Grandpa, we love you...

Here is my sister and me in dresses handmade by our Mum with our Grandpa when we were little in the 80's - this picture makes me very happy, and is how I best like to remember him :)

Note cards!

In the time leading up to Christmas this year I have been trying to come up with different and original handmade presents to give to friends and family.

There have been so many amazing links to free crafting tutorials and downloads from some very generous people and one of my favourites by far is Yasmine Surovec from A Print A Day.

This lady is super talented and generous with her work, and she has produced some lovely Christmas themed downloads which are available on her blog, amongst many other beautiful themed notecards and tags etc, definately check her out!

So - I took one of her lovely Matryoshka calendar images (available here) and altered it slightly in Adobe Illustrator and made it into a set of note cards as one of my gifts, and I for one would be so pleased to receive a set of these from someone, I hope the receipient is as smitten with them as I am!



Thanks again to the lovely Yasmine!

Pretty Christmas card!

Isn't this a lovely Christmas card from my old school friend Liv!?


She's a talented lady, I am a big fan of the handmade Christmas card and I think this is one of my favourites :-)

Ribbons Galore

Well, £20 worth anyway (argh!!! Mini heart attack!) of beautiful ribbons from the famous ribbon shop VV Rouleaux in Sloane Square!

Christmas ribbon, present ribbon, Velvet Ribbon, sequins, Ric-Rac and even 'just for the hell of it' ribbon - you name it, they have got it.

I had to steer myself away from the pom-pom ribbon in bright pink - it was far too frivolous for a Wednesday lunchtime!

A very talented young lady

My lovely assistant Anwen is one heck of a talented young lady, not only is she the fastest knitter I know but she is also able to knit the most amazing designs pretty much just from her imagination and memory (something I am unable to do without following charts and ticking off the rows as I go!)

Here is her current project, a Star Wars jumper for a baby boy - how cool is this little fella going to look?! He'll be the envy of all his peers!


And here is a picture of the lady herself - hiding behind one of her other beautiful creations ;-)

Presenting......

Miss Sanchizzzz - as a beautiful flower!

Etsy wishlist - new discoveries

This is fantastic, if only I didn't have so many unframed prints in my humble abode already!

Found via : Pooping Rabbit on Etsy.com

Jo Gordon knitwear

This weekend I discovered Jo Gordon Knitwear, and I am in love!

I am now the proud owner of some beautiful bright red and pink striped fingerless lambswool gloves, which are the toastiest things I have had on my hands for a long time!

Check out her website http://www.jogordon.com and have a good look at all the other goodies available, I would personally love the matching hat and scarf :-)

My massive cat

This is me and the biggest cat in Surrey (or so I like to think).

Otherwise known as my incredibly spoilt cat Murphy who is clearly thrilled at being picked up and photographed for the millionth time.

Adventures in Gocco - Part 1

My first foray into Print Gocco.

The Gocco printer is meant to be my xmas present from my beloved ones, but of course I had to make sure it was working before surrendering it to the cupboard for another month ;-)

Two colour print xmas card design - got 60 of these out of one inking on the screen, could have got at least 80-100 if I hadn't run out of card stock, so satisfying and shockingly easy!

I just drew a design onto a postcard sized piece of paper with a carbon pen (came with the set but easy to find elsewhere - mine has seen better days sadly, hence the chunky lines!), exposed the screen, inked it and away I went, like child's play!

I GOT GOCCO!!

I have in my possession a Print Gocco PG10-Super screen printing machine.

It is quite simply ruddy amazing.

I am obsessed.

Here is one of its brothers - keep your eyes peeled for the fruits of our labours coming soon!

Time Flies

I can't believe its been so long since this photo was taken, urgh - where does the time go?!

One day

Crazy 50's housewife

Last night one of my friends mentioned that I probably should have been born in the 1950's as I would make a great 50's housewife (just without the wife and kids bit).

I imagine I would be something like this...... (although why this lady is sweeping leaves with a broomstick in the garden in her knickers is anyone's guess!)

Pretty and so easy to make!

I'm definately having a go at making some of these!




and if you can be bothered - then buy one!

Wishlist

I am in love with these rings from Galerie Urbana on Etsy. I hope Father Christmas drops one off in my stocking ;-)

These are my favourites.....

Plastic Fantastic

From this..........




To this..........







Inside this bracelet is my old plastic bottle, and it was sooooo easy to make!

A healthy breakfast is a happy breakfast

.

Here is the evidence to back that up!

What I wore on Monday

Inspired by the What Katie Wore blog (thanks for the link Nadia!) and by the Wingtipper's beeyooteeful illustrations here is my ode to them both........



Knitted Snood with pompoms (made by me on Saturday!)
Sweater by Uniqlo (embellished with studs around the neckline)
Grey sweatshirt skirt (made by me from some of my Shepherds Bush Fabric haul!)
Great Big Gold Ginorma-tote (made by me AGES ago, but my most beloved bag)
Leggings by Uniqlo
Slouchy Suede boots by Clarks


Grrrrr!! Cant make the pesky thing display properly or bigger, so for a proper close up click on the piccie.

Sweater Mitts

This weekend has been most productive in the crafts stakes - and my fave project of the weekend is these fingerless mitts.

The story behind these bad boys is that a couple of years ago i bought a beautiful fairisle wool jumper-dress from the charity shop back home, it was 2 tones of grey and HUGE, and so the perfect candidate for a felting - or so I thought!

Now you see the problem is that in the UK we do not have top loading washing machines, so when you decide to felt something you are pretty much chucking it in and crossing your fingers for a good result! Sadly this jumper went from a large adult size to child in 1 washing cycle :(

So - not one to ever throw things away I was sure I could make something of this felting disaster eventually, especially as the fairisle pattern was still so pretty, and until now nothing had presented itself as a suitable projects, until i had the idea to make some quick fingerless gloves!

Basically it was a case of wrapping each sleeve (cut from the body at the armholes and opened out) around my hand, with the cuff at the top, to see how it would fit, making sure to measure the depth of the thumbhole and then pinning it together to the contours of my hand (easier said than done!) then carefully removing my hand and drawing this line (on the wrong side) with chalk so i knew where to cut and then sew.


For the thumbs i just cut 2 rectangles wide enough to wrap around my thumb (making sure it was deep enough to allow movement) and stitched them to the area marked out for the thumbhole, right sides together.


Then I cut the bottom ribbing off another felted disaster (I'm still on a learning curve here!) and stitched it, right sides together, to the bottom of the glove.

Finally I stitched the whole thing together from top to bottom, and then trimmed the thumb piece down to the knuckle so I can move it and Bob's your uncle!


They can be worn alone or over gloves, I'm thinking leather!

Cracking week so far!

I have woken up in the most glorious of moods this morning, a rare thing for a Monday morning I can tell you!

The train to work was empty, so I got a good bit of knitting in, I made my breakfast (apples poached in cinnamon and honey with porridge and Greek yoghurt - highly recommended!) and it is a beautiful crisp Autumn day outside, plenty to be happy about!

So, imagine my further delight when I read a post about my blog on the Lovely Cupcake Couture blog by the gorgeous Nadia in South Africa (see her banner above, she makes and sells super pretty things for lovely ladies, and is herself a very talented young lady indeed!) it has made my day!

Here's to a lovely week for everyone!

What happened to my newspaper?

I made it into a basket.

Strangely gratifying!

Matchbook / Notebook

Card + Paper + Guillotine + Stapler + Glue + Nice printed image = Matchbook notebooks!

(Perfect for your handbag shopping list needs!)

I made these as last minute gifts for my sister and her best friend because I'm meeting them for an impromptu dinner tonight :-)

Reasons to be cheerful!

I am in a ridiculously great mood today, no particular reason - although I am very excited that Autumn seems to have finally arrived!

Here are a few reasons that I have to be cheerful today - Enjoy!


Beautiful colourful balloons

We like Jon

New and frankly amazingly comfortable shoes that make me feel like The Worst Witch.

Some random little Hama bead creations that someone left on the bus, and I adopted them.

Rainbow stack of felt

Etsy gift inspiration

So - in my bid to try and research my christmas gift making and buying earlier this year I have been looking for ideas on Etsy, and have found some beautiful pieces that I love and which are incredibly reasonably priced for handmade goods, they may even make their way into someone's christmas stocking this year!

Here are some of my favourites :

Stirling Wood combination ring $25, by Marriage of Metal

Vertically etched earrings $18, by Marriage of Metal


Antique Antler necklace $26.80 by Luxe Deluxe



For the baby in your life.....Crocheted teething ring rattle $15


For the little girl in your life.....Crocheted teddy bear $15

Shepherds Bush fabric haul

I had an amazing trip to the Shepherds Bush fabric shops yesterday, got a bumper haul and have so many ideas for my Winter wardrobe!


Liberty Butterfly print silk georgette £10 per metre (rrp £40!! So pleased about this - i have been salivating over it for AGES)


Petrol Blue Needlecord £3 per metre


Washed silk satin £7 per metre


Black stretch Mesh £4 per metre


Sweatshirt jersey £5.50 per metre


Stripey Jersey £3.50 per metre


Shiny Black Jersey £3.50 per metre

Silver grey Brocade £4 per metre