London shopping trip

So I have a Thursday off from my part time job this week. This is exciting because on Thursday's before I moved to Essex I used to semi frequent a wonderful market where I would wander about and look at lots of glorious vintage and antique things. I would often buy complete pieces from here for in my shop, or up-cycle vintage fabrics in to my work. At this market you could get furniture, clothes, odds and ends like printers drawers, jewellery and textiles! Oh sweet sweet vintage lace pieces were always in plentiful supply. So this Thursday come rain or shine I shall be getting on the train in rush hour (something I normally avoid at all costs, as I hate being crowded) and I shall be making a long awaited trip back to this market! I am super excited I have a big list of things I would love to buy.
My List:
Printers drawers X 2 for in the shop
White doilies X as many as I can get get my grubby little mitts on
Vintage lace trim
An apple crate or a wonderful decent size wooden box for storage at home
Plus any other vintage things like white crochet gloves, tray liners, small ornaments for my home

Ohhh I am so excited! I shall take photos of the market and of course what I buy.

Image of boxes and the crate from Pinterest, the lace is my own image and collection.

Sunny Days

Sunny days are they here to stay yet?
Sadly I think it is too early in the year to wish for them to stay for long but they will come, I hope.
For now I will have to content myself with making this wonderful bright and sunny cushion. I am quite in love with round pillows! The size, the shape, the folds in the fabric as well as the doily really make me happy! This fabric pattern is also really super and it brings me out in a rash of smiles! I have previously made curtains in this fabric, they are in my Etsy shop. I must buy more of this fabric when I go back to London again. What do you think, do you like these cushions? Are there any colours you would like to see made? After this yellow and green one I think I am going to use some strawberry pattern fabric which is a darling shade of pink. It will be super girlie and beautiful just you wait and see!

My summer shabby chic round pillow. 

Love Clara x

Ps to see more of what I make (including that pink pillow) click on the link to my shop below!

                               Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade

Pinterest

Hiya, 

I don't know if you Pin things on that site Pinterest but I bloody love it! It is an amazing image sharing site and I pin lots and lots of items on my boards from lots of blogs, Etsy and photos I take myself plus items I make. I can and do spend hours and hours not blinking and scrolling through all the gorgeous images. I pin things because they are pretty and inspiring. I have just created two new boards: one is called Windows and the other Bathrooms.

Above are some recent images I have pinned, these are not my photos nor are they items I have made. They are pins on my Pinterest boards. It is kind of like my version of the doll house games my sister and I used to play with our dolls. But now I imagine having all these wonderful items in a big massive mansion house and wafting through all the rooms. Wish I could decorate lots of rooms in a massive house with these collections on my boards! Ahhh sweet dreams. If you want to follow me or look at my full range boards the link is below.

Love Clara x

                               Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade

Just a quick post to show off my latest creation!
I have seen these style of pillows a lot on Pinterest and I love them, I just had to make some for the shop. This one is the first I have made, I am really happy with how it came out. It is made from soft unbleached cotton and a bright white doily. What do you think? Do you like it?

Shabby Chic round pillow

 I will be making more in different colours and listing them on Etsy as and when they are complete and I can get good photos. All these dull cloudy days mean I can not take good clear photos in natural light and I do not like to use the lights I have as they get very hot. Any ways I better run I have lots of sewing to do today.


Love Clara x

                               Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade

Creativity and an empty head

Hello again,

I have mentioned this about me before but apart from my Etsy shop I also work part time four days a week in a job that isn't very enjoyable nor creative. I occasionally get to release the creative juices and do a visual display at work but there are 'concepts' to be adhered to and 'design briefs' and 'market research' that has to be taken into account. Which is all rather stifling when you want to do something daring and ... pretty.
I find tension from work and commuting up to two hours each side of my working day really puts a block on my ability to design a new piece for my shop as well as leaving me extremely tired.

White feather image taken from Google images.

I need peace and tranquillity to be able to dream up new ideas and more importantly to make the products. My job can be really good to me and they allow me to have several days off together and normally the off days fall midweek, so that really helps me to fill my tank up with energy again and find inspiration for creating something pretty. I get to do all that creative stuff on my days off rather than after work or at weekends when time is limited and others demand your attention. This way I get relative peace and quiet while everyone else is at work so the distractions are few and far between. I find it is only when my head is truly empty and I am free of interruptions that I can find the space to dream up something that people will want to buy. I find an empty head is when I am able to conjure up ideas and images of future projects flow through my mind. I find I often need 12/24 hours to relax and not do anything too taxing. It is during this time I like to take a walk in the woods, or by water or even a trip around the shops looking in windows and people watching while drinking tea in a cafe. Anything to clear my head of stress and worries and conversations that have repeated themselves again and again in my mind. This clears my mind then my head fills again but with good stuff like linen and lace and Mother of Pearl buttons, rather mundane boring real life stuff, and then the creativity flows and life feels good and happy and I make something for the shop.


Love Clara x

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade

Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade

Spring has sprung!

OK so the weather... Us Brits love to talk about it, our country comes to a halt when it happens in any slight variation, (too hot the roads melt, too cold and the airports close, too wet we flood, too dry we have hose pipe bans). At the moment we are in flood after having a crazy amount of rain for like the last year. I am certain my toes are webbing as I type. All the rain has made it a very mild winter so far and technically we are still in winter. Just yesterday I lifted my umbrella long enough to see clumps of Snowdrops as I walked through the church yard.

The little buggers wouldn't stop bouncy about in the breeze so the image is not very sharp, forgive me, but they are so small and sweet I had to show them to you! Spring is coming, and hopefully some sunny days so us Brits can all dry out.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade

Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade

Love Clara x