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Hello!

Apologies for the absence of newsletters lately, I've been dealing with some very difficult things in my personal/family life which have been very disruptive and stressful. I've been doing a bit of work here and there but I haven't done any sewing or other creative stuff since before Christmas.

I'd been planning on sending out a newsletter with an update full of feelings, giving you a behind the scenes glimpse at trying to keep a creative business going when your life is in turmoil and your desire to make stuff vanishes... but now the whole world is dealing with this pandemic, it doesn't feel right to be all "woe is me!" and I want to talk about cheerful things not depressing ones.

SO, this week I'm going to give you a quick update about crafty tutorials that have popped up on my blog lately (thanks to end-of-2019 me who was very organised!!) and some lovely links you may find entertaining / distracting / soothing. Then I'll be back in touch sometime soon with more crafty goodness. Take care of yourselves xxx

Crafty Projects To Keep You Entertained:
Easy Embroidery Patterns
Chicken & Egg Ornaments
Felt Daffodils Headband

As always, if you're looking for some crafty inspiration you'll find loads of free patterns and tutorials over on my blog. My tutorial archive is a great place to start! You'll also find lots of recent projects by visiting the homepage and just working your way backwards through the posts.

Recent tutorials include some cute felt chicken and egg ornaments, a felt daffodil headband, and a trio of easy embroidery patterns (folk flowers, a cute owl, and some lucky pants). I particularly recommend trying some simple embroidery when you're feeling stressed: pop something on the telly or the radio in the background, sit back and just follow the lines of the pattern. It can be very meditative!

If you're stuck at home and need to order supplies for felt crafts or embroidery projects, my current fave supplier is Cloud Craft (disclosure: I have done some work for Nicole in the past but I'm recommending her because she sells lovely things!).

If you've enjoyed using some of my free patterns, please consider supporting my work by sending a small contribution via Ko-Fi.

You can also support me and my work by... buying my work! :) I'm not shipping any physical items right now but my printable PDF patterns are still available from my Etsy and Folksy shops.

P.S. If you make stuff using my patterns and tutorials, please do let me know! Getting your emails or being tagged in your Instagram photos is always hugely cheering and I'd love to share them here in my newsletter, too, if you'd like that (no worries if you want to keep them private though!).
Lovely Links:

I've seen quite a few community art projects popping up on Instagram at the moment, like Amy Rose Geden's Stay At Home Art Club and Carson Ellis' Quarantine Art Club. Daily creative prompts can be really helpful if you're feeling short of inspiration (a focused brief always feels easier than just sitting down to a blank page, in my experience!) and these kinds of creative connections are going to be increasingly valuable while we're all isolated! Let me know if you've seen any similar projects and I'll share the links next time.

Talking of Instagram, I keep getting ads on there for Harkel Clothing which I'd never heard of before but appears to sell some pleasingly joyful clothing. Their rainbow skirts are particularly fabulous.

Also wonderfully colourful: everything sold by Poppekins! Those little trays would be so useful for crafty projects.

Stuck at home with the kids and looking for crafty ideas? Red Ted Art is a great place to start.

Alicia Paulson's cross stitch patterns are super charming, I just adore them. (Cross stitch is another craft, like embroidery, that I find very soothing. Following the pattern and making all those little Xs? So absorbing!)

These embroidered moths are beautiful.

Fancy trying something a bit different? I love these little model-making kits: one of the building even comes with a tiny artist's studio out the back!

If you're in search of some creative inspo or just want to look at some soothingly lovely things, Present & Correct's blog is always worth a scroll through.

These Liberty-print cards are so lovely, especially the fabric-cut of the Liberty building.

Finally, I have been doing many many jigsaw puzzles this year as a way to relax. If you can get out and about and your local charity shops are still open they'll probably have a whole bunch at bargain prices. If you're shopping online Hus & Hem have a fantastic selection and I put together lists of my faves last year on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com (heads up: those last two are affilliate links). I spotted a shop full of lovely looking jigsaws on Etsy recently, too!
 
See you soon,
Laura x

P.S. Got any comments, something awesome to share, or just want to say hi? Click reply to send me an email!
Visit my shop for printable sewing patterns.

Check out my blog's tutorial archive for lots of free crafty projects.

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Copyright © 2020 Laura "Lupin" Howard, All rights reserved.


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