Planted up two tiny (probably ill-fated) succulents.
Finished off a project for Mollie Makes magazine (and amused myself making a GIF to share here once it's published).
Bought a challenging new book.
Taken over 400 photos.
Watched this thought-provoking bit of film by the people at Dove.
Shared a DIY project over at Bright Nest.
How about you?
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. . . for a sunny Wednesday, just because I'm not sure I ever got round to sharing it here.
I hope that love and spring are both in the air, wherever you are.
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Spotted on the side of a an old shoe box in my workroom last week.
I can't help but feel judged . . .
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Hello, ahoy-hoy and welcome.
If you're visiting from shimelle.com, it's lovely to see you. Stick around, I have things to share. If we're old pals, well it's lovely to see you, too. Once you've finished reading here, you might want to skip on over to Shimelle's blog and read my guest post on five ways to make your own alphabet letters. These are mostly for paper projects - cards, scrapbook layouts and such - but my apparent inability to keep away from needles means there's also a bit of stitching involved.
The stripy 'hello' is actually a couched length of yarn, worked over a hand-lettered word. You can find a simple, traceable template here if you want to make something similar, or - of course - try a different word of your own. If you're not confident with your cursive, look around for a suitable handwriting-style font to use as your template.
Couching is really straightforward. It uses small, straight stitches to hold yarn, thread or cord in place on the surface of your project. Have a look at this quick stitch-guide, or a YouTube tutorial like this one, if you haven't tried it before. Although you'll need to be careful not to tear thinner sheets of paper, it's totally possible to work it on cards and scrapbook pages as well as fabric projects. If you give it a go, I'd love to see how it turns out.
Don't forget to click over and check out all five lettering ideas at shimelle.com, including an alternate version of this project. If you've already been there, you are, of course, very welcome to stay here and have a look around instead. There are lots more paper projects, tutorials, DIY ideas and you can also help yourself to some free downloads and printables.
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So, I thought it was probably about time I joined in with the My Month In Numbers blog meme my superhero pal Julie has been running for the last couple of years. A little late, maybe, but supposedly that’s better than never.
173 = The number of days since I last blogged
1 = The number of my parents who have pointed this out (several times). Hey look, Dad – I’ve pulled my socks up!
100 = The number of projects made for the book I’ve been busy writing since last summer. This has been both Very Exciting and Very Time Consuming. Capital letters all round, pathetic lack of blogging (sort of) explained.
1000 (approximately, probably) = the number of book-related posts you can expect when it’s published at the end of August.
5 = the number of actual new projects I’ve made for a special blog post tomorrow. As in, stuff I can share with you (almost) straight away. Lawks.
If you’ve stuck around, checking back in here occasionally over the last couple of months, you’re a peach. Truly. Here’s to a little more regularity and a lot more shared projects ahead.
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Before I post the winner of last week's Mollie Makes Christmas book giveaway, I thought you might like a quick behind-the-scenes look at how one of the other projects from the book went from sketch to end result. The finger puppets are a winter-y version of the animal set here, made in super-soft wool felt from one of my favourite fabric shops, the Eternal Maker.
The whole Polar Pals project (including templates) is in the Mollie Makes book, and if your name is . . .
. . . then hurrah! Drop me an email with your address details, Victoria, and a free copy will be on its way to you very soon.
Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment. Only being able to pick a single winner is always a sad thing, but by way of compensation, the very nice people at Love Crafts are offering a voucher code to anyone who'd like to snag their own copy of the book. Enter 'MollieLoves' at the checkout and you can buy it for just £7.00. Hopefully it goes without saying that if you make any of the projects, I'd love to see how they turn out, and if you're still using that Santa bag in July, well that's a picture I'd like to see, too.
Ho, ho, ho.
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A few months ago, I was lucky enough to be asked if I'd like to contribute a couple of ideas to a new book. Mollie Makes Christmas is filled with the best collection of projects, including a beautiful paper Christmas tree, vintage fabric stockings and a knitted Santa kit, complete with woolly mince pie, beer and carrots. Sadly, none of those things were made by me, but this thing here was:
It may look like a Christmas shopping bag but, sneakily, it's an everyday-including-Christmas shopping bag. The inside is lined with a non-festive print, which means you can choose to hide the stitched Santa design away inside for the other eleven months of the year. Or not. If you want to tote him around the supermarket in midsummer . . . well, I'm not here to judge.
So, the reason I'm sharing this here - apart from the fact the book is published today - is because the splendid people at Collins & Brown have offered me an extra copy to give away to one of you. To win, all you need to do is head over to their website, Love Crafts, and sign up to receive the monthly newsletter. There's plenty of other stuff to check out on the site, too (you can learn to knit your own cat, for goodness sake), but before you get completely distracted, make sure to come back here and leave a comment so I know you've signed up. I'll then select a winner at random this time next week (entries close at midnight on Thursday 11th October).
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When I posted about Father's Day a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned there was an add-on project in the works, and - with just over a week to go - it's now ready for you to download and enjoy. The idea is to build a dad who looks just a little like yours by piecing together different details and accessories.
You can mix and match as much as you like, piling on the pieces, or sticking to something a little more minimal. The elements can also be combined with the original card, so you can customise the 'my dad rocks' idea, or make something completely separate if you prefer.
It's up to you whether you print and trace the relevant pieces onto scraps of paper for a totally handmade version (as above), or build yourself a digital dad.
(Credit: arrow brushes, courtesy of the ever-wonderful Creature Comforts)
You can find the full ready-to-print set (for personal use only, please and thankyou) over at the PaperCraft Inspirations website now. And if you do decide to build a dad of your own, I'd love to see how he looks.
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I'm so smitten with the picture I found for this week's Palette Pingpong.
Beautiful, yes?
It's via Better Homes & Gardens, and I can't wait to see both the colour palette and whatever it's inspired Miss Gabrielle to make. Join me on a quick jaunt over to the green gables, won't you?
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Aquilegia - the prettiest of weeds.
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