Jellyfish

Just before Christmas a colleague of mine gave birth to a baby boy, and I made her a brightly coloured hanging jellyfish. I didn't manage to get a decent photo of it, but it was similar to the one I designed for the sealife mobile below...

I suppose really a jellyfish is rather an odd baby gift, but I thought he might like to watch the ribbons floating above him! Herbie was most taken with it anyway, so I agreed to make another just for him, and with his help too - and then I thought I could do a little tutorial on here.

Difficulty rating is 1 - is really is easy peasy lemon squeezy!

First, choose 2 contrasting/matching fabrics. Ours HAD to be orange!

Next draw round a small bowl and with right sides of the fabric facing each other, machine or handstitch on the pencil line, leaving a few centimetres at the end. (Ours measured approx 15cm diameter.)

Turn inside out and press.

Fill with polyester stuffing and stitch up the gap.

Next, take a mixture of ribbons, measuring approx 60cm-70cm in length and criss-cross at the half-way point (see above)

Stitch to the underside of your jellyfish. Then stitch a further piece of ribbon to the middle of the top-side and hey presto!!
Your jellyfish is complete! It looks great hanging above a bed or in the window!

And here's a glimpse of my little assistant (he operated the foot-pedal!)

More cottages

I am having an absolute ball this week! Feeling very motivated and enjoying developing new ideas around the cottage theme. I have put my sewing machine to one side and dusted off my paint brushes instead!

Last week I came across this small piece of driftwood which I painted and scratched to create a sweet little cottage. Originally I had intended it for a simple card, but found it was too bulky and heavy. So then I had the idea of doing a whole row of them and framing them, rather like my driftwood beach huts.

Here's the result...

I rubbed some yellow ochre on the roofs, to give it a bit of a St Ives feel!

Then, whilst rooting around in the shed this morning, I found a couple of offcuts from other projects - and it seems they were made for each other! The blue piece here is exactly the right size for the roof - with a little bit of overhang!

Very Cornish, wouldn't you say?!

I also found this lovely long rounded piece of wood, so I thought I'd do a terrace!


The lines are created by putting a layer of oil pastel under the coloured paint - then when you scratch it, the pastel colour (in this case white) shows through.

It's ready to hang on the wall, and will go in my Folksy shop tomorrow, the light's just terrible again today!
BTW, the stitched piece in my last post is sold! Yippee!

Something new...

Hi guys, thought I'd share some photos of a new project I've been working on. So good to be designing again after making so many owls and robins in the lead up to Christmas!

It started off with me having a little play on my sewing machine...

I thought these Cornish cottages were quite cute, so decided to create a complete harbour scene, complete with some driftwood boats...


I think this house is my favourite!

I kind of like the way the front boat sits on the mount itself - it's different! (The 'buoys' are drawing pin heads)

Another detail...

And, for anyone who can't decide what county we're in, check out the name on this little boat! (I don't like to take myself too seriously!

I enjoyed myself immensely making this piece - and have gone full circle as it were: these new cards are in my Folksy shop.


The framed piece will go on sale soon - just need to work out a price, which is always the tricky part!

Thanks for looking! Hope you're having a good week xx

Lucky me!

I just thought I would share some images of presents I was thrilled to receive for Christmas! Many available through Folksy and Etsy!

First off this gorgeous print by Inaluxe, now framed and hanging in my studio! I adore it!

Next, a fab calendar by Cornish photographer Jo Bradford of Green Island Art Studios. Here's one of my favourite pictures, though I love them all!

This gorgeous necklace by Yume Martin.

This dear little fellow sits on my windowsill. By Northfield Primitives.

Surprisingly, my father-in-law came up trumps with this rusty old tin...

...which is filled with rusty washers, nails etc! He'd collected them from his late father's workshop, and they'll be perfect for decorating my driftwood boats!

And finally, a little bit of publicity! New magazine Oh Comely ran a competition for Folksy sellers several months ago - and I was one of the winners! Oh Comely is only available in selected stockists, but if you get a chance to read it, you really should - it's a brilliant, original magazine!
Well, that's all for now folks, hope you're all settling back into the old routine!

Sorry - it's been a while....

I'm afraid that due to a huge amount of orders in November and December, blogging (both writing posts and reading others) had to be put on the back burner for a while. I feel like I haven't been here for ages! I promise not to neglect you like that again! I hope you all had a joyous festive break.
I remember last year writing a post about all the Christmas presents I'd made for family members: not much time for that this year (I suppose that's a good sign really) but Steve and I did find time to make something special for our niece, Molly....

Actually, the majority of the work was done by Steve, who designed and built this lovely rocking dolls crib. I should have documented with photos from the beginning, but I forgot!
The plywood and dowelling frame was first painted in deep red eggshell....

..and (this is where I came in) the edges were rubbed with candlewax...

Then the whole thing painted in antique white eggshell and rubbed down for a distressed finish.

I then made a mattress with a foam offcut and flannel sheet...

and made a pillow and pillowcase (the Cabbages and Roses spotty fabric was a Fleabay bargain), complete with ric-rac trim...

and the duvet? A Greengate teatowel folded in half with a couple of layers of wadding inside and lace ribbon detail...

Neat huh?

I think she likes it!
Happy New Year everyone - hope it's a great one for you all!

And the winners are...

...Louise Maidment, Rebecca, A, Julie and Knicky Knacks!
Congratulations to you all, if you could e-mail me your addresses, your robins will be with you sometime next week!

Another Giveaway!

Well, it is Christmas! There are 5 small prizes this time - a cinnamon robin for 5 lucky winners - just leave a comment stating whether you like the spotty or floral one, and I'll draw the names on Friday night. Bit of a rush-job, but Christmas seems to be hurtling towards us!
And don't worry if you're not a blogger, just leave a contact e-mail address!
Good luck everyone, and spread the word (it's the season of Goodwill, after all!)