Pretty in purple

A couple of weekends ago I had a wonderful day out with my mum at Lytes Cary. On the way we stopped off in Somerton for lunch and discovered a vintage fair where I stumbled upon some delicious Fat Quarters for only £1.45 each. Could you have left such prettiness behind at such a cheap price? I couldn’t and didn’t!

One FQ was just perfect for lining my smaller purple felt handbag that I’ve had lolling around waiting for inspiration for far too long

The fabric was slightly thinner than my normal linings, so I backed it with a lightweight interfacing, then added a pair of pockets and finally managed to sew a lining on that formed an edge to the bag rather than just butting up to the top

It’s really rather easy after all! I sewed the sides of the two lining parts together, leaving a gap at the bottom, then stitched the top of the lining to the top of the bag and pulled it all through. Then the bottom edge of the lining got neatly top-stitched as well as the outside of the top edging

I made the handle by plaiting 2 lengths of blue and one of multi-purple wool tops, which I then wet felted to make a strong shoulder handle, which I’ve sewn down the length of each side so it makes it secure 

I'm going to make a flower handbage charm to pin to it, a matching purse to pop in it and I might also add some beads, I’m not sure yet… my bags seem to take on a life of their own

Hi, my name is Rae and I’m...

... a Vistaprint addict…!

I sent off for some of their free business cards a while ago… you know, the ones that are always being advertised wherever you go on the web!

Well, the cards were ok, they have Vistaprint advertising on the back and the card isn’t brilliant quality, but hey, they were free! Order just one freebie from them and you get loads and loads of emails with all kinds of offers… it gets very tempting!

I finally succumbed when I had an email filled with a mass of freebies, including ‘premium business cards'. Since I wanted to change the design of my cards I figured this was a good excuse for  a little bit of a treat… and that’s where the trouble started…

So far I have… mugs, a baseball cap, tote bags, pens, small stickers, folded notecards, a ring bound jotter, T-shirt, 100 postcards... although I am not at all sure what to do with 100 postcards - maybe use them as appointment cards once I have passed massage exams?

Excuse me please, I have to go shopping again as I seem to have another email from Vistaprint…. See you in a while

PS – this isn’t me advertising for Vistaprint, I just wanted to share another of my addictions with you is all!

Flowers....

This week I have finally managed to grab enough time between massaging my wonderful case studies to get stuck in to some felting again. I made six new felted flowers... they all have brooch backs and either plain braid or braid and organza necklaces

I really enjoy making these as I can do them in stages; first I do the needle felting and then they wait in a pot until I have time (and inclination!) to get my stash of beads out for a good session of embellishing

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...

... okay, if you want to be pedantic apparently it is an estuary, but to me it is the sea, it smells like the sea and has seagulls and a pier plus I can see Wales across the other side of the water, and Wales is a whole other country, so really, it's almost an ocean isn't it?

Sorry, I digressed a little there. Recently I've been involved in the Seaside Swap hosted by KC's Court and I was paired up with the lovey Shirl over on the east coast, the opposite side of the country to me

Look at the scrummy pretty things she sent me, all beautifully wrapped in lush blue tissue paperwith real ribbon,which naturally immediately went in to my ribbon stash!

 

A nautical photo frame (destined for my shower room), a Clacton tea towel (which looks just perfect in my little kitchen), a stick of rock, some fishy stickers and a sea shell (which of course I put straight to my ear, and yes, I can hear the sea in it)

In between massages and swotting I did manage to get a bit of crafting done recently; just enough to fill Shirl's parcel...

I made a pair of lavender bags and appliqued a cushion cover using my seaside material, customised a plain notebook with a Weston Super Mare poster, made a little mermaid appliqued purse and of course I had to get a little bit of felting in there didn't i?! I made a pin cushion by filling a tiny tin bucket with sand coloured felt. Oh, and a stick of rock of course!

Thank you for being a great swap partner Shirl!

I'm signed up for a couple of Christmase swaps and the FRIENDS swap too, so I'd better get busy again. Are you swapping too?

Even more treats for me!

I have been spoilt utterly rotten this weekend! I went to visit my oldest-bestest friend Gill for the weekend, we've been friends since we met at the age of 12 at grammar school, so we go waaaaay back!

When I arrived Gill said she'd been having a bit of a clear out. This is what she gave me...

I mean, seriously?!? Look at all those lush goodies! There is a fabulous jewellery box underneath all those pretty scented candles, oil burners and skin care samples, there is a digital photos frame, speakers for a Walkman, pretty jewellery sets, assorted earrings and necklaces, a DVD of Avatar and not forgetting five, yes, FIVE handbags!!

Go on, count 'em... see? Five! And a delightful bright pink Filofax too! Told you I was spoilt rotten!

And then on my way home I popped in to see my mum who had also been away to visit a good friend, Win. Now Win is a lovely arty crafty lady and when she and mum got chatting, my current felting addiction came up and Win happened to have some wool tops and rovings left over from when she was felting, which she gave to mum for me...

Look at all that soft scrummy deliciousness... a whole swing bin liner of it - which is just a smigde more than I already had in my current wool stash, so that was my stash doubled in a moment!

There are all different kinds of wool, some for wet felting, some for needle felting and some for embellishing. Sadly with my little camera I have been unable to capture all the wonderful colours, but trust me - they are amazing!She even gave me a pair of carding combs too

I can't wait for next weekend when I can sit down and get stuck into making some more flowers and small creatures

I feel so very lucky to have received such amazing gifts. Also, I had a great weekend; you know what it's like with your bestest friend... just so wonderfully easy and relaxing , plus in my case she is a great cook and made me some delicious seafood meals too!

Ah well, back to the reality of work tomorrow, but at least I'll be arriving there with a big smile on my face!