Its been a while since I updated my stock of mad brooches, so here are four more little critters.
I am about to add a whole new collection to my Pretty Pretty Products so watch this space.
In the meantime if you are keen to purchase any of these and other corsage brooches, take a trip to Hello Pretty, where you can find my entire collection (and lots of other gorgeous goodies!)
To spite the week having a lovely mid way interlude, I am super pleased it is the weekend again.
This week’s Words To End Your Week On post is from Cory Say. Cory is a super talented hand lettering geek/typographer. Check out more of his amazing work here. Source for this piece from here.
As some of you may be aware, I recently became an aunt. Okay, there is NO way I will ever be addressed as Aunty Jo, but I can proudly say I have acquired the title none the less. My sweet little sister recently gave birth to the teeny tiniest little twins and today is their 3 week birthday. Happy 3 weeks Annabelle and Dominic! To make this day even more special today is the day they get to go home for the first time.
Having little ones in the family does give me the opportunity to drool over the cutest of things, adorable shoes, awesome beanies with ears, rompers with tails and insanely cute bibs… Why dont they make these things for grown ups?
Here is my first post of things that are on my “Aunty” wish list. Softies – all cuddly enough for sleep time.
When I moved out of home I inherited my Mother’s lovely old pincushion. It’s a gorgeous vintage cushion made from silk and stuffed with sawdust (like they used to do in the old days). Sadly this much loved sewing box favourite is showing its age. The silk is slowly starting to perish and split and the sawdust is sneakily escaping – time for a new one.
So, on my next visit to the local fabric shop, I sifted through their stash of (not very exciting) pincushions. I wanted one that wasn’t too small and had some weight to it (else it would get would get knocked off tables etc too easily).
To my horror the nicest one they had cost R85. I could not bring myself to spend that kind of money on something that was really quite functional and not that lovely. After all, surely a pincushion is easy enough to make?
Never being one to dismiss a challenge I decided it had to be cheaper, and of course prettier, to make my own pincushion. So I set to work creating my new replacement. I used a brioche tin for the base (mainly to give the cushion a nice weight but also so that the pins wont poke through the bottom) and some quilting cotton for the top. I also covered the tiny button in the cotton and used embroidery thread to make the “segments”. Easy Peasy!
I bought extra moulds to play around with, so I am going to make the ladies in our family all their very own pincushions for Christmas.
Happiness – now my ever growing collection of pins have a very pretty new cushion to call home.
Yippee, I am nearly ready to reveal my little treasures to the world!
The last few weeks have been a mad cycle of photographing and editing and re-photographing and re-editing but finally I see light at the end of this crazy tunnel.
For someone who’s design career thus far has been entirely online, I feel surprisingly nervous putting my product up for everyone to gawk at. I am sure lots of crafters have had similar experiences?
I suppose its because what I do, as a craft, is so much more intimate than my digital design work. Not that I don’t get really passionate about my digital work, but with that work there is always a client and a brief and a (normally mad) deadline to keep in mind, so lots of external factors influence each digital design.
However, with my crafting, each piece is made with no one other than me in mind. If I think something is going to be pretty, or cute, or to die for, then that’s what I make. Simple!
As I am so excited to finally see all my little babies coming to life, I thought I would post a quick sneak peek of one of the ranges of my brooches. This little collection is called “Black Cats” and is inspired by this wonderful series of photos (by Ralph Crane) from 1961. It is thought that these audition photos could have been for Roger Corman’s “Tales of Terror” (1962), which is a film adaptation of a trio of Edgar Allen Poe stories including “The Black Cat”.
Read more here and see all the pics here.
I just love how the all the cat owners where so beautifully dressed and how pampered those black kitties looked. I simply had to immortalise these hollywood starlets in a brooch.
Finally, cakes that has zero calories! Norma Lynn makes these delicious little gems entirely by hand and lovingly gives all the proceeds to various worthy causes. What an inspiration!