A Handmade Hen Party

You may have noticed that I've had a little break from blogging for a few weeks during April and May. One of my very special friends is getting married in under two months and I have been busy preparing things for her handmade hen party.

Three very organised bridesmaids got together to plan a weekend of celebrations. Playing to our strengths, we decided to each take on a different part of the weekend to organise, I decided to take on the creative plans as I had a few ideas up my sleeve that I'd been planning for some time.

My aim was to create memorable additions to the fantastic weekend we had planned for her and create a few bespoke things that she could keep. Using colours that the bride-to-be loves I decided to build a theme round these colours and create a set of unique handmade items and decorations for the weekend. I'm thrilled to let you know that the weekend of celebrations went very well and all my handmade touches added to the fun events we planned for the weekend.

My favourite handmade hen party items were these pretty ribbon rosettes or ribbon brooches that I hand stitched and designed myself. Using purple, sage green and lemon yellow ribbon, I created 14 rosettes, one for each of the girls who were coming to the weekend activities. I wanted to create something pretty and glam that we could all wear at the various parts of the weekend to show we were all coming together for a special reason. The handmade ribbon rosettes were also a lovely present for each of the girls to take away to remember the weekend.

I made simple handmade paper chains using the same three colours. I used thin coloured card and cut strips measuring 8 inches long by 1 inch wide. I used my paper trimmer to help cut up the strips as I made around 8 to 10 metres of paper chains to decorate a room. I stapled the chains together for speed and used a small stapler. I also sourced pretty pearlescent purple and ivory coloured balloons and tied them together with purple ribbon.

I created a handmade garter as a special gift for the bride-to-be. I knew she didn't have 'something blue' so I made a pretty garter using pretty baby blue ribbon and tied striped ribbon into bows for extra details. I hope that the handmade garter will be something that can be handed down in time and be someone's 'something borrowed' and 'something blue'.

All of the events during the party weekend were a surprise for the bride-to-be. Before every big event over the weekend I handed her a handmade card providing details of what was happening next. These cards were created using pearlescent purple and yellow paper and card from Paperchase and some pretty mint green washi tape. I used a circular paper punch, scalloped circle punch and a Martha Stewart Butterfly punch to create a layered design on the front. Using green pearlescent ink I created a stamped message inside, punched some butterflies, and wrote a different message in each card providing more details of each stage of the weekend. I wanted to make sure that there was a record of every special event organised for the weekend so she could look back and remember.

In addition to the handmade items I collated photos of the bride-to-be from all of the girls who were attending the weekend, the friends spanned various stages of her life so we had a fantastic selection of photos. I added the photos to the album and asked all the girls to write messages on card to add to the photo album. We didn't fill the whole album with photos as we wanted to leave space for photos of the weekend that could be added later on. I tied the photo album with a big purple ribbon rather than wrapping paper. I really do think we managed to create a truly special present to hold her memories.

To make the day even more personal we created a menu of food filled with things the bride-to-be loves. We also created her favourite mojito cocktail using home grown mint from my courtyard garden.

I really loved creating a range of handmade items for the weekend. I've never created as many different things for one event before and I'm proud of what I have achieved and the new skills I've learnt. The time spent planning and making all of the items, as well as all the thinking I did about the little details over the past few weeks was really worth it. In addition to the fun activities and the great company we shared over the weekend, the crafty items I made added to her memory of the details of the weekend. I love it that the bride-to-be has some keepsakes to remind her of her special hen party weekend.

Over the next few weeks I'll write set of step by step instructions for how to make the ribbon rosettes and also instructions of how to make a handmade garter, so that you can make them too!

Handmade Christmas gift tags

The presents are all wrapped and ready to go under the tree...Christmas day has almost arrived! The only thing missing are the gift tags. This year I decided to embark on a number of craft projects, one of these included making my own gift tags. I decided I didn't want to buy any this year as I had plenty of plain tags I could use and things I could use to embellish them. I wanted a handmade look but something that would coordinate with the gift wrap I had chosen and something that was quick to create.

Using a few simple items in my craft stash I added some Christmas style washi tape to plain white and kraft tags and used a little Happy Christmas stamp and red ink. On a few of the tags I replaced the existing twine with some festive red and white bakers twine. On a few of the white tags I punched a snowflake shape. Hopefully this will give you some inspiration to make your own tags!

After a few weeks of crafting I feel I've really caught the Christmas crafting bug!

Handmade Christmas Cards

Over the past few weeks I've been making my own Christmas cards. I sourced some lovely papers, embellishments and clear stamps to use. I had the chance to use all of my scrap booking and paper crafting supplies to create the cards. I used a scalloped paper punch, circle punch, some gorgeous Christmas stamps from Elle's Studio, buttons tied with red and white bakers twine and some wood veneer snowflakes from Studio Calico and a variety of washi tapes.

 

Handmade Mr and Mr card

One of my close friends from university married the love of his life this September. Before the big day I spent a week or so trying to find a card to celebrate their marriage but I couldn’t find one that I really wanted to give. The range of Mr and Mr marriage celebration cards is so very small, so I decided to make one using my paper stash.

I looked for colours that I knew that they both liked and this formed the main inspiration for the card. I wanted something simple but bold. Using pinking shears I cut a rectangle of striped orange and white paper to form the background. I used my clear stamps and silver ink to create the Mr & Mr message on white card and mounted the message on blue paper. I finished the card off by adding a wooden heart button and a thin piece of off white ribbon. It was a really quick project and only took me about 20 minutes to make this card...it took me longer to write the message that was inside the card! 

On their big day I felt a huge sense of pleasure adding my handmade card to the pile of cards to celebrate their special day. 

Scrapbooking September

I love September. It’s a month that brings a crisp feeling to the morning air signalling that the seasons are changing, the days get shorter and you can enjoy guilt-free comforting food like apple crumble!

With the change of season starting in September, it brings with it a symbolism of change and a new start for me more than any other month. Perhaps it was because a new school or university year began in September, but at this time of year I always have the urge to start a new journey and learn something new. In September I feel the desire to buy fresh stationary supplies, a new pretty notebook and a pen. Last September I took an evening class to learn to knit. I had a huge sense of satisfaction when I got to take notes on the first page of that new notebook for the first time and picked up the basics.  

This week I wrote about my love of photography and posted up two photo collages. I love taking photos and really enjoyed putting together the collages and the short blurb to go with each image. I think the blog post came from my underlying desire to start scrapbooking. For many months I’ve been thinking about dabbling in scrapbooking either with paper or digitally so that I can combine photos, memories and my love of patterned paper and fabric. I’m so inspired by those who craft beautiful scrapbook pages for their albums, keeping a lasting memory of events that have happened, whether they are big events such as a special birthday or small things like going for coffee at a cafe.

I haven’t made any progress to start scrapbooking yet, partly due to the cost of setting up a stash of embellishments, partly because I’m trying to focus my learning on sewing and gardening, but perhaps there is room for one more new thing to try out!  I have some pretty papers, some clear stamps, plenty of photos and a keen desire to go for it and document what I’m doing. I’ve enjoyed making cards for friends and family this year so hopefully I’ll like scrapbooking too.

Something happened on Saturday morning that made me take that leap I’ve needed.  An email newsletter landed in my inbox that I felt I was drawn to read and follow up on. The newsletter was from Shimelle.com and was about her annual class that she runs called Learn Something New Every Day. Shimelle is a highly talented scrapbooker with a fantastic blog that I regularly take a look at and am inspired by. I was drawn to this statement that Shimelle posted on her blog the following:

“Learn Something New is all about being aware of the world around you and taking away one little lesson from that world each day for a month. You can approach it in terms of gratitude. Or patience. Or steps toward a goal. You can then take on the documentation in any style you want: write in a journal. Make a minibook. Write daily blog posts. Take a daily photo”.

It sounds great doesn’t it?...and with that thought I signed up! I’m hoping that by having something to inspire me everyday and to focus on will be the gentle introduction to scrapbooking I need. Take a look at Shimelle.com to find out more about the course.

September is a great month to learn something new, start a new routine and begin a new journey. I’m looking forward to seeing what I learn over the next month of experimenting with paper, using my photos and writing, to hopefully create something by the end of the month. I’ll let you know how I get on!

Handmade Father's Day card

I spent an hour or so this week making this handmade card for my amazing Dad for Father's Day. I used a selection of blue papers I had in my stash and tried to find a few different patterns that worked well together.

I used alphabet stencils I had to create the big letters and cut them out using scissors and my small craft knife. Clear stamps and a silver ink pad were used to create the 'best in the world' lettering and the zig zag cuts were made using pinking shears. I was really pleased with the end result, and my Dad liked it too!

Wishing all Dad's out there a wonderful Father's Day!

Make your own spice rack labels

I spent many months looking for a new spice rack for our little kitchen. We have a kitchen with limited surface and cupboard space so finding the right option was important. Mr C is a bit of a dab hand in the kitchen and cooks the most fabulous meals, normally requiring a variety of herbs and spices. He mainly uses fresh herbs for cooking, hence the types of herbs planted in the garden last week, and a variety of spices. I knew we needed a spice rack with plain jars, as the pre-labelled, pre-filled jars just weren’t going to be suitable and the contents would go to waste.

After searching we found this lovely spice rack with cream jars from Garden Trading that fitted our needs perfectly! I love having clear jars to store food, you are able to see what you have at a glance and they look great too. To add a final touch, I decided to make my own spice rack labels using brown card, blue stamping ink and clear alphabet stamps. It didn't take me long…

I started by stamping the spice name onto brown card that I had in my paper stash. When I had finished I cut out the wording leaving a space at the end so I could punch a hole ready for the thread. I reused the brown twine that came with the jars to tie the label to the jar.

The good thing about having these jars is if we change the spices, as the seasons change and as we find new favourite recipes, all I need to do is whip up a few new labels!