A Few Holiday Makes

We're off on holiday tomorrow - whoop whoop!  This is our first holiday abroad as a family so very exciting....but a bit nervous, how will Little Miss L cope with the flight, how will we cope with the flight!

To try to keep us organised, I've been making a few things:

This HUGE zipped bag to keep toys, books, spare clothes, etc - all the essentials a 2 year old needs to keep them occupied for 7 hours (hopefully)

This simple little wallet to keep some DVDs in:

I'm very pleased with this next one...a travel organiser.  There's nothing really out there when you have multiple passports, boarding cards etc.  So I thought I'd have a go at making one, I think it turned out quite well...

There's enough pockets for several passports, boarding cards, travel documents and a note book.  Plus it's made in this fabulous Amy Butler Lemon Souvenir fabric that I'm in love with at the moment.  I didn't think that Amy Butler fabrics were my cup of tea but on a recent trip to a fabric shop, everything I picked up was Amy Butler!

It folds in half to a little A5 size and is held in place with an elastic strap - pretty neat, huh??

Fancy a new business card holder?

Once upon a time, I had a real job which involved travelling up and down the country, meeting with lots of people and handing out my business card.  I hated doing this because I had this awful little blue plastic card holder, the type that comes free with your order - in fact I still have it and (shamefully) still use it. 

Well no longer...I used the same envelope method I posted a tutorial about yesterday (Handy pocket tutorial) and made a couple of business card holders in some funky fabrics - only thing, I don't know which one to choose now!

I used exactly the same method as the handy pocket, with the following exceptions:

- 2 lengths of fabric and interfacing - 10 x 5 inches
- I used a 2/8 inch seam allowance. 
- I also shaped the flap before sewing the exterior and lining fabric together as I thought this looked more "professional".
- I top stitched around all four sides of the card holder.

I'll be dishing out my cards left, right and centre with these lovelies.

Handy Pocket Tutorial

A quick trip into town to pick up a marker pen turned into a purchase of some lovely new fabric for my stash..ooops!  Motivated by some bright colours on a grey afternoon, I made up this cute little pocket to keep Little Miss L's bits and bobs in when we go out - big enough for a pack of wipes, colouring book and other essentials. 

It's really simple and quick to make - here's how...

1. Cut your exterior fabric, lining and interfacing to 46 x 28 cm (18 x 11 inches); a 1cm seam allowance is used.  Iron the interfacing onto the back of your exterior fabric; you can also add some padding if you want your pocket to be more substantial (just bear in mind that this will take up some stashing space!)

2. Pin your two pieces of fabric right sides together and mark a 1cm seam allowance with a fabric vanishing marker all around the 4 edges of your fabric.  I like to add the loop part of the hook and loop closure onto the lining at this stage to avoid the stitches showing on the outside of your pocket.  Unpin 1 end of your fabric and sew an 8cm (3") length of the softer 'loop' halfway across and 2.5cm (1") up from the edge of your fabric.

3.  Repin your fabric together and sew around your seam markings - remember to leave a gap of a few centimetres to turn your fabric through; backstitch at the start and finish to secure. Clip the corners so that they are easier to turn.

4.  Turn your fabric through the hole (this is the best bit!), use a chopstick to point out the corners.  Give your fabric a good press with the iron and then fold the end without the 'loop' fastener up towards the centre to create your pocket - I turned mine up to about 16cm which makes a nice deep pocket.  Press the pocket crease.

5.  Add the 'hook' part to the outside of your pocket - halfway across and about 2.5cm (1") down from the top pocket seam.  The longer part is on the lining so that if your pouch is full, you can still close it.

6.  Now for the topstitching - almost there!  Unfold your fabric and topstitch along the top of your pocket (the edge above the smaller 'hook' fastener).  Fold your pocket up again and pin.  Topstitch along the three edges (not the folded bottom pocket edge) - the topstitching holds your pocket in place.

And there you have it - a handy little pocket to stash all the essentials.  I'm hoping this means I can return to carrying my grown up handbags....everything Little Miss L needs in the lovely pocket and I can move it from bag to bag without forgetting anything.  Goodbye, Peppa pig back-pack...hello Hermes Birkin ( well, I can dream).

 

A rare moment

In amongst all the picking up of stuff and cleaning of surfaces, body parts and clothes that is part of being a mum; there are those moments when time seems to stop and it's just you and them.  I just happened to catch Little Miss L when she was waking from her nap - still in that lovely sleepy state when her eyes look exactly the same as they did when she was a little baby and we have a cuddle and lay next to each other, nose to nose for while, looking into each others eyes.  We share an unspoken joke and giggle; she laughs at my raised eyebrows and wrinkled nose and trys to copy me.  There's another lovely cuddle and we're off downstairs to carry on our day.

These moments last a few minutes, they're getting far less frequent as she grows up but surely, this is what it's all about.

My First Costume Challenge

It's fancy dress at nursery tomorrow, so it's likely that mothers in the area have spent the night just as I have - putting together the costume.  I thought I would start simple given that she's only two and a half, in the midst of potty training and likely to spend the day covered in paint or scooting; I thought it best to avoid tails, wings and other appendages. I have a feeling there will be plenty of opportunities for these in the coming years.  Instead, I've gone for the simple "Incredibles" outfit and mask.

When I suggested this at bedtime, she was happy with the idea, I just hope she doesn't wake up wanting her current favourite....Shrek!  Fingers crossed she will actually where it in the morning.

I did my third craft fair on Sunday - the Duck Pond Market at Ruislip and had a really good day. It was a very late booking on Thursday which meant long hours over the following few days but I think that might have actually helped as I was FOCUSED. I knew what I wanted, what I needed, what I had to abandon for another day and I went for it - it was a bit of a success given that I did the last bit of sewing on Friday night and was able to spend Saturday night just "styling" (oooohh...get me!).

The market is held in a lovely old barn and as it was Mother's Day, there were lots of families out for the day. In my last post, I was feeling all negative about my product pictures and my displays so I put my thinking cap on and raided the house for bits and bobs and came up with this...

This is such am improvement from my last craft fair so feel really positive in the way things are going.  I had to use a lot of props as I currently have a few bag inners with no clasps as I'm waiting for a shipment.

I don't think I've introduced my new bags on the blog yet have I??  Well, here they are...

Hope you like them!

New skills

Do you ever compare yourself with others?  Of course you do, we all do it ...right?  How many times do you come off better? 

Recently I've been going along to other markets and checking out other peoples blogs and shops and the inevitable happens...I start to compare all my stuff with those I've seen and start to sink deeper and deeper into a hole of negativity.  I have a bit a habit of this.....I tend to over think things, reach the conclusion that I can't do it, strop around for a bit and then avoid the whole issue by focusing on something else.  I remember doing this with fractions at school, chemistry at university and tonnes of presentations at work.
Mr L gave me some simple advice..."it's just a skill you'll have to learn".   This hadn't actually occurred to me...but he's right.  So I've been working through this really great book to try to improve my photos:

This book is really useful; it has sections on how to improve your specific craft photos and how to better understand your camera.  So, fingers crossed.

Already, I think there's an improvement...

Next up, improving my displays.  Strop over for now.