Here it is…

I found it in a little secondhandy sort of shop in Hampstead in the early 1990s and fell in love with it on the spot – I paid about £20 for it (which was rather a lot for me at the time!). The combination of sad faces and hearts really appealed to me, and still does. I love the simple design, and the way the clasp works perfectly with the design (and the clasp has never failed me, which I suppose is a sign of good craftsmanship!).

It has the makers mark Askew London on the back of the clasp, and a bit of digging on the internet turned up this:

Askew of London seemed to be in production through the eighties to the early nineties. Their vintage jewellery was often gold plated with a mix of statement necklaces, earrings, bracelets and brooches. Signed Askew of London.

Famous owners of vintage jewellery pieces to date is Keira Knightley who was spotted wearing a bracelet. Prices are rising for these named pieces.

So maybe my £20 was well spent back then?! I’d never part with it though!

On a non-jewellery front, I have a new birdie in my shop – here he is:

And I’ve also been busy making more greetings cards – I have quite a selection now! Stop by and have a peep at the Cards section of my shop if you have a spare mo!

Right, on with the housework… *sigh…*

I now have four designs of cards in my little Etsy shop:

Guess I need to do a skull card and a blue keyring to even things up!

I’ve also been working on a noofing today – here it is, nearly-but-not-quite-finished!

Well, Easter isn’t that far away really, is it!

I’ve almost decided to take a stall at a local craft fair at the end of March – it’ll depend on if I can get a good stock of items made, and that’s the problem… I want to experiment and make new things, and try out new ideas, rather than build of a stock of things I already make! Is that bad?! Do any of you have that problem?!

And on the subject of trying out new ideas, I’d really like to start doing Hardanger embroidery again – I learnt about 12 years ago while I was living in Iceland. It has its origins in Norway and is traditionally done in white. I dug out an old photo of a couple of my pieces:

So that’s another thing on my to-do list! Although the old goth in me would like to do Hardanger with a twist – all in black! I think that’d look quite cool!

I’m also itching to have a go at a teeny needle-felted elephant brooch after a Craftbritannia teamie planted the seed…

…could anyone give me… ohhhh, I dunno… about 7 extra hours in every day?!

noofing n. a new thing

Here’s my second noofing of 2012, hurrah!

It’s a Valentine’s card, with a simple, needle-felted heart design mounted on yummy Bockingford watercolour paper.

It matches this keyring:

I’m going to be offering cards to match my other keyrings too soon – I have four designs so far, with more on the way!

Here’s my Valentine’s card in my Etsy shop.

Right, now I’m off for a relaxing soaky bath – I had a bit of a fight with my printer earlier so need to chill out! I mean my computer printer, not the little man who does my printing, I don’t have one of those. Well, unless you include Moo, but I’ve no reason to pick a fight with them!

Which reminds me, must order Moo mini-cards by midnight to get the discount…

Which reminds me of being reminded of something last night. We were watching Top of The Pops, and Hot Chocolate came on singing ‘I believe in miracles’, which reminded me that when I was little I thought he was singing ‘I believe in milko’, and that reminded me that we’d run out of milk and as it was nearly midnight, all the shops were shut. Bah!

I’ve finished my first creation of 2012, hurrah!

Here’s everything ready to start felting…

By the way, my workbox was a Christmas pressie from my other half’s sister last year – no, the year before last now! – it’s so useful, I love it!

And here’s the new fledgling in progress…

…and here he is all finished – a weeny baby brown owl brooch

Now he’s happily perched in my shop just waiting for you to buy him!

I thought I’d share with you one of the custom needle-felted cats I made this year – it was for the hugely talented glass artist Rachel Elliott, and is her mum’s cat Jo Jo:

I think it’s my favourite so far of all the cats I’ve made

And now… *raises glass!* …a toast to all you lovely readers and customers out there! Thank you for reading, and for shopping with stupidcats – I wish you all a happy, healthy and successful 2012! Here’s to you all!

*clink!*

I remember sitting at the green formica-topped kitchen table with Mum when I was small, watching her wrap presents.

It was a very precise operation. First, the roll of paper was spread out, weighted down at the corners, and the scissors put in front of the roll to stop it rolling up again.

The item to be wrapped (the wrapee?!) was then laid on the paper, a couple of centimetres from one edge, and careful consideration was given to the depth of the wrapee – it’s position was carefully adjusted so that there was just enough paper to cover just over half it’s depth. A small pencil mark was made the same distance from its other edge.

Then the wrapee was turned over end on end three times, and a small pencil mark made a couple of centimetres from where the wrapee ended up.

The wrapee was then carefully set aside.

The weights and scissors were removed, and the paper was folded along the length of the roll, at the first pencil mark. A gentle fold was made, and if it was satisfactory, thumbnail pressure was applied to get a nice, sharp crease.

Now then – you’re expecting the scissors to make another appearance here, aren’t you?

Well, no.

What did appear was the carving knife. It was inserted into the folded paper and with a lovely, whispery noise the paper was cut perfectly. The same operation was then performed at the other pencil mark.

Next came the tape – 3 short pieces, not so long that they’d hang off the edges of the wrapee, were cut and stuck lightly by one end to the edge of the table. (Here the scissors made their comeback!).

The wrapee was positioned on the paper, and a light ‘test-wrap’ was performed. Small adjustments were then made so that you’d end up with the edge to be taped about a centimetre off-centre. That edge was then folded back on itself sharply. The ‘proper’ wrap then took place, and the first bit of tape applied the nice, neat join.

Each end was then folded down, the corners folded in, and the bottom bit folded up – and there was always just enough paper to fold the bottom edge back in under itself to get a clean, sharp, folded edge, rather than a cut edge. The final two pieces of tape were then applied, and hey-presto! One perfectly wrapped present!

I don’t remember the addition of ribbons, bows or tags – it was the precise, careful measuring, cutting and folding that stuck in my mind, and Mum’s deft, nimble fingers. Not a scrap of paper was wasted – just enough was used, and leftover bits were carefully rolled or folded for later use. Really small bits were put in the big, flat box that once upon a time had contained chocolates, and that lived in The End Cupboard where at some point later when my sister or I were looking for a small bit of paper with a bell, or a robin or something on it, it would be there waiting for us.

That’s one of the reasons why I love wrapping presents – it reminds me of Mum showing me how, and of watching her do it.

This year I went for a robin theme…

…and made the tags by sticking offcuts of paper onto stiff card and punching a metal rivet through the corner…

For ribbons I used a mixture of rafia (from my own End Cupboard stash!) and some beautiful threads and dyed wool from SpinningStreak.

And – of course – it’s lovely to see the appreciation on peoples faces when they’re presented with a gift that has had a bit of time and thought put into the wrapping. And they look great under the tree!

Merry Christmas dear readers! I hope you all have a wonderful time!

I’m so chuffed, I never win anything!

Massive, massive thanks to everyone who voted

Here’s my winning wol…

And huge apologies to Annie, who I pipped to the post – it was a very close thing!

Annie has a great blog – please take a look! Here’s her lovely poppy picture, and link above takes you to her post about how she made it

Thanks again to everyone who voted, and to CraftBlogUK for hosting such a fun party!

Here are some of the things I’m wrapping… Believe me, it’s been rather hard not to keep them for myself!

This sweet little owly bag is made by FruteJuce – I’m going to fill it with little treats It’s beautifully made, and you can choose the material for the lining.

Rachel Elliott is such a talented glass artist! I’ve been eyeing up her lovely leverets for ages!

Ok, there’s always one. *hangs head shamefully…*

I’m afraid that these beautiful earings by Alison Moore are NOT going to be wrapped. I was very good for nearly a week after they arrived, but finally crumbled and I’m wearing them right now!

I love the mixture of elegance and rustic charm Alison breathes into her work – I have seven pairs of her earings now, next on the list are her stacking rings!

So apologies to XXXXXX who was going to be getting earings for Christmas, but will now be getting something else! Ooooops!

Finally, with only about 19 hours left to vote, CraftBlogUK’s Christmas Link Party is getting really exciting, with two crafters currently neck and neck! If you haven’t voted yet, please do – don’t forget, you can vote for up to three different items! And if you like my little snowy owl brooch and give it one of your votes – well, that’d just be lovely!

Thanks for reading! x

Aw! There’s also a new recruit to the stupidcats birdie family – here he is:

Rather festive, eh?

By the way, if I suddenly squeal it’s because a string broke – we currently have the piano tuner in – it always makes me wince…!

Have you all had a look at CraftBlogUK’s Christmas Link Party, and voted for your three favourite items? If not, please go peep and support UK craftfolk by voting – and if you happen to like my little snowy owl and pop a vote on him… Well, that’d just be lovely! Here’s the link:

CraftBlogUK Christmas Link Party

And while you’re there, have a look around – there’s some really interesting crafty posts.

Eeek, there are some rather scarey creaks coming from the piano… It’s rather old and sad – I hope it survives…

See you around! x

Just remembered about the WordPress app on my phone so thought I’d pop a wee blog!

One of my Craftbritannia teamies on Etsy told me about the Christmas Link Party that CraftBlogUK are running – you add a piccie of one of your favourite creations, and after the deadline anyone can vote on their favourites. CraftBlogUK will then feature the winner on their blog.

Being of the shy, retiring type (!) I’ve never done anything like this before, but in a sudden fit of madness I posted a piccie of my little snowy wol brooch

And squeeeeeeee! There’s still over two days to vote, but at the mo little wol is in the lead with 32 votes!

There are some fabulous crafters featured there – including some of my Craftbritannia teamies – so if you have a mo, pop over and have a look. You can vote for up to three items, so if you join in please use all your votes

CraftBlogUK Christmas Link Party

That’s all for now peeps! Catch ya later! x