Lesson one of 45 Life Lessons

I came across this lovely piece on Fab after Fifty website. To celebrate growing older, Regina Brett age 90 put together 45 lessons life taught her. I am going to give you a phrase or two at a time, I feel this will be more memorable. I will document them the whole at the end. 

OK so here is lesson one. 

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

Fashionable Plus Size Lace Dress

Finding a fashionable dress for that special occasion in bigger sizes are hard to come by and if you don't conform to fashion standard sizing, then you are stuck with ill fitting clothes'

This custom made dress is made for a clients heading off to Spain for Christmas.

My client has an inverted triangular shape with a larger bust and smaller compact torso. 

I choose  a style which allowed her to show off her best features, with a flattering neckline and a gathered dropped sleeves allowed her to cover her upper arm. Finished with an invisible zip and a back vent to allow ease of movement 

I feel the dress works for her physique enabling her to not only look but feel beautiful  

Work to Play Plus Size Custom made Dress

Today was not the best day to take photos, dull and sunless, but I hope you will be able to capture the essence of this dress
This is  yet  another dress made for the client with the polka dress She wanted to try colour, being a size 24 she was worried that she would look like a tomato. But I think I got it right and she loved it. 

I think this is a great dress designed for a day in the office and after work party and the red makes it perfect for the Christmas season.The dress is styled to fit and flow at the right angles, fitted from bust through the body and gently flutes out at the hemline. Great shape if you are full busted and have smaller hips. Short sleeves for those who hate showing their upper arm.. 

Sorry but the photos does not do the colour justice

I am in the process of making a lace dress for Christmas abroad for her, hopefully I will get time to post it before she picks it up.

101 in 1001 Update

Not wanting to bore you with my antics of accomplishing my 101 in 1001 goal, I have not updated too often. But as it has been a while since I reviewed this I thought it would be good to check and document how far I have got.
You may already know I have a job and I am thoroughly enjoying it

This also means my goal to increase my income by £1000.00 is achieved. It involves a great deal of walking almost every day, the weight is falling off, great as my sister is getting married in the spring, so I will hopefully look trim healthy for the day.

The new job requires a great deal of reading, not only policies, but learning manual and process for helping clients, never a day goes by without me having to read through a manual to get a better understanding of how best to help the clients, great learning curve.

My brother has been ill, so inadvertently I have seen and spoken to my brothers and sisters more often than normal and more than I had aimed to do in my goal. By the way he is on the mend. I am still visiting as he needs his paper work sorted.
My mum is local to my work and to my brother so I see her at least once a week but often it's more. Also sourced new kitchen for my mum and project managed the installation and decorated her lounge and hall way  so was around for quite a bit with her

Pictures of work in progress, I will try and post the finished project sometime - no promises 

I have noticed that my house has the least progress, so this is going to be my priority for the next couple of months.

The Made it Market Craft Fair

Today I attended The Made it Market craft fair. I have attended a few of these fairs organised by Sarah Rowden and her team and have always found them really well organised with great attention to detail. The events are always well attended with a constant footfall from the beginning of the day to the very end. 

Sarah and her team is taking a well earned rest and hopefully will be back bigger an better. 

Today I sold a few items

I cannot show one of the items because I did not get an opportunity to take any photos.  I can say it was made up in the same fabric used to make the skirt below, the new skirt is in an A line shape.

Business Card

Although I did not sell a lot I gave out over a hundred business cards with one custom order. I am hoping the business cards will generate more sales.

This skirt is the custom order in a size 9/10 Hopefully the fabric is still available in the shop.

I was once told by a wise old lady that I should celebrate my successes, so I bought an indian meal. yes last of the big spenders me 

Have a great weekend and I hope your day have been eventful as mine.

Win Five Fabulous Gifts

Wow Thank You is hosting a competition and you get the chance to win some fabulous items donated by sellers on the WoW Thank You shopping site.  It free to enter and I believe you can enter as many times as you like. You will have an opportunity to win the items listed below including the Blue Leaf Infinity Scarf from my shop. All you need to do is enter your name, your email and a solve a very simple question, how easy is that.

Here are the 5 Fabulous prizes

 Closing date is 12 noon on Monday 24th December  

Win a Blue Leaf Infinity Scarf handmade by Cheeky Rose

Win a Jack the Pirate Owl by Kozmic Dreams

Win a handmade French style memo board by Khaya Bella

Win a Handmade Pink Swarovski Crystal Shamballa Ball Necklace by MysticMoon

Win a Pickly Bugs Personalised Print by Pickle Pie Creations

Sharing Craft Juice Tuesday

Here is a collection of wonderful handmade items from Craftjuice. Enjoy!!!!

Folksy :: Buy "Chocky Yummy "

Gold Charm Necklace

Sweet Ling Ling Chinese International Adoption by meiguidesigns

Threepenny Bit Cufflinks - Folksy

Clay figurine polymer clay art doll OOAK by MyBuddyBling on Etsy

Gun & Denim Chandelier Earrings by GemsByJennie on Etsy

 Blue Christmas Wreath Christmas Yarn Wreath in by KutItOutCrafts

:Yet Another Sale

I have yet another sale, the cushion above was one of the first cushion covers I made and I am so thrilled I have now sold 3 of these cushion cover. 

The above photo was sent to me from the customer who bought the cushion cover, this shows the cushion cover in place on her sofa.  

You can see more of these cushion covers in my online Cheeky Rose Studio shop and my etsy shop

Supporting The Vulnerable Adult

If you have been following my blog you will know that I now have a new job after a year and a half of looking.  Oh boy what a relief, now I feel able to make clear decision and take control of my life. This past year has given me a feel of what it is like to have my mental health comprised and feel vulnerable. But unlike the majority of the clients I have supported I have been fortunate in having very good family and friends who have been there supporting and helping me through this difficult period.

I feel I have been fortunate over the past decade in my choice of work. This has involved working with adults who are considered vulnerable due to their disability or age. My past roles have  involved supporting  people experiencing mental health difficulty, people who have difficulty in communicating their needs.This has included providing emotional support, and advocacy, helping people to express their needs and wishes, helping people to access services obtain information.

This is my first month in my new job and although I love the job, more so than my other roles it has highlighted the inequalities of society and the challenges of growing old. Most of the clients I meet are elderly, some appear to have had a comfortable lifestyle, that's not to say their life has been stress free, some well what can I say. How does a pensioner cope in society when they can't read or write, when the person who supported and cared for them are no longer around, when they are plagued by physical disability.  What I have seen is scary, because I know the work that people like me do is like  picking away at an ice berg.

When we speak of tolerance, non judgemental, empathy. I now know what it takes, when I walk into a home that makes me gag from smells accumulated through years of human waste seeped into the carpets, I sit, I listen, I take notes, I begin to formulate a plan of how I am going to support this vulnerable person, Because of their sense of humour, their tenacity in the face of adversity, I see past the exterior surrounding I see the real person the vulnerable person.

Plus Size Custom Made Dress

For me knowing what style suits a client body is very important, this is developed during the consultation, which can prove very challenging. This client is a size 24Uk with a very full bust and a smaller hip structure, she has never worn skirts or dresses and wanted a change. My brief for this client was to make a dress that she could wear to work and an executive she needed something that would give her the WOW factor without attracting too much attention to her full bust, especially as most of of clients were men. 

Although she came with a style in mind a shift dress in plain fabric, similar to the dress above without the belt and with sleeves. nice, but I felt it would not do her justice, or achieve the look she was aiming to project. After some lengthy discussions and gently persuasion she agreed to having a print. 

To balance the bust and hip ratio I added a plain top to an empire style with a contrasting polka dot print skirt. 

The skirt is made up in panels which allowed me to contour the shape to fit the clients body, for movement there is a slit at the back. Worn with killer red heels and plain navy jacket will give her that WOW factor. I am very pleased with the finished result as is the client. I now have two dresses to make up for her and the great thing is she has taken on board what was discussed in our first consultation and have become a bit more adventurous with colour and fabric. I am not saying much more now, but will post these once I have completed them. 

Have a great weekend