St Dwynwen's Day

Here in Wales we have our own day for lovers and love on 25th January - this Saturday.  You can read about Dwynwen here.  To celebrate I made these little felt brooches (yes, pompoms again!) and cut and stamped celtic tags to present them on. 

I've some Rowan Kidsilk yarns in my stash - leftovers from Christmas gifts I knitted for the family a few years ago.  Its a very expensive yarn but these tiny pompoms use such tiny amounts you could make many many brooches (or just pompoms) from one ball.  The Celtic circle die is from Tonic Studios and there's a square too.  So pretty - but if you're not of a Celtic race there are other lovely designs such as flowers, stars, butterflies and vines. 

This is a Celtic cross erected in 1903 on Ynys Llanddwyn in memory of Dwynwen.  I've never visited but it could be one of our expeditions this summer as its not far away.  It looks a beautiful  spot.  Anyway, back to the brooches - Welsh language stamps are not common, even in Wales, so I used an alphabet set to stamp the words round the tags.  Cariad is our word for sweetheart or dear and I remember my Nain (grandmother) used it all the time when speaking to us as children. 

Happy St Dwynwen's Day to you all.

Signs of Springing?

OK, I admit it - I'm a Radio 4 listener - I have it on permanently almost 24/7 - and all week there has been talk of early signs of Spring, even though its officially still winter.  In fact listeners were this morning invited to message, tweet or whatever you will signs from their own gardens.  Anyway, unable to join in myself as I was working, I did get up a bit earlier and went to have a look - with my camera.

 

Admittedly the Jasmine was in flower, there were catkins on my cobnut bushes and there was one rose on my David Austin bush (probably the last rose of last summer not the first of next!)

..... but looking back at previous years' photos, I don't think we are much more forward than usual.  There is sign of blossom bud on the cherry tree at the bottom of the garden but this is always the first of the year to burst forth.

There are still berries on the Ivy - which the birds might yet need as it was March before the big freeze came last year.

However, on my way down the hill to work I spied these daffodils in a neighbour's driveway, much farther forward than those in our garden.  Just shows what an effect altitude has. 

Yet on the radio I hear stories of snowdrops and daffs in flower already and even butterflies in flight (though I'm sure those must be hibernaters waking in a spot of warmth).  Perhaps its all happening 'down south'!

There is one sign of Spring I'm aware of though..... the birds are singing again!

Oops ! Late December

The new year is a week old and I'm thinking about my Project 365/Life or whatever its called for 2014.  And I've just realised I haven't posted my December page.  This is for me rather than anyone else as in 2012 I somehow managed to delete my 12 monthly digital scrapbook pages but thankfully was able to retrieve them from my blog.  Anyway - here is December 2013 and I've been looking around for templates to start my 2014 project.

I've just ordered my 2013 photobook diary from Photobox.  I've been very pleased with everything I've had from them in the past (books, calendars, business cards, etc) so no reason to change I thought.  They aren't the cheapest but often offer great discounts so I'm taking advantage of the current 70% off.  My 2012 and 2013 books are both similar in design - scrapbook page on the right and one large photo on the left.  This style is useful as photobooks usually start with 24 pages.  But I haven't yet decided whether to stay with this or go for something different for the coming year.  Oh well, I've got till the end of January to decide.

That Pom Pom Thing!

Once that Christmas thing was over a sudden urge to make pompoms came over me - don't ask me why!  But you can't just carry on making pompoms and doing nothing with them so of course I clicked over to Pinterest for some inspiration. I found Bar's star pompoms - so cute - and thought I'd try hearts instead.

Bar has a great photo tutorial but they are very easy.  I used a nice big biscuit cutter and the small pink Clover pompom maker which made these so quick to put together I'd finished five or six in no time.  The pipecleaners are those long craft ones which reached all round the heart cutter but you could twist two ordinary short ones together to make the length.

I also made some big single pompoms with the large blue Clover pompom maker.  I hung them in the twisted willow branches I used as a Christmas tree this year to cheer me up during this dismally dark time of year.  Haven't finished with pompoms yet so watch this space!

Happy New Year to All!

Hope you are all celebrating right now - here's to a brand new crafty year in 2014!  Just want to thank you all for your friendship, encouragement, comments and inspiration in 2013. 

See you in 2014!

Merry Christmas Everyone.....

A Very Happy Christmas and Nadolig Llawen to all my lovely followers.  I hope you are all warm and cosy, with power, without floods and in the place you want to be on this quiet Christmas Day after the wind, rain and hail stones of yesterday!  Here's a little gift for you if you fancy a bit of old fashioned cutting out pleasure when the family tire of all those new electronic gifts they've received - not very likely I know!

A hark back to Christmas 1957 at our house in Rhyl.  That's me in my new nurses' outfit!

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas.....

I'm almost done making - just a few bits and bobs to finish off.  So today I'm posting these cute little fairies that will be wrapped up with a few other Christmas goodies in the little houses I showed you yesterday.  They are made by a Fairtrade project in India and I bought them at a Christmas Fair earlier in December held at a National Trust property.  The red one is, of course, a Christmas Fairy and the pink one a Princess Fairy. 

(source)

The business is the brain child of a beautiful girl called Louise from Brighton and here she is with some of her sewing ladies.  Its called Believe You Can and I really wish I'd looked it up before as I could have bought more goodies for the fairy-loving members of the family.  But then there's always next year, and birthdays.  I would love it if you'd visit Louise's wonderful project too and perhaps buy a thing or two.  I know the recipients of my fairies won't appreciate the story behind them, but as I said to the stall holder at the fair, I certainly do.