Love is in the air...

Well, it's not really in the air for me, but seeing as it's February and Valentine's Day is coming up, I will be indulging in adorning myself with heart-themed accessories, like this gorgeous two swallows with a blue heart necklace, which costs just under £18.

As my heart doesn't belong to anyone, I don't think blue is an inappropriate colour for hearts on Valentine's Day. This delicate light blue open heart necklace is the same price and also gets a vote from me:

If you're a die-hard fan of red and pink for the dreaded V-Day, then you might like these silver plated hoop earrings, which come in pink as pictured below and red. They cost just over £15, plus £2.30 postage.

These pretty handmade finds come all the way across the seas, from US Etsy seller Small Blue Things. You can connect on Facebook  or Twitter with this clever little crafter.

Angel Eden textile brooches

I really enjoy looking at things that have a sort of happy-hotchpotch-jumble feel to them; as if someone got so excited about prettiness that it just exploded out of their imagination into whatever it is they've lovingly created.

These brooches from the Angel Eden textile rage feel like this to me. At just £20 they're a brilliant way to express your individuality and love of craft.

This bluebird textile brooch feels quite romantic and uses vintage lace, charms and carefully chosen small buttons.

This is the Apple and Wheelbarrow textile brooch; I love the bright, fresh colours.

What I like about this green teapot textile brooch is that the jewelled flower has been 'rescued' from a broken necklace, and is stitched lovingly into the rest of the piece, complimenting the silver teapot and teacup charms perfectly!

Each unique piece is handmade in Derbyshire using a bespoke selection of sterling silver charms, vintage components and recycled textiles. If you spot one you like, you'll have to purchase it sharpish, as they come from a bespoke, continually developing collection!

If you'd rather make your own, they stock a range of craft kits, starting from just £5.50.

Lego lovelies

I love Lego. I think I inherited this from my mother, Rosebud, who used to get us big Lego sets for Christmas, but wouldn't allow us to play with them until she had built them first. Now my siblings and I have mainly fled the nest, she has an entire room set aside for Lego. Sometimes when I come home I find her sitting in said room, playing building the sets on the floor. She has ALL the Harry Potter ones.

Kookiemonkey on Folksy has made a set of 18 inch necklaces featuring Lego bricks for the bargain price of £10. Perfect little gift for the geek in your life.

I like this little Taxi  necklace, which is made with a vintage Lego brick:

This Fangs necklace has got me racking my brains trying to remember what set it came from originally:

And this vintage i-mac vs Pc necklace reminds me of the old Acorn PC we used to play on in Year 5 and 6 in primary school. There was this game with a turtle, I think it was called Logic or something and it came on floppy disk.

I originally wrote this post for About Your Dress Blog, you can still find it amongst heaps of other posts by me and two other talented ladies there if you'd like to go and have a peek.

Things I dreadfully want...

Okay, there’s no easy way to confess this… I love cross stitch. Yes, yes, I know, this makes me sound like a 50 year old lady, and this is probably-one-of-those-reasons-I’m-single, but the fact is, I love nothing more than making pretty pictures out of threads. And what I really like best is when I look at the back of my stitching, and it’s as neat and tidy as the front. This is somewhat miraculous and paradoxical, because I am not a neat and tidy person. But meh, I’m something of a contradiction in terms, and in the words of Britney, ‘That’s my prerogative.’

So, for ages it was super tricky to get cross stitch kits that weren’t uber-lame patterns of trains, landscapes or flowers. In fact pretty much the coolest thing you could get were patterns for forever friends bears or Winnie the Pooh *gag* and who-the-hell needs or wants a Winnie the Pooh bookmark anyway? So imagine my (carefully kept secret) delight when cross stitching became retro and fun and not-something-to-be-ashamed-of anymore.

PopSoupSupplies on Etsy.com has some really fun patterns available, which you purchase for around a fiver – but you have to source the aida and threads yourself. I particularly like this Pee Wee Herman Cushion and the Warhol inspired 3 Monroes:

Another awesome supplier on Etsy is Bella Stitchery, retailer of super-cool retro Pin Up patterns like these, which I'd painstakingly turn into cushions to adorn my home with:

If you want all materials included, you can get some awesome kits, like these beautiful Emily Peacock HUG and KISS cushion kits I spied on hunkydoryhome.com, also recently featured on my beloved Kirstie’s Homemade Homes:

For £54.99 you can have the small size, which is just right for a bed or sofa and the large costs £74.99, which is apparently big enough for two. Now, this might seem pricey, but I have considered it and there are many reasons to justify this purchase. You’d probably pay £60 for a nice looking cushion from a shop anyway, plus you’ll have the satisfaction of having made it yourself, plus £80 equates to one, maybe two nights in the pub, whereas the kit will keep you busy for many a night, so you’ll be richer AND thinner, as you won’t be drinking loads of lovely booze. Plus, it’s awesome. Okay? Great I’m glad we’re agreed on that.