Back to fabric and wool

After last weeks brief relationship with paper this week I'm back to creating with fabric and wool. 

After spotting some interesting looking wool I knitted up a cosy neckwarmer........

...........then I spied some more wool that took my fancy. Seriously chunky and such a lovely green, in fact the label calls it meadow green.

I wanted to try one in wool too so I chose a ball of Rowan 100% merino wool in a delicate shade of grey. It's not as wide as the green one but just as cosy knitted in moss stitch.

If you've visited any of the fashion websites recently such as net-a-porter or my wardrobe you might have spotted that snood type scarves are making a comeback. Don't worry they have definitely moved on since the days of Nik Kershaw! But seriously who can afford to pay nearly £100 for a scarf? Not me that's for sure. Once I have a collection together I plan on putting them in my online shop or if I ever get my act together in my yet to open etsy shop. Note to self: Sort it Out!!!

 And finally a sweet little wrist purse decorated with some felted wool die cut flowers. Yes, yet more uses for my tattered floral die - money well spent.

I have just realised that I have more to share of my crafty week but I've forgotten to take photos and as the clocks have gone back - IT'S DARK. Boo!

Scrapping of Sorts

After an enforced lack of blogging due to no internet connection I'm happy now to be back in full working order. Tip: reconsider if you currently have Norton security it does it's job so well that it blocks connecting to the internet. It appears I'm not the only person to have suffered in this way. 

Ok serious bit over onto the scrapping.........all but in miniature

A much loved colleague is retiring this week and the office is going to be a whole lot quieter without him. He is someone who has supported my crafty endeavours and I know that he will appreciate something created for him.

He has been finishing jobs and clearing paperwork and when I spied him recycling his business cards I knew that I should retrieve them. After a bit of ferreting about in the recycling bin I found them and kept them safe but not quite knowing what to do with them.......That was until I saw a brilliant tutorial by Kirsty Neale on how to make a minibook from business cards. I've altered it a bit to fit in with how I wanted it to end up as I still wanted the business cards visible in places.

Then I had a tricky moment when the ribbon left to fasten around the cover wasn't quite long enough to tie properly. What to do? My non crafty husband came to the rescue with the suggestion of 'why don't you use some velcro?' Genius, I had some sticky velcro dots just waiting for such an occasion. You know, one of those 'they will come in handy purchases for some future project if only I can remember where I put them!'.

So there we have it a minibook made from business cards with it's very own box........

Autumn Love

Last weekend I had a messy, creative kind of day with a couple of friends and in amongst the distress ink and chocolate chip cookies we made these

We used some offcuts of mountboard as a base and inked them with distress inks, added a bit of stamping and used the Tim Holtz dies to cut out either flowers or leaves. My friend Karolyn now wants to make one for each season although Sarah took hers in a whole different direction with a floral theme.

Our crafting then took a Christmassy turn with the creation of some Christmas wreaths.

.....and if that has got you in a Christmassy creative mood then you should definitely consider signing up for the 12 Days Workshop at The Copy and Paste Project I signed up last year and spent many a happy hour creating. There are 12 main tutorials to create handmade gifts plus lots of extras and there is no need to go out and buy lots of new supplies you probably have just what you need right there in your stash pile.

Here are a few things I made......

This bookmark card I made for a friend's birthday because remember............ a handmade gift isn't just for Christmas......

Skulls and Angels

When I first discovered Urban Threads this is one of the first designs I stitched. All those tiny beads which I decided to use to make up the skull took a while but I like the effect they give. I made it into a cushion for my hairdresser. Luckily she liked it or else I could have ended up with a wonky haircut. The envelope style back is made from red spot fabric. If you'd like to make your own there are lots of professions to choose from the designs ready to download.

And remember the angel wings well here is the angel they now belong to.

She is from the Tilda's Christmas Ideas book. I really enjoyed making her and you can be sure you'll be seeing more ideas from this book.  
Whilst I've enjoyed this phase of sewing I really miss scrapbooking but there are only so many hours in the day but I'll be back to a bit of papercrafting soon as I've got to make some Autumn tags for the monthly swap on UKS.

September 365 Challenge

I'm a little late I'm afraid but better late than never eh!  September has an inky feel to it, brushed corduroy background with a script stamp from The Artistic Stamper over the top.

The end of September definitely felt like Autumn was on it's way. I don't know about you but we have been inundated with spiders, they are everywhere and the garden is full of their webs.

The grapes are ripening nicely and it will soon be time to try and make some drinkable wine. Any tips gratefully received.

Moustache? No, they're angel wings all to be revealed soon.

If you like art journaling or you want to learn more visit Sian at From High in the Sky for Octobers pass the book. Leave her a comment and you could be the lucky person who gives the book 'Creative Wildfire' a home for the month. If you're not sure what pass the book is all about find out here

A little bit of patchwork......

.....and a new beginning but before I tell you about that I'll share a little more about the patchwork. As you know I've been doing a bit of sewing recently and I spotted the perfect project for using up a few scraps. I have to say of the small piece of Amy Butler fabric I bought I've used every last scrap. This is what I made.....

 

......a patchwork pincushion.

I plan to do a bit more patchwork and have been looking through a book called 'The Impatient Patchworker' for inspiration - perfect. The thought of making a whole throw fills me with dread but completing small projects like the pincushion give me a real sense of satisfaction. Perhaps that's why I never actually finished these.....

I started them years ago and probably the idea was to make them into cushion covers but I never quite got there. My vintage fabric recycling started way back then too. The patchwork pattern is called cathedral windows, maybe I should get around to finishing them it seems a shame after all that work for them not to serve any purpose.

Now onto the new beginning...........

Let me introduce you to the doll I created for the art doll swap I'm involved with on UKS. It must have been fate that I signed up to the swap as I'd just bought this book from a second hand book shop. I won't see her again til May as she is going off on her travels meeting people who will add to her along the way. Every month I'll be posted someone else doll to work on too until finally we will all receive our own doll complete.

I know you were probably expecting September for the calendar 365 challenge and it will be here just a little late.....oops