How I Got into Bead Weaving

When many people think about "bead weaving", it conjures up images of intricate, but sometimes, garish pieces, usually done by middle-aged women. There is nothing wrong with this image, but my friends at the place where I work were amazed when I, as a 24 year-old with blue hair, discovered a love for brick stitch!

I work at a bead shop and hadn't done much jewellery making before I got the job. (I know... I don't know why they hired me either!) After hearing about bead weaving and the stigma attached, I didn't attempt it at all. It seemed unnecessarily complicated and fiddly, then I was browsing a magazine for ideas for another project, and came across a gorgeous bunting necklace that was made using brick stitch! I love bunting... There's something about it that's just so cute and makes me think of tea. Yum!

Now my first attempt was awful. At the time, I thought it was really good, but looking back, no. It was awful. I even made a pair of brick stitch triangle earrings that were for a magazine project (and were featured in the magazine!) and I'm so ashamed of them now! From that moment on, I developed a delica-addiction. It's not healthy the number of tubes of beads I now have! They are useful to have though.

Look at those terribly wobbly triangles!!

It took me a while before I started to create my own patterns. I used to copy other people's and give them to my friends and family members. I didn't realise how easy it is to  make your own pattern! With the help of Bead Tools, it's so easy! I tend to make them with a reference picture open next to the pattern page. It does take a lot of trial and error though, and I'm often not in a patient mood!

This panda is made using a pattern I made myself.

I heard about square stitch thanks to Pixelosis. She creates amazing pixelated pieces of jewellery using this technique. I knew that I wanted to give it a try! I'm still extremely new to this stitch and have only recently mastered the art of increasing! I really want to make tutorials on this stitch, but it takes a very long time to make charms with it. Definitely one for people with patience. With square stitch, it's possible to make things using Perler/Hama bead patterns, and there's lots of them all over the internet!

I need to master Peyote, then I will have three different stitches under my belt! There are so many bead weaving stitches out there! I'm excited to see what things I can create with them.

My favourite stitch is definitely brick stitch. Do you have a favourite? If so, which is it?

I'm moving... Country?!

You read that right! My boyfriend managed to get a job in an international school so in August The Corner of Craft will be in Frankfurt, Germany! I'm really excited about going and having this new experience in my life. I studied German and French at university so I already have the language knowledge, but as I've not spoken it in over 2 years, it's going to be very rusty!

My biggest fear at the moment is finding myself a job. We could live off what the boyfriend is earning but where's the fun in that?? Interviewing for a job in my mother tongue is nerve-racking enough, how am I going to cope in German?! Well there's only one way to tell I guess so we will be preparing for the big move over the next few months.

Have any of you been to Frankfurt before? If so, any recommendations on whereabouts to live/what to do etc?

Bunny and Chick Amigurumi Egg Cozy

These adorable egg cozies are so easy to make! You can jazz them up in any way that you choose and add your own creative flair. They are perfect for both normal eggs and creme eggs, making them ideal for Easter. This pattern uses UK terminology.

You will need:
4mm crochet hook
DK yarn
6mm beads (eyes)

Bunny:
Fork

Chick:
3mm hook


Egg Cozy


Ch 2
Row 1: 4 dc in first chain.
Row 2: 2 dc in each stitch round - 8 dc
Row 3: *2 dc in next stitch, dc in next stitch. Repeat from * round - 12 dc
Row 4: *2 dc in next stitch, dc in next 2 stitches. Repeat from * round - 16 dc
Row 5: *2 dc in next stitch, dc in next 3 stitches. Repeat from * round - 20 dc
Row 6: *2 dc in next stitch, dc in next 4 stitches. Repeat from * round - 24 dc.
Row 7-14: dc in each stitch round - 24 dc
Row 15: *dc2tog, dc in next stitch. Repeat from * round - 16 dc. Fasten off.

Bunny ears (make 2):

Ch 2
Row 1: 8 dc in first chain.
Row 2-4: dc in each stitch round.
Row 5: *dc in next stitch, skip next stitch. Repeat from * round.
Row 6-7: dc round. Fasten off.

Bunny tail:

Using a fork, make a mini pompom and attach to the back of the cozy.

Sew on a nose with embroidery thread (or felt) and the beads for eyes.

Chick's Beak:

Using 3mm hook

Ch 4
Insert hook into 2nd ch from hook, YO, pull through. Insert hook into final chain, YO pull through (3 loops on hook). YO and pull through all 3 loops. Fasten off and sew onto front.

See video below for how to attach chick fluff!

Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns

One of my favourite parts of Easter is the food, and I feel the same with Christmas as well! I decided it's time to make Hot Cross Buns! I wanted to take them into work, but I was aware that one of the people I work with doesn't like dried fruit, so I decided to add my own spin on things with chocolate orange ones!

You will need:
4 cups plain flour
1.5 tsp mixed spice
14g dried yeast
1/4 cup caster sugar
350ml slightly warmed milk
2 lightly beaten eggs
300g dark chocolate chips
200g milk chocolate chips
Zest of 1 orange

Crosses:
1/2 cup of plain flour
1/2-1 cup of water

Glaze
3 tbsp orange juice
3 tbsp granulated sugar

1. Combine the flour, spice, yeast and sugar in a bowl and mix. Add in the milk and the eggs and mix until the dough comes together. Add in the chocolate chips and orange zest and continue to mix.

2. Knead the dough for around 8-10 minutes and it's smooth and elastic. Pop it back in the bowl, cover it in cling film and leave it in a warm place for an hour, until it's doubled in size.

3. Knead the dough a little more and then split it into 12 equal sized balls. Place them on a lined baking tray. Cover once again in cling film and pop into the warm place for about half an hour.

4. Meanwhile, mix together the flour and water until it's a smooth paste. Add the water little by little, not all at once. Put this into a resealable bag/piping bag, snip off a little corner and pipe crosses onto the now-risen buns. Cook the buns at 190 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

5. When they are done, take them out of the oven and transfer onto the cooling rack. While they cool slightly, heat up the orange juice and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens. With a pastry brush, brush the warm glaze over the warm hot cross buns and enjoy!

Cheat's Fudge - Cookies & Cream

I found some instructions online on how to make cheats fudge, and I knew that I had to try it! The recipe I found was for just a basic dark chocolate fudge, but I wanted to switch things up.

Cookies and Cream has been one of my favourite flavourings for a long time. I have an extremely sweet tooth, and I'm not ashamed of that! So it only seemed logical to me to try out a cookies and cream fudge, because, well, Oreo's are the best thing ever.

All you will need is:
350g of White Chocolate
1 397g tin of condensed milk
1 pack of Oreos.

That's it... Madness I know! Watch my video to see how it's made :)

Crochet Button Stars

So I had a photo of crochet button flowers shared on my Facebook page by my godmother, who knows that I do love to crochet! After seeing that picture, I knew that I needed to work out the pattern. In the process, I managed to work out a pattern for these crochet button stars! After posting the video of the flowers on my YouTube account, I received requests to share how I made the stars, and I couldn't resist. I cleverly lost the original star so this pattern may not match the original, but it sure does the job! Below I have written out the pattern for both the US pattern and the UK pattern to save confusion :) Please let me know if it doesn't make sense or if I need to make amendments.

You will need:
4 hole button
Crochet cotton
A crochet hook that is small enough to fit though the button holes
Scissors
Needle

UK pattern:
Row 1: SS into first button hole, ch 4, dc into 2nd button hole, ch 4, dc into 3rd button hole, ch 4, dc into 4th button hole, ch 4, dc into 1st button hole, ch4 and ss to first chain.

Row 2: *dc, htr, tr, dtr, tr, htr, dc* into each ch 4 gap around. Finish off and sew in ends.

US pattern:

Row 1: SS into first button hole, ch 4, sc into 2nd button hole, ch 4, sc into 3rd button hole, ch 4, sc into 4th button hole, ch 4, sc into 1st button hole, ch4 and ss to first chain.

Row 2: *sc, hdc, dc, tr, dc, hdc, sc* into each ch 4 gap around. Finish off and sew in ends.

Why Should You Support Small Businesses?

It is all too easy to go to a large business when you're out and about, or even shopping online. You trust it, people have said how good it is and it's everywhere! This is very useful if you find yourself in an unfamiliar town or city because you know you can rely on it. But are large businesses really the best option?

Surprisingly, of the 5.2m businesses in the UK, 99% of them are small businesses, and yet people still continually support the larger businesses that seem to be taking over the high street. The thing is, small businesses provide a number of benefits, to both individuals and to the local economy. Small businesses are able to provide jobs to millions of people across the UK and they are also really helping Britain out of the recession. Many people believe that, because the larger companies are stealing the limelight, local businesses are not receiving the recognition that they really deserve.

Small Business Saturday, which has been in December for the past two years, has been implemented in the UK to bring the smaller businesses to light and to encourage people to support them. Rachel Parkin, who is the owner of several small businesses, states that she feels that "the very first step in supporting small businesses has to be creating awareness" and I couldn't agree more. Promotion and advertising are extremely expensive, but something that larger businesses can easily afford. There are those who will go out of their way to shop at/eat at/support local businesses on Small Business Saturday, and while that is wonderful, it is important to support them all year-round and not to forget about them!

One of the most important things to note is that small businesses really do help out with the local economy. It is obvious that larger companies generate more money than the smaller ones, but it's the smaller businesses (which is defined as having 250 employees or fewer, with micro-businesses having 0-9 employees) that really help out in the long run! The Guardian reported in 2013, that for every £1 spent with a small business, 63p stayed in the local economy, as opposed to larger businesses, where only 40p stayed locally. This is great news for the UK's economy as a whole and if more people were to support local businesses,  the economy would stabalise and improve a lot quicker.

Something that sets a smaller enterprise apart from a larger corporation is the level of customer service that you receive. I personally work in a craft shop, which is a micro-business. The level of customer service that we offer is vastly different from a larger craft shop that I have been in. Service is a lot more personal and I find that smaller businesses do have a lot more time for their customers. They will go out of their way to find something out if they don't know the answer and will often bend over backwards to help out the customer. Much better than shop assistants who insist on discussing their plans for the weekend while they halfheartedly fold your clothes and shove them into a bag... People who work at small businesses are often very knowledgeable about the product they are selling, whether it's the coffee they use or the source of their food, what the best tool is for the job or the best pickle to go with your cheese.

Earrings by EmmaRuthJones on Etsy
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/121400630/silver-heart-drop-earrings-handmade?

Many people will go into a small business and state that they are so glad that they're there, buy their one tiny item, and be on their way again. Unfortunately a business can't survive on that. I'm not saying that you have to spend a lot of money in every small business you go in, but be sure to tell your friends/family about that lovely little tea room that you visited, or the quirky gift shop that you found that perfect, unique gift. Encourage others to buy food from local market stalls (and it often works out a lot cheaper than buying from the supermarket!) and if you find craft supplies on Amazon, or Etsy, click through to the seller page, or Google the seller's name, to go to their independent website. Amazon and Etsy take a transaction fee for each transaction and the independent business will get more money if you buy directly through them! It won't cost you any more, but it'll make all the difference to the business! (I have also discovered that you may actually make a saving by directly going to their website, as they may have different promotions or offers on than on Etsy/Amazon!)

So yes, 2015 is the year I intend to shop small whenever I can. I doubt I'll be able to do it all the time, but I'm going to try my best! After deleting my Amazon account just before Christmas, I have found it so much easier to shop small! I hope that you join in my quest too. :)

Sources:
Lancaster, P. (2014) The UK Grabs A Megaphone and Shouts About Small Business Saturday [Online] Available from: http://uk.sageone.com/2014/12/18/small-business-saturday-uk/ [Accessed 13/02/15]
Longworth, J. (2014) Small businesses are the backbone of our communities [Online] Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/dec/06/small-businesses-backbone-communities-john-longworth [Accessed: 13/02/15]
O'Connell, J (2013) Seven Reasons to Shop Locally [Online] Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/dec/06/shop-locally-small-business-saturday-seven-reasons [Accessed: 13/02/15]
Williams, M. (2013) 5 Reasons Why Small Businesses are Important [Online] Available from: http://labourlist.org/2013/12/5-reasons-why-small-businesses-are-important/ [Accessed 13/02/15]