I made this!! Rag Pom Pom!!

Now I promise I am not being sponsored by Clover, but, I must urge people to buy one of their amazing pom pom makers! They are such a clever design that makes pom pom making so easy and professional. They come in lots of different sizes from tiny 20mm to big huge ones - and even heart shaped! I bought mine on eBay, but you can get them from lots of different craft supply shops too. Here's what they look like . . .

To make a pom pom you just wrap your wool, embroidery thread, fabric etc around each pair of semi circle arms (which hinge out of the centre) - there are two pairs of arms by the way - make sure you wrap your chosen material around the two together. One you have filled up the two semi circles you push back to the centre, making sure everything is together securely then using a sharp pair of scissors or snips cut all the way around. Loop a ribbon or strong thread in between the two discs - give them a wiggle to make sure the they reach the centre then knot very securely!!

To release the pom pom I find it easier to open the hinged arms on each side then pull the whole thing in half (the two discs are held together with a pin in the centre). Give your pom pom a fluff, trim off any straggly bits with a pair of scissors to tidy up and hey presto - a pom pom!!

Here I have shown a pom pom made from very roughly cut scraps of leftover fabric. Some of these strips were only a few inches long but that doesn't matter - they just need to be long enough to wrap around the arm once. So this is a fantastic way to use up all your leftover scraps of fabric. What do you all think?

I made this!! Flower Corsage Ring Cushion!!

Apologies in advance to the Best Man, but I have made a ring cushion for my wedding.

This may not be the final version - want to try a small one in silk next, but I wanted to put some of my new Heather Bailey fabrics to good use (and of course my pom pom makers!!)

Craft and Cupcakes Day!!

My friends are very encouraging of my "sewing stuff" and I decided to call their bluff the other day and invite them round for a craft and cupcakes day. The house was filled with chatting, babies, buttons, fabric and high calorie treats and we all had a splendid time!!

It gave me the opportunity to make use of some of my new fabrics and my array of notions.

We started off with a tissue pom pom blitz, as these are so easy to make. Everyone chose their favourite colour, Jo of course had to have the pink which matched her nail polish! Baby Sam chose not to participate - but boys tend not to get overly excited by pom poms!!

It wasn't long before the cakes were out and we ever so daintily stuffed our faces! We then moved onto woolly pom poms courtesy of my new clover pom pom makers. The wool turned out to be highly unsuitable for pom poms, but the colours were nice anyway!

We finished up by making some fabric corsages. Must have been too tired to remember to take photos at this point, so the first one is a photo taken the next morning of my effort made from some lovely dupion silk. The second one is Jo's lovely corsage which works wonderfully on her denim jacket!

It is far too easy to get lost in your own world when you craft, and as wonderful as chatting online to fellow crafters is, nothing beats the hands on fun of a group of girls making lots of pink things!!

Is there such a thing as too much research??!!

Since the 21st of January (the day we booked the date at the Registry Office) I have spent EVERY spare moment thinking, planning, researching and breathing the wedding. Is this normal? I have a tendency to over think things, and over plan. I can never go on a holiday without reading all of the tripadvisor reviews about the hotel, and seeing all of the guests photos, or checking which airplane we are booked onto and in which seats, checking traveller forums the best sights to see, restaurants to eat at, which rooms to ask for - yep basically I go over the top.

I'm sure that most women tend to go into this mode when planning a wedding - but I'm surprised that I have enjoyed it so much. Especially as the starting point for our plans was to have a simple, cheap, informal wedding. Would things be easier if we were spending 30k? Probably not.

I think I can be a resourceful person, and I know my way around the internet, which has been my lifeline in researching and planning. I have made the mistake previously of buying wedding magazines. These in fact scared and depressed me so much that I was dreading getting married!! How silly is that? I found their budget and time planners dangerously silly - especially as I came over in cold sweat when realising that I should have sent my invites out 4 months ago and my flowers should cost a 10% of my budget!! But then I came to my senses - but the magazines away (in the bin) and made my own plan!

So a month since setting the date and 126 days until the big event we have achieved a lot. For the moment I am feeling less panicked, and am reveling in ideas for things I can make or silly ideas I can work into the day. I have an album filled with pictures, a large notebook filled with lists, a computer filled with research images, emails and budget spreadsheets and a flickr gallery filled with more inspiration than I know what to do with! But my efforts are being focused as much as possible - I made myself concentrate initially on the big things - whilst the little voice inside me kept saying *look at shoes!!*, *fairy lights*, *envelopes* etc etc!!

Now most of the "big things" are sorted I can indulge myself in silliness and all the pretty little things that really excite me. My other half is maybe not so excited about all of this - in fact he has probably wisely decided to let me get on with it. Something I found hard to understand at first, but he knows me VERY well after all these years and will make himself useful when the time comes - or when I freak out at him!!

So here's a peek at some of the things I have been thinking about the past couple of days -
Doughnuts, invites (sneak preview of the design if you look closely!), my increasingly cluttered dining table and tissue pom pom tutorials!!