Paper craft...

I have been busy over the last week or so, making lots of little felt animals for my Wee Woodland Folk.
I am realising though that without being able to spend huge amounts of time promoting my facebook page, I'm not getting much interest.

Facebook pages would seem to be a little bit like school, there are definitely a few what I would call cliques on there. I try and return every like and comment made to me and am genuinely pleased and surprised by how many people have shown interest in and commented on my little makes. 
It's nice to be nice, or so I've heard.......

I have met some really lovely friendly people since opening my page though so I can't complain too much, it's great to be able to converse with other people who have a genuine love of craft, not many of my friends share my interest and my other half just complains "there is STUFF everywhere" I don't think he realises creative genius often comes from a disorganised mind, well that's my excuse! 


Today was my lovely day off this week, I wanted a break from sewing and as I have said before my first love is paper, I had a bit of this lovely Par avion paper by Cavallini left from making some envelopes and stars ages ago, and was thinking about the Jubilee and then obviously the red, white and blue and I came over all patriotic. So I used it to make the origami flower pictured above , I have to say I'm quite enamoured by it and am definitely going to make some more.
Hope you all have a great week.

Sam x

Sewing FAIL !

A supreme failure,


is sadly how I would describe my attempt at making the art doll. Sewing the body was fine and fairly easy but then I attempted to put on the features and it all went to pot. So for the moment the doll goes into the 'projects to be completed at a later date' box.

Maurice

Knot in tail to remember ?

After receiving my spring pack from thebuttonshack.co.uk I felt newly inspired and I returned to my love affair with  felt, and whipped up a quartet of miniature animal softies. I sketched them out first and  I've seen some amazing sketches people have done as a plan for their item, they are beautifully drawn and coloured and I must confess mine are on lined paper and drawn with a biro ! If I sat down and tried to draw a perfect representation of what I wanted to make, I don't think it would work for me.

Eye Eye

I'm more of a doodler, always have been, sat on the phone bit of paper and a pen and I am away, when things are slow at work  doodle do, and that works for me because there is no pressure to get it perfect. 
My art teacher at school pegged me right when she said Sam has good ideas but the execution can be messy and that I'm afraid still rings true, and the main problem I struggle with is eagerness, I don't want to measure it perfectly, iron it, cut it, iron it again tack it together and then sew it, I'm a bit of a bull at a gate and I want to cut the thing out and sew sew sew! That is why felt is so perfect for me, I find it easier to manipulate and I can trim it without having to worry about fraying. It comes in a massive variety of colours, thickness and you can also get precut shapes. Loving the sound of that? Then check out www.bloomingfelt.co.uk

Maude

Pardon ?

I started with my hastily scribbled template, and made Maurice and then the daintily pretty Maude, Maurice had gone so well I knew I would be making more, I can now work on all the extra details that will make them fab ! Maude also got her flower to compliment her colour scheme.

The flower

Maurice and Maude in love x

Uncle Monty

Bow tied 

Uncle Monty got an acid bright bow tie and I toyed with the idea of a top hat or a monocle, because a rogue needs a little something extra.

Perky tailed rascal

CoCo the Chihuahua

My scarf, it's lace you know..

Floral beauty x

  






And finally I doodled a new template and made up CoCo, now I have a confession, CoCo started life as a cat, however once I had stitched her together and sewn on the features I realised she was a dog, but I won't tell her if you don't :) she's the bee's knees with her fancy scarf and flower on her head.


More soon 


Sam x

Oh cheer up misery guts !

I have not had an enjoyable week this week,


a hard week at work coupled with a bit of a wobble in my self belief had combined to make me a bit of a mood to live with, So that's been lovely for my other half. Luckily he has The Serious Cat herself our Siamese Mali to keep him company when I am vile :)

I'm sitting on him because he's mine !

Luckily I don't get down for long and after a bit of fiddling around with paper ( my go to craft when I am uninspired ) I am back on the sewing road. My latest project is a bit of a closely guarded secret but I think if I can't share it with my ooooooh let's see 3 subscribers, then who can I share it with !

I am making an art doll, that is to say a doll that isn't for playing with, well not by small people anyway. I've made the body and embroidered on the eyes, today she got her shoes! What do we think?

Not quite Ruby slippers, but almost.

Little red felt dolly shoes with a shiny black button buckle, I have some glorious fabric for her outfit and have already knitted her a cardigan to ward of the spring breeze.

 My next dilemma is her hair, I have some Tilda doll hair in a white blonde, but I'm also waiting on some beautiful burnished orange wool  because I feel she might look grand with a gingery do ! Or, I may give her a black felt bob something like the silent movie star Louise Brooks?

I'm quite excited and inspired now as you can probably tell from my rambling, and I was wondering what inspires you my lovely ladies?  

Alphonse Mucha Dance

I'm currently loving the rockabilly style, everything about it shouts glamour, and I can almost (almost) get my hair up in those fancy styles, bumper bangs and victory rolls, think Dita Von Teese or Bettie Page .

Beautiful hair x

But most of all I love the old style tattoos inspired by sailor Jerry, particularly the glamorous girls. I love the kitsch style, the sense of freedom and humour
and I think there is a clear visual link from Alphonse Mucha to Vargas and on into rockabilly style.

 I will leave you with a few of my favourites images and hope they inspire something in you too xx

Vargas girl.

Sam x

Vargas girl.

Life at Blue Anchor Bay: New Beginnings....

Life at Blue Anchor Bay: New Beginnings....: Whenever I read a book or watch a film I always wonder, how do they choose where to start the story? However I know exactly where this sto...

Three days off, busy hands and finding out what it's worth.

Three days off, busy hands and finding out what it's worth.


This is my second post and despite being disappointed no one else has read it except myself, I have decided to keep plodding on. That's right you don't get rid of me that easily!

Hummingbird

The last couple of weeks I have fallen totally in love with wool felt, I bought myself some extra thick wool felt from http://www.bloomingfelt.co.uk/. Having three glorious days off work gave me some free time so I settled down to some serious sewing. I started  using it to make brooches, starting with some cute (if I do say so myself) little birds. I particularly love my Bye Bye Blackbird monochrome brooch and was extremely happy to sell two as soon as I had made them :)

Folk bird

Bye Bye Blackbird

 Moving quickly on after a burst of inspiration to sugar skulls, my interpretation of the decorations used to celebrate Día de Muertos  (Day of the dead). And while I realise skulls are not everyone's idea of something they want to wear I hope it will appeal to some other people and not just me ! 

muerte roja

muerte amarilla

muerte blanca

They are very time intensive to make, each one taking around 3 hours from start to finish, yet I still found myself struggling when trying to decide a price. Obviously I include the cost of  materials but find myself struggling to put a price on my time, and I was wondering if


it was just me? Do we undervalue our talent? I think being British it is in our nature to be modest, and I know that's a blanket statement, but I also know in my family bragging wasn't encouraged. For me to say look at what I made don't you think it's great would have been frowned on, in fact I phoned my Mom recently and spoke about a hat I had knitted and sold, her first words weren't well done, they were I hope it doesn't come apart !


So what do we think? Should we value our creativity and time more? Why do we feel cheeky putting a price on things we have made or is it just that underlying doubt in our abilities? 


Sam x

Starting out.

LEARNING TO KNIT, GLAMPING AND GREAT FOOD.

The Ekopod (and my glamorous assistant)

Well here we are, my first Blog post. I just wanted to talk about craft in general, I personally like all kinds of craft and have always been of a more creative disposition than an academic one.  Recently I have found myself more and more drawn to textile craft.

On a recent holiday I was lucky enough to stay in a very cute Ekopod on Bodmin moor, yes that's right I went GLAMPING!! http://www.canopyandstars.co.uk/ Had a great time and we were treated to some truly delicious breakfasts. What I loved most about it was the quiet and stillness of our surroundings, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who needs a break from everyday life and some relaxation. We also had an amazing meal in a small local pub http://www.therisingsuninn.co.uk/ and again I would thoroughly recommend a meal there to anyone visiting the area.

Yummy breakfast.

 My lovely other half saw this break as his opportunity to sleep and sleep, with a little bit of sleep thrown in for good measure. 


So to pass the time  I bought myself  some wool and needles and taught myself to knit off you tube. So now I have added knitting to my crafty repertoire and am enjoying it greatly. I have just completed  some very cute baby hats and my knitting skills are improving every day. Just goes to show you can learn anything you want and it's never too late to take up a new hobby.

Pesky Pixie hat

Neapolitan sundae hat

Cookie and cream

 Sewing was my first crafty love, and continues to be close to my heart, I have slowly graduated from cushions (straight lines ! The beginners friend) to more complicated patterns. I spend most of my evenings searching the Internet for fabric to feed my crafty obsession. I have found lots and lots of great websites and will endeavour to share these with you.


So that's my first blog. Done !


Sam x