The Biscuity Workshop with Nikki McWilliams

You may have seen on my Facebook or Instagram that a couple Saturdays ago I was lucky enough to spend the day with Nikki McWilliams and a lovely group of ladies at Hill Street Design House making Biscuit themed clutch bags.

You might recognise Nikki's name from my Wish List Wednesday post a year ago about her Tunnock's Tea Cake cushion that I fell in love with. Nikki is a Scottish designer, has her own blog and one of the best Instagram accounts you'll find! Her home ware and accessories label launched in 2009 and was inspired by 'a love of British culture, contemporary Pop-Art and her fascination with the ritual of the Tea Break'. You can check out the full range on her website!

The workshop was one of my Birthday presents from Martyn (after a very large hint). We all had to be at Hill Street Design House, on Hill Street, for the class starting at 11am. I wore my Collectif Dolores top, skinny highwaisted jeans, new red pumps and, of course, my custard cream brooch.  

The bright room was laid out beautifully with a big pink covered central table covered in craft supplies and plates piled high with biscuits! Everyone took a seat and Nikki introduced herself and explained the plan for the day. We were all making biscuit-inspired clutch bags with our own designs using simple printing and sewing techniques.

Nikki demonstrated set up our fabric for printing and folding for sewing. she then showed us how to mix the acrylic paint and printing medium then how to print on the fabric using craft foam designs we had to create. We had brown or cream fabric to choose from for chocolate or vanilla biscuits and I chose the cream as I wanted to create a Nice biscuit bag.

We all settled in and started drawing and cutting out our designs, there were some great ideas and we were all chatting and helping each other with ideas, Nikki was floating around the room checking out or designs and offering help where it was needed.

Before we knew it it was time to start printing, Hannah who was sitting by me was doing a custard cream design so we decided to share paint and Nikki helped us mix up the perfect biscuity, creamy yellow.

I think the printing is the most nerve wrecking bit, making sure we didn't print letters the wrong way up, making sure they didn't smudge or even just spill and splatter everywhere! Nikki introduced us to the concept of Wabi-Sabi which roughly translates from Japanese as 'Finding the beauty in Imperfections' which I just love and can totally relate to. Most things that I craft have an imperfection somewhere but I like to call 'Character'. 

I was very happily surprised with how mine turned out, it had just the right amount of 'Character'. We had a break for lunch while the paint dried and when we returned it was time to sew them up and embellish them. The table was covered in wool, ribbons, pompoms, pompom makers, beads, ricrac and all a girl could need to jazz up her biscuit bag. 

We glued craft foam to what would become the inside front and back of our bags and folded them up, sew stitched up the side while it was inside out and them turned them out. We were left with envelope style clutch bags that just need the top flap tidied up with a couple more stitches and we were ready to embellish. 

I love a pompom but I also wanted to keep my bag quite simple so I chose the bright yellow ribbon with mini pompoms all along it, simplicity isn't my strong suit. I stitched the pompoms along the edge of the envelope opening and then made a wee bow that I popped on the back too. Everyone was having a ball making pompoms and tassels it was infectious so I made a tassel for the side of my bag from some thin ribbons in the yellow I'd used for my bow, blue and violet.   

I'm so happy with the final product and was so inspired by all the ladies around me and their creative designs, we had Kit Kats, bourbons, custard creams, jammy dodger and party ring designs too. 

Once we had all finished up, or at least as far as some of the overly adventurous were going to get, we took them all outside so we could take some pictures in the good light and Nikki even took a wee Boomerang video. 

I had an amazing day, it was lovely to meet some lovely new creative ladies as well as Nikki McWillliams herself and check out Hill Street Design House too. I know Nikki is running more of these workshops and Hill Street run events like this all the time making all sorts like jewellery, lingerie and flower crowns as well as hosting private events too. So keep an eye on both of them.

Wish List Wednesday - Splendette - Maiden Bangles

Have you guys seen the Splendette Maiden Bangles? They are lush! They're a copy of the classic mid century bangle style and come in a selection of candy colours, I think look good enough to eat.

As I'm sure you all know by now I am a total vintage magpie! Anything shiny and bright I love and the Maiden range is no exception. The bangles come in red, coral, butterscotch, leaf green and black, all with different carved looking effects on them. They have a real Bakelite look to them, Splendette call it 'Fakelite' and they do several other items in this style too.

Splendette is a one woman show based down in Bristol and has been on the go since early 2015, she sells online through her website, at vintage show and has a few wholesale outlets like Collectif. With a backfround in fashion design and buying and a love of all things mid century The Splendette tag line is 'Vintage style jewellery for modern day kittens'.

There are several ranges in the Splendette family, a huge selection of bangles as well as earrings, necklaces and brooches. They also sell Tiki style bangle stands for displaying and keep your collection in order. 

So if you are looking for something to brighten up an outfit or add a little flare you should totally check Spendette out. They have a great Instagram account and are on Facebook too.

Thanks to Splendette for the use of her Photos too xxx

DIY Notice Board

A couple weeks ago I popped my crafting hat on and made myself a notice board for the flat. We needed somewhere to put things like upcoming gig tickets, photo booth pictures and wedding invites etc. so they didn’t just pile up and eventually get lost. I’ve been wanting to make one for a while but couldn’t find a frame I liked for the price I wanted anywhere. One lunchtime I popped into one of the local charity shops and there is was, a lovely big frame in a pale turquoise, it had a pretty ugly oil painting in it and a few scuffs around it and was the bargain price of £4.99.

Once I got it home I pulled the tacks holding the canvas out at the back and took the old hanging string off too. I was thinking about sanding and repainting it but once I gave it a wee clean with some hot soapy water it looked fine. This is when the real crafting comes in.

For the notice board you will need…

One large frame.
Backing paper (Wrapping paper or posters are idea.)
Nice string or twine.
Staple gun. (Borrowed from my manager.) 
Teeny tiny pegs.

Once you have your frame in a state you are happy with have a play about with your string and decide what kind directions you’d like it to go in, I went with a simple diagonally across design. Once you are happy with what you like then grab that staple gun and attached the string at your top starting corner, leave a good 5 cm-7 cm tail. With that excess you should staple it to the back of the frame, fold it back over the staple and staple it down again (see photo below).

I found that the edge of my frame was going to be too thin to staple into because you’d see it come through on the front so I attached it to the adjacent side. Carry on that way down both sides of the frame making sure to keep the string taught and secure it at the bottom like you did at the top. 

Next you either want to cover the original picture, like me, or attached you backing paper to the frame. I used mini duckling tape by Duck Tape and some double sided tape. The paper I used was from Paperchase and is slightly larger than the frame, I'd recommend that you use nothing too jazzy as this will distract from what you put on your notice board. Once you've covered the picture you can reattach it to the frame, I just used the staple gun again for this (I really need my own one). 

Flip it around and you should have a pretty cool notice board. You can add extra decorations like my scrabble tiles that I got from local haberdashery Thread and Heather to spell out The Clubhouse, which is what we call the flat, or you could string some fairy lights over it or glue on some buttons. Once you are happy with it then hang it on your wall and add you favorite things with the tiny pegs.

Wish List Wednesday - Porcelain Oyster Shell Necklace by Little Birdy

So I have decided to start a new feature called Wish List Wednesday, I know it’s not the most inventive name but stick with me. The plan is to share some of the lovely things I have come across in local shops and galleries as well as Instagram and websites like Etsy and Folksy and promoting the work of independent makers and artists.

My first item for the wish list is the beautifully crafted Porcelain Oyster Shell Necklace by Little Birdy, you can find it in her Folksy shop. She has a lot of beautiful products in the shop, prints and illustrations, textiles, hand painted ceramics and hand sculpted porcelain. The Mermaids & Ice Cream jewellery collection launched on Monday, 17^th August, and it’s based around her fascination with ‘life beneath the waves and with natural science’. It’s a stunning range of oyster shell necklaces with pearls and adorable ice cream necklaces and brooches.

I’m totally in love with the Porcelain Oyster Shell Necklace which is two hand sculpted and pained oyster shells that open up to reveal a gold pearl hidden in between them. Painted in gold, blush pink and white it has beautiful polkadot detailing on it. Dreamy!

I have been swooning over the Bristol based artists work on Instagram for a while now, the ceramic narwhals, cats and pushme-pullyous are next on my list and have often been pointed out to my bearded companion with a wink and elbow nudge but to no avail… yet…

You can check out Little Birdy’s stockists in Bristol and London on her website or have a look around the Folksy shop. I hope you fall in love with her lovely wares as much as I have.