Made Marian: Oozing Crafty Goodness

I know that some people are cynical about Valentines Day and my other half has the noble opinion that you should tell the person in your life you love them every day, not just once a year. I know he has a point but I love any excuse to add a few decorative touches to our living space.  And of course there are hundreds of ideas for Valentines day crafts.  I didn’t exactly out-do myself this year it has to be said but these little felt hearts were so simple that if I had the time, I would have made hundreds and dotted them all over the apartment.

I simply cut out a heart shape in pink felt, then cut out a smaller heart shape in pink gingham (I used my new pinking shears so I didn’t have to sew them) and fastened them together by sewing in a heart shaped button.  They are accompanied on my mini Valentines display by a Love Bug Winnie the Pooh and the cards we exchange on Sunday (that is if my other half isn’t too “noble”) will go here too.  By the way, my Love Bug beanie was a gift from my Mother in Law to be, not my other half

The cards we exchange on Sunday will be our eighth set of cards.  Here are the others that I have received…..all hand made I might add. Each one pretty much documents what I was interested in every February for the past seven years. From left to right; an anti-hallmark theme, Paul Smith, my first blog, Sex and the City, The West Wing, The Sopranos and last year the theme was craft.  Each one has the same general lay out and says “The Insert Interest here Valentines Card for Maz”.  I love this idea but I have been assured that the mould has been broken and that my eighth card will be different…..watch this space.

Don’t worry I didn’t actually fish this out of someone’s bin but it did almost end up in my own bin.  I got  this jacket in Dunnes about two years ago, I love the fit of it and in fairness it served me well in interview type situations.  At this stage I was just plain tired of it but I couldn’t really justify throwing it out.  This is where the ladybird trim I showed you earlier came to the rescue…..and a red button.

Way back in May I mentioned on my old blog that I bought a customized t-shirt from Ruth at Nice Day Designs but at that stage she only had a myspace account.  I’m glad to say that she now has a fully fledged website as well as an etsy shop.   She sells her hand customized clothes and handmade cards in the Sunday Market here in Limerick but now her stuff is available to buy on-line also.  It’s great to see Ruth in the Sunday Market, sewing away at her stall and her stuff has really inspired me to keep going with the sewing machine.  I’m thinking of trying bunting as my first project, having been inspired by some beautiful handmade bunting at the wedding in Finland?

I just want to wish Ruth the Best of Luck with the website and new Etsy shop.

Well, I’m off for a couple of weeks holiday to Latvia and Finland.  The main event will be a wedding in Finland, but I have many many craft and design shops penciled in as well.  I’m taking some yarn and a crochet hook to do some small projects, I’ll report in full when I get back, but in the meantime here’s one for the road.

I was in the process of packing today when I realised that my swanky new phone was just going to be thrown around in my backpack for the journey.  I love my handbags but find them a nuisance when traveling so no dainty little pockets available for the phone. I was inspired by this to put something quick together.   I initially tried to knit something but wasn’t happy with it so I went back to my reliable hooks!

It’s basically just a mini version of this with the flap added in for good measure.

Hopefully I’ll get to log in every once in a while to say hello, but hope everyone has a fantastic two weeks. I know I will

I’m not one for gadgets or maps so a GPS navigation system was never top of my wishlist, however my significant other has three great loves in life; gadgets, maps and numbers. All three of which are satisfied by his brand new Garmin. You’re wondering where this is going…this is a craft blog after all. Well a few weeks ago he asked me to “do something crafty to stop the Garmin falling out of it’s case”. Apparently it had had a few unfortunate run ins with the floor! In fairness, it was a pretty silly case and I can see why it kept falling out.

Photo from GPS Magazine

I located a plain black button and sewed it onto one side, at the front. This wasn’t very easy as the case is made of pretty stiff material, it took a pair of rubber gloves to get a proper grip on the needle, but I got there in the end.

I got this black elastic in Hickeys and sewed that onto the other side of the case, but on the inside this time. I didn’t go through the case for this side, I just sewed the elastic onto the fabric on the inside of the case.

The end product.

No more Garmin on the floor!!

This crochet clutch bag is for a wedding I’m attending next month. The wedding is in Finland but we’ll be traveling for almost a week before the big day so I’m packing a wrinkle free dress, unfortunately my only one of those is black, so the pink accessories will hopefully jazz the outfit up a bit. It was a quick and easy project that got me reintroduced to some sewing as well as being my first proper crochet project. The pattern is from Debbie Stoller’s iconic Stitch ‘n’ Bitch crochet book “The Happy Hooker”. I am somewhat worried about the Google searches that might lead people to this post, but anywho, lets continue.

The yarn is Sirdar Snuggly Double Knitting purchased from The Singer Sewing shop on Fox’s Bow here in Limerick and I used a 5mm addi hook purchased online from This is Knit.

You don’t need much crochet experience for this project, as it’s mostly the half double crochet stitch, which is explained very clearly in the book. I sewed up the sides using the back stitch.

Stage two was adding the lining. The fabric came from Hickey’s on Cruise’s Street in Limerick. I cut it to size and hand sewed the sides up with a matching thread. That’s then slotted into the bag and I tacked it in place first and then hand sewed it on, I only sewed across the top (you can see the stitching in the photo).

Finally, the flower. I didn’t use the pattern that came with the bag, I used the six petal flower pin pattern from later in the book.

I stitched the flower onto the bag, but I’m not entirely convinced that I shouldn’t have attached it a bit higher.