Hand Over Your Fairy Cakes

Cutting and Sticking

2010-08-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Recently I have done alot of cutting and sticking, who'd have thought glue could be so much fun. I've had these Brownie badges for a while now, but was never really sure what to do with them. Now they've been officially pimped.

I backed them with some nice card and added brooch backs the make them wearable.

I've just bought loads of cool stuff to stick on them here and I thought I could transfer my cutting and sticking (mostly sticking this time) to a necklace. This is my first go.

I like it, I think I'll make more!

Price Tags & Gift Tags

2010-03-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

A while ago the rather lovely lady at Two Cheese Please swapped me some stamps for a Deviantart subscription - in my opinion I got the better deal, my stamps are amazing! They are so well made, give a nice finish and best of all they're personalised.

Aren't they just beautiful? I haven't had a proper chance to show them off for a long time, but last week I made some price tags for a craft fair coming up in a couple of weeks time and I wanted to show them off here!

They have my character in pink on one side and a cute little chicken on the reverse! Clearly I haven't quite got round to writing prices on them yet.

I've used the "thank you" stamp for my receipts! Don't they look great? Check out the Two Cheese Please Etsy Shop for more stamps and pretty fabric things.

I found these lovely gift tags on Etsy and Folksy - they put my tags to shame!

Paperclips, Safetypins & Tiny Pegs

2010-02-26T03:33:00.000-08:00

I haven't been feeling very well for the past few days, I blame not enough tea. So mostly I have been trying to rectify my tea deficit and making jewellery from interesting materials.

I started out a while ago using some cute coloured safetypins I found on E-bay making some earrings and a bracelet. There are tiny seedbeads on each of the safetypins.

I made these this week from coloured paperclips and acrylic beads. I might have to make matching bracelets/necklaces!

These are the earrings Im working on at the moment - tiny clothes pegs!

Bead Shops

2010-02-22T05:23:00.000-08:00

I love getting new beads in the post, it feels like Christmas opening up parcels rainy Monday mornings despite knowing exactly what's in the packet. People always ask me where I get all my beads and charms so I thought I'd write a list of my favourite online shops - I get almost all of my beads from E-bay so these are UK based E-bay shops. I hope it's helpful!

Findings
Helen's Little Gems - I buy alot of findings here especially chain, jumprings and ring blanks but this shop is also great for beads: there are some gorgeous blown glass beads and silver foil glass hearts.

Markylis - Loads of types of chain including ball, snake and trace chain and my favourite curb chain. I use this type of chain to make my charm bracelets and tend to buy it in metre lengths rather than ready-made bracelet lengths - it's cheaper! There are some great crackle beads and freshwater pearls here too.

Chelsea Charms Findings - Great for earrings backs in different sizes from tiny 3mm to giant 8mm, clip-ons and kidney wires, ring blanks and some cute beads.

K2 Accessories - Lots of chain, jump rings, headpins, eyepins, phone cords, etc with listings in lots of different quantities - good if you're buying a small number or wholesale.

NSD1970 - Not a shop but this E-bay seller has high quality, well priced cufflink backs.

Beads and Charms
Mayflower Delights - Some cute enamel and tibetan silver charms in the Charms & Pendants section and amazing lampwork beads in the Lampwork category including animals, fruit, toadstools and hearts.

The Bead Cellar - See what they did there with that shop name? Not only do they have excellent puns but some gorgeous bell, lampwork and chinese porcelain charms. Check out the Acrylic Beads section for colourful, stripey resin beads.

Bead Needs - Great selection of beads, my favourites are the hematite beads (hearts and stars!) and the enamel/silver charms - I recently bought some teapots, hurrah!

The Bead Shed - An fantastic shop which I have used for many years now. Giant selection of beads from huge focal beads to pretty little Millefiori beads and a really lovely, enthusiastic seller. Also has some nice books, magazines and beading tools.

Vi Fashion - Bright acrylic beads in loads of colours and shapes. Located in China, so expect a longer delivery time but the beads are great and postage is reasonable.

Lucky Magpie Beads - A small shop with cute plastic beads.

Silver Elephants Trunk of Treasures - This shop can sometimes be quite expensive but it stocks very pretty enamel and mother of pearl charms.

Black Cat Crafts - Acrylic pendants, coloured bells, shiny glass beads and cameos are my favourite things from this shop. Lots of variety.

Newworldsm - A HUGE shop - in my opinion the best thing in this shop is the Porcelain/Ceramic bead section, but the acrylic beads, gift bags and findings are fantastic too.

Dichroic Glass
Fired Glass - There are some lovely glass cabochons in this shop and if you dont have the materials to make your own pendants, there are ready-made pendants for sale. Also sells some handy findings for dichroic glass although I find them relatively expensive here.

Sparkly Glass - Beautiful cabochons for low prices and in my experience high quality glass and a very nice seller (the most important thing!). Also sells pretty pendants and wall hangings.

Dichroic Glass UK - Check out the most excellent £1.94 pendant section for some very pretty but cheap as chips ready-made pendants.

Coloured Jump Rings
Beadsister UK - Awesome coloured copper jumprings in loads of different colours. Not the best for making Byzantine weave chains as the wire is quite thin, but great for brightening up a pair of earrings or making a simple chain. On an unrelated note I LOVE the size 8 silver-lined Matsuno seed beads here.

Buttons
Young Creators West Sussex - Loads of buttons and sequins sold by weight.

If anyone has any suggestions for shops (E-bay or not!) let me know. Im always up for staring at shiny things.

Buttons

2010-02-19T06:41:00.000-08:00

I love buttons. When I was wee I used to spend ages in my auntie's house playing with her stash of buttons, sorting them into piles by colours, sizes and shapes. My mum said I needed to get out more and Id get rickets but now that Im 24 and rickets-free I can happily play with my buttons without my mother demanding I go outside and play rounders. Hurrah!

Ive been glueing them together, I'll probably make cufflinks and earrings from most of them and maybe a couple of badges too. I found these amazing things while looking for inspiration.

Fabric Button Bracelet - Spotty Ladybug

Incy Wincy Stitches

Button Up - Big Button Brooch

Beaky

Felt and Button Rosette Hair Clip

The Kitsch End

Pinktastic Button Cocktail Ring

Small Button Big Heart

Funky Plum Button Hair Clip Bobby Pin

Itz Fitz

Button Garden Chunky Sterling Bracelet

Nan's Glam