Giveaway at BearMe Too

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Rag Dollies!!!

Its been a while since I mentioned my rag dolls. I love making these and would like to make a few more. The dresses and aprons are just a delight to create.  I cant make any more until there is some space so these girls have been reduced from £49 down to £35. Now, these lovely ladies are not teeny dolls but a whopping 27 inches tall.    I want to make some boy ones too. What do you think?

Here is each one on their own. Click on the pic to take you to the listing. Don't forget either that these are completely unique in their design and come with the unique hang tag with their name and date of birth which is the day they were finished, but can be changed to a specific date, such as a birthday for gifts. What doll collector wouldn't love one of these?

Maisie

Jessica

Peggy

Lucy

Shop of The Week, Rebecca's Emporium

This  weeks craftbritannia shop of the week is Rebecca's Emporium.  Here you will find some really unique felted items. Be they creatures or unusual jewellery they are super duper cuuuuute.

Here are my picks for the week, but you can read her interview on the craftbritannia blog here, and visit her entire etsy shop here.  Or each pic should take you to the item.

This one is sold but I loved it so much I had to include it. I reckon Rebecca would love to make another don't you?

Ooooh a lovely award!  I have been awarded this honour from the delightful Ruby Mole of Moley Makes  This is a first for me and my little blog. So huge thanks to Ruby, xx

The rules are

• Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog
• Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you
• Copy and paste the blog award on your blog
• Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed (see below)
• Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

Now I also am going to nominate 5 bloggers from my lil ole reading list.  If you don`t do awards or the like, that`s fine . Its all fun and don`t  worry at all. If you guys do, hope you enjoy it.  

Deepa at http://lazygiraffeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ who is a jewellery designer with some fantastic food blogs
Chloe at  http://cariadclay.blogspot.co.uk/. This lady makes gorgeous ceramics
Safia at http://honeybumblecustomdyed.blogspot.co.uk/ just the photography alone is worth a visit
Dorien at http://madebydo.blogspot.co.uk/ fantastic crochet
Dotty at http://dottybluebird.blogspot.co.uk/ for all manner of craft wonders

Do pop along and visit them. I am now going to let them know about this.

Shop of The Week, Katiedidonline

This weeks craftbritannia shop of the week is Katiedidonline.  The strapline is 'upcycled kitchen and home goods.  This exciting shop is full of delightful non granny aprons, coasters, baby bibs and bunting.  I also found some cutely packaged scrap packs. What a fabulous gift idea for sewing friends.
This shop is actually full of things that would make great gifts.  Here are my picks but do pop along to The Craftbritannia Blog for an in depth interview with the lady herself and please go have a browse of her Etsy shop as there is so much more than I have shown you here.

Flowers

Short and sweet post today. I week or 2 ago I was lucky enough to receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I actually forgot to take a photo of them believe it or not. On their demise, I realised i really liked having fresh flowers in the house so went on  a hunt in the garden to come up with a replacement. This is what I came up with. I think I shall add some cutting type flowers to the garden this year as I am loving the whole floristry thing at the mo, even if I am not up to professional standards.  I do have one tip. Apologies if you know this. Years ago a friend did floristry and passed onto me that to replace that little sachet of feed when you either change the water or pick your own. Add a tiniest drop of bleach to the water to guard against smelly water and a bit (about half a teaspoon or so depending on your vase) of sugar to feed the flowers. It does seem to work.

Its The Little Things

Isn't it funny, how the smallest changes can make such a difference.  I inherited this futon from a boys room and put it in my sewing room, as my it wasn't wanted in there but I thought we should have a spare sleeping arrangement of some sort (OH wanted to get rid! The very idea!). It is actually really comfortable for both sleeping and sitting. The thing is , I just hated how it looked. It really jarred with my pretty lilac and cream look in there.

 So, I spotted this lovely duvet set on the Grattan website. What luck, it totally reflects the feel in my sewing room and teddy seems happy too. I now have a beautiful sofa by day and a spare bed ready to go at a minutes notice. Ok I have to pull a pillow out of the airing cupboard, but you get my drift. I can't decide whether I like the front down hiding my truck   packaging underneath.

 Or tucked in and looking more sofa like. Either way, its a great improvement on the denim homage to boyness that it was.  I must tidy up the little piles I still have to find a home for that are quite evident in these pictures.

Shop of The Week, Sunny Crystals

Please say "hi" to Sue from our Craftbritannia Shop of the week, Sunny Crystals.  This is a veritable treasure trove of gemstone jewellery and supplies, plus some lovely decoupage cards. Never really got to grips with decoupage myself, but this lady really has. There is a an in depth interview with Sue over on the Craftbritannia blog to find out more.
Here are my picks from this fab shop, but you know there are far far more over in The Sunny Crystals etsy shop

Stash Building

I have some new designs in my head and now partially on paper. These will be for a new shiny shop which will specialise in some really elegant collectors bunnies and bears .  More on this shop when I get the details finalised and have finished some yummy scrummy items for you to look at and hopefully add to your bear and bunny collections. As a result, I have been swelling my stash with some delectable supplies, and finding a new fabric shop called Dots and Stripes, I feel sure I shall return to. I got some printed cords which I have to tell you I spent SO LONG searching for a nice supply here in the UK for before I found this shop. Was really pleased with the speed they arrived too. I hate to wait, don't you?

Mohair yarn with a subtle shot of silver

Gorgeous Donegal Tweed from Wharfedale Woolworks

Aforementioned corduroys from Dots and Stripes

Hmmmm, decisions decisions, which fabric shall I put with this one?

These I have firm plans for.

If you are curious, why not add my new shop to your etsy favourites to be the first to see what I have been creating with these and other scrumptious goodies.

Upcycling!

So last weekend I did a bit of non toy sewing.  I have been meaning to get around to this for a week or two.  I bought my self a gorgeous blouse from Boden.  I thought I would probably wear it with jeans. I did then spot this lightweight needlecord skirt in my wardrobe. Now this skirt has been a bit of a pain to me. Unless I wear it with boots, it does nothing for me at all. The length is all wrong for my leg shape (I don't seem to have the slenderest ankles to my dismay).

 It is quite a lightweight fabric so not ideal for winter wear really and I never wear it in the summer as you might imagine, yet I still couldn't bring myself to ditch it. This made me think.  Nothing to lose other than a wee bit of time and maybe a couple of quid on the right trim. I actually spent longer looking for the fabric than I did doing the work I think. I was about to give up when I found this one under another in John Lewis.
So, I shortened it to just the right length for my stupidly proportioned legs and made some bias from the floral fabric to cover the selvedge. I saw no point in hemming when I could make it beautiful in this way. Then, added a thinner strip over some purple ready made bias further up.  I had intended to add some flowers in the style of this one which I loved. Although, once I reached this point, I thought it was probably just right in the less is more category

 I couldn't get a shot of me in them, but trust me, the length is now the perfect length for me and I realised that these Birkenstocks I have will make it look like I have spent a fortune! Will have to paint those toenails before the sun comes back out though.

Shop of The Week, Cariad Clay

Its that time again. Craftbritannia Shop of The Week.  This week it is the lovely Chloe who has a ceramics and clay shop on etsy.   I have been in possession of Chloe's unique handmade pottery buttons and indeed there is one on the handbag you probably can see in the sidebar on the left of this post.  She also does magnets, earrings, brooches and home decor items. Being a Welsh lady, there is a selection of gorgeous Welsh hearts.  I love this shop.

Here is my selection of picks from her shop.

You can visit Chloe's shop here on etsy and there is a fabulous interview with her on the Craftbritannia blog.