No crafts to show today, I'm just taking a break from getting ready for the woolfest next weekend. Working on my banner at the mo'. My sweet Husband has taken the children out for the day yet again!! Thank you.

I'm busy working to the sounds of my youth, we watched Seven Ages of Rock last night. It was about indie grunge, mostly Nirvana and the Pixies. The sort of stuff I listened to in my teens and early twenties. So this morning I had the children dancing to Smells like Teen Spirit, (my 2 year old son loved the jumping around bit) and now they're out of the house I have been going through my old records and doing a bit of reminiscing. Yes, we do still have records, (400 plus which creates a storage nightmare) and I wanted to share a couple of my favourite covers with you.



It's funny how my days of scouring charity shops for the perfect granny dress to refashion and team up with tie dyed leggings has been replaced by scouring for crafty items. Oh I feel old!! The buzz is still the same though, here's one of my latest finds.


And finally, thank you to paper and string, I won one of her card toppers in a give away on her blog. She makes some lovely things with felt, and has just launched her own website.

Cupcake Bag

For a while, I've had an idea in my head for a child's bag with a cupcake appliquéd onto the front. My daughter was going to a party yesterday, and as my stock of presents had run out (I buy in bulk in the sales), I thought I'd make one as a present. I was really pleased with the way it turned out, 9 times out of 10 nothing ever turns out quite as well as I imagined it, but this actually turned out better. Although the first was far to big, so I had to make another. I also made a little matching card!

Got my Moo cards yesterday!! They are so cute and compact, I love the feel of them, and they come in their own sweet little box. Think I'm hooked on the latest must have.


Recently I have been working on my silk paper making kits for woolfest, I dyed a lot of the fibres myself, which means I've taken over the kitchen a little, I can only do it when my husband isn't around because he doesn't like the smell.


I have also been interviewed here. Not very keen on the photograph, bit of a bad hair day! When I went through our photo's to look for a more natural picture, there are very few of me, guess I'm the one always behind the camera.

and I have been working on more recycled jumper brooches, (the crocheted hat is for my daughter).


Oh, and I found another felting blog, Feltr'Arte, take a look.

WIP Finished

These brooches are made from felted wool jumpers, sourced at jumble sales.

Workshop Pictures

Here are the photographs from last weeks 'felt a bag' workshop. After a busy day of rubbing and rolling everybody went away with a lovely original bag, and matching flower.

I'm linking to flickr, as there are a lot of pictures, click here to take a peek.

Books

I love Japanese craft books, they are modern, inspirational and contain beautiful photographs. I now buy my books direct from amazon.co.jp, as they are very reasonably priced. However, it is a bit of a gamble, because you can't read the reviews. Over the next few months I intend to write a little bit about the books I own and include a link to it on amazon. Here is the first, the link is at the bottom.

Handmade Felt published by Ondori

This book has got some really inspiring projects, which include:

• muffler/scarves - some of which are nuno felt
• resist felted bags (12 designs)
• place mats and tea cozy
• hats
• purses
• jewellery
• glass cozies and coasters
• baby shoes

• 

There are step-by-step photographic instructions for some of the projects and diagrams for the others. All the text is in Japanese, but for someone who knows the basics of felting the instructions are easy to follow. I have used this book quite a lot. More for inspiration and techniques, rather than actually following the projects. It's great for looking at different styles of bags, and it also has these cute birds in it. That I have promised to make for my daughter, (a long with a guinea pig).


You can buy this book here. If you have used amazon.com before it's fairly easy to order, (there is an 'in English' button). Searching for things is the hardest part.

Just found another felting blog to add to the list on the right hand side. Check out these cute purses.

Just came across Masquerade, via craftzine. I love the idea of knitted graffiti!!

Silly Me

I just published my previous post and viewed it in 'new window', like you do, only to realise that I have already blogged about the polka dot bag!! Still the new picture is much better, so I'm not going to edit it. I'm off now to settle in front of the telly with a nice cup of tea.

Here are some bits I've been working on:

A polka dot felt bag (preparation for workshop),

and these cozy felt slippers, still awaiting some form of decoration, but already in constant use. I felted them to the exact shape of my feet so they are so snug.

The workshop went really well, everybody made fantastic handbags!! I was hoping to share pictures of these with you via a link to flickr, but the computer is in 'go slow' mode, and my pictures are stuck in processing. It will probably be tomorrow now, as 'waking the dead' is on in 10 mins, and no, TV does not rule my life, honest.