Leather Key Ring - Tandy Leather

Okay so I know its not sewing or knitting but I just had to show you! I made this at the CHSI stitches show that I went to in February. Basically they had a stall completely dedicated to leather craft byt Tandy Leather and the first time I went to it I had a good peruse but the man was busy talking to someone else *insert sad face* Anyway the next time I walked past he mentioned he'd seen me hovering around and offered to let me give it a go!

Guys I made a key ring!!!! 

Well me and the man made it together, he held the stamper thing and I held the hammer! It was his idea to put the owl on after reading my blog name on my press pass. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. You basically get a piece of leather [this was already a key ring shape] then he sprayed it and then we used a metal stamp to hammer an indentation onto it. The whole thing couldn't have taken longer than five minutes. And that's including me making him promise not to sue me if I accidentally hit his hand with the hammer. Then the man put the rivet and the hoop on!

It was really nice to try something new and the guys were so lovely. They even showed me some more leather techniques and let me have a good look at all the examples they had brought with them! They were some of the nicest people I met that day and they definitely got me thinking about leather crafting! Might have to put a starter set on my Christmas List! [FYI if you do want to start leather crafting they have a whole load of support videos on their you tube channel! its a great resource for those wanting to learn!]

Anyway now I'm going to go and pop this back onto my keys where it takes pride of place next to the Mcdonalds Furby Lil man gave me! 

Much Love

Frankie

x

Disclaimer - Whilst I did make this for free I did not say I would review it or my experience and I am in no way affiliated with them. I just thought you guys might be interested!

What I Plan on Making in August!

Just thought I'd share what I plan on making this month!

Hopefully I can get it all done! But lets not hold our breathe!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

First Attempts at Jewellery Making

Recently I was lucky enough to bag myself a free bracelet kit from jewellerymaker.com because I had a code in my quilting magazine. After some initial trouble with getting the website to order [probably because of the influx of visitors] But after some persistence I managed to get it to work and within about two to three days I had this little belter waiting on my doorstep.

My kit came with a "Get Started" Dvd , Gemstones and Elastic in a little organza bag. I thought the little bag was a nice touch and makes it feel like a little gift for yourself [The DVD suggests that you can use the bag as a gift bag should you want to pass on your finished item to someone else]

Now I'll be honest , with JewelleryMaker being a shopping channel I thought it was all going to be a naff. I immediate assumption was that the "gemstones" would be cheap or even plastic! BUT much to my delight they are gemstones, they feel weighty and cold just like stones should!  

They come threaded on a plastic string which I'm guessing is so they don't all roll around and get lost. I was a bit gutted that the gems were yellow, as the picture in the magazine had been pink and purple. But it did say that colours may vary so its not too bad. Actually I received yellow and I have blonde hair and my sister got orange and her hair is red so now I'm pretty sure jewellerymaker are stalking us.

The DVD is pretty short and isn't just specific to this bracelet instead it covers making basic, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. As well as talking through some of the tools you need to make jewellery [luckily you don't need any of them for this bracelet]

And here's my first attempt, the kit came with enough beads and elastic for two bracelets. Its pretty simple really thread the beads on and tie a knot! Although saying that I had some real trouble with the knot! Seriously that little swine kept pinging open and their wasn't really much detail on the video other than "tie a knot". Luckily before I lost my mind I remembered that the DVD had already said that their were more free tutorials on their website and I found this which helped greatly. Turns out a bit of glue solved the problem in seconds!

For my second bracelet I wanted to do something different [and delve into my own little stash of beads, yes I don't make jewellery but I still have a bead stash] These beads came from Rome? possibly on another bracelet and kind of look like glass. whilst I'm not sure it quite works it was nice to try something different, and I guess knowing what looks good is something that comes with time,

Here they are together looking all cute and stuff.

This is me modelling them, which is harder than it looks.

They are both pretty tight but that's my fault not theirs and I guess measuring elastic is another skill that comes with time.

They look pretty cute layered together!

So what do I think? Have I caught the jewellery making bug?

Well lets put it this way, I spent the morning googling jewellery making kits. I think I liked that's its almost instant gratification with jewellery making rather than the long time it takes to sew something or the even longer time it takes to knit something.

So yes I think that time willing it might be something I carry on with! I'm already lusting after this , this and this. And I think they might be producing their own magazine soon which I'm sure will have me making doe eyes at Rikki!

Anyway I'm calling this a grand success! And possibly another craft found! And If you want to order from http://www.jewellerymaker.com/en-gb/ You can use this code-   CDBM86  For a cheeky £10.00 off! [not sure if there's a minimum spend!]

Much Love

Frankie

p.s Whilst I did receive this kit for free because of the code in my magazine it is not a sponsored post! Jewellerymaker.com have not asked me to do this, I just really liked the product and thought I'd share my thoughts! and code!

Little Knitwits Flowers

My Mums uncle and Auntie haven't been doing to well recently, ones poorly and now the other is as well.

I spoke to my uncle a few months ago and he was more upset about the state of his garden than his health. He was upset because he hadn't been able to plant any flowers for the past few years so it didnt look very pretty. And this is a man who's very proud of his garden.

So lil Knitwit decided to do something about it....

These are lolly pop flowers, everything was from lil knitwits craft box and have been put together using masking tape (the glue just wasn't sticking)

I cut some of the shapes from craft foam and coloured paper and he decided how they would look.

I did consider doing a tutorial but its pretty basic stuff , just let your kid go wild with the craft box!

Here is a list of things I put out for lil knitwit to use:
lolly sticks (ours were from a craft kit but you could recycle)
card
foam
buttons
pipe cleaners
mini pegs
masking tape

all in all he had a blast making them and im really hoping they cheer my uncle up, even if they wont last very long inside!

I like the idea of flowers that don't die and think these would make an awesome kids craft for mothers day etc! with the added bonus that they are no mess!

and when your in the first week of the summer holidays trying to remember how to clean with a small child running about your ankles no mess is a big deal!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx