Crafty Christmas: Pottery Painting

I had a rather Crafty Christmas actually, from making badges out of my favourite left over wrapping paper to tie-dying socks (inspired by Kirstie)

My favourite was pottery painting, something me and my sister love to go and do at our favourite ceramics cafe in Farnham.

This time I decided to paint a little owl. I finallly got him back from the kiln today, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Colours and brushstrokes always look so different after being kilned, and I've had a few disasters in the past, but not this time!
(Yes, Meg decided to paint a Ninja Gecko - he also turned out great!)

Before

After

Top Drawer Spring/Summer 2014 - Mibo and Miho

Hello and Happy New Year!

On Monday I did one of my favourite things and visited the Spring/Summer preview at Top Drawer with the lovely Polly.

It was only a short visit, but enough time to inspire us. 

As per usual I fell in love with a lot of products, but I thought I would share a couple of my all time faves:

Mibo are a small company that create products with the cutest animal designs on them. My favourites are their greeting's cards that you can cut, fold and make your own little 3D animal. I recently bought a Fox and an Owl to make at home, I love them!

I also have the fox tea towel that you can cut up and make into a cushion - I'm looking forward to making that one crafternoon.

Now with a similar name and theme, another favourite: Miho Unexpected Things.

I have been selling these at work for a couple of years now, and they still remain one of my favourite products. I have one of the deer heads on my living room wall, it's a coated MDF that comes flat packed but slots all togather. What I love about seeing Miho at tradeshows is seeing the whole range of their products all together. There are so many different designs, sizes and some new additions to the collection such as bird houses, branches and even horse heads. 

My Stag head on the wall

I'm looking forward to the next trade show already!

Recent Crafternoons

Decoupage birdhouse decorations
Knitted print decoupage paper - Hobbycraft


Handmade Kindle case from an old book
more on this soon!...

Made in Clerkenwell

2 buildings +100 designers = the ultimate shopping treat!

Today and tomorrow I am working at Craft Central to help at their winter open studios. Designer makers in both of the Clerkenwell buildings are opening their studio doors to the public.
A great change to pick up some lovely hand-crafted crimbo presents, as well as a lot of inspiration!

Click on the flyer for more info.

I'll blog as the event goes on, hopefully with some pics!

PomPom

Whilst sitting in front of the fire over Christmas, I for some reason had the urge to make some pompom's. I'm not too sure why but I made several in different colours and sizes, before making a mega pompom the size of my head! Suggestions on what to do with them now would be appreciated!!