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| Like a giant maypole the different fabrics fall through every level of the store. |
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| Pretty crockery with wavy saucers and plates |
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| Eccentric trays displayed on the wall. |
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| Nice knitted cushions in habashery |
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| Tumbling crystals catching the light |
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Inside Liberty - more pictures
Monday, 17 August 2015
Liberty flowers
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| Decorative flowers made with thin card printed with Liberty designs |
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| Close up of floral display at Liberty |
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| Fabric roses bouquet at Liberty |
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| Dangling Liberty print card flowers on the walls |
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| Love these Japanese gift wrap papers with gold and silver decoration |
Today I spent a long time looking round at Liberty. So many lovely fabrics. And did you know they sell pieces of old Liberty 'washed' fabrics in packs for£49 each? I didn't buy one but I did spend ages choosing a fabric I bought half a metre of.
I was also interested to see packs of 'salvaged papers' on sale, pictures from old books presumably meant for collage. I wish they did Liberty prints as gift wrap or packs of printed Liberty papers like origami squares.
After Liberty I went to John Lewis and Selfridges. More photos tomorrow.
I was also interested to see packs of 'salvaged papers' on sale, pictures from old books presumably meant for collage. I wish they did Liberty prints as gift wrap or packs of printed Liberty papers like origami squares.
After Liberty I went to John Lewis and Selfridges. More photos tomorrow.
New cards from Rosamund Fowler
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| Rosamund Fowler's cards in the window at Handmade Happiness
Rosamund Fowler's cards showing her exquisite wood engravings are always appreciated. Handmade Happiness just received a large parcel of cards from her, including this new design, above of an owl. I always wonder how many of the cards bought get put into frames, because a row of her cards in thin black frames would be lovely in, say, a hall passage.
Today I'm planning to visit Libertys in London and I'll take my camera. On the train I'll be doing embroidery samples for Thursday night's workshop called 'Five decorative embroidery stitches'. 'Make a Bracelet' last week was thoroughly enjoyed with people whipping up two, three or even four bracelets in the time to take home with them.
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Wednesday, 12 August 2015
Make a Bracelet tomorrow!
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| Fancy bracelets by Jenny Stacy |
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| Plain bracelets by Jenny Stacy |
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| Plain or fancy or a mixture. You choose. Bracelets made as samples for tomorrow's workshop by Jenny Stacy |
Thursday August 13th is Make a Bracelet time from 7-9pm at Winton House opposite Marks and Spencer in Petersfield High Street.
I've put all my beads in shallow, colour-sorted trays for people to help themselves to and the workshop promises to be fun.
Today I'll take some photos in the shop. Sorry for all the workshop posts lately.
I've put all my beads in shallow, colour-sorted trays for people to help themselves to and the workshop promises to be fun.
Today I'll take some photos in the shop. Sorry for all the workshop posts lately.
Love these two!
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| Green tiny fairy by Jenny Stacy £10 |
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| Tiny blue fairy by Jenny Stacy £10
These two tiny fairies are dangling in the window of Handmade Happiness along with lots of others waiting for new homes! I've made larger fairies. Those are £20 but these little ones I'd quite like to keep.
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Friday, 7 August 2015
Successful Fairy Workshop!
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| Four very individual fairies made at the fairy workshop |
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| Four more pretty fairies made by participants at the fairy workshop last night |
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| I love the way they all turned out so different |
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| Ryan, aged 10 was determined to make a man. You can't see his shorn mohican hair - but he did a good job didn't he? |
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| Here's some fairies I made earlier. They dangled from a branch during the workshop.
Last night 14 people came to make a fairy, and as you can see from the pictures they went home with a fairy they can be proud of! I love the way everyone has different ideas on how their fairy should look. I didn't think we'd be able to completely finish a fairy in two hours but everyone did and went home with the makings of another one.
(Apologies for my awful photos I'll try to publish some better ones soon!)
The fairies I've made will be for sale in the shop and I plan to make a lot more. Also I think a fairy kit would make a lovely present so I'll do some of those soon.
I plan to repeat the fairy workshop so let me know if you want to take part. This time I deliberately held back on taking gold and jewel fabrics thinking they will be good for winter fairies (note how I'm avoiding the 'C' word!)
Next week it's Make a Bracelet. I have a ridiculous amount of beads, collected over the years, and it will be a good chance to say goodbye to a lot of them.
I'll make various bracelets over the next few days and hope to give takers a choice on whether to make a conventional bead bracelet or something altogether more quirky involving fabric plus beads. Tell me if you want to take part.
Thursday night 7-9pm at Winton House opposite Marks and Spencer.
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Saturday, 1 August 2015
Fairies, honey bears and stitched purses
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| Fairy by Jenny Stacy enjoying the scent of sweetpeas |
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| Sparkly fairy made by Jenny Stacy on pure beeswax candles made by Elizabeth Eveleigh |
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| Little fairy by Jenny Stacy with beeswax candles by Elizabeth Eveleigh |
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| Love these new purses made by Carol Smith for Handmade Happiness |
Elizabeth Eveleigh makes these candles from pure beeswax. I love the smell. Not seen are the hive candles with tiny bees on. Both these and the bear candles are £4.50; the beeswax blocks are £2 and the dinner party candles are £6 each.
I've been making fairies for the workshop next Thursday as you can see. Any fairy I make will afterwards be for sale in the shop and I'm hoping to get a lot made for the run up to Christmas. (Sorry to mention the 'C' word!)
I love these new stitched, lined purses Carol Smith made and brought in to the shop this week. The smaller one is £12.50 and the larger one is £14.50.
Enjoy your weekend!
I've been making fairies for the workshop next Thursday as you can see. Any fairy I make will afterwards be for sale in the shop and I'm hoping to get a lot made for the run up to Christmas. (Sorry to mention the 'C' word!)
I love these new stitched, lined purses Carol Smith made and brought in to the shop this week. The smaller one is £12.50 and the larger one is £14.50.
Enjoy your weekend!
Thursday, 30 July 2015
Crochet tonight!
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| Crochet by Michelle Green |
It's the crochet workshop tonight when anyone can learn the basic crochet stitches.
It may take a bit of practice before we can produce something like the wonderfully colourful examples pictured above but I've put Michelle's work on the blog for inspiration!
Tricot Too used to stock a crochet squares coat by Odd Molly. It cost hundreds of pounds but it was my inspiration to try to crochet. I won't ever give enough time to make a coat out of my 'Granny squares' but a bag is achievable...!
Next Thursday is the Make a Fairy workshop which I'm really excited about. Yesterday I was making fairies in the shop and refining ways to get everything made within our two hour workshop time slot. It is possible. I can visualise lots of fairies suspended in the window at Handmade Happiness.
This time I must remember to photograph peoples' work at the end of each session. My big regret from the first three workshops is that I forgot to take photographs. Please can someone remind me!
Yesterday a friend told me about 'Buy a Card Week.' Apparently if everyone who visited a little individual shop like mine bought a card they would be contributing to keeping it open.
Lots of people are kind to compliment Handmade Happiness but they aren't necessarily aware that whether or not they buy anything the rent still has to be paid and if everyone just says 'What a nice shop' but doesn't think to buy anything then maybe the next time they visit the shop will have gone.
I hope to keep the shop going until I drop unconscious over my desk but... just in case you were wondering, most of the cards in Handmade Happiness are £2-50 - ie less than the price of most supermarket or High Street cards! And they show the work of local artists.
It may take a bit of practice before we can produce something like the wonderfully colourful examples pictured above but I've put Michelle's work on the blog for inspiration!
Tricot Too used to stock a crochet squares coat by Odd Molly. It cost hundreds of pounds but it was my inspiration to try to crochet. I won't ever give enough time to make a coat out of my 'Granny squares' but a bag is achievable...!
Next Thursday is the Make a Fairy workshop which I'm really excited about. Yesterday I was making fairies in the shop and refining ways to get everything made within our two hour workshop time slot. It is possible. I can visualise lots of fairies suspended in the window at Handmade Happiness.
This time I must remember to photograph peoples' work at the end of each session. My big regret from the first three workshops is that I forgot to take photographs. Please can someone remind me!
Yesterday a friend told me about 'Buy a Card Week.' Apparently if everyone who visited a little individual shop like mine bought a card they would be contributing to keeping it open.
Lots of people are kind to compliment Handmade Happiness but they aren't necessarily aware that whether or not they buy anything the rent still has to be paid and if everyone just says 'What a nice shop' but doesn't think to buy anything then maybe the next time they visit the shop will have gone.
I hope to keep the shop going until I drop unconscious over my desk but... just in case you were wondering, most of the cards in Handmade Happiness are £2-50 - ie less than the price of most supermarket or High Street cards! And they show the work of local artists.
Sunday, 26 July 2015
Embroidery Inspiration
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| Nichola Gotel's embroidered skirt visiting Handmade Happiness yesterday |
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| Embroidery with felt and leather discs by Nichola |
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| Neil's patched jeans visiting Handmade Happiness yesterday |
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| Jeans patched and embroidered by Carol Smith |
I love it when people improve their clothes with a bit of embroidery! It gives things that designer look for very little extra cost and must be so satisfying to do.
Yesterday I was excited to see two examples of decorative embroidery visiting the shop, so inspiring for my workshop in August called Five Decorative Embroidery Stitches!
The white skirt which Nichola Gotel made herself has lazy daisy (sometimes called chain) stitches on it interspersed with sewn on discs of felt or leather with tiny rocaille beads scattered throughout. She made it to wear at a wedding, the clever thing!
Carol Smith, who embroiders the nude and semi-nude brooches for Handmade Happiness is responsible for the patches on her husband's jeans. The close sewn running stitches are called Sashiko I think and are used to heavily patch clothes in the Japanese Boro tradition when nothing was wasted and fabric overlaid fabric to decorative and practical effect.
I saw a picture on Pinterest of a toddler wearing overalls (ie. dungarees without braces but just round neck all in one) made from a pair of adult jeans. These would look great with a couple of patches on them in child-friendly soft cotton. I can just see Juno being the coolest kid on the block wearing them!!
Today I made good progress on the fairy wing front and I now know how we're going to make those in the fairy workshop. This morning I've been going through my fabric to find fabrics suitable for fairies. Hard to believe how much glittery, sparkly stuff I've hoarded over the years!
Yesterday I was excited to see two examples of decorative embroidery visiting the shop, so inspiring for my workshop in August called Five Decorative Embroidery Stitches!
The white skirt which Nichola Gotel made herself has lazy daisy (sometimes called chain) stitches on it interspersed with sewn on discs of felt or leather with tiny rocaille beads scattered throughout. She made it to wear at a wedding, the clever thing!
Carol Smith, who embroiders the nude and semi-nude brooches for Handmade Happiness is responsible for the patches on her husband's jeans. The close sewn running stitches are called Sashiko I think and are used to heavily patch clothes in the Japanese Boro tradition when nothing was wasted and fabric overlaid fabric to decorative and practical effect.
I saw a picture on Pinterest of a toddler wearing overalls (ie. dungarees without braces but just round neck all in one) made from a pair of adult jeans. These would look great with a couple of patches on them in child-friendly soft cotton. I can just see Juno being the coolest kid on the block wearing them!!
Today I made good progress on the fairy wing front and I now know how we're going to make those in the fairy workshop. This morning I've been going through my fabric to find fabrics suitable for fairies. Hard to believe how much glittery, sparkly stuff I've hoarded over the years!
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
August Craft Workshops
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| Delicate papier mache bowls I made |
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| Waiting for those papier mache bowls to dry out. |
Firstly here is the list of Handmade Happiness craft workshops for August:
Thursday August 6th: Make a Fairy
Thursday August 13th: Make a Bracelet
Thursday August 20th: Five decorative embroidery stitches
Thursday August 27th: Sew an Applique picture with Pam Dew
The cost is £10 per person to include a glass of wine, tea/coffee and snacks and materials.
Venue is Winton House, Petersfield from 7pm to 9pm. Please book and pay at the shop.
I was planning a papier mache bowl making session as well. I tried out some bowls as you can see and found they took at least 24 hours to dry out. Not much good for a two hour craft session especially as they are difficult to take home when sticky and soggy!
So we'll do embroidery instead. I love the Japanese 'Boro' stitching so that will be one of the inspirations for that session.
In case you are interested I used torn pieces of white tissue paper (the gift wrapping kind) and diluted half and half PVA glue to make the bowls above. I still have to paint them and add some Dutch gold leaf to the inside of one so they aren't ready yet. But they were easy to do. Just remember to cover the mould object with cling film before you lay on the soaked tissue so you can peel the bowl off easily. And then wait .... and keep waiting until at last they are dry!
By the way if you want to learn how to crochet there are still some places left on our crochet workshop on Thursday July 30th same time, same place. Pam Dew will be tutoring the class and I'll be there to help.
Thursday August 6th: Make a Fairy
Thursday August 13th: Make a Bracelet
Thursday August 20th: Five decorative embroidery stitches
Thursday August 27th: Sew an Applique picture with Pam Dew
The cost is £10 per person to include a glass of wine, tea/coffee and snacks and materials.
Venue is Winton House, Petersfield from 7pm to 9pm. Please book and pay at the shop.
I was planning a papier mache bowl making session as well. I tried out some bowls as you can see and found they took at least 24 hours to dry out. Not much good for a two hour craft session especially as they are difficult to take home when sticky and soggy!
So we'll do embroidery instead. I love the Japanese 'Boro' stitching so that will be one of the inspirations for that session.
In case you are interested I used torn pieces of white tissue paper (the gift wrapping kind) and diluted half and half PVA glue to make the bowls above. I still have to paint them and add some Dutch gold leaf to the inside of one so they aren't ready yet. But they were easy to do. Just remember to cover the mould object with cling film before you lay on the soaked tissue so you can peel the bowl off easily. And then wait .... and keep waiting until at last they are dry!
By the way if you want to learn how to crochet there are still some places left on our crochet workshop on Thursday July 30th same time, same place. Pam Dew will be tutoring the class and I'll be there to help.
Thursday, 16 July 2015
Thinking Fairies
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| 'My Fairy Box' by Jenny Stacy |
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| Velvet flowers at Liberty |
Maybe fairy clothes should be made entirely from flower petals, leaves and acorn cups, and their wings from dead dragon flies or butterflies. But we've got two hours on a Thursday night to make a fairy and our ingredients will be: netting, lace, calico (for the bodies), sequins and sparkly bits.
Yesterday in the shop I drew a tiny little person and cut two from calico and then it took me all day to hand sew round it with tiny stitches and turning it inside out to stuff it - well you can imagine how difficult that was. Now it is stuffed and ready for clothes and hair and face and wings but no way could we make that fairy in two hours.
I hand sewed this fairy because we won't have sewing machines at Winton House. What I can, and probably will do is to hand out the fairy pattern to people who come and also make a load of little nude fairies on the sewing machine which people can dress and give hair and a face and wings to.
It's the arms and legs that are so hard to turn inside out and stuff. You can get round this by giving fairies pipe cleaner limbs or wire wrapped in embroidery silk threads. Flesh coloured pipe cleaners would be useful but I don't think they exist. Or you could wrap glue soaked paper strips round wire or drinking straws.
I've given the wings a lot of thought. When I regularly made fairies my friend Bee made the wings with water soluble fabric, machine embroidered with irridescent threads. They were great. Now I'm thinking that we'll stiffen pre-cut fabric and sew the wings on. I've got lots of see-through glittery 'fairy' fabrics already and will get netting or tulle as it's known for the dresses and full tutu skirts.
Faces can be drawn on or embroidered with embroidery silk strands for hair held in place with a crown of tiny flowers perhaps.
I can imagine a 'Make your own fairy' kit for the shop now. Thanks for bearing with me while I was thinking fairies.
Yesterday in the shop I drew a tiny little person and cut two from calico and then it took me all day to hand sew round it with tiny stitches and turning it inside out to stuff it - well you can imagine how difficult that was. Now it is stuffed and ready for clothes and hair and face and wings but no way could we make that fairy in two hours.
I hand sewed this fairy because we won't have sewing machines at Winton House. What I can, and probably will do is to hand out the fairy pattern to people who come and also make a load of little nude fairies on the sewing machine which people can dress and give hair and a face and wings to.
It's the arms and legs that are so hard to turn inside out and stuff. You can get round this by giving fairies pipe cleaner limbs or wire wrapped in embroidery silk threads. Flesh coloured pipe cleaners would be useful but I don't think they exist. Or you could wrap glue soaked paper strips round wire or drinking straws.
I've given the wings a lot of thought. When I regularly made fairies my friend Bee made the wings with water soluble fabric, machine embroidered with irridescent threads. They were great. Now I'm thinking that we'll stiffen pre-cut fabric and sew the wings on. I've got lots of see-through glittery 'fairy' fabrics already and will get netting or tulle as it's known for the dresses and full tutu skirts.
Faces can be drawn on or embroidered with embroidery silk strands for hair held in place with a crown of tiny flowers perhaps.
I can imagine a 'Make your own fairy' kit for the shop now. Thanks for bearing with me while I was thinking fairies.
Monday, 13 July 2015
Making bunting
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| Lots of bunting for baby's room made by Jenny Stacy |
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| Big flags each with a pom pom at the tip. Bunting by Jenny Stacy |
I've just made a long line of super-size bunting for my grandaughter's nursery. I had been saving the different fabrics over the years and it was fun to put them all together.
I like double-sided bunting. Usually I put different fabric on each side. Sew them up on both sides, inside out and then turn right side facing and stitch cotton tape over the top edge to hide the raw edges. Easy but surprisingly time-consuming!
The painting and collage workshop last week was very successful I am happy to say. Everyone got lost in the creativity of painting papers and glueing down their choice bits to make their pictures from. Just wish I'd thought to take a photograph of the finished pieces.
We may well repeat the collage workshop later in the year.
Meanwhile there is the crochet workshop on Thursday July 30th and in August I'm planning to hold: Make a Bracelet; Make a fairy doll; Make a brooch and Applique a picture. Maybe I'll meet you there?!
I like double-sided bunting. Usually I put different fabric on each side. Sew them up on both sides, inside out and then turn right side facing and stitch cotton tape over the top edge to hide the raw edges. Easy but surprisingly time-consuming!
The painting and collage workshop last week was very successful I am happy to say. Everyone got lost in the creativity of painting papers and glueing down their choice bits to make their pictures from. Just wish I'd thought to take a photograph of the finished pieces.
We may well repeat the collage workshop later in the year.
Meanwhile there is the crochet workshop on Thursday July 30th and in August I'm planning to hold: Make a Bracelet; Make a fairy doll; Make a brooch and Applique a picture. Maybe I'll meet you there?!
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Collage talk
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| Wedding invitation for a ballerina bride by Jenny Stacy |
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| Same bride and another invitation by Jenny Stacy. I made them all different. |
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| Love the colours in this one. This is the size we'll do our collages on Thursday. Postcard collage by Jenny Stacy |
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| Card for Handmade Happiness by Jenny Stacy |
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| Autumn card for Handmade Happiness by Jenny Stacy |
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| A more abstract collage for Handmade Happiness by Jenny Stacy |
Thursday night is collage night. I've got bits spread over the kitchen table. I've painted lots of sheets of paper and torn them up and I've selected pictures from magazines to use for sample collages.
There are still places if you want to join us at Winton House 7.9pm on July 9th. Just swing by the shop to book or ring 01730 267711. Exceptionally the shop will be open today, Tuesday.
On Thursday night it's you who will be painting the papers, tearing up appealing pictures from magazines and embellishing your collages. I've bought loads of blank postcards which could be framed or posted to your nearest and dearest when you are happy with your collage on the front!
There are still places if you want to join us at Winton House 7.9pm on July 9th. Just swing by the shop to book or ring 01730 267711. Exceptionally the shop will be open today, Tuesday.
On Thursday night it's you who will be painting the papers, tearing up appealing pictures from magazines and embellishing your collages. I've bought loads of blank postcards which could be framed or posted to your nearest and dearest when you are happy with your collage on the front!
Sunday, 5 July 2015
Saturday, 4 July 2015
Nuno felted wraps by Karen Head
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| Soft wraps in soft colours by Karen Head |
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| Shades of blue wrap by Karen Head in the window with duck cushions by Tanya Williamson |
New in the shop are wraps in shades of blue and one perfectly white wrap - lightweight yet warm if need be - ideal for a summer wedding from day into night.
Friday, 3 July 2015
Collage workshop
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| Collage by Jenny Stacy - post card sized |
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| Collage by Jenny Stacy |
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| Collage card by Jenny Stacy |
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| Lots of collage postcards by Jenny Stacy
Regular readers will know I like nothing better than making collages. And next Thursday July 9th I'll give a workshop on making them at Winton House in Petersfield. 7-9pm £10 to include materials and a glass of wine.
We'll start off painting papers, maybe adding a bit of gold wax or glitter or the odd button or bit of embroidery. Then we'll tear out any pictures from old magazines that particularly appeal to us. I'll bring along old stamps and bits of fabric people might like to use. If you want to join the fun drop into Handmade Happiness to book your place.
Last night Karen Head, felt maker gave us an excellent workshop on Making a Felt Flower. Everyone made a pieces of felt with silk fibres in and then cut it and shaped it into a flower. Most people achieved two or three flowers in the two hours and everyone had a good time. Thank you Karen. Handmade Happiness sells Karen's nuno felt wraps - I'll photograph them in the shop today so you can see how clever she is. www.karenhead.co.uk
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