Creeping Roses

Seems we're a slightly slower growing verity but growing we are! The Roses can now be found on Etsy! Currently both shops have the same listings but once i have had a chance to see what is selling best i may start changing them. 

Currently most viewed are

The Baby Clothes Cushions and 

 My favourite the Bird Side Tiara. 

It would seem the international community is focusing on weddings and babies! 

Forgive me Blog Friends for i have sinned....

It has been 5 months since my last blog! 
Life, surgery and a general regrouping has meant the Roses have been on hold. But no more!! I am back and chomping at the bit to get going. And i have. I thought i would ease you in with something soft and squidgy!!!
Some cushions i have been working on 

These two feathery friends aren't on sale just yet but were commissioned by one of my daughters Special Needs Group Organisers for her sons 21st (he loves owls!) once shes chosen the one she wants the other will go on sale, probably with a friend too, £14.50 each. In the mean time send me an email on folksy or comment here if your interested in something similar :D

This bright and lovely cushion made from a reclaimed shirt is sure to brighten up any living room, bed room or car. A great gift for a man too. Available now in my Folksy shop £12.50 +p&p. 

This one is available now but let me know if you would like something in a different print as i can source most things!! 

And something for the kids! This is a keepsake cushion from treasured baby clothes. Rather than keep them in a box for no one to see i will make your favourite baby grow or other garment into a little cushion with a pocket (where possible) for teeth to await their fairy collector. Each will be personalised with the child's name. Just send me the garment and will do the rest. A great new baby keepsake or 1st birthday gift. £10.00 + p&p

I promise not to leave it so long next time. xx

Busy Roses

After a brief pause in crafting the roses are budding with ideas again! Some lovely new items and some new directions for me to!! 

My love of vintage brooches and old jewellery has rather gotten the best of me and i have been hording for some time. I needed a new and exciting way to reclaim some of the larger and most special pieces so i've been experimenting with tiaras. Whatcha think?

I've been thinking witchy thoughts in preparation for Halloween too so we see the return of the mini witch hat fascinators, this time the hats are also handmade from recycled fabrics too!

So far they are unfinished so you select the fixing, comb, clip or headband :D

So pop into the Folksy store and check out these lurrvly new arrivals NOW! xx 

GOSH Charity Appeal update

The GOSH appeal is going well with lots of promises of games consoles and some great cash donations. A BIG thank you to everyone getting involved. 
I have added some toddler size handkerchief bibs to the shop and ones sold already. I will add some smaller ones too in the next week or so. I am aiming to get some measurements and make larger ones too, aimed at the special needs market, Chloe's condition seems to come with a long lived need to chew and that makes for a dribbly small person so I will try and make some older kids and teen sizes too. 

 

Fantabulous Wednesday to ya! :D

Karma: Pay it Forward

The lovely folks on Folksy have started a trend called Pay It Forward. I don't know if it started there but its becoming quite popular! It works on the basis of Karma really. One or two listings are made at the listing price of 20p (plus post & Packing), when you buy such an item you are asked to list something in your shop for the same or, for those non sellers, do something really nice for someone else, and so Good Karma is passed on. 
Its a lovely idea really and while the person buying is getting a total bargain the seller gets some more sales and further promotion of there wares, which can only be a good thing right!?! 
I listed my first Pay It Forward listing this week: 

Happy Tuesday. x

Its for charadee mate!!

HIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
So here i am, back again. :D  We've been reeealllllyyyyy busy. Moving and a trip to London with Chloe for some heart stuff that didn't go brilliantly but we're working on it!! 

We were at Great Ormond Street Hospital attending the Cardiac day ward and surgery for 3 days so the nice people there put us up at the Weston House Patient Hotel. Its all been built and run from the GOSH charity and provide vital accommodation to the day ward attendees and their families. While i was there i noticed a lack of really decent toys, book and games in the communal areas. When packing for the trip theres little room left for too many toys etc. So i decided to try and help by getting some donations of the few things they can take second hand and of cash for purchasing the things they can only take new. 

 Part of this cunning and marvellous plan was to introduce a GOSH kids range to my little Folksy store where the profits will go straight into buying said items. So thats what i've been doing the last few weeks, planning making and listing, here some of the ones so far. As interest manifests i shall be sure to add more! 

All modelled by the ever lovely, and seriously dribbly that day, Chloe! I know 'other' sellers have beautifully posed shots with smiling babies looking perfect but i thought these were so funny and, really, they sum up Chloe and what its all about! So nerr!

Pop in and have a look why dontcha! x

Roses on the move

Still not posting much i am afraid. We're right in the thick of the move now and should be sleeping in the new house by Monday, helpers allowing! 
No crafting taking place really except a new rug is beginning!! In our old flat the floors are laminate so the pink and green looked great. In the new house the carpets bottle green!!!!!! Not a great match so i just HAD to plan a new colour scheme, well it wouldn't be home if i didn't! So i am going for a peacock inspired look. 

 

The white basket drawers in the middle is my most favorite thing in the world and should be delivered on Saturday but in natural wood colouring. I got it for a whopping £200 less than the Cotswold Co charge on ebay. 

The rug on the bottom left will be circular again and made with much old denim that was going to the charity shop with the 4 other bin bags full after a major clear out.

So heres to a quiet, restful and productive space, once i've unpacked anyway!!  

Folksy Friday: Hobbies

Firstly, sorry, i have been very busy and not blogged. We are moving next week so there's been packing sorting organising on an epic scale, moving's difficult but doing it on your own as a single mum of an 'i like to unpack boxes' toddler is verging on the impossible!!!!

My craftings had to take a back seat to free up time for sorting everything out including listing our mountains of unwanted items on the dreaded e place but everything should pick up again soon. 
Its in the vain of crafts, well hobbies, this Folksy Friday as i am 1 missing it terribly and 2 because a friend of mine i met on facebook through the Mowat Wilson support group has been feeling she needs something away from kids and hospitals and family. I totally understand this as its exactly where Rags to Roses came from. A need for something for me and that didn't create waste or use too many resources both physical and financial!! 

So heres my top picks of hobby based lovelieness for Britney as a starting point to find your 'thing' :D

 1. Tim Irving Art Photography - No Fishing 10x8 Fine Art Photograph Signed
2. Farmers Daughter - Blackboard Flower Press
3. H is for - Sock monster making kit
4. Jill Holland - Marmalade and Jam making funnel
5. Jewellery making kits - Purple Love Jewellery making starter kit
6. Lemon Squeezy - Bunting making kit
7. Curious Things - Patch work cushion kit - boxes
8. Penelope Teapot - Cupcake Cross Stitch Kit
9. Lorna Bateman Embroidery - Swirls and Whirls Scissorkeeper kit
10. Stitch Kits - Tapestry kit - Home sweet home

Fascinating fascinators

Theres big ones, small ones, fat ones, thin ones, ones that wiggle and squirm (ok maybe not) I am rather taken with fascinators recently and am creating in the depths of Roses HQ whenever i have a spare minute or three! So far i have listed 3 on my Folksy shop that are 'proper' fascinators but i think quite a few of my items are fascinating!!!

Folksy Friday: Spring

So its nearly spring (no really it is!) so i thought i would devote the Folksy Friday to the most hopeful of seasons. 
We seem to be making a habit of moving in the spring here at Roses HQ with a move hopefully not to far away, new beginnings and all that. Hopefully this will be the last one for a while, somewhere quiet and peaceful with a garden, lovely. I am also on a diet (again!) and looking into courses to become a teaching assistant for children with special needs, so lots of newness and exciting times.

So here's some of my favorite spring inspired items

An obviously less than willing model but really cute none the less!! 

Little Miscreants – Spring Flower Beany Hat 

Lovely bowl for anywhere in the house, i think it would be my BBQ bread bowl 

Spring Chicken Bowl – Prince Design UK

This would suit my colour scheme lovely, hint hint!

Spring Green Light Catcher – Sugar Lips Glass

Give yourself a lift with this 

~Four Seasons~ Tourmaline & Copper Wire-Wrapped Tree of Life Pendant – Glorious Oak  

Upcycling at its loveliest!

Button Handbag – Emily Found a Thing 

Hang spring from your ears 

Turquoise bead rose and brass bird dangle earrings - Fly Home – One Sunny Afternoon

Smell spring in your home (even when its dark and grey)

Honeysuckle and Jasmine Candle – The Lime Garden

Wear spring on your chest (/bag/coat/hat/etc)

Spring Felt Brooch with Freeform Embroidery – Appliqué Originals

 Keep spring in your home with this lovely Green man

Catbird craft – spring Greenman

Hopefully thats brightened things up a bit! Now out into the drizzle....................