Monday 30 January 2012

My New Workspace!

Finally - the day has come! The (very, very slow) carpet fitter has been, and our new loft is ready for occupation!

We knew when we bought our house that, basically, the roof was knackered. But given the ample loft space, when we finally bit the bullet and decides to have to roof done, it was a no-brainer to get the loft converted as well. It would create 2 new double bedrooms, and given that we don't (yet) have enough children to fill them, one was earmarked for a study / sewing space.

And today, it is done. The builder started at the beginning of October last year, but to save money we did the decorating ourselves. Also very, very slowly, as it turns out! But now I can start shifting my sewing machine, my stash and all my bits and bobs to somewhere where my darling, inquisitive children can't get at it!

And I'm really hoping that this will mark a new creative stage in my life, I'm brimful of ideas for projects and I'm about to take the plunge into writing a tutorial to blog about. Watch this space...

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Creativity Returns!

After a long period of zero inspiration and motivation, I have finally found my creative juices flowing again. With a busy period at work and a slight misunderstanding about what the phrase "I don't mind helping out a bit if you need some help" ACTUALLY means, time has run away with me somewhat.

Anyway, a lovely friend of mine who is a florist offered to make me a Christmas wreath for my house in return for a 'crayon snug'. Apparently these are a small fabric pouch that you can store crayons in so when you are out with small children, you have something to entertain them with. All well and good, but I got to thinking about how to improve the concept - that's the engineer in me coming out! And of course, the first thing I though was - what about the paper?!? No use having crayons if you don't have any paper... So this is what I came up with.. All the pieces are oilcloth, so it's wipe clean - and said lovely friend is a fan of Cath Kidston, so here we have it!
Folded up, ready to travel
Folded out, ready to play!  Crayon pocket flips up while in use...
View from top while folded - just right to fit in a large handbag...
Sized to take an A5 writing pad, and a packet of crayons
For scale...