A Bow For Brid

I have expressed before my sincere love for the colour combinations of baby blue and brown but I can't help it, I've arrived back to crafting with this combination. The way it looks so classical yet fresh gets me all hot and bothered!

I whipped up this little hairband when I saw these two bits of ribbon lying waisted at the bottom of the craft mess which constitutes my room and gave it to Brid as a gift. :-)

Natalie

A Little Housekeeping

Hello to all our lovely blog readers!

We are in a wonderfully chirpy mood here at "Craftystudents" as we have been shortlisted for the Smedias Blog Of The Year Award. Yay. :-) Thank you Smedias!

Bear with me just a moment as little birds pull back the strands of my hair, falling on my face, into a neat bun and tie the ribbon of my apron in a perfect bow behind me with their little beaks, Disney style. Just one more second as I fill my lungs with spring air that is heavy with the scent of daffodils and as I rest me arms a moment, weary from my housework on the windowsill.

Can you hear me singing so sweetly through the window, across the ethernet and into your sitting room? Why yes! I do believe you can! Now listen closely, I have much to tell...

First of all I have a huge announcement to make! "Craftystudents" are embarking on the world of video tutorials! We will be telling YOU exactly how to make your favorite "Craftystudents" items and showing you step by step too so even if you've never picked up a sewing needle before in your life you'll soon be joining the Disney hall of fame for your immaculate housewife skills and be satisfying your recession riddled back pocket too. The first tutorial will feature rosettes for bags, lapels and hairbands made out of your dad's old tie and for no cost at all! What could be more crafty than that? We will be posting in the next few days, so keep checking back.

Lastly, in honor of our new found technical skills we will shortly be featuring a guest post in the form of a video tutorial featuring none other than the ravishing Elaine Lavery, cook extraodinaire and recent 1st place prize winner of UCD's healthy food competition. Mmm...

Have a lovely week, do something wild! (If you really wanted to topple the boat you could follow our video tutorial later this week, hehe.)

Natalie

xx

Yes, another Cosmetic Bag...

My love affair with moss stitch has been upheld in this make up bag. I made the embellishment out of a tie by twisting it and sewing it in place. It's akin to the little rosette that Nat made in an earlier post. The tie is another American thrift store purchase. I think that what I love most about this bag is that it cost me approximately €2.50 to make. ($1 for the wool, 25c for the tie, €1 for the zip and I already had everything else). That makes me wonderfully happy! 

I lined it using the leftovers of the Ikea curtain material once again. I hold my hands up and admit that I am far too cheap to invest in proper lining. 

I promise that since admitting to my make-up bag addiction yesterday, I am taking steps to quash this addiction. No more make-up bag posts for a while. I PROMISE.

Have a great week.

Love Brid x

The Cosmetic Bag Obsession Continues...

The world of Brid has most definitely been invaded by an incessant need to make more and more little make-up bags. I made this particular one as a present for the Mother of the boyfriend. Brownie point moment *cough cough*. Hee Hee. She was rather pleased and even showed it to the Grandmother of the boyfriend who used to knit matching jumpers for all of her flock of kids. Needless to say, when someone as knit-witted as that likes your work your chest definitely has licence to swell a little with pride!

In an earlier post, I tried this bag in a different stitch (Knit one, purl one). However, I have a love affair with moss stitch. I love the way it feels and how it looks. As you can also see, I love love love knitted roses and this colour combination makes me rather happy inside!

I must now formally admit to my addiction and announce that there is another make-up in the pipeline. The obsession does not seem to be waning! Pictures shall be making their presence known soon :) 

Heber Hanly photo credits.

Bonne nuit!

Brid x

A Happy Little Teddy Bear!

I must admit that it took me quite some time to muster up the courage to do this post. As some of you may have instantly noticed, this little fellow bears a rather uncanny resemblance to something both loathed and abhorred by the Knit Wits... The Panda... *shudder* I love this pattern though. It really has the feel of a vintage toy like the ones I see in photos of my Mum when she was younger.

This little fellow was knitted by Clare, my younger sister. She click-clacked on her needles to make this lovely little teddy for her best friend's birthday. I must say, the perfect tension and precision of Clare's knitting never fails to impress me. I gave her a hand with the sewing up which resulted in insanity and temper tantrums similar to those provoked by the Panda (see earlier post). Except in this case it was I alone who had to weave my needle and thread to transform a pile of knitting into a Teddy Bear. He looks so lovely though. Well done Clare!

I wasn't allowed to post about this little fellow until she had given him to her friend. Mere moments ago I received a text saying that her friend had cried when she opened up the parcel containing a little snowy teddy! It's always so lovely to know that all your work was worthwhile and is loved by the person you gave it to.

I think there's always something both lovely and special about a teddy. Hugging a teddy is always comforting. It's always pleasant seeing a teddy propped up in your bed before you're transported off to the land of nod. Adults love teddies just as much as children. It brings you right back to childhood and reminds you that something as simple as holding a snuggly bindle of handmade joy will make you feel that little bit better :)

Thanks to Conor Barry for taking the first photo and making my not so excellent camera do great things!

Ciao,

Bríd x

The Perfect Asset To An LBD

This hair piece is attached to a hairband so it's nice and secure and comfortable to wear. No big stressful monstrosity perched atop your head here. I made this hat for a wedding some time ago, it has been lent out to numerous friends but has survived!

This is a forget you're even wearing it kind of hat which provides a bit of polish and originality to your twenty times worn dependable old black dress. I stuck to a strictly black theme there but finished it off with a silver feather shaped broach.

Thanks to Heber Hanly for the photos and also to our model Emma Hughes. 

Natalie

XX

Feathered Comb

There's nothing like the electric colours of a peacock feather. The green that shimmers with a hint of gold, the brown and the bright blue. I decided to keep things simple with this comb setting of the peacock feather with a background of black. 

The feathers are individually attached to the top of a comb using thin black satin ribbon which is wound between the prongs of the comb and over each feather tip. 

Credits to Heber Hanly for his stunning photos. Thanks Heber!

Knitting For Natalie

This is a scarf that I knitted for my beloved Natalie back in the day when my knitting obsession was only just beginning to blossom. After a trip to Liberty of London, my bag was filled with beautiful Rowan wool. My knitting interest was fresh, my enthusiasm was overwhelming! This scarf was in fact my first ever experiment with purling. I must have ripped it at least ten times before I was happy with it! There are major disadvantages to being a devoted perfectionist...

I crocheted a little flower out of some beautiful Rowan merino wool. I must admit that I am pining for my pre-student days when I could afford to buy luxurious wool!

I gave the finished product to Nat because I knew that she of all people would appreciate the lengths I went to to get such neat knit and purls. Isn't that exactly what best friends are for? Haha!

When I saw her wearing it a couple of days ago, I thought it would be nice to put on our blog. After all, it's little things like this that are the reason we're blogging today :)

Photo credits once again to the fantastic Heber Hanly!

Love Brid x

Pretty As A Button

There was no particular inspiration behind this hat it more just happened out of messing around with some milliners fabric. 

The glass button which is the focus point of the hat is a victorian cut glass button I picked up in an antique shop at some point or other. 
The placement of this hat is crucial. It looks best place to the side of the forhead only just on the hairline. This means that the curls of milliners fabric stretch over one eye giving the hat it coquettish quality. 

Brid modeled for this hat, her beautiful short bob of red hair suits the hat to perfection.

Credits for these photos to Heber Hanly. Thanks Heber!

Natalie

xx

Miniature Top Hat With Peacock Feathers and Embellished Veil

First of all I'd like to say a huge thank you to Heber Hanly who kindly brought myself, Brid and our model Emma Hughes into IADT on Monday and gave up his studio time to us in order to get this set of stunning photos. Thank you Heber!

I trimmed the hat with brown velvet, cream organza (with a slight olive green tinge), dark blue satin and hand dyed gold silk ribbons. I fixed the peacock feathers in place at the back of the hat using a corsage made out of the above mentioned ribbons with a real Victorian glass button embellished with gold paint at the centre. The button belonged to my great grandfather's sister. The veil (which was my dads idea) I embellished with small black beads. This proved very difficult as it required perfectly neat sewing as noting is hidden from sight as the actual veil material is so fine. 

I attached the hat to Emma's head using a hat pin with brass top which belonged originally to my great great grand mother and can be roughly dated  about 1900 but may be somewhat earlier. 

The hat is inspired by the baby top hats of the music hall dancers of the late 19th century which have undergone a recent rise in popularity due to the resurfacing  culture surrounding burlesque dancers.

I have always admired Tim Burton's aesthetic and this mixed with the darkly edged world of Lewis Carols "Alice in Wonderland" has lead, of course to inspiring results in Burtons recent adaptation. I wanted to include some nod to this in the composition of the hat which lead to my choices relating to lines and angles. 

Watch this space!! Heber shot much more wonderful things for us in the IADT studios and I will be blogging about them soon.

xx

Natalie

Hippy Knit Hand-Warmers!

In-keeping with my current obsession with roses, I made these little hand-warmers for Yasmin who is kindly supplying her pretty face for the picture below. Our wonderfully talented friend Heber Hanly took the photos, sometimes it's wonderful to have a photographer who can take great photos even on my sub-par camera! I have to say that my chest swells a little bit with pride whenever I see her wearing them. Being my usual incredibly skint/thrifty self, I used wool I bought in a charity shop for about 50cent a ball. The red mohair for the rose was bequeathed onto me by a lady who was offloading her unwanted excess wool. The green was just lying idle around my house waiting to be transformed into a pair of luscious leaves.

I freelanced my way through them. No pattern, barely counting the stitches. It was complete and utter hippy knitting. I sewed them up leaving a little hole for the thumb. I am rather fond of the hand-warmers it must be said. The product of a night of getting in touch with my inner knitting hippy leaves me feeling a little warm and fuzzy inside. Usually I am a hideously-horrible-knitting-perfectionist, it was nice to know that I could throw it all out the window. Patterns were burnt, stitch counting was shunned! I must say that it was rather lovely to let loose and see what became of it...

I'm staging a knitters rebellion! Haha! Have a great day and let your inner neurotic knitter go :)

Bríd x

Craft swap painting!

The torture, toil, terror and tribulation that occurred on Panda night all seemed worth something when I saw what I was to receive in return. I am completely in love with the painting that Sarah did for me. Awesometastic does not quite begin to describe it...

When we planned this swap, Sarah asked me what exactly I would like on the painting. I said I wanted Chinchillas and Toadstools. Undoubtedly the most "unique" request Sarah's ever received for a painting. But as with all good friends, they love you for just how weird you are! Hee Hee. I love the tree and the little flowers done out of gold leaf add such a special touch to it.

This craft swap has set me salivating. I want to swap my little handmade goods for those of someone else. I want to have a collection of things made with the love and attention of my friends. I'm currently trying to negotiate a craft swap with a friend of mine involving an elephant tea cozy for a birdhouse. We'll see what comes of this... Oh the excitement!

Sarah is currently planning on setting up a blog and etsy shop so when she does, I shall post a link to it and you can enjoy more of her amazing art work. I love my oh-so-talented friends.

Have a great day everyone. It is one of those rare occasions where the sun is shining in Dublin. I think I'll just have to go out and soak it up! Make hay while the sun shines eh? x

Time For Tea For Two

This batch went to a friend Alannah's Dinner party and as Yui's birthday gift also. 

But not before Mum and I had stolen some and had tea for two. 

I tried out blue icing for the first time this week. I have stayed away from it until now as I really think there is something not very appealing about blue food. But these get away with it, there's sparkles and they're edible, enough said.
Ok I think i'm starting to OD on cupcakes. Too much of a good thing so I promise no more cupcake posts. Next stop wedding cakes. Watch this space! 

xx 

Nat