Knitting for Children In Need ....

We have always talked, at work, about us doing something as a group for Children in Need and this year my work pal, Rose, and I have decided that this will be The Year .....

We are holding a KnitFest (although this might change to CraftFest) in November .....

As you might have guessed there will be knitting but there will also be sewing (such as aprons, peg bags and the like), hand made cards and altered items (of course), home made cakes, home made jams and chutneys and anything else we can think of .... We even have the local Model Railway Club coming along with a couple of layouts.
Our employer has very kindly given us the use of two of our Community Buildings for free and access to the rather clever office laser printer and photocopier - so every single penny taken will go to Children in Need .....
So in amongst all the recent stresses of my life, I have been knitting ......
Here are some finished knitted bags .....All of them are lined courtesy of my new sewing machine - lol. Remember the rather sagging muti-coloured one from a previous post - lol and the big blue one at the back even has pockets on both sides of the lining - how clever is that - lol.
Here are some Works in Progress ....
Everything here needs to be sewn up and finished off - the three knitted hats need pompoms (not made one of those for years and years - lol) the knitted snake needs facial features (this is a great hit with the Gorgeous One aka Finley William), the child's cardi needs the second sleeve putting in and the whole thing sewing up and the green piece is going to be another bag .....
And here's Pudsey - another Work in Progress ......
My sewing up skills will be put to the test with this one - so Pudsey will probably go to an experienced knitting friend of mine to be put together ......
And this is the Current Work .....Another knitted bag in a nice linen/cotton mix with the yarn used double - so it should be a fairly quick knit ....
Coming away from knitting, I was beginning to get a bit concerned that I hadn't played with any paper, ink or stamps and made a mess for ages. My craft room was soooooooooo tidy but I just didn't feel like doing or even want to do anything - but that all changed yesterday. I went to the Craft Barn in Surrey for a day long workshop with Sue Roddis and we made this ....This being a wooden perpetual calendar. I've never been to a workshop before but I had a great time and I bought another calendar and some other wooden bits and pieces to alter ....
Going to the class gave me the kick up the proverbial and as soon as I got home, I was back in my craft room and playing catch up with the girls in a monthly ATC swap group I belong to ....So - there you have it - what I've been up to.
Off now to make some notebooks for the KnitFest/CraftFest .....

Houses and Clever, Inspiring People ....

Last weekend, on Saturday, I got it right and went to The Craft Barn Extravaganza on the correct day - lol - and had a great time. There were more clever people there than you can shake a stick at and it was just great to watch them all weave their magic. I don't want to single any one person out but Jenny from Hobby Art was as inspiring as ever, the lady from Kazelcraft Stamps had some great stuff, there was a very clever lady from the Craft Barn doing some beautiful stuff with metal (sorry can't remember her name) and I also managed to get quite near the front to see Leandra Franich (very popular lady).

Depite all that, I have to say that I spent by far the most time watching Sue Roddis. What a clever, clever lady and so friendly and sharing. I watched her for so long that when I left I popped into The Craft Barn and bought a pad of Basic Grey Porcelain papers and went home to make houses ...

(I did go in the shop before I went over the road to the Hall but I'm not saying if I spent, because my pal Sue (the one who hasn't got a blog but should have) will say "I told you so" - lol ....)
So here are two houses - inspired by Sue Roddis ....

Both have Paper Artsy doors. The one on the left has more Studio 490 flowers and leaves. The one on the right is a real mish mash of stamps, including the B-Line Designs Checkerboard. and the Stampers Anonymous Ledger Border.
On Sue R's originals, the tree trunk is a wooden dolly peg, I didn't have one of those, so mine is chipboard. The foliage is a fern stamp, stamped and cut out five times and arranged in a tree-like fashion. One great tip is to stamp on patterned paper, which is why I bought the Porcelain pad). This gives a hint of a background to the image rather than just an expanse of white card (you can just about see this if you click on the photo). Copious amounts of Distress Inks to smudge, edge and highlight were used, as well as loads of buttons ....
Had a great time making these and soon there will be a whole street .......
One final thing I met a blogging pal there - the lovely Alison. It was a bit of a shame but we didn't have much time together because I had to get off home. I hope we can meet up again ....

Singing with the Birds

This is a project I did some time ago and want to share. The idea was from a Sue Roddis article in a past issue of Craft Stamper.
The Bird House is a bought one which was sanded, covered in gesso and then acyrlic paint was swiped on using an old credit card. Bits of corrugated card were swiped with gesso for more texture. The tree trunks were burnt on using the Hot Marks tool (something I bought ages ago, thinking I have got to have one of those!).
The stamps are from Invoke Arts plates and the roof 'tiles' are a Stampington stamp - Ledger (or something like that!) - I use it quite a lot. Other embellishments were the letter beads, cut out letters and die cut folk hearts.Sticking everything to the Bird House was interesting - Copydex (not too bad), Superglue (try doing that in surgical gloves!) and Hipstick (a disgusting pumbling adhesive) for the glass tiles around the edge of the roof.
I see these ideas and make them (generally buying even more stuff!) and then think - what am I going to do with it (having bought two bird boxes because I am incapable of buying anything singly!). This one, however, is going to be a gift. An older friend of mine soon has a birthday and she has loads of houseplants. I think this will look great nestled in amongst them.
Sorry about the photos and the layout of them - have yet to get to grips with that.
Hope you like it .....