Faux Feather Wreath Tutorial

Found on Etsy. The work of these make-me-happy people.

Happy Weekend.

Design Sponge drawer makeover

One of the nicest, easiest, most successful before and afters I have seen.




By Craftynest (well done!) through the invaluable Design Sponge.

Watch out for the evil eye!

Do you know how bad, evil eye can be? Then you are certainly aware of the many evil eye pieces of jewellery that dangle from Greek jewellery shop windows, both upscale and the souvenir kind. If not, take a look:


Certain to infuriate the religious people around you, they often accompany a cross, to have both pagan and Christian sides happy.

This golden ring comes from the very talented Anna-Maria Mazaraki (I promise to write more about her in a future post).

Even the mighty baby style tzar, Aaron Basha succumbed to the temptation.


My current favorite, though? This ring from this Etsy seller. Creepy enough, it will certainly take the evil onlooker by surprise!

Craft this:Jane Market Bag

Fun-fun-fun, spells fun-fun-fun. By the one and only Alicia at Posie.

New Finds: Forest Bound

Not any old bag.

Found via delicious Lobster and Swan.

Forest Bound blog here. Etsy here.

Pink and Green crafts

I am all for pink and green especially in the Spring. I am pleasantly surprised by how pink and green, a very fresh combination, translates to beautiful in warmer materials, such as felt, and every day items, such as pincushions.
Pink and green pincushion for the crafty-wooly sister/teacher/mother.

This one from feltmates at etsy.

And this one, part of a lovely cup cake style collection from here.

There are felt hairclips from here.


And there is also crochet, not in the usual ecru or folksy brights, but in lovely pastels from here.

Oh look, they also do one in The Happy Turtle colors!



These are my favorites for today. Spring photo session bonnets from Baby K Designs.

Preppy or Mother-Earthy, there is a time for pink and green for everyone.

Home to a Bee

Hello dear creative, crafting, beautiful people,
It's Easter tomorrow for most of the Western World. It's Palm Sunday for us Greek Orthodox Christians. I wish you all the joy, renewal and freedom that Christ brings us every Spring.

Today I want to show you another find of mine, the real life home of a blogger (and shop owner, as I found out). Her blog is one of the most useful, generous and user friendly blogs I've ever visited, which leads me to believe that there is a good person behind it. If you've ever been to her shop, you may confirm my suspicion.
That's what her Brooklyn, New York apartment says to me: sunny, bright, light, warm, feminine, practical.





And here is the facade of one of her shops.

The blog is The Purl Bee, the shop is Purl Soho, and you may view the entire hometour at Martha Stewart.

Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy Life.

Bike embelishment

Anyone for a ride? Click here for directions! So fun!

St.Valentine's paper-clips

Lovely and doable, perfect for after school blues.

(Jessica Jones @ How About Orange, via Design*Sponge)

Knit a Christmas tree decoration

The kit you'll need

One pair of 4mm knitting needles
Two colours of double-knitting wool (we used green for the tree and brown for the trunk)
A few sequins
Handful of wadding to stuff the finished decoration
A piece of narrow ribbon

Step-by-step instructions
Make two tree shapes:
With trunk colour wool cast on 6 stitches and knit 8 rows.
Using tree colour wool cast on 9 stitches at beginning of 9th row.
Knit across these and trunk stitches and cast on another 9 stitches at end of this row. There is now a total of 24 stitches. Make ends secure.
Knit 5 rows. 6th row knit 2 together at beginning and end of this and every following 5th row until 12 stitches remain.
Knit 3 rows then knit 2 together at each end of next row. 10 stitches.
Knit 3 rows then knit 2 together at each end of next row. 8 stitches.
Knit 2 rows then knit 2 together at each end of next row. 6 stitches.
Knit 1 row then knit 2 together at end of next row. 4 stitches.
Knit 2 together twice, knit 2 together and finish off.

TO MAKE UP: Put the two tree shapes right sides together and sew around trunk and tree leaving a gap. Turn the right way out, fill with wadding, and sew the remaining gap.
Decorate with sequins and attach ribbon loop to top for hanging on the tree.

TIP: A row counter makes it easier to be sure you're shaping your trees on the right rows.

(From the December issue of Good Housekeeping).

For the love of craft.

I am an admirer of creative people. My mother was an accomplished dress maker who used to knit and sew and cross-stitch for pleasure. She is known to have knit even with a broken arm in plaster.

Her mother adored sewing and embroidering things from the home. She did tea towells and dishclothes and handkerchiefs with religious attention to detail.

I was born in times of change, when academic excellence was pivotal. So crafting was largely discouraged at home.

But the crafty vein found its way in my tapestries that I used to make every year during the exam period, my way of focusing.

So, I love seeing the work of people who actualy do what I adore looking at.
There is so much that can be expressed though handcraft. It may not be art in the classical sense as in the arts. But it is the expression of how each soul is related to the World. And that should be grately encouraged.

(All photos from Inspireco. Artella is a great resource for altered art and artsy props).

Custom Bath Mat

I have seen this on Marta and it looks like a good idea. Fairly straight forward, too.

For instructions click here.

Pretty Amazing Stockings

It is amazing what some pieces of felt wool can become in the hands of innovative people.
I found these beautiful Christmas stockings at Hable .

Made by a women's cooperative in Hungary and retailing at $135 in most cases, they are ridiculously expensive for a Christmas stocking, but they are beautiful and original.
Now, if you are looking for design inspiration you may want to check Cake and Pie for this mini tutorial.
For a touch of whimsy check these lovely stockings by M&Co at Around The House.

And have a look at these wonderfully traditional ones at Grand Revival.

I hope all your stockings are full of wonderful presents this Christmastime!