A very L-O-N-G post!

Hello, I'm still here! Amazing how general life gets in the way of blogging sometimes hey? Anyway, it's the weekend so I finally have time to post.

So I haven't been posting much but I have been crafting!
The third of my Seasons girls cross-stitches, Winter, is done. Wheeee! Only one more to go and they will all be finished!


I really like the colours in this one, the photo's not that great but the blues are really pretty. This one also included white glow-in-the-dark thread as well as normal and variations threads. It's used in the snow in the corners, and you know what - it actually does glow-in-the-dark! It looks quite weird actually, with random glowing spots over the design.

I was all ready to go with Spring, the last girl but as I was ironing the Aida (you wouldn't believe the creases in it!) I found a dirty patch. So that needed a bit of cleaning. I couldn't get rid of it completely but in only really shows on one side so I think we'll all just pretend it isn't there.

Most of my crafting time in this past week has been spent on making this book. It's for my Art & Fashion class at school, a fantastic subject - I get to spend it doing crafty things!


It was taking ages to make it just at school and I want to move onto the next project there (softies!) so I brought it home to finish off. It's quite a simple design really and I'm thinking of making more to sell in our MadeIt shop. Some of the pages are made from decorated paper. I painted some of mine and ripped up and stuck sheet music on some others. The style of binding the book ends up with the tails of thread so I decorated mine by knotting some beads on.
Part of the project guidelines was that we had to put some stuff in the book. I have no idea what I want to use it for so I just decorated some of the pages, sticking to my turquoise colour scheme.



I went through my stash and pulled out everything that was turquoise and used it. The drawn pages were done using my new Inktense Derwent pencils. I love these pencils and have a big tin of 72 now to go with my set of 72 Studio Derwent pencils. Inktense pencils are similar to watercolours but they are brighter and look more like ink than watercolour pencils.

Lastly, Crafty Things and I have been working together to come up with these:


They are patchwork luggage tags! Crafty Things made a set when we went on holidays last September. I'm sure you all know how hard it can be to distinguish your bags from all the other ones on the carousel. These tags make it much easier to spot. They are about 11cm by 6cm with an elastic hairband used to attach them. The set we use is just patchwork front with a plain calico back. The ones we are working on now (pictured) have a little pocket on the back so that you can add a name and address on a card if you want, in case they get lost.


We were thinking of using clear plastic at first but decided fabric was better. With plastic anyone could see your details, and these days you don't particularly want this. This way, the card is hidden but still there just in case. (Are we slightly security-mad and paranoid perhaps?)
We just have to figure out the best card to use so that it won't fall our, because that would just be useless! Once that's sorted they will be up for sale in our shop. I think we'll make a few pocket-less sets (maybe with some crocheted flowers on the back) and they will probably be there sooner. I'll let you know, watch this space!