what katie did next...

A batch of Flourishing Badges - a lovely big order for a fabulous company!

You may remember, I tweeted about this a while back, a large order of badges for the lovely Fiona Humberstone, Managing Director of Flourish, a fabulous Design and Marketing company in Guildford. 

I was asked to design and make a range of applique button badges for Flourish to send out to clients; I made the badges in the Flourish colours, using contrasting stitching and taking ideas for the designs from the Flourish branding. Chloe, one of the Graphic Designers at Flourish designed the fantastic backing cards, and I printed them out and made them up.

 

I really enjoyed this job, I enjoyed the fact I had a brief, and needed to think about the requirements of the client. I love what Flourish do, an example of this was designing my logo, I love their colours and style.

And, I loved making this order up; I ordered the gross-grain ribbon especially to go with the Flourish branding, and was especially pleased when I noticed it was called Liberty as I know Fiona and I share a love of Liberty printed fabric.

And, of course I love to parcel them up, we all know how important packaging is, and what impression it can make.

 
Well, today I delivered them to Fiona... and a few minutes later she posted the following on Twitter:

"wow wow wow. just had a box of amazing goodies delivered by @katielevett. such a lovely person to work with. thank you!"

I'm pretty sure that's another satisfied customer!

Have a great day!

My very own craft space... would you like a look?

'What Katie did next...' has, until now, been created from our dining room table. That's fine, in theory, except I'm not the tidiest person in the world (luckily my husband isn't either) and also, I have to pack away each evening to make sure tiny prying fingers don't find little things that can be placed into orifices such as ears and noses.

I am incredibly lucky to have the support of a wonderful family, not least my husband, who has been behind What Katie did next... from the start. So, when our little one turned one a few weeks ago, we discussed moving him into our elder son's room. I didn't have to think for very long, I've been desperate to sort out our dining room for ages! It has become an embarrassment.

I thought you might like to see the journey from 'nursery' to 'creative space'. I know I love nosing at other peoples spaces, and I can't be the only one, as there is a whole book created just about this here.

So, this is how my new space looked before we moved in...

Not very inspiring is it?

So,after removing the woodchip, applying a lick of paint, and a bit of imagination we had this; I did this...on a shoestring I might add.

and this...

Our eldest started out life in here (after his alloted 6 months in our room) in 2005, then moved into the larger room last year.

I started out by painting over the mural, of which I had become very tired of looking at, but at which point my eldest got upset, so much so that I had to promise to paint a new one in the room he and his little brother now share (although goodness knows where?)

I've ordered the furniture, and I have many ideas to turn it into a real working space for What Katie did next... where I will have everything to hand and will be able to come up with lots of inspiration for future work!

But for now, I need to make sure the room is clear of old furniture, clean and ready to be transformed.

Watch this space for more info and pictures about my journey...

Have a great day!

Applique badges order - a sneaky peak!

I've been working on a lovely order from Flourish, the wonderful company who have worked with me on my Marketing strategy and designed my gorgeous Logo!

Fiona Humbersone, Managing Director, placed an order of Applique Badges to send out to their clients with a completed order. She and I came up with four designs, two of which I have taken inspiration from the Flourish branding, the other two are designs I already sell that Fiona liked.

So, I thought I'd show you a sneaky peak of how I make the badges, as you can see, I have a bit of a system going. I make them in groups, then do all the trimming and finishing at the end.

I worked really hard to find fabrics that are the 'Flourish colours' as I know Fiona has very strong feelings about colour in business, and she has totally converted me too! I found these lovely pieces of Designers Guild fabrics in my fabric stash (I kid you not, there is a big stash of fabric in my eldest's bedroom!)

 The badges look really 'on brand' due to the colours, and each badge has contrasting thread for the stitching, again using the Flourish colours.

They all look very unfinished here, but I promise, they look good once I've spent time finishing them off! I'm really pleased with them, I hope Fiona and her team are too!  One of the Graphic Designers at Flourish is going to be designing a backing card for them to go on, so watch this space to see the finished items very soon.

Have a great day!

A family gift for the arrival of a new baby - with a little suprise!

I have been working on another lovely commission that I wanted to share;

The brief was to make a picture for a couple who have just had their second baby, a lovely little girl called Emily Rose (beautiful name isn't it?).

I was asked to use 'spicy pinks', use a quote about families and... include a picture of a gecko!! All is revealed below.

Once the quote was found and agreed on, I was able to start. I love making the felted backgrounds, it's at this point that the colour scheme is really decided upon.

The recipient family have a gecko that disappeared for a year (I think the eldest child may have had something to do with this), but they have just found him again! he was spotted when his head was seen poking out from below the fridge! So their family really is complete.

The gecko was actually very fiddly to embroider; when researching them I found that the front paws only have four 'fingers', whereas the back have five. Very difficult to do on a sewing machine when it's so small!

I thought it was a lovely quote, hhmmmm I think I may well be using it again in the future! It's so true isn't it?

 And, it's so nice to make something a little bit different!

Have a great day!

Embracing technology... drawing with my new Graphics Tablet

I've had lots of ideas recently that involve drawing and sketching various items, but I couldn't work out how to translate these drawings onto my computer screen. I have always used a scanner to develop my artwork, but I want more clarity and the ability to adjust them more on screen than scanning would give me. So after a chat with some IT 'bods' I researched and bought a very simple Graphics Tablet last week, and although I've only touched the surface of what it can do, I'm really pleased with what I can do with it already.

I want to produce some flyers and brochures and thought it would work with the What Katie did next... brand to have personalised drawings that relate to what I produce, as the brand is all about creating personalised gifts and art work. So I set about drawing some of the items I use...

 
I know they don't look finished, but I've literally just spent an hour or so playing with it, so I know they'll get more polished as I spend more time on them. It's a bit strange getting used to the pen tool at first, it's extremely sensitive! I found it frustrating that I couldn't be as precise as I would when I draw with a pen, however, I quite like the illustrative feel it gives. I need to develop the ability to change the width of line and the various marks to create more depth.

I took the Graphics Tablet to school today and showed some students how it can be used, they were so impressed they said they were going to go home and ask their parents to buy them one (Amazon, if the sales go up this week you have me to thank - of course other retailers are available!).

If I know my students, they'll be teaching me how to use it properly within weeks, they seem to embrace new technology so much quicker! I'm really looking forward to seeing the results.

Have a great day!

Who can resist a Jellybean? Another lovely commission...

I am now officially allowed to 'blog' about my latest commission, as it is safely in the hands of the recipient!

I was recently asked to make a picture to be given as a gift at a baby shower, for a special mummy-to-be (and baby-to-be).  The order came all the way from South Africa, from a very caring sister, and soon to be Auntie!! I was given the brief "something bright and fun, and it needs to include the name "Jellybean", as this is the given name  at the moment for the baby-to-be.

So, here it is...
I wanted to make something that would 'grow' with the baby, and thought it would be a nice touch to have a bit of 'Englishness' in to it by including the toadstalls. I purposefully kept it light and fresh, so it will go with any colour scheme, picking out little elements of colour throughout.

By now, if you read this blog regularly, you'll know I have a bit of an obsession with bugs, and I know most children do too. So, I included a bumble bee, and used him (or her) to help me spell out the name 'Jellybean' - I think he did well, don't you?

I would like to send Mummy & Daddy-to-be and Jellybean my very best wishes, I hope you have many, many years of love and laughter together!

 

This is how it looked when it was carefully packaged up into a bubblewrap envelope (it has another layer of bubblewrap underneath the tissue paper).

Have a great day!

 
 

A little inspiration...

People often ask me where I get my ideas from. It's a very hard question to answer, it can be a colour combination or a texture, a piece of fabric or something someone says. However, one of the consistent places I get ideas from is nature, and often in our little back garden.

My favourite flowers are Peonies, I love the way they start as very tight buds that literally blossom into billowing beauties (try saying that after a few G&T's!)

So this year I decided to capture the glory of our peonies with my camera.

That was two weeks ago, and this was today...

Beautiful isn't it? What a shame they don't last for long.

Whilst in the garden, I came across an Allium that I don't remember planting, a very happy suprise as I love their sculptural forms. I did have one in another area of the garden but my husband accidentally trod on it last year whilst trying to trim our very tall hedge. So when I found this today I was extremely happy - it's not out in full bloom yet, but I can tell it's going to be a beauty!

The last picture I am showing you has very emotional connotations, as it's a rose that was from my husbands late Nan's garden.  She very sadly passed away just before we were married, almost six years ago, and is very missed. I feel by having this rose in our garden, we still have a little part of her with us. 

Each winter I pray it will be ok, and so far, touch wood it has! I love the colours, they are so clean and work so well together, particularly with variety of green foliage and the french lavender in the background.

So often I find myself sitting on the decking of our summerhouse, or looking out of our french windows, and see a set of colours that make me want to capture them in a drawing, painting, photograph or textile picture. Sometimes, that's all it takes and I can come up with ideas for weeks on end. This is just one of my many inspirations...

I'd love to know what inspires others, what does it for you? If you're feeling brave, please let me know...
 
Have a great day!
 

Exhibition Stand bargains...

As you'll know from previous posts, I'm really looking forward to doing some exhibitions and craft fairs in the near future and beyond. Coming from an Art and Fashion background, it matters greatly to me what my stand looks like, and I've gained much more knowledge about how I need to 'brand' my whole stand from here: Exhibit! by Fiona Humbestone

So, I've been hunting for what to use. I originally thought I might use room dividers as a backdrop, but I soon realised I would need a few as they would not be large enough. Then, on a habitual trawl through Ebay I came across an auction for ten of these:

So I placed an offer (less than was being asked, but still reasonable I feel), and it was accepted. So, early Saturday morning, I emptied the car (my husbands, as we decided that mine might be too small). Upon arrival, the very nice man I had purchased from said I could have eleven, as there were more than he thought. He helped me (well, actually he did all of it) put them in the car and I brought them home. They are sooo heavy, each one is made from two pieces of lattice and surrounded by solid wood. They are almost 2m high!

It took a while to work out how they slotted together, but eventually we achieved this...

The gap you can just see between two of the screens no longer exists as I've put hinges between those two now (my little DIY job for the afternoon).

The shelves were another Ebay bargain, I bought them for 99p!! However, I did have to pay £20 postage, but they are solid wood, so very sturdy. I bought them because they fold flat, therefore easy for me to transport. I also think they're low enough for me to put on a table if required. They were heavily varnished pine when I bought them, so I sanded them down and applied a couple of coats of the lovely Taupe-ish colour you can see, taken from my logo.

The baskets were from that very well known Swedish shop with four letters...

So, it's coming on. I've obviously got some way to go, but I've got the bare bones to work with. I'll have a table on my stall, so I need to decide what to cover it with. I'm thinking a vintage piece of Linen (French? Irish?) and I need a sign, oh and some rod's and hooks to hang my pictures from. I'm enjoying this, can you tell?

Have a great day...

An unusual place for a business card...

Last Friday evening I was very lucky to be invited to the Private View of the Art and Design end of year exhibitions at the UCA, in Epsom. A very lovely, very talented young lady called Lauren invited me, whom I was lucky to teach a few years ago.

Laurens work was a series of latex moulds taken from areas of a building, such as radiator brackets, ceiling joists and skirting boards.

Laurens idea comes from exchanges. She feels that as she has borrowed parts of the studio, they are not hers, but they can be exchanged, and therefore she wants people to exchange something of theirs with each piece.

 
Lauren asked me to be the first person to exchange something with one of the pieces (which is now in a frame in my hallway) and I rummaged in my bag for something to exchange it with.  The problem was that I had emptied my bag earlier (unheard of) and I had very little in it! Then an idea popped into my head...

Well, what do you think? Now, that wasn't in my marketing plan...

Upcycle, Recycle, Reuse... making badges from magazines

I, like many of you, like to recycle. I like to feel I'm 'doing my bit'. However, I also have an accute addiction to magazines; some magazines I will not part with (my Living etc and Elle Deco's are displayed in chronological order in our sitting room). But I will browse many magazines (I don't care what anyone says, it's not the same reading them online), and often find it hard to dispose of them... until now!

 

Above is a small collection of re-cycled magazine and envelope badges I made.

I got the idea of recycling envelopes from a blog I was reading the other day, very sorry but I can't remember the author /link! The author was explaining how she re-uses the inside of envelopes to make badges as she was so upset about the amount of envelopes she was throwing away / waste produced.

I wanted to add my bit on, rather than blatantly copy her idea, so I decided to go through an old mag, looking for anything that might look a little bit interesting on top of the print.  Some worked, some didn't, but I had a good time making them.

I like them all together in a group like this; I recently saw a picture made up of button badges in the shape of a heart.  I think they would look great in box frames, or on canvases. Mmmm, more experimenting I think!!

Can you please spare a couple of minutes? I would really value your opinions...

You'll see below three gorgeous Logo designs (and how they might fit on a business card)  for What Katie did next... 

 Design 1:
  

Design 2:

Design 3:
 
The Flourish Design and Marketing team http://www.flourishstudios.co.uk/ sent them through to me today!  I have been working with Flourish for a couple of months, when I met Fiona Humberstone at a 'What's Stopping You?' Business Link event.  I was really impressed with the work Fiona and her team have done with others, and they have been helping me develop my marketing strategy and a 'brand', and they REALLY know their stuff.

I love them all for different reasons, but I think I have picked my favourite; I need it to appeal to a range of customers, from the people who commission bespoke items such as The Family Tree and the personalised artworks, to the 'off the shelf' pieces, to the badges and mirrors. 

So, I wondered if you would like to give me your opinions?  Please either leave a comment here, or let me know on Twitter or Facebook...

Sugar and Spice and all things nice...

Perfect for a little girls bedroom, if I say so myself!

After many (MANY) hours of trying to photograph my pictures, I have discovered the trick... (suggested by my huband) "have you tried taking the glass out of the frame?"

Erm, no, hadn't thought of it!  It works, it really works!

 
So, you can see far more detail can't you? and without the glare! 

 
When I take close up photographs like this one, I know that everyone will be able to see the imperfections. Hopefully, you'll also see the little elements that I add to each one, like the heart on the right (above). It looked too plain, so I used two different coloured threads, a lighter one on top and a dark one on the bottom, and stitched into the heart, to give it depth.

I spend a long time planning the balance of colours, making the felt in the background and picking the colours to go on top.  One of the things I really like to do is use at least two colours to stitch the writing, thus creating more harmony.  I don't want these pieces to look too rigid, they are made by hand and therefore I want them to look like that. They are crafted with care, and although I might use the same colours as another, or the same theme, no two will look the same.

When I choose the buttons, I choose them for their size, colour and how well they balance the whole piece. I always try to make the button holes go in different directions, why? I'm not sure, but it is something that I can be quite pedantic about (I have been known to take a button back off and re-sew it if it doesn't look right).

Obsessed... moi???
   

Making appliqued fabric covered button badges

See how I made these Good Luck - Four Leaf Clover badges, below:

I've sussed it!  Actually, I make that sound like there's an enormous amount of skill involved, but really it's all about patience. 

I've  found that if I applique the designs first, although it's still fiddly, it's much less so!

Then cut them out, and trim around the appliques.

Hey presto! Make them into badges (using a badge machine)

 
 
I'm giving one of these to a very special friend who starts her new job on Monday, although she won't need good luck because she'll be fabulous!

The Lovebirds

As I was reading a book about birds to my son the other day, we came across a picture of a couple of lovebirds.  I hadn't realised how tactile they are with each other, the way they lean in for a cuddle.  So I decided to use them as inspiration for one of my pictures.

It was really difficult to photograph this one as the sun has been so bright today, and the light was flooding into our house from all directions.

 
I love the colours, they make me feel really summery!

I deliberately placed the emphasis on the left, leaving enough space on the right if someone wanted to put names or dates...  perhaps for a very personal Engagement / Wedding / Anniversary gift?   

Love is in the air...

 
So, the season of Weddings has begun! I love a good wedding, but it hasn't always been that way. I wasn't the type of little girl who planned what I might wear, in fact I didn't contemplate marriage seriously until I met my husband.  Before I began planning my our wedding, I didn't realise the emotion you pour into your planning, the hopes and dreams that are tied up in the colours, the flowers, the dress, the invitations...   

In the years that have followed I have often reflected on the promises we made, and one of my favourite parts of the service is this.

This is another of the smaller sized pictures, and again, I've used another piece of antique lace needle felted onto a cream felt background.  I've tried to create a balance between the pearls, the silk hearts and the buttons, and added a bit of glitz with the silver thread that I used to stitch the hearts.

 
Have a good day!   

Little Boy Blue

The little boys have been a bit left out over the last week with all the pink orders, so in an effort to readdress the balance I've made a blue one.

 
This is a more traditional boys picture than I've made previously, but I've had lots of people asking me about  'Baby' pictures. 

I've used a range of checks and ginghams, incorporating a number of different blues to avoid it looking flat.

 
This is the last in the series of pictures I'm putting up at The Chalet today!  I managed to finish them all just in time for my new best friend to arrive today - well in the form of a Badge Making Machine! I am so excited!   

On a gloriously sunny day, what could be better than 'Home sweet home"?

I had a really positive response from the 'Home is where the heart is' picture, so I decided to make a smaller version to put up at The Chalet.

It's another small one, the piece itself is about 9cm x 9cm (frame is 16cm x 16cm).  You would think that it would be a lot quicker to make these, but in fact it takes almost as long because they are really intricate.  That said, I love making them because it's a challenge - how can I fit it all in?

 
I picture this as a moving in gift for someone (that's what the last one was for), and initially I was going to write 'Home is where the heart is', but I realised quite quickly that I couldn't fit this on.  Luckily for me it fits perfectly!

 I'm really pleased with the little flowers down the side of the house, I had such fun making those.  Also, the tree, when I showed it to my son he said it had a face, but I like to think of the buttons as apples or another fruit.

Of course, no house would be a home without a heart, or is that a bit cheesy??? Do I care? We all know it's true!

Enjoy the sun!

A Christening commission...

Morning! What a lovely day!

Well, it's been a really busy week for me.   On the back of all the 'pink' pictures I've been posting, I've had lots of interest and enquiries, and I've been busily making commissions.  The first of which is this Christening picture...

The brief was simply "something pink and girly, with her name and the date of the Christening" - so I went for it!

 I think it's pink enough, don't you?? 

Have a lovely weekend, enjoy the sunshine!

It's not all Hearts and Flowers...

but it is for now! 

I've been busily making, so I have enough to put into The Chalet, the gorgeous local bakery / cafe who have agreed to have my work up, and still have enough stock to sell. 

As I enjoyed making the lovely girly pink ones for M and O, I wanted to make one in a similar vein to put up.  I decided not to put a letter up as that immediately narrows the customer, so I chose the good old heart. 

I used silk, some antique lace (that I've been hoarding for YEARS), buttons and pearl beads, creating a VERY girly piece.  
I think you can just about see where I've used three different colour threads, each of them picking out other elements within the piece.

When I put up the girls pictures yesterday, I had the highest number of hits ever, so lets see if this one has the same impact!

Pretty little things...

I have been promising to make some pink pictures for two very lovely twin girls I know, who love very girly things! 

     

 
 
 
I decided to try out letters!  It's something I've been thinking about for a while, and as this is a time for developing new ideas, I need to try out as many diff as I can. I REALLY liked making these, probably because they're so pink and different to anything I would make for my boys, it made a real change. 

 
I tried to make them similar, using a range of silks and natural fibres felted onto the background.  To avoid them looking too flat I used my usual selection of buttons, and also added some tiny pearl beads.

Hope they like them!!

Small, but perfectly formed - the beginning of a new range...

I've sourced some smaller frames, so I can make similar Textiles pieces, but on a smaller scale.  So, due to the popularity of the recent new baby picture, I've made this one to start off.

Due to it being smaller than the others, I couldn't fit 'little one' on, but I don't think it looks like it's missing out.  Again, I've used the antique lace which has been felted into the background with a lovely silk dupion. 

I used three colours of thread, silver laid over brown and white, to create depth.

And once again, I chose the buttons really carefully to pick out the accent colours in the rest of the piece.  Actually, it takes a long (but very enjoyable) time to pick out the buttons, it's one of the last things I do, but I always try to balance the size, shape, number of holes and colours.

This frame doesn't have a mount, so in actual fact the piece took nearly as long to make as some of the others!   Now I need to make some gender specific ones - especially a couple of pink ones, to please a lovely friend of mine!

The Family Tree - beginning to blossom

Ok, so it's still in a very rough state as I'm still experimenting.  I'm one of those people who can't plan - I prefer to do, then make adaptations. So one of the adaptations I will make when I make the 'real' one is to shorten the trunk of the tree, in order to fit more room for leaves and names, as I've had to squash them all in here (there are roots at the base of the trunk but for some reason I didn't photograph them).

I will continue to work on this piece, as I want to embellish it with stitching, beads, sequins and buttons to see what works best!

 
I hadn't actually planned it out, but I soon discovered that I need to for future reference.  I hadn't allowed enough room for all of the branches and leaves  needed for our family.  I also need to plan out where people will go in advance, thus to make sure I have adequate male and female fabrics / leaves.

So, it's a work in progress, but I'm getting there...

Growing the family tree...

My name is Katie, and I am a hoarder.  I've been hoarding all my life.  I stop for a while, then it gets a grip of me again, and I start hoarding anything, everything ...

I've been experimenting with my Family Tree idea.  I found some of the clothes I have been 'collecting'  from when I was little, that have just been sitting in a bag in the loft for years. I also rescued a shirt that my husband nearly threw out some time ago, he was wearing it the first time we went out together. I then found clothes of George and Oscars.

So, although it almost broke my heart to do it, I began chopping away at these garments! Actually, once I got into it I found it quite theraputic, and MANY memories resurfaced that I thought I'd forgotten.

I then used a needle felting method to attach the tree trunk and leaf shapes to the background fabric, as a base for the embroidery.

I tried to balance the colours and styles of fabric without it looking too contrived.  My intention is to put all of the names of our family members, using freehand embroidery.  I did toy with doing a traditional style family tree (but upside down), but I felt it would look too rigid, so I will try to put people into family groups.

I need to work out whether to put the embroidery on top or around the leaves. I also want to embroider and embellish the leaves and tree.

 
It looks a bit rough at the moment, and whilst a lot of that is intended, I want to make it look more finished.  I'm still really excited about this idea, and can't wait to put the children to bed tonight!

Boys Rock!!

It's really easy to make things for girls but as a mummy to two boys I have found it quite difficult to buy 'cool' (George's new word) things for the boys rooms.  All too often there are baby blue things, or beige, but my boys like colour!

George loves skull and crossbones, he loves anything about Pirates but skull and crossbones in particular.  I used bright colours because I know they appeal to lots of other boys too!

I used exactly the same processes, and all of the appliqued parts are made from recycled materials, so I'm feeling very virtuous about that! 

 Recently I've noticed lots of people's faces drop when they know I have two boys, and when I visited my osteopath recently he called himself a SFOG (smug father of girls!)

I want to formally stick up for the boys - I think they're great, so that's why I chose to call this one "Boys Rock!"    Of course I would have loved to have had a girl to dress up and play dolls with, but actually I have three beautiful nieces whom I can do that with when I see them.

I am really pleased because, as predicted, George asked if we could keep this one in his room as he thinks it's really 'cool'.  Also, a friend came round for coffee this morning and asked me to make two for her son's, so I've obviously pitched this one right!!  

All is revealed!

This is what I have been working on this week, but of course I had to keep it secret because...

My husband has three lovely triplet sisters, and it was their birthday yesterday.  So I made them each a brooch on a card.  I had to make them different, but kept them quite similar in the colours I used and the style. 

Once again, like the larger pieces I've been making, I used a limited palette of two or three colours, but tried to use a variety of shades within those.

I didn't have any idea which one should go to which sister, so I let my husband choose!

I finished the back of the brooches with one of my labels, and a brooch pin, I really wanted to put silver ones on but they didn't come in time, so I had to go to our local habidashery to get some.  It's not like you see the pin when you wear them anyway!

And of course, I had to take some obligatory shots for leaflets etc in the future!

 

I wish them all a very Happy Birthday - and look forward to seeing them next weekend! x

Growing the family tree idea...

My idea of incorporating memorable fabrics into is growing into fruition; my plan is to use the same process as I have for the other pieces with the felted background, the contrasting fabrics and buttons, but forming the shape of a tree, using the special fabrics to create the branches and leaves. I will stitch the names and birthdays into the picture, so that they are completely bespoke.  See the little sketch below...

I am so excited about this, I am going to start making ours as soon as I can to use as an example.

Paperwork and tying up the loose ends...

I've just spent much of the morning (well during Oscar's nap) setting up a business bank account and making sure all of my paperwork is in order! Yuk, I would much rather make lovely pretty things.  The good news is "We'll be very happy to accept you" and we're off!!  Now to set up a website to trade from... 

I need to make a 'Business Mood Board' with images depicting how I see "What Katie did next..." with regard to customer profile and market place.  I think I'll spend time this afternoon finding images for that to make up for the nasty paperwork!!

My Mothers day gift for my lovely mum...

I have been thinking about expanding into brooches / corsages for some time, so I thought the ideal opportunity would be to make a gift for my lovely mum on mothers day.  I used the same techniques as I have been with the pictures, but of course the brooch was smaller and a lot more fiddly.  I used my mum's favourite colours, praying that she would be wearing them today (she was!)

It started off larger than this, but I trimmed it down, as I didn't want it to look like a rosette.

And I finished it all off with a little label - well there's nothing wrong with self-promotion is there?

Totally handcrafted, and made with lots of love!  Happy mothers day mum! x  

The Ladybug is finished!

I have really enjoyed making this ladybug, I think due to the fact I have used some of my favourite colours to help bring her to life. Here's how it looks on the wall...

I've grown quite fond of her, with her big smiling face and now I've embellished her with beads and sequins to 'glam' her up a bit.

 

I've purposely left some space at the top to enable me to personalise it if someone wants a name or a message there.  I felt there needed to be something else in the picture, so I grew a flower out of buttons, well, you know I have an obsession with buttons by now!! 

 The Ladybug is now looking for a new home...

Home sweet home

I have a friend who is about to buy a new home, and as she has everything she needs, and nearly everything she wants, I decided to make her one of my pictures as a moving in gift.

 I've used colours I know she's going to love, I always think of them as her colours.  I've purposely made the house look a bit rickety, but hope it still comes across as welcoming. I'm really pleased with the tree (George said it has a face), and the flower beds beside the house, I wish my flower beds looked like that!

A way to personalise this for someone / other people would be to place their names and the moving in day at the bottom.

I've really enjoyed making this, and I wish I could keep it as it would go really well in my hallway!