Craft-Themed Jigsaw Puzzles for Sewing, Knitting, Quilting, and Crafting Fans!

I have totally fallen in love with jigsaw puzzles and was delighted to discover recently that you can buy crafting-themed jigsaws. They're so colourful and cosy, I adore them.

Obviously, when I set up my new Amazon Influencer page (a little "storefront" where I can curate lists of things I love and where if you end up buying something I earn a small amount of commission for the referral) a list of craft-themed puzzles was one of the first things I had to put together!

(In the US? Click here to view my page on Amazon.com)

There are puzzles decorated with art and craft supplies...

 

... sometimes with the addition of cats!

Puzzles featuring quilts and quilters...

 

 ... granny squares...

... and haberdashery shops.

There are also puzzles depicting dream creative workspaces, including a lots of cosy craft-filled sheds!

 

I want to move into that last picture immediately.  

Click here to view the whole list of puzzles on Amazon.co.uk, or click here to view a similar list I've put together on Amazon.com. (All the Amazon links in this post are affiliate links).

Shopping Guide: 10 Gorgeous Christmas Cards

I love Christmas and I love nice stationery and I adore sending proper old fashioned bits of snail mail... so it's probably no surprise that I love sending Christmas cards each year! I couldn't resist putting together a round-up of some of the festive and fabulous designs I've spotted recently.

Maybe you don't send many cards but have a few people in your address book you want to send a special note to? Perhaps you've bought a gift voucher and want a nice card to "wrap" it? Or maybe you're like me and have a long list of cards to write?

Whatever your Christmas card plans, I hope you'll find something to love in this list...

1. Christmas Jumpers card by Hanna Melin. Love or loathe the novelty Christmas jumper trend, they make for a very cute card. I would probably wear most of the jumper designs on this one!

 

2. Pack of 5 Christmas Tree cards by Bo Lundberg, available at Hus & Hem who stock the most gorgeous selection of Scandinavian Design.

3. Christmas Furry card by Blank Inside Design. You can also buy gift wrap to match this card, which is even more adorable and perfect for wrapping gifts for all the cat ladies in your life.

4.  Pack of 10 Holiday Foliage cards by Quill & Fox. Sadly the weak pound has put cards from US-based companies out of my budget this year (boo) but these are so very lovely I had to include them in the list anyway. Come on, pound, get your act together so I can start buying things priced in dollars again!

5. Penguin Dress-Up Paper Doll card by Clara & Macy. I would have been thrilled to receive a card like this when I was little. Paper dolls = so much fun. 

6. Pack of 8 Black Cat cards from the British Library. These cards are so delightfully spooky, I love them - though it was hard to choose just one design from the British Library's range of vintage cards.

7. Christmas Baubles card by Telegramme Paper Co. I bought a set of cards from Telegramme at The Renegade Craft Fair a couple of years ago and had a hard time parting with them! They sell gorgeous matching gift wrap, too.

8. Pack of 10 Huntley & Palmers Christmas Cakes cards, from the V&A. Growing up in Reading, I have a special place in my heart for local firm Huntley & Palmers. Luckily you don't need to be from Berkshire to enjoy a card decorated with festive cakes.

9. Merry Christmouse card by Stormy Knight, available from Soma Gallery in Bristol. I do love a Christmas pun, and that little mouse is such a cutie!

10.  Finally, a set of 6 woodland-themed cards by Stephanie Cole (3 deer cards and 3 fox cards in each pack). I bought some of these to send to friends last year and wished I'd bought more because they're so gorgeous - especially that deer, oh my goodness.

Which is your favourite? Do you prefer your Christmas cards classic or quirky or cute? Are you buying cards to send this year... or maybe you're going the DIY route? Let me know in the comments!

Tempting Temptations

As I've mentioned a couple of times, I'm trying to focus on destashing this year. Using up the crafty supplies I already have, clearing out the ones I no longer need and resisting the urge to buy shiny new crafty things unless I need them for a specific project... decluttering my space and saving money in the process.

But aaaargh, I am being so tempted by some lovely fabric you guys!

Specifically, this gorgeous bird print (from "Flock" by Michael Miller)...

 

... and this loveliness from Eloise Renouf's "Shape of Spring" collection. 

(Images from M is for Make) Nice, huh?

There are lots of reasons why I shouldn't buy this fabric. I have a big stash of un-used fabric already, I don't have any particular project in mind for these new prints so they'll probably sit un-used in my stash as well, I've already gone waaaay over my January budget by buying this dress and booking a spring holiday (oops!), I'd rather spend any spare cash I have on Nice Days Out, etc etc etc. But most of all having resolved to curb my crafty spending in 2015 I want to stick with it and not fail at the very first hurdle!

So, I am writing this blog post to help me resist this fabric's siren song. One of the great things about blogging about a long-term project (be it a crafty make or a personal challenge) is that it helps you stick with it. I do not want to be writing a confessional blog post in a few days or weeks time admitting to you all that I had no willpower! I will not buy this fabric. I will not buy this fabric. I will not buy this fabric.

Fingers crossed...

Lovely Things

I got a few lovely things for Christmas this year which I have totally failed to blog about... better late than never, right??

My mum bought me a set of "If you're waiting for a sign..." cards from Mr Yen. I am determined to send more cards to friends this year, so these will come in handy. I may have to keep one for myself though as they're rather wonderful.

... and she also got me this Woodpeckers print from Dee Beale, whose work regular readers will know that I just cannot resist!

I also treated myself to a couple of nice things as a sort of "Christmas bonus" for being such a hard-working employee (there are definite perks to being your own boss sometimes, haha!).

A silver coin charm necklace from Mrs Gibson, which I wore throughout the holiday season because a) I am in love with it and b) it is the perfect length for wearing with all my nice frocks.

And a bag from Showpony. I bought a shopper and a purse from Showpony five years ago and have used them regularly ever since, and I'm sure I'll be saying the same about this bag in five years time. It is quite gorgeous.

Of course I bought lots of gifts for other people too... mostly books and DVDs and things like that, but I also got a Charley Harper jigsaw puzzle from Hus & Hem for my mum. I bought her another jigsaw from the same range last year and frankly both of these purchases have been because I secretly want them myself even though I've not done a jigsaw in years.

And - as a late Christmas gift - I bought my mama a Layla Amber fox brooch. This brooch was actually on my Christmas gift this year but my mum fell in love with it when she saw it so I bought it for her instead. It goes very nicely with the hedgehog brooch she "stole" from me last year :)

Happy Corners

Oh lovely homes on design blogs and in magazines, how stylish and perfect you are! And how depressing it is to compare you to my own humble little flat! (does anyone else feel like this when reading design blogs?)

However, I am determined to stop wishing my flat was design-blog-perfect (which, let's face it, it never will be) but instead to celebrate all the small things in it which make me happy. Here are a few corners making me smile at the moment...

Pictures on the walls next to where I work at the kitchen table:


Working in the kitchen is not very glamorous (piles of washing up = not inspiring!) but these pictures always make me happy.


(Let's not mention all the other prints I've had for years and still not got round to framing and/or deciding where to display them. Shhh...)

Much beloved bedroom drawers:


I fell in love with the chest of drawers on the right after seeing it in a charity shop near my old flat in Bristol (despite at the time living in a fully furnished flat with no room for extra furniture!). It fits perfectly under our very slopey ceilings, magically matches the giant wardrobe that was here when we moved in, and we managed to find the drawers on the left in a Gloucester charity shop on our first furniture shopping trip. Hurrah!

Atomic coat hooks:
Love these. They're usually hidden under more coats than that though!

A vintage corner:

I blogged about this corner last year when I "temporarily" hung up these curtains... naturally, they're still there. I thought the boyfriend would hate them but he (amazingly) said he quite liked them and they're so gorgeous I don't want to take them down just yet :)

Bunting on the spare bed:


I made the felt bunting for a tutorial and it ended up (totally by accident) being the perfect size to hang on the end of the spare bed. The rest of the spare room is usually a big mess, but the bed + bright blankets + bunting = lovely.

And one more - beloved vintage suitcases:


I love storing things in vintage suitcases, they're so much more fun than boring boxes.

The bright teal suitcase was a bargain charity shop find, and is currently full of fabric. The brown suitcase belonged to my grandmother and is full of things that need mending... it also doubles as a doorstop!


Now, I just need to remember how happy these corners make me and try not to worry about too much all the bits inbetween ... and all the housework which hasn't been done because I was too busy sewing ;)

P.S. apologies to anyone who got this post twice in their blog reader. Technology & I are having issues today!

Stylish Storage

One awesome Christmas tin designed by Sanna Annukka, minus lots of yummy cookies (they were delicious!), equals a new storage box for my embroidery supplies:

Super Biscuits

We're finishing up our Christmas shopping at the moment, tracking down the last few things for those hard-to-buy-for people...

A trip to our local deli helped tick a few people off the list, and as they're people who don't use the internet (and probably wouldn't read my blog even if they did) I can share some pics of some of the lovely biccies we've bought as gifts.

The Owl & the Pussycat biscuits!


And George & the Dragon biscuits! In a moneybox tin!


The biscuits are even shaped to match the illustrations - how cute?!


It will take a lot of willpower not to keep these for myself! If you want a pack of your own, the whole range is available HERE.

Lovely Birdies

Check out these adorable birdies by illustrator Lisa Rupp:


She's sweetly offering them as a free download, so you can print them out and use them as ornaments or gift tags. Click here to visit her blog and download the printables (image by Lisa Rupp; via Creature Comforts).

Vintage Threads

Small treasures:


I love vintage haberdashery, especially anything involving retro typography, so when I was having a tidy up I couldn't resist lining these up and taking a photo to celebrate their loveliness.

Most of these have gorgeous wooden spools, my favourite is the small spool of "service khaki", which is only an inch high.

A Giant Custard Cream

Look what I got...


... the biggest custard cream I've ever seen!

It's actually a biscuit tin (full of custard creams, of course), from Marks & Spencer. I saw it a while ago and didn't buy it and totally regretted it, so when I saw them back in stock this afternoon I couldn't resist.


When we've worked our way through all those custard creams I'll be putting the tin to good use storing my sewing supplies or felty works in progress.

Pattern Love

The weather has been really wet and miserable today so I thought a nice bit of happy colour was called for here on the blog to brighten things up a bit :)


This bag has been cheering up my outfits all summer (I bought it in Bristol when I was a student, many moons ago).


That pattern! Those colours! Plus it's lined in pink velvet! Just awesome.

Vintage Trays

One of my lovely blog readers asked for a closer look at the tray buried under lots of felt in yesterday's post... and I'm happy to oblige :) I use these two trays a lot when I'm sewing, along with a much less stylish assortment of upturned box lids. They're small, portable workspaces that I can easily tidy away in time for dinner or sit next to me on the sofa in the evenings, and they're totally invaluable when it comes to cutting out lots of tiny pieces of felt.

New prints for my walls

I've discovered so many amazing artists since first joining Etsy that my favourites list is always full of prints on my wishlist and my house is starting to overflow with awesome art.

The newest additions to my collection arrived in the post today - lovely prints by Dee Beale.

I've been umming and aahing about which print to buy from her shop for ages... and eventually I decided that I just couldn't choose so I treated myself to three to celebrate my recent Etsy milestone.

Sleeping Foxes...
... Snowy Owls...
... and Nordic Blue Hares:
(All photos borrowed from Dee's shop as I've not had a chance to properly unpack my prints yet).

I still can't decide which is my favourite, they're all just so lovely!