I made this! - Felt Buttons

Just a quick post to show off my new felt buttons - love making these!!

Thinking of making them into brooches, hair clips etcs.

What does everyone think?

Needle Felting

For those who have seen my flickr photos recently you may have noticed my latest obsession - needle felting!

I received a book for Christmas called "little felted animals" by Marie-Noëlle Horvath (click here for the Amazon link), and this inspired me to try my hand at needle felting, which up until then I had been completely ignorant about if I'm totally honest!

For those who may equally be in the dark, in simple terms needle felting is the art of making shapes out of wool fibres (carded or combed). You need a special felting needle for this which has little barbs which cause the wool fibres to knit together when you jab into the wool with it. I bought myself a little starter kit on ebay (click here for the listing link) which is ideal for beginners.

Above I have shown some of the things I have made this week. My first item was the mouse (Marty) who wasn't initially supposed to be a mouse but just an experiment, but strangely enough a mouse started to appear!! Then I made a toadstool - just because I love toadstools!! Then I made a piece of cheese for Marty, see the steps below which show how this turned from a cloud of yellow wool into a slightly strange looking piece of emmental!! My last piece was a corsage flower which I attached happily to my new grey woolly jacket today - can't wait to make more of these, can see these being a favourite of mine!!

You can buy so many different colours of wool - or if you are feeling adventurous you can dye your own - might leave this to the experts though!!

The great thing about needle felting is how quick and easy it is. You will probably end up stabbing yourself a few times along the way as you do jab quite quickly once you get the hang of it - but it helps to keep your eye on the ball!! Before I started, I watched a few videos about needle felting on Youtube as I couldn't quite believe that all you had to do is jab at the wool - it seemed too easy!! And there are no hard and fast rules, just the more you jab the denser the shape gets - simples!!

There are some amazing felt artists out there such as Kit Lane, Lil Fish Studios (Lisa Jordan) and Vria Lee (Victor Dubrovsky) to name but a few - please do check out their links - you will be amazed!!

Craft Review 2009

Well, I finally had a few minutes spare to gather my thoughts about 2009. For me it was a year in which I re-discovered my creativity and finally felt that others appreciated what I made. Ironic really considering that my day job is as a product designer!! And for the past 9 years most days I have been designing and developing giftwares for thousands of people to buy and give as presents.

When you work in mass produced products you lose your connection to the item. It is produced rarely for its aesthetic beauty or to win design awards - it is created purely to make the most amount of profit - 70% usually for the big High Street guys!! (Don't tell them I told you that!!). Don't get me wrong, I do like my day job - much better than previous jobs (chambermaid, cleaner, checkout girl, office junior, pound shop worker, call centre salesperson, canteen assistant, graphic designer), and I still get excited when a DHL arrives at work from one of the Chinese factories with my designs inside.

But it's different when you have crafted something by hand, tweaking the design along the way. Wondering whether it is something you could sell, something a friend or family member would like - or even something to keep myself!! Not overly caring that you have just spent £20 on materials, thread, books, a new pair of scissors, buttons, ribbons or just had to buy a new desk, or chair or storage unit to house your ever expanding stash! It's not about the money for me - it's about the sense of achievement and the thrill of other people noticing my work and commenting - and when I sell something I get a real rush of adrenalin - followed usually by a tinge of sadness knowing that I cannot keep it for myself now!

Learning to sew again and embroider, appliqué, lino printing and needle felting have made me a much happier person - and the friends I have made - mostly online through this blog, flickr and twitter have opened my eyes to a whole new world - one that suits me down to the ground. Not only can I be creative with pretty fabric I can also indulge my inner geek and learn about blogging, seo's, keywords, meta tags and nettiquette (still need to work on that!!).

Before I blether on too much, just a wish for 2010 - that I can find more time and energy to do the things that I love!

Happy New Year everyone!!

x

(these are just a few of my creations from the past year - the whole collection can be found on my flickr page)

 

I made this! - Velvet Stocking!

Made this Christmas stocking for my Mum. Used some lovely metallic mink velvet which worked beautifully with the Designers Guild cut velvet on the top trim. I still had some of the turquiose velvet left to make a piping trim and then I bought some turquiose dupion silk for the lining.

Luckily most of the presents I had bought for mum this year were small enough to fit in the stocking so it ended up being useful!!

The Christmas wrapping dilemma!!

Each year I spend far too long thinking about my wrapping paper.

Now I don't know about you but I must confess that I am a wrapping paper snob. I truly believe that the way a present is wrapped indicates the thought and care that has gone into it and is just as important as what is inside!!

And for Christmas, the present also becomes part of our decorations, spending several days under our trees before being unwrapped.

Last year I bought a giant roll of brown paper along with 100 metres of brown grosgrain ribbon and a circle punch to make my own gift tags out of cream card with buttons and hand drawn stitching. Quite a rustic look, and I was really happy with how the pressies looked, but oh my god, the tags alone took forever and I really don't think anyone really appreciated it apart from my sister who is a fellow crafter! 

This year I planned to make my own paper (red paper with handprinted white polka dots) but had to admit defeat last week when I accepted that I really didn't have the time to do this. So then I searched around for unusual and beautiful (and affordable) handmade or designer wrapping paper - to no avail!! If anyone knows of a good supplier do please let me know!!

My search ended up in Sainsburys where my other half made me choose there and then (knowing how fussy and annoying I am about wrapping paper!!). My final choice was half green damask foiled paper and hot pink and green damask to compliment. The tag selections were awful so I bought plain silver and am jazzing them up with bits of the wrapping paper. Then of course there is the ribbon - a costly detail, but I just couldn't resist - this year I opted for thin velvet ribbon in pinks, purples, greens and kingfisher blues.

Am I one of the last remaining gift wrap snobs? Is it crazy spending so much time and money on something that just gets ripped open and thrown away!?

I made this! - Christmas Cards!

Wanted to attempt to make some of my own cards this year for my family. Of course somehow I had to incorporate some fabric. After a few unsuccessful experiments I decided to use this simple tree design which was machine "embroidered" in several colourful threads before being cut into the tree shapes.

I then stitched the felt to the front of the card and hand sewed the wooden sequins on to finish!!

Really happy with how these turned out - bright and colourful and simple!!

Less than two weeks to go now!!

x

I made this!! Christmas Stockings!!

So it's my first proper Christmas as a crafter - last year my craftiest effort was using brown paper and making my own button gift tags. Seemed like a good idea at the time but over a hundred presents later it became a little tedious!!

This year I will be buying my gift wrap but making a few presents and decorations instead!!

I've started off with the essential stocking - bought a couple metres of thick red felt (why is this so expensive!?) and a few machine blanket stitches and finishing touches later there are stockings!! The beauty of using felt is that you don't need to worry about linings or right and wrong sides or fraying!! Really like the naive look (I'm good at that!!)

I made this!! New Batch of Meese!!

Yes I have been busy - been making lots of mice for my NOTHS store, commissions, for friends and as pressies also. I think I can make felt ears in my sleep now!!

Squeak!!

I made this!! Christmas Sock Mice!!

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Hey look what I've been up to . . .

Yep - more Christmas Sock Mice!!

This time they have little woolly hats and scarves!!

I will also be adding more "non Christmas" sock mice to my NOTHS Store.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

x

Sneaky Peak

Does anyone realise that Christmas is coming?!! (Not Xmas - the abbreviation annoys me!)

So to get into the festive spirit I have created some jolly red and white meeses!!

Will soon be on my NOTHS store which is in desperate need of more mice!

Watch this space . . .

Oh My Dog!!!

A bit of a change in topic to my usual posts but had to share my photos of this dog that I came across one afternoon in Hong Kong.

Aparantly he is famous in Hong Kong as he wears a different pair of sunglasses every day. He was a very happy looking dog, and was very friendly and calm considering the chaos that is Cheung Sha Wan Road which was right in front of his nose!

If you are ever in Hong Kong pop by Lai Chi Kok MTR and you will find him on the other side of the road (near Starbucks!!).

I promise you he'll be happy to see you!!

Wish you were here!!

Hi everyone!!

Just in case anyone misses me - I am away on business until the 28th of October - off to enjoy the wonders of the Far East!!

My NOTHS store is suspended until then, but if anyone needs to contact me they can drop me a message on thebeautyisinthedetail@gmail.com

不久见

I'm in heaven!

Just a quick mini post - just had to add this lovely image of chairs upholstered in my current fave fabric - Dandelion Clocks by Sanderson (Fiona Howard pattern). I know I've already posted about this before - but hey - you can't get enough of a good thing!!

How lovely is this!??

I have bought several metres of this to make roman blinds from for my guest bedroom - have enough scraps left over for bags!! - Hooray!!

Should fabric make a person so happy??

I made this! - Wooden Button Brooches

Now I know these are nothing new - but after making one of these for myself the other day I thought - hey, other people might like these too - could be a nice idea for my noths shop? I have a growing collection of gorgeous large Italian wooden buttons and already had the brooch backs (from making my corsage brooches) so with a little fiddling around and a little super glue - hey presto - button brooches!!

I couldn't just glue to buttons to the brooch back - that would be too easy!! I had to over complicate things (as usual). I cut out small circles of linen to glue over the brooch backs - so that you cannot see the silver through the button holes (which would look weird) and then I threaded and glued embroidery thread through the holes for the finishing touch!

I made this! - Polka Dot Corsage Brooch

Now you know by now I am quite partial to a polka dot - so much so I am even considering a polka dot wedding dress (don't tell my other half!), so it makes sense that I should make one of my pleated totes in a polka dot fabric!

My sprig tote bag has been very popular so I just had to make a matching corsage brooch for this bag too. I love making corsages - just wish they didn't take me so long!! Will never make my fortune that way!!

I decided to do a little modelling too for the corsage brooch - that's if you can count a shoulder as modelling!!

For those who may want to buy the bag (which comes with or without the corsage) or the corsage on it's own please head to my new Not on the High Street store - click here

I'm on Not on the High Street!!

Very happy today - my store has launched on the Not on the High Street website this weekend!! Here's the link.

I made the decision to take my work more seriously and find a suitable online outlet after some less than successful craft fairs this summer. I have had such a good response from my work shown on my flickr gallery that I thought - hey I could possibly make a business out of this!! So now The Beauty is in the Detail . . . is a proper "serious" brand!!

Still early days - but if you don't try these things you will never know!! Wish me luck!!

x

Fiona Howard

I just love the designs created by Fiona Howard. Such lovely elegant graphic images using a sophisticated colour palette. These mugs shown above are a great example - but there are many more things to be found on her online shop.

Fiona is also responsible for my current favourite design - Dandelion Clocks by Sanderson (see below). Which I will soon be using to make a blind for my spare room!

for the love of Polka Dots . . .

I'm obsessed!! I now run a group on flickr called For the love of Polka Dots . . . There are other great polka dot groups on there but I'm planning to make mine the prettiest and have a "strict" (as strict as I can be anyway) policy of only accepting the prettiest polka pics!! Here's a few of my faves so far!

Thanks to everyone for such fantastic images!!



1. Polka dots ballerinas, 2. Application, 3. Pink and White Polka Dot Cupcake Liners - Baking Cups, 4. nature pocket jumper, 5. Polka Dots, 6. 005, 7. Untitled, 8. Tulips, 9. Untitled, 10. Untitled, 11. Bye bye!, 12. Gretelies Tasche - Bag , 13. taggie legs, 14. Happy dotty duckie, 15. MacBook Envelope - 13", 16. Polka dot top

I made this! - Mortimer Sock Mouse!

This is my newest addition to my sock mouse family. A commission for Zoë Power. The brief was that he or she had to be pink and purple. Recently if I come across a pair of socks I like I just have to buy them now - it's become an obsession! This time I had to hunt down the right pair - not as easy as you would think - even when I had the whole of Oxford Street to choose from!!

But finally in Topshop I spied this lovely pair - and I just love how the large spots work with the shape. This time I made the heart belly a little smaller so it didn't wrap around the sides too much and I used piping inside the tail to create the nice rounded shape. Not content with having Molly Mouse my friend Mandy has commission me to make another mouse now with the other sock in this pair!

Think this sock mouse lark might be taking over my life . . .

Craft Fair! - Tunbridge Wells Pantiles

Well - my first "proper" craft fair - or Craft Market as it is officially called. Spent every spare hour preparing, writing lists, stressing. Still didn't have enough stock really to fill up the stall but it wasn't a problem in the end as I only sold three things!! So depressed! Think I am better spending off my time selling online - so my next job is to list everything on my Esty and Folksy stores - can't get any worse I guess!! :0(