Handmade bag birthday present - tree of life

So my latest labour of love is a birthday gift for my mum. She's a total hippy; loves anything to do with nature, caring about our plant and animals, and wants World Peace!

It's the first time i'd made a bag and was definitely a learning curve, although i'm pleased with the end result. It's a strong little bag too, although my sewing machine went through a lot of punishment to get to the end!

I harvested a pair of my old jeans for the body of the bag, and spent most of the time patchworking and embroidering the main image. I used leftover fabrics and old zips for the rest.

I love the underside of the strap and I feel like I need to make some clothing with the same fabric - it looks gorgeous against the denim!

The main embroidered part of the bag. I patchworked a selection of fabrics for the background and then cut out the body of the tree from felt (below). I then embroidered over the top for more detail.

The felt tree cut out to gauge size and positioning of the background.

The main body of the bag was mostly made from patchwork denim.

The inside of the bag. I used more of that lovely fabric to make a small pocket and mobile phone pocket. I used old saved zips for both the pocket and main bag.

I hope my mum likes it! I think I want one for myself now...!

How to make handmade slippers in under an hour...

Yes really, in under an hour! These little slippers are so quick to knock up from fleecy fabric and they don't need hemming which makes the process even quicker. You'll have to excuse my camera work; I took pictures at the start and the end but sort of forgot to take some in the middle (!!). Anyway you get the idea...

Draw round feet

Cut them out - my son used the opportunity for some arty camera work!

Cut out your soles (you will also see at the top right some triangles - you can cut a rectangle in 2 on the diagonal to make 2 triangles. You will need 4 of these triangles - see the above diagram)

These slippers literally took me just over 1/2 an hour, but take an hour to get them just right. My son loves them calling them his "Elf Slippers"! 

Tea & toast and approaching spring mornings

Tea is one of those morning rituals that I love. Its one of those comforting moments when you can be still for a second before the mad dash about begins. 

This morning is a particularly lovely morning. Theres a feeling of spring approaching in the air.

Things I have made lately...

Well it has been a while since my last post! A whole new year has begun.

As with many creative types, often we get caught up in flurries of excitement with new projects taking our attention.

I have been busy, making things as usual, and with the new year under way I have come back with stories to tell of my crafty going-ons.

These are some of the little projects I have been getting on with...