Inspiration: Avoca Blanket - woolen beauty and small challenge!

There are some places you love to visit and there are some things on the "wishlist" you are very happy to tick off. When I was the very first time in Ireland 8 years ago we were visiting Avoca Woolen Mills - which were smaller and less commercial than now. I loved this place: colours, buildings, smell of wool which for me is the essence of ultimate cosiness. I promised myself one day I will buy one of these insanely colourful blankets for my home.
In September my parents were visiting us and we've decided to visit Avoca Mills again. The experience was slightly different from the first time, but I loved it anyway. Again - the magic of colour and smell worked for me:) I took tons of photos - this place was literally asking for it!

Ok, enough...
This time I bought a blanket of course - now way I could resist for a second time! I took it home and after a few days looking at the pattern and color scheme ideas started coming to my mind... For a few days i got slightly obsessed with olive green, brown, turquoise and hot fuchsia pink...

Uhmm, the smell of woolen blanket...
Ok, anyway:
I was looking for the right color palette and elements - finally I decided to play with Distress Ink Pads - luckly I had all the needed colors at home (ehm... what a surprise) and I was ready to create my own, colorful, Avoca-blanket inspired background for my layout! It didn't take me long, really - some old labels, some pieces of the Avoca leaflet, and some hot pink yarn I got from one of my lovely students - and here it was, done!

I started with Distress Inks, then I continued with layers of paper - Vintage Vanity A4 Pad and Messy Head Collection - some doilies, labels, tags, veil, buttons, even some 3D Foam Squares from Scrapbook Adhesives...

Finishing touches were done with Ecolines, Archival Ink and Threading Stamp followed with a bit pencil doodles. I'm not a master of doodling for sure - but who cares? :)

Can you see this cute little woolen heart in a bottle cap? This is also a gift from my student - Lucky me! It was just perfect for this project!

If only the story ended here. But no!
The same night, using almost the same supplies I created another layout - and - heaven forgive! - I had the will to do far more! These colours and yarn and layers made something bad to my head, really!

And some details - this time with "Seamstress" stamp from my new collection and more of Checkered Resist Canvas Sheet from Elementals...

Seriously, it was hard to stop.
I have to admit there is one more waiting in a row - but I want you to have a deeper breath after this colour explosion on the blog today:) I will leave you with adorable video about Avoca Mills - enjoy! I hope now you will understand my small woolen madness;)

Avoca Mill since 1723 from Avoca Ireland on Vimeo.
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And maybe you want to try this color palette too? I'd love to see your interpretation!
The colours I used for my Project were: Broken China, Brushed Corduroy, Shabby Shutters and Picked Raspberry. Feel free to leave me a link if you will decide to try - maybe I will have a small surprise for you?
Waiting for your projects!