Shoes, Bags and a Bit Of Dressmaking

Well I'm not really a girly girl but this post will probably make me look like one!

As most men will tell you women have a thing for handbags and I must admit I have a bit of a bag problem.  Not ordinary handbags though, I love camera bags!  I even use a non-padded Crumpler bag as my work handbag.

The problem I have with my camera bags is they are not always suited to just carrying about without advertising the fact that I have a camera with me, and in addition to that I usually end up taking another handbag with me.  That was until this morning when this came into my life:

a Jill-e for Pentax ladies camera bag.

Jill-e make bags, but like all ladies camera bags they are quite expensive and aren't widely available in the UK so when I saw this brand new on e-bay for £40 I knew I had to have it.  (It's not from the Jill-e range it's one they designed for Pentax cameras.)

It's padded and has compartments inside so I can fit my camera, lenses, flash and also my day to day stuff in there like my phone, purse etc (which I often struggle with in my other bags):

I also had another parcel to collect this morning, which totally reinforces the female stereotype; new shoes.

I stumbled across Afeitar's blog when I was looking for cupcake recipes and have been following it ever since.  As well as posting about food and baking she also blogs about the cute outfits she wears.  One of her entries was about some lovely shoes she had bought in Duo.  

When I failed to find some new shoes in town I decided to check out Duo online and I'm so glad I did because I found these in the sale:

They were reduced from £80 to £20 so I couldn't resist.

A girly post wouldn't be complete without a frock so in true Blue Peter style here's one I made earlier:

It's a dress I made (and blogged about earlier in January).  This is the final finished version with the zip in and hemmed.  It's from a Vogue pattern (ref v8470).

I wore it to a vintage dancehall event last weekend and I am pleased to report it survived the evening and remained intact.  I also used the event to practise my photography skills and I managed to get a few decent shots.  This is one of my favourites which is of the dance teachers in action:

I also have this event to blame for me going hunting a camera [hand]bag as at one point in the evening I managed to velcro my camera bag to the netting on my underskirt.  Well that's my excuse for needing a bag and I'm sticking to it.

Thanks for looking.

Ruthie x

Birthday Card and A Bit Of Beading

Here's a couple of recently completed crafty projects.  First up is a birthday card I made for my friend:

Please excuse the poor photos.  They were taken in my kitchen after it had gone dark (roll on summer!)

Ingredients:

Dies: Cuttlebug butterfly and alphabet; Sizzix ticket: Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle.

Felt and button from Paper and String

Mini bulldog clip from Wilkinsons

Ribbon, flower and brad from stash

Papermania birthday stamp

Papers from GCD studios (Homespun Chic)

I've also done a tiny bit of beading and made a couple of these:

One has gone to a fellow crafter/blogger and mine is going to be attached to my camera bag.

As well as making camera themed charms I have been using my real camera and keeping up with my project 365, although I am a bit behind with updating my 365 blog!  I must admit its a bit of a struggle to get pictures with the dark evenings but I'm hanging in there (and learning a lot about using flash). 

Yesterday I got the chance to get out and about with my camera and I went for a walk with a friend and her very cute dog.  Despite thick fog and frost I managed to get a few reasonable shots.  My favourite, and therefore my 365 for yesterday is this one:

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

Work In Progress: The Sewing Machine's Out Again!

After the (reasonable) success of my races dress last year (here), I decided to get the sewing machine out again.  The Vogue pattern I made the dress from has a number of variations on it so I've decided to have a go at the halterneck style. It's not going too badly and all it needs now is a bit of finishing and the zip going in:

The spots are actually red, but I was messing with effects in Vignette so they've come out pink on the pic.

I must confess there is a big underskirt on the mannequin which I didn't make.  It's one I bought with another 1950s style dress.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of you.  Hope you had a lovely time over the festive season.

I've no excuse for my recent absence, except for being a bad blogger!  It has to be said I've also been quite a bad crafter and my mojo had very much left the building!   Even Christmas card production was very limited this year.  Why do you always get the urge to do Christmas cards in August and then it evaporates by mid October?

Anyway, it's a New Year and I will craft.  To prove it here's my first card of 2011.  Nothing spectacular, but hey I made it!

Ingredients: Scruffy teddy die cut from ebay, K&CO paper, Cuttlebug red tag sale alphabet dies.


As well as venturing into my craftroom (briefly), I've also started another project and blog.  I've finally jumped on the bandwagon and started a photography 365 (photo a day) project.  If you are interested in photography take a look here The Crafty Blogger's 365.  If you are doing a 365 yourself please leave a comment over there as I'd love to take a look.