Exciting News!!! Also a giveaway of first new products!

I was so excited about typing 'Exciting News' that I accidentally typed 'Exiting News' which wouldn't be right at all, quite the opposite in fact! I'm pleased to announce that evajeanie are expanding our product range.

We have invested in a new fancy piece of machinery which will help business grow and take a slightly new direction. Don't worry all the lovely bunting and bags will still be available but we really want to incorporate more graphics and illustration work into the brand. There's been a lot going on behind the scenes over the Summer and are we almost ready to launch a new range of designs and products.

The new machinery will allow us to show of our new designs on beautiful little pocket mirrors, badges and clips (for children), keyrings and bottle openers and here it is...

it's a proper heavy duty piece of machinery with a super smooth circular cutter.

This is the cutter...

I love things with handles and levers, I am quite cheered by the bright red knob on the end of this handle!

The assembler itself has got all sorts of springs and slidy things, is it wrong that I'm excited about a chunky bit of metal?

It have a lovely action, obviously sophisticated engineering, that is robust and built to last! Yes it is made in Britain, just down the road in Stamford!

We only received the machine yesterday but we were keen to get cracking and share some of our new designs so have already made a few products (I was so excited and have been planning this for months).

These are the first two products, they are part of the new 'Wild' range, of which there will be available on notebooks, cards, bags and cushions, as well as mirrors and keyrings.

The hedgehog is based on our own hand illustrations that we have redrawn on the mac for production.

The other mirror is a grey chevron, both will be available to buy soon with our other products but these two are available now for you to win. All you have to do is follow my blog and leave a comment, it's as easy as that!!!

Good luck!

The winner will be announced on Thursday 26th September 2013.

The Gift Box

I have a few minutes spare this afternoon, so I thought I would share with a you little graphics project I have just finished for a new local business.

It is a postcard design for a gorgeous new shop called The Gift Box, based locally to me and set up by Deanne (of Quirky Boots and Warkton Village Craft Market fame) and her good friend Rona.

The shop is now open and I was lucky enough to pop along last week and take some snaps to share with you. I was astonished at what the girl's have managed to achieve in just a few months; the shop is a handmade haven of glorious goodies, all housed in a super-cute old stable block that they have worked so hard to totally transform. With whitewashed walls and a new floor, it is clear that a great deal of care and attention has been put into the design of the shop and the numerous vintage display cupboards that have been painstakingly painted and finished.

All of the items for sale have been cherry-picked from selected local craftspeople, many of whom Deanne and Rona know personally. There are a diverse range of disciplines making up the huge range of items on offer, all original and handmade.

The Gift Box is a brilliant showcase for local craftspeople, I can't wait to go back and I thoroughly recommend that if you are in the area you should check it out too, you won't be disappointed!

Vintage owl keyrings

I have had a lot of orders for these little fella's and have decided to offer them in a new colour scheme for the spring. They will still be available in the fuschia and olive, but will now also be available in aquamarine and lavender, this new scheme uses gorgeous vintage fabrics. I have re-photographed them and uploaded the new pics and items to my shop, hope you like them.

Day 34: Homemade Daily Challenge

Well a very happy good morning Friday to you, have you had any snow where you are it feels cold enough brrrrrrr!

I have been trying my best to take it easy this week after a bit of minor surgery last Friday but this hasn't been easy (hasn't happened), the stitches are being taken out on Monday although I am dreading that part, I also want them removed as they are agony, hope they aren't infected, they don't look like they are but they are really sore.

I have had a stack of orders this week and along with a web site to redesign for my Graphic Design business, I pretty much came out of theatre and had to get straight back on the sewing machine, I do love sewing and I also love the variety the graphic design offers but this week it has felt a little overwhelming at times. I had to call in for extra help with childcare to try to get through everything, it doesn't help that I am a picky perfectionist and hate being rushed. If a design hasn't worked or isn't quite how I want it I will unpick it rather than send it out a little imperfect. I am also addicted to my phone, in the evenings (when I have decided to take a break) I end up checking my facebook fanpage, twitter and my blog comments in almost every ad break!!

This week I decided I needed to sort this out otherwise I was never going to get a break, so I picked up the crochet hook to sit and crochet whilst watching the a film in the evenings. I learnt how to make little flowers using crochet last summer, you can read more about this here. I decided I could handle something a little more tricky, I found a pattern for Granny Squares from the Meet Me at Mikes book, the pattern is written in the English version of crochet which was handy and I also double checked my technique with a youtube tutorial.

After a few mishaps I started to get the hang of it.

 

I love how the little rounds don't look much to start with, but soon turn into joyous supercute little squares. Being a neat person I really love them once the ends are all sewn in!

I

After four nights I now have a little pile of small granny squares, I want to make a blanket and know I am a long way off that but I did get quicker as I went along and have also found that I have been able to 'switch off' and relax in the evenings I have crocheted as my hands are too busy to check my phone!

Day 27: Daily Challenge

If you have been following my posts since 1 st January (you deserve a medal) you will know that my main skill set lies within sewing and pretty much machine sewing at that, although I do like making pies.

To avoid my blog being all about pies and bunting (I do love them) I thought it was time to inject a new craft. Something that I am a novice at so you can see how I progress. I have always fancied being a knitter but having looked through some of my Mums old patterns it appears they are mainly written in double dutch, so I decided crochet might be a bit easier.

I had no idea how to crochet so was delighted when a good friend of mine (Michelle at Button It) said she would show me. We met at a friends house last Summer for a Birthday BBQ and Michelle told me to take my crochet hook, we sat at the party like a pair of grannies in the corner crocheting,  (Michelle was crocheting, I was making a chain which resembled a series of messy knots). But after about half an hour I started to pick it up and could just about manage chain and double stitches (UK) which meant I could crochet lovely little flowers.

I made lost of these little flowers and was asked by friends to make them into little hairslides for stocking fillers at Christmas. So I made a stack of them and displayed them on little cards I made with my punch:

 

Now I know you don't all have a super talented friend to show you how to crochet and to be patient and not stab you with the crochet hook when you mess it up. But it is easier if you have someone show you, as it's a big help to see how its done a few times before your start (about fifty in my case). If you don't have a friendly granny or a Michelle of your own you could check out some youtube videos, there are loads.

I am going to be tackling Granny Squares next, I'll let you know how it goes.

Herman day 5, have added more ingredients

My New Blog

I have finally given in.  It is time to start a blog. 

Apparently in this modern age it's not good enough to just be good at what you do in order to create sales, you have to blether on about it on the web too, for everyone to read, well I am quite up for a bit of blethering, so here goes, this is my first post, hopefully the first of many. I will try and keep up do date with lots of interesting makes and how to's but other than that it'll be mostly waffle :)