Thursday 17 May 2012

Accidental inspiration

Sometimes  inspiration needs a little nudge.
Two of the felt group members paid a visit to Colinette yarns the other week and brought the spoils of the journey for us all to look at and to share amongst us. 


 Up until that point I'd been wondering what to make on the day but when I saw the yarn I was away incorporating it into some lichen-ish stone-ish felt with thoughts of my day at Newgrange in my head.

 The wool is amazing and made beautiful Celtic spirals which are now just waiting for some stitches.
I do love this olive and grey scheme.

Can you have inspiration in retrospect?

Last week I was driving through Preston and the sky was deep leaden greys in front of me. There was a tree in bud, perhaps a sycamore? The sun was shining on its olive/mustard leaves against the grey sky and the bark was smooth and  silvery. Exactly the same colours as I had enjoyed when putting this brooch together.


Now for some excitement. I had been asked by Dunelm if I would be a product reviewer from time to time. Now, I don't advertise but am always willing to mention places and products I use so I agreed. 
The parcel arrived and I had no idea what was in it so it was quite exciting, and revealed these two books of paper.
As readers know, I am not a paper crafter but I do know a nice bit of card when I see it, so I'll review it as objectively as I can.
There were two books, one 12 inches square, a really great size for measuring and using, although I might have preferred A4 so I could feed it through the printer. 
I suppose if I want to I could cut it down a bit.
The 12 inch square one is called 'New Leaf' and has 48 sheets and 16 designs of acid free heavyweight cardstock. 
Its really sturdy and cuts like a dream. 
There are flat prints like this

 
 and some embossed prints like this. This book of card has a lot of 50s themed colours and designs .
There are some glittery prints.

For someone  not keen on glitter I find  it quite subtle and I can see it has its uses.
 Some of the prints are double sided so thats an extra bonus, I especially like the polka dot ones and shall be using those myself.

There was also a smaller book 8x8, called Sweet Owl, with again 48 sheets half glittered and half double sided. At first I thought they were all owl themed like these two pretty little pages



 but then I discovered some very romantic pinks with great potential for tags and gift cards.





For more details got to the Dunelm Website and see all their paper and other craft materials.




Its May and although the weather isn't great the bluebells have struggled through (although my sweet pea seeds I planted about 6 weeks ago haven't) so I thought I'd add a few pictures of bluebells and Hetty and Spring in general.



 These ducks, about to cross the road had been heading down out path until Hetty spotted them.


 Finally, I found this in what I euphemistically refer to as my alpine bed. Its really an old salt glazed sink which is now a solid matt of roots under some gravel with mainly weeds and a bit of sysirhincum and some gentians in it. 
Look carefully. 
Its a baby Larch tree. 
A gift from its dear mama which we sadly had to cut down in the Autumn. In all the years we had the larch, we never had a seedling grow from it before.
I think I'll plant it so we will have larch again and by the time it gets too big for the garden like its ma did, I'll be long gone!

27 comments:

Karen said...

the new felt is divine! and I love those fancy papers, I buy them and keep them just to ''look at''!

arlee said...

Voice Over (and CAPTION:)
'EPISODE 12B'
'HOW TO RECOGNISE DIFFERENT TREES FROM QUITE A LONG WAY AWAY'
'NO. 1'
'THE LARCH'
Photo of a larch tree.
Voice Over The larch. The larch.

hee hee

and love the sycamore and grey sky brooch

Máire Uí Neachtain said...

Love your Newgrange inspired felt. I am hoping to visit Colinette this summer on a trip to Wales. I first came on your blog, and stayed , because the pictures of Hetty were so like my own beloved Schnauzer Fritz, now sadly passed away since February. I was heartbroken, but 3 weeks ago got a crazy little terrier , a rescue dog 14 months old, and so life is hectic again. She is a real cutie, and has taken root in our hearts already. I am a weaver, not a felter or embroiderer, but I love your work. I love reading your blog, this is my first comment, please keep it up!!
Máire in Dublin

Jules said...

Hi Jackie
I just wanted to call in and say what a lovely post this is. Darting from topic to topic, it was like sitting down for a conversation. I hope you don't mind me saying so!
And I love the brooch with it's belated inspiration, I have seen much of that colour combination - dark moody clouds and the bright lime of spring in my dog walks of late, I think it comes close to being some of my favourite times / colours in the day.
And the beautiful new felt with the Celtic swirls - mmmmmmm!

Aileen Clarke Crafts said...

Beautiful felt Jackie! I think you can get retrospective inspiration. There's so much going on in the subconscious that we are unaware of and the creative subconscious is unfathomable! Love the papers too! Oh my goodness I really do. The sizes are aimed at Scrapbookers. I have a 12x12 Scrapbook album that is for my daughter and she loves getting photos to play with and sticking them on the pages with lettering and embellishments. I tend to be stingy with the really pretty papers though! lol Until she is old enough to make best use of them : )

Terri said...

Love your swirls!
and the pictures of spring!
Did you see the fairy on the leaves of the second picture of spring? You caught her on camera. Not many can say that!
Hugs!

Twiglet said...

What a lovely inspirational post. I love the new felt with the spirals and I am sure you will create something gorgoeus with it.
Your little larch is so tiny and perfect. Yes "The larch" - Monty Python sketch wasn't it. x Jo

Heather said...

A post full of delights - your felts are just wonderful and I love the brooch too - lovely subtle colours.
The papers are so pretty and the leafy one is very 'you'.
Love the Hetty in Springtime pics. What a treat to find that baby larch tree.

Karen Hurrell said...

Love the felt, the colours are so soft, very much like Ireland. Is that Hetty amongst the bluebells?

dottycookie said...

Your spirally felt is just lovely - looking forward to seeing what you make with it.

Jennie Atkinson said...

Love the spirally felt - so reminiscent of our lichen here. I look forward to seeing what you do with it!

Like some of the papers too ......

Rachel said...

The felt is lovely - I'll be intrigued to see what stitching you add to it!

Jennifer Tetlow said...

Love these new colours, just stone like - stone with lichen or the cup and ring carvings found out on the moors. Perfect for me!

Robin Mac said...

Lovely colours in the felt, and the brooch colours as beautiful. I saw heaps of those bluebell photos with Hetty on your facebook page, she is having so much fun. How marvellous to find a baby larch to grow again. I like looking at the scrapbook pages, but that is probably as far as I would get! Cheers

Jayne said...

Gorgeous, lichens are a particular favourite of mine, i've been dyeing linen with them. I love the slubbiness (is that a word?) and the subtle colour palette just perfect, look forward to seeing stitching. jayne.

Linda Vincent said...

Hi Jackie...just popping in to see what you've been up to and have my Hetty fix :-) Love the subtle colours you're using...you always inspire me and make me want to do some felting.

As for your cute little larch tree freebie...that would cost something in a garden centre;-)

Anonymous said...

Felts are spectacular and those ducks are so cute! xox

Catherine V. Bainbridge said...

Hi Jackie,

OOOOOoooo! I love this wool piece! Love the colors and the texturedness. I am feeling very into neutrals right now.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Such purty felt! Like you, I'm not huge on paper but I have to say your new stash is pretty awesome.

Anna said...

What an interesting post, thankyou, the felt is lovely.

Rosie said...

All this loveliness - and it was wonderful to hear about how you draw inspiration from what you see. The felt struck a chord in me even before I read about it, so beautiful (and so is Hetty).

Emma said...

Love your new felt, of course you can have retroactive inspiration, you've stored the colors you've seen, make felt chosen from the colors you've stored & are reminded of the inspiration when you see your piece! A wonderful spirally circle of thought ;)

Anonymous said...

ooh the newgrange pieces are so exciting... can't wait to see. And it's one of the places outside the U.S. that I have actually seen, so it's especially exciting!

Anonymous said...

Lovely the accident. Congratulations! Sometimes the random gives oportunities but you always do beautiful things. With or without random ;)

Elizabeth said...

Your felt is amazing!! Nothing like a good class with other creative souls to get our creative juices going!!! Bravo!! Can't wiat to see what you do with those wonderful pieces.. Must be on the lookout for some yarns like those!!
Your papers are interesting- what a nice complement for you to be asked to be a reviewer!! those 12 by 12 pieces are cut specifically for scrapbookers as that is the size of most scrapbook albums . thank you for sharing all of your lovely pictures- especially the blue bells!! Big hugs dear girl for ahappy Spring and Summer!!

Rachel said...

Incidentally, there is now an award waiting at my blog for you!

Heather Woollove said...

Love, love, love the Celtic spirals!!!!!
(Can't wait to see what becomes of them, Jackie!!)



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