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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

See also my WildKittens knits for babies & kids!

Celebrating all things Scottish!

Christmas Post

I think the time has come for me to announce my last order dates for Christmas 2011, now that we are well into November and there's a chill in the air!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UK orders: Saturday 17th December

Orders for Western Europe: Saturday 10th December

Orders for Canada, USA & Eastern Europe: Wednesday 7th December

Orders for Japan, Oz, NZ & everywhere else: Saturday 3rd December

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: if you are interested in a custom order, please get in touch as soon as possible, preferably before Monday 21st November, to allow enough time for the item to be made and sent in time for the last posting dates. (My current lead time on commissions is 1-2 weeks.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Find my WildCat Designs handmade knitted goodies on Etsy, Folksy(£), DaWanda(€) & Bigcartel(£). See also my WildKittens knits for babies & kids!

We want Wool!

This is the perfect time to get back into knitting, it really does feel wintery today. Mind you, it's not as if I actually have a time of year when I'm not knitting, if I'm being honest!

Anyway, some of you may remember that earlier in the year, I donated to the Red Cross for every Space Invader sale I made in March and April to the Japan Tsumami Appeal. Almost 8 months later, many people are still trying to piece their lives back together after the 8.9 magnitude quake and resulting tsunami.

One aid project which I think is particularly wonderful is run by Imperfect Planet, and they've been asking folks to donate yarn so that they could host a wool craft party for people in Japan who have been affected by the tsunami and ensuing aftermath. It's so great that someone has thought of helping by enabling a little bit of craft.

They are still hoping for more wool donations, ideally to arrive in Japan before 15th November 2011. Details of where to send yarn to in this post.

If you fancy "crafting for a cause," there are a couple of other noteworthy projects underway:

The annual call for little knitted hats to adorn Innocent smoothies is also known as the Big Knit. Money raised this year goes to Age UK. Get in volved and download/print your Big Knit Kit here.


Now for what is possibly the cutest charity knitting project I have ever heard of...! Handmade jumpers for little New Zealand penguins affected by the recent oil spill.

_{Image via Mother Nature Network}
They have apparently had such an overwhelming response that they now have a surplus of pingu tops! Check out the Skeinz blog here for more cuteness and updates.

We have a Winner!

...aaand we have a winner!

The lucky recipient of the WildCat Designs scarf is Kristen, commenter #54:

"My favorite is the Skinny Felted Merino Lambswool Scarf in Teal and Chocolate."

Kristen, please get in touch with your contact details to I can arrange to send out your prize!

I just want to say a massive thanks to everyone who entered and thank you for all the lovely comments :)

Comfort Food

Now, I don't normally blog about food - unless it's cake, because frankly, I think cake is good for the soul (mainly because it makes you happy!) - but I wanted to share this recipe I came across.

Two reasons: 1. It looks *deee-licious* and 2. much like cosy knits, it's perfect for autumn (or winter for that matter!), when you're craving a little comfort food. I also really love Moroccan food and dream of visiting there someday.

The recipe is for Moroccan Meatballs and the accompanying sauce - found on the Cupcake Junky blog.

Images via Cupcake Junky

Enjoy!