matryoshka sewing kit!

i cannot resist russian doll sets
and went really crazy buying them
like they were going out of fashion a year or so ago
i have sold a few sets in my Etsy shops
but i also have quite a few sets who have sadly lost members of their families
:o(

poor Mama here has lost her littlest baby,
her other daughters are growing up and getting underfoot
what they all need is a vocation in life . . . .

Mama gets to be pin-cushion

big sister the spool keeper and
little sister is in charge of buttons!

no matryoshka were hurt to create this set and
they are very simply reverted to a stacking doll set

Mama and her girls are heading off to Etsy
to find a new craft room to live in
:o)

i've got pins and needles . . . .

i've been thinking about making this for AGES

today i had literally minutes to make something
so i gathered up my ingredients
and jumped in with both feet!

ingredients:
an orphaned russian doll
a scrap of fabric
some plain pins
some fancy pins
a styrofoam egg

open up your doll
cover the egg with the scrap of fabric
you want to pull the fabric tight - i used stretch velour
pin fabric to bottom of the egg
cut of excess fabric

pop the covered egg into the doll body
i didn't use glue as it was a perfect fit

load with a few pretty pins
and you're done!

this was so simple
but
i love her!

lovely goodies in the post!

i wasn't expecting anything to arrive for me in the post yesterday,
so imagine my glee to be brought two parcels !


the first i opened was from Kerry from Pennydog.com
i have been supplying Kerry with tags for her jewellery
and building up a credit!
Look at these fabulous 3-holed buttons - love 'em
and some vintage buckles

but best of all a gorgeous resin bangle
with buttons and pattern paper encased
it's great but now stuck on my wrist!

it's so hard to photograph too being clear
and my photo's don't do it justice
so you'd best go and buy one!!!
www.pennydog.com

thank-you Kerry x

*******

and in the second parcel was my fantastic gift from Mia at www.giddygirlie.com
who was my partner in the embroidery swap - isn't it all so cool?
i really love it and it was so "me"

my son really loves this because the white stitching is glow-in-the-dark!!!

thank-you Mia for making my first ever embroidery swap so fun x

"russian doll button brooch"

some time ago i did a trade with incywincy for some of her lovely fabric covered buttons
{link to her shop on sidebar}
while supposedly making more owl brooches for my shops i got sidetracked and made this
multi-layered button embellished brooch instead!

i'm really pleased how it turned out
it's available in my shops now!

more owls are coming soon too!

my owl swap parcel came yesterday too but i haven't loaded the photo's yet
i'll try and add it tomorrow - lovely stuff!

i've been a neglectful blogger. . . . .

sorry but i seem to have totally misplaced my mojo . . . . again.

i'm spending way to much time mooching about in cyber space and not enough time actually doing a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.

i feel restless - i guess it's the changing seasons and the nights drawing in.

so as i've done practically no crafting i'll just post a photo of this cute "knitting nancy" - french knitting doll that i inherited and found out {through a lovely lady on flickerhttp://www.flickr.com/groups/618440@N20/} is about 80 years old - wow - she looks very young for her age!

"knitting nancy"

oohhh look at the lovely vintage-y crazing on the varnish!

i finally had a sale on FOLKSY!!! this gorgeous family of russian ladies are off to their new home tomorrow :0)