#YouCompleteMe challenge update...

Do you remember me posting about the Craft Blog Club June #YouCompleteMe challenge?

The idea was to fish out a long forgotten, started but not finished, craft project and, erm, complete it...

Well I picked a lovely cross stitch picture I started more than a decade ago and decide I would make a concerted effort to finish it in June.

June 30th - not quite completed

So did I do it?

Craft Blog Club - June Challenge #YouCompleteMe

These lighter evenings are great don't you think?  The Other Half is spending more time in the garage 'tinkering' which means I have access to pc in the evenings. This week I got to join in my fave twitter chat #craftblogclub for half an hour before Roo's bedtime and it was great to catch up with some of the regulars and meet some new tweeps too!

Emma announced the June challenge - You Complete Me - last week (read all about it here) and, not being one to shy away from a challenge, took the opportunity to trawl through the huge plastic storage box full of bits and pieces, half finished projects and long abandoned craft obsessions to see if I could rekindle the love for something long forgotten...

And I found this...

CraftblogClub IReLoveYou Challenge

Emma at Frugally Peachy set us a brilliant CraftBlogClub challenge in February - to thriftyly upcycle an item of homeware and make it beautiful again. She said we could use something we already had or purchase something second hand to reinvent.

It was the perfect excuse to get on with a little project I have had in the pipeline since last summer when I first saw an amazing book in our local library...

#Craftblogclub Secret Santa

Back at the very beginning of December the lovely Emma over at Life is Peachy organised a Secret Santa for all the #craftblogclub Twitter chatters who wanted to take part (well done Em, you did a fab job matching us all up and making sure everyone got the right addresses to post to!)

My Secret Santa gift was to go to Kate at Crafts on Sea and I spent many hours pondering what to make for someone who seemed to a pretty accomplished craftswoman herself! In the end I decided to make a covered notebook, using the same method I used for this tutorial a couple of months back.

I used lovely wool mix felt in grey marl and some gorgeous blue linen fabric that used to be a shirt (I do LOVE reusing old clothes to make new things!) for the lining and an embroidered applique patch on the front.  I know Kate has been going through some exciting changes this year with a new baby and a new shop so I thought a little notebook to jot down all those hopes, dreams and ideas would be just perfect!

Unusually for me I completely failed to take any pictures whatsoever of the notebook before or after I had wrapped it up to send! (I was in a bit of a pickle most of the way through December though so maybe it's not too surprising...) Luckily Kate has blogged about it with some lovely photos - please, do hop over and take a look

I know you are all dying to now what I received from Secret Santa....

Check out this gorgeous little bundle of loveliness from Laura at Made Peachy!

Not just one pressie but four! A lovely handmade felt stocking with huge jingle bells in my favourite festive colours, a bar of handmade soap (that smells yummy) and a candy cane to nibble on.  Laura had obviously done her research and knew how much I loved all things kitty and made me a covered notebook too! I adore the kitschy little kitty on the front. The back of the cover shows the back view of the kitty - sooooo cute :-)

There was a lovely little notecard enclosed too (Laura, if you read this - where did you get that notecard from? It is just beautiful!) sealed with wax which cracked delightfully when I opened it. I am definitely getting me some sealing wax and a stamp in 2014 - it is so much more satisfying than just ripping open a normal gummed envelope!

Thank you so much Laura - I am blown away by your thoughtful gift!

And thank you Emma for having the idea and organising us all - you are awesome!!

I hope you all had a fab Christmas and Santa brought you all lovely gifts too!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year x

What makes a good blog?

image courtesy of Nujalee/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you are on Twitter you may have come across 'Twitter chats'. Usually based around a particular theme, hobby, interest or TV program and usually accompanied by their very own 'hashtag' to enable users to follow the conversation.

Tuesday nights see not one but two Twitter chats I like to make an effort to follow - #craftblogclub I have mentioned before, hosted by Emma @livepeachey and #CBUK hosted by Hillary at @craftbloguk 
Both chats are aimed primarily at craft bloggers (although if you are looking to find NEW craft blogs to read then these hashtags are a great place to start), and both are a great source of inspiration and advice.

Last night's #craftblogclub chat was all about Pinterest. You know how much I love Pinterest - it's a great place to store ideas and get inspiration! You can read Emma's round up of that chat here.

#CBUK concentrated on the tricky subject of engaging readers.
The whole point of blogging for most of us is that we are sharing our thoughts, images, ideas, knowledge with the world wide web (does anyone actually still use that term?). In return we like to see that people are interested - whatever people say about not caring about the stats, in the end we want people to visit our blogs, look around, comment and, perhaps most importantly, subscribe, follow and come back another time.

Now I am not one to worry myself too much about keywords and SEO - I like to think I write descriptively enough for searches to find me and I always make sure I use a number of different phrases within each post to ensure that I have covered several search options. For example my tshirt yarn projects posts include phrases like 'tshirt yarn projects' 'tshirt yarn tutorial' 'making tshirt yarn' 'crochet with tshirt yarn' and 'recycling tshirts' - phrases I would hope anyone actively searching for tshirt yarn related blog posts might use.  That said I have had more vistors to those posts via the images I have pinned on pinterest. I know there is room for improvement and I realise I am going to have to take SEO a little more seriously if I am to get more visitors...

But once they are here, how do we keep them here, get them to contribute and better still get them to return?

I don't know if there is a set formula that works - great content obviously is the key. You have to be writing stuff that people WANT to read or else they will just click away. Great images help tremendously, particularly if you also use Pinterest to promote your blog. I have noticed a distinct upturn in visitors via Pinterest over the last few months - never underestimate the power of a beautiful photograph, particularly if it illustrates a tutorial/recipe/how to!

But most importantly you must LOVE what you are doing! If you're not mad keen on your latest blog post how can you expect anyone else to be? Content written because you feel you HAVE to will never be as good as content written that you really love/believe in.  I have always said that when blogging becomes a chore it's time to step back and re-evaluate.

So what do you think makes a good blog?
What makes you hit the 'Subscribe' button? (top of right hand column by the way ;-) )
What makes you want to keep coming back?

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Craft Blog Club Challenge - Cover a notebook

A few weeks ago I spotted something new on Twitter on a Tuesday night.

#CraftBlogClub - hosted by the lovely Emma of Life is Peachy every Tuesday between 7 and 8pm - gives crafty bloggers a chance to chat about craft blogging, offer advice support and generally have a bit of a giggle. Emma tries to keep us focused on a theme each week (she also does a fantastic write up on her blog afterwards covering the main points talked about) and also sets us a monthly challenge. As there are so many different craft bloggers, each with their own niche, it's a great idea to get us all to offer up our own interpretation of a theme...

This month's challenge was to cover a notebook.


I chose to use a simple method I have used many times before but with a little twist, trying something new is what keeps things interesting right? I wasn't sure how well it would work but I am pretty pleased with the results!

You will need

Fabric - measurements depend on the size of book you wish to cover

one piece of main fabric
one piece of iron-on, medium weight interfacing (not essential but a good idea if you are using a light fabric)
one piece of contrast fabric

Ribbon for the spine trim
Ribbon for wrap around tie
matching button

Measuring up - your main fabric needs to be (4x the width of the front cover ) + the spine measurement  x the height of the book + 4cm
The contrast panel needs should be the same height as main panel and a bit less than half the width.

so for my A5 note book the main fabric measured (4 x 10.5cm) + 1cm  by (15cm + 4cm)
or 43cm x 19cm  and the contrast panel 20cm x 19cm

Cut the piece of iron on interfacing 1cm smaller all around - so in this case 41cm x 17cm - and place it centrally on the wrong side of your main fabric. Iron into place.

Press a 1cm seam along the 2 short edges and sew it in place (you'll see in the picture that I folded a hem on the long edge too - I'm not sure why, it's not necessary. I must have had a brain melt at that moment ;-) )

Fold the fabric in half length ways to find the centre point that will sit on the spine of the book.
Cut a length of wide ribbon - I used this lovely 20mm  Whitby Stripe by Jane Means - the height of the book + seam allowance (so, in this case, 19cm) and stitch it into position down the centre of your cover.

Now place your notebook, open, on the right side of the cover, making sure the spine is aligned with the ribbon. Fold each end over the notebook cover.

 Slide the notebook out of the cover and then take your contrast panel and pin it, face down, centrally so it covers the gap between each folder over end. (Again, no need to fold that little hem over like I have in the photograph - however you could fold over and hem the two shorter sides if your fabric is particularly easily frayed)

Stitch across the two long edges with a 1.5cm seam allowance. Trim the seams then turn through.

 Press the cover and slide the notebook into it's new jacket!

Adding ribbon loop and tie

Cut the ribbon approx 3 x the width of the book. I used a lovely cream and baby blue stripe ribbon from the Jane Means collection.

Seal the ends by holding it close (but not too close!) to a naked flame.The heat melts the fibres and stops the ribbon fraying.

Fold over one end to form a loop and stitch a button in place, sewing through the two layers of ribbon

Take a few stitches through the top layer of the book cover to secure (you might want to leave the book in the cover while you do this so you don't end up stitching right through the cover. Like I did...

Wrap the ribbon around the book and tuck the loose end through the loop.

Add a pen and pop it into your bag for stylish note taking on the go :-)

Happy Crafting!