Pretty Paper Party - Paper Pieced Patchwork

As you can see it's all the 'Ps' here today. I had great fun piecing this layout together. It involved a lot of cutting and sticking but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. A great way to use some of your favourite patterned paper.

Crunchy outside, soft inside, the treats cats crave

One of my cats, Purdey goes absolutely mad for her favourite cat treats. I'm beginning to think they have something everso slightly addictive in them. She's developed quite a habit and turns into the most demanding cat if she thinks there is even a sniff of a Dreamie snack. In fact she only has to see you in the kitchen and she thinks it's Dreamie time. Oh what have I started?

I don't know why I suddenly thought about it but I remembered how when I young there was a craze for shrinking empty crisp packets. You might not be aware of it, I know Mr P looked like I was mad when I asked him about it. I'd just thrown away an empty packet, it came free with something else, just a little freebie to get your cat hooked.  I hoped I might be able to shrink it small enough to make a embellishment and luckily it worked.

If you would like a template to make the perfect sized hexagons for a layout or card let me know and I'll happily send you one.

.......now to venture into the kitchen.

Pretty Paper Party - Strips and Scraps

I'm still partying and look I have another layout completed. I've wanted to scrap this photo for ages as I love the colours of the hydrangeas. It was taken in the Garden Cafe on a visit to the V&A.

I'm feeling good about not using new supplies and pleased to be showing off some favourite paper, although I still have quite a few sheets of the Noteworthy design. I know, I'm guilty of panic buying. Please tell me you've done the same.

I'm not entirely happy with this layout and I can't decide if I should add some stalks (stitched maybe?) to the flowers on the righthand side or if I should leave it as it is. They look like they're floating to me and need to be anchored.

I'll stop fretting about it for now and just feel satisfied that I've done some scrapping.

Pretty Paper Party - On the Edge

Hi as you can see I've been partying. I haven't followed all the prompts and certainly not in order but the idea of signing up to Shimelle's class is to get me scrapping and using up paper and that's what I've done.

This prompt was all about including different edges on your layout, maybe using something you don't usually or a bit of a different style. I am a fan of distressing so roughing up the edges of some co-ordination cardstock didn't worry me and I picked out some scallop offcuts I had in my scrap box and even stuck some to another square of paper to make another layer.

I have a stack of scalloped 8x8 and it felt very good to actually use one up. And yes that is purple, it suprised me but it looked perfect as the cliff top flowers in the photo are a shade of purple and as I went through different options from my stack it definitely looked the best suited.

Using what I have and not trying to match everything has definitely brought about some different colour combinations. I hope to share my next layout soon.

Seasonal Crafting

Hi. I just love this time of year, cooking up warming treats to eat, waiting for that first delivery of logs, getting cosy in knitwear and being able to wear boots again. It's also made me want to knit.

I knitted these from a pattern here at creative yarn and I will soon be adding some to my shop. I couldn't resist these fabulous colours in Louisa Harding Kashmir, some gorgeous greens and blues.

I've also squeezed in some sewing by stitching an owl cushion.

After sketching out what I wanted my finished owl to look like I made my own paper pattern and here he is in more Autumn inspired colours.

Do you love Autumn too? I'd love to hear if the season has inspired any of your crafting.

Colour Inspiration

Inspired by this......

Source: design-seeds.com via Amanda on Pinterest

and this.......

Source: flickr.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I made these.........

Two down only another......loads to go.

If you love colour then you'll love Design-Seeds a site dedicated to colour with loads of palette inspiration.

A Sketch Recipe

Hi. Do you remember the cupcakes I baked recently? Well I thought I'd record the moment and dedicate a bit of scrapping to them using sketch 10.6 from Sketchy Thursdays. I had planned to scrap them before now but the printer run out of ink. How did I let that happen?

I've only recently bought some baker's twine and I love the combination of the red and white with a bit of blue. I think that will be appearing in future Christmas cards. I used some of the cupcake papers (clean and unused!) to back my journaling block and folded some more peeking out from under one of the photos and to form a flower under the button.

I'm enjoying the challenge of sorting through my stash and using it up rather than buying new so if you spot any really old supplies that's the reason why. I'm not saying I won't be tempted to buy new but I can try!

Stitched and Ready To Go

Hi, how is the Autumn weather treating you? Here it's very much cooler but then I suppose that is to be expected it is October afterall. It's just a bit of a shock after last weeks scorching temperatures.

As the weather hasn't been great I've spent some time giving my website a much needed facelift and updating my online shop. I've been giving some serious thought to doing a craft fair but nothing is quite as easy as it first seems so for the time being I'm sticking with my online shop. Here are a few of my recent makes which are now available to buy and I'm currently offering free UK postage.

As you can see from the photos my decorated pebbles make great props, just the thing for displaying a ring.

For those of you wondering what I'm knitting from my last post yep, it is a scarf from a great free pattern I found on Ravelry called the Gathered Scarf. The pattern is really easy and it knits up quickly too. I'm using some Wendy merino wool which is a pure ultra soft DK. It should soon be finished so I'll show you how it turns out.

It's T(hat) Time of Year

Yep, it's time for the Big Knit. It kind of snuck up on me this year and I almost missed it. Luckily I realised just in time to get a few hats knitted up ready to be sent off before the deadline next week.

If you shop in either Boots or Sainsburys then you might spot a few of these behatted bottles over the coming few weeks. For every bottle sold the very generous Innocent Drinks people will donate 25p to Age UK. (From 2nd November in Sainsburys and 9th November in Boots). This year they aim to raise £1 million.

Also on my needles......

It must be the arrival of Autumn that's prompted the flurry of knitting.