Koko & Beau

A friend of mine runs the wonderful Koko & Beau, selling beautiful handmade jewellery!

My favourite pieces are all the braided faux suede bracelets, they have such lovely texture and come in gorgeous colours! Available with charms, like seen below 'Fairy Charm Bracelets' and simple 'Braided Faux Suede Bracelet'

 

Koko & Beau currently have a 50% off everything sale so use the code: SALE50 on the site to get some beautiful pieces at bargin prices!

I have had my eye on these beautiful bracelets and decided to buy some as Christmas presents during the sale, and a few sneaky ones for myself and I ADORE them! So go check out the site!

Images copyright Koko & Beau 2012

Handmade birthday cards

Yesterday it was my mum and her twin sister's birthday, so I decided to make birthday cards for them. I think there is something really special about making cards especially for someone and since I've been working on the Tigerprint Gifted competition I have found I really like working on card designs!

I am planning to design some more cards and get them professionally printed and open and Etsy shop selling my cards and prints. It would be a dream come true for me, something I have always wanted to do, so fingers crossed it will all come together!

Sorry that the photos aren't great they were taken in a hurry before giving the cards to the birthday ladies! These cards were just printed on my laser printer at home, pretty pleased with how they came out considering! Hope you like!

All images copyright Rosie Simons

New iheartrosie items on Etsy

I've been busy making lots of new products for my Etsy shop iheartrosie recently, below is a run down of some of the new products available in the shop, I hope you like them!

First up a few new takes on existing popular braided fabric bracelets, with a simple lobster clasp fastening, button fastening and an exciting new colour!

Braided Fabric bracelets with lobster clasp, available in blue, pink, khaki, purple, mint or black and white AND *NEW* bright summer fabric, each with a choice of either silver or bronze lobster clasp fastening.

A new colour choice "summer" for popular braided fabric bracelet with button fastening available here

iheartrosie has also now branched out into braided friendship bracelets which are very trendy this year and the perfect accessory for summer, available in many different colourways with different charms! Custom bracelets are also available, please contact me for more details. You can view the selection of friendship bracelets available here

Below are a couple of special bracelets that I wanted to feature individually, first, a pink friendship bracelet with hope ribbon charm, $1 from each sale of this bracelet is donated to Breast Cancer research charity. Great for showing support, remembering a loved one or just helping by donating to charity.

Next are two bracelets especially for 4th July holiday, in red, white and blue with star and ball charms, great for showing patriotism and celebrating.

All braided friendship bracelets have sliding knot closures so are adjustable sizes and should fit most teenage/adult wrists.

I have a few new ideas in the pipeline so keep checking back for updates and to receive more news and new product information from iheartrosie follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook!

Lately..

It's been a little while since I posted so I thought I'd better update on all my recent goings on and makings!

October is birthday time in my family, my dad and sister have their birthdays 10 days apart so at the weekend we had a family day to celebrate their birthdays. I wanted to make some birthday bunting items so I made some cake bunting with matching cupcake flags and a personalised scrapbook for my sister as it is her 21st, and I just think it is wonderful to have a keepsake from big birthdays!

(Sorry if the photos look like they need cropping and editing.. they do.. but I can't get photoshop to work properly to do it, so unedited photos will have to do!)

In other news, I'm back at LCC doing my final year of my degree.. so you will probably be seeing a lot of sketchbooks like this one!

I'm just starting work on my first project, I have chosen to do a self initiated project first and I am looking at the logo, identity and branding of the dance school I used to dance at. I am working with dancers, teachers, ex-dancers and anyone who wants to get involved with the project to try and come up with the outcomes right for the school. I have created a blog for the project so it is easy to share ideas and interact with everyone. To keep up to date with this project visit vgdancedesign.blogspot.com

I'm also still going crazy with the making!

New styles now available in my Etsy shop iheartrosie

Braided fabric bracelet with heart charm

Braided fabric headbands - single or double

I've been making..

Bracelets!

It all started when I read this tutorial on making friendship bracelets by Honestly WTF DIY. I loved making friendship bracelets when I was young, but this particular pattern was one I'd always wanted to make but had never managed to get my head around, so I really wanted to try it.

The tutorial was simple and easy to follow, and although I didn't have quite the right thread to do this, I decided to substitute for a different thread and try it anyway. Getting started was a bit tricky and I think the different thread being too thin didn't help, but here are some photos of the finished bracelets. I am going to give them another try when I get hold of the right thread.

The other pattern is one that I loved making when I was younger and made ALL the time! It's very quick and easy (the chevron one takes quite a long time, let me warn you!) and gives wonderful results! Here is a video of how to make the twisted bracelet, or if you prefer a written tutorial click here.

After making friendship bracelets I decided to try something I have wanted to try for a while now, plaited/braided fabric bracelets. I didn't follow a tutorial for this, but I just used approx 1.5cm wide strips of fabric and plaited them together. I finished it off with a button on one end and a loop on the other to make a simple clasp.

I started experimenting with different colours and lengths, I've only stopped so that I can get on with some dissertation and packing!

Also experimented using denim, which gives a large knot at one end and a rough chunky texture through the plait. The denim was too thick to sew a button onto and make a loop, so the knot at one end and an added cord at the other make up the clasp.

You can now buy the single or double wrap braided fabric bracelet from my Etsy store iheartrosie!

Today I made..

Customised tees!

A family friend in Australia is due to have a baby in just a few weeks and I wanted to make something to send over for the new baby, so I customised some bodysuits! I don't know what sex the baby is so I wanted to create things that could be worn by a boy or a girl, but then my girlyness took over and I made a really girly one with a flower on!

(Please excuse the awful photos they were taken in a hurry!)

I cut out shapes from patterned fabric and sewed them on using a close zigzag stitch. This holds them on well, stops them fraying and looks nice too! I made a star using blue and white polka dot fabric, a heart using purple and white polka dot fabric and a flower using mocha floral, pink polka dot and purple polka dot fabrics.

I didn't want the older kids to feel left out so I decided I would customise some tshirts for them! I bought a grey tshirt for the boy and a purple vest for for the girl (both from h&m, the only place I could find individually sold plain kids tshirts!)

I used the same technique as with the body suits, sewing fabric shapes onto the tees. For the girls tee I chose to sew 9 hearts, all cut from different pink and purple fabrics, and for the boys tee I made 'big bro' from demin, blue polka and blue stripes!

They have come out quite well but jersey material of fabrics is hard to sew onto as it stretches a lot, hoping with a wash and an iron they will straighten out a bit!