Happy Holidays....

Yippee, my favourite time of year is here again: all orders have been made up and posted off (much to my utter relief), the boys have broken up from school and "Elf" has been on the telly!
I just thought I would share some festive images from us down here in Cornwall...

...the great tradition that is choosing the tree...

a little shot of the fireplace with gorgeous pixy advent calendar and matching stockings by Danish designers Maileg. Usually we stand the Christmas tree on that antique sled, but it was a little too tall this year, so we made an impromtu seat for the kiddywinks...

Finally got around to buying some outdoor fairylights this year, so they are hanging on the archway. They look really magical!

Here is the tree: I took loads of photos of it, but none of them came out very well!

On Saturday I decided on a whim to make some really tiny cottages (made from driftwood blocks) to hang on the tree. I am thinking they may be part of my Christmas range in 2012!

I am going to be *40* tomorrow!! To celebrate/commiserate, Steve and I are staying in a hotel near our favourite beach, and the plan is to do lots of walking/beachcoming (fingers crossed that we dont have torrential rain!) so I am really looking forward to that! Got a few things in the pipeline for next year, which I will share with you nearer the time!) so I am really hoping to collect some good bits! With any luck there will be a fair bit to choose from, following the recent gales!
Anyway, I would like to wish you all a sincere Merry Christmas and most excellent New Year!
See you in 2012!! xxx

Kirstie and Kirsty sitting in a tree

Hi folks, thought I would stop by and write a quick post while the OH cooks tea and I have a few minutes! Things are typically manic here, trying (without success) to make some stock for upcoming fairs - and other things just keep getting in the way!
I have added a few new festive lines to my Folksy and Etsy shops, including Christmas Tree Garlands...

...eight co-ordinating trees strung onto a length of bakers twine,

some Scandinavian-inspired toadstool decorations...

...and some Mistletoe robins on cinnamon sticks which were so popular last year.

Also some driftwood Christmas cards...

...in 3 quirky designs...

I have also squeezed in some custom orders including this parrot for a little boy's new pirate-themed bedroom!

And the title of this post? I was most surprised, yet thoroughly delighted to find a little photo of me in this new publication!

Here I am on page 95! The photo was taken at the Royal Cornwall Show - but there was no mention of any book! In fact, if a friend hadn't tipped me off, I may never have known!
So that's enough excitement for one week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend lovely people! xx

Festive Decorations

I know, I know, it's still ages away! But I've signed up for a couple of fairs and I'm determined to be organised for a change! This year's new design is this cute little mouse, which is designed to hang on the tree from his candy cane!


Like so!!

The cinnamon robins are back once more, this time made from linen...

and with an alternative breast colour!

Penguins have returned this year too, also in linen!

Did you notice, the penguins and the mice have the same basic shape? I used the same pattern and tweaked it a little. All decorations are available in my Etsy and Folksy shops.

Anyway I hope you like my new offerings for 2011!
A warm welcome to all new readers - have a great weekend!

And the winner is....

.....(and I'm delighted about this)..... Amanda!
Now, regular and astute readers may remember that I won Amanda's Giveaway not long ago. So when my little boy picked her name out of the hat, my second thought (the first being 'Yay, I know how much she loves those robins') was 'Oh bum, this isn't going to look good!' But, people, you're going to have to take my word for it! The girl won it fair and square, so, Amanda, if you can message me with your address, I'll send the goodies on to you. Congratulations lovely lady, Christmas might have come a little bit early for you this year! And thank you to everyone who entered and left such lovely comments too!

I've been pretty busy making bits for Christmas Fayres etc - I took advantage of a special offer with Moo and received these super cute stickers last week. They only measure about 3cm wide.

I also bought myself a stamp set recently, and have been using them on my driftwood Christmas cards.
In the New Year, I might start making some personalised pictures or cards for children incorporating text using these stamps - but no time at the minute!
I had a bit of a lightbulb moment yesterday when I decided to combine two of my designs: the Owl In The Moon mobile and the cinnamon robins - and this is the result!

A Cinnamon Owl - perfect for hanging on the Christmas tree and available in my Folksy shop now!

And finally, I'm beginning to think that I should give joint ownership of this blog to Steve, who's been creating again: this time not with pallets or driftwood but cardboard and duct tape!

Here's Herbie who pestered his daddy to make him a shield (he got one, and a matching helmet to boot) but has now decided he wants him to make a dragon too! Some people are never satisfied!!

It's beginning to smell alot like Christmas....

.....largely due to this huge pack of cinnamon sticks which was delivered yesterday. Mmmmm, smells wonderful!

I usually cut the sticks in half to use as perches for my individual robins, but I got distracted (again!) and decided to have a little play...

...and this was the result!


The mistletoe is basically a wire 'frame which I then wrapped in dotty fabric - finished off with a vintage button 'berry'. Available in my Folksy shop.
Best get on with what I'm supposed to be doing now! Hope you're all having a good week x

New Christmas Decorations

Do you remember these from last year?

Well, I've adapted the original pattern again to create this year's Christmas creatures...penguins!

Designed to hang from your Christmas tree...

Although if you speak to them nicely, they might stand up for you!

Penguins and spotty robins available in my Folksy shop.
Happy weekend everyone!

More Christmas Goodies

I've been busy! All available to buy here.

Tree garland

I'd been trying out new Christmas cards and came up with this design (above). The fabric is actually stitched straight on to the card. I kind of liked it but there was something that wasn't quite right, so I took the idea and made in to something more 3 dimensional - what do you think?

I'm thinking I could make both strings of trees and individual ones to go on the tree itself...

I'm desperately looking for some polka dot fabric - linen if possible - with red dots on white/cream. Does anyone have any suggestions. For the time being I've comprimised and stitched some red beads on to plain linen, but it's quite time consuming!

Then I looked at the spotty trees and thought they looked a bit like toadstools so made one of these..

Okay, so they're not exactly traditional at Christmas, but they fit in with my red and white theme! Artistic license I think they call it. I reckon it's cute. Now I'm thinking about using this as a part of mobiles for little girls....STOP! I have to concentrate on Christmas for now! As usual my mind is six months ahead of my stitching fingers!!

Decorations will be available on Folksy soon.

Hope you're all having a good week!

Rockin' robins

So, have a guess what I've been making today!

I've had an order for 50 of these for a gallery so I think I may get fed up with them very soon!

Available now on Folksy.

The C word

It's been months since I first fell in love with the work of Australian Clare Carter, in particular her gorgeous bird mobiles. I thought of them again when I received a circular last week featuring more lovely hanging birds by Spool Sewing, this time including a simple pattern.


Of course I had to have a little try...


I'd been thinking about making some hanging robins as Christmas decorations - so sorry to mention it already, but when you're a full-time mum and part-time craftsperson, you have to start early (I have already sent off an order of cards and it's still August!)

Anyway, I adjusted the pattern to create more of a robin shape and finished off by sitting the birds on a cinnamon stick...


For these prototypes I have used synthetic stuffing, but would really like to use some kind of Christmas spice - anybody got any suggestions? They need a little tweaking but I like to keep my creations a bit primitive and not too perfect!
All I need now is a bit of snow, so that I can take some festive photos of them! Alright, I'm only joking!