The other day I received an email from Cloud 9 Fabrics showing a preview of some of their new releases. The preview featured these adorable little foxes, which I had to explore further! After nipping over to the website, I discovered that the foxes AND some equally cute raccoons were due for release shortly. When I checked back on pay day…they were available! It was a sign surely? Continue reading
This one has been on a back burner for the last few weeks while I have been ill. The first leg warmer seemed to take me forever to complete, but one evening last week I fancied making a start on the second one, and it only took me a few hours! Why does that happen? Usually it is the second one that takes forever though, so I suppose it was a nice surprise for the second one to be quicker for a change. And it gets something else crossed off my list after a pretty unproductive month!
It is safe to say that I will be happy to see the back of February. It has just been ‘one of those months’ so far, and now that we are about three quarters of the way through it, I have given up hope for the remaining few days.
It started off with a bout of laryngitis. I should have know there and then that the rest of the month was going to have it in for me too! Because I was ill right at the beginning of the month (my first wee back at university after Christmas) I spent the next week playing catch up on the university work that I missed. Round two of the illness arrived with severe congestion in my head that gave me an average of about two hours sleep a night for another week. This then seemed to clear up again and I was having to catch up with university work again until a horrific cough stopped me in my tracks yesterday. Fed up of the fact that I could no longer remember what it felt like to be well, I spent forever trying to get through to the doctors for an appointment. I had no luck in the morning, but I managed to get through in the afternoon to be diagnosed with sinusitis. I now have some antibiotics to get me on the mend…but they make me feel sick. Oh well, it will be worth it all in the end! Continue reading
Now that Valentine’s Day has been, I can finally share with you the project that I was working on for James! Throughout January I stitched away at this cute ‘Elements of Love’ design by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. I thought it was ideal for James with his interests in science, but the cute kawaii design definitely represented an element of me too! I also loved the pretty pastel colours. James was also thrilled with the design. He knew that he was getting a handmade gift, but he said that he wasn’t expecting a cross stitch so it was a surprise for him!
To add another element of fun to the present, I painted the frame in chalkboard paint and drew some designs on it. I wanted to make it look like a school chalkboard, so I added some equations and some ‘love graffiti’. It was quite hard to draw on with the chalk though…I possibly could have done to sand it some more before I drew on it! Here is the finished frame. Continue reading
Don’t forget to wear red and join us tomorrow night at the Clubhouse for our literary-theme Valentine’s celebration! (Click for more details)
As part of my 23 Before 23, I set myself the challenge of taking a photograph every day in 2014. I have been using Instagram to share my photos every day, but I have put together a short video of all of my photos from January for people who don’t use the social media site. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you have a favourite photo too…I’d love to know what is popular!
Author: Viola E. Sutanto
Genre: Non-Fiction, Crafts.
Published: February 2014
Pages: 176
When this book caught my eye, I was instantly intrigued. While I have hundreds of books on craft projects, I haven’t before seen any on packaging them. I thought that the concept seemed really interesting and it was something that I hadn’t thought about before, so I was interested in what the book could contain. When it arrived, I was thrilled to see how much was crammed into this little book, and I was surprised just how much I had to learn about packaging!
As soon as you open the book, you are greeted with an adorable but accessible book. I love the way that the contents page is divided into three sections, which are identifiable from the tags at the top of the page. The first section, ‘Materials and how to use them’ is a section examining the different packaging resources that are available to you, and what different forms they come in that you can use. Section two, ‘Designing Your Packaging’ shows you some fun and simple ways to package your goods with the materials that you have selected from the first section. It uses some wonderful designs to inspire you to get creative with your packaging. The third section is a bundle of resources that you can use, including templates and useful information. This book follows a logical layout that enables you to progress through the book from choosing your materials to designing and developing stunning and unique packaging for your handmade gifts in an easy and leisurely way. Continue reading
James loves penguins. To be fair, I can see why…they are incredibly cute! When I was searching for the idea Christmas present to get him, my Mum discovered that Sewerby Hall were offering an animal encounter for two to go and feed the penguins. Obviously, this was the ideal gift, and seeing him open it on Skpye on Christmas Day was great! On 31st January, we had James’ acceptance of a graduate job to celebrate, and a day to ourselves before starting university again the following week. It was an early start to give the penguins their breakfast, but it was worth it!
Sewerby Hall has nine Humboldt penguins, which are natively found in South America, so it’s a bit chilly for them in the UK! We were met by the Zoo Keeper, John, who introduced us to them and answered our questions. But first was the task that we were dreading…preparing the fish. Continue reading
I have had a productive start to February! Today was my holiday from work, before going back to University tomorrow. I have been pretty run down the last couple of days with some mystery illness (cold/throat infection type thing…) so I decided to have a relaxing day in my pjs. I can never quite justify doing nothing though, so I put my time to good use by doing some crafting. I made a gift for my pen pal Stef, but I will only share it once she has received it. I can show you my other project though. I took advantage of having the house to myself for the afternoon to work on a secret project for my Mum for mother’s day. I know that mother’s day isn’t until March, but trying to find time to do it in secret is tricky! I wanted to stitch her a fabric basket to put some paper goodies in it, and this is what I created:
I used some Nancy Drew fabric, as my Mum loved reading the books when she was growing up, then I read them with her when I was young too. I thought it would make a lovely box to hold her presents and I love how it has turned out. You can get the link to the tutorial here. And here it is filled with her favourite scented Body Shop goodies! Continue reading
Handmade by Hannah 