Colour Me Happy

I've been quietly working away on some new mini totes.

  

The results are a set of birthday gift bags.

Four hand drawn 'Happys' with colour for the first time.

I'm really pleased with how the colours look. I've always been a little wary of using colour on my bag drawings and it's mainly because of the colours available to me. I use textile inks in pen form and find it really difficult to find the softer colour I prefer. I seem to come across a lot that are bright, neon or very dark. I have picked up so many over the past year and maybe have 4 colours which I love. I will, as ever, continue to experiment and look for new brands and colours of pens, but am also starting to look at bottled inks and brushes. I haven't used textile paints for years, as the pens were suited my casual use better, being less hassle and mess for making a bag every now and again, but I may revisit them soon. 

  

I have also adjusted the pattern slightly so the mini totes now have flat bottoms and are all the cuter for it. 

There are pictures of each bag in full over on my Flickr, and they are all for sale at Archie and Mabel's now.

(Some will be made for my etsy shop soon)

***

And that was post 99.

I do hope you'll join me in the next couple of days for my 100th!

I can't tell you what it will entail, as I'm not entirely sure, but I would love to share it with you.

Any suggestion for how to mark a 100 will be gladly received 

(and possibly followed!)

xo

I saw on the news after posting that there was an earthquake in California, and I know a couple of you who stop by here and my flickr are from there. I hope you and your loved ones are all ok.

*Hugs*

Oooooooh!

How lucky do I feel right now?

The answer is Very Very lucky indeed!

This week I received my first and my second ever blog award! 

They came so close together I call them my joint-first blog awards and are special as firsts, but mainly because of the people who kindly passed them to me.

The "Arte y Pico" award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and talents, no matter whether it be in the form of writing, artwork, design, interesting material, or contributions to the blogger community. When a blogger receives this award it is considered a "special honor" and, once presented to you, it is to be passed on to at least 5 other bloggers who meet the criteria. 

Thank you so much Patty!!

Here are the rules for this award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you’ve nominated.
6. Write an acceptance speech in the style of the Academy Awards, thanking every body’s mother, father, sister, brother, aunties and uncles and the kitchen staff at your favorite restaurant!

Thank you so much Jen!!

Probably the greatest thing about receiving 2 at the same time is I can pass awards back to two fantastic bloggers!

For Patty of Pip Stitch I pass the Brilliante Weblog award.

Brilliant(e) is the perfect word for Patty's blog. She finds the most amazing things hidden all over the internet and shares them with all. Her super finding power and generosity have lead me to many a brilliant thing,  cupcakes - sweet and meaty (oh yea!) and cute embroidery patterns spring to my mind, but there is so much more too! Add cross-stitch (something I find impossible so admire anyone who can) and animal cuteness and there you have it - Brilliant!

To Jen of Frazzy Dazzles I get to pass on the Arte y Pico award.

The most inspiring thing to me about Jen, her work and her blog is it makes me smile. Happiness is so important to me, I can't create when feeling low and Jen never fails to spread happiness. Her stories are heart warming, her mice make my heart melt and you have to smile at even the quickest glance at any of the monsters roaming her blog. 

(Of course, it goes without saying that I think Jen's blog is brilliante and Patty's so inspiring.)

I read *so* many blogs and each has its own inspiring brilliant-ness. I really need to put up a blog list so I can share them all with you. Here are a couple that, along with Patty and Jen, really stand out:

Elsita

 Wonderful pieces with wonderful stories by a wonderful person 

Mushroom Meadows

A huge dose of happiness with super cute illustrations

 

Bugs and Fishes

 Felt plus tea truly equals happiness here

A Pillow Monster A Day 

cute softies with adorable stories

and of course:

My Paper Crane 

My first true plush love and a huge handmade hero of mine 

So I pass my awards on to you as my way of saying;

 

Thank you all for doing what you do, you brilliant inspiring people you!

xo

Cozy Home

I know I said somewhere that my idea for Cozy Home, as a scribbled him in my sketchbook, was for him to become a softie. Well, I finally got around to turning him for these stitches to this:

My little Cozy softie!

He has been keeping me company in my new workspace/study. This is the first time I have had a real space dedicated to being crafty. Before I've worked at dining tables, dressing tables, sofas, beds and any spot of floor I could avoid being trodden on, always being in someone's way and having to pack everything up as the room was needed for its proper use. The time that could have been productive, felt wasted with all the packing, unpacking and trying to work out which room I was working in when I last saw the pincushion. So this space is fantastic!!

I went to the big blue box that is ikea and got myself a huge desk (apparently it is an *average* size desk, but its at least 5 times bigger than the console table I was using before and I do have to stretch to reach anything), this super happy swivel chair and one of those fantastic expedit bookcases. There is something about those bookcase that makes you feel you will be super organised and therefore very productive. That is why there are no pictures of the room I am so proud to have, the organised dream is looking very much like chaos right now albeit creative chaos (ha!)

 

Even with all the chaos, house 2 is becoming more and more a cozy home every day I spend here :)

And speaking of homes, the Blueberry Bandit has another bashful whale looking for a home. At the moment, I am fighting the urge to adopt her and let someone else have a cute whale in their life, but I am oh-so tempted

Sending cozy wishes to all

xo

The Bashful Whale

A bashful whale swam my way today.

She is the most beautiful, serene whale you are ever likely to meet.

She is a gorgeous pin cushion by Sara of the Blueberry Bandit, who came across an ocean to me (via Etsy). To me, she will be a much treasured softie as I can't bear to put my pins in something so sweet. The photo (and those fantastic paper waves!) is Sara's and I have 'borrowed' it from here on the Craftzine Blog! Yes, this little whale is a star! I cannot believe I was the first to the shop when she appeared there, I feel so lucky to have given her a home as I know many others would have wanted to adopt her.

She is beautifully made and just too cute to describe. I think the photo really says it all, but you can't help but gush when you see her in person. Do you see the water coming from her blowhole on top? That is a spray of pastels pins! See you really must gush...

Sara has many more gorgeous creatures of felt and print in her etsy shop. I am eyeing up that print of the tightrope-walking Blueberry Bandit as we speak...

***

After an awful end to the week, I am so glad the bashful whale found her way here today. She has brought with her some much needed smiles.

The end of the week became awful as I discovered I had used the wrong snap fastening on all the little podlings. Their prettier covered snaps closed much tighter than the snaps used on the test podlings, and so much tighter, that I now worry they may hurt the podlings when pulled open.  As soon as I became aware, the Podlings had to come off the shelves and are now undergoing a snap-free redesign. It was a silly mistake to not realise snaps came in different strengths and I am really kicking myself for it now. I do hope to figure out a podling-friendly fastening and get them back in the shop soon.

If anyone has any advice on good fastenings for felt cases, the podlings and I would really appreciate your wisdom :)

So that is my tale of woes and whales,

May your weekend be filled with happy whales that swim your woes away

xo

True Moo Love

I am truly smittened with this little card.

Yes, its minicard time again!

Although Moo have started to print regular size business cards, there is something about the mini ones that I love. With their tiny dimensions, they can't help but look cute, and as I learn the ins and out of selling and making, I think they fit my 'mini' business nicely. I hope to grow this little business and so maybe the cards will grow too. As long as I can have bigger cards that look as cute as these.

I have been so impressed with all the Moo cards, I ordered some of their stickers as well. They should arrive any day now :)

xo

Pick a Cake!

I've been trying out some new eyes for my cakey friends. I'm still not quite decided on which I prefer, (although the white eyes are out as they look too South Park-y for me)

I do know that once I do decide, there will be more like this made up.

These six are all brooch back badges and will appear here and there soon. 

I even overheard one of those guys boasting about how he would be helping Polly celebrate my 100th post (just 6 away!!) 

xo

Perfect Movies

There is a long list of films that I call my favourites. 

If asked, I can never pick an all-time favourite movie, but most of the time there is one on that list that I am obsess over. 

This is my current can't-get-it-out-of-my-mind film:

The Science of Sleep

It is such a beautiful film, I really believe I love everything about it.

I love the awkward love story, the characters and all their flaws. I'm pretty sure if I meet them in real life they would drive me nuts, but I still adore each one deeply. I love the sets and setting of the film, the colour, the music and the dreams...

I love that I begin to believe stephane's dreams are real too. How fantastic would it be to live in a world where not everything had to be real, where cities could be made from toilet rolls and where fabric creations come to life?

Most of all, I love the way the film looks. It is so proud to show cardboard sets, the stitches on birds, and all the beautifully naive stop-motion. I smile every time something handmade appears, and my heart bursts as it comes to life. 

Thanks for letting me share my current obsession with you. I'd love to hear about yours too and maybe find some new films to add to my list. 

I'm feeling very sleepy now and off to dream about my own Golden the Pony Boy. 

Sweet dreams All

xo

* All the pictures came from here

Things to Celebrate

My shop had it's second sale today!!

Thanks Selina!

and I'm not the only one celebrating...

"Party Hat Polly"

Frazzy Dazzles is celebrating a 100 posts over on her fantastic blog! She is having a monster give-away and to enter I tried to pick my favourite post of hers! It was so hard as I have so many I love. If you like cute mice, super hero capes and monsters you'll want to hug, you have to pay her a visit.

I'm coming up to my 100th post too (This is 92!) and so I'm planning my way to say thank you to all who have stopped by. "Polly" is going to be helping me and I have a couple of other ideas, but I keep wondering if I should have a theme for the post too.

hmmm?

xo

iPods... of the paper and felt variety

He may be made from paper and string but you can see from his smile, he will always be willing to whistle a tune to those who need a tune to brighten their day. 

(If you were wondering what that is, today's tune is "9 to 5" which is stuck in my head after reading this post)

The little paper fellow is here to tell you some details about the Podlings:

All the Podlings in the shops are to fit the newer iPod Nano (70mm x 53mm)

But if your iPod isn't this size, you can still have a podling friend...

... I am delighted to say, I am making other sizes to order!

Just email me your iPod's measurement and I'll make one to fit :)

The above Podlings are all in my Etsy shop now.

And the paper iPod is keep a couple more company at Archie and  Mabel's

xo

Bunny Note Cards...

... Are now in the shop!

Each packet has 5 gocco-printed cards with envelopes.

I spent quite a while looking to find the right envelopes and eventually found these. They are good quality and I choose white envelopes for the pale blue and ribbed brown craft for the white cards. They are made from 100% recycled material and the suppliers sound very ethically and environmentally aware. The envelopes arrived in reused (and reusable) packaging, so I'm satisfied they really mean what they say about recycle and reuse.

And the fact that said-reuse box was full of treat-sized cakes once upon a time, has truly convinced me that they are the paper people for me :)

xo

Cloudy Skies

I wish the real clouds were looking as happy as these this weekend.

Inspired by the Flickr Embroidery group (which I spend much time pouring over), I decided get to practising some newer-to-me stitches and these simple little 4" hoops are the result. I'm going to keep up my practice clouds and get a whole little weather system on my wall :)

 xo

Just a note...

I love little pieces of stationary so when I need to send out some "Thank you's", I decide to make my own little notecards.

Bunny Thank you Notecards!!

I have always wanted to make my own writing paper and cards. When I was quite small and staying with my grandparents, I drew some tiny animals along the bottom edges of paper and photocopied a million almost-blank pages making my very own paper to write letters. That was about 14 years ago, so imagine how surprised I was last year when a letter on that same paper arrived. My Nanna had saved some and my little cousin had use it to write some letters.

And that got me thinking about making my own writing paper again.

This time the stationary was made using the Gocco printer and some thick black and gold inks. I brought cut pieces of white card and found some blue lined card in a stationary shop (it may be record card, I'm not sure but it does make lovely notecards).

Originally I was planing to make the cards to sent my Thanks to the customers of my little shop, but I was so impressed with how they have come out I made so extras to go in the shop as well. I have found some good quality recycled envelopes and I am going to busy myself tying them into bundles ready for the floaty shelves. (A couple of each colour went to Archie and Mabel's yesterday, and the rest will appear on Etsy this week)

Earlier this week, I received the sweetest message to say Gracie the Bunny had arrived at her new home in California (I am so jealous, sitting here on a blustery day hee hee). That reminded me that I hadn't shared these little notecards and completely forgot to tell you that;

 

I will be slipping a small set of the cards in with the first 4 sales from the Stitcher Scribbler shop

For this evening, I've have promised myself some scribbling, movies and muffins, so I'm off to bake.

Have a lovely weekend 

xo

(and hope you had a happy 4th if you've popped here from the US)