Sunday 23 June 2013

I've been doing all sort of little crafty things this week. I started off having a bit of a tidy up, especially in Number One Son's room as he was away with school for the whole week. He is always wandering about with pieces of paper in his hand because he draws constantly, so I decided that he needed  a desk tidy of sorts to keep them altogether (my Mum and I have tried buying all manner of sketch books, folders and bags but nothing seems as good as a plain piece of A4 for some reason). I brought home a paper box lid from work and did a bit of decopatching!


Since I had the glue and brushes out, I thought I would give my button jars a bit of cheering up too.


I think I will get round to wrapping the jars in a bit of ribbon at some point (except for the jar at the front that has already had words of mothers-day wisdom written on it by one of the boys). Feeling that he'd been left out of the fun, Number 3 son asked if he could do some decopatch yesterday so I let him decorate a heart box very kindly donated by BFF. As of today, it is my new thread box.


All of the decopatch paper has been left over from previous projects - I don't have any left now so will have to restock should I decide to decorate anything else.

I needed a really simple "craft" one evening in the week after a particularly busy day so I prepared some price tags for my craft stall.


I used some stamps that came free with Craftseller magazine which seemed particularly appropriate, and I think it always helps when things have a price tag as it can be intimidating to have to ask all the time "how much is this?". I stamped about 60 so that should get me going!

My main craft activity this week has been making a quilted trug but I've found it quite tricky for a variety of reasons - I will do a full post on this next week hopefully - so I have found all sorts of other little things to distract me. I had a couple of x-stitch motifs that I had intended to use as keyrings, so I finished them off.


I asked the boys last night if they thought the double heart one was crooked and they said no but looking at this photo, it is certainly not straight! I also "finished" 2 more sunglasses cases - they were the first 2 that I knitted but when I pressed them, my iron blew up because it overheated and during the process, they felted slightly. They have been sitting on the side ever since, so I finally sewed them together (I didn't bother to line them or put on a fastening as I will use them myself). I even managed to make 4 cushion covers for my craft stall using up the vintage spaceship curtain material that I had and the old football duvet cover. They are all of the distractions I've been able to think of so I really will have to get on with the trug now.

I was lucky enough on Wednesday to be able to squeeze in a whistle stop tour of the Kaffee Fassett exhibition in London. On another of the Handmade Monday blogs last week (I'm really sorry not to be able to recall which one as there are so many of us now, but you know who you are!), photos of the exhibition were posted and as a lover of all things bright and colourful I thought it would be silly not to take the time to see his work. I'm so glad that I went! Although I came away feeling very much like I needed more time, money and talent, it was amazing to be in a room of such beautiful colours and fabrics. I took some very dodgy photos on my phone whilst I was there (what do you mean, you're not surprised?!!) which I'm too embarrassed to show here, but they will remind me not to be ashamed of my love of bright, bold colours and patterns.

Wednesday also happened to be Roman Day around these parts, so just for a laugh.......


I shall be linking up with Handmade Monday http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/ later, catching up on what everyone else has been up to.

Hope you enjoy a crafty week,
Love Natalie

10 comments:

  1. Phew I am exhausted reading about all your adventures! Your labels look great and it sounds as if you have added a fair few items for them to go on too. I bet Roman day was a lot of fun although I cannot imagine the mischief a class of boys with swords could get up too!!

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  2. The Kaffe Fassett exhibition must have been really good to see and he's a great reminder that bright is good! Lots of lovely makes, your labels are a really good use of those stamps and look great!

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  3. I was wondering what to use the craftseller labels for as I don't have many xmas presents to wrap. I can use them at craftfairs now and stamping is another tip - must get one from vista! Love the button jars!

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  4. there's nothing like having something you're putting off for getting everything else done... my house is never cleaner than when i've got some hideously dull bit of admin drudgery to attend to!

    your keyrings are so cute, i really love the bright colours and your decopatching is fab too - what a creative way to tidy your boys artistic creations :) x

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  5. I love Kaffe Fassett's work - how lovely to go to the exhibition. sounds a hectic, but good, week. love your labels - a really nice idea to stamp them with a picture. Hope you have a good week.

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  6. Definitely sounds a busy week!
    Love the price tags, I like the idea of emphasising the handmade/one of a kind as it always amazes me how many people can't imagine that you have made all the stuff on your stall!

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  7. I like the box lid for the drawing paper. I have lots of sketch pads of varying sizes, weights (and prices) but most of my first ideas and quick sketches are done on el cheapo supermarket A4 printer paper. It's ideal for the job.
    I love what you've done with the labels, a great way to show that your items are individual and handmade.

    Jan x

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  8. Its nice that your boys like to help be creative (even if tidying is a more tricky battle) Sounds like you've had a very busy and creative week. Love the handmade labels you've made too, hopefully more people will realise that people do make things all by themselves.

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  9. Gosh, you have had a busy week. It's lovely to see your sons taking a keen interested in your creative side.

    I loved the work of Kaffe Fassett so the exhibition must have been brilliant xx

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  10. Lovely to see your decopatching - I've just had a go at napkin decoupage, which was a little hairy! Very fiddly but fun.
    Sounds like you've had a busy crafty week and great to have some little helpers! Really like the tags and fab keyrings too x

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