Kirstie Allsopp's Handmade Christmas Fair Giveaway

Hey Readers, I have a great opportunity for one of you to win a pair of entry only tickets in association with Mollie Makes to Kirstie Allsopp's Christmas Handmade Fair! in Manchester Central, November 20-22. 

Grand Group Makes all together

Wonderful stalls and shopping!

You can choose which day you want to attend, there are masterclasses, talks, brilliant stalls and some great Christmas inspiration. 

The fair features appearances from some crafting heroes and heroines of mine: 

Annie Sloan, Kitten Grayson, Zeena Shah, Jane Means, The Ministry of Craft, Lucy from Attic 4, Corrie’s Martin Platt (Sean Wilson) who is now a cheesemaker - and Kirstie of course! 

Beautiful details and design across the fair!

If you want to be in with a chance of winning the tickets to this brilliant Christmas event, just tweet me @harrietdewinton using the hashtag #harrietschristmasgiveaway and share your favourite Christmas Craft Project. 

The winner will have their name drawn out of the pom pom hat on Friday 6th November. I will contact you over Twitter to arrange your prize!

Here's a great Christmas Craft project of my own to get you in the mood. I know Kirstie loves pompoms,  so this will be right up her street.

Kirstie and the world record breaking pompoms!

As a contributor to the Mollie Makes Christmas Issue, I am thrilled to be able to offer a reader two entry only tickets to the Handmade Christmas Fair in Manchester 20-22 November at Manchester Central.

This is a cute take on the classic bobble hat, I've seen them all over the place on the highstreet but thought it was a prime opportunity to teach you all how to make pom poms or…just to jog your memory from Junior School.

Do you remember making pompom robin Christmas decorations at primary school? You’d bring it home and your parents would have to feign joy at their little cherubs effort and then hang it on their Christmas tree for the next 15 years. 

This is a classic black and white combo, but why not mix it up and add more pompoms!

You will need:  

• Ball of black wool
• white plain beanie
• Cardboard (a cereal packet will suffice) 
• Knitting hook  
• Scissors
• Needle and thread to attach finished pompoms 

How to:

1. Draw and cut out 2 cardboard rings.  Follow our pattern as a guide. 
2. Cut a length of wool about 2 metres long and fold in half.
3. Tie the2 cardboard rings together with the length of wool and continue wrapping this length of wool around the 2 rings. Feed the wool through the hole in the middle of both rings each time. 
4. Continue this process, cutting new lengths of wool as the last runs out.  Use the knitting hook to pull the wool though as the hole becomes full.
5. Once you cannot pull any more wool through the centre of the ring, cut all the way around the outer edge of the ring.
6. Wrap a length of wool between the 2 cardboard rings and tie a few tight knots. These will secure all the wool in place.
7. Tear the 2 cardboard rings to remove them from the centre of the pompom.
8. Trim the pompom to size.

Good luck!

DIY Tutorial: Golden animal place name holders

I saw this idea on pinterest a while ago and feel head over heels in love for it.

Found on onewed

These from Bridal Musings

And these from Sugar and Cloth blog

 It seems like a beautifully detailed and clever project, whilst being relatively simple to do and not all that expensive.

Annoyingly, I didn't seem to have any toy animal figurines knocking about - and that's even after raiding mum's attic for things to sell at a car boot sale last week.  Therefore I went to Amazon and picked up  a few packs of these.

The first step is probably the trickiest. Cutting a slice in the back of the toy to sit the card.

Elephant modelling the 'half body cut'

You could choose between clamping the toy and using a saw, or heating a knife and melting/cutting through the plastic. You just want to cut half way down through the body. Either way, both are potentially hazardous, please do so with care and suitable supervision.

 Serious part over...or is it? Now time for the toxic chemicals! Gold Spray Paint - again this is a case of just being sensible. Spray in a well ventilated area on a protected surface. Let the animals dry, turn them over and fill in the gaps with one last spray. Leave to fully dry.

Add caption

They look pretty magnificent once dried. Then you can slot a place card in, sit back and wait for the praise and glory.

Alice in Wonderland Shoot for Specsavers Kids

All those rather mysterious Alice in Wonderland themed projects can finally be unmasked in the shape of the latest Supersavers Kids magazine. I styled and illustrated the cover and main set piece for the Spring Summer 2015 issue.

The first job was to design the looks for Alice, the Queen of Hearts, Mad Hatter and White Rabbit. We have 4 fantastic 6/7 year  old models who had a great time on the day. Our Alice outfit was a particular favourite as I thought a bit outside the box and came up with this slightly dreamy floral dress from John Lewis.

The brief was to dress them in clothes they would want to wear; looking clearly like the character without looking like fancy dress.

The Queen of Hearts' outfit was largely from H&M and Doc Martins from John Lewis. Her crown headband was a particular favourite with the adults on the shoot!

on the shoot with Milo and Oli.

Can you spot the playing card bow tie and collar from previous blog posts? Alice's hair bow also makes an appearance.

We set up the shoot the night before which gave us lots of time to play with flamingoes and cupcakes!

Then came the illustration part. After settling on handpainted watercolour style (which is obviously my favourite!) I created a wonderland esque backdrop for both the cover and double page spread.

White Rabbit late for an important date

starting to add colour to the double page spread

adding in flamingoes all over the place. 

 The Magazine is out in the shops now. The project was managed by Specialist UK

de Winton Paper co has launched!

I have been busy starting my new venture, the de Winton Paper co. You will have read about my blog posts to Seville and the general connecting of paper themed ideas, hence the de Winton Paper co was born. I have had a wonderful introduction into the Wedding Industry world and made some new friends. Particular mention must go to The Little Wedding Helper (Kirsten) and Ruth Garner Photography (Ruth) who took me under their wing and have guided me through where to advertise, how to exhibit, and all the navigations of wedding industry etiquette!

I am featured in the National Wedding Guide Directory, as well as The Wedding Secret and am starting to feature my work in styled shoot for blogs and magazines.

I was thrilled to be featured on the beautiful blog, The Paper Bride

They featured my most popular range to date, the Botanical range. 

But all this stationery came from humble beginnings, from lusting after note cards and simply loving the art of letter writing. Therefore, I also have an Everyday Stationery range which you can find on the main de Winton Paper co site, and on my little Etsy shop. 

The blog's instagram account now links to the de Winton Paper co Instagram feed as it now covers both the behind the scenes at photo shoots as well as what is going on in the paper workshop.

I hope you will join me in this new chapter and maybe even buy some of the products that have developed slowly and surely as this blog has evolved.

Paper Goods never go out of style.

How to make good Rabbit Ears: Alice in Wonderland photoshoot styling

You may think my title a bit arrogant, but I can't tell you how many hideous rabbit masks I have come across styling this shoot. So creepy. I ended up making this just in case...!

It's a useful one to know as it's so adaptable and I have been surprised at the number of times I have required animal ears of some sort in recent years.

You will need:

• 1/4m luxury white faux fur (good quality stuff is SO much better to work with and looks more realistic.)
• 1/4m pale pink felt
• florist's wire
• sharpie
• dressmaking scissors
• pattern paper (or a piece of paper large enough to make a template
• needle and white thread
• all purpose glue

How to do it:

1. Fold a piece of pattern paper in half and draw your ear shape on it. Cut out and you will have two mirror image templates for your ears.
2. Place your fur right side down, place each template on the fur and draw around.
3. Cut out the fur leaving a 1.5 cm seam allowance all the way round.
4. Shape your wire to follow the line of the template, leave the ends protruding out of the bottom. sew this wire in place all around the template line. 
5. Use your paper templates again to make inner ears out of the pink felt. Make sure you get two mirror image ears again. Draw around with the sharpie and cut out.
6.  Glue your piece of felt on top of the wrong side of the fur. It will cover the wire. 
7. Start to roll the fur in around the edges sewing a slip stitch as you go. Continue this all the way around on both ears.
8. I fixed the ears to an old boater. I cut two 'mouse hole' shapes in the boater, fed the ears in and glued wherever I could. To make sure the ears aren't uncomfortable on the inside of the boater, keep the inner band intact. I also wrapped a new ribbon around the hat to help keep the ears in place.
9. With wire in the ears you can bend them into any shape you want!

How to make beautiful Hair bows: Alice in Wonderland Photoshoot styling: Behind the scenes

Another make from the Alice in Wonderland photoshoot Vault. 

There were some lovely bows, here are a few more we made for Alice, just in case!

When styling outfits for shoots you always need 2nd, 3rd, maybe 4th choice options for the outfits. I think this goes for the accessories, surely they are affected by which outfit is chosen. Therefore I took great pleasure in having a play around with some Alice bows that could be quickly fixed to a hairband on location or pinned into the model's hair.

You will need:

• assortment of ribbon, you don't need more than 1/4 m for any of these.
• needle and matching thread.
• pinking shears

1. Choose the ribbon for the main body of the bow. I went for a pale blue 1 inch thick and then layered it up with a thinner textured/patterned grosgrain ribbon.
2. Cut 25cm length of each with pinking shears to stop ends fraying. Both right sides up, place one on top of the other, matching up the ends.
3. Fold the ends around the back and into the centre (make sure there is a little bit of overlap) and press a concertina fold in the centre.
4. Secure in place with needle and thread. Don't cut the thread, keep the needle in play. now take a 1cm black ribbon to wrap around the centre of the bow. Place it at the back of the bow and sew in place with a few stitches. Now wrap it around the bow centre at least 2 times. 
5. With the needle and thread still attached, secure this central ribbon with a few more stitches. Cut off the ribbon end with pinking shears. Cut the thread.
6. These bows can easily be sewn onto padded fabric 'alice bands' or you can slip a clip or pin through the back black ribbon loop to wear the bow as a hair slide.

The Bristol Magazine style file February Issue.

Photo Amanda Thomas

The February issue of the Bristol Magazine Style file is out now.

Focussing on Winter Whites. Here I am wearing a beautiful knitted dress by Amber Hards Knitwear, a cream leather jacket from Molly Mishi May, Jeans from GAP, and a silver crackle clutch bag from John Lewis at The Mall Cribbs Causeway.

Here is a little more about my hair and makeup and a few sneaky behind the scenes shots! Shot against the beautiful William Morris 'Strawberry Thief' wallpaper at the Bristol Belgian Beer Bar of the same name.

The team: Harriet, Shari, Ella, Amanda

'sell sell sell'

The Strawberry Thief Bar is opposite the beautiful Palestinian Embassy Building

Shari Knowles was on hand again to make me look fresh faced and gorgeous. Here is what she did:

- The overall look is a modern daytime glam using colours from the season in a wearable way.

- I prepped the skin with a skin repair moisturiser which doubles as a primer. 

- The skin has a nice satin finish from using creamy foundations. I used the Bobbi brown foundation stick. 

- to brighten the under eyes, I also used a tinted eye brightener from Bobbi brown. It helps to neutralise dark circles but it's lovely and lightweight. 

- The look revolves around a bold lip to contrast the neutral tones of the cream and white - A fun way to use colour for winter. I used 'Italian Rose' from Bobbi Brown. 

- To balance the warm tone of the lipstick, I lined the lashline with a rich brown gel liner. It still defines the eyes but is a nice alternative to black. (Neutral lids and mascara)

- with a strong colour on the lips, the cheeks only require the slightest dusting of a pale rose blush. 

Do you have a wardrobe query you would like me to help with? email me at harriet@harrietdewinton.com