and relax...

We've had a very lovely Christmas and enjoyed some good times with family and friends. 

We've given and received some wonderful handmade gifts, which I can now show you. 

I made all the crafty women in the family a crochet hook case, I managed to post 2 without photographing them, but you can see the one for my Sister-in-Law here. This one I made for my Mum, and I plan to make one for me too soon. 

I got these gorgeous brooches, (by Judith Brown who makes beautiful jewellery from vintage haberdashery) from Mr and the girls

along with some Liberty goodies, mmmmmm, lucky me

I finished the picnic blankets for my girls and I'm so pleased with how they turned out.

  
The idea for these came to me when Missy Big was about 18 months old, it's taken me quite a while, but I think they were worth the wait. They are well played with already which is a good sign.

 

 

 

There are plenty of makey things in the pipeline, can't wait to get started. But right now there are a few days left of the holidays to enjoy. 

Happy New Year!

Thank you for all your comments, visits and smiles over the last year - here's to a fabulous 2012 for us all 

x X x

the fun bits

The making and baking have to be the best bits on the run up to Christmas, there are a few things I can't share - but these are some of the things I've been up to in the last few weeks.

 

Both girls drew an angel shape, I made a felt figure and added some lace wings and they applied the details with glitter glue from a tube. Their teachers loved them.

 

more tree decorations for the teaching assistants, stuffed with choccies...

...along with some homemade fudge

one of our advent stocking challenges was to make some 3D snowflakes, I really enjoyed doing these - it was a little tough for little hands but they loved seeing them open out.

and of course some biscuits

Now we have just two more sleeps, a few things to wrap and a fridge full of yummies to munch on. 

Oh, and a visit to the feed the reindeer tomorrow, this was last years visit it really does bring the magic alive.

Wishing you and your family a wonderfully 

Merry Christmas

see you all on the other side

x X x

creative Christmas

My creative space this week is trying to sneakily make 2 little girls a picnic blanket each for Christmas, it is of course great fun making vintage tea cups and yummy cakes from scraps of fabrics. But progress is a little slow, and you know that clock is ticking...

The magic is certainly in the air, making Christmas wishes as the girls sent their letters up the chimney to Father Christmas, I very nearly shed a tear.

Hoping the magic is with you too, I'm not getting around many blogs lately - I'll pop by your place soon - I promise! x

feeling festive

How many more sleeps? We're getting a little excited now.

A couple of months ago my Mum taught my girls how to do marbling. They were hooked, instantly. We have so many sheets of pretty patterns now, I was wondering what on earth to do with them. 

Turns out the marbled paper makes the loveliest snowflakes, to decorate your windows, make cards for your teachers, and I'm sure they will end up on some gift wrap too.

The advent stockings are hanging up, stuffed with crafty supplies, chocolate coins and clues to hunt for things to colour and make. It's all getting very festive, I think I like the build up just as much as the actual day. 

These were todays challenge, a bag of bits each to make a snowman...

 

Happy days. x

i heart brooches

It's true, I have tonnes of them, sparkley, flowery, vintage, modern, handmade, stitched, wooden. Love them.

I made some for the brooch swap, back here. I made some more, for friends and family, now I've made some more...

This lot actually made it into my shop.

I have so much to tell, but I seem to have fallen out of the blogging habit, hoping I'll find my groove again soon. 

Linking up with more creative spaces, so much Christmas stuff over there, damn I'm behind!

portraits on the tube

This story begins in 1996. On a tube journey home from work I was, as usual engrossed in a good book. As I went to get off at my stop a guy persistently pushed something into my hand, I snarled a little but took it from him. 

Once I was off the tube I looked at what he'd given me. It was a sketch, of me. I did of course want to get back on a talk to him, but the doors closed and he was gone. If I remember correctly he had long dreadlocks and a calm and friendly demeanour.

Many years later Mr and I were going through some stuff and I came across a portrait of him too. His was done in 1988, a few years before we met. Mr remembers the chap and had noticed that he was watching him and thought he was writing something down, the guy handed the picture to him before he got off the tube.

For years I have wondered about this man, does he still do this, does he do it all the time, who is he? Today I asked the question and sent an e-mail to Robert Elms on his BBC London radio show, if you've ever lived or worked in London you might of heard his show, on a Wednesday there is a Notes and Queries slot, you ring in with a question about London, however obscure and someone answers it. 

I thought we would get some answers, a few people rang in who had also had their portrait drawn but not that many and nothing about the guy himself. So I'm asking you! If you have ever visited, worked in or lived in London were you sketched by a black guy, whose name is either H or A Govindeer? 

It would be fantastic to get a collection of photos of his work together, if you have a portrait of yourself send me a picture, tell me your story. Don't worry if you don't blog I will write a post and put it up on here. Ask your friends, maybe they have one lurking in a draw somewhere too. And if you know the man himself, even better!


E-mail me - colette (dot) moscrop (at) ntlworld (dot) com

You can listen again to the show here, (Mr is on just after 1pm) this is available for the next 7 days or see the story on facebook here.

I love these pictures, I have been saying for ages we should get them framed and on the wall. Now seems like the perfect time.

His and Hers

These have been in my head for far too long.

It's nice when they turn out just right isn't it?

Inspired by these, from last year. I have many other versions whirling around, I'll get there. 

They are in my shop, if you're already thinking of Christmas.

What's in your creative space?

Little Missy is getting big

I've been a little preoccupied lately. Someone small turned four at the weekend and I very easily slipped into present making and party planning and stayed away from the world of blogging for what seems like forever. Hello again, it's nice to be back!

I had a go at a rainbow cake, I've seen them all over blogland and thought I'd have a go, a layer for each year. I used gel food colourings as many people suggested for a more intense colour, I was pleasantly surprised when I cut into it, as it had seemed a little dull when each layer came out of the oven. 

A happy party playing pass the parcel, pin the hat on scooby-dooby-dooby-dooby-do, musical spots, you get the idea, simple pleasures.
 

 

Little Missy, we love your adventurous spirit, have-a-go attitude, drama queen antics, endless twirling and hilarious face pulling.   

Happy Birthday baby girl x

A Tale from the Scrap Heap

This is a Tale from the Scrap Heap of Flaming Nora. The woman has scraps, and more than most. A long time ago from a far away part of London she sent me a bundle of scraps and said 'make something'. 
  

I got mostly silk douppion in beautiful jewel colours.

So I began thinking about what to make with these scraps?  As I was hanging out the washing, I realised that many people comment on my 'fancy' peg bag, made from scraps so called 'luxurious' scraps, the floral Liberty fabric is from a skirt I made for our honeymoon 8 years ago and it's lined with silk douppion scraps patched together. It's a little faded and worn, but every time I hang out yet another load, a flashback of lying on the beach in Antigua makes me smile. 

That's when I decided that these beautiful bold coloured silks were perfect to cheer up the dull everyday chores of domestic life. This coincided neatly with my desperate attempts to tidy, sort and organise my ramshackle house, so it's guilt free crafty time - it has a purpose.

 

First up I made a carrier bag tidy, despite always taking bags with me when I go shopping they still manage to worm their way into the house. 

 

A lot of my scarps were long strips, so they inspired this make. I used a run and fell seam to join shorter lengths together, then french seamed the strips together, I decided it may only be a bag tidy but silk deserves to be finished nicely.

A piece of cord from an old carrier bag provided the drawstring top and a scrap of elastic at the bottom lets me grab a bag quickly. It looks mighty cheery too.

My second idea came about by the death of our fridge/freezer. When the new one arrived I couldn't bring myself to fill up the front with all the notes/reminders/bills etc. that had messily cluttered the old one. So I made some pockets. 

I left some raw edges on this one, I like the way the shot in the fabric gives you a contrasting frayed edge.

I zigzagged the smaller pieces together to get my pocket size (lay it on top of some newspaper when you do this, it stops the puckering and just rips away after)

A scrap of my own denim was the perfect backing, I stitched some rigilene (plastic boning) along the back so the pocket didn't sag when on the fridge - you could stitch in a channel for an old ruler / piece of mount board etc to do this. (make sure it's not something too heavy).
 

Stitch on your pockets, stick on your magnets,

Now you have a tidy fridge, at least on the outside.



My third make was a super quick and easy doorstop, there is a door that nearly knocks me out daily, why I haven't done something about it until now is beyond me. 

I only had a tiny bit of green, so patched it on with the zigzag again to keep as much of it as I could .  I made a denim inner bag and filled it with dried beans (rice works just as well).

 

Perfect, except it looks too much like a pillow and there is usually a teddy sleeping on it.


If you made it all the way to the end of this enormous post you deserve a reward - head over to Flaming Nora and get yourself a bag of free scraps (you just pay the cost of the postage to you). Make something fabulous and show it off.

 

I still have a few scarps left, I'm waiting for inspiration to hit me for these. Happy scrapping!