tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79799112560638312952012-02-16T06:51:17.729ZNikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.comBlogger571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-91802666096189040242012-02-10T09:00:00.000Z2012-02-10T09:00:05.152Z

Another Christmas present I made for a couple of friends were fabric covered sketch books.  I made these following a tutorial on Bloom and Blossom, another link I found on Pinterest! The tutorial is very easy to follow and can be adapted to fit any size notebook.  I particularly liked the way in which you iron on the patchwork strip onto the interfacing before attaching the linen, I found it

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-32513224510905212492012-02-06T21:32:00.001Z2012-02-06T21:56:56.645Z

Well I'm not doing very well with the 'new year, let's use the blog more' thing yet am I... oh well, here's a little something from last year. A nice quick Christmas present I made for some friends were these fab polaroid photo fridge magnets I found on Pinterest: Source: ambrosiagirl.com via Nikki on Pinterest I didn't make mine in quite the same way as the tutorial, my method was 

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-35208655004616436112012-01-09T22:15:00.000Z2012-01-09T22:15:38.387Z

..already, and I didn't post anything here at all for the whole of last year!  Oops.  Well, Happy New Year to anyone reading! Being the new year, a lot of blogs I follow have been doing round-ups of the last year and goals for this year, so it got me thinking; I'm going to give this blogging malarkey another try!  I've been quite busy with some little creative projects recently, so I've managed

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-43447075431743216582010-07-12T14:00:00.001+01:002010-07-12T14:11:15.465+01:00

We had quite a quiet weekend at home so I did actually get round to doing some sewing.First task was tracing the pattern pieces off the sheets from the burda magazine. It's been a while since I've made up something from Burda, but since then they've doubled the number of pattern pieces per sheet.From this madness:To just these 5 pieces:I didn't have a problem with tracing the patterns before,

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-62997024966781818612010-07-09T13:58:00.000+01:002010-07-09T14:03:17.755+01:00

As I said in an earlier post, I'm going to try and get through some of the sewing I've been meaning to do for ages. I have two quite recent patterns I particularly want to try, and bought some new fabric the other week for them, so I have no excuse not to start really!First up we have Burda Magazine 06/2010 107Technically a dress but I'm going to make it a little shorter still and have it as a

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-90235252413586930732010-07-08T21:35:00.000+01:002010-07-08T22:10:46.904+01:00

Last weekend Mike and I went on a little trip to Anglesey. We'd been a bit disappointed that we were too early to see the Puffins when we went to Iceland, so decided we'd go to South Stack, near Holyhead, where some puffins spend the spring and early summer. Since it's quite a long drive, we decided to make a weekend of it originally thinking we'd camp, but the forecast for very strong winds

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-6664837942619181082010-06-25T19:10:00.004+01:002010-07-08T18:00:00.790+01:00

I think I can now safely say the wedding and all it's related craftyness is over. The thank yous have been sent, my name is (almost) changed everywhere and we picked up our gorgeous wedding album last night. So what is next, what am I going to do with myself and this blog?!Well I'm still going to be posting details of things I've been making. I'm starting to put together a queue of sewing

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-27968385087854654572010-06-12T23:31:00.009+01:002010-07-09T09:54:05.188+01:00

Rather long overdue I feel, I'm finally going to post about our honeymoon in Iceland.Since we got back, we have very slowly been sorting through the many many photos we both took whilst there and then I've made a photo book from the selection we liked the most. This took me *ages* but I got there in the end and it arrived this week. Getting the proofs through for our wedding album just as I was

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-87924431637185734852010-06-12T18:41:00.004+01:002010-06-12T18:59:41.131+01:00

When logging into blogger the other day, I spotted the new template designer and, as you can see, I've been having a play! Hope you like the new look, I added my own background image as the only default one I liked was rather autumnal.I also decided to add labels to all my posts to make finding things a bit easier and I'm starting to use a lightbox for the images, although I've only updated a

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-34526961214480426232010-05-14T16:13:00.001+01:002010-06-12T15:40:55.162+01:00

I realised I forgot to mention that all the photos in my last post about the wedding were by David J Perkins Wedding photojournalismWe got the proofs through for the storybook album today too, it's looks great! Can't wait to get the finished article! :o)I should probably plug a couple of other sites while I'm at it, my hair and make up was done by Amy Lewis and it all took place at Keele

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-83437211917687935582010-05-06T23:14:00.006+01:002010-06-12T18:10:37.659+01:00

I'm sorry if this is long and boring, but well, I think it needs to be done! ;o)After struggling to sleep till gone 2, I unfortunately woke up at 6am and was wide awake! No chance of going back to sleep now... obviously no one else in the house was awake yet, so I stayed in bed and opened my pressies from Mike. I got some Super Mario star sweets (we have a running thing about me being a star

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-3950413689591630282010-04-28T17:16:00.012+01:002010-06-12T18:19:52.178+01:00

...for me anyway, and so much has happened! However, I'm going to pick up from where I left off all those weeks ago. I will do a post about 'the day' afterwards, need to talk about all the remaining crafty stuff first!Now where was I? I'd finished the dress at the end of February and was just making a start on the Bridesmaid outfits. Despite all the plans I had intended to follow, my new

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-6615555024473247032010-02-21T22:23:00.012Z2010-06-12T18:41:28.142+01:00

Here's an update on the last few weeks.Firstly we have the dreaded to-do list that's been on the wall since the New Year...The biggest job I've had to do since last time was hem the dress. I did this by 'bagging' the skirt (which I'd try to explain, but I can't figure out how) and then added some horsehair braid around the hem. This is a plastic mesh that gives the hem more body and helps it

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-6880445598400056642010-01-24T22:54:00.010Z2010-06-12T18:28:41.648+01:00

So today I worked on the back of the dress, and took lots of not very exciting pictures to share...Firstly, the before - with zip and the lace attached:Then using ribbon to help mark where the V opening will be:I decided to attach the loops to a piece of riglene boning - it's too lightweight to be used for anything structural on the dress, but it will stop the lacing causing pull lines across the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-45519638698404878992010-01-23T20:19:00.005Z2010-06-12T18:38:10.136+01:00

I've spent a couple more days on the dress, go me! Thursday we had a meeting at Keele to go through all the wedding details (which has now made me very excited about it all), so I decided to take the whole day off and spend the rest of it sewing. I carried on with the waist lace.Top strip sewn and bottom strip pinned on: Centre pieces also pinned in place:Then, after quite a lot of hand sewing

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-52247998414962369682010-01-18T22:31:00.004Z2010-06-12T18:30:13.023+01:00

I am still here, honest... and I have been up to a few things.As predicted, Christmas did put a stop to most things productive, or wedding related, but it was nice to have a quiet break with Mike. But then it was New Year, 2010, the wedding is no longer 'next year' and panic set in! Not so much about things I have to make, that's the fun bit, more about everyone staring at me for a day, having

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-82779343722307135532009-12-08T15:31:00.006Z2010-06-12T15:47:32.444+01:00

No time soon it seems :o(Instead of working on the dress in the evenings, I spent a while working on this instead:Since we were wanting to give out invites that have a link to our giftlist, I figured I'd better actually get it finished! There are a number of sites offering honeymoon giftlist services, with templates ready for you to use, you just add your own pictures and descriptions. However,

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-89131008112311238742009-11-13T21:57:00.002Z2010-06-12T15:45:16.911+01:00

As predicted, I've not had chance to work on the dress since going back to work. Well, I did buy some new dress net, but only got as far as cutting it out ready to ruffle. What time I did get, I've been using to finalise the inserts and things for the invitations. We were planning to give out the day invites in a few weeks, but we're off to Dorset this weekend to meet up with my school friends

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-15643336451287166712009-11-08T18:51:00.011Z2010-06-12T15:47:32.445+01:00

Friday felt much more productive than earlier days, it resulted in something resembling a dress!Firstly, I struggled to find room to check the size of the front pieces! This picture is taken from out of the door!The front and the drape was attached to the back on the left side and then the drape was pinned across in the correct place to hang correctly.I worked out the placement of the lace for

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-51432723108616033422009-11-06T08:18:00.005Z2010-06-12T15:47:32.445+01:00

What have I been doing the last couple of days... in some ways it feels like not much!Firstly I joined the back 4 pieces together and the front 3 pieces, including the dreaded curved princess seams You have to cut notches in one of the pieces of fabric and pull it into the curved shapeThey turned out okay, but I didn't take a picture. I didn't sew the side seams as there's the drape to do

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-78235526049725031462009-11-03T22:14:00.002Z2010-06-12T15:47:32.445+01:00

Today I have mostly been looking at...I've attached the organza underlining to the satin by sewing around the edge of each piece. It's very slow, but oddly relaxing. It's just a shame there's not been any real visible progress (though this wasn't helped by falling asleep on the sofa after dinner!). I also did a bit of pressing to get some creases out, exciting eh!Pile'o'underlined dress pieces

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-81905868898901113142009-11-03T09:11:00.005Z2010-06-12T15:47:32.446+01:00

A very exciting round up of what I did yesterday...Tried on the muslin over the top of the final base layers to check it's fit. To check the length I got to fish the shoes I bought a year ago out of the attic. I'd forgotten what they were like, they're pretty :o)It fitted fine, so no adjustments there, yay! Just needed to add a bit to the length.I modified Griselda to be more my shape, and

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-36317775322848622452009-11-01T22:36:00.004Z2010-06-12T15:47:32.446+01:00

I learnt something today, soft tulle is not very nice stuff to work with! It's hard to lay out, hard to cut out, hard to sew, hard to gather... ugh! However, I have managed to end up with the two layers of netting the pattern called for.Layer 1 pinned in place:Both layers sewn on:That's it for today!

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-11722060347553575312009-10-31T23:57:00.005Z2010-06-12T15:47:32.447+01:00

The majority of today was spent cleaning the room I'll be making the dress in. How exciting... It's a store/utility type room on the back of the garage that we're in the very slow process of getting ready to be knocked through into the living room to make a dining room. We've had a radiator and patio doors fitted, but that building work, in combination with it being a through route from garage

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-70264097016460754612009-10-29T11:34:00.000Z2010-06-12T15:47:32.447+01:00

Bit boring today really, and no pictures, though I might add some later. Last night I finished off the bottom edge of the inner corset by sewing the bias binding. It's the first time I've used it but it was surprising easy to get it looking neat on a curve (being cut on the bias of the fabric you can distort it slightly to 'bend' around curves, simple yet clever eh).Then onto the next layer. I

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-34430136182076563842009-10-27T08:54:00.004Z2010-06-12T15:47:32.447+01:00

Another lack of posts, but I've not been completely un-crafty. I made a few bits of jewellery a couple of weeks ago but haven't got round to taken any pictures of them yet. One set was a present for Kat's birthday so I don't have it to take photos of now anyway, I'll have to steal it back at some point.However, something much more exciting happened this weekend. I started the real, final,

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-46993357069122881122009-10-06T23:43:00.011+01:002010-06-12T15:48:40.454+01:00

I might've bought myself this second hand on ebay...(the sewing machine, not the laptop!)It's a Singer Futura CE-250 sewing and embroidery machine. I've always liked the idea of an embroidery machine, but they're rather expensive, especially if you want to be able to do your own designs. When I'd looked in the past most of them had an in-built computer and screen and you get/put designs on a

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-22378682376051284162009-09-27T22:24:00.003+01:002010-06-12T15:45:16.911+01:00

Today I've been messing about trying to make favour boxes. I tried a few ideas that didn't result in anything finished, it seems that all the 'interesting' ideas I had were too hard to make! So I decided to try something a little different. We'd been talking yesterday about the fact we're getting married the week before Easter and had the idea to include some mini eggs in our favours, so how

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-51567266052245026942009-09-22T08:07:00.000+01:002010-06-12T15:47:32.448+01:00

Hmm, I go from a very busy week of posting to nothing for over a month! Not sure what happened there, I think summer hols, being ill and DIY got in the way of making anything!However, I did finish something last night, a simple summer skirt for Kat. Now I know summer has already packed up and left us this year and I might be a bit late with this skirt, but Kat is off to Egypt tomorrow, so at

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-22571727471289326772009-08-05T22:41:00.003+01:002010-06-12T15:46:45.304+01:00

I have been a busy bee this week it seems!A couple of necklaces and earrings this time. Unfortunately neither of the necklaces are original designs, they are both based on items the author of the bridal jewellery book I mentioned in a previous post has for sale on her site. Since I'm making for me, I don't think it's *too* bad to be copying, I'm not going to start selling them!Firstly we have a

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-7576561384185873772009-08-03T21:38:00.003+01:002010-06-12T15:48:03.897+01:00

Another post already, and this time, something completely different!I popped to Asda to stock up on lunches for the week and as usual, quickly checked the fresh flowers to see if there were any roses on offer. I've been on the lookout for reduced roses so that I could try out making a hand-tied bouquet for a while now, and today Asda's 'extra special' roses were on offer. They did have some

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-60546388485050341692009-08-02T16:10:00.003+01:002010-06-12T15:46:45.305+01:00

A couple of things I made today...A garnet and crystal headband:and a garnet, crystal and faux pearl necklace:Both of these are possible ideas for bridesmaid's jewellery, not sure if I'll use them, I still have a couple more ideas and also need to get their opinions!

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-80086899738452055102009-07-31T22:00:00.005+01:002010-06-12T15:47:32.448+01:00

Today I went to Nottingham to look at lace! Yep, it's a bit of a trek, but there aren't any local places where you can get good quality lace (well, the fancy silk store in Birmingham is closer and probably would have some, but the shop I went too had all their laces on a website so I was certain I'd find what I wanted there!) I'd arranged to go to a specialist bridal fabric and lace shop that

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-41606501756816797712009-07-25T19:55:00.005+01:002010-06-12T15:52:58.936+01:00

Yep, I've just finished the dress muslin, yay!Earlier in the week I decided I wanted to try adjusting the fit a bit, but it didn't go very well so I left it for a few days. Today I decided to take out what I'd done and just try it on again properly. With the corselette underneath and the new lace up back I came to the conclusion it didn't actually need adjusting after all!Whilst wearing the dress

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-6691679163636366982009-07-24T14:20:00.004+01:002010-06-12T15:50:36.655+01:00

Not at all crafty, so probably shouldn't really be posted on here, but I had fun creating this none-the-less.We've just had our honeymoon booking confirmed and due to the nature of the trip, I messed around with Google Maps to help when trying to tell people what we'll be doing.The holiday is a self-drive tour around the whole of Iceland, staying at lots of different hotels/guesthouses. We

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-20340339501567580042009-07-15T23:38:00.002+01:002010-06-12T15:52:58.936+01:00

I forgot to mention yesterday another change I've made to the muslin. I replaced the two back pieces to make the train about 6 inches longer. Not a huge amount longer, but it makes a difference. It's a bit hard to tell in this picture since the floor is almost the same colour as the fabric!Last night I decided to make a start on removing the zip and replacing it with a lace-up back. This

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-60704093829622474612009-07-14T22:06:00.004+01:002010-06-12T15:52:58.937+01:00

It's been quite a while since I last updated! We've been quite busy recently so I've only been managing to get small amounts done on the dress at a time. I've had two weekends where I've said right I'll get it finished, but it hasn't happened!Still, some progress has been made. I've re-made the corselette so that it is longer and a much better fit. To do this I ignored the pattern pieces

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-28291049557735226262009-06-25T10:31:00.004+01:002010-06-12T15:52:58.937+01:00

A little bit more progress on the muslin, though the picture makes it look like far more has happened, but it's all a cheat with the help of many many pins!What I have actually done is cut out and sew on the band for the top edge of the dress. This was actually possible with just one long strip going all the way round, I thought it might need separate pieces to get the right shape, but nope,

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-47060600376823234442009-06-18T07:50:00.003+01:002010-06-12T15:52:58.938+01:00

Not a huge update. Last night I made something to act as a hoop to help see what the skirt of the dress looks like. I tried using the plastic rigilene boning I had but it wouldn't keep it's shape, so I raided the garage for something better. I ended up using some thick electrical cable!I then pinned this around the bottom of the skirt. Because the wire is quite heavy it does pull the skirt a bit

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-46263859204108350402009-06-16T08:19:00.005+01:002010-06-12T15:52:58.938+01:00

Friday evening/night turned out to be very productive. We had quite a busy weekend planned so it was looking like I wouldn't get a chance to get the next part of the muslin traced and cut out. Whilst we were off to Kat's on Saturday and I often take some sewing with me, the cutting out was going to need a big space and Mike would be using that for the DIY he was going to be doing there. So 9pm

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-67801782988143050822009-06-12T17:57:00.007+01:002010-06-12T15:52:58.939+01:00

At risk of already getting behind my plan with the first item on it, I have finally started the dress muslin!!Starting on Monday I've done a small amount each evening, only an hour or so, so there's not much to show yet.I've started with the foundation or the corslette as it's also known. I've done quite a bit of research into this apparently very important part of a wedding dress but I'm still

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-356051302114565082009-06-09T08:30:00.003+01:002010-06-12T15:53:42.586+01:00

I got distracted again... Kat is off to a wedding at the weekend and needed a full length evening dress, so I offered to make one! After looking through my Burda patterns with not much luck, we came across this blog post describing the 'Infinity Dress'. This is a simple dress consisting of a circle skirt and then two long 'straps' which you wrap around yourself in whatever way you fancy to make

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-14797066671813679892009-06-09T08:25:00.002+01:002010-06-12T15:56:29.542+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I decided to try one new thing before getting on with the to-do list. Well that's the theory anyway.I potentially want to embellish my dress with some beads and crystals, so I tried some beading using some patterns from Kenneth King's Designer Bead Embroidery.First we have some scrolls:Some of this came out a bit messy, mainly because I think the pattern should've been used

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-51147446470266863132009-05-15T17:55:00.000+01:002010-06-12T15:55:16.571+01:00

I've been pondering, as I do... a lot..! Other than the invites, most of the things I've been making so far are experiments (details of the latest will probably be in the next post), but not things that will actually be used on the day. Some people have commented on how far away the wedding is to be making anything for it already, so I started considering all that I'm intending to make and a

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-1145389700321936582009-05-09T21:02:00.004+01:002010-06-12T15:55:39.362+01:00

Yep, that's right, another tiara, this time modelled by our wedding fund money pot! Not much to say about this one really, just trying a different design. I like this one a lot but I do still have a few other ideas to try, though I'm running out of pearls! Can't say I'm running out of swarovski crystals though, since I bought a factory pack of 1440 a few weeks ago!Ooo, lots of sparkles! :o)

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-49410230075224025162009-05-06T22:26:00.002+01:002010-06-12T15:55:39.362+01:00

After dress shopping and seeing an example of the whole outfit with tiara and veil, I was inspired to have another go at a tiara.This time I followed instructions in one of my books on how to make your own tiara band. It fits better and is much more comfortable than the one I made with a shop bought band. I also wrapped some ribbon around to cover the wires as the book suggested, though I

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-85693834301855352402009-05-06T21:54:00.000+01:002010-06-12T15:51:59.989+01:00

Last Saturday we all went out on another trip to some dress shops. The first was a really nice shop, they didn't have as many dresses as the place we went to before, but they were easier to look through and we found plenty to try on. I went about it differently this time, just looking for dresses that I thought might look nice as a whole, rather than looking for key features. The people in

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-20626746702996980672009-04-26T22:51:00.006+01:002010-06-12T15:53:42.586+01:00

Well I had hoped to get my other distraction completed this weekend, but I've still a bit to do on it. I did however get round to hemming and finishing the skirt that is part of a set I actually made in February.I made this to try out an idea I had for my bridesmaid's outfits. I made this in black, the real ones will be in a dark wine. It's just a test in my size and I'm slightly more likely

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-40895192857592826082009-04-26T11:20:00.005+01:002010-06-12T15:58:03.130+01:00

Distraction number one is finally complete! :o)I bought a cross stitch kit from the Hobbycraft and Sewing show at the NEC in March. Quite random since I've not done any cross stitch since I was at school, but it was cute and reminded me of one of my kitties.I made a start that day and six weeks of evenings later it's finished. I'd forgotten quite how slow cross stitch can be!Cute sleepy kitty :

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-77938747131941727242009-04-22T15:19:00.012+01:002010-06-12T15:51:59.990+01:00

I've not posted in a while because I've been a bit distracted with a couple of non-weddingy craft projects, one being a cross stitch. I'm determined to get it done before I do start making any more wedding things otherwise it will just get forgotten and sit unfinished for months. It's taking forever but the end is in sight! I'll post a picture when it's done.However, this post is still wedding

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-15281809171640248102009-03-31T23:27:00.000+01:002010-06-12T15:55:39.363+01:00

Another experiment, this time a bracelet, with the idea in mind that it might be suitable for my Bridesmaids. The original design isn't my idea, I followed some instructions in Bridal Jewellery but changed the types of beads used. My version uses 5mm Garnet, 6mm Freshwater Pearls and a mixture of Crystal AB and Siam 4mm Swarovski bicones.I really like how it came out. It's a lot busier than

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-58201472869230458852009-03-30T19:00:00.000+01:002010-06-12T15:55:39.363+01:00

I've been making and selling jewellery on www.elementalelegance.co.uk for over a year. I've made jewellery for quite a few weddings, but I've never had a go at making a tiara. I've been intending to get round to having a go at a few styles for a while now and finally made the first attempt a few weeks ago.It uses Swarovski pearls and some diamonte stones.

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-14389303006025853662009-03-29T23:21:00.014+01:002010-06-12T16:11:00.605+01:00

For the last year or so, Kat has been learning more about cake decorating, so it has ended up that she is going to making our cake. Yum! I'm not sure if she offered, or if I talked her into it, but she seems pretty enthused ;o) Maybe it's not sunk in that over 100 people are going to be eating her cakes!I decided to try something new and see I'd be able to make some gumpaste flowers for the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-33823327271967958582009-03-29T22:55:00.008+01:002010-06-12T15:55:54.640+01:00

It didn't take long before I started wanting to make something for the wedding! So the first thing I started to look at was stationary since I was just able to use bits and pieces I already had around the house.Above is some of the first rough and ready ideas. After consulting with Mike, we came up with the following final design:The inside is still to be fully decided, but the main invite text

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-87016946479019348842009-03-18T17:40:00.005Z2010-06-12T15:55:16.583+01:00

September last year saw the start of the searching for a wedding venue. We started off thinking we'd have the ceremony at a nice house/castle/hotel and then have the reception in a village hall, decorated by ourselves, all nice and personal (and cheap). After a lot of investigations it was proving hard to find somewhere that allowed only a ceremony, that was close to a nice village hall and

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-16691914872064164012009-03-18T12:57:00.001Z2009-03-18T12:59:39.712Z

Right, I suppose I should write something here shouldn't I...Well, I'm Nikki and I make things, all sorts of things. I'll see something I like and think, 'I wonder if I could make that', have a go, and (most of the time) do an alright job! So tie that in with the fact I'm currently preparing to get married to my lovely Mike and we've got a whole crafty extravaganza on our hands!I've never

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7979911256063831295.post-86368034001793142072009-03-17T14:28:00.001Z2009-03-17T14:28:53.788Z

Hello, I'm a blog! oooo

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889872600991924521noreply@blogger.com2