Follow Me on Instagram (Yay!)

So, I have finally joined the modern world and got myself a smartphone. My previous mobile was a Nokia 3310 so this is a bit of a step-up for me technology-wise!

Learning how to use all this new tech is slightly breaking my brain and is making me feel really rather old, but I'm getting there slowly.

I was very pleased to discover that the phone case I made for Mollie Makes is a perfect fit.

Now that I've got a smartphone, I can finally start using Instagram - hurrah!

This is not the only reason I switched to a smartphone, of course, but (I'm not gonna lie) it was one of the reasons! I really miss the good old days of Flickr when it was a busy, buzzing place filled with creative people sharing interesting images... and Instagram seems like it has that same vibe, and seems to be where my crafty friends are all hanging out these days.

Basically, I've been feeling a bit left out of the fun happening over there and I'm delighted to be able to join in :)

I'm posting on Instagram as @lauralupinhoward - follow me for the usual mix of colour and craftiness.

P.S. I'll still be blogging, of course, and I'll make sure to do round-ups from time to time of my Instagram snaps so you won't miss out if Instagram isn't your cup of tea.

A New Flickr Group

Have you made something from one of my crafty tutorials?

I always love seeing photos of what people make using my tutorials, so I thought I'd set up a Flickr group as a place for everyone to show off what they've been making!


You can visit my Flickr group here - you can share your own photos if you're a Flickr member, just join the group and then add your photos of the things you've made from my tutorials to the group pool.

There's also a discussion section, so if you've got any questions about the projects (e.g. where to source materials, etc) you can start a discussion topic about it. I'll be adding links to new tutorials here too, so you won't miss any projects. Hurrah!

Front Page Goodness

I got a lovely message on Etsy this morning from PamGlew letting me know that one of my poppy hairbands had made it onto the Etsy front page - she even took a screenshot for me:
Thanks Pam! I did actually manage to catch that one in all its autumnal glory, but normally I miss my front page moments so it's always nice when people take the time to give me a heads up. Luckily these days there's always the excellent Etsy Front Pagers flickr pool to check if your views go up unexpectedly.

The Front Pagers group is the brainchild of an anonymous Etsy member who uploads dozens of front page screenshots a day to make a unique archive. It's great to check if you miss your own item on the front page but it's also a fantastic resource for seeing the variety of items that show up on the Etsy front page and the sorts of themes and colours that make a successful treasury (if you fancy trying your hand at making one yourself). For example, at the moment autumnal themes, Halloween, leaves and orangey tones are making a strong showing along with lots of selections in soft and muted tones. Additionally it's a great at a glance guide to the quality of photography & types of images that are most popular - great inspiration if you're working on improving your images, which we all need to do from time to time!

UPDATE: My poppy design is now available as a sewing pattern! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns

Inspirational Crafter: Lisa of Lilfishstudios

One of my very favourite Flickr contacts is Lisa of Lilfishstudios - I click on her new photos almost every time they show up in "recent photos from your contacts" and am impressed without fail every single time I do.

I got to know her work through my Crafting 365 group (she's on Day 191) and can always spot her images with their mix of felt she's made herself from old wool sweaters in warm rustic colours...
... leaves & wooden bowls as the perfect props...
... and more vintage buttons than I've ever seen:
If I ever decide to get married, one of her button bouquets (with mini bouquets for bridesmaids and matching buttonholes for the gents) would be at the very top of my wedding must haves list:Her work is always charming, always exquisitely detailed and always perfectly finished. Everything about these apples is delicious, but the the cream detailing in the middle makes them just amazing:
Her work in progress shots are fantastic, a gradual reveal of the final item as she crafts a little bit each day, and everything from work in progress to finished, packaged piece is always beautifully and evocatively photographed.

As if this all wasn't great enough her packaging is inspirational in its own right: it always suits her aesthetic, it always seems handmade with love and a great deal of care, and it adds that extra special cherry-on-the-top of awesomeness that makes me so glad I discovered her work.

Leaning Towers of Felt (C365, day 327)

Last night I pottered about doing a few bits and pieces and then curled up on the sofa to cut up some felt squares:
It's always a bad sign when my craft work ends up covering the sofa simply because there's no room for it on the coffee table - lots of tidying up to do this weekend I think :)

In other news: I can't believe it's August already! Where have all those months gone? I'm thinking a lot at the moment about what I've made and acheived in the past year, as August last year was when I decided to start my 365 project (15th August to be exact) and started to really get stuck into this crafting lark. 18 months ago I was ill and unemployed and a bit depressed about it all and now I make stuff every day and I'm starting to feel really genuinely proud of my craftwork and I'm getting all misty eyed and nostalgic about my first year of "serious" crafting. So much felty goodness! So many photos! So much wittering on about the likes of Etsy and Flickr! And so many cups of tea! Never underestimate the power of a nice cup of tea...

Packing Up

Yesterday and today I have been working on a list of crafty projects (and the necessary supplies for said projects) to take away with me on holiday this week. My actual packing (clothes, useful equipment etc) will be done at the last minute - I figure I can always wear clashing clothes for a day or two with no bad consequences, or buy a tube of toothpaste when I get there, but not having remembered that certain shade of felt I need? Disaster! :)

I'm just going to visit my folks, leaving the boyfriend in charge of watering the plants (poor plants!) ... and there will be plenty of relaxing time to sew (not least because they have a television, and the wonder of digital channels, so I will probably be glued to the box for the first 24 hours and need something to keep my hands busy!). Last time I went away I got stuck with no internet at the same time, so I was seriously productive, making lots of batches of brooches - see them here and here. This time I'm concentrating on bigger projects that have been stuck in my WIP box for ages because I'm forever being distracted by other things. Like taking a serious novel on your hols, I'm hoping the absence of lighter crafting will force me to get stuck in and get them finished.

In other news: I have been doing a most egotistical bit of google-searching this week, tracking down mentions of my blog, shop and flickr in preparation for a shout out to various lovely people who've given my work a mention over the past couple of months. The most recent of these is Craftershock, who featured my work today & gave my Crafting 365 group a mention (though I don't think they guessed that it's actually my group! hehe). Looking back, I remember starting my own project in frustration at having done nothing crafty for a whole month and then tentatively setting up the group on Flickr in the hope that one or two people might join in... I googled "crafting 365" to check if it was being used already somewhere and hardly anything came up. Today google gave me 21,300 results (okay so it's only about 200 when google removes the "similar results" but still...), and our group has 653 members. So much crafting!

365 / 214 - Taking over the Lounge

I continue to be completely absorbed by abstract shapes and the pleasures of pure colour, and yesterday completed a green textile art piece:
So many different shades of green, yum yum. It still needs trimming and backing neatly, but the creative part is finished... I've also cut out the pieces for blue and pink/purple versions - you can just see them on the table in this photo:
This is what happens when I get absorbed in my work, you see... I neglect to tidy up and the felt starts to take over our living room! I'm trying to get all the pieces I've cut out neatly pinned (or even stitched) together so I can pack them all up and take them out one project at a time and be a bit more tidy... but I don't know that this will actually happen. Most likely, tidying these things away will just make room for some more mess. Oh well.

Today I have been blessed with another of my pictures showing up in Explore...
... and also with just enough sunshine to take a few pictures of the mobile I finished last week:
It's designed to be used as a mobile, but because the reverse is plain it's perfect for use as a wall-hanging. I may have to re-take the photos soon, as they're still a little dark, but for the moment they will suffice.

365 / 213 - A spring in my step

After the deliciousness of being featured on Craft yesterday, my most recent Crafting 365 pic showed up in Flickr's Explore today! So very very exciting... it's been viewed1,823 times since I uploaded it yesterday! Craziness.
"One of my Crafting 365 pictures is in Explore on Flickr" is unfortunately one of those sentences it's impossible to say to my friends and neighbours without them getting very confused indeed (your what is where in the what now?), so I think they're attributing my good mood to the arrival of spring, haha. It has been pleasingly spring-like here, as it happens. My spring bulbs are looking rather lovely (though I forgot to take pictures of the crocuses before they went over) ...... I love how zing-y the colours are. So fresh and, er, springlike! Lots of colour in the crafting, too, as I've started work on a new series of textile art pieces:
I ran out of black thread, so it's not finished yet but you get the idea. More soon!

365 / 203 & 204 - Getting Better, plus: Buttons Galore!

Thanks to much rest, and many a cup of soothing tea I am starting to feel better. It is most marvellous. While I've been feeling under the weather, my crafty pace slowed rather a lot... all I've managed to get done is sewing the backs onto the teacup brooches:
(Two one day, the rest the next) It's not much, but it's great to see them all finished. As I started the teacups when I needed a "poorly" project, it just goes to show what you can get done even when you're not up to doing much and how a little bit of daily crafting can go a long way! I still haven't decided which brooch to keep for myself, but I've narrowed it down to these two:
While I've been taking time off from chores and work and tiring things like that, I've been enjoying lots of cups of tea whilst reading round a few lovely blogs and catching up on my Flickr contacts' latest photos. The theme this week in the crafty universe seems to be buttons, as they seemed to pop up everywhere I looked! RaspberryFairy blogged about lovely buttons, as did TheBlackApple ... Ladyfort enjoyed some "button therapy" with these lovely glass buttons...
... Memake washed some buttons ...
... Seaurchin made some buttons... and LilfishStudios was working on a gorgeous vintage button bouquet...... such a charming idea for a wedding bouquet, and the thought of that big bowl of buttons makes my brain almost explode with buttony delight! Yum yum.

365 / 185 - Odds and Ends and more Flickr Love

Day 185 was a day for odd chores and finishing little bits and pieces of crafty projects. I re-worked the packaging for my remaining music notecards & envelopes (minus my branding) ready to be stocked in a local shop. I rescued some pincushion pieces from the depths of my "in progress" box and started turning them into actual pincushions (almost a year after the pieces were cut out, tsk tsk). And then whilst tidying a few things I found a stack of old, outdated calling cards that I'd been keeping to re-use them as little cards to send out with orders and instead of putting them away to be used another day I dug out some paper scraps and some glue and got stuck in:
The blue and white polka dot ones turned out particularly well, I think. I love those little dots - they're the insides of envelopes, my very favourite envelope pattern (my second favourite is when they make a pattern out of little envelope shapes).

Then late in the night I wrote rather a rambling blog post! As promised though, some reasons why Flickr is "awesome"...

It connects lonely felt-obsessed little me with so many other like-minded crafters, like the fantastically talented lilfishstudios whose attention to detail is seriously impressive - check out her great packaging idea for her recycled felt bird pins:It helps me stumble upon the work of awesome (there I go again) artists like well.ill.be.darned who has managed to bring a delicious sweet charm to a church refreshments list:
It is an almost endless collection of pretty, pretty things, like the ultimate glossy magazine full of pictures of whatever I'm obsessing about at the moment (currently retro-inspired modern interiors and retro crockery collections). One of my latest Flickr faves comes from H is for Home, a colourful 1950s biscuit tin design: That image is retro (always good), it's colourful (always great), it used to hold biscuits (always yummy) and it's covered in birds (always my favourite). What more could you want? Actually, for the retro-loving bird-obsessive H is for Home has plenty more - check out this blog post!

Above all though Flickr has made me see the sheer fun you can have with photos, and no-one in my contacts seems to have more fun with theirs than Kezzaroo whose "fancy dress Friday" pictures always make me smile. Her Wizard of Oz picture is one of my favourites: You should check out all her pictures though, so much fun! Make sure you don't miss the great manipulation Miss Bunny did of the Kez-as-Dorothy and the Seven Deadly Sins series Kez and Bunny did late last year. Awesome.

365 / 183 - French Fancies and Finishing Things

I am determined at the moment to do two things. Firstly I need to properly restock my designs (many sold out in November and have not been made since! dreadful!) instead of getting distracted by shiny new stuff all the time. Secondly, I need to actually finish the things in my big box of half-finished projects. The shoes embroidery was rescued from this box a couple of weeks ago and now it is the turn of some fake fondant pincushions...
As you can see, three yellow ones (the yellow ones are the yummiest) finished and some pink ones in-progress instead of just in pieces as they have been for many months. Someone bought me a box of the real ones last week and I thought "oh, I must finish those pincushions! then I can use these as props in the photos" (I'm loving props at the moment). Of course the cakes didn't last the week, but at least I've now finished some pincushions. I think it's best to wait until the pink ones are finished and ready to photograph before buying another box of cakes, as I will seriously be unable to resist eating half the box and those things are not cheap!

Oh, and last night I also finished the jammie dodgers from the night before (still no photos yet) and the little batch of foxes which sat without faces for a few days. Lots of sewing, most wonderful. I've also been doing a few sweet-tooth-pleasing sketches for new designs, but must resist trying them out for as long as I can or all these projects will get abandoned again... Want a hint? Well, check out the awesome wedding cake I stumbled upon whilst doing research on Flickr:

365 / 177 - Being Disorganised

Today I was too disorganised to remember to take my 365 photo, and now there is no light. Checking my camera, I realised that I wouldn't have been able to take photos anyway as I forgot to put the batteries on to charge yesterday. Oops. A double helping of pictures and crafty musings tomorrow, hopefully!

In the meantime, a small "yay!" as I noticed that 2,500 people have my shop marked as a favourite on Etsy...
... a medium-sized "wow!" because my Flickr photos have been viewed over 40,000 times (though most of those were probably my mum ...
... and a big "hurrah" for the nice mention my teacups got on the Craft blog yesterday (hello to anyone following the link from over there!). My sitemeter has been quite overwhelmed today thanks to that one, lots of visitors :)

365 / 145 - more moustaches & another featured crafter: Paperbluebird

Last night I finally finished the batch of moustache disguises and pins I've been working on. Rather slow progress as I was doing my sewing whilst watching many episodes of Doctor Who (the most recent series, staring David Tennant), and what began as "a bit of filler in the background" soon became totally absorbing. I'm not quite an addict yet but I'm sure I will be soon...

Today I couldn't take a photo of said moustaches as the weather has been completely filthy the entire day (and now it is both dark and still filthy). I decided to hole myself up indoors where it is warm and dry and get some work done, but all of this rain and lashing wind has made me rather restless. So instead of sewing or filing or whatever, I have cleaned, tidied, ironed, and laundered. I've also started putting my "art collection" (in no way as impressive as that phrase suggests!) in frames ready to work out where to hang everything. Only cheap clip frames but it's great seeing beloved pictures finally behind glass and ready to go on the wall - though the boyfriend would disagree! (he thinks my taste in art is "mental", ah well).

One of the newly-framed pieces is a lovely Zinnia card by paperbluebird, who happens to be today's featured Crafting 365-er... Paperbluebird makes deliciously-sweet embellished bird ornaments (mentioned on this here blog many months ago), and striking modern paper goods many of which are gocco-printed from papercuts like this one:
It has been great seeing her crafting 365 photos, etsy-related and other projects like this crochet blanket, and I especially love seeing work-in-progress shots of the birds which I have admired for so long...
Her thoughts on the Crafting 365 project? "I check in on the new pics posted to the site 3 or 4 times a week - I've loved the project because it has made me realize that crafting doesn't have to take all day, and I don't have to wait until a project is finished to post pictures. I love seeing the pics of people working and creating in their homes, and I've really enjoyed the supportive nature of the group. Flickr groups in general are great, but I really like the sense of accountability in this one (even if I sometimes skip a week and pick up where I left off... I do come back!) and the way that I've gotten to know certain people's work and style. It's really inspiring - I'm so glad you asked me to be a part of it!"

Crafting 365 - day nineteen - cutting out a lot of felt

As the title of this post suggests, I have been cutting out a lot of felt. I am taking a break from my scissors for a while to come and post this and then I shall probably return to snip snip snip my way into felt-based lunacy.

Here you can see what I am talking about:
In the box (if you look REALLY closely) you can espy some moustaches I finished late last night (and a couple more just in front of it, waiting to decorate moustache cards). Then there are lots of butterflies (to be brooches and also ornaments) and lots of circles destined to be biscuit badges, ornaments and cards. I shall be sewing lots of biscuits this evening and also some pants badges as I have a custom order that needs doing. So much sewing! Perfect occupation for me this evening as I've got a Sherlock Holmes dvd that I fancy curling up in front of...

Oh, and I have set up a group on Flickr called Crafting 365 to encourage people to join in with this project of mine. A bit of crafting a day does you the power of good, I promise you. I was so miserable last month when I managed to make nothing at all and now I have lots of lovely projects on the go and I am very very pleased. Whether I will stick it out for the full 365 is another matter! Please do join in the fun :)

While I Am Sewing...

... and thus failing to update my blog, here are some half-inched pictures to look at. I keep looking at them over and over and I thought you might like to look at them too. They are images of the "deathcycle" from EtsyLabs, from their "Handmade Life-cycle vs. Mass-produced Deathcycle Quilt"... and they are (quite frankly) awesome.

Swapping Swapping Swapping

So over at the swap group we have been swapping quite a lot of supplies.

So far we have swapped: 1 mystery beaded thing, some vintage bits, 1 pile of felt, 1 pendant, 1 set of brushes, 21 sets of beads (crystal, plastic, wood, glass, all sorts of things!), 1 devil duck, 1 piece of driftwood, 2 packs of sculpey, 2 reels of wire, 3 tubes of glitter glue, 30 chandelier crystals, three balls of wool, 1 length of bead elastic, 1 necklace, some fibres, 4 card blanks, 3 packs of card and paper bits, 2 packs of children's playing cards, 4 sets of buttons, 3 zips, 24 pieces of fabric, 3 bundles of stickers, 1 heart toggle, 1 pack of seashells, 1 set of wavy straws, some velcro, some eyelets, a pack of click fasteners, some cord, 2 agate slices, some fake flowers, 3 wooden cotton reels, 2 bundles of chains, some pegs, a bundle of mohair plaits, some sea glass, a crochet magazine, an old brooch, some luggage tags, a pack of magnetic paper, some keyring bits, 1 design CD, an assortment of embroidery threads, a badge, two pieces of ribbon, three packs of sequins, some silk tops, a pack of snap fasteners, 3 bundles of assorted jewellery findings, two pieces of pompom trim, some bias binding, 1 piece of beaded fringe, gold leaf, a book about bead weaving, several papier mache boxes, 2 glass rings, 1 embroidery transfer, some rolags, a pack of funky foam, a belt buckle, some handmade ceramic cabs, some metal powders, two sets of rubber stamps, 1 set of paints, a guillotine, 1 pair of shoes, a pack of oil pastels, some raffia, some silk paint, some feathers... and a piece of driftwood!

Just a few things, then! :)

Thankyou Cards

Glued though I was to the delights of Germany's Next Top Model, I did somehow manage to tear myself away long enough to get some little thankyou-cards made. During my spring-cleaning this year I stumbled across a leftover bundle of mini cards I made one Christmas to send in letters, attach to presents etc.
These have been just perfect for scribbling little "thankyou for your order!"-type notes to include with my parcels, especially the airmail ones where weight is soooo important.

So when I saw BlueMarmalade offering these great outline stickers up for swapping on the UK swap group I immediately asked if I could have them, as I thought they would be just perfect for making some more mini cards.
And this is the result: eight little folded cards...
... and 30 little flat note cards (business-card size)...
All with such lovely golden stickers, they look so great against the white, and they're so detailed they work so well on their own:Not the best photos in the world as it's so overcast here today but otherwise: Super! Sexy! Toll! (a bit of GNTM sneaking in there, sorry).

Very Exciting Things

Yesterday was rather exciting. The boyf got a new job... AND the first completed item got posted to the swap group on Flickr.

I have already blogged about my hopes that eventually people might make stuff with their swapped-for supplies and post pictures of the results to the group for all to see. This was very much an "eventually" - thrilling as the idea might be, I wasn't going to hold my breath! But when the lovely Sakura received my beads through the post she was immediately inspired and these neglected beads...
... became this gorgeous "Camelot" choker:
How beautiful is that, huh? So, so, so wonderful to see something created because of the swap group, and especially exciting cos they were my neglected beads. I had salvaged them from a bracelet left over from our Free Stuff Party a couple of months ago, and thought they looked lush but had just no clue what I might ever use them for and was a bit resigned to them rather going to waste. But instead there exists this lush new bit of jewellery. Hurrah!

As I'm sure you can imagine, I was grinning like a crazy person when I saw the pictures. Sakura seemed pretty chuffed, too, as apparently I have restored her crafting mojo! She's blogged about it here, go check it out.

Meanwhile, the swapping continues. I've spent some of my swap points on stickers from bluemarmalade and some little zips from snowberrylime, and am itching to get making some mobiles to feature these gorgeous chandelier crystals sent from greygoat (they were wrapped in the lovely ribbon pictured, it will be perfect for tying round a bundle of my map notecards, so I am totally counting it as a bit of swapped supplies) :
Look how shiny they are! Right, off to make thankyou cards for hardworking Lib Dem leaflet deliverers now...