blogging again

I know that it's been very quiet on the old blog front for a while and I'm sorry not to have been around. One of the main reasons for this is that currently most of my creative energies are going into wedding plans and I don't want to give away too many surprises in advance!

However, one exciting that happened is that a friend of mine asked me if I would be happy to go out with her and her husband and take some pictures with them. They never got the chance to do an engagement photo-shoot before their wedding and so now, three years into marriage, it was a nice thing to do! 

I was very flattered to be asked, particularly as my friend is a professional photographer and so her standards are pretty high! I was a bit nervous but got relaxed into it and she relaxed into being in front of the camera for a change! If you'd like to see the photos I took just pop along to her blog.

She also took some photos of my fiancé and I around  Durham and you can find these pictures on her website too but here's one of my favourites.

I hopefully won't disappear for too long again this time...

wreath making with Floral Footsteps

A very talented friend of mine has set up her own floristry-illustration-photography business in Durham called Floral Footsteps. (Check out her website here, it's good for presents!)

For the last couple of years Floral Footsteps has run traditional wreath making sessions in Durham. I didn't make it last year but was very quick to sign up this December and this is the result:

I managed to commit myself to making two wreaths, one for my mum and one for a friend, without really knowing what I was getting myself into. Having only ever made wreaths with florist's oasis before, this was much more time consuming as you begin by making your own base of moss wired onto a metal ring. I won't describe the whole process (you'll have to go to the workshop next year) but basically at the end of three hours I hadn't finished one wreath, let alone made much headway with the second! 

I had however had lots of fun. There were mince pies and mulled juice on offer and lots of happy creative company to enjoy. And, having to finish my creations at home meant that I could add bits and bobs that I had lying around the house such as the gold and red ribbon.

I used to do a bit of floristry at home at Christmastime making advent crowns and wreaths but I haven't done it for a while so was lovely to get into it again. Thank you Robyn!

back in time for Christmas!

Hello and welcome back to Ribbon Willow! As I said in my last post I had a bit of a break as life got busy. Things were starting to calm down but then I got engaged last weekend so I think it will carry on being busy for the next little while! However, I didn't want to neglect my blog any longer and I thought I'd getting a few little Christmas-themed posts in before the 25th.

Every year my parents ask me if I'd like to make their Christmas cards for them. Sometimes they're drawings or collages, this year they were photos. I went on holiday to Morocco for a week in October (look out for photos of this in the New Year!) and having taken pictures of camels during a trek, they made for perfect Christmas cards:

And here are a couple that didn't make the final cut:

It's nice to be back. Watch out for more festive posts on wreaths and Christmas jumpers!

on a break

I'm taking a little break from Ribbon Willow. Life has got very busy at the moment and I've found that I've been unable to post blogs regularly. I've still been doing creative bits and pieces, including making a documentary video and teaching myself to felt(!) so I will be back to tell you all about what I've been up to once things have calmed down a bit and start having free evenings in again.

So goodbye for now. Thank you so much for reading and I hope to be back in a few weeks/ months x

every knitter needs one of these...

I made this a while ago, around the same time I was starting to get back into sewing and made my pin cushion. It's one of those creations that I put to use immediately after making it and so forgot to write a post about it until just recently.

Being a keen knitter I've certainly had plenty of well-meant mockery head my way over the years but knitting has clearly made a very convincing comeback in recent years. Did you know that typing 'knitting blog' into Google produces 28,600,000 results! 

I don't think I'll ever have a blog entirely devoted to knitting but I can admit to being quite a fan of it. (And I actually think it's one of my less embarrassing hobbies, I can honestly say that fantasy RPG computer games will never get a blog post!) 

And a keen knitter would be lost without a case for all her needles.

 

An Unnecessary Doorstop!

For my birthday in April I got given a book called The Crafty Minx by Kelly Doust. 

Kelly is an Australian with a knack for making handmade treasures out of recycled bits and pieces which is just up my street! I found her blog yesterday if you're interested to take a look: http://thecraftyminx.com.au/

The book has lots of ideas and patterns for things to make and I took inspiration for my latest cushion cover from it. This doorstop was first on a list of things that I have queued up to make. It's made from bits of fabric I've picked up here and there: an old pair of jeans, some old curtains, upholstery material and some fabric I inherited with my sewing machine. It's filled with the contents of a bag of rice and some extra stuffing so it's pretty solid.

The only problem with making a doorstop is that my bedroom door stays open by itself so it's not a necessary accessory and we don't need it anywhere else in the house. However, while I was on holiday with my parents a couple of weeks ago, my mum mentioned that she was in need of a new one for the lounge so happily I was able to send mine to a good home.

So not such an unnecessary doorstep after all!

a very Scottish summer

It's been a while since I've blogged so I thought I'd return with a nice summery post...

I went on holiday to the Cairngorm National Park with my family this year for a beautiful, if somewhat wet and windy, holiday. It didn't rain all the time though and we had some great days out exploring the landscape. Here are some of most Scottish shots to sum up my time away:

View looking back down the valley on the way back from Ben Macdui

Grasses on the mountainside

Out on a bike ride on the Rothiemurchus estate

Huge pipe band at the Abernethy Highland Games

Woods at Loch Morlich

Highland heather

Red squirrel making a bid for some food

Toadstools love the damp weather!

It wouldn't be a real Scottish collection without a thistle

Herd of reindeer on top of Cairn Gorm

Hay bales in the field

Hope you've enjoyed this and maybe feel inspired to visit yourself. I love it that there are so many beautiful parts of the UK that I'm yet to visit!