2 days to go!!!

Finally I've managed to shake off the horrible bug that I had but now that has left me very behind with my Christmas preparations. Very little crafting has gone on around here for about a month!
I managed to squeeze in a few hours of making Christmas cards but that's about it!



(Apologies it was very late and dark when I took these photos!)

Off to take a blogging break over the holiday period. Have a lovely Christmas everyone and catch up in the New Year. x

Aachoo!!

Still feel awful!!
Hoping this nasty bug will soon be gone - only 20 shopping and prepping days til Christmas, and I really couldn't afford to miss last weekend but the thoughts of hitting the shops were the last on my mind!

Not been up to much therefore not much to post about!
Although thought I'd treat you to a pic of my lovely new fabrics that arrived from Sew, Mama, Sew.

**GORGEOUS**

I managed to be sent these lovelies when I won the monthly gift certificate! I also love the little card they sent which has 50 fun things to sew and a cute little button! Thanks guys!

Mountain and valley folds?

Thought I managed to escape the bout of winter colds and flu doing the rounds but oh no!! I feel terrible this morning. I could feel it creeping up on me last night until I could just about breathe!
After having such a good day yesterday I now feel awful!

Most of my do it yourself and craft projects are self taught. Some with success others need a little more practice. This year I've challenged myself to make my own Christmas cards. I've never really done the paper crafting/scrapbooking thing until yesterday. Went on a day course, learnt a lot of tips about using paper in your crafts and made this ...



It's such a cute little tin that I covered with paper and a few other bits and bobs and then made the matching gift card (that's where I learnt about mountain and valley folds - who knew!) The tin will be great for adding a little present or money.
Was hoping to start the Christmas cards today but feel awful so off to get a Lemsip instead!

Where's the craft gone?

The day job has taken over again so very little craft going on around here!
However, a few more button magnets in production and goodies that arrived in the post.



My first purchase through Etsy! Love this fabric and hoping to make some cute Key fobs as Christmas presents!

Getting paper crafty!

I love crafting but I'm more of a fabric, thread kind of a girl than paper and card. I love buying hand crafted cards but have never really given it ago myself.
So in preparation for Christmas I've stocked up on a range of goodies to make handmade cards and tags!


Not sure how they will turn out like but looking forward to messing around and having fun!

Etsy!

Finally I have got round to sorting out my Etsy shop - Pink Stitches!


It has taken me most of the afternoon to place a few items on there, hopefully I will get quicker!
Look forward to filling it up soon, but we will see how it goes!
Now off to do some crafting rather than being sat at the computer all day!

WIP

I tend not to find many exciting crafty, fabric things in charity shops but when I do I get so excited!
I picked this up last week. It's already been stripped of it's fabric and the handles have been sanded and re stained. Hoping for a good end result!

Hope everyone is having a lovely (spooky) evening and the pumpkins are holding up well.
This was one I cooked a while ago - stuffed mini pumpkin - very tasty!

Visitors welcome!

It's been a whirlwind weekend with a few lovely surprises I've been waiting to post about!
I couldn't believe it when I opened my e mail on Saturday and found out I had won the October Sew Mama Sew Flickr group $25 gift certificate!!
I never win anything - things like this just don't happen to me!

Then it got even better when I arrived home from work this evening to find a lovely e mail from Beth and Kristin at Sew Mama Sew. They have done a little write up about me and my blog on their site! How cool is that!


So if you are a new visitor here - Welcome !! I hope that you like what you see and will pop by again soon and I would love to hear from you all!

Etsy shop is up and running but is yet to be stocked - fingers crossed it will be soon!

Have a lovely week everyone and thanks again to Beth and Kristin!

How many days til Christmas?

Another week has flown by and all I seem to have heard this week is "How many days are there until Christmas?" Days!! I'm thinking in months!
The Christmas buzz is definitely here, the shops are crammed and mince pies are on the supermarket shelves!
The clocks go back tomorrow as well so we have shorter days and longer nights!! Which makes taking photos very difficult with it getting dark earlier!

Managed to get reasonable photos of my latest two projects:
1. A hanging organiser - sorry still with the pink theme!



2. A cute pincushion cube! How can you not be happy sewing with these little faces looking at you!


These will be available on Etsy when I get round to sorting it out, hoping the beginning of November!!

Nearly forgot - main reason for posting is to announce the winner of the needle book giveaway.
Using a random number selector the winner is NIC!! Congratulations!

(Nic - I can not find an email contact so if you can drop me an email I can arrange sending out to you!!)

DIY day (Giveaway reminder!)

I love being on holiday as I get so much done! Today has been a DIY day, put up some shelves, defrosted the freezer and been busy crafting away.
Today I've finally put more of my ideas into action:
More of my felt heart magnets in production (these were some of the first things I blogged about!)


Cutting ready for lavender felt heart hangers


Cute little magnets - made using my trusty cover button tool!



And since I'm hoping to start selling my goodies this little tag design has been floating around my mind for ages! I had ideas of embellishing them with stitching, ribbons and buttons but in the end I decided simple was better! I'm really pleased with how the first few have turned out!



Since I've been posting a lot this week - reminder if you want to win the needle book leave on comment on that post! Thanks!

See Sparks fly...

On my machine that is! Although it could be from all the fireworks that have been going off this week and it's not even Halloween yet!!
My machine has been busy today coming up with this..


A cute little tote bag with a front pocket. I'm still in my pink phase as you can see. (This one will be available on Etsy or eBay soon)



Have also been prepping for other projects cutting and sewing fabrics. So many ideas running through my head!


Remember any readers of my blog have til this Friday to comment on my previous post with a chance of winning the giveaway!

The dust has gone from the machine!

Finally some completed craft projects! I can't quite believe it myself.
Have dusted off the sewing machine and been trying out a few ideas with some lovely fabric that I received ages ago from Sheree.
As well as a few other goodies ended up making this needle book, first one I have ever made and hadn't intended making it anyway, it just sort of evolved out of scraps of fabric!


I'm fairly pleased with it. One thing I have discovered this afternoon is how self critical I am of my work! Any one else like that?
I think I'm a bit of a perfectionist - stitches have to be right, corners need to be exact!


I am pleased with the needle book but one of the corners is sticking out like a sore thumb although it is only short of 90 degrees!! I do like the way the ribbon has worked out and I do love the striped fabric design and the white felt in the middle and the little hearts ribbon. Oh come to think of it it's not too bad!
I may even make up a batch for Etsy.


Well I've decided to give this one away!
All you need to do is say Hi (or introduce yourselves if your lurking about) and leave a comment letting me know if you are as critical on your own work, or if it's just me in my little mad world!
I'll leave this post open until Friday 26th midnight(BST) then will find a number generator on the Internet to help me find a winner. Good luck!
Off for a cup of tea, still have some of my chocolates left as well, before I get back to my machine.



More photos over at Flickr

WIP

It's a simple as that WIP!
Finally getting back to some actual crafting and have a few projects that I want to get going on!

Reminder

We can all do our bit ...

Monday medicine!

October is definitely in full force!
The cold weather has arrived, the heating has gone on, scarves have reappeared and the nights are getting darker!
Time to cosy up in front of the TV with my Monday medicine!
(Or any day is an excuse for chocolate!)
This yummy gift was just what October had ordered.

As you can see even more changes to my blog!
I keep having visions of new headers and designs that I can do. I have changed the blog name back to CraftyB (as that is the address!) and have left Pink Stitches for the Etsy shop. It's all so confusing - apologies.
Plus I'm learning all this stuff as I go along so it takes me forever to change and modify things!
I'm so indecisive that I'll probably change things around again soon!
Just a short post today as I'm actually going to try and get round to some crafting!!
My sewing machine is gathering dust at the moment - not too good!!

Pink, pink and more pink!

Happy October! Dark nights and woolly jumpers out of the cupboards! I do like a bit of cold weather!


Dare I mention the word pink -
It's only when you actually start looking at one of your favourite things that you realise how much of an obsession it is! Thought I would take a few more pink pics when all I could see around me was pink!!
Here's a few for you pink enthusiasts.


Hopefully I'll have some craft to post about soon!

I'm baaaccckkk!!

Yes - can some of you believe your eyes!! I'm finally back!
Not sure where the last couple of months has gone but it has gone. I hope that I have not lost all my blog friends who have been stopping by and seeing me stuck on August!
As you can see I've had a bit of a re-style as well.
I'm still CraftyB but have changed the name of the blog to "Pink Stitches".
Why I hear you ask - well partly because my favourite colour is Pink and I'm stitching all the time! Or at least when I have the time!
Plus when I finally get round to launching my Etsy shop it is called "Pink Stitches".
Life has been very busy and my crafting has been put on a bit of a hold but hopefully all back to normal now!
So a quick Hello and Goodbye and here are a few of my favourite pink things!!

I told you all I couldn't keep away for the whole summer!!
Well just a quick check in for a bit of advice.

I have had so many emails and comments via my blog or over at Flickr in relation to my buttons and the button covering tool and was wondering whether people would be interested in buying them if I placed them in my (up and coming) Etsy shop?


Plus what would the interest be for my felt heart magnets/pin cushions/lavender sachets?
All advice and comments gratefully appreciated guys!! Thanks!!

Summer is apparently here?

Well it is the summer hols here, although looking out my window now at the grey cloud filled sky and raindrops at my window it does not feel like it!
Any way I have a busy few weeks a head and lots of projects that I want to get going on, so I am taking a short blog break!
I know it will not be for long as the lure of the computer and checking out my favourite blogs is always strong!!
Farewell for now, but I will be back!!
Crafty B xx

Memory reminders!

At the moment I have so many things in my head all for different things that post it notes will just not do, so I have had to resort to a Swaps memo board so I don't forget any of them!!


This is my quick and easy solution - using a cork trivet and covering it first with white cotton and then a thick polka dot furnishing fabric. The back is also covered with white cotton and everything is held in place by using a staple gun. It only took about 10 minutes and does just the job for now as it is hung up on the wall as I leave the room so I don't forget to look and make sure nothing should be in the post!

Over the next few weeks I hope to get things sorted around here and start thinking about and stocking my new Etsy shop. At the moment it is all at the very early stages and I have loads of ideas floating around my head, all I need now is some precious time to get going!

My latest crafting venture was this little front zippered coin purse I made yesterday. One good thing about the poor weather in the UK this summer is I seem to be spending more time inside and therefore out comes the sewing machine which also distracts me from my day to day work.
This was my first attempt at the front zip style and I'm fairly pleased with it. It was a bit fiddly with the lining but now I know the process of putting it togeher it should be easier and quicker next time!