Time for a bit of sewing.

Who has time...

I mean really!!?

Between work, family, extended family, cooking, cleaning, gardening, laundry, maintaining the house... sometimes I just get the urge to sit and create something nice.

I had a friend with a birthday this week, so I decided to make her a cute little makeup pouch using a tutorial from the very talented Flossie Teacakes: Lined, zippered pouch / make up bag tutorial.  My friend loves Babushkas, so I found a fun fabric, and had some handy scraps for the lining.  I've got quite a collection of zippers and had just the right size and colour at the ready.  

I also made a beaded bracelet to give her with the pouch.  And of course, I made a spare purse...just for me!

(I secretly wish I had more friends who could give me a homemade gift on my birthday too!!)

To Etsy or Not...that is the question?

I've been thinking about trying out a little etsy shop.... but what to make?  I've decided if I go there, it will be with some beading.  Love, love, love beading!  And it's very in right now.  So I tested out a couple of ideas, including the bracelet below, using fabrics, leather, beads, semi-precious stones and other bits and pieces.  I actually gave this bracelet as a gift to a good friend.  What do you think?  Comments anyone?

Moroccan Beading & Henna Party

I recently facilitated a Morrocan Beading Bar for a pre wedding Henna Party. The Henna Party is a Middle Eastern custom where the bride and groom to be, are blessed through prayer and song, and is a beautiful ceremony including Henna Tattoos for all the guests and the bridal families.

My Beading Bar was a huge hit with all the guests including the adults young and old, male and female, and the few kids who were there. I supplied a beautiful range of crystal, silver, pearl, stone, bronze beads which meant that the bracelets and anklets that everyone made looked so good!



I restored an old printers tray I had lying under my studio table to hold all the beads. I also sourced some wooden and silver bowls at some local vintage markets to hold assorted beads. I made a tree from wire and paper mâché to display all the sample bracelets that I'd made. And I painted some terracotta dishes for the guests to use as their bead trays.






Some of the guests were surprised to find that they were able to make something so pretty with a few beads and a bit of patience.

All in all, a big hit.





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A Christening with a Difference

I've never been asked to work at a Christening before... but there's always a first, and this was it.

A very classy event, with a stylist, a beautiful venue, a band, catering and me!

I had a young crowd to please so we did some wet/dry pastel painting on canvas, beading, colouring in (on a custom designed personalised placemat by me especially for the event), photo frame and treasure box making. The brief was to keep things as 'clean' as possible, and I'm happy to say that the white starched table cloths had more stains from the tomato sauce and chips than they did from the art making!

It was a challenge doing the art at the lunch table, and I also had to set up a display on the lunch table to fit in with the room decor, but the event went beautifully and we managed to keep the kids happy and busy between 11am and 4pm! So the client was thrilled and so were the kids.

Aloha Hawaii

I had a wonderful party with 25 lovely little ladies and we made hawaiian hair accessories! Using shells, flowers, beads, wire, the girls had an afternoon of creative fun.







We also made a surprise gift for the birthday girl - a shadowbox from Kaisercraft which I had prepared prior to the party - just needed the photos to be added in at the last minute. All the girls chose a word to describe their friend, and decorated a butterfly, which I stuck into the shadowbox. A couple of shells and flowers finished of this cute memento.

A Beautiful Event

I was priveleged to facilitate an extremely beautiful private event - about 40 children attended as well as a large crowd of adults, and the client chose beading and scrapbooking for the activities. The theme was farm/horseriding/gingham/sophisticated country/shabby chic.... and I was able to incorporate all of these elements into the personalised scrapbook by scanning the fabrics that the event designer used, and including these images in the designs I made for the scrapbook.

I also had a beading bar set up using very beautiful silver and bronze beads, crystal beads, and cotton cord to make stunning bracelets. Prior to the event, I had handmade all the crystal charms using all sorts of findings - so that the kids could easily use them on their bracelets.

Hit with the beading bug...

I bought some beads a while ago in Paris (April 2010), which have been waiting to be made into something... so while we were having a bit of time off over xmas/new year, I took my bead basket away with me, and this is the result. I'm thrilled, and want to do a lot more beading! I made all the links and connectors with brass wire, and used chain to finish it off, so only the front section is beaded.

I bought the brass beads and findings at Matiere Premier in Rue Sevigne Paris www.yelp.com/biz/matiere-premiere-paris - which is a beautiful shop - I just love the filigree flowers. As for the gemstones - I think I got them in 2009 in Shanghai - but I can't actually remember as I've had them lying around for a while.