Girls Explorer Clothes

 

Yes I'm still on the subject of fashion! But this time kids, well girls to be exact. Diane von Furstenberg and Baby Gap’s “The Limited Edition Explorer Collection” was launched today and it is a wonderful collection of clothes. Now it might be something to do with the fact that I have a particular crush on yellow and green at the moment, or maybe that the large geometric patterns used remind me of some of the quilting fabric collections that are popular at the moment, either way I love this collection. It is full of colourful, exotic prints and patterns. It's modern, yet still has a lovely playful, young feel to it at the same time, which I think is often missing in kids clothes. The t-shirt style dress would be perfect for my 3 year old daughter. The simple design of the dress, does not restrict movement in anyway and is so easy to wear whether on its own or over shorts or leggings, exactly what an active little one needs! My favourite of the collection though is the shirt dresses I can imagine these looking beautiful on older girls, and I really wish, that they came in adult sizes as I'm sure they would look beautiful on us women too!

Salt Water Crush

After my last post on 'my summer wardrobe wish list' I got into a conversation on twitter about salt water sandals, and how much I wanted a pair. It seems from listening to others that once you have a pair, you want another and another, and the recommendations just kept coming! My OH doesn't quite get me when it comes to these sandals, when he first saw me looking at them he thought I was joking when I said I wanted a pair, asking why would I want a pair of sandals that look like something my granny would wear! And I guess in a way he is right, there design is certainly not outrageous or even modern, but it is the comfort that interests me and the fact that they are made to be worn and lived in, loving water and even being able to be machine washed and when you have 3 active kids to keep up with, these are all very good reasons to want a pair! So the only problem was, what colour!!

My first choice was tan. I have a thing about tan coloured sandals, well the colour does go with everything! But then again maybe navy would be nice, at this point I was still getting such odd looks from my OH!! And then I showed him the patent yellow pair, now there is nothing 'granny' about these!

I hope I made the right decision. I couldn't quite make my mind up with the yellow, it wasn't the colour it was the 'patent' leather that I kept wondering about, for me these would be daring!!! So I decided that as long as my first pair turn out to be good these will be purchased as my second pair!!
So in the end I chose, well I do like a bit of green!

I can't wait for them to arrive, and really hope I like my colour choice. Yes I am useless when it comes to shoe shopping, partly as I can't afford to buy too many pairs of shoes and partly because shopping online for shoes is difficult due to the lack of trying before you buy and especially as salt water sandals are not a usual UK size so I have my fingers crossed that they turn out right and that I fall in love with these sandals as much as others seem to have! I will let you know!

wishing of a summer wardrobe!

So the Easter holidays are over, kids have goon back to school this week and all in all I think we had a good break! We had some days out, even managed to get to the beach twice!! According to the kids the best thing about these trips were the ice creams, and I'd have to agree, I had a gooseberry fool ice cream that was simply delicious! Nothing like eating ice cream whilst trying to shelter on a freezing cold beach! We had lazy pyjama days and even got a lie in!
But did I get my job of sewing up stock for my shop done whilst it is closed? Of course not, lets just say that's still a work in progress, and my shops are still closed!
I did however manage to catch up on my blog reading, and really enjoyed Lou's post 'clothes' over on her 'little green shed' blog which is one of my favourite reads. I found myself nodding to what I was reading, and I agree whole heartily with Lou's clothing criteria which is;

* stylish
* cool
* well made (i.e. not going to fall apart after a few washes)
* timeless (I want to buy now and wear it still in 5 years time)
* not too young (I'm middle aged don't you know! and no using the word mutton)
* yet good for my low budget

So as I stood in front of my wardrobe this morning struggling to find something to wear, and thinking that it might be time to put the woolly jumpers to one side, oh yes the sun is out and there are signs of spring finally, I decided to do just as Lou had and create a
'summer wardrobe wish list!" So here goes, here's mine,

1.A pair of sandals, possibly Salt water, (oh yes I can't keep wearing my red DM boots! )
2.Short sleeved denim dress/tunic the sort of thing I can layer up or down
3.A mustard or green cardigan, to add some colour to my wardrobe
4.A pair of ankle skimmer trousers, love the look of the length of these, though I really struggle with buying trousers
5.Jersey dress to replace my people tree long sleeved jersey dress that has been a staple of my winter wardrobe
6.Failing the above a shirt dress
7.Jacket/blazer

I don't think this is asking for too much!  Of course I would be quite happy with the clothes in the images above, aren't they just lovely.
I really like the look of the mustard tie jacket with the wide legged trousers, though unfortunately I don't think my budget will stretch to the £159 price tag of the jacket! So what is your clothing wish list for the summer? I would love to know! And any suggestions on where to shop online would be great too!

Lucky Winnings!

I'm not an avid fan of facebook, I tend to dapple a bit here and there, I have a personal page purely because I have to, to be able to have a business page on there, and I'm not the best at keeping my 'A Crafty Hen' page up-to-date. I guess it's a bit like this blog, I tend to come and go! I suppose a lot of it is depends on how busy I am with work, the busier I am the less I blog or update my facebook page. This Easter I decided to close my shops so I could concentrate on the kids and also try and get some of the pressing jobs around the house done. Also having a little bit more spare time has meant I've had a chance to catch up on blog reading and to also explore other people's pages on facebook and that's when I found Beetle Cherry's page full of her wonderful illustrations, and her giveaway. And what a giveaway, for liking and sharing her page which I would have happily done anyway, I got entered into her giveaway and really couldn't believe my luck when she said I had won!

And here it is, amongst the gifts are gorgeous cards, that I can't imagine parting with!!
A lovely wooden feather brooch, that I can't wait to wear, and a beautiful print of a girl Dressed up as a Red Indian, which will go on my daughters wall along with some other cards and prints that I've been collecting for her. Such an amazing and generous giveaway, I feel very lucky to have been sent it. You can find Beetle Cherry's gorgeous items in here shop here I am very tempted to get this print for my sons bedroom 'The Tiny Boat' so they don't feel left out!

'A happy, dreamy nursery... :)' by meganwsintdesign

Dot QUILT by PETUNIAS - vw r... PETUNIAS $106.00	Elephants in circus in black... Machookahandma... $65.00	Cloud Wall Shelf - Large ShopLittles $42.50
Child's scandinavian sof... Janefoster $27.00	The Raining Mister Elephant ... JAustinRyan $16.00	Baby Shoes, Toddler Slippers... WoolyBaby $48.00
Awesome Rain PRINT KathyPanton $15.00	You Are So Loved- 8x10 print thewheatfield $18.00	Mirror Bunting Large Half Ci... fluxglass $78.00
Luxurious Babys Elephant Gif... acraftyhen $21.50	Soft Sole Baby Shoes, Baby B... ParkerAndPosie $18.00	Uncharted Waters Waves Pictu... Mmim $17.00
Little Lion Man NiftyKidstuff $24.00	Linen Throw Pillow Cover, De... thehighfiberco $29.00	Ella, Valentine's Needle... MiloandBen $30.00
Modern Baby Blanket, Lattice... littlehipsquea... $44.80

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

I love this Etsy treasury that my Luxurious Elephant Gift Set has been included in. 

It's such a lovely cheery collection of handmade goodies, perfect for brightening up a dreary February day!

2013 & Decisions!

Happy belated New Year, I'm sure most of you are just like me, and are only just getting back into the swing of the everyday routine! We had a lovely Christmas, and though I always feel sad when the holidays come to an end, I do {the majority of the time} enjoy getting back into a routine. And this year 2013 things are a little different as my youngest is now spending more time at pre-school, which frees up my mornings or so I thought. I can't believe how quickly I seem to have filled up my 'free' time, but what I 'want' to do is fill up some of the time with sewing for 'a crafty hen' so I can take some of the pressure off myself, and not spend every evening sewing past 10 at night. I also have decisions to make regarding work, especially about where my online shops are going, how much wholesale I can take on and also about keeping customers informed and engaged. 

Which leads to my first announcement!!

I have decided to start another blog. I have been mulling this around for some time, I've been wanting to blog about my work and what I am up to, though are conscious that many of my readers stop by for posts about my family and personal things, thrifting and sewing more for myself and family, and wouldn't want to constantly see baby bibs and hear about 'a crafty hen'. I maybe wrong and please anyone who would like to see what I am sewing everyday please pop by my new blog! I also wasn't sure whether I wanted customers to read about my personal life to the extent that I have displayed it here. So I have decided that seeing as I started this blog up to follow myself and my family in our everyday lives that is what this will stay as and I will try and keep it up to date. So with decision made, I have joined Tumblr. It feels at the moment quite alien to me and I wonder if I am not young enough or hip enough to quite get the spirit of it. Tumblr is for snippets of life, a photo here, a comment there! It reminds me a little of Twitter, which I love so I am hoping it will suit. I hope to share regularly photos of current work, new fabrics as well as things I am loving on folksy and etsy and other things like what I listen to while I work or even think about whilst I work!
So here it is!

http://acraftyhen.tumblr.com/

I have started January as December finished, very busy and are working on another batch of bibs, blankets and lavender raindrops to be sent to the Pop Up Design shop in Winchester, as well as a handful of commissions. I haven't yet opened all my online shops back up, though are hoping to soon.
I have also made a decision to start up a newsletter, to keep followers up to date on current work, what's in the pipe line, to offer special promotions and to try and link my three shops together as some items only ever appear in one shop. So I thought it would be good if I do a monthly newsletter highlighting special items, and one offs, so please if any of you would like to receive this please sign up by entering your email address in the box top right and follow the instructions!
Right that's enough news for now, I have a pile of bibs that need press studs hammering into them, so best go!

Popping Up In The Pop Up Design Shop

It's been a busy few weeks, but I'm pleased to be able to finally announce that you can now buy 'A Crafty Hen' items from the Pop Up Design Shop 
in The Brooks shopping centre, Winchester, from now until Christmas Eve.

Source: scribd.com via Jenny on Pinterest

The shop looks amazing, full of wonderful pieces and I feel very lucky to have some of my things in there. It's the first time I've been involved with a 'Pop Up Shop' but I think the concept of these shops is great. Such a good way to fill up empty high street shops. And Suzie the owner of the shop and of  Urban Bird is so passionate about showcasing what is out there that it's been a delight to dedicate the last couple of weeks to sewing stock for the shop.

I have sent a selection of baby bibs some new and some of my favourites. 
There is also a selection of my cushions and large cosy blankets.
I hope to get these into my web shop soon but it probably won't be until the New Year, as this year is quickly disappearing!

 Oh and Lavender Raindrops are on their way!

So please if you are in the area, do stop buy and have a browse.
I wish I could!