Ready for the off

All my lovely sewing goodies packed up and ready to travel up the M1 tomorrow. I have a week of 'me time' this week coming as I am dog and cat sitting for my Mam. Its going to be a little strange as this is the longest that I've been away from Chris for sometime and I'm sure to miss the kitties lots too. But I'm sure it will make the coming home even more sweet :D

I have lots of projects to get finished as I did lots of cutting out this week, lots of doggy walks to take, some films to watch, a book to read and blogs to catch up on.

There are lots of bits and bobs stuffed into these reusable bags but it doesn't look very much does it. I think I have everything I need but I'll do a final check tomorrow before I leave.

Now just got that half day at work to get out of the way then its all bagladee, bagladee, bagladee!!

I l-o-v-e Mrsite

At times it can get frustrating when things don't go your way. Like not being able to make your contact form work properly on your contact and info page, even though you've reloaded it a billion times and still not getting any further forward! And the stupid "chat" thingy not working because 'apparently' there is no one logged in at their end........

However, when you do get it right you get to add things like these little beauties to your online shop :D And that's why I love Mr site, I love the self satisfaction of uploading it all yourself and even though I have zero experience building websites it never looks like a 5 year old did it. I've added 6 new cosmetic pouches, this is all I've managed to get finished so far. I've jiggled a few things around, added a new page 'stockists' which I will be adding to soon. I have some lovely photos of the shops to show you :) and I will be introducing them to you, just in case they are in your area.

Apoll-o-gees (if you're a Blackadder fan)

Apologies for being absent over the weekend, time kinda ran away with me and before I knew it Sunday evening was here and I was thinking about the working week ahead. Last week was exhausting, too many things going on at the day job and with holidays and such I was covering and working full time most days.....YUK!!

Saturday morning I got all the chores out of the way (my house needed seriously cleaning, dust everywhere from finishing the shower room) and Sunday we had to do the dreaded food shop (I really dislike food shopping, love eating food, just not buying it) so the rest of the weekend was mine. Chris was preoccupied tiling the upstairs bathroom (5 years its been bare walls) which meant I wouldn't be disturbed :D

I managed to get this little lot (above) cut out and some other pieces for bags etc. I'm trying to get as many things as I can prepared as I will be dog sitting up at my Mam's while she is on holiday. I will be having a whole week to myself (and Ted and Gordon of course, my Mam's dog and cat) with no Chris :( no Nell and Oli :( no work :) and no distractions. I'm meeting a few friends while I'm there which will be lovely. But my main plan is to get my sewing machine out and come back with enough new stock to sit and fill my website.

So in a way I will be on vacation, I'm going to blog A LOT (hopefully) and will still be taking orders, they just wont be processed (I hate that word it sounds so....'mass produced') until I return. So expect to see lots of commenting from me over next week....there will be lots of tea, biscuits and Internet connection :D

Prep

Since we have just scoffed a Domino's and had a couple of glasses of wine I thought I'd stop by and post. This afternoon hasn't been that productive in terms of making anything but I've managed to prep for the weekend. After repairing a bag that had some snagged stitching I re-wrote my 'Project Board' list and did a few sketches.

And now I've had all that savoury food I am now craving something sweet (as I always do). Do you do that? I can never have anything savoury without something sweet to finish off with :D

Bows without buttons

In the attempt to start filling my sparsely populated website I've been working on some new cosmetic pouches.

Here are the felt and ribbon flowers before I added the buttons, they are all finished now and ready to be photographed. Now to tackle some clutch bags!!! :D

Snakey snakey

An unusual request but I have to say I will try and make most things that people ask for. My first custom brooch order. "Would you be able to make a snake brooch? It must be gold and black."

And this is my efforts, he/she still needs a rhinestone eye to glisten in the light but I think its quite pretty. I'm not a fan of snakes and looking through Google images for ideas of what the brooch should look like made me a little queasy. The sewing together of the different layers of felt was fun though :D

Fingers crossed my customer likes her snake brooch!

Is it officially Autumn?

Its getting blustery and dark earlier, nippy at night and the boots have come out of the wardrobe! Speaking of nippy, yesterday we bought a new quilt/duvet as the one we have had most definitely seen better days. C was sceptical that it would make any difference, which I just rolled my eyes to and changed all the bedding. The first thing he said upon opening his eyes this morning "I love this quilt!!" I almost burst out laughing, but then had to totally agree with him as I had slept like a baby last night. The first 'good' nights sleep I've had in ages. I'm putting it down to being a 'Slumberland' quilt and the fact that we should have replaced the old one AGES ago.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the packaging tutorial yesterday. I do hope it comes in useful for some of you. Although I have no doubt that you talented lot could also teach me a thing or too when it comes to tutorials or packaging. :D

If you look to the right you'll see that I've added links to the two tutes I've done so far. The goal is to add lots more in the run up to Christmas.....so watch this space!

The photo above is of the last 'Diana' slouch bag and a custom clutch bag to match. This gorgeous pair went to their new home last week and was one of the projects I worked on during my week off. I've just started working on the new collection of bags (slightly later then I had planned but hey ho) and I'm loving the fabrics and colours I have chosen. Trying to keep within the trends for Autumn and Winter but with a few of my favourites in there too. I think they are going to be gradual additions to the website as people are asking already to buy, you wouldn't believe how many people are planning/buying for Christmas already!!

I've decided its not Autumn until the leaves start turning, I love that part of Autumn.

Simple & Easy Brooch Packaging Tutorial

After my post a little while ago about tutorials I thought I'd go with one of the suggestions (thanks Rachel :D) for brooch packaging.


Its simple and easy and really cheap to do but looks really effective and is a great way of showcasing your brooches. You could even adapt it for other items you might make. This tute is based on my needs so please adjust the measurements to suit yourself.

You will need:

Some card (colour of your choice) Make sure its strong enough to support your brooch/product,

Paper (colour of your choice),

Cellophane bags/envelopes (there is a great selection on Etsy),

Glue stick,

Computer & Printer

1. Measure you brooch. Your backing card should be 1/2cm bigger on both sides and the bottom to make a small border round the edge of your brooch. Add 3cm to the top measurement of your backing card, this is where your label is going to go. In the photo here my backing card is 7.5cm wide by 11cm high.

2. Using a program on your computer that you are comfortable with (I used Corel Draw to create my labels) create two boxes (if you'd like a front and back labels like mine above). The dimensions of your labels will coincide with your backing card so for my example the labels will need to be 7.5cm wide and 6cm tall (3cm for the front and 3 cm for the back). I have placed two borders round each box so that it shows the front and back.

3. In the bottom box put your logo/name/picture that you'd like to see on the front. In the top box write any extra info you would like on the back of your packaging eg. website, blog etc. *NOTE: the text in the top box must be upside down so that when you fold the label it will be the correct way up*. You can do this in most programs by either rotating or flipping the text.

You can make them as simple or extravagant as you like........they're your labels :)

4. Once you have created one set of boxes just copy and paste as many times as you can fit on an A4 sheet (see image 1) and print out. Trim to size with scissors or a guillotine.

5. Fold your labels in half

6. Apply a little glue to the inside of your label and slot over the top of your backing card. Press down firmly so that it is securely fixed in place.

They should now look a bit like this :)

If you'd like a bigger border round your brooch just add extra to the width and height of your backing card.

7. Take your cellophane bags/envelopes *TIP: if you cant buy the exact size then buy a larger bag that you can fold over, this is what I did, the bags I used were double the size I needed* slot in your backing card and then your brooch, you could use little glue dots to keep the brooch in place.

8. Remove the covering strip that protects the sticky strip and fold over to close the envelope.

Drum roll.........Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

You will now have something like this!! I hope this tutorial has been useful and that I haven't waffled too much :D I'd love to see your versions if you do make some, so feel free to email me some pictures at emma@bagladee.com and I will post them here.

Right I'm off to design some new ones now I have a new typeface and logo.

P.S. Hope you weren't disappointed that it wasn't a sewing tutorial......don't worry there's one coming soon.

Tutorial anyone?

Anyone up for a simple and easy tutorial? I'll be back later......so stay tuned :D

'Trampy'

Its really strange but I feel like I've accomplished something today. After a couple of days 'rest' I really needed to catch up on some 'housey' stuff. I found it difficult to sleep last night, this always happens when I have time off and I'm due back to work. Various reasons really, mainly the dread of going back. Not good.

Anyway off I went this morning, it was just as I'd imagined but it was OK as 1pm came round I put on my coat and left for the day :D I came home and painted the upstairs bathroom ceiling. I haven't really helped that much this time round with the renovations due to being so busy lately, but I wanted to get this done so that Chris can start tiling tomorrow. I think he was relieved as he's not that keen on painting, he tends to leave that to me. Next on the list was to try and tidy the front garden....if I had to use one word to describe the state of it would be 'trampy'. The lawn was over grown, the hedges out of control, weeds in the flower beds, ivy strangling everything including my Japanese maple, and weeds galore on the path and the drive.

A couple of hours later and it was neat and tidy and the garden waste bin is now fit to bursting! And thankfully the rain held off so that I could use the lawn mower. In between all this I managed to get 3 loads of washing in too. Now for the awful bit, I must start and tackle the ironing pile I like to call 'Mount Everest'. I HATE IRONING!!!! :( I think I must use every excuse in the book to try and put it off....but seeing as its only me that does it I don't do myself any favours as it just mounts up and becomes mission impossible.

And now its starting to rain so I'm off to get the washing in.

A day off from it all...

As I was off from the part time job this week, it was my chance to motor through my projects list. And I am very smugly going to say I have. Its been a busy week and I've worked my socks off, but it has all been so worth it.

Today was a 'proper' day off. No sewing (even though I love it), no day job (obviously as its Saturday), no chores, no D.I.Y so I snuck off into town with a friend for a lunch at Pizza Express and some retail therapy :D

Back to it tomorrow then out for some lunch. Yum!

Blogs

This morning I managed to do something that I haven't done for sometime and that was blog reading. I haven't left any comments (sorry peeps) as there were so many posts that I'd missed out on over the last 2 weeks (that's a lot of blogs to catch up on, my reading list is huge). But OMG I have missed out on so many great posts.....cup of tea in hand I was in my element.

When I don't get to read blogs I always have a niggling feeling that I'm missing out on something and 9 times out of 10 I am!! Its not that I'm nosey or anything - well OK I am a little bit, but who isn't. I love to see whats going on out there in the craft world. Its the creative incentive that keeps me ticking.

From my post earlier in the week 'Houston we have a problem', I'm pleased to say that 'I HAVE POWER!!!' (said in a really deep super hero type way) ;) back in the studio. So I can now sew with the radio/TV on and plug the iron in when I want. Aren't I easily pleased :D

This was the scene in my living room earlier this week. These little beauties went off to Peach and Pomegranate who I now supply. Aren't these fabrics yummy, I was feeling decidedly Autumnal when I was sewing the felt and ribbon flowers on them. I do love the Summer but there is something special about the leaves turning golden browns and deep reds that is always my favourite part of Autumn.

Custom Wedding Gift

Somewhere amongst all the craziness of the last few weeks and all the tasks on my 'Project Board' I managed to make this Custom Wedding cushion for a lovely lady called Nancy who lives in Kentucky, USA.

I was a little behind but Nancy was sooo lovely and I managed to get it sent off in the post. Worryingly it hasn't arrived yet but I am hoping that it will arrive any day now. Here is is pre-stuffing.

Unfortunately I forgot to photograph it fully stuffed (as normal) but you can get the gist of it from this photo. I do hope the bride and groom like their gift. You can order yours from here.

Houston we have a problem - UPDATE

Well the tile came off and......yes C's Dad was right, he had drilled through the cable. But not once, Oh no, TWICE!! Both times hitting the neutral wire!!! I cant tell you how lucky he was!!! After one call to Spain (don't ask), one call to the 'Valve Shop' (C's Dad's friend) they both decided it was going to have to be a new cable laid.

So for now I have to cope with the extension lead until they can get it sorted. I don't mind not having electricity or the fact that the cables got to be replaced. I'm just so pleased that he was lucky twice not to drill through the live wire. With his heart condition I dread to think what might have happened.

Don't worry I have stressed that he is to use the cable tester that he does own, but did not use, or better still leave it for his Dad to sort. He is so more experienced than C is.

In between all of this happening I did get some sewing done, DIY was done for the day. Time for a glass of wine!

Houston we have a problem

No power to my studio :( It was working fine on Saturday when I was up there tidying but Sunday morning when I went up to sew nothing.....nada, not a sausage! Oh no!!!

Thankfully I could go back to what I was doing before all the electrics were sorted and used the extra, extra long extension cable to power my sewing machine. C had being doing some work on the shower room down stairs on the Sunday morning but we just couldn't figure out what had happened.

Sunday tea time we checked with a 'plug checky thing' (no technical terms here as I have no idea what its called) to see if there was any current.......there was but only 50volts. How strange!!! C's Dad came over at lunch time today to see if he could figure out what was wrong. After they changed the breaker/fuse to see if it was faulty it was still the same :( then after his Dad had a look in the extension to see if it could have been anything in there that had done it he pointed out to C that where he had screwed the toilet roll holder was suspiciously close to where the cables were placed prior to tiling!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So at this very second they are both in there chiseling off the tile where they think the wire has been drilled through......OMG if C did I'm very surprised he wasn't hurled across the other side of the room with awful consequences. I shudder to think.

I'll be back later to update.

Taking it easy

Yesterday I was suffering terribly from a migraine, so much so I struggled to get out of bed and when I finally did I had to take it easy. Those of you who know me will know that I used to suffer from them quite often, until I found out what was causing them and I'm glad to say this is the first one for many, many months. But this one was a biggy.......

Anywho when I did drag myself out of bed and made myself resemble a human being. I tidied the studio and did a few 'easy jobs', most of them entailed sitting in my 'comfy' chair. One of the tasks I finished was this brooch swatch card. I'd printed it out quite some time but never got round to sticking the felt squares onto it.

Now I have a lovely bright and cheery swatch card on my pin board. After a late afternoon nap and some good food last night I was feeling loads better. Today I've been trying to catch up a little but still feeling a niggle so I shall be wearing my glasses again today to help ease the eye strain.

Looking forward to my Sunday lunch in a couple of hours.....always best when you don't have to do the washing up ;)

Aladdins Cave

Is what Chris said when he popped up to see if I wanted a cuppa and saw Anne's order complete and sat pretty on my work desk. I love, love, love fabric and seeing all these lovelies together makes my heart smile :D I think all accessories should make a statement and what a better way than with some lovely items like these.....