Exciting new find!

This week has been quite slow on the crafting front!  Just not been able to get my head into gear to make much!  I have had a go at making a canvas with a dance quote on but need to think carefully about the colours so the ink shows!  I have also been making plans for a few more projects and hopefully will get more done in the next few weeks! 
I have spent a lot of my time moving my things into the spare room where I have a much larger table to work at, maybe this is the main reason for my lack of crafting?  I have lots more space now to work in and it is lighter.
One thing I would like to share with you is an exciting new magazine!  Well, actually my husband found this magazine on a recent supermarket trip and what a find it is.  It is called Simply Homemade and is just what I have been looking for, a general crafty magazine.

I was most excited to find that it is Issue 1 and that there were free gifts!  Free craft papers and a set of stamps.  Unlike other free gifts I  have had from other similar magazines, these were of high quality and something I will definitley be using in my projects!
The magazine is well made, on nice glossy paper, and is quite a substantial size for £3.99.  It has the usual magazine sections, contents, news and letters, as well as specific crafty sections covering a range of crafts and easy to follow projects.  The sections covered in the magazine are papercraft, recycling, soapmaking, sewing, felt and knitting and it is obvious that each issue will cover a wide range of crafts.
There are lots of projects I want to have a go at and they all have really easy step-by-step instructions with diagrams and all the templates needed contained in the magazine.  I really want to have a go at some of the bag projects , making a russain doll charm out of old jeans, the roman blind and making an apron.  Another feature of the magazine I really liked are the links to blogs and online market places. 
As you can probably tell, I am completley in love with this magazine and will be reading it over and over again, finding inspiration from within it's pages and having a go at the projects.  Within 2 hours of getting the magazine I had gone online and subscribed, the lure of the free gift did persuade me, it is just so pretty! 
If, like me, you are into general craftiness this is definitley the magazine for you! 

What's in a name?

I thought it would be really interesting to write a blog about where the name 'The Gingerbread Bunny' came from.  For those of you who don't know, The Gingerbread Bunny is the name of my very new crafty enterprise (Eeeek!)  Inspired by my crafty friend Shinybees (check out her fantastic blog here http://shinybees.wordpress.com/), I decided that I needed a craft name to put on my products.  The difficulty came in choosing a really good name and for this I sought the help of my husband and my mum.  I had a pretty good idea that it was going to have something to do with rabbits  (more on that later) and so the ideas came.  Eventually, I settled on The Gingerbread Bunny, which I love! 
So, why the bunny?  Around 2 years ago we eventually bought our own house.  I have always grown up with pets and, after living in a rented house for a few years where we couldn't have pets, we knew that when we got our own place we were definitley going to have pets.  We couldn't have cats because my husband is allergic and we felt that a dog would have to be alone at home too long during the day.  We had heard of people keeping house rabbits and so, after much research, we contacted the wonderful people at Manchester and Salford RSPCA and became Bunny Parents to rescued rabbits Hansel and Gretel.

Hansel and Gretel chilling on the rug!

 Hansel and Gretel did not had the best start in life and, since they came to live with us 2 years ago, have definitley been spoiled bunnies.  They have given us some trouble, chewing through fridge freezer cables, chewing through the water pipe to the washing machine and flooding our kitchen and other such 'adventures' but, despite this, we still love them to bits!
So, this is where the name came from!  I am in the process of creating cuddly bunny toys with clothes that can be changed and I am hoping to make these to sell with the money generated going to charity to support the rescue and rehoming of bunnies! Here is the one I made today, he needs some clothes and I need to work on my eye and nose and tooth sewing but I am confident that they will be fab!

Prototype bunny made from some old jeans I had. 
He hasn't got any clothes yet though but I am going to make him some!

Setting up shop

So this week I have had the opportunity to think about starting to sell my Gingerbread Bunny products!  It is very exciting but extremley scary at the same time.  I am starting small and hopefully will be able to build it as I go.  One day I hope to set up workshops for adults and children based around my crafting skills but that us some way in the future yet. I have made some products to sell, handmade cards and photo albums/journals/scrap book things and hope to build up this stock as I go introducing some sewn goods aswell (thanks Mum for the very cool Sewing with Confidence folders you collected years ago!)
If you have any ideas of places I can sell my wares then please post below.

Beautiful Bag Making!



The completed bag!



I am so pleased!  Today I finally had the time to make my bag and I am so pleased with the result!  There where a few hiccups along the way and I did get rather grumpy with some of the binding at one point but all in all it went pretty well!  It is a bucket bag from 'The Bag Making Bible' by Lisa Lam but I have added an elasticated pocket inside (just the right size for my iPhone) and I chose not to make it reversible!

Inside elasticated pocket



Last night, whilst watching my favourite episodes of The Vicar of Dibley (the very last ones where she gets married in her pyjamas!!) I made some beautiful cards.  They are a large card, with 2 of them, 4 smaller matching cards.  I am very pleased with them!!!

I used some beautiful card that I saw in Hobbycraft and it just looks beautiful!  On each of the cards I have added a small embellishment, a little fabric butterfly, sparkly jewel, brad or paper flower!

 

 

I plan to put these on my Folksy shop to sell (when I eventually set it up in half term!)

Wednesday Night Card Making!

The plan tonight was art journaling, however, I was easily distracted by some card making using some lovely card toppers I got on sale!  They are a bit on the gothic side but feature a rather cute bunny and a black cat!! 

You will be pleased to know that I did get round to a little bit of art journaling - I did some writing and prepared some more pages for future use!

I love the Postman!

Yay!  The postman has finally bought me the wadding I need to make my bucket bag at the weekend!!! He also bought me what looks to be a great book called Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey!  Expect to see an improved blog soon!!!!  All I need now are my tags and stamp and I will be a very happy bunny! x

Sunday's Craftiness!

So today I have started to make my bag!!!  I have been waiting to make this bag for weeks, ever since I got 'The Bag Making Bible' by Lisa Lam!  The bag I'm making is the Bucket Bag as it seems to be the easiest! (I hope)!  I have spent the day cutting out the fabric templates to so that when my wadding arrives next week I can start to assemble it!!  I am also making a matching purse and phone holder to go with it!
My biggest, and most exciting, make today has been the yoyo flower!  Very simple and very effective!  I am using them to decorate my bag, purse and holder.  I have covered some buttons myself to go in the middle so it all co-ordinates!

YoYo Flower

Previous Makes!!!

Here are a few of my past makes!   

ART JOURNALING 

I used an old passport

I used a range of papers for backgrounds

Last summer me and my mum went to America on a Tribal Bellydance Holiday (My other passion!)  I was inspired by a beautiful lady we danced with over there, Tracy, who was into art Journaling!  I bought a magazine and was completley hooked!  This is the first art journal I made about our fantastic trip!

SEWING

For Christmas I got the best present ever (as my husband keeps telling me!)  A sewing machine!  Now it is only a very basic model (a mini sewing machine from John Lewis in bright pink!) but it is wonderful!  Here are a few things I have made so far!



I bought a great book, 'How to get the most from your sewing machine' by Marion Elliot.  There was this great idea about how to make a sewing machine cover out of an old pair of jeans!  So I did!  I used the pockets to hold the foot and adaptor and on the back is a pocket for the manual!  It keeps my sewing machine dust free, all it's bits together and looks pretty good!!!

Inspired by a present my friend Jo made me for Christmas, I made my train mad husband this notebook cover using some pretty Cath Kidston fabric!  He did complain that the seing on the ribbon was a bit wonky but given it was only my second sewing machine project, I don't think I did too bad!!! 

This cute vase cover was made from an old jumper I had!