#craftblogger Archives - Page 2 of 2

In Craft/ House Love

Home is the Nicest Word.

According to the dictionary it means, ‘House or other dwelling’. To me it means love, family, comfort, safety, coziness.

I am a home bird. My favourite place to be is home. Going on holiday is fabulous, but the day we’re returning i’m frantic to get back . It’s where my kids are (sometimes) & my dogs are. The word ‘home’ makes me happy.

It comes out a lot in things I make. There seem to be wonky roofed houses popping up everywhere- cards, paintings, notebooks, even necklaces. They make me smile, so I keep making them in the hope that they make someone else smile aswell! The obsession extends to real houses too, but until I get to build my dream home (a four bedroom bungalow , sounds fairly ordinary right? wrong- It’s going to freakin amazing!!!) I’m just making imaginary ones.

So, after making notebooks and painting pictures I moved on to wood. These houses are beyond quirky, they have been personalised with house numbers, family names, initials, but each one is made to bring a little magic into your home.

This one stands on the hearth in my sitting room, its 22″ tall and is nothing if not a conversation starter!

This one is available at The Beach House gallery in Dungarvan.

And you can find this one in Craft Makers, Tralee.

(Here is Miss Boo photobombing my house picture!)

I hope to have them on my Etsy shop soon, so if you want the perfect ‘new home’ gift for a friend or something made just for you and yours, you know where to come!

Felicia xx

16/08/2016 By felicia

In Craft

Knit one, Purl one.

Knit one, Purl one..

Do you knit? Do you like cosy fires and winter days and knitting away the winter?

In theory so do I, but for some reason whenever I get bitten by the knitting bug its summer time.

You could argue the summer part, officially its Autumn, but the days are still fairly warm (20°C today).

Also, this knitting bug only bites once in a blue moon. To call myself a knitter is stretching the truth a little.

The last time it struck was four years ago, I was knitting a shawl in a beautiful Debbie Bliss wool. Cashmerino Aran in Blackberry to be exact.

Now, as you may or may not know, my knitting was seriously hampered by this. It has taken a while to get back to it, I did make a rabbit for a friend, but as it happens I had knitted all the pieces before T.F.D. (That fateful day) so all I had to do was stuff it and sew the legs on.

But then,

I was scrolling through Pinterest as I do (the most enjoyable time waster ever!) and came across this:

(You can get it here)

And then I remembered my promise. About nine years ago Tim asked me to knit him an Aran jumper. He rarely asks for anything, and so I said, “Of course, you can have it for Christmas”. I promptly got the most amazing pattern and spent about a week knitting, then unpicking the stitches. That very complicated pattern was made for a better knitter than I!

Eventually I gave up and told him, “Next Christmas for sure”, which turned into, “You’ll have it before you retire”.

Well, the fifth anniversary of his retirement has just passed. Yes, I am a terrible person.

I even contemplated buying a jumper and cutting out the labels but my conscience got the better of that plan.

Although this doesn’t have any cable stitches its fairly close to what he wants, so I bought it, got the wool and here it is!

TA DAH!

You thought it was going to be finished didn’t you?

There are precisely five inches on the needles, but look at the pattern, isn’t it fab?! Because of the pattern changes it’s holding my interest, who knows, I might even finish it in time for Christmas!

Felicia xx

09/08/2016 By felicia

In Craft

Summer Art Class

Despite the wind and rain in Kerry (cats and dogs I tell you!) it’s time for summer art class.

There was nothing else for it today, it lashed rain all day. Not what you expect for the first of August, but it was a perfect day for staying inside and getting the paints out.

This morning’s class was fun, Eva and Megan love art and are very sure of their colour choices. They were in the first kids class I taught four years ago, they still have the aprons we made!

We used 20 x 5″ stretched canvases, and introduced some new products such as heavy body acrylics, Mod Podge and Gelatos. If you’ve used these you know that the Mod Podge acts as a sealant .When you add Gelato on top you can move it with your fingers or a wet brush, so you can shade and blend colours.

Here are the paint layers.