Claire's Crafty Blog

Tidying Frezy

Claire — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:20:26 +0100

Today I didn't have any chores or jobs to do after work and I felt a little at a loose end, sooooo......I made a start on tidying my craft room! YAY! Here are some photos of my handy work! I've still got lots to do, but at least I've made a start and I can get my chair back in there so I can use the sewing machine!!!

My super-organised desk drawer!

Nice neat books! (I have more downstairs!)

The cupboard over the stairs - the curtain usually stays closed!

And finally my tidy book case! Can you see the lovely toadstool that Sarah made for me in the swap? I though it would look nice on the crochet doormat my friend Ann made me and that Mousey would like a nice little garden! There is a lot more sorting, tidying and fabric washing to do and I shan't be showing you my desk any time soon! ;)

Weekend Catchup

Claire — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:56:42 +0100

Sorry all, I've not been neglecting you I've just been lacking somewhat in energy and enthusiasm the last day or so. I've perked up a bit today so I'll catch you up on things...The prom was very nice. The year 11's all looked smart in their sharp suits and fancy frocks - didn't take any photos. They all seemed to enjoy themselves, which was the main thing. The drinks however were ridiculously expensive! £9 for a glass of wine, the staff couldn't afford to get drunk! ;)

Saturday I also got a hair cut as I was starting to resemble a Lego man. While in town I couldn't resist the John Lewis sale and went straight to the haberdashery bit to rummage through the bargain wool. Got 4 balls of Rowan All Seasons Cotton and a lonely green ball of baby cashmerino. Such lovely colours....I may have to sneak back after work one day before J gets home to get more supplies! I'm not even very good at knitting, I just like looking at it and squishing it! I must have over 30 balls of brand new wool in my craft room now, ones that I've bought because I liked the colour or it was on sale!

Sunday we were going to go to Ryton Garden as we haven't been all year, but on the way the sky greyed over so we made a quick change to the plan and went to Ikea instead! Bought some napkins and other bits and bobs, but mainly some fabric!!!!

I've had a busy weekend with sewing. I made Katy a 'Science Nerd' brooch for her daughter - hopefully it arrived today! And I made the new earth softie and he's now on his way to America. Today I sold the last of the amoeba brooches in my Etsy shop so I've had to make a few more! The green one is in the shop now and the others will be added this week along with the rest of the science nerd brooches!

Phew....That's almost all. I just have to say congratulations to my littlest sis who got her degree results today.......she got a 2:2! YAY! Well done Pob! Now go and get a job! ;)

If I only had a brain...

Claire — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:23:50 +0100

...sometimes I have Wizard of Oz days where I just forget everything or I just don't use my brain! I had one of those this week - Thursday I managed to completely forget all about one of our teachers. She never got any of the worksheets of equipment she'd asked for and was pleased to see me wearing the 'DOOFUS' badge I made for the department doofus to wear so they can be identified. I've had it 2 days this week :(

I also forgot to post about the reversible beach bag I made for Bee's birthday the other week. So here it is. I used some nice striped heavy weight Laura Ashley fabric on one side and then the Laura Ashley spot on the other. She liked it! YAY!

OOOOOOOO! Rather more exciting than a reversible beach bag. I somehow managed to bag a Treasury West at around lunch time. I think I was far too surprised at being online when they became available that I had a massive mental block (needed my brain again here!) and just went....hmmm....cute food.....arrggghhh.... Here is the result! You can see Sarah's cute cupcake needle case at the bottom, the rest were chosen from my favourites in panic! I do love that shrimp! It should be there till Monday if you want to go and click :)

EEEKKK! I have to be at the prom in one hour. I had better look and the map and find out where I'm going and think about getting ready! oops!

The eyes have it...

Claire — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:18:24 +0100

OH! I had such a productive evening yesterday. While I was waiting for J to get hom from work I started cutting out my new batch of brooches ready to sew while we watched TV. I got most of them finished too! I just had a couple that I took to work to complete at lunch time.....here they are!

A nice new monster set in cute pastel shades!

Three eyeballs!

and a bunsen burner!

Most have been listed in my etsy shop already as there are still a few days left of my BUY 2 GET 1 FREE brooch offer! I'm now offering free shipping if you type "PROMO" into the message to seller section! Come get them while they are hot!!!

I've had a few special requests too. The very nice lady who bought my Earth Softie has asked for another one for her boyfriend as he keeps trying to take hers! There has also been interest in my science nerd brooches from yesterday! I was thinking June was going to end quietly - it started with a bit of a flurry or sale then nothing for a few weeks. Suddenly....I'm busy again! YAY! I do like coming up with new ideas! Hopefully I'm going to have a very productive weekend! Hair cut and my first school prom tomorrow...!

Nerd Alert!

Claire — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:30:35 +0100

I had to have a sly sew at lunch today so the recipients of these brooches didn't cotton on to what I was making. Although I think one of the other teachers may have completely ruined the surprise by blurting out "Science Nerd - I could do with one of those!"...oh well. Only one of the people they are for was in the room.....

Hopefully Matt and Lucy won't read my blog before I give them their new brooches tomorrow morning! They are both proper science nerds (and a cute couple!). I think the department needs a bit of new enthusiasm to get the kids interested in science again. It ain't all bad this science milarky! ;)

OOOOO! I've sold a few things on Etsy recently and was far too over excited when I got home form work and discovered I'd sold some of my cute felt brooches - including the monster set that I made for the UKEtsychallenge! YAY! I'll parcel those up this evening and get them posted off to London Town tomorrow after work! I'm planning a sewing evening tonight as I made a start on another monster brooch set yesterday and I still have a list with 25 other items on it that I need to get through....!

OH BOTHER!

Claire — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:23:46 +0100

I missed out on choosing a treasury again, just because I was eating my tea. HUFF! Better luck next time I guess! When having a flick through the new ones I did discover that I'm in one. YAY! My simple flower brooches - (which are available at a bargain price! ;)

It doesn't expire till Friday so go on over and have a click! In other Etsy news; Count Orangular has made it safely to Turkey and now lives with a very crazy lady we play WoW with (Hi SU! *kiss*) and my little planet earth made it to the US in one piece after a bit of a squash and a squeeze from the postal service. I may need to start adding a little extra padding. Off to catch-up on some sewing now and decide what I'm going to wear to the prom on Saturday! I thought I'd go to one of the school proms just to see what it's like...!

Strawberry Cute

Claire — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:52:50 +0100

I'm having a special offer in my etsy shop from now until midnight (BST) on the 30th June. Buy any two brooches and get a third FREE!

I'm making lots of new brooches to encourage people to buy them. Here is today's new brooch! A cute little strawberry with seed bead accents! (sounds all posh doesn't it for a felt brooch! hehe!)

This will be available in my etsy shop shortly as will the pumpkin and skull from yesterdays craft binge!

New Brooches!

Claire — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:15:16 +0100

One thing I did do over the weekend was make a few new brooch templates and cut the shapes out ready to sew. I managed to sew four of them together at lunch today...a pear, a star fruit, a pumpking and a skull! I know it's little early for halloween but I've had the doodles in my book for a while.

These will be making their way into my etsy shop in the next day or two! On the etsy thing....Super Rolley Monkey has made it into two treasuries recently! Photos of these on my Flickr account! J was really pleased as he helped with the flying photos! :)

Fruits of our labours.

Claire — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:21:38 +0100

Not much crafting going on this weekend as J's little sister has been visiting. We did have a potter around the front garden this afternoon to tidy up some wild branches and get rid of the chard which had gone out of control too. We also dug up the garlic and onions as they were ready...and our first strawberry is almost ready to pick! YAY!

Challenges Complete!

Claire — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:56:12 +0100

YAY! I've completed my June challenges for the UKetsyteam and MSOEteam *jumps up and does a little dance*

Firstly the theme for the UKetsy challenge for June was 7 deadly sins. I chose envy and made a set of green-eyed monster brooches. I really enjoyed making these and may whip up another batch with different shapes soon. And secondly is the Mad Scientists of Etsy (MSOE) Challenge where the theme was Leonardo Da Vinci. I really wanted to make a flying machine but with my other craft commitments at the mo I just didn't have the time so went for a Vitruvian Stick Man Brooch instead - He'll fit in nicely with the stick man and girl brooches. I'll let you know when voting is available. Next on my list is the Russian Doll Swap!

***Both challenge items are in the my shop NOW!***

Bundle from Joy!!

Claire — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:41:47 +0100

Look what I had to collect from the post office today!

A lovely birthday bundle of fabric from Joy and Danny! Joy said she was going to post my present as we had to cancel the weekend with J being ill...I thought it would maybe be a small/medium jiffy bag sized parcel as they'd sent me a lovely olive tree, but instead it was a big box! When I got home and ripped it open I found this lovely lot of fabric! Lemon fur, blue and white spot, white and red spot and then 3 pieces of FELT! Aren't I just spoilt! Thanks ever so much Joy!!!! I love it all! especially the packs of salted caramels! MMMMMmmmm! :)

Other news: after illness and fridge crisis last week...our boiler is now on the blink. PFFFF! All this stress has made me loose my crafting mojo. I'm waiting for the boiler man as I type, hopefully it won't be too much of a problem and we can try and get back to normal - it's been a while! Once life resumes I'll get crafting again and have some nice goodies to pop in my etsy shop. My 'to-make' list is getting bigger, I just don't have the energy to actually MAKE anything.

Fathers Day

Claire — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:22:57 +0100

Yesterday I got told off by my Dad for having not posted his Fathers Day card in time. I was let off slightly by the fact we'd both been ill and our fridge had broken! I only remembered on Saturday morning that I'd completely forgotten to post it. Oooops! Sorry Dad! He should have it today so I'll do a little show and tell. Apologise for the card photo - it's rubbish, it was taken in a hurry with my little camera before I stuffed everything in an envelope to post. It's hand cut green felt, machine stitched onto red pearlescent card. I do enjoy sewing cards and may make a few for my Etsy shop.

And I've also added a keyring to the envelope that I made a few weeks ago.

Now with LucyKate Crafts Toadstool swap over you can view all the photos of everyones lovely toadstools here on Flickr. I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Amy for organising it all so well! THANKS!!!!! I had fun making them and became a little obsessed! :)

It is time to move on from toadstools and concentrate on Russian Dolls as I signed up for I'm a ginger monkey's Russian doll swap! YAY! Chloe is my partner and I've had a fantastic idea that I hope she'll love....I just need to have a good rummage through my felt box and see what colours I need!

Treasury treat!

Claire — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:09:34 +0100

Awww! Little Marvin Rolley Monkey made it into a treasury while I slept last night.

It's going to be there till Monday so go on over and click on all the lovely blue items there!!! :)

We've been full of illness in our house this week, J is currently suffering with a stomach bug, my hayfever is driving me mad and we still don't have a working fridge - the engineer is coming this afternoon to see if it can be fixed before we go off and buy one. I had been hoping to get started on some new items and get a few family/friend orders finished this week. Don't worry Selena! I've not forgotten about the PE bags! I just need to be able to get to my sewing machine.....it's under a pile of fabric....somewhere! ;)

*updated* After writing this post I went and had a look at what other new treasuries were up (I'm addicted to them...and to pounce!) and what did i find? Rosie Apple in one! A complete surprise! This could have been what caused my mystery midweek flurry! She's in good company! Right, now I'm off to the post office! BFN!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Claire — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:29:22 +0100

Now, when I got an email from Sarah yesterday to say my toadstool swap parcel was on it's way I was ever so excited! She said to watch out for a big blue parcel....and that's certainly what arrived today!

...and inside...

...3 packages...and inside the littlest package...

MOUSEY! She's got to be the cutest little felt mouse ever made!

...in the big pink package...

a mousey house! Isn't this just the best toadstool ever?

...and the final package...

Gorgeous fabric, wooden toadstools, cute mini notepad and toadstool trim. I feel SOOOOOOO spoilt! THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH SARAH! I absolutely love everything! I'm going to finally finish tidying my craft room this weekend so that Mousey and her new house can have pride of place! *BIG GRIN*

Door Mats and Other Tales

Claire — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:38:17 +0100

Sorry for the lack of posting this week. I've not really been up to any crafting. Mainly lolling around feeling ill, sleeping and feeling sorry for myself. Tuesday was a sick day from work. I managed to get up for half an hour in the afternoon and just couldn't take any more daytime tv than that so went back to bed till J got home. Yesterday I just flopped around at work feeling sorry for myself and last night my hayfever decided it was time to kick in. PFFFFFFFFF! I'm fed up! AND our fridge is broken so we've got to go and buy a new one.....*sob*.....*cry*.....*looks for sympathy*...... :)

On a lighter note I've had a rather strange day with regards to my etsy shop. I've had 16 hearts just TODAY - well, that was by lunch time (BST) and I sold 2 items within half an hour of each other and I haven't even been on the forums for a few days! Have I been featured somewhere and just don't know? It's just very funny, in a nice way! The girls at work joke that this time next year I'll be a felt millionaire! Or maybe I'll be covering my costs? Hmmm.... Right then, here is the door mat that my lovely friend Ann crocheted me for my birthday. I can't help thinking it's far too nice to use as a doormat! I soooooo wish I could crochet - I did get a kiddies crochet kit for my birthday so will definitely try it again at some point soon.

Thank you!

Claire — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:24:33 +0100

I'd just like to thank everyone who left me birthday wishes over the weekend. I'm 31 now so does that mean I have to grow up? Hope not! hehe! Here's a quick rundown of my gifts (forgot to take photos!). An olive tree, garden vouchers, Cath Kidston goodies, allotment book, money to spend on more plants! Smellies, chocolates, flowers....and Ann crocheted(?!) me a lovely door mat which I will take a photograph of tomorrow.

I didn't get a lot of crafting done over my birthday weekend so here are the little bits I managed...a GIANT mum keyring and three new amoeba brooches. I sold two of the brooches last week and one had only been in my etsy shop for a few hours! All that time I spent on the forums seems to have done the trick. Watch out for me this week! ;)

The blue one is there already and the others will make it later! Its far too sunny for photographs today so these are a bit rubbish - sorry! The prizes for my birthday giveaway are all parcelled up and ready to be taken to the post office tomorrow after work - I'm becoming quite a regular there! Now I'm off to try and tackle a bit more of our HUGE out of control hedge! *wave*

GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!!

Claire — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:37:43 +0100

Here we go then....the winners.......*drum roll*.....

Using the old fashioned bowl and paper method, First prize goes to....

Karin!

The runners up are Flibbertygibbet, Incywincy and Amanda.

If you can all email me with your postal addresses then I'll get your little packages posted off to you!

Look what I've got on etsy....100 hearts! What a nice birthday treat!

Still Time!!!

Claire — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:31:40 +0100

There is still time to enter my birthday giveaway...Click the link and leave a comment on the giveaway post!

Pimping My Wares...

Claire — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:50:25 +0100

I've been pimping my wares on Etsy tonight and look! I'm in a treasury!!! (the watermelon keychain!)

A Hint of Summer....?

Claire — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:07:10 +0100

Could this be a hint of summer???

My lovely fat quarter bundle blowing in the gentle breeze, washed and ready to use!

And two new additions to my biology brooch range! Egg and sperm cells. These were a special request from Franny. Her friend is graduating from her midwifery(?!) course very soon and this is a little graduation present. Oh, hope she doesn't read my blog and I've ruined the surprise...! I'm going to make another one of each for the SHOP as I'm really pleased with how they turned out - obviously not to scale though! ;)

Quackers!

Claire — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:55:31 +0100

I forgot to post about this little beauty! I made this pegbag at the weekend as a special order for one of the girls at work. We call her the crazy duck lady as she currently has 16 ducks with a few ready to hatch any day soon! I thought a duckie pegbag would suite her to a tea (or is that tee?). I was thinking of making a few pegbags for my etsy shop - branch out a bit. What do you think??? I did start out bag making when I first started this blog - felt has been a pleasant distraction! ;)

Other news. Had a lovely felt order delivered today from paper-and-string - delivered in super-fast time! (I'm never going to give up felt!!!! EVER! It's just too nice to work with). I also posted off my toadstool for the toadstool swap after work too. I really hope you like it Sarah - I was a little over enthusiastic about the whole thing. Just ask J about mushroom madness! ;)

Recycle Week 2008!!!

Claire — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:30:31 +0100

Today starts the beginning of Recyle Week 2008!

Eveyone can do their little bit to help reduce the amount of waste they produce.

This little smiley planet is my first entry in the UKetsychallenge group on Flickr. You can vote for him to win if you are an Esty user. Just CLICK HERE to go to the voting thread! You have until 3:30pm (GMT +1) on the 4th to cast your vote!

There is also plenty of time to enter my giveaway!

BIG BIRTHDAY/ALMOST 200 POSTS GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Claire — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:35:17 +0100

Here it is! And here are the prizes.

Main prize: Toadstool Original Felt Art, toadstool wrist pincushion, needle book and smiley 'shroom.

3 runner up prizes of a smiley 'shroom each.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post saying what you favourite thing on my ETSY SHOP is. You have until my birthday next Saturday (7th) to leave a comment. Winners will be picked Sunday. Don't forget to fill in email (this doesn't appear on the comments) so that I can email you if you are a winner! I will post anywhere in the world, so don't be shy have a try! :)

ESTY SPECIAL: This month, as it's my birthday, I am giving a free mystery gift to the first 10 people who buy something from my Etsy shop. ALSO if you type 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' into the message to seller you will receive an extra free gift - offer valid for the whole month!!!!

191 - cat approved!

Claire — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:11:26 +0100

News just in: Sausage approves new bag!

William keeps eye on intruder on new bench!

I couldn't resist posting these pics of our cats - silly boys!!!! :)

Post 190!

Claire — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:25:31 +0100

I thought I was getting close to the 200 post mark and had to check to make sure. This is post 190 (as you can see!) and as a result of that my birthday giveaway is now going to be a bumper birthday/almost 200th post bonanza! I will give away one reasonably sized prize (not too big and not to small!) and 3 small prizes - come back Sunday to find out what they will be!

Today we went on an adventure - just a mini adventure. We did a trail run to Bloxham as J will be starting his new job on Monday and we wanted to work out the route that avoided Banbury town centre. We got there in plenty of time (we left at the time he'd have to leave to get there) and carried on to Bicester Village to buy me some Cath Kidston cut-price birthday gifts! I got a lovely new apron, big weekend/craft bag and a spotty flannel! Not long after we got back I heard our nosey postie trying to stuff what sounded like all the post in the world through the letter box. I ran to see what delights postie delivered and was pleased to see my shiny new fabric and a custom made keyring made by picciolo in one of my favourite colour combinations (the other is yellow and green). Here are some pics.

Keyring front, back and apron (don't i look silly in my big slippers!!!).

Fabric selection and bag.

I've also managed to squeeze in a little bit of sewing time and finished off a batch of ipod nano cases! Phew! I'm ready for a cuppa and a piece of cake now! Happy weekend everyone!!!!! :)

More toadstools!

Claire — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:23:23 +0100

I really have a toadstool obsession - can it be healthy? Here is today's toadstool fix! Sewn cards!!!!

That's all the sewing I've done today and will be in my etsy shop by the time you read this! - we've had lovely weather so I've spent the afternoon out in the front garden planting the runner bean plants and sewing more carrot and beet seeds. Hopefully out of this sewing we'll get more than one carrot! It doesn't look very tidy in this photograph - the polythene sheet has been there a little while warming the ground up ready for lettuce...next on my list of things to sew!!! and the chard is now going to seed so is incredibly HUGE (last years planting). You can just see the lavenders next to the public path are starting to bush out quite nicely too :)

Toadstool Obsession, continued...

Claire — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:01:23 +0100

Since signing up for the Toadstool Swap I really have become obsessed with making all things toadstool! With the recent sales of my felt ipod nano cases as well, I've made a toadstool one and popped it into my shop! More Toadstool goodness to come later in the week! I've almost finished my toadstool for the swap - and wish Sarah, my swap partner, to get well soon as she has flu :(

Peak of the week!

Claire — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:41:12 +0100

Hello blog readers! I've not been up to a lot of crafting this week, so far(!). My parents came to visit yesterday and we had a visit to the National Motorcycle Museum to keep my Dad out of trouble! ;) and went for a nice pub tea to celebrate my impending birthday (thanks mum!) and a couple of games of scrabble when we got back! Today we sat and watched last nights apprentice while I sorted out my bag of felt scraps into colours....the weather here is rubbish so I need things to keep me out of trouble! HEHE!

These are prize WIPs ready for my birthday giveaway! Come back Sunday (1st June) for a chance to win something silly made by me! I'll pick a winner on the 7th (my birthday!).

AND! Our very nosey postman (he said 'I've never delivered knitting needles before!') knocked on the door today with a parcel....My lovely new 12mm wooden needles! Bought on Esty from Snokistfarmgirl, and some 2.5mm DP needles so now I have NO EXCUSES not to try knitting socks. I prefer using wooden needles as they are much smoother and don't make a squeaky metal sound. I couldn't find and reasonably priced 12mm ones in the shops or on eBay, Etsy was my saviour! YAY! Just look at the beautiful stamps on the tube as well- aren't they just gorgeous? I'm going to try and steam them off to keep. I used to collect stamps when I was a kid - but shhhhh....don't tell anyone :)

4 Hours of my life...

Claire — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:20:52 +0100

Yesterday was going to be a good day. I got up bright and early and got ready to leave the house as close to 9am as I could (9:10 once I'd flapped around checking doors and windows!) to drive down to Somerset to pick J up from his parents and spend the day there.....6 miles and 10 minutes later I was on the M42 stuck in traffic....There had been an accident and there was nothing for us all to do but sit in our cars in the pouring rain and wait....and wait...and wait.....This as how I spent 3 hours...

I'm now 2/3 of the way through this nice big chunky scarf! Today the rain has stopped but the wind is blowing the trees around like crazy! It's not really gardening weather! ;)

After yesterdays 4 hour trauma and trying to get back home without the map book that was on the dining room table(!), I thought I would treat myself to some pre-birthday goodies. Some fabric and lovely picciolo is making me a nice soft keyring in my favourite colours! YAY!

RANDOM UPDATE: As well as spending a lot of time sewing and knitting this weekend I've also spent a considerable amount of time on Etsy and Flickr discovering new shops to buy from and new crafty people and their blogs. Just now I've come across Feeling stitchy and found my bacteria brooch quite randomly! How wierd is that? It's a strange world out there......

Just a Quickie

Claire — Sun, 25 May 2008 07:55:26 +0100

Morning all! I couldn't resist posting a picture of this pincushion I made while watching euro-vision last night. This is a custom order for one of the girls I work with - she saw the other two wrist pincushions I've made and asked if I could make her a ladybird one....How's this?! :)