Time For A Cuppa

In the studio yesterday I sat in my Grandmothers chair to stuff and sew up some lavender houses I fancied a cup of coffee sorry I am not a big tea drinker and I realized that with all the coasters I had made over time I had never made one for my studio. So you can guess what happened next, I put down what i was doing and started to draw up a design to make a coaster for my desk and here is the result.

I love the rawness of the my design and how it looks like any of my children could of written on it for me. My cup fits perfectly on it and now i can enjoy a cup of coffee while being create.

While I was making this coaster I thought you might like to give it ago so here are some step by step instructions. Hope you have loads of fun and make sure you take TIME FOR A CUPPA while you are busy being creative.

What you need

• Scrape fabric
• Wading
• Scissors
• Needle
• Thread
• Sewing Machine (Optional)
• Pins 

1) Draw on a piece of card the size shape you would like your coaster to be. I choose a heart shape because I love hearts. Remember you need to draw your shape bigger than you want it to be because you are going to be sewing a back to it. You need to allow for 1/4 inch gap for stitching.

2) Cut out your shape and draw around your template on to your scrap fabric. You need to cut 2 out for front and back.

3) Now its time to decorate one of your shapes. On mine from another piece of scrap fabric I cut out a heart and placed it on top. But you could leave it plain if you would like or decorate it with another shape, flower, bird etc... (Please remember that what ever you decide to do it needs to be flat as you are placing a cup on top of it.)

4) Now you need to sew your shape on top. I used a sewing machine but you can also hand sew your shape if you prefer. 

5) You an either leave your design like that or you can add a saying . I decided to add TIME FOR A CUPPA. Joined up writing does not come natural to me so I practiced the my writing on a piece of scrap paper first. You can either hand sew your saying on to your coaster or like I did you can use free motion embroidery with your sewing machine like I did. It is completely up to you and there is no right way or wrong way.   

6) You now need to cut you wading a little bit bigger than your coaster and stack all the pieces together. Wading on the bottom, top of coaster with your design facing you and them the back of your coaster on top right side down so the wrong side of the fabric is facing you. If that makes seance, I am not very good at explaining things. Pin it all together and sew all the way around remembering to leave a inch gap on one of the sides to turn your coaster inside out. Once you have sewn it all together trim you excess wading. 

7) Turn your coaster inside out and iron it flat. Now tuck the gap together and pin. Sew all the way around your coaster close to the edge giving it a nice finish. 

Wella you have finished your lovely coaster. I would love to see your own coaster creations and I would love to share them with everyone. You can send me a picture on facebook at www.facebook.com/emusupcycledgifts ,Twitter at www.twitter.com/EmusGifts or email me at info@emusupcycledgifts.com. I am so looking forward to seeing them.

Thanks for stopping by

XX

Children's Toy Tea Bag Tutorial

My Girls love playing with their toy kitchen and keeping me well watered with lots of cups of tea. This made me think it must be really easy to make them some tea bags so they could extend their play experience at making tea for mummy.  So I created them a new toy that cost me nothing as I just used a few pieces of scrap fabric and felt and five minutes later of being sat in front of the sewing machine a new toy was created.

Sorry Photo is not very great. But my girls have and are still having hours of fun with these that are I am going to make more for them as 4 does not seem to enough!

What you need

• Scrap white felt or fabric
• String
• Needle and thread if sewing my hand or sewing machine
• Blue fabric or felt for the label
• Rice or rose petals o give the feeling of tea leaves inside
• Scissors
• Card
• Tape Measure

Instructions

Recycled Wax Tea Light Holders

Recently I came across my love for making candles from recycled wax after a long break since my teenage years of not making a single candle. But after I created stunning Vintage Tea Cup Candles from recycled wax the other day I have fallen in love with making candles all over again. So you can imagine my delight when I can across a tutorial on the web showing how you can make wax tea candle holders. Which are a great idea for table decorations for weddings or for family get together's. 

Just finished being created 

They made a great talking part at the St.Austell Spring Fair Emu's pop up shop window display on a vintage saucer.

For the instructions on how to make table decorations please see Wisdom Of The Moon great blog tutorial. 

How To Make Your Own Tea Cup Candles From Recycled Candels

I don't know about you but I have a large stash under my kitchen sink of half burnt candles. These have resulted from buying candles for  different events but the candle was not used up just put away under the cupboard for me to forget all about. 


I also have a lot of lovely odd vintage tea cups and saucers that just collect dust on the shelf as they can not be used all the time.


So I could not think of a better way to use up the old candles and display my tea cups through out the house by    making my own handmade candles. The only thing was I use to do this as a child but I used my mum's old saucepan and candle making kits. Now 20 years on I no longer have the kit or my mum's saucepan and I don't have a saucepan that I don't mind being ruined by candle wax. As I was thinking all this I had a washed out tin can on my kitchen side that was waiting to go out into the recycling. Would the can stand up in a saucepan of water with the wax melting inside the can? As I did not want any water getting into the wax! After a of experimenting with different water levels in the sauce pan, I hit the jack pot and found the right water level.


What you need

• Saucepan
• Tin Can
• Old candles (if you don't have any old candles you can ask you local church if they have any they were going to throw out)
• Lots of clothes pegs
• Vintage Tea Cup (you can get these for only a couple of pounds at your local charity shop)

Here is how I made my candles:- 


1) I filled a saucepan with boiling water from the kettle and I put the saucepan on a very low heat. (Don't let the water boil) Then I filed my tin can with the old candles, wick and all as they can fished out latter. (The candle starts to melt really quickly with the heat from your already boiled water.) 

2) When you wax is nearly all melted away from the wick use a clothes peg to fish the wick out of the wax. (Please be really careful while doing this as the wax is very hot and you can get easily burnt!) Then tack 2 clothes pegs and attach them to the top of your wick. Then place your wick into your vintage cup so that the wick just touches the bottom of the tea cup. The clothes pegs should now be balancing on the age of the tea cup rim so the wick stands up in your cup.

3) When all the wax is completely melted using a pot cloth so you don't burn your hands lift the tin can out of the water and carefully half fill your cup. Then move your cup to one side to cool down.

4) Repeat the process until either you run out of cups. You will need wax left over for the next step.

5) Once the wax is completely cold you will notice a dip has formed around the wick. Reheat the remaining wax you have left in your tin can. When the wax and when completely melted pour the remaining wax into your cups and fill them up. Leave the cups to one side to cool down again and completely set. Once set the candles are ready ready to use through out your house to enjoy.

www.emusupcycledgifts.com

The great thing about these candles is that after you have used them up you can either wash your tea cup and use them again for tea party's or you can make some new candles.

I hope you have as much fun making your candles I did mine. Please share with me some photos of the candles you make for your lovely home.

Arts & Craft Fair At Gorran Haven, Cornwall

Yesterday I had the great opportunity to take part in the Gorran Haven Arts and Craft fair.  For those of you who do not know Gorran Heaven, this little beautiful village is on the eastern point of the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, UK. It has it's own small quit beach and a lovely cafe selling freshly prepared home cooked meals. If you ever visit Cornwall this is a village I highly recommend you visit.   

      Here are some pictures of the lovely village and the views I was looking out on at the fair.

Although I have been doing several pop up shops recently this was my first fair with Emu's Upcycled Gifts this year  so I was a bit unsure of the lay out of the table and how to display my work to the best. Although the display worked well, there are a few things I am going to tweak and I have a few ideas on how making my display a bit more three dimensional. Any way this is what my display looked like. 

I had loads of fun at the Gorran Fair and met lots of interesting customers and other stall holders. I am now looking forward to my next fair in some more beautiful parts of Cornwall. 

Building The New Emu's Upcycled Studio

After moving into a temporary studio I have finally after 6 months in the planning moved into my new studio, which I designed to suit my needs. But the best bit the whole rebuild only cost me the price of wood stain as I used nothing but recycled items to create a great working space.

    My Husband and Son helping to paint the studio                                                 All finished

View from the door of the studio and my desk that I have had since I was 16 years old, shelves made from recycled wood 

Storage has always been a big thing as I like things to be organised so I re-used an old bathroom shelving unit and some old wood to create shelves. 

I also used the walls to create great shelving by running some recycled wood across gapes and underneath to store my books ect.... They work really well as they are just deep enough to hold everything in place.






I have loads of little pieces of fabric which I can never find in my fabric bin so I hung some string up and pegged the small pieces up on it. not only do they add color but also I now find it so much easier to put my hands on the small pieces of fabric.

My Grandmothers old chair takes pride of place in the studio next to the door. I sit here and design while the sun comes shinning in through the door. My children also love sitting on the chair with all their teddies while I work.

 I decorated the studio with hand made bunting made from recycled 1950's bed cover and some recycled fabric.





                I love the way the studio turned out and its a great bright space to work in. 

xxxxx

Home Made Jam

At Christmas I gave our friends and family some of my homemade jam and not only did every body enjoy it they all asked me for the recipe. So here it is:-

I found this great recipe in one on of my cook books bake with Rachel Allen (you can pick this book up from any great book shop) her recipe is easy to follow and has very little ingredients and your jam can be made within a hour just using your normal  kitchen utensils.

You Need

• 1kg granulated sugar
• 1kg fresh or frozen fruit berry's
• Juice of 2 lemons 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (350 Fahrenheit) or Gas mark 4. Place the sugar into a bowl in a ovenproof dish and place in the oven for 15 min to warm through.
2. Meanwhile, place the berry's with the lemon juice in a large saucepan set over a medium heat. Using a potato masher or hand blender, mash the fruit to the desired consistency of your choice. Turn up the heat, bring to the boil and cook for 2 min until juicy.
3.  Add the warm sugar to the berry's and stir until dissolved, then boil for another 6 min, stirring frequently. (If there is any scum on the top, (pink froth) skim it off with a slotted spoon and discard.) Remove the pan from the heat while you test the jam to see if its set. (see bellow on how to test the jam) If the jam hasn't set, boil for a min or so longer and test again.
4. Remove the pan from the heat, pot into sterilized jars and cover with lids or jam covers while still hot.

 Testing the Jam Has Set

To test whether your jam has set, put a teaspoonful on a chilled plate and place in the fridge. When the jam is cold, run your finger through the 'blob'. If a wrinkle forms in the skin on top then it is set.

This is jam is a great last minute gift or to make the day before your cream tea family/friends get together. 

I hope you have as much fun making your jam as I do. I look forward to hearing about how your jam making went.