Still more giveaway fun!

Whilst waiting for an ebay auction to end tonight (nothing exciting, just a new filofax. But brown leather, yum!) I wasted time browsing blogs. And stumbled upon this gem of the blogosphere, The Brocantess. Her writing style is lovely and she's all about flea markets and thrifting, just my kind of blog.



She's doing a massive French vintage giveaway over on her blog so I thought I'd have a crack at entering (though with currently 140 other entrants, I don't think I stand much chance!).

So here we are Ms. Brocantess, consider SecondFiddle entered! Hmm...maybe that's a poor choice of words...

MJ's prize purse!

Here it is (finally), the purse won by the lovely Mary-Jane from my 50 hearts giveaway! It's only taken me...2 weeks to make it....

In my defence, I have scary exams looming (4 weeks and counting) plus numerous Christmas presents on the go, but still, that's no way to treat your blog reading public. I definitely resolve to do better next time, promise.

Apologies for the orange-tinted photos as well, it's dark here and I wanted to take a photo so I can get it sent off tomorrow. Watch out for the postie MJ, it's on the way!





Partly why it's taken so long is that I was umming and ahhing over the design. Normally I put buttons on the outside for decoration but this time I tried the patterned material on the outside and so buttons seemed a bit superfluous. I thought it needed something extra though but I couldn't work out what so in the end I left it, thinking 'less is more'. I hope she likes it .

More giveaway fun!

I'm slightly hooked on giveaways now, I'm entering The Green Violet's vintage giveaway over on her blog.

As proof I've entered and to spread the word, here's a little screen dump of my link on my facebook wall. So I've now promoted the giveaway twice! Hopefully that'll bring me twice the luck when it comes to picking a winner :)

Shanay's wee Hello Kitty bag

If I do say so myself, this is my best bag yet! It's so cute, the pink velvet is lovely to touch and I'm really pleased with how the felt Hello Kitty face turned out. The bag is for one of Andrew's relatives, a sweet little 6 year old girl. Her mum bought the purse from this post and this bag for Shanay's Christmas present, I wish I could be there to see how she likes them!









The bag is velvet on the outside, polka dot cotton on the inside. It's got a velcro fastening top and one of my Second Fiddle labels. I'm pretty proud of it :)

And the winner is...

...number 1! M-J Fleming, thank you for your entry, let me know what design you'd like for the inside and outside of the purse :)

Everyone else, thank you so much for entering and keep an eye on the blog for future giveaways, I'm planning one to celebrate 10 sales (on 9 at the moment!) and one for 100 hearts (on 67 at the moment!).

♥

50 Etsy hearts!

Exciting news! It's Second Fiddle's first prize giveaway!

I now officially have over 50 hearts on Etsy and I thought I would mark the occasion with a giveaway!

The prize is one of my little velcro purses, you can see the one I have for sale on my Etsy shop or photos below. Except yours will be tailor (or Taylor!) made to suit you.

If you win, you can email me with your likes and dislikes in terms of colours, patterns etc (e.g. I like reds, blues and greens, floral, chintz and polka dots. I dislike yellow and cartoon characters) and I will try and make a purse to suit you personally.





Now, here's how to enter. It's pretty simple, just comment below to say you're interested AND (and this is the important part!) post a link to my blog or etsy shop on your blog/facebook/myspace etc. I know it's shameless advertising but I want to do another giveaway when I have 10 sales so all help is needed!

The closing date for entering is Halloween, so I'll be picking a winner using a random number generator on the 1st of November.

So remember, all you have to do is post a link somewhere back to my blog or Etsy shop and then comment below to say you've done so. Maybe linking me to where you've linked me might be an idea!

Good luck everyone! ♥

Elderberry Wine

It's taken me weeks, but last week I finally managed to get my elderberry wine started. It all began when driving to uni one day, I noticed a massive elderberry bush by the side of the road and had a sudden urge to make homebrew. Using this recipe off the BBC's H2G2 website (Douglas Adam, you are sorely missed) I set to work.

I gathered my berries, got the spices, raisins and yeast and borrowed a demijohn off Ellie.





Soaking for 24 hours:



In the process of simmering for an hour:



In the demijohn to ferment for 2 weeks!