Delightful Distractions

Yesterday's post was a little sleepy I'm afraid.

My time away was mainly spent with the cozy stitches I posted yesterday, but I also managed to make a start on a scribbled pencil case for the shop (like this one). 

I know should have really posted as soon as I got through the door at house 1 and settled down with a cup of tea, but as I came in I heard a choir of little voices saying, in a sing-song kind of way;

"We're been here half finished since Wednesday, 

the sewing machine is missing you terribly!

oh please come sew, oh please!"

And so I sewed, not blogged.

And once I made it to the computer, I stumbled upon the most amazing tea party at A Fanciful Twist's blog. I had to stop a while to glaze upon the wonder paper tea set and all the decorations Vanessa had made for the occasion. If you've not already, you should definitely take a look...

My Sunday is looking just as distracted as yesterday, but nonetheless lovely.

Hope your weekend is just as lovely, but a little less muddled :)

xo

Home again

I'm back from house 2, with a second 'Cozy Home' stitch. All done with short satin stitches, its ready to be made into a new laundry bag this week.

xo

I Call Them Podlings

I didn't get around to getting my pens and pencils out.

Instead the felt, scissors and threads were put to work to create all these little eyes and felt circle and rectangles to be turned in to ipod cosies.

Since taking my little podling out and about, I've had some very nice words said about him (thank you!), so I've decided to make a couple to put in Archie and Mabel's and a few for my own Stitcher Scribbler Shop too. 

As usual, the first pattern needed a bit of tweaking and the new podlings will look a little more like this pink one, except with rounded corners.

I hope to get them in the shops next week!

***

And it's not only last night's plans that changed. Instead of spending this week at the sewing machine, I'm now going to be spending tomorrow and Friday at house no.2 

One of the best things about house 2 is I will have my own little crafty studio/room. I've been studying design blogs like Poppytalk, On my desk and Modish for ideas for my perfect workspace and I'm hoping on this visit I'll be able to make a start at setting it up.

I'm insanely excited about storage right now :)

And I think that may have something to do with why when I popped out for bread and milk yesterday, I came home with this;

A random act of shopping!

Wouldn't it be the most beautiful way to store... something!?

I'll back at the weekend, have a lovely time until then

xo

A shop full of girls

These three beret-ed cuties are now in the shop!

I did the shop update late last night/early this morning and added the three Paris bags from yesterday's post, as well as these girly goodies:

Black and White 'Kristel' Shopper Tote

The first Kristel was my blonde girl, made on the request of a friend. This is a black and white version of that bag with a petal and button flower for her hair.

'Wendy' Mini Tote

Wendy was originally called Girl no.2, but that just didn't suit her friendly, wide-eyed look :)

And Lizzie the Doodle doll is there too waiting to greet you!

***

As I loaded up the girls, I figured out why my etsy photos weren't looking so sharp. I'd been uploading the tiny thumbnail pics instead of the actual photos (I don't know how, but I had eek!). I spent a good couple of hours sorting that out and now the pictures are a better quality and hopefully do the cakes and bunnies justice. 

I'm looking forward to an evening of drawing after all the computer-ness of getting things in the shop. Don't get me wrong, I love my little shop and the work, I love my computer and I have an internet addiction, but nothing beats pens and paper or a needle and thread for me :)

Happy scribblings

xo

French Fancies

It all started when I found this lovely cotton print fabric.

I love Paris.

I dream one day of running away to live there, and being very clique by sitting in cafes, reading old books, eating macaroons and wearing a beret. So I instantly had to have the fabric and when I began to think of what to do with it, Beret-wearing girls began appearing across my sketchbook.

"Cece"

Cece loves macaroons more than any girl I know. She spends her days searching through patisserie counter for new flavours to devour.  

You met Cece in an earlier post, she was the first to come out of the sketchbook and was shown as a snippet of what I was working on. As I planned to make at least three pieces I wanted to wait until all were made before I shared finished pieces.

"Celeste"

Celeste likes to rummage through flea market stalls for books on astrology. Since she was young, she'd wished she was a star in the sky so she could ask the other stars what they had seen in their lives.

"Celine"

Celine spends her days in the stores of Paris, admiring each and every stitch, button, buckle and shoe. To her, the shops are beautiful galleries of wearable art.

I turned the girls and the lovely Eiffel Tower print into three tote bags.

Cece and Celeste became lined Shoppers with plenty of space for books and pastries.

And Celine turned in to a balloon-shaped tote 

(the same shape as the "Simone and the daisies" tote)

The three bags will be in my little shop soon, along with some other girly goodies.

The girl's stories are pieces of my own french dream. I didn't do so much that I wanted to do on my last visit as I feared I would seem too clique, but I wish I had. I'm glad my my girls are more carefree and I hope to follow their lead on my next visit.

Bon Lundi a tous!

xo

The Slowly Scribbled Doll...

I got a little distracted from working on my doodle dolls experiment. It started what feel a long time ago (almost 2 months ago in this post!) and yesterday, I finished the third little lady.

'Maddie'

Maddie is a bright girl. She loves to discover new things and tries to learn something new everyday. Today, she discovered the average strawberry has 200 seeds.

I think Maddie is the doll I was trying to make as I started these doodle doll trials and I've just been lucky to make two other little dolls I adore as well. Maddie, although the realisation of my doodle doll idea, has some wonky seams in places so she will be staying with me. 

Of the three dolls, Lizzie is the only one who will make it in to my little shop. She will be part of a small girly shop update, which I hope to do that tomorrow or Monday evening. First I need to take some photos of 'Cece' and her bag friends, which will be done tomorrow if the weather will play along. Its been so cloudy here the past few days, my camera skills have no chance :(

I hope for sunny Sundays for all

xo

The New Boy

I have a new sweetheart and his name is Bobby.

Bobby is, of course, another boy bunny (number 9) with his dinky dungarees and necktie. He had no time to hang around with Goldie Bunny as he was made as a special request and has gone to his new home already.

The best thing about making this bunnies is something good comes of that awful moment when your favourite jumper comes out the washing machine doll-sized. During my sorting for the house move, I have rediscovered many tiny knits which I couldn't bear admit were ruined and so folded neatly and placed in drawers waiting for the unshrinking fairies to do some magic.

 They never came, but now, instead of sadness, I see bunnies.

xo

My little iPod friend

Hope you all had a great Father's Day yesterday. 

We are going to have to wait to spoil our Dad as he is away in America, but I made sure he had his present before he went. His ipod has been needing to something to keep it from getting scratched in his pockets so I made him a ipod cosy.

Unfortunately, I didn't get take any photos of his cosy before he flew :(

So here's the other ipod cosy I stitched up 

This one is keeping my ipod toasty warm and looking cute. He, or she, hasn't been given a name yet and it really needs one. I'd love some suggestions if you have any :) 

I started out making this one as my father's Day present, but began to wonder that it may have been a little too cute for my dad, so the one I made for him is completely different (I'll share some pictures as soon as he returns).

Happy Stitching

xo

Happy Father's Day...

...To all the Super Dads everywhere!

Especially to my very own Super Dad

xo

Homely Sewing

I've had homes and houses on the brain a bit recently as I'm moving house over the next couple of weeks(!) At the moment, the plan is to spend my time between the two houses (I'm lucky enough to be in a position to do that) so I can carry on crafting and selling as normal. I gave this a rather laid back test run this week and it all seems hopeful.

The little cozy home above was part of the test run. He has been sitting in my sketchbook waiting to be turned into something stitchy for a while now. 'Cozy' was an idea for a softie (and will be made into one soon) but he sprang to mind after receiving the cutest embroidery book in the post before I went to house 2.

I think the title translates to something like 'small embroidery album' although not being able to read japanese, I have no idea. I saw this book over on Mushroom Meadow's blog and loved the cute little stitches so much I have to get my own copy. The stitches are so simple and sweet, I really had to get stitching straight away. I've put a couple of my favourite pictures from the book over on my flickr.

While the crafting is unaffected by the house moving, the blogging seems to be. I'm going to try to post every other day from now on and I will get some more pieces in the little shop soon.

xo 

100 metres of thread...

...yards of freshly pressed fabric, countless pins and one very sore finger

and not a single pretty picture to share with you!

*sigh* it's all work in progress here.

But I find it hard to post without a picture so I thought I'd share some of my handmade treasure collection.

'My Paper Crane' Donuts!!

These little donuts makes me so unbelievably happy!

The large one is a 'My Paper Crane' plush and the small sad one is a keychain from a My Paper Crane/Kidrobot collaboration. I love how they look together and my other donut keychains are not far away looking cute too (they are here in fact!)

The little ones were found on ebay and lead me to the wonderful world of Heidi, the one behind My Paper Crane. She has a fantastic blog, filled with plushes, vintage finds and the yummiest- looking recipes ever. I was hooked (and wishing I could cook) as soon as I discovered it.

So imagine my delight upon opening my christmas presents and discovering my friend had left a donut plush under my tree! I was bouncing around like a little kid at ..erm.. christmas!!

Go look at her work and I guarantee it will make you smile!

xo 

Early week snippets...

"Cece"

'Cece' is one of a set of beret-wearing girls I have had in my mind for some time and are just coming to life now. I'm hoping to get them finished in the next couple days as I get on with some serious stitching and scribbling.

I have been spending a lot of time getting my craft supplies organised and pre-shrinking fabric, but I did get a chance to pop up to Archie and Mabel's with 3 more Super Dad badges. 

They are £1.50 each and for sale now.

I'm not planning to put any Super Dad Badges in my etsy shop right now, but if anyone would like to buy one, I'd be happy to make some more up for you. Just email or etsy convo me :)

So that's my week so far, 

hope you're having a good one!

xo 

Cake Day!

It's been busy, busy, busy around here and that's has made my little blog feel quite neglected after all the post-a-day fun.

The busy, busy for me has all been crafty, so I have new things to share.

Three more "Happy the Birthday Cake" Softies!!

These little fellows are very excited about the thought of travelling the big, wide world out there. Their journey begin last night as they took their places on the floaty shelves* of my little shop as I did a Cake-themed shop update.

As well as the 3 softies, there are these little Happy felt badges (you may them remember from this post) and a Happy Mini Tote too.

 

The next shop fill be a Girl-themed and I hope to do that in a few days.

The shop is really taking shape now its got a fuller front page. A few people have stopped by and I had my first sale, which is the truly loveliest feeling and is making me very happy indeed! 

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

I'm off to be busy again...

xo

*I say 'floaty shelves' as I imagine if you stood inside an Etsy shop for real, all the items would be floating around you in a magical kind of way.