Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered my first giveaway! It was great to hear the suggestions for shop items and very interesting to see that they were so similar! I will be on holidays after Easter but will add some new items when I get back and these will include some hair ties in more neutral colours. I have limited colours at the moment but do have some that are definitely more neutral than the colours I already have listed.

I have also been thinking of adding a 'choose your own colours' listing. Would anyone be interested in this?

And now on to the winner!

Congratulations to Domestic Diva! You are my first giveaway winner! The winner has been contacted and has 24hrs to reply.

Thank you to everyone and I look forward to showing you what I find while I'm on holidays! I have lots of fabric and craft shopping planned! :-)

Happy Easter!!

Last Chance to Enter the Giveaway!

Well it's almost at an end! There are only just under 12 hours left until the giveaway is finished! You could win the lovely little bundle below!

Have you entered yet? I would love to hear more suggestions of what you would like to see in my etsy store!

The winner will be announced tomorrow morning! Stay tuned. :-)

Giveaway Reminder!

Only 2 more days until the giveaway ends!! I would LOVE a few more entries so pop on over to this post and enter! It's super easy and open to anyone worldwide. And the odds of you winning are quite high! ;-)

Are You a Pattern Follower?

In my experience, there are often 2 types of sewers. Those who follow patterns (and the accompanying instructions) and those who don't. Each often freak out at sewing using the method they are not used to.   Or are at least much less comfortable. Hand up anyone? Mine is up right now!

I am a pattern follower. I always have been since way back when I started sewing at about age 11. My mum always followed patterns and produced beautiful garments that looked as good as store bought items. She taught me how to sew, so naturally, I learnt to follow patterns. In home-ec at high school, I was taught to follow patterns. To me, it was just the way you should sew.

Fast forward 10 or 15 years to my discovery of sewing tutorials and patterns on the internet. I discovered what I'm sure are literally hundreds of thousands of tutorials, free patterns, instructions, etc. on countless, various sewing projects. My eyes were opened to people who simply made up their own patterns by tracing around a garment they already owned, and then sewed it up without any instructions whatsoever. It still boggles my mind now as to how they just go for it and manage to produce a fantastic looking garment that actually fits and looks good!

Over the last year or two, I have been inspired to try creating my own patterns and it has certainly been a challenge for me. I have had to do a lot of research on sewing techniques and quickly expand my knowledge and skill base in order to create what I want. I have mostly been successful so far but it sure feels like a lot of hard work. It takes me ages to figure out everything in my head and how best to do it, let alone getting the right shape pattern.

I am currently trying to cement the basic construction of garments in my mind in order to help me with pattern creation and just speed up sewing in general. Because I have always followed patterns, and I find it so much quicker and easier to do so, I have never really remembered the order of how to sew up something more complex than a simple pair of shorts. I really have to think hard about what I should do first and the logical order of steps.

I'm working on shorts for my boys with pockets set into the side seams. Boy am I learning a lot! My seam ripper is getting a lot of use right now! haha This morning, I sewed the pocket flaps onto the sides and then sewed the side seams and inside pocket edge, only to discover that I had sewn the two front pieces together and the two back pieces together at the side seams! (I was meant to sew one front piece to one back piece) After ripping the seams out, I went to match up the front and back pieces so I could sew the side seams properly and discovered that I didn't have the pocket flaps sewn on at the same level! And that is when this morning's project was put aside. lol I'll pick it up as soon as I have another break while Sam is sleeping.

Even though it has been frustrating and is not coming together quickly, I am definitely learning and remembering how to construct shorts with side pockets! I have no idea why this is so difficult when I can do this by following a pattern just fine! I guess it's just not the way I am wired.

So, are you a pattern follower? Or do you just go for it and sew? I would love to hear your stories about your sewing adventures! :-)

Oh! And don't forget to check out the giveaway I have running at the moment! Happy sewing!!

My First Giveaway!

***Please note that this giveaway has finished. A HUGE thank you to all my lovely entrants and new followers!!***

It's giveaway time!!

I am totally amazed that my blog has hit 20,000 page views! Thank you to all my lovely readers.

I never imagined I would have so many people coming to my blog, especially in the short time it has been running.

As promised, it's time to reveal the giveaway!

The winner will receive a set of hair ties featuring glitter elastic and fold over elastic, a sweet pair of butterfly covered button hair clips, and a cute little flower pin cushion. I hope you like them! I already have hair ties in my etsy store and I will be adding covered button hair clips soon too!!

Now for the rules. The giveaway is open to anyone worldwide! To enter, you need to be a follower of my blog. Once you are following my blog, please comment below telling me you are following me. You MUST comment for it to count. For a second entry, please comment below with a suggestion of something you would like to see in my etsy store. You can take a look through my blog to see examples of some things I have made (this is only a very small sample!!). Or you could suggest something different! Please note though, it doesn't guarantee that your suggestions will end up in my store. I will definitely see what I can do though! Craft supplies are hard to get my hands on here in Mt Isa, especially at a reasonable price. Totally not a good situation for a crafty person!! haha

The contest will run for 1 week and end on Wednesday 27th March at midnight AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time). The winner will be chosen using a random number generator from random.org. Please make sure your email address is visible through your blogger account when commenting so I can contact you. I will announce the winner in a post on 28th March and email you. You will have 24hrs to contact me. If I don't receive any contact within this time, I will draw another winner.

Good luck to everyone and I can't wait to hear your suggestions!

Upcoming Giveaway!

I am so excited to see that more and more people are finding my blog useful, especially the fabric ball pattern!! Thank you to everyone who has visited!

The blog is almost up to 20,000 page views! Amazing!

So I thought I would run a giveaway to say thank you to all of my visitors and followers. As soon as the page views tick over to 20,000, the giveaway will begin so stay tuned!

It looks set to happen sometime in the next few days so keep checking back! I am busily working on a little bundle of goodies which will be revealed when the giveaway starts.

A Sneak Peek and My Improving Photography Skills

I just wanted to share some gorgeous new hair accessories I've been making over the past week. The hair accessories below are made with resin cabochons set onto bobby pins. I can't decide whether I like the filigree bobby pins or the plain ones best!

There is also a cute little pair of earrings that has snuck in there. :-) Cute little sunflower cabochons mounted on sterling silver plated studs.

I have had so much fun making them although I think my favourite part was photographing them all and learning how to get some great (or at least better) shots out of my little point and shoot camera.

I finally figured out how to get more depth of field with my little point and shoot! Yay!

I've been having trouble getting the lighting right and I'm still not 100% sure it's ok half the time but I think it is an improvement at least.

I watched this wonderful tutorial I found through the Etsy seller handbook. It gave some wonderful tips on how to get the most out of a point and shoot camera, which is what I have. I would LOVE a digital SLR but that is something I will have to save for.

Things have been slow going cause we have all been sick over the past week and a half but I have a bunch of new things to pop in the store that are super cute! Hopefully they will be up soon health permitting!