Those that have been reading here for a while will be well aware of my total ineptitude at crafting.  It's not that I don't want to do it, I do.  I really do.  I'd love to be crafty yet alas I own not that effusive craft gene. You'd have thought that I'd have learned my lesson by now, especially following my entry to Country Baskets 'Festive Face off' competition.  Apparently not for here I am again, only this time i'm heavily pregnant with even less patience than usual willingly entering the Country Baskets Accessorize Yourself competition.

Our mission was to create a wedding accessory using a selection of items sent to us from Country Baskets to celebrate the upcoming wedding season.

Sounds easy enough.  Never mind getting the fears knowing how strong the competition was from last time and how the other entrants could basically outcraft me without even lifting a little finger.  Argh.  Why oh why do I do this to myself?

Then came the sheer terror of realising my inspiration had up and left.  I had no idea what I was doing.  As usual.

So I thought a little outside the box.  My main accessory anywhere is a child (or three and a bump) so seeing as they're my accessory I decided to make them look the part.

Voila, a dress fit for a wedding fairy or a flower-girl seeing as kitsch handmade weddings are growing in popularity.

In addition to the items that were sent I utilised my own hook and yarn to crochet the 'body' part of the dress.

To make this:

* Using double crochet I made the bodice part of the dress.  Usually this would be joined as a tube top, I decided not to crochet it closed.  Instead I used some of the heart printed ribbon to give a corset effect closure to the top.

*  I cute the voile/organza into lengths and then each length was halved length ways so the strips were narrower.

* Using the no-sew method of tutu making I attached the strips to the bodice and to make the straps.

* Binding together some flowers, butterflies and organza a small corsage was made and attached to the bodice.

* A few butterflies were then added to the waist to marry the bodice and skirt in style.

This is an entry into the Country Baskets 2014 Accessorise Yourself Challenge

Festive Face Off

If you read yesterdays post you'll realise by now that I'm possibly the least crafty person on the planet.  A garden fence is far more creative than I.  So why, you may ask, did I agree to take part in a craft competition?  One of the prizes is a cash donation to a charity.  So, even though I stand not a chance of winning, I'm ridiculing myself for your amusement for the chance to donate to a charity/

The wonderful people at Country Baskets sent me this delightful hamper full of craft bits and bobs to utilise in this challenge.  It's huge.  The items are absolutely gorgeous.

It's the kind of delivery that will make you 'Ooooh!' and 'Ahhhhh!' in delight.  In short, a crafters hamper of eden.  Sure I had ideas.  I had ideas a plenty.  I always have an abundance of ideas.  Ideas aren't the problem, my complete and utter lack of ability to execute them is where the problem lies.  So after five epic fails, 12 tantrums and much exasperation I finally created something that The Toddler didn't laugh at, too much.

Rustic Christmas Wreath

I'm sure there are far more technically correct and tidier ways of doing this, but here's how I fumbled together my rustic christmas wreath.

1. Using florists wire I twined it round until it made a circle-ish shape.  I ended up twining it round a fruit bowl seeing as an upturned washing basket didn't work out so well and may have ended up kicked into a wall, hard.  At this point, I remembered I don't have any wire cutters so had the sub-genius idea of just spending a small forever twining the wire round the circlet in some vague hope it would a) strengthen it and b) eventually run out.  That was until The Husband informed me that I could actually cut wire with his pliers.  Oh.  Great,

2. Using some ivory coloured ribbon I started to wrap this around the circlet to provide a more aesthetically pleasing frame.

3.  Using a mixture of florist wire and a glue gun, I made my way around trying awfully hard to look like I knew what I was doing and started to attach the decorations.

It sounds incredibly simple and would probably take any normal person a fraction of the time it took me.  It may be slightly rustic looking.  It's far from perfect.  However, it's one of the few handmade things that I've actually completed and thanks to the quality of materials at hand manages to disguise a great portion of my clumsy ineptness.  Due to it's flexible frame it can be both a traditional circle wreath or a quirky rustic heart shaped wreath.

To view some of my epic fails along the way to creating this feel free to have a look laugh *here*.

Some tips I picked up along the way:

* Be prepared.  Plan everything first.  Ensure you have the right tools before you start.

* Hot glue on the tip of your thumb, hurts.  A lot.

* Figure out how to insert a new glue cartridge before you start, not when you only have one spare hand.

* Plastic stems are incredibly hard to cut.

* Don't try and work with whole coils of wire, you will trip up, get tangled up and swear.  A lot.  Measure and cut what you need first.

* Have fun.  Accept it doesn't have to be perfect.  The beauty of making something yourself is that it can reflect you.  This obviously reflects my eclectic, random and somewhat messy nature.
* You don't have to be crafty to craft.
* If you're not a naturally intricate and neat type of person, refer to your creation as 'rustic' and 'charming' these labels hide a multitude of sins.

This is an entry into Country Baskets Festive Face Off competition.