WildKittens Giveaway!

This month over on The World of WildCat Designs (my main blog), I'm hosting a month of giveaways, starting with some WildKittens goodies!

Here's what you can win:

One of my PDF knitting patterns for making a sweet pair of Mary Jane style baby shoes - perfect for a newborn baby gift. Sizes available are from 0 to 18 months. (You'll find the different sizes listed in my WildKittens etsy shop.)

...OR this cute patchwork-style handmade baby blanket.

This blanket was the prototype for a pattern I designed and donated to the charity Bliss as an exclusive pattern for members of the Bliss Loves Crafts Craft Club, so it's a real one-off. I called it the Iced Gem Blanket as the soft cotton colours I used to knit it really reminded me of Iced Gem sweeties!



Check out my blog post >> here << for more information about how to enter the prize draw.

Shaun says choose wool!

Yes that's right - it's Wool Week and even Shaun is getting involved!

I guess it's not all that surprising he's a big fan of wool, well, he is a sheep after all :)

Do check out Shaun's page on the Campaign for Wool site - it's full of fun things to do like games and crafty how-tos (choose from pom-pom sheep, a flock of nodding Shauns or even knit yourself sheepy a Nintendo DS cover!).

Best of all, there's a gallery where you can submit your own drawing or painting of Shaun and the gang!

Peek-a-boo!

..it's Pook-A-Looz! I do think most kids (and big kids, for that matter) have a favourite Disney film or character - I always adored the Aristocats myself. I was browsing around my local supermarket today searching for a birthday card, and found these little guys dancing around on one!

Image via here
I guess they are like a fun, stylised version of each character. I love how soft, cute and friendly these toys look :)

Image via here
Image via here
I think my favourite is probably this one though:

Image via here

Oh and look - there are Muppet ones too!

Image via here

Magpie Market

Tomorrow is market day for me, and this will be the first one I've done this year, so I'm raring to go with lots of lovely handmade things! If you love vintage, art and crafty pieces, be sure to pop along to Magpie Market and say hello - we're at the Hub, just down from Edinburgh Castle from 11am til 5pm.

As well as my usual WildCat Designs woolly wares, I'll also be setting up shop with some WildKittens goodies, such as these cute little pink shoes for little pink feet:

Did I mention it's free entry? Complete with a crafty corner run by Granny Green's Big Night Out, a pop-up cafe (cakes aplenty!) and goodie bags for early birds!

Best of all, it's indoors, so if it rains, no problemo!!

Yarnimation

This lovely little animation by Charlotte Blacker is called The Little Red Plane, is aimed at children and features hand knitted characters and scenery!



Find out more here (image via the University of Central Lancs).

Happy Birthday Miffy!

Image via Centraal Museum

Miffy is 56 today! Happy birthday to Miffy - I guess rabbits just age well... :)


For Miffy-related fun, check out the Miffy UK twitter, as they are giving away lots of lovely prizes today in celebration!

There is also an exhibition at the Dick Bruna Huis museum in Utrecht in the Netherlands celebrating its 5th anniversary in this, the year of the Rabbit. The exibition is called Miffy in Fashion - several fashion designers have been invited to make a party dress for a ceramic Miffy which is 40cm high! The exhibition runs until January 2012.

Corgi Cuteness!

If you enjoyed the recent Royal Wedding, and have crafty inclinations, this may well appeal to you: a knitted version of the Queen's companions, little Corgi dogs!

Image via The Guardian

You can read the full pattern for free here on the Guradian website, and knit your own little Pembroke Welsh Corgi keepsake. It's an extract from Fiona Goble's "Knit Your Own Royal Wedding", which I thought was a really fun take on the wedding :)

DIY Mobile revisited!

I'm so thrilled...I finally got this to work the way I wanted it to! Sans "whirring" noises! Enjoy :)



For more info, please see my earlier blog post.

Reading Rocks: Little Ray of Sunshine

As today would have been the 76th birthday of Roger Hargreaves (RIP), I thought it would be a good day to mention the wonderful Mr. Men and Little Miss books, of which he was the writer and illustrator. Even the Google "Doodle" today features Little Miss Sunshine, among others!


You get a different character each time the Google homepage reloads. These are some of my favourites...



Images via Google

I loved the Mr. Men and Little Miss stories myself as a child, with their friendly, engaging characters, colourful illustrations and funny little stories. This year is also the 40th anniversary! You can see the full spectrum of misters and misses here on the Mr. Men website.

Image via Wikipedia
One of my favourite charity shop finds (as an adult!) is this cheerful ceramic piggy bank:


Mr. Men & Little Miss wiki lives here.

Sock Pals!

Here's a couple of fun Easter break projects, suitable for small kids and big kids alike! :D

You can use an old sock (maybe its partner has been eaten by the sock monster?) to make a sock friend:


...or even a sock pet! Choose from snake, sock dog, crocodile and even a doggy draught excluder:


The possiblities are endless, if you have as many socks lying around that are no longer in a pair or have holes in them as I do. Check out the Pet Pooch Gallery too!

Reading Rocks

These Reading Rocks posts seem to have fallen by the wayside a little. Oh dear! I do, however, have plenty of favourite childhood reads to share and recommend coming up over the next while. I've decided I am going to do them on a monthly basis from now on.

Image via Wikipedia
Something which prompted me to start this up again: I saw an interesting article on Dick Bruna, the creator (writer and illustrator) of Miffy in the FT Weekend Magazine - read it here.

I've loved Miffy for a long time, I think probably because she is so cute! She's also very curious and inquisitive, which makes her very appealing for anyone with a child-like sense of wonder. Her Dutch (for Mr. Bruna is from Holland) name is "Nijntje" which comes from the word "konijntje" and means little rabbit.


Miffy at Keukenhof via Miffy UK
Every image of Miffy is lovingly hand illustrated by the man himself, using very particular colours and a clean, neat style. It's no surprise that this bunny has become an enduring icon, celebrating her 50th anniversary a few years ago - I was lucky enough to see the dedicated exhibition when it came to the National Library of Scotland in 2007.


Miffy is 50 via NLS
The official Miffy website is great too and definitely worth a visit, as it's highly interactive and extremely child-friendly:


You can learn all about her, play games, print off colouring-in pages and even watch short video clips.

Spring is here!

Flower & Bird Hairslides by Penny Masquerade
This week, it has really started to feel like springtime, hurray! The daffodils have properly opened up in my garden and everything. I do love the succession of colour in the garden around this time of year, starting with the snowdrops, then crocus, now the daffodils and soon my beloved tulips will be in bloom. ♥ So, in celebration of this lovely development, I am sharing some cheerful spring-inspired things I found on etsy.


Bunting Birds by HWR Designs


Felt Flower Pattern by Little Crickets


Baby Hare Soft Sculpture by Dragon House of Yuen

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a lovely sentiment! Very appropriate for today, I thought :)

You can find more knitted awesomeness (including the pattern for these utterly adorable lovebirds) over at Mochimochi Land.

Dinosaur Mania!

If you like Dinosaurs, well, you're in for a treat.

The Age of Reptiles Omnibus is here! It's just been published and it's a full-colour book packed with lavish, imaginative illustrations of the land of dinosaurs, including plenty of the 'bitey' carniverous ones.

Image via Comic Book Resources

I bought it for my dinosaur-loving other half's birthday. Suffice to say, he loves it! Mind you, what kid didn't grow up loving the idea of a wild dinotopian world before we humans came along? Even now, I believe dinosaurs have a fairly universal appeal.

Image via Comic Book Resources

The stories were created by Ricardo Delgado (a development & storyboard artist known for his work on X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Men in Black and The Incredibles to name but a few!), and orginally published by Dark Horse as a mini series in individual comic format. The books have even received Eisner awards for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition and Best Limited Series.

Image via Dark Horse

Find out more about The Age of Reptiles here and also here.

Sugar, Spice and All Things Nice

I just wanted to share the lovely treasury list I've had my WildKittens baby shoes included in. It's curated by Ziggy and Friends on etsy, a fellow member of Team McEtsy!



You can see the treasury here - and the handmade baby shoes are in my WildKittens etsy shop.

Merry Christmas!

This is probably the cutest version of "Sleigh Bells" I have ever seen or heard (found via those lovely Made in the Shade gals), so I thought I'd share it here. Enjoy!



A very merry Christmas to one and all! :)

Happy St. Andrew's Day!

Happy St. Andrew's Day to all of my fellow Scots out there! In celebration, here are some picks with a distinctly Scottish flavour.


Saltire pendant by Pendant Pixie



Pressed Borage Flower Badge by Nikki Made



Print by Hole in my Pocket



Irn Bru necklace by Bunny's Beads

Magpie Market

I'm currently making things like a crazy person, either for my shops, bricks & mortar stockists - but this week, mainly for Magpie!

(please click image for larger version of flyer)

It's on this Sunday (14th November) and I will be showcasing my latest WildKittens and WildCat Designs creations, along with some knitting books and yarns too.

Do come along, it's the perfect opportunity to see some lovely vintage and handmade pieces with sellers such as Vertiline in Love, Caroline Cloughley and Louise Smurthwaite. The market is free entry and early birds can nab themselves a goodie bag :)

*whispers* Perhaps even a chance to start the dreaded Christmas shopping!

Reading Rocks

I realise it's been a while since I did a Reading Rocks feature, and thought it was about time I did another! Since Halloween is currently on everyone's mind - particularly mine, I love this time of year (any excuse for fancy dress!) - I thought I'd stay sorta spooky for this one.

My favourite witch-in-training, Mildred Hubble, was the subject of a whimsical and enjoyable series of books by Jill Murphy about a girl, aka 'The Worst Witch,' who was more than a little accident-prone and had a habit of getting into trouble or finding her spells not going *quite* as planned!



One of my favourite things about her was the fact that when it came to having a familliar, she was last in line an at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches and somehow ended up with a tabby cat instead of the usual black cat.

I highly recommend these books as they are a thoroughly entertaining read, never a dull moment as things so often go (hilariously) awry for poor old Mildred!



There was even an enjoyable TV show based on these books, which screened around 1998~2001!

Find out more about the Worst Witch here.

Other Halloween-flavoured treats (no tricks, I promise!):
http://www.bookortreat.com/2010/10/27/halloween-gift-tags-for-books/
http://www.domestifluff.com/2010/10/free-printable-mini-owl-treat-boxes/
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/10/sock_zombies.html

Spooky Saturday!

With Halloween only a few short weeks away, here are some fun picks to get that party started!


Cute little Halloween Spiders by Diomo Glass.


I love these fun cupcake wraps by Bespoke Cards - they'd be great for adding a creepy touch to edible treats.


Send someone a spooky message with this card from Little Bird Too.

Now I just need to figure out my Halloween costume...!