bonbah » handmade

If you go down to the woods today…

admin — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:00:50 +0000

you’ll see lots of teddy bears wearing sweet party hats under a pretty bunting banner! If I have anything to say about it anyway!

More new party decorations are popping up in my etsy and folksy shops. The Teddy Bear Tea Party (or Picnic, you choose) invitations have been going strong for a while, so I am slowly developing the matching range of decorations. So far we have hats and bunting banners and soon paper balls, place cards and pinwheels will be coming along too…

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And don’t forget to check out the new spooky decorations that are also popping up…

Boo! It’s almost Halloween

admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:31:20 +0000

Halloween isn’t the most celebrated event in the UK, but it’s probably my favourite holiday thanks to many childhood years spent in the US. It had the same feeling as bonfire night – the magic of staying up late, glowing candles, decorations and activities unique to that day, meeting up with friends and family – with the added joy of dressing up. In the US, Halloween costumes can be anything, you don’t have to be a skeleton or a witch, a ghost or a zombie. You can of course be any of those things but the variety is unlimited. I once dressed up as a shower. I remember our teachers dressing up, bus drivers, shop clerks. It was like everyone was at the same fancy dress party. And of course there were lots of sweets…

Since moving back to the UK, I still keep loading up on bowls of sweets and carving pumpkins. Not sure if we’ve ever had a trick or treater but it makes me happy! My son, who was almost born on Halloween, had a spooky first birthday costume party (and from that came the growing range of spooky invitations and decorations). In honour of this great day, I’ve got a treat (no trick) for everyone ordering 2 or more packs of my printed personalised invitations. 5 free spooky cupcake toppers so you can make your little ones, or yourselves, a little Halloween treat.

throw a prehistoric bash

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:11:28 +0000

I’ve been working on selling children’s party decorations for a while, I had sold a couple of digital packs of print your own versions, but recently I’ve had people asking for made ones. Hooray, nothing is more fun than cutting and sticking all night long! So here’s the first collection, the full dinosaur bash suite:

Dino-mite! Starting to come together

admin — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:37:12 +0000

There are so many things I’d like to develop and offer in my Etsy/Folksy shop that I often have difficulty focusing and have ended up feeling like it’s all spread a bit thin. It’s normally through customer requests that I start developing things a bit more logically. I’ve recently had some requests for printed decorations that I don’t currently carry. It’s given me the push to move away from just offering pdf versions of things to keeping part of the fun (cutting and pasting, yeay!) for me. So first up is the Dinosaur suite of stationery and decorations:

There are cupcake toppers too, but they still need to be photographed. Next up pinwheels, bunting banners and party blowers. Then on to all the other party suites and hopefully still time to get Christmas going.

UK Inspiration: Lil3Birdy & Naughty Dog

admin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:09:43 +0000

A couple of talented UK based surface designers to get me back into the swing of things.

1. Lil3Birdy (London) beautiful, intricate designs with birds & geometric patterns.

Bird Gift Tags, Illustrated Art Designs, Turquoise Blue Grey

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Cute Bird & Flower Gift Tags, Illustrated Art Designs, Blue Green Pink

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Owl Gift Tags, Ink Drawing Designs, Brown Black White

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2. Naughty Dog (Hartlepool) really lovely cushions with line drawings of dogs, shoes, butterflies…

Appliqued Dog Cushion

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Shoe Cushion

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Dog Cushion

UK Inspiration Caroline Cowen & Robin and Mould

admin — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 20:50:53 +0000

Finally some time to find some more UK based inspiration. Another random search on Etsy brings up some lovely silver jewelry and beautiful hand screenprinted home textiles.

1. Caroline Cowen (from Hertfordshire) – beautiful handmade jewelry in quirky, pretty designs.

sterling silver and cold enamel retro flower necklace

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gerbera daisy earrings

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sterling silver and purple felt bow necklace

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2.Robin and Mould (from Devises, Wiltshire) – beautiful handmade and hand screenprinted home textiles.

hand screen printed sleepy dog in teal

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hand screenprinted owl toy in yellow

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hand screen printed dream big cushion in teal

Folksy Friday on a Saturday – rain rain rain

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 21:35:14 +0000

We’ve been getting ready to go away so although I picked out my Folksy picks on Friday I didn’t get a chance to post. Luckily or unluckily Mother Nature has kept up my theme for me. Rain rain rain. Not my fondest thing when I’m trying to get loads of clothes dried. But luckily some crafty folksters have used the theme brilliantly:

Teeny Rainy Day Studs from Joanna Rutter

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Rainy Day Child’s T-shirt from Rocky the Zombie

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Raining Cats and Dogs from Emma Lee Cheng

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Rainy Day Brooch from Nelli D

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Breadcrumbs Screenprint from Fancy and Fondant

(can’t believe it’s already time for another) Folksy Friday – cheeeeeese

admin — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 19:43:28 +0000

How is it already Friday? Is it really Friday? I’m pretty sure it’s Friday so here’s my Folksy Friday. This week it’s all about cheese. We love cheese in our house. I am particularly amazed that someone has created a card that actually says exactly what Jeff and I say to each other pretty much on a daily basis. George is fitting in well. Yesterday all he would eat for dinner was a nice vintage cheddar, some Carr’s water biscuits and grapes. Pretty classy for a 10 month old.

Red I Love You More Than Cheese Card from Storeyshop

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Grain Chopping Board from Lee Borthwick

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Say Cheese Camera Case from KraftyKorner

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Enid Mouse (the cheese is in her bag!) from Mia Design

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Cheese Board from Woodturning Craft

Folksy Friday – Get Well Sooner

admin — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:38:30 +0000

In our house we seem to have spent this week making each other poorly. Yesterday was my day to be properly poorly and here are a few things that would have made me feel better:

Chirpy Little Birds Mug by Julia Smith

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Lambswool Robot Hot Water Bottle Cover from Sara Carr

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Catch some Zzzz’s Pillowcase from Sixes & Sevens

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Red Long Winter Socks from Lebyviel in Rivendell

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Large Granny Square Blanket from Alice Makes

It pays to do Folksy Friday!

admin — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:19:25 +0000

Hooray my brother, sister-in-law & nephew bought me the bag I posted on my birthday Folksy Friday! Will have to do that every year. The bag is really beautiful in person. So well made. I have sewing envy! It would take me weeks to make this bag and then it would be all wonky and crooked. This bag is perfect.

Russian Dolls Satchel from Jenny Gale