Wax Cloth Totes and Coordinating Zipper Pouches

I've been busy the past couple of weeks making some new bags for my upcoming Christmas Market and thought I would share my wax cloth collection with you as a little treat for the end of the week! I have totes that are lined in coordinating cotton fabrics with a side pocket and coordinating zipper pouches that are perfect to carry the essentials in.

The inside has two side pockets that are perfect for credit/business cards

Have a wonderful weekend!

J xx

Who loves zipper pouches?

I DO!!!  They are so practical to have around to carry all those little things that tend to get lost in the big bags that are now so trendy. Ladies and girls alike (and boys, too - think Legos...) can never have too many zipper pouches!! Which is why I've been busy sewing some for my Etsy shop and to start stocking up for Christmas, because we all know that it will be here before we can say "Boo" (wait that's Halloween...well, they do put Christmas stuff out in the stores at the beginning of October now don't they?!?!)!!

These pouches are the perfect size for travel-sized toiletries, a do-it-yourself card kit for a child, pens and a small sketch book... the possibilities are endless! 

If you find you have a few minutes, check out the rest of the bags I've made in my shop! More are cut and in my "to do" pile and will be listed as soon as they are completed. 

Happy Wednesday everyone!

J xx

Creative juices are flowing!!!!

I don't know about you, but I love it when the creative juices are flowing!! This generally happens to me more when I am under a bit of pressure...like having less than two weeks to go until the Christmas market....! YIKES! I've been a total machine this week, sewing drawstring bags and totes, making gift bags with a mix of paper and fabrics (stamped and appliqued), stamping and gluing lovely papers onto notebooks, creating altered clothespins with scrap papers, sandpaper and a bit of brown ink to make them look aged....and the list goes on! I only wish my body could keep up with my creative side :-)!

Here's a few pics that will hopefully get your creative juices flowing to get crafty for Christmas and also to join me at our market on 23 November!

Totes out of plastic tablecloth fabric:

Gift bags - paper with fabric and reusable fabric drawstring bags

Altered clothespins - you never know when you need something pretty to clip on a gift or hold something special!

Scrap fabric paper doll kits similar to this post

A few of my favorite notebooks made from IKEA notebooks, lovely papers and quotes from "100 Gathered Thoughts (For My Beautiful Child) & Papers for Brilliant Ideas and Laundry Lists", an awesome collection of quotes on old-fashioned looking lined paper.

Happy crafting!
J xx

Burlap and vintage post cards

I don't know about you, but I love things that have a vintage look and feel to them! I found the cutest holiday vintage post cards at an antique market in Paris and just had to use them for some Christmas cards! In order to be able to use the image multiple times, I scanned it and reprinted it in duplicate on cardstock. Here are the first two designs I made with them (I'm sure there will be more to come, too!).

 
I also made some burlap gift bags for my upcoming Christmas market using bits and pieces of fabric, velvet ribbon and vintage lace. I love how they turned out!! The big bags are about 9"w x 11"h and small ones are 4.5"w x 5"h.

Hope you are having a good start to the week!
J xx

Home Decor Fabric Clutches - first batch is done!

Hello!

Hope you are having a good start to the week! Yesterday was a holiday in Zurich and it turned out to be a spectacular day. The kiddos were off with friends so I had a nice day to myself to sew, stamp and go for a nice, long walk. I had to capture the magnificent view that I encountered on the trail at the end of my walk (this view is literally 2 minutes from our house...). We are truly blessed to live in such a beautiful country!

I was able to complete 4 of the home decor fabric clutches that I posted about here and wanted to share the results with you. The big ones in the back are about 10 in x 6 in while the fancy ones in the front are a bit smaller at 8 in x 6 in. All have a magnetic clasp to keep all the important bits inside the clutch. What do you think??

Home decor fabric clutch bags (size 8-10 inches wide by 6 inches high)

 

More to come soon! Have a great week!
J xx

Decor fabric clutches...the planning phase

Hello!!

It seems like I always start out my posts apologizing for being absent for a rather long period of time... So, today I'll just say "Hi there strangers!" instead :-)!

Life has been rather crazy lately with summer wrapping up, the kiddos starting back to school (yippppeee!), buying a holiday home in the mountains (double yippppeeeee!) and all the fun stuff that goes along with those things, so I do have to apologize for not posting for the past few weeks. We signed the papers for our new flat in Klosters on Monday and are going up tomorrow for our first weekend as "homeowners" in Switzerland! The kids have been so excited all week and keep asking if they can get sick so we can go up earlier and stay longer. Guess we should relish in their excitement as I doubt it will last when we are taking them on long hikes in the mountains or forcing them to go to ski school... I promise to do a post on our place once we get things set up (and maybe even include a tutorial on some of the things I want to do for it...)!

Anyway, I actually took some pictures tonight while I was playing with some home decor fabric I bought on my last trip to the US. I plan to make some cute little clutches using the fabrics and dressing them up with a variety of buttons, lace and trims from my stash of goodies. I loved looking through all my buttons again and had to get a pic of them on my table!

Here are a few pics showing my planning process of combining the fabrics with the liners and the various trims and buttons. I'll provide an update once I get them made. I keep wanting to do a tutorial at some point as well and maybe this will be it since I plan to keep these VERY SIMPLE!

Have a great weekend!
J xx

Travel tote bag

Hello!  So sorry for the lack of posts recently... Summer has been amazing in and around Zurich and we have been enjoying our days swimming at the lake, hiking in the beautiful mountains that are literally only minutes away and whittling away our time just hanging out with a good book.

My son went on holiday with his good friend from school and they went to the Canary Islands just off the coast of Africa. For those who do not know the islands, they are actually part of Spain in spite of being closer to Morocco. Well, what can one do to thank the parents for such a gesture of taking your child to a far away land for two weeks of living in luxury at a 5 star hotel, with beaches and swimming only minutes away???? I decided that for part of our thank you, I would make a travel tote bag with some of the awesome map fabric I have and embroidered with the flight path from Zurich, name and the year. Inside the bag we put a couple bottles of good Spanish wine, some books for my son's friend and a nice thank you card. It's not nearly enough to express our thanks, but I do hope they like it!

 
As it has been a bit rainy this week, I've also been able to get a few other small bags made that friends had ordered before the summer holidays started. Here they are:

Gray rose zipper pouch with pockets inside for cards

Baby blue and red polka dot coin/card pouch

I hope you've been having a good summer, too!
J xx