Mushroom Paperweight

You may have seen I created some crochet mushrooms a while back.
I felt at the time that they would work nicely mounted on a mossy bank as a paperweight.
So I got myself a smooth flat rounded stone and covered in two layers of wadding, stitching it together.
Then I knitted a square of plain green wool and sewed that round then got some gorgeous lumpy fluffy green wool and loosely knitted that in a square and sewed a couple of layers around the layered stone.
Then finally stitched the 3 mushrooms into place. I like it.
I have 3 blue mushrooms to do the same with, but I shall make that one more urban.

Hand Stamped Craft Business Cards

I have lots of projects to show you but am still in the purgatory between housing, and live life between boxes.
Last night, thanks to some inspiration, and the arrival of large novelty erasers, I pumped out a few stamps.

Crazy Crowded Craft Table

My goal is to make business cards for my arts and crafting.
This is my first attempt as I thought handmade makes sense.
The design is cause I grew up in a very urban area with very country parents and we was neither fish nor fowl, and cause I like drawing tower blocks and houses.
I took a pick of my overcrowded craft desk too, cause I like creative chaos.

By the way I am haveing a very dyslexic day.
My shopping list today included meet (meat) and deodarant (deodorant) amongst others.

Me and My Comic Books

I have a life long love of comics. I grew up with Pogo Possum, Tintin, Asterix, Wizard of Id, Garfield, Family Circle, The Perishers, Beano, Dandy, Beezer and that's just to name a few.
In my teens I devoured 2000AD annuals and Neil Gaiman's Sandman.
Around 17 I ventured into my first comic shop alone and ignoring the sweaty stares of fanboys,  I brought my first grown up comic, which was The Furry Freak Brothers, this was my failsafe to avoid the uncomfortable looks girls get in comic shops. I would browse then as soon as I felt creept out I would grab the next FFB and get the hell out of there.
My collection has grown much since then, as I mainly collected graphic novels, I have boxes and boxes of books, love them.
Now I work 2mins from GOSH (the best comic store in London, if not the world) and 10mins from Forbidden Planet, yep I'm screwed. I shall live in a house made of comic books.
Here are my latest acquisitions:
My Fav was Hildafolk, a surprise buy and a pleasant one at that.
Though, in truth, all of these are stella and recommended...

Heartbreak Soup-Pressy from Big Griz, one of the legendary Love and Rockets range, a must read for any comic buff.
Tales from Outer Suburbia- Shaun Tan is magical and this is atmospheric magic captured on paper.
Burma Chronicles- I read another one of his books and find them compelling mundane reads.
Habibi- OMWord! Mega, Humongous, phenomenal, breath-taking, the dreams I had after reading this were warp and epic. I am a longtime fan of Craig Thompson, his Goodbye Chunky Rice was one of my first indie/alt comics.
Flight 7- and yes I have the previous 6. always a pleasure.
Hildafolk-magic fun, lively, gentle, silly, mesmerizing. My friend at work kept saying Nobrow to me, important publishers I guess, so when I saw this I snapped it up.
Blacksad-An Emi reccomendation of epicness, film-noir cat detective, better than I have described it.
Bone- Borrowed from the library years back and vowed to buy my own copy. Pogo Possum meets LOTR.
Copper- a real pleasure and I truly identify with Fred the dog. Came from the pages of Flight.

By Needle and By Hook!

So Big Griz is trying to steal my scarf, after wrestling him to the ground, I conceded by offering to knit him one.
It's my first proper attempt at knitting, so it will be a very 'special' scarf.
So far the scarf is 4 inches, two colours and very wide.

 I am also attempting to crouchet my sister a shawl for her ever thumping growing bump, Junior. It's my first attempt at a triangle and it's a bit too trianglely. so it'll take a while to be wide enough to go round anything.
I like to crouchet on the bus with my headphones on, it's very relaxing. I try to do one line across for one bus journey.

Ice Hockey Series: The Big Playoff

Couple of my Ice Hockey friends, Ciaran Conliffe and Lee Harvey, asked me to do some cartoons based on their ideas, for them to be published in the Streatham Redskins Fanzine. I hope to do a series but here is the first three, which I am told have been published.

The Streatham Redskins are about to be temporarily moved to a new rink in Brixton.

Streatham shall be leaving their historic rink as a new one gets built.

There is a lovely article about the feelings of one of our Hockey players through this change, check it out here:

http://www.streatham-redskins.co.uk/2011/11/my-rink-ed-koral/

I have mixed feelings on the Brixton Rink, though I am glad Streatham is getting a new one for the area and the team. 

On one hand this has unfortunatley been built on a valuable asset, of the ever shrinking Brixton market. The big concrete car park, which has now gone, leaving a huge empty space.

Without this car-park the market is pretty much gonna disappear. I wish the local council made more of an effort to rebuild the market rather than let it die.

Here's a wonderful film about the market in Brixton, one I grew up around and had a wonderful ever extending 2nd hand market including tons of fruit and veg and fabric.

http://www.stallstories.org.uk/brixton.html

The other side of the coin is, I am super super excited that Brixton is going to have an Ice Rink, I hope to become a regular. My sister lives near by so when she has given birth I shall be educating junior on Ice Hockey so he/she grows up to be a Hockey player. I have made junior a customised babygrow.

Crochet Mushroom Tutorial

1. First pick your colours. I recommend one light and one dark. I picked these green ones because they look fluorescent.

 

2. Next crochet single stitches in a spiral until you have create a circle of the size you like.

3. Next take your other colour and crochet another circle very slightly smaller

4. Now stitch, with the darker thread, the two circles together and stuff a touch of toy filling

5. Using the same dark thread stitch lines of the gills of the mushroom on the lighter circle.

6. Crochet in single stitch a tight tube in the lighter thread, stuff with some toy stuffing, stitch close the ends and attach to the centre of the mushroom.

And your little crochet mushroom is finished, ta da!

Amigurumi Mushroom

 Here's what I made yesterday, I been slightly crochet obsessed (my fingers are super sore) but I figured amigurumi mushrooms would be v.easy and they are!
I shall do a tutorial and post it for you to make your own.

Gosh! It's been over a month since I did a blog post, for shame!
I have some valid excuses. I started an exciting new job 3 weeks ago.
I am now the Animation Coordinator on Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom! Get in!
Pretty much a dream job, pretty full-on chuffed :)
Have to say though I was pretty chocked to leave Chuggington, the team became a bit like family so sorely missed. Chugga-Cho-Cho in the words of Koko, Traintastic Crew.

Before I got the job, I was planning to do a Christmas craft market stall but the stall dream has been postpone. I stopped blogging and started planning and attempting to make mass produce, so I have lots of half made things right now. Which means in a month or two I gonna be spamming my blog with creations.

Since being here I have had the urge to crochet, I think it's the weather change. My pregnant sis requested a crocheted blue shawl for winter so I been working on that. My first ever time I've crocheted a triangle.
That project I like to do on the bus to work, whilst listening to jazz. I witnessed another crocheter on my bus the other day and I chickened out of bringing mine out, next time I see her, I will!


Nice to be back people, I shall keep in touch.