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

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

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

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