Pinterest Finds : Dr Who

I love combining craft and geekery and my favourite kind of geekery is Doctor Who!  Here are a few of my favourite Pinterest Who finds (I also sneaked in one of my own!) :

        

 

Top to bottom:Tardis clock - by Unicorn Empire Prints Tardis bag - by LIMOchi Matt Smith plush - byDeadly Sweet River Song's Diary- by me!, Van Gogh Tardis Embroidery - by Purple Heather as seen on Craftster.org, Tardis bag - unknown (brilliant) maker, found on Pinterest

Blue : Devon Guild of Craftsmen

In a bid to lift my mood I went on a trip to Bovey Tracey last weekend with my parents to go to the Devon Guild of Craftsmen.  I've wanted to go for ages as I'm always seeing advertising for the amazing exhibitions they put on but have never got round to going (I fear my mini wouldn't make it!).  I had no idea what the current exhibition was, I was hoping for something textiley so was a bit disappointed when I saw that the exhibition was primarily ceramic based and about the colour blue...stupidly I thought this wouldn't be interesting, how wrong I was!

The exhibition (called Blue!) looked at the colour through both art/craft history and it's importance around the world.  The most interesting part was the section on the origins of indigo and the part it's played in African textiles.  Please see below for a few photos I took whilst at the exhibition, they were only taken on my phone so quality isn't great I'm afraid.  The exhibition is on till April 22nd so if anyone is in the area I would urge them to go.  The shop in the centre is worth the trip alone as it has a huge range of items for sale made by local craftmakers.

Devon Guild Of Craftsmen : Blue

A competition to draw a plate design inspired by the exhibition and the colour blue, I couldn't resist!

The Curiosity Project...time to get involved!

Have been searching for a bit of a crafty pick me up as am off work feeling rather under the weather and down in the dumps.  I can usually relax and waste an hour or two (or more!) on Pinterest but today I felt like trying to find something I could involve myself in a little more.  So, whilst reading one of my favourite blogs by  Little A Designs I stumbled across this fabulous idea....

The Curiosity Project

Thought up by wedding planner and stylist Tiffany Grant-Riley, The Curiosity Project is a way for people to communicate in a new and exciting way...
"Remembering the chain letters she used to receive and pass on as a child, she got to thinking of a way to bring people together, to reignite the excitement of receiving something in the mail, something from a complete stranger delivered on foot by the postman. Simple, old fashioned, back-to-basics communication. Thus, The Curiosity Project was born." 


 From Little A Designs


The idea is that you put together a box of goodies for a secret recipient.  The idea is to be creative and thoughtful with your gifts.  From what I've seen of the boxes that people have made a lot of people often make things to put in their curiosity boxes which is such a lovely idea.  There is a budget of up to £20 and the more creative the whole thing is the better!  I completely fell for this idea as soon as I saw it as I'm such a fan of old fashioned snail mail and the excitement that a surprise parcel brings is unbeatable!


You have to sign up to take part and I'm not sure when the next Curiosity Box project is running so I'm now following them on Facebook so I can get involved as soon as I hear about it!  Have a looky at the Curiosity Projects website as the range of boxes that people have made are amazing...

http://thecuriositybox.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Crikey It's Vintage Exeter Craft Fair

Just realised I'm getting extremely slack with the blogging as I didn't even report back from the fabulous craft fair I went to last weekend at the The Thistle Hotel Exeter...

Having attended their Christmas fair which was hugely popular (and very busy) I was hoping for a slightly quieter and calmer affair....it was bursting with vintage and handmade fans again!! I have to admit this made it a little hard to fully enjoy the event as my mother and I were forever having to squeeze past people apologetically and it was so hot and stuffy!  However, with just a £1 entrance fee and such a wide range of sellers this was to be expected but my mum was amazed at how popular the vintage scene seems to be in Exeter.  I had intended to take tons of piccies to post on here but it was so busy that this would have been rather tricky plus I was far too distracted by all the lovely crafts on sale!

Below are a few of my favourite craft makers...

Jeanie Deans
 Beautiful purses, bags, jewellery etc. that use some amazing prints like these birds.  I was sorely tempted to buy one of her lovely fabric baskets but have been meaning to make one myself so managed to resist, just!

Quincy Lampshades
 My mum was particularly taken with these lampshades as was I.  The variety of patterns was vast and they were all so beautiful.  The prices are very reasonable too considering the work that obviously goes into making the shades.  My mum is currently decorating her bedroom and was very interested in getting some shades to match the interior.  Ruth from Quincy Lampshades was very helpful and my mum will definitely be going back to her once she's got colours, fabrics sorted.

Aloha Lounge Designs
 Fun and quirky designs, the purses are my favourite but she makes a wide range of colourful and fun brooches, necklaces, earrings and bracelets too.

These are just a few of the many, many excellent craft makers on display at the fair, I can't wait for their next one in June!

Nearly forgot, the Crikey its Vintage team promote and support this very worthy cause... Womens Land Army Tribute

Beautiful cushion giveaway!!

Head on over to Annabelle Serendipity to enter this fabulous cushion giveaway and also to read her excellent blogs!  You could win this rather yummy cushion...although I want it for myself so perhaps I should've kept quiet!!

Simply Buttons...

Have been feeling rather glum of late so have been a bit lazy on the blogging front.  Really need to start getting organised, I made a good start but things have tailed off recently so I need to give myself a bit of a kick to get going again!  In the meantime I thought I'd keep it simple and share a few images of some fabulous buttony items...

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 1.Marks and Spencers
2.Coraline Cookies - Bakerella.com
3.Kimberley Jospehson - Pinterest
4.Tess Ann - Etsy
5.Button Eyed Bride - Etsy
6.Button Soap - Boots

Enjoy the button madness and come and follow me on Pinterest if you like what you see!

More felt fun....owls!

My felt obsession continues!  I've wanted to do something owly (not sure that's a word!) for a while so thought I'd do a simple little felt project and this was the results....

                                                       

Not really sure what these guys purposes are apart from looking cute but I don't think that's a bad thing, some of my favourite projects tend to be things like this.  I think I'd quite like to develop these so am going to play around with the design of the owls and the colours.  Any suggestions would be very gratefully received!

Life has been a bit topsy turvy lately so I'm quite disappointed with the lack of time I've been able to commit to crafting so I'm hoping to get back on track this week.

Also, very excited about the Crikey!  It's Vintage craft fair in Exeter next weekend at the Thistle Hotel.  Having been to their Christmas fair I'm super keen to see what will be there this time as it was a bit hectic last time and there wasn't much room to enjoy the lovely crafts on display!

Rocky Road

I'm not much of a baker and wasn't planning any foody posts on here but I had such success with making Rocky Road that I just had to! I modified Nigella Lawson's recipe a teeny bit and it turned out great and went down very well at my work. I've also been looking for an excuse to use my gorgeous spotty cake stand...

Cath Kidston Make

Today I'm starting a project from a Cath Kidston booklet using some gorgeous bits of fabric I got free with the Cath Kidston Patch! book...

I'm trying to make her Bird Mobile but hoping to add in a few of my own twists to it. So far I've cut the birds out ands it's looking pretty good...

Disney Shoulder Bag

A couple of months ago I made some bags with a new bag pattern I got at a local craft show and have recently tried the pattern out.  The pattern is by Melly and Me and is called Bella.  I've often struggled to follow patterns but this was so easy and would recommend a Melly and Me pattern to everyone, especially those who aren't fans of the traditional pattern.
Many moons ago I bought some fabric on Ebay that featured a very cool old style Disney pattern featuring Mickey, Minnie etc. on the beach!  I've been looking for a project to use this in for a while and thought it would make a fun and quirky bag.  The bag pattern needed 3 different but complimenting fabrics so I chose a plain blue cotton fabric for the main part of the bag, the Disney fabric for the top and pocket and finally some blue gingham for trimming and lining of the bag.  I think the fabrics work quite well...

...and this is the finished article...

 

I'm really pleased with how this turned out.  I particularly like the closure tab, it has a magnetic closure button sewn into it which fixes the bag closed.  It's the first time I've used one of these and was a bit tricky but I'm pleased with the finished look of the bag.

Felt Heaven!

I have developed an obsession with felt recently that has not been helped by my finding a rather large stash of felt scraps I never knew I had! Felt is so easy to work with and can give you pretty quick results as there is no fraying or hiding of raw edges to worry about. You can buy felt in a very wide range of colours, sizes and qualities and it's relatively cheap if you're just starting out on something small. The cheapest felt is also the poorest quality so beware of the really thin, scratchy stuff that you can buy readily on the high street. You don't need to spend too much more to get a felt that is of decent enough quality to use in craft projects big and small. This leads me to my most recent craft adventure making this super cute toadstool pincushion...

I had a lot of fun making this and it was a reasonably quick make. I'm hoping to adapt this basic design perhaps with the addition of white buttons instead of the white felt toadstool spots. I'm also going to try it on a larger scale with a green felt base to make it look like its growing out of grass, like I said...super cute! : )
Check out my Pinterest page for more piccies of my work and inspirations.

Ta-da!

After many coats of paint and much fussing and faffing I have finally finished my craft table...

Progress!

Some small progress has been made at last as I have finished painting my craft desk.  It took a mighty 3 coats of paint and one of primer and now looks like this...

I was going to leave it all white but today I found some very cute pastel blue sticky back plastic in Wilkinsons so I've decided to cover the top with this.  I figure this will be a good work surface and if I scratch, mark it I can just stick some more over it!

Today I also bought this fabulous crafty book...

....it's full of amazingly cute (as the name suggests!) craft projects that are simple yet effective.  My favourite so far are these adorable cloud cushions that I'm very eager to try out making...

Once again if you like what you see here you'll love my Pinterest so come and have a look and and start following me!  : )

Getting on with it...

I have started to get underway with things this afternoon.  I've put a coat of mellamine primer on my desk which is currently drying v.slowly (and stinking out my living room) and have also painted a pin board that I'm going to be using to pin up photos/cut-outs/bits and bobs that inspire me.  This is how it began...

and this is it now....doesn't look like much but it's given it a lift with my favourite pastel colours and will look great when I put it up on the wall and start pinning! 

Talking of pinning, have a look at my Pinterest if you want to see more craftiness!  I've just started a new board with pics of some very creative handmade cards like these...

Clever crafty storage...

Still gathering ideas.  This idea is soooo clever and I already have a few of these Ikea storage boxes painted in yummy pastel colours!  I'm thinking of putting up some in the corner of my craft space and using them to store my jars of buttons bits and bobs!

Craft space inspiration...

As I am staying at my parents this weekend not a lot is going to get done to my craft space so instead I'm researching some ideas for organising everything.  I'm loving this post on Everything Etsy 22 Tips to Organise Your Craft Room, in particular I'm liking these jars which are not only very useful but look gorgeous...