What seems like forever ago, I sent off for one of these little trimmings packs from Australian fabric designers Umbrella Prints.

I am no stranger to the vagaries of the postal service.

Sending off overseas orders always involves a good deal of finger-crossing on my part, even when the recipient has agreed to pay some exhorbitant surcharge for the privilege of the postal service in question actually doing what they are supposed to do anyway – and delivering the order as promised.

Also, having family in Australia, I know how long packages to the other side of the world are supposed to take (about a week via airmail) and I also know how long they sometimes can and do take.

But this one took even longer than that.

I ordered back in February, my parcel was posted within a week of ordering – and it arrived this weekend. I had, to be honest, given up on it – and almost forgotten about it entirely.

So when it plopped through the letterbox it was met first with a stunned silence – and then a happy smile!

I ordered my little packet of scraps for a reason, you see. And I thought that the time elapsed between then and now had rendered that reason pointless. *sad face*.

However, after checking my dates, it isn’t too late to enter the Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition after all. Yay!

The idea is brilliantly simple. You buy a trimmings pack, photograph it, make something from it, photograph that, and enter the competition to see whose make the judges like best. There’s also a sort of “people’s choice” winner, for whose picture gets repinned most from the contest’s Pinterest board.

I thought I’d give it a go, as although I have plenty of other things I should be doing, I still find myself in need of some sort of creative kick up the backside. And I thought this project might just provide it.

So what did I get in my little long-lost packet?

Pretty, eh?! But not much to go at – the pieces are tiny!

But hey, I like working in miniature so that doesn’t bother me.

The one thing that does is that if I mess up the thing I’m making, I can’t just go and pull out a bit more fabric to fix it. There’s just the one little packet.

Because let’s face it, there’s no way I’d get another in time for the competition deadline of 30th May. So my make will need careful planning (something I am less than good at!).

There is certainly lots of inspiration on the Umbrella Prints Pinterest boards – have a look!

There’s a lot to live up to. I don’t for a moment think that I will win. But that’s not really the point anyway.

The point is that my backside feels well and truly creatively kicked.

I’ll let you know what results. ♥