Etsy eye candy

I am cameraless this week and therefore photoless of any of my own new creations. Instead here are a few lovely things from my Etsy favourites:

Tea bag holder from Kims Little Monsters

Hello greeting card from Tea & Ceremony

Animal pillows from Vintage Jane

Lovely lovely!

Meet Percy

An extra post this week - but also cat related!

I have just added this little chap to my Etsy shop - see here for full details.

Percy is handmade from linen and cotton with a hand embroidered face. Hes on the look out for a good home!

A persons a person, no matter how small

And a certain small person in this house celebrated her 2nd birthday last week.

We started the celebrations with a trip to Peppa Pig world the day before. Although it was quite a stressful experience I would recommend it for any serious Peppa fans. But go on a week day. During term time. In the winter.

We spent her birthday itself as a family opening presents and going to play group (its what she said she wanted to do!) and saved the festivities for the following weekend when we had... a Cat in the Hat party! We held it at my mums, 2 hours away from where we live and only arrived about 20 mins before the party was due to start with decorations to put up and a cake to decorate so please excuse the hurried quality of the photos - it was a little stressful to say the least! Everyone had fun in the end though. Here are a few details:

The birthday girl of course wore her Cat in the Hat dress - and I would like to add she wasn't really wearing purple crocs with it, they were just for playing in the garden.

I made banners to put up along with some red and white balloons.

The colour scheme was a Dr Seuss style red, white and turquoise including stripy paper straws which I have been waiting for an excuse to buy.

We ate green eggs and ham. I made green devilled eggs which were supposed to be beautifully piped but as I say we had about 5 minutes to prepare before guests arrived so when a bit of yolk got stuck in the piping nozzle I gave up and just spooned the filling in.

I also made purple cupcakes as an homage to the film version rather than the book as we watch it on a regular basis!

I couldn't get a good picture of the cake although that may be for the best - it was iced at speed. I was pleased with the bunting on top though. And Bea liked it which was most important!

A very tiring but very fun week!

Lets get personal

I have just listed a new item in my Etsy shop! Its alphabet blocks again but this time you can order any combination of letters you like. They make a sweet addition to a nursery, or a lovely new baby gift.

Escape to the Cotswolds

We have just returned from a very relaxing week in the Cotswolds. I haven't been there since I was very small so I had no memory of how lovely the area is.

We stayed near the Cotswolds Water Park and were lucky enough with the weather to be able to enjoy an afternoon on the lakeside beach.

Bea was thrilled to be allowed an ice cream all to herself.

We spent a day at the Cotswolds wildlife park - absolutely the best zoo I've ever been to.

Although this sign made us a little wary of going near the lions!

I wish I'd got some better pictures of Bourton on the Water, it is a very, very pretty village.

And it has a model village (I seriously love model villages) which Bea enjoyed, although it was a shame it doesn't have any little figures, only the buildings and a couple of cars.

A lovely British holiday was had by all!

Cat In The Hat dress

Bea named this dress herself. We watch Cat in the Hat quite a lot at the moment and as soon as she saw the dress she said 'my cat in the hat dress!' I can kind of see why...

Please excuse the crazed expression in this photo - its what you get when you ask for a smile. And excuse the bluriness - I was laughing at the expression.

I made this little dress for Bea to wear for a wedding following the Junebug dress tutorial from Craftiness Is Not Optional.

I fell in love with the button detailing on the front and simple shape. I decided to make mine sleeveless as I thought with the stripes it would be a bit much so I had to construct my bodice differently from how she describes.

The tutorial was easy to follow and I'm really pleased with the way it came out, even if I couldn't get the model to cooperate!

Beautiful!

I love this hand drawn type by illustrator Sasha Prood. Its so delicate and intricate.

ABC

I have a new item in my new shop.

These are handmade alphabet blocks with my illustrations and hand drawn type on.

Each block is hand cut and painted, then the images are applied before the whole thing is given several coats of non toxic varnish.

They also come in a handmade calico drawstring bag to keep them safe.

I really love these blocks. They are so much fun to work on I am now doing the whole alphabet so it will be possible to order a personalised set. Great for nursery decor!

New shop news!

So I've had my Etsy shop Little Green Button for a while now selling bits and bobs that I make, but I decided that I needed to have a separate shop for my illustrated work. That means I can now introduce to you Julia Staite (imaginative name I know but it tells you what you are getting!)

In this shop I will be selling prints of my work as well as other illustrated items.

Currently I have three prints available:

Highwire Girl

Circus Horse

And this Little Red Riding Hood one is based on an illustration from my little book but I have adapted it to make a lovely print.

I also have the note books I used to sell in my other shop:

Sleepy Elephant note book

Bird Girl note book

I will also be adding a new item shortly - its something a bit different that I have been working very hard on lately so watch this space!

More red knitting

I am knitting a little top for Bea in the hope of finishing it by the autumn. Its a while since I knitted anything as I have been so busy making dresses on the sewing machine. Its another Tora Froseth design and another lovely, easy to read pattern. It can be found here on Ravelry.

The only thing that will stand in my way of finishing this before September is my Alicia Paulson Daisychain ABC sampler which arrived this morning and is already calling to me...