Using colour can be daunting.  With just a few simple  rules, you’ll be able to use confidently.

The colourwheel above shows the three primary colours (yellow, blue and red) Because they cannot be created using other colours they are known as primary or first colours.

If you mix equal measures of red and yellow you get orange.

If you use more red than yellow, your orange will be reddy orange.

If you use more yellow than red the orange will be more yellowy orange or golden.

If you mix equal quantities of blue and yellow you get green.

If you use more blue than yellow your green will be teal toned

If you use more yellow than blue, the green will become more citrusy lime

If you mix equal measures of red and blue you get purple.

If you use more blue then red you get rich purple.

If you mix more red than blue you get magenta.

Adding white to any colour makes a lighter pastel tones

Adding more white you become neutral (barely any colour tone) as in the half wheel below.

Black through to grey are not colours. They are tones and are neutral.

Colour can be used in any way depending upon the look you want, but the general rules are:

Keep colour choices with in families. Families denote the depth of colour.

Now look at the colour wheel as a form of excentric circles.  As the colours go into the centre of the wheel, they contain less white.  The amount of white / the depth of colour is how the families of colours work. The ladies from Celtic woman are all dressed in pastel tones for their Christmas concert.

The final family is the complimenty colours:  This is quite a brave colour scheming decision and will often work well for caribean and boliwood style. The idea is to think of the three primary colours. Add two together and then us the third as the contrast so :

red + yellow = orange with blue

When I trained as an interior designer I specialised in colour.  It’s something I have found fascinating since arranging my felt pens and crayons into rainbows as a child, then as a teen being taught about spectrum and light break up in science further fuelled my interest.

Colour has long been known to effect mood.   The use of pink tones in psychiatric wards was one example and thought to calm patients.

My next few posts will be dedicated to the use of colour and how it works.

I wne to visit a blog that was featuring my silk flower button holes this morning and discovered a lovely tutorial to share with you.

Hearts are symbols of love and therefore are a fitting gift at any time of the year.  Wild Rose Design has a lovely step by step tutorial to make a pretty scented heart that would make a lovely gift.

Look in the bottom corner and you’ll see one of the many storage places that Carol has to store her overflowing stash.

first two (pictures) are on either side of my arm chair in the lounge and the third is my stash in the dining room. You would never believe I have a designated craft shed…

I’m sure i shall post further posts on sewing boxes as more members respond to the call to “Show me you sewing box”

Rosie Pink Studio didn’t add a photo, but described her stash as

“I have sewing threads in a 12 drawer, office-style, cabinet. Sewing hardware (scissors, bobbins, buttons, needles etc,etc) in another drawer stack. And essential larger sewing equipment (cutting mats, and other paraphernalia) dotted around wherever there’s a space.”

Bubbleicious said

“ I do have occasion to sew, but my bits and bobs are stored in a couple of empty chinese takeaway containers. And i have lost them!” (so I guess until she discovers where they are, we won’t get to see them.

Eena is another who didn’t take a photo

“There is an entire sideboard in the living room, two boxes under the sofa, three bags on top of the wardrobe, a shelf unit under the window and a box behind the bathroom door, as `well as one end of the kitchen table and a small drawer unit under the kitchen table … well, I have been sewing for all my life, and I do have a fabric addiction, and I do travel a lot and think the nicest souvenir is fabric or wool …”

Pepsi described her’s too

“Mine is a toffee tin and my pin cushion on top of a plastic set of storage drawers, full to the brim of my crafting stuff.
Then there’s the bags of fabric and trimmings, Bags of wool for my crochet.
The side of my chair is no man’s land. DANGER ! don’t look haha!
I have a old wooden one on legs that has anything but sewing equipment in it. It was my craft box when I stared out with the clay, but my stuff soon outgrew it.”

Bogwell also uses her whole house as a sewing box

“Threads in cupboard, fabric in cupboard in spare room 1/2 dead sewing machine and ta
ble too with boxes underneath full of stuff. Industrial sewing machine in dining room/workshop my space, old childs nursery box full of threads, do fers. Cuboard full of fascinator materials alonside 6 drawer plastic storage facility. ”

The last response I got was from Jane

who said

“Here’s mine

Jane”

Nothing there? “(That is because there isn’t one – I can’t sew for toffee:-()”)

Perhaps she needs to borrow Pepsi’s toffee tin sewing box!

This week, we are having a look at some of the sewing boxes belonging to members of UK Crafts Forum.

Above and below are the sewing boxes belonging to Indri who is relatively new to the world of sewing, but who has been attending a historical crafts course that has got her into sewing. “I have a random selection of pins needles and thread that I hope will be suitable for the projects we do every week, and the contents vary most weeks depending on what the next project is to be, but there is always the neeles, pins, thread and scissors!”

Knittingnana (above and below) “ for my sewing “box” I have a chest of four draws that hold the majority on my items (scissors, pins, ribbon, lace, bias tape) then 2 smaller draws for the office supplier to hold sewing notions.”

I once saw the most amazing Victorian sewing box on the antique road show.  It was a huge, octagonal, free standing sewing box with internal compartments and clearly was an object of status.

Over the years, my sewing kit has been housed in many receptacles including Tupperware boxes, baskets and carrier bags.

Now my sewing kit is stored in a compartmentalised tool kit box.  It houses scissors, craft knives, seem rippers, cottons, silks, wools, fabric strips awaiting transformation in to bias binding, plasters in case of sewing accidents, an embroidered needle case, sock off cuts (from my sock monkeys), normally there is a pile of offcuts, cotton ends and bits of rubbish waiting to go to the bin.

It seems that I am not alone in my fascination of old sewing boxes on the antiques road show as Ros sent me a link to a post written on her blog all about her sewing box and showed an equal fascination! And, like me, Ros has also opted to keep her stash in a modern plastic tool box.

I have to say that I drooled at the amount of equipment Ros has for her sewing addiction.

Just look at it all.  You can read more about Ros’ sewing box and equipment on her blog

I’ll be showcasing more sewing boxes and recepticals this week on the Crafts forum blog.

For the past few days, I have been enjoying sewing a memory quilt made from a little girls outgrown summer frocks.

I have already been asked to create one from some baby clothes and am looking forward to doing that.

The quilts can have your name(s) and Date(s) added.

The quilts are completely hand sewn and hand quilted.

More details HERE

1, When did you start in the world of crafts?
I’ve always been involved in crafts one way or another – from being small I always drew, painted, sewed, glued and just made stuff. In the past, I had a small business designing & making children’s clothes, I painted murals and I designed & wrote how-to project articles for craft magazines. I then spent about 16 years as a teacher before accepting redundancy and throwing myself wholeheartedly back into the crafts world, designing and making personalised plaques, clocks, moneyboxes and canvases under the 1^st Unique Gifts banner.

2, What made you start?
I think it was probably just a compulsion to design and make. I can’t leave creativity alone for long. It took me a good few years to realise that this is how I should be making my living.
What kick-started me leaving the teaching profession though was several years of chronic migraine. I was looking for something less pressured (I worked with young offenders!) and felt I needed something where I could choose my hours and take a break in the middle of a working day if necessary. I was also already using art as a stress outlet so it seemed a logical next step.

3, Do you make a living or is it a hobby or both?
It’s definitely how I make a living but there’s a hobby element too. I’d describe myself as a workaholic – I rarely take a day off, but that’s because I enjoy it so much I don’t actually want to take time off!

4, Who inspired you to start?
My very first inspiration was my Grandma, who used to bring me off-cuts of shirt fabric and reels of thread from the shirt factory where she worked. I’d make little soft toys (they were quite ugly, as I recall) as well as clothes for my dolls, and learnt to solve my first pattern-cutting problems before I was out of primary school.

5, Last year what is the most important thing you learnt regarding your biz/crafts?
Promotion is key: getting word out through a variety of means is so important and takes up far more time than you imagine it would when you’re beginning.

6, The best tip ever?
Try to get your products featured in national magazines and newspapers – having designs which are in some way different or unique helps with this. It’s amazing how much extra business even a tiny feature can produce and how it snowballs into repeat business too. Follow up with excellent customer service, of course, so they’ll remember you and come back.

7, Biggest achievement/proudest moment in your craft/business last year?
Having the editor of OK magazine buy something from me after a feature in The Metro – and him emailing to say he was impressed with my range of gifts – so much so he might include something of mine in a future OK magazine gift guide!

www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk
www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog

Some more amazing items from 1st Unique Gifts

Following on from my recycled book posts (#1 and #2). I will finish with projects that have been created by using books.  The first is a portable sewing kit made with a book by Crafts Forum member Wendy.  Wendy has actually detailed the making of this sewing kit book as a fantastic tutorial with step by step pictures.  The sewing kit started life as an old diary purchased for the princly sum of 10p and has turned into a professional looking sewing kit.

This amazing handbag has been created from a copy of my favourite book of all time, Jane Eyre.  It has been created by Caitlin Phillips and can be purchased from her Etsy store.

Caitlin also makes amazing Kindle cases from books.

Carrying on From Yesterdays post where I looked at the work of Lyndsey Searle aka Swirly Arts, I have found some more delightful recycled book ideas to show you.

This Alice In wonderland altered book art is by forum member Ms Mandy of  Maygreen Fairies. the book is a rescued book that was bound for the bin.

I have been an admirer of Brian Dettmers altered book art for some time.  you can see more of his intricate and fantastic work HERE

The artist behind this work is not known, but it features on this blog along with some other amazing examples