New Year and New Things

Studio Changes

2015/16 saw a lot of changes in my little Boxoftrix studio.

  It has taken a lot of thought of how I use my little studio and what areas were not really working 

I started almost a year ago, but its done now and it just feels so much more spacious!

My sewing machine is perfect in this corner with the light pouring in from the front and side windows. The new shelving units with fabric drawers provide great fabric storage and additional work surface that gets a lot of light for my little ironing board.

Fabrics sorted 

More units on the back wall and a shelving rack in the corner
 for my jewellery making equipment, next to my workbench.

and can comfortably share my angle-poised lamp with both work spaces.

 I'm sitting in the middle of the studio now, with everything to hand, it's such a lovely place to be again...... :)

 

 April's dolls house is back in it's original position by the door,

I kept one of the basket drawer units for threads and haberdashery, its handy with the castors on.

Christmas Hearts

New Christmas Hearts 

In reds and greens

Silk layers with pearls and crystals

Pendants

and

 brooch Pins

Now available @ Boxoftrix 

Pendants < click here

Brooch Pins < click here

Studio Update

Since finding Pinterest I have admired so many craft rooms, studio spaces, creative corners and been amazed at some of the clever ideas that some people have come up with for storing stash and making it all look so beautiful.

I prettied boxes
with some lovely paper from Ikea and these free printable labels,
Charlotte's first shoe boxes, and other boxes collected along the way. They look so much better wrapped in pretty paper dont you think ?

spiced up some jars

with the free round labels

removed shelves
BEFORE

and replace it with two old pine shelves

which I painted white

AFTER

( the little cabinet to the right was added a while back to display some of my miniatures)

When I initially set this area up I imagined I would sit there and work so would need leg room and under the worktop but I find I'm usually standing, or can sit sideways. I decided to replace the tall wheeled basket drawer unit (shown here in an older picture)

with another small one with 2 large plastic bins, fitting this and the one that used to site alongside my sewing table into the space.



added labels

I just laminated some wrapping paper with the printed labels on top.

I wrote on them after laminating, with a thick permanant marker,

 punched holes and tied them with some shiny cord to the basket drawer fronts

It all looks so neat and I haven't lost any storage but I have gained floor space which is nice.

I use one chair between both here and my sewing table and have acquired one with wheels :) from Harry after a bit of musical chairs .... he did end up with a nice one too and we are both happy

 along to the right is my jewellers bench, I used to have the tool board on the back wall and the mirror on the side wall, this works now better having swapped them over.

This is where the mobile drawer unit used to sit after I got the jewellers bench

but now its a bit more roomy, it also means I can set up my easel which my Dad made for me when I was at college

 this old pine shelf  used to hang in the kitchen of my first flat..... a few years ago now

I thought I had given it to a friend sometime ago and regretted it, then was delighted when I found it in the loft at Christmas time while looking out decorations

 more painting.....

two of coats of eggshell later

and the perfect place for it, now holding freezer paper ribbons and more jars.

I claimed my table space back again which was building up with projects
and tidied up underneath it
My little table top got a coat of paint too, I'm thinking decoupage......at some point :)

Hope you enjoyed my little tour

thanks for stopping by

Yvonne x

Romantic Hearts Giveaway

Romantic Hearts

all of these and more are now for sale in my Etsy shop.

Perfect for giving and wearing on Valentines day

and everyday for that matter...I'm wearing mine now :)

This is the one I chose to keep I love it so much

I thought also it was time to say thank you to all of you who take the time to visit and read and leave a comment or two I really do appreciate them all and it means a lot so I'm doing my first giveaway on the 14th February and what better to give than a heart........of your choice!

Just leave a little post telling me which brooch or pendant you like best and why, does one jump out at you? is it your colour?........ is it perfect for your top, dress, jacket, would it team well with some earrings you have or just look fab on your bag or hat! ........I want to know

Of course if you win and the one you like best sells before the 14th then your next favourite one will be sent :o)

A little bit of fun I hope you will join in.

Love Yvonne x

New Textile Jewellery

Im happy at last to be able to finally post pictures of my new collection of textile jewellery.

These new pieces are silk with machine embroidery and hand finished with beadwork.

Big Heart Brooches

Only three of these are available each is unique in colours, shape size and embellishment.

Pendants

delicate layers of silk, machine embroidered

and hand stitched with a selection of tiny beads

crystals

and tiny french knots

with a felt back and hand stitched finished edge

again each one is unique in colour, shape, size and embellishment. 

these are just three of my favourites

The full collection can be seen in my Etsy shop.

Peony Treasury

I was pleasantly surprised to have my Pastel inchies included in an inchie treasury by creativeseconds on Etsy today. I noticed that a few things have changed since I last listed or spent any time there. One of them being the Treasury list and how it works. It's much better now that you can save the treasuries that you create to your Etsy profile...great idea! after all the hard work it doesn't just disappear after 24hrs or was it 12hrs I cant remember....also its nice too that you don't have to try and grab one as the list goes vacant so much fairer don't you think?  I decided to make one and the first thing that came into my head was 'Peonies' they are such pretty flowers big but also delicate and they are indeed an inspiration to so many artists.

PEONY

I've been working on a collection of pendants and brooches that a started last June, I cant believe they have sat so long unfinished on my worktable, put aside for other projects and the summer holidays.

I decided to work on these to get them completed and into my Etsy shop too, new year new collection and all that.

I finished them today...yeh!.... Ive been feeling a bit under the weather for a couple of days which has slowed me up but I got there eventually! I'm quite excited about these new pieces :)

Only problem now is getting a good light to get some good shots, I prefer to use natural light always and its in very short supply here in Scotland.

So here's to tomorrow and hopefully a brighter day in all respects :)

Inchies 4 spare

These are the 4 spare inchies left over from the ones I made for my mother

They wouldn't all fit in the frame which I decided best suited her colour scheme

Here are the 12 inchies chosen in the frame.

I have been making some changes in my workshop & having a clear out its been quite a busy 2 weeks but I'm quite excited that it has all been for a good reason. More pictures to follow shortly......................

Inchies ~ Natural colours

This is another set of inchies I have been working on in natural colours of cream, greens & sand. I thought I would show you the whole piece before I cut it up. I stitched over the piece with some free machine embroidery in gold thread.

All cut up! and ready for the next stage .........

This time I only used 12 of the 16 inchies in the arrangement.
This was due to the size of frame which I had decided to use.

I will post a picture of the other 4 pieces and the finished framed piece when I get a chance to photograph them, my camera battery died on me before I got any more shots.

The finished piece was a gift for my Mum who celebrated her 81st birthday today we had a family lunch gathering at a nice Italian place near her home then back to hers for an assortment of desserts, coffee, wine and some 'Singstar' fun.

Happy Birthday Mum x

Inchies in Aqua Blue

16 Aqua inchies for my sister Theresa

It's nice to be stitching these little inchies again,

I think I might do some Neutral ones next.

Update. Photographic prints of all my inchie sets are now available from my Etsy shop

A little bit of colour

Charlotte wrapped up snug in her Ellaroo wrap on a day out at St Andrews beach

This is another banner I did for Charlotte's little friend at group who celebrated his first birthday

I thought the colours in the wrap made the perfect background to compliment the bright colours I used for the letters.

Has it really been over a year?!

I'm back

I cant believe its been over a year since I last posted, so many times I have sat down to update and have had to stop, Charlotte has kept me busy and happy....I have not stopped creating just haven't been able to get on here to keep posting. I have so many pictures ...........

These are the end triangles for my niece Lois's banner The one at the top of the post is from her sister Grace's banner. I used the leftover leave samples from Charlotte's swing crib drapes which I blogged about last year. You can see more pictures of the banners here

Machine applique and decorative stitches using my fab Janome sewing machine

More to follow .........

Sparkle

This is 'Sparkle' I mailed her off yesterday to her new home in the Netherlands. I had thought about making a star shaped art doll and the opportunity to join a swap for one came along on swap bot so I joined in. The swap was called star Dotee, although I don't think she is a Dotee. To me Dotees are Dotee shaped and I would think that this is more of an art doll.

She was fun to make and although quite plane, she is very sparkly with iridescent sequins and beads sewn all over her and a diamante on her tail.

My latest Dotee

This is my latest Dotee Doll I posted her this morning to her new home in USA

Sunshine

With the weather here in Scotland being so changeable on a day to day basis I thought I would post a little sunshine .........

& here she is ......... my latest Dotee doll

Inchies

These little inchies are great fun to work on and great for getting creative inspiration for other work. I have been tempted to do some for a while but it took signing up for a swap before I actually got around to doing some.

For my first swap partner I made inchies with a blue theme in mind...............

(click in the pictures for a closer look)

For my second swap partner I made inchies with a black theme in mind.....................

With this swap I have 2 partners each gets 12 inchies. So I made 16 of each colour theme and below are the 8 inchies I have decided to keep for myself. I figured I would soon build up a nice personal collection which I will probably frame. It will be nice to build up a collection in a variety of colours.

In return for the ones I send I will hopefully receive 2 sets of 12 back, and hopefully again these will be in my colour preferences so if I build up a collection of these they should also make a nice collection to frame.

So I have been thinking and wondered if anyone would like to swap 12 inchies with me, I would prefer fabric inchies, embroidered & embellished in your style. So if you are interested please leave a comment or email me privately.