jentwinkle

Tasty Tuesday: Recipe Round-up

2010-10-26T10:00:00.000+01:00

Every Tuesday I want to post about the recipes I’ve tried during the previous week. I would love it if you could leave a comment pointing me in the right direction of more tasty treats – I’m always on the look out for lovely things to make to keep our meal plans interesting!

This week will be a selection of things I’ve made over the past couple of months, I must remember to keep the camera handy as I’m cooking.

First up is Cheese Pinwheel Rolls from The Hungry Mouse. I made up some pizza dough in the breadmaker and the kids and I had great fun turning the dough into ‘cheese worms’ by covering the rolled out dough in all sorts of cheese (amazing what perfectly good little bits you find at the back of the fridge!) and then rolling them up. Daisy wasn’t impressed that we had to then slice up the cheese worm (‘Mummy you are deading my best friend!!’), but soon changed her mind once the rolls were out of the oven & she’d had a bite! We ate them with home made lentil & bacon soup for a really cheap but amazing dinner. They were eaten before I had a chance to take a picture!

Next is the gorgeous Baked Apple Donuts from Home Cooking Rocks!. I made these one night when Tim was out with friends, the kids were fast asleep and I ended up eating 4 before anyone else even saw them! Very addictive, it’s impossible to eat just one, especially when they are still warm from the oven. The recipe was easy-peasy and the mixture was made and in the oven within minutes.

Not the best picture but it was night time :)

Making me hungry just writing this…

This next one sounded a bit too good to be true, but I just had to give it a go to find out, Microwave Potato Chips from Food Gal. That’s right, crisps from the microwave. The ingredients are simple – potatoes, olive oil, salt. The cooking was a bit of a faff, especially as I couldn’t make loads at once. Lots of checking & turning! But the end result was so worth it! I don’t really like crisps generally, but these were just amazing. Not something I’d attempt to make for the whole family unless I had a lot of time to kill, but I’ve made them a couple of times as a sneaky late-night snack since. Just as good every time.

I hope you go ahead and try something I’ve featured here, if you do please let me know! Tonight’s dinner is an easy one, as requested by the kids (who keep seeing the advert on tv!) – Puff pastry pizza & salad. Trusty breadmaker might make some garlic bread to go with it yum yum…

Next week I’ll be a bit more organised!

Jen xx

It’s been a while…

2010-10-26T01:03:00.001+01:00

I admit I’m not exactly good at keeping my blog up to date, although I like to think I’ve had a good excuse lately. I’ve been making something a bit special:

This little monkey is currently known as ‘little blob’ & is due to make an appearance around the 2nd April 2011. This is one thing I’ve made that wont be going in my shop ;) So I spent all Summer being sick 24/7, which meant I just couldn’t get on and make pretty things (I don’t think they would be as pretty, or sell very well, covered in vomit…) Now I’m feeling so much better, except the tiredness. Why did no one remind me of the tiredness?! Dylan started school in September, and I now seem to spend my life walking back and forth dropping him off & picking him up. To go from practically no exercise to walking at least 4 miles a day has been a bit of a shock to the system!

I have been cooking like mad since I got over the morning sickness though and intend to share some recipes on here from now on. My breadmaker & I are best friends once again, and it’s been churning out all sorts of amazing things. Even better since I bought one of these from Lakeland, to bake proper baguettes:

I also treated myself to a new loaf tin, and some of those loaf tin liners – so much easier, and much less hassle to wash the tin after! So far I’ve used it to make a Weetabix cake, and an Apple, raisin & cinnamon cake mmmmm…

Sales are going well on my Folksy shop, mainly due to the huge success of the recently launched Craft Carousel. If you are a fellow Folksy seller please go and check it out, it’s a great way to get your Christmas shopping started & have some free advertising at the same time! With almost 140 sales in under 2 weeks it is definitely proving to be a massive hit. Thanks have to go to Maryann from One Stop Pamper Shop and Sarah from Silver Birch Crafts for all their hard work setting it up and ensuring everything is swapped over asap!

I need to get a move on and make more stock in the lead up to Christmas – I did promise myself I’d start much earlier in the year, but it always seemed so far away before! My poor shop is looking a little bare and neglected at the moment :(

If there is something in there that you would prefer in a different size/colour/fabric etc then please just let me know as I will happily do what you want as a custom order. You can email me at jentwinkle412 AT gmail DOT com, or send me a message via Folksy.

Jen xx

Folksy Friday - Flowers

2010-09-24T10:13:00.001+01:00

Seeing as it seems Summer is well and truly over, I thought this week I’d give you all a reminder of the pretty flowers that Spring & Summer bring. It’s taken me ages to find these as there are so many gorgeous floral items on Folksy, I hope you like what I narrowed it down to. As usual just click on the pictures to go to the listing on Folksy:

So pretty!

Jen xx

The winner is…

2010-09-20T21:24:00.001+01:00

So this evening I wrote out all the names and folded them teeny weeny…

My husband picked out two names, the first one, and the winner of the large buttercup bag, is…

Congratulations legs21!

The second one, and winner of the little green & pink pouch/clutch/thingymajig is…

Congratulations The Crystal Lady!

I wish I could give something to everyone that entered :( I loved doing the giveaway though and I’m sure it wont be too long until the next one!

Legs21 & The Crystal Lady, please email me at jentwinkle412 AT gmail DOT com with your addresses and I’ll get the prizes posted to you asap!

Jen xxxx

Giveaway Update!

2010-09-15T13:49:00.001+01:00

Seeing as I’ve had a pretty overwhelming response to my quest for 100 fans (total stands at 202 now!) I’ve decided to be extra nice and add a little something as a 2nd prize :)

Hope you all like it! It’s a gathered version of the pleated pouches in my Folksy shop, decorated with a fabric flower with a vintage button centre.

For a chance to win this or the main prize…

… just see how to enter in the post below!

2 names will be picked out on Monday at 9pm, the first will win the black bag and the second will win the new prize!

Jen xx

Wow!

2010-09-13T21:28:00.001+01:00

I said a couple of days ago that when I reached 100 fans on Facebook I’d do a giveaway. At that point I had 75 fans. I didn’t really expect to get to 100 quite so quickly, but as I write this I’m up to 175 :D

Thank you to all my new fans!

So let’s get down to this giveaway business…

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to make, and decided on something I haven’t sold before. I spent today making it, and was so eager to show you all I had to take some pictures this evening so please excuse how bad they are! I’ve used a beautiful upholstery weight fabric, and some of my favourite buttons so I really hope you like it…

Looks like a normal buttercup bag right?

It is.

Except this one is BIG! It’s 14.5 inches at it’s widest point and 9.5 inches tall – you can fit a serious amount of stuff in here!

See how desperate I was to show you? I forgot to rub the chalk lines off before taking pictures ooops! It has 3 pockets on the inside – one is 3in wide, then there is a pen pocket, followed by a 3.5in one. Perfect for keeping your phone handy!

I’ve decorated it with a mixture of vintage & new buttons, a mixture of white, cream, black, gold, beige & grey. It also closes with a magnetic snap.

Once again I apologise for the photos, if the weather is nice I’ll take some better ones tomorrow, these really don’t do it justice.

Ok, so how can you win this bag? It’s easy peasy – just leave me a comment at the end of this post telling me which is your favourite item in my Folksy shop! That’s it!

www.jentwinkle.folksy.com

This giveaway will run up until 9pm on Monday 20th September when I’ll put all the names in a hat and get my lovely husband to pick out the winning one.

Any questions, please let me know :)

Jen xxxx

ETA: Forgot to say the giveaway is open to you wherever you are – I’ll happily post the prize internationally :)

Etsy shop now open…

2010-09-12T09:05:00.001+01:00

I opened an account with Etsy last September, so I figured it was about time I actually started listing there!

I’ve got a few bits on there now, and will be putting the rest on over the next couple of days, plus some new stuff I hope to finish today.

Please head over there, have a peek at Jentwinkle on Etsy and let me know what you think :)

Jen xx

Giveaway coming soon…

2010-09-11T23:14:00.001+01:00

I’ve wanted to do a giveaway for a long time and since the kids are back to school/preschool I can finally get on and make something to actually give away!

As soon as my Facebook fan page reaches 100 fans I will reveal what I’m going to give – hopefully you’ll like it!

So please head over to Jentwinkle on Facebook, hit ‘like’, and tell your friends :)

Watch this space…

Jen xx

I’m still here…

2010-09-07T10:57:00.001+01:00

I am so bad at updating my blog, I know I know! I’ve been working on making something a bit special though, which I can’t share with you all yet as it’s not quite finished! Hopefully I can show you in the next couple of weeks.

I am still sewing, and yesterday added these cute little zippy pouches to my shop:

I hope to list a new crayon roll today, made with some gorgeous aeroplane fabric & red gingham. I have a whole notebook full of ideas to work through so watch out for some more products coming soon! This week I plan on making a few of my ‘alternative’ gingerbread men that were so popular on my stall last Christmas – I hope my shop customers love them just as much (they usually have little ribbon loops on their head for hanging on the tree – it seems I only took a picture of the one I forgot to put the ribbon on!):

I really must get a move on with Christmas stock and presents – why does time seem to go so quickly in the run up to December?!

Dylan started school last Thursday and is absolutely loving it, he’s grown up so much even since then. When his class is called to go in each morning he runs up the steps shouting ‘see ya later Mum!’ and is always the first one in – most of the other children are clinging to their parents but Dylan seems to have so much confidence – I am very proud of him. He also had his first swimming lesson yesterday afternoon, he did so well and yet again his confidence shone through as he listened to what he was being asked to do and got on with it with an adorable look of sheer concentration on his face!

Daisy started back at preschool yesterday, she has been out of nappies for the past few weeks but I was worried that she wouldn’t ask to go for a wee at school. I was so happy when I picked her up and she was wearing the same trousers!! Apparently she had asked to go with no problems – another proud Mummy moment! When I collected her she handed me some pictures she’d drawn, saying proudly ‘look Mummy, I drew the London Eye for you!’ – it was so lovely, a big green circle with a smiley face next to it. We went on the London Eye last week and clearly she loved it! She will be three on Thursday, the time seems to have gone in the blink of an eye :’( Daisy has asked for a scooter like Dylan’s for her birthday, fingers crossed it gets here in time! I will be spending tomorrow making her cake, she’s requested a pink & sparkly one!

I should really get back to some housework and sewing now, I promise I wont leave it so long next time! I have a lot of plans for what to include on my blog, but these will take some time – please check back to see what I’ve been up to :)

Jen xxxx

Folksy Friday: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star…

2010-06-24T23:31:00.001+01:00

I missed last week as it was my birthday on Sunday so took the weekend off :)

I’ve only managed to list one thing this week, this patchwork cushion, which is pretty awesome even if I do say so myself!

This week’s theme is Twinkle, twinkle, little star – thanks to the lovely Haptree for the suggestion!

Some gorgeous starry things to be found on Folksy! Just click on the pictures to go to the item listing :)

Will do a proper update sometime this weekend, I promise!

Jen xxxx

Folksy Friday: Afternoon Tea Anyone?

2010-06-10T23:25:00.001+01:00

It’s been a while since I blogged but I’ve been rushed off my feet trying to get a decent amount of stock in my shop! I’ve been keeping up with the June Loons and listing one thing (at least) every day and the sales fairy seems to like it! So far I’ve made 17 sales since 1st June woooo!

I fully intended to do a Folksy Friday post last week but ran out of time. Seeing as this week has been so rainy and dull I thought a spot of afternoon tea might brighten things up? After trawling through hundreds of items I’ve narrowed it down to just 8 of my favourites - just click on the pictures for more info :)

I’m still working hard making new stock and sending out orders. I’ve got so many ideas for things I want to make for my shop but not enough hours in the day to tackle them all at once! Watch this space :)

Going to add my favourite out of my listings this week:

Stack of 3 Patchwork Cushions

Completely unique – no two will ever be the same! Click on the picture for more information.

Would just quickly like to thank Karen at Creative & Faithful for including my red & white polka dot crayon roll as part of her Craft Juice Tuesday feature this week. And also to Natalie from NOfkants Curios for featuring one of my pencil roll and drawings bag sets :)

Jen xxxx

June Loon? Yes I think so!

2010-06-01T22:38:00.001+01:00

Today marks the first day of a month of daily listings at the Jentwinkle shop!

Each day I’ll post on here about what I’ve listed and feature 2 of my favourites from the other June Loon challengers.

Here’s my offering for today, a gorgeous turquoise floral make up bag complete with white ribbon flower embellishment (available to buy now in my shop):

And 2 of my favourites from the other challengers (so hard to choose!), click on the pictures to go to the item on Folksy:

How cute is this Fox Terrier collectable doggy from Northfield Primitives?!

He has real character!

And these ‘Maybe Baby’ earrings from Whimsical Wren Jewellery are just beautiful – really love the little added bow detail.

So day one is almost over, I sold a bag today and got a blog mention by Emma over at Urban Sophistication Designs (thank you Emma!) – very happy Jentwinkle here!

Jen xxxx

Caterpillars & Grazes

2010-06-01T01:59:00.001+01:00

Sunday was a lazy day in the Jentwinkle household. We played, listened to the radio and did some colouring before going to the park in the afternoon.

The park we went to was like a little sun trap, it was so hot there, but chilly everywhere else. Dylan & Daisy were fascinated by a wriggly green caterpillar they found, only Dylan was brave enough to hold it though!

Daddy also did a bit of skating…

And Dylan had a go on the ramp with his trusty scooter…

On Monday we went to the inlaws for a lovely family barbeque – unfortunately it was cloudy and grey all day, but we still had fun.

Daisy loved toasting marshmallows and dunking them in melted chocolate:

Poor little Dylan had a bit of a scooter crash and grazed quite a bit of his face. He was so brave and it looked a lot better after cleaning up the copious amounts of blood. Granny was on hand with some antiseptic cream. Seeing as she has 4 boys it’s no surprise she has a huge first aid box containing everything you’d ever need for any kind of minor injury! Apparently he was attempting a new trick… I blame Daddy for showing him clips of the Micro Scooter World Championships on Youtube in the morning!

Apart from that it was a fairly uneventful weekend, quite a few things have been appearing thanks to the sewing machine and I have bugged a huge amount of people with my blog & shop links ;) I made a start on Daisy’s dress for my brother in law’s wedding so will post some pics as soon as it’s finished.

As from tomorrow (today?!) I’ll be taking part in the June Loons challenge along with lots of other lovely Folksy sellers. The aim is to list an item in your Folksy shop each day and share what the other ‘challengers’ have listed on blogs/Facebook/Twitter etc in order to help each other with some free promotion and hopefully bring in some sales for all of us. I’m really excited about taking part as it’s my first time doing anything like this!

Check back tomorrow for a peek at what the June Loons are up to…

Jen xxxx

Toddler clothes from a tablecloth & a bedsheet

2010-05-29T13:37:00.001+01:00

My husband laughed when I brought home a table cloth from a charity shop and announced I was going to make Daisy something to wear with it. I intended it to be a dress, but got distracted and cut it far too short, so I ended up making a long top. Made using the peasant blouse tutorial at Indietutes (so easy and quick – thank you Vegbee!) the top took less than an hour.

Daisy doesn’t really have any summer trousers or shorts yet and the top I made would look ridiculous with a skirt so I decided to make her some bloomers! I used a pattern from Making Children’s Clothes and whipped up a pair within an hour. The pattern was 12-18 month size but looked huge so I figured they’d fit my dinky almost-3-yr-old. I made them in white so she could also wear them with a couple of outgrown dresses from last summer. The white fabric was a brand new bed sheet also found in a charity shop. My darling husband burst out laughing when he saw the outfit on, I think she looks cute!

So, dressed in a table cloth and a bed sheet, here she is:

Front & back (please excuse the mess!)

Bloomers & messy hair (we’d just been out in the rain!)

Happily rolling around the floor changed pretty quickly to fed up of picture time.

Daddy & Dylan obviously weren’t too impressed:

Now I’m looking for a pattern for a party dress to make her for my brother-in-laws wedding in a few weeks. I have some fabric but no idea what dress to make with it…

Jen xxxx

Crayon Rolls

2010-05-28T16:20:00.001+01:00

These have proved really popular on my stall at craft fairs in the past so I thought I’d make a few to go in my shop. They are brilliant for carrying around in your handbag and whipping out when the children need to be distracted and kept quiet (anyone else have children who can’t sit still for 30 seconds without moaning they are bored?!)

I generally only make them big enough for 8 crayons – what kid needs more that 8 crayons when you’re out and about? This means they are small and light – mums have enough to carry without adding a whole art set!

This is a lovely girly one, made with a pink & blue floral cotton fabric for the outside, and a pink & white polka dot crayon pocket. It has a bright pink ribbon tie to keep it rolled up.

I’ll be making some more over the weekend, both girly and boyish.

Jen xxxx

Please sponsor me!

2010-05-27T23:05:00.001+01:00

I'm taking part in the Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust Walk for Fun on 12th June 2010 in memory of my beautiful friend Ally, who recently lost her fight against cervical cancer, aged just 26. I know Ally received a huge amount of support from the girls she met through Jo's Trust and I'd like to give a little something back and do my bit to ensure the charity can keep on doing its brilliant work. Please sponsor me if you can, every little helps and it will be greatly appreciated.

Every year in the UK, over 2,800 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer and 1,000 women will die from the disease. After breast cancer, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women aged 35 and under. Jo's Trust is the only UK charity dedicated to women, their families and friends affected by pre-cancer and cancer of the cervix.

There is a little widget on my left hand sidebar, or you can follow this link to donate: www.justgiving.com/jen-winkley

For more information on the work of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust please click here.

♥ Ally ♥

As promised

2010-05-27T21:25:00.001+01:00

The ice cream pouch/clutch and red zippy wristlet are now available in my shop! I managed to get some slightly better pictures, even though it poured with rain on and off all day.

I’ve been having a little play around with the look of my blog today so if it looks a bit weird at times that’s why!

In other news, my poor little Daisy was ill this morning so she spent a while snuggled up in our bed feeling sorry for herself. She asked me to get in bed next to her so she could talk to me, told me to shut my eyes and then sang ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’ to try and get me to fall asleep. I asked why she wanted me to go to sleep and she said ‘Mummy I want to be naughty and you can’t look!’ – Glad she is still her cheeky self even when she feels poorly!

This evening I’m going to finish making a little shop button to go on my new right hand sidebar and then hopefully get started on sewing a few crayon rolls to list tomorrow.

Jen xxxx

Recent makes…

2010-05-27T01:44:00.000+01:00

Just thought I’d share a couple of the things I’ve made in the past few days!

Unfortunately my lovely husband dropped our new camera during a trip to the zoo on Monday and the lens is now stuck out and makes a horrendous noise when you try and turn it on – ooops! Until I get a new one you’ll have to put up with some photos taken on my phone, if I’d remembered to take them in daylight it wouldn’t have been so bad, but I forgot!

First up is the Ice-cream pouch/clutch – I love this fabric, it’s perfect for Summer! This has a bright yellow zip and matching yellow stitching. I added some red buttons with green stitching to pull some more colours from the print. I’m so tempted to keep this for myself but I’ll resist and it will be available in my Folksy shop tomorrow (once I’ve taken a decent daylight picture!)

Next is this gorgeous little zippy wristlet. Perfect for carrying cash, some cards and even a smallish mobile phone. I love the quirky print of this fabric, with all the little outfits and pattern pieces. This will also be available in my Folksy shop tomorrow. I still have a little bit of this fabric left so expect to see it popping up every now and again!

This little clutch bag is what I’m working on at the moment, testing out an idea in my head which turned into a pattern and this ‘prototype’! It still needs the curves pushing out properly and some top stitching to finish it off and close the gap (hence the pins!) I left the gap in a stupid place but never mind, I’ll know better next time. It’s fully interfaced on both the lining and the outer shell, and closes with a magnetic snap. Once I’ve perfected it I’ll put a tutorial on here :)

Please have a peek at my shop to see what else I’ve got for sale, I’ve got quite a bit to list still so keep an eye on it! All money made will now go towards a new camera lol!!

Will end with a couple of pictures of my little monkeys, they are growing up so quickly. I’ve spent quite a bit of time making some Summer clothes for Daisy so I’ll get her to do some modelling this week and put some pics up. The peasant blouse tutorial over at Indietutes is so quick and easy that I’ve made a few tops and currently working on a couple of A-line dresses using the same idea. I’m struggling to think of clothes to make for Dylan other than pj trousers – if anyone has some good suggestions please leave a comment and let me know.

Gorgeous babies xx

Jen xxxx

What’s that I hear?

2010-05-05T11:14:00.001+01:00

Sewing machine is whirring once more!

After a bit of a break, I’m back and ready to sew. I’ve been doing a lot of knitting recently and zero sewing but that’s all about to change. As is the neglect of my poor blog!

I’ve got new ideas and designs and (hopefully) lots of energy to turn them into something good!

Watch this space for news and sneaky peeks…

Jen x

I’m back…

2009-12-07T23:31:00.001Z

My poor blog has been so neglected recently as I was getting my stock ready for my first craft fair yesterday.

My sewing area (dining table!) has been overflowing with everything I’ve made over the past few weeks as I’ve checked to make sure linings are sewn up, eyes sewn on and everything is perfect.

I would like to say hello to anyone arriving here after picking up one of my business cards – hello! I also want to say thank you to Pagette for the lovely email I woke up to this morning :) I’m so glad my little owl has a good home, I was very attached to him and almost didn’t take him to sell!

For anyone who wants to come and see me again I will be selling at the East Grinstead Victorian themed Christmas shopping day on 20th December, outside the lovely Threadneedles. If you didn’t pop by yesterday here is what you missed:

I managed to sell quite a lot, and had several enquiries about custom orders (I will do a separate post on this). I had a lot of fun and it was a lovely feeling knowing people were actually willing to part with their money because they liked something I made.

It was also Dylan’s 4th birthday on Friday – where does the time go?!

So his facial expressions haven’t changed! He was Joseph in the Pre-school nativity today but was not impressed about me tying a piece of gingham to his head with piping cord this morning!

And just because she’s cute, a picture of Daisy modelling a flower hairclip.

Some things I would like for Christmas: An exercise in extreme window shopping!

2009-11-16T19:07:00.001Z

Books…

Fabric…

Furniture & accessories…

This is slightly addictive… more to follow!

My family…

2009-11-14T12:40:00.001Z

I’ve been meaning to write more about my family and what we get up to, so here we go…

My husband and I on our wedding day in 2008. We met at school and were friends long before we started a relationship. We have packed a lot into our almost-5yrs-together: having our son, getting engaged, buying a flat together, having our daughter and getting married. Tim is a carpenter and I used to work in e-commerce, but have been made redundant twice in the past 2yrs.

Dylan will be 4 in December. He’s really tall for his age and is very clever. He loves cooking, especially baking biscuits. Dylan’s favourite things are his scooter, cuddly Duckie, going to the skatepark, making things, going to preschool and playing with his little sister. He has lots of friends and is a gorgeous little boy.

Daisy is just 2 and is a proper little madam! Her talking is fantastic and she has a big personality. Daisy loves playing with her dollies, drawing, eating, Peppa Pig, cuddles, handbags and chocolate. She has mad scarecrow hair and refuses to keep it tied up! Her favourite saying at the moment is ‘Mummyyyy… boys have willies!’ – aaaaaah!

New things!

2009-11-14T00:53:00.001Z

My blog has had a little makeover - I was bored of pink and flowery!

First of all, I made my little Daisy some pj bottoms. They are nice and baggy, and made of gorgeous floral flannel. They match the dress of the dolly I made a few weeks ago. The pj bottoms were so easy, I used this tutorial. I plan on making a few more pairs for her, and some for her big brother when I get some more boyish flannel.

I've been looking at making soft toys for a while now, this is a mini version of what will hopefully be my first pattern. Arthur the owl is made from felt, but I plan on using cotton or fleece for the bigger version. I love him!

Also during my felt-adventures I whipped up a couple of Christmas decorations. A christmas tree with red french knot baubles and a sad gingerbread man! He just needs a little loop on his head and he's done.

Another bag, this time using some Amy Butler upholstery fabric and a floral cotton for the lining. I decorated this one with some white ric-rac and buttons. I made a thinner-than-usual strap for this one, I think I prefer it to the wider one.

I've got a whole load of bag pieces waiting to be assembled so will hopefully have some more pics up after the weekend.

I’ve been taking some more pictures of some of the things I’m going to be selling.

I hope people will buy things, and I hope it doesn’t rain…

Scrap buster flowers

2009-11-12T00:15:00.000Z

I've just made up a couple of fabric flowers to use up some of my huge bag of scraps, a few hundred more and I might have reached the bottom of the bag!

What is it about fabric scraps that makes you unable to throw them away?! I save even the smallest pieces and think mine are multiplying every time I take my eye off the bag!

From this pile of scraps… … to these pretty flowers!

I'm going to stitch some brooch findings on the back.

I also found some pictures on my camera of 'A Coat for a Boat' at the Knitting and Stitching show at the Alexandra Palace in October. It's amazing!!

Recent makes

2009-11-09T02:40:00.000Z

Since my last update I've been attempting some papery-type things for my stall:

Gift boxes and notebooks:

I've made some Christmas themed ones too but couldn't be bothered to get them out to take a picture of!

The boxes are made using simple origami, they take a couple of minutes but they look so cute (well I think so anyway!)

These are all made using Papermania papers, Regency and Blueberry Hill. Embellishments were random things I found in my stash.

Close up of a gift box.

I've also made a few new bags, but this was the only one out to take a picture of. Will take some of the rest over the next couple of days. The outer fabric of this bag was a pair of my jeans, the flower is removable (on a brooch back) and the lining is cool!

I made the flower using 2 fabric yo-yos and a ladybird button. It looks orange in the picture but thats because I never think to take photos during the day, so if my pictures are odd colours I do apologise!

All of my bags have a little silver star to the left of the pocket inside seeing as I haven't made myself any tags yet.

I've made a few drawstring bags and keyrings (pics to come) and have been working on my very own soft toy pattern, I hope to make up the first one this week :)

All is on track for the 6th December, I just hope people want to buy my things.

P.S. Please leave me a comment to say you've been and had a peek and let me know what you think of my creations!

Some additions....

2009-10-24T15:34:00.000+01:00

I've been ill for 2 weeks so haven't really made much (well I've started plenty but not finished anything until today!)

I went hunting in charity shops this week and found some small frames for some of my cross stitch and embroidery. Also managed to get 3 cushions I'm going to re-cover. I've started embroidering pictures on a couple of plain grey baby tshirts.

I also got a couple of 100% wool jumpers to felt in the washing machine. I have accidently felted roving when dyeing it several times so thought it would be easy peasy to felt something on purpose - I was wrong! They have both been through the washing machine about 4 times and still look exactly the same. Never mind!!

Evil green jumper!! ---->

Today I made this quick drawstring bag for my childrens finger puppets - I keep finding them in the most random places so thought they could do with a home.

I used reverse applique to add a label saying what's in there.

Will be whipping up a few more of these for all those pesky little bits of toys.

Little black and red box pouch I made this morning ---->

And back to the sewing machine I go....

Embroidery

2009-10-14T11:09:00.000+01:00

I've been doing some embroidery using designs from Urban Threads.

The first one isn't a good pic but it is a pony dressing up as a unicorn!

And a robot with a balloon!

Squirrel!

I'm going to use them for some reverse applique on make up bags and maybe some drawstring bags.

Finally something for myself!

2009-10-13T03:13:00.000+01:00

I have finally made a bag for myself!

I got this fabric at the Knitting and Stitching show at the Alexandra Palace on Saturday. It's from The Eternal Maker, they have an amazing range of fabrics and I could have spent hundreds of pounds just at their stand.

I'm going to write a whole post about the show tomorrow. It was my first time there and it was amazing!

Molly

2009-10-11T23:54:00.000+01:00

This evening I've made a doll! There are a lot of changes I'll make to the next one but not bad for a first attempt. She is made with flannel so is really soft. I embroidered her face and used acrylic yarn for her hair.

New make up pouch...

2009-10-04T01:51:00.000+01:00

I've been faffing about with box pouches using this tutorial at the fantastic Indie House . I thought I'd try putting the zip across the width rather than the length, just to see if it was still easy to get stuff in and out (it is!) I have some of this fabric in red and black so want to make a ladybird one with a black zip, and some eyes!

More to come tomorrow :)

Mmmmm...

2009-10-02T14:48:00.000+01:00

What can I make out of all this?!

I have ordered some ladybird buttons to embellish a bag I intend to make with the red and black polka dot fabric. The pink cotton in there is the backing for a quilt I'm attempting (my first!) - just the batting to get now. There is some green fleece which is screaming out to be turned into some sort of monster softie. I think the hessian will make some nice rustic gift bags for Christmas presents. Calico to line those and some more snack pouches.

I'm going to be a busy girl!

A few things I've made...

2009-10-02T01:56:00.000+01:00

A buttercup bag - I am so in love with this pattern! It is quick, easy and only uses a fat quarter of the outer fabric, and even less of the lining. I have made a couple of these already and I'm definitely going to buy the license so I can sell them. Also in the picture below is a couple of keyrings - this is a brilliant tutorial, another quick and easy make. And finally, a reuseable snack pouch - the tutorial says to use PUL for the lining but I haven't got any yet so I just used some unbleached calico. Not good for 'wet' snacks, but perfect for biscuits, crisps, dried fruit etc. I love that they are machine washable, no more plastic sandwich bags for us.

Another snack pouch.

A seagull print Buttercup bag!

Makeup bags:

I thought it was about time I did one of these...

2009-10-02T01:27:00.001+01:00

In the past year I've taught myself how to knit, crochet, cross stitch, use a sewing machine and make cards. I've decided to start a blog to keep track of my projects and eventually give people ideas (hopefully!)

My name is Jen, I'm 23, married and have an almost-4-yr-old son, and a 2yr old daughter. We live in Sussex, UK. I have a stall at 2 Christmas shopping days in our town in December so the next couple of months will be hectic trying to make enough stock - next year I will start in January! I also want to make as many Christmas presents for friends and family as possible. Fingers crossed I don't run out of time!