Christmas Gifts

It's that time of year when it's already dark by the time you get home from work, there's a chill in the air and you can't help thinking it's Christmas time soon.

Every year I say I'll make as many handmade gifts as I can but last year I was too busy making orders for my online shop at the time. This year, I am determined.

We also have a Christmas fair coming up at work. I'm organising stalls selling gifts, mulled wine and hot snacks such as pretzels, crepes and German sausages. I'm going to have a little stand selling handmade nipple tassels (as we are a burlesque supper club and maybe some other nik naks such as funky cushions.

I ordered some craft supplies today from the best online shop Paper & String. I want to buy everything Sarah stocks!

Things on the list for pressies this year include:
Cookie Mixes
Candy
Personalised Canvas Bags

What kind of things do you make for Christmas gifts?

Finally Finished!!

I found a tutorial for a really cute little girl quilt a couple of years ago on Comfort Stitching and decided I wanted to make one for my 2 nieces. Like I usually do, I started to make them, got distracted and moved onto something else and the unfinished project got stored away.

Well, it's been stored away for well over a year and I stumbled upon it a week or so ago. I decided it was time to finish it - however the recipient will be my new baby niece who is 2 months old!

Here it is...

Lets hope she likes it :)

Illustration Friday: Carry

It's been a while since I painted. I actually started this picture for last weeks theme of 'lost' but didn't finish it until today. As this weeks theme is 'carry' it still works :)

Farm / Cow Themed Birthday cake

I made my fourth fondant cake yesterday with a cow / farm theme shaped as a number 1 for my friends son. His party was today. It's been around 2 years since I made the first 3 cakes so it was fun to get back into it.

They asked me to add the words (in British colours as mum is English and dad is Italian) saying 'Come fa la mucca', which means 'what noise does a cow make' as his first word was mooo! They loved the cake so I was happy.

Illustration Friday: Hitched

OK, here is it. My third attempt at a watercolour illustration. Don't laugh! I'm hoping I get better the more I practice!

This was the first idea that popped into my head. Hitched because the couple have just got hitched and because they've hitched a ride in the beetle.

I'm sure there must be better ways to upload but I have a very basic scanner so this is what it uploaded like although it looks different in real life. I wonder how people manage to upload their pics so they look like the actual painting?

I'm going to be a painter!

Ok, so I've decided I might quite like to be a painter. Have I painted before? No. Am I any good at drawing? No. Do I care? Not really. Practice makes perfect as they say. Anyhoo, I picked up a cheap set of watercolours from WHSmiths and a pad of paper. Whilst googling tutorials I found a blog called Illustration Friday where they post a topic each week so I figured I'd start with this to get my creative juices flowing. This weeks topic is 'Hitched'. I played around with a few doodles before deciding on a cute beetle with a married couple inside. It's maybe a little obvious but I figured I'd start with something easy. I'll upload separately as I need to have it on a single post to contribute my link to their site.

Dolly Donation

I came across a blog a while ago that totally captured my heart. Due to being heavily pregnant I never got round to making one and then forgot about it altogether. I was going through all the bookmarked sites a few days ago and was so happy to re-discover it. The blog is called dollydonations.blogspot.com and is run by a fellow Brit called Sarah who donates and organises doll drives - basically sending handmade dolls to children who have nothing / have lost everything due to war, natural disasters etc.

I made this dolly to send to one of the active doll drives in Brazil. The children have been forcefully evicted from their homes and left with nothing. Hopefully this dolly will bring a smile to someones face. 

I encourage you to stop by Sarahs blog and make a dolly for a child in need. If you can't sew she has patterns for crocheted and knitted dollys too. Click here to see the current active doll drives: 

Now I'm off to make another dolly for one of the other drives...

:)

Snap Frame Purses & Love Heart Pillows

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted but that's because I've been away for a week and I've also have been developing new items to add to the shops:

First of all, let me introduce you to my new snap frame purses / bags...

The Ling is a square purse and is ideal for every day use such as holding money, your phone and important bits and pieces to stop you losing them in your handbag!

The Barbarella is perfect for holding your cosmetics and can also be used as a mini clutch on a night out.

Give someone your heart this Valentine's Day!

These love heart cushions can be personalised with your own message.

All items are available from my Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jarofhandmadehearts

Competition

Check out Chantele's blog over at Daisy May Dayz to for a chance to win one of my personalised cosmetic bags!


Good luck :)