Unravelling

I've almost finished a scarf I've been slowly knitting over the past few weeks and though I'm very pleased with it, it's made me decide to unravel and re-do one I made earlier!I finished the grey one earlier in the year (made with the same yarn, in a different colourway) and it's just a bit too wide and chunky - the thinner purple one has turned out much more wearable.

So: it's time to start unravelling...

PS can anyone recommend any simple knitting projects/patterns for me to try once I run out of people to make scarves for?

Christmas Crafting

As well as plotting some new gift-wrap tutorials for this festive season, I've also got some Christmas ornament tutorials planned.

But, as with the gift wrap, they're not quite ready to show off just yet so ... yes, you guessed it, here's a round-up of last year's tutorials. I liked some of these so much, I added them to my own Christmas range!

Sweet & simple hearts and stars: Christmas puddings:And baubles you can decorate any way you fancy:(And yes, I know this is slightly lazy blogging but please bear with me - I'm busy making new things behind the scenes, I promise!)

Ideas for Gift Wrapping

There's something about this time of year, with Christmas beginning to loom on the horizon, that gets me all excited about pretty parcels and making that perfect gift even more perfect with a bit of imaginative wrapping and fancy ribbon.

I'm working on lots of fun new gift-wrapping projects for my own Christmas gifts this year and I'm hoping to share them with you all soon... but in the meantime, here's a quick round-up of my gift wrap projects from last year. Click on the links to find full instructions & more pics.

Pretty paper doilies:
Fake parcels featuring vintage stamps, and cute postage stamp tags:

Brown paper given a touch of luxury with foil cake ribbon:
Faux bois parcels topped with paper oak leaves:

Fun with fonts:

Fancy textured wallpaper:

Sweet and simple paper snowflakes - this would be a great way to get your kids involved in wrapping presents for your family:

Plus - perhaps my favourite project - fun and funky pompoms:

P.S. Fancy more crafty ideas? Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free gift wrapping ideas and crafty projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Big in Japan

A very exciting thing popped into my inbox this morning - a page from the December issue of Elle Japan....... featuring my bow hairbands! A lovely surprise, and all thanks to Abi Loves where they're listed as being stocked (though you can of course buy them direct from me if you want one!).

Lupin Loves Abi Loves

I'm very chuffed to be able to show off a lovely new stockist for some of my hairbands - Tokyo-based Abi Loves.
Abi Loves is full of handpicked loveliness for stylish kids and their parents and I'm thrilled to have my designs in amongst them.

And the winners are...

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my giveaway this month! It was so much fun hearing which brooches you'd all got your eye on and why they tickled your fancy.

The lucky numbers picked at random were 19 and 3

jennyflower said...

I have long admired your cherry blossom!

and

nikolina100 said
... Little Pink Tea Cup, for the win!!(Hmm - not quite sure why the post has gone a bit lopsided in the middle there!)

Many congrats to the winners - I'll be in touch soon :)

Feeling Festive

I'm starting to feel really excited about Christmas this week. I've been working on a secret Christmas project and my workbox currently looks like this:- I'm finishing some felt mistletoe ornaments and starting some holly brooches.

Running a shop definitely makes you readjust your ideas about when it's okay to start talking about presents and decorations and all that lovely stuff.In the past I've been a bit of a Scrooge about anything to do with Christmas earlier than mid-December, but nowadays I have to start thinking about my Christmas projects as early as May, if not sooner!

I may become a bit of a Christmas bore over the next couple of months (sorry!) but there will be lots of other crafty goodness going on inbetween all the witterings about reindeer and baubles and stockings and so forth.

Are you a Scrooge about Christmas? or are you getting excited already? Have you started making anything for Christmas - gifts or decorations for your home?

Theme of the day: Parcels

Yesterday I packed up my last big batch of orders before my break - here they are, waiting to be taken to the Post Office by my boyfriend:Ah, it feels so good getting them all posted (and it feels even better having someone else to do it for me, heehee!).

While he was at the Post Office, I was busy unpacking and tidying away a big box of supplies which were delivered that morning by courier:Mmm... so much felt...

And then this morning even more lovely supplies turned up in the post - gorgeous fabric from Showpony, destined to be used for Christmas gifts and other goodies for friends & family:

Show and Tell, part one

This is the first in an - I hope - ongoing series of posts showcasing some of the amazing things people have made with the felt and other supplies they've bought from my shop.

First up... Rebekah of Tumus made lots of cute "BonBon Bunnies" with my pastel felt:Heike of Felicitate Illustration has been using my felt to add details to her wonderful softies:Meaghan of Oh Ginger has included felt elements in her jewellery:Tiffany of Sodalight Creations has been making sweet cherry blossom hairclips:And last but not least, Marga has been making a whole assortment of felt brooches and other sweet things like "Miss Amelia Earhart", made as a gift for a friend:If you want your work to be featured in future posts, do get in touch!

P.S. please respect the work of my customers as you do mine, and don't copy their designs :)

Paper Circles

A quick snap of something I've been making... to be revealed closer to Christmas :)It's always nice to make use of my vintage crockery collection, even if it's just as templates for cutting out circles!

October Giveaway - win your favourite brooch!

As September seems to have slipped by without a giveaway (time seems to be going so quickly this year!) this month there will be TWO winners. And you get to choose your prize! Hurrah!

Up for grabs - your favourite brooch from my Etsy shop.To enter, visit my Etsy shop, choose your favourite brooch and leave a comment on this post saying which is your favourite before midnight (UK time) on Saturday 24th October. I'll pick two winners at random on Sunday 25th October. (Please note that if the design you pick has sold out by then I'll ask you to choose again)

I'm happy to ship internationally, so anyone can enter. Please make sure you leave a name or pseudonym (no anonymous comments please!) and be sure to come back on Sunday to see if you got picked :)

New Colours + A Short Break

I've almost run out of the blue and pink butterflies for my butterfly flower brooches & hairbands (I must remember to order some more) and while searching for the last few butterflies I discovered unopened packs of red and yellow ones, sitting neglected in my supplies stash. Gosh, I am so disorganised sometimes!

So today I'm working on some new colourways for the butterfly flowers - red and yellow, and yellow and lilac. Better late than never, eh?On a totally unrelated note - I wanted to mention that I'm taking a holiday next week. I'll still be making things and blogging but after a busy couple of months I really need a break from the daily routine of running my shops.

I'll be on my hols from Tuesday 20th October to Monday 2nd November, and all items purchased from my shops between those dates will be posted on my return.

Upcycle Christmas with Folksy

The lovely people over at Folksy have announced a fun competition for all you UK-based crafty types: Upcycle Christmas."Upcycle Christmas is a competition for people to take second hand / charity stuff and make it into something ‘new’ and desirable to be sold at an online auction starting on the 7th December. All proceeds from the auction will go to Sue Ryder Care, the healthcare charity, our partners on the project"

You can use any second hand stuff you like to rework into your entry - which should be something you'd give at Christmas, not something Christmassy like a decoration. And if you happen to live near one of the participating Sue Ryder Care stores you can claim a ticket that's redeemable for up to 5 free items to use as the materials for your project.

Two of the judges have been announced already - Louise Roe and the always awesome Wayne Hemingway - and there will also be a "peoples choice" category for "your favourite items as chosen by number of favourites the item receives on Folksy".

I had lots of fun making my entry for last year's Folksy Angels competition so I'm hoping to have the time (and a good flash of inspiration) to make something this year too!

You can read more about the competition here or check out the FAQs here.

A Big Parcel of Little Hats

Along with the usual bundle of orders to post, I had another package to take to the Post Office yesterday - 42 little hats for Innocent's Big Knit project:I have to admit to finding some half-finished ones leftover from last year (oops) and I didn't get half as many quiet evenings of knitting in as I'd have liked but they still make quite a nice pile.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing all the little hats appearing on smoothie bottles in our local branch of Sainsbury's next month!

Show and Tell

I often get messages from my customers, with photos of the awesome crafty stuff they've made with the felt and other supplies they've bought from me... and I thought it might be nice to showcase some of them!

Depending on how many responses I get I'll either do one big "show and tell" post sometime soon or a little series of smaller posts. All images will be fully credited and if you've got a blog or a shop where you sell your work I'll add in a link to it.

So, if you've bought supplies from my shops and want to share some of the results, please do get in touch! You can leave a comment on this post and I'll send you an email, or you can contact me through any of my shops.

Hope to hear from you soon...

Forest Finds

It's always nice to have a new stockist for my work, especially when it's a shop that sells wonderful, stylish things - my little items, rubbing shoulders with such loveliness!

So you can imagine how chuffed I am to have some of my disguises stocked by the awesome kids shop Fawn & Forest for their October Forest Finds...
... alongside work by Little Red Caboose, Owly Shadow Puppets, Little Hero Capes and Oeuf Goodies (those knitted masks and tails! so cute!).

I'm Running Out of Wall Space...

... but I keep on buying art!

My latest purchases from Etsy - Edward Sylvester Morse, Pottery Collector by Lauren Nassef:And Shine by Dee Beale:
What have you bought from Etsy lately?

Pick and Mix Felt Squares

Thanks to a burst of autumnal sunshine (for snapping some photos) a bit of photo editing and some website updating you can now buy individual pick and mix felt squares from my website.
Each square costs 55p and you can - as the name suggests - pick and mix your colours to suit whatever project you've got planned. I will obviously do my best to keep the colours well stocked, but if you want to order a large amount of certain colours please do get in touch before you order to avoid any disappointment.