EASY GEL AIR FRESHENER

I found the instructions for these on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPr9dJFoQbs&feature=g-like

INGREDIENTS

2 x sachets of gelatine
125 mls or 1 us cup of hot water
125 mls or 1 us cap of cold water
1 tablespoon of salt
food colouring
glitter
scented oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1.     Put the hot water in the pan first then add gelatine.  Stir for about 5 mins until clear.
2.     Add the salt and stir until dissolved, then take the pan off the heat and add the cold water.
3.     Pour the mixture into a pouring jug and add the food colouring.
4.     Decent the mixture into small clean jars, add glitter and about 20 drops of scented oil.
5.    Stir and leave to cool on a counter top.

I found that if you wait until the gel has almost set then give it a final stir, your glitter will be suspended in the gel rather than in a puddle at the bottom.

You can then decorate your jars!  DH is going to spray paint the lids gold for me when I'm at work tomorrow. Please post links to your own jars, they should look great!

I made these with my 12 year old today and we had a great time.  I used red  food colouring and Cranberry scented oil with red glitter.  Add some glitter and bling and you're done!

Christmas Panic

Christmas is looming and with an empty wallet and packed craft room, it's time for some serious sewing!

I'm making cushions for a friends 60th and and for Aunties. 


Firstly for a friends 60th, can't say too much but again, this looks better in real life!

I've made 3 of these for Aunties. Real shabby chic stuff.

I love Tilda's stuff and here is my first Santa.  I'm tempted to give this as a present as well but the kids say I have to keep it!

Finally Santa with his candy cane reindeer, these sold well at the last fair, they're soo sweet and easy to make! 

Apologies for the lack of a book cover tutorial, I will get round to doing this as soon as I can!

Laters xxx

Ooak Art Cloth Dolls

I thought I would post the pictures of my handmade cloth dolls before a certain little lady takes them!

My niece fell in love with Twilight, she's not perfect as she was my first attempt but little T loves her and kept asking if she could have her for her birthday in August - how could I refuse my favourite 5 year old?

The eyes are a rather uneven but she has character!  I've now found a fine line vanishing pen so the next one should be a little better.

Before I got the pen, I made another doll for my mum-in-law to give to little T.  I think Strawberry girl is an improvement, I'm happier with the clothing but there's still some way to go, practice makes perfect and I enjoy making these so much!

Again, this doll definitely has attitude!

No matter which direction I take, somehow I always seem to come back to making dolls, I think maybe this is where I need to be focusing more.  I always find I make mistakes on the first attempt at a new item, the more I make the better I get, and frustrating though it is, I learn loads from my mistakes too.

The next post I will focus on the easy way to make a book cover.  I have found loads of online tutorials but somehow never seemed to get the measurements right.  I made loads of "not quite right" covers and now have an easy to adapt method which I will share soon - no-one's following me yet (sulk lol!) so I may be shouting in the wind... or the ether, but I'm starting to enjoy blogging - even if it's only to me!

Hi, just updating some fab pictures from the craft fair at the pyramid in July.  It was my first ever craft fair!  I didn't sell an awful lot, this is a learning curve for me and the photos of my stall have taught me how NOT to organise your stuff lol!  Still, onwards and upwards!

The start of something bigger and better?

Olive's inspirational stall

Staceys amazing jewellery

Sharon's gorgeous candles!



So what did I learn?  That I need to spend more time on thinking of a theme and organising an attractive stall!  Also I need to improve my photography skills sharpish, I'm nearly ready to apply for notonthehighstreet (if they'll have me!) and Etsy and Folksy as well, so I really need to figure out how to take a nice picture!

Keep watching to see if I improve and feel free to give (constructive please) criticism as any help would be appreciated!

Time for bed now as up at 5.30 am tomorrow for work - how I dream of crafting full time, what a happy bunny I would be then!  Night night, God bless, mind the bed bugs don't bite!

Haze xxxx

bedlamcrafts

hi bedlamcrafts.co.uk has been launched today!  I'm so excited, I've been thinking about starting a handmade business for such a long time but it seemed so daunting!  Setting up a website and trying to co-ordinate things is proving harder than I thought.

I will start posting photos soon and try to learn how to get the business up and running properly as I go along.  Please feel free to offer any advice/help/criticism (so long as it's constructive!) to help me on my journey.

I want to give up my job and make crafting my full time occupation. I choose the name Bedlam Crafts after many weeks of brainstorming with my family.  The reason is that my life is quite often, BEDLAM!  I have a husband, a job, two kids, two dogs, two cats, a goldfish and a cub pack so crafting gives me time out to enjoy the gentler side of life and I take a lot of pride in what I make.

I began by selling hand knitted teacosies on ebay which always sold well but arthritis means I cannot keep my head lowered for too long due to problems with my neck.  Sadly I put away my knitting needles but soon found I could still sew, mainly as it involves moving around a lot from machine to ironing board, moving helps keep me going so my lovely dining room has now been transformed into my sewing room.  Amazingly I have now developed a love of ironing my sewing which is mad because when presented with my husbands shirts my heart sinks!

That will do for now I think!  Promise to add more soon.

Bedlamcrafts xxx