Christmas Star Wreath

An old post was resurrected over on crafter_oo yesterday that caught my interest. It linked to a lovely tutorial by annekata. It was a simple 3d paper star and below is my interpretation.

I have loads of vintage sheet music and decided to use that. The ring is made of polystyrene and covered in paper strips. I think i'm going to make another larger star burst as a feature in my living room for Christmas.

Two Turtle Doves

After doing my partridge wrapping paper I decided to continue the theme and make some greetings cards. Below is my Two Turtle Doves greeting card. Ive pictured the process I went through to get to the end result. Printing can be so frustrating sometimes - for instance my paint decided not to fix properly so I had to experiment with differnt types to find one that worked well. Anyway it is available to buy through my folksy or Etsy store if its takes your fancy.

As you can see I sketch with whatever I can find and managed to sneak this in when the children were drawing too.

 

I like to paint on my design before cutting. I'm not sure if this technique adds anything to the process but I like doing it.

The finished print.

Interview With Hannah Robinson

I was lucky enough to be interviewed on Hannah Robinsons blog today. Her day job is creating fabulous illustrations which can be found here. She also has a cute little Folksy shop too.

Please if you get a chance pop over and have a read. If anything it gives a better insight into what I do and what drives and interests me.

Partridge Gift Wrap

This is the next piece from my 2011 Christmas range. It is my my own design work which has been printed using lino printing techniques. It took quite a few attempts to get the plumage right using a new flexible lino which I was not impressed with. I found it too hard to cut and it took longer and it also was too flimsy so I easily messed up when applying block to paper - maybe I need more practise. :S

Anyway I have listed this in my Folksy shop as made to order. I'd rather print to order than run the risk of little fingers finding it! It's also been featured on Cuteable as part of their Flickr Friday feature *yay*.

Botanical Upcycled Pendant

Botanical Upcycled Pendant, a photo by Handmade and Heritage on Flickr.

I was at the flea market on Tuesday and stumbled across a box of broken time piece materials. I bagged a good handful for £2 and some of it has been used to make this pendant.

Firstly I prized open the case and lined it with a page from a botanical illustrations book then glued some pressed flowers on top. I then attached the watch face and hung it from a piece of ribbon. Its also has had a good polish and its come up lovely.

I'm not sure whether this will make it to my Folksy shop as its the type of jewellery I love to wear... we will see.

Mini Me in Vintage

My very beautiful daughter (I am very biased) has discovered a love of vintage! :) Here she is posing in a very cute vintage Mickey Mouse jumper thrifted from a charity shop for 50p. I think she looks gorgeous and I love how out of all the little pressies she had yesterday her favourite was this.... like mother like daughter!

I've been Featured!

My Fabric Bauble has been featured in this lovely Autumn/Winter Showcase by The Crafty Network. Yippee!!!

Find it here....  clickety click

Rolling with it!

Its taken some time and a lot of hard work but I finally seem to be getting somewhere with Handmade and Heritage. I'm enjoying small but regular sales from both vintage and handmade - of course I would love more but you have to take what you can, especially its today's financial climate.

Also as you will already know I am a contributor for the new Crafteroo Magazine that is now on sale and available to buy. I wrote the Folksy feature and submitted two tutorials which were my decoupage bangles and hydrangea mixed media. I feel very blessed to have been a part of something new and exciting.

Finally i've been making lots of xmassy inspired bits, some have worked some have not. Someone once said that when reading blogs they like to read about the good makes and bad makes too. I guess it makes us human and shows us all that not everything works first time and that you have to spend months, even years perfecting your craft.

I had lots of little ideas floating around in my head that inspired this decoration. It originally started off as a lino print on vintage fabric but I have lightly stuffed it to hang on an xmas tree. I dont think it works. I like things on my tree that necessarily are not xmas themed but I think this is too dark and boring. Maybe some colour might cheer it up. I'd love to know what you think of it.