A very crafty birthday

I was super blessed this year with a wonderful birthday surrounded by all my fabulous friends who have made moving to London the best decision I've ever made. Not only that but everyone absolutely blew me away with all their thoughtful presents and not only that but I hit the craft girl jackpot!

I got the cutest new knitting bag which is exactly what I needed as my other one was bursting it's so full! 

I also got this great little kit for building your own bird feeder which is super handy considering I've and two bags of bird seed in my press for the last two years and should really get it out to the birds....

As readers of this blog will know, I love colouring in and I equally (okay, maybe a little bit more..) love Harry Potter and some genius has combined this two into the Harry Potter colouring book, of which I got not one but two!! I was also given lots of colouring pencils and pens which means I can start colouring straight away! HAPPINESS overload.  

Unfortunately, the lovely woman my mother did home help for passed away earlier this year but she left a legacy of a life of crafting behind her. So much wool, crochet patterns, material that she probably could have had her own shop. One beautiful thing she left behind was this unfinished embroidery project which my mother sent to me. It's such a beautiful pattern and I can't wait to finish it and turn it into a beautiful cushion which will always be a reminder of this awesome woman. 

 

My family and friends also did something wonderful with their present buying - they supported independent artists. The awesome print is from Emily Mc Dowells studio. I love the sentiment of it and it's a mantra I'm going to try and take into my life going forward. I hate getting things wrong though so it may take a while.... 

The calendar below is from the awesome The Native State which not only is one of my favourite instagram accounts to follow but also makes awesome inspirational arts and stationery. Be sure to check them out. If nothing else happens at least I'm going to be inspired next year! :) 

Not only did my friends support independent artists but they became artists and got very creative with their envelopes and cards. This card is probably the greatest card I've ever received. Handmade is the best way. 

And finally the pièce de résistance.....

Meet Phoebe! Although I love my old singer sewing machine, it's impractical if I want to attend workshops or bring it to another workspace as it's so heavy so my wonderful mammy and daddy gifted me with this shiny, new, lovely beast of awesome! I am so excited to get started and finally get making some actual clothes... well trying to, at least. 

As you can tell I am super set up for a crafty year so expect a lot more making and blogging in the New Year. 

Thank you to all my friends who gave me such thoughtful presents, craft related and non-craft related. You are all wonderful people who made me feel so special and loved. xxxx

Interview with Scribble and Sew

Recently I came across a lovely business on Twitter called Scribble and Sew where children's drawings, paintings or doodles are turned into embroidered works of art as keepsakes, gifts or just to hang on your wall. They were running a competition to win a free commission and I entered and won!!! 

Amy, who runs the business, was super lovely to work with and super quick! Over the course of only a few days we and gone from agreeing the design to the beautiful piece landing on my doorstep. The piece was of a picture my niece had drawn. She had been bird-watching when I was visiting, and inspired by my illustrator boyfriend, decided to draw pictures of all the birds she was looking at. I thought that this drawing was the perfect project for Amy from Scribble and Sew to work on. She loved the idea and thought it would be great to put the birds in a tree too. Below is the drawing and the finished product - isn't it awesome?!

I loved Amy's work so much, I decided to find out more and interviewed her for Tiddlybobs! 

Amy is the owner of Scribble and Sew. She is almost 30 and has been married for seven years. As well as being a step mum she has two cats called Pickle and Pumpkin (cute or what?).

Amy, what inspired you to start Scribble and Sew? 

My Nan and Mum both taught me to sew starting with cross stitch samplers,  I have my first completed one, a home sweet home sampler by my front door. I always try to make or sew something for friends birthdays & christmas. It wasn't until, sadly in 2013, I lost both my Nan and Mum that it forced me to re-evaluate certain things and start focusing on doing more for myself and that is when Scribble & Sew went from a hobby to a little business.

What's a typical day for you when you're working on a new project?

Well I work full time so I fit my project's in whenever I can. It's brilliant that you can take it everywhere with you, on lunch breaks, while my daughter is at her gymnastics lessons, when I get in from work. My favorite time to embroider is with a big cup of tea and with Murder She Wrote on the telly, I'm a smidge obsessed with Angela Lansbury (I have her portrait tattooed on my leg!)

You create your wonderful designs using embroidery. What are your top tips for someone just beginning to use this technique?

My top tips...It may seem obvious but practice and lots of patience. It can take along time to produce a finished hoop. I would say to start simple just using back stitch to create solid lines then when you are comfortable with your stitch length you can move on to slightly more complicated stitches such as split stitch which is what I favour. There are such wonderful tutorials online and don't be afraid, you can always unpick.

Which has been your favorite project?

This is a relatively new venture for me and it came about from little embroidering portraits of wrestlers for my husband. I just thought it was a lovely way to show your child's work other than on the fridge And also I thought they would make lovely mothers day presents of for grandparents. I have two favorite pieces so far - they are a brilliant little rocket and some very cute little birds that needed a home, so I placed them in a tree.

What is the best and worst thing about running your own creative business?

The best thing about running my own creative business is being able to do something that I truly love doing and being able to create unique pieces that mean so much to the lovely people who ask for commissions.

And the bad? Hmmm, well I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing but not being able to run Scribble & Sew as my full time job - perhaps a little way down the road this might happen... fingers crossed.

I love running Scribble and Sew and it makes me ever so happy not just that I get to sew everyday but because I get to create wonderful keep sakes for lovely people. Children have a fantastic view of the world and I feel very humble to be asked to capture these little moments with a craft I enjoy. 

If you want to find out more about Scribble and Sew or if you think a custom piece would be the perfect Mothers Day gift then visit Scribble and Sew on Twitter or Instagram. 

Sock Garland Advent Calendar

As followers of this blog will already know, recently I was gifted with a beautiful, old Singer machine from my boyfriends grand aunt. I was super excited as so many crafting techniques and projects require sewing and I just don't have the time or patience to do it all by hand! However, my first attempt at using it didn't go too well. It ended with me crying on the bed while my boyfriend used a screwdriver to remove a clump of thread from the inside. I was defeated and scared and the beautiful old sewing machine was put back in it's case.

Luckily, it kept shouting from the end of the bed to be used and my favourite craft magazine, Homemaker Magazine, came with an easy sewing project for beginners that month so I plucked up the courage to try again. This time, the thread clumped again but I fixed it, read a bit more of my user booklet, adjusted the tension on the machine and away I went! I finished my first sewing project on my own machine! Huzzah! 

I was so happy that I immediately hopped onto Pinterest to see what my next project could be and then it hit me. An advent calendar. The one I made two years ago didn't have big enough pockets to hold the sweets and that really annoyed me so I decided a new advent calendar would be the best project. There were so many ideas to choose from but I loved all the garland based ones so much that I decided to do one in that style.

So out came the old Christmas tea towels (4 to be exact about it!)...

Out came some sock drawing skills, which I didn't know I had, to make my template. I first drew it on paper, added a 1cm border as  a seam allowance and cut it out. Then I glued it to some cardboard and cut it out to have a firm template to use on the tea towels. 

I then drew around the template 12 times on each tea towel making sure to turn the template every second time. This ensures that once all the socks are cut out, each pair will have the right side of the tea towel facing out when pinned together.

Once all the socks were cut out I had 48 single socks pinned into 24 pairs. Then it was time to sew.  Originally I was going to sew them on the wrong side and then turn them out but when I had them all cut I liked their size as they were so I decided to sew on the right side instead. Scarily, on my first sock, this happened...

But I just took a breath, ripped it out, adjusted my tension (as I learned previously!) and off I went. In no time I had 24 beautifully sewn socks. Thanks to the boyfriend I also, and a beautifully new pair of pinking shears so I used them to trim the edges. And yes my sewing wasn't perfect, so many of the borders became smaller than the others post pinking resulting in various sized socks but that's the joy of homemade right? Right guys?! .... Right?

I was then ready to hang my garland. I had bought some lovely red twine which I weaved in and out of the bannister on my stairs and then tied it in place. I had also bought the adorable pegs below - I know, for shame, I should have made them too but one step at a time guys!

I then pegged each sock to the twine, popped in the sweets and my beautiful advent calendar sock garland extravaganza was complete!

I can't express how happy I am with the finished result. I can't stop looking at it and smiling. Seriously, if you haven't made anything for your home for this Christmas yet do it now! I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to have something you made yourself hanging up and looking so beautiful.  I think I might finish this project crying on my bed too but this time they will be tears of joy. 

Yes. Crying over tea towel socks. I am still cool. 

Sewing and Toilet Roll - the solutions to a happy life

Unfortunately life has been a bit hectic in recent weeks so Tiddlybobs has taken a bit of  back seat but never fear, I am now back with more creative treats for you including a brand new Tiddlybits next week and some new photographs in my Morning Walks series.

Also, exciting news in Tiddlybobs camp - my boyfriends parents kindly delivered my sewing machine!! I CAN'T WAIT to start sewing up little projects and learning all about it. So far I have read the manuals and learned how to thread bobbin and the machine - wahey! I shall progress to actual sewing on an item of material next... baby steps folks, baby steps.  Isn't it super pretty? 

I have also been getting creative with household goods to make Hallowe'en decorations. Lack of money means none to spend on decorations so I had to rummage around but it's amazing what you can create with toilet roll, sellotape and black plastic bags. Well you can create bannister mummies.

Then grab some tomato ketchup, red food colouring and an Irish girl with messy hair and an over-exaggerated scared expression and voila! You have an awesome bloody hand stain on your mirror!

And finally, cut up a cereal box, fish out some red paint and grab a teabag and hot water. Put them all together and what do you get? Creepy signs written in blood that's what. 

Unfortunately after doing all that I had run out of time to do any more decorating but I was super impressed with everything I had come up with especially as it was all for free! Just goes to show what I can do when I try to think outside the box! 

Hope you all have a very Happy Hallowe'en and eat loads of sweets and watch scary movies!! 

If you go down to the woods today...

I have been waiting on my sewing machine being delivered before taking on any sewing projects but I couldn't wait to try this one. I came across this picture tutorial on making a teddy bear from a sock quite a while ago on Pinterest and it's been playing on my mind since. So last night, out came an old pair of socks and my sewing kit. The socks I was working with were a pair of knee high socks so a LOT bigger than the ones in the tutorial and then I messed up cutting out the head so I ended up working with my own imagination to make my own version! 

I'm not too happy with the stitching in places and how visible it is so that's something I will work on when making another one. I also got very impatient when sewing so the gaps between stitches are quite big which I'm sure means that the stuffing will start making an appearance at some point. 

My plan is to redo everything when my sewing machine arrives to prevent the stuffing escaping and to make it neater. I also want to work on my hand stitching to be able to hide the stitches when I have to attach certain bits by hand. 

BUT in saying all of that I absolutely love this little teddy and I'm quite proud that I was able to make it myself! I am very excited to make many more and possibly try this monkey if I'm feeling brave! But first I've got to think of a name for him...

Sewing Dreams Come True

Today is the best day! I have been given the most beautiful sewing machine. Look at it - it's so pretty. My boyfriends great aunt no longer wanted it and so she's very kindly gifted it to me. It's in fabulous condition and hasn't been used since it's last service so she's got a lot of life in her yet.

The only problem now is figuring out how to get it home.... oh yeah and the small matter of learning to sew!

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with String....

Hello my name is Amy and I am addicted to gift wrapping. It's true. I'm completely obsessed. See Exhibit A below. I think it makes a present much more special if you put some time and effort into the wrapping of the gift (super extra bonus points if you hand make the gift!) so this weeks Tiddlybits is all about inspiring you to be a bit more creative in your wrapping escapades!

EXHIBIT A
(I was giving my Mam the Great British Sewing Bee book so decided to use that as a theme for the wrapping!)

This list from Buzzfeed is just a wonderful collection of quirky and different ideas. I will definitely be trying the cereal box idea and will post pics to Tiddlybobs when I do. I also really love the use of chalk paint! So clever!

Everyone has random buttons in random drawers all over the house right? Right?! *cradles buttons* Well you should because buttons are awesome and one of the many things they can be used for is gift wrapping! Check out this awesome tutorial from the Craft and Creativity blog.

I'm pretty sure the only people that love gift wrap more than me are children so why not go all out for their wrapping? I love this monster idea from the Housing a Forest site. My nieces are definitely going to get monster wrapped gifts this year!!

This is just the sweetest idea and I demand all of my friends get married right now so that I can use it. However, should my friends not fulfil my demands I might do a twist on it with Fairytale characters for their birthdays instead!

That's a wrap (PUN!!) on this weeks Tiddlybits! Keep coming back for more crafty inspiration!