Meet Marcus Woofington and Wendy

This is the first blog post of two about some fantastic books that I've been reading recently. I've never really owned any craft books before but I am definitely going to start amassing a collection now, even if it's just to look at the pictures in them for inspiration! I got the book Sock and Glove for Christmas and it's ace,  I've never made any sock animals before but have always wanted to have a go.

There's so many cute animals to make, including a dog, a cat, a monkey, a rabbit, a pig, and a bird and the best bit is the instructions are really simple to follow and are mainly just pictures.

I went straight out and bought some socks and a pair of gloves, and made the dog from the front cover of the book and the elephant.

Meet Wendy and Marcus Woofington. They didn't turn out quite like the ones in the book, as  I decided to erm 'customise' them... I gave Marcus a sort of collar/polo neck jumper as I had lots of glove left after I'd stuffed it, and Wendy ended up with an extra long and very thin truck! Still I'm pleased with how they turned out for my first attempt, think I'll have a go at the pig next. 

You can check out other peoples sock creations from the book on Flickr and I also found this group with lots of cute sock creatures in.

Projects galore

For the past week or so, I've been waking up most mornings with a head full of ideas for new projects. Unfortunately this just seems to mean I have tons of unfinished projects on the go at once, as every time I go to finish something I get a different idea, or it doesn't quite turn out how I'd planned and that leads to a whole new idea... Need to keep away from the internet there's far too many inspiring things on there!

Here are some projects I did manage to finish. Firstly with Valentine's day approaching I thought I'd have a go at making some cards. Here are my first attempts, I've listed them over on Folksy if you fancy buying one. Would love to hear any thoughts/suggestions for future cards.

I also got some new fabric for Christmas this year, so thought I'd put it to good use. I've made a load of Minifelt badges, as I'm thinking of doing my first ever craft fair and thought it'd be good to have a few small things to fill up the stall with.

I also made these lavender smelephants, from the same fabric. I made the template myself, and kept them a simple shape, think I need to add some tails to these though.

and finally an idea that still needs a bit of work, my cardboard cuckoo clock. This didn't go quite to plan as I wanted to make a net out of one piece of card then fold up the sides, but I didn't have a piece of card big enough, so I improvised! I made it out of several small bits of card and attempted to glue them together. However, this was a big mistake, as the glue didn't stick well enough. I tried to rescue it using good old double sided sellotape, but that also didn't quite stick right... So it needs a bit of a re-think. Here it is anyway.

Hope I continue to have many more successful (well at least easier to make) ideas over the next few weeks. Must make the rule of not starting something new till I've finished the last thing!