A time to celebrate

Celebrations happen throughout the year of course, but the Summer brings a celebration in the form of University graduations, A-level and GCSE exam results.  My facebook page has been dotted with wonderful photos of friends and family celebrating their successes in their final year of Uni, kitted out in their special attire and surrounded by loved ones.  It's an event that rightly recognises those that have studied hard and have achieved their current goal, a time to enjoy their achievements and proudly move on to the next step in their lives.

Katie is preparing for her journey on to University in September.  I say "preparing", she's actually taking a long relaxing break from any form of work and counting down the weeks until she moves on to the next chapter in her life.  Each week I've been buying her a few necessities to ease the financial burden once she finally starts.  At the moment I think she's kindly accepting these little every day gifts but plonking them straight into her expanding laundry bag!  I'm hoping once she's finally left home she'll appreciate why I've done this for her ... life will be tough for a while!

If you know someone celebrating an achievement, an exam pass, driving test pass or graduation, celebrate with them ... achievements are what spurs us on in life.

Just around the corner ...

... is Christmas!



The decorations are up and this year we decided to buy a real tree to sit on the window seat in the living room and put the not so real tree in the snug.  As always, the cats woke from the slumbers to investigate, pounce, play and destroy have fun with the artificial tree and all that endeavours to hang from it.  The photo is of Tilly, having climbed half way up to discover many, many new play things!

I took advantage of a free postage offer from Pocket and Pin (an online craft supply shop that has been in my favourites list for a long time) to purchase a roll of felt in "vintage colours".  It arrived beautifully wrapped and the colour of every sheet in delightful.  Itching to start to use it, I made this very cute Westie keyring using the "meadow" green felt.

Finally, with present wrapping under way, I put together these little packages to hold tiny gifts.  Simply cut from greaseproof paper, stitched with embroidery thread and finished with a button.  Perfect.

September's gone already

The Summer continues which is lovely - warm days and cool nights with mist and fog some mornings.  Just love those last few Summer days, with Autumn biting at the heels.  A few of the chimneys have started to smoke in the evenings around here - a sure sign that Winter is on its way.

Ben did well in his two GCSEs and is studying two new subjects, Chemistry and Astronomy for next Summer's exams.  He's into both subjects in a big way, but my teaching only extends to the Chemistry as he's doing a distance learning course for Astronomy (although I'm still sourcing interesting websites and I'm around for night sky viewings etc).  Both are taking up a lot of time.  In the mornings, when I sit in the car at stupid o'clock having dropped Katie off for the college coach, I spend an hour studying Chemistry (not a subject I know at all) ready to teach Ben when I arrive home from the yard.  We're doing well, and as always, I'm loving the fact that I'm learning something new too.  Astronomy for me kicks in when I'm ready to turn in for the night.  Tripods are set up, binoculars are focussed, sketch books out and much toing and froing (and choice words) trying to get decent photos of the moon.  Ben talks non stop about galaxies and what have you - my head becomes more of a fuzzy muddle that it is already.  I can't complain, I'd prefer him excited about his learning than not.

Katie, having completed her first year at college, is now looking at University courses for September 2015.  She's not sure which route to go down - at present it's a toss up between Game Art and Illustration.  Having visited one Uni last weekend and being completely bowled over by the enthusiasm of all the tutors, I think her leaning is more towards Illustration, but after the next three or four Uni visits, who knows - she may end up doing something completely different!  She's very tired at the moment - her course is full on and she knows (thanks to my constant nagging) that she needs to start her own portfolio of art work to present alongside her college work when interviews start from January next year.  She also knows (thanks again to my constant nagging) that she needs an impressive Personal Statement.  She'll be fine I'm sure, she always is, but it feels like a constant worry at the moment.

On the work front things are ticking along nicely and I'm working hard to build up my shops ready for Christmas.  One customer has requested a catalogue as she finds it hard to use the PC so I've just started making some new goodies just for this and hope to get it out to her (and anyone else who requests one) within a month.  At the back of my mind I'm thinking that Katie could help with the design as that, together with the business cards she designed for me not so long ago, would look good in her portfolio

One big down that we had this month was the loss of 7 years of photos from our PC.  We've lost a disk load of photos before (which was tragic), but 7 years worth seems 10 times worse.  Luckily some are still on blog postings, facebook and instagram, but a lot of videos of the children and pets have been lost which brings a lump to my throat.  I'm not really sure how it happened either - deleted one photo and suddenly (in that moment when you go completely cold with fear), the whole lot vanished and couldn't be found, not even in the recycling bin.  Ho hum - these things are sent to try us.

A post without pics is a little dull so here's a bright and cheerful fabric wallet that I made recently and is available at Ellie's Treasures.  It's been cut from gorgeous vintage fabrics - the brightest of which (the blue and orange) was brought over to the UK from the Far East in the 1970s.  Love it!

A couple of new things and a final pic of my new packaging

Let's start with the packaging.  Here's my little horse charm brooch ready to go to a new home.  Am so pleased with the new style of preparation - with the information note and business card prettily tied to the back of the luggage tag.  Plenty of space on there for a personal message too.


This picture shows the brooch ready to go - neatly presented in a cello bag to keep it clean and dry.


Two new things at Ellie's Treasures this week.  A lovely tri-fold wallet cut from fabulous fabrics as always.  The bold geometric material is a vintage 70s brought over from the Far East from my mother-in-law.  The check fabric is a nice contrast alongside it and inside I've used cream cotton too.  Loving the trim too - one of four I picked up by chance around Christmas time.  Have just received a customer request to make this wallet minus the strap, securing it in another way.  Looking forward to starting on that and seeing how it works out - will keep you posted.

My other new item is this fairy toadstool brooch.  These brooches have always been popular at Ellie's Treasures but I thought this time I'll have a little play around to make it a bit more quirky.  I've used bold red and white floral cotton for the toadstool hood decorated with little dotty buttons in grey, white and black.  I think it looks pretty cool, a little different, but still very cute!

Packaging no. 2

Continuing with the updated packaging theme for Ellie's Treasures, I had a hunt around my craft drawer and discovered a whole pack of white paper bags that I bought when selling at a craft fair many moons ago.  As I sold a wallet last week, once wrapped in tissue, I decided to use one of the paper bags as an outer packaging, wrapped around with raffia and finished with my business card and product information.

Although I'd prefer a brown paper bag, I was pretty happy with the overall look so will continue with this style of wrapping for my wallets and any other bulkier items.

New packaging ideas for 2014

Part of the pleasure of purchasing something special is the way it has been thoughtfully presented.  The idea of updating my packaging came from watching the Liberty of London TV series that was broadcast around Christmas time and I although my goods are wrapped in tissue with a ribbon decoration, I felt I could update this and present them a little prettier.

Also, a new year bring fresh ideas and with a set of new business cards, designed by Katie, an update for everything else was a must!

Now, after much thought and a lot of searching for pretty packaging ideas online (see my Pinterest board here), I've decided my small items will be presented on a buff luggage tag with "thank you" sticker and personally signed.   Keyrings can be held in place with ribbon, together with a product info sheet and business card, and brooches can be pinned directly to the label.

All my new supplies are in the post, together with clear cellophane bags to keep everything neat and clean.  This pic is just my idea of how I'd like it to look, but I'll post another pic once the items have arrived and are ready to use.

Packaging for the wallets is still at the brain-storming stage, but I love the idea of brown paper bags (it goes back to childhood), so I'm sure they'll feature somewhere along the line!

It's a heart thing!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner so I made a pretty little heart keyring that would make a lovely gift for someone dear at any time of the year.


As hearts are the thing for 14th February, I've found a few other gorgeous and very special heart lovelies from Folksy to show you - hope you like them.

As always, click on the photo or link to go to the relevant Folksy shop.


Dawn Jackson Glass Designs


Tales of Mrs H


arc jewellery


Cornflower Cottage Crafts


Swancott Designs

Last posting dates and spending my pennies

The Cyber Monday cut price sale was a big hit in my Etsy shop.  It was great to see people purchasing hand made gifts and lovely to think that my creations are winging their way to many different homes.  There is still free 1st class UK post on all my items until the end of December, don't miss out, prices will change in the New Year.

This week, I've been working on a special brooch for a customer who found me via my Facebook page.  She'd purchased the fairy toadstool brooch and requested something for her son along the lines of a rocket, castle or teddy bear.  Having found some fabulous castle charms online I suggested a castle brooch with yellow flowers and sun, as this was her son's favourite colour.


I'm currently listening to a whole mixed bunch of different tunes through the PC that hubs put together for a forthcoming party.  It's quite a collection, with some I swiftly turn down the volume and others I crank it up!!  There's tunes I haven't heard in a very long time, like the current one playing, Mark Knopfler's "Coming Home" (from the film, "Local Hero").  Apparently there's 10 hours of tunes on the "party list", perhaps he thinks the party will go into the early hours!

So, last posting dates, as taken from the Royal Mail site.  As most of my items mail to the UK and US I'll just print those dates:

Friday, 13th December for USA and the morning of Friday 20th December for UK 1st class.  Of course this doesn't actually guarantee delivery on time, but I'm sure RM will do their upmost to get packages delivered in time for Christmas!

Out shopping this week for those little extra bits and bobs, sweets, chocolates and the odd stocking filler, I popped in to The Range to find a dog toy for Poppy to unwrap on Christmas morning.  I promised hubs and the kids (who were waiting in the car) that I'd be just a moment.  Well, I got side-tracked by the vast crafting section and discovered a host of wonderful ribbons and lace at amazing prices.  Took me far more than a moment to decide what to spend my pennies on.  Came away with these in the end, to add to my growing collection.  Have already used some lace on my current dolphin brooch - will post about that next time.

Christmas shopping, with stags and owls!

Christmas shopping has begun in our household and rather than completely rely on online purchases this year I decided to venture into a few bricks and mortar shops to look, pick up, touch and feel what they had on offer.  It made for a lovely afternoon of wandering leisurely around the stores, thinking, browsing and purchasing too.  I am always stunned at how cheap Christmas tree decorations are to buy.  I came across a set of 3 beautiful toadstools to clip onto the tree, made from glass not plastic, for only £3.00, and many other really beautiful unusual decorations for similar prices. It made me realise why my own Christmas decorations haven't been selling too well the last couple of years.  Why would anyone purchase more expensive tree decorations from online shops and craft fairs when the big shops are selling them at such silly prices?

Anyway, my wanderings lead me into Hobbycraft for a good old nosey among the hand crafting sections and couldn't resist a few lengths of gorgeous ribbons!  I knew this red tartan would look superb alongside a stag charm.  In fact the new keyring sold within hours, confirming to me that stags do seem to be all the rage this season.


Owls continue to be in fashion too it seems.  My Mum has always been a big owl fan - I remember she had a china owl hanging on the wall which held a ball of string and wore a pair of specs that were the scissors.  I've come across some lovely owl items on Folksy and Etsy - just love all the bright colours people use to make them.  Here's my own little old, watching for lunch from the garden fence I think!


Would love to hear if you are making or buying good featuring stags and owls.  It came up in a forum post recently and there seemed to be mixed views!!

Elaine x

My latest fabric wallet ...

... thought I'd show it off to you, hope you don't mind.  As each wallet takes me so long to put together, I always feel very pleased once the final stitch has been stitched and the end result is just as I'd hoped.

As always, I've used fabrics from my big stash.  I'm loving these bright, bold fabrics that my mother-in-law handed over to me (brought over to England from the Far East in the 1970s).  In this case the black with vibrant emerald green and deep yellow and orange patterned cotton makes a fabulous statement, teamed with a subtle but equally lovely white linen with blue and green flower and leaves.  The linen was originally a napkin given to me by my Mum - she's had the set since the late 50s early 60s.

Hand cut to my own template and completely hand stitched, the wallet is fully interfaced and lined.  It features a zipped section for coins, large open area for paper money and four credit card or store card slots.
Being a tri-fold wallet, it folds up neatly to become a perfect size to fit nicely in your hand.  Secured with a strap and velcro fastening.

A shop front update

Before I blog some lovely sunset pictures, I thought I'd give you a quick update on what I've been making for Ellie's Treasures.

After the success of the two new style wallets that I made after our holiday in Bristol, I grabbed two new fabrics to make another (which has now sold too!).  I love the green paisley/floral fabric in this wallet (started life as a pair of capri shorts for Katie - only have a little left now) and teamed it up with the linen/cotton mix grey (a unwanted pair of trousers from my wardrobe).

Now this one has also sold I'd best crack on with another one (or two perhaps).  Have found some pretty fabric combinations which I'll be cutting out ready to sew in the next few days.

Also, new to Ellie's Treasures, is this mixed media tree silhouette picture.  Using a combination of fabrics, felt, ribbons and embellishments, this framed 9 x 6.5cm piece of art is perfect for Autumn - lots of lovely warm colours.

Lastly, after a rummage in my work box I found a bag of strong plastic charms that I believe were given to Katie by a friend on her 5th birthday.  As she no longer wants them I decided to start using them in my work as they are rather cute.  I've used this fish and starfish to make an underwater scene felt brooch.

Time to slow down!

Yeah right, as if!  It's been all go here the last couple of months with Katie taking the last of her IGCSE exams.  After our visit to Bristol for Art, the remaining two, ICT and Computer Studies, were sat in Attleborough, South Norfolk with a couple of weeks between them.  A little closer to home, but still and hour 1/2 drive away, so it warranted a couple of overnight stays because of early starts.  We went self catering at The Lodge at the the Old Manse which was extrememly comfortable and well equipped with plenty of goodies in the fridge and cupboards to keep us hunger free at breakfast time and well oiled with tea and coffee!  We stayed there with my friend and her daughter who was also sitting exams in Attleborough, so it was nice to have someone to hang around with while the girls were busy, especially as one exam was for 3 hours.  There were plenty of coffee shops to sit and natter in, and plenty of well stocked second hand shops too for a spot of browsing and purchasing.  We had such a fabulous curry at The Shapla on our first trip that we decided to return for our second trip, taking Paul and Ben along with us too.  A lovely evening both times, delicious food and friendly staff, although it took several attempts to get a bill out of them at the end of the meal!  Exams seemed to go OK, pretty much, so we just need to wait for the results and keep our fingers crossed.  Katie's had another college interview, at Stamford, and got the impression she'll be accepted, subject to the necessary exam passes.  She's really pleased about this as the course seems to tick more boxes than the one at Peterborough College.

So, now exams are out of the way, text books are being put firmly back on the book shelf and course work hidden away (probably under the bed!), Katie finally has some time to do absolutely nothing!  Actually she's decided to find a little job to bring in a bit of money as her list of horsey things is growing and growing and she'd like to save up for a better laptop.  It'll feel weird if she manages to find a paying job - she'll have more money than me ;0)

Ben has been working away throughout all this upheavel on his GCSE Maths, ICT and English without any hint of trouble.  I've decided a good break is well needed, from a teaching point of view, so the Maths will take a bit of a back seat until after Summer, unless I get a sudden urge to sit down and plough on with it.  He's more-or-less finished the exam course already, so I'm not too worried about leaving it for a bit.

My desk is a mountain of unattended paper work, bills to pay, money to sort, things to look up etc., etc.  You know how it is, it's never ending.  Summer is a busy time with outings, birthday get-togethers and Ben's jujitsu demos which will kick in very soon taking up a lot of weekends.

On the sewing front I've started a new wallet in grey and 70s style swirly/paisley green and white, and have listed two new items, a keyring and a necklace.  Taking photos of these two seemed to take an age, and tweaking them to get the colours right took even longer.  Hope you like them.  Others are in the pipeline as is a new idea of a mixed media picture.  I'll keep you posted :0)

Holiday sewing

I wasn't sure whether to take a bit of sewing work to do on holiday or not, but in the end I cut out three items and packed all the bits and bobs I'd need to make a necklace, brooch and keyring should I find the time.  As it happens, I seemed to have lots of energy whilst away, so sewing took place the majority of evenings which meant I had three new items to list when I reached home.






During our journey home I received a message requesting a custom order for a wallet, exactly like this one, a new design that I listed and sold a couple of weeks ago. It was a lovely way to kick start Ellie's Treasures again after a little break.

Something new

Here we are ... something a little different from Ellie's Treasures.  I've started making necklaces and here is my first (which is now sold).  The black cotton cord necklace is 18" long and can be extended to 21" via the extra links at the end.

Necklaces are just one of the new ideas that I've decided to work on this year, watch out for other new ideas popping up as the year moves along!



I'm currently working on a new fabric wallet which is taking far longer than all my other wallets have taken to complete (and that is saying something!!).  Once again it's a new style and my slowness is due to wanting it to tick all the wallet boxes, be the perfect size and have a pleasing overall look.  Will post up a picture once it's completed (hopefully by next week ... hopefully).

The end of this week is ...

Easter!  Bli, where is the time flying to?  No sign yet of sunshine and warmth - blizzards and ice are still very much on the weather agenda.  The poor daffs in the fields around us are at half the height of last year and have remained in bud for weeks.  Mind you, we've had snow at Easter before.  I remember, soon after moving here, I put out loads of mini eggs in the garden on the Saturday only to find it had snowed heavily overnight and we couldn't find them again for our Easter Sunday egg hunt.  As the year progressed I'd keep finding them hidden in special places as I did my weeding!!

I've used a gorgeous and very detailed tibetan silver bunny and egg charm in a couple of special Easter brooches - both are available to buy at Ellie's Treasures.





To bring you some Easter cheer (and because there's still time to purchase), I thought I'd show you a few  Easter items that I've come across from UK sellers on Folksy and Etsy.  As always, click on the picture to go to the relevant shop.  Hope you all have a lovely long weekend (and enjoy any chocolate that you've treated yourself to!).

by Heidi


Hand Made by Natalija


Kittiwake Design


Grace Favours


Maisie Moo Crafts

I think I spoke too soon!

The brief spell of milder weather was, well, brief!  It's back to the minus temperatures with the odd flurry of snow here in South Lincs.  Nevermind, my sewing took on a Spring and Summer theme these last two weeks, and I've now added two new items to Ellie's Treasures.

First, a new money wallet.  These continue to take me far, far too long to complete but I enjoy doing them.  Choosing the fabric combinations, seeing the separate pieces come together and become a unique item are what keeps my fingers sewing! This one has a pretty Spring theme with lilac, purple and blue felt flowers attached to an embroidered stem.




My second item is a very summery beach scene brooch.  Felt waves in blues and greens and a beach hut home on the sand dotted with seed bead "rocks".


Ooh, roll on warmer weather!

Stay wrapped up readers - the perfect excuse for a warm cup of something lovely and a slice of cake!

Playing with pictures

Here's my first brooch of the new year featuring one of the very cute kawaii style black cat buttons that I showed you in a recent post.

It is sewn using a gorgeous magenta felt which produces just one huge problem - photographing it!  Magenta, and red too actually, are a total nightmare to capture correctly.  I always use good daylight, taking pictures in our conservatory which is always flooded with light, or I use a white paper lined "light box", but each time the colours come out completely different.

This is the colour my SLR captures.  Using my iphone produces a slightly better shade, but it's still not right and obviously I want my shoppers to see more-or-less the right colours when considering buying!

By chance, I came across a Folksy forum post about photographing items during the darker winter months.  Someone mentioned ipiccy - oh my, what a wonderful little application this is.  I've used various tweaking methods on Picasa quite often - to lighten/brighten or tone down, but ipiccy actually lets you play around with the colours.  Hey presto!  Garish red/pink was magically turned into a shade of magenta so very very close to the actual colour of my new brooch.

Try it out, ipiccy is fabulous.  There's plenty of other tweaking buttons on there too, but the couple I've been playing with are "Hue and Saturation" and "Colours".  I'll be having more of a play with all the other little gadgets over the next few days.

Thought I'd share

these cute little buttons with you.  Found them by chance and they are absolutely adorable.  Can't wait to use them.

Christmas rush

is coming to a close - I'd imagine anyway!  With last posting day fast looming, I reckon folk that have thought of buying, have now bought!  My best selling item this year was keyrings, so much so that my next few items to work on, all cut out and ready to sew, are all keyrings.  Ellie's Treasures needs a bit of a re-stock!

I have two key rings in my shop that were listed earlier this week.  Of course, these key fobs aren't just for keys, they make pretty hand bag/sports/shopping bag and pencil case charms and rather cute zipper pulls too.

Ellie's Treasures will be open throughout the festive season and anything purchased will be mailed to customers on the days our Post Office is open.  I'll keep you informed of how your order is progressing so you'll know when it should be delivered.


If you are a seller too, why not leave a comment and let me know what your best selling item has been this season - I'd love to hear how things have been going for you all.