Please go and take a look at

this great blog, The Patchwork Heart,  the blog is run by a very talented lady.

The Patchwork Heart

Heather says about her blog 'Hi and welcome to my country style eco friendly shabby chic crafty blog!


Thank you for stopping bye I do hope you will enjoy my ramblings ...' and enjoy it I do.

Heather makes gorgeous things from pre loved items such as fabric, crockery, clothing and more so if you are interested in recycling then this is the place to visit.

You can also follow her on facebook here

Dont forget to tell her that I sent you

I can't believe...

we are in November already, where has this year gone?

I have been so busy in the shop recently but this week has been really manic, I have orders coming out of everywhere. I had been so busy making stuff for Christmas that the other stock is starting to look a little thin in places so I have a few lines that need re-stocking.

I have 4 Craft fairs to attend between next weekend and the 15th of December along with 4 sessions of craft club per week and some extra dates for Christmas classes so I am pretty busy at the minute!!

So what have I been making, this for my new Grandson, Henley



For Henley

Then I had a go at this little Reindeer that my Son Stuart found for me, it was a little grubby but nothing a fresh coat of paint didnt sort out.

Before




After

He is now filled with bags of Magic Reindeer food.

I also have a few piccy's of other stuff I have on sale in the shop and a few of the orders I have made

All colours available

Stocking Holder for Sophie

and for Jack

The Fireplace

Behind the till

I found these 6" plywood circles yesterday and turned them all into Christmas Puddings, the top is painted in Ivory and the bottom is Blackboard paint, I added the 'days 'till Christmas' with a white chalk marker and decorated with tops with some seasonal foliage, cones and berries

Well thats all for now, its off to work for me, another busy day. I am doing a class on Napkin decoupage this afternoon, some of my ladies are making decoupaged coasters and table mats for Christmas but they will have to tackle the crackle glaze first. Hopefully they will enjoy it and maybe we will have some photos later.

A few new things/ people!!

Morning everyone, well what a week it has been for me. Firstly I have been quite poorly with this cold/ flu/ bronchitis thing that's been going round although I am feeling much better now.

Then last Saturday guess what arrived?

This gorgeous new Grandson

Henley James Preston

My Daughter was due to have him on the 11 October but nothing had happened so off to work I went last Saturday morning.

I got a text message to say she was having contractions at about 9-20, I managed to get to her house thanks to my DIL Tracey, so together with my DIL and my other Daughter Sarah we decided an ambulance was needed as we didnt think we would get her to the Hospital in time, we were right!

Henley James Preston was born on his Mummy's kitchen floor at 10.30 am after only 1 hour and 10 minutes of labour, Mum and Baby were both fine and were both sat in my living room by 11.45am.

So the shop was closed on Saturday and I have been playing catch up with orders all week, but here are a few of the orders I have made recently -

A money box for Ruby, this was another Christmas order


Ruby's Money Box



Ruby's Money Box

Then I was asked to make a Heart shaped Rag Wreath for a Lady's new kitchen

Some door plaques for my Niece's children's bedroom doors


For Corey and Rylan




For Kelsey

  Then Kelsey's Jewellery box

and Molly's Height chart

Add to that the Christmas items I have been working on and all in all its been a busy week, lets hope today is slightly less hectic than last Saturday.

Maz

Another Giveaway!

I dont know if any of you know but I have a page on Facebook for the shop, we have a number of people who are fans of this page and as before I wanted to have a little giveaway once we reached 500 followers, well we did!!

It was a bit of the 'Chicken and the Egg' situation as my newest Grandson was due on 11/10/10 and I wondered which would come first the 500 followers or the Grandson, well we are still waiting for the Grandson!

So here is what we are giving away

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning these is to leave a comment either on this blog or on the Facebook post, please only leave a comment on the actual post and not on the wall as these wont count for the draw.

As for my Grandson well things are looking likely for today so fingers crossed!

I would also like to wish my DIL Karen a Very Happy Birthday and to both my Son Stuart and DIL Karen a Very Happy Wedding Anniversary for today, hope you both have a wonderful day.x x x

A few more Christmas goodies

I was busy yesterday putting the finishing touches to a couple of designs we will be making for the shop this Christmas. I love Snowmen  so I wanted to have a couple of snowmen designs for different uses as well as just for decoration, one thing we sell alot of is personalised items especially for kids so I have done this Snowman to add your letter to Santa

These will be available in 4 colours - Blue, Yellow, Pink and Green

and then this one to hang your stocking from, not everyone has a fireplace, these two have their own Hand Knitted scarves and a painted peg to hang the stocking from, all that's needed is to add the name of the recipient



Complete with Hand Knitted Scarf

Complete with Hand Knitted Scarf

Then I added some more trees to the collection, the other week I made these small ones

These are made from MDF, painted then embellished with flat back pearl and the new ones are much bigger and embellished with Buttons



Flower buttons




White buttons





Red buttons



Blue buttons

 

Multi buttons



These could just stand on a window shelf or be placed at the table to show your seating plan, I also intend to make some to hang as Tree ornaments.

Today I will be adding to the Christmas collection but I have a few orders to see to first.

Have a great day all and please feel free to leave a comment so I know you have visited

  

My Snowman Lantern Holder

I love projects that I make up as I go along, no real plans just an idea in my head, well this was one of those projects.

A few years ago a friend of mine who works in a pattern making factory gave me about 50 x 1" thick plywood circles that measure about 10" across, these were waste from a job he was doing and were to be thrown in the skip, knowing what I was like he brought them to me. At first my head said Clocks but the wood was too thick so I have had them in the garage ever since bringing one out occasionally to see if it fits the project I was working on at the time but alas they never did until this project!

I wanted to make a large snowman something and the idea wasnt very clear even to me but this it how it turned out - My Snowman Lantern Holder



To be honest not the easiest thing to take a decent photo of as its quite tall

I took one of the wooden circles and drilled a hole large enough to take a walking stick which was glued into the hole at a slight angle. The circle then had a goove cut into it to take the bottom of the snowman. The walking stick was then painted in white masonary paint,

My lovely Hubby cut the snownman from 12mm MDF and then routered the edges to give it a nicer finish. I then painted the snowman using a mixture of paints and added a Fimo nose and holly to his hat, love that Tartan paint!

Once the snowman had been glued into the base I covered the whole circle with Pollyfilla giving it a snow like texture, once dry the whole thing was painted in white masonary paint and taken outside to be glittered, I am not sure it shows up in the phot but it does look lovely when it catches the light.

I had a couple of lanterns in my garden that were looking a little worse for wear but still not at the stage of throwing them away, they would have to be far worse than this to be disposed of. All I have done is removed the glass some of which was broken and gave them a wash.

As I am a Florist I decided a nice artificial arrangement of Christmas greenary added to the top of the lanterns would just finish them off, I have added a battery operated Tea Light for safety.












Then a large cup hook was screwed  into the bottom of the handle for the lantern to hang on. I must admit I do love this Lantern holder so much I am in the process of making another with a slightly different snowman. I have lots more circles and more walking sticks but alas no more lanterns so another back to the drawing board for the other supplies but I will think of something  to do with them - eventually!

What do you think to my Snowman lanterns then? I think they will look really nice in my Christmas window although I think I may have sold both of them so they may never make it to the shop.

I have to say I have a little army of  Snowmen all at different stages of being finished but I will post photos of them all once they are completed.

Off to get ready for my work day so catch up with you all later.

Please feel free to leave a comment

I've had a few problems...

with my Internet access but thanks to my wonderful Son Wayne its all fixed now. This is going to be a quick post as I have loads of e-mails now to get through as I haven't been on my PC for a couple of days.

I promised to share with you another of my new suppliers so today I bring you Richard and his gorgeous pens

Richards pens are all made by hand from a huge selection of woods, he even made a friend of mine one from a Corn Cob, these would make a great present for a special someone in your life, prices start from £16-00 plus P & P.

Next time I will be bringing you a sample of the work of his lovely wife Jude who makes amazing things with glass.