Paper journals forever!

New range of embroidered products at The Peartree Boutique

Available from my Folksy shop http://folksy.com/items/3124498-Mini-Beasts-Fabric-Covered-Notebook-A5-Custom-Embroidered-with-Name-or-Title

Fun and Games

It's been a busy old week at the Peartree and I thought I'd share some of the fun things we have been doing at home.


It was the twins Birthday last Sunday and we celebrated with a party for all of their friends and family.  
My wonderfully talented Mum makes the cakes every year and she does such a brilliant job. 

These are the boys' cakes. They didn't last very long! 

I've also been working hard on my mini beast / critter project. A lot of sketching, cutting and deciding on which ones to include. Here are a few I came up with:

Angle Shades Caterpillar

Dragonfly

Honey Bee

Featured Crafter

Really exciting news! I have been chosen as The Crafty Network's featured crafter this week! 
This is a great step for The Peartree Boutique, to build my online presence and look to move the business forward. 


If you've ever wondered about the face behind the Peartree and how it came about, you can read all about me! 

You can check out the article by following the link below:

http://thecraftynetwork.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/the-crafty-network-featured-crafter-the-peartree-boutique/

The Crafty Network is a fantastic crafting community that offers small crafting businesses a platform to promote their work, build links with other businesses and stay in touch with what is going on in the crafting world. 


Check out the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheCraftyNetwork?ref=ts

Little Critters.....

In between custom orders for duvet covers and blinds, cushions and bags, I've been quietly working away on a little project inspired by nature. 


I started off by re-visiting my drawing skills and did some studies on mini beasts

Then I got to thinking about how I could translate these to fabrics. I was really inspired by some of the fabrics I've seen lately and decided to try to work patterns and colour into the designs to work them to full effect. These are some of the first attempts with the fabric shapes.  

I've decided to try to work them into a small quilt, either to be used as a wall hanging or a cot sized duvet, so I sewed them onto squares of soft white cotton to make the designs stand out on the white background. 

I'm really pleased with how my stitching is improving and the detail I was able to bring through from the sketches into the fabric version. 

Now I have to decide on the perfect fabric for the sashing between the squares and what it's going to be! 

Pass it on....

When my twins and I were outside the other day, we found some badly tarnished copper coins on the floor. The boys picked them up and I taught them the rhyme 'Find a penny, pick it up and all day long, you'll have good luck'. They thought this was great so to take their interest a little further, when we got back home I showed them how to make their pennies shiny again by using a secret ingredient... tomato ketchup! They thought this was hilarious and magical - lots of oohs and ahhs when we washed it off and saw the shiny coin restored. I love passing on things like this to my kids. 


It made my heart swell today when Mr Peartree played me a recording he made of Zakk repeating the rhyme to his Dad. 
'Find a penny, and pick it up and then you will have a good luck!' so cute!!
Zakk 'Find a Penny' 2 yrs 11 months 01-03-12

Tactile Textures

I've been playing around with a little project in my spare time, exploring textures. 

Knitted Rabbit

Corduroy Telephone