Sock Creature

For Christmas Annabananna got me this book on how to make sock creatures. i made one from a pattern in the book a little while ago. This was my first time making a sock creature & my sewing skills aren't that great. But it was relatively easy & i got it done whilst watching a film. Getting to stuff him was fun!


His mouth is a bit squiffy, but i think it adds to his charm. i haven't decided on a name for him yet, any suggestions?

i'm having a weekend away so i won't be back til Monday. Don't forget to scroll down to see my give-away for a chance to win one of 3 scrapbooking kits!

Give-away!!

i want to give a little love back to all of you who read my blatherings & make sweet comments. Thanks so much for being a part of my blog world!

As most of my followers are papercrafters of some sort, i've put together 3 scrapbooking kits to give away!! Hopefully there is enough variety here to cater for all tastes.




For the chance to win one of these kits, comment on this post telling me something that is really inspiring you right now.

For another chance to win, blog or tweet about my give-away and post the link here.

I'll randomly choose 3 winners next Monday, the 1st of March. Good luck!!

Scrapbook Shares on Sunday

Happy Sunday everyone!

Today all my scrapbook shares are using this month's Studio Calico Kit, plus a few extras here and there. i love the bright colours.

This one is of my littlest sister. She is moving to the other side of the world in less then a week :(


These photo's are sooo unattractive and thus make ideal material for scrapbooking, ha! Love how the vintage bag works for this theme.


And i did this one for the use it or lose it blog challenge. i was intending to use up lots of Hambly, but i only used a little bit. It's so hard to use it up, it's too precious!



i used my 7Gypsies tape to create this pleat, quite pleased with how it turned out so i'll be using that technique again. It would have been cool to use a page from a Harry Potter book for this one, but there's no way i'm tearing up my copies! This photo was taken with a b+w disposable camera. It was my halloween costume last year.

Oh and i hit 25 followers!! Yay! Thanks readers. Look for a give-away tomorrow :)

Skunkboy Creatures Craft Swap

i recently took part in a Craft Swap organised by Katie. i was paired up with Heidi who is a fello paper crafter & is also learning to knit, like me! i made a mini book for Heidi with some of my favourite vintage papers & a few buttons that i made from vintage paper also.


i received Heidi's package about 2 weeks ago & was overwhelmed by how much she sent. Thanks so much Heidi! She knitted me a hat, which goes perfectly with my green winter coat!


A few flowers made from magazines!


And a whole bunch of cards which are totally unique & original, the designs carry through to the inside, so lovely!


Plus they come in their own little felt bag that she made, how cool is that?!


Thanks so much Heidi!

Oh and i'm only 1 follower away from 25 & i'll do my give-away, so follow me for a chance to win!

Go, Do

Picture taken in Aug09 with B+W disposable camera.

i'm one of those people who often organises fun trips, sets goals of things i want to do, makes them happen. i don't like to waste my time on this planet because i'm all to aware of how short that time can be. But in the winter i loose that spark & drive to go do things. Lately i feel like i've been either working or holed up trying to keep warm, crafting away. Don't get me wrong, i love to stay in & watch movies whilst working on crafty projects. But i feel like i've missed out a little bit on life recently.

Last night i went to a gig with the girls. i haven't been to see live music for 5 months. Seriously, why have i left it so long, it's what i live for!?! We missed out on The Drums because we were too busy drinking wine but we caught The Big Pink, Bombay Bicycle Club & The Maccabees. And i fell in love with them all over again. And i felt alive.

Spring is a coming! We saw crocus growing on Southsea Common last night, so that confirms it! And i am SO ready for it. i have good feelings about the spring/summer. i want to go on adventures, i want to listen to music at the bandstand, i want to take lots of pictures, i want to get new ink, i want to have cupcake parties, i want to wear pretty dressed & live in my flip-flops!

i am loving this song by Jonsi at the moment, it's making me feel excited for the new seasons & what they will have in store for me to go, do.

Tissue Paper Flower

i just posted a tutorial up on Create It Green on how to make your own tissue paper flowers, please go check it out, where you can also see the layout i created.

Create It Green Reveal

It's the 15th of the month which means all our projects are up on the Create It Green Blog. Do go check it out to see what the other ladies made. This month i used a vintage dress pattern & vintage lace (i have a whole stash of this!).




Oh Canada! i miss yooooou! Has anyone been watching the Olympics? i thought the opening ceremony was amazing! i can't imagine what they'll do when it's our turn in 2012! All i can think of is that they'll have loads of people in bowler hats & suits dancing around double decker buses! hee hee! i taped the highlights of the pairs skating from yesterday so i'll be watching that tonight. i'm so obsessed with skating right now!

What did everyone do for valentines? i'm not a fan of it myself, but mum bought me a cupcake, so i can't complain about it! Hope your day was filled with cuteness too!


Loves to you all!

Scrapbook Shares on Sunday

My Studio Calico kit arrived on Thursday & i've been scrapping all weekend, i already did 3 layouts with the kit! But i'll share those another time. Today i wanted to share some travel layouts with you. It's nearly 2 years since i got back from my 4 month backpacking trip but i have soooo many photos i'm still scrapping them. And probably will be for years to come...


For this one i used the Home Front paper & i used my pen to highlight the scallops a bit more.



This one is about when i was on Kangaroo Island and i had the opportunity to get close to some sealions in the wild. Don't worry, we were on a nature reseve & we weren't allowed to get too close!


i also had an underwater disposable camera with me on my trip. i went snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef & in Thailand. It was my first time & i loved it! i didn't have high hopes for the pictres, but they didn't actually come out too bad!


Lot's more posts from me this week, i promise! Look out for another tutorial.

My First knitted project!!

Hi folks,

i'm working loooong hours this week, but luckily i drafted a few posts in preparation for this so that le blog wasn't neglected.

i mentioned some time ago that i've been learning to knit with much help from Caketin. it's taken me a while to get my first project done because i unravelled a lot of it & started over again a couple of times. But i'm happy to say i finished it last week & i am pretty pleased with it! It's a cowel, here's a photo:


Thanks for your patience Caketin! i already started my next project & managed to teach myself to cast on.

In other news, i won the Red Challenge at Studio Calico. i'm SO thrilled, it's the first time i've taken part in one of their challenges and the first time i've uploaded anything to their gallery. It made my Monday!

Local Types, there's a cool project going on with disposable cameras. You can check out the details here. Unfortunately i'm too old to take part :(

Scrapbook Shares on Sunday

i splurged on a couple of JBS Mercantile Kits this month & was having a play yesterday. i put this layout together for the Red challenge at Studio Calico. i just subscribed to their kits & i am so excited! Their kits are the best, they have a wonderful design team & their Homefront & Anthology lines are right up my street.


i liked the design so thought i'd do another layout. i changed a few things up but it's basically the same. No point re-inventing the wheel if you don't need to, i say! i loved Ali's post the other day about using your own layouts as inspiration, i'm definately going to give this a go.


i'm slightly obsessed with misting at the moment, can you tell?! Sorry the photo's a bit dark, the sun does not want to come out to play today! How i miss this sweet girl.

Thanks for all the sweet comments yesterday, i'm glad you liked the tutorial.

Create It Green Blog Hop

Hi Everyone!

Today we are hosting a Blog-Hop on the Create It Green Blog. If you are vising from there, welcome! Please comment to say hello, i'd love to meet you!

If you are like me then you probably save every last bit of patterned or vintage paper you own, no matter how small! So today i'd like to show you how to make quick flower embelishments from your paper scraps.

First gather your scraps of paper. For my flowers i used three different types of paper, but you can use as little or as many as you'd like.


Cut the scraps into even strips. For the large flower i cut three strips of each paper in 75mm x 10mm & for the small i cut 2 of each paper in 50mm x 10mm. But you can make them whatever size you like.


Next, lay the strips on top of each other at different angles until they form a circle. Then stick a brad through the middle of the strips to hold them all together.


And there you have your flower! You can also stick a button on top of the brad to add more dimension.


And here's a layout using my flowers, or in this case i like to think they look more like aeroplane propelors!


On this layout i also used scraps of paper to handcut my own masks to use with my Glimmer Mists, here's a closer look:


Be sure to check out the Create It Green blog to find the link to the first blog in the hop & see what the other ladies are making. You can also join the Yahoo Group from there, i'm sure you'll find it worthwhile (you might like to take note of that word for the Word Search Game!).

i hope i inspired you today to re-use your scraps of paper, thanks for stopping by! i'll be back tomorrow with my Scrapbook Share on Sunday, have a great weekend!

HolgaRama!

i had the best day yesterday. A work colleague gave me a whole bag of expired 35mm film, i was so pleased! Then i went for dinner with the lovely Katie. We had bean & cheese burrito's, SO yummy! i finished my cowl at craft night too so i'll post a picture soon.

i also got a Holga from HolgaRama. i have wanted to get one for a while now & it's on my 30before30 list. i have been weighing up the options of the different Holga's that are available and ended up getting the 120GCFN in yellow. i'm planning on buying the convertor so i can use 35mm film in it, once i've goten used to the camera. Can't wait to play! HolgaRama are going to be adding new stuff to their shop over the next few days, so if you have been thinking about getting a Holga or you already have one & want some new accessories keep an eye out! There's a great buyer's guide on their site & they are super helpful & will answer any questions you might have.

Pictures from Summer 09

i picked up some photo's today which were from a disposable i used last summer. Just wanted to share a few to remind myself of all the goodness that's ahead on this grey winter day. i think there's something precious & magical about disposable camera's in this digital age.

i'd like to do a give-away soon to give a little lovin' back to my readers. i think i'll do it when i'm up to 25 followers, so if you're not already then please follow! Tom helped me tweek some of my settings so that you can read my full posts in google reader now :)