Tuesday 27 December 2011

Where did 2011 go?!


Hello there,

I hope you had a fantastic Christmas, Boxing Day and After-Boxing Day :) surrounded by loved ones, laughter and not to forget Christmas presents. I've been a bit hectic lately at work and at home. How about you?

So here are some of the things that have been occupying my brain space for a while (other than shopping for Christmas, Christmas day arrangements and boring old work, of course)

I've been waiting with anticipation for my copy of The Colette Sewing Handbook. I ordered the book and 2 patterns as a fantastic bundle deal at the end of last month from the Colette Patterns website I've been keeping an eye out for it to be delivered at work, but alas it has yet to arrive :(
Oh well, c'est la vie - first world problem

I've been reading The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin; which I borrowed from my local library. So far I've found it incredibly insightful and very revealing of what goes into starting your own handmade business. I don't have any intention of starting my own creative business ...yet. But I think this would be a great resource for those who are thinking about doing that...now or in the near future.

My sister gave me The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook for Christmas so I've been absorbing that for the last couple of days. Mainly just looking at the pretty pictures until this afternoon when I started reading. So. great.

See a trend with the books that are heading my way? Sewing books. I've become a little obsessed lately with the idea of sewing my own clothes. Although I haven't make any great plunges into the world of garment sewing just yet it is something that has been taking up some of my brain power. In anticipation I've been thinking about the types of things I'd sew. Ultimately I'd like to sew items of clothing in the style and colours that would suit me best.

I recently bought Colour Me Beautiful by Veronique Hendersen & Pat Henshaw and found it to be pretty informative about colours for me, but also about the types of garments that would suit me and also what style I am. I also have The Body Shape Bible by  Trinny & Susannah which is very helpful when looking at what styles of clothing will flatter my figure.

So that's what's filling my brain space at the moment. What's filling yours? New Years resolutions? Are you bring crafty? Leave a comment, I'd love to know.

In case, I don't post beforehand...
Here's to a fantastic 2012 full of new opportunities and good luck!

Do something that makes you sing on the inside.
V xo

Monday 12 December 2011

How-to: Button Brooches

Hi,
How are ya? How are you faring so far this silly season?
I'm doing well. I have a few gifts sorted out, but there are a definitely a few more that I need to find.

Today I'm going to show you how I made myself a simple and sturdy button brooch.
(I would like to apologise in advance for the horrible photos. I made my brooch at night. I'm most creative at night I, think I need to sort out a better lighting system for night photography. Anyway, I digress.)

At the beginning of the year I bought a big packet of Beutron buttons. They have been sitting in my stash for aaages. About a month ago I dusted off the packet . Because I'm a little crazy, I sorted them into their colour groups. 



While I was playing I found three that fit in each other and looked nice.
So I decided to make a brooch with them.

Here, I'll show you how I did it. Firstly here are the three buttons I found.


I grabbed a bottle of gem bond. But you can use any sort of permanent glue you have lying around. Just as long as it dries clear.


I dabbed a spot of glue into the middle of the blue button and placed the green one on top, making sure to line up the sewing holes as best I could.  I did the same with the heart button
(I took photos of these steps, but they came out sooo hideously blurry and I didn't realise until too late!)

Once the buttons are glued together I grabbed some thread and a needle and sewed a cross through the sewing holes. Next time I do it I'm going to wait until the glue dries, my needle got all sticky and yuk! To speed up the process I would probably use thicker embroidery thread.

This is what the front looked like when I was done sewing.

Onto the back, where all the pinning happens.
So on my first attempt I thought I'd just glue the brooch pin directly onto the button. FAIL! It just wouldn't stay in place.
So I glued a circle of felt onto the back of the button.


I then glued the brooch pin onto the felt. BTW these are very small brooch pin backs.

And then glued a small rectangle of felt over the brooch pin to give it a nicer look.

And that's it. Ta-da! Button Brooch complete.

I've since made a whole bunch of two-button brooches for stocking stuffers this Christmas.

What do you think? Would you wear one of these puppies?

I'm interested to know. When are you most creative? Why is that?

Friday 9 December 2011

Felt like a change...

Hi there,

If you're looking at the blog website you'll notice that I've changed things about  a bit.
I don't know how to explain it except that I felt like a change. Hope you don't mind. :)

Do you ever get like that? Just feeling the need for a change?
Does it cause you to do crazy things like rearrange furniture only to put it back the way it was? Or get a haircut you instantly regret?

Just wondering.

Have a great day :)

Monday 5 December 2011

Do we need to be more selfish with our time?


Do we need to be a bit more selfish and mindful of our time?

I was thinking about this on the way home from work today, because I was thinking about all the things that I wanted to do but I didn’t get to do on the weekend because I was busy doing other things that I felt I ‘had’ to do.

I don’t know about you, but on the weekend I lurve my sleep and when I have down time I lurve my down time. I’m the kind of soul that needs time to meander a little on the weekend; I need time to go with the flow.

Anyway, I was thinking about the weekend just gone and how I did things not really for myself, but because I probably should. Are you like that? Do you do things you’re not so keen about just because they are things that you probably ‘should’ do?

I also pondered the idea of how much time I have on the weekends. If you think about it you really only have about 32 hours (less if you love a good sleep in) in a weekend. That sounds like heaps right? Well it is heaps if you are hanging out in your house all day all weekend long. Do you do that often? I’d love to know. I haven’t done that in quite some time. I don’t think I do that often enough. Of that time you have to fit in house chores somewhere, unless you’re super organised and motivated to do that stuff during the week, which I’m not.

Yes it is fun having a weekend chockers full of great things to do, but very often I find myself on Sunday evening thinking, “Its Monday tomorrow? Really? Where did the weekend go?”
There are usually so many other things that I wanted to do for me. The sorts of things that I love to do and feed my soul. Do you ever feel that way?

Maybe I need to change my go-with-the-flow ways and have a game plan for the weekends. Maybe I need to start rethinking about whether I ‘need’ to go somewhere. Do I really need to go or do I feel guilty about not going for any apparent reason? Hmmm. I think I’m on to something here. Do you ever feel that way?

I think I need to start looking at where ‘my time’ goes. Look into a little more planning on the weekend. Not too much though. How about you?

Anyway, that’s my brain dump this week. It’s been a while since I had a rambling kinda post.
I hope I’ve given you something to think about. Leave a comment with your thoughts.

Until next time, do some pondering
V xoxo