A Giveaway!

Well, it seems, once again, that I have not been keeping this poor, neglected place updated. So, in order to give it some new life, I've decided to have a little giveaway!

Since my original idea of embroidering my sock monkey design onto card, I've since been embroidering them onto actual cards, and so, have decided to giveaway a set of 5 lovely cards, to a) make sure I check on my blog, and b) advertise the fact that said monkey cards are now available for sale in my Etsy shop!

These cards are blank inside, for your own message (although I think they'd make awesome invitation cards, or thank you cards...or even 'I just wanted to say hi' note cards!) and they are stamped on the back with the initials DHD (for DriaHades Designs).







To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post, saying what colours you think the embroidered monkeys would look good in! This will close on Friday August 14th, so you have 2 whole weeks to enter! After that, the names will go in a hat, and I'll get my lovely boyfriend to pick one out!

So...enjoy!

Embroidered Monkeys

I've been playing around with the idea of embroidering sock monkeys on to things for a while, since I first doodled one, and then the idea suddenly hit me the other day to embroider them onto card. I plan to use them for thankyou notes, monkey birth certificates and perhaps gift cards, but I think they probably need a little more tweaking!



And this is a monkey I finished last night, who has been named Splodge.


I'm also taking part in two mini-swap type things with some friends, which should keep me busy and hopefully creative. I'm having a plushie swap with one friend, and with the other we've decided to swap something crafty with a broad heading of 'it has to be stripy'! So that should hopefully inspire me somewhat!

Of Ugly Sock Rabbits and Gingerbread Cakes

Yesterday I finished what I think is the ugliest sock rabbit I have ever made. I'm not entirely sure what went wrong with it, but it just doesn't look right to me. I have named it Wonky...because, well, that's how it looks to me. The boyfriend however, thinks it is lovely, despite it's wonkiness, and has decided to keep it. So we have yet another creature that lives in the bedroom with us.

And here he is - in all his wonky glory:



I also made gingerbread cakes at the weekend. I started out with the intention of making gingerbread men, but on inspection of my baking supplies I realised I had no plain flour. So instead, I cobbled together a cake mix from the gingerbread ingredients.



They actually came out really, really well - they're slightly crunchy on the outside, and really soft, fluffy and moist on the inside. The recipe went something like this:

300g Self Raising Flour
300g Butter
300g Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp Ground ginger
1/2 tsp Ground cloves
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tbsp Golden Syrup
Milk

I didn't measure the milk - just poured it until the mixture got to the consistency I wanted! I am from the 'Add ingredients until it looks and tastes right school of baking.

I put them in the oven at about 180 degrees for 12 minutes (ish) and they were perfect! It makes about 20 cakes - by the time I came to take a picture it would appear that the boyfriend and the landlord had got to them!

The recipe is probably not exactly how I made them, so if anyone does make them, I apologise in advance for them not coming out well! Next time I invent a recipe I shall be sure to write it down as I go!

Sewing Machine Fun

I am very bad at remembering to update this. I blame my lack of actually doing anything remotely crafty for a little while.

Anyways, due to the wonders of Freecycle, I am now the proud owner of a (vintage) sewing machine. It's from 1971 and is built into it's own little cupboard:




(please, ignore the horrible state of our spare bedroom where the machine currently resides!)

I haven't used a sewing machine since I was a kid, and this one is vastly fancier than the one I used then. Apparently, it can do about 10 types of stitches, buttonholes and who knows what else?! But, seeing as I've had enough trouble making it just sew in a straight line, I think I'll leave the fancy features until I'm a little more au fait with it.

Still, I have managed to make something with it. I have a made a cover for my hot water bottle (which is, at certain times of the month my very best friend!). I had this really gorgeous Matryoshka Doll fabric FQ lying around, and wanted to use it for something, and this seemed like the project for it - it means I can spend much time looking at it now!



And here it is (complete with hot water bottle inside):



It is hardly the best thing anyone will ever make, but on the whole I'm pretty darn proud of it (and myself!), and am now looking forward to making lots of pretty things with the machine! Eventually, I plan to quilt (and have what I think will be a gorgeous quilt already planned out in my head, involving Alexander Henry tattoo fabric, skull and crossbones fabric and black velvet and lace!), and I shall keep you all updated on my sewing machine adventures!