Gifts I've been making this year for friends and family

I've also been making a few sewing projects for friends,

This is a knitting needle case I made for Lynette as a thank you for teaching me to knit:

I also made a jewellery roll for Carla for her birthday since she travels a lot:

I crocheted a rabbit for my niece for Easter:

I also made Carla a jewellery holder which is a wooden board, painted and decorated with my new inktense pastels and door handles screwed on to hold necklaces and bracelets :)

I made a picture with mini tiles that I painted at our local pottery painting place, although I haven't given this to anyone just yet:

These are cushions I made Kelli at work, just because I saw the fabric and thought she'd love it, which she does :)

Finally I made a little quilt for my nephew with a lovely plush back as he loves his soft blankets:

I'm working on a quilt for myself which is almost finished so hopefully be able to post that soon :)

Rachele x

New home furnishings

I have been busy studying tax exams and moving house although no excuse for not blogging but he's a little catch up on makes this year.

Firstly I've been busy furnishing my new home with curtains, blinds and cushions, this is my art room and the main window is nearly 3m tall so only option was custom made!

Then I needed matching cushions and curtains in the lounge :)

Next job was a blind in the hallway:

 

Next will be blinds for the bathrooms, fabric purchased but still in my to do pile :)

Rachele x

Wedding

Hello, no excuse I know, but I've been busy preparing for my wedding which is this Friday and neglected my blog.
Here's a few things I've been working on. This is my bouquet, which I have made with organza and a small piece of Satin. I made each rose by sewing a strip of fabric in half and gathering one side, then twisting it round into a flower. The base of the bouquet is a kitchen whisk stretched out and filled with stuffing. I then sewed each flower onto the wire base:

For my hen do all my lovely friends and family joined me in making clutch bags which we will all showcase at the wedding. Here's mine which I made to match my bouquet:

Finally, these are my favours which I've just finished making. A small glass jar filled with bon bons. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out a rose to match my invites and then put red card behind for the label:

Rachele

Fabric book

After having a good sort out and tidy up of my craft room on New Year's Day I'm now determined to finish off some projects that I've started. So many that are nearly done. This fabric book I started on crafty weekend of workshops I went on last year.

Rachele

Fabric tool holder

I know, like buses, I don't blog for ages and then three posts at once!
My little sister came to stay a couple of weeks ago and we always motivate each other to tackle a project. I decided to finally use my Twitterpated Stampin up fabric that I've been wondering what to do with for a while. I made a tool wrap to hold all my essential tools and supplies for travelling to workshops with. I made the pattern up as I went along but pretty pleased with the result. I even got a zipped pocket in it :)

Rachele

Snowflake Soiree

Here are some cards using the new snowflake soiree set from the autumn/winter mini catalogue. I love the new illuminate ink pad, it looks so effective on dark coloured card

Rachele

Papaya Collage

I was recently asked to do an inspiration station at my local Stampin up training day and used the new set Papaya Collage from the new catalogue launched on 1 oct. Here are the ideas i came up with.

Rachele

Brayer techniques

I was asked to demonstrate at a local craft club some brayer techniques and these are some designs I've come up with using Stampin Up products.

Rachele

London

At the weekend I decided I should make some London themed projects, I love all the gorgeous London stamp sets out there and haven't yet got round to using any! First I decided to decorate a wooden case, which I only bought the weekend before and most unlike me to actually complete a project straight after buying the materials! I made this for a friend's birthday and hoping she won't look on here before I give it to her.

I painted it with paperartsy fresco paints and used a dry brush to age and then stamped with both the paper artsy London stamps and the darkroom door set 1.

Next I decided to decorate some notebooks, these started off as cardboard coloured, so I gave them a base coat first and then stamped and painted away decorating the backs too :) I used Artemio's London set.

Rachele

Stampin Up workshop

Now that i've realised how easy it is to blog from my phone I really have no excuses for leaving it so long between postings!

I did a Stampin Up workshop at Chris's house this week and as she likes scrapbooking I designed a page for her. I was pleased to have got so many techniques in one page but I think I underestimated how much time it would take. Still, everyone was very happy with their finished pages despite thinking they'd never finish.

Rachele

Fathers day

As I know my dad likes it when I go to the effort to make things I thought i'd try and make a really unique fathers day gift for him, this is what I came up with. I hope he likes it as it turned out a bit more pinky than planned!

Rachele

Jewellery holder

I made another jewellery holder the other week with mocha morning specialty papers and have only just got round to taking a picture of it!

I even managed to make some jewellery pieces with resin and incorporated some Stampin up paper.

Rachele

Stampin up

I've been so tired today that I've struggled to even get crafty bits done, but I have been doing a few Stampin up bits this weekend. Made this gorgeous little book yesterday at Hayley's which holds 8 little note cards

I also made some freebies to entice people to book parties with me

And then covered a notebook for a friend :)

So not too bad considering I slept half the weekend!

Rachele