Etsy Pre-Christmas Sales

Hello to all my followers :)
I have had a little blogging break while keeping busy sewing quite a few orders for my Blossom Hill Etsy Shop over the past few weeks.  It can get a bit hectic in the run up to Christmas. 
Here are just a small selection of the little felt animals I have been designing and sewing.

 A collection of these assorted birds to a boutique in Halifax. 

 3 tiny deer for a baby's nursery in the US 

  Scandinavian Christmas felted wool red berry heart decorations  

 Some little Japanese Totoro wood spirits !

 Unicorns and winged horses 

 A little peach bunny made from a new colour merino wool felt ordered from the US from Benzie Bazaar.  I am patiently waiting for another delivery soon with more of the popular brown shades that are running low in my sewing room.

This cute Pitbull puppy was a custom order for a lady who wanted a miniature version of her own little dog.


Plus of course the little bird wedding cake toppers :)

This particular pair are flying off to the UK!

Happy Mother's Day 2011

Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely Mum's out there!!
My own mum lives so far away in South Africa and I do wish I were spending the day with her of course.  However, being a mum myself with two very sweet daughters I shall no doubt be enjoying a special day at home tomorrow.  Jemma is coming home on the bus this evening and has taken Monday off work to spend some extra time with me.  Craig will be running her back into the City in the afternoon, where he also has a job interview lined up (fingers and toes crossed).  
Before I show you my own latest Etsy listing here are a couple of shout outs for some recently added items in my 'favourites'  
Thanks to my recent involvement in 'circles' I get to spot some different and new items that other etsy sellers and buyers add to their favourites and I look forward to seeing what new activity each day brings.  I am even getting added to other peoples circles so it's all good.
This shop Homestead Treasures sells beautiful hand stamped cotton trim in shabby chic and Parisian styles, I am thinking or ordering some to use as tie backs for my curtains. 

Here are my own little Mother's day gifts and sweet home made cards from Jemma and Amber - thank you girls xx

April is Sew busy :)

Too busy to write anything at the moment so here are some links to a few new items already in my shop or about to be listed  :)

 Four felted wool heart pops!

 Tiny kitten with wings (still to list)

 Tiny Unicorn 

 Little lovebirds - Wedding Cake Topper

Tiny Giraffe  

Cute little silky mini dress

The laundry gets a facelift :)

Here is the laundry after a bit of a 'lift' and change of colour.

The bench is an old one rescued from a yard sale, which got a few coats of paint a couple of years ago. During the summer it stays outside on the front veranda, but each Autumn we bring it indoors for the Winter months. A made to measure padded box cushion came from the local fabric store. Covered with 100% cotton red buffalo check fabric from Etsy seller Honeybeehumble. The red and white striped oxford style pillow is a shirting fabric, also from an Etsy seller 'Vintage Urban Girl' . I was still missing some plain co-ordinating red fabric, which I managed to find at a local thrift shop in the form of a torn red wool blazer that was hiding in a box, for just $1! Once I had used the pinking shears to cut up it up I was surprised at the amount of fabric I could use, more than enough to make the little square pillow below. The rest has gone into my fabric stash to be used at a later date. Inspiration for the hand embroidered birdie pillow came from a wonderful book called Sew Pretty Homestyle, mentioned in a previous blog post last year.
It's now a nice cosy place to sit and read with a cup of coffee or glass of wine by the fire.
Of course Archie couldn't resist jumping up and claiming a spot immediately!

Hazel x

Let there be more light!

Last week I made a 'light tent', in preparation for the winter days when there won't be as much daylight to take decent photos of my 'sewing projects'.

First I had to find a sturdy cardboard box.

Then came some careful measuring .....

Some tricky cutting out .....

Finally I covered the inside of the box frame with white card and the holes on the outside with some polycotton sheeting, taped down with cellotape. 
The final step was to find a suitable light to place over the top so as to eliminate any shadows.

I am still in the process of finding the best way to position the light and I could possibly do with another one, so I can have one on each side. I found that the light from the energy saving bulb worked best, as it gives a white glow rather than yellow.

The tent (or box) definitely eliminates most of the shadowing but with an extra light source it should be even better. I shall try it out with coloured card too, as I prefer a soft blue background, especially for the felt animals, the white card looks a bit grey.

This week I am working on my laundry room, having ordered some fabric online from Etsy, I am very excited to get measuring and snipping once it arrives in the mail box :)

At the moment I just have a bare canvas, Craig repainted the bench as it was a teensy bit worn from being outside all summer. The blue accessories have been moved elsewhere and it is ready for a make over .....

Hazel x

Getting Crafty :)

I'm not sure exactly why, maybe it's because the daylight hours are shorter and I can't spend as much time outside but I have gotten itchy creative fingers again. With Jemma off at Uni and the house looking neat and tidy after my housekeeping had become a little 'casual' while working outside my home for a year. Anyway who wants to be pedantic about the housework when the sun is shining? The Canadian summers are far too short to spend indoors cleaning all the time!

I do enjoy creating things, but it seems to come over me in waves. Back when the girls were small I experimented with textile paints sewing and painting hats, waistcoats, pillows and nursery pictures which I sold at a local market in South Africa. The sunny climate and white walls of the modern homes went well with the very bright colours I liked to paint with.After a few years teaching primary school children, where any art work seemed to involve glue, paper, glitter and fuzzy pipe cleaners! I lost my enthusiasm for painting and sewing in my spare time. I dabbled ever so briefly in painting in New Zealand, once again using really vivid colours.

Here in Canada starting an online Etsy shop rekindled my love of sewing and from the little cotton birds and bags in the very beginning I found that it was the tiny hand sewn felt animals that seemed to be most popular. My shop has been put on hold for a year while I worked in retail, getting out meeting people and being part of a team made for a nice change. Sorting through all my craft and fabric supplies this weekend, now that everything has been relocated to a new room, I came across some forgotten stock and have been thinking of new ways to improve my designs and think about different outlets to market some of these forgotten items.

They really are quite a contrast to my previous work, much softer colours and pretty fabrics which are more in keeping with my current home decor style and more suited to a shabby chic Victorian home with a touch of Scandinavia :) 

Little cotton hanging birds and doorstops.

One of my 'to do list' jobs over the next few days is to make a 'light tent' I have found an online tutorial which I shall follow and let you know how it turns out (good or bad). The need for a light tent is so I can take more professional photographs of the small items I make. With the lack of natural light in the winter months it is often a challenge to take good photos for listing purposes and I am hoping that the home made light tent will enable me to improve my winter photos.

Hazel x