#CraftBlogClub Secret Santa....

It’s that time of year again and we are SO excited here at Craft Blog Club! This year marks our fourth Secret Santa, can you believe it?! I think it’s safe to say it’s our favourite #craftblogclub challenge of the year and tonight my co-host, Katie, launched the latest Secret Santa challenge. 

Here is how to join in:

• If you want to take part please email us at craftblogclub@gmail.com.  Please include your name, twitter name, email address and postal address. Email us by 8pm on Tuesday 1st November 2016. We will then email everyone back by Tuesday 8th November with the name and address of the person you are making a gift for.
• You then make that person a Christmas gift, this can be anything you like and made from any craft. It would be lovely for everyone to receive their gift in time for Christmas, therefore we have set a deadline for posting the gift by Tuesday 20th December 2016. Make sure you include a note revealing who you are.  Who you make for won’t necessarily be the person that makes for you. Sadly, last year a few people never received their gift, so please only sign up if you can make and send a gift by the deadline. As crafters we all know how much time and love goes into making something handmade so let’s make sure no one misses out this year.
• The real excitement then begins as we all receive a special handmade Christmas gift from our Secret Santa! We ask that you write a blog post about the wonderful gift you receive and about the gift you made. We suggest you do this after Christmas (so not to spoil any surprises) and by Tuesday 3rd January 2017, which will be our first #craftblogclub of 2017. It will make for a great first chat of the year to discuss our makes and gifts.

Anyone can take part, don't worry if you have never joined our chats or taken part in a challenge before, we'd love for you to be involved.

I hope you are as excited about this challenge as we are. We love seeing all the amazing gifts you lovely lot make for one another.

Want to know more about the #CraftBlogClub? find all the details here.

Made By Mrs M Art Deco Photo Walk, Part 2....

A few weeks ago I went on another photo walk organised by Kate of Made By Mrs M.  You can read about the first one here. This time it was the southern end of the Northern line following the Art Deco map.  The weather was a little wet but depsite the weather I had a great time meeting up with everyone. When the weather dried up we took the opportunity to walk between stations and I got to explore a part of London I've not been to before.

As I am doing the #100Daysof PatternCBC challenge I kept seeing patterns everywhere! Not all my photos are pattern related but I don't want to repeat all the photos that featured in this post. So I'm only sharing my favourite patterns of the day.

The Gang ~ Martha, Laura and Kate. Sophie joined us later.

What once was an Art Deco theatre is now a Majestic Wine. Found down the road from our meeting point, Clapham South Station.

This was one of my #100daysofPatternCBC from a florist next door to Clapham South Station.

Clapham South station ceiling.

Gorgeous uplighting at Clapham South and found at a number of stations along the way.

We're now in South Wimbledon Station.

I think this is my favourite photo of the day.

Not something you see on a regular basis, a tractor driving through London!

Street lamp outside of Tooting Broadway Station.

Stall at Tooting Market.

Street art outside of Tooting Market.

These are my favourite patterns from in and around Tooting Market.

An impressive Polish Catholic Church.

Gorgeous Art Deco apartments on route to Balham Station.

Final station, Balham.

A pattern I haven't used yet for #100DaysofPatternCBC!!

Tiles found under the rail bridge at Balham station. I shared a different photo of these tiles for #100DaysofPatternCBC

Pretty tiles found at the entrance of a patisserie, I nearly missed it as I was drooling over the cakes in the window. Of course this has featured as part of #100daysofpatterncbc.

By using the hashtag #madebymrsmphotowalk you can see everyone's photos of the day.

Check out Kate's post here where you can see a very unflattering photo of me as well as the opportunity to sign up to the Photowalk newsletter. Kate will be doing more in 2017. The next one will be in central London taking in a selection of both Brutalist and Art Deco buildings so if you are interested in joining us sign up to her newsletter.

Days 41 to 60 of the #100DaysofPatternCBC Challenge....

We're now over half way through the #100DaysofPatternCBC challenge!  Don't know what I'm talking about? The challenge is to share a photo of a pattern every day on Instagram and/or Twitter. Here are my photos from days 41 to 60...

Days 41 to 44 ~ A packet of baby wipes that are always on my desk / washi craft tape / closed blinds / new paper clips arranged (not that I was procrastinating).

Days 45 and 46 are new packaging for orders / Days 47 and 48 are of patterns that I created myself using stamps and ink

Days 49 and 50 ~ A die cut pattern / rows of yarn in a shop

Days 51 to 60 are all from the October Made by Mrs M Photowalk. There will be a blog post on this very soon but here are all the patterns I saw....

Days 51 and 52 ~ A close up of tiles at Clapham South Tube Station / Stairs at Balham Underground Station

Days 53 to 56 All found at Tooting Market ~ Colourful crates stacked up / flamingo pattern / close up of street art

Days 57 to 60 ~ Pretty floor tiles at a patisserie / tiles under the rail bridge at Balham Station / table at a florist next to Clapham South Station / new building at Collier's Wood

If you missed my previous round ups you can see my photos from days 1 to 20 here and days 21 to 40 here.

If you wish you had joined in, it's not too late! All the details can be found in this post.

Check out all of the amazing photos by everyone so far by using the hashtag #100DaysofPatternCBC on Instagram and Twitter, or use this link to go direct to the images on Instagram. 

Days 21 to 40 of #100DaysofPatternCBC challenge....

It's time for another round-up of the current #CraftBlogClub challenge. I can't believe we are nearly half way through already.  

These photos come from a trip to Norfolk, a week in Wales, one from the archives as well as from my craft den.

Days 21 to 24 ~ patterns in the sand / a uniform row of trees creating a pattern / old knitting patterns that were passed down to me from my Nan. I remember her knitting an outfit for my dolls from this pattern / bridge

Days 25 to 28 ~ a polka dot table cloth / a slate footpath / a close up of a tapestry / a top in a charity shop window display

Days 29 to 32 ~ a row of colourful beach huts / a cracked pattern in a glass window / a geometric pattern on a geometric shaped lamp shade / a slate wall

Days 33 to 36 ~ My watercolours / wooden beams / a pattern in a wooden gate / a throwback to when I went on #MadebyMrsMPhotoWalk

Days 37 to 40 ~ I was having a sort through my papers in the craft den and came across two pretty floral designs and a harlequin pattern. The Happy Birthday repeat pattern was a design I was working on for a customer order.

If you are enjoying these posts why not join in? It's not too late, all the details can be found in this post and don't worry if you miss days, it's supposed to be fun and inspiring!

Check out all of the amazing photos by everyone so far by using the hashtag #100DaysofPatternCBC on Instagram and Twitter, or use this link to go direct to the images on Instagram. There are some beautiful photos of inspiring images and patterns in unusual places.

Days 1 to 20 of the #100DaysofPatternCBC challenge....

Recently I launched a new #CraftBlogClub challenge and if you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my photos for the #100DaysofPatternCBC. The challenge is to share a photo of a pattern every day on Instagram and/or Twitter. Here are my photos from the first 20 days.... 

Day 1 - 4 patterns of.... a fat quarter that I bought just because I love it / my favourite mug to have my morning coffee in / my favourite pen / creating my own pattern for a phone cover using honeycomb crochet stitch and funky yarn

Days 5 - 8 patterns.... I spent a lot of time on the motorway that particular day! Inspiration can be found anywhere / I was sat in my conservatory and accidentally took a photo of the roof / nature's pattern in the sky / I love the colours and patterns of this selection of fat quarters.

Days 9 - 12 patterns.... creating my own patterns for new birthday cards / found this sewing pattern in my craft room / interesting pattern in a tree trunk / a reflection of my lamp on to my glass cutting mat

Days 13 - 16 patterns.... from the Art Deco photo walk / the sun shining through the blinds making patterns on the carpet / creating my own background patterns on this coaster /  a beautiful tiled house from a trip to Lisbon a few years ago

Days 17 -20 patterns of.... a pattern in a field / the back of my to do list pad / the beach / a tiled floor

I'm enjoying this challenge it encourages me to look at the world differently and I'm finding patterns everywhere!

It's not too late if you want to join in, all the details can be found in this post and don't worry if you miss days, it's supposed to be fun and inspiring!

Check out all of the amazing photos by everyone so far by using the hashtag #100DaysofPatternCBC on Instagram and Twitter, or use this link to go direct to the images on Instagram.  There are some beautiful photos of inspiring images and patterns in unusual places.