Birthday Post

Birthday shopping is great, especially on the internet cos then you get post as well! Lots of fun. It's still not yet my birthday but my post yesterday was particularly awesome cos I got all of these wonderful things!
A gorgeous shopping tote from LAMdesigns (perfect for my tea and crockery obsessions!), "Fluke the Mutant Cardinal" postcards from BirdNerd and an awesome special birthday suprise from Jane aka Memake:
How lovely is that? Don't know yet what I will sew it to, but I am sooo pleased with it, it is so nice and it was made just for me! I feel so special :D

In the meantime I got crazy gifts from the boyfriend (who will be in Wales on my actual birthday), and presents from my family when they visited yesterday - my dad bought me a fancy printer! We've been stuck with a doddering old black&white effort so I am delighted to get my hands on an all-singing all-dancing PSC machine.

Typically, I was just as pleased with the paper things came wrapped in as the gifts themselves (I am such a paper addict) - the three on the left are from IKEA, apparently, and the fourth is from wherever my friend Pip buys his wrapping paper :) The pattern on the blue is silver (the picture doesn't show it too clearly), just gorgeous.
Other than opening presents and generally being quite thoroughly spoilt, I have not been doing very much. I did manage to finish my first set of little felt ornaments...
... and I made a start on my first ever beaded brooch:
I don't know yet how the brooch will look when it is finished, but I'm very pleased with how the beading turned out. I have a few more of the beads left so will try and do something with those (and that lovely minty green felt that matches them so well) in the next day or so. I need to get my secret swap item sorted, too... Ah, the housework it is going to be so neglected! :D

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! :)

Intentions and Internet Searches

Brr. It is ridiculously cold here. It's Bank Holiday Monday so naturally is is freezing cold and absolutely tipping it down...

If it stays cold this week, I shall be curling up under a blanket, drinking lots of cups of tea and attending to my sewing. I have lots of brooches and mobiles floating around in my brain that I want to get made, and I also have yet to make anything for this month's flower-themed UK Etsy Challenge. The deadline is 1pm on Thursday so only three days away, so I don't rate my chances at having anything finished! There are already loads of great entries, it is going to be so difficult to select a favourite to vote for :)

Oh, and I have found out who I am making an item for in the UK Etsy team's secret swap. I've been given a few clues as to what they might like, and I do have a couple of ideas, but as the item has to be in the post no later than 10th June I had better get cracking. I must admit to having a small bit of performance anxiety though, not least cos the person I am making stuff for makes THE most impressive things.

In all this rain I have been sitting on the computer idling my time away and I discovered yesterday that my entry for a previous challenge, the pants challenge, has been used over on Gizmodo Japan to illustrate anti-fart pants!
The lovely Anna translated the article for me: "If you've let off a smelly one these will make it like it never happened. Gas-medic pants which absorb 99% of the smell of your fart have arrived. The secret is the scientific film with enough layers to cover 10 football fields which instantly absorbs the smell of the fart. It is perfect for normal farts but also great for those who suffer from stomach problems. All we need now is something that stops the noise of the farts then it would be perfect." Ha ha ha.

Searching for my stuff, I also found that my colourful mobile has been featured on the awesome Softies Central blog. That blog is just so inspiring and generally amazing, I am sooo pleased to see my stuff on there!

Felt!

Back from Hobbycraft with my felt SCORE. Went via the market, too. Basically I now own ALL the felt. In the world. Ever. Oh, and also two reels of lovely thread, and a small embroidery hoop :)
Hurrah for half price offers, I say. Oh, and buy-one-get one free on the patterned stuff, too. Again I say hurrah.Patterned felt is totally fascinating stuff. The camo pattern came in handy before when I made a custom army bear for a friend, & I've just started making something with the blue polka-dots as part of my current blue & green sewing madness. These three are all destined to be brooches: