Summer

For us Australians, this is the first day of summer - what a disappointment! When you think of summer, you think beaches, ice creams, sunshine, and air-con (for the lucky amongst us). But no, we get a miserable, rainy, drab cold day! Oh well, it's the thought that counts...

Anywho, in honour of the first day of "summer", here's my latest bag. With material of white cotton and ice creams printed all over, I've lined it in bright blue polka-dots with the same trim, and added a little ice cream as an accent! :)

Hope you all love it =)






This will soon be available for sale in my shop, so stop by if you're interested. :)

We're moving!!

Just a heads up for everyone...

Hubby and I are working on a new fantastic website for Lighthouse Designs. Once I have Christmas over and done with, I'm planning on get the website up, and start designing some new ideas I have floating around. So, hopefully within the next month or so, this blog will be moving - keep your eyes open, I'll let you know when it all happens!! :) *squeals with excitement*

Kanzashi

Hey everyone! :)

In my recent wandering, I stumbled across the most beautiful hair pieces - Kanzashi! Apparently, these were made in Japan for "apprentice geisha girls", and they certainly reflect the beauty and grace portrayed by the geishas!

Thanks to A Sunday Girl on Etsy, I found some instructions to make some simpler versions of these beautiful flowers!! I'm still at the stage of working with cotton and making more modern versions of these, but I'm hoping to start working with satin soon to make them more traditional! See what you think (and hey, google-images Kanzashi - they are amazing!)

Oh, and here's a free tutorial that someone might like. :)


To accent each flower, I make a fabric button in matching fabric/colour. :)




Please comment if you'd like to see these sold in my shop, and how you suggest I use them (ie, headband, hair clip, as an accent to a bag, etc.).

Hope you enjoy! :)
-Lucinda

We have a winner....

Thank you to all who participated in my giveaway!! I'm sorry I'm so late closing this giveaway and updating on the winner, it's been pretty hectic 'round here! :)

Congratulations to oksana (comment no. 11) for winning the giveaway!! :) Winner was chosen using random.org. :)

Thank you again for all your participation, and please invite friends to stop by and join the blog, as I'll be having another giveaway coming up to Christmas. :)

Lucinda Ramsay
Lighthouse Designs

two-thirds

You know the feeling you get when you complete a really huge project? That totally satisfying *sigh* that immediately follows? Well, I'm two-thirds the way to that sigh. :)

Remember that Christmas project I'm working on? Well, I just finished the second set of 24 bags, with one more set to go!

Actually, I finished half of each set, in time to start hanging on the tree for Christmas!! I'm so relieved. :) Check it out!!

Giveaway!!

Yay!! I'm having a giveaway. :)

After some inspiration from a fellow Etsyan, I decided to start a new selection of cosmetic pouches - Classic. With deep smart tones of black, white, purple, gray, and other dark colours, I'll be making these primarily from satin, in more of a formal style. Perfect as an evening clutch, or a makeup bag to throw in your handbag on a night out! :)

So, to start it off, I'm having a giveaway for my first design. The photos truly don't do it justice, it's so elegant in appearance! All fabric is satin, including the lining.


So here's how to enter!

1.) Follow this blog
2.) Follow me on Twitter
3.) Post a comment on this post afterwards, so I can include you! Please also feel free to give me ideas and suggestions as to what you'd like to see me add to my shop in the future! :)

Giveaway will be between Sunday 31st Oct to Thursday 4th November, finishing at 9pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time). So hurry up and enter!! :)

Cupcake giveaway

Stop by and check out this cool cupcake giveaway by Emily Parkes :) I just LOVE cupcakes!! :D

Aqua blue

It's spring here, and everything feels so fresh and alive! As the weather warms up, I love everything bright, anything that feels summery. :) Right now, I'm in love with anything aqua-blue!


So, playing around with textures and materials, I came up with this bright little bag for a special order. :) Top and lining are plain cotton, bottom is cotton with polka-dots, and covered with a mesh/netting material, complimented with a flower button! :D Quite pleased with the results - hope you all like it too! :)

Hard at work

For some really annoying reason I can never keep posting regularly on my blog. :( But, I shall try to keep myself here, semi-regularly if nothing else. :)

I've been hard at work on a huge order for the past couple of months. I'm in the process of making 75 bags by Christmas! :) They are Christmas themed, as an advent calender to be hung on a tree... I'm growing rather attached to the project, so I thought I'd share a few photos of my progress so far!

Here is the first set, completed!



And the second set (red set) that I'm currently working on :)






These sized bags are slightly smaller than my standard, and are listed for sale in my Etsy Shop to be customized. :)

Bow-Beautiful book bag

Browsing a local store the other day, I found the most beautiful book bags, and although they were cheap enough, I decided I just had to make one. The original ones I found were made of a heavy linen-type material... I decided to go a little lighter with just a sturdy cotton, lined with calico.



I added a flower motif on the front, plus a ribbon bow, just for accent. :)


And the handles..




Quite proud of my little book bag! :D

Not too girly

My husband is studying at university, starting this semester. Amongst his supply-hunting at Officeworks, he was looking for a good pencil case, but he was annoyed to see that all the pencil cases were too "girly" for his liking. In desperation he asked if I'd make him one at home. I think he expected a simple little case with a zip ... but this is what he ended up with!





I bought 2 meters of zipper from Spotlight, and sewn continuously around itself provides this barrel-like pencil case! Combined with the bright green cotton to close off the ends, it contains no hint of "girly." :P

If undone, it simply ends up being one _really long_ zipper. Pretty cool, huh?






And totally undone...


I never get tired of pulling this thing apart and back together again ... it almost defies the purpose of a zipper. ^_^ So I'll leave you with the reconstruction. :)

Copy cat

Well, following on from my last post, I loved the design so much that I just had to make another. All features are the same except colours of course. This little one was made specially for a friend. :)