A Big Step

What a busy couple of weeks!! Hence the blog silence. Sorry about that!

The big news in the world of Candykins Crafts is that some of my products are now available in a real bricks and mortar store! Hurray!

I took a trip back to the neighbourhood in which I lived when I first moved to Brisbane - to a wonderful shop called Side Street Vintage, in Hawthorne. Side Street Vintage stocks a beautifully eclectic mix of vintage pieces, handmade pieces and craft supplies, in very welcoming and comfortable surrounds. Well worth a visit if you are in the area. While there, I couldn't help but pick up these adorable studs by Liddle Apples.

Oh, and this spectacular vintage knitting book, full of fab vintage fashion photography from 1952. (More on that coming up soon! Stay tuned!)

I am also taking stock to the Reverse Garbage gift shop on Tuesday, including these hoop art pieces on salvaged fabrics. An exciting step for Candykins Crafts!!

I confess, I am being a bit lazy today and just using Instagram pics from the week...if you are on Instagram, look me up @candykinscrafts for frequent updates of what I am currently working on (only if you are interested, of course!)

How To: Create a Magentic Secret Message Tin

We have these little magnetic alphabet letters on our fridge, for our kids to play with. But lately, I've been using them to leave little messages for my darling hubby. There is only one alphabet set, and it is just not sufficient!

So I had the idea to do up a set of magnetic words. I have seen something like this before on a friend's fridge. And I recalled that I have printable magnetic business cards stashed away somewhere. So, I whipped out the printable magnetic business cards, found the template online (they have a link in the business cards pack), and typed up a bunch of words that I thought would be useful in writing secret messages to my hubby. 

I'm not going to share the list of words with you, as that would be telling. But you could make them as family friendly or suggestive as you like. Think about what kinds of words you would need for the sorts of messages you might like to leave. Include plenty of pronouns. I also included some partial sentences, such as, "Thank you for..." and "I love it when...". I included a few sets of individual alphabet letters too, though they do tend to get lost amongst the words in the tin.

Don't forget to do a test print on paper, to check that the words are not going to be cut off. Using a generous margin helps too. 

Cut all your words out and pop them in a tin. I happened to have some cute tins that I am using for my dress up doll packaging, but a biscuit tin would do.

The last step (and in my opinion, the most tricky) is to find a spot to keep it that you will remember to check for messages, and remember to leave messages too - but somewhere that is out of reach of the kids (if you have any).

Have fun!

Shakespearean Quote with Blackwork Border

I'm sorry I've been AWOL recently. Sickness hit our household again, and I did not escape this time.

One plus side of being unwell is that I allow myself more time to sit. And if I am just sitting...I might as well be stitching. Here is the product of this recent stitching time. I was commissioned by the mother of a previous customer to create this piece.

It was a nice change to work with counted stitching on even weave Aida cloth. I drafted the script up myself, and used a pattern from Carol Leather's Blackwork For Beginners eBook (available here). 

I think the blackwork border works nicely with the quote - both originating from the period in history.

This is going to be a wedding present for my customer's son. And that warms my heart.