Mad May Round Up III - A little late

I'm starting to see a pattern here - are you?

So - this is what I got up to this May......

A two tier Cake on the Venetian Theme.....

....complete with four sugarpaste masks, gondolas and canals.....

......and a sugarpaste replica of the Rialto Bridge.....

A cake for an 80 year old Birthday girl called "Nanny Duck Ducks" (sweet!)........

With a little Nanny DD enjoying her glass of red wine and cigarette whilst fishing......

......Neil Diamond playing gently in the background......

....Cheers!

A lego cake for my 7 year old's birthday.......

.....completed by said 7 year old's brother with little lego figures and vehicles.....

....and a whole lot of little dots.....

....lego biscuits...

....lego chocolate treats....

A monster Party for my 9 year old boy.....

....with felt monster friends for his little friends.....

.....and one of the easiest and most effective cakes I've ever made.....

....lots of sweets for the moster face cupcake creating.....

....and more than little Reu's fair share of cheese ball crisps.....

 ....and monster party ags and make your own slime pots which the children decorated with googly eyes and pipe cleaners.


And, lots more commissions and stock making, like this lovely little satchel.....

...and piles of colourful Bag Ladies....

....Hello Girls!

Pleased to meet you. xxx

Oh, and learning patchwork...which I think may be a quite addictive way to use my large stash of vintage sheets......

This month is no less busy - and I love it. ;0)  Thanks for stopping by and catching up. x

Jump onboard the Carousel!

It's kind of appropriate that at the beginning of May I should be spending the afternoon dressing my shelf at the newest and prettiest little shop in town; The Carousel in Chichester.

May is always a mad month for us here and this year will be no different.  Two birthdays and the party works that go with those (including a Lego cake for Mr 7 year old this year),  will be threaded into a rather significant and fairly complicated two tier cake for a customer, a rather significant room change in our house, which will in fact be almost like moving house I think, and possibly another cake at the end of the month.  This is on top of celebrating our youngest Little Man's 3rd birthday last week, with his request of an "RT-Two One" cake (in his words).

What a lovely way then, to start the month.  Welcomed with a cup of tea by Iris, the lovely shop owner,  I set about placing all my bits and pieces on my shelf....."My Shelf!"  It feels really quite special.

Great Aunt Mabel has escorted her gaggle of "Bag Ladies" to their shelf and is now sitting pretty in the window alongside one of my colourful quilts.  

 If you live anywhere near Chichester, this little gem is really worth a visit.  Bursting with oodles of vintage goodness and hand crafted scrumptiousness, it's somewhere I would happily spend the day...or more!

Cinnamon Kids

Pretty things from Olive Homeware and Vintage Darlings

Nock Nock Homeware

I feel really quite chuffed to have my things in there, sitting alongside makers and Vintage collectors I have admired, such as Winter's Moon and Big Bird's Boutique.

Iris has curated a vibrant mix of makers and collectors, all selling the very best of their wares in a beautiful old, characterful building.  The first time I set foot in there, I knew Redeem Creations would be at home.

Gorgeous little brooches from Something More Exciting

Vintage Cinnamen

Something More exciting

The attention to detail in this place shows Iris's keen eye and even the changing room at the back of the shop is a sunny little spot, complete with vintage patchwork curtain.  How could you fail to fall head over heals in love with this shop?!

I have put a couple of my new satchels in the shop too; one Princess and the Pea bag, using one of my new illustrations, and a Red Riding Hood one too.  I hope you like them!

 Even more wonderful was what greeted me when I returned home; 5 boys, ready to jump in the car and a hubby with Trug basket full of flasks of tea and drinks to take up to our favourite place on top of Bury Hill, via the chip shop, for a magical Spring Tea overlooking the Downs.  He's an amazing man.  I think I'll keep him.

So, I am a very happy, and very tired bunny tonight and I am off to have a glass of wine and the rare treat of telly before bed.

Redemption

I made my first small batch of bags ten years ago this year, the first being made from the off cut hem of a bridesmaid's dress I had worn at my younger Brother's wedding. (Pictured are my most recent, including this mother and toddler matching pair.)

I had a baby under a year old, and a part time job as a Learning Support Tutor at the Art College where I had done my Foundation course 8 years earlier.

I booked a table at a friend's small event, alongside jewellery by Cred and Phoenix cards and people seemed interested in the bags and even bought a few!  We were newly married and didn't have much money, or room in our home and my creative space was a converted cupboard! (Which regularly spilled out onto the dining room table - nothing changes!) The idea of making beautiful things from what others had no more use for seemed both economical and ethical.  I had also always been interested in the idea of looking at things for their potential, not their past.  This went for everything from old buildings, discarded tin cans and cigarette packets (a regular feature in my degree work as I picked them up on my cycle ride to the studio!), old books and letters and of course.....fabric!

It also ran deep in the way I felt about people.  So often in this life, we write people off, because of something stupid they have done, or the life they have led.  There's infinite goodness in everyone we meet though - even the ones most detested by society.  And even me.

So, I guess the idea of bringing abandoned and forgotten things into the work that I do and the things I make is a reminder that there's always something new to be made from something old.  The perseverence of the saints (you and me) is made up of new beginnings and I have needed a great many so far in this life.

I am so energised by the recent turn my work is taking towards incorporating my Fine Art training into the every day useful items I make and with the new art work labels I have been making to accompany them.  It feels fantastic to be painting again in my illustrations and to be creating mixed media work in miniature with scraps of fabric, old stamps and various papery bits and pieces!

So, if you didn't know why it's called what it is, that's why.  Redeem Creations.