Lace Tee Revamp

So now the weather is meant to be changing here in the UK (perhaps someone forgot to tell the weather today as it was 27C!) I thought I'd best start on my autumn/winter clothes making list. I started with a quick, simple one using Katy from Sweet Verbena's tutorial... the only thing I really changed was the neckline of the t-shirt I used, I'm not a huge fan of round necks I prefer my necklaces hanging above the neckline so it was a V neck for me.

 And here's a pic of me modelling my new refashioned t-shirt... that lace flower necklace of mine seems to be a constant feature in all my clothes posts recently, anyone starting to get the idea how much I love and wear that necklace? It's about the only one I wear apart from my silver heart necklace!

Over the weekend I'll share the cards and presents made for the September birthdays in my life... my man and his mum.

Last Of The Summer Wardrobe

So here's the last piece of clothing I had to make for the summer... didn't get finished till a few days before holiday so had to wait till I wore it on holiday to get a decent photo.

This top started off life as a length of jersey material and a strapless bra that was getting a little loose.. so with the help of Kirsten's tutorial it became the super top shown in the photos.

It even got worn out on our trip to Gibraltar... where I got climbed all over by the Barbary Apes!

I'm Not MIA...honest

Hi all, I'm not MIA... just away on holiday, shall resume normal posting and comenting on the 22nd! Will have plenty of things to share by then as getting plenty of goodies here and more should be delivered by the time we get home :)

Cupcake Makeup Bag

 This week I've been starting to play with some of the fab crafty bits that 2 of my friends donated to me, yup they gave me a shed load of stuff for free! Got a heat gun and heat embossing goodies which have been used for the birthday cards for the upcoming birthdays... and then my other friend gave me a box of fabric pieces and more card making supplies...

So project 1 with the new fabric pieces is a makeup bag for me with my favourite bit of fabric from the parcel.... Cupcakes! And a super cute dusky pink dotty fabric for the lining that also came in the parcel.

 These little bags have been pretty popular, made several now as presents for friends and family, had a few order enquiries about them for christmas... and after all that I didn't actually have one to call my own.. so I had to make one and had to do it before too many people ordered cupcake ones and there would no fabric left for me.. a little selfish I know but I really wanted one to show off myself as something that I had made!

 Isn't the cupcake print just totally awesome though, nearly good enough to eat!

Had to take a photo so you could see how cute the lining is too and how well it goes with the cupcake outer fabric! This beauty now lives proudly ion my bag for me to show everyone whenever they ask for a lipbalm or nail file :)

Wedding Order - Just Married Flags

You know when you're out in shops and see things you think are cute, then check the price tag and think 'how much?! I could make them so much cheaper!' Well that's what these flags are... A friend and I were out shopping the other week talking about her cousins wedding, she's planning it, when we saw some simple just married flags in a shop.... they were £4.50 each! So I got her to hold up one of the flags so I could take a photo on my Blackberry for reference and make some up myself for her.

After messing around with fonts on the computer and printing out plenty of test sheets to position the words right for when the card gets folded round the dowel... test punching the hearts till I figured where the perfect position was to line up with the words... I finally finished up with these lovelies...I had to 'force' myself to buy the heart punch, as somehow it's the one shape punch I didn't already have in my collection... and then I found some super (now I won't call them kiddies, though they were near the kiddies craft section in the shop) shaped edge scissors - a zigzag pair and a scalloped pair. The scalloped pair were perfect for cutting the flag's edge, then I used a silver pen and made a dot in each scallop to just add an extra little 'zing' to it.
Only charged £2 a piece for them, so that's a super saving for her... and a lot of spare dowel for me so I think Imay be doing some more flags for other occasions too, I'm thinking babies, anniversaries and birthdays so far...

Wearing The Sailor Collar Top

Couldn't be waiting for my bloke to be home to take the photos, it's days before he's off work and the weather isn't keeping the evenings light here so taking photos isn't exactly easy...

So bear with me and my attempts to take 'good' photos of me wearing latest creation in our gorgeous vintage bedroom mirror.

Wow how many attempts do you think it took to get a decent pic of the back? Well about 7... my hair got in the way or I just totally misaimed the camera and took lovely photos of the wall lol.

Blog Makeover

The blog has finally been treated to a super makeover... thanks to Lindsay at Southern Lovely for picking me as the winner of the competition... and an even bigger thanks to Cindy of Blessed Graphic Design for creating the awesome design and putting up with my picky little demands on what I really wanted...

Don't you just love the new signature too:)

Sailor Collar Top

Seeing as the bad weather seems to already be settling in I'm making a start on a couple of autumn tops to make along side the last of my summer wardrobe for my holiday, my orders and now the stock I need to get made up for my first ever craft market stall (EXCITE! but more news to come on that at a later date)..

Here's what used to be a plain white t-shirt till I read the latest issue of Cloth magazine.. they had this beautiful tutorial on how to make a sailor collar to just wear over dresses or whatever you fancied... I didn't quite like that idea so I thought I'd make it a permanent fixture on an otherwise boring top..

I kept the long ribbon bow from the original design as otherwise the collar would have fallen short of the centre of the neckline and left a void... and i love ribbons and bows so why not add the extra omph to the top!

If anyone wants the template and tutorial for this project then it's here but do check out the other projects while you are there coz there's some stunners in amongst them!

I haven't got a picture of me wearing it yet as there's no one else home to a photo of the back, so give me a day or so and I'll make sure I put another post up with the photos

Great Pinterest Challenge August 2011

Morning ladies and gents... so here we go again Round 2 of the Great Pinterest Challenge voting has begun and once again I need help, please please plase come vote for me!

Here's my piece for the challenge...

To help me out here's what you gotta do...

1. Go to Honeybear Lanes facebook page and 'like' it
2. Go to my photo in the Great Pinterest Challenge album and 'like' it. Either click here, click the photo above or have a browse throught the album yourself till you find me.

There's some gorgeous projects in that album there really are, think the sewing category of the challenge will be a hard round to do well in.. so please everyone come help me.. much appreciated if you do :)

With A Little Bit Of Lace...

British summer may be coming to an end (it's pouring with rain here and has been all day) but I'm still making myself summery clothes in the hope we have a few more good days/weeks.. and then of course there's the good weather and sun I hope for on our holiday (less than a month to go!) so I still think it's a good idea to plough on with the clothes projects...

This time I fancied myself a denim skirt, but not just the boring kind you find in the shops... nor was I keen on the denim ones with denim waistbands and scarf fabric for the remainder of the skirt...
So I hit ebay and found myself this New Look denim skirt with the little worn patches and tears...
A little bit.. well 3/4 of a metre of lace, pins, my sewing machine, scissors, needle and thread later this is what my skirt looked like. My sewing machine could be used for the majority of the lace but the trim round the pockets and flowers on the rear had to be hand sewn on as I couldn't get them to feed through the machine without stitching it together. The flowers and trim pieces came from a scrap of the lace used for the thick trim around the bottom of the skirt. I left it overhanging the denim at the bottom as it just looked a bit more girly and made the most of the scalloped edging of the lace.

It's not so short really.. and it looks great on..

The I thought it deserved a full outfit photo as well to show how ace it looks on... notice the lace flower necklace and nautical bow shoes... yup both things I've made
To see th