New in at Olive's Nest, York

Liberty Print Fabric Necklaces

Just thought I'd let you know that there's been a new delivery of stock to Olive's Nest in York.  Not only are there some lovely Liberty print fabric necklaces but also some colourful button hairclips...

Button Hairclips

and some resin button brooches - check out the upcycling!...

Upcycled Resin Button Brooches

 
If you're in York why not pop along to Olive's Nest on Scarcroft Road (just next to Bishopthorpe Road) and take a look.  There are lots of lovely things to buy!

Stitched Postcard Workshop at Olive's Nest, York - May 2018

All set up and ready to go

My second Stitched Postcard Workshop at Olive's Nest took place on Saturday.  After the excitement of the Royal Wedding, we had a very peaceful afternoon stitching...

Lara busy stitching

Vanessa measuring up

Mary-Ann stitching away

Everyone's birds were looking lovely...

Lara's postcard is almost finished

Mary-Ann's lovely bird is progressing nicely

Vanessa's postcard nearly complete

Vanessa finished hers off at home straight away and here's what it looks like all finished...

Vanessa's postcard - all ready to send!

Thanks to everyone for coming and to Gaynor at Olive's Nest for making us welcome.  Take a look at the other workshops available at Olives Nest here.

Handmade Notebooks at Olive's Nest, York

Everyone working hard

On Saturday we had a very full house at Olive's Nest for the first Handmade Notebooks Course...

Decorating notebook covers

Everyone had to concentrate to get their 4 different notebooks done - but phew everyone finished!  We were helped along with constant tea & coffee refuelling and fabulous cake supplied by Gaynor who runs Olive's Nest.  (Sorry to say there are no cake pics - it disappeared too quickly!)

Love Hearts also available for refuelling

It was lovely to see everyone's finished notebooks.  And now everyone knows how to make them, I hope there'll be lots more made at home...

A selection of notebooks made

Thanks to Katherine, Hannah, Angela, Gina, Rosemary, Alison & Rimi for coming along, working hard and making it such a fun afternoon. And thanks also to Gaynor & Jem for looking after us so well.

I have another workshop - Stitched Postcards coming up at Olive's Nest on Saturday 19 May 2018 from 2-4.30pm if you fancy joining me.  If that's not for you, check out the other workshops on offer here. And to book a place contact Gaynor at Olive's Nest - email: olivesnestworkshops@gmail.com or call into Olive's Nest at 4, Scarcroft Road, York, YO23 1NB. 

Stitched Postcards at Olive's Nest, York

Stitched Postcards - samples for the workshop

I have developed a couple of new workshops for the spring and one of them was Embroidered Postcards which ran at Olive's Nest in York this week.  We had Gaynor's cosy back room at Olive's Nest all to ourselves...

All set up and ready to go at Olive's Nest

It was a lovely evening with Gaynor and Jem from Olive's Nest keeping myself and a great group of stitchers topped up with tea and biscuits (not to mention mini chocolate eggs and love hearts!)  Everyone was concentrating hard and embroidering madly...

 

Concentrating hard and having fun stitching

Even using the same design everyone's birds turned out beautiful and different.  It was great to see all the fab colour choices...

Works in progress

I have another workshop - Handmade Notebooks coming up at Olive's Nest on Saturday 12 May 2018 from 2-4.30pm if you fancy joining me.  If that's not for you, check out the other workshops on offer here. And to book a place contact Gaynor at Olive's Nest - email: olivesnestworkshops@gmail.com or call into Olive's Nest at 4, Scarcroft Road, York, YO23 1NB. 

Hope to see you soon. x

Handmade Notebooks & Embroidered Postcard Workshops

I am bringing two new workshops to Olive's Nest in York this spring.  

Embroidered Postcard - Wednesday 11 April 2018 (also Saturday 19 May 2018 from 14:00 to 16:30)
On Wednesday 11 April from 18:30 to 21:00 I'm doing an Embroidered (Stitched) Postcard workshop.

You will learn how to make stitched postcards, working on a bird design in your choice of colours using a range of different stitches.

All materials will be provided.  Pop into Olive's Nest if you want to see an embroidered postcard that's been through the post. 

Handmade Notebooks - Saturday 12 May 2018
On Saturday 12 May 2018 from 14:00 to 16:30, I'll be showing you how to make handmade notebooks.

 

You will learn how to make at least 3 different types of notebook using paper and card. 

 

We will be painting, folding, stitching and sticking.  All materials will be provided.

Pop into Olive's Nest if you'd like to see some examples of the types of notebooks we will be making.

Workshops cost £20 each.  Contact Olive's Nest to book a place:

Pop in: Olive's Nest, 4 Scarcroft Road, York, YO23 1NB
Phone: 01904 670052
Email: olivesnestworkshops@gmail.com

Minimum of 4 people needed for workshop to run 

New in at Olive's Nest, York

Liberty print fabric necklaces

This week I have delivered some new stock to Olive's Nest on Scarcroft Road, York.  It's a fab gift shop run by the lovely Gaynor Parr-Manley.  If you haven't had a chance to take a look, you should go.

Button hairclips

Bike bags

Gaynor now stocks flowers too.  Here's some I bought this week...

Lovely flowers from Olive's Nest

And Olive's Nest also run workshops.  I did one recently with Jo Coupland.  You can read about it here.  This is what I made...

Bluebird

Go take a look.  And when you're exhausted from looking at all the gorgeous things you can nip round the corner to the Pig & Pastry on Bishopthorpe Road (Bishy Road) for some refreshments.  Perfect!

Creating Beautiful Birds with Joanna Coupland at Olive's Nest

Bird by Joanna Coupland

On Saturday I went to a workshop at Olive's Nest (great for cards and gifts) run by Joanna Coupland. Jo, inspired by nature, makes fabulous quirky sculptures out of wire and paper.  She has a whole range of beautiful birds, animals and fabulous fairy lights - all handmade, with no two the same!  We were making birds.  Julie & Kate made crows, Lily made an owl and Jeanette and I made birds of a less specific sort!   

Olive's Nest on Scarcroft Road, York

We started off making a wire structure which was the bird's body.  Jo helped us all sort out the shape and showed us how to make it 3D.  Here's mine...

Wire armature

Next we covered it in paper - no pics - I was too engrossed in getting it done.  This was the bit I found most tricky.  Although, as this part took me longer than anyone else, I think it was only me who thought that!

More birds by Joanna Coupland

Then we got down to painting.  Jo had lots of lovely inks, dyes and paints for us to use.  I went for blues and greens...

My bird

Lily favoured pinks and oranges (and rather liked the sequins)...

Lily's owl - spot those sequins!

Kate's had a very regal pose...

Kate's crow

Jeanette & Julie gave theirs proper eyes with eyelids!

Jeanette's bird - check out those eyelids

Julie's crow

It was a fab day which I really enjoyed.  Gaynor, who owns Olive's Nest, kept us topped up with tea and coffee and things to munch while we worked on our creations.  This was definitely a fun thing to do - check out the other workshops on offer at Olive's Nest here.

Get Creative at Olive's Nest with Brilliant Birds

Making Brilliant Birds at Olive's Nest

Friday was the start of the Get Creative Weekend. So Deborah New & I got creative at Olive's Nest, a super gift shop on Scarcroft Road, York. 

Olive's Nest, Scarcroft Road, York

We held our preview Brilliant Bird workshops in preparation for the Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm in Rowntree Park later this year. It was lovely to meet everyone who came along. Here are some of the makes...

#BrilliantBirds & Giant Leaves

...and quite a number went home to be finished off so we're looking forward to those birds flying in too!  We met up with some old friends but also had new people come and join us which was just perfect!  In fact we were chatting so much in the afternoon I forgot to take any photos.  I'll try not to let that happen again!

The Get Creative campaign is run by a group of cultural organisations to celebrate and support creativity. We certainly enjoyed getting creative!

#BrilliantBirds take to the bushes

Thanks so much to Gaynor at Olive's Nest for letting us roost there for our #BrilliantBirds Workshops and for keeping us fuelled with tea, coffee and biscuits!  We had a lovely day.