Thrifty finds and Etsy sales

A most excellent day today,  not only have I made another sale for my Etsy shop, but I also went to a car boot sale and found these rather wonderful eggcups:

The Etsy sale was a special request for Love heart confetti, I normally sell 50 for $2.50 and the order was for 400!!  I was pretty daunted by this, but have worked hard to get them done quickly for a July wedding and have finished them today ready to post off on Tuesday. 

 Luckily I had enough vintage music sheet to get them finished and as luck would have it I found some more vintage music sheet at the car boot sale today, so now I have a bit more so that I can still have some up for sale in the shop.  I also have a few other projects in my mind that I would like to give a go, like this vintage music sheet garland from here:

In other news, it's my birthday tomorrow!  27 eeek! 

Paintings that I do

I don't know if you know but I am actually an artist as well as a teacher, in fact I even have a degree in Fine Art from Oxford Brookes University.  I am always wanting and trying to do more art work but I find I often don't have time.  Plus I don't have a studio so everytime I want to do one I have to get all my art matierials out and put them all away again at the end.

Anyway, here are a few of my paintings, it's a new style I am trying out based on the work of Kelly Rae Roberts.

Please do let me know what yo think (I welcome comments!)  I have been thinking about selling some paintings on etsy, or even selling customised paintings if people wanted them.  I could use colours and images that are personal to the individual.

Time Warp Wives

Hi folks,

This show was on TV yesterday, a repeat and I am love, love, lovin it!! It is about couples who dress up and live their lives as couples did in the 1930's, 40's and 50's. I sooooo want to be a time warp wife like these womes except I just don't think I can be bothered to go to the effort to do myself up every day, and my house certainly is not as clean and tidy as theirs. Just check out their amazing clothes and houses these women have, they are perfectly dreamy!

Photos are all courtesy of here

Happy Monday

Polaroid Love.

Check out these beautiful polaroid images, all shared courtesy of Etsy.

AliciaBock

Pocketmemories

Futurowoman

annadekema

lilacmoonstudio

redlomo

Allilucy

Jerseymaids

TTFN

want to post but no time to post

Why is there never any time to do the things you enjoy?  And when you do make time to do them you just feel guilty for doing them becasue you know that what you really should be doing are the things that you don't enjoy.  Booooooo!

I have several posts in  my mind waiting to be posted but just don't have the time.  I will hopefull do them tomorrow because it's friday but in the mean time I am just going to feel fed up and miserable because I am not doing the things I enjoy, only the things I hate.  (My husband says "thats life".  Humph!)

Happy Monday

It's that time of the week again folks, and it's very happy! I really am feeling good at the moment. I really need to do some art, I haven't done any for ages so it's a good sign that I am feeling the need to do some.  I just need to get my backside of thechair and do it now!

Here are some pics I have been inspired by, I love love love the colours, all from weheartit:

Loving pastel beach huts

Loving Blythe dolls, especially in blue and red

Always loving shoes and retro telephones,

Loving polaroid cameras and combining turquoise and red,

Loving Blythe doll curiosity

Loving teal weathered steps,

Loving retro washing machines,

Loving buttons,

Loving and wanting pastel shade vespas,

Loving the kinky typewriter

Yes I love typewriters

OK thats enough or I could go on all night!!

Have a great week everyone.

xxx

My favorite films

What are your favorite films and why?

Here are mine:

A little princess.



  I love this film so much, it was a favorite of mine as a child and I just wanted to be Sara Crew so much.  She has such a beautiful imagination and a magical way of making a positive out of every situation. 

Amelie



What I love about this film is the way Amelie finds pleasure in everyday things. She is such a whistful character who lets things happen to her.

Click



Everytime I watch this film I laugh out loud and in almost equal measure I cry (without fail)  It is a really amazing and I think underestimated film about capturing the precious moments of everyday life.

Pocahontas



Who doesn't love Pocahontas and the line "How high does the sycamore grow, if you cut it down, you'll never know"  Very important as a teacher.

I have many more favorite films but I will just leave you with these for now.
Hope everyone has had a good weekend.
hels
x

New item in my Etsy Shop

Today I finally got round to posting a new item on my Etsy Shop, I posted it briefly a few days ago, please take a look at these pics and let me know what you think, if you can look at the shop you can also see my prices so please let me know if you think my prices are good.  I have only sold one item so far so am keen to get as much feedback as possible.

teaching today

Teaching today was hard work, I don't usually talk about work and stuff on this blog because it is supposed to be a craft based blog, but I just feel like sharing, you can find out a bit more about me for one thing.
Here is a sample of some of the things I have experienced today:

A bobbin of cotton trailed all around the table legs of the classroom,
I was called a b**ch behind my back,
Two boys having a punch up,
Was accused of picking on a boy,
A boy mocking another for his speech impediment,
A girl bullying another girl by not letting her join their group,
Being accused of calling a girl ugly,
Two pupils walking out of my classroom without permission,
Boys flicking PVA glue at each other,

I could go on but I think you get the picture, it was not a good day!
However I can cope with all this, this is the sort of thing I deal with on a daily basis anyway, what really upsets and concerns be is the attitudes that the pupils bring to school which are most probably learnt from home.

As a Christian (and a normal human being with morals) I was always taught to love my enemy and to turn the other cheek. I was taught that two wrongs do not make a right, I was taught that if someone does something nasty to you then you should tell a teacher so that they can sort it out.   The pupils I teach have not been taught this.  The pupil I teach have actively been told by their parents that if someone hits you, then you must hit them back.  That if someone is nasty to you then you should be nasty back.  It makes for a most unpleasant atmosphere of retaliation and spite.

Am I being unreasonable?  Please share your thought.

Re-fashioned sweater tutorial

Time for another unscheduled tutorial.  We stayed in all day today because it was cold outside, I had a headache and we felt lazy, however I did manage to make a cushion, decorated with some doilies that my wonderful husband bought me from Oxford's Gloucester Green Market, (I am so lucky to have a husband who doesn't mind indulging my bizarre fetishes!). 
Here is a rather dodgy photo of the cushion:

I also made this bag out of some old fabric I had:

(another dodgy photo)

So here is my tutorial for the re-fashioned sweater.  Here is a picture of the sweater to begin with:

As you can see it is not the most flattering of jumpers, it is too short for me for one thing.  Also it has this rather hideous stain on the cuff that I sustained from a malicious banana:

So first I cut the sweater straight down the middle (just at the front):

Then I cut a section out of the sleeves which included the stained section:

Remove the sleeve section then pin a little hem down the front.

Pin the little pieces off cuff that were left onto the sleeves:

Sew the cuffs and the seams down the front.  With the cuffs it was a little tricky because the cuff piece was narrower than the sleeve bit so I had to stretch the cuff bit so that it fitted into the sleeve properly:

Much better!

Then I sewed a little flower for the lapel just to add a bit of fun:

I am really pleased and proud of myself, I have never done anythng like this before and I think it was pretty successful.  It was a simple design bit but I think it worked.