Keeping Up To Date

Hello my dearest people!

Just a quick post to tell you how to keep up to date with The Little Treasure Box! Even though this kinda does but...
Anyways, I've set up a Facebook group. Please join, it's an open group so you don't have to be my friend! Plus you can have a little browse through my jewellery pictures, as the business side of this is going to be mainly jewellery, although I'll be expanding it as I get more orders :).

Hey, you! Yes, YOU!! Join my Facebook group :).

Which reminds me...

I am starting to properly sell jewellery. Here's some info about it:

1. I make necklaces, earrings, bracelets, some brooches and rings, and bookmarks, but I'm making new stuff all the time!

2. Don't be afraid to request jewellery- if I know you, we can meet up, go for a drink and discuss ideas! If not, or if you live far away, you can always e-mail me at thelittletreasurebox@hotmail.co.uk and we can talk about what type of jewellery you want.

3. Some of my ready-made pieces are also available to buy- just e-mail me again!

4. Pricing varies depending on what you want to buy and how long it took me to make. As a rough guide, though, earrings start at around £5, bracelets from around £7 and necklaces from around £10. Sets are also available- at a great price! A necklace and bracelet set can cost around £11. However, prices are always changing, and some pieces can be much more expensive. For example, I'm making some earrings at the moment that are going to have to cost at least £7, probably more, because they have taken me at least 2 hours to make one.

5. I can gift wrap it for you, for around £1-3 extra. Although your jewellery will come nicely presented anyway!

6. I can't take credit card, although hopefully I will soon be selling on Etsy, in which case, I will be able to!

7. I also do repairs. If a piece of jewellery I have made for you breaks, I can repair it for free, even if you broke it yourself (having said that, it doesn't normally!). If you want another piece of jewellery mended, I cen mend it for very little- depending on how big the damage is! I might even do it for free if it's just a quick job :).

For more info, as I said, e-mail me!

LOVEyou
Caitlin
xxx

P.S. HALF TERM!! Hooray!!

P.P.S. I am planning a range of Nancy-style jewellery (from Oliver). No, this does not mean prostitute-style jewellery, but old-fashioned, Victorian-style. Watch this space!

P.P.P.S. One last thing: it has been suggested that I make jewellery to go with people's outfits. Post a picture on my Facebook group of your favourite outfit and I'll make some jewellery to go with it!

Knitting Again...

It's so sad how I haven't posted in agessss :(

My friend, Hannah, reminded me that a new post is needed (thanks Hannah! :D)

So what have I been up to recently? Wellllll...

Last Saturday I went to Leicester with my friend Gracie :) we went to a book shop where I bought a knitting book called 'Knitting Mochimochi' by Anna Hrachovec... it tells you how to make AMAZING knitted toys, etc... I'm currently knitting what is called in the book a 'Love Muff' but which I have renamed 'Hand-Warmer', due to a bit of teasing whilst I was happily knitting in the common room at school :/ haha. Anyway, it's one of those long tubey things that do the same thing as a pair of gloves. Google it. Next on the agenda- slippers that look like animals xD. I have had so many people coming up to me going 'make me this'.
Here's a link to the Mochimochi Land website

Also, (again thanks to Hannah) I have been introduced to the wonders of Vistaprint. Despite the huge charges for postage and tax, I have ordered 250 business cards and 2 calendars!! I'm so excited, as I have just been informed that my order should arrive on Wednesday!! I will maybe post some pictures of the things I have ordered then :D.

Because of these business cards, I have also created a new e-mail address. Please e-mail me at thelittletreasurebox@hotmail.co.uk if you have any questions, requests for jewellery, or just fancy a bit of a chat :).

Although it looks like I've been up to a lot recently, I haven't really- sixth form is so much work! When I get a chance, I'm gonna try to get together some material and stuff for my Thumbelina beetle ball party dress (see previous post)- I really want to get going with that!

But now, alas, I have to do my english essay :(

LOVEYOU
Caitlin

P.S. I hope you're all planning your Hallowe'en costumes? :)

Muffins!

Oh, muffin, how I love you.

Who needs boys when you have muffins? Muffins will ALWAYS love you, and be loyal to you. Unless you burn them.

And do you know what muffins will ESPECIALLY always love you? Delicious low-fat raspberry muffins.

Like the kind me and my mum made yesterday xD

The ingrediants- flour, sugar, baking powder, butter (actually margerine, we are attempting a diet haha)

Raspberrys- one of my favourite fruits. I love the colour :) This packet was 170g but we only needed 150g so we got to eat some (yesss)

After measuring out the margerine, we discovered that you were supposed to grate the butter, and I don't know about you but I can't remember the last time I managed to grate margerine. So, mum cut it up into bits... worked out all right though!

The finished muffins- omnomnomnom ;)

We were going to cook the muffins in my new silicone muffin cases I got for my birthday so we could save the planet, but then we discovered that then there were only 6 so we settled for saving the planet divided by 2...

Next on the agenda- blueberry muffins :) yum! And George doesn't like non-chocolate muffins so all for me :) (and mum and dad.... if they can eat them in time heehee)

Now go forth and make muffins, my muffin minions... <--ooh alliteration!

LOVE
Caitlin

P.S. I hope this post didn't sound euphemistic in any way. You've gotta be so careful nowadays...

P.P.S. Hats are coming along very nicely :)

Post number 13!

*Cue creepy music*

Erm... anyway....

Hat Central

Hey everyone! Happy September :)

My life seems to revolve around hats at the moment.

As you know, I posted a post (lol) about crocheting mad hatter hats last month. That's hat thing number one.

For my birthday, I was given a knitting kit which tells you how to make a hat or scarf. I'm making a hat- hat thing number two.

I work at my local Age Concern shop on Saturdays. They're doing a charity thing with Innocent Smoothies (<3) in which they get people to knit mini hats to go on the top of their smoothie bottles. I'm knitting a few at the moment. Hat thing number three.

Maybe this is a sign- maybe I shall grow up to be a milliner?

LOVE
Caitlin (future milliner)

P.S. I'll post pictures later :) be sure to check back in a few hours :)
P.P.S. I am loving Katy Perry's song Teenage Dream at the moment, seriously, I think it's developing into an obsession.

Thumbelina At The Beetle Ball

Hi everyone hope you're having a nice 'summer'.

Just thought I'd post about something that's inspired me recently...

On my birthday, I watched Thumbelina- one of my favourite films as a child. I LOVE the story and the characters.... just everything about it to be honest!

Anyway, I've always loved the bit where she meets the Beetle and he makes her sing and dance at the Beetle Ball- and I LOVE the outfit she wears when performing. I have always wanted a dress like that, not to mention the wings and antennae :D

So when I was watching it the other day, I was like 'why don't I make a dress like that?', like a modern version anyway... so I came up with a few ideas... I might make it, although have so much work to do right now it's not looking great!

I don't have a photo of Thumbelina at the Beetle Ball, but there are loads on Google Images- just type in 'Thumbelina Beetle'... her dress is gorgeous :)

This is the best picture I have of my design... it's pretty rough and I don't know how you're supposed to design dresses to be honest I'm not an expert! Also, sorry about the photo, I would have scanned it but I don't have a scanner for this laptop and our scanner's not working too well anyway!

Anyway, as I said, I shall post updates on this, watch this space ;)

LOVEYOU
Caitlin

P.S. Prince Cornelius is only 16! And he's not a complete idiot. Then again, he is a fairy prince...

Happy Birthday To Me!

Hi everyone! It's my birthday today, just to let you know!

Obviously, yesterday was my party, and it was rather sucessful! Here are a few of the photos!

Tulgey Wood... with 2 trees...

All my lovely friends dressed up as various characters...:)

The 'glass table', complete with 'Drink Me' bottle and 'Eat Me' cake

Me setting up- was a mess at this point!

My friend Emily's door :)

A rabbit hole for people to crawl through to get to 'Wonderland' (kept falling down though :/)

THE CAKE! All hail the cake :)

Because it was actually my Unbirthday yestersay ;)

Winner of the costume competition- my cousin Daisy as the White Rabbit. She has a blog too. It's called daisychain- read it, it's good :D

I made (or tried to) an Alice out of icing. She is now called 'Fat Alice' ¬_¬

I was planning on putting on a picture of my brother's caterpillar costume (I made it yesterday morning, took me about 20 minutes but was pretty good!) but I didn't really get a proper photo of it- I had to pin most of it together anyway so it all fell apart :/ haha

A MERRY UNBIRTHDAY TO YOU ALL!!
(unless it's you're birthday, like it is mine!!)
Caitlin (now 16)

P.S. I got vampire fangs for my birthday xD

Quick Update

Just thought I'd give you all a quick update on the whole party thing.

Well today, I got my GCSE results! 5 A*'s and 4 A's- am very very happy :)

I also now have a laptop- my first. It is beautiful and has been christened Daphne, because I love Some Like It Hot. I'm having a few problems with iTunes but apart from that, everything is fine and dandy :)

Anyways, party-wise, today I'm making my cake, which was inspired by one I found on Google Images (be prepared for that, it's gonna be huuuggggee)... well I wont decorate it today but I'll make it :L

And then I think I might make decorations to go on the top of the cake as well :)

See ya later, alligator
Caitlin

P.S. Daphne says hi ;)
P.P.S. I am Sir Reginald, Duke of Chutney
...
that's Robin Hood, by the way :D

A Week Down the Rabbit Hole...

So this week my house is becoming Wonderland, starting tonight- I've just started putting up decorations.

The staircase has become Tulgey Wood- the wood with all the mysterious creatures in the Disney (<3) film.

The hallway is now the room with all the doors- instead of one little door I've got lots of different sized doors, and it'll have a little table with a bottle labled 'Drink Me' there by Thursday.

The front doorway, I've decided, is going to be covered with a huge piece of paper with a hole cut in the bottom, and I'm going to pin some brown fabric behind it so people have to crawl through it- like a rabbit hole! 

This is like what I did for one of my birthday parties when I was little- we did a Harry Potter party and made a huge brick wall (platforms 9 and 10) which you had to run through- like getting onto Platform 9 3/4 :D

Anyway that's all I've got so far. I will probably post some pictures on Thursday, so you can see it all together :D

LOVEYOU
Caitlin

P.S. Pride and Prejudice is amazing, and Mr Darcy is gorgeous ;)

P.P.S. As requested, I LOVE KATIE!! (my best friend, by the way!)

Costume Troubles

So as I have previously mentioned, for my 16th birthday party next Thursday, I'm having an Alice in Wonderland tea party.

It seems that my brother George (who thinks that this blog is a waste of time because no one reads it, but I guess that's little brothers for you) did not get the message that my party is in fact next week. And so, while he sits and plays on his PS3, I have been trying to find ideas on Google for a costume for him.

George originally wanted to be the Mad Hatter, but unfortunately that role had already been filled. Then I said that he would be Tweedledum and he could bring a friend to be Tweedledee (I insisted that he would be TweedleDUM, I'm sure you see why). However, when I told my friend Grace who was originally going to be the caterpillar, she said that she would rather be Tweedledee/dum and that George could be the caterpillar.

And the caterpillar is the most IMPOSSIBLE costume to create, whether I am going to MAKE it or just put some stuff together.

Our original idea was to buy a cheap blue top and pair of trousers from Primark or somewhere similar, then buy some leg warmers for the extra arms/legs.

Of course, you can imagine how much success we've had with this, especially the blue trousers. The only pair I could find were some disgusting light blue combat style trousers, but they were not at all the right type and were £9, so there was no point.

So then we looked at ready made costumes. Well I'm sorry but I refuse to pay whatever $125 is in pounds for something I could make myself (pretty much). To be honest, it wasn't that good either.

So, I'm now thinking of making one. That should be interesting, seeing as I'm busy every day next week (Monday: shopping for party, Tuesday: results day, Wednesday: Katie and Emily over to help prepare for party, Thursday: party, Friday: birthday, although why would I make it on Friday anyway?) Then I need to make Emily's skirt. Still. Will post my progress, if any!

Anyways if anyone has any ideas that would be appreciated :)

Thanks :D
Caitlin

P.S. Frogs = comments. I changed it because 'comments' was boring.

Followers!

I have a grand total of
T W O
followers!!

I'm not being sarcastic- every little helps :)

Having said that, the more the merrier!

P L U S

if you follow my blog, I will love you
F O R E V E R !

but not in a weird way, just kinda, a nice, friendly way...

you get my point :)

LOVEYOU
Caitlin

P.S. Really feel like making a dress or a skirt or an item of clothing... still need to make my friend Emily's Queen of Heart's skirt for my party next week... I just haven't got round to it :/

In This Style 10/6 (or completely free when you follow the pattern!)

It worked! Yay! I can finally upload the pictures and attempt to put on a pattern...

By the way, crochet...ing.. is not for old ladies. Not that they don't do it too but.... anyway, I find crochet an easier alternative to knitting- it grows faster, it only has one needle, stitches are easily picked up again if dropped, the needle is only attatched to one stitch, you don't need to be super advanced to make cool shapes (like the hat :) ), and the stitches are so easy to undo if you make a mistake. I'm sure there are loads more but that's all I can think of right now :).

I decided to photograph it on a teapot with ribbons on for some reason :)

Here is the pattern. It probably doesn't make any sense but there you go :) By the way, if you are learning how to crochet, I would recommend youtube- it's much better than instructions being written down because people show you. That's pretty much how I learnt anyway :)

By the way,

ch = chain- wrap round, pull through
sc = single crochet- insert into next stitch, wrap round, pull through, wrap round, pull through
slip stitch = insert into next stitch, wrap round, pull through
inc= increase (sc 2 in one stitch)
dec= decrease (sc 2 together)

I'm only saying this because when I was learning crochet, I strangely discovered that sometimes 'single crochet' means 'double crochet', or the other way around I suppose. I don't know why...

You need:

4mm crochet hook (that's what I did it with anyways)
Wool in 3 different colours- I used a berry-coloured one, black and white
A darning needle
An ordinary needle
Thread

How to do it:

Main hat:

Round 1: ch 2, sc 6 in first stitch (6) <-- the number of stitches, by the way
Round 2: [sc 1, inc] around (9)
Round 3: [sc 1, inc] 4 times, sc 1 (13)
Round 4: [sc 1, inc] 6 times, sc 1 (19)
Round 5: [sc 1, inc] 9 times, sc 1 (28)
Round 6: [sc 1, inc] around, slip stitch (42)
Round 7: sc around in back loops of stitches (42)
Round 8: [sc 2, dec] 10 times, sc 2 (32)
Round 9: [sc 2, dec] around (24)
Round 10: [sc 1, dec] around (16)
Rounds 11-13: sc around (16)
Round 14: sc around in back loops of stitches (16)
Round 15: [sc 1, inc] around (24)
Round 16: [sc 1, inc] around, slip stitch, fasten off.

Hat band:

Row 1: ch 18
Row 2: sc 17
Row 3: chain 1, sc 17, fasten off.

Hat card:

Row 1: ch 5
Row 2: sc 4
Rows 3-5: ch 1, sc 4
Row 6: ch 1, sc 4, fasten off

Now you can sew '10/6' onto the hat card with some wool (I used a darning needle with the big holes)... you can sew 'In this style' as well if you want and are insane at sewing.
Then sew the hat card to the hat, and then the hat band, et VOILA! You're very own mini Mad Hatter's hat :)
You can make it into a pin cushion by making a circle that's big enough to fit into the gap at the bottom of the hat, stuff the hat and sew on the circle. 

Have fun, my lovelies :)
Caitlin

P.S. Homer's 'The Odyssey' is so depressing! I'm reading it for school and they are crying and moaning constantly! I know they have good reason to do so but still!! 

Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk?

I made it- a little Mad Hatter's Hat :)
 I have been obsessed with Alice in Wonderland for a while now, and I've loved the story ever since I was little. Unlike my mum, who says that it frusrates and angers her because it would never happen and is just too ridiculous. I think that sometimes my mum is just too sensible.
 Anyways I love it so much that I'm having an Alice in Wonderland tea party for my 16th. It's a costume party, and I'm going as Alice, surprise, surprise :) I've made my costume, will post it some other time.
 Back to the point....
It's being silly and unfortunately I can't upload photos now, will try again when I have done school work ( :'( )

LOVE
Caitlin
P.S. I have dedicated this post to Alice by using a blue font colour :) Yay.

Time to Crochet!

I woke up this morning and was like:
"I wanna C R O C H E T today!!!"
Sooo that's what I'm doing.

I'm still in my pyjamas because I can't be bothered to go and get ready but I can be bothered to sit in front of the computer crochet...ing? (is that right?)

I'm kinda making it up as I go along.... I do have in mind what I'm making but you'll have to wait and seeeeee ;)

I'll probably post some pictures when I've finished and MAYBE even a pattern if I'm feeling adventurous but I've lost my cute little crochet book that I normally make things from so I can't quite remember how patterns are set out..... oops....

Hope you all had sweet dreams if you're reading this :D
Caitlin

P.S. Less than a week until results day.... I'm rather scared seeing as I had several dreams last night about it in which my results were not good :/

Earrings

Hello everyone :)
Here are some photos of the 2 pairs of earrings I made yesterday. Would be great to hear what you think about them :)

Aphrodite earrings

Aphrodite earrings- close up

Here is the first pair of earrings. I found these little shell hearts that I was originally going to make into a little charm bracelet, but I hadn't got round to it. I probably would have made a bracelet but I couldn't find any clasps or anything so I decided on some earrings. They remind me of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. I suppose I could have called them Venus earrings, but that doesn't sound as romantic I think. I also found these little clay (I think) flowers which my best friend bought me, and some pink organza ribbon which I think just adds a nice touch...

The Back To School Blues earrings

The Back To School Blues earrings- close up

Because it's almost that time of year again, unfortunately. I made these earrings to cheer me up about the hell that is going to be sixth form (so I'm told) and the amount of summer work we got given :( Still, I love these- I made them out of ivory-coloured shell hearts, dark blue ribbon and gold coloured findings.
P.S. The book is 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, because that's the one we're studying for English next year. I thought it was appropriate :)

So there they are, hoping to put more photos on soon of other things I've made! Hope you like them!

LOVEYOU,
Caitlin
P.S. I have recently developed an appetite for bread and honey. Is this normal?!

Hello :)

I'm new to this thing.... it's a bit confusing but I thought I'd give it a go :)

Hello if anyone is reading this, probably not, but I've always wanted to start one of these things so I will...

My name is Caitlin and I make jewellery, mostly, although I do other things such as crochet (although I'm not that good- I still sometimes think it's pronounces crotchet or croquet :s), making clothes (costumes, simple ones), toys.....cakes....

To be honest I'll try pretty much anything to do with crafts and cooking but I think what I'm best at is making jewellery :)

Basically, I created this blog to show some of the things I'm doing whether that's making jewellery or cakes or whatever...chances are I'll always be doing something :)

Hopefully I'll post again when I understand this some more :/