Life Keeps Getting in the Way!

My crafty days have been few of late (as has my blog writing and general contact with the outside world!) life just keeps getting in the way! Work, obligations, people pleasing…does not leave me with much spare time. I will endeavour to make some time though, it can be done! Especially after a my friend (faaaaabulous cake designer and maker extraordinaire @cakefashionista & www.cakefashionista.com ) confessed to an 80 hour week last week  - 40 to the day job, 40 to one helluva cake order – it’s there, I just have to use it! I have an enormous sense of wasting time at the moment and I want to turn that around.

The sad news of my friend and neighbour dying this week from a stroke aged just 49 also puts things in perspective. Life is very small.

On a lighter note, only in topic though, certainly not in calorie terms J half craft-half people pleasing occurred this weekend as I produced 3 dozen cupcakes for a friend’s 30^th Birthday bash. (Courtesy of my lovely Making Cupcakes With Lola www.lolas-kitchen.co.uk book)

Chocolate Cheesecake - complete with buttery biscuit base :)

Vanilla Cherry Blossom - cherry and almond goodness!

Vanilla - nuff said!

The Redundant Fascinator

Curse the weather! (Or more likely our inability to deal with it even though we know how much rain we get every summer) My lovely handmade and economical fascinator is now completely redundant due to Ladies Day at the Races being cancelled at the weekend. After seeing a lovely array of hats and fascinators for astronomical prices (why are they soooo expensive?!) I thought as I often do "I could do that". So I did! For £9.47. In 10 minutes. With the cheapest, most basic one I found coming in at £30, somebody somewhere is making a tidy profit out of these things! I could have made it cheaper by sourcing materials online etc. but I am impatient and I was in town so I wanted everything there and then!

So, a fascinator base (John Lewis £2.50) attached to a silver headband (H&M £1.99) by using the pins already on the flower brooches (H&M £2.99 for the cream, £1.99 for the black) meant that this was the quickest and easiest thing I have ever made! And it don't look too shabby either, even if I do say so myself :)

The 'do wasn't done but I was going to build the hair up a bit around it and bouffant it up! And with the gorgeous green vintage dress I had picked out and cream and black handbag and shoes, I was more excited about the dressing up than the races themselves (as is usually the case for me for all events!) Now, I do have a wedding this year but it's not until December - I can't wait that long!! I need to premiere my handy work!

And you can't have tea without cake...

So please help yourselves :)



Vanilla Cherry Blossom. Recipe from the book 'Making Cupcakes With Lola'

 Vanilla sponge swirled with Morello cherry jam, topped with toasted almonds and cherry butter icing. Nom nom!

I Love Tea

And I do. A lot. It is a magical nectar with the power to make me feel that all is well and good with the world, just for those glorious few slurping minutes. The first sip always makes my hunched shoulders drop better than any Pilates class and the sight of a teapot and cup and saucer can lift my mood better than any drug. Ahhhhh. Tea J

This is the first cross stitch I have done in years. I found my old ‘Forever Friends’ sewing box I had as a kid at my mum’s house and found a few scraps of aida and threads. Enough to make this lovely and very apt cross stitch which I stumbled across on The Cross Stitcher Magazine website http://crossstitcher.themakingspot.com/ It was also a bit of a saviour as I did it over the course of one of the many recent football matches so I was happily occupied J

Making Cupcakes With Lola

I have a confession to make. I bought the book 'Making Cupcakes With Lola' by Victoria Jossel and Romy Lewis as a flat warming gift for my friend. And I kept it. It was too hard to not to! Not only for the fact that I am a Lola, but because it is so beautiful I had to give cupcake baking a try! Now, my piping skills leave a lot to be desired but i must stress that this was my very first attempt!



Coconut & Lime

 And they tasted incredible. Thank goodness we had a few visitors over the Jubilee weekend otherwise we would have sat and ate all 12!

There are 65 gorgeous recipes in this book, I WILL try them all :) In fact I'm seeing the friend I originally bought the book for on Sunday for a BBQ so I will make some for her and confess all!

Nom Flipping Nom!

Hello Sailor

I made this on the back of making a present for a friend and I love it! The problem is with making stuff, if I fall in love with it, I can’t bring myself to give it away! So I end up with even more stuff! Not that I am complaining, I love STUFF! Although the good thing about wearing the things I make is that people notice them and comment on them (and buy them, as what happened with my first ever jewellery sale) However I need to perfect the “I made it” line without sounding a) smug b) like like a crazy lady c) like I'm fishing for further oohs and ahhs.

This by the way is the prezzy I made for my friend for her birthday:

I have slacked a bit on making pretty things for birthdays recently, I have simply baked cakes instead, which is a bit of a cop out (but delicious and a win-win situation as I usually get a slice hee hee!) But I have a friend’s 30^th coming up next week so I’ll get my creative head on J

The Handmade Gingham Blinds

I am quite proud of my lil’ gingham kitchen blinds, to say that it’s my biggest project attempt to date. They were simple enough to do, just needed a little patience. And time. And effort. And endless attempts at trying to stop the cat grabbing the tape measure at every opportunity! I used the original blinds as a template and simply measured, cut and sewed. And they look effective in my Retro London Diner themed kitchen (well, they will more so when it finally gets finished)

Not sure why the cat loves the ironing board...

But he does.

Oh What's in a Name!

I actually sold a piece of jewellery. That I made!  Somebody liked it enough to hand over their hard earned money in exchange for a beautiful (even f I do say so myself) cameo brooch! And I wasn’t peddling my wares on to unsuspecting passersby, no Apprentice-style sales techniques required, they just wanted it J woohoo! So now I want to make more and then try peddling  my wares to passersby as you never know!

But the name Sewendipity is really for my sewing escapades and personalised wedding bits and bobs, it doesn’t really encompass jewellery making at all…must think of funky but pretty alter ego name. Hmm. I’ll have a think.

Wish I had the task of thinking of a new name whilst hand making my kitchen blinds! Boy did they take some time, especially sewing each individual tab, but they were worth it. They look great (pics to follow shortly) even though I haven’t finished decorating the kitchen yet, which is really frustrating me as I like everything to be pretty, like, yesterday!

Also I have been making pretty pink rose brooches to get me in the mood for summer (when it arrives…)

Less Sewing, More Jewellery

Well, consistency faded with force, both with writing and crafting! I have been crafting but not actually finished much. However the bits that I have finished I am very happy with :) I am loving making jewellery at the mo. I'm off shopping in a second to get some more supplies. The problem I'm facing is that I have a birthday do to go to tomorrow and with my hopes to handemake everyones gifts this year, I have hit a bit of a hitch. My friend is not a jewellery person, or a 'stuff' in general person. I don't know her house colour schemes (she has only just decorated in a new pad and I've not seen it yet!) so a cushion is out. She loves music and is a musician, but I am struggling to think of something apt that is not lame! Hmm. As I am baing my usual last minute self, I'm hoping I've not left it too late!

My jewellery successes though are keeping me upbeat :)

Slowly but Surely

Slowly but surely indeed but I am still crafting as and when I can. Which really doesn't feel like much to be honest but I am squeezing in the odd stitch here and there between life and it's happenings! I did make some beautiful Christmas decorations however I feel naughty putting pictures of the up now as the Christmas moment has well and truly passed. I might pretend that I made them for this coming Christmas and boast about them in December. Shhh! No one will know...

I finished a lovely warm and snuggly knitted bobble hat for the other half, however it would was a bit too warm and snuggly due to the fact that is came out MASSIVE and covered his head, face, neck and shoulders. I followed the pattern to the letter - didn't even go wrong! But I guess ignoring that part about 'gauge' was going to catch up with me eventually! It is now keeping our penny jar warm :)

Another cushion cover completed, the only thing I ever manage to see through from start to finish! And after the discovery of Tatty Devine's lovely book 'How to Make Jewellery' I have branched out into a bit of jewellery making! I wonder what friends/family/colleagues/neighbours/acquaintances/passing strangers will be getting as gifts this year?!

I am desperately trying to get back to my old passion of personalised underwear, mostly bridal orientated but it used to do so well until I lost my underwear supplier. So I am looking at ways of how to become my own supplier! I have made a pattern, I have a sewing machine, I just need the right fabric and I may actually get there...one day!

Ahhh!

My sofa might actually be comfy now!

Really pleased with my first stab at jewellery making! Simple but effective.

I've got these in today, they look so pretty!