The Christmas Magazine 2018

This year's issue of The Christmas Magazine is out now, and it includes five crafty projects by me!

One of them even made the cover - yay!

Sadly it's hidden behind the cover gift when the magazine is sitting on the shelf, but it's still very fun to spot copies of this in my local supermarkets and newsagents.

The mag is apparently the UK's biggest selling Christmas magazine. It includes loads of ideas for the festive season: from fashion to family activities to recipes... and, of course, crafting.

You can make my felt Christmas stocking...

... stitch my angel embroidery...

... sew some of my felt snow globe ornaments...

... and make my felt penguins and retro Christmas cards.

Look! It's baby me, attempting to eat wrapping paper, in a magazine! How weird is that?!

Can't find The Christmas Magazine in your local supermarket? You can buy a copy online, here.

Me and My Book in Prima Makes Magazine (Yay!)

The latest issue of Prima Makes magazine is jam-packed with excellent crafty stuff...

... including (can you spot it on the contents page?)...

... the pear needlebook tutorial from my book, Super-Cute Felt!

It might sound weird given that all the projects from my book have (obviously) already been published in the book itself but it is always deeply thrilling seeing my projects "in print" in magazines like this. 

It's especially awesome because (in my slightly biased opinion) the team at CICO Books did such a great job on the photo styling for Super-Cute Felt, all the pics from it look soooo good (okay, yeah, so I'm extremely biased, but shhhh) they make me extra proud to see my designs in print.

The lovely people at Prima Makes have also included the snazzy new edition of Super-Cute Felt in this issue's craft book round-up...

... and there's a little interview with me, too!

The July 2017 issue of Prima Makes (issue 18) is out now - click here to buy a copy online. The new edition of Super-Cute Felt is available from Amazon or via your favourite local bookshop! You can read more about the book here.

P.S. Click here for the free tutorial for making that cat pincushion, and click here for the free Never Stop Learning embroidery pattern, both featured in my Prima Makes interview.

Please note: the Amazon links in this post are affiliate links.

In Print: Fluffy Pompoms and My Childhood Collections

Two of my projects have ended up in very different places recently...

First, my sky pompom gift-wrapping packs made an appearance in this month's issue of Glamour magazine (December 2016).

There are my pompoms, sitting atop some gorgeous Liberty gift wrap which happens to be my very favourite Liberty print (what a lovely coincidence, huh?).

If you want to add some pompom goodness to your own parcels, I've still got a couple of packs in stock in my Etsy shop - remember to use the discount code HURRAH50 to get 50% off any/all items purchased from my shop until the end of November.

And second - for something completely different - two of my photos have been included in What Can You Collect?, a fab little book from the Superkids Reading Program.

Look! There's my shell collection...

... and there's my eraser collection!

I cannot tell you how delighted I am that photos of my childhood collections are featured in a book for kids about the joys of collecting stuff. My heart, it bursts with happiness.

A Kitsch Festive Stocking for Mollie Makes

I'm delighted to have a project in the current issue of Mollie Makes (issue 72).

Here's a peek at it on the first page...

 

... here's me on page 59 (it never gets less weird seeing your own face staring back at you from a magazine!)...

 

... and here's my stocking project in all it's kitsch, pom-pom-and-tassel-covered glory :)

I love crafting throughout the year, of course, but I think Christmas crafting is my favourite! There are so many nice festive projects in this month's issue of Mollie Makes, it's a joy to have my stocking published alongside them.

The new edition of Mollie Makes Christmas got a little mention, too (with my partridge and pear wreath on the cover, yay!).

Click here to see more of the crafty, creative goodness in issue 72 of Mollie Makes. It's in UK shops now and available online here. The digital edition is available from Zinio, Google Play or Apple Newsstand.

Made in Felt... issue 2!

Remember Made in Felt magazine?

Well, it wasn't exactly a magazine, more like one of those thick, occasionally-published "bookazines" you see popping up all over the place these days.

It was jam packed with felt-themed crafty goodness... and now a second issue has been published! Yay!

I was delighted to discover that this issue includes two projects from my book, Super-Cute Felt Animals. I know it sounds a bit weird when I say things like that but honestly I rarely know about these features until someone spots them and mentions them to me!

You can sew a friendly hedgehog or a pretty budgie / parakeet, with step by step tutorials for both. I stitched myself a brooch version of the budgie and I wear it a lot, pinned to my jacket or cardigan.

 

Obviously if you're my mum (hello mother!) you might rush out and buy this just because my work is featured in it, but for those of you not related to me there's lots to love about this magazine!

It's 130 pages long and full of felt-themed tutorials, crafty ideas and sewing tips. I especially love this monster...

 

... this cuckoo clock (from Makery, a lovely crafty book which I reviewed earlier this year)...

 

... and this fun teapot.

 

There are also some felt-themed shopping guides and some interviews with some talented designer/makers who work with felt, like Louise Evans (of Felt Mistress fame) (how awesome are those felt beetles???)...

... and the always inspiring Gretel Parker, who creates the most wonderful needlefelted sculptures.  

I picked up a copy of Made in Felt in my local WHSMITH but if you can't find a copy near you, it's available to order online.

Back To Work

So, it seems the theme of March is me being ill! Not fun.

My shops have all been closed for a few days this week while I took some time off, but I've now re-opened my main shop (hurrah!), and I'm making a start on slowly catching up with all my emails, etc. My folks are kindly helping me pack and post orders, so don't worry, parcels will be sent out as normal :)

I haven't even managed to do any knitting this week, I've just slept lots and snoozed on the sofa while half-watching and half-listening to lots of DVDs. Luckily I'd just ordered a whole stack of box sets for me & my mum to watch before I got sick, so I've had plenty of stuff to keep me entertained.

I really miss making things, though! It also feels super weird taking so much time off from work (I am such a workaholic, it's the curse of being self-employed, I think?) but happily my boss (who is me) is very sympathetic, haha. 

In other non germ-related news... do you remember me blogging earlier this year about a new craft book that features a couple of projects designed by me? It's called So Pretty! Felt, it's published by Chronicle Books and it's out now. Yay! 

It's available from Amazon USA & Amazon UK and lots of other book stores.

I'll be blogging a bit more about it sometime soon - it's such a nice book, I'm so thrilled to have been a part of it :)

Also, did you see this lovely-looking new magazine, Made in Paper? 

It's out now and the nice people at Mollie Makes have five copies to give away (open to readers in the UK only).

[Just to let you know, the Amazon links in this post are affiliate links]

Busy Days, Quiet Evenings

It's been a busy few days here - so busy in fact that I keep on forgetting to take photos, and "write a blog post" keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the day's to do list. Tsk tsk.

Remember that mega to do list? All the tasks have now been completed, hurrah!

I've still got lots to do (there is always something else that needs doing) but it feels SO GOOD to get all that stuff finished.

I'm still trying to switch off in the evenings - turn off the laptop, stop working, do something simple and crafty to help me relax and properly wind down after a busy day - sometimes successfully and sometimes not!

Over the past few evenings I've been doing a bit of knitting (more simple blanket squares to use up that leftover yarn from my sky blanket) and clearing out some magazines while watching TV shows like Revenge & Nashville & Being Human.

I've been tearing out nice images from a whole bunch of old magazines (like The Simple Things, which is always lovely to look at), and adding them to my "inspiration" scrapbooks... and I've also been making up a "press clippings" book. 

I've collected a stack of magazines over the years in which my work has been featured, and I have FINALLY got around to actually tearing the relevant pages out of the magazines and making a proper book of press clippings. It was quite nice having the actual magazines to flick through (we jokingly refer to the shelf on which they were kept as my "ego shelf") but not especially practical, and I am very glad to have cleared out a bit more space in my studio for fun things like nice craft books. I know this is technically "work" but it's pretty mindless and relaxing, so I think it counts as a "switching off" task?? 

Spring is in the Air!

Well, I'm not 100% sure about that weather-wise but I'm definitely starting to see lots of happy spring-themed things popping up in my blog feed lately.... including the spring issue of UK Handmade magazine which is, as always, full of loveliness.

You can read the magazine online for free HERE or buy a PDF copy HERE.

Wren Embroidery Pattern for &Stitches Zine

Ugh, I have been ill with a horrid cold/flu thing this week so things have been a bit quiet round here... but I'm feeling much better now (hurrah!) and have some nice news to share with you guys...

... I'm the featured designer in the new issue of &Stitches Zine! Yay!

In case you've not heard of it, &Stitches is a quarterly e-zine about embroidery and other hand stitching. I was thrilled to be asked to contribute to their Woodland-themed issue. They've interviewed me about my work....

... and I've designed an embroidery pattern for the zine: a sweet little wren. Regular readers might remember me choosing new threads and doing some research involving bird books at the end of last year... well, this is what I was working on :)

Issue 5 also includes interviews with Abby Glassenberg, Mother Eagle and Trish Burr, plus several woodland themed projects: embroidery patterns, an appliqué pattern, woodland-inspired stitch combinations and an "owl girl" softie.

You can find this issue in the &Stitches shop HERE... and you can get 10% off Issue 5 with the discount code TEALOVER until Feb. 3rd. Hurrah!

UPDATE: My wren embroidery pattern is now available directly from my shop! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns

Oh Look, it's My Book!

When I was shopping for thread the other day I flicked through some of the craft magazines on display, and looking through the October Woman's Weekly "Stitch & Sew Special"...

... I spotted these guys peeking out from the contents page...

... the cat and mouse (and cheese) puppets from my book, Super-Cute Felt! I love these guys.

My publisher's PR department handles all the press for my book, so it's a very nice surprise when I happen to see it featured somewhere :)

Another very nice surprise this week was the news that my book has just been published in German under the title "Lieblingsstücke aus Filz".

I feel like a very fancy author now something I've written has been translated into another language!

The German version is available from Amazon DE or direct from the publishers, HERE (and hopefully from lots of other German bookshops!) 

Handmade Christmas

I picked up a copy of "Handmade Christmas" magazine last week.

It's jam packed with festive decorating ideas and crafty, creative projects for the Christmas season... and two of my designs get a mention (yay!).

My snowy owl ornaments make an appearance in a snow-themed shopping guide ...

... and my vintage felt baubles tutorial gets a mention in a round-up of ideas for decorating with baubles:

It's always lovely to see my work in magazines! If you like the look of Handmade Christmas, I got my copy from WHSmith but it's also available online.