Shoes!

Recently Louise did a fab class over at Beautiful Things HQ #BTHQ

Using vintage comics and Mod Podge these shoes have turned out beautifully! 

So if you have a spare £20 and are at home twiddling  you thumbs head on over for the next class and make a pair of your own! 

What Have We Been Up To?

It has been a long time since we last updated you with our activities here at RC HQ.

Since the beginning of this month I have left my full time job to pursue my dream of owning my own business, and I can now announce the launch of our new website!

www.rabbitcrafts.co.uk opened its doors to the public today with new additions coming soon!

The Rabbit Crafts website is a market place for a variety of different crafts from a variety of different sellers.

Stocking jewellery, cosmetics, kids play furniture, sewn and crocheted products, the website is a treasure trove of beautiful items.

Please stop by and let us know what you think.

Louise xx

Next...

... Unfortunately this is not a  post thanking you for following Running Rabbit and encouraging me though the two years that I have been blogging and making. No, this is  a post telling you all bout my recent altercation with Next and the rubbish way they treat their customers!

On the 20th October I ordered two sofa's and a chair from Next for my new home, at the time of purchase one customer came into the store demanding a refund due to her order being cancelled twice and set back 12 weeks! 

I was assured that this was a one off and that the lady would be receiving a full refund. One of my sofa's and the chair were confirmed to be arriving in 4 weeks and the second sofa would be coming in 8 weeks due to a slight delay. 

Three weeks later instead of receiving a phone call I got a letter telling me that my sofas would arrive in the middle of December, a month late. Then I received a second later saying that there had been a further delay and that the furniture wouldn't be arriving until the end of December and I would be lucky to get the before Christmas!

At this point I rung them and told them that this was unsatisfactory customer service, definitely not of the level that you would expect of this well known family brand! I was then offered a £120 gift voucher which was then suddenly reduced to £100.once I told them that I had bought the furniture on finance. I then informed the customer service rep that this phone call was probably being recorded and that I wanted the £120 which seemed to swing it. 

The sofas finally arrived on the 16th December, however the tale doesn't end there... One of the sofa's that was delivered was the wrong colour and the feet that arrived with it didn't fit! 

This is the last straw! I am now paying finance for three sofa's when I only have two. I have spoken to customer services who have told me that I "should" here about the delivery of the correct sofa by the end of this month... Do I believe them? we will have to wait and see. 

Next... I am not impressed. 

Bill's

A few months ago, some friends and I wen for a girly weekend to Brighton! 

we had all planned a little bit of our trip and one of my lovely friends found this great restaurant called Bill's. 

Now Bills is a chain but it is fantastic! It feels like a one off and the bohemian restaurant layout gives off a great atmosphere, plus the food is great and is value for money. 

thought you would like to see some pics of this great place :) 

The fab metal tea pot

Eggs Benedict, yum!

Full to the brim (there was a queue to get in)

The lovely Helen with her smoothy

the wonderful Claire enjoying the orange juice

Me in desperate need of Tea!

Painting Tea Cups

I have managed to find some time to do some crafting!

My mum set me and my sister a task. She gave us four plain canvases and told us to paint what ever we wanted.

Now I don't think I am done yet, but here is where I am at the moment.

Utility China!

Before I start this post please let me apologise for my absence. In November I started a new job an i have been so busy that I haven't been able to craft let alone keep up my blog.

A friend of mine is on a mission, her sister is getting married and they have been furiously collecting tea cups for her big day. So far many of the cups have been floral and kitch but now they need something different.

I have suggested that they keep a look out for utility china. The pastel shades will fit in with the floral theme but will bring a different dimension to the overall look.

I love utility china, it has a wonderful retro feel, and the simplicity of it is wonderful. The colours are so in at the moment and I would love to have a set of my own.

So please keep a look out for this type of china and if you do see any in the Essex or Southampton area let me know!

Little Treat

These are some lovely little tea light holders that I got for my sister today :-)

Battlesbridge, Essex

Battlesbridge, in Essex, is home to the Battlesbridge Antiques and Craft Centre. Housing over 80 dealers selling antiques, crafts, also offering valuation services and s motorbike museum!

I went with some friends to have a look for some bits for a new flat, it is a treasure trove of wonderful finds. It is so quaint and the variety of items for sales is amazing.

To be honest I think I could have lived there!

Transforming Old Furniture

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine gave me a table that she didn't have a use for any more.

This lovely table was so cute I had to have it.

However, instead of leaving it as it was I decided to paint it as the wood didn't match that of the house I live in.

So I sanded it down and primed it, but now I need your help!

Apple White or Dusted Fondant?

Love Your Home

I find it very hard to believe that my partner and I have lived in our little rented house for seven months now!
Especially considering that since we moved in I have spent very little time trying to make it feel like it is ours.

So here is my attempt to make it feel a little more homely...

I bought these coasters for about £2 each from a lovely little trinket shop and I knew what I wanted to do with them straight away.

So I went to Ikea and got these Ribba frames for £7.19. These clean white frames were great to stick them in, and when I say stick I mean it! I had to sellotape them in as I didn't want to use hot glue and ruin them.

So next time you're out and see a trinket that you want then make it wall art!

Lovely Bunnies

Here are some lovely bunny related items that I have found online :)

This lovely necklace is by Four Beautiful Keys. It is handmade using sterling silver wire, and is yours for £32

These Bunnies with Attitude are amazing! These bunnies are made by Lonely Hearts and are £6 a hop. (get it ;))

And of course these bunnies are made by me :) stuffed with soft wadding and calming lavender, these 14cm bunnies are perfect as a sleepy soother for your child. completely handmade and yours for £6. 

How To Make A Memo Board

A while ago I made some lovely bunnies from the lovely book Everything Alice. 

In this post I will be showing you how to make the notice board (available to buy on my website) from the same book. In the book the notice board is heart shaped so I decided to simplify things by keeping it square.   

For this you will need:

• 2 sheets of white A2 mount board
• 1m x 50cm of 3cm thick wadding
• Hot glue gun and at least 5 sticks of glue
• 60cm x 60cm of fabric of your choice
• 5m of 5mm-wide ribbon
• 5mm buttons (you can use buttons that are bigger if you want) 
• 40cm garden wire (used yarn as i didn't have any wire hanging about) 

First cut all of you materials to the correct dimensions. (Remember these are only guidelines)

Lay your fabric face down with your doubled up wadding on top and you foam board on top of that. 

Now start gluing! Glue around the edge and hold until you feel the glue harden. 

Do this till you have made your way around the whole board. 

Make sure your corners are lovely and neat ;-)

When you have finished it should look something like this!

Now it is time to pin your ribbon into place ready for gluing. Make sure that each strip is evenly spaced with enough left over at either end to stick to the back. 

you should end up with a grid formation like this. this will allow you to place cards and pictures between the ribbons. 

Glue each strip at the back, holding in place until the glue is set. 

Now glue where the ribbons cross to the fabric and to each other. 

Just to make things look even prettier I stuck some buttons on top of where the ribbons crossed.

Instead of using garden wire, and to make thing look even more quaint, I decided to make the hanging loop from platted yarn. 

Not forgetting to add my label ;-)

Finally glue the second piece of foam board to the back (making things look neat). 

Remember if you feeling lazy you can always order your memo board from my website! Let me know the type of fabric that you would like.