Happy (belated) St. Patrick's Day!

This year Belfast City Council pulled out all the stops and put on a four day festival for Saint Patrick's day and I was drafted in to do origami and papercraft workshops for three days.

 

We made shamrock badges, hairclips, necklaces and origami shamrocks and four-leaf clovers with kids from one to a hundred (more or less) and it was great craic, the only thing problem being that I was kept so busy that I hardly got a chance to take many photos or indeed to take part in some of the amazing other traditional crafts that were on offer.

 

I hope you all rose a glass for luck on Sunday, wherever you were in the world.

With this ring......

 

 

So you may have gathered that I like getting my craft on, but I've always been a bit useless when it comes to fabric crafts. My seamstress granny taught me to sew (ish) but to my shame I've never learned to crochet, knit or make clothes.

 

So I made my fabric crafts debut with this little ring cushion. My sister was recently bridesmaid for her lovely friend Angharad's winter wedding in Cambridge and I undertook to make this for her. The burgundy felt went with the colours of the wedding and as she was a Northern Irish girl marrying an American in England, we chose to use the vintage Irish lace doilies to reflect her roots.

It turned out quite cute I think, just don't look too closely at the stitiching!

 

(I took these photos before posting the ring cushion so that's my beautious engagement ring that Danny chose all on his own-io. Clever boy!)

wedding brooch bouquet

 

This summer past was all about weddings for me - either attending them, photographing them or making things for them. And so here are some pictures of a brooch bouquet I made for a friend from my hometown who got married in very the same chapel that Danny and I did.

 

She gave me some brooches to include that had belonged to her mother and mother-in-law and some pendants that were hers from childhood including a celtic cross and a hurley stick. A really sweet touch was to put photos from the two parent's weddings into a little locket hanging from the handle of the bouquet. I think I'll steal that idea for again.

 

 

I also made the beaded headpiece you can see here which had three strands in front and three at the back. Again this was Jane's idea and she gave me the brooches to incorporate, but it's something I'd love to try again and was surprisingly easy to make, especially considering the exorbitant prices they charge for these things in bridal shops.

 

The only problem with working in the wedding industry though is that it always makes me wish I could get married all over again!

 

 

Selling our wares at St.George's market

For the last couple of months I've been working with a charity called the NOW project who work with adults with learning difficulties, helping them get into employment. We've been doing weekly craft workshops and today we had a go at selling the fruits of our labour at the Friday variety market.

Joanne and trainees Marie and Jacqueline behind our stall.

We made a reasonable profit for the charity and had a great time meeting some of the other traders at St.George's, a covered market which has been trading since 1896. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the 6 O'Clock start.

We're selling button hearts, jewellery, vinage teacup plants and cake stands. If you happen to be in Belfast we'll be there for the next couple of Fridays.

And I'll leave you with a picture of this amazing old lady I spotted at the market. Everything was pink even down to her scarf, earrings, ring and lipstick. Class.

Christmas in Portstewart

Christmas has been and gone but the festivities are still continuing in our house. My brother just got back from Wales last night so today is the only day we're all together before my big sister heads back to London. We'll be having a nice dinner tonight and even more presents. Speaking of which, here are some photos from Christmas day and the cool presents we gave each other.

Check out the AMAZING brooch I got from my parents, above. And the geek craft book was a present for my sister (she's the coolest geek around so there was no offence taken I don't think) and there are a few ideas in there I'll have to steal.

I have a feeling though that I shall have my work cut out attacking all of the crafts in the Martha Stewart encyclopedia of crafts that I got for myself just before Christmas. Me loves Martha.

I got a gorgeous origami crane necklace from my brother and sisters as a reminder of all the cranes we folded for my wedding. And it's actually made from a tiny folded piece of silver, amazeballs. The earrings are from Danny.

So once we were done in Portstewart it was up to Belfast for even more presents and dinner with the in-laws.

Quirky wedding fair

Yesterday I took part in the Quirky Wedding Fair that took place in the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast. Four of us squeezed our things onto one table - my sister in law Lucy and 'The Lulu Lounge' - her brow and lash salon, Fiona who has a foot parlour in the same place and our friend Gavin who is a make up artist.

I brought down some of my cake stands and the brooch and origami bouquets. It was a really fun day and I had a great time chatting to all the brides to be. Who knows whether I'll get any business out of it, but we had a great time either way.

Below are Fiona and Gavin behind our rather makeshift table display.

Origami bouquets cost £40 and brooch bouquets start at £150. Leave a comment or email me at maevep22@hotmail.com if you'd like to discuss possible commissions.

Found jewellery

Some jewellery I scored for £1 each from a shop that was closing down (Muse in castlecourt in Belfast for the locals). I'd regretted not buying the antlers ring when I saw it another shop so I'm chuffed with finding it today for £1. The gold butterfly chain thing is for wearing over your head - very boho princessy. And the green stone heart on a long gold chain is just plain pretty. This haul makes me happy.

I also bought endless more meters of yarn, enough to last a lifetime if I don't get cracking soon. And did you SEE that 80's Diet Coke ice bucket? It'll be on here for sale soon if I can bear to part wth it.