Christmas card OH Christmas card

 

I was inspired to make my Christmas cards this year, I wanted something sustainable and found these brilliant recycled paper cards and envelopes on eBay, they were £10 for 50.

I used a tree stamp, silver and black pens for the design, simple but festive. I love the idea of putting a photo inside Christmas cards, it makes them so personal and with young children our families are always asking for updated photos of them. I managed to get a shot taken on a recent trip to visit Father Christmas at the GWSR railway in Cheltenham. If you register to snap fish you can order up to 40 prints for.....FREE!!! I paid just over £1 for postage, bargain!

So here they are, I am so pleased with them and hope they make our friends and family smile when they open them

Needle felting

On Tuesday evening I attended a needle felting class at Prema Arts in Uley, a 2 hour class with the lovely Sophie

Having never needle felted before I had no idea what to expect and also held out not much hope of producing anything much at all

Well, after 20 minutes we were all beavering away pushing our sharp felting needles into the soft lambs wool, shaping, twisting and pushing the fibres together.

I am so pleased with the end result, my own little dog. I can't think of a name for him though, any ideas?

Take care, Natalie xx

Wotton-Under-Edge Arts and Crafts trail

We've now been living here in Wotton (which is half way between Gloucester and Bristol,how lucky are we!) for 7 years.

We saved our pennies and bought a little old stone cottage. Mr Ford, or Flash as everyone calls him lived here since he was born and his parents before him. Both Mr and I felt a responsibility to the cottage to treat it with respect and take it back to what it really is.

When we moved in it had strawberry wall paper in with whinny kitchen, green 1970's carpet everywhere and a corner bath perfect for old folk but not a couple that wanted to make a family here.

We tackled the kitchen first and in between going away to get married we did all the washing up in the bath and cooked in the lounge! I remember walking in one day and the kitchen had a mud floor, the walls were stone and there was no ceiling. I like caves but really... not in my house!

One wedding with out little Asa bun in the oven and then little Jasper came along 17 months later we really needed to finish the house. Mr and I sat down one evening and decided we could spend the next 5 years renovating on weekends, evenings etc or just go for it for 3 months. Well I coped but only just. Crazy, crazy times. We now have a beautiful cottage with stone and white walls, 2 separate rooms for the boys and a small bedroom for us.

This place is truly the first place that felt like home since moving out from my parents when I was 19.

Tomorrow is the Wotton Art and Craft fair, a truly great walk around the town with some great artists. Come and see Belinda in Paper & Cotton.

Enjoy your Sundays everyone

Take care, Natalie xx

A cloud is free and so flies away, as a white sail upon the ocean, bright with the light of a sunny ray,with its gossamer wings in motion

So garlands are the order of most of my days at the moment, well in my mind anyway as life takes over with the mumma jobs I must do...washing, changing beds, cooking and playing with the lads. I do however like to ponder on what projects I would like to work on when they are both tucked up in bed. I realise that as they grow I do need to do somethings for myself. When they are awake they dominate everything thing and thought I have, I love it this way.

While on my surf time a few weeks ago I stumbled on a great none-sew design for a garland, to me though they are tassel's and so here is the step by step guide to how I made them. Please use it and let me know how you get on, have you added anything to make them better?

In my lunch break I made my way to "The fabric warehouse" a warehouse? no, however there was lots of fabric, not too pricey as well which is always a bonus. I bought four colours of pure cotton which (fingers crossed) won't fade too much outside.

It all came to £4.87 so a cheap crafty project









To make the tassells I first of all ironed the fabric to keep it nice a flat. I then cut out rectangles 24" by 30" then folded then in half

I then cut the tassells into the fabric 1" apart

I then turned the fabric round and rolled it up keeping it as tights as possible

Once rolled I folded it in half and then with a spare bit of fabric I tied it up at the top and then pushed the fabric through to secure it. I then pushed some natural binders string through them and asked hubby to help me put them up. I asked him if he liked them..... "they are nice" ........I then asked A(4 years old) "I don't like them mumma, they are just a bit silly" well at least he tells me what he really thinks. Me though, well I love them and enjoy watching them move in the wind

Take care

Natalie xx

PS Poem by Linda Marie Van Tassell

Kissing doves x

Since a friend told me about the wonder of blogs I have been using my web time to look around. I love reading about what other people have been doing, creating, thinking and feeling. In  a world which seems to full of consumerism and celebrity gossip it is so refreshing and inspiring.

I stumbled upon a blog talking about garlands, I did not realise this about myself before but I really love anything strung up and hanging. As A and J grow I seem to be struggling to cope with their arguing and am the constant peace keeper. So, I decided to encourage them to focus on specific activities. We made some lovely doves this week, we had sponges, paint and glitter which I bought in my lunch hour (thank goodness for them!) and we got busy

We followed this tutorial by the lovely Sharilyn from lovely design. Have a go, we loved creating them and I am sure they will stay up for many months!

Kissing doves make me very happy, who knew?

Take care

Natalie xx

Crafting in the bahroom...

My bathroom cabinet has been annoying me for some time, silly I must admit but there it is. I bought it 5 years ago from a second hand shop as a plate holder. Once we finished renovating our cottage we realised we had no room for it in the kitchen. I bashed out (I like to bash!) the plate holders and turned it upside down. It has been residing in my bathroom ever since but has never looked quite "finished"

We have a great shop in Wotton Under Edge called Paper & Cotton, I got my inspiration from Belinda Downs who owns it.

I popped into my local charity shop and hunted a while in the book section, I found 2 books, both for the princely some of 50p each. One a 1958 Robin Hood book and the other a 1960 book on flowers.

I then a little hesitantly ripped out all the pages I liked, no too many pictures and not too much text.

Once I'd lined them up against the back of the unit to make sure they fit I trimmed the edges. I made up a mix of 50/50 pva and water. I then used a paint brush to essentially wallpaper them to the unit gluing them on the back, putting the sheet up on the wood then gluing it in place.

I found a few air bubbles came up so just ensure you push them out with either your fingers or your paint brush

I now love my bathroom upside down, old plate holder cabinet, I am defiantly a bit fickle!

All finished

Take Care, Natalie xx