Wednesday Love: Crayon Love

This week I bought a little box of happiness - also known as Crayola crayons. I saw this box of 96 crayons on special offer for only £1.50 (in Tesco). How could I resist! The smell of a new box of crayons takes me back to childhood and I remember so strongly reading the labels on the crayons and loving all the different names for the colours...

There are lots of ideas for using crayons and I've started collecting some on a Pinterest board called "Crayon Love".

We've just got the new book "The Day the Crayons Quit" and it's great. The book is illustrated by my favourite illustrator, Oliver Jeffers. My kids know that all the Oliver Jeffers children's books we have are actually mine and I am letting them borrow them! You don't have to be a child to enjoy a good story and fabulous drawings.

A celebration postcard

I have finished my postcard for the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap and here it is... This is my first attempt at felting and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The theme for the postcards this year was "celebrate" and I thought of chinese lanterns floating up into the sky (like in "Tangled"!). This was the image I tried to recreate with the felt. It's a little abstract but I think you can see the lanterns.

I tried to get a bit of perspective with smaller lanterns and beads in the background...

I did some free machine stitching around the felted image to add definition.

I hope my swap partner likes it and I'm looking forward to seeing what she has made for the swap.

Wednesday love: Felting

I have been looking at felting supplies for over a year and thinking about having a go. Last Christmas my Mum started making felted Christmas decorations. She asked for my advice as she was convinced I had made a felted robin in the past. I had to correct her that it wasn't me but Kirstie Allsopp on the television who had made the robin. I think it's quite flattering to be confused with Kirstie, but you'd think my own Mum could tell us apart!

I have finally succumbed and this little parcel of soft woolly treasures arrived this week. I have a couple of projects planned already. The first is The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap over at Do What You Love For Life. As it will be my first felting experiment it will be very intriguing to see how it turns out!

The little white felt pebbles are destined to become sheep in various forms for a couple of church projects as we gear up towards Christmas. We have a great sheep initiative at church this year as we are creating a sheep treasure hunt around the town, with sheep knitted by people at church. It is to promote the Christmas services and some of the sheep are hidden at various churches in Clevedon. Look out for more sheep to come on here too!

Cosmo Cricket - Part 2

Here is another layout I've made with my prize pack from Cosmo Cricket. I started out with some more of the gorgeous 8x8 Creative Girl papers and I thought I wanted to put them on this pale yellow background but it didn't look quite right. I brushed on some watered down gesso across the middle of the page and around the edge and it all started to come together.

I love adding texture to my pages and this time I used light modelling paste which I pushed through some star shaped sequin waste. I used a little piece of the sequin waste itself too, just to the left of the photo.

I also added a tiny piece of net to add a little more texture.

I coloured the Cosmo Cricket wood charms from the prize pack with my watercolours and stuck them down, along with some uncoloured wood stars and sequins, on top of the lines of machine stitching.

I love the little group of embellishments in the bottom right hand corner. I got to use a tiny piece of the oh-so-sparkly self-adhesive glitter sheet. Glittery goodness!

I love Cosmo Cricket!

A few weeks ago I was really excited to win a prize on the Cosmo Cricket blog when they were celebrating their lovely new products. This was the parcel I received in the post - so many lovely things! It included an 8x8 pad of their Creative Girl patterned papers, 2 sets of wood charms, tiny text stickers, self adhesive glitter sheets, a project hanger and a "Show Topper" lid.

The page above is the first thing I have made with the lovely new products. I really like the papers as they are light and quite neutral in colour (apart from that gorgeous pink) and so they make beautiful backgrounds.

I stitched my title by drawing around some alphabet stickers on scrap paper and then placing the paper on the layout before piercing the stitching guide with a pin.

Here is some of the self adhesive glitter sheets peeking out through a punched strip I made using a craft punch...

I love how this camera stamp came out (from Cosmo Cricket's Sweet Disposition set) after I painted some watercolour onto it...

Come back again soon to see what else I've made.

Wednesday Love: Cocoa Daisy

Here's a little midweek happiness in a busy time of part time school and general house tidying (nearly there now!). I received a parcel last week which brought a smile to my face. I have signed up to Cocoa Daisy kits. I was persuaded by seeing the lovely work of Lisa Saunders, who is a fellow design team member for Scrap365 magazine.

The Cocoa Daisy website looks great with challenges and chat running alongside the kits. They also produce some lovely exclusive stamps. The Cocoa Daisy Design team are great and include Ashley Calder (I love her scrapbooking style) as well as Lisa and many other talented inspiring scrapbookers.

I am looking forward to having a go with this kit and getting involved with the online community too.

Wednesday Love: Fairisle

Denny Yoke Fairisle jumper from Fatface

 I have been looking for a fairisle jumper for about a year. Last year there were a couple around, but they seemed to be mostly "reverse fairisle" which to me just looks like you are wearing your jumper inside out!

At last there are lots to choose from. Needless to say my budget doesn't stretch to all these, but my Mum has said I can choose one as a Christmas present - Yay!  I think I am going to choose the jumper in the top picture from FatFace as I love the colours.

Fatface have a lovely selection of fairisle this season including this gilet...

Erin Fairisle Gilet from Fatface

...and this cardigan.

Lucy Fairisle cardigan from Fatface

 This is a top from Seasalt

Thimble cardigan from Seasalt

I am particulalry fond of this Tank top from Joules as it reminds me of a tank top my Mum knitted me in the early 80's. My little sister and my Mum and I had matching ones!

Alfreda Fairisle women's knit from Joules

 The next three are from Crew Clothing. I love the length of the tunic (3rd picture).

Brighton jumper from Crew Clothing

Bridford jumper by Crew Clothing

Bridford tunic by Crew Clothing