Our early Christmas present

Our baby daughter, Winter Wren Wilkinson arrived 10 days early on 9 December weighing 6pm 2oz.  She is obviously inpatient, like her mother!  We are super-happy and proud to have created such a lovely little bundle of joy.  It is likely that there will be less post on the blog for a while whilst we get our heads around parenthood, lack of sleep etc, but I will be back probably with lots more baby-related design posts in the New Year!

Abigail Brown - Birds

I first featured Abigail Brown's work in the early day of my blog.  Since then she has further developed her style and created these fantastic feathered friends.  There are many more to see on her website.  

Before and Afters

If you haven't discovered Designsponge yet, get your asses over there quick smart! I've long been an avid follower of their blog, but it struck me that some people may not have come across their blog, and I felt I ought to point you in their direction.  One of my favourite regular features are their Before & After posts.  

Here is one of my favourites.

Tattoooh!

I've never managed to brave having a tattoo done, Im too much of a wimp! But these beauties above from Butterfat are pretty special and almost make me change my mind!

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This one is pretty stunning too, not sure I could pull this off though!!

More Christmassy inspiration...

...for a crafty Christmas.  There are TONNES of ideas and inspiration for christmas decorations on the web, but here are just a few simple ones I like.  I have just made my alternative Christmas tree by taking twigs from the park and painting them white and decorating with decorations and delicate lights.  Its simple, looks lovely and festive and there will be no needles to hoover up after Christmas!

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Its a wrap

Christmas is fast approaching and each year, I try to find new ways of wrapping my gifts to add an extra 'christmassy-ness' (Is that even a word?)  to them.  Here is some inspiration if you are looking to give your gifts some extra pizazz!

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Fab fonts

A couple of beautiful and creative fonts, which I found online over the last few months.  

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Crackin' christmas gift ideas

This is a great book by Meredith Gaston which I first saw on Decor8 earlier this year.  It's perfect to snuggle up with in front of the fire with a hot chocolate.

Beautiful Hand embroidered birds from Catherine Frere-Smith, available on Etsy

LOVE these little bandits by Adatine

This guy is called Winston and he is pretty surly-looking!  He comes with a side-kick, Squeak.  Super-cute and available from Hilary Cosworth on Etsy

I love pretty much everything Sweet Bestiary makes and this beautiful bunny brooch is no exception.

I'll be back ...

...in the words of Arnie!  Huge apologies for the lack of posts over the last few months.  Things have been pretty hectic which meant I ended up taking a longer than hoped for break from the blog.  Im working on some new posts which I am going to schedule for over the next month or so as my baby is due in a couple of weeks, so I don't think there will be much time for blogging when our little one arrives.


Here are some pretty birdies to start with.

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Baby clothing DIY inspiration

Yikes! Aodrable baby booties from I Think Sew

Fitted crib sheet easy tutorial from Joanne Arbour 

'Cute as a button' button top tutorial by Shwin&Shwin

Yay!  A tutorial from Dana Made It for an easy skirt, and a cute one at that!

Lotta Jansdottir's book, Simple Sewing for baby has a lot of lovely simple patterns for baby, like this little swaddle blanket. 

Every baby needs a bib, find out how to make your own at Purlbee.  For your baby, not you, of course!

There is nothing cuter than a little bundle of joy in stripes.  Made by Rae shows you how to make your own

With a little bun in the oven, I am starting to think about making some cute little clothes and baby accessories while I still have a bit of energy left and there is a tonne of inspiration and ideas on the internet, here are just a few.

Big Props

After spending a lot of time collecting items to use to decorate our wedding venue in July, I decided to put them to good use after the wedding by hiring them out.  I had collected about 100 jam jars, 8 belljars, vintage typewriters, birdcage, bunting, easel, vintage china etc etc.  

I have added a page called Props to my website, which you can see here enabling other people to hire out my decorations instead of having to spend ages trawling charity shops or online looking for items to decorate their wedding/party/photoshoot.  

There are lots more items to be added over the coming week or so.

Hen party craft workshop

A few weeks back I did my first hen party craft workshop, I've done lots of craft workshops before, but never a hen party workshop.  As with all my workshops, I used Jam jar Beads' upstairs studio, which is a great light space for workshops.   The ladies had come from all over the country to Sheffield for the the hen do.  I had a lovely time teaching them how to make feathery fascinators and beautiful button-bejeweled brooches while the ladies got to snack on Fancie cupcakes and a spread of sandwiches and dips too (and of course the obligatory teas and coffees) to fuel their creativity.  It was a hive of activity and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and went away with some super accessories to be proud of.  If I get any photos from the ladies showing off their lovely wares, I will be sure to show you.