Liebster Award

What on earth I hear you ask?  Well I have been nominated for a Liebster Award which is basically a nod from a fellow blogger to your blog.  It kind of reminds me of a massive chain letter of bloggers passing on a big thumbs up to their favourite bloggers.

So this post is going to be a little less about my projects and a little more about some other bloggers that I enjoy.  So thanks to Budget Food Mummy for my nomination.

For a bit of fun I have to answer some questions suggested by the nominator as part of the blog post.
Here goes . . .

Why did you start a blog?
Because I love sewing and I love writing and I love talking - put it all together and you have a good idea of why it makes me tick!
What is your dream job? 
It involves people, talking, maybe some writing - it changes regularly but I love seeing resolution - problems solved, conflicts reduced and people free to move on and live their lives - chuck some sewing in and I'm super happy.
If you could visit any country in the world, where would you go? 
South Africa to visit friends and family
What is something people would be surprised to know about you? 

I actually think most people know most things about me - as I mentioned already I like talking!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Hmm I struggle to plan consistently for five minutes!?! With my husband and adventuring our way through life I think probably sums it up as neatly as I can when it comes to plans.

Who is your inspiration?

Too many people - I have an amazing family and some awesome friends who inspire me day by day to stay strong, dream big and love with all I have.

Top 3 films? 

I can't choose - I like everything on different days - is this post starting to demonstrate I'm not good at being pinned down? 

What is your most prized possession? 

People

What is your favourite post you have written?

http://daydreamsandsunshine.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/tablecloth-skirt.html

Because I still love that skirt! 

What advice would you give to a fellow blogger who has just started? 

Only do it because you love it - don't watch your follower numbers too closely - use it like a journal of who you are and how you feel.  Your blog has to be first and foremost for you!

Well that is quite enough questions for me to be honest! Here are some bloggers who I enjoy!

Handmade by Katherine

Jenny DIY

Meschok

Crafty Crusader

Living on A shoestring

This Particular Blog

Flossie Teacakes

Wee and Twee

The Hearty Home

Fancy Frugality

Well that's 10 - so if you fancy it carry on and nominate some of your favourite blogs as a shout out to all the work they put in.  

10 questions felt a bit long for me so here are 5 for you to answer

1 - Why do you blog?

2 - Favourite Sunday afternoon pass time

3 - Dinner party meal of choice

4 - Best Crafting tip

5 - Favourite blog post

Have fun :)  

To make or not to make?!?

Everyone has different criteria for what makes a perfect gift and some people are really hard to buy for.  There is a challenge when it comes to handmade gifts – for many people handmade reminds them of those gorgeous little crafts that small children bring home to their parents dripping glue and glitter.  People love to receive those gifts from children but as we grow up we become concerned about anything we make turning out to be an explosion of random craft materials and that it won’t really turn into anything useful.  Handmade is tricky but when it is done right those gifts can be the best.  For me handmade gifts sum up what giving is all about – not just money but something of you has gone into the gift.  So how do you get it right? 

I think the key is not over complicating things – simple gifts can be the most perfect.  A gift I love to receive is pretty things for around my home – things I see every day and remind me of the person who gave them.  So I have decided to share a tutorial on how to make bunting.  This is perfect for any time of year but with some clever fabric choices and colour selection bunting can make a country chic style Christmas home.

You will need

-          Fabric of your choice

-          Bias binding to match your fabric

-          Ruler, pencil and card/paper

-          Pins

-          Needle and thread or sewing machine

-          Iron

1    1.    Measure out a triangle on paper.  This can be done by measuring the base and then marking the half way point all the way up to how high you want your triangle to be.  Then draw the lines.  You can fold in half to ensure it is even

2.       Trace out the triangle onto your fabric as many times as you want.  I made 6 triangles for my bunting so I cut out 12 triangles of fabric.  You can make your bunting as long or as short as you need

3.       Place your triangles with the right sides of the fabric facing each other in pairs.  Sew from the base up to the point and leaving your needle down lift the foot and turn the fabric.  Then sew the line along the other edge of the triangle back to the base.  Leave the base unstitched.

4.       Once you have done this turn the triangles so you have the right side of the fabric facing you.  Push the point out using anything that isn’t too sharp ie the end of a pencil or crochet hook.  At this point it is really important to iron the bunting to ensure it is sitting correctly.

5.       Now you need to work out how wide apart you want the triangles on your binding.  I left a 10cm gap between each flag.  Place the triangles into the binding and fold it over hiding all the raw edges.  Pin in place and sew neatly along the edge of the binding.  I used a zig zag stitch as it looks nice but also ensures you don’t miss any of the bias binding when it is folded.

6.       Now trim your edges and display or wrap up for that perfect gift!

The fabric I have used was gifted to me by a friend and it has previously belonged to her Nan who didn’t have the opportunity to use it.  Hanging this bunting up I think honors her and the special person she was in my friend’s life.

If you have something special that belonged to someone who was important to you why not incorporate it into a gift for someone or for you so that it becomes a part of your home on a daily basis.

I hope you have fun making the bunting – do send me pictures of how you get on!

x

New Steps

This morning I have spent some time playing around with photos and opening up my ETSY shop.  I am using this as a trial to be honest - I've heard so many mixed reviews on people's successes and failures linking in with etsy that I decided to give it a shot and try it out myself.
 I've uploaded just 4 products because I am still preparing for the craft fair that is coming up so all my stock is needed to fill the table there.  Once that is done I plan to begin uploading more products regularly and just see how it goes.

I've already realized a few things - I need to learn to improve my photography skills and to do this effectively I need to be very efficient.  I can take reasonable pictures but then I upload them and set about attempting to do a bit of editing (of course armed with google) and see my photos turn into disaster areas.  I've tried something similar before when me and my husband did a batch of screen printing - our biggest challenge by far was the editing of photos to prepare the prints.  But with some time and patience we got much better and we ended up with some pretty cool prints ( well I thought so anyway ).  So a challenge for myself - in between everything else - is to work on photos.  On etsy you can't pick up your products, touch them and imagine them in your home or wardrobe so great photos are everything.
 The efficiency thing I guess is just about realizing that your time needs to be managed really well to craft, dream up ideas, shop for fabrics, edit photos and talk to potential customers - all that while holding a full time job, staying in touch with friends and loving blogging to you guys.  Well whatever happens so far I've been enjoying every second so I figure while I am still having fun I will continue!

Anyway it is a new step in my upcycling adventure so I will keep you posted on how it all goes!

Here is the link if you want to check it out!

ETSY SHOP!!!

Have fun browsing and as always feel free to feedback - I plan to share everything from this journey I'm on - the good, the bad and the massively embarrassing errors - on this blog so feedback to me might reduce some of my red faced moments!  Enjoy and link me up with your shops too so we can help each other out!