Tuesday 20 November 2012

Xmas CraftFest Has Started

Thats right its time for the Big Xmas Craftfest 




With a range of category's from Homeware, Jewellery, Weddings, Gifts and more all created by lots of fab crafters new and old!  Heres some fine examples available to purchase now



Random Button - We're dedicated to creating a special piece of handmade loveliness for you and your home that we hope will stay with you for a lifetime. From shabby chic gifts to vintage themed homewares Random Button is your one stop shop for those unique present ideas!




ZukieStyle - A selection of beautiful, fashionable and vintage inspired products for both you and your pet, handmade in the UK.



Find more photos like this on Creative Connections

Smile Factory - Are you looking for unique, high quality handmade jewellery? You will find something special here - hand embroidered jewellery made with colorful beads, semi-precious stones and silk soutache braids (russian braids). Unique jewellery to make you feel special and extraordinary. Feel free to visit my FOLKSY shop:



Find more photos like this on Creative Connections

Wooly Pig Designs - I have a selection of colourful toys that make great gifts for new born babies as well as older children. All my items can be made to order to your colour choices.



Find more photos like this on Creative Connections

Cheeky Suds Cheeky Suds is a handmade novelty bath & body cosmetics company. We currently sell novelty soaps, lip balms, bath creamers, bath bombs, bath melts, bath soufflés, body scrubs, bath salts, body butters and solid lotion/massage bars. Our products are suitable for sensitive skin, paraben-free and mainly vegan friendly (products can also be made this way upon request.



Find more photos like this on Creative Connections

Kipper Tie & CakeBeautiful traditional handmade collectable bears, felt gifts, jewellery, freemotion and hand embroidered pieces, mini art canvases, badges and more.  My handmade items are either one of a kind or limited edition and lovingly made by me, Katie, in Cheshire England.  You can find my affordable handmade gifts for sale in my Etsy shop, which is called Kipper Tie and Cake (formerly known as My Small World)  



Find more photos like this on Creative Connections

Printed On Ribbon -  This Christmas ...make it personal!  Have your message printed on ribbon ...perfect for presents and cool for crafting!



Find more photos like this on Creative Connections

Kwur-kees - My headpieces are inspired by cocktail hats and fascinators popular in the 1940s and 1950s. They are created from silk and embellished with fine quality crystals, glass pearls and beads. I offer a bridal range, designs for other special occasions, as well as a bespoke service. I also offer accessories, including shoe clips, brooches and earrings to complete your look.

And of course I'll be taking part too here's my Stall



Find more photos like this on Creative Connections

Lottie Of London's Craftfest Stall
 

Treasury Tuesday

'November Craftfest Treats' by elloriasboutique

Fabulous Makers24th November - 1st December CRAFTFESTAll Day, All Week


Azura Earrings, Blu...
$73.00

The Alice In Wonder...
$18.00

Gold Wire Wrapped B...
$20.00

Turquoise Heart Pen...
$12.00

Turquoise Heart Pen...
$38.00

Felt flower brooch ...
$12.00

Fairies - Laundry o...
$18.00

Denim & Blues Shoul...
$10.00

Purse Flower Blue W...
$8.49

Flower Pot Decoupag...
$17.50

Eivissa Soul Turquo...
$10.00

Hair clip turquoise...
$20.00

Green Tree Agate Ge...
$28.00

Azura Necklace, Blu...
$73.00

Christmas Coin Purs...
$4.99

Don't miss out!





Sunday 18 November 2012

Cupcake Charm Bracelet Commissions in Polymer Clay

I do love commissions, I recently got a commission for my Cupcakes and Tea Charm Bracelet previously made this summer.  My customer was searching for a cupcake bracelet as a gift and found a feature of my bracelet on the blog All Things Cupcake, the perfect place for cupcake lovers.

Here is the finished bracelet

Cupcakes & Tea Charm Bracelet Commission, handmade from polymer clay
Cupcakes & Tea Charm Bracelet Commission, handmade from polymer clay

Cupcakes & Tea Charm Bracelet Commission, handmade from polymer clay
Cupcakes & Tea Charm Bracelet Commission, handmade from polymer clay



 As you can see the charm bracelet also features a little penguin handmade also from polymer clay, as requested by my customer it adds a beautiful personal touch to his gift.

I think maybe a charm bracelet with more of these little penguins will be quite cute with a black and white theme.  Also making the cupcakes for this bracelet reminded me that I made quite a few different styles over the summer.

Polymer clay cupcake beads & charms
Polymer clay cupcake beads & charms


I have already put together a fuller style of charm bracelet, but I plan to make some more using up my cupcake stash, but also I will be selling some of the cupcakes as beads in my Etsy store.

Cupcake & Tea Charm Bracelet, handmade from polymer clay
Cupcake & Tea Charm Bracelet, handmade from polymer clay

Mint Choc Chip Cupcake Bead, handmade from polymer clay
Mint Choc Chip Cupcake Bead, handmade from polymer clay

I have now added my orignal Cupcake & Tea Charm Bracelet to my Etsy Store available as made to order you can find out more information here Lottie Of London Etsy Store.  If you would like the charm bracelet made in another colour please contact me via my Etsy store or through my blog and we can discuss you preferneces.

Cupcake Charm Bracelet - Pink Cupcakes & Tea Charm Bracelet Made to Order
Cupcake Charm Bracelet - Pink Cupcakes & Tea Charm Bracelet Made to Order


This post is part of Handmade Monday with Handmade Harbour

Monday 12 November 2012

Geometric Faceted Polymer Clay Beads




Its always the way, you get an idea in your head but despite looking wonderfully simple the process and technique is anything but!

I wanted to make geometric beads for a necklace,  so turning to one of my very first books for polymer clay How to make Polymer Clay Beads by Carol Blackburn, she has a easy, or so I thought tutorial for making geometric clay beads.

Now in Carols book her beads are perfectly geometric, but this technique is not as simple as it seems.  I just couldn't get them right, here is my initial process.

Polymer Clay Beads rolled into squares
Polymer Clay Beads rolled into squares

Polymer Clay Beads - I sliced away the side of the bead to make them more square with sharper edges
Polymer Clay Beads - I sliced away the side of the bead to make them more square with sharper edges

Slicing away - Creating geometric polymer clay beads
Slicing away - Creating geometric polymer clay beads

Now heres where it went wrong you need to slice away at the corners to make your geometric beads, needless to say I didn't get a picture of the disastrous final beads, they was just not a uniform shape and in my frustration I kept re rolling and trying again, which took me a good part of the day, I blame my non mathematical brain for this.

So I turned to google, searching for geometric or faceted beads and found two wonderful tutorials on faceted beads.

DIY Glittery Facted Beads by Hazel & Agnes
DIY Geometric Necklace by Alicia on Dismount Creative

So putting aside my need to conform and make the beads uniform I proceeded to try again.

 
Polymer clay beads shaped into squares
Polymer clay beads shaped into squares
Again I made my round beads into square shapes, however this time i did not cut away at the sides to make them with sharper edges.












Faceted polymer clay beads - slicing away at the edges
Faceted polymer clay beads - slicing away at the edges
 I proceed to cut away at the each edge once the edges where sliced my cuts became more random to create a faceted shape I was happy with.














A faceted polymer clay bead
A faceted polymer clay bead
Here is one of my finished faceted beads the shape is a lot more free form than a geometric bead.  A quick note don't get too slice happy with your blade, or you will end up with very small beads.
















My faceted polymer clay beads
My faceted polymer clay beads
My completed beads together are a lot more random in there shapes and no two are exactly the same.  Before piecing a hole through these beads I placed them in the freezer for 30 mins to chill this helps when piercing as it prevents you from distorting the overall bead shape.






Grey Faceted Polymer Clay Necklace
Grey Faceted Polymer Clay Necklace


And here is my finished necklace just as I had envisioned, I wanted a simple colour with one bright, bold round bead to compliment and stand out.  I used Titanium and Bright Chartreuse from Pantones Fall 2012 colours.


Grey Faceted Polymer Clay Necklace
Grey Faceted Polymer Clay Necklace

This post is part of Handmade Monday with Handmade Harbour

Resources
  1. DIY Glittery Facted Beads by Hazel & Agnes
  2.  DIY Geometric Necklace by Alicia on Dismount Creative