Being Inspired...

I just LOVE Lili of the Valley stamps and I probably own a lot more than I have actually used, if I am honest!

This is probably one of my favourite stamps by Lili of the Valley, called 'James in the Snow'.

I was inspired to make this card after I had seen a very similar one whilst browsing online. I don't like overly flouncy cards and there seems to be a trend of adding loads of flowers and flourishes to cards, something I think gets a bit excessive. For me, less is definitely more!

You do have to consider packaging the card, too, and the more you build up on the front, then you have to look at boxing the card up. 

I thought this card was quite simplistic, with just the right amount of fancy for me. I am looking forward to making some variations on this, and playing around with the hat/scarf colours.

Mish

My 2 year old daughter loves the cbeebies programme 'Same Smile', and as they don't yet have any products from the show I wanted to make her very own Mish, Moosh and Mogo (shown here (picture courtesy of BBC/cbeebies):


Not only are there no products but also there is also no 'pattern' for these, so I knew I would have to come up with my own adaptation. Luckily enough I spotted a teddy bear pattern which came free as a supplement with the Simply Knitting magazine which seemed to fit the bill. The teddy had a muzzle, and I knew that the rest would just be down to colouring and a wool change to make the body two tone.


I purchased some DK wool in purple, orange and green along with some Snowflake wool for the white furry bits and set to on Mish. It all knitted up pretty quickly however I am rubbish when it comes to sewing these things up and for a short while he was merely a torso with legs, a head and the muzzle!

My daughter on the other hand, knew when I was knitting what it was and would refer to it as 'Mish' (very sweet) and even in his part assembled state she would steal him off my desk and play with him as if he was complete.

This week I decided I owed it to my daughter to get him finished, and painstakingly sat and attached his arms, ears and eyes, then finished his features off with an embroidered nose & mouth. I had tears in my eyes when I finished him sometime after 11pm, as he literally 'came alive' in my hands.

I sat him on the sofa ready for my daughter the following morning, and I am pleased to say it was worth the effort. She was delighted when she came down and found him, and kept mentioning that he now had eyes!

Here is the finished Mish! One down, two to go...

Owls

I just love these. I purchased them from a charity shop after they caught my eye, and I just couldn't get over how cute and quaint they are. I just loved the way they each have their own little 'owl hole'.


My favourite is the one at the very bottom right. Too cute!

I Love Ewe!

I came across these fab Aero Bubbly Lamb's and at 2 for £1, I had an idea to use them for Valentine's instead of Easter as they are intended.

The lamb's start out like this, the actual character is 6cm long:

I re-bagged him, and added a bag topper wording printed from the PC:

It has all been a bit last minute so if I had more time I think I may have done it slightly different. There are certainly plenty of other ways he could be used, but as a little novelty I think he's baa-rilliant!

You Rock...

A short and sweet post to showcase my Valentine's card for my man...

Love is...

I think this little Valentine's gift speaks for itself. I came up with it through my other idea (see previous post). I had seen the 'My Last Rolo' gift's on ebay which is a solid gold/silver Rolo in a presentation box and wanted to create something on a similar yet cheaper scale! The idea developed into this:

The outside reads: 'Love is...'

And it opens to reveal: '...saving my last Rolo just for you!'

The rolo is seated into gold satin fabric. Simply stunning!

The boxes were from ebay and the fabric was from my local craft shop. The font is the dotty font from Helen at the 'It's All Fiddle Fart' blog.

Love is...

With Christmas rapdily becoming a distant memory, my attentions have now turned to the next main event ....Valentines!!!

Following the success of my sweetie jars in the run up to Christmas, I wanted to create some equally amazing sweetie jars for Valentines.

One sweet synonymous with love is the Rolo with age old tradition of 'saving your last Rolo' for the one you love. Anyway, off the back of this I came up with is this;

On the lid it says 'Love is...' using the fab dotty font from Helen from the 'It's All Fiddle Fart' blog.

And on the side label I have printed '...saving ALL my last Rolo's just for you!'

The jar is filled with, you've guess it.... Rolo's and I'm surprised I am resisting the urge to eat them!

I will add asome gold ribbon and possibly a nice heart charm around the neck just to finish these off nicely.

And for once, this is all my own idea and not inspired by someone else! Yay me.