I dream of the sea: April 2012

Dorset Buttons

I've not had much time for doing any new designs recently as I've been busy with orders and my time management skills are practically non-existent (hence the fact I've just eaten my evening meal and it's eleven o'clock in the evening) but I've found a lovely little bit of crafting that is quick and easy to do when I need a break from making stock for my shop. Dorset Buttons! You can read all about the history of the buttons and find instructions on how to make them on this website (I didn't actually use these instructions but they look very clear).

A Google image search for Dorset buttons results in an amazing selection of styles and colours- I especially like the beaded ones in this blog post. When I was at little I remember making lots of the ones that have tiny bouquets of flowers in the middle (like these ones) and it was finding one of these buttons when I was visiting my parents recently that started me making them again. Why not have a go - they are very addictive though...

Right, now I'm going to go and look at all the other Handmade Monday blogs. Why not pop over and take a look too?

I'll leave you with a photo of one of the hair clips I've listed recently in my shop.

My first Handmade Monday

This is my first ‘Handmade Monday’ blog post. For anyone who hasn't heard of it, Handmade Monday is run by Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts and is basically a link party – everyone writes a post about something they have made and then they share their links on Wendy’s blog. It’s another way of creating a community in the blog world and I'm looking forward to reading the blogs of the others who join in each week.

This week I’ve got two gadget cases to show. A Union Jack one for an iphone and a more girly one for a Kindle. I’m hoping that the Union Jack design is a more masculine design than my usual ones. I find it much easier designing things for women and children and my sketchbooks are full of pictures for future product ideas but when it comes to men I seem to have a mental block. I’d love to know what sort of designs you think appeal to men!

As well as fitting in a bit of sewing we’ve also been doing some cooking. I love cooking – I’m not an expert and I don’t really cook anything too complicated but I enjoy it and for the most part I make sure my children are eating home cooked food. Unfortunately, recently my children seem to be going through a fussy stage. It’s so disheartening. I hate going to the effort of cooking and then scraping piles of food into the bin. So I’ve decided to try and get the children more involved in the cooking process and hopefully get them more interested in the food! I was wandering round Lakeland (something I try to resist doing too often as it has a detrimental effect on both my bank balance and my cupboard space) when I came across sale copy of the book which accompanies the Children’s series ‘I Can Cook’. I’m not usually a fan of children’s cooking programmes as mostly they just involve arranging the food in some complex way to look like something (a car, train, teddy bear) but actually just make it look totally unappetising and impossible to eat. This book, however, seems to have quite nice simple recipes, with healthy ingredients, and child friendly instructions.

We made the sausage kebabs (swapping the yucky precooked cocktail sausages for proper ones!) and they were actually really tasty. The idea of using rosemary stalks as the skewer was brilliant and I’m planning on using it with vegetable kebabs as an accompaniment next time I have people round for a meal!

Folksy Friday - Make and Sell Blog Ring

This week I set up a new blog ring. I've returned to blogging after a very long break and things have changed quite a bit. There are lots of ways of finding and following blogs but it seems harder to find the sort of blog communities that seemed to be around when I first blogged. I often come across a lovely blog only to forget where it was and how I came across it. So I'm hoping the blog ring will make it easier to find blogs that all share similar theme and become a regular reader of those blogs. The ring is open to anyone who makes and sells handmade items.

We've already got quite a few blogs signed up but obviously the more we get the more fun it will be so please join! Click here to find out all about it.

Anyway, to celebrate the new blog ring I've chosen items from some of the shops who have activate blogs in the ring for my Folksy Friday. Click on the images to be taken to the item in their Folksy shops. There are quite a few blogs in the ring now so I'll do another showcase tomorrow so that everyone is included!

Clockwise from the top left Hannelore's Atelier - Helen Limbrick - Say It - Handmade by Edwina - Slowlane Made - Jaysmonkey

Hoppy Easter - Free Felt Pattern

I'm working on a range of reusable cupcake toppers at the moment and I thought these little rabbits would be perfect for Easter. I've also uploaded instructions and templates so that you can have a go at making some for yourself. I know it's a bit late for Easter but surely rabbits as cute as these would be perfect for birthdays too?

Click the following links to download the PDFs.

Instructions

Templates

This is my own original design. Please only make these for personal use - not for selling (unless you are selling for charity, in which contact me first). Thank you!

Happy Easter!

Folksy Friday - Fish

We're all on holiday at the moment. Pretty much every holiday we've had since the Little Panda and Merry Berry were born has been at my parents house in Devon. I'm so lucky that my lovely parents let us descend on them with mountains of luggage, two noisy children and still offer to baby sit in the evenings.

Today was a perfect day. The sun shone, my husband (Monkey if there is anyone reading from my old blogging days!) finally managed to get off work and join us on holiday, and we went for a ride on a miniature railway (I think I might have mentioned before that a holiday isn't a holiday without a ride on a miniature train - choo choo)! Anyway, as we've been having so much fun I'm a bit late putting my Folksy Friday up. This week I've chosen 'fish' as the theme as it's Good Friday and we've been eating a lot of it! Here are some gorgeous Fishy Folksy Finds...