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

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

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

Shabby Chic

What does Shabby Chic mean to you?
To me it means a decorating style, although shabby and chic do not normally go together, in fact they kind of clash. But when incorporated in home décor who can deny the beauty? Something that is chic is not normally shabby. This style has been around a long long time in Europe, where we appreciate well loved pieces:
Colours are pastel shades like blush pink, ecru, lavender, stone and ivory
Fabrics are: linens, faded velvets, cottons, ticking, lace and crochet thread made in to lace ribbons and delightful doilies.

A stack of white doilies

Patterns: of roses, peonies, country scenes, elegant birds of paradise decorate walls in wall paper or in oil paintings, pictures, wall hangings, decorations and ornaments.

a Rococo style frame with a picture of peonies and roses.

chipped painted swallow, vintage find in Essex.

Finishes on furniture are soft paint, wax, distressed, Rococo swirls and carved wood

It is relaxed, soft, romantic, opulent.

my humble chandelier in shabby chic style

a painted wooden frame with a Mother of Pearl heart

 Think of cottage gardens, gentle sea foam waves of the sea across the sand. 

It is about taking comfort and not worrying that imperfection makes something ugly. It is about embracing vintage pieces and objects. Shabby chic is about loving old velvet cushions that have thread bare edges and your grandma's set of china that is mismatched and has seen many parties and breakages and additions added to it along the years. Shabby chic does not span one period of time, it is not Victorian, nor just Rococo it can work in many styles of homes and houses. It is about loving the old and maybe reusing it in a way other than what was originally intended. Like the frame and heart above, the frame was a charity find for 30 pence, I re painted it to fit in with my colour scheme and the heart is handmade. I have married them to together to make something I find beautiful. Another example is the odd tea cup and saucer, perhaps this is the last surviving piece from this set, so who ever owns has re purposed it so they can carry on enjoying the piece.

image taken from google images

What does Shabby Chic mean to you? 

Love Clara x

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