My new craft space

I spent this weekend in the boiling hot sun building my new craft space – and boy am I excited with it! I didn’t have a craft space at all before, just all my stuff piled into some shelves in the living room.

Now I’ve started making larger projects I really needed a desk, but had nowhere to put it until I decided to take over half of my daughter’s playroom. Her Christmas present last year was a new playroom and it was ok, but didn’t work as well as I liked. It’s a beautiful room, with double doors opening into our little garden, and it gets lots of sun, but it’s also an awkward space. I spent a couple of weeks working out if I could fit in a desk. I love the fireplace in that room but we really needed the space so I decided (reluctantly!) to use the wall space for something else.

I have to give a huge shout out to Ian Mott of The Mottly Crew, who shopped for and delivered my Ikea furniture whilst I sat at home basking in the sun and eating ice cream. He was fantastic and completely reliable and I can completely recommend his delivery service. He saved me a fortune in getting to Dublin to the Ikea store.

The room is now an absolute delight, and we spend a lot of time in there as a family, which we never did before. I never thought I’d have something as lovely as this!

Here are my before and after photos: – click on each one to see a larger pic

Willow’s craft desk is right next to mine so we can craft together.

These cute drawers house my most used items, and they’re on castors so I can roll them into the living room if I fancy sewing on front of a movie. Red Helmer drawers from Ikea: €30.49

I use a lot of felt scraps for small work so they’re all sorted by colour here under my desk. Red Helmer drawers from Ikea: €30.49

My die cutters are stored on magnets at hand on top of my drawers, which roll under the desk when they’re not in use.

Everything is at hand and stored away neatly. The bunting is my own.

My felt is rolled up and stored in this handy unit. It’s so nice to see in one place what colours I have. Retur waste sorting bin from Ikea: €19.30

I have my business cards and packaging, needles, pin cushion, scissors, pens and sketch book at hand.

Willow’s toys

I made the rainbow quilt a few months ago to cover the manky sofa (we’re renting so unfortunately have to keep it).

The doors leading out to the garden.

This was the room before Christmas last year. I painted it white at Christmas and brought shelving for Willow’s toys.

My old craft space – on shelves in our living room. And yes – it really was always that untidy!

Craftseller issue 11

Goodness – I was expecting an interview in Craftseller issue 11 but didn’t expect to see my face on the front cover!

Many thanks to Sarah Moolla for the lovely interview and for making me remember why I love crafting so much. I love the photo of me and Willow.

This issue also features my felt wedding flowers – something I’ve been wanting to try out for a while.

All in all – a bit of a bettyoctopus-fest!

Photo a Day May

Hurray for Instagram on Android! I can now join the fabulous Photo a Day May-ers. The idea is to take a photo a day based on the daily theme, set by Fat Mum Slim. For May these are:

Here goes:

Day 1: Peace (a spot of embroidery after the little one is in bed)

 

Day 2: Skyline (The Living Bridge in UL and beyond)

Get ready… set… jelly roll!

I’m getting myself mentally prepared for my next venture: a jelly roll race. It’s something I’d never heard of until about 4 days ago but suddenly it’s all I can think about.

A jelly roll is a group of fabrics cut into strips – usually about 2.5″ x 44″ in size, with 40 strips per roll. The race involves joining the strips together into a huge long strip, then sewing these together until you have a lovely quilt top. Here’s a quick video by the world’s jolliest sewer as explanation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bEJLnaZQOU

The race is being hosted by the Crafty Bums next week (date TBC) and anyone can join in. If you’re interested, you can join the Facebook group.

There are a huge variety of jelly rolls out there and, trust me, once you get Goggling them, you’ll want to join in! My fabric of choice is A Walk in the Woods by Aneela Hoey. It’s a Red Riding Hood themed fabric (and what else would I choose?!).

I’m going to make a quilt and matching cushions for Willow, plus a couple of canvasses for her bare bedroom wall. I’ve already started one of them:

I’m not entirely happy with her face so I think I’m going to change it, but it’s okay so far.

So come and join in the race, it’s going to be lots of fun!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/412787775401020/

New craft kits

Hello and Happy Easter! The sun in shining here in Limerick, and I’m off work for a week so I’ve lots of time to do some sewing. I’d like to introduce my new DIY felt brooch kits:

This kit contains everything you need to make a gorgeous felt brooch. With simple instructions, this craft project would suit children and adults of any age – it can be as simple or complex as your skill level allows. It would make an ideal gift for a crafty friend.

Contents:

• 2 x felt brooch pieces
• felt flowers
• coordinating threads
• brooch bar
• buttons
• full instructions
• colours/buttons may vary slightly to those photographed

Kits of any colours can be made so please email me at jess@bettyoctopus.com if you require a specific colour combination. More colour combinations below…

Happy St. Patricks Day!

The original Crafty Bum

An interview I did with Craftseller magazine recently highlighted to me the person who inspires me most. This coincides with Mother’s Day this weekend so I thought I’d talk a little about my inspiration: my mum, Eve.

Growing up, she always had a crafty project – sewing, embroidery, painting, you name it and she was able to turn her hand to it. Of course, at the time I thought it was all very uncool – I distinctly remember that my sister and I desperately wanted Care Bears like our friends, but money was tight so mum painstakingly made us her own version. I remember being a little disappointed – I wanted a ‘real’ one, but now of course I’m so grateful for the love and care that she spent on us, and it’s something I’m trying to recreate with my own daughter.

I have two books that mum made for me one Christmas when I was younger than my daughter is now, about real stories that happened to me and my favourite teddy bear – my daughter now has both books (and the bear!).

All this, and my mum worked full-time as a teacher and later became a head-teacher.

In 2009, mum retired, and her first two granddaughters were born within 3 weeks of each other. Since then mum has been making the most beautiful clothes for the girls, and when they were tiny she even sent clothes she had made for me and my sister when we were babies. She now has a new grandaughter to create for. Here are a few photos of her beautiful creations:

A matching dress and doll for Willow

Matching Christmas dresses for Willow and my niece

A knitted Bagpuss for Willow

Christmas stockings

Knitted heart cardigan

Reversible embroidered bag

Summer outfit for baby Nora

Gorgeous jumper for baby Willow

Matching coats for the girls

Baby shoes - I wonder where I get my love of embroidery from?!

Cardigan for baby Nora

Thanks mum for giving me your creative genes! I’m really proud of you – Happy early Mother’s Day!

She'll kill me for this, but I love this photo! That's me on the left - we are of course in lovely Eve designs.

Cute overload

Still buzzing from all the lovely sales I’ve had over at Crafty Bums, last week I woke up with a firm picture in my mind of how I wanted my website to look. I’ve been an amateur web designer for 12 years now but rarely get a chance to play with a whole new design. I wanted my site to reflect my work: cute and colourful with lots of happy inanimate objects. So I’m delighted to present to you www.bettyoctopus.com:

I now have a clear shop section where you can find all my current work for sale, as well as a better view of my categories of work. I hope you like it!

In other news, I have a few exciting projects coming up, more will be revealed soon.

bettyoctopus at the Barboot sale

Last Saturday John and I dropped our 3 year old off with my wonderful mother-in-law (I don’t know where we’d be without her!) and headed off on a date to the Barboot Sale at 31 Thomas Street in Limerick. The Barboot is a brilliant idea – a car-boot sale without the cars, in a bar with drinks and a DJ. So it makes for a lovely social occasion, especially for parents like us who rarely get to go out!

From previous Barboot experiences I knew that smaller, cheaper, cuter items would be popular, so I made felt rings, keyrings, mini bunting, cards and magnets to add to my usual stock. I was really happy with sales I made, it’s lovely to see people enjoying your work.

On top of that, I got to catch up with a few friends, and spend time with my busy husband. I’ll definitely be at the next sale on 14th April.

New items

I will be selling my work at the next Barboot sale in Limerick on February 25th. I’ve been steadily increasing the amount of things I make. As well as brooches, I’m now making bracelets, purses, rings, magnets, keyrings, cards and pin cushions. Below are a few photos of my new goodies, I’m really excited about showing them off!