My first blog award!

Some lovely news... I have been awarded a Stylish Blogger award by the very talented and lovely Emily Parkes! Make sure you visit her blog and check out her wonderful textiles and illustration work.

So on getting this award, I need to tell you seven facts about myself, and then pass the award along to seven of my own favourite blogs. So here goes...

1: I was born in Bath, but have moved around a lot! In fact I have lived in 10 different places all around the country during my life (apparently I have inherited my dad's itchy feet!)

2: I've always been very academic, and if I hadn't followed my heart and focused on textiles, part of me would have wanted to follow some sort of scientific career - I'm so patient and precise, I think I would have been good in a lab!

3: When I was little, I had a pet lamb called Skippity, who I hand reared as an orphan. My brother also had one, his was called Lucy!

4: I used to play the flute. I got to Grade 5 then gave up... really hope to pick it up again one day although I'm not really very musical.

5: I went travelling around Europe a few years ago with two friends and had an amazing time... One of my favourite places was Venice, where I would love to go back to one day.

6: I hate clothes shopping but could trawl antique shops and homeware stores for hours on end.

7: I would so love to get another cat, but my OH is allergic to nearly all animals :( The picture is of our old cats Tiggy and Spot, who were both total sweeties!

So there you go, hope you have enjoyed learning seven things about me! 

Now for the seven lovely blogs I am going to pass it on to...

City of Blackbirds

Home Made Gorgeous

Julia Crossland

Life in the Bubble
Millie Meadowsweet

Pipany and the Poltisko Memoirs

Sixty One A

xxx

A little baking...

I mentioned last week how I got the 'Biscuiteers book of iced biscuits' for Christmas and that me and my sister had a quick go at baking and icing some biscuits over the New Year... well here are the results!

Unfortunately we didn't have many icing materials between us - only one squeezy bottle and one writing nozzle! We did have some disposable piping bags though (which we had to use without nozzles) but the effect wasn't quite as good as the holes we cut were a little too big. We were also limited on colours, having only basic yellow and red food colouring to hand, so they ended up looking quite pastel but in a way I quite like that! Would have made a lovely new born baby collection :)

Because of the lack of colours we had available, we chose to do simple shapes such as cupcakes, ducks and bunnies which we thought would suit the soft muted colourings and I'm really pleased with the different shapes we created.

We started off by making a simple gingerbread mixture, then drew some templates by hand of the outline shapes we wanted onto cardboard. After placing the templates on to the rolled out dough, we cut around them with a sharp knife, and put them in the oven to bake. Then it was time to start mixing up the icing.

First we made the piping icing which is reasonably thick (about same consistency as toothpaste so that it holds it's shape), added the food colouring and distributed it in to 3 different piping bags  - one for each colour, pink, yellow and white.

With the remaining mixture we added a little water to make the consistency runnier to make our 'flood icing', again separating it in to three portions and adding the colouring. 

We then began to pipe carefully around the outside of each biscuit shape, creating little 'piped walls' as it were. When these were dry, we decanted some of the runnier flood icing into a squeezy bottle and literally 'painted in' the middle of the biscuits in our chosen colours.

We had to do each colour one at a time, because we only had the one bottle... we could have saved so much time if we had had a couple more but we were too impatient to wait until we could get some!

Once the flooding icing had dried too, we went back over, adding in the details and lines with the piping bag colours. For some reason, we outlined some of the shapes again, but I think in hindsight this was a mistake as they looked better before, but anyway, that is a lesson learnt for next time!

I can't wait to get some more equipment (nozzles/bottles) so I can try out some more designs. I'm such a perfectionist that some of this batch didn't quite meet my exacting standards but they tasted nice and I'm sure with practise I can perfect my technique! Look out for more baking experimentation coming soon:) xxx

Big discounts and some twitter action!

I'm only 26 but sometimes I feel like I kind of missed the boat with some of the new technology that's been around in the last few years! We only got the Internet in the house a few years ago, and although my mobile phone is relatively new, it does resemble a much older style - with the traditional small screen and little keypad, just how I like it:) I know lots of people are raving about the likes of the new i-phones etc around today but I just can't be doing with all that 'touch screen' malarkey! Haha, this post is making me sound so old already!

It was only 6 months ago that I began this blog, and my facebook page too (until then I didn't even have a personal facebook account!) But this weekend, I feel I have well and truly moved into the 21st century... I am now on twitter!!

Twitter is one of those sites that has been on my mind for a little while now, but I just never seemed to get round to signing up. Plus I figured it was just one more social networking site, and I already had enough of those to cope with already:) But so many different people kept encouraging me to sign up, so I finally took the plunge - you can find me on @jenny_arnott - so please come and find/follow me and say hello and I will most definitely return the favour! 

One really fab thing I have already found in such a short space of time is that there are so many beautiful creative people and businesses on there, I will have to try hard to limit my browsing time though or I will never get anything else done! But I really am looking forward to discovering some new faces and talent in the next few weeks.

So enough about twitter for now... I have had a general 'sorting out' few days since I returned from my Christmas break, mainly getting my receipts and invoices in order for the dreaded tax return! I have also put many of my products into the Not on the High Street sale which started 5th Jan - in particular my printed range, which I am not going to be concentrating so much on any more.

So... drumroll... many prints are now half price! This will be for a limited time only and while stocks last - some designs are down to the last one or two so be quick if you fancy them! The square ones are now only £12 (down from £24) and the rectangular ones now a bargainous £14 (down from £28.)

There are also some Christmas bargains to had too - cards, decorations, that kind of thing, with various discounts of between 20% and 50%!

So what are you waiting for? Pop on over to say hello on twitter, and grab yourself a lovely bargain too! Happy Sunday everyone xx

Hello 2011 :)

A belated Happy New Year to you all, hope your Christmases and New Years went with a bang! Ours was quite quiet as usual, spending actual Christmas Day here in Somerset just me and Karl, then travelling up to see my parents, brother and sister over New Year in Staffordshire. Had such a lovely time, just relaxing and not thinking about my work non-stop, didn't really want to come back:) hehe!

I spent much of my time away either just lounging around, doing tapestry, eating chocolate, talking late into the night, shopping and baking! It was also so nice to see my family all together for the first time in a year. We hardly see each other as we are all so busy and live at different ends of the country, but it was really good to catch up, was just a shame my brother had to dash on back to Newcastle for the New Year!

I was also given some really wonderful presents, I am one very lucky girl! Here are just some of the lovely things I received...

...a wonderful baking book by the very clever 'Biscuiteers' people - I have admired their gorgeous biscuits for a couple of years now, and now I can learn to ice my own! Me and my sister actually had a go at making some iced biscuits over New Year but we were slightly hampered by both lack of experience and lack of equipment! Will post some pics of our results another day, they did turn out quite well in the end considering, but I am so looking forward to buying some more bottles/nozzles so I can experiment with more colours and more elaborate designs! 

Mmmm... drool! How fabulous do these biscuits look?! (Ours sadly were not quite up to this standard... yet anyway!)

... an adorable fleecy hot water bottle - so useful as I am always cold and practically live with a hot water bottle glued to me - even when I am sewing I usually have one on my lap!

... a new tapestry I'd had my eye on for a while, called 'Garden Sampler' from Ehrman. Hopefully I will have it framed when it is finished.

I love it, there is so much detail in it if you look carefully, like the little dog and all the tiny bees! I spent quite a bit of time doing this over the last week or so, but now I am 'back to work' as it were, sewing will take over again and I sadly just won't have much time to spend on it.

... this lovely utilitarian metal sign will be the perfect addition to my studio wall - am thinking of putting it behind my sewing machine so when I am frustrated with it I might remember to 'keep calm', haha! Maybe anyway!

... and lastly these very cute ladybird plasters, which came in a tiny vintage style tin. There are 16 plasters, 4 of each design, with a letter and corresponding picture on each  - so sweet, almost too good to use!

I had such a lovely break away but I am now slowly getting myself back into the swing of things here! I am feeling very positive about 2011 at the moment - I have so many new ideas, projects in the pipeline and new products to be launched this year, and just feel that it will be a good one, fingers crossed! xxx

A very merry Christmas...

I just wanted to say a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you all. Thank you to everybody who has supported me, bought my work, or just written kind words this year, it is all so very much appreciated. I didn't really know what to expect when I began this blog in the summer, but I've discovered so many lovely and inspiring people on my wanderings through blogland and facebook, and have made some good friends too (many of you I've never actually met in person - that's the strange world of blogging for you, haha!)



2010 has been a good year in a lot of ways, but some things have also been really tough, but I am so looking forward to 2011 and what it will bring. I have some exciting projects in the pipeline and my head is full of new ideas and new products, which I can't wait to share with you lucky people! :)

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas break whatever you are doing and I look forward to catching up in the New Year!

Jenny x

Fabric Rag Wreath!

Had a really busy but very productive weekend sorting and sewing orders and catching up on some household jobs, but I also made this lovely Christmas rag wreath on Saturday night whilst watching my weekly dose of Strictly and X-factor!



What do you think?? I was inspired a few weeks ago after reading a wonderful tutorial on Bunny Mummy's blog, so decided to give it a go, as I've always fancied making one. I'd been on a little shopping trip to Bath on Friday and had allowed myself a visit to 'Country Threads', an amazing fabric shop nestled on a quiet backstreet in Bath. I always end up buying masses of fabric and other bits there, and this time was no exception, I came back with a lovely little haul, including some nice festive red and white fabrics to add to my wreath.

The rest I made up out of scraps I already had in my vast collection, including some gingham and a plain red cotton. Once I'd cut out all my pieces with pinking shears (approx 160 rectangles 6'' by 1.5'' in varying patterns), all I had to do was simply tie each one in a knot around a wire frame, which I made from a piece of very thick jewellery wire. The whole thing only took a few hours, finished off by tying a long piece of reg grosgrain ribbon to the top for hanging, perfect!



I chose only to use a simple colour palette of red and white too, which looks festive but not too Christmas-y that it would look out of place the rest of the year! It turned out so well that I'm now tempted to make a little 'heart' version, which I think would look really sweet in dusky pinks and purples... will have to go raid my stash to see what I've got!

Anyway, hope you like my efforts, and with any luck are all having a lovely, unstressful run up to Christmas (here's hoping anyway!) xxx

Christmas 'Pingg' Designs

I haven't mentioned it much on my blog so far but as well as my textiles work, I'm also a designer for an online invitation and e-card site called Pingg, which is based in the States. In my collection for them, there are designs for lots of different occasions but today I want to share some of my recent Christmas designs, which can all be sent as holiday cards or invites to parties and events over the festive season!








It seems like I've been sewing badges and buttons almost non-stop over the last few months in preparation for Christmas, so it's been really nice to work on some of these digital designs for a change! Of course it does still involve some sewing too, but there is much more emphasis on the computer side of things than usual, which is like a lovely breath of fresh air at the moment!

If you're interested to see the rest of my (ever-growing) collection of designs for Pingg, you can take a look here. Let me know what you think as always... xx

It's giveaway time!!! (Ended)

Well I've been promising it for AGES now, so finally here it is... my festive giveaway!

On offer as the main prize (all to one lucky 'fan') is a lovely Christmas-y package of goodies, including a handmade snowman decoration, a set of handmade Christmas pudding buttons, and a pack of six of my best-selling printed Christmas cards (3x Christmas Trees and 3x Reindeer).


To take part in my giveaway, pop over to my facebook page for 'Jenny Arnott Textiles'.

All you have to do to enter is 'like' my page, and leave a comment (post dating 26th November) telling me what is your favourite thing about Christmas. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!

Though for an extra chance to win, I am also offering a special little extra prize for the person who sends the most people to my giveaway - whether it be through blogging, tweeting or suggesting to your facebook friends!

This last bit isn't a total necessity to enter, but if you do, then it could easily be you who wins the (very lovely) special mystery prize, so make sure you spread the love :) Just make sure to tell people to mention you sent them!

The giveaway is open internationally and the two prize winners will be picked at the end of Friday 3rd December GMT, so you only have a week to get your entries in:) Good luck ladies x

My Sunday afternoon project...

This might be a bit of a random post, but I thought I would write about what I have been making this afternoon! Do you like it? I finally, finally got round to making up this cushion out of a tapestry I did in the Summer. I really love big vintage rose prints, so was instantly drawn to this design, which is called 'Blooming Roses'. I had actually been outbid at the last minute on Ebay for this exact design, but I later found it on the Ehrman website in the sale for much less than I was bidding, total bargain! It is quite small when made up, about 12 inches by 13 inches, but fits my little button back chair just perfectly.


I'd never done any tapestry or cross stitch (apart from in primary school a million years ago) until my auntie gave me a kit at the start of the year. But I really loved it, and it became a borderline obsession that I did in every spare minute I had! I didn't get a lot of work done in those couple of weeks, and so this one I actually took on my summer holiday to Portugal. I might have looked a bit silly doing tapestry on the sun lounger and at the airport, but at least I wasn't being distracted during 'work' time! Anyway, it's taken me ages to get around to finishing it off, but I'm glad I did as it looks so very sweet!




I'm not really sure exactly what it is that I liked so much about doing this tapestry. I just found it really relaxing and such an achievement to have finished it (it took a lot of patience, good job I have a lot of it!) Many needlepoint designs around still seem to be quite old fashioned, I guess because this type of thing is traditionally done by little old ladies! However, with people like Kirsty Allsopp championing crafts and the handmade, crafts like tapestry do seem to be becoming a little more fashionable and there are now some great contemporary designs available too, like those at Granny Knits, which are very fab and funky!

So anyway I am now once again on the lookout for another kit... maybe in time for Christmas, hint hint! There are a couple of 'sampler' type designs which I do have my eye on, but I guess we will just have to see what Father Christmas brings, haha! x

Christmas is coming...yay!

It's definitely starting to feel festive around here with the occasional Christmas song now on the radio and all the twinkly lights that are appearing in the shops, I do totally love this time of year! Although I started on my xmas products way back at the beginning of May - crazy world - this week the Christmas production line here also seems to have stepped up a gear as people have evidently started their Christmas shopping. I must admit I actually started mine this week too, which is very organised I know, no more rushing around present-buying on Christmas Eve for me this year!

My sewing machine still seems to be holding up, thank god, so have been sewing lots of Christmas badges and buttons this week...



I did have a lovely chilled out day yesterday though with some good friends visiting. We took a walk in the afternoon, tramping through the muddy fields up the hill to the Dovecot and then back up through town, with a little look in some of the shops. I've got a complete and utter weakness for buying pretty tree decorations, I just can't seem to stop myself, and I ended up buying three little wire beaded hearts to add to my ever growing collection. They are ever so pretty, I can't wait to get the tree up this year!

Today though I've been working hard designing and making some new Christmas-themed lavender bags, featuring Christmas trees, puddings and holly. Will be taking pictures of them sometime this week but for now here is a peek at 'work in progress' of my tree design, which I think is my fave of the three.




Anyway, here's hoping you've had a good weekend too and are enjoying the festive atmosphere that's starting to creep in everywhere! Look out for more info on my Christmas-y giveaway coming up soon too - hopefully I'll have a bit of spare time at the end of this week to work out the details... x