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

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

Re-cycle, Up-cycle, Re-do

Sad looking green cupboard

Painting going on nicely.

 So I bought this little green shelf, curio cupboard, shelf, I don't know what you call it, but the washed green paint effect was awful, I could see runs in it and it was just a nasty shade of green. But I could see this being super cute if painted white. So I bought it and these are the photos of me re-cycling it in to something pretty again. I took out the fret work and replaced it with jolly fabric and I think it looks super sweet now don't you? This small cupboard is now ready for your shabby chic home, it is really versatile and can be used in any room of the home, you can sit it on a sideboard or hang it from a wall. It is currently for sale in my etsy shop. Click on any image to be taken straight to it.

Curio cabinet.

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

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

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

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

A little glitter and sparkle

Today is Saturday, it is beautifully sunny and bright, we are between winter storms in the South East of England at the moment. I wanted to capture the sun for the not so bright days ahead. I picked up all my sparkly things I have been meaning to do something with for literally years. This included: beads; pieces of chandeliers; mother of pearl buttons; a broken necklace and some silver coloured netting. I grabbed my wire and cutters too. 

tools and some sparkly bits

I wanted to make some kind of dream catcher but for light instead of dreams!

sparkles!

This is the top and it has a mirrored button and mother of pearl and that lovely netting in sparkly silver threads so delicate and beautiful.

tear drop glass pendant from a chandelier

At the bottom I added this large glass drop from a chandelier, look how it captures the light for me for on the grey days of winter. In today's sun light it is making rainbows all over my room. So pretty. It is if fairies are dancing about.

Light catcher

It is not long only about 50 cm. I will not hang it in front of my window like I would love too but on the side of my wardrobe as my daddy dearest has always frightened me of fire caused by glass magnifying the light and burning houses down. I have used an old broken chain to make another with another tear drop pendant. 

light catchers. dec 2013.

What do you think of these? Wouldn't they be magical hanging from a tree in the garden? Maybe with with my lace heart from Etsy: 

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/170633851/valentines-heart-white-heart-lace-heart?ref=shop_home_active 

If you to have an old chain like the one I used or if you bought one from a thrift store or charity shop you too could make your own magical light catcher very cheaply.

Thank you for reading please tell me what you think in the comments.

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

Love Clara x

New Years resolutions/ goals

Hmm. Well this year I have to admit I am kinda stumped on what to do personally. Maybe this will be the year when I stop talking about doing regular yoga classes and actually start doing it. I have made several goals for ClarasHandMade, which include making this blog and more lovely things for the shop. I have already been making next years Christmas advent Calendars as I figured I would not fancy making those in the middle of summer! This is a little sneak peak of one of my designs. What do you think? It is made of white linen and I have hand applied the motifs and hand stamped it with last years Christmas rubber stamp gift set.

sneak peak of Christmas 2014

I am going for a Swedish theme with these and I will also make some Christmas stockings to go with them. I found some gorgeous ribbon on my travels the other week. I think these have quite a folk/Swedish feel about them don't you? The red will definitely go on another advent design I have in my head.

ribbons

As usual these will be in limited supply due to their handmade status! My current stock can be found on my Etsy shop: http://www.clarashandmade.etsy.com

Have you made any goals or resolutions for 2014 yet? I would love to hear about them in the comments below. 

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


Love Clara x

My First Blog!

Firstly hello and welcome,
I have decided to start a blog as I find myself wanting to talk about my handmade pieces and influences more and more. My Facebook friends do not want to hear it as they do not have the same passions as I do, Twitter doesn't give you enough space and so here I am talking to myself! I plan to show you my work in progress plus finished pieces and all about my influences. 

I love the white shabby chic/cottage chic look of soft furnishing and white chippy paint on furniture pieces. My favourite fabrics are ivory cottons and cream linens and doilies and vintage lace. The distressed look of wood painted in white, beige and gold leaf, hmm heaven! I look to the Shabby Chic, French Châteaux, Swedish Gust avian and American Shaker styles for influences in my work. I also love industrial pieces and buildings, modern is not a style you will find here. I hope you like what I will show you. 

clarashandmade

Love Clara x

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