Winter Animals Christmas Bunting

In my last post i showed you this pic as a little teaser of some of the new range of festive bunting i've been working on, i hope you enjoy it in its full glory! :)

Winter Robins Bunting

My winter wonderland collection started a couple of years ago with a range of hand painted baubles.

Last year i adapted the range into six designs which i used on fabric,

Christmas cards,

and printable craft paper.

This year i thought i'd add some festive bunting so i played around with the design print size a bit to create a string of winter robins bunting,

and one featuring all three Winter Wonderland animal designs.

They are available as a six flag string for £9 from my Etsy shop (i'm also happy to take custom requests for different lengths).

Watch this space next year for some more additions to the range! (There's also a couple more bits to show you next week :))

What have you been working on? I'm off on my regular trip over to Handmade Monday now to find out! x

Merry Christmas Gift Tags

Hi all, it seems ages since i've written a post but i didn't want to start inundating you with Christmassy things too early... (and seeing as that's all i've been making recently i had nothing else to show you!)

However, with November gathering momentum it feels like the right time to start thinking about the festivities ahead next month so here's a peak at what's new in my Etsy shops.

Merry Christmas Gift Tags

I thought it would be fun to make a few simple gift tags this year - my personalised tags are always popular but sometimes you want something inexpensive that you can just pop on any gift to make it a bit Christmassy don't you? I do anyway!

I used Spoonflower to print the fabric, then stitched each 'Merry Christmas' to a hessian backing and attached twine hanging loops.

They come as a set of five in a choice of red on white or white on red,

and are available now from my Etsy shop priced £3.99.

Also in the works is a new range of Christmassy bunting  - more on that soon but for now, here's a peek!

What have you been up to this week? As always i look forward to checking in with Handmade Monday to find out! x

Star Baker Stars On Children In Need And 'Be Merry' Rustic Christmas Decor

Its been an exciting week for Free Spirit Designs as i had a special request from the BBC for some of my hand painted ceramic 'Star Baker' stars to give out to some very cute little bakers in Children In Need night - it was super exciting to see my handiwork on the tele! I also got some lovely feedback from the researcher who ordered them so i'm chuffed with that :)

You might be interested to know that she found the stars via a blog post i'd written about them rather than from any of my shop listings - it just goes to show, you never know who might be reading your blog!

Back to all things Christmassy and the rustic vibe continues... as always, i look forward to hearing what you think of this week's makes! 

Rustic Christmas Wine Bottle Gift Bag

When is a bottle of wine not just a bottle of wine...?

When it comes in a lovely handmade gift bag! Well, that's the theory anyway :)

The bag is decorated with an applique hessian 'Be Merry' banner, with one of the snowflake fabrics from my Winter Wonderland collection as a background.

It comes with a lovely handmade tag too, with the snowflake fabric on the front, a layer of hessian in the centre, and a brown paper writing surface on the back.

The price is £7.50 for bag with tag and its available now from my website and Etsy shop.

Be Merry Rustic Christmas Banner

Still on the 'Be Merry' theme, i've made this cheery banner too.

It would be perfect for hanging on a mantle piece, beam or book shelf, anywhere you want to create a warm Christmas spirit :)

It is priced £15 and is available now from my website and Etsy shop.

I'm particularly pleased with the Christmas puddings, i love the different textures of the fabric, especially the faux suede that makes up the pudding bit which has a nice rich shine to it, perfect for a Christmas pudding!

I'd quite like to make some more things featuring these little puddings if i find the time, any bright ideas of what they would work well on?

That's it from me for another week, lots of  Christmas orders coming in now so i'm off to work on some of them - not before i take a trip to Handmade Harbour to find out what everyone else has been up to though! See you there! x

Rustic Christmas Decor For Handmade Monday

Hi folks, i'm contunuing the rustic Christmas theme with some applique banners this week, looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Rustic Christmas Banners

I started out with the holly and leaf design pictured at the top of the post. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most effective aren't they, the polka dot linen holly and bright red applique berries against the textured hessian really capture Christmas for me :)

This set of bunting is priced £10.99 and is available now from my website and Etsy shop, as is the leaping deer set i made next...

I love a bit of tartan at Christmas, perhaps its my Scottish roots :) 

The final set is a little bit different, the flags are the same size at the others (18cms from base to point) but this time there are nine of them. Each has an applique snowman in white organic cotton canvas with a letter stitched to the centre - all together they spell out 'let it snow'. 

I've added bobble hats for a bit of fun and i rather like the cheeriness of this set.

Like the others it is available now from my website and Etsy shop, priced £15.00.

Christmas Newsletter

In other news, the Free Spirit Designs Christmas Newsletter was published this week!

Lots of lovely ideas for Christmas gifts and decor - click on the pic if you fancy a peek. To subscribe to the Free Spirit Designs quarterly newsletter and stay up to date with new products and special offers, just click the 'subscribe' button on the top left of the page.

What have you been up to this week? I'm looking forward to hearing all about it over at Handmade Harbour, see you there! x

Personalised Christmas For Handmade Monday

Did everyone remember to put their clocks back last night? Lovely as it was to have an extra hour in bed this morning its going to be a shock to the system when it gets dark so much earlier :/ it really makes it feel like 'proper winter' doesn't it, although we still have a few summer flowers blooming in the garden!

More Christmassy makes to show you this week, this time a focus on fun ways to create a personalised Christmas.

Ceramic Chalkboard Decorations

I'm a fan of chalkboards, i think they're really fun and i've been known to have a go at applying chalk board paint to just about everything over the years :)

It occurred to me this year that creating little ceramic chalk board decorations might be fun for Christmas,

and i'm really pleased with the results! All three have a red and white theme. The heart and star have a stripy boarder painted in porcelain enamel paint and are plain white on the reverse side.

They could be used as gift tags, tree decorations, table place settings - anywhere you want to add that personal touch. They'd also make fun stocking fillers i think.

The bauble has a gingham ribbon to match the others but no painted boarder providing a bit more surface area to decorate.

Sticks of regular chalk or chalk marker pens can be used on these decorations and they can easily be cleaned with a wipe from a damp cloth.

They are available now from the Free Spirit Designs website and Etsy shop priced £7.99 each. I look forward to hearing what you think!

Personalised Rustic Gift Tags

I've also included some personalised rustic name tags in my shops this year.

They feature gorgeous polka dot linen and can be personalised with a name of your choice, hand painted on a central hessian panel.

They're perfect for adding that personal touch to gifts and stockings and at £1.20 each they are affordable for most budgets.

They are also available now from the Free Spirit Designs website and Etsy shop.

Nordic Style Christmas Tree Ornaments

Last but not least i want to show you this pair of quirky, nordic style, free standing tree decorations. I know they don't really fit with today's theme of personalisation but they are one of a kind!

I made them with a patchwork of scraps from some of my red and white Winter Wonderland prints. As regular readers will know, i'm a big fan of this kind of random style patchwork, i think their is something very homely about it :)

The taller one is 25cms tall, and the shorter is £18cms. Each is finished with a star on top,

and a Free Spirit Designs label on the base.

They are stuffed with wool which i've packet less tightly towards the bottom to avoid a rounded base. They stand up quite happily and can be re-shaped with a bit of a squeeze if needs be.

I'm selling them as a set of two, priced £18, available now from the Free Spirit Designs website and Etsy shop.

That's all from me for another week! What have you been up to? I'm off to Handmade Harbour to find out :) thanks for dropping by! x