Filofax Madness! (Blogtober #16)

A few months ago I got a Filofax when it was reduced at John Lewis and I hadn't used it since I bought it. But recently I decided to start using it after I watched a few Youtube videos of people decorating their planners. The planner I have is the Patent Pocket Organiser in the colour Lemon and it's lovely! Yellow is one of my favourite colours and this is such a cute shade.  

I had a few washi tapes lying around in a drawer somewhere but that wasn't enough. So over the last few days I've been to a few different shops and stocked up on craft supplies and stationary. First I bought some stuff from Wilkinsons and Paperchase.

Now I have loads of pretty washi tapes all in different colours and patterns. I bought some coloured paper as well to make my own dividers and pages with. As well as a few other bits and bobs, like pens, post it notes, stickers, zip pouches, mini pegs and a tape dispenser.

Then  on Saturday I went to Hobbycraft and went a bit crazy in the stamp section, I nearly bought everything! I got three different types of alphabet stamps, which was probably too many but it's good to have options! I also got a few stamps with pictures on them.

This is some of the stuff I bought.

You can never have too many post it notes, so I got a few from the brand La De Dah with different patterns and words on. After buying the coloured card from Wilkinsons I decided to get some patterned ones to make my dividers more interesting.

I'm really enjoying decorating the pages in my Filofax, even though they're not that exciting so far because I'm still thinking about what I want to do with them. But I made this little insert today and I thought it was really cute! And now I'm going to try and make a few more, maybe something inspired by The Fault in Our Stars?

I've started knitting! (Blogtober #15)

I've wanted to learn to knit for a while now, since I started cross stitching in the summer I've been thinking about it. But I didn't want to start right away. After I finished a few cross stitches and I was improving at that I thought I'd give knitting a go. I tried knitting when I was about 15 and I was never very good at it, I think because I didn't really know I could find lots of help online and I chose a gross coloured wool to make a scarf (baby pink and yellow) so I wasn't that bothered about it. But this time I chose colours I actually like and hopefully when I've finished my scarf I'll want to wear it.

So on Saturday I went to John Lewis, mainly to try on watches for my birthday but I also had a little nose around the haberdashery department. Which was great! I chose the colours of yarn I wanted to use and then the woman working there was really helpful and showed me what needles I needed and how to get started which I wasn't expecting at all. It was so helpful and she was really nice!

It's safe to say I've got off to a bit of a rocky start, knitting is really hard! I've probably done about 5 rows and then pulled it all off the needle and started again. About three times. But I'm sticking with it now, no matter how horribly it goes. It's only my first one and it's just practise really.

This is how much I've done so far, it looks a lot better in the photo! There aren't many wholes in it, it's just a bit uneven. And when I say "a bit uneven" I mean "very uneven".

I'm just going to keep going with it and see how long I can make it. Then I'll make a blue one and then a green one. Then I can open my own Etsy shop! (I'm kidding).

I've Gone Cross Stitch Mad!

Over the last few months I've really been getting into cross stitch. I first started doing little cross stitch kits when I broke my ankle at the beginning of the summer and now I absolutely love it. I'm a little bit obsessed!

This is all the stuff I have in my cross stitch kit and how I store everything.

So first I have my sewing box, I bought it from John Lewis and it is the Daisychain print from one of their 150th anniversary collections. The outside is cream with yellow and blue flower details and the inside has a contrasting blue polka dot pattern. I love the little pocket and pin cushion, they're so useful!

In the top I keep the threads I'm using for the project I'm working on, as well as two pairs of scissors, a tape measure, a stitch picker and needles. I also have a few pens and pencils as well as the bits and pieces the box came with.

Underneath I keep my 10cm embroidery hoop, aida fabrics, spare thread, old patterns and mini cross stitches I've finished.

This is my bobbin box, isn't it amazing?! I got it from amazon but I have seen them in craft shops as well. You can also get different sizes, depending on how much space you need.

I have started organising my threads into colour order but I haven't done it properly yet as I did this quite quickly last night. All of my thread is from John Lewis. They have really good value embroidery floss there. You get a packet of 36 different colours for £5.50 so it's perfect for starting your collection. I got the cardboard bobbins from Ebay.

I have one cross stitch book and it's the Cath Kidston "Stitch" book. It's a really great book with beautiful photos throughout. It's full of different patterns and projects. It has tips and tutorials on different types of stitches and the projects in this book suit a range of abilities. 

This is my current project that I'm working on and it's from this book, it is the House Cushions pattern. But I'm not making the cushions I'm just following the pattern and making it into a picture to frame it.

Recently I found this Cross Stitcher magazine in Tesco and it's brilliant. It's full of different patterns and projects. I've seen one I really like in here and I can't wait to get started on it. This issue also came with a free gift - 6 cardboard sausage dog thread bobbins and neon thread! They are so cute!

I also use an A5 Black n Red notebook to plan any little cross stitches as well as copy some patterns from the internet. It has squared paper and is perfect for drawing your designs.

I'm so glad I started cross stitching and I'm really happy that I've found a hobby that I love so much. It's really satisfying to finish a cross stitch after you've worked so hard on it as well. Soon I'll be finished with my Cath Kidston House picture, I can't wait to frame it and hang it on my wall!

Painting Plates - 9/8/14

That’s me concentrating on staying in the lines!

On Saturday I went to a creative cafe where you can paint your own bowls, mugs, plates and loads of other things. My Mum and her partner Janine both chose small plates and so did I.

I was flicking through a book of Street Art for some inspiration and found a page on one of my favourite artists “Stik” and I thought drawing my own would look really cool on a plate.

If you've never heard of Stik, here's some of his artwork. I found these photos on Instagram, but the middle one is in New York and the other two are in London.

Here’s the book and here’s the plan on my plate, I also chose this because I thought it’d be quite easy to do.

 

You have to paint three layers of everything you draw so that when it's finished it's bright enough.

And that's my finished plate! It's really simple but I think it'll look cool when I get it back.

I really want to paint more plates now, we were there for a good two and a half hours and we were all concentrating really hard on our plates.
Now I have to wait a week till I can pick it up because they have to cook it and glaze it. Or something like that!