Happy Christmas

Just a little note tonight to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I have had a busy day getting the late minute bits from my local market. Cleaning and neverending washing up. Making cranberry sauce, mince pies and finishing off the best bit mmmm the Christmas cake.
Can't wait for tomorrow and my little girls face : )

Ruby Slippers

These are the "Ruby Slippers"

I have made these for my friends baby for Christmas, and yes she is called Ruby! Its a miracle she is home for Christmas she spent her first 7 months of her life in hospital as she was born at only 25 weeks gestation. She has survived many operations and come through all sorts.. against the odds. I think she deserves some special slippers : )

Christmas Markets & Wrapping

I had a lovely day out in Birmingham on tuesday. We went after seeing the hairy bikers show on tv, they visited the German Christmas Market there and made it look fab! Which it was, and especially the fire punch i could drink that all day in winter. Its amazing they have a cone of sugar over a copper vat full of red wine and spices, they pour rum over the sugar and set fire to it...its so delicious.There were some lovely stalls and we tried lots of german food, Rio especially liked the mushrooms in garlic sauce. Its a shame i didn't have the camera. It helped get me in the Christmas spirit, the hustle and bustle of a big city, the beautiful Christmas lights and just being out on a dark winters night drinking mulled wine and fire punch surrounded by fantastic craft stalls and happy shoppers!!

I also had to visit Selfridges where i purchased quite a lot from paperchase : ) i have been wrapping my pressies in some great recycled paper i got from there.

I love it its so perfect, i have been making little tags too, by cutting squares of the paper and sticking them on some matching card then attatching them with some kraft paper string...they look great!!

Next year i am going to Germany for the Christmas markets.....fingers crossed!

Birthday wishes

This is a 40th birthday card I made for a friend and I got this fantastic date stone for him from letterfest's Etsy shop.

I had been admiring them for a while, it is a great personalised gift. It looks so great in real life a really special present.

Letterfest are based in Devon, UK and take inspiration from signage and letter designs. They sell a wide range of engraved stones and pebbles and they also do some gorgeous prints and vintage letterpress items.

I would love a whole collection of the pebbles.

Really beautiful stuff, Etsy is such a great place!

Birthday wishes

Box it up

I was asked by a customer if i could box her order so i made this little box and tag and wrapped it in hot pink raffia. I think it looks so beautiful : ) I havn't done much creating over the last few days as i have been so busy putting orders together and i have had a horrible cold.. which has just made me feel really quite grumpy. I think i am on the up now, and hoping to start making some Christmas pressies!

Box it up

Fluffy Rainbows

I saw a tutorial on youtube for felt bracelets and wow its great fun, so I thought i would make some for Christmas presents, but now i have gone and listed them in my Etsy shop - whoops best make some more! Christmas is getting very close now and as usual I have great intentions of making lots of pressies, but seem to be running out of time. The etsy shop is going really well I am approaching my 50th sale there will be a few goodies for that lucky customer!!

Cold and frosty morning!!

wow its seriously frosty today and i am dreaming of sunnier places i an attempt to raise my body temperature above hyperthermic........

Been busy with my etsy shop carefully wrapping and packing orders, which i just love doing!

I remembered last night i have been totally rubbish at keeping up to date with my blog, so i took a photo of a pk of 3 crayons i had put together for a customer, she chose a lovely combination of colours! I am off to make some more envelopes today to go with my Christmas cards

'Dotty Hearts'

My heart shaped felted soaps are nearly sold out, so i thought i better find a new way of showing my love for hearts and rainbows! I have never tried needle felting soaps before. I started with a plain white felted soap then needle felted a rainbow of little love hearts its such good fun ... very theraputic and what a result...i love it... it did take a long time, but i guess i will get faster with practice! The design i used is one i used before probably about 10 years ago. I made a huge mosaic mirror in white and cream with hearts in all the colours of the rainbow, aha i just found some photos in my portfolio...so i took a picture of them, not great quality and you can't see the scale the mosaic it is over a metre in diameter!!

Felting Soaps

Wrapping my handmade and natural lavender soap in a fluffy rainbow.

The sun came out so as promised I took some photos. I have been busy felting soaps and I managed to get a few work in progress shots.

I only have a few heart shaped soaps left. Thay take 4-6 weeks to cure so i am debating whether to get some made and curing ready for valentines! Thats forward thinking : )

Unique Charm

Big shout out to Leslie at http://www.uniquecharms.blogspot.com/ for a lovely write up, such kind words and a huge feature! wow its such a compliment to be blogged about : ) She makes some really funky stuff! I love these cherry charms in her Etsy shop.


I am so busy making for the Christmas rush i have become totally rubbish at taking photos, hoping to get some tomorrow!

GIVEAWAY TODAY

Wow, i am having a super busy day in my Etsy shop and check out this competition for one of my hairslides!

http://barefoot-mommy.blogspot.com/2008/11/rainbowroom-giveaway-ends-1206.html

So check it out and you could be in with a chance of winning this

funky felt peacock feather hair clip!

GOOD LUCK!

Lovely Day

A quick post just to say wow what a lovely day!
I have had a warm fire burning all day, a lovely autumnal walk with my daughter and have been looking at all the lovely treasuries on Etsy, talking with some fellow Etsians and getting great feedback on my work and selling lots too!! : )
Oh and Leslie from Unique Charm is going to feature my work on her blog to so big shout out to her : ) http://www.uniquecharms.blogspot.com/

Blogs and blogs and giveaways and more!

I am having a all the buses coming at once kinda day. I had a luuvvvveellyy feature written about me by Kerry of pennydogaccessories she makes some really funky resin jewellry.

I love this beautiful ring it makes me think of fresh lemonade, oh and gin and tonic, mmm whiskey and lime : ) so refreshing!

This is the link to the lovely article she wrote about me.

http://pennydog.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/spotlight-on-the-rainbow-room/

****GREAT GIVEAWAY NEWS****

And some exciting news for you guys if you want to get your hands on one of my 'Felt Peacock Feather Hair Accessories' I am doing a giveaway on http://barefoot-mommy.blogspot.com/ today, so get over there and check it out and good luck!

Freinds and family.....NO PEEKING!!!

'Christmas Rainbow'
A hand stitched felt illustration by Clara Luna.

Here it is, the final finished Christmas illustration all photographed and cut out in Photoshop. I do hope none of my friends and family are peeking i did warn you! : ) I am so happy with how this has turned out, I just kind of did it with no real plans or sketches......and it looks so fab! I really enjoyed working on this project and all the little details in the picture, the beads, sequins and the stitched signature - love it! It is a such a happy and colourful Christmas picture! I feel it really sums up my style and what my work is all about!

So I managed to get my cards printed and wow they look fab, but i couldn't find envelopes to fit so i set about on my first envelope making project and here they are my very own rainbow of envelopes - i am proud!

Here they are, my beautiful cards all wrapped up with a handmade envelope. These are available in my Etsy shop either individually with a choice of envelope colour, or in a pack of 7 with a rainbow of envelopes.

Its not a great photo of the back of the card, but I just love it so much.
Happy happy happy!

Brooch Cards

I had a lovely weekend away, visiting friends and doing a little window shopping too! I managed to get some photos of the brooch cards i have been making.

Its great to give a card which is a pressie too. I have used some coloured card and some reused wrapping paper, then attatched the brooch.. I am very pleased with these they look so special and three dimensional.

Man Flu

Today i have been running around trying to get organised for a trip to visit friends, washing, cooking, wrapping pressies, making birthday cards, looking after kids, sorting out my etsy shop etc etc my boyfriend seems to have developed man flu oh dear.. what a day.

This is one of the cards i have made, sometimes i wish i could just go to the shop like normal people, but no, i have to have these crazy ideas and i try to fend them off, but they just won't go away!!!!!!! But it looks fab and Vinny will love it too, i am toying with the idea of making these to order - personalized cards, will need to make them a bit quicker this took me an hour!

I have also made this hibicus flower brooch for a card for my friend, it looks amazing in real life this photo does not do it justice! this all came about after i found the hoody i had been coveting for a few months in the SALE- whoooppeeee so i set about making a brooch/hair clip to go with it.

Here it is my gorgeous new hoody with its felt/wet felted/needle felted hibiscus pin. I used black craft felt and wet felted this jade merino with a few angelina fibres for sparkle, cut out the petals then needle felted them to the felt and added a few beads. It really looks stunning but its quite big hope i am brave enough to wear it this weekend!

Where does the time go?

I am sorry to have been away from blogging for nearly a week, i really don't know where the time has gone!

I have been felting some more rainbow soaps, and some ickle baby booties too aahhhh.

I need to finish these off, get the shape right and add a few finishing touches.

I have also been trying to sort out the printing of my Christmas card design too. They should be arriving soon now - very excited to see what they look like! I have also started to experiment with some rainbow plush keyrings. What i would really like is to make a set of plush rainbows in various sizes. Some functional but mainly just for fun and decoration! I have been pretty rubbish with the photos just lately due to the dark winter days and nights!

Queen of Rainbows

The lovely and very talented AileenClarkeCrafts called me the "Queen of Rainbows" today on Flickr. What a title Wow thanks!

It is quite appropriate though and especially today as i have been making a rainbow of recycled crayons. Which also double up as Christmas tree decorations. It was great to make a whole rainbow of these, photograph them and list them on etsy all in one day.

I have also been felting a few more soaps these are my "Lavender Wrapped in a Rainbow" soaps, one regular rectangular bar and one heart.

Another Clara Luna Rainbow

Another Clara Luna Rainbow
Originally uploaded by therainbowroom

Managed to get some great photos of my mini Christmas stockings! and surprise........ another rainbow, they look great altogether like this. i am really happy with these : )
Well its Halloween today and i have spent most of the day finishing the halloween fairy costume for my daughter and baking cakes for the party, which was a great success although Rio was slightly scared by all the witches and monsters!

Oscar The Owl

Here is my little chunky owl all sewn up, who i have named Oscar! I am very happy with him and would love to make a plush Oscar too, I do hope i wil be able to squeeze that in over the next few weeks!
The sun came out today so I was able to get a few photos of my mini felt stockings and my christmas card felt illustration. I have been working with those today and hoping to get those sorted ready to start listing the stockings on etsy and getting the cards off to be printed. I have also been trying to make a little halloween costume for my daughter, which i have found harder than i expected - hope that falls into place... we have a party to go to tomorrow!

Chunky Little Owl

Chunky Little Owl
Originally uploaded by therainbowroom

Along with alot of other things i have been trying to make a little owl for my daughters friends birhtday card, he loves birds and we love owls. This is my first attempt at any little creatures, he is quite a chunky little fellow, we shall see what he looks like all stitched up!
Still waiting for a sunny day so i can get some good photos of my mini felt christmas stockings!

Roses for Remembering

These are the finished felted flowers i have been making, they are for my mum on the 2 year anniversary of her death : (

She would love these dozen needle felted roses, specially made in her favourite colours.

I miss my mum so much, she was an amazing mum and so enthusiastic about me and my work.

Getting there!

What a mess! Well working progress and hooray i have cracked the Christmas stockings i wanted to make. Little felt stockings just big enough for one of my small hairslides to fit inside or something else equally as fab! i have managed to make 6 today after the 8 experimental ones! So busy busy. I will be putting these in my etsy shop and selling some locally too. i just need to get on with the i pod covers now. I was asked by a friend if i made a wet felted one a while ago so will try a get that done next. Its on my long to do list! : ) And i am feeling Christmasssy now Anthony has got a whole week off at Christmas - which is a miracle!

Sewing machines aaaarrggghhhh

What is it with sewing machines ? Sometimes they just do what you want no problems...but then they just won't do what you want without getting all tangled and messy and eating your fabric and thread and aaarrrgghhh.................... will try again tomorrow because things were looking good, my little experiments looked like they were coming together how i had hoped. Just need to get my head around the sewing machine again! Wish i could post some photos now but its too dark, will try tomorrow.

I have finished sewing ( BY HAND) my felt mask for the haloween party, i think its fab, but i have that something not quite right feeling but not sure what it is so any tips for improvement most welcome!

And I treated myself to a little rainbow of threads too!

Busy busy busy

I have been busy doing, over the last couple of days, as much as you can do with a 3 year old running around the place!

I have made a special brooch card for my step-sister's birthday, i am really happy with it but it took some getting right, my white felt is a bit thin compared to the rest.

I have also finished my christmas card felt illustration - and wow i am seriously happy with it, but its not christmas yet, and i wouldn't want to spoil it for all of you so here is just a little taster!

i have also been cutting some rainbow stripes for some i pod covers and christmas stockings i have been planning for, forever to make, i still have a lot to do but hope to get it done this christmas!

OOOH i have also been making a little mask for a Halloween party, will try and finish that tonight and get some photos tomorrow.

Soaps and spa's!

I am so very happy today i have had another sale on etsy, one of my felted heart soaps. : ) wooohoooo!!!!!!!!! i also had the most fantastic day with friends yesterday, we went to a local country club and swam , jacuzzied, had a sauna and went in the steam room. Our daughters are great friends and they played in the pool for 2 hours - bless. We then had an amazing meal of taco's, drank good wine and stopped in their gorgeous holiday cottage with log fire - what a top day! i know i am talking about things i said i wouldn't whoops, its just great when you just have one of those perfect days!
Back to life in the rainbow room, nearly finished my christmas card design, just debating whether to put the little stars on .... then i must finish my felted roses and take some photos when it stops raining! I have got soooooo much i want to make at the moment.

Butterfly Day

Today we all had a day off and we had a lovely family day out! We visited a local butterfly house where we saw some fantastic butterflies and some great flowers too.


I particularly loved the Coral Hibiscus flower and well all the butterflies!!!

Although it was my day off, my brain was ticking all the time and i found it very inspiring.


But hey who needs felt hair clips, when you can wear a real butterfly on your head!?!

We also visited a couple of exhibitions one was far too 'fine art' for me and the other was wildlife photographer of the year. WOW such amazing photos and such amazing animals! I found the owl photos particularly inspiring, might have to make some little owls they are fantastically magical creatures.