New Facebook page!

I've finally launched a facebook page linking the blog and etsy shop.
 

For more informal updates, the lastest news and the occasional give away just head over to facebook and 'like' my page :)

 

And don't forget you can follow on twitter too.

Showing some love for local crafting :)

Feeling the love today for local crafting. I discovered 'Sparkle Dreams' paper crafting shop and workshop at Studley Grange. Having lived in Wiltshire for 4 years, I have long bemoaned the fact that we have quite limited sources for good crafting materials - often having to resort to online shopping or my weekly pilgrimage to the crafting giant Hobbycraft.

 

 

How wonderful to discover an intimate little shop, around the corner with animated and passionate staff, offering a more personal service. It was a joy to be able to browse the racks, see and touch products I'd only seen photos of online. I was like a kid in a candy shop, with cries of "Tim Holtz!" and "I've not seen this MME paper before!" it was a revelation ... and probably a bit embarrassing to everyone I was with.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am a bargain hunter and will always shop around for my crafting needs, but for the joy and shear satisfaction of being able to touch and see what I'm buying might be worth overlooking a little price comparison now and then ;) Not to mention showing support for our local businesses.

 

NB:- Sparkle Dreams can be located at Studley Grange 16, M4 Motorway near Wroughton. The shop also offers regular crafting workshops. [Photo credit Sparkle Dreams]

Upcoming updates

Well it's all go in our family at the moment; birthdays, house moving, BBQs, painting & decorating, and nursery starting ... not to mention the accociated card making, cake decorating, cooking, sewing and other side projects. (Plus Mr.S's race running and toe breaking)

 

 

In all the chaos it's been tricky to find time for a proper update, but I promise more is coming soon!!! For now here is a sneak peek at my new toy...

 

 

... eeek!!! Previously I've held off buying any of the die cutting machines, prefering to muddle through with my punches and handcutting skills, but Christmas came early when this arrived :D So, expect lots of new projects involving my brand new Big Shot :D

 

Bank holiday fun

What a lovely bank holiday weekend. We took the kids to Longleat Safari Park - where the kids hand fed the deer, roared at the Lions and climbed all over the inside of the car pretending to be monkeys (as the real ones climbed all the outside).

Mr S. has decided we need a summer holiday, so we spent some time looking at tents - the kids loved running in and out of the big 10 man display tents (and falling over the doorways). Whe  we got home we even got out one of the old tents for the garden - JJ wanted to sleep in it but was glad he didn't when it started rainning. To be honest I'm not sure if they're quiet ready for camping, might opt for a lodge instead this year.



Fabric purchases

Just got back from my local sewing shop with this wonderful pile of goodies, and I couldn't resist posting. Such possibilities and potential in a horde like this. I'm rather excited about my current project; I'm attempting to make a quiet book for Little Lady's Birthday. I've found some great patterns and am attempting a few of my own, can't wait to finish some so I can share!

The kids bake cakes

Yesterday was a lovely day at home with the kids. They'd asked to make some cakes, and who am I to refuse? I let them pick their own cake cases (JJ went for Pirates, Lfor a cupcake pattern to match her apron) - a decision I regretted later on when it came to 'sharing' lol.

These cake were pretty much all their own work, from helping measure the ingredients, to turning the dial on the mixer and portioning out the mixture. Mummy was only needed to top up the cake cases and handle the oven.

Obviously the best bit is helping to lick out the bowl...

JJ took great care when decorating his, whereas L got stuck straight in eating it as soon as I'd helped her ice the first cake :D

Rain, Rain go away...

Well, April is certainly living up to its reputation around here, we've had showers everyday for weeks. I've been making the most of it, teaching the kids lots of songs about rain (hence the title), and they have been dying to get out in the garden, so yesterday we put on our wellies and went for a splash in the biggest puddle we could find.

 jj was a bit reluctant at first, after asking all week to splash in puddles he changed his mind the second his trousers got a little bit wet, but after matching him up and down a few times he soon remembered how much fun puddles can be. Little lady got stuck straight in, one of life's natural adventurers. We all had a lovely time, just wish I'd taken my camera (captured these with my phone on its last bar of battery, lol).

In other more crafty news, I've been developing my Heirloom Bouquet (probably about 30 brooches short of being finished). Mr S has just requested 20 more evening invites so I'm patiently making those.

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I'm also slowly working my way down a list of about 20 friends and family birthdays that fall between now and the wedding and making handmade cards for them in advance - which is no small job I can tell you, lol.

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Also in the pipeline, a  couple of special handmade Birthday present for my little girl, and a few gifts for other children's Birthdays ... not to mention Minnie Mouse Party planning and general wedding organisation :D Busy busy busy!

A little sewing and a little baking..

Oops, no blog entries since Monday, which is odd as I've spend a good part of this week on sewing projects: I finally found time to start work on my garter for the wedding and have been working on a surprise last minute project - a Knight's costume for JJ to wear to nursery on Monday for St George's Day! Keep an eye out of full step by steps on both of these projects.

Had my Mum over today, and while JJ was at Nursery we helped Little Miss make some cookies to give her brother when he got home. She loves baking and was surprising good at doloping the mixture onto the baking trays.

The cookies came out lovely, she was so proud when she gave them to Josh.

All change!

I'm in the process of giving the blog a total make-over, so please bear with me while things are up in the air, backwards, upside down or randomly missing. Hopefully it'll all be a change for the better, I'm enjoying dusting off my old adobe photoshop skills but have also discovered an online version of a mobile app I love pixlr-o-matic - a quick way to 'vintage-up' your photos :)

Right, think I'm all done for the day, I'm sure over the coming days and weeks I'll be changing elements and trying to perfect the design a bit, but hopefully not too much!

Easter crafts with the kids

It's been a dull rainy day in Wiltshire today, but that didn't stop us going for a little family walk in the morning. Mr S is now busy making a Curry for tonight's dinner, meanwhile the kids and I have been doing a little Easter crafting.

They both made Easter cards earlier in the week at a Hobbycraft craft event so today we decided to make Easter pictures to go on the fridge. Granny had given them both a set of foam stickers so the kids used felt tips to draw on a piece of green card and then used the stickers to decorate. These are entirely their own work, with a little help from Mummy to stop the long 'happy easter' sticker getting stuck to itself.

We also made this years additions to the Easter Tree decorations. I drew around a cookie cutter and cut chick shapes out of yellow card which the kids then coloured in, we used glue dots to stick on feathers for tails and then hole punched the tops and threaded a ribbon through.

Good friday family beach trip

Our 'Good Friday' family tradition is to visit the beach - come rain, or shine or snow or hail... OK, so its quite a new tradition, only 3 years standing but all traditions have to start somewhere. We were prepared for bad weather today as there is snow in some parts of the country so we packed the wellies, coats, jumpers, with the buckets and spades and headed for Sandbanks beach.

  We made all of our names out of shells - the kids had a fun collecting them in their buckets and helping to spell out their names - but I think their best game was dismantling them afterwards!

The kids had a fantastic time: paddling, chasing wet dogs, building sandcastles, collecting shells and getting generally covered in sand and seawater :D And we were lucky with the weather, although a jumper was a necessity the sun shone all day.

Oh and I couldn't resist extending my name into the domain name for a bit of shameless beach side advertising, lol!



Belated Birthday post

Thought we were all recovering from flu just in time for my birthday, but it turns out we were just coming down with a new bug. But had enough time to go for a picnic in Longleat and see the Seal Lions. Here is my daughter being cute, picking daisies:



I got some great arts and crafts things for my brithday, including new wire cutters, scrapbooking papers, felt, sugarcraft veiners, stampers and the wilton book of cake pops - I can't wait to feel better enough to start using them all!

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Here's to a healthier and happier April!

Kids placesmats, made out of scrapbook papers

I was setting the kids places out for dinner and thought I'd blog about about an old craft: their cool individual placemats - a quick crafty project with endless possibilities and that should keep everyone happy about their personal space at the dinner table. 

Basically all they are is 12x12 scrapbook paper, laminated. No tutorial required really, it is that simple. You just need access to an A3 sized laminator, and make sure the laminating sheet can get a good seal at all four edges. Given the wide range of papers available you are sure to find something to suit every child's personality or interests, you could even add some decoupage (although I do find the smooth surface of the papers makes for a more hygienic 'wipe clean' finish).

These are the kids place mats we made last year, I particularly love the double sided papers for these. And of course this idea isn't limited to just the kids, you can make some great 'grown up' placemats too. And why limit yourself to scrapbook paper why not make a whole set of placemats for your table using wallpaper samples or card mounted gift wrap? Happy crafting!

Feeling poorly & Mr S's cookies

We've all been feeling rather under the weather lately. In fact, I think the whole family has had some form of illness or another for the whole of march. I'm to rest up today and banish this flu bug before my birthday tomorrow, so Mr S thoughtfully made me and the kids some chocolate cookies (Perhaps the tag should have read: hand made by Mr S, lol).

There are yet more luscious chocolaty smells coming from my kitchen as he is attempting to make my Mother's Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe as my birthday cake :)

Promise to get better soon and get back to my crafting, have a few sewing projects in mind and will be doing lots of Easter crafts with the kids.

Bunny Bait trial run...

Another trial run, this time on Easter themed 'bunny bait' recipe from Bake at 350. The kids and I used smarties instead of m&ms as that was what we had to hand - considering making it for Easter weekend maybe using mini mini eggs, and possibly adding pretzels like Jaclyn's version at cooking classy ....Bang goes the diet!

Cakes go pop!

Decided to have a quick trial run on making cake-pops this weekend. It's against my baking nature to buy a packet mix' but for this type of receipe I relented. Mr S however convinced me against spending money on candy melts or melting chocolate for a trial run - which is where I think I went wrong, lol. I learned the hard way icing is just no good for the job: it's either too thick to dip or too runny to stay put, they actually looked alright when hardened - but lesson learned for next time :D

Preview: My Heirloom Bouquet

As we're almost at the 100 days mark towards the wedding, I thought I'd post a preview of one of the many bridal projects I have on the go. Normally I prefer to only post completed projects, but just this once a little sneak peek can't hurt ;)

I've decided to shun the traditional floral bouquet, because it seems a lot of money for something you are just going to throw away and ... well, after seeing Heirloom Bouquets in a wedding magazine I just had to have one. Once complete I'll post some photos and the tutorial I've been using, but for anyone who hasn't heard of these fab items's here's a handy link, perfect for magpies like me.

Here is part of my the collection of 'heirlooms' so far, some are already wired up ready for use, and now I've finally located my gluegun progress should be a bit more rapid.

I've had great finds at carboots, charity shops, ebay and very generous friends and family.

 Itching to get going with the glue gun, can't wait to post the finished item.

Brooches: The ladybirds and the bees

Today I've been sewing in the garden, while watching the kids make mud piles, and 'carpetting' their tent with grass. These cute bumble bee and ladybird badges for the kids were quite straight forward to make, and again, only using things I already had in the cupboard - just need to get brooch backs, once completed I'll share a tutorial on how to make them.

I also replicated the process in miniature and made some mini clips for my daughter, just waiting for the glue to dry, before road testing them :)

Brooch: The Owl, the Moth and the Sequins

I'm at home today with 2 under-the-weather toddlers... well, considering the scene of devastation that is my living room I think they are feeling much better now ... and so we are somewhat housebound. Later we're making chocolate brownies, but first I kept my hands busy with this cute little craft.

I had a few charms left over from old projects, and when browsing around for new blogs to follow I found these fab Owl Brooches at Ellie's Treasures, what a great way to use all your felt scraps, AND I had a cute little owl who was in desperate need of a new home - rejected from the heirloom bouquet collection for (according to Mum) looking 'too much like a skull when looked at upside down'.

Although my design is completely different, as this is a bit of an 'homage' to Ellie's owl's I'm not going to go into to much depth about how it was made (although with a little craft experience it's not too hard to work out). I created this brooch using only items already in the house, raiding the craft cupboards and even resorting to rumaging around the long forgotten pot of spare garment buttons and ziplock baggies of sequins.

I experimented with the layout a bit, I originally cut the brach structure out of felt by eye (although this eventually was covered with sequins), then was rather indecisive about whether I really needed a moon (covered button) when the moth (technically a butterfly bead, but this is night ime after all) looked so pretty and brought out the silver of the Owl, so I ended up doing both.

I don't have the neatest hand stitch, and insist on using doubled thread - because essentially I'm lasy and hate re-threading the needle, but I do enjoying sewing little projects like this, it's quite relaxing. I have to admit this project was also a lesson in using sequins, as I'd not sewn with them before, took a few tried to get them overlapping in a suitable manner. I'm included photos of the back of the stiting panel and the eventual back of the broach to show how this can hide a multitude of sins. If I had been making this for a gift, rather than just for fun, I would probably have bought a proper brooch pin for the back, but a safety pin works just as well.

Not quite sure what I'm going to do with my little brooch now, if I can be parted from it, it may end up as a present for a special person. Was just so nice to do something non-wedding related for a while :D

Every Blog has to start somewhere...

Welcome to the new Blog section of Handmadebyrianna.com I aim to use this to share cards I'm working on for friends and family, tutorials and other crafty projects I'm working on.

I might even have chance to share some of my baking exploits, I love  making cookies with the kids, trying new cupcake flavours and tesing my sugar crafting skills out on my larger cakes.

Firstly thou, while HMBR is on hiatus I've been a crafty little busy bee, making so many things for my July Wedding: Invites, Sweetie bar, Bracelets, table plan, placenames, fans, ring cushion, garter, table confetti, heirloom bouquet ... and no doubt plenty more. I'm hopeing to share a lot of the things I've made, tutorials I've found and tips I've learn along the way.