Brick and cross stitch hoop: materials

A 10cm (4”) Embroidery hoop (I’m using a hand painted hoop in Prince)

A piece of fabric – I’m using a piece of pink linen

Template – click here to download the free pdf!

Some DMC thread (this is shade 3837)

A needle

Small scissors

Some larger scissors

Perle thread to finish the back

Watch this week’s tutorials

You’ll find this week’s stitch tutorial here on YouTube – I’m doing it freestyle here, but I’d recommend tracing the pattern and seeing which method you prefer. Drawing the design onto the fabric definitely makes it neater!

Watch the brick and cross stitch hoop project tutorial here:

Want some more inspiration?

Brick and cross stitch is really versatile, even though it is a set, repeated pattern. If you fancy experimenting a little, why not try one of these projects?!

• Stitch the pattern around the neckline of a top, or maybe add details on the cuffs too
• Create a stitched picture with different patterns (use the Alphabet project from Colourful Fun Embroidery for inspiration
• Make a stitched bookmark
• Stitch on a denim jacket like we did in week 2 with this project

I’d absolutely love to see what you stitch, so don’t forget to share it with me! I’m @hellohoorayblog on Instagram

You may also like…

This post where I have a natter with Hannah from Hannah Hand Makes!

A natter with…Hannah from Hannah Hand Makes

These hot cross buns (which I should have made at Easter but forgot this year!)

Mini chocolate and orange hot cross buns

Make these super fabric covered magazine files:

Fabric covered magazine files

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This link stitch geometric hoop is the perfect project to practice your link stitches! It is designed to be something to work on over time, and I know you’re going to love seeing the geometric pattern build as you add more stitches.  This design is for week 3 of The Happy Stitch Project, and you just need a few materials to stitch this. I have used perle thread for this hoop, as I prefer to use it for link stitches. Perle thread is mercerised (which is the term that I could not remember when recording the videos!) which means that it doesn’t split like the standard DMC embroidery thread. No 8 perle is the same thickness as 3 strands of standard thread, so it’s great for a project like this. You can use 3 strands of standard thread for this design if you want to – just do whatever works for you! I do have some perle thread in my haberdashery now in case you want to add some to your stash

If you don’t want to use a plain fabric for this, have a look in your stash and see what you already have! You could easily add some link stitches around some dots on a dotty fabric – or be really inventive and add them to another pattern. Don’t forget to share your stitching with me @hellohoorayblog!

Materials

I have used a 15cm (6″) hoop for this project (the one in the video is hand painted in the Alfie colour from my shop)

A 24cm x 24cm piece of white linen fabric or a good quality quilting cotton like this one

A 1cm dotted grid template – I downloaded mine here

A pencil

An Aquatrick marker pen (or another method that has some permanence)

Needles – a couple are useful, one for each colour! You’ll find a variety of them here.

Perle thread – two contrasting colours in No. 8 size (available in my haberdashery). I’m using shades 959 and 793 here. You’ll eventually need some to finish the back of the hoop, but we’ll come to that next week…

Watch the link stitch geometric hoop video

If you’d like to watch the link stitch tutorial video first, click here!

Step 1

Secure the printed dotted grid template to a flat surface. Take the inner ring of your embroidery hoop, place it on top and then draw around the inner edge with a pencil.

Step 2

Place your fabric on top of the template, and then use your Aquatrick marker (or similar) to mark on all the dots that appear inside the circle. Remove the fabric once complete, and place in your embroidery hoop.

Step 3

Thread a needle with some of the first colour of perle. Select a dot as a starting point, and stitch a link stitch up to the next dot along. Secure with a small tie stitch. Repeat a further three times from the starting point, so a cross shape is formed of four stitches in the same colour. Carefully tie off at the back.

Step 4

Thread the other needle with the other colour perle thread, and repeat step 3 but directly next to the cross shape you have already stitched. The ends of the link stitches should touch.

Step 5

Keep stitching alternate colours to build up the pattern (see video). Eventually, the whole hoop will be covered in this pattern.

What’s coming next week?

So if you watched all the way to the end of the video, you’ll know that I am going to be working on completing this hoop over the coming week. We’ll also add a few more little details to it in the form of French knots, which is the stitch we’re learning in week 4 of The Happy Stitch Project – yay! Don’t be afraid of French knots, as once you’ve got the knack you’ll be a pro in no time!

If you’ve enjoyed reading this, you might like these…

Geometric meal planner

Perpetual paper chains

Geometric painted roll-up blinds

And if you missed the first project, here’s where you’ll find the sprinkles hoop.

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I made this baby bat Halloween costume four years ago now, and it has taken me so long to write this post that both of our children have actually worn it!

Each year we have a lovely little party with our NCT friends – the children, their little siblings, mums and dads and we always dress up the little ones. It probably won’t be happening this year sadly (thanks, covid!), so I thought that it was about time that I got this post published instead. As a maker I have a rule about costumes for any occasion: I have to make them myself! So I couldn’t let the opportunity to make Little One’s first costume pass by. I thought about it for a long time as I needed something fairly quick to make. Then I came up with this baby bat costume idea and I was so pleased with how it turned out! Little One had a super time flapping her wings (when she wasn’t eating them) and it was practical for her to wear. So picking her up was easy, and we also managed to change her nappy with it on too. Her little brother loved wearing it last year too, so it stood the test of time. My baby bat Halloween costume is really easy to make, so your baby’s costume will be sorted in no time, even if Halloween will be a little bit different this year.

You will need

Some paper and a pencil

A black or grey baby sleep suit – I found this one on eBay

Some black cotton or polyester fabric

Some fabric for the inside of the wings – I used some grey satin that I had left over from Tom’s waistcoat

A sewing machine

An iron

Black cotton and a needle

Making your template

Before you start putting this costume together, you’ll need to make a little template. I haven’t included one here, just because it will completely depend on the bodysuit or sleep suit that you’re using. Place the paper on a flat surface, with the sleep suit on top. Spread the arm out a little, and then draw a wing shape from the end of the sleeve to the waist (use my photo as a guide if you like). Cut it out with some paper scissors, and you’re ready to go!

Baby bat Halloween costume: instructions

Step 1

Cut out two wing shapes from each fabric, so you have two outer and two inner wing pieces. Take one outer and one inner wing piece, place them right sides together and pin. Leave a gap of about 10cm (4″) for turning later. Repeat with the other wing pieces.

Step 2

Stitch around the edge of the wing, about 1cm away from the edge. Don’t forget to leave a gap for turning! Trim away any excess to about half a centimetre. Repeat with the other wing.

Step 3

Turn your wings the right way around through the gap that you left. You can use the top of a pencil or a knitting needle to press out all the edges. Press with your iron, using the right temperature according to your chosen fabrics.

Step 4

Take the sleep suit and lay it out face down with the arms stretched out. Position the wings in place and then pin – the corner should fit nicely in the armpit. Turn over to check that you are happy with the fit and then adjust as needed.

Step 5

Machine stitch along the edge of the wing that meets the body, stopping at the armpit when it becomes difficult to sew.

Step 6

Now for the trickiest bit! You’ll need to hand stitch the rest of the wing along the arm. Use small running stitches and they should blend in

Ta-dah!

That’s it – your baby bat Halloween costume DIY is complete!

I must admit that I have never been a huge fan of Halloween, but it was really fun to be able to make this little costume! This year we’ll be doing pumpkin carving and some baking (maybe this parkin recipe), but not much else. The day before Halloween is my book launch, so that’s a bigger party for us!

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Transferring designs onto fabric with vellum paper is a great permanent method. It works with a heat transfer pen, so I’ll show you how!

This is one of the methods that I recommend in my book, Colourful Fun Embroidery, and I use it in many of the projects there. I prefer to use a permanent method for design transfer in bigger projects, because it means that I can take my time stitching without worrying that the design is going to disappear! Throughout my book I use a Sublime Stitching transfer pen, which are available in black, blue, green and red. They have a very fine tip, which is great for transferring the design with precision. More recently, I have discovered the Prym heat transfer pen, which has a slightly thicker tip but it a brilliant alternative (and it’s also slightly cheaper than the Sublime Stitching pens).

Modern vellum paper is plant based, so it’s perfect for vegan crafters!

The Sublime Stitching and Prym pens are all available to purchase from my haberdashery, along with the transfer paper – yay! It’s lovely quality 100gsm paper, and in each pack you receive an instruction sheet and 10 sheets of transfer paper. But in this blog post, I’ll talk you through it in a little more detail and show you exactly how it works in my little tutorial video on You Tube (see below).

Transferring designs onto fabric with vellum paper

The key things to remember are that you must transfer a design in reverse for it to work, and also that any mark on the vellum will be permanently transferred to the fabric. Really take your time drawing on the paper to avoid mistakes that can’t be covered by stitching, as the mistakes on the vellum will appear on the fabric.

STEP 1

Print out or copy your design in reverse. Tape it to a flat surface with some washi tape (or tape that can be easily peeled off), before placing a sheet of vellum paper on top. Stick the vellum down securely too. Carefully draw over the design, using a ruler for any straight lines to make them super neat. Really take your time with this bit to avoid unwanted errors.

STEP 2

Iron the fabric that you want to transfer the design on to. Place a plain, flat tea towel (by that I mean one without any lumpy bits in the fabric!) on your ironing board, with the fabric on top. Place the paper on top of the fabric, with the design the right way up. Then using a very cool iron with no steam, iron over the design until it has transferred. Use a heat setting somewhere between 1-2 dots (silk – wool) and no higher, or the paper will bubble and crack. Test it out on a corner or edge to check first – you’ll see this in my video tutorial at roughly 6:48. Try not to move the paper, or the design will be blurry. And please remember to keep your fingers out of the way at all times!

STEP 3

Lift an edge of the paper as you iron to check that the design is visible on the fabric. Ta-dah! When you’re happy with the transfer, you can remove the paper. You’re ready to start stitching. Remember to try to cover up the lines as you stitch, as they are permanent and will otherwise be visible on a finished piece. 

YouTube video: Transferring designs onto fabric with vellum paper

Here is the full tutorial video if you want to see in more detail how to use this transfer paper:

FAQs

The paper has bubbled when I have ironed the design. What’s happening?

If this happens, it means that your iron is a little too hot! You may be able to save the design if you have just tested a corner, in which case simply let your iron cool down and try again. If it bubbles over the design, you will need to start again on a new sheet.

I have ironed over the design and it hasn’t transferred to the fabric. Why not?

If you have a design that looks similar the right way round and in reverse, it could just be that you are ironing on the side that you drew on! Turn it over and try again. Remember that you need to trace in reverse, and then iron on to the fabric the right way up.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments about this tutorial below!

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Well, I wasn’t expecting to write a post with the title ‘Life in lock down’ in 2020, but I’m guessing that this is pretty much how we all feel about the current situation! I’ve been drafting this post over the last few weeks, thinking about what to say about life in lock down. These are obviously unprecedented times for everyone, and with lock down easing recently (here in the UK at least) things feel even more uncertain in many ways. After much thought, I decided the best way to start was to ask: How are you feeling today? It’s a question I ask a lot over on my Instagram account, because I feel that it’s an important one to ask each other and particularly yourself. Personally, I’ve found that it is important to allow myself to feel whatever it is that I’m feeling. It has been a complete roller-coaster over the last few months, hasn’t it?! If I have tried not to feel angry or frustrated, I’ve actually made myself feel worse. So I hope today has been a good day for you. If not, there’s always tomorrow.

Documenting life in lock down

I really wanted to document life in lock down here on my blog, but as usual I’ve mainly been doing that on Instagram! Although not every day. Because being present in real life has felt much more important. Even though there hasn’t been much going on in the diary, there has been a lot going on in life. Two days before we first went into lock down back in March, we had to unexpectedly leave our house due to some unwanted visitors in our bathroom (an ongoing problem, but they finally got into the house – ugh!). On Mother’s Day, of all days! Don’t think I’ll forget that in a hurry. It was a big and sudden upheaval, and we were very lucky that we were able to go and stay with Tom’s Dad. It made a surreal situation even more surreal!

We celebrated both our kids’ birthdays during the two weeks we were there, I tried to keep my small business running, was in the process of final edits for my book (more on that later) and having to deal with sorting out the house remotely. But despite all the stress, it meant that we were together to adjust to life in lock down for the first two weeks and I think it actually helped us all. I look back on it now and it feels like years ago!

When we got back home, we then had to adjust to new normal again. This was the hardest part for all of us – Little One missed nursery so much, and I found it really hard to get my head around not being able to do normal things. This actually felt harder than adjusting the first time for me, and it felt like we were starting from scratch again. But it got easier, although it definitely comes in waves. Have you found that? Some weeks seem fine and then others are really hard. Someone described it as like having a newborn again, when the days are long but they weeks fly by. This sums it up perfectly for me! I’ve been trying to be extra kind to myself and take time off if I need to. Being self-employed now does make this more difficult, but I know I need to do this and have the evening off a couple of times a week to recharge.

One of the huge positives for us is that Littlest One has had the time of his life all the way through, which has been wonderful to see. He just loves that we are together all of the time. He has learnt to walk, explore and has started babbling away. It’s a reminder that in all this, there are some amazing things to hold on to! Another was a day spent celebrating a friend’s birthday with a relay run/walk (we obviously chose to walk). It was such a beautiful day, and we took a balloon on our leg of the relay too! So lovely to see photos from everyone else’s walk, and it felt like we were in touch with friends and seeing different places. Amazing!

Keep Going kits

You may already know that I went self-employed in January this year (I mean, what a year to choose, but never mind!). I miss teaching my workshops so much, and it has been sad seeing all the reminders popping up in my phone about ones I had booked in. One of the things I had wanted to develop this year was my range of hand embroidery kits, and this Keep Going hoop seemed like a perfect one to work on in lock down. Back in April, I launched it on pre-order and was so overwhelmed by the response! I needed to sell 10 to be able to afford to purchase the thread, and I had sold way more than that by the end of the first day. Incredible! I had a massive stress when the thread went back to France – twice – but thankfully, my lovely customers were so patient and kind. It has been wonderful to see people stitching them and knowing how much they are enjoying it during this difficult time.

If you’d like to purchase a Keep Going kit, you can find them here. 15% of sales in June will be donated to The Black Curriculum.

Black Lives Matter

We all need to be having more conversations about racism. Black Lives Matter. Over the last few weeks I have been reading, listening and learning to find out how I can be an ally and be actively anti-racist. I’ve posted once or twice about it on Instagram, but when I haven’t it doesn’t mean that I haven’t been doing something behind the scenes. I’m in this for the long run. As a white woman I can never fully put myself in the position of a Black person to understand what they experience every day. But I can recognise my privilege, speak out, apologise when I get things wrong (we ALL get things wrong – admitting it and saying sorry is important), and learn. We all need to do the work. Racism runs way deeper than you think. I am guilty of not realising this sooner, and I am sorry. If you think that this isn’t a problem in the UK, then you really need to read up on this and realise that it is something that we all need to work together to fight against.

I want to work out how I can use my work to support Black communities, and this is something ongoing. That’s why I’m donating to The Black Curriculum this month, and I’ll give you more info about what I’ll be doing in future when I can. There are lots of really helpful resources out there at the moment – Leonie Flower has shared some excellent ones if you’re looking for a place to start. I have recently discovered the work of Aurelia Durand, and you must check her out. She has illustrated some excellent books which deal with racism, which you should also add to your bookshelves. I’ll be talking about what I’m reading in a future post, but I’d love to know what you’d recommend so let me know in the comments.

Colourful Fun Embroidery

I mentioned earlier in my post that I was editing my book when we went into lock down – well, here it is! Colourful Fun Embroidery will be released on 30th August by White Owl Books and I am beyond excited! It features 24 projects, and is designed to help you take time out to be creative. I’ll be writing a much more in-depth post about it really soon, but you can pre-order it now! I also have book and kit bundles that you can pre-order too, if you fancy getting some materials for one of the projects.

Easing into more normal things

I must admit that I feel a bit strange getting back into doing a few normal things. The biggest step for us was getting Little One back into nursery at the start of June. She was absolutely thrilled! We agonised over it to be honest, as the biggest challenge for us is getting her there on public transport. But thankfully, it has been quieter than we expected overall. Little One has been amazing at wearing her masks, and we couldn’t be more proud. She’s leaving at the end of the month, and we’ll be starting our home education journey. More on that in a future post too!

Being on the bus again has been weird. So many people without masks, even though it is compulsory (although I completely understand the bus drivers not being able to enforce anything). So many people with masks only over their mouths, but not their noses! I can’t get my head around that. We always wear them on the bus and in shops, and on the 2 occasions that I have braved the city centre. We don’t do these trips frequently, but without a car we have to do it sometimes now. Whatever you’re doing to keep your family safe, do what’s best for you. If you need to stay at home then do it.

Our key workers are absolutely amazing and we really do appreciate all that you do. Thank you!

I’ll probably leave it there for today, as I have rambled on for a while now (thank you, if you’re still here!). I wonder what it will feel like reading this on 25th June 2021?

What has your experience of lock down been like? How are you feeling about unlocking a bit now?

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The Creative Family Manifesto

The idea for this came about after reading The Creative Family Manifesto by Amanda Blake Soule*. Tom’s Mum gave me a copy of this for Christmas a few years ago, and after Littlest One was born I finally started dipping into it when I got 5 minutes here and there. It is the most wonderful book, and I wish I had started reading it sooner! If you want to live a more creative life and encourage your children to get involved at every opportunity, then I would highly recommend it.

Soule encourages you to use simple things around you to encourage creativity as a family. I love the part where she talks about imaginary friends, as Little One has an imaginary camel and he comes everywhere with us! He really is like a part of the family now, as is Camel’s friend Elephant and Elephant’s friend, Oscar the dog. Soule also emphasises the joy of sharing the tradition of handmade things, which is obviously something that is really important to me too.

Writing our own family manifesto

We are about to embark on our home education journey, as Little One will soon be 4 and would be going to school in September. It seemed like the right time to write our manifesto with this in mind, but also with everything that’s going on with Covid 19 too. It is a very surreal situation isn’t it? We are social distancing now, and it has actually been really good to think about what should be on our manifesto as we’re going to be spending much more time at home! It might be something that you can do with your family too as a positive activity to complete together. It doesn’t have to be framed if you don’t want to – even just jotting down your list of statements is a good place to start.

I used my personal manifesto as a starting point, as there were a few things that I thought would be good for our family manifesto. There were others I wanted to add to encourage things for our children and for ourselves. This is the list that I wrote, which contains 14 statements:

• Stay curious
• Go outisde
• Explore
• Make a mess – tidy up later
• Try again
• Learn from your mistakes
• Notice the little things
• Create together
• Make music
• Collect things
• Play
• Read every day
• Always be kind
• Love your community

This list covers things that we want for all of us as a family – things we want to encourage, and the ways in which we try to live our lives. I don’t see creativity as a separate ‘thing’ that we do, it’s in everything that we do. At the moment, Little One  frequently says that she can’t do things, so we’re always encouraging her to try again. We try to create things together when we can, whether that’s music, craft or something else. We read every day, and we emphasise the importance of being kind.

I wondered about changing the phrase ‘collect things’ as it reminded me of the phrase ‘collect moments, not things’. In the end, I decided that this is actually what I want it to say! Collections are great – leaves, stamps, feathers, colour charts – all of these things can inspire us in so many ways. It isn’t so much about having physical things for me, it’s about how we take inspiration from them. So I left that bit in!

Making your own creative family manifesto: materials

To make a family manifesto to be displayed like ours, you’ll need a few basic materials:

A big sheet of good quality card (we used an A1 size piece of card that I bought from our local art shop)

A set of watercolour paints and brushes

Some coloured paper

Stamps and an ink pad

A pencil

Scissors

Double-sided sticky tape or glue

A frame to display it in

Step 1

Take your large piece of card and set up the watercolours. Then get each member of your family to paint something on it! We went abstract and painted whatever popped into our heads. Littlest One even joined in too, and you can see where he painted with his hands in the corner. I think he was just 10 months when we did this, so it’s something that all ages can join in with. Leave it to dry completely.

Step 2

Now take your stamps and ink pad, and stamp out each of the creative statements onto coloured paper. I used a different colour for each statement, and chose 7 colours of paper for the 14 statements. When the ink has dried, carefully cut around each one in a rectangular shape.

Step 3

Remove the packaging from your frame. Take out the mount, but don’t discard it as you’ll need to use it in the next step!

Step 4

Once the watercolours have dried, place the mount on top and draw around it with a pencil. Then carefully cut it out, so that you have the right size to fit in your frame. If you prefer, you can use the mount to display – just do whatever works for you and adjust the size of the painted card accordingly.

Step 5

Position the creative statements on top of the painted card and work out where you’d like them to be. Stick them in place with double-sided sticky tape or some glue.

Step 6

The last thing to do is to put it in your frame, secure the back and then display. We have hung ours in the hallway, as we wanted to be able to see it frequently. Little One asks about it every time she goes up or down the stairs, which is great!

The beautiful pennant hanging above our manifesto is by HouseofHooray on Etsy*. The Pride of the North hoop is designed and stitched by me as an exclusive for For the Love of the North, an amazing shop which supports creatives from the North East of England. You can purchase one here! The pink pineapple embroidery was stitched by me, and you can read about that on my blog here.

Share your manifesto!

I would really love to see your manifesto if you make one – let me know in the comments below, or tag me on social media @hellohoorayblog. I hope this project brings you joy, especially during this really tough period. Stay safe, and wash your hands!

Please note that links marked (*) are affiliate links.

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The Amara Blog Awards

In case you’ve never heard of the Amara blog awards, they celebrate the best bloggers from the interiors industry and have been running since 2013. The awards keep growing and growing and are judged by some amazing panelists. The Best Colour Inspiration Blog will be judged in 2018 by Sophie Robinson (TV presenter and designer) and Emma Jane Palin (colourful lifestyle blogger – who I actually met on the Blogtacular photowalk this year and she’s so inspiring!). You can find out more about them and the other judges here.

There’s some big competition in this category, so it’s really an honour to be nominated. I would LOVE it if you could vote for me and my blog – I’ve been doing this since 2012 around my day job and I absolutely love doing it – every vote means such a lot! Click here to vote for Hello! Hooray!

Win a SOFORT camera with Leica!

Amara Interior Blog Awards are giving away a Leica camera to one lucky voter. Vote for Hello! Hooray! to be entered into the giveaway! Every voter is automatically entered into the prize draw, with the winner being announced on Wednesday 26th September. So to enter this competition with @amaraibas and #IBA18, just vote for me! Ts and Cs can be found here. Voting closes Wednesday 19th September, 12pm BST. Good luck, and thank you!

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Indie Roller Keep Going

In case you don’t know about Indie Roller, I’ll brief you on the basics! The Facebook group The Indie Rollercoaster was set up by Leona from Lucky Dip Club as ‘a supportive community for creative independent business owners to share information, experience and cheerlead one another!’. It’s an amazing community, and what I love about it the most is how supportive people are. You definitely get that sense of community over competition, and in the creative world that’s becoming so much more important. The ‘Keep Going’ idea grew from that, and people have been submitting their own pieces to provide daily motivation and to share what inspires them to keep sharing their work with the world. I’m always really interested to hear about that, and the contributions have been amazing! You can check out the Keep Going Indie Roller Instagram if you want to see more of the submissions so far.

My Indie Rollercoaster Keep Going hoop

So my hoop uses quite a few colours (36 in total!) in order to create the 3D effect of the geometric pattern. I did play around with them a little bit to take some photos – putting things in rainbow order is always fun (like my rainbow shelf in my craft room!). The hoop is stitched entirely with satin stitch, so it took a little while to put together. I think I spent about 2 and a half weeks stitching on an evening and when Little One was asleep, so it was a big project to finish even though it’s in a 6″ hoop.

I started by stitching around the letters first, to make sure that I was happy with the negative space and the tension around it. There were a few tiny patches of colour and fiddly bits to stitch. I find the middle of the letter ‘o’ quite pleasing! To keep the stitching consistent, I stitched each shade in the same direction to make it look nice and neat. When I had almost finished, I realised that there was one purple side going in the wrong direction…so I had to unpick it and do it again! Otherwise it would have bugged me forever… I decided to use a royal blue paint to paint my hoop, and I think it sets off all the colours nicely.

Keep Going cards from hellohoorayshop

This piece is a bit too time consuming to make them to order, so I decided to have some cards made with this design! It comes in three different colours and they are currently available to pre-order here (I’m hoping to have them ready to ship over the next couple of weeks). Which one is your favourite?! I keep changing my mind haha!

This card would be a perfect reminder to keep going – a daily dose of inspiration and colour. Thanks to everyone who has ordered so far! And a big thank you to Indie Roller for such a fantastic campaign. I can’t wait to see more of these super illustrations and designs!

The post Indie Rollercoaster Keep Going hoop appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

For the last couple of years, the Hello! Hooray! creative manifesto has been living in the notes pages of my iPhone.  It is something that I decided to write not long after Little One was born, as a way of motivating myself to enjoy the little snippets of creative time that I was able to catch here and there. I’ve added more things to it over the past two-and-a-bit years and if I’m feeling in a little bit of a creative slump, I have a read through it and think about things that inspire me. Something as simple as having a cup of tea in the garden, taking a load of deep breaths in the fresh air or being inspired by photos in my craft books can be a huge boost to my creativity levels. Juggling all the things (family/blog/small business/day job) can get pretty tiring at times…well, it’s incredibly exhausting actually! It’s hard to feel like I’m making progress at times (even though I am, just slowly!) so having the Hello! Hooray! creative manifesto is a way to make me feel good about what I’m doing creatively when I’m feeling a bit stuck.

Hello! Hooray! creative manifesto

So here’s a list of the things that are on my creative manifesto:

Embrace imperfections

Take your time

Make for pleasure

Make do and mend

Live a creative life

Find inspiration in the little things

Read more blogs

Get out in nature

Make something for you

Support other makers

Live colourfully

Do something creative every day

Collaborate

Explore

Love what you do

Experiment

Go with the flow

Make mistakes

Learn a new skill

Host a crafternoon

Don’t compare yourself to others

Follow your own path

Get out of your comfort zone

Do it!

Some of the things in the list are reminders to myself about my creative process, and what I end up doing when the dreaded comparison sets in. You know that thing where you compare yourself to others on Instagram? The worst! Other things are reminders to keep going and explore, to experiment, to try something new. And also not to worry about making mistakes along the way – it’s all part of the process. Thank goodness for my seam ripper!

If you saw my last post you’ll know that I’ve been getting started with Bullet Journal, and I thought that this would be a brilliant place to write out my creative manifesto! I usually carry my journal in my bag so that I can jot things down when I’m out and about. I decided to use rainbow colours to decorate it, and I think each element stand out nicely in its own box. In some ways I feel a bit nervous sharing this – lettering is not my strong point (the main subheadings are traced, but the handwriting is mine) and I just sort of wrote it as I went along without planning it! But as one of the things on my creative manifesto is ‘get out of your comfort zone’, I thought I’d embrace it and share it with you!

What would be on your creative manifesto?

Do you have a creative manifesto? Or maybe just some words that you like to live by? Do let me know in the comments below – I love to find out what inspires people, what keeps people going and what people do creatively.

I’m still thinking loads about what I learnt from Blogtacular this year, so I’m putting a post together with my best bits! I’ve also been working on a ‘Keep Going’ piece for The Indie Rollercoaster, and I can’t wait to share it with you. All will be revealed next week…I’m planning to share it in the Twitter chat next Tuesday, so stay tuned!

Post updated 12th February 2020.

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Bullet Journal: Materials

One of the great things about Bullet Journal is that you don’t need lots of fancy stuff to get started – any notebook will do. However, if you love stationery like I do then you may want to invest in one of the Leuchtturm1917 originals. I use their teal Bullet Journal and I like that it’s pretty flexible in terms of layout, and I’m enjoying using it more than one with lines. You could use one of their dotted notebooks if you want a different colour – I’ll definitely get a pink one next time!

Other materials that I use so far include these Sharpie fine pens (which write beautifully), some Stabilo Pen 68 for decoration and borders, and some tracing paper for tracing my titles. Yep, I’m not ashamed to say that I haven’t handwritten the titles myself! More on that shortly… You can also decorate with washi tape, stickers or anything else that you fancy. Some post-it notes might also come in handy.

Bullet Journal: the basic principles

So the basic principle behind Bullet Journal is to make journalling a little quicker so that you keep up with it more frequently. The Bullet Journal website refers to this as ‘Rapid Logging’. Essentially, it’s a tool that you can use in whatever way to help you to be more efficient, pr-active, organised or for any other reason that you need it for. For me, I need it to be a place for me to empty my head of my million-and-one ideas that I have at random points in the day. I need it to help me organise my lists so that when I have a little bit of time to work on my blog or my shop, I can use that time well.

What keeps the process ‘rapid’ is the use of short sentences (although this isn’t necessarily what I’m going for personally) and the use of a key to indicate the status of tasks. This is the key in the front of my journal:

It’s suggested that you use the relevant key at the start of each point to help you to work out which order to complete things in. I use some of these symbols in mine, but have adapted them to suit me. The ‘getting started’ post on the Bullet Journal website is great if you want to find out more about the principles of the ‘official’ system.

How I’m using my Bullet Journal

So I’ve taken the basic principles and just adapted them to what works for me, and I really believe that it’s the key to keeping this up. I use my Bullet Journal to write down thoughts as I go, but I do want it to be neat (that’s just who I am!). So I decided to write some large titles in a lovely handwritten script font, and then print them out in reverse so that I could trace them. Then I can just add bullet points in underneath as I go along.

I’ve found it really helpful to have a general to-do list for my blog – I always remember random things that need doing when I’m out and about, and it has been great to have a place to write them all down. You can see in the picture at the top of the post that I’ve been using post-it notes as well, and I created a couple of pages where I can just stick them in to be able to transfer ideas later on. If you like things to be neat and tidy, this is quite a good system!

I’m using my Bullet Journal as a monthly system for now. If I ever get to quit the day job, I’ll switch to a weekly format! This monthly format allows me to focus on what I need to do each month, but without pressure if necessary. Nothing is completely fixed, and I can be flexible about what I can realistically achieve. So for April, I traced the header for the month and made a list with bullet points. As I completed a task, I used the Bullet Journal system of marking it with a cross to show that it was done. In May, I wrote a header again and then highlighted any tasks that were not yet complete by putting them in a box at the top of the first page like this:

New tasks for the month were then added in a list below, and crossed off in the same way. I also added another box for blog posts, because one of my intentions for this year was to write four blog posts each month. You can probably guess that I didn’t quite make it last month, but that’s ok. Thankfully, I did get all my GDPR stuff done – phew! On that note, you can read my privacy policy here if you want to…

So yes, I have full sentences in my journal. And yes, I do like to spend a little bit of time decorating it and making it neat and tidy, which goes against the point of it being a quick system. But this is what works for me and I love it. Since using my bullet journal, I haven’t felt quite so stressed out trying to remember the things that I want to do in the little bits of time that I have to create things. It has meant that I use my time more wisely, because I can focus on what needs doing first or what I want to spend my time on. I actually find that it isn’t hugely time consuming this way – I enjoy drawing the titles and it’s fairly quick to write a list as bullet points anyway. I’ve used the same format for June and I’m happy with how it’s working, but it’s something that I can adapt as I go along if I need to.

Bullet Journal resources and supplies

I’ve already mentioned the Bullet Journal website as a great resource for information if you’re starting out. Here are some other useful resources and places to go for supplies:

There are lots of great videos on the Claireabellemakes YouTube channel (and if you’re interested in other planners too, Claire talks you through her amazing selection!).

Nikki McWilliams also has some really helpful videos on her YouTube channel – there’s a great one about setting up, and she also has a tutorial for ombre hand lettering. Nikki also has her own Etsy shop dedicated to Bullet Journal supplies and cool stationery.

If you’re a stationery addict like me, you’ll love Jennifer Cockroft’s post about pens!

I have a Pinterest board dedicated to Bullet Journal, which is a great place for inspiration.

What are your top tips for Bullet Journal?

Let me know in the comments below! I plan to write up some of the take-away points from Blogtacular in mine over the next week or so. I’ve also written my Creative Manifesto, which I’m really looking forward to sharing with you soon! I’ll keep you updated with how I’m using it and adapting my Bullet Journal as I go.

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YAYmakers June 2018 box review

When you open the box, the first things that you notice are the fun products and also a note about the featured artists. This is such a good way to promote the creators of the products by sharing a little bit of information about them and links to social handles. So from a maker’s point of view, this is amazing way to connect to new and existing customers, and from a customer’s point of view, it really makes me want to go and find out more! This month’s featured enamel pin is by Katie Abey, and I have followed her on Twitter for a while now and I love her illustrations. The other makers are new to me, so this is a really good way to have a taster of their products. Everything was packaged up really well – you get a sneaky peek at the things underneath and it really does make you go ‘yay!’

What was in the YAYmakers box?

So I’ve already said that the enamel pin in this month’s box was by Katie Abey – it’s a ‘Bear of Bravery’ pin, which is super cute! Pins are like little works of art as far as I’m concerned, and they are a massive trend at the moment. Knowing that you’re getting an exclusive design is a plus for this box. There are three items in the box by Nicola Rowlands, who is a new discovery for me and I think her hand lettering is ace! The greetings cards are super fun, but my favourite is the pocket mirror. That’s definitely going to be helping me through Mondays!

I absolutely love the confetti by Pops of Colour – it’s great for parties or for photo props and backdrops. I had to take another photo of my pin on it, just because! The final item is a lovely bath bomb from Unique Creations, and it smells divine. I’m definitely looking forward to a nice soak in the tub with that, and it’s a great idea to include this to widen the range of items in the box.

What’s the verdict?

I think that Kate and Stuart are on to a winner with YAYmakers subscription boxes – the range of products is really good, and the quality is excellent. I love that I’ve found some new makers, which is a win-win for everyone really. There was even a bag of yummy sweets thrown in, and jazzies are one of my favourites! I would highly recommend this box – it’s a fantastic way to support makers and is a really good price. Another thing that I like is that you can buy a one-off box for £15.50, or save a bit by subscribing for 3 or 6 months. Postage is free in the UK which is also a bonus!

Get a 10% discount on your YAYmakers subscription!

If you’d like to receive 10% off your YAYmakers subscription, just enter code ‘YAY21’ at checkout – click here to subscribe! Why not follow on social media too – check out their Instagram and Facebook.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this YAYmakers June 2018 box review! All opinions and photos are my own. I received the box as a gift to review in this post.

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Crafty Colour Palette #4: Colour list

Pale gold = DMC 726 / Anchor 295

Mid gold = DMC 743 / Anchor 302

Dark gold = DMC 742 / Anchor 303

Orange = DMC 740 / Anchor 316

Dark orange = DMC 947 / Anchor 330

Coral = DMC 3705 / Anchor 35

Hot pink = DMC 600 / Anchor 59

Plum = DMC 917 / Anchor 89

Purple = DMC 3837 / Anchor 100

Violet = DMC 333 / Anchor 119

If you look really carefully, you’ll notice that there’s actually a hint of blue in the Instagram logo in the top left corner. I used a few strands of DMC 792 (Anchor 941) in this logo, but I haven’t included it in this colour palette. One reason is that I wanted an even number of colours! The second is that I love the summer vibe of this colour palette, and preferred it without the blue.

Crafty Colour Palette #4: Eat Sleep Craft Repeat

So to celebrate the beauty of these gorgeous colours, I designed a little hoop to use them to full effect. This quote is a fun way to use an ombre effect, but you could use any quote really. My tip would be to keep it short enough not to be stitching forever, but long enough to be able to use a good range of colours. There are 10 in this project using the colour list earlier in the post.

You will need

The printed templates (click here to download for free!)

15cm (6″) embroidery hoop

20 x 20cm (8 x 8″) piece of white linen fabric

Your preferred method of transferring designs to fabric (a permanent method is ideal)

DMC threads as listed above (I use DMC but have given Anchor numbers in the list above too)

Needle and some small sharp scissors

Optional paint for your hoop

Step 1

Transfer the design on to the fabric and place it in the centre of your hoop. Thread your needle with 3 strands of the colour you want to use at the top of the word ‘eat’ (I used DMC 726 for this).

Bring the needle up at one side of the letter, and make a stitch by pushing it through at the other side of the letter. Keep your stitch nice and level – if you’re using linen, follow the line of the fabric as a guide. Make another stitch, leaving a gap between. Repeat to fill in the stitches until you have a clear band of this colour at the top of the letter.

Now thread your needle with three strands of the second colour, and stitch a band in the middle of the letter. Repeat with the third colour, as shown in the photo:

Step 2

When you have stitched blocks of each colour with gaps in between, fill in with stitches in between to blend the colours. Leave gaps between the stitches so that you can fill in with a lighter or darker shade – like this:

Don’t worry if you have any wonky edges – you can always correct these later!

Step 3

I used a lot of colours here, so stitched the first letters to show the finished effect, then the second with colour blocks so you can see the main colours. The colours are allocated like this:

EAT = shades 726, 743 and 742

SLEEP = shades 742, 740 and 947

CRAFT = shades 947, 3705, 600 and 917

REPEAT = shades 917, 3387 and 333

I put a hint of the darkest orange at the top of ‘craft’ and I think that helps with the ombré effect through the lettering, rather than having yellows and oranges in the top half and pinks and purples in the bottom.

Keep filling in the letters until everything is complete. I actually found it easier to block one colour at a time and then fill in the gaps – I only did it like this at first to be able to check it worked and to take a photo for this post!

Step 4

Once you’ve finished stitching, you’re ready to finish the back of your hoop. If you want to paint it, now is the time! I originally thought I’d put this in a yellow hoop, but it didn’t quite look right for me. The colour I used for my social media hoops gives a really lovely contrast, so I just repainted it. I finished the back by trimming the fabric about 1” from the edge, and then gathering with some white thread.

Ta-dah!

Your hoop is now ready to display.

Do let me know if you have a go at stitching this project!

I would love to see how you interpret this fun project – it would look great in any crafty space. Or if you use this ombre effect on your own project, let me know! Tag me @hellohoorayblog if you share on social media. Happy stitching!

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Colourful craft room tour: before

This room is a little bit of a funny shape, because of the chimney breast and the old airing cupboard in the corner. We couldn’t really do anything removing them, so it made sense to work around it. My wardrobe has always been in this room, so I decided to turn the existing cupboard into a built-in wardrobe. Next to this I wanted as much shelf space as possible, which would fit nicely into the alcove gaps. So I got out my masking tape and worked out where I wanted them to go:

Not the prettiest photos (awful wallpaper – we hadn’t decorated this room at all after buying the house!). But marking it out like this was really helpful I calculated the depth and width of each one around some storage boxes from IKEA, which meant that I could maximise storage space. As part of the shelving wall, I also wanted a mini desk for my computer. We have a similar thing in our living room from when my computer was down there, and it’s really handy.

Colourful craft room tour: starting work

To get the shelves exactly as I wanted meant that we had them custom made. This isn’t the cheapest option, but we got the same guy who did our living room shelves to build these too, and so we knew they would be good and give me the storage I need. I’ve had various shelving arrangements over the years, and they were all fine at the time but these need to be super strong and different depths. Working around that cupboard wasn’t going to be easy either. You can’t really tell from the photos, but we painted the ceiling and the other walls white before the shelves went in (there was no point in painting this one as it would be covered up). Our joiner Graeme did a brilliant job making the shelves on our extremely wonky walls, and it looks amazing!

So the final thing to do was to get it all painted, which we did ourselves. Because the shelves are made from MDF, we used the not-so-quick-drying satinwood in white. I like the look of this paint because it isn’t too shiny – but it takes a while between coats so that the MDF doesn’t warp. And it’s a bit stinky! Once it was touch dry, we had to leave it for about a week to make sure it had completely dried. Then the fun of moving things in could begin!

Colourful craft room tour: after

So now we’ve got to the colourful bit of the colourful craft room tour!

The space works perfectly for me – I’ve been organising things since the beginning of the year and I’m so happy with it. The flexibility is working out really well with this desk from IKEA – the trestle bottoms are great for storage, so I keep my sewing thread boxes there. We also have a sofa bed from John Lewis in this gorgeous teal colour, so that the room can easily be turned into a bedroom again when we have visitors. The desk top isn’t attached so it’s easily stored whilst the bed is up, and my little IKEA trolley can easily be move out of the way.

I have a mix of different sizes of boxes for ultimate storage – the bottom two rows are for large boxes, with medium-sized ones just above that. There was a little bit of space in an alcove next to the wardrobe, so that was designed around my smallest boxes. I have 10 of these to maximise space, which is great for keeping little things in.

These magazine files are really useful for storing things – I wrote a blog post about how to cover them a few years back (which you can find here).

This is my desk space, and it’s just what I wanted! I use the table or sit on the sofa to craft things, so this is where I do any other blog or shop admin. I’ve decorated it with happy prints and little things I’ve got from indie makers I’ve purchased from. You can also just see my Pantone colour chart curtains, which add a whole lot of colour to my room!

Super-handy letter board from The Room Alive and gorgeous felt ball garland from For Mama and Baba. Rainbow rug in the next picture is by Little Bird and I love the contrast of the rainbow against the teal sofa. It’s an extra fun pop of colour!

My colourful hoop wall

My hoop wall is one of my favourite things about my room. It’s a lovely way to display my work but also to support other talented indie makers too. I’ve added a few more things to it since taking these photos, so head over to @hellohoorayblog on Instagram as I’ve shared them there. The details for some of these are below (L-R on photo below):

Good vibes hoop and pastel enamel pin holder hoop from hellohoorayshop

Wooly girl hoop is a personal project

Spider pin from gildedcreatures (hoop is personal project)

LOVE hoop stitched from pattern by Brynn&Co (click here to read my post about it)

I love tea banner from hannahdoodle

Felt colour wheel hoop from hellohoorayshop

Tea helps hoop from ohmygollyembroidery

Small wreath hoop from GeorgieKEmery (which I won on Instagram!)

Hello banner from CottonClara

Retro floral hoop which I designed for Bibelot Magazine – find the tutorial here

Future craft room plans

On the other side of my craft room (for now) are my wardrobe and chest of drawers. This is just temporary until we get the rest of our extension done and they can move out into the new bedroom – we’re keeping everything crossed that we can get that done soon! Once they are gone, I’ll add peg boards to the wall for more storage and I have another IKEA trestle table for extra workspace. Yay!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my colourful craft room tour! I am working on a related post about being organised and crafting when you don’t have a craft room, so look out for that on the blog over the next few weeks. How do you organise your craft supplies? Let me know in the comments below!

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If you’re a creative person, I’m pretty sure that you’ll relate to this creative process embroidery hoop that I made! I originally saw this quote on Pinterest, shared by June Letters Studio, but the words are taken from an artwork by David Shrigley. It just sums up the creative process perfectly, doesn’t it?! I have a habit of getting stuck between number 3 and 4, so it’s a good reminder to keep going through that bit to get to the good bit again!

Designing and stitching the creative process embroidery

I knew I wanted to make a hoop with this quote, and remembered seeing a stitched version of lined paper on Pinterest. This was originally done as a cross stitch, but I think it works really well as an embroidery too. To make sure that the lines were straight, I used a ruler with my Sublime Stitching pen on some embroidery transfer paper for permanent transfer. This is much easier than having the lines disappear before they were finished.

Everything on this hoop is stitched using backstitch with 3 strands of embroidery floss for the lines of the paper, and 2 strands for the text. The colours that I used were:

Light blue = DMC 162

Red = DMC 3801

Dark blue = DMC 824

When I first planned this project, I thought that I would display it in a 6″ hoop. But when I’d finished it just looked a bit too squashed. I wanted a bit more space on the ‘paper’ around the text, and so I tried it in a 7″ hoop and thought it looked much better. Thankfully I had stitched the lines just long enough for them to reach the edges! It took me a while to work out which colour to paint the hoop – I even asked on  Instagram because I just couldn’t decide! Yellow was my first choice, but the shade of paint I had looked a bit odd with the colours. So this bright blue gives a lovely contrast.

Stitch your own creative process embroidery

Fancy stitching your own version of this hoop? I’ve moved the template for this to the Hello! Hooray! Pattern Archive on Substack, which is available for paid subscribing Founding Members. Find out more about my Embroidery Membership here!

If you need a little back stitch tutorial, you’ll find one on my YouTube channel as part of The Happy Stitch Project. Don’t forget to tag me @hellohoorayblog if you make one and share it! Please note that this is for personal use only – you must not reproduce or sell these hoops in any form. Thank you!

And to finish…

When I was trying to find the June Letters Studio version of this that I had originally pinned, I came across this super post by From Roses. It’s a great post about things you should remind yourself when you don’t feel good enough, and it’s worth a read Don’t forget that you can make it past stages 3 and 4 – you are awesome!

Post updated 29th January 2024.

You may also enjoy reading…

Crafty Colour Palette #3

The Happy Stitch Project

Wedding waistcoats – almost finished!

DMC to Anchor thread conversion chart

Introducing Colourful Fun Embroidery!

Or treat yourself to a Sunbeams hand embroidery kit!

The post Creative process embroidery appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Describe your work in 3 words.

Fun, easy and colourful.

Who or what inspires you?

I get my inspiration from everyday life, such as clothes my kids wear, window displays in Paperchase and all the lovely people in my Facebook group who help out with ideas for new designs. If I am struggling to get inspired though, I find cleaning such a helpful way to clear my mind and inspiration usually strikes.

How did you first get started with cross stitch?

I very first started when I was around 6 and my nan taught me (my first proper kit was a Groovy Chick one). But I got back into it after having my first baby and, like many mums, I needed a new hobby that wasn’t feeding, changing or rocking.

Tell us about your design process. How do you turn something from an idea to a finished project?

I have so many ideas that I have had to teach myself to learn to let some of them go because it would be impossible for me to stitch them all. I usually start with some sketches; this is when I decide how big the design will be. Then I get some opinions on whether to turn it into a pattern, usually from my sister but also from my Facebook group.

Once I have decided, I turn the sketch into a pattern by first tracing it onto graph paper and then using a software on my computer. Then I have to decide the colours, which is the hardest part because there are just too many.

I always stitch my patterns before turning them into kits/downloads, because they always turn out a little different to how you would expect and there may be some tweaks to make.

Your shops on Etsy and NOTHS focus on cross stitch kits and patterns. What do you love the most about creating them?

I love that I don’t have to be amazing at drawing to design a cross stitch pattern; working with squares is very helpful when I’m in the design process. And I love that I don’t need to be an expert at sewing to create a handstitched product. As a busy mum of two I like to keep things simple and easy.

You’ve recently started recording a podcast – tell us all about it!

This is something I was so nervous about starting (as you can probably tell from my voice on the first few episodes) but I personally love listening to podcasts and I wanted to create more accessible content for my audience and customers; something they can listen to while stitching! I love how personal podcasts are because as I am talking, stories come out that I never would have thought of if I was writing a blog post.

I try not to talk about the business side much on it (although it sometimes slips in) but make it more of a place to share any tips around creativity and cross stitch. And sharing any cross stitch related products I come across such as books and patterns.

How do you juggle running a small business with family life?

Well, I definitely drop some of those balls sometimes. I try and make sure there are different blocks to our day. Some blocks are just for family time and other blocks are just for work. They tend to get mixed up sometimes, especially during the week when I don’t have my husband here to help, but usually I try to be focusing on one or the other. My 4 year old is in pre-school part time and my toddler naps most days so I have that time too. But most of my work is done when they go to bed or during the weekend; breaking all the rules of a normal work week. As I spend so much time with the kids in the week though, I quite like escaping to work on the weekends.

What advice would you give to anyone who is just starting out selling their wares?

Try to focus on one thing at a time. This goes for everything, from what products to sell, to what platforms to sell on. Know your numbers from the very beginning and make sure you’re not undercharging. And be patient. Building an authentic brand is something that can only be done slowly, so try not to compare yourself to someone who has been doing this for years more than you (although I think looking up to these people can help, as long as it makes you feel good when you do). Also, try and find a community or create one yourself as the self employed world can be quite a lonely one. I don’t think my business would be anywhere near where it is now without the support of the online community I am part of.

Thank you SO much for chatting to us, Hannah!

Juggling a small business and a family is such hard work, but Hannah is doing an amazing job! I totally agree that you end up working all hours and during nap times (hooray for nap times!), and Hannah’s advice to work on one thing at a time is a top tip if you’re just getting started or if you’re getting overloaded. I’m looking forward to seeing what you make next, Hannah!

I’m so inspired by Hannah’s designs and hope you are too! Do check out her podcast, The Cross Stitch Podcast, which you can find on on iTunes or via Hannah’s blog. If you’re interested in getting started with cross stitch, you can purchase kits from her website. And don’t forget to follow @hannahhandmakes on Instagram too!

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I have a really sweet tooth, and I think this is perhaps one of the sweetest things I have ever made. I really LOVE it! This blonde mini egg rocky road is really easy to make, so it’s perfect for a last-minute Easter treat. You can basically adapt this recipe to your taste – I made a fruit and nut free version because Tom isn’t a huge fan of either of these things. So we put all the sweet things in it! I have made a couple of batches to see what works best, and we discovered that unlike some recipes for rocky road, this is best made a day or two in advance. It just gets better after waiting a bit (which is hard because it’s so good!). I also experimented with the size of the biscuit pieces, and we preferred the version where I chopped up the custard creams instead of bashing them. You could always bash half and chop the other half if you prefer.

Ingredients

250g white chocolate, broken into pieces

100g unsalted butter, cubed

2 tbsp golden syrup

150g custard cream biscuits

75g mini marshmallows (chop up larger ones if you can’t find these)

200g chocolate mini eggs, plus a few extra for the top

Method

1. Line a 20 x 30cm traybake tin with 2 sheets of cling film (in a criss-cross pattern). Put the chocolate and butter in a large bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water, and melt until smooth and glossy.

2. Remove from the heat and add the golden syrup. Mix together until fully combined and leave to cool at room temperature for about 5 – 10 mins.

3. Roughly chop the custard creams into medium-sized chunks (this seems to work better than bashing them in a bag!). Stir into the cooled chocolate with the marshmallows and the mini eggs.

4. Pour the mix into the tin and press down with the back of a spoon until even. Scatter over a few extra mini eggs to make it look extra colourful, pressing them in a little. Leave to set in the fridge, preferably overnight.

5. Remove from the tin and cut into bars to serve. Will keep for up to 1 week in an airtight container – if you can make them last that long! 

If you want to see the original recipe that this blonde mini egg rocky road is adapted from, you can find the recipe here. You might also want some more Easter inspiration, and my Easter Pinterest board is a great place to start!

Post updated 12th February 2020.

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Crafty Colour Palette #3: Colour list

Pink: DMC 3689 / Anchor 49

Yellow: DMC 745 / Anchor 300

Blue: DMC 775 / Anchor 128

Lilac: DMC 211 / Anchor 342

Dark purple: DMC 3041 / Anchor 871

These colours would work so well for Easter projects, but you could use them for anything you like! I think they would be lovely for something for a nursery – maybe a name banner or hoop. I quite like it for something gender neutral in this sense, with the pink and blue together I think it would work quite nicely!

Hello! Hooray! for Hannah Handmakes

These are the hoops I designed for our little blog post swap If you saw my post earlier with Hannah’s amazing tutorial, you’ll know that I basically had two designs in my head and I couldn’t decide which one would work best! If I had to choose I’d probably pick the text only version because I’m so pleased with how that worked out.

You’ll find all the details (tutorials and templates) over at Hannah Handmakes! And you can find Hannah’s fabulous tutorial for this cross-stitched hoop here.

If you’re a beginner cross-stitcher (like me), Hannah takes us through the stitching process step-by-step. So it’s great for beginners, and a fun design for all levels too! We really hope that you enjoy these Easter projects – tag us @hellohoorayblog and @hannahhandmakes on Instagram Happy stitching!

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You will need

16 count, white Aida

Embroidery thread – DMC 224, 368, 827, 3042 and 3078. Or pastel pink, green, blue, purple and yellow in your choice of brand.

A size 26 tapestry/cross stitch needle

A pattern (available to download)

A 5 inch hoop or frame to hold your fabric while you’re stitching and to frame it.

Scissors

A pen or pencil

A comfy spot to sit and stitch (preferably with good light).

Optional extras

A needle minder

Pom pom trim (approx. 16 inches/41cm)

A bag or box to keep your supplies in

A warm drink and yummy snack.

Starting your hoop

You always start stitching in the centre of your fabric and you can find the centre by folding your fabric/aida in half, length ways and width ways. Where they meet is your centre square and you can find the centre of your pattern by following the arrows. Then pop your aida in the hoop, trying to keep it centre. Pull the aida as tight as you can get it; this will make it much easier to stitch on.

Snip your thread ready to use. A good rule to measure it is to pull it from your finger tips to your elbow. Or a handy hint; if you take the full skein and snip all the loops at the bottom end you should be left with strands of thread the perfect length!

For this pattern I recommend using the knotless loop method to start. Take 1 strand of the 6 on your length of thread and fold it in half. Thread your needle where the 2 ends meet, and you should have a loop at the bottom.

Come up the top left hole of the square you are starting on and leave the loop sticking out of the back. Then go diagonally across into the bottom right hole and put your needle in the loop at the back. Pull your thread gently and you should have made a knot. Then continue your stitching.

Making your “X”

Each square on your aida is one full X stitch from your pattern. As I said above, for your first stitch come up the top left hole of the square you are starting on, then go diagonally across into the bottom right square.

Next, come back up the top right hole and back down into the bottom left. Repeat this until you come to the end of the thread or colour you are using.

There are of course other ways to do this. Some people prefer to start from the right hole first and down into the bottom left. And some people do lots of half cross stitches one way and come back over them the other way. Go with whatever you find easiest; the important thing is to be consistent and do each stitch the same.

Tying off your thread

When you come to the end of your thread or you need to swap colours then you need to securely tie off your thread. To do this, you just simply take your needle and thread it under some of the stitches on the back of your hoop.

If you have quite a bit of thread left when you come to the end the you can snip it off and keep it to use again or “park it” (slip it through an unused part of your fabric such as the aida outside of the hoop) to use later.

Backing your hoop

For backing your hoop you can choose to add felt or not. I don’t always add felt to my hoop if I’m hanging it on the wall, but if you are displaying it somewhere else you may want to add it.

And you also need to decide if you are adding pom-pom trim as you will need to glue this on before backing. To glue it on, craft or PVA will work fine. Glue it on slowly and in stages, holding each part down for 10 seconds so it doesn’t move as you continue around the hoop. Then snip any excess off before gluing the last part down.

To measure your felt, take your inner hoop and draw around the outside of it and cut your felt circle out.

For backing you hoop you will need to use 2 strands of thread. Start by doing a running stitch around the edge of your fabric. This is simply a normal stitch going in and out of your fabric. When you have gone all the way around pull gently and your fabric should bunch together, then tie a knot to secure it.

Next, come up through the edge of the fabric next to your hoop and place your felt at the back. Your felt may have pencil lines on from when you cut it. If this is the case then place the side with the pencil lines down so they are hidden.

Now you do the blanket stitch. Put your needle in the felt about an inch away from the edge of the hoop.

Come out right next to where you first came out and make sure your needle is in front of the thread. Pull gently and you will have made your first stitch.

For your second stitch put your needle in about an inch away from your first and an inch away from the edge again. Come straight up by the edge of your fabric and again make sure the thread is behind your needle. Pull gently and you will have made your second stitch. Repeat until you reach the end.

Ta-dah!

Your Easter hoop is ready to display! Thank you so much for this brilliant tutorial, Hannah – there are some really helpful tips here (I had no idea about snipping a skein to get the right thread lengths!). You can follow Hannah on Instagram for more lovely stitchy goodness, or listen to her podcast via her website. If you’re feeling inspired to get cross-stitching, why not treat yourself to a kit? You can also find Hannah Handmakes on Etsy and Not On The High Street.

Hello! Hooray! for Hannah Handmakes

I said earlier that this was a blog post swap, and these are the hoops that I designed! I ended up with two because I had two ideas and I couldn’t decide which one would be best, so I made both. The colours that I have chosen are inspired by mini eggs, which are my favourite Easter treat! I love the colours and thought they would be a perfect colour palette. These colours have inspired my latest post for #craftycolourpalettes which will be live on my blog later today. You can find the templates and tutorial for both of these hoops over on the Hannah Handmakes blog – and they are super easy to stitch so you can make a last-minute Easter project. Yay!

We would LOVE to see your creations if you make our hoops – so do tag @hellohoorayblog or @hannahhandmakes if you share on social media

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