Giveaway Winner...

I have really enjoyed organising this giveaway and have been absolutely overwhelmed with the response. So thank you to all those who have particpated and spread the word. I now have 74 followers and 26 favourites for my Folksy shop which is AMAZING! Thank you!

Anyway, to the important business! Choosing a winner! I have used some free software called 'The Hat' by Harmony Hollow software. You type in the names of all the entrants (add 2,3... to the name for additional entries) and then ask it to select a name from the virtual hat. 74 entries went into the hat (many of you went in several times - well done!).

And so the winner is...

Congratulations, Ali of Random Wooliness! Please email me your address so I can get it posted to you and let me know which of the roses in my Folksy shop you would like.

I have a new crochet project to share with you all in my next post, I'm very excited about it! I have also been playing with a little felting project which I hope to share with you.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Becky x

Giveaway Time!

I made it! Then went past it! So now that I have 50 followers + 2 it really is giveaway time!!! Little happy dance around the room! Hi to my regulars and welcome to all the newies!
Goodness I have had some fun preparing for this one! I have had a great excuse to have a good play with all my craft things and hope I have put together a good giveaway for you all.
So far, in the last 3 posts, I have temped you with these four items...

A felted leaf and felt acorns, a jewellery wrap, a felt heart pin cushion with pins and a birdie brooch.
Here are the final items I have added... I have been busy!

One of my hand felted bead necklaces.

A felt rose. I have shown the pink one but I will let the winner choose which they would like from my Folksy shop.

As promised, some wool roving so you can go and have a play!

12 skeins of embroidery cotton - a little rainbow for you!

20 felt butterflies in five colours, 4 of each.

All those butterflies had hearts cut out of the wings so there will also be 80 felt hearts too!

45 pretty paper hearts and...

64 paper flowers, great for decorating cards, gift tags etc.

Finally, 36 card gift/price tags in 4 different sizes (terrible photo - sorry).

So, to enter this giveaway you need to:

•  Become a follower of this blog, if you are not already, and leave a comment on this post.

For an extra entry you can:

•  Put my giveaway button in your sidebar with a link back to this post.

and / or

•  Mention my giveway in a post on your blog with my giveaway pic and a link back to this post.

and / or

•  Favourite my Folksy shop.

Each of the above will count as an entry. Don't forget to leave a comment on this post for each entry saying which of the above you have done. I'm happy to post internationally so it's open to everyone. This giveaway ends Tuesday 23rd August.

Good luck everyone!
Becky x

Preparations for a Giveaway no.3!

A HUGE welcome to my new followers! It's so lovely of you to join me here! And of course a warm welcome to those of you who have been reading my felty ramblings for a while now! Only 3 followers to go before the giveaway and, whilst waiting for those elusive last few, I have been busy adding to the giveaway stash!
The first item is a felt heart pin cushion with pins. Something I have wanted to make for ages.

It is really soft and squidgey and doubles up well as a stress reliever!

It has a foam centre over which I loosely needle felted a layer of merino wool and then wet felted for a nice tight felt layer. The foam makes it lovely and soft, just right for pins.

The second item is a little bird brooch that again was initially needle felted and then wet felted before decorating with wire feet and a tail, seed beads on it's chest and a button on it's wing.

It's a real cutie! If it wasn't raining I would have taken it outside for it's pic'; it needs a more natural background than my table cloth!

So the giveaway pile is growing...

I plan to make a felt rose brooch next and then include some craft supplies, perhaps even some felt for those of you who have yet to dabble in the soft stuff!
Becky x

Preparations for a Giveaway no.2

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post. I am very excited about my first giveaway!
I gave you all a little peek at some felt I had made a few months ago in my last post and said I had a plan to use it as another make for my giveaway (now at 46 followers so I need to get cracking!). Well, after a little time on the sewing machine it has become this...

...a lovely jewellery wrap. I am not going to claim I am an amazing seamstress; there are certainly some wobbly seams here and I have discovered I am not very good with bias binding; but it is very cute and functional.

There are two ribbons for storing rings, two open pockets that are big enough for bangles and a large pocket which seals with velcro for other bits of jewellery.

I added the fabric hearts using bondaweb, as I felt it needed a little detail inside.

I filled it with some of my jewellery so you could see it in use. However, my jewellery will not accompany this giveaway item! It will be empty ready for your own!
I made this piece of felt back in the spring when the crocuses were flowering in the garden and the purple hues inspired me.

Can you see the silk fibres in lilac and rich purple on the purple merino? They are just lovely.

Only 4 followers to go! I want to make a felt rose and I have a birdie brooch to show you for the giveaway too.
Hope you're all having a good week and enjoying as much sunshine as we have been down here (with the exception of today which has been quite drizzly!).
Becky x

Preparations for a Giveaway

Things have settled down here greatly in the last week. My husband is out of hospital and his diabetes is much more stable which means we have been able to relax a little and start enjoying the holidays.
My thoughts have turned to the promised giveaway when I reach 50 followers and I have been doing some crafting. I wanted to make some felted acorns as part of the giveaway and found time to experiment with an idea that I have had for some time. I have always felt that the acorns were in some way incomplete so I decided I would make a little vessel to go with them. I surrounded myself with a range of fibres in autumnal tones and set to work...

.. and eventually I ended up with this...

I'm really pleased with it. I love the colours and how they have felted together to create a very natural effect. I also love the wire that is trapped within the fibres, giving the felt some strength and shape.

All the acorns fit comfortably onto the leaf...

but I quite like them spilling out! And I still have loads of acorn caps in my jar.

So, I currently have 42 followers which gives me a little time to make a few more things for my giveaway. Of course, I have to include a felt rose, but I also have a few other ideas up my sleeve which include this piece of felt...

I have also enjoyed making another egg cosy this week. This one has gone into my Folksy shop but I would like to make another for my giveaway.

I'm off to do some blog hopping and leave some lovely comments for you all as this crafting has resulted in my noticeable absence from blogland recently!
Becky x

Just playing!

My husband has an iphone4 and I'm looking to get a new phone so this is a little experiment to see if I can create a post using his phone. Using the keypad is a bit fiddly. Do any ofyou use a Mobile to post? What do you use and how easy do you find it? I can't seem to access the photos on my phone to upload them. Can anyone help with this?
Becky x

537!

537. That's the number of eggs my 4 lovely chickens have laid this year! Three of them have been double yolkers! Just look at the size difference!

We wrote the number of eggs collected each day on our calendar. Now, with all these lovely eggs around, there has been a lot more egg-based cooking going on. Boiled eggs have certainly been on the menu once or twice and this led me to thinking that perhaps I could make something useful for us all with my felt. A friend had very kindly given me a carrier bag of wool roving (not sure what sort) of many mixed colours and this seemed perfect for a play. And so last night I cut some bubble wrap into a template and made this...

I'm sure you've guessed where this is leading. Yes, I decided to have a go at making some egg cosies (not a little felt hat!). I layered up the wool, lining it with bright pink then using a navy blue on top.

I bought a small roll of mixed fabrics recently to applique some pictures on to my felt and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use them.

I blanket stitched the turned up bottom edge.

Using my sizzix machine and a flower die, I cut a large flower for the front, attached it using bondaweb (also cut using the same die) and ironed on. Some matching buttons for the center and some ribbon for a loop. Finished!

Perhaps not completely finished as I think it needs some blanket stitch around the flower. It is on the large side and completely covers the egg and cup, but I had to allow for shrinkage of the wool and it didn't shrink as much as I had anticipated.

The egg and cup are nestle happily under the cosy in the last picture! I actually quite like it that large and I'm sure it will keep our eggs toasty whilst I'm gathering the clan around the table!

YYYYYY

 

Hoping to show you all my finished granny square cushion in my next post.

Becky x

A small apology for my absence lately. Simon went into hospital for the third time in as many weeks on Wednesday and I just didn't want to write a post of moans and whinges. He is home again, this time hopefully for good! (Actually I have just realised that is a complete lie as he is due to go into hosiptal for an operation on his shoulder on the 10th of August - my birthday! Having a run of bad luck at the moment.)