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

Happy New Year

So another year rolls around. It's cold and wet. Not much to look forward to for a while. So for me it is all about taking joy in the small things like fresh flowers.

pink roses

Hope you get to enjoy beautiful things too,

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

Images of my decorations

 Hello my Belles,

Here are images I have shared on pinterest and instagram of my Shabby Nordic inspired Christmas decorations as promised. I hope you enjoy them.

ClarasHandMade Christmas decor 2014

Merry Christmas, God Jul, Bonne Noel!
Take care
Love Clara x

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

Handmade winter wreath

Hello my belles,

Today is Saturday December 13 th 2014, and I went for a winter walk as it is so sunny and bright though it was minus 1 Celsius when I woke up.

Real ivy and some red berries

Today was the day for collecting foliage and pretty berries for making my door wreath. This traditionally has been my dad's job. This year we done it together.

Berries and pine cones

glitter twigs

The walk was fresh and the grass was still frozen in places even at two in the afternoon. In other places I was so scared of falling over as it was so muddy, the splotchy mud was up to my ankles! But thankfully I remained up right with the help for trees and a fence to hold on to.
So I collected wild ivy and red berries which will compliment the faux holly and silver glitter twigs I have.


I have faux holly as I know birds eat the berries so I didn't want to take wild holly away from the lovely birds I have around here. I have florists wire and a round straw base for making my wreath.

supplies: straw base, florists wire and collected ivy

To start I wrapped and tied on the ivy with the wire hiding the straw as best I could.

First layer of ivy

 I then filled in the gaps with the faux holly and stuffed again with the glitter twigs and pine cones I added a few jingle bells and voilà! This took about 20 minutes to make and remember imperfection is better than shop bought! Have you made you own wreath or Christmas decorations? Please share photos in the comments or tag me on instagram or twitter if you have I would love to see them.

getting there in my making

adding in the glitter twigs

almost done

c'est fini!

finshed article on my door!

Take care
Love Clara x

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

Christmas decorations

Hello dear readers,

I am so happy right now I just took delivery of the most darling sparkly crochet stars. I bought them from CrochetPocket all the way in Latvia. They came quickly and well packaged and I got small gifts in the pack!

one of my darling tiny stars

When I first saw these I knew I wanted to string them together and make myself a lovely winter garland for my window. I will take down my summer garland, it should have come down at least a month ago but the weather is still mild for this time of year. My summer garland is made of twine with lace bows and jingle bells that tinkle in the breeze from the open window and they will be replaced with these little beauties. There will be no bells on this winter window decoration as there is no point, the window will feel no breeze in the cold months to make them sound.

my summer garland, simple and sweet

Here it is. Seven stars threaded and knotted on to twine, a job that takes mere minutes. I might add some lace like the summer one has. Or maybe some white pom-poms.
Handmade decorations simple or elaborate will always win over mass produced for me. Make your decor for winter as simple or as complicated as you like. From this you can see I prefer simple and delicate designs.

 stars threaded on twine

I still have another five stars that be threaded with cotton loops to hang up as tiny decorations on my tree as well. Plus I will be making my own winter door wreath with real foliage. I will show you this soon. Till then...


Take care
Love Clara x

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

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

hello!

hello my lovelies,
I have been very busy the last few weeks, with the day job and trying to create new things for the shop. I have added a new dream catcher and a new line of embroidery in shabby chic frames. See below.

embroidery in a frame

What do think? Do you like it? I will be adding more designs in the coming days as I really enjoy making these. The frames will differ so if you love this one be quick if you want to buy it as this frame is a one off!


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

Spring clean and Wanelo update

Had a little bit of sunshine this week and that always overfills my energy so my dad and I decided to cut down some trees in the garden as they were overhanging the neighbours and they were really too close to the house that the roots may do future damage. So sadly they had to be chopped back quite a bit.  I also cleared out some fabric for the charity shop. I love a clear out the light feeling of making space. I seemed to have a growing pile of fabrics that I knew I wouldn't be using for myself or to make things with for the shop. An afternoon was spent sorting out and stacking them up and then taking them to my local charity shop. The lady in my local shop was thrilled with the fabrics as well which made it an more enjoyable good deed. Though I hate clearing out fabric it just feels wrong as I see so much potential in fabrics and even now a couple of days after clearing out I still worry I have done the wrong thing and think I should have kept it all for the future. Which is crazy I know! Stop judging me ;-)

I have also opened up a Wanelo account. If you don't know what this is, it is an online community of shops where everyone can share images from these shops in to groups. I am not loving it at the moment I have to say. It doesn't seem to make sense. My feed is full of products I don't like and I didn't put them there.They have categories but I can't choose where my products go except the basic Woman, Man or Home. It seems a bit odd and more geared to big shops especially the trending tab. How can a little shop like mine compete with massive home retailers in terms of traffic? Any way I shall keep trying to like it and see how it goes over the coming weeks. If you are interested here is my store link:
http://wanelo.com/store/clarashandmade
If you are on there and can give me any tips please please leave comments I need all the help I can get. Heehee :-)

My pinterest page this week was followed by PinterestUK, which I was very excited about and then they emailed me with an interesting proposal which I can tell you more about soon hopefully.

Take care
Love Clara x

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

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

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

Shopping for supplies

So I have been to London and I have been supply shopping, I bought some lovely white washed linen, it is so soft and drapes wonderfully it is the backbone item in my shop, so many items have this wonderful material as the foundation. It is strong yet beautiful and eco-friendly compared to cotton. I also got some more ribbon and cotton lace as I can not resist having more, but this time I also came across some wonder roses as ribbon, pink and dark pink with  green it is wonderfully romantic and gorgeous! Last but not least I bought some wonderful romantic white ruffle fabric, this I just adore to hold it up and shake it and watch all the ruffles quiver and shake. I have no plans for these at the moment, one day soon I should be able to show you what I have come up with though.

roses ribbon

white ruffles

I moved in the last quarter of 2012 and the area I have moved to while lovely and quiet it is not equipped for a shop-a-holic like me. There is is only one haberdashery about three miles away and she does not sell anything out of the ordinary so I am still relying on trips to London to get my supplies this is a long round trip for me approximately two hours each way so it is not something I do frequently. Do you have problems getting supplies for your crafts? How do you get around this? Do you buy online? I struggle with online buying as I am self taught and so I do not know the terms for the fabrics I want, so shopping can be fraught with expletives and nothing purchased. Oh well I will now be saving my pennies for my next shopping trip in London town.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade

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

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

Love Clara x

Today I am spring cleaning!

Spring cleaning should be invigorating and lively, right? Well not for me as I am trying to spring clean my huge pile of fabrics and ribbons. I have made a huge mess and will need to hoover to rid my place of loose threads and bits of fabric. I have sorted out the ones I am not using, the ones I will use and those that I simply can not let go of, yet, if ever. As a crafter I love squirrelling away supplies for future brain waves that will actually be made in to a project to be sold, and some pieces I just hoard as they are too pretty. As I have said before I own many vintage ribbons, pieces of lace and crochet doilies that are too beautiful to cut or to create with as I have not yet come up with a fitting design for them. But alas today is the day when I shall actually photo and measure some pieces of fabric that I know I will not use. So I will put them up in my Etsy shop and hope they quickly find a great owner who will make them in to something wonderful and use them till they can not be used any more.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/176802541/destash-fabric-de-stash-linen-yarn-dyed?ref=listing-shop-header-0

Recent additions to my home

 For ages I have been trying to find an Antique Blessed Virgin Mary Statue in my price range, this was proving incredibly hard. I have been looking for about a year on the internet, the postage is always pricing me out. Then the other I found a beautiful St. Barbara. She was in a charity shop for a bargain £1.50! I was so surprised and happy to take her home with me. She is plaster/chalk and in a beautiful pose. I think she maybe French as at the base it says Ste Barbe. Silly me forgot to take a before photo though! She was wearing a golden crown and a red robe and an orange and green dress. These colours did not please me, my décor at home is very pale, creams, white, light greys so out came the paint!

I used an emulsion called crushed almond, it is like an off white, quite warm in tone. I used it really thick as I wanted good coverage and the effect of stone when finished. I had to do a couple of coats as the green kept showing through. I have left her crown golden. What do yo think?

St Barbara after painting

St Barbara

Saint Barbara, similar to mine before I re painted her.

On the same shopping trip I also came across a resin Venus, she is almost perfect. I Just have a little cleaning to do to her. These will be treasured in my bedroom.

Venus

Love Clara x

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade

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

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

Day off?

So I work four days a week to make sure the bills are paid each month. But my passion is sewing and making! Sadly my passion does not make enough money for me to do it full time and pay the bills, hopefully one day it will. Today was my second day off in a row and I had the desire to sew after resting yesterday. I find if I am tired or rushed I can not be creative at all. But more of this in a later blog post. On the days when I am too tired to create I just gather ideas on my boards on Pinterest. (http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade)  My gosh how I love that site. All the pretty images collected together. I find them so appealing that sometimes I forget to blink for ages staring at the screen I have boards for Shabby Chic, white shabby chic (my favourite board), for linens and lace (ooo this is also my favourite board) for baskets and colourful objects, for pretty buildings and for industrial pieces I am in love with, plus more, so take a peek via the link above. I also read lots of blogs and I will look through www.etsy.com for hours adding favourites and making lists of items I want to buy.
I always have scraps of paper laying around with lists on. The lists include: Supplies I need to buy, things I want, things I NEED, ha ha ha my needs are never ever anything practical this list is in fact the pretty objects I must must must own as soon as I can afford them or find them if they are vintage/ antique. My biggest list, and the one that gets made and remade several times and never ever get completed is my things to make list! I find writing down what I want to make, with a quick sketch really helps when I have time away from the day job. It focus' my mind and steers me in the right direction. Otherwise I can waste a whole day trying to make a decision on which piece of lace I love the least so I can bare to cut it up to make something else from it. Or which piece of linen/ cotton I should use. The lists help me keep that clarity. Today was such a day where I actually crossed some things off my lists. In short it was a great day!
I made a new pocket pillow for my Etsy shop and I took the photos for another piece and I listed a vintage display case. So not really a day off as I was still working of sorts. But I was working on my passion and that is never a wasted day or a day spent in vain. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do something I adore, and I squeal with delight when someone purchases one of my items as I know nothing is promised or forever. But that is another story for another day. Thank you for reading.

Love Clara


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

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/166199375/remote-holder-pillow-pocket-pillow-doily?ref=shop_home_active_21

Handmaking and selling

Today I made a new pillow for sale in my Etsy shop, but once it was completed I was struggling to list it for sale, not because I physically couldn't do it or because of a bad Internet connection but because I loved it so much!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/175269562/white-decorative-pillow-appliqued-doily?ref=shop_home_active_1

Sometimes as a maker of one off items and when I purchase vintage items for sale this is what happens. I love unique one offs and I struggle to let them go. I have to convince my self about the new happy home they are going to!
What a silly billy I am. I hope you like my new item here a few photos of the making of it.

Love Clara x



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