Lots of Fabulous Felt Bundles!

One of my big projects this week has been turning a pile of wool blend felt squares into some lovely colour-themed felt packs.

The felt delivery arrived on Monday, I sorted them into colour order on Tuesday, wrapped them all up neatly with ribbon on Thursday, then got them photographed and in my shop yesterday - hurrah!

The Soft Pastels pack includes 12 pretty pale and pastel shades:

Then there's Pinks & Purples...

... Blues & Greens...

... and Fire Tones (thus named because Reds, Oranges, Yellows, & Peach/Coral Pinks was just too much of a mouthful!).

If you want a wider mix of colours, you can choose from the Bright Rainbow...

... and the Bold Rainbow, which has much deeper, richer tones though I'm not sure I've fully captured the difference between these packs in these photos! I think I may need to take a photo of the two rainbow packs together for really clear comparison. *Adds that to the To Do list*

I've also put together a pack of squares inspired by the British coast, which I'm calling Coastal Walk:

Then the last pack is Useful Neutrals, which is currently only 10 squares (unlike the other packs which all have 12) because my stockist is out of stock of white and ivory felt and I'm planning on adding those to this bundle as soon as I can get hold of some.

As well as the felt bundles, I've also added a few new crafty supplies to the shop this week. It's been a fun challenge working out the best ways to photograph everything!

There are lots of different buttons...

 

 

... some lovely metallic pencils...

... and vanishing fabric marker pens. I use one of these pens regularly in my projects, especially when I'm working with felt and want a guide line for something like a cute smiley face. If I mention an "air-erasable pen" in a tutorial, this is the kind of pen I mean! Some pens in this style only write well on fabric but this felt-tip-style pen is great for fabric and felt, I highly recommend it.

I've also added some gorgeous 15mm wide rainbow ribbon to the shop - the 6mm ribbon was proving so popular I thought I'd get some of this in, too. I'm now selling both ribbons by the metre or in 10 metre reels.

Finally, one of the other tasks I ticked off this week was buying some packaging to use when posting my shop orders. I bought envelopes, etc, of course, but I also stocked up on pretty stripey paper bags. They're so lovely I've popped some in the shop. They're available in blue or sunny yellow, and I'm selling them in bundles ranging from 10 to 100 bags.

As I've mentioned before, my shop is currently set up just to accept orders within the UK because of the effect COVID-19 is having on the post. However, if you're based elsewhere and are happy to wait for your order to arrive, please do get in touch and I can give you a quote for postage and sort the payment out via Paypal.

100 Days of Studio Scenes: Days 11-20

My 100 Day Project to share behind-the-scenes updates from my creative business continues!

Click here to read about days 1-10.

DAY ELEVEN:

"Yesterday I mostly parceled up and posted paper packs! Thank you so much for all your orders, there's just one pack left now (oh my gosh). I am OVERWHELMED and DELIGHTED by how quickly they've sold, and by your enthusiasm for them. I appreciate your support so, so much, I cannot even begin to tell you. Very appropriately, yesterday my big order of postage stamps arrived so I can now send All The Post. Well, I can once I've stopped oohing over the lovely sheets of stamps!!"

DAY TWELVE:

"Here's a peek at one of my current batches of work-in-progress - I find mini trays like this particularly useful for managing my small WIPs! I usually have lots of projects in progress, all in different stages. 

That felt angel is a sample for a tutorial I'd originally hoped to add to my shop back in December - fingers crossed I can finally get it finished sometime soon! The bullfinch pattern has been in progress for even longer, I stitched the embroidery pattern version back in 2018, I think, and am only now finding the time to sew the step by step felt version. Meanwhile, I'm making a start on sewing snowy owls and cardinals. Bit by by bit everything is getting nudged forwards."

DAY THIRTEEN:

"I've started planning some new paper packs! Watch this space."

DAY FOURTEEN::

"My parcel-laden shadow on my socially distanced route to the parcel postbox!

I'm really lucky to live close enough to the beach that I can walk in all this wide open space during my state sanctioned bit of exercise. Any day I have parcels to post (stuff that won't fit in my local postbox) I'm taking the parcels with me on my walk, then looping quickly off the beach up to the parcel postbox before I head back home. It's great being able to combine the two trips and to avoid having to walk through the town centre which has looked quite busy!"

DAY FIFTEEN:

"Yesterday I was tidying up my workspace and thought "ooh, I've finished lots of projects recent, I should plan a sample sale!"... then instead of carefully planning one, I held one straight away in my Stories, haha."

DAY SIXTEEN:

"I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday while ordering some paper and tape for my parcels. I thought I'd ordered totally the wrong thing and I was feeling so tired and stressed and anxious and worried about money and, well, that's not a great combo, is it? 

After I'd calmed down I then sat on hold for ages trying to get the order cancelled (listening to some soft rock and a looping recorded message telling me how wait times were longer than usual due to COVID-19)... but it had already been processed by the time I got through. The customer service rep I spoke to was very nice though and reassured me I could easily return anything I needed to.

Then my order arrived this morning and it turns out I hadn't ordered the wrong thing at all! I feel like an idiot, but an idiot who now has ALL THE PACKAGING SUPPLIES.

I also now have customs labels so I can start sending international post again, too! Hurrah! I'm going to be taking things easy for the next few days (because I clearly need a bit of a rest!!) but I have plans for lots of new stuff coming soon..."

DAY SEVENTEEN:

"My living room floor currently looks like this!* 

I'm putting together some new paper packs, a £5 pack about the same size as the last batch and these much bigger bumper packs which will be £10 each. Both full of crafty papery goodness, of course!

*Out of shot: lots of other piles of paper and related chaos, pictures waiting to be framed, and my current in-progress jigsaw puzzle."

DAY EIGHTEEN:

"Here are a few of my current felt-y works in progress! 

I'm feeling very tired at the moment and struggling to find the focus for sewing, designing new things, or writing anything longer than an Instagram caption. I've mostly been tinkering with my new paper packs (coming next week!) but I've also been making myself do a little bit of sewing each day (or at least every other day), then taking a few step photos when the light is just right. Each small batch of sewing + photos helps nudge a few projects forwards and means that when I'm feeling more able to focus I'll have lots of pics ready to edit and use for new tutorials for my blog, shop, and newsletter."

DAY NINETEEN:

"Yesterday was another restful day, sorting through some awesome book pages for new paper packs and making a start on prepping for my next @lauralupinsells sale. Jigsaws, books, and crafty goodness, coming soooooon!"

DAY TWENTY:

"I took a trip to the magic postbox today! Okay so it's not actually magic but it FEELS like magic. A great big postbox I can put parcels in and thus carry on selling stuff without having to go to the Post Office??? This is AMAZING and WONDERFUL. 

(I took a break from this project for a few days because I was feeling rubbish, if you can't press pause for a bit during a global pandemic when can you? I'm hoping to get back in the daily rhythm of things again now...)

More updates soon, or you can follow along on Instagram HERE.

3 Creative Ideas for Decorating your Parcels

Sending a gift to a friend for their birthday or other special occasion? Why not decorate the parcel to make it extra special!

 

Today I'm sharing three crafty ideas for jazzing up plain parcels: decorating them with pens, paint and colourful scrap paper.

Decorated parcels are super fun to receive but it's important to make sure they reach their destination safely: use lots of clear parcel tape to secure your decorated parcels before popping them in the post. If you're sending your package via a courier service it's best to wrap your decorated parcel in another layer of brown paper or even in a parcel box to keep it safe and protected on its journey.

This post is sponsored by My Parcel Delivery, a courier comparison site that helps you find the best deals for sending your important parcels.

There are a whole range of courier services that deliver in Europe and internationally - two of the most popular are UPS who have lots of designated drop-off points (no waiting in long queues at the Post Office!) and Parcelforce who can collect your parcel from your very own home.

Follow these handy tips to package your parcels correctly!
 

1. Marker Pen Doodles.

Use permanent markers to add a burst of colour to a plain package!

Start by drawing a shape around your handwritten address or printed address label...

... then add more lines to build up a stripey pattern, with one line of each colour.

Keep adding lines until you're happy with your design. I repeated the same colours, adding them in the same order, but you could add colours at random to create different patterns.

Carry your design on around the sides of your parcel for a really vibrant effect.

2. Painted Polkadots.

Cover your parcel in pretty polkadots! Use craft paint or leftover paint from emulsion tester pots - I used a pale lilac purple which stands out really nicely against the brown of the package, but you could use any colour (or colours) you fancy.

Print the polkadots using the eraser end of a pencil, carefully dipping the eraser in the paint then using it to make a few dots on the paper until the paint runs out. Repeat to gradually cover the parcel in dots!

Tip: print some test dots on a piece of scrap paper first to get the hang of printing them, and have tissues or kitchen roll to hand for wiping excess paint off the eraser.

If you're painting directly onto the wrapped parcel, remember that you'll need to wait for the paint to dry before you can turn the parcel over and paint on more sides!

3. Colourful Collages. 

Use small bits of leftover gift wrap, scraps of coloured paper and magazine pages to make a colourful collage!

Choose a selection of decorative papers, and use a compass or circular objects in your house (like glasses or spice jars) to draw circles in various sizes. Cut out the circles and arrange them on your parcel to create a bright abstract design.

Stick the circles to the parcel with a glue stick, with the design "overflowing" onto the sides of the package.
 

Then add pictures you've cut out from magazines or printed from the internet (you'll find lots of free printables online designed for scrapbooking, card making and other crafty projects) and stick them to your parcel to complete your collage.

DISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored by My Parcel Delivery, a courier comparison site that helps you find the best deals around. 

Fancy some more crafty goodness? Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

A Few Things I'm Working On...

This week I've been sewing some felt owl masks that have been in my work-in-progress box for a while...

 

... winding some embroidery threads so I can add them to my main thread stash....

... packaging up and labelling some finished pieces...

... re-organising & tidying my packaging supplies...

 

... finishing sewing-together my slightly random blanket...

 

... making a start on weaving in the ends...

... working on a new layout for my Book Reviews page (when it's finished it'll look like my Crafty Tutorials page with lots of neat little thumbnails)...

 

... and choosing walls in my studio to hang some prints.

I've also ordered some copies of my new book, Super-Cute Felt Animals so I can offer signed copies in my shop in a few weeks time (my mum wants a copy too!).

The official UK publication date is September 12th but rather excitingly, copies of Super-Cute Felt Animals are already available over at Amazon! After months and months of working on this book & then keeping its contents a secret, it's so thrilling that copies of it are heading out into the world. I am so excited and nervous to hear what people think of it!

P.S. You can find a sneak peek at some of the projects from the book here.  

P.PS. The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links.