Happy Valentines Day

It's actually my birthday today so I never really do the whole set meal with partner thing as I think it's a bit tacky. Besides, I believe people should celebrate their love every day, not just because they feel obligated to.

My best pal baked me these glam biscuits - shoe shaped with a purple glaze! They taste of gingerbread and remind me of the yummy specialist German ginger biscuits you can buy. She also bought me this fabulous book called Shadowfolds. It basically contains tutorials on how to make eye catching homeware and accessories with origami style folded fabric. There are patterns for lampshades, cushion covers, neck ties and more. I can't wait to have a go!

Manic Monday

Busily blogging before I start work! The two hanks of yarn I dyed yesterday came out beige but that's ok as it will still be more practical than the natural ecru tone that it was before. To get a strong colour I will have to use two or three packets of dye in future. It's quite exciting dying wool, I think I will be doing a whole lot more of this! Crochet with Raymond gives some fab examples of what can be achieved with a little patience and elbow grease. My yarn is still drying in the bathroom so I won't be able to start knitting the pouffe until later in the week now.

In terms of 'paper work', I also stumbled upon some free origami patterns on the web yesterday so will endeavour to make some hanging Christmas decorations when I get the chance. Hopefully I can squeeze this in between making mince pies and writing out Christmas cards, phew! I'm so looking forward to having a few days at Christmas to work through some projects, mum also plans to  make something on Boxing Day so we'll have a little production line going on.

Following the paper trail

And now for something totally different! Last week I realised I don't have enough hanging Christmas decorations for the festive season so I thought, why not make some? When I was nine years-old I had a Japanese friend called Yuko who introduced me to the creative art of Origami. I remember being tantalised by the richly coloured patterned paper she used as she demonstrated how to transform a simple square of paper into a swan, a dog's face or a familiar object.

I haven't dabbled in the paper arts since, that is until yesterday when I made a paper ski boot! I plan to create a few more little folded clothes and then progress to constructing some larger scale hanging shapes to decorate the apartment at Christmas.

One more thing before I go, I've always admired the contemporary look of clothing with intricately folded material and came across this fabulous example. Wow! So modern and unique. I must admit I feel a tinge of craft envy that I didn't design it myself, but it's certainly something to aspire to
nonetheless.