Beautiful Picture

I really love Rob Ryan's designs, but at £300 plus for a print, I won't be buying one any time soon! Instead I decided to buy one of his cards and put my own stamp on it.

What I used:

• Rob Ryan card
• Beautiful patterned card from Hobbycraft
• Silver frame costing 99p from the 99p store!

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Rob Ryan and the Columbia Flower Market

Today Tom was off Go Karting with some friends, so I had decided to venture down to Columbia Road to the Rob Ryan shop. As I've mentioned before, I love Rob Ryan and was excited to find out he had a shop in London! I hadn't realised it was actually in the middle of the flower market! Such a fabulous atmosphere and on such a beautiful sunny day!

Of course I had to buy something (or some 'things') and opted for one his fabulous books 'This is for you':

I couldn't really justify a mug or one of his exquisite tiles so instead opted for an amazing teatowel. It's far too beautiful to use, so i plan to frame it instead!

After my visit to my current mecca i decided to have a wander around columbia road. There are so many beautiful shops; I could have spent a fortune. I then happened across a stunning fabric shop called Beyond Fabrics

I found some gorgeous fat quarters for £3.75 and had to buy them:

I was also a bit naughty and bought a few corsage making things. A plastic guider to make it easier to make them, and a corsage set - purely because I can then copy the pattern and adapt to make my own. They will undoubtedly never be as good as my friend Abbey's over at Doll Doll Dolly!

A lovely day; but I think it's obvious why I never have any money! Will be spending a cosy evening in with my cross stitch and a terrible movie. Heaven.

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When creativity works, and when creativity doesn't...

Got a parcel at work today and it was the clock drawer knobs. As the antiquey looking ones are coming from America I figure they will take a while, so for now I've put them all on and can decide once they arrive. I think they are adorable!

A while back Katie showed me how to make flowers from ribbons. When I saw the bow maker yesterday, I thought I might as well give it a go, as my patience for doing it by hand was, shall we say, somewhat limited. Anyway, the bow maker (a simple rubbery piece of plastic in a 5 point star) is fab! It took me 3 attempts to get a decent one, but I was pretty happy with the result, and put a cute little button in the middle:

This evening, I gave my new Rob Ryan teatowel a good iron and framed it. I'm really happy with how it looks! 

 

I also attempted to finish off the dragon. To be honest, I'm pretty disappointed with how it's turned out. It's been really hard, and I've lost my patience with it a fair few times. It's completely on the wonk, and the right leg has given me no end of bother. I decided just to leave it and stuff it anyway, which did make it look a bit better. I then sewed on the arms and wings, but I'm still not happy with them. The quality of the stitches is pretty rubbish for me, and one of the wings is wonky so I'm going to have to unpick it and sew it on again :(

 

I pinned on the head to see what it would look like finished. I'm really happy with his personality...but for a perfectionist like me, I'm far from happy with it. Was so hoping to get him done soon so I can start a new project! Looks like I'm going to have to do a bit more work on him yet. Certainly don't feel I can give him to my friend as a present right now!!!

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