Crafty goods

Hearts and Roses Brooch

I was meant to be at a Craft Fair yesterday but the organisers decided to cancel it because the past few events haven't been very busy and the other aspects of their business are really working out. So, I had an unexpectedly free day so I decided to re-stock my Folksy shop. I've not given it a lot of attention recently so this was the kick I needed to get a bit more organised. Hopefully, over the next few weeks I'll carry on listing more lovely things so please keep checking back. Also, I'm always happy to do commission and bespoke pieces. Please feel free to contact me for details.

Origami hair comb

Lace and Feather Fascinator

Polymer clay buttons

Owl tote bag

Melted plastic ear-rings

Melted plastic heart ear-rings

Felt and crochet brooch

Heart Watch Keyring

Melted Plastic Ear-rings

Hearts and Roses

Brooch detail

It's been another busy week; I've been painting backdrops and plywood ovens with the guys at Heathlands as well as making pieces of steak out of fabric and sewing up a severed princesses arm (fabric again, don't worry.) All in the name of theatre, but more of that in a later post. I have also been working at James Rennie School this week where I have been tie dyeing with KS4. I really enjoyed my day with them, they were eager to learn and really got stuck in. And I once again ended up with blue hands, it's becoming a recurring theme. I will be working with them again in a couple of weeks when we will be using our tie-dyed fabric to make the sea!

Crochet brooch with fabric rose

Today, as a bit of a diversion from the madness of the week, I have been making some pretty crochet brooches for my Folksy shop. I've been playing around making some crochet hearts and I've been combining them with crochet flowers and buttons to make these pretty brooches. I was aiming for a romantic, vintage feel but with a modern twist, hence the colours. I'm really pleased with how they've turned out.

Crochet brooch with rose button

Small crochet brooch with rose button

More Doorstops

Green and purple elephant doorstop

Front view of elephant

I thought I'd share with you a picture of the finished green elephant mentioned in my last post and a few owls, just for good measure.

Button free owl

Eyes not made of buttons

This owl was made for a friend who has a fear of buttons. It seemed strange making an owl without buttons but I decided to face the challenge head on and he's actually one of my favourite owls so far. I really like the layered felt and stitching and the fact that he's very purple helps!

Green owl

Tartan owl

I have also listed a couple of owls in my Folksy shop, a green fellow with very large eyes and a seasonably tartan chap.

Lovely Brooches

Brooches!

This week I have mostly been playing around with crochet flowers and beads. I got the lovely big turquoise button in Edinburgh last week and it just looked so good with the sari yarn. The button is actually made from coconut shell which is pretty cool. The little people beads I ordered on a whim because they're cute and I'm really pleased with how well they work on the brooches. All of the brooches, apart from the purple person one because I love it too much, are available in my Folksy shop.

Purple person flower brooch

Sari silk flower and coconut shell button brooch

Detail of flower brooch

Green person and flower brooch

Pink person and flower brooch

Flowers and rose brooch

BOB and Birdy Tiles

Birds on Branches Coasters

I had a very exciting email yesterday inviting me to participate in a new Craft Festival in Derbyshire. It is called BOB: the Underground Craft Festival and is taking place in September in Bakewell, Derbyshire. I'm really looking forward to it, best get making! Which leads me onto my next topic...

We've recently redecorated our front room and one of the things we did was put some lovely red tiles on our bare concrete fireplace. They look really good and finish the room off. We had a few left over and not liking to see things go to waste I thought I'd do a little experimenting, as you know I'm mildly obsessed with birds so that seemed the obvious way to go.

I thought about using light colours but then decided silhouettes would be more dramatic so I used black ceramic paint. I worked from drawings and pictures of real birds and painted the silhouettes directly onto the tiles. I then baked them to fix the paint which was very stressful as I was sure they were going to crack (and we couldn't have dinner until they were done!) Luckily, it all worked out fine and I'm really pleased with the results. I finished the tiles off by backing them with felt so that they wouldn't scratch any surfaces. I think they're quite dramatic and a bit different from my usual stuff but that's no bad thing. If you like them they are for sale in my Folksy shop!

More Bird Coasters

Backed with felt

Felt Backing

Sweetheart Owl Pincushion

Owl with pins

I've had such a lovely day today-no visitors, no work and no jobs and I've been able to get back into my little studio and make stuff! It's been great. One of the things I've made today is a little pincushion owl. He's based on the project I designed for my textile group at Heathlands last year, a simple introductory project to basic sewing skills. I was looking at the pictures and I thought I'd make another, if you like him (or her) I'm going to put him in my Folksy shop.

Owl without pins

I've also been up to some other exciting stuff today but it's not quite ready to be shown to the world. Watch this space...

Beautiful Buttons!

Lots of buttons

A little while ago I bought some little shaped cutters for fimo (polymer clay) and this week I have been using them to make pretty buttons. I believe that most things can be improved by adding buttons so it made sense to start making some of my own. I'm very pleased with the results and if you like them I've put some up for sale in my folksy shop. Some of them I pressed lace into to see whether I could get a nice texture and whilst they didn't come out quite as I expected I do rather like the result, I can see myself getting a little carried away with button making!

Stars

Lace Hearts

Lace Hearts, detail

Swirly Hearts

Swirly Stars

New stuff on Folksy

Embroidered Blue bird Bag

Embroidered purple bird bag

As well as being busy with Universal (The Heathlands Summer Project) I've also been embroidering bags for my Folksy shop. I've also been working on a small commission but more about that later. For now, here are the bags I've been working on. You can follow the link on the left to my Folksy shop for more pictures (shameless plug!)

Folksy Shop!



Button Brooch-Blue and Purple

I really enjoy making stuff, it's how I spend a lot of my free time. When I get stuck with my art I often turn to making to help me relax and work through different ideas. However, we only have a small house and it's starting to get a little bit full of my experiments so I decided to take action and see if anyone out there likes my stuff and would like it to adorn their space. So, I've just opened a Folksy shop (find it here www.folksy.com/shops/delicatestitches) to sell some of my creations.  It's also a really good excuse to carry on making things and experiment with more techniques and materials. These pictures show some of the things I've been making and put up for sale.

Heart Brooch-Multi coloured

Fimo candle holder