

And now, the cake still lies in all it's colourful glory exposed on it's stand, mostly all scoffed, with it's sugar crafted birdies squirrelled away by little birdie-pinching fingers, the pink balloons are laying slightly deflated on the floor (there seems to be some in every area of the house, how do they do that?), birthday bunting remains hanging proud around the house, colourful birthday cards are (mostly) standing up to attention, until you walk past them, knocking down a couple, round the back of the telly.

Today is a day of rest though, I'll move the furniture back to where it should be tomorrow, but at the moment, I'm enjoying having the armchair

in the kitchen instead of the dining table.......

p.s. a BIG thank you to everyone who helped in the planning, inspiration and making xoxo

NEW!

2010-05-04T16:44:00.000+01:00

At last, here's something new that I've been working on and off over the last few weeks. It will probably evolve over time but it's a start and it's been fun to put it all

together using Wix.com.

So, now I have a little website all for me, no shop yet but links to

my Etsy and Folksy shops.

Now, back to stitching................hope you all had a lovely weekend.

highs and lows...

2010-04-30T11:52:00.001+01:00

Highs this week have been: a trip to London to help friend spend (her) money on gorgeous new stock for her home wares line, playing air guitar and drums at 7am with 6 year old daughter to The Kings of Leon ('Your socks are on fire' - alternative wording suitable for a 6 and 3 year old) blasting from the radio, enjoying a wonderful Cake Break in aid of MS at Mrs Candy's beautiful home, making this caravan of love picture for a special friend, scoffing a totally yummy Chinese takeaway provided by Mr, having fun making lots of goodies and organising little one's birdie party and winning these gorgeous cards from

the talented Button Patch. Aren't I lucky?!

Lows: little one desperately needing a wee midway to school this morning and refusing to go on the grass! Then eldest falling over dramatically, scraping both knees and hands and trickling blood down her legs in the rush to get to school for little one to use the facilities!!! Those facilities were well utilised this morning!!

All in all not a bad week though, only set to get better as 2 little girls will be deposited at Nana & Gaga's for the weekend straight from school.........

hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Party Panic

2010-04-18T13:13:00.000+01:00

It's that time of year again when thoughts drift to parties......birthday parties...........in particular, my youngest's forthcoming 4th birthday party.

Well, I normally leave things with only a few weeks to plan, craft and create, but I (sorry of course I mean 'WE') have finally decided upon a bright birdie theme, with rainbows, flowers and generally anything else that I can add into the mix! If it's a dry day we will take the party outside, lovely......

So, I've been checking out some truly awe-inspiring party blogs (in particular Party Perfect) and spending very important research hours drooling over the incredible themes and decorations. Now I'm all geared up for our birdie theme and as you can see, I've made a start with the invitations printed, my cupcake toppers made (just awaiting their white lolly sticks to arrive), party bags labelled and a couple of larger birdies made for a 'Georgie' name banner. I've placed my order for a special birthday cake with the talented Nevie-Pie Cakes, now I just need to make some nice bright tissue paper pompoms, a ribbon garland, birdie hair clips, pinwheels and............... oh blimey I'd better get on with it all! Talking of hair clips though .........

.....having started to make the birdie hair clips for Georgie's goodie bags, I also decided to make some hair flowers too, just because the sun was shining and I've got a huge bag of blank alligator clips just waiting to be adorned with something. Here's Maddie modelling them for me.

In the world of garlands, a custom order for an 'Uno' inspired Birthday Banner is on it's way over the pond to it's rightful owner, hope they like it, it was fun to make. This week I will be working on a few custom orders, one with a train, one with a US and English flag and one Beatles inspired 'all you need is love' banner, exciting, I can't wait to see the finished results! So I shall be off now to continue party planning and stitching. Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

how did that happen?

2010-04-14T11:38:00.001+01:00

I can't quite believe the date today, we are nearing the end of the holidays and I'm trying to think what I've been doing all this time, certainly not blogging I'm afraid. I've had a bit of a blog break it seems, although not intentional. We have been to the seaside though, consumed some yummy ice creams, been to the movies, been to a show, played in the garden, played in other peoples gardens and popped out to the coffee shop (where the girls ate far too many marshmallows and wafer biscuits - this was very evident from the small pile of 'upchuck' that was deposited at the top of the stairs in the supermarket next door to said coffee shop by my youngest soon after - oops, very very sorry).

Of course I have managed to do a spot of swapping and creating too ......

The 'I love my Kitchen' swap on swap-bot brought me some pretty pink goodies,

I especially love the jelly moulds! Thank you Zoe :o)

I took ages deciding on what to send to my partner, Jessica, a kawaii-loving, organic living lady with a 'hints of pink' kitchen. I must admit, after reading her likes and dislikes I immediately went into kawaii research mode to swot up on san-x and sanrio......I feel a future obsession forming......and this is what I finally sent...

Some fab kawaii-style cutters from Etsy seller the Little Teeth Shop, some cute tubs from *rice*, a Sarah Smith Tea Towel, pink silicone pastry brush, Suzy Spoon, melamine cup, some Minky cloths made from recycled yarn and of course an extra treat, some organic chocolate...yummy. I found it very hard letting go of this package, I really wanted to keep it all. Wish I'd bought two sets of those cute cutters!

Here's some of my recent felt creations.......a 'W' for Willow, I was told to make it in any colour/s I thought best, so I made it in this soft lemon with green shades, with a fabric covered birdie button.

Here is a Heart AND Star name banner made for Poppy in pinks and reds, I loved combining the hearts and stars together in one banner....

Then I made a padded letter garland for Millie, in pretty pinks and purples with cute buttons and ribbons.....

Still leaving time to make this colourful cupcake Happy Birthday Banner......

for 2 little sisters with matching name banners too.

I'm working on a few more name banner orders at the moment, including one 'Uno' style banner!

Phew, now I remember what I've been doing. Hope you've been having fun too.