Cute crochet accessories...

Do you remember the yummy baskets I got to store my crochet stuff in?

(Scroll down a couple of posts if you'd like to see them.)

Well I love having coordinated accessories so I have been making a couple of extras for it...

Having seen a few bits on Ravelry about making polymer clay handles for your hooks I decided to have a go at making some for myself- and these are the results! I used a whole pack of the pink and a small amount of the white (which is actually one of the special effects ones and has *glitter* in it- love it!). After reading the thread on Ravelry and having a nosey around Etsy I decided to take the clay over the thumb rest because it suits the way I hold my hook better. I also followed the advice to prick the hook size into the clay on the end before baking! They felt a bit different to use at first but I soon got used to them and now they're really comfy. I used the last tiny bits of the clay and some jewellery findings from my stash to make some matching stitch markers.

I used to put my darning needle on the table beside me but was forever squealing for my husband or son to grab our pup because I had dropped it again! So I decided to make a small pincushion for it using Lucy's bauble decoration tutorial. I made the hanger so that it could go around my wrist or be looped onto my little scissors like a scissor keeper.

I made lots of  funky flower and rose brooches but I didn't take any photos and when I took them into school before we broke up they all sold out! I'm making more at the moment so I will make sure I get some photos of them to show you soon.

The simplest of toys...

I love this image of the little boy with his net from Pollycraft, it reminds me of one of my favourite photos of my son rockpooling in Wales on a holiday when he was little.
The papers are from a freebie digi set called 'extraordinary' but I'm afraid I can't remember who designed them, sorry. I ran the plain blue through the Cuttlebug Christmas stars embossing folder. The sentiment was a freebie from Scrap-a-licious and I found just the perfect button in my stash :-)

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:-

• Here come the boys- boys toys
• Corrosive- they say it's your birthday
• DYSY?- 4 legged friends

Baby's first Christmas...

I haven't blogged for ages, but I have still been crafting, so I thought it was time to get posting again. I have been continuing with my mission to use up printed and stored images so I made another First Christmas card as I had about 4 of these cute babies from Bugaboo with the sentiment I made around them. I used some papers from an old download from Papercraft Inspirations. To finish I picked some stash card in the colours from the papers to make the snowflake with my Marianne D dies and popped a gem in the middle.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:-

• Catch the bug- anything goes
• Challenge up your life- everything goes
• PTW- anything goes

Getting into this crochet...

It was our Wedding Anniversary last Friday and following a strong hint from me (lol) my husband bought me these baskets to organise my yarns and current project. They were a nest of 4 from Wilkinsons and the colours are just delicious. I added an Ikea plastic cup in pink (of course!) which serves as a bin for my 'ends' when I'm finishing a project. I also had the project folder which helps keep my instructions tidy and sits on top of the smaller basket if I need to keep Bryn's nose out! I've been treating myself to the Wendy Supreme Cotton DK yarn from eBay so I now have a lovely selection of colours to go at for little projects. As the smaller basket has room for the yarn I'm using I just have to grab that one and my iPod to go and spend a happy hour hooking in the garden!

So what have I been up to?

 I've become an avid follower of Attic 24 as Lucy explains things so wonderfully with loads of pictures. She made these as Christmas decorations but I fancied trying them now so I chose 4 ice cream colours and have an idea about finding the perfect twiggy branch to bring inside and hang them on! I copied the entire tutorial, including the photos into Word and edited it as I needed- removing some photos to save on ink and reducing the size of others- then printed out all 14 pages of what remained!!! But I am so glad I did because, as a beginner, I could keep going back to the instructions to check things. I have stuck to the 4 colours but each decoration will be different. I plan to make 8 altogether- but so far have finished 3 and have 3 ready to make up.

Here are the finished ones hanging in my baby apple tree.

(A Mothers' Day present from earlier this year, which I don't think will bear any fruit this year- so here's it's moment of glory!)

I could start a circle before, but I now know how to:-

• join colours and carry on
• increase the stitches to make a flat circle
• make the long DC into the previous circle for the outer decorative ring
• crochet two pieces together

They aren't perfect but I'm really rather proud of them and of what I'm learning as I go along!

'Tweet' wedding wishes...

Sorry about the grotty evening photo of this card but inspiration struck late and about 5 minutes after taking this photo the card was through my neighbour's door!

The image was from Elzybells (now closed down) and has been coloured with Promarkers. The papers are from a digi-scrap blogtrain called 'Morning solitude'. I created the sentiment on my computer and cut it out with a much neglected ribbon slider die from spellbinders.

Thank you to those of you who have been wishing me 'get well soon'- I am well on the road to recovery after my op now and life is starting to get back to normal- cleaning, cooking, walking the dog and driving my son about!!!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:-

• DYSU- a little birdy told me
• Dutch Dare- sketch
• Paperplay- summer lovin'
• Moving along with the times- celebrate (no birthday)
• Southern girls- die cuts
• Creative Belli- wedding
• I love promarkers- die cuts
• Ruby's rainbow- things with wings
• Waste not Wednesdays- neglected stash

Bright bear...

Wow, managed to get a bit of bright sunshine to photograph this card before the sky turned grey and it threw it down!
I was really inspired to follow the sketch on Sketch Saturday- such great shapes! My papers are from a digi-scrap blogtrain from STS called 'Bicycle Blues' and my image is by Bugaboo. He is coloured with promarkers and his nose is glazed. The sentiment is from Sentiments4you and I ran it through the printer twice to have it on some of the plain DP. The stars have been cut with a sizzlet die. A few Candi to finish.

I would also like to enter this card in the following challenges:-

• Papertake- Cute
• Dutch Dare- birthday fun
• Totally Papercrafts- no pesky girls!
• Allsorts- for a man or boy
• CES- anything goes
• Craft your days away- all creatures great and small
• Pink Ele- polka dots and stripes

What else have I been up to?...

Now that I'm feeling better I have been doing quite a few cards- you may have noticed that the frequency of my blogging has increased.

I'm starting to be able to do more around the house too, which is beginning to lift the strain off my husband, mum-in-law and son. Plus I think I have learned to 'chill' a bit more about the housework which will hopefully give me a bit more 'me' time in future.

I haven't been able to drive- but I have treated myself to a bit of online shopping so have had some 'happy mail'! I'm hoping to try driving again at the weekend, if my car hasn't completely seized up, which I'm looking forward to.

Our poor, energetic Welsh Sheepdog pup, Bryn, has just had to calm down a bit! Otherwise we would have struggled to live in the same house. Last weekend we decided that I was sufficiently healed to allow him to sit with me on the sofa, so all he wants to do now is sit ON me and he is rather large to be a lap-dog! I think he missed some 'mummy' time! I haven't been able to walk him either, which we have both missed, but I'm going to see if I can start again next week- so long as he wears his Halti as he pulls like a train without it.

The other thing I have been doing is trying to crochet again. Last summer I persuaded a lady from my church to get me started. I am not a natural and it took her two afternoons to get me going! After that I found a really clear picture-heavy tutorial for some simple little flowers and I learned how to do them and made quite a few. But then we got Bryn at the end of last August and that was the end of crocheting for a while! I decided to try again now he is older- although I have still had soggy wool a couple of times, but I think he is learning that that is a no-no now! I had a frustrating few hours before I got it again but have now made some more of the little flowers that I am planning to use on my cards.

I found the blog with the tutorial again and her stuff is so inspiring- I would love to try some of the bigger stuff but am not quite brave enough yet! However she recently posted another flower tutorial for May Roses and I decided to give them a go. I did one first time- although my husband kindly pointed out that it must have taken lots of concentration as I had my tongue out lots!!! They are too 3D for cards but I love doing them so thought I may make a brooch or something with them.