Eastery Wishes

I do hope you all had a happy easter weekend! I had fun making these delectable little lovelies...

...and nibbling on other assorted chocolate treats :)

It has been a wee bit quiet around here for a little longer than I'd like, I won't go into all the details but one major reason is that I've been busy beavering away on several websites - one of these will be a brand new portfolio website for my web/graphic design work. I can't wait to show it off, it's not quite ready yet but it will be here soon!

In other news, was excited to see that the topics for Knitting & Crochet Blog Week 2012 have been announced - check this post on Eskimimi's blog for more info.

I'm also thrilled to be heading off to Geneva later this week to visit my sister and get a wee change of scenery - I will be taking my camera (and Ray-Bans, here's hoping for some sun!!) with me for sure! Hopefully I'll have some fun stuff to tell you about when I get back.

I've been taking part in this month's Photo a Day challenge, organised by the lovely Chantelle of Fat Mum Slim. You can find my submissions on my Instagram feed (look here to see my pics). I seem to be doing every other month so far! Are any of you lovely readers out there joining in this month too?

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week 2012!

The observant among you may have noticed this pop up on my blog sidebar recently:

It's back! This year Knitting & Crochet Blog Week is even bigger and better than before - with prizes and everything! All the more reason to participate, if you ask me. See the image below for details of the dates and tags - more info, including details of the prizes also available here.

I've participated since the first one in 2010 and I'm happy to say I'll be blogging along again this year. Looking forward to checking out what other fibre fanatics write too :)

If you want to find out more, and/or get involved yourself, check out this post on Eskimimi's blog.

My Sketchbook Project - Part 1

Good news - I did indeed manage to finish my sketchbook on time for the Sketchbook Project (but only just!). Now that it's done & dusted - and has safely arrived at its new home in the Brooklyn Art Library (yay!) - I thought I'd show you a little bit more of it.

I really enjoyed working on this project because I treated it as a kind of fun exploration of pattern and texture via drawing, painting and collage. It so was nice to do something that was about inspiration and an exploration of creativity (and not about making a product for sale, for a little change).

If you haven't come across the Sketchbook Project, it's an annual art project open to everyone worldwide which encourages people to get creative with a standard sketchbook.

The brief is really up to you (there are suggested themes, and my chosen one was "It's winter where you are" but I used it fairly loosely and really as more of a starting point!) and the final submissions go on tour, eventually being housed at the Brooklyn Art Library in New York.

For more information, and to see the dates of the 2012 Sketchbook Project world tour, visit the website.

Knitting Rock'n'Roll!

Enjoy! :)

Sharing the Love

Today I'm sharing a little love, as it seems like the right thing to do on Valentine's day. I thought it would be nice to tell you about some of my wonderfully talented and creative friends :)

Andrea is an avid knitter (much like myself!) from Canada who has recently gotten into spinning yarn too.

Above you can see one of her lovely handspun yarns, find it here in her etsy shop, AndiSocial's Twist.

I also love cats...and I really like Julia of Materialised's kitty creations. Meet Kimberly the cat!

From stitched felines to fluffy birds: Mel is the brains - and the needle-felty hands! - behind Feltmeup Designs, aka The Felt Menagerie. Some of you may well be familliar with these cute little birdies.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed those :)

New year, new ideas

Hello! I hope you've all had a great start to the new year. At the moment, I am having a phase of definite renewal and getting back into making things after a bit of a break.

I've been busily working on trying to finish my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project - really hoping I'll complete it in time! Enjoying it thus far though, it's so refreshing to get back to drawing and painting, something I love but don't make the time for very often any more.

Today involved playing around with this damask pattern motif and gold ink. Fun! I've also been sprucing things up a little online - hope you like the new blog banner and buttons on the sidebar.

I realise Valentine's day is just around the corner (already?!), so if you're looking for some inspiration, check out this post from last year: DIY Valentine!

DIY Christmas Gift Labels

This is a quick and easy DIY tutorial for home made last-minute Christmas gift labels - a great way to avoid chaos on Christmas morning! I needed a way to label my presents but didn't have time to go out shopping for gift tags...so I came up with this simple and fun idea.

You will need:

- Pens (ideally ones which won't bleed)
- A sheet or two of blank sticky address labels

- Festive rubber stamps of your choice (or carve your own from an eraser/potato!)
- Scrap paper for blotting (ideally not newspaper)

- Ink pads or paint (ideally in festive colours)

...and last but not least:

- Some wrapped-up Christmas gifts!

It's really very simple, take a sheet of sticky address labels, choose the stamp you want to use, ink it up in your choice of colour (or you could use paint instead) and press onto one of the labels.

I found the easiest way to do it was stamp your chosen design (whilst still on the sheet), then blot off any excess ink with the scrap paper. Allow it to dry, then write your tag and stick to the relevant gift!

Repeat for however many gifts you have - et voilà. They are ready to go under the Christmas tree. :)

Merry Christmas & a very happy new year to all my readers!

Last Chance Saloon

If you're wondering why things have gone a little quiet on the blog lately, well, it's because I'm ever-so-slightly snowed under! Not the weather particularly, more a case of lots of orders, commissions and unfortunately a sore throat too into the mix.

Anyway, on a brighter note, I finally got my Christmas tree up last night, hurrah!



I just thought I would do a little update, to highlight the fact that if you're based in the UK and looking for some of my WildCat Designs or WildKittens goodies in time for Christmas, you're in luck - my last order date is this Saturday, 17th December.

If you live outside the UK, I'm afraid that I now cannot promise that your order will arrive in time for Christmas, but I am still accepting orders at the moment if you are willing to chance it, or just want to treat yourself! ;)

* Custom Orders * - I am somewhat inundated with Christmas commissions so I am currently not taking on any new custom work until after the festive period.

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Find my WildCat Designs handmade woolly wonders on Etsy, Folksy (£),
DaWanda (€) & Bigcartel (£).

See also my WildKittens knits for babies & kids!