Pretty Pictures

Hello Lovelies,

I thought I would share a few images from my collection of lace that I have put on Instagram today. I hope you like them, I will be posting mainly to Instagram and Pinterest from now on as I get so little feedback here. So if you do not see for a while that is where I will be. Links are on the right hand side if you wish to keep up with ClarasHandMade.

Peace and Love
Clara x

Veggie Patch! 2014

I moved to the wonderful county of Essex eight or so months ago and I have a garden now rather than just a back yard with a scrap of dirt which is what is I had in London. Since I have moved I have bought some lovely flowers I also inherited some gorgeous specimens too, like the Passion flower and a Clematis. I finally have a space for a veggie patch. So on a whim I bought some new railway sleepers, can't use old ones on food stuffs (boooooo, I like old tatty ones). I filled it with home made compost and planted some, blue Sweet-peas to attract the bees over some spring onions, a couple of different lettuces and a row of Nasturtiums as you can eat the leaves and flowers on them. This joins my old sink filled with herbs and an aluminium bucket of mint so I am very very happy with my edible garden now.

Passion Flower

my unripe passion fruits

my mint in a bucket so it doesn't go wild!

So my Passion Flower is covered in unripe passion fruits, who has some ideas or recipes for me? I must have 45-50 fruits so far and the season is so young, please add any ideas for things I can make with them as it will be such a waste to pick them for the slugs to eat!



Take care
Love Clara x

Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade

Carboots and Curtains

So Easter has passed and lots of chocolate has been eaten in Belles house. I had lots of family around on the big day what did you do?

Recently I have done a car boot to clear out old stuffs I was no longer using in the house. Such a nice feeling to get rid of unwanted items and make some money in the process. It is my mum's birthday in a couple of days so we shall have a big meal to celebrate plus a trip to London all from the profits!
Shop has been busy again which is always good, as I bought a lot of fabric last week. I managed to get 15 meters of one design so I was very busy making curtains and experimenting with new designs of lovely shabby cottage items for you.

72'' shabby rose curtains

I have also been asked to write a piece for another blog feature which I must get round to writing and taking photos for asap!

I have also been pinning on Pinterest a lot these last few days, if you have shabby, rustic, country and even industrial style boards please leave your Pinterest link in the comments for me to have a have a look and maybe I will pin some more!

Life is good I am very happy I hope yours is the same way.

Take care
Love Clara x

Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade

creating new lines

So lately I have let some lines expire from my shop, and others have sold out and I will not be replacing them as they do not really fit with my shabby chic theme. What made me create with red felt? Lol oh well moving on. This means it is time to create some new things and add some wonderful vintage pieces. I bought a bolt of  cotton a couple of days ago I plan on making some new shabby chic curtains with that. I also sourced some wonderful vintage crochet place mats which have been added. I have made some bunting. So all in all I have been a busy little bee creating new and exciting things for you. What do you think of the items I have been making? I want to make more of the bunting as it is really pretty.

vintage crochet place mats, set of four

white lace bunting, hand stamped with a doily design

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.