Hello Again!

Hello friends! :)

It has been a very long time since I've blogged (seven months exactly!) but now I am (finally) back.

I had to press pause on blogging (and newsletter-writing, and other not-completely-essential parts of my creative business) early this year to focus on some unexpected family and health issues. 

Things are thankfully much calmer and steadier now, and I CANNOT WAIT to get back to sharing fun crafty stuff with you guys. For the sake of my work/life balance I'm not setting any kind of fixed schedule yet but I'm hoping to have lots of new things to share with you soon.

Meanwhile, here's a quick update:

I've closed my standalone shop and am now only selling via Instagram and Etsy (my old website address now redirects to my Etsy shop, there may be a few broken links but I hope you won't get too lost trying to find things). I might reopen my shop sometime in the future but this more streamlined setup is what's right for me right now. 

I've also made the tricky decision to press pause on posting internationally. You can still buy my printable PDF patterns via Etsy no matter where you are in the world, but I'm afraid I'm only shipping parcels of craft supplies and vintage goodness within the UK for now because customs and tax stuff is just becoming too complicated for my little business. Apologies!

If you're based in the UK, though, please do check out my newly stuffed-to-the-gills Etsy shop. I've been busy sourcing loads of lovely craft supplies and gorgeous vintage bits and pieces, and am now gradually getting them all photographed and listed and on the internet where people can, you know, actually buy them, haha. 

Aaaand I think that's all I can mention for now without SPOILERS.  

I'm off to put the kettle on and get stuck in to some crafty schemes... see you soon! xxx

100 Days of Studio Scenes: Days 11-20

My 100 Day Project to share behind-the-scenes updates from my creative business continues!

Click here to read about days 1-10.

DAY ELEVEN:

"Yesterday I mostly parceled up and posted paper packs! Thank you so much for all your orders, there's just one pack left now (oh my gosh). I am OVERWHELMED and DELIGHTED by how quickly they've sold, and by your enthusiasm for them. I appreciate your support so, so much, I cannot even begin to tell you. Very appropriately, yesterday my big order of postage stamps arrived so I can now send All The Post. Well, I can once I've stopped oohing over the lovely sheets of stamps!!"

DAY TWELVE:

"Here's a peek at one of my current batches of work-in-progress - I find mini trays like this particularly useful for managing my small WIPs! I usually have lots of projects in progress, all in different stages. 

That felt angel is a sample for a tutorial I'd originally hoped to add to my shop back in December - fingers crossed I can finally get it finished sometime soon! The bullfinch pattern has been in progress for even longer, I stitched the embroidery pattern version back in 2018, I think, and am only now finding the time to sew the step by step felt version. Meanwhile, I'm making a start on sewing snowy owls and cardinals. Bit by by bit everything is getting nudged forwards."

DAY THIRTEEN:

"I've started planning some new paper packs! Watch this space."

DAY FOURTEEN::

"My parcel-laden shadow on my socially distanced route to the parcel postbox!

I'm really lucky to live close enough to the beach that I can walk in all this wide open space during my state sanctioned bit of exercise. Any day I have parcels to post (stuff that won't fit in my local postbox) I'm taking the parcels with me on my walk, then looping quickly off the beach up to the parcel postbox before I head back home. It's great being able to combine the two trips and to avoid having to walk through the town centre which has looked quite busy!"

DAY FIFTEEN:

"Yesterday I was tidying up my workspace and thought "ooh, I've finished lots of projects recent, I should plan a sample sale!"... then instead of carefully planning one, I held one straight away in my Stories, haha."

DAY SIXTEEN:

"I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday while ordering some paper and tape for my parcels. I thought I'd ordered totally the wrong thing and I was feeling so tired and stressed and anxious and worried about money and, well, that's not a great combo, is it? 

After I'd calmed down I then sat on hold for ages trying to get the order cancelled (listening to some soft rock and a looping recorded message telling me how wait times were longer than usual due to COVID-19)... but it had already been processed by the time I got through. The customer service rep I spoke to was very nice though and reassured me I could easily return anything I needed to.

Then my order arrived this morning and it turns out I hadn't ordered the wrong thing at all! I feel like an idiot, but an idiot who now has ALL THE PACKAGING SUPPLIES.

I also now have customs labels so I can start sending international post again, too! Hurrah! I'm going to be taking things easy for the next few days (because I clearly need a bit of a rest!!) but I have plans for lots of new stuff coming soon..."

DAY SEVENTEEN:

"My living room floor currently looks like this!* 

I'm putting together some new paper packs, a £5 pack about the same size as the last batch and these much bigger bumper packs which will be £10 each. Both full of crafty papery goodness, of course!

*Out of shot: lots of other piles of paper and related chaos, pictures waiting to be framed, and my current in-progress jigsaw puzzle."

DAY EIGHTEEN:

"Here are a few of my current felt-y works in progress! 

I'm feeling very tired at the moment and struggling to find the focus for sewing, designing new things, or writing anything longer than an Instagram caption. I've mostly been tinkering with my new paper packs (coming next week!) but I've also been making myself do a little bit of sewing each day (or at least every other day), then taking a few step photos when the light is just right. Each small batch of sewing + photos helps nudge a few projects forwards and means that when I'm feeling more able to focus I'll have lots of pics ready to edit and use for new tutorials for my blog, shop, and newsletter."

DAY NINETEEN:

"Yesterday was another restful day, sorting through some awesome book pages for new paper packs and making a start on prepping for my next @lauralupinsells sale. Jigsaws, books, and crafty goodness, coming soooooon!"

DAY TWENTY:

"I took a trip to the magic postbox today! Okay so it's not actually magic but it FEELS like magic. A great big postbox I can put parcels in and thus carry on selling stuff without having to go to the Post Office??? This is AMAZING and WONDERFUL. 

(I took a break from this project for a few days because I was feeling rubbish, if you can't press pause for a bit during a global pandemic when can you? I'm hoping to get back in the daily rhythm of things again now...)

More updates soon, or you can follow along on Instagram HERE.

3 Creative Ideas for Decorating your Parcels

Sending a gift to a friend for their birthday or other special occasion? Why not decorate the parcel to make it extra special!

 

Today I'm sharing three crafty ideas for jazzing up plain parcels: decorating them with pens, paint and colourful scrap paper.

Decorated parcels are super fun to receive but it's important to make sure they reach their destination safely: use lots of clear parcel tape to secure your decorated parcels before popping them in the post. If you're sending your package via a courier service it's best to wrap your decorated parcel in another layer of brown paper or even in a parcel box to keep it safe and protected on its journey.

This post is sponsored by My Parcel Delivery, a courier comparison site that helps you find the best deals for sending your important parcels.

There are a whole range of courier services that deliver in Europe and internationally - two of the most popular are UPS who have lots of designated drop-off points (no waiting in long queues at the Post Office!) and Parcelforce who can collect your parcel from your very own home.

Follow these handy tips to package your parcels correctly!
 

1. Marker Pen Doodles.

Use permanent markers to add a burst of colour to a plain package!

Start by drawing a shape around your handwritten address or printed address label...

... then add more lines to build up a stripey pattern, with one line of each colour.

Keep adding lines until you're happy with your design. I repeated the same colours, adding them in the same order, but you could add colours at random to create different patterns.

Carry your design on around the sides of your parcel for a really vibrant effect.

2. Painted Polkadots.

Cover your parcel in pretty polkadots! Use craft paint or leftover paint from emulsion tester pots - I used a pale lilac purple which stands out really nicely against the brown of the package, but you could use any colour (or colours) you fancy.

Print the polkadots using the eraser end of a pencil, carefully dipping the eraser in the paint then using it to make a few dots on the paper until the paint runs out. Repeat to gradually cover the parcel in dots!

Tip: print some test dots on a piece of scrap paper first to get the hang of printing them, and have tissues or kitchen roll to hand for wiping excess paint off the eraser.

If you're painting directly onto the wrapped parcel, remember that you'll need to wait for the paint to dry before you can turn the parcel over and paint on more sides!

3. Colourful Collages. 

Use small bits of leftover gift wrap, scraps of coloured paper and magazine pages to make a colourful collage!

Choose a selection of decorative papers, and use a compass or circular objects in your house (like glasses or spice jars) to draw circles in various sizes. Cut out the circles and arrange them on your parcel to create a bright abstract design.

Stick the circles to the parcel with a glue stick, with the design "overflowing" onto the sides of the package.
 

Then add pictures you've cut out from magazines or printed from the internet (you'll find lots of free printables online designed for scrapbooking, card making and other crafty projects) and stick them to your parcel to complete your collage.

DISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored by My Parcel Delivery, a courier comparison site that helps you find the best deals around. 

Fancy some more crafty goodness? Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

June in Pictures: Blanket Squares, Summer Sunshine, Packing Parcels, and Playing with Paint

How is it halfway through July already?? Eek!

I'd better blog about my June Instagram pics before we blink and it's August :)

At the start of June (when it was really rather chilly) I was spending lots of my evenings working on my mini patchwork squares blanket. Whenever I have any double-knit acrylic yarn left over from other projects, I use it to knit mini moss stitch squares (just 10 stitches across) to add to the blanket.

Once I've knitted the leftover yarn into squares, I sew them into blocks (one colour per block). I've been sticking to the same few shapes so the blanket is random but cohesive. This is a slow, labour-intensive process but a really relaxing one!

Once I've sewn the squares into the various shapes, it's time to find a space for them on the blanket. (Sometimes I lay the blanket out before sewing the shapes together so I can sew the squares into the perfect shape to fit a gap but not this time). I'm trying to get a nice mix of colours and shapes across the blanket - so, again, this is a controlled randomness.

As I add the squares, I mark them on the matching chart so I can track my progress. I'm up to 514 squares so far... 386 still to go! 

The finished blanket will have a sweep of colour down the middle and the rest will be white, so I've also been knitting lots of little white squares behind the scenes. Sadly, white squares do not make for very exciting photographs.

All those little squares take a long time to stitch together, and there are a lot of yarn ends to weave in. Every time I share pics of this project there's always someone who recoils in horror at the thought of all that boring stitching but honestly I find it very relaxing and almost meditative. This is definitely not a project I'd recommend embarking on if you can't bear weaving in ends!

It was my birthday at the beginning of the month (yay!), and I was gifted some excellent things including Step Aside, Pops by Kate Beaton and a book & comic by the always awesome John Allison.

Summer finally decided to show up, so I spent my lunch-breaks reading in the garden - enjoying the sunshine, the flowers and the chirping of birds and buzzing of bees.

What a contrast to later in the month when we had days of sudden thunder and rainstorms! Ah, England I love you but your weather is not reliable.

Back on the crafty front, I made a DIY envelope from an old map. It's so easy to make your own envelopes (you can cheat and use an existing envelope as a template!) and they add some extra specialness to a bit of snail mail.

 

I de-stressed by spending a few hours playing with paint (I am terrible at painting but this was so much fun!).

I continued to work on my felt flowers - these are old designs I used to sell in my shop that I'm giving a new life as sewing patterns (coming to my shop later this summer!). I've been getting the designs absolutely perfect and taking lots of notes so I can write detailed step-by-step instructions.

I also had a tidy up in my studio, adding last year's magazine features to my "archive" (a fancy word for a few folders on my bookshelf). I worked on lots of fun projects in 2015 but the partridge and pear wreath I designed for Mollie Makes was probably my favourite - not least because it ended up on the cover (very exciting).

During my studio tidy I got as far as writing a list of "things to photograph!" - including these colourful finished projects - but not as far as actually taking the photos. Hopefully I will have actually ticked these things off the list by the end of July! I do so adore these bright colours.

I cleared out lots of crafty supplies and other bits and pieces and held a destash and declutter sale. It takes a long time to sort and weigh and measure and photograph everything for a sale, but it's so good to have made some more space in my studio and to have found new homes for so many things that were sitting around in my home unused and unloved.

After my sale, I had lots of parcels to post! That fab parcel tape is by Hazel Nicholls - I love using decorative tape, it's such a simple way to cheer up the packages I send.

After my destash/declutter sale, I had another sale: this time of lots of samples I'd stitched for craft books.

(The projects pictured are from: Banners, Buntings, Garlands & Pennants; Super-Cute Felt Animals; Mollie Makes Woodland Friends; Mollie Makes Weddings; Tis the Season to be Felt-y; and Craft Camp)

Again, there was lots of weighing and measuring and photographing and parcel packing... but all the work was well worth it as lots of pieces found new homes and I have lots of space for new things in my studio (hurrah!).

I also love this photo I took of samples stitched when working on my second book, Super-Cute Felt Animals. You'll find some of these projects available as free tutorials here and (almost all of) the rest in the book itself.

 

Finally, no Instagram round-up is complete without our sleepy cat sneaking in somewhere. How he manages to sleep upside down with one leg in the air is a mystery!

You can follow along with all my creative adventures (with the occasional cat photo!) over on Instagram.