Natural Cleaning and Beauty

I don't normally make new year resoloutions, but in 2010 i've decided to change the way i clean and try and make some of my own products such as washing powder, shower gel etc I want to cut down on the chemicals I use in the home plus its better for the environment and should work out heaps cheaper too. In between posting about my crafts and about other etsy sellers, i'll let you know how i get on and i'll share some tips and recipies.

Bicarbonate of soda/baking soda and white vinegar are my new best friend.
I had tea stains in my cups and in my stainless steel sink, so i sprayed some white vinegar, sprinkled some baking soda, let it fizz, then got to work with a bit of elbow grease, perfect. I then washed it down with some of my general cleaner (see below). Bicarb is a salt and alkaline which neutralises acids such as white vinegar, which releases carbon dioxide and water which penetrates stains and dissolves grease.

General Cleaner - All purpose bathroom/kitchen and woodwork cleaner

I got this out of my local paper.

1 tbsp baking/bicarb soda
1 tsp white vinegar
500ml water
squirt dishwashing liquid
Few drops of essential oil for fragrance (optional)

Put all ingredients in a recycled plastic spray bottle.

Shower Gel

I made this up last night, but haven't used it yet, it smells nice. This recipie came from
pioneertthinking.com

1/2 cup unscented shampoo
1/4 cup water
3/4 teaspoon salt
15 drops fragrance oil

I used vanilla extract, but you can use kiwi, raspberry, strawberry or coconut extract

Pour shampoo into a bowl and add the water, stir until well mixed. Add the salt and fragrance. I've used an old shower gel bottle to fill the mixture with

Its been kindly pointed out that the preservative in the shampoo has been diluted so the mixture should be used up straight away and not stored.

I'll let you know what its like when i've used it.

Felt Food - Picnic

I've managed to finish my niece's felt food picnic set, at last! Some of the items were made be fellow swap-botters in various swaps and some were made by me. I bought a cute little picnic basket and some plates and cups. The banana was fun to make and it even comes out of its skin.

I've Been Busy

I've been very busy with custom orders the last couple of weeks. This one was quite a challange. I was asked to make Challah bread. I googled it and found out it is a special braided bread eaten by the Jews on the sabbath and holidays. It was quite easy in the end, i made three long filled tubes and braided them together. I hope it looks ok. I also made filled pitta bread with falafal balls, tomato, cucumber and hummus.



My next custom order was for more glittery and cute items. Doughnuts, cookies, cupcakes, brownies, poptarts and tea bags. I've never seen a pop tart gasp! At first i made them too fat, so had to remove some of the stuffing. I also designed the pattern for the brownies and tea bags. I think the tea bags came out quite well, so i'll be adding them with some cookies to my etsy shop in the new year.

Beautiful Art Dolls By FFEST member WHSKR

I though i'd show off some items made by my FFEST friend who doesn't live too far from me. WHSKR She makes gorgeous one of a kind art dolls. You can hang these on your walls or use as a brooch. Each doll is made from different textures and fun embellishments. WHSKR is a fellow New Zealander and lives in Wellington. Hurry free shipping through 7th December.

Giveaway Winner

The winner of the Giveaway is Krismakes. Congratualtions I'll be sending you an email for your address. Some of the entries were in one comment so I added them seperately, so even though there were 53 comments, there were actually 63 entries.
Thank you to everyone for entering, I will definately be arranging another fun giveaway in the future.

New Giveaway For November

To celebrate reaching 100 followers i'm hosting another fun giveaway. The winner will have a choice of one of the three prizes, Mini Moopy Doll, Felt Chocolate Cake or Toadstool Needlecase.

IMPORTANT Each comment counts as one entrance, you will have up to 7 chances to win.
Winner will be announced in one week, Thursday 26th November (New Zealand time). I will contact the winner via blogspot. If you don't have a blogspot account, come and check if you have won, if you are the winner, please leave a comment with your email address (this won't be published) and i will get in touch with you. Here are the 7 ways you can enter:

1. Comment that you have become or are already a follower of my blog

2. Leave a comment on which of the three items you would like to win.

3. Check out my etsy shop and come back and paste a link of your favourite item

4. Share a link of your favourite item on your wishlist from any shop on etsy.

5. Twitter about this giveaway, if you post a link of your twitter i'll follow you

6. Become a facebook fan If you have a fan page too, leave a link on my page so i can follow you.

7. Blog about this giveaway

If anyone knows of a good online random number generator i can post of the winner, please let me know, thanks :)

Princess Pink Cupcakes

Ive been experimenting with different styles of felt cupcakes. My husband worked out the pattern for me on the computer using his CAD programme. I decided to try some icing with sprinkles and a cute pink cupcake with a pink button as a topping. Both needed a little extra somthing so i added a ribbon on the outside.

I'm now making a batch of 4 in each design to sell in my etsy shop. I thought they'd be perfect for pretend play.

I'll also make an extra one for my niece. I'm putting together a selection of felt goodies for her, some made by me and some that i've received from my Swap-bot partners.

I'm also in the middle of making some cute little felt shoes. I'll post a picture when i've finished

Giveaway coming up soon

Just to let you know that as soon as i hit 100 followers i'll be doing another giveaway. Yes the Mini Moopy will be one of the prizes

Fun Treasury - Lets Pretend

I've been wanting to create a fun treasury with pretend play in mind for a while. At last i managed to snag a treasury last night. It was down to 27mins to go so i went and had a cup of tea, popped back 5 mins later and it was suddenly 2 mins to go!

Time To Play - Felt Food Wedding Cake

I finally finished my felt food wedding cake. Many hours work but i'm really pleased with it. Each tier is split into slices which are have small pieces of velcro on to hold them together. Inside the slice you can see the layer of icing and marzipan. On top is a layer of icing and topped with roses to decorate. I'm letting the customer choose the colour of roses they would like.

I can just picture a little one handing out plates of wedding cake to her little "guests" I also thought it would make a great centrepiece for a bridal shower.

Free Gift for 200th sale on Etsy

I've had 198 sales on etsy. To celerbrate my 200th sale i'll be sending a free gift. For felt food items a cupcake, for needlecases and fabric i'll send a hanging felt ornament and for the patterns a free pattern.

Cheese and Crackers

My latest challenge, cheese and crackers, with grapes for a touch of greenery. I'm thinking of trying out a few more cheeses for variety. I've got a few pictures of real cheese off google, now to figure out how to make them out of felt. The wheel of brie was a bit of a challenge because of the shape. I ended up reinforcing it with card to hold the shape. One of my weaknesses is cheese and crackers topped with pickle, yummy!

Bread and Jam

I've been busy sewing this week. I'm in the middle of making a felt wedding cake and just finished various projects. I love this bread and jam set. A half loaf with two slices of bread and three spreads, butter, jam and chocolate. I can just imagine a little one playing with this set, pretending to butter the bread and giving the slices of bread to Mr Bear.

I'm putting a set of felt food together for my niece. I was in a soft picnic set swap and was hoping to receive some items that I could include to give to her, but due to some difficulties with the swap, i'm not sure if I will receive these now. I have two little doughnuts that I received from Ann from Harvest Moon By Hand in a swap a while ago, that i will include for her. I'm also going to make some bread with various spreads and a couple of little cakes. She'll be three in January so I think she's nearly old enough for them now.

FFEST Treasury - Gifts For Mamma

Just a quick post, i managed to snag a treasury for the FFEST (Facebook Fans On Etsy)

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=87576

A selection of items that i would love to give to my mum who lives in the UK. I'm hoping she'll be coming out for a visit (I live in New Zealand) in January. My lovely husband has kindly offered to pay for half her air fare, which i'll be surprising her with when i next phone her up!

Featured Etsy Seller - In My Head Studios

Today i'm featuring a fellow FFEST member who makes beautiful scrabble tile and domino pendants and exquisite glass collage pendants. Vicki is also happy to use custom artwork too. Now there are an awful lot of scrabble tile and domino pendants on etsy but these certainly stand out as unique. I love the detail and the charms.

You can find Vicki at:

her Etsy Shop and blog

Here are four of my favourites:

Baby Sea Turtle Fabric

I bought this gorgeous fabric yesterday as it reminds me of my trip to Hawaii. We saw one turtle while snorkelling on the Island of Oahu and then we spent a week on the Big Island. On one of the beaches we went in the water and there were lots, and i mean lots of turtles, we had to be really careful we didn't trip over them. We were trying to keep put their way but they kept coming up near to us. It was a truly amazing experience. On our way back to the hotel after spending the day travelling round the island, we stopped off for a walk along a beach and saw a turtle on the sand. It was getting dark so we couldn't get a photo.

I'm going to make the material into a wall hanging and i'm hoping to embellish the material with small seed beads etc. I had to get a metre and only need a quarter, so i'm selling the rest on etsy. I'll post a photo of the wall hanging when i've finished, it will probably take me a while though!

My daughters "dismembered" teddy bear

My daughter joined a lunch time art club with a difference. To take apart various soft toys and create something new, think Frankenstein! The kids loved it, especially the boys. There is even a waiting list for the next group. If you want to read more check this out http://http//www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/2888133/No-picnic-for-dismembered-teddy-bears

Don't you just love the lips! Its great as they're even teaching knitting at lunch time too. I'm hoping that they teach them to crochet, so my daughter can then teach me. Its great to see these crafts coming back!

On a side note, coming from the UK and living in New Zealand, whenever they say bear, it sounds like beer, why are they making beer at school?

Featured Etsy Shop - BeneathTheRowanTree

When i saw this name on the etsy forums i just had to have a look at the shop http://www.beneaththerowantree.etsy.com/ and found that the shop certainly lives up to the gorgeous name. You will find some truly gorgeous items, including needlefelted owls, hedgehogs, gnomes, beavers, bears, cupcakes..... Gorgeous silk streamers in a variety of beautiful colours plus more. I recommend you check this shop out. Here is a little taster of what is available

Free Tutorial - Mini Scrapbook

This scrapbook/card is made out of one piece of 12 x 12 paper (pref double sided). It can be used as a unique and fun card or as a mini scrapbook. I've used it as a card for my SIL's baby with lots of fun baby pictures and saying on the tags and decorated on the front. I also used it as a mini scrapbook for my grandmother, with photos and memories on the tags and decorated on the front and back. I can't take credit for the idea, i think it was on one of the shopping channels craft hour.

First fold the paper in half, then make into a concertina with 4 sections

Fold back the 2 end section and hold in place with a fun brad

For the 2 middle sections, with scissors or a square punch, cut out a small rectangle shape, leaving space at the sides. These 4 sections will become pockets for the tags

Open out the paper and put a thin line of glue or double sided tape (sorry, mine turned out messy!) down the side of each section leaving space for the tags to slide in. Carefull place both halves together

Make up 4 tags, punch a hole in the top and tie on a fun ribbon. You can then decorate as much or as little you like. You can decorate both sides of the tags and both sides of the mini scrapbook. Is less more? Nuh!

Felt Butterfly Cake

I've been sitting with my daughter all day as she's been sick in the night and through the day. As my son had his appendix out when he was 5, thats one of the things i worry about when anyone is vomitting and has bad stomach pain, we may be down to the doctors tomorrow. I decided to have a go at designing something i've been meaning to have a go at for a while, a felt butterfly cake. I remember making these with my mum when i was young, i think they're also called fairy cakes. My daughter loves to make them too, my son just loves to eat them!

Heres a picture of my creation, it hasn't turned out too bad, the felt paper casing was a bit of a challenge!

Swap-Bot Etsy Treasury

I've managed to snag another treasury and featured some items made by fellow swap-botters. There are some gorgeous items included. Here is the link if you want to check it out, http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=81354 i think the more clicks the more chance of being on the etsy front page? I'm sure i'll be making more as its really addictive! Mmmm i think i need to work a bit more on my cropping skills on paint. Its taken me a few days to find out how to get a picture of a treasury onto my blog!

The swap-botters featured are, Me (lisajhoney), Invisible, MissThundercat, Courtney, Rengawk, Momwithahook, Trinket, Freespirit66, Craftaddict02, ArtsyAthina, KatinaNavane and TangleCrafts

Pegs For Towels

My new bathroom is nearly finished and i only want matching towels that go with the colour scheme to be used, the only problem is whose towel is whose??

So i made some funky pegs, (i need to make 2 more). Each member of the family has their own peg and when they've used a towel they pop the peg on. This will save on me having to wash the towels every day!

Cream and Raspberry Jam Doughnut

After a bit of experimenting i managed to come up with a cream and jam doughnut. I feel though that i need to do a bit more tweaking with the cream. The sugar sparkles don't look too bad.

This is one of my favourite doughnuts, although i have to have mine with real cream rather than mock cream. Its not one i have too often though!

My next tutorial will be for a mini scrapbook made out of one piece of 12 x 12 paper. The photos are on my memory stick, as we've got a new computer, but my daughter has it at school at the moment with her homework on being marked! Hopefully i'll get it back this week