Ripley By the time this blog falls into your notifications many of you will be well on your way to achieving some of your resolutions for the New Year. For those of you who haven’t quite made this accolade (me included) – there is always next year!
In any case I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and that 2024 brings everything you wish for.
December and January for me tend to be a wind down and potter months. If I haven’t achieved everything I wanted to during the year, December is unlikely going to make any difference. I simply roll it over to the following year! January I always feel miserable so put no expectations upon myself.
I have been trying my hand at a few different crafts during this time:
Decoupage
As Ripley is aging he needs to have his food bowl raised a little. The best thing we could find immediately to hand and that was affordable was shoe boxes. While they worked well, they didn’t look that attractive. I was reminded of decoupage craft by Busy Hands in Weyhill and decided to give it a go. The three boxes above started out as regular show boxes and are now ‘attractive’ stands for his food and water.
One box was covered with pages from an old book, the other two were painted and then had old books or decoupage paper applied to them. All were sealed with a varnish.
Decoupage is the craft of applying ‘something’ (often paper) to a surface and covering it with varnish.
I say ‘reminded’ of the craft because for my hen do we had a morning of decoupage at The Mulberry Bush in Thatcham which I think all my hens really enjoyed.
It is a fairly easy craft to get the basics elements right and there are many tutorials on You Tube. Depending on how you want to advance the craft, some very dull items can be turned into real pieces of art. It is also the kind of craft that works well for a morning class with friends somewhere though so one to book into for the New Year if you can afford it and support your local craft shops.
I decided to continue with my new found skill and painted up a delivery box to store my sewing patterns in.
The one thing I did learn is that, while this can be a cheap and cheerful craft, do invest in a better varnish.
Macrame
This is something that I have wanted to revisit this year and I eventually made time. I have to thank Jen at Beaker Button for this. She knew I was feeling a bit down so offered a morning just sat crafting with her. I took along my macrame bits and had a much needed morning simply knotting and talking about… well, anything that came to mind. This is quite possible the best therapy I know.
The following pictures are the result of the morning, and, in advance, I have to apologies to friends and family who have to gratefully accept my handmade attempts as gifts.
While not the best picture, I bought a kit from The Bead Shop (Nottingham)
I didn’t use the beads that came with the kit but I did use the central link and the blue cord.
The kit was affordable and had enough supplies for making two bracelets. There is also a You Tube tutorial to follow which shows you how to make the bracelet with some handy hints on an additional leaflet.
I did need to contact the shop for some advice about beads and they were really helpful.
Given the cost of the kit I think simply giving this as a gift or a stocking filler would be a great idea.
I wanted a small gift to make for my sister-in-laws’ birthday and a house warming gift for my niece.
This little owl was the result of following a You Tube tutorial
A close friend who has had a really tough year this year liked the owl.
As I am putting together a stocking for her I hope she will like this tree.
This is also a free You Tube tutorial.
I have really enjoyed making these small macrame gifts and I already have a few gifts in mind for next year.
Memory Scarf
When I was in Iceland, one of the group who is now a very fond friend is an avid knitter. Some of her beautiful knits can be seen on her Instagram page Gratitude Knits
I noticed she was wearing a very interesting scarf and she kindly shared the pattern with me. It is available from Casapinka on Ravelry
I am really enjoying knitting this. It is a kind of sampler of lots of knitting stitches and techniques.
The colours were chosen by both my friends from the United States while on a shopping trip so it is a memory scarf for me.
I bought the wool in Iceland but it is Drops Flora which is also available in the UK. Whilst dye lots will vary if I need more of each colour I don’t think it will be too much of a problem if I just don’t knit them next to each other.
Sandwich Bags
A little bit of work was done during December. Local Zero in Weyhill sold all the previous batch of reusable sandwich bags and asked if I could make some more.
Six new designs all with food safe lining available for purchase at Local Zero.
Local Zero is a sustainable shop based in Stockbridge, Hampshire and is worthy of a visit (although you can order for home delivery on line).
I really can’t remember the last time I bought large plastic bottles of washing up liquid, washing detergent and conditioner.
Dried food is also weighed so if you don’t often bake you can buy just the amount you need. This has a positive impact on food waste.
What I also really enjoy about shopping at the Weyhill shop is that I can have a coffee at the Fairground Cafe while the shop refills all my bottles – it really is the kind of shopping I love – all while supporting local business.
Blog Bird(s)
I would like to thank K&B Sewing Machines for servicing my Babylok overlocker and the service they gave. The place I normally go to doesn’t service the Babylok machines but I am lucky enough to have K&B nearby who do.
I have been to an event there before so knew of the company and they have been on my radar but I have never gone into the shop. It is well worth a visit. There are a number of classes and I did notice a few sewing theme gifts as I went in.
The welcome and service were fantastic which always gets me going back to a shop again.
Until the spring …
Happy sewing!
