Put the Flags Out! Freebie and Contest

Flag Day!

Hiya! I hope you're all well and happy. "Long time no blog" I hear you say! I'm sorry for my absence, I've been getting over winning the Feeling Stitchy contest!  Yes it's taken me this long... winning something is rather a shock to my system, you see.  Oh and catching up on things that I've been meaning to do for a long time... like making some little printable flags for sandcastles!

The beautiful Carbis Bay... ahh, what I'd give to be there right now...

A couple of years ago, I made a few little flags for sandcastles on the train down to our holiday destination, the lovely Carbis Bay (pictured above) near to St Ives. If you like Cornwall, I thoroughly recommend a visit as the beach is wonderful, the sea so clear and there's some great walking on the easier bits of the coast path (I'm a real pussy when it gets a bit steep and rocky!). Anyway, here's some pictures of those flags in action:

Since then, I've been meaning to make some for you good folks to download and print out... Finally, I've gotten around to it!  I think this would be a good activity for children to keep them occupied when you're packing for your holiday. Then again, you might want to make yourself a little flag and wrap it around a pencil.  Click on the images or links below to download the flags (you have a choice of ready coloured, or blank for you and/or your little 'un to colour in)

Summer Pals' Sandcastle Flags - ready coloured
Summer Pals' Sandcastle Flags - blank for you to colour in


Joey's Dream Garden Sandcastle flags coloured in version_ not for commercial use


Joey's Dream Garden Sandcastle Flags_ outlines version_ not for commercial use

I made them with our little long-term visitors, Little Tiger (who else??), Cotton Carrot and Bunny Giraffe in mind. Of course, the ever modest Little Tiger demanded a flag with his "beautiful" fizzog on it and nothing much else... Cotton Carrot didn't really mind as long as there was a carrot featured somewhere; so I've put lots of carrots coming out a happy sun to reflect her sunny disposish. And Bunny Giraffe, the most musical and rhythmic of the pals, gets a singing bunny in a rainbow of music! Which he's very happy with. :-)

Health and safety note: please ensure young children are accompanied by an adult when using sharp scissors, and please keep craft knives out of their reach. If your youngsters are using bamboo skewers, please cut off the pointed end for them first.

To make the flags, you need:

A print of the flags

Scissors
Glue

Clean lolly sticks (or bamboo skewers, cut in half, or pencils)

Here's how you put them together

1. Download the sheet you want, and print it out. If it's the blank ones, colour them in and decorate if you wish.

2. Cut out along the dotted lines.

3. Get your stick ready. Apply glue to the back of one half of the flag.

4. Place the stick on the centre of the flag.

When I used a lolly stick, I decided to position it halfway up the flag, as it's quite short.

5. Fold the flag over and make sure that both sides line up neatly. You now have a double-sided flag, ready for some sandy constructions!

Unfortunately, I'm not going to the seaside this year... (sob!) But because I still want to see LOTS of sandcastles with these flags in, I'm offering a prize to the most impressive and imaginative sandcastle bearing one of these flags!  If you want to have the chance to win an exclusive Joey's Dream Garden brooch, here's what you need to do:

1. Make at least one of the flags

2. Make a sandcastle (it doesn't have to be on a beach; in a sandpit would do if, like me, you can't get to the seaside)

3. Take a photo of your creation

4. Add your photo to the Flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/sandcastleflags/ - if you've made lots of flags and sandcastles, please add as many photos of them as you wish! 

The closing date is Monday, 13 September 2010, 00:00 on Howland Island (i.e. GMT -12 hrs; click here to find your timezone's equivalent time:  http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html ) and I will contact the winner via Flickr soon after.

UPDATE 14 JULY: Blogger is currently having technical problems, meaning people sometimes cannot leave a comment. If you cannot leave a comment (please try first, I love getting comments!) please e-mail me and tell me what time you tried to comment. My e-mail is jramone@toucansurf.com.  Thanks!

Take care in the sun (and the sea, if you're going to the seaside!)

and Have Fun!

Joey x

Little Tiger in Appliqué

Hiya!
I'm finally getting around to showing you the projects I've made for Making Gifts Magazine.  The first is the Little Tiger Baby Set!  I designed and made two appliqués, and sewed one to a bought baby vest, and the other to a bib which I made from scratch. 

Each appliqué is made from individually cut pieces of cotton fabric, bonded to a base fabric and then machine satin-stitched around the edge.

These appeared in issue three of Making Gifts and you can get the whole instructions in the back issue, still available on their site.  However, I'm going to put up a tutorial for one of the appliqués in the next couple of days, so watch this space!

I had four projects published in issue three and one project in issue four, so I'll be featuring those over the next couple of weeks.  Issue five of Making Gifts is due to be published in early July, so keep your eyes peeled if you go into Hobbycraft, you might see a familiar face in there!

Best wishes
Joey xx

Little Tiger Embroidery Pattern Launch!

Hi!
I hope you've had a good Friday... and now it's the WEEKEND! Hurrah! :D

You will be pleased to know that due to popular demand, my winning Little Tiger's Orangey Celebration embroidery pattern PDF is now on sale in my Etsy shop, Joey's Dream Garden!  Please click on this to take a closer look!

With the full-size (nearly A4) pattern, I've also included full instructions to making this embroidery, together with photos of my finished embroidery for your reference... And there's no shipping cost as the pattern is delivered right to your inbox!

You will be pleased to know that Little Tiger has now got over the initial excitement and is back to one of his most important tasks: watching his Gogos doing the conga...

Party Time!

Have a great weekend everyone, whatever you're doing!
Best wishes
Joey xx

Guess why I'm HAPPY!

EEEEK!! YES! It's LITTLE TIGER!!

Hiya!
Nope, it's not just the beautiful sunshine we've had all day today and the clear blue sky... but my entry to the Feeling Stitchy Rainbow of Stitches contest WON!!  I know, I'm amazed too!  I never win anything - really!  So it hasn't really sunk in yet, and I think I've gone into denial!

So THANK YOU EVERYONE who supported me in any way, I really appreciate it! :-D Big, big hugs to you all!!

Little Tiger, on the other hand, has taken it all his stride. "I'm used to this kind of thing, you know, lots of attention from my fans".  Goodness me Little Tiger, that's rather modest of you... Not!

I'm thinking about my next project actually!  Do you remember the Little Jumping Joan (skipping bunny) embroidery pattern that I gave as a freebie earlier this year? Well, I think I will FINALLY get around to actually embroidering her myself, for the first time!  If you want to have a go at embroidering Little Jumping Joan, please, be my guest! You can access the downloadable PDF by clicking on the link here: Little Jumping Joan.

I'm going to be posting work-in-progress pictures, so please watch this space!

And due to popular demand, I will be selling the Little Tiger's Orangey Celebration as a PDF pattern in my Etsy shop in the next couple of days, so you can have a go at making your own version, and do your bit to help Little Tiger's struggle to world domination!

Lots of Love
Joey & Little Tiger xx

Feeling Stitchy Rainbow Contest - Voting Time!

Which is your favourite?

Hiya!
Well, I switched on the pc this morning to find that the voting has already begun! How exciting! If you've been reading the last few posts in this blog, you'll know what this is all about, but if not, just scroll down.

My entry, Little Tiger's Orangey Celebration, is one of the ten finalists... so please vote for whichever is your favourite!  Here's the link: http://www.feelingstitchy.com/2010/06/cast-your-votes.html

Little Tiger and his "mini-me"!

I asked Little Tiger himself for his thoughts on this momentous occasion, and here's what he said:

"VOTE FOR ME!! DO IT! DO IT NOW! VOTE LITTLE TIGER!!!"

Oh, Little Tiger! Calm yourself! You're getting much too excited and it'll all end in tears.  Now go and wash your paws, you've been playing in the dust with those naughty sparrows again...

Best wishes
Joey xx

Skippity-Skip!

Hiya! It's hard to believe that the video above, with the beautiful sunshine, was only taken yesterday, as it's gone all gloomy and rainy again... typical British weather!

I had a fantastic day yesterday!  Me and my friend Louise went into town to catch a bit of the Sheffield Chance to Dance event... we saw all sorts of dancing, but my favourite was the Irish dancing, which we watched in Barker's Pool. Those kids are so energetic!! I can't believe how much they skipped and leapt around like happy little spring lambs! I think they have rubber legs, they were very springy indeed.  I took a few pictures as well...

One, two, three and - float!

Hop!

I love their turquoise skirts, they were just so... swishy!

We also went to the Craft Candy mini craft fair at the Bungalows and Bears bar on Division Street, which was very nice. There will be more Craft Candy mini fairs, so check their site for more info... you can have a drink AND shop... what could be better?? I bought a little badge from Fox Bunting, bearing a cute little illustration of a fox. I like foxes.

Then a quick trip to Hillsborough on the tram to Fine Fabrics, for a bit of fabric for the project I'm currently working on for Making Gifts magazine.  Which is all I can say about that for now... but watch this space!

I also have a slight sunburn as a free memento of the day! Whoops! Silly me...

Have a fabby week everyone! Whatever you're doing...

Joey xx

P.S. I'm hoping that the public voting for the Feeling Stitchy rainbow of stitches contest (of which my Little Tiger embroidery is one of the 10 in the final) will start tomorrow... I'll post a link to it here as soon as I find out!

J xx

EEK! Guess What?

Orange Category Winner - Rainbow of Stitches Contest

YIPPEE!!! My embroidery won the orange category of the Feeling Stitchy Rainbow of Stitches competition!  They asked me to write up a little interview thingy, which you can read on there, if you wish...

So, if you want to know how the contest pans out, just visit the Feeling Stitchy blog over the next five days to find out which other embroideries have become finalists... Red was revealed earlier today... and there will be another two announced tomorrow... I'm guessing it'll be yellow and green... How exciting!

I'm sorry if all this self-centredness is a bit much, but don't worry, it will pass! :-) It's just made my day! :D

Best wishes
Joey xx