Bird's The Word

Ha! I knew it! After finishing the beige bag I had an idea of embroidering a smaller bird in a little cage in same colors and BRILLIANT; it turned out absolutely gorgeous!

These two bags would go great as a set, for example for mother and daugter, sisters, best friends.

A great weekend indeed, two gorgeous bags finished! :) And now some well deserved PIZZA!

Pink Bird On A Beige Bag

 Oh the sense of accomplishment! Is there any better high than finishing yet another craft, taking a step back to look at what you've created and see it's all good? I bet this is what God felt like after making me, lol!

False modesty aside, I am once again proud of my creation. The handle was a brilliant Etsy-find and suits this bag like a fist in the eye. I need to take some better photos though when the sun comes up, need good ones for Etsy. As you can see here, lighting makes a massive difference. All the process pictures were taken in in different lighting and they are not too good, sorry for that. I'm just so excited about just finishing this bag literally just three minutes ago I can't wait for natural light to share this with you :)

Edit: 28.1.2012 Now available in Etsy

Chirp chirp! The next bag will be same shape but pale pink, and I'm thinking I'll stick with the color scheme and motif, maybe do a bird in a little cage, that might be adorable, what you think?

Birds, Birds, Birds!

While randomly browsing through Etsy last night I stumbled upon the cutest antique shop ever, Curate & Love. Their Oregon based shop is full of the most romantic items and I absolutely fell in love with this old tin by Daher. I had to buy it straight away, it's so beautiful and goes well together with my small collection of tins I keep my costume jewelry in.

I'm in the mood for romantic things and beautiful birds just seem to be chirping my name at the moment, I could not resist these tweeties. I'm also thinking I could use this as a source of inspiration for making the feather coat for my romantic bird embroidery in progress.

For more of Curate & Love go to: http://curateandlove.etsy.com or check out their DIVINE blog at http://curateandlove.blogspot.com

WIP - Two Romantic Purses

I've got a lot of projects in various stages of "not finished" at the moment. I have a whole mess of bags waiting for embroidery and I can't wait to get my hands on all of them. Right now I'm focusing on two of them. The first one is a custom order piece, another version of the black wreath bag I made for Santa. I did, finally, manage to find purse frames that matched my requirements so I was able to start working on this beauty and I'm now ready to start sewing on the faux pearls. Experience has taught me working with "invisible" thread should always be done in day light. It's handy for attaching seed beads and faux pearls, but it's darn tricky to see, as being invisible kinda is :D

While waiting for a new day I started freehanding a little bird on another bag. Think I'll give him a pink coat of feathers with a dash of white and brown, maybe also give him a branch to sit on. We'll see! Very happy to be working with two very romantic, slightly retro-ish style bags :)

Tulips, Tulips, Tulips!

It's not yet spring, but it might as well be! With this beauty finished just now it's hard not to feel like spring is again one day closer. Gotta love tulips! The colors are a bit off in the picture, glad it's weekend soon so I can re-shoot this baby with some actual day light :)

Two very different bags finished

I just finished two very different bags. The first in chic, sophisticated colors, the second in bright vivacious shades.

Though they are both beautiful in their own ways, there is no question, which one is my personal favorite. A bag with practically all the colors of the rainbow is just up my alley!

Which style is more your cup of tea? 

Help! Is this working?

OK. So I had this idea I'd make a grey bag with a brown wreath-like embroidery and add a few red faux pearls to it, like little berries. I made the bag and tried and tested in several stages and thought it'll turn out deadly.

Now half way through adding the pearls I'm not that sure anymore. Does it work? Is it the color of the "berries"? Should I just use the smaller ones? Or should I ditch them altogether? Or am I just being silly worrying?

What would YOU do if you were me??

Fly, Bluebird, Fly!

Time for the first treasury of the year, love these colors!

Feeling Blue

No matter how many bags I make, every time I start to embroider them I'm at awe at how therapeutic embroidering can be. Honestly, I could sit in a quiet corner for hours on end just embroidering. And believe you me, when ever I get the chance that's exactly what I do. I start off with a bit of Melody Gardot or Chopin flowing in the earphones, maybe some trad jazz even, a coffee cup near by and sit down to start stitching away. Coffee may go cold in the mug, my playlist end, but once I'm in the zone I wont even notice anymore. Once I get going I find my mind resting and heart beat settling, the world fades away and there is only me and my needle left. Making this piece was particularily therapeutic as I have been feeling a bit blue lately with no apparent reason. But with a tad of creativity I turned my blues into beauty. And I think I did a pretty good job.

What's your way to say bye-bye to the blues?

Happy New Year!

Looking back at year 2011 I must say to me it was craft-wise the bestest ever! I started the year by making some hats, mittens and other small and not-so-challenging projects. But then in May I came up with the Magnolia handbag, a knitted fulled bag I made for myself. It was the first bag I ever made and the feedback from it was incredible plus I was super excited about it myself too. I knew I had found my Thing. My niche. After that it's been bag after bag, and later in September MuffinTopKnits was born. It's been a success in my own standards (and mind you, those are the only ones that count) and I'm really looking forward to this new year and what it will bring for my line of bags. In 2012 I hope to launch my own website on my own domain (soon hopefully) and to part take in more sales venues. I want to improve my work process and skill level. And most of all I want to have fun while making these beauties. As what would I gain from all of this if it wasn't a blast?

Picture above is of my last finished object in 2011, it's not exactly fireworks, but close enough, eh?