Happy Christmas!

Christmas card photo shoot

Models can be so temperamental sometimes. First they don't like the outfit...

And storm off the set...

They will only work if you ply them with raisins...

And even then they still wander off to watch Team Umizoomi...

They're always drinking on the job...

And would much rather be off playing with George Pig and a load of Stickle Bricks really.

Some of my favourite paper

A few years ago I got these christmas wrapping papers in a little pound shop. They were quite old, and faded at the edges so god knows where they came from but I just love them!

I was going to use them that year to wrap my presents in but I couldn't bring myself to do it so they went into my paper stash instead.

The green one isn't a dodgy scan, it really is badly printed, which just makes me like it more.

There were more designs than this and I wish I had bought them all. Just to look at.

Point de croix

On Kirsty's Homemade Home last week she did a feature on cross stitch with cross stitcher extraordinaire Emily Peacock. I am totally in love with her hug cushion:

I have a thing for circus fonts anyway and the pompoms make me want to trim everything I own with pompoms. I immediately declared that some kind of cross stitching book or supplies were exactly what I wanted for christmas so I was thrilled to discover Petit Details on Etsy. As well as a range of gorgeous ribbons and things they sell beautiful French cross stitch books like these:

Now I just have to pick one to put on my christmas list but to be honest I want them all!

Bird Girl

I have just added a new notebook to my etsy shop. The illustration is a greetings card design I did but I like it as a notebook too.

Gifted

I have just been virtually flicking through the fantastic Gifted from Creature Comforts. Its full of christmassy inspiration and lots of interesting interviews that I haven't had chance to read properly yet.

Some highlights for me are this article about Rifle Paper Co, their christmas stuff looks lovely.

And a feature about gift wrapping which lead me to discover this fantastic blog about packaging. I want to start wrapping christmas presents now! Do you think there is a gap in the market for a professional present wrapper? Thats a job I'd like to do!

Da da da da da da daaaaa!

That is meant to be a fanfare because...I have finally finished the new look juliastaite.com! That's where I have been for the last few weeks, working very hard! Its been a long time coming but now looks all shiny and tidy. As you can see I've made a few changes to the blog too to match.

Devon

Here are a few photos from a recent long weekend in Devon. They were taken in Dartmouth looking over the water to Kingswear, which looks like Balamory! It was a very cold, misty day so Bea was dressed like an eskimo.

A red belated birthday dress

I didn't quite finish the red dress in time for Bea's birthday. Luckily she didn't notice! It is still too big anyway as I made the 18-24 months size as shes such a giant baby!

I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Its quite simple but the heart detailing is lovely.

Here's all the info:

The pattern is Sweetheart by Tora Froseth Design. It is pretty easy to follow and knitted on circular needles which was a first for me.

The yarn I used was King Cole 4ply merino in scarlet. It is quite soft although probably a bit itchy directly against the skin.

I think I will make another Tora Froseth dress for Bea at some point.

Shop updates

A couple of updates in my etsy shop Little Green Button today:

I have one length of lace bunting left over after two big orders, although can make more to order.

I have also just listed only one Little Red Riding Hood book. I only had enough paper to make one for now but will add more soon!

Bea turned one

I realised I haven't posted since Bea's birthday so thought I would share a few photos.

Here is the birthday girl herself at her teddy bears picnic.

This is Trixie, the special bear we bought her. You can't tell here but she is navy blue. We thought it would be nice to have a 1st birthday present she can keep.

We also got her this anniversary edition Fisher Price school house. I remember playing with the same one myself when I was little!

I can't believe she is one. That was the fastest year of my life!

Teddy bears picnic

Here is Bea's invitation to her birthday teddy bears picnic. We wanted a nice vintage feel but didn't have much time so we did pinch all the illustrations from old Enid Blyton books I must admit.

I think Bea will be taking Dog rather than a teddy. Dog is from Ikea and is Bea's best friend so I'm sure he will be joining us for the birthday celebrations next weekend!

The birthday dress

Is coming along slowly! I had a disaster while untangling a knot in the yarn and quite a lot of stitches fell off the needle. As I was in the middle of knitting the little heart pattern I was unable to recover and had to start again. At least I have knitted faster the second time now I am so familiar with the pattern!

Three years of a degree and seven years freelancing...

Were all working towards this one masterpiece.

Bea absolutely LOVES the cbeebies birthday song so I felt it was my motherly duty to create her a card to send in for the birthday bear slot. In The Night Garden isn't her very favourite (her first words were Peppa Pig) but we call her Makka Pakka because she's so chubby so it seemed fitting.

I just hope it gets shown now after all my hard work!

New on my needles

I have just started knitting a dress as a birthday present for Bea. I only have a month to finish it but as I tend to get addicted to knitting once I start a new project I should hopefully get it done in time. I'm loving the scarlet yarn.

French chic for babies!

I have just discovered the amazing Citronille and want to make everything! Including this lovely dress. The patterns are in French but look quite simple so I think I could muddle through...There are also patterns for older kids and women as well as lovely fabric.

I love the vintage looking illustrations as well. I'm expecting Bea to have curly blonde hair like this when she eventually grows some!

I am about to embark on a knitted dress as a 1st birthday present so when that is done I think I have found my next project!

Not booties

This should be another bootie picture, to show you the coordinating booties I made for my sister who is expecting twin girls in a few months. One pair was pink with cream edging and the other was cream with pink edging so they can use them to identify which is which in the first few days! However, we mislaid the camera so I couldn't take a photo before I gave them to my sister.

When the camera was found I uploaded some photos from a couple of weeks ago of Bea and her cousin Tilly trying out the new swing at Granny's house. By a lucky coincidence they both matched the swing and each other, resulting in some quite nice pictures!

Looks like Tilly isn't happy about waiting for her turn. Or maybe someone just told her shes about to get two new baby sisters!

La Petite

My Little Red Riding Hood book was recently featured in the first issue of very stylish online magazine La Petite.

Created by Rachelle who has a lovely blog called kenziepoo it is full of beautiful kids stuff.

I must make a new batch of the books as I have currently run out!

I love to illustrate...and I'm not the only one!

We love to illustrate is a lovely new blog from a group of children's illustrators that has just been launched. It looks very promising, I look forward to a good read!

Poor baby!

Here's a quick Friday post of Bea in another fancy dress costume, this time for a Star wars party. I believe she is an x-wing pilot - daddy's idea but the creation was a team effort!

Busy, busy, busy

Too busy to post in fact. But here is a quick look at a little drawing that will be appearing on notebooks in my etsy shop soon. When I'm not so busy.

The best room in the house

I thought I would take a few photos of Bea's nursery while it was tidy! Its my favourite room in the house and we had lots of fun decorating it before she was born and have continued to add things ever since. We rent so were restricted in what we could do but I thought I would share a few details here:

Here is her bed where she spends (most of) the night. It has a Cath Kidston spray flowers bumper and I made the matching hearts at the end of the cot.

We bought the little shelf/photo frame at a craft fair last year and her little coat and dressing gown look so sweet hanging there. The candle on the chest is Yankee Candle Baby Powder which is a much loved scent in this house!

Here is the Lloyd Loom we restored last year with matching spray flowers fabric and although you can't tell here, the curtains are white broderie anglaise. I have put the quilt I made on the back of the chair as it can feel a bit chilly at 3am!

And this is the other side of the room with changing table and Gisela Graham growth chart picture frame that we still need to put photos in!

A new citizen of Pikaland

Amy at Pikaland has just launched this brilliant new community for illustrators. What a fantastic idea!

Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee

I spent some time last week creating two matching tiny cheerleader outfits for my nieces 3rd birthday party, which was Grease themed. One was for Bea and the other for her cousin Tilly.

They were not keen on posing for a picture together.

I think they looked pretty darn cute! I guess I can expect a lot more costume making from now on!

Sleepy baby elephant in a new format...

Hello, I have just added a new product to my shop, a notebook featuring my sleepy baby elephant character also available as a soft toy.

I love notebooks. They make me want to write lists.

Get some of those booties!

After making so many of these booties both for gifts and as commissions you can now order a custom made pair yourself from my etsy shop. Each pair will be made to order so you can choose the design.

Sorry, did I forget to say I was going on holiday?

I do apologise. We went off for a little break to Spain with my sister and her family. We stayed in a little place close to Portugal and Seville and although I promise we did see some interesting things, and Seville is very picturesque, when looking through all the photos we took I have found that they are all of Bea. There are no landscape views or culture rich snaps. we appear to have spent the entire week taking pictures of our baby!

Oh well, I'll share a few examples of our holiday baby worship with you and you'll have to try and pick out any exciting scenery in the background, or just imagine the colourful sights and sounds of the old city of Seville. Sorry about that.

Bea sunbathing with Mama

Looking quite excited to be on the beach for the first time

We did try to make her wear these sunglasses to no avail

Its hard work being a baby