CustomOrder - Laundry Bag

To keep you in my crafty loop - LOOK i made a laundry Bag. A custom order for a lady i know. Her daughter is going away to university and this is to help drag all that laundry around.
It turned out well - i was pleased with it!

I forgot to show you this...

I think i forgot to show you this bag from christinas.etsy.com
It is a super cute 'Lunch Bag' sort of a size. Matroyshkas all over it and a picnic style drawstring top.
I love it - i was going to give it to my daughter for her lunch bag but..... ummmm.... i kept it as MY lunch bag (you know, when I am off at a Craft Market all day) x



And i wanted to show you my cat too .... this is my Craft Room Cat. A friend made him. She sells these for £5 which is way too little because the love he gives me is priceless. I am going to write a whole blogpost on my friend MRS KING soon because .... well, you'll see when i BLOG HER! she is darling x

puuurrrrrrrrrrrr

NEW clothes from etsy and (Button Love...)

I have to keep showing you photographs of my buttons because I am still searching for that ULTIMATE shot. I want a fabulous photo that i can get professionally printed into notecards ... but i need 'that' shot ...
Anyway, whilst I am sharing the new button pics, i just **had** to share the ToddleFish in one of her new etsy dresses from courtneycourtney.etsy.com
I told the fantastic dressmaker "These are the clothes I have imagined for my girl! Thanks so much for making them" She is happy and I am happy. I will be buying more. If only they had Adult tops to match...

Today was a good day...

Tuesday is a work day for me. It was very unlike me not to be dressed on a Tuesday morning. As readers might remember from a previous post, i like to be 'dressed for work' even if it is a "sewing at home" work day.
I don't know who was more horrified when i answered the door at 9am - BRALESS! and in saggy tracksuit pants, me? or the Postman?
Then my Good Day began:
A parcel from Amazon...
The parcel contained some eagerly awaited pulp...! "Wreck This Journal" by Keri Smith (a sort of 'challenge book' about doing colourful, messy, unusual and artistic things on each and every page) I saw another creative lady doing one - i wanted in on the action...

THEN - This, "EcoArt" book.... Well, i had to get something for the wee ToddleFish. And it will come in handy now we are Home-educating and i run my "Craft Cafe" Children's Craft Club.
BUT, not only those, but my subscription to ScrapBook Inspiations (that i actually keep meaning to cancel!) AND>>>>> The latest Cath Kidston catalogue. Oh joyous reading. Oh joyous pulp. where does one begin?

Don't fret Handmade and Craft junkies - i haven't forgotten my promise to buy Handmade and 'Local' wherever possible .... i have the Cath Kidston catalogue for inspiration. Also, i live near a Cath K discount store so i like to see what fabrics will be discounted and on sale in 12months time. Always one step ahead....

Then i spent the rest of my day working feverishly hard on a couple of HUGE button ring orders and some Christmas decorations x Today was a Good Day x and i love to share it with you.

Hello - "Local Craft Matters AUGUST 2008"

Issue 2! (i'm in issue 3)

This is a quick 'Hello'! to all those of you who found me through "Local Craft Matters" and THANKYOU to Carole for publishing me.
Craft is my life. Not just to make a wage but because i love it. I love to be a part of the textiles, paint, pottery, paper, fabric world. Craft makes me a happier and more complete person x

Kirsty x

The Button Badger

I love to make badges ... i make them obsessively. I never even really 'liked' badges, until i started to add my own special embellishment - a button (of course!) sewn to felt disc and glued to the front surface.


I buy from a supplier and buy in bulk! By the 1,000 actually. The biggest drawback of my job is storing stock ALL over our house (ask the man who lives here....!) So this box is a new delivery of CUPS / PLATES / PINS / ACETATE...
I had better tell you the STORY, in brief, of how i became the owner of this fantastic vintage 'Button Badger'...
I was at a craft and nature centre with the daughter, about 2 years ago, and they had a machine just like this.
ENVY!! and i said to my man "I want one - i will never rest till i own a badge making machine". We looked on ebay when we got home and ..... well, they were ALOT of money :( i didn't need one that bad, i could wait till riches befell me.
SERIOUSLY, about 2 weeks later, The Man walks in .... holding THIS .... "you are going to love me" he said "you are going to love me so much" ... "I found it an old building at work. They're clearing out and it's FREE to a good home" >>> MY good home - the best home! Never has a home been more deserving of a Button Badger than mine "COME TO MAMA" X
Okay, okay, i Omit to tell you .... we did have it re-conditioned and it cost some money. It wasn't ready to go as such. BUT its vintage model and working prowess is industrial. I can make badges by the hundred!!!! (n.b it hurts like HELL to make 100 in one sitting)
Ahhhh cute paper disc, sitting in the swivel case - i'd love to do a video demo but i am not that techno savvy. You will have to be content with the pictorials. Sweet though huh???


So i sell badges individually on my craft stall - collected by many a teen and tweenie!
I also sell them in 'party packs' for fantastic take-home gifts.
I know a mum who dishes them out as 'rewards' for good behaviour!
I give them out at the door on Hallowe'en .... the possibilities are endless.


Yes i put felt and fabric through it - not just paper!
Happy, happy, happy. It is satisfying work for someone with a short attention span like me!!

P.S Button Badger envy is a terrible thing, i know, it nearly killed me! But the craft gods looked down upon me with favour on this occasion x

Kirsty's Crafty finds...

I know, i know - this is a CRAFT blog and i did promise myself it would only be crafting!
But... one or two people commented on some of my wooden boxes that i use to store craft items in. Then, when i told them, "I found that at the local tip for £2" some people felt sickly jealous (x) and a little curious...
It made me suddenly photograph some of my Crafty TIP finds.
We aren't supposed to call it the TIP anymore, it is the 'Local Recycling Centre' (don't you know)


This is the photo that started it... It has a top layer that you take out to reveal more little sections underneath. I haggled the Tip Man from £5 to £3 - i think he was swindling me x

A Paddington Bear suitcase that i use, at times, for Craft Fair displays or to sit around the house - £2.00 and a lovely wooden box on top with treasure in (a Tip find but a gift from the man to me)...



The Button Badger - a FIND! This will have a complete future BLOG post of it's own. FOUND in a warehouse, not the Tip - but i did pay to have it re-conditioned...

This old Church Pew for the Kitchen - waiting for The Man to chop it down to a smaller size. I have been waiting for 12 months now. I could tackle it myself but WoodWork isn't my thing really... (£5.00)
I love these - old Printers Trays. I have a few in the Art Room to hold ribbons and Inks and Stamps and Beads, but this one is ready to hang on the wall for crafty displays... (£2.00)


Ye Olde Park Bench for the garden... (£5.00)LOVE this! An old school desk with double lift up lids and ink wells. (£3.00) This is for My daughter really but i use it in the evenings as a craft table in front of the tele and also to measure and cut felt because it is 1metre long!


The JOYS of crafty TIP finds x There are many more in our house, but that will do for now! x

Taking a Break ...

I know!!!! SHOCK hOrRoR !!!! I am actually going to take a little break for a while.
I have been working way too hard recently. Have you seen the shops? Packed to the rafters with gorgeous new buttons, felt, bunting, brooches, badges ... I need a small break from 'making'...
So I am going to kick my feet up for a bit. No more 'new' things in the shops. But I won't be going anywhere...

A bit of blogging, because i genuinely love to BLOG.
A bit of a tidy up in the studio ... ok a BIG tidy up in the studio.
I am going to have a small party for some friends.
Sort out the Christmas stock into an easy system (pprrrrp)
Photo the new 2008 Christmas items
But generally, take it easy for a while - see my 'easy updates' HERE x


I've got lots of BLOGGING in the pipeline so please, keep in touch x

Soooo .... BUNTING! From Start to Finish x

Bunting - as we call it in the UK and Australia!

I decided, one day, ages ago ... that i was going to try and make some bunting. I was never even a 'fan' of bunting (then!) but some local customers had asked me if i made it so i thought i would try it...


I decided on the size and shape of each flag by sketching it on paper first. Then i made one or two 'flags' or 'pennants' and they seemed to look okay. At the time, i was buying Bias Bind (for the coloured top strip) and it was 5 meters long. I decided i could cut that in half and fit 12 flags on each 2.5mtr length... ( I now buy it in 50metre rolls! )...
I made a few lines of Bunting in some 'party themes' - jungles, robots, pirates ... and then i had an order for some saying "Baby Girl" and "Baby Boy" so i decided i could offer names on bunting for children ...
It all just went from there and nothing has changed much since. Not the design, not the size (although i do now offer mini-bunting)...
I don't even design the look of the bunting first! I just wait and see what comes from a sewing session - Bunting really encapsulates and suits my craft style:
1. no pattern
2. no plan
3. small sections at a time
4. bright and impulsive

I usually make LOADS of flags and then decide which ones go together the best and somehow ...they work! Choosing gorgeous fabric is always a good start and i try to pick ones i love and really good quality cotton weave.
P.S This really is the ONLY time i get the iron out in my house!...
I love the way they all turn out so differently and that i rarely repeat a pattern. It keeps me on my creative toes and stops me getting bored. I collect fabric COMPULSIVELY now and make bunting all week, every week. I love to see it brighten up the homes and gardens of people i know... or to think of it in customers homes whom i have never met...

I have 'my' bunting hanging in:
School halls >>> Wedding receptions >>> Children's Bedrooms >>> Shop windows >>> Cafe windows >>> Tea Room walls >>> Craft Stalls >>> Garden Parties >>>Birthdays >>> Theme nights >>> Some Narrow Boats >>> Domestic Kitchens >>> Art Studios >>> EVEN as far flung as a remote island in FIJI! where my sister celebrated her 30th birthday and, when she moved on, she left it for a family and their children who love it...
Some days i hate making more of the stuff ... but most days it is one of the nicest creative jobs i do. They are bright, happy, cheerful, colourful, fun, kitsch, totally un-necessary ... everything my CRAFT style is about! ...
Why not make some of your own? And if you can't sew - use paper? LISTEN, my 4 yr old made paper bunting for her dolls house - there really is nothing to it!
Have fun - get creative x x x

BUNTING - as we call it in the UK and Australia x