I want to ride my bicycle!

Hello there! I am just checking in to say a quick hi - as usual things are pretty hectic this time of year for all of us crafters!

I thought I would share a few little things I have been working on lately. They are quite different in a way from what I usually make, but on the other hand maybe not so, as everything is made from found materials.

It all started when I had a special request for a bike card.....

I had so much fun making this first creation...

...that I had to make another - Chopper style!

By now I was getting quite addicted to making these simplified machines!

This was another order for a man who loves motorbikes.

 And my favourite of them all.

 After seeing the 2 dimensional original on my Facebook page, a customer asked for a more 3-D sculpture. I wasn't sure it was going to be possible....

...but with the aid of some railings, I managed to fix and hold the bike together.

I loved branching out a bit with these little items. Back to Christmas products now.

Back soon!! xx

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

The title just about sums up how things have been over the last couple of weeks - and that's how I like it (I'm easily bored!) I'll share some images of the things I've been working on, shall I?

2 'secret' collages. This one was commissioned by a friend - for his wife's birthday (it's their beautiful house in Cambridgeshire).

The second one was a gift for my mother-in-law's birthday. It's a small collage of Kastro on Skiathos where we all went on holiday last year.

I was delighted to be asked by Lucy of Attic 24 to make a driftwood sculpture for her (click on the image and you'll notice the number on the door.) Her blog is an absolute joy - if you are not familiar with it, firstly where have you been? and secondly get over there right away!! (unless you wish to finish reading this post first!)

I've also been making some brooches! It started off with this owl which I made for Herbie's pre-school teacher...

Then some foxes...

And a peacock on request!

We all went to a little girl's birthday party yesterday so I made her a matching card and brooch set!

I love making these stitched cards: last week I had fun creating this one...

and I was looking at it and had an idea - which led to this!

Quite pleased with this cheerful design - I'd like to see how it looks as a print, but I think it will work really well as a printed greeting card. What do you think?

Phew! Well I think that's quite enough for one post! The weather has been glorious here for the first week of the school holidays - long may it last! Guess where we're off to today?

Yup - to 61A of course!! Have a fab weekend folks!

Handmade cards

click on image to enlarge

I was a naughty girl yesterday! Despite having outstanding orders, I fancied making a couple of new children's cards - and once I started, I couldn't stop! I showed them on my Facebook page, and an interesting discussion ensued: the old dilemma about how much to charge! Always a tricky one... and I'm not going to get into it again here! No-one will ever get rich making cards! BUT, let's just say I had a fabulous day, it was fun to create some new designs and use some scraps from my ever-growing fabric collection!
Most of these have been snapped up already, but I've put a framed a few and popped them in my Folksy shop. Which one is your favourite?

Happy Birthday Mum!

Hello everyone, just a flying visit today - to wish my mum a very Happy Birthday!

Here's her present....



....and matching card....

...and here is the masterpiece that Herbie created. Amazing what you can do with a few scraps of Easter Egg foil - and keeping up with the whole recycling thing!

My parents live about an hour away from us - we had a big family get-together there yesterday and had great fun looking through some old photographs. I sneaked this one in my bag (she'll probably kill me for sharing it on here!) showing my mum (right) with her sister.

Don't they look fantastic?!

Happy Mother's Day!

....to my mum (this is her card)

....to my mother-in-law (her card)


...and to mummies everywhere! (This is a very rare shot of me and my monsters!)
Hope you have a lush day!

Father's Day

Gawd, it's been an absolute age since I attempted any freestyle stitching, but I've taken a break from huge shop orders to make this card for the best dad in the world!

Happy Father's Day!

PS Sorry I haven't posted any new creations on here lately - there's just not enough hours in the day!

Mother's in the kitchen....

...doin' a bit of stitchin!
I received Poppy Treffry's lovely book 'Free and Easy Stitch Style' nearly two weeks ago, and finally have had a few hours to myself to have a read and a little play! (How committed am I? Herb goes to pre-school for one afternoon a week and it was so tempting to relax with a cup of tea and peace and quiet and the latest copy of Country Living!)
But I had a few cards to make...
I started with something easy - a birthday card for my niece...

Mmm, not too bad for a first attempt! Just a couple of wobbles!

Next, a card for a friend...

Still very basic - and a try at stitching some text....

Finally, something a bit more adventurous...

Not the best thing I've ever made, but I thought I'd share it with you - otherwise how will you see how much I've improved when I'm a pro?!!
I made it into a birthday card for my sister-in-law who is always a very grateful recipient!

I can't remember the last time I actually bought a card, even the boys make their own. Handmade is always so much nicer, don't you think?

We're off to the 'outlaws' tomorrow for most of the half-term, so no blogging for a while!

Oooops, almost forgot! The Deep Sea Mobile is now in my Folksy shop - in two funky colourways!

Have a happy week!

Seahorse

I've become a bit obsessed with seahorses of late. I'm working on a cushion as part of a childrens range and made this card yesterday for a friend who's just had a baby boy. I like the freedom you get stitching on to paper or card with a sewing machine.

I seem to be diverting slightly from my former nautical theme! I'm sure I will come back to beach huts and driftwood boats, but for the moment my heart seems to be more into animals and birds (though no more robins for a while!) I'll just go with it for now and see what happens!