Some Spring coloured creations!

Hello again! It's gone rather chilly today - very different from the lovely mild weather we've had in the last week or so. Still, at least the sun is shining and so I can try and warm up my frozen fingers by telling myself that yes, it really is spring!

It's been a colourful week - I bought some lovely Cascade wool a while back and have been busy making a few bunny nuggets. Remember them? They got a mention last year in a recent projects post! I would really love to make them all year round - maybe with seasonal add-ons like little sunglasses for summer, or Santa hats for Christmas. Maybe I'll get round to it soon....
By the way, I should mention that the pattern is not my own creation - it's from a very clever lady called Rebecca Danger and if you want to make your own, here is the Bunny Nugget free pattern that she kindly shares with everyone!

Here is the latest Bunny Nugget gang :)

Bunny Nuggets for 2012! 

The one at the front has been turned into a keyring - perfect for a little Mothers' Day gift. If you love it, you can buy it from me on my website.

Finally, at long last I finished my crochet baby blanket! I don't have any babies (and am definitely not expecting any more!!) but a baby blanket is just about the right size I think. A huge doube-bed sized blanket would take me far too long and boredom would soon set in!

I love the bright, spring-like colours.

Granny square baby blanket - finished!

This has been keeping me lovely and warm over winter - and I'm quite sad to finish it. I will miss it's cosy softness sitting on my lap in the evenings. My next one is going to be an organic cotton one I think - just need to find some lovely colours, and wait until my husband isn't around to catch me spending yet more money on yarn!!

Don't forget to pop in and see what the other Handmade Monday bloggers have been up to.

Off now to warm my hands up on the dog!!
Ooh! By the way, I've just discovered Instagram on my phone - it's brilliant, so expect some more of my attempts at photography soon.
I snapped this one of Bea, our beagle, and I just love it :-)

Bea - looking very pretty!

Handmade Wedding Keepsakes

Recently I've been working on something a bit different! As you know (or might not) I run a baby hand/foot casting business when I'm not busy being buried under knitting and crochet.

This year I've decided it's time to move into Wedding Impressions - after all, the whole 'handprint' idea is that it's a keepsake of a special time, capturing a wonderful moment and reminding you of those precious memories whenever you look at it - and weddings most definitely fall into that category!

 I took some hand casts from my friends, then gathered together some lovely little wedding mementos and downloaded a royalty-free photo. They were all mounted together in a solid oak box frame, and I'm really pleased with the end result.

Wedding Impressions and keepsakes

Close-up view

I also did a bridesmaid one which you can see on my Little Impressions Stafford Facebook Page - you can't see it in the photos but I added some confetti before I framed it too. Both frames got some really good feedback from a local wedding fair that my husband went to, so I'm looking forward to doing some more soon :)

If you have friends in Staffordshire who are getting married soon, then you can buy Impressions Vouchers online from Little Impressions.

And finally, here are some other lovely handmade wedding keepsakes that I spotted whilst browsing.

Wedding guest fingerprint art

This is such a great idea - available from Personalized Prints on Etsy

I couldn't do a blog post without some crochet, so here we are:

A beautiful crochet covered stone

These would make beautiful table decorations or wedding favours - see them at Table Top Jewels on Etsy

Crochet necklace

Wish I could make these - see it on my Wedding Keepsakes Pinterest Board

Finally, don't forget to look at Handmade Monday to see what the other creative people have been up to!

See you next time :)

Owls everywhere!

Here we are again - another Monday! As always, do visit Handmade Monday to see lots more lovely craft blogs. 


I'm not a having a very productive one here since the kids have a teacher training day, so one has gone out to work on homework with a friend, leaving the other one here all alone with no-one to play with! So I'd better get on with it...



As mentioned last time, I've been introduced to Pinterest (notice my new button up at the top left?? *hint hint*) and I pinned one of my knitted creations on there. It seemed to get quite a lot of 'repins' so I thought I'd share it with you all too! 

My Little Knitted Sock Owl

It's a prototype really - I think it needs a bit more 'cuteness' somehow. Maybe some more embroidery on it? Does anyone have any suggestions?
The owl was made from hand-dyed sock yarn, and is filled with plastic pellets and lavender so it smells gorgeous!


This then got me thinking about all the lovely handmade owls that there are around, so here are some of my favourites:

Tiny Crochet Owls on Etsy

These are so sweet! I want them all dangling off my bag.

Owl Mobile Phone Cosy on Etsy

Here's another thing on my 'Projects to Make' list!

Owl Cushion from The Purl Bee

This is just too gorgeous and huggable! It's made from alpaca yarn, so I can only just imagine how soft it must be.

Lastly, a lovely big thank you to Jam Dalory for this lovely award - it's very kind, and it's always nice to have a pretty picture to add and brighten up my page! I am struggling to find 5 blogs to award, because all the ones I follow have too many followers to qualify - but I will work on it and pass on the award soon!

See you soon!

Sudbury Christmas Market - some lovely things!

This weekend I was at Sudbury Hall - a National Trust property near Uttoxeter - where they held a Christmas market over the weekend. Luckily for me, it turned out to be nicely busy!
 I usually display a range of products - some are bought-in wholesale gifts and others are my own handmade items (I don't think I could make enough stock to fill a whole table!) and I have to say that it was the 'bought-in' things that sold more than anything else. I do think that it has a lot to do with the fact that people seem to be being quite careful with their money this year and the imported, mass produced goods are obviously much cheaper than good quality handmade ones. However, it's not all doom and gloom - I did sell a good few of my wooden plaques, knitted boots, crochet toys etc. so I'm happy :-)

I was lucky enough to share the marquee with some very talented and lovely crafters so I thought I'd share some photos with you. Sorry that the quality of the photos is so awful - I used my phone, and I blame the fact that it was so cold that my hands must have been shaking too much!

Well, you know what a fan I am of cute needlefelted critters - imagine how inspiring it was to find these on the stall next to mine! They are amazing aren't they? All made by the very clever Sarah at Two Fat Hens


Needlefelted teddy bears

 It was also lovely to catch up with Naomi from Doveridge Crafts who sells Decopatch materials and also makes her own gorgeous items - check out this chair!


Decopatch chair in progress

 I love the way the paper blends so well with the colour of the wood - what a lovely way to make a piece of furniture really special. I couldn't resist a closer shot...!



Love the knitted hearts too!

 Being a birdwatcher in a previous life, it didn't take me long to spot these little lovelies - which I recognised from HWR Designs because I've admired them on Etsy! It was so nice to meet Helen, and I can now put a face to all the tweets (no pun intended!). I know what I'm going to be saving up for now... a whole menagerie of these little birds!



Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!

 And last but not least, here are some beautiful wooden ornaments from Diane at An Eggcup Full of Whiskers - sorry but I don't have a website address for her! These are made from reclaimed wood - can you guess what they were in a previous life?



Lovely, simple wooden ornaments

 Well, believe it or not Diane gets a lot of her wood from old pallets!! What a great way to recycle an everyday (and let's be honest, rather ugly) piece of wood.

So there you are - a lovely, inspiring weekend. Thank you to everyone who chatted to me, and especially to the stallholders who let me take photos of their fabulous products!
Now go and visit Handmade Monday to see what everyone else has been up to - see you next time :-)

Sock Monster completion!!

Just a quick post today - I finished my latest knitted sock monster! Hooray!!
I know, I know... she took absolutely ages (I don't know why, but this one feels like a female) but to be fair, I was working on other projects in between.

I made a concerted effort over the weekend to finish knitting the final arm while I was at a craft event at a local shopping centre. Then the evening was spent stuffing and sewing...
and finally this morning, came the last (and rather cruel) part - sticking her little monster mouth onto her face.
Here's a photo of the torture in progess!

I know it looks cruel - but it was worth it!

And last but not least, here is the new sock monster (at the back on the right) making friends with the original 'Sock' (my little boy's bedtime companion) and my other recent monster.

They make quite a cute little family don't they?

I should mention here that the monsters are designed by the very clever Rebecca Danger, and if you want to make your own you can buy the patterns here.

As always, do pop over to 1st Unique Gifts and see what's been going on for Handmade Monday this week.

See you next time :-)

A busy month of knitting and crochet

Oh dear! It's been rather a long time since my last post - I don't know where the time has gone!

So what have I been up to? Well, after my little foray into felting I bought some needlefelting equipment and have had a little play around - and made these little felt hearts as a starter project. They are lovely and squishy, but I'm not really sure they have much use!!

Little needlefelted hearts

Perhaps I'll hang on to them until Valentines Day and they can be used as little table decorations - or can you think of any uses for them?

I also knitted and then felted a little table mat for my daughter, then decorated it with some needlefelted flowers and twirly bits - it was a bit of an experiment (as always!) but she loves it, and it really brightens up her bedside table.

Daughter's bright colourful felted mat!

I've been busy with lots of orders for crocheted baby bootees too!

I have them listed in my Giftwrapped and Gorgeous online store, from which I get a steady flow of orders. I also went along to a couple of local 'Babysensory' classes to set up a display of my goodies (both my handmade bits and my baby castings) and got LOADS of orders from there!

I created a little owl hat to go with some boots too - here you go!

Crocheted baby owl hat and bootees

Next on the list is going to be a little hat with teddy bear ears I think - they still seem to be popular this autumn.

I've also made myself a cowl - it's not often I get time to make something just for me! Luckily, it's made in such a way that you can do it piece by piece so it was a case of doing little and often - I love the way the colours blend from one to another.

The new project for me (or rather our home) is going to be a crocheted throw! The pattern is out of a magazine I bought a while back, and I'm hoping it's going to be a good way to use up all my odds and ends of wool. Here's an idea of what I hope it will look like and here are the few squares I've done so far.

5 down, 94 to go!!

Finally, I also got round to using up some of my ever-growing stash of yarn - I made a second monster! If you missed the first one, you can read about him here.
This one is really cuddly and soft, and made from hand-dyed wool which has sat in my wool-bag for about a year. Here it is :)

The greeny coloured one is still in progress by the way - just one more arm to go!

Well, that's enought rambling from me - don't forget to check out the other blogs taking part in Handmade Monday.

See you next time - I will try and post something sooner rather than later! xx

Handmade Monday - all the way from Jersey

This week I have been on holiday in my favourite place, Jersey in the Channel Islands. We are here for two weeks, which is a real treat - mainly because I celebrated my 40th birthday yesterday, so now am officially 'old' I guess!!

Of course, since I love crafts I couldn't resist visiting a local craft market here, so yesterday I dragged along a friend and my daughter round this lovely little lot of stalls. They were set up in St Aubins, which is a beautiful little part of the island.



St Aubins Farmers and Craft Market

Many of the stallholders belong to an association called Genuine Jersey which promotes locally produced goods on the island - what a wonderful way to keep people buying local to support their economy. 
First stop was a lovely stall Dangly Hearts which had some lovely fabric hearts, bunting, doorstops, cushions and many other pretty things. It was too busy to get a decent photo, but here is what I bought!

Handmade by Dangly Hearts :)

Next stop was a lovely, bright stall with painted pebbles and aromatic gifts. The stall was called 'On The Beach' but I can't find a website for them, so sorry I can't add a link!



Gorgeous brightly painted stones

There were some fabulous smells coming from this stall - The Soap Mill - so we just had to buy some soaps didn't we?!


Shame you can't smell things over the internet!

Finally, this was the stall that my daughter couldn't wait to get to - she literally dragged me across the square to get to it! We had a nice chat and bought a pencil case. My daughter is really pleased with the fact that hers will be different to anyone else's at school - a girl after my own heart!! Do have a look at
Nanette Regan - her products are really unique and great quality!


Lovely bright fabrics by Nanette Regan

 We met so many lovely stallholders - all of them were so friendly and chatty, it made it a lovely morning for us all so thank you!

We've got a few more days in Jersey, so hopefully there will be some sunshine and days on the beach. Then it's back home, and back to work - but don't worry, I have brought my knitting/crochet with me so hopefully there will be something of my own making to share next time :)

Don't forget to visit 1st Unique Gifts to see what the other Handmade Mondayers have been up to :)


Happy Bank Holiday! x

Handmade Monday: Lots of variety!

Here we are - Handmade Monday again! Thanks to Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts for hosting this - it's really helping to keep me motivated to blog regularly and share my creations! I originally planned to blog twice a week, but hey - once a week is better than nothing isn't it?!

It's been a very varied week - a combination of baby impressions and other handmade bits & bobs. Just the way I like it - I love the variety of working from home and choosing what to work on each day.

Here are some baby casts that I finished - so sweet! It does have a little foot on the right hand side, but it didn't fit into the photo without catching reflections off the window! Still, you get the idea...

Baby hand cast with a sweet poem

On the knitting/crochet front, I made a knitted letter 'B' for my daughter - what do you think? I've also started making an 'L' and 'O' - probably to make 'LOVE' but maybe 'LOL' if I'm feeling lazy!

Knitted Letter for my daughter

I also started (but haven't finished) some crochet 'granny' bunting - I want to finish this off before the weekend when I'm at my monthly craft market near home. Nothing like a deadline to keep me focused! There are going to be some other colour combos in it, I'll try and photograph it when it's all done.

Crochet bunting

Finally, I sent off one of my photo frames to be professionally photographed for my Giftwrapped & Gorgeous boutique, and I received the files back. I was really thrilled at how well they came out - much better than I could ever manage. Now I just need to sell lots of them!





I started making these last year, but recently changed the style and size of the writing to make it look like it's written by a child - actually it was really difficult to write like that! My natural instinct was to try and be neat rather than the opposite. The little shapes in the corners are made from polymer clay, with the images stamped into it before baking. By the way, the cheeky little boy is actually my son (not called Harry!) - the photo is quite old now but he is still just as cheeky!!

I hope you enjoyed this week's post - now you've read this, please visit 1st Unique Gifts and have a look at the other bloggers and their lovely creations! See you next week (if not before...) xx

Handmade Monday: Campervans!

It's handmade Monday again - sorry I missed last week, but it's been rather busy here with lots of wooden letters needing painting, covering, varnishing, posting out.... whew!

Anyway, don't forget to check in on Wendy's blog 1st Unique Gifts to see what she's been up to, and to have a browse through the other Handmade Monday blogs.

I've also been busy with baby impressions - here's one I finished this week:

Little Impressions: hand casts of 3 sisters

So you might be wondering why this blog post is called 'Campervans'!
Well, as part of my business is dealing with cute cuddly babies, I'm often browsing the internet or looking on twitter for great and unusual baby products - anything I can talk to my customers about whilst I'm squashing their baby's hands or feet in clay!

This week I came across some fabulous little baby shoes - they just made me think "Oh wow! How sweet are these? I wish I'd seen them when my daughter was a baby." So here they are:

Campervan Baby Shoes!

They are made from lovely quality leather by the British company Pre Shoes . There are loads of lovely designs, including a blue/red campervan design for boys too!

Following on from that, I thought I'd have a browse on Folksy to see what else I could find with campervans on! There are loads of things!! However, some of the nicest I found were these cushions:

Handmade Campervan cushion

They are made by Kindred Rose and there are other lovely cushions in gorgeous colour combos. She is patiently waiting for her first Folksy sale, so please do visit :)

That brings me nicely back to Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts who, of course, makes these which you can buy here

Personalised Campervan wall canvas

Wendy very kindly nominated me for a 'Stylish Blogger' Award as did Angels and Diamonds . Thank you both very much! I haven't had much chance to return the mention and nominate my 15 blogs, but I haven't forgotten....

Perhaps, once I've got through my piles of painted letters, unframed baby impressions, bags of knitting wool etc. I'll be organised enough!

Handmade Monday: Happy Valentines Day!

Another week gone already - here is Handmade Monday again! There seem to be quite a few of us now sharing what we've made recently, so please visit the 1st Unique Gifts blog to see more links, and read about what Wendy's been up to over the weekend.

In case you've just arrived from another planet, today is Valentines Day so I couldn't resist knitting this when I found the pattern on Ravelry, the knitting/crocheting website! I think I might do one in cream, perhaps with some sequins or beading - might make a nice wedding gift idea. What do you think?

Knitted Valentine message

Hubby and I got a lovely handmade card this morning - from my daughter! She must have sneaked off and made it sometime over the weekend - it brought tears to my eyes, but then I am a bit of a softie where my kids are concerned.

I was at a local crafts & collectables market at the weekend - the first one of the year. It was a bit of a shock to the system having to get up so early on a Saturday!! I mainly specialise in baby and young children's items so Valentines Day isn't a major selling event for me, but I did sell one of these to a gentleman looking for a last-minute gift. I hope his wife liked it :)

Romantic wooden hanging heart

Also at the market were the lovely ladies from Caramel Ocean who make gorgeous things! I took this quick pic when their display of Union Jack items caught my eye.

Items by Caramel Ocean, Stone Market

And finally, I know lots of you loved the bunny nuggest last week - I found time to make another, extra fluffy one who might have a new home soon ;-)

I think that's it for now - don't forget to have a look at the other Handmade Monday blogs. I'm off to have a look!



Things to brighten up a blustery day

I don't know where last week went, but it's Handmade Monday again! It's all thanks to Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts who came up with the idea -so please have a look at her blog and all the links from other lovely craftspeople who have been busy creating.

This week has been mostly taken up with finishing off orders for my Wooden Name Letters, which seem really popular at the moment!

Decorated Wooden Name Letters

I love making these - they are all either handpainted, or decoupaged with patterned paper. There is a huge pile of them on our dining table waiting to be finished, so I suppose that's an incentive to get them done before dinnertime!
I've made a start on my (currently very basic) Gifts by Jenny website, so they are now available to buy there, as well as direct from me at craft fairs.

As usual, I've also spent some time knitting in front of the telly. I sold this little cutie a while ago, and have had a request for another so have nearly finished and I think I'll do some more in lovely spring colours, all ready for Easter!

Knitted Bunny Nugget

Lastly, I popped along to the Spring Fair in Birmingham yesterday - mainly to have a good nosey and get some inspiration, and also to look for any lovely items that I can stock and sell online or at markets.
So, in keeping with the general Valentines theme (only 1 week to go) here are some gorgeous little hearts that I saw.

Fair Trade papier-mache hearts

They are made from papier-mache, and imported by a fair trade company. They come from Kashmir where they are made by local women - the quality of these was absolutely amazing and I'm looking forward to stocking some of these as well as their other lovely decorative items.

That's it for now - I'm hoping my next post will be about my baby casting business. I took some great photos of some baby footprints that I'm saving for you...

Enjoy the rest of Monday & see you soon. xx

Handmade Monday - Wool & Snowflakes!

Well, I was just having a 'very quick' look on Twitter this morning, (my husband will laugh at that bit - if you're an avid tweeter you know it's impossible to have a quick look...!) and I came across a great new idea from Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts. She has created 'Handmade Monday' where people who enjoy making things can share their ideas and creations on her blog. Please do have a look at the 1st Unique Gifts blog and also Wendy's website 1st Unique Gifts - she makes gorgeous things.

What a fabulous way to brighten up Mondays - thank you Wendy!

So, for what it's worth here is my little contribution. As we all know, Valentines Day is coming up and it's inspired me to make some little knitted hearts. I haven't knitted for a while (crochet took over!) but these hearts were good fun to make, mainly because they didn't take too long. I like the idea of the personalised one, but am not quite happy with the edging yet... another one in pink is currently on the needles!

If you are interested, the red heart is for sale in my Folksy Shop .

Finally, I want to share this photo. I was at a craft fair just before Christmas, and it started to snow really heavily - those really big, fat flakes. Some flakes swirled into my little hut and landed on some of my crochet items and amongst them was this perfect tiny snowflake - I hope you can actually see it! The photo was only taken on my phone, and it looked much nicer in real life!! You don't often actually see snowflakes like that do you? They're usually all squashed by the time they land.

Well, I'd better get on with some 'proper' work!
Back soon - have a great week everyone :)