I think that my desire to create in part comes from my mother & my childhood. My mother is an artist.
I wish I could have seen her paint, she loved talking about it, but there was never enough time to do it, especially with the demands our family. I don’t think that it was something my father ever encouraged her to do either, which is a shame. I loved her drawings though, and have fond memories of watching her draw. Oh how she could draw.
One of my prized possessions is a painting by my mother. It was painted well before I was born & hangs on our wall. She originally gave it to her parents, and when my grandmother passed, my aunt set it aside for me. It has pride of place in our home.
One thing I regret, is that I never really got to tell my mother how talented I think she is, but I hope that she knows.
Happy Mother’s Day, thank you for everything that you taught me!
Another friend, who is a creator like myself posted about why she creates on social media the other day & whilst I commented on her post, I thought that I really ought to share it here too, where people who know me, can read about why I do what I do, because some will no doubt find it interesting.
The simple answer is because I enjoy it, because it makes me happy. I love taking something & making something else from it. The creative process for me is a bit of a puzzle at times, I often start down one path & end up on another, and that entertains me greatly.
I also find it wonderful to know that whilst the process of creating the items I do, brings me joy, they also bring joy to others. To see someone’s face light up when they lay eyes on something I made is wonderful on it’s own. I appreciate every share & comment on social media too. When it gets taken to the next level, where people financially support me, by buying my art, that’s pretty amazing, because that allows me to continue to do what I do & the circle of joy continues.
I admit that I also like the idea that much of what I have created will live on long after I am gone. To leave behind items that are a reflection of my true authentic self, is pretty amazing. Life is fleeing, which is why I believe that if you can find a way to follow your heart, you should do it.
Most people associate May the 4th as Star Wars Day, but did you know that it is also the birthday of the real Alice? Alice Liddell was born on May 4th (1852). May 4th (1965) is also the day that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland take place. Isn’t that cool?
As a HUGE Alice in Wonderland fan, I love today a lot. I have a modest collection of Alice in Wonderland themed items, including books of course, being that we are a family of bibliophiles. One of my favourites copies of Alice, is the book that I picked up in London earlier this year, which features the art of Salvador Dali in it. I was very fortunate to see his original artwork for the book in Wrocław, Poland, in a special exhibition at the Town Hall in October last year. The glare was awful so I didn’t really get any great pictures, but I did get a couple of overall pics of the layout, which you can see to the left, (you can also select the image, which links back to my Instagram post about it).
As well as books, I have attended many theatre performances based around Lewis Carroll’s characters. I love it that much apparently.
I of course have some fan art & even some prints of the original drawings. One of my biggest prizes is my Alice themed fabrics & fabrics that remind me of Lewis Carroll’s stories. You might have seen some of those fabrics in masks, hanging towels, aprons, bookmarks, bags & other things over the years. I am also working on some scrappie critters which will encompass more of my favourite parts of the story. Some will have noticed some scrappies with mushrooms on them of late, which refers back to my own images of wonderland, pretty cool eh?
Happy Birthday Alice! I think it’s wonderful that Lewis Carroll immortalised you in the stories he penned so long ago.
They’re here, they’re here, they’re here!!! My new branded business cards have arrived.
After years without any specific branding & a moment where I made my logo but only used it as a watermark, I went to the next level & now I have my own cards with a scrappie critter logo (made by me) on them!
Yes, I do sew other things, but my creative passion is really with my scrappies & it was well & truely time for me to acknowledge that more openly to others. So tadah!
My little square cards are double sided too, but you’ll have to either order something from me or hit me up in person to get a copy & see what it says :0)
A few weeks ago, I made this amazing scrappie critter for a friend Lorenzo & posted it to Italy.
Lorenzo had asked if I could do one that incorporated the logo of Schrödinger Hat on it somehow, whilst we were travelling around in Europe and then patiently waited for me to get back & settle in before I made it for him.
I delved into my big piles of misc fabrics & played with a few combos before ultimately settling on this layout. This was in fact the very first scrappie to get a button for an eye & I have to say I LOVE how it turned out. The cats eye’s fabric for one of the legs, glows in the dark, and just had to be included.
The nose & mouth were actually a request from my youngest to add & I knew that Lorenzo would love that she had a hand in the design. I added those features by “drawing” & “colouring it in” entirely using freehand machine sewing, which I am slowly improving on. K2 loved it, so I know that Lorenzo would too, especially knowing it came about because of her.
Lorenzo & Schroddy
Lorenzo has been very gracious in sharing posts of Schroddy on social media platforms like Youtube & LinkedIn (as per image left) which has been simply amazing & I can’t thank him enough.
Thank you for asking me to make a scrappie critter for you Lorenzo & I am so happy to see Schroddy promoting the importance of Sustainability & the Environment. 🌏
I am so excited to let everyone know that I will be attending two events in April. This doubles the number of events that I attended last year. 😆
For those who have been following me on social media, you might have noticed I now have a new size of scrappie critter too, the Pocket- Sized one, which I am very excited to announce that I will be bringing to both events, as well as mix of other sizes.
The first event, I am attending will be at the Spencerville Spring Market on Saturday April 8th. It’s taking place indoors at The Spencerville Arena from 10am – 3pm. I haven’t officially been announced on their social media as attending, but rest assured, I will be there. The market is part of the events organised by the SBCC over the easter weekend. There’s even an easter egg hunt from 10-11am in town that you can check out as well. I haven’t been to an event in Spencerville since Covid, so it will be nice to be doing an event local to me.
I am also REALLY excited to be attending the annual North Grenville Sustainability Fair again. It’s happening on Sunday April 16th from 10am-3pm at the North Grenville Municipal Centre. I love this event so much as it aligns so well with my values. both personally & as an artist. If you are a little bit “crunchy” like me, I highly recommend taking the time to attend. Bring the kids too, they always have amazing activities for the little ones & they have some great talks too. I love it because it reminds me how many people really do care deeply for the environment & it is great for my kids to see that too.
Please note that I will have slightly different stock at each event. My scrappie critters will of course be at both, as will some hanging towels, bookmarks etc but I will only be bringing my current stock of aprons to the event in Spencerville. Aprons will be reduced in cost to aid in rehoming them, although I do ask that people either pay in cash or I am happy to do e-transfers on the spot too, as it reduces my costs in processing card payments. Aprons will be sold below my costs so please if you can be mindful of that, it would be greatly appreciated, as everything I bring to events or have stocked in stores is handmade by myself.
Hope to see some of you at either or both events, and if you do go, please do say a quick hello.
Spring is upon us & what better way to celebrate than to make some fabric art to capture the season.
This piece was created from a drawing, which I then disassembled (tracing each piece onto a scrap of paper from the recycling pile). Then, I rummaged through my BIG pile of small scraps & not so small (for the background) to find the right pieces. To stabilise all the fabric, I used scraps of interfacing, left over from masks & other projects & attached it to the backs of all the fabrics.
I love that a few scraps that most would throw in the bin, turned into this lovely little piece of art.
These two little scrappies have been a favourite in our house, since I completed them on Saturday, February 6th. I honestly didn’t expect the enthusiasm I’ve had from the kids for these two, but every day since they were made, they have checked on them to make sure they’re ok & hoped that no-one would buy them.
The one on the left is comprised of a heart shaped piece of fabric that I came across in velvet (it was given to me with some scraps a friend had) & given that it’s February, I thought that it would be perfect to finally do something about it. I had thought of adding it to a much bigger scrappie, but decided to embrace the heart as the full shape. It was an instant hit.
The little red scrappie with a heart was also popular, due to it’s size, colour & the heart on it.
They really did make the perfect valentines day gifts to my kidlets today, who were incredibly relieved that no-one had bought them from my site. I am so happy that the kids appreciate gifts that are handmade, the way that they do.
I knew that in order for me to actually take the plunge though, I would have to get rid of the wrapping paper we had. I donated much of the wrapping paper we had to the school that the kids were attending at the time, as well as gifting some to a friend who helped run a youth group & also had her own childcare. It was important for me to donate it directly to those that would use the wrapping paper etc, rather than to just randomly donate & hope for the best. I know that most of it has ended up in the rubbish, it was wrapping paper after all, but I felt better about the process.
Once the wrapping paper was donated, I had no choice but to proceed with reusable wrapping options.
The first thing I had to address, was what to do about Santa for the kids. That wasn’t really a huge problem though, we resolved it with a “bag from Santa” that the kids helped organize & then they wrote a letter to Santa, asking if he could use it, instead of wrapping paper for their gifts, as it was better for the environment. Prior to this we had a huge roll of Santa themed wrap that I used every year for their gifts (only gifts from Santa came in that wrapping). I always wondered when they might find it though, so switching over was a bit of a relief in that regard.
Some of our reusable gift wrap
For everything else, I searched the web for ideas & discovered that the beautiful silk scarves I had from my grandmother, made awesome material for Fukoshiki wrapping. I cut up a Christmas themed flannel sheet, that tore so badly it had to be retired, & made some bags, sewing in some of the bits of scrap ribbon I had to be upcycled, to tie them. We still ended up using pillowcases for most of our gifts that year, but it felt good to make a start.
Even though the execution wasn’t as smooth as I envisioned, everyone loved the lack of waste & the easy clean up (fold up everything & put it away, ready for the next event). We went from a HUGE box to store all our wrapping paper & heaps of rubbish created to no rubbish & being able to fit all our wrapping options into a little pouch. It was also amazing to have everyone on board.
The gift tag process, from shellac to use
The next year (2020), I decided we needed to sort out some tags for gifts, so we knew who was receiving what.
I had thought of sewing some tags from scraps, but we also had some little round disks for other craft & art projects that were perfect. They could be decorated, have a hole drilled in them, some thin yarn threaded through, tied & voila you had a gift tag. The kids personalized them not only in their own art, but with names written on them too, something that would’ve been a little more challenging with hand sewn tags, not impossible though.
This year, our 3rd Christmas, I feel like we are more in the groove. We made a couple more bags & some more tags (as pictured), to add to our little collection. The tags from last year have been fun to look back on & next year, we will enjoy looking back at the last 2 years.
We use our reusable gift wrap year round, but they definitely get more of a workout at Christmas time. Our reusable wrapping materials, are a mixed collection of drawstring style bags, silk scarves & hemmed pieces of fabric. There are some Christmas themed fabrics, but we don’t have different themed wrapping that only comes out at certain times, in fact the Christmas ones have been known to be used for birthday’s. You could do themed if you wanted to, we just don’t care enough to do that.
Whilst I wish that we had started earlier, instead of getting hung up on the wrapping we had yet to use, I’m glad that we actually did it. So, if you’re on the fence like I was for years, you should just do it, you won’t regret it, I promise. 🙂
These two little scrappies have been a favourite in our house, since I completed them on Saturday, February 6th. I honestly didn’t expect the enthusiasm I’ve had from the kids for these two, but every day since they were made, they have checked on them to make sure they’re ok & hoped that no-one would buy them.
