Sep

14

Floral Fabric Memo Boards

Craft / Floral / need a gift?

 I’ve been getting a bit crafty recently.  Well, I’ve always been quite crafty, but I mean that I’ve actually finished something, which is nice.  This is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while – making pinboards.  I planned to make them as presents – this one is to be a present for someone for their wedding in a couple of weeks. (shhhhh don’t tell them!)  This one has cute mini floral fabric, thin red ribbon and contrasting buttons of different colours with different threads! Oh, and if you get a pinboard for Christmas – try and act surprised, please… ;-)

So what do you think?

I enjoyed making it and I thought perhaps I could sell a couple alongside my illustrations.  It compliments my postcards I sell nicely, don’t you think!?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on it – do you think they could sell?

You can find the “Wellies” postcard for sale on Etsy.  Only a few left!

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May

10

One for the Fan Club

Craft / Friends

I received a lovely gift in the post the other day. It had travelled all the way from Teddington (I do love the way the lady on the London trains says this destination) to Durham. It was a hand painted Floral Footstep mug and bowl set!
This fan had even hand painted tiny little footprints in the bottom of the personalised crockery. I was touched, and the bowl and mug sit proudly on my little shelf (that I intended to make into a cup shelf and never got round to.) Thanks Jo*, you’re absolutely wonderful.

Today is a good day – not only do I get to admire the handiwork of my fans (by the way, if you fancy sending through fan drawings, paintings and other inspiring things to me through the post, I’m always happy to receive them…) but today is also Adobe Day.  Today, (I flippin’ hope) I will receive my birthday present from my husband in the post – Adobe CS5.5.  I’m so excited, but I really haven’t the foggiest how to use it.  I have a primitive understanding of Photoshop CS3, but beyond that – most things are a mystery.  If you have advice, please share!

*For those who are interested, Jo is married to the man who appears in this post.

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Dec

30

Christmas Crafts

Christmas / Craft / Floristry / need a gift? / Winter

Twiggy Wreaths

Fruity Wintry Colours

Dried Rose Heads

Candles in Pots

Christmas presents and Christmas decorations.

Just before Christmas, I treated myself to a glue gun – a dream fulfilled!  Christmas presents were handmade this year – dried roses, fake berries, apples and cinnamon were glued onto twiggy wreaths and given as gifts.  Roses were glued in heart shapes for cousins and framed in wooden box frames.  The glue dried quicker than I expected, so I had a few mishaps in the beginning.  Candles were set in bowls or jam jars and surrounded by cupressus, ivy spores, glittered gold leaves and burgundy ribbon.  These livened up the Christmas dinner table, which didn’t really need livening up – it was a feast yet again this year!

The white chocolate cheesecake was my favourite this Christmas.

All photos taken with my spangly new Portrait Lens!

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Dec

18

Wreath Making Session: A Retrospective

Business Footsteps / Christmas / community / Craft / Durham / Events / Floristry / Seasonal / Session / Winter / Wreath

I didn’t have time to report on the wreath-making session on Tuesday right away as I’ve been filming things with green screens, been in and out of work, attended Christmas parties and finishing off a big DIY project (more photos to come on that…)

24 crafty creatures came to our session on Tuesday, ranging from as young as the under 10′s and as old as the over 70s.  We had cinnamon, raffia, berries, dried oranges, pinecones, dried seeds, golden leaves, roses in all colours, blue spruce, cupresses and of course, pearly glitter and gold spray.  The under 10′s particularly loved the gold spray.  Poor Phil had to man the “messy play” table, and try to mop up the spray on the wood panelled walls of the Appleby Rooms.

Traditional lessons in floristry were learnt, all manner of decorative things were wired and 24 beautiful, unique and personal Christmas wreaths were created.  A big hand to everyone who came, you all did really well.

An Easter bonnet making session next?

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Nov

25

Handpainted Christmas Gift Tags

Christmas / Craft / Home Life / Illustration / watercolour / Winter

We had an early Christmas last weekend as Phil’s parents are off to Australia for the festive season. It’s less festive out there, but it is nicer weather I suppose, and I’ve heard there’s an important cricket match on…?
So we were forced to get festive nice and early. I enjoy the little extras at Christmas-time, especially if they are a part of gifts. This year I handpainted simple watercolour gift tags and attached them to our presents with raffia. I haven’t told you about my love for raffia yet have I? Expect a blog raving about it very soon…
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Nov

16

Join In: Make Your Own Christmas Wreath

Christmas / community / Craft / Floristry / Session / Wreath
I am very excited to bring news of a wonderful seasonal opportunity; a one-off session run by Floral Footsteps on Making your own Christmas Wreath!

Nothing beats traditional craftsmanship, particularly at Christmas time; a season of celebration and family and history.  Wreaths hung on doors at Christmas time evoke festive cheer in us all, but can also cost a lot of money to buy.  On Tuesday 14th December from 7 – 9:30pm in the Appleby Rooms, Durham City, you have the opportunity to make one of these wreaths yourself, all materials supplied.
The session will be very informal, lots of fun and a taster to some floral techniques.  By the end of the evening, you’ll have your very own traditional decorated wreath to take home and a stash of memories and skills to treasure.  There will be complimentary mulled wine and mince pies available too,  not to mention plenty of Christmas tunes…
The cost of the session is £10.  This includes:
All materials required to make a plain mossed traditional wreath based on a wire ring.
Decorative items such as ribbons, raffia (my favourite!), dried oranges, seed heads, berries, gold spray and more…
You will need to bring the following:
A sharp pair of scissors.
I will only be supplying one or two different types of foliage, so I really recommend you bring bags of clippings of fir, other evergreens or holly if you have access to some.
If you have any decorative items you wish to use, bring them too.
Places are limited, so make sure you register for a place soon!  You can register your interest using this form, or you can email me directly.  Payment for the session must be received by Sunday 12th December to guarantee a place.
Really looking forward to seeing you & to smelling the cinnamon, oranges and fir trees!
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Sep

09

There’s Always Time for Creativity in the Midst of DIY

busy / Craft / DIY

As I explained a month ago, Phil and I delved into a little DIY. Our lounge is currently back to brickwork, with beams, falling plaster and lead covered lighting cables (!). With this enormous ongoing project, reducing us to just two working rooms (a kitchen and a bedroom) we also decided to entirely revamp our bathroom. In hindsight, perhaps this was a bonkers decision.

It used to look like this:

For a while, looked like this:

And now looks a little something like this:

There’s still more to be done, but it certainly feels much nicer!
My Dad (hero of all things practical) and Phil (developing hero of practical things) worked on fitting the floors and plumbing in the suite, and summoned me out of their way. Seizing a small creative opportunity, I grabbed some leftover mosaic tiles, a tube of superglue and an old Amaretto bottle and put my ideas to work, creating a matching vase for the bathroom tiles. I finished it with a silvery ribbon around the top and popped a collection of dried grasses Phil and I borrowed from an obliging beach. It now sits on the windowsill, amongst the tubs of bathroom sealant and decorators caulk.

Creative need satisfied.

DIY Tip from hero Dad: don’t buy expensive border tiles for your bathroom, buy cheap mosaic tiles in the clearance and cut them up. Works a treat!

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