I have a shop

yay i finally took the plunge and set up a folksy shop www.folksy.com/shops/MissSmiss theres only a couple of bits in at the moment as I need to improve my photography skills and get some decent shots to put up. And I want to see how things go before commiting to loads of listings. I've called my shop Pink N Pretty Handmades which is the name I will be using for my craft stall at the village Xmas Fair in November ...all very exciting stuff

xmas decoration

ok so people have been reminding me that there is about 117 days till xmas so I thought I'd have a go at some decorations and so far have only made one but hey it's a start. As usual my pink obsession has taken over in the buttons and ribbon.

It's also Eves birthday coming up so as well as the usual tatty teddy collectables I made her a little felt keyring in her name initial (her proper name is Yvette) I hope she likes it

sock monkeys

fluffy monkey

modelled by my 3 year old

these are so addictive to make, I made the kids ones out of fluffy socks I had sitting unused and unwanted in my sock drawer and wow did they stretch. I posted a picture on my facebook and in half an hour had 5 requests for sock monkeys from friends and neighbours all willing to pay too which has made my day as I had thought about setting up a stall at the village xmas fete for small things like felt keyrings and little xmasy stuff, now I think sock monkeys will be added to that. I sold the pink one to my neighbour this morning :)

ribbon girl giveaway

there is a great little giveaway here http://ribbongirls.blogspot.com/2010/08/ribbon-giveaway.html which looks great and of course after a little nosey at her shop I fell totally in love with the polka dot buttons and little wooden hearts so just had to place an order :)



how can you not fall in love with these

I think I just NEED every colour of them

Robyns gym bag

woohoo it's taken 4 days to make but finally finished Robyns P.E bag. All the lettering and the robin were hand appliqued which took forever. I decided to go for it with the sewing machine after 2 days of sewing scrap strips to check the tension and practising going in a straight line (harder than it looks) so the lining and the sides were sewn up super quick. Robyn loves it and so do I, roll on 2012 when Daisy hits primary school so can make her one too....hmmm I could make it early ha ha

.

starting the robin

lining up the name

the pretty lining

the finished bag

my week 5 make

Here's my 52MMMC week 5 creation - a little scottie dog using a pattern from Allsorts blog, she has a nice tutorial here http://allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2006/05/softie_scotty_d.html I used felt but you can also use fleece, cotton whatever really. I just like felt as its versatile and easy to use.

I have dusted off the sewing machine that Loui gave me 2 years ago and spend nearly a day figuring out how to thread it and to work out the very complicated bobbin casing. I'm still not sure on the tension especially not knowing what button does what and theres no manual with it but hopefully I'll learn through trial and error. It would be nice to do some bigger sewing projects like a couple of quilts for the girls that take about 4 months to hand sew. Using the machine should cut it down to a week or so. I've seen blogs where people have made an entire small quilt in a day and feel very jealous.

Now i just need to find a table for it as it's currently on the dining table and a pain to move everytime the kids get dinner as it is heavy.

bunny

This cute bunny was made from a pair of Daisys old cord trousers size 2-3 years, she was horrified when she saw the trousers all chopped up but a few days later was very happy with the end result. It took a while as I hand sew which takes a lot longer and I decided the body looked too fat for the head so had to unstuff and resew about half a cm in all round to make it thinner, then I decided the head looked too much like a sheep than a bunny and actually dragged my poor babies out of their hutch several times before realising that bunnies actually do resemble sheep a bit.

The ears and paws are cut out from a nightie that I picked up from the thrift shop as the fabric was very pretty. Pattern is from the June 2010 issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine. their version is a stunning turquoise blue. Daisy has already decided her pink cord trousers will soon be perfect for bunny number two.

felt letters

Finally made the felt name banners, I love the sparkly feel to them with the beads and sequins added. I was a bit dubious about adding anything as I tend to like plain and simple but they were too plain as just stitched letters. The gitls love them and they are now hanging up in their room.

I also made Rocky Road bars this week and shock horror my fussy kids dont like them as they are too rich so thats my diet completely screwed for this week as I cant just leave them now can I

I am now working away on my bunny from an old Crafts Beautiful magazine, its being made from a pair of Daisys old trousers which she was shocked and horrifed to wake up and find I had chopped them to pieces ha ha

more makes

my tudor style necklace

Finally finished my tudor inspired necklace woohoo. I bought the bead kit from HobbyCraft way bak at christmas time when I was last in Aberdeen and even though I started making it that same evening I wasnt happy with the strength of the thread in the kit, the bracelets I made seemed like they might break just stretching them the teensy bit needed to slip onto my wrists so I put it aside then forgot about it for months.

Recently I have been watching the new season of Tudors and it got me wanting to finish the necklace so quick trip to the local crafty shop and I have much stronger thread and clasps so got it made up in one evening as I'd already had them layed out how I wanted. The cross in the middle is from a choker that I've had since I was 15 so its great to see it put to use after 20 years in a jewellery box

work in progress and yes I'm a messy, sit on the sofa crafter

I have several projects on the go right now, felt names for my girls room a wee scottie dog from this wonderful blog http://allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2006/05/softie_scotty_d.html and I am gonna attempt to turn an old pair of Daisys corduroy trousers into a bunny from a pattern in an old Crafts Beautiful magazine

52 Marvellous Makes Madness Challenge

I have decided to join the 52 Marvellous Makes Madness Challenge over at The Thrifty Mrs blog - http://thefurtheradventuresofathriftymrs.blogspot.com/2010/06/52-marvelous-makes-madness-challenge.html which is simply to make something each week that you love doing - crochet, sewing, baking, knitting, scrapping anything.

As the challenge was posted on the 30th June I think I'm a week behind so I'm going to submit my owl that I made last week as my week one effort. I should put up Robyns works too as she is a crafty little monkey especially over the holidays, Daisy too although she is just 3 so tends to get bored after 5 mins unless it involves paint or glitter glue. This week they were hard at work painting a wooden letter set

hard at work

the end result

little owl

I found the cutest little owl egg cozy tutorial here - http://lucykatecrafts.blogspot.com/2008/06/owl-egg-cosy-tutorial.html and decided to have a go as I have loads of felt and scraps of material. He was really easy to make and the tutorial was really straightforward to follow. My girls shrieked when they saw him (or should it be her...it's pale pink felt) and they both want one each and Robyn being the ever cheeky madam says she walso wants a bigger plushie version and in "proper owl colours"

I've also spent a week making cusion covers for a friend, I made 2 plain and decided to put a pattern on one as a surprise and decided on a flower applique. It's the first time I've done anything like that so I was very pleased

with the way it turned out. I'm having serious deja vu feelings with it though, even though the pattern came from the top of my head, I cant help feeling I've seen it before and I think it may have been on one of my daughters baby tops....will have to do a hunt through the millions of photos I have of them now

Being a thrifty mum

After a clear out of the kids wardrobes I have come to the conclusion that Daisy is a lot harder on her clothes than Robyn was at that age, probably due to the fact she is a very messy eater and loves mud and rolling around on the grass. A lot of hers ended up in the throw in bin pile due to being stained, faded and ripped. After recovering from the heartbreak of many of my favourite tops and dresses going into that pile I decided all was not lost as I could chop some of it up for little sewing projects like heart garlands and birds etc

2 of her tops that were part of a set and a little green dress have already become a cute little mum sign.

The only problem is that I discovered too late that I'd cut the second M out the wrong way so that the heart pattern was facing sideways not down and there's not enough material left to redo it but hey I'm not worried, it's little mistakes like that that just make it more "me" ha ha. I enjoyed sewing them up and it only took 2 evenings in front of the tv

ouch

all done


sitting pretty on my bed

Well the blanket is finally finished and looks lovely on my bed. I am now working on both my girls blankets at the same time, 3 ripples of one then over to do 3 ripples on the other and so on just to make sure they both get finished at the same time so there's no arguments.

war wounds from the pins

I picked up Homestyle Sewing magazine when Robyn had to go to the dentist as I loved the look of the freebie bag kit on it and decided it would be great for all the wool I had to get for 2 kids blankets. I needed to seperate the wool for both kids as they gave me seperate colour lists so didnt want to get mixed up

I'm not the worlds best sewer and like to sew things by hand as its lovely and relaxing ...ok I admit my ex gave me a lovely old sewing machine but I have no idea how to thread it so for now I'm still hand sewing. I want to make everything in the mag. The bag itself was pretty straightforward but it took 3 attempts to sew the handles on as I've never done those round handles before. I also lined the bag and added a wee pocket for my crochet hooks. I also found out the hard way that sewing something with lots of pins in on my lap wearing just a nightie on is pretty damn sore when the pins attack bare legs. The finished result is great though, a lovely roomy bag

lined with a little pocket added

finished bag

fulfilling it's destiny

nearly there

woohoo after 3 months of almost non stop rippling I have just 2 ripples to go and then the edging and my first ever ripple blanket will be finished.

I did have a little rest here and there to make a pretty wreath from Attic 24's blog and a pretty spring hairband for Robyn as it was sprung on me at the last minute that she was meant to be wearing spring colours to school on their last day of term and most of her clothes are pink or Hannah Montana/High School Musical so that pretty much compensated for it, I did a pretty butterfly too but decided it was too much to put it on the hairband so now I need to think of something to do with it

hooked

well I have finally managed a granny square thanks to a cute little book called Crochet Unravelled which has clear step by step instructions, I think I will have a go at a granny square cushion cover before going for a big blanket especially as my girls have just put in their colour lists for ripple blankets after my pink one is finished so I will be working on 2 blankets at once (cant have fighting over whose is made first with a 3 or 4 month wait for the next one now can I)

Ive also had fun attempting hearts and flowers and over at Attic 24 Lucy put a tutorial up for the most amazing little flower wreath and I am so excited that I managed to make one.

I'm definitely hooked on my new hobby and still cant believe that 3 months ago I couldnt do a single stitch and all crochet patterns may as well be written in japanese as I couldnt understand a word

Feb already

Wow I am seriously going to have to make a late new years resolution to keep this blog updated. I have some catch up to do.
The new years resolution that I did make and keep (for once) was to learn how to crochet and thanks to a new magazine called The Art of Crochet and a wonderful blog http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/ I have managed to learn the basics so far and I have made a start using a brilliant step by step tutorial from Attic24 herehttp://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/neat-ripple-pattern.html I am using pinks and cream to make mine and so far it's going well although I underestimated the amount of wool I'd need so will have to stock up on saturday.
I've also been trying to go a bit further with my knitting than just scarves and hats and have made wrist warmers and leg warmers as well as a bag that I am so very proud of. Maybe this year I will learn to use double pointed needles and try socks.

I havent done any scrapping this year yet, i'm not sure if its because the crochet and knitting bug has taken over or if it's just that I havent found any challenges that have jumped out at me yet, hopefully i'll get back into it again soo as I finally got my prize from IACW that I won back in May but due to postal strikes Ice and snow and the fact it was coming from America it took a while getting here but it was worth it, It's a kit from Scraproom and everything in the kit is just beautiful and it even came with a sachet of fancy filter cofee which I posted to my sister as I'm not a coffee drinker but she is.