Gorgeous Etsy finds

I did another treasury on Etsy!!  Woop!  Soooo much fun. This time the theme is birds, which I love, love, love.  I also tried to theme it by colour a bit and I only chose crafters who had had less than 100 sales and that their items were under $100.  Here are some of my favorites:

barefootposse

GoldenCanery

newnanc

buttongrass

redtruckdesigns

Don't forget everyone I will do doing a lovely giveaway really really soon so stay tuned.

Crafty friends

Went to a really fun party of a friend of ours yesterday, Matt and his girlfriend Elora. Apart from taking some photos of everyone there (which I am doing as habit now at every event I go to now) I also photographed some wonderful 1970's ephemera and crafty loveliness made by the fabulous Elora. It was such a joy to meet another crafty lady (in real life) and chat about crochet and quilting and thrifting and self-sufficiency, it was great. Any way here are some of the wonderful items around her house:

Amazing magnetic board made from a tray with button magnets,

Shelf with fab glassware, cake stand and 1970's coffee set,

Awesome notice board with retro fabric, plus motice the crocheted purple fower, she gave this to me!! (it went perfectly with my top.)

Cool clock,

She rocheted this blankey herself!!  Jealous?!

Amazing  crocheted cushions,

Fab 1970's casserole dish, she had several of these.

Family Photographs

I had a really fun time photographing this family last week, I still cannot get over how gorgeous they all are!! An absolute dream to photograph:

TTFN

Cool Brittania Cushion Tutorial

Hello everyone,
Don't forget that I will be doing a giveaway very very soon, follow my blog to make sure that you don't miss it.

The last couple of days I have made this gorgeous cushion, it's actually a present but I wouldn't mind having one myself because I really love it.  If you really like this cushion but can't be bothered to make it yourself (it does take several hours) then I will make one for you if you buy it on Etsy,  here is my shop.  If you do want to make it then just follow the simple instructions below:

First I should tell you that I don't do measurements, maths is probably my least favourite subject so I am afraid I won't be giving you much in the way of measurements in this tutorial. You can judge it by rack of eye.

First cut out your base fabric, cut a rectangle than can be folded in half to create a smaller rectangle in the required shape, then iron about an inch round the edge for seams:

I must apologise now for the state of my ironing board *hangs head in shame*

Next cut out the fabric for the George Cross part of the flag the horizontal and the vertical, leave about a cm either side of the strip and fold them over and press with the iron to hold them down:

Lay them down to check they are right, should look like this:

Next cut some thinner strips for the white bits that go behind the George Cross, fold them in half and press with an iron.

placed behind the larger strips it should look something like this:

And all of them together should look like this:

Next you cut the thin lines for the St Patrick's Cross part of the Union Flag, these are the diagonal ones, make them in the same way as the George Cross ones by folding about a cm of each side and iron flat:

It goes here like this:

Cut four in total:

Next you need to cut eight strips that represent the white parts behind the St Patrick's cross, these are in fact part of the St Andrew's Cross:

These then need to be folded in half just like the strips that went behind the George Cross:

Tuck these behind the diagonal cross strips so it looks like this:

Oooooh lovely:

Pin all these down and then sew them on.

Turn your fabric over and sew together leaving a small gap for stuffing, turn the cushion the right way around and stuff then hand sew the gap.

Then just sit back and enjoy your creation:

 

Don't forget to follow my blog to make sure you know when I am going to do a giveaway.

TTFN

65th year of rememberence

Today, 65 years ago the world's first atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima in Japan which killed 140,000 people, the ceremony was attended by representatives from 74 nations, including, for the first time, the US which dropped the bomb.
Check out more on this report on the bbc website:

Anniversary of Hiroshima

In happier news I am making a Brittania related present for my sister's birthday which I will share a lovely tutorial with you as soon as I have finished it.

Armed Forces Day in Reading

The Town where I live - Reading - held an Armed Forces Day a few weeks ago, it was a lovely sunny day and they had a Vera Lynn Tribute act (the main reason why I wanted to go!).  The event was mainly to raise money for the Armed Forces as we have a lot of Barracks around Berkshire and to raise awareness of what they are doing. but mainly I think it was to entertain the old folks of Reading so they could remenice about teh war years and when they were young.  It was a really great event and here are some of my pics of the day:

Forbury Gardens in Reading

Vera Lynn doing her thing!

Old people having a thoroughly good time!

See you tomorrow for more Armed Forces related shenanignas, and a gentle reminder that I will be doing a giveaway when I get 50 followers!!  (Or on my 100th post, I have't yet decided, but if you wait for my 100th post and don't follow me then you won't know when it is, so best to follow me anyway! Tee hee)

Armed forces day on Etsy

Today I created another Treasury (they are so much fun) This time relating to my theme of the Armed Forces, here is the treasury, and here are a few of my very favorite items:

snappypendants

Buttonhead

Stickerbrand

ArtsNcharms

circlesandsquares