Sunday 12 May 2013

Printable Craft Papers And My First Knitting Project For Handmade Monday


I've got two brand new crafting adventures to tell you about this week, both equally exciting to me but very different from each other!


Printable Craft Papers

Ever since Etsy streamlined their procedure for selling digital downloads i've been more attracted than ever to the idea of branching out in the direction stationary, specifically, printable craft papers. I held back for a while because i wanted to focus on Free Spirit Designs home wares. However, now i have quite a few fabric designs which i figured it wouldn't take too much time and energy to convert to printable papers i decided to take the plunge... and this is the result!



My brand new Etsy shop "Free Spirit Designs Print And Paper"!

I have two listings so far... a six item collection of my rose garden designs...


(You can see three in more detail at the top of this post and here are the other three).


They come as 12x12 inch high-resolution 300dpi files, available for instant download and the price for this set is £2.50. Once purchased they can be printed off as many times as you like and used for personal craft projects or small scale selling.

*they may not be claimed as your own, given away, sold, used for mass produced products or reproduced onto anything other than paper!*

Here's listing number two, my 'birds of a feather' collection.


There are twelve patterns available in this collection and the price for download is £3.50. The observant among you may have noticed that i have created some new stripy patterns for the papers (although i may now add these to my fabric range too as i rather like them!)

Here's a close look at the selection...








I'd be very interested to hear from any craft paper users which patterns from the these two collections are most appealing... in fact any feedback on this new endeavour would be greatly appreciated!

(Once i have a few more listed i plan to offer a custom option where you can pick and choose a group of your favourite patterns from any of my collections)



My First Knitting Project!

On to exciting new thing number two... knitting! For those who missed it, a couple of week's ago i was told by the lovely and talented Penny of Planet Penny that i had won her giveaway of a gorgeous book, 'The Knitted Home' by Ruth Cross. How wonderful! The only problem being that i'd never knitted a stitch.........

All that has changed now though! Oh yes, i have undertaken the first project in this wonderful book, a knitted lavender pillow. I opened a skein of gorgeous blue/green wool i had in my stash of crafting lovelies and spent a little time getting a feel for things by knitting and then unraveling the first few rows.



Then when i felt more confident, i forged ahead and produced this!


My first ever kitting project completed! I'm dead chuffed. So much so that i couldn't wait to get started on another, so i raided my stash again and came up with this stripy companion to lavender pillow number one...


...which, as i write this, is winging its way to my brother as a birthday pressie... and i'm busy informing everyone in the family that they will be receiving knitted pressies only for me for the foreseeable future and to get their Christmas orders in soon :)  Oh Penny, what have you started! :)

I'm hopping over to Handmade Harbour now to see what kind of a crafty week my fellow handmade mondayers have had... care to join me?

p.s. Thanks for dropping by and thank you in advance for your comments, they are always much appreciated

p.p.s. All knitting tips welcome! :) x

34 comments:

  1. Wow - well done you. The pillows look AMAZING. You obviously have a talent for knitting. Good luck with your new shop. It all sounds so very exciting. I am not sure how you fit it all in!!

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    1. Aww thank you, your encouragement really means a lot :) xx

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  2. I love the Roses paper the best, the price is very reasonable too. Nice that you have the knitting bug too - it's such a good feeling to create useful things isn't it? !

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    1. thank you!

      oh yes definitely, i love thing that are pretty and functional - even better if i can create them myself!! :)

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  3. fantastic idea to use your current designs and transfer them from fabric to paper, gives you more scope and will appeal to even more buyers.
    Congrats on your knitting venture, a brilliant first effort :)

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  4. Congraulations on learning to knit! It's an itch that you can't help but scratch once you get going. Might I recommend scarves as christmas gifts? I know its only May but I've have found in the past that you can decide to give 6 scarves for presents only to find you haven't left enough time to make them! And if you start now, you'll be gwetting lots of practice.

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    1. thank you! He he :) that's so true, i can't wait to get knitting again!

      scarves would be perfect i think and i completely agree, the earlier a start i can get the better! :)

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  5. Wow. The papers look amazing. I'm guessing you use Photoshop? I really need to learn it, don't I?! I like both sets and think they'll both have lots of fans.

    Well done on the knitting, too. I am officially very impressed!

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    1. aww thank you very much Wendy!

      I used a fantastic app for macs called pixelmator to edit my designs, its very reasonably priced and super easy to use (i'm sooooo overwhelmed by the idea of photoshop and wouldn't know where to start!) I'm not sure what the equivalent for PC would be... could be worth googling it?

      he he :) awww thank you, your support means a lot xx

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  6. Love the colour of that blue/green wool. Congrats of the knitting too - no end to the talents!

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  7. The papers are amazing and I am sure that they will sell really well.
    Well done on the knitting too. I'd love to offer you some tips, but as I can't knit a stitch (well, not strictly true, I can knit a normal stitch but can't cast on or off) I'm not sure I can say anything at all constructive!
    Have a lovely week. Not long now until hubby's birthday - can't wait to give him the Digby mugs! xxx

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    1. Aww thanks Ann :)

      I'm so excited to hear what he thinks of them... do let me know!! x

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  8. How lovely that you've started to knit. Did you learn it from the book? There'll be no stopping you now, it's quite addictive you know! Your papers are fabulous.

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    1. it really is lovely, i'm enjoying it so much :) Yes, i'm learning from a book by Ruth Cross called The Knitted Home which i was lucky enough to win in a giveaway over on planet penny! :)

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  9. Good luck with your new Etsy venture. I'm sure it'll be a great success.

    Well done with learning to knit. The little pillows are lovely. My knitting tip would be don't pull the wool too tight and always, always, do a tension square xx

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    1. thank you!

      Oh okay thank you, that sounds like excellent advice :) all i need to do is find out what a tension square is now! :) x

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  10. Congratulations on completing your first knitting project. Knitting can be a bit addictive as you're finding out!
    Your printable papers are a great other use for your beautiful fabric designs. I'm sure they'll fly off the Etsy shelves :-)

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    1. thank you! oh yes i'm definitely in love with knitting already :) x

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  11. Well done - your knitting looks really good. I love your papers - they are always so pretty. Hope you have a good week.

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  12. Good luck with your shop your knitting looks great I was thinking of having a go myself hmmm

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  13. Your knitted lavender bags are so cute. Especially like the colours in the top one.

    Very exciting to be branching out into papers too.

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  14. I love the papers, that's a great idea and works really well - I can see talented origami types being able to have bowls that match their curtains and cushions! The knitting looks great, well done for "catching the bug" and winning the competition :-)

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  15. Well done, your knitting is wonderful! And your paper designs beautiful, wishing you much success with all your creativity :)

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  16. I think you need to branch into fabrics! Congrats on the knitting, next it will be crochet and then it is goodbye to your dining room as the woolly stash moves in!

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    1. Thank you! He he :) the crafting stash has already moved in! :)

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  17. The papers are a wonderful idea as your designs are so pretty. I am so impressed with your knitting. The flowers look so sweet on the cushion. You must be crafting 24hours a day with all your creations.
    Ali x

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    1. Aww thank you Ali! You are so kind :) I'm glad you like this week's makes! xx

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Your lovely comments are much appreciated x