This used to be a sweater...

... but I don't think it'll keep you very warm now! :)
This is my entry for Folksy's Upcycle Christmas competition - listed in my Folksy Shop with just a few hours to spare before the deadline. Phew!

It's a vintage-inspired cocktail hat / fancy fascinator made from wool felt and decorated with lots of sparkly beads:It started life as an old sweater that shrank in the wash (a kind gift from a neighbour) and a couple of bracelets that have been languishing in my jewellery box since I was a teenager (many years ago now!)You can read more about it & see more photos HERE and if you're a member of Folksy please add it to your favourites if you like it - the item with the most votes by Thursday evening will win the "peoples choice" prize. It's not currently for sale but will be included along with all the other Upcycle Christmas entries in an online auction being held to raise money for Sue Ryder Care. The auction begins on December 7th, I'll post details as soon as I know them so you can go bid on any of the entries that have caught your eye...

An Upcycling Update

You may have heard about the Upcycle Christmas competition being run by the good people at Folksy (I blogged about it a while back).

Well, the closing date is tomorrow at 5pm and I'd been planning on blogging about some of my fave picks from all the entries and writing something sorrowful about not having time to think up my own entry... and then I had a sudden bit of inspiration this morning and have spent this afternoon working on my own upcycled piece :)

Here's a quick snap of the offcuts:
More pics tomorrow - hope there's decent light as I'm cutting it rather fine!!

In the meantime, here are three "before and after" photos from some of the entries which have really charmed me. It's so much fun seeing the transformation from second hand materials into brand new crafty loveliness.

The Cotton Potter used these vintage linens and second hand clothes...... to make this pretty Jug shaped slip cover for a wine bottle:
Through The Round Window used an assortment of second hand glass...... to make this gorgeous stained glass panel called "Winter Girl" (love the frosted glass!)

And Rose Lullaby Dolls used a Barbie doll and some other finds...... to make Ingrid, a doll with real personality:
What I've made is in no way as awesome as that lot, but I'm still pleased I got struck by some inspiration in the nick of time! Make sure you check out all the entries here and if you're a member of Folksy you can mark the ones you like as a favourite and help determine who wins the"peoples choice" prize.

Upcycle Christmas with Folksy

The lovely people over at Folksy have announced a fun competition for all you UK-based crafty types: Upcycle Christmas."Upcycle Christmas is a competition for people to take second hand / charity stuff and make it into something ‘new’ and desirable to be sold at an online auction starting on the 7th December. All proceeds from the auction will go to Sue Ryder Care, the healthcare charity, our partners on the project"

You can use any second hand stuff you like to rework into your entry - which should be something you'd give at Christmas, not something Christmassy like a decoration. And if you happen to live near one of the participating Sue Ryder Care stores you can claim a ticket that's redeemable for up to 5 free items to use as the materials for your project.

Two of the judges have been announced already - Louise Roe and the always awesome Wayne Hemingway - and there will also be a "peoples choice" category for "your favourite items as chosen by number of favourites the item receives on Folksy".

I had lots of fun making my entry for last year's Folksy Angels competition so I'm hoping to have the time (and a good flash of inspiration) to make something this year too!

You can read more about the competition here or check out the FAQs here.

Votes Tallied, plus A Quick Survey

First up, a big Thankyou! to everyone who voted for my Credit Crunch Sampler in Folksy's Make the News competition and who posted such nice comments here and on Flickr. I came 4th (yay!) and I've also been chuffed to see my sampler popping up on a few blogs including Craft:zine and the always delightful I Like.

Secondly, if you have a spare moment and are interested in supplies like bobby pins, brooch backs and lovely glass beads like these...
... please help out my lovely friend Alice of SnapdragonBeads... She has just opened a new supplies shop on Etsy called The Happy Crafter and is running a survey on what to stock this year. You can take the survey here and if you're an Etsy member use your etsy username when you fill out the survey and Alice will give you 10% off your first order in 2009.

A Credit Crunch Sampler - your votes needed!

Sorry for the lack of posting the past couple of days, I've had a friend visiting and have tried to be a good host and neglect my blog etc instead of him! :)

I've got something rather fun to show off today - my entry for Folksy's Make the News competition, to make something inspired by a recent news story.

One of the most written-about stories of 2008 has been the economic crisis - known as "The Credit Crunch" here in the UK. To, er, "celebrate" the credit crunch I made my own modern twist on old fashioned embroidery samplers made to commemorate a year or special event:
As a crafter, I've been really interested in how an almost wartime-like "make do and mend" attitude has been cropping up in connection with the credit crunch. Now the mass-consumption bubble has burst people are rediscovering the specialness of handmade things, and "old fashioned" hobbies like sewing are experiencing a revival:
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/sewing-machine...
I couldn't get the idea of credit crunch themed embroidery out of my head, and made this in a bit of a sewing frenzy one night this week. It's freehand embroidery on white felt - the technical term for my embroidery style is "naive" (haha) but I do try! - framed in an embroidery hoop.

If you like it, please do vote for me by leaving a comment HERE before midnight (GMT) on Sunday 11th Jan! Thankyou muchly xxx

EDIT: voting has now closed

An Exhibition

The latest Paper'n'Stitch exhibition starts today - and I'm in it!
Paper'n'Stitch is "an exhibition space for fine art, handmade and vintage shops", where each exhibitor gets their own little "shop" displaying up to 20 of their products... which then directs you to their Etsy or other retail shop when you hit the "buy" button.

The shops taking part change monthly (the current exhibition runs until 18th January), and like a little catalogue it's a quick and easy way of discovering new designers and makers.

I recognise a few of my Etsy favourites in this month's participants, including Cicada Studio and Leanne Graeff but have also discovered lots of new treasures....

Snowflake Cross Stitch by Atlantic Treefox:

Plaid & Floral Cushion by Enhabiten:

Plus this deliciously stylish Octagon Cushion by PLYtextiles:
Oh, and rather excitingly, if you take a moment to register with the paper'n'stitch site you can vote for your favourite exhibitor and the shop with the most votes gets a month free on the site and $150! Second place winner gets a free month plus $50! What fun!

If you fancy voting for me, you can do so by clicking on the heart icon at the top of my shopfront.

Your Votes Needed!

Edit: voting has now closed :)

I've entered a fun competition over on Folksy, and I'd love it if you guys could pop on over to the Folksy blog today and vote for meeeee ... No, seriously, please go check out all the entries and vote for your favourite - there have been some fab entries and the prize is pretty awesome (a whole year of free listings and commission-free sales on Folksy! very exciting stuff) so the more votes the merrier!

The brief was to create "a seasonal decoration for the home" ... "you must not buy anything new to make your decoration and the bulk of the materials used must be recycled / upcycled from things that you would usually have thrown away." I took the brief quite seriously and went for a rummage in our recycling bin... and ended up making this:
A modern Christmas star, made from 2 cardboard coffee cup trays - my boyfriend brings these home from work so we can recycle them -- plus red yarn leftover from a knitting project, foil wrappers from chocolate money (for a bit of bling), and a red sweet wrapper. I also used a small bit of PVA glue and sticky tape to help the yarn hold everything in place.

It looks exactly the same on the back, so it can spin happily and look lovely from all angles! This is what it looks like from the front...
... and it looks rather sculptural and interesting from the side too as it's hollow in the middle:
I photographed this by hanging it in my kitchen window amongst some paper snowflakes (another Christmas project, lots of pictures of this tomorrow), and sitting on the windowsill to get the best light. My neighbours no doubt now think me madder than ever, hehe.

I Take it all Back...

... I hate autumn! Well, I hate the dark dingy days that mean I can't take photos at any rate :(

I have a lovely crafty project ready and waiting to show you and it will have to wait until I have better light to take photos ... so frustrating! Ah well.

In the meantime I've been greatly cheered by lovely mentions of my gift-wrap ideas over on the Craft blog (hello to anyone visiting from there!) and some of my tea badges on Wee Birdy - as a conclusion to her fab tea-themed week of posts (as you know, I do like a nice cuppa).

PSST: if you're an Etsy member you can go vote for me in their "holiday ornament" contest this week. I won't be mad if you don't vote for my holly ornament, I promise! :D

And the results are in...

First place in the great pants challenge went to Bunny for a most excellent and cute picture of The Annual Pants Day Festivities in Knickerville , second place went to SeaUrchin for ceramic pants brooches and third place went to Kezzaroo for her MrT. Pants. I have (rather delightfully) sold all 3 of my little pants badges (the 4th will be winging its way to Bunny as a prize), raising some money for Comic Relief hurrah. More delicious pants for sale can be found by going to Etsy and typing "pants" or "comic relief" into the search bar.

UK Etsy Pants Challenge

Over on Etsy, some of us UK-based sellers have been making pants-themed items and paying 50p to Comic Relief to enter them into a competition for the best pants (ie knickers). It is just as mental as it sounds, but great fun - there have been tin pants, card pants, knitted pants, felt pants, paper pants, beaded pants, even clay pants! To check out everyone's great designs, try this flickr group or this forum thread

For my entry, I made a Lucky Pants ACEO (mini textile artwork measuring 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches). I am quite please with it, myself. It's just how I planned it in my head.I also got a bit carried away by the idea of us all being in a crazy club and doing challenges, and in an Enid Blyton / Brownies & Guides kinda way wanted to have badges so I made some of those, too:

The UK sellers have already raised a load of cash for Comic Relief by selling red themed items during the past couple of weeks - the RND treasury even getting on the front page and staying there for over 24 hours (they usually change much more frequently than that) - hopefully this weekend lots of us will be listing our challenge items and raising a bit more for CR. I get driven a bit mad by Red Nose Day on the telly, to be honest, but it supports such good causes...