Monday 28 February 2011

Shop Window

It's been a few weeks since I've dressed one of my charity shop window, but today I took on the challenge again.

BEFORE:


AFTER:






It was an absolute struggle to find any decent homewares today, so I went with an Alice in Wonderland theme. It all came together quite nicely. Beginning with the vintage print greetings card (now available in all Barnardos stores), which I totally fell in love with, I wanted to go with a "vintage" theme. I thought a tea cup would work perfectly with the set up, typically if I used a scarf to act as a table cloth too. Bearing in mind that the "vintage" theme wouldn't quite go with the modern outfits, I thought I would go down the whole Alice in Wonderland theme (spesh as it's coming up to Easter). I then stumbled across the pack of cards and bunny, and in the back stock, I conveniently managed to find an Lewis Caroll book. Couldn't have panned out better if I actually planned it beforehand!

Friday 25 February 2011

Craft and Stitch Fair, NEC, Birmingham - Fabric Display

Ahhh it's taken me so long to post this, but last Saturday (19th), I took a long train to the NEC in Birmingham to dress a fabric stand for Derby House LTD. What I initially thought would take me a couple hours ended up taking eight!! But it was awesome fun. Faced with tens of fabric designs, I had to pick out complimentary colour palettes and fabric weights, and single handedly dress the blank canvas, that was the wall, with as many examples of Derby House's fantastic Spring range.

I must admit, I got sick of looking at it after an entire days affair with it, but looking back on it now, I'm really pleased with the outcome. Another string to my bow :)










Sunday 20 February 2011

COMPLETED SCARF :D

HORRAY!! I finished my first knitted creation, aka, the scarf, whilst watching the Brits the other night, and yesterday I handed it over to it's surrogate mother owner.




I want one for myself now! My neck's going to be cold on the journey home!

Friday 18 February 2011

Epic Tooth Ring

Ahhh Pretty Fabric

Check out this beautiful fabric I bought yesterday. I am totally in love with it! and soon I will be wearing it in the form of a dress :))

Thursday 10 February 2011

Floral Patchwork Knitting Bag ♥


Now I'm into my knitting, all I need is a lovely bag to keep my yarn in. Flicking through my beloved Cath Kidston "Sew" book, I came across this delightful 70s patchwork knitting bag. Too cute to resist, I dug out all of my favourite scraps of fabrics and got cutting.




It's taken me all day to get this far, but I've almost finished cutting out the shapes! :D

To be continued...

Lanna's Who Knit (week 2)

It's been two weeks since my first knitting lesson at knitting club, and look how far on I've come - I'm knitting a chunky scarf:



I'm thrilled! I seemed to have really gotten on well with knitting! and knitting with chunky wool is so satisfying! So now I can knit and purl, what's next in store? Watch this space!

Monday 7 February 2011

I'm Happy With My Marshmallow

Little photo I took today...sneak peek of Thomas Key's new zine, I'm Happy With My Marshmallow:


Available on here, EXCLUSIVELY, very shortly: http://thomaskey.bigcartel.com/

Visual Merchandising...Shop Window

You may have noticed earlier that I have been making lots of new lovelies, or perhaps you haven't - I've been a bit lame at blogging. But it's all been in the name of my new shop window display. I'm now working at the most amazing independently owned craft store. It sells a whole manner of things; yarns, fabrics, zips, buttons...everything that makes me excited! :D

The theme is all about the make do and mend culture, to inspire people make and do! Note my crochet love heart bunting and pom pom bunting at the top :))















Attention to detail (display psychology):
As it's coming up to Valentine's Day, I've made a point of advertising all of the love heart shaped buttons we sell on the poster in the window. On the same theme, I created a Valentine's Day card made up of a buttons in the form of a love heart to inspire and encourage people to come in and buy our buttons!

Sewing Box: I carefully hand-picked each item featured in the sewing box. Bold colourful, eye catching items!

Cushion, before and after: This was another great way to advertise the variety of buttons we sell, as well as giving people great ideas of how they can breathe new life into old interiors.

Tote Bag: The tote was made by my boss, and I appliquéd it. I kept to the love heart theme, due to Valentine's Day, plus it's timeless in the world of crafting. I conveniently positioned it in the window next to an appliqué book to help boost books sales.

Yarns: I positioned the yarns in a neat triangle with an example of how it looks knitted up. This way, you can see the range of colours, as well as how pretty they look all made up!

Finally, my needle cases and owl doorstops. I made these up to demonstrate what you can make with a simple square of felt, a couple of buttons and some fat quarters. The owls are from a pattern I found by Lollychops.

Such a different experience of window dressing from my Charity shop windows...so much more hands on and creative. I love it! Can't wait to do the next one. I'm already bursting with ideas!!