Featuring: Feltlikestitchin!

I am taking this opportunity to introduce you all to someone who makes and sells the most adorable hand stitched felt DiDi Dolls. Claire sells monsters, animals, Mr Potato Head, celebrity dolls and much more! She also also make badges, keyrings, Christmas ornaments, applique patches - all sorts of felt novelties. Here is what she had to say in my mini interview!

"I live in Yorkshire, England. My day job involves looking after all the pensioners who live on my street, which is a really fun challenging job. I spend all the rest of my time stitching and running my Etsy store."

"I've always been a stitcher - I can't remember the first time I used a needle and thread, it just seems to have always been there! I sew everything by hand. If I try I can sew most things but I don't enjoy making clothes and cushions and such like - I only want to stitch fun stuff. I adore all embroidery and decorative stitching. I've done tons of cross stitch over the years and I've even won prizes for my cross stitch designs in two UK magazines. These days most of my time is spent creating my felt dolls."

"I think my favourite item at the moment is the one which took the most work. This set of Matryoshka Dolls (right) took a lot of hours to make but I'm proud of how they turned out. "

I also asked Claire to recommend another site to us, to which she replied,

"I'd love to recommend this beautiful Etsy store. http://feltingarts.etsy.com/ This German artist has the most amazing needlefelt creations - I'm in love with the Strawberry Baby. "

Claire's DiDi Dolls are available at:

http://feltlikestitchin.etsy.com/

http://feltlikestitchin.co.uk/

My Relaxing Afternoon

There is something about being outside when the sky is so clear and blue, and the sun is shining. It just feels as though nothing could go wrong, nothing could be more perfect than you just being in the fresh air, taking it all in. Everything just looks so much better, even the trees look greener and more vibrant and full of life.

People in general always seem so much happier and friendly in the sun. Maybe it is because I am feeling happier that I notice it more. Maybe it is because people don't feel the need to rush so much in the sun. Maybe it is because they have all been sitting in beer gardens drinking! Either way, I love walking out when the sun in shining, and smiling and saying hello to so many people.

I spent an afternoon sat outside in my back garden in the sun, relaxing and making jewellery. I made a few new items for the store, and I also made some beautiful (if I may say so myself!) charm-style bracelets, which I am very proud of. I think they look really pretty and stylish, and they make a great sound when you wear them!

That afternoon was so much more relaxing and contented than any other afternoon I have spent crafting. Maybe it was the pear cider. Or maybe, the sun does bring out the best in people.

Fearful Penguin!

"Fearful Penguin had stood on his head, hopped on one leg, turned somersaults and waggled his flippers....

...But it wasn't until he'd torn off a loud squeaky fart that he managed to get a laugh out of Emily."

I got this as a birthday card from my parents and I loved it so much I framed it to put on the wall, and I couldn't resist sharing with you all!

I am currently working on some new jewellery for the store, so keep checking back!

Have a great day!

Yummy Banana Muffins!

I made some of these muffins a few weeks ago, and everyone loved them (as you can tell, I was so proud that I didn't even want to wait to take them out of the tray and arrange them before taking pics - I just wanted to eat them!!). I then lost the recipe and was gutted! I have since found the recipe again, and so I am going to share it with you, both so you can make lovely muffins too, and so that I always know where it is!

You will need:

2 eggs
240ml milk (I used semi-skimmed)
120ml vegetable oil
100g granulated sugar (I used the low-cal stuff to make these slightly better for you!)
100g soft brown sugar
375g plain flour
4 teaspoons baking power
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional!)
2 small bananas, roughly chopped

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees/gas mark 6.
   
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, ensuring they are thoroughly mixed.
3. In another large bowl, add the eggs, milk, oil and sugar, and beat together.
4. Add the flour mix to the liquid mixture and roughly mix. Do not worry about getting a smooth mixture!
5. Stir in the bananas and the cinnamon.
6. Spoon the mixture evenly into 12 muffin cases, and bake for 25 minutes.

Yum! Ensure that when you take them out, if you put a knife into them it comes out clean - if not, cook for a further 5 minutes. Allow to cool, and then eat! :)

You can try this recipe with other fruit - I intend to try it with apples and slightly more cinnamon next time - tasty goodness!

Tea Bag Folding - Tutorial

Since it has been a while since my last blog, I thought I would treat you to my first tutorial! One craft I loved when I was paper crafting a lot was origami, and tea bag folding follows similar techniques to create pretty rosettes!

Tea bag folding got its name as it was originally done with the little "envelopes" that tea bags came in, as these were usually decorated papers which looked lovely as rosettes. Nowadays, these envelopes are more rare, but this technique can be done with any paper. Only one side of the paper will show, so do not worry if the paper you have is only decorated on one side.

You Will Need:

* 8 squares of paper (all the same size)

* Glue

1. Take one of the squares, and fold it in half horizontally, decorated side inwards. Unfold.

2. Now fold diagonally, decorated side outwards, and unfold. Repeat on the other diagonal.

3. Your square should now have folds as below. Push inwards at the points indicated, the folds you have made should mean the paper folds easily into a triangle, as shown.

4. Take the bottom right corner of the top layer, and fold it up in between the layers to the top point, as shown in the picture.

5. Do the same with the bottom left corner. Your piece should now look like this.

6. Repeat the above steps with the other 7 squares.

7. Now we can create the rosette! Take one of the pieces, and hold it with the right angle pointing downwards.
Lift the right hand side of the top square layer, and dot some glue on the triangle layer (although I would suggest ensuring you know how the pieces will sit together before gluing!), under where the square was. Don't put the top layer down yet!
Take a second piece and, with the right angle pointing towards the centre of the rosette, slide the triangle layer of the first piece in between the top and bottom layers of the second piece. Press down. This should look like the picture below.


8. Now add the third piece in the same way, working clockwise.


9. Continue adding the pieces in the same way until you get to the last piece.

10. This one is slightly more tricky! Add the final piece as you have been doing before, keeping it on top of the first piece. To finish off, you now need to lift the right hand side of the top square layer, and dot some glue on the triangle layer as before. Now carefully lift the square layer from the first piece, and slot the triangle layer of the final piece underneath it. Press down first the square from the first piece, then the square from the final piece.

Voila! A finished rosette!

You can experiment with different papers and colours to create a variety of effects. Have a go!


There are many different types of folds for tea bag folding, if you have enjoyed this one and wish to learn more, let me know! I will happily make further tutorials for different folds if there is demand for it!

Triple Embossing

This weekend I visited the Tulip Toppers shop in Shipley market for a tutorial on triple embossing from Meryle Holland. Triple embossing is something I have attempted in the past, when I was working a lot on paper crafts, but I never quite got the hang of it.

Well, the tutorial was great! Turns out my main problems were that I was using the wrong type of embossing powder (I didn't even know there were different thicknesses of it until this tutorial!) and that my heat gun makes things more difficult, as it is quite hot and powerful. After being shown the technique by Meryle, she let me have a go whilst she was there, both with her heat gun, and mine, so I could see the difference.

As soon as I left, I came pretty much straight home to try the technique out! In the picture above, the japanese ladies are tiles which I made whilst at the tutorial - on these, the triple embossing makes a glass-like effect on top of the pictures. The others are items I made at home whilst practising the technique - the star one was stamped and coloured, then embossed on top like the tiles, whereas the hearts were triple embossed, and then stamped into the embossing. I then used rub'n'buff over the top to make the text stand out a little more.

I do love learning new things!

My Craft Space

This is where I spend many hours – my craft space!

I am lucky to have a room pretty much dedicated to all my craft stuff, with my corner which has my computer, sewing machine, books, and many other bits and bobs! It is rarely tidy, as I am often working on a number of projects at one time (I take after my dad in this respect!). I have added the bookshelves only recently, and I love having them there, it is so useful! On the “washing lines” on the wall I have art that I have received in swaps on various mail-art sites.

I’m not looking forward to when I have to move out of this house into a smaller one, I love having my own craft room!

Where do you craft? What is your craft space like? I’d love to see where you craft! If you can, e-mail me a picture and short description, and I will add them to a gallery shortly.