Folksy Friday - Blue

This weeks Folksy Friday is all about my favourite colour, blue. I just love it, it's so many different colours in one! It's a very serene colour and I find it really relaxing.
Did you know that blue was once considered to be a girl's colour? Whilst pink was regarded as a more manly colour as it is closer to red. It's only since the 1940's that the colours have been reversed so that pink is now a girly colour (far too much of it in toy shops for my liking), and blue for boys.

Anyway, here is my selection of blue items from Folksy. I hope you enjoy them.

A beautiful serene print from LittleBeeAccessories

Some gorgeous knitted baby sandals from tasha's handmade

A blue patterned purse from Kayomi

A blue tartan cashmere cushion by Audacious Textiles

A mosaic mirror from  Funky Mosaics

A blue glass heart by  Elephantblossom Glass

A sandwich plate and soup bowl set by littlewrenpottery

     A cute little doll from Maisy Muffin Rag Dolls

A lovely little girls dress from Claire gypsy rose designs

And finally a peacock blue silk clutch from me Wild Rose Designs

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog :)

Spring

Spring has sprung and as it's such a beautiful day I thought I would talk a little about my garden. Now, I am by no means an expert gardener, nor am I anything but a fair weather gardener, and my garden is nothing special. But I do love the spring when the signs of new life start to appear. Living on the Sussex Coast south of the Downs, means that we have chalky soil and in my garden there is little of it. In some places there isn't much more than 5 or 6 inches of top soil before you hit solid chalk with the occasional flint stone. This makes it very hard to grow certain plants. they either thrive or die. I must have spent a fortune over the years on various plants only to have them die on me within weeks. I particularly love shrubs, especially as it means that once they are established I can pretty much ignore them for much of the year and they are quite happy (as am I). Successes in my garden include, Hydrangeas, Weigela, Spirea, Lilac, Myrtle, Viburnum and Philadelphus,  I would love to be able to grow Hollyhocks, Foxgloves and Delphiniums but they are quickly eaten. So my garden is still a work in progress, has been for many years and is likely to remain so.

 A yellow Camelia, grown in a pot as I have the wrong type of soil to grow in the border.

 An ornamental cherry which will soon be in flower.

 This is a dwarf Lilac (not a great photo, I know).

 Roses with new growth.

A Hellebore (I think).

 Blossom trees in my neighbour's gardens.

Found this poking up through the weeds, If anyone knows what it is, please tell me !

 I think this may be one of last years nests.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Folksy Friday - Cupcakes

My first Folksy Friday's theme is cupcakes, mostly influenced by the fact that I'm a bit peckish at the moment :)  It's amazing just how many diverse talents there are at Folksy, here are just a few..............

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

A lovely personalised cupcake picture from   Charlotte Ranford Designs

 


A cotton toiletry bag from  sewmoira

A pompom name cushion from  Rickety Rose

 


A hand painted jug from  Laura Lee Designs

 
A multi-coloured pop-up cupcakes card from   Pop- up- Zoo Greetings Cards

A wooden box frame with felt hearts and cupcakes from  DesignedbyJanette

A cupcakes and Roses printable gift box by HazelFisherCreations

A cupcake necklace and earing set from  baked beadz

A baby girls bandana dribble bib from  kelsbabystore

And finally, a cushion from me  Wild Rose Designs

My Moo cards have arrived!

I've recently changed web hosts, and so when setting up my new website I wanted  it to have an easily recognisable identity, one that would go with my Folksy shop. I decided to use my Folksy banner in my new website and also on my Business cards. I duly had new business cards printed at Vistaprint and was generally pleased with them.
Last week Folksy announced that they were joining forces with Moo and Fred Aldous to launch a partnership offer. The Moo offer was for 50 free business cards - you only had to pay P&P. I'd heard people rave about Moo business cards so I thought I'd take up the offer and see what all the fuss was about.
Yesterday my cards arrived, I must say that the service is much quicker than Vista Print. The cards themselves are bigger and of a better quality card. You are also able to have a selection of designs on the back at no extra charge. This quality is obviously reflected in the cost of having the cards printed. The big question is; are they worth it, do I go for the Moo cards in future.........what do you think?

The Vistaprint cards are at the top, the other six are the Moo cards.

                                             

                                                         

                                               

Re-discovered!

I'd recently had a clear out at home and discovered some long forgotten fabric.There was yards of it! I'd bought it some years earlier intending to make some kitchen curtains. Well needless to say, the curtains were never made and the fabric languished in a trunk in the loft.

 What on earth was I going to do with all this material? I made one bag but obviously there was still tons of it left. I've decided that I will probably make a set of cushions, but there will still be loads left. Then I Had a light bulb moment!  It would be ideal for a summery shopping bag. Nothing fancy, just a basic bag that you can keep in the car or even folded up in your usual handbag if it's big enough. I always try to keep some sort of shopping bag on me when I'm out, then I don't have to use a plastic carrier bag if I decide to buy something. Just my little contribution to the environment.

So here it is. It's fully lined and  interlined and the handles long enough to fit over your shoulder.

                                             





I have listed five of them in my Folksy shop, all in the same fabric, though the linings will differ.

So why not do your bit, ditch the plastic and buy a real 'bag for life'! It doesn't have to be one of mine (though I'd prefer it if it was) just so long as you get one....

Making a corsage flower

I thought that today I would give a short tutorial on making a simple corsage flower. This method involves heat curling the fabric petals and so you must use a synthetic fabric, natural fibres will just burn.

1)  First choose your fabric, there are lots of different types of synthetic fabrics and they all react to heat slightly differently, some will require more heat and some less.

2)  Next cut out your petals. These need only be a simple circle or oval. You can draw around a template or just cut freehand, which often results in a more natural shape. You will need several of these 'petals' depending on how full you want your flower to be. You will also need them in different sizes.

3)  The next step involves heat curling the edges. To do this hold the petal over a lit tea light, use a pair of tweezers or similar (I use small wooden tongs) as you don't want to burn your fingers. Be careful not to hold it too close to the flame as you only want to melt the edges not incinerate them! You can just seal the edges which will result in a flatter petal, or hold it there a bit longer to really curl them.

 
You will probably make a better job of it than I did in this picture, as I was using my left hand and taking the photo with my right!     

4)  When you have finished this part you should have a selection of different sized petals.

                                                                                        

5)  Now stack your petals to get your desired shape and fullness.

6)  Now you can glue and/or sew the layers together and add your beads, buttons, sequins or other trims to the centre.
                                   

                                                                         

7)  Next you need to add your fixings to the back. I normally cut a circle of felt in the same colour, and attach the fixing( brooch pin, hair clip), I usually glue and sew. Then glue and/or sew the felt circle to the back of your flower. 

                               
8)  Voila! A beautiful handmade corsage!

                                       

Evolution of a bag maker

Well this is my first post on my new blog site, previous blogs have always been attached to my website and I don't think that they are ever as good. So, for my first post I thought I would talk about.. well, Me! Just by way of an introduction. Here goes....

I have always sewn. I didn't learn anything about sewing from Mum, she was a knitter, but my Dad taught himself to sew using my Nan's old Pfaff sewing machine (one of the old hand sewing machines), and I too learnt to sew on this machine. People were always amazed that he made mine and my sisters dresses! So from when I was very young there was always a sewer in the house and as I was a bit of a 'Daddy's girl' it was obvious that I too would sew. He was an inspiration and a great teacher. At first I didn't really know what I was doing, my first attempt at making a dress for my doll was basically a tube with holes cut in for the dolls arms! Not technically brilliant but I was delighted that I had made something that my doll could actually wear. Later at School we were taught cross stitch and I remember making a sewing needle book. In fact they thought me so good that I was asked to help the younger children. In my last year at Junior School I remember the girls had to make a completely hand sewn blouse, lots of back-stitching involved in that! At Secondary school I continued to learn and even made my School summer dress. Since then I have made everything from clothes to soft furnishings, which I made professionally for a few years.

I gave up my curtain making business thirteen years ago, not because it wasn't successful - it was, I had a three month waiting list! But to look after my Granddaughter so that my Daughter could go back to work. Once she started School I got a part time job as a Merchandiser working for a well known greetings card company. Gradually the job changed, became more pressured and hours were cut and I soon started hankering after working for myself again. I began thinking about making bags - why? I don't really know where the idea came from other than the fact that I  love beautiful things;  fabrics, trims, buttons, and though I don't really have the kind of lifestyle where I need lots of evening and occasion bags - I do love them! So having nursed this ambition for a couple of years, in June 2010 I took the plunge and gave up work. By October of that year I launched Wild Rose Designs. The name came from my surname (Wild) and my middle name (Rose).

 I can't say it's been easy to get things going, it's been much harder than when I started making curtains, but I'm determined to make it a success,  I've recently extended the range of bags and added some  home accessories. I'm doing something that I love, and I can fit it in with doing the afternoon School run. I'm my own Boss again and you really can't beat that!