Priorities

When I embarked on this journey into Blogland, I had great ambitions. I would blog weekly. I would have lots of photos. I would design lots of new things and share them with the world. I would give anyone who took time to read my blog a little insight into the life of me. Weekly became fortnightly. Fortnightly became monthly, and now it is just when I get the chance to sit and organise myself.
Blogging is something I very much enjoy, and think about a lot. I am always thinking of what I'll write, taking pictures and organising them. But actually taking the time to down write has fallen down my priorities list somewhat - until now, when I find myself waiting for the super-late England match to kick off!
Anyone with a high-maintenance 3 year old will know that they will take up most of your time, and energy. Often when I finally get her to bed, I'm ready to hit the sack too. It's not just physical exhaustion, it's the mental too. Questions all day long, good ones too. Why is asked for everything. Why do apples float? Why why why... by the end of the day I have run out of answers!
Of course, I am happy she is inquisitive and asks questions. She's growing up so fast and most of the time is a pleasure (she is very much still a nightmare at other times!) and I love being her Mum and am privileged to spend all the time I do with her.
Spare time gets split between 'boring' household chores and routines and my little bubble of 'being me'. I have been indulging in what makes me happy and what I'm interested in over the last couple of years. Crochet fills a great deal of my creative time... and rubber stamp carving. And lots of other little things I love - music, art, plants, nature, rocks etc... When I sit back and look at my life and the things I have surrounded myself with, I realise I am very happy right now. I love my life - my girl, my family and friends, my hobbies and interests. One interest I have 'indulged' in recently is rocks and minerals... I have always been fascinated by rocks and minerals, the colours, patterns and forms they take on. I love opal... natural opal, not lab created stuff. I love my opal ring, and my Australian boulder opal pendant. I also have a small collection of stones and crystals which I am now able to display on a super shelf!

It is very much inspired by Stone and Violet but made by a friend who takes old wooden pallets and fashions them into furniture. I wondered if he could make smaller items so I dropped him a line and a day later he made the most beautiful mountain shelf! Any local people to me check out Joe's Pallet Wood Furniture Facebook page!
Nature has also been filling my time. Spring is a super time of year, and last year you may remember I was preoccupied with nesting blackbirds in our garden... well this year it has been the turn of the goldfinch. Yep, such a beautiful little bird nested in a small tree outside our lounge window. Great viewpoint! The Little Lady and I spent many an hour sitting at the window chatting and spotting the birds as they were to and fro from the nest. I love her taking an interest too. I even tried some stealth photography to try and capture one of the babies who was peeping out of the nest...

Ahh baby goldfinch and a proud parent. I didn't see them fledge however. They were suddenly gone, but there are quite a few goldfinches about here at the moment so I hope they are doing OK. Last time I spied them, they were sitting right up on the edge of the nest and looked pretty big.
I have been out and about with the camera snapping the beauty that is nature. Here are a couple of my faves:
A single Allium flower opening

A trip to see some wild orchids at a local wildlife reserve was fruitful... there was a field littered with these amazing flowers...

And some strange moths I have never seen before... No idea how I spotted these on a blade of grass in a meadow, but I'm glad I did. I since researched and discovered that they are Six-spot Burnet moths. Who knew?

Obviously crafting has been filling my time. The main project is the ongoing blanket for the craft swap with Maddy (see her lovely blog FromTwelveToTwoFifteen) The granny squares have been piling up...

And today I reached the 100 mark! Then came the laying out and colour planning, and then learning to continuously join the whole lot! I used this tutorial to help me along my way. So far I have 2 rows of 10 joined, and I really like the continuous process... it's easier than I thought it would be so far! More pictures to follow...
I also made a couple of gifts for a little man who entered the world a few weeks ago... It's a friend of my Mum's, so she asked me to make some bunting with his name on, and I made a cute little giraffe toy for him too.

Pattern is that of I Love Buttons by Emma and yarn is a mixture of Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo and King Cole Bamboo Cotton. I love this pattern - it's super easy and it's great fun to use loads of colours, even if the changes are a bind.

And there is the bunting, looking good against the blue sky. I like this bunting -  a very simple pattern by Pink Milk adapted slightly to add a border to it. Finished off with felt letters, as I find they look neater than crocheted ones.

Yarn is Rico Creative Cotton Aran in a variety of colours  - my favourite for making bunting.

Last year I, like hundreds of others, partook in making bunting triangles for Yarndale. I loved being part of a community project, thinking my tiny contribution helped to make an awesome spectacle of bunting strung up around Yarndale. So naturally, when the Yarndale team called for mandala makers, I was of course intrigued. Firtsly, I love the cause - even though I won't be able to make it this year - and secondly, I love mandalas. I have made a few previously and admit that they are totally addictive. I love playing with colour and texture... and just winging it round by round. I turned to my stash of Lily Sugar 'n' Cream, a lovely stiff cotton in amazing bright colours and set to work. Previously my mandalas had been a riot of colour, but this time I fancied sticking to a colour scheme, so I just picked 3 colours that I liked together...

I'm not sure exactly how I made it as I followed a rough pattern but adapted it a fair amount. I am pleased with it, and rather like limiting my colour use sometimes - I think it shows the pattern off a bit more in this case.
I also decided to decorate the packaging up a bit, and to keep it in my style I decided to carve up a couple of mandala stamps. I researched simple mandala patterns and tweaked them to make them suitable for stamp carving. I used jet black StazOn ink and was super pleased with the overall effect...

I also stamped up the back with some Yarndale bunting...

I mounted one of the stamps up and sent it off to Lucy as a little extra gift, as I was quite proud of it!

So that brings me nearly to kick-off time... can I manage to actually stay awake for the match now? I'm not so sure about that! I will try and pop in and post when I can, but blogging is taking very much a backseat at the moment like I said, but it is always at the forefront of my thoughts! So until next time, however long that may be...

A Quick Update...

Birthday time has come and gone, and now so has Easter (just about) and don't I know it! It's been a rather busy two weeks, starting with the third birthday of my Little Lady. It was a fairly low-key day, lots of playing at home with her new (Princess based) toys and a couple of visitors - being a weekday most people were working and friends were schooling, but it was good really as she just wanted to play with her new things. There was dressing up, Play-Doh, Disney films and plenty of swapping princesses into different dresses. All day! And a little bit of baking... I (with the help of my Mum) decided to bake a cake for her party the next day. Only trouble with Little P is that she is allergic to eggs and dairy products, kind of key ingredients for a cake.... well not if you follow this recipe! It tastes pretty good, it's light and fluffy, very easy to make - much easier than a normal sponge, and it rises well - unlike some egg-free sponges. This was the first time we had also ventured into decorating a cake using roll-out fondant icing... after a fairly successful practice run, we were ready to go again, and this is what we came up with...

Thanks for your help Mum!

With presents of course, there are Thank-You cards. I did think it would be nice to sit down with Little P and make some together, but she doesn't have a lot of patience for that kind of thing at the moment, and I wanted another excuse to get stamping again. And that's exactly what I did. I wanted to once again keep it simple, and had a few ideas kicking about the little creative space in my mind. I had spied some nifty ice-cream cards once before, I think by Yellow Owl Workshop, so decided to have a go at my own simple version. Hot off the press...

There has been some crochet too, but that is for next time. It's been lots of Little P fun these holidays, a trip to see some baby lambies...

and today an egg hunt...

And now I'm off to finish yet another cold cup of tea... I must remember to drink it whilst it's hot! So until next time...

What a Difference a Day Makes

In typical British fashion, I'm going to kick off with the weather - what an absolutely glorious Spring day! We've had a very mild Winter here in these parts, not really any frosts or anything as yet. And we've also been lucky enough to escape most of the deluge of rain that has battered our country... so it seems very strange that Spring might be on it's way without having a real Winter. I told Little P we could play in the snow, and get the sledge out... no such luck as yet, but to be honest I'm glad about that. I hate cold weather. Give me hot weather and clear sunny skies any day. California dreamin' at the moment!
Today, was an absolutely lovely day here. Considering it's early March, I found myself sitting in the garden, hook in hand, crocheting away with a t-shirt on. And I even have small 'tan lines' on my arms to prove it! I still doubt the weather though - I think Winter will suddenly hit us just as all the plants have budded up and then destroy all nature's good work. But hey, I'll enjoy the good stuff whilst it is here!
It felt so good to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin whilst I crocheted away. And to see tiny snippets of life bursting up around the garden was lovely. I also made the most of the opportunity to get outside with my camera and snap some of my recent makes.
First up is the ongoing blanket project - the 'As We Go Stripy Blanket' (pattern here). It's a slow burner, but then was always intended to be - a relaxed evening project, perfect for watching TV and getting on with. It is intended for my Little P when complete, and she has already had the work in progress out several times to snuggle under.

I do love how it working up... The colours compliment each other lovely, and I'm loving testing out new stitches...

This will definitely be on the back burner at the moment though, as I have some more 'important' projects on the horizon. A couple of bits of amigurumi which must be kept under wraps right now, but here's a little green hand saying 'hi!'

The most exciting thing coming up for me is a 'blog swap' with the oh-so-talented Maddy - the creative mastermind behind From Twelve to Two Fifteen. A while back we decided on making something for each other (or more likely each other's children!) and blogging all about it at the same time. Maddy makes super amazing patchwork quilts using funky fabrics and modern geometrical patterns... ticks all my boxes! She has already shown a sneak peak of what she has been working on here - take a look at those chevrons! So exciting!
In return, Maddy will receive a crocheted gift from me, and she told me she would quite like another granny square blanket in a bright, cheerful colour scheme... also ticks all my boxes. I decided that for such a special occasion I would order some new yarn (don't need much excuse!) I have wanted to make a blanket using 'nicer' wool for a while now, so I ordered a bundle of merino based wools - Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, topped up with a few colours of RICO Design Essentials Soft Merino Aran. The two yarns actually look and feel very similar, so I'm sure they will work well together...

Look at that squishiness...

I'm so excited to get started!

On the non-woolly front, there has been stamp carving by the bucket-load. I will get round to taking some pictures and showing my adventures in stamping, but you can always take a look at my Instagram feed. I ordered some rubber from Hong Kong a while back, and it took an age to arrive (serves me right for ordering just as everything stops for Chinese New Year!) It was pretty good value (even with the enormous shipping bill) and looked great too...

I had some extra large A4 sized sheets and some smaller ones - I was particularly looking forward to using the orange sandwich block. First impressions were that they weren't quite as thick as I'd hoped - the previous ones I bought were super thick and yummy blocks. I started by trying the blue block - it wasn't quite what I had hoped for though. It was quite tough and a bit crumbly. I moved onto the orange sandwich block - this carved better but was still not a patch on the previous ones I tried. So I was a little disappointed - the lesson I took from that cheap was not always cheerful. If I'm going to bother to order premium Japanese rubber blocks, then I will make sure I order the proper ones!

I have also bought a couple of other little bits and bobs to brighten up my space. I've started a mini 'gallery' on my bedroom wall - a few prints here and there. The first one that has arrived and is framed is one by an artist called Eloise Renouf. I love her work and it was hard to choose just one, but I'm so chuffed with it hanging on my wall...

The empty little frame to the right is waiting for a small print from Mexico from the amazing Gennine Zlatkis.  More on that when it arrives!

I'm also rediscovering my love of plants, especially cacti and succulents, and I'm gradually creeping them back into the home...

I found this little beauty in a local garden centre - I love the wooden tray, and the 3 little pots, and plan to fill them with some succulents I am currently propagating. Until then, this little cactus can rest there! I also found a Lithops (living stone) which I have wanted for ages, so picked him up and brought him to a good home. He must be liking it as I can see a new pair of leaves emerging in there...

My Dad was having a clear out and found this old Californian vehicle licence plate he didn't want - guess who had it and cleaned it up?! Fits perfectly in a space on my gallery wall!

I'm still California dreamin'. But now it is time to do some real dreaming, in bed! Goodnight all, until next time...

January Adventures

Times have been busy lately (hence my reduced posting on here). Little P is actually a small child now and not a baby at all. I talk to her like anyone else, and she responds just like anyone else. That girl can talk. And she remembers everything... which is great, but also troublesome, as she holds me to every 'promise' I make. Days are fun, but absolutely exhausting - she has bucket loads of bouncy energy, and the rest of us just try to keep up with the pace.
Crafting time is reduced to evenings when she has finally dropped off to sleep, and the occasional weekend dabble, in amongst other household duties. Of course I have been crocheting, mainly in the evenings whilst watching the telly, but I have also really got into carving rubber stamps.
I have always liked stamps, and have had a few kicking about for a while. Some were rubber ones, other clear cling stamps. I like them, but making my own is something else. I've also always enjoyed doodling... flowers, mandalas, typography etc etc. This goes hand in hand with stamp carving, and I can bring my doodles to life - well into rubber form, to be used again and again.
A while back I dabbled in lino printing. I say 'dabble' as I found it pretty tough going - lino blocks are so hard to cut! But I did find the possibilities endless and exciting. I also saw a tip recently, telling you to heat your lino block with an iron for a while to soften it up - this would help a lot, so maybe I'll re-dabble at some point! Whilst researching lino printing ideas, I came across the whole rubber stamp carving scene. Basically the same process as lino printing, but with soft rubber blocks. I ordered some Speedy Carve rubber block online as I couldn't find any in stores. It is a very soft, pink rubber block, thick enough to use without mounting. It is not overly cheap here in the UK, but worth every penny, and I'm careful how I use it - keeping all the little offcuts for future use!
I will collate some pictures of the stamps I have made so far, and hopefully you will be able to notice some progress in my carving ability! My first major project was the Christmas 'Thank You' cards to be sent from Little P. I had various ideas kicking about in my mind, but eventually settled on this idea...

I sketched various birds, trees, bunting triangles and speech bubbles, but decided on this simple idea. I played around with lots of colour variations with me new stamp pads...

The ones in the bottom picture are called Color Box Queue pigment ink pads or 'cat's eyes'... a great way to get a lot of colours in small amounts... and a lot cheaper than buying individual stamp pads. The top ones are VersaColor pigment pads in various shades (perfect for multicolour stamping) and Jet Black StazOn - a permanent solvent based ink that gives a great print.
Using the StazOn and the Color Box cat's eyes, I made a whole host of 'Thank You' cards...

I particularly liked this one...

I also carved a 'block of lines' stamp to make it easier to write on the back...

Amongst my research and pinning on my 'Stampage' Pinterest board, I have discovered some inspirational people...
- Geninne  D. Zlatkis and her amazing book 'Making and Impression'
- Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and her awesome book I received yesterday 'Carve, Stamp, Play'
- Christine Schmidt of Yellow Owl Workshop and her book 'Yellow Owl's Litle Prints'
and finally...
- Mizutamahanco, a Japanese (hope I got that right?!) eraser-carver and illustrator, who is simply awesome. Her skills are second to none, and she makes it look so easy. I have 2 of her books, but I have no idea what they are called or anything as it's all in Japanese - but I wanted it for the pictures!

I follow all these creative-beings blogs and Instagram feeds, and it fills me up with inspiration.
Some of my books...

Mizutama's illustrations....

After swooning over Mizutama's stamp carving, I wanted to try using some proper Japanese rubber carving block... the thick ones, often with another layer of rubber over the surface. I had to order from afar (this shop on Etsy called LoveSprouts) and have it shipped here. At around £7 a block (14cm x 10cm) it's a bit pricey, but then there is the shipping on top of that.

My LoveSprouts order, with free plain stickers to stamp!

And the lovely Mizutama rubber blocks...

Was it lovely to carve? Yes. Does it add an extra 'neatness' to my stamps? Yes. Is it worth all the money and shipping costs? Probably not... and I won't be having it very often at all. I have ordered some different Japanese rubber blocks from this Etsy shop, and am eagerly waiting their arrival. They are thick blocks (still 1cm) but not the brand name, and come in larger sheets, which makes it all a bit more viable. Let's see if they are nice to carve or not... I do love the SpeedyCarve, but it is a lot thinner, at 5mm.
I had a little play with the nice, thick Japanese rubber blocks and had some nice results. Here's a little taster of my adventures...

Rubbish light... and it was daylight too.

I also have made a series of interchangeable plant and cactus stamps - I tried some cacti on a card too...

I made some pots, and different plants, some sketched by me, and some using Geninne's templates in her book. I love being able to mix and match them all, great fun!
I'm so in love with stamping, I find it so relaxing to actually do, and love the endless possibilities and creativity of it all. I have been thinking about maybe doing 'A Stamp A Day'. Obviously, it would not be practical for me to get all my carving stuff out every day to carve a stamp, but maybe do it as an average - so make sure I get 7 done in a week. I have so many ideas that I think this could work out quite well!
I'm also loving crocheting a blanket again. After the rush of festive crochet, I needed to do something different. I have been longing to make a blanket again... the gentle repeating rows, so therapeutic. A while back I had seen a pattern I liked for a mixed strip blanket and I stored it away somewhere in my 'I want to make this one day' file. Then I noticed again cropping up in various places, including The Patchwork Heart's Instagram feed. That was all it took to get me started on my own version. I'm using the 'as we go stripey blanket' pattern from Not Your Average Crochet, and a few colours of Stylecraft Special DK yarn. It's a well written pattern, and looks great, but it's not such a rhythmic blanket, due to all the colour changes, different stitches and hook sizes, but it is a fun one. I've done a few rows, and managed to get a couple of pictures whilst the sun was out today...

Lots of pinks and purples for Little P.

Oh I do love my crochet. It's been about 2 years since I first taught myself, and I have never looked back. It's opened up new crafty avenues too, and really brought out my creative side. Thank you crochet. Now I must be off, bed is calling, so until next time...thanks for stopping by :)