Shop of The Week, Dayzee Love Designs

 I may have mentioned previously. I am a member of a  UK etsy team called Craftbritannia.  It was decided a little while back that we would have a `shop of the week` feature. Lots of us have signed up and in return for our own week in the spotlight. We are all promoting the relevant shops. This week (the first), is the turn of our leader.  Her shop is Dayzee Love Designs. I have used her services myself to create the custom made hang tags I put on all my new Cutey Critters. These are mine made from this listing

I also commissioned seals for my packages from this item

 I have some of her ready made thank you cards which I use to offer return customers little specials

Do pop along to Dayzees shop and say hi.. I you need some seals, tags or cards, her shop is a good place to look as you can see from my delightful items.

A Quilt for Mum

It was my Mums birthday last week, and I was a bit stumped as to what to give her this year. Its getting a little tricky as she seems to have most of the things she wants/needs.  So I decided to make her a quilt. A gift from the heart if you see what I mean. Its not a large quilt (I forgot to measure it, oops) and took around 20 hours to make.  It was my first attempt at free motion quilting. Not perfect at all, but I did enjoy it and will definitely be finishing my other quilts in my cupboard very soon, now I have gained my confidence a bit with my new sewing machine. Please excuse my display material, I was in a wee bit of a rush.



Obviously, there had to be a card too. I have really scaled down my card making supplies so was quite chuffed with this.



2nd February Monthly Make

I am on a roll for February. This is Brittany.  She was created for a customer as a custom bunny as per this listing. As you will see, this bunny and Brittany are very similar. I have changed a few things. She has no green spots and is knitted in a slightly different pink yarn. Also, her socks and blouse are a creamy off white rather than white and her flower is cream and white. I insist on never copying a design completely. i want you all to have one of a kind bunnies (and bears, foxes, elephants and pandas) The white accents were to accommodate Brittany's other wardrobe. She had an outfit commission for her very similar to the small bunny in the last picture, which is predominantly white. I wanted it all to tie together and not look like an afterthought.  This has been a popular design as I now have another on the needles. This one will also have its own little personal touches.  If you want a bunny knitted to order, please see this listing. if you would like some extra clothing, see this one. If you cant wait for me to get to your custom bunny, pop along to the ready to ship bunny section. Don't forget to browse the whole shop whilst you are there. I have lots to choose from if bunnies aren't your thing. There are still a few things left in the sale.  Bargains to be had my friends.

Monthly Makes, February

This may not be the first monthly make contribution for February, and indeed was actually made in January but, I could not show you until now. I made this little cutey as part of a swap some of us on my etsy team CraftBritannia. We decided to perk up this grey and cold end of the year by making sales fairies/gnomes or totems. Hopefully we can spark off some nice sales in our respective shops, and above all, it has been a nice team project to take part in. They are all in the co-coordinator's hands now and she is going to post us all a nice surprise in that we don't know what we are getting. To keep it small and fairy like, I made my smaller bunny pattern but in 4 ply on smaller 2.75mm needles rather than the normal dk on 3.25mm to make her teeny. She has come out so cute. I am thinking more at Christmas maybe.  The last pic shows her with the small and large  bunnies in my shop to give a perspective of the size. To view all the monthly makes (but not the sales fairies, they are      in the monthly make challenge, click on the graphic to the right of this post.

Teddy Bear Tuesday

Today's Teddy Bear Tuesday is all about the gorgeous vintage style bears from Kelly of Blondeheart. She has a blog called 'A Stuffed Life' which can be found here.  I love all bears with no exceptions really, but every now and again a style really tugs at my heart strings. I love Kelly's style.  I have picked out some of my favourites below (some are sold, sorry).  You can visit Kelly's own website here or find her at etsy here, where you find she has not only bears, but bunnies, a snowman and even pumpkin characters. These are all fantastic creations. Do go look, but only buy Sugar Plum if you are buying her for me, or I may sulk. She is my top pick.

Also, let me just take a mo, to remind you that in 1 week it will be valentines day and I have a three bears myself that would be perfect for your chosen one or for you if you would like to drop your other half a not so subtle hint. I will post 1st class so in theory you have till the end of the week to get one in time.

Victoria

Rufus

Juliet

Felipe

Fliss

Ok, so the last 2 were foxes, but very valentiney dont you think?

Vegetable Cake Subterfuge Update

I had to just drop in a quick update to my last post about  the yummy cakes from Harry Eastwood's Chocolate Heartbreak book of cakes where they all contain a vegetable.  I know it sounds odd, but read the post to see what I mean, if you didn't already.
We are on 3 positives out of 3 on the recipes and 4 out of 4 on the hubby eating them and not detecting the hidden veg. I made the fruit cake twice, its so yummy.  This weekend, I made Orange Squash Cupcakes.  This sounds like they have cordial in them, but in actual fact its butternut squash that gives the squash factor. However, there is more than a passing resemblance in taste of the finished confection of orange squash, so its twofold. There is a link to the book in the original post, but here is a photo (sorry no cake stand loveliness this time) of mine.