craft'ing ... the new word on my street is ' craft', whether it's stitching, crochet, embroidery, knitting ... its all in the name of 'hand made' - which i just love! There's nothing quite like 'hand-made', it just seems to beat anything mass produced. Each item hand-made, comes with it's uniqueness, it's little flaws, a little rough around the edges yet totally and utterly beautiful because the thought has been created from someone's heart, plus the amount of time it has taken to create such a piece. The best thing about it is you won't find another like it in the world ... like our own unique handcrafted selves! 'mollie makes' is an amazing and inspiring magazine for all 'crafters' out there, with lots of great tips all about creating new delights, with great little projects to keep your fingers busy... www.molliemakes.com. A book I purchased recently from Urban Outfitters, was 'State of Craft' by cicada. really inspiring. I just want to be one of those people more and more and more, to sit at home, and sew, create, design, produce and hopefully soon, sell *-* The interview with Erin Dollar was especially worth a read, I just loved the idea she came up with whilst at college studying, she says, 'completely by accident' here, 'I made you a beard' project, www.imadeyouabeard.com - absolute classic and looks like so much fun ;-) Alice Gabb's 'Captain Bert' - equally remind me of all my cute little creatures surrounding this little flat I call 'home', www.alicegabb.com. Whilst I am on the 'mention'ing', a close friend puts together quite beau creations, I especially like her bags! "one of a kind" - 'Hone-made' - unique one off pieces by Lara-Dawn Hone. Craft for me is in my blood. This all came from my mum who is 'crafter extroaidinaire'. We (my sisters and I) all had the pleasure of growing up, surrounded by her extraordinary talent for crochet, knitting, embroidery, door dogs, dough faces, our cute little 'mr men dresses' were by far the best!!, not to mention the amazing bedrooms, with our hand sewn duvet covers, curtains, rag rugs in the living room, and our stylish, ever-so-cute and one of a kind fancy dress outfits - especially when we are all dressed up as cats/kittens, with big whiskers and cute fluffy tails. Some of these memories, I am pleased to admit, are far too embedded in my brain to ever forget, and I hope, I never will, so that one day, I can carry it on into my own little family.
Anyways, here are a few images I thought I would add for crafting inspiration ...
Photographs include: One of my classics, this is because it's the way I draw a smiley happy face and then thought, what a great idea to sew it onto a pillowcase and give it as a gift to a friend / an image I photographed, when visiting a folk exhibition in Poland, Krakow - it's all in the detail!/ a creation26 product - a heart pillow, delicately filled with the calming smell of lavender / two beautiful pillow creations - embroidered by my mum's hands only / a small striped gift bag created by creation26/ another one of my mother's embroidery creations, a twee little house in the background, a garden gate and a bed full of flowers of many colours - so very pretty, it's enchanting.
So, there you have it, a Sunday afternoon when the day is a little grey and the sunshine hasn't quite beamed out from the sky, find your own sunshine with some colourful threads and get to work re-creating something unique, handmade, individual.
Maybe even fix that item that has a hole in it, before deciding that it now has to go in the bin, and then into some landfill, try developing its shelf life into something exciting and new. Here I will leave you to ponder. Until next time, stay tuned *-*
Note: Wordpress blog created in May 2012 - blog change over.