Happy 25th Beadday Chum!

For one lucky lady I know, the 8th of Feb is a very special day. It's her Birthday! Woop woop! I was going to dash off to town and buy her a million beautiful things and trinkets, but then I remembered that I am not a millionaire (or even a hundredaire at the moment!) and so decided to pop my creative cap on and make her something special.

I know there is a slight stigma attached to giving someone something that you have made yourself, almost as if it is less of a gift or like cheating or something, but personally (and I'm not just saying this because I'm making something!), I would be truely touched (ooer) if someone did this for me. Whilst making something might not be material rich, it is time and love rich and that is just as valuable, if not more, than coins and notes.

I have had lots of beads floating around for sometime now and have been meaning to use. So I trotted down to my craft studio (oh la la) and selected a few bits that I thought co-ordinated well. The birthday girl wears a lot of greens so I made this the feature colour, as well as browns and ambers as these compliment each other well.

I used quite thick beading elastic and just got stringing! I decided not to put too much thought into the order of beads and charms, I wanted it to look a bit haphazard and messy-chic.

I liked this look so much I ended up making about 7 more for myself and a few other lucky girlies! This is definately a design I shall be putting in my "to sell at craft shops" collection- so keep your eyes peeled!

Toodlepip! xx

Glitzy Gift Wrapping for my Glitzy Grandma

New years bring new starts and to me, they bring fresh motivation to have a great big clear out. I like to take down the decorations, hoover up all the sprinkles and recycle all the cards and generally unclutter my life. It was during one of my photograph declutterings that I stumbled across a few pictures I meant to blog about.

I bought my Grandma a brilliant book for Christmas, that had blank pages with titles like "What I would do if I won the lottery" etc, and then the chance for her to write her own answers. My marvellous Grandad made one of these for me a few months back and it is much treasured.

During a short period of relief from my pre-Christmas-toothache-from-hell, I really went to town on the wrapping of Grandma's present. I got the idea from the channel 4 programme, Kirstie's Homemade Christmas and found it very simple and pleasant to do. Best of all, I had all the materials already! The wire was from my beading stash and the beads were off an old broken bracelet.

I wont go through the steps of how to make it as it feels a bit like cheating. I took this idea from the TV and all the instructions are on the channel 4 website.

Remember, never throw away old bracelets, and always look after your Grandma!

Toodlepip! xx