A heavy jar of love

In amongst my swapping frenzy I signed up to Booty-full Things' Jar of Love Swap.

This was a really fun swap. We were to select a jar, decorate it and then fill it with whatever we wanted to give our swap partner. I was matched with the lovely Rae from Felt By Rae.

First I selected my jar:

I decorated it:

I crocheted a cover for the jar, embroidered a felt flower and then glued it to the lid. Muha.

Then I stuffed the jar with goodies, made a card and sent it off. 

There was a competition for how many things you stuffed into the jar. I did count but I failed to write down the number. Oopsie. Oh well, won't be entering THAT competition then.

I hope Rae liked all the things. Decorating jars is fun! Luckily I have a whole cupboard full of them.

A new love: Washi Tape

I've been reading a lot recently on the blogosphere about washi tape. This is a Japanese masking tape that comes in amazing colours and patterns. It's usually made of natural fibres like bamboo, bark, rice and hemp. Although I lived in Japan for a year I don't remember seeing any of this tape. Maybe it's new? Or perhaps I just wasn't paying the proper attention.

I think I first properly became aware of washi tape on Kimono Reincarnate's blog and Clairabellemakes. Clairabelles makes in particular has a really interesting tutorial on making your own version of this tape.

I decided it was high time I buy some of my own to play with. I Googled around and finally settled on washitapes.co.uk. They seemed to have decent prices with tape starting at £2.00 a roll, they sell some Japanese brands and they post from the U.K. For me that was a big must as I may not have time in my current abode to wait for international shipping to arrive.

I have to say I was more than pleased. The tape arrived very promptly. And it's so pretty.

Of course then I had to think of something to do with my new tape. I have a collection of small pots for my beads so decided to try decorating them with this tape:

I think that works very nicely. I'm sure there'll be more posts on this topic as I play with my new tape. What next I wonder? What projects have you found for your washi tape?

Popular Crafts Polka Dot Swap

Yet another swap. Huzah! This one was hosted by the website 'Popular Crafts'. It was a polka dot swap. That was basically the only condition. I love polka dots so eagerly signed up to it.

I was matched with the lovely Carla at The Ducking Fabulous Diary. We had until the end of July to send off our things so I haven't received a package yet but thought I'd share what I sent off to Carla - now that I know she's gotten them. This is what I sent:

Dotty about ducks

As Carla's blog mentions ducks in the title plus she has a wee duck in her banner I thought she might appreciate a duck portrait. A dotty one, of course. Plus when I found this fabulous purse I knew I also had to include it in her package.

Oh, I also made a card:

I'm really getting into making teacup cards.

It seems all this was well received so hooray!

x

A freshly made bed is heaven

It was a bazillion degrees Celsius in London today. Okay that's an exaggeration. Let's find out how hot it really was... I just googled "what was the temperature in London today?" to find out. Okay so I literally use Google to solve all my problems. Google just told me that today it hit 30 degrees Celsius. Dudes! That is HOT. No wonder I felt like I was melting.

It a fit of not wanting to broil to death in bed I decided it was time to ditch the winter duvet. Behold (above) my newly made up summer bed. Oh, there is nothing quite as wonderful as fresh clean sheets to climb under.

The beautious quilt you can see atop my sheet was made by my mother. She whupped up a whole batch of them. She is a quilting ninja. I love it so much.

I'm really looking forward to snuggling up tonight and being all cool under my summer sheets.

Bliss.

The Great British Swap

As has been previously recorded I signed up to a lot of swaps last month. I got a wee bit over-excited. I've almost finished and sent them all off.

Hookin' with LaaLaa organised a Great British Swap. I got linked up with the lovely Kate from Granny Taught Me To Crochet.

This is what she sent me:

Squee! She made me a needle case and a little hanging bird. I said I liked birds (which I do) so it was super sweet of her to make me this. I've named him Edwin and he's hanging on my bookcase. It felt like my birthday opening all the things. I especially love the little tin.

This is what I sent her:

I made her a union jack badge and a coaster with a telephone box on it. The telephone box didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. Sorry Kate. I was quite pleased with the card I made though. 

Swaps are fun.

I Spy... paint tattoos by Amanda Wachob

Amanda Wachob

Oh my gosh I LOVE these tattoos by Amanda Wachob. They're so abstract and amazing. I like the way the people look like they've been flicked with paint. Flicking through the gallery of tattoos makes me really want to leap aboard a flight to New York and get one.

Hater - when you love to hate

So I found the above video when I was flicking through Betty Bee's blog.

It's so hilarious I had to share it.