You are my Stars!!

Just a little hello from me and a big Thank You!

I've been stitching, scribbling and sharing for almost 3 months now.

 I feel so incredibly lucky, as in that time, I have received the most wonderful support and encouragement from so many people. 

Each kind word and piece of advice has meant the world to me.

They help me feel a little braver and dream a little bigger.

Without you, I wouldn't be here.

Thank you so much, each and every one of you.

I'm visiting a friend for a couple of days, so the posting may be a little quiet. I will be taking a break from the needles and felt. I think it will feel a little odd, as I have haven't really stopped since I start this project back at Christmas, but I looking forward to days filled with tea, cake and giggles.

Hope you all have a lovely week!

see you soon

jenny

xo

Bag Ladies

Finally, I can share my latest bunch of secret projects!

I have been busy stitching trying to make a good sized tote. The min totes I make are brilliant for storing little bits and bobs in, but what I really want is a tote to carry around and fill with craft shop purchases. Its been fun playing around with sizes and material. The first few have been made as gifts for some special people.

This one was for my cousins 18th. 

Its quite huge really, big enough to hold lots of things. She is a brilliant artist and off to university soon, so I hope the bag will come in handy for that.

Its made from a heavy black material and lined in black and white stripes. There is a long ribbon to hold it closed and drawn girl, framed with ribbon and a corsage. I love black and white together, simple but strong. 

This is a birthday present for another cousin. (I told you I knew a lot of March b'days!!)

The pen drawing on pink turned out very pretty and she wouldn't be complete without a flower in her hair. 

A lighter cotton, lined with pink stripes and a little smaller but the perfect size for an everyday shopping tote (approx. 30x36 cm). I'll be using this pattern for all my large totes. 

This bag is to say Thank you to my friend, Carly, as she set up the Facebook group about my work. Carly is a dancer and she asked if I could draw a dancer for her bag.

There is a much better picture here.

  

And finally, my latest mini tote.

A dash of colour to her lips and a new way of making corsages (for me, at least).

She has already been bought and is at her new home.

As always, its so lovely to share my pieces with you all.

There will more totes, shopping and mini, coming very soon as I'm slowing putting together some pieces in the hope of maybe having a little online shop.

xo

It's Time to Share the Cake...

This week has just been going so quickly, I feel I've almost missed it.

I think my forever growing to-do list is to blame, it's one of those weeks where there is not enough time for all to be done.

 One thing I have manage is, to get some lovely pictures of the new cakes.

These are the Happys that shared my birthday with me, which makes them quite exciting. (Although everything I make is special and exciting to me.)

My little Birthday cakes are all called "Happy"

Completely hand stitched, they are made of felt, stuffed with toy fill and birthday cheer and are around 10cms tall.

 

I really enjoy making these cakes. 

My favourite part of the whole process is stitching the smile. 

: )

The very first Happy the Birthday Cake was made last year for one of my friends. She jokingly ask me to make her a real cake for her Birthday. I am a terrible cake baker, they all come out very flat and stodgy, so it HAD to be a joke.

But, as I had just made myself a cupcake pincushion, I thought I could possible stitch up a little cake. And the result is Happy.

The Happys will be for sale soon. 

They are very excited about getting out in the world to spread birthday cheer.

Until then, they are pleased to be making friends here and over on my Flickr, where there are many more photos of them and previous happys too.

Seems only one way to finish this post,

A very merry Happy Birthday/UnBirthday

(which ever you're having today)

 xo

Hoppy Day!!

x  Wishing you a lovely Easter  x

It has been a very good week to spread cheer.

St. Patrick's, a few birthdays (I know quite a few of you share my birthday week), the  beginning of Spring (21st) and now Easter!!

I hope you enjoy the week as much as I have.

My day has hardly begun. I'm still all cosy, looking out on to snow(!! The first this year I think) and smiling over my lovely Easter gift - The wobbly-headed Chicken Lady.

A dainty tin figurine, she will go perfectly in my imaginary perfect kitchen.

She came from Archie and Mabel's, the most wonderful  coffee shop with the yummiest cake and cutest little gifts (including my own creations hee hee) If you are in the area, you just have to go. 

I'm off to enjoy my Easter and let my Ollie play in the snow

We are both very excited about our day!

xo

A Piece of Birthday Cake

Thank you for the Birthday wishes!!

So sweet of you all.

These are the little cakes from the previous post.

'Happy' the Birthday Cake Badges.

Smaller than the 'Cheery' Cherry Cake badges at 8cms tall and 4cms wide, but just as cute! 

They are made from felt with stitch detail and brooch pin backs.

Photos of the cake softies will come soon, as well as some special items I have been stitching.

I'm planning a little Easter post, but incase I'm not around,

 

Have a Wonderful Weekend

xo

Happy Birthday to me....

It's my birthday tomorrow and a new batch of cakes is ready just in time for it.

The photos are terrible, as I need to take them in daylight, but I was so happy to have my own little batches of 'Happy's to share my Birthday with, I needed to post them now.

 Better photos and some more info will follow soon, I promise.

Have a fantastic March 20th!!

***Virtual Birthday Cake for all***

xo

Handmade Rocks!!

Happy St. Patrick's everyone!!!

I haven't made anything special for this day, but I do have something Green and Fantastic to share with you.

Meet Timmie 134!

He is a handmade, crocheted tadpole by the fantastic Etsy seller, M. Patrizio. I have been after one of these little fellas for ages since discovering her work through her blog last year. One of the things I love most about Timmie is the photo-ops he seems to get. There is a whole Flickr group dedicated to the travels of Timmie! With this in mind, we set up a little photo shoot...

Above, Timmie has a little jumble sale guitar pin, and below, he sports a little 'bunny love' badge while wooing my Flossy Bunny. 

I hope you enjoyed my Timmie pictures. There are a couple more on my Flickr, as well as many more pictures of all my work, which you are welcome to visit whenever you wish. 

I have really enjoyed writing this post, and the previous one on my Black Apple purchases , and you can probably tell I am something of an Etsy enthusiast, so I will be dedicating a few more posts to handmade loveliness.

I have been stitching up a batch of felty cakes and a couple more of Flossy bunny's friend, which I hope to be sharing later this week, so I'll see you then!

xo

Tea, anyone?

I'm very excited about sharing my new little stitches, I've been meaning to do this all week... 

 Here they are!  Little tea bags, made from felt with sweet little faces and heart tags. They stand about 6 cms tall and have been plumped out a little with  toy-stuffing. 

'Dunky' the Felt Tea Bag

The first one I made was just plain old tea, and as he worked out so cute I had to make him some little friends.

'Green' Felt Tea Bag

Dunky's healthy friend 'Green' tea bag...

'Used' Felt Tea Bag

...and his not so healthy friend the used tea bag. 

'Used' was just like Dunky once upon a time, but he became stained and upset when he was used to make a lovely cup of tea for a little old lady. He really shouldn't be upset, but all tea bags look kind of sad after coming out of the cup.

I'm keeping these little feltys for myself, but I will be making some more with a little twist for sharing.

Hope they've given you a little smile

 and that smile stays with you over the weekend.

xo

Weekend Scribbles

While stitching and scribbling, I like to watch film and listen to podcasts, 

and that leaked into my drawings over the weekend.

The Girl with Flowers

(An Ode to 'Stranger than Fiction')

Stranger than Fiction has been on a lot at the moment. This drawing is from my favourite scene, when Harold brings Ana a box full of little bags with coloured labels and says 

"I brought you flours"

Its a cute scene anyway, but add a play of words and I'm swooning.

Alice

Word play probably explains my love of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland too. That and the odd characters. I finally started the Alice audiobook over the weekend too.

Mari-Ann Hare

And the final drawing is of Miss Mari-Ann Hare, the niece of M. Hare who makes the cloudy lemonade he loves to drink. I was asked, after his post, why M. Hare had such a precise character. I think its because when you spend so long on a drawing, it's more than a picture, it becomes a little story. I'm sure all scribbler feel the same.

Today was scans as my poor little camera decided it need a charge and refused to take any photos until it had done so. I have a couple of weekend stitches and some fantastic post which I have to share.

Happy Mondays Everyone

xo

The Girl Who Lives in a Flower

Remember my flowers from this post? This is the large cream one, but something was not quite right about the bead I used. Its a lovely bead, just not this flower's perfect match. So off it came, and on went a pin badge from The Black Apple's Etsy shop. I was going to be a temporary centre while I found another bead or button, but I think this looks pretty perfect already. 

The Black Apple is one of my favourite sellers on Etsy. Her paintings are almost magical with dreamy girls and their animal friends. The last thing I bought from her was a gorgeous bundle of girl pins. She also has the most fantastic blog.

I have been stitching and scribbling away today. A photo and scanning session is planned for tomorrow, with more show and tell to follow.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

xo

Old Things, New Things and Things to be done

Lovely Felty WiP

Its been a bit of a slow progress week around here.

I have a sketchbook full of scribbles and all that lovely felt ready for stitching.

So, I thought I'd share some older projects with you...

Felt card holder 

for my mini businesscards from Moo. I really love my minicards and now, they have a place to be cosy.

Cupcake Pincushion

A first attempt, the pattern needs a little tweaking.

'Laundry Girl' Laundry Bags

Made from a pillowcases that lost their duvet. I turned them into drawstring bags and painted the  girls on them. Pink dress for light washing and black dress for darks.

And finally, a pom-pom sheep

My friend and I relived the childhood craft of pom-pom making and mine turned into a sheep with a felt face. Hers was a much more creative Christmas owl.

Well, now I have to get working as I think that is almost the end of old project photos.

I'm planning on a sewing marathon next week, as well as playing with my fantastic new toy!

My very own Print Gocco!!

Not really a toy, Gocco is a printing machine from Japan, which works in similar way to screen printing. A birthday present come early, I can't wait to start making myself some little stationary (my first project idea, many will follow I'm sure)

It came all the way from Japan via the most wonderful site, Etsy. It is my favourite place on the whole internet. It sells gorgeous handmade items from all over the world and I hope to have my own little shop on there one day too. Oh, you have to go see it...

Well, my little show and tell is finished for the day. 

Hope you enjoyed it

xo

Super Mum Day

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday.

My mum was of course the inspiration for 'Super Mum' so I made her a little Super mum card.

Super Mum was made in a felt form and hung from a window cut in the card. She look all normal from the front, but behind she wears a cape with an 'S' for Super Mum.

I was making a Super Mum doll too, but I was quite ill at the weekend and it wasn't finished in time. 

And since it was Mother's day and my present wasn't ready, I decided to cook. I made a spaghetti carbonara, which was rich and yummy (or so Mum says!) and called for 6 egg yolks. I didn't want to waste the whites, so today I made a late Mother's day dessert. 

'Forgotten Pudding'

So called because you put it in a hot oven, turn the heat off and forget about it overnight, although mine was 'forgotten' until the oven was cold, which was about 4 and a half hours. It is a spongy meringue covered in cream and fruit. I used the recipe from this cookbook, lovely and easy.

I'm off to cuddle up with hot tea and a sketchbook.

Have a lovely Monday

xo