Make A House A Home

I love a craft challenge and was thrilled to be invited to take part in the Make A House A Home competition.



Make A House A Home

As the Summer days are fading and I am crafting for Autumn and Christmas (yes the C word in September!) it was great to get my craft on with bright Summer inspired colours.

I was sent the pretty wooden bird nest with the brief to get crafty and to 'make a house a home'. With the inspiring craft materials at Buddly Crafts  to choose from, I put together a colour palette of homely happy colours; greens, pastels and reds. I then chose the a basket of pretty materials to reflects this.

I saw the Fimo Effect polymer clay with a great shimmer to the classic Fimo I have used before. Fimo polymer clay is great for modelling so I bought a pastel palette of  six pretty colours Aqua, Light Pink, Lilac, Mint, Peach and Vanilla.

I had to include the Tilda fabric in the project as I have used them to make cotton dolls, cushions and bunting and the prints looks really homely. I chose the green to look like the trees.

To start the project, I broke off a strip of each of the colours and rolled it out with a old wine bottle a 3 mm thickness. This was for my flags for around the bird house roof. I played around with the flag shapes until I got one I was happy with. I then cut out the flags six times in each clay and wetted them to bend them into a shape so that the bunting flags looked like they were blowing in the breeze.

They were then baked as per the packet instructions and left to cool down whilst I decorated the bird house.

I used the Tilda fabric for the roof and the side panels of the bird house leaving the inner panels ready for a white acrylic paint wash later in the project. I used a hot glue gun and a heat proof mat (the red dotty mat just seen) to protect my craft table.

I bought a pastel pink, pastel blue and white ric rac trim to add to the bird house around the sides and over the Tilda fabric as a contrast.

Over the Tilda fabric - so pretty!

Then the white wash was added.

I crocheted a bunting flag in red using devil red #666 .

The flags were then fixed into place and with the remaining thread and fabric I embroidered a 'Home' banner and decorated the bird perk ready for my reveal.

Our little Home sign

The bunting fimo flags were glued in place on a crocheted string with a ric rac trim. I used a staple gun to attach the thread to the house and strong craft glue to attach the flags to the string.

And a hanging loop on the back.

And our new bird home is finished.

I am over the moon with my finished bird box and it's going up in the house tomorrow. I want to thank Ocean Finance for inviting me to take part.

How would you decorate a bird box?

Samantha

* This is a sponsored post

The First National Upcycling Day

Do you that today is the very first National Upcycling Day? It's great to see that people around the world are sharing their makes over on social media. So follow along with your DIY makes at #nationalupcyclingday. Don't be shy!

Here are a few of my makes using vintage fabrics. I love the thrill of finding an old button or fabric and giving it a new lease of lift.

These are my favourites -

a crocheted covered button I used on a corsage

Bunny bunting with vintage ribbons from a charity shop find habby box

buttons sewn onto keepsake hearts and little messages typed with a retro typewriter

old fabrics created into fascinators

Nottingham lace applique on little hearts

What is your best DIY upcycling project? Let me know,

Happy Crafting,

Samantha

Making Memory Boards

Last Saturday, I hosted a Making Memory Boards Crafternoon Tea at Pickford's House in Derby. I love the Georgian venue and getting the chance to craft in the museum kitchen is amazing!

This was my third workshop this year in the venue making the chalk board scrapbook inspired craft. The concept came about when I was asked last year by some scrapbookers to come up with a Crafternoon that they could bring their scrapbooking skills to and lift them off the page.

The class brings together stitching and paper art to form the decoration to the chalk boards. We used some of the instructions from a vintage accessory class plus ones for a jewellery making flower class to add pretty three dimensional pieces to our chalk creations.



memory chalk board from Jan 2015

Valentines plant chalk board

Here are a few pictures from the Crafternoon ...

tea, cake and chalk board memory crafts

time for tea!

crafting away

 

kitchen memory board

I will be hosting the Crafternoon again due to it's popularity, it's such a fun way of using a mix of crafty skills to give the chalk boards a vintage twist!

Happy Crafting,

Samantha

You're Invited To A Charity Crafternoon Of Stitching!

Are you free next Saturday afternoon, love sewing and live near Derby?  You are...then read on....

You are invited to our second crafternoon of stitching as part of the Inspiring Derby 2015 programme. And it's a free event though booking is essential.

All the materials are supplied and you will be able to stitch a pretty little corsage with the art gallery as our inspiration in the taster session. Also you will hear about the Autumn Crafternoon programme at the Museums ..first! ... .exciting....

We have pretty silks and vintage fabrics to choose from and also a chance to learn about Derby's rich textile past. Places are limited and we have goodie bags for everyone! Hooray! Call 07881 163955 to email me to book a place.

We are raising money for the Colin Bloomfield Melanoma Appeal a skin cancer charity in memory of a local BBC radio presenter, so bring your pennies to donate.

Here are a few of last years makes, excuse the flash

last years theme was Georgian corsages

 

stitching our Georgian corsages

Happy Stitching!

 

Samantha

A Mid Century Hair Do And Crafternoon in Nottingham

Hello,

Love Mid Century retro coolness, the 1950's beauty school look (think Grease kitsch) and lots of tea, cake and crafty fun? Oh yeah! This post is about my time hosting a Crafternoon tea party and having a vintage 'do in Nottingham's The Little Vintage Beauty Parlour. 

This is me with a bee-hive half up do that the lovely Miss Whittley-Belle styled for me whilst I drank tea out of a china cup and soaked up the ambiance of the parlour. By the way the 'do was amazing, I had it done at 3pm and by bedtime I had to take it down myself. Incredible! even  my Wedding day hair fell down in less time than this so a big hooray to Mis WB!

the dresses, pink walls and pretty petticoats

From the moment you walk in, it's like walking onto a movie set, a retro reception desk, old fashioned fifties hair dryers and a record player with real records. You kinda leave 2015 at the door and whizz back to 1955.
 

afternoon tea on a hostess trolley with Babycham glasses

When I was asked  by Lulu B to start Crafternoon Tea Parties in this fabulous space I said yes! This is a snap shot of an afternoon of vintage crafty fun. You can also recreate for your own Crafternoon for a hen party or birthday or baby shower in this light airy space.

A 1950s fascinator made with old fashioned materials

Whether you want a 50's fascinator (pictured above) or a boho flower crown, with the vintage fabrics and haberdashery plus professional crafting advice we can make this happen for you!

the craft table ready to go

We provide the templateS, step by step instructions and craftiness so you can create a bespoke piece.

I bring pretty suitcases of old fabrics and vintage beads, pearls and buttons to choose from. And after three hours of crafting and scrummy afternoon tea the girls made two hand pieces each. The girls told me they hadn't made much crafty before and were so so happy to have made unique pieces. I was really happy too!

And what's more, The Little Vintage Beauty Parlour is based in Hopkinson's Vintage Department Store (yes a department store of vintage!).

And you can shop for old fabrics and sewing collectables in the cool Iris store on the first floor. If you are luck you might find an old sewing machine or a rummage through the baskets of vintage fabric to find a gem. Really worth a trip.

 

We are really lucky to have a space like this in Nottingham, do you have one in your part of the world? Leave me a comment as it's great to find little gems like this to visit on my next trip away.

Bye for now,

Samantha

Real Crafternoon Makes And A Few Crafty Tips!

It's Friday and finally the sun it shining here in Derbyshire, happy days.

 Today I wanted to share with you some of the makes from last months Crafternoon Tea parties before I go off to prepare for some #etsyparty fun at our third Creative and Crafty Blogger Meet.

With suitcases full of vintage haberdashery and lovely accessories, these are some of the makes from the last month

So from this table of materials to these...

This pretty corsage was made last weekend in a bespoke corsage jewellery making party. Using felts, vintage inspired fabrics, sheer organza fabric and decorated in swarovski element crystals in pink and clear it was made into a brooch with a pin on the back. I love the mix of colours, different weights of fabrics and sparkles.

We also used the fabulous Doocrafts embellishments to add centres to other corsages as in the picture above. So little and so cute! For adding all these gems I use a hypo cement glue with a precision tip. It means we don't get glue everywhere and unlike hot glue it's glues the smallest little gem onto a fabric and metal.

In the same party we made corsage flower rings, bobby pins and vintage bow rings. I think that the beads and gems in the middle really finish the projects off. All rings were glued with the two part resin glues. I use The Bead Shop's blank silver adjustable ring and bobby pins.  *Tip* By adding a little piece of fabric behind the pin back it really neatens off the make.

We did the same with this vintage bow ring...
 

At a vintage fascinator party this beautiful bird was created, it's even holding a bunch of faux flowers in it's beak!

At our new Crafternoon Tea classes at The Little Vintage Beauty Parlour this crafter made a black and white 1950's fascinator, added a square jewel and two white bows over a piece of black lace. Then finished it off with a white widow's net veil. So chic!

I hope you have enjoyed a glimpse into our parties for May. For more information please visit www.crafternoonteahostess.co.uk.

What's your favorite make?

Now, I'm off to get ready for the blogger meet on Sunday.

Happy Weekend,

Samantha x