Pricing is always a tricky subject

After much thinking and re-thinking and checking and re-checking.... I will have to put my prices up in the New Year.  The cost of my materials has increased, which obviously affects the price....but, also, I spend ages and ages patiently snipping the curves and corners of each softie so that you receive as beautiful cushion as is humanly possible.  Don't you think that it is time to reflect how long it takes me to make each cushion a little bit better?

So, if you are looking to purchase a softie at my current prices, please do so before the end of the year.  From 1 January my prices will be changing.

Exciting News!

Have you heard about Etsy House?  Do you know what it is?  Well, Etsy UK have pulled together a bunch of UK sellers and will be selling their goods for 3 days in Covent Garden in a Pop Up Shop.  You can read a little more about it here.

....my exciting news...?

I, well, some Two Little Flowers products, will be there too!  Actually, I will be there too, for a visit and to check out the other sellers.  Maybe even doing a little of my own Christmas shopping...

It has been a mahoosive effort in getting all my items printed, made and ready to ship.  I am almost finished.  Almost...  All sellers goodies have to be shipped this next week.  I am trying not to panic!

Peg Doll Swap

It's been a while... I've been on Instagram...

Anyhow.  I recently signed up for a peg doll swap with Margaret of We Bloom Here  {Thanks Margaret - it was SUPER fun!}.  May kind of whizzed by and I only posted off my little dolls this week.  Terrible, I know!

I'd like to show you what I made.  Would you like to see?

I call them Pixie Puffballs.

My swap partners were very lucky to receive them (well, when the postman delivers them...)  Chloe tried to make a run with them.  All of them.  The little monster!

They were so easy to make.  A little 12mm wood bead for the head.  A few dowel caps glued on for buns.  A lick of paint for hair, a dab of paint for her face.  Flower stamens for her head.  Pom-poms for her chubby little self.  Done!

I strung them on to a narrow ribbon and tied a little loop on each end.  I figure that they would make a cute door decoration or look quite sweet nestled in between pictures on a wall.

I hope that Aimee and Ronnie love them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Birthday & Spring

Here in the UK Monday is our Spring Bank Holiday.  It's suppose to be a lovely day too....

Next Sunday is my birthday.  It appears that I will be sharing it with Mothers Day again too.  Well, Mothers Day in South Africa and America at the very least.

So, to celebrate the weather improving, long weekends and my birthday here is a little gift from me to you - 20% off in either of my shops with the code SUNNY20.  The code is good until I remember to disable it on Monday 13 May.

As always, if you see something you like in the tlf shop and there are no postage options for you, you have 2 options 1) drop me a note and I will fix it ASAP, or 2) purchase with postage as collection and I will sort postage out with you via Paypal afterwards.

Wherever you are....have a fantastic day!  

Iron on Glitter

Is there anyone on this planet that doesn't like glitter?

Recently, I went searching for some iron on glitter.  I really only wanted a little piece to decorate Ava's birthday dress.  As is so often the case, I ended up buying 4m of the stuff!  The shop I found it at only sells by the metre and the postage to product cost ratio made absolutely no sense to buy any less.

I ended up buying 2 lengths of the glitter version: gold and purple and 2 lengths of the sparkle version: pink and purple.  It is 50cm wide, so this stuff is going to last a looooooong time!  There were so many other iron ons to choose from - flock, metallic, neon....  It was hard to limit myself to just a few.  But, sparkles is what I was after so sparkles is what I bought.

** Something worth mentioning: they say that their vinyl is intended to be fixed with a heat press, not a domestic iron.  I say that I have washed and scratched at the glitter version and it is staying stuck.  Do what you like with their guidance, at your own risk **

Ok...so this is how I did the '4'.

Print your template and tape it to the vinyl.  The glitter vinyl has a clear vinyl over the top of the glitter.  Keep that on until after ironing.  I used my rotary cutter to slice the straighter lines.  I think that my rotary blade is a little sharper after cutting this!

This is what the back side looked like after cutting with my rotary blade.  I then peeled the template off and cut the curvy corners and edges with my scissors.

Take your bits to your ironing board and position your neatly cut vinyl piece where you want it.  Crank your iron up to its maximum heat setting (assuming that you are ironing on to natural fabric).  Place a thin piece of plainly woven cotton fabric over the top - you want lots of heat to get through that fabric layer.  My 4 was perfectly sized to sit under my iron without needing to slide the iron around to cover all edges, so I placed my iron over my 4 and counted to 15.  My 15 count was probably quicker than 15 seconds.  For extra sticking security, I then slid my iron around the 4 for a few more seconds.

While your glitter vinyl is still hot, peel back the clear topping (please excuse that chipped purple finger nail!).

*Optional: run around the house with crazy excitement showing everyone your amazing glittery fabric*

For the sparkle vinyl, follow the same steps, except that it doesn't have a clear top layer, so no peeling is necessary.  Also, if your iron is like mine and has indents on its ironing surface - keep the iron moving when sticking your transfer down.  My iron has circle indents and I ended up with a strange ghost bubble on the heart transfer.  A little more ironing and most of it went away - but not all of it.

I like the glitter vinyl much more than the sparkle vinyl. The glittery one has a much softer handle on the fabric; the sparkly one is very 'vinyl' when it is ironed on.

The 4 dress was intended to be a birthday present - Ava turns 4 in 2 weeks time.  But, little miss eagle eyes saw me sewing and then stalked me to finish it so that she could wear it.  Seriously - she walked around pretty much naked for the last 20 mins of me sewing and ironing!!!  I guess now I have to come up with an alternative birthday dress plan!

Her heart dress is a dress that I made ages ago.  Now it has an obvious front to it, to help her put it on the right way around :)

Have you played around with any fancy iron on vinyls - metallic...flocked....others?  How did you find them?

************************************* Edited to add....actually the sparkly version also has a clear top to it.  We only noticed about 4 hours after Ava put her dress on this morning that there was a clear peel-able layer there!  So actually - the sparkly version isn't as stiff as I originally thought.  It still doesn't have as soft a handle as the glitter version, but it is much, much better than my original impression ************** 

Almost 10 days - Whoops!

I've been a bit slack here lately.  Probably because I have become a little bit Instagram obsessed...much to Flower Daddies disgust.  But, there is just so.much.to.see there!!!  Have you been on?  Who are your favourite people to follow?

Chloe has also been sick for almost 2 weeks.  Some kind of virus targeting little children - flu-like symptoms with an added bonus of crippling lethargy and exhaustion.  Poor little chicken.

Here are a few IG pics of what has been going on around here lately.

I made Ava 6 pairs of panties from this pattern.  She totally loves them...and her little buns look so cute in them!

We have been attempting to grow veggie seedlings from seed.  This picture shows radishes, spinach and beans.  We have also planted lettuce, tomato, courgette, cucumbers and mielies.  Unfortunately, the spinach seems to be pegging off...

I sent off my fabric swap panels - all 3 panels went west over the seas.

....and have received 1 panel in return so far.  Cute, right?

I made this pouch, which I will soon be selling as a pouch or cross-body bag or shoulder bag - your choice!

I finished this little ripple doll blanket.  Waaaaaay early, for Ava's 4th birthday next month.  I used leftover yarn from the human sized blanket...which is still very much an ongoing project!

I begged found time to print a few panels of white petals, which I am rather smitten with at the moment.  When the light is kind I will take a few photo's and get these panels listed in my shops.

And Today, we made these little rainbow crayons in a mini muffin tin.  Less than 144 crayons made 24 little rainbows of fun.  They are intended to be party favours at Ava's very first birthday party!

Have a fantastic Easter and long weekend.  Eat too much chocolate.  Get up late.  Wear pyjamas until lunch time and enjoy being surrounded by family...!

PS - you can find me on instagram at twolittleflowers :)

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Every man and his dog has had a go at making their own vanilla extract....so I figured that it was time I did too!  Besides, I hunted and hunted and hunted for the right bottles, the right vanilla and the right vodka - all at a relatively decent price.  Maybe you want that info too?

The pics are blurry, I am still having real trouble getting my not so new camera to agree with me.  Sorry; you will get over it I am sure.

I really thought that it would be a *cheap* project.  Not so much!  The ingredients were each quite expensive.  But, it is worth it - I now have a gazillion (21 really) ready made presents just sitting and waiting for unsuspecting recipients.

It is simple.  All you do is cut the bean in 2, then slit each half in half length ways so that all the little beans are exposed.  Keep one end of the pod halves attached.  Put your sliced and slit beans in bottles and cover the beans with vodka.  I used 2 pods per bottle.

I believe that it is also possible to make extract with other hard liquor - if you have a huge stash look into using it, the internet is your friend.  The beans need to be kept covered with the vodka, otherwise they will dry out.  They also say that the beans need to soak for something like 6 weeks before using the extract.  The longer they soak the better it gets.

We sloshed some vanilla into our weekend latte - it was yummy, except that we could taste the vodka (ick!).  I am waiting for some of the bottles to mature a little more, then I am going to move the beans around so that I have more beans in a bottle - to get a stronger vanilla extract.

About the stickers - there are so many free printables online for these.  I ended up downloading a ready made sticker page, then, never happy with things as they are, decided I needed to add to it.  So, my stickers have a recipe for Vanilla Biscuits on one side and instructions on the other.  If you would like a copy, drop me a note and I will e-mail you the sheet.

Now...you really want to know about my supplies, don't you?  Here we go then:

8oz/227ml sauce bottles - £17 for 39 bottles

Vanilla pods - £16.50 for 50 premium Madagascan pods

Humungous 1.5l bottles of vodka from Costco - can't remember how much they were, but they were a little bit cheaper than elsewhere.  Cheap, cheap vodka is just fine.

If you have made vanilla extract, let me know what worked for you.  I'd love to hear.