Whimsy

I am loving embroidery.

I don't have time to be doing anything crafty... Lots of assessments and boring stuff coming up. But that makes the corners of my mouth point downwards... And that's just not fun! So this is what I did this evening! The patterns are from a book called A Rainbow Of Stitches and its marvelous! Please note! This book is nearly exactly the same as a book called Made In France which is equally as lovely just has a few less designs in. I didn't see this info anywhere on the Amazon page, so ended up buying both! Which was annoying but also now belongs to mother. The book is lovely though! It has a bit of everything in, and is soooo worth the money! 

That's Christmas embroidery hoop art number two done! And it didn't take up a lot of time I should have been spending on work so its all okay!

Granny Chic

Now, if there's something I LOVE it's a crafty book...

Granny Chic is the newest bestest thing to come from Ted and Agnes and Dottie Angel and I was seeing it everywhere on Instagram. People had posted pictures of some of the pages from the book, and it soon went staright to the top of my 'Books I really want but haven't got any money' list.

So when I saw it in The Works for only £5.99 but heart did a fluttery thing and I snatched it up. (There were quite a few on the shelf and I was the only one in the shop so the snatching wasn't nessesary...)

You can sort of just tell from the fornt cover that its going to be amazing. It is the only book I own where I want to make everything. EVERYTHING. That's going to take up a lot of time. 

But, depending on how you look at it, luckily, it didnt take me long to get started. On one hand, I get to make pretty things and dream of having an amazing caravan, on the other.... my uni work suffers even more! 

The pretty things win. 

So I took a stool I have long ago crocheted a cosy for, and made it even better! 

I had always felt it was missing something, so I added the doily. A direct inspiration from the book!

But it doesn't stop there...

I was doing a round of the charity shop... which is always nice. People don't seem to want the same things as me, so I usually find some good bargains, and since car boots are way too cold now... charity shops it is! And I saw something out of the corner of my eye... I was too excited... ANYWAY... It was a soon to be lovely old granny chic-ed up lampshade! Just realised that in my excitement I didn't take a before and after photo!

After stripping the fabric off it, it sat on the coffee table in the living room looking at me for about a day before I knew what I wanted to do with it.

Ribbon is always a winner!

And ta da! I couldn't really be more pleased with this. It fits in so nicely in my room, and the fairy lights make the perfect light to watch rubbish tv on 4OD.

It's a shame that my degree doesn't fill me with this kind of satisfaction. Oh well! Not long now...

I think I might go and hibernate in my duvet while I real some super interesting peer- reviewed articles from some lovely journals now.

 Or I'll do some more embroidery...

A Printy Weekend

The other day I got very excited because I cut and printed my very first lino cutting! Yay!

If you know me well, you'll know that things like this make me very happy. You'll also know that when I do something new I become OBSESSED. 

So it's only fitting that I spent most of my weekend cutting bits of lino, stabbing my thumb with a blade and printing stuff! Here's some sneaky peeks... (the thing I really want to show you, I can't. It's my design for my Christmas cards...) 

 Oh, and just a quick note on where the whole lino cutting idea came from... The Mollie Makes Christmas book. Buy it. Seriously. RRP is £10 and it is so worth that!  

So this Dala horse was originally an embroidery design from the Christmas issue of Mollie Makes (starting to sound like an advert for them!) from a whole year ago... and whilst I LOVE this design... I wanted something of my own... which I am not sharing with you all just yet...

But I seriously couldn't be happier with how it turned out! 

 

This was entirely the boyfriends idea. (in fact it was my idea, he was just the one to cut it out)

Then these little fishes happened... I rather like them. 

So there we have it! Some, but not all of my lino cuttings from the weekend. If you are inspired, I really would suggest buying the Mollie Makes book, it's lovely. And all the rest of the projects in there are inspiring too! And if I can do something which takes this much care, and only stab myself in the hand once, then you can to! Hurrah! 

I'm a printer!

No, not an electrical one!

The other day I got some lino and a lino cutting tool. (As if I needed another craft to get obsessed over!)

I have been putting off making my first cut since Saturday because I wanted to take my time and do it properly.... But then another argument with student finance later... I found myself cutting out a little birdy design! And I'm rather pleased! It's by no means perfect... But practise makes perfect right?! ;)

Nostalgia...

I LOVE old things.

Here is a list of old things that I adore...

1. Old Advertising.

Because it makes me feel like these people actually liked their advertising...?

2. Old Toys.

 Because Lizzie is scary, but Dexter is smashing.

3. Old Cookery Items.

 Because it would be impossible to know what cakes and jellies they have held in the past.

4. Old Cases.

 

Because, again, you'll never know. 

5. Old Books. 

Because, well, of course!

6. My Old Typewriter

 Because it's rather nice. (And I bought it for £2!!)

  

7. My Old Singer.

Because it's beautiful, solid, and I bought it on the same day as the typewriter for £8!!

8. Old Cameras.

Because - Imagine the photos this took!! 

9. Old Railway Posters

Because they're local. (I don't know if they are really old or just pretending, but we love them all the same!)

10. Old Photos. 

Because they're family. 

There has been a huge fashion for retro and vintage for a long time now. For me, it's less of a fashion and more of an adoration. Fashions come and go, but these objects have so much history in them, and have given many people, including me, a lot of happpiness. So I am 100% sure that when (if) this fashion dies out, I won't be following the new one. I couldn't give some of these things up.