Friday 30 December 2011

Crochet YAY - The Blanket

So, I started on Mr P's blanket at the beginning of December and blogged about it HERE.

It is sort of finished, as I ran out of yarn and currently await a new delivery. It is only missing about 12" and as Mr P always has his feet dangling out from underneath all blankets (don't ask...he is just weird like that), he accepted the blanket as being perfect for the time being.

The great thing about this pattern (which I spotted on Anazard's blog HERE) is that you can stop and start again at any time without it looking strange.

I really love how it turned out with the colour combination and the stripes and Mr P loves it, which is the most important thing!

Wednesday 28 December 2011

Donna Salazar - December DT Pt II

Below post went live earlier on the Donna Salazar Blog.

Today I like to showcase a quick idea how to incorporate Donna's Artistic Papers and the Crafty Chronicle into your projects.

I like using parts of the Chronicle to just tuck underneath pictures and layers of paper. Some of the headlines make perfect subtitles, as in the case of this layout.

**click on image to enlarge/sharpen the view**

For the last five years I have always chosen a word to live by for the coming year and for 2012 this word is FOCUS. I noticed that I started to forget things a lot this year, because I just had too much going on. The article "Flabby Brain" from the Chronicle was perfect!! I took the headline and the first few lines from the article to add to the layout.
On the left hand side I tucked a strip from the Artistic Calendar underneath the papers, as I thought it would look like a reminder to focus every day of the week.

Products used
Other products
Pens: Uniball Signo in black  *  Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Helmar  *  Stickers: making memories  *  Other: Eyelets





Monday 26 December 2011

Gel-a-Tins - December DT, Pt IV

Below post went live on the Gel-a-tins blog earlier

I don't know about you, but I am terribly behind with the scrapping of my older Christmas pictures. The other day I came cross one, which showed me and my baby brother on his first Christmas - way bank in 1972.
Yup, I think I desperately need to catch up somehow!

What better way, to make use of the stamp set HAPPY HOLIDAYS to incorporate in the overall design of the page.

Instructions:
Using a Versmark inkpad, I stamped the sentiment "Happy Holidays" and the wee "Floral" on the side of my layout. Then I sprinkled some white embossing powder over the area and tapped the excess power back into the pot. Using my heat gun, the sentiment and image quickly set.
I actually like the effect when the embossed are is not perfectly covered with the powder - it gives a more vintage-distressed look, don't you think?
Supplies used:
Papers - Mt Minds Eye, Simple Stories
Inks - Clearsnap
Other - Embossing Powder, Dimensional Paints
Stickers - Jenni Bowlin

Saturday 24 December 2011

Crochet YAY - Ornaments

Memba THIS post? 
I asked what you may think those cute circles would be turned into and no one guessed it :)
They were my first attempt at making some ornaments - no instructions, I just did them from scratch.
Well, ok the circle motif is not one I whipped up, I got the pattern from 150 Blocks to Knit and Crochet and then I just thought of  good way on how I could turn them into an ornament.
I crocheted two circles together by using SC stitches along the edge with a different colour yarn. I left a small opening which allowed me to stuff the inside until the ornament was nice and fluffy. 

The amount of stuffing really depends on how round/firm you want the ornament to be - I left it somewhat squishy so they could be used alternatively as a pin cushion.

I made a total of five ornaments as they were intended to be the Christmas gifts for my co-workers at the office. Every year they get something handmade from me and in addition to the ornaments they all got a bag of some scrummy homemade flapjacks
Naturally, Mr P and I had to do some serious quality control before those flapjacks were given the go-ahead to be packed up, ready for delivery.
I am happy to report that my co-workers loved their little surprise gift

Tuesday 20 December 2011

WIP's

Here is another project I am having on the go right now - probably my biggest WIP at the moment.

This wonderful Stylecraft Special DK yarn

and a 4mm hook have started creating this
picture taken at WIP status: 03 Dec 2012

This will beocme another blanket for the couch in the front room - now that the evening are getting colder, there is no way I am going to share my beloved chevron blanket with Mr P.
So he is getting his own.

And in case you wonder - yup, he is totally fine with those colours...after all they have to fit with our purple/lilac colour scheme in the front room.





Sunday 18 December 2011

Gel-a-Tins - December DT, Pt III

Below post went live earlier on the Gel-a-tins blog

So, are you all organised for the holidays or could you do with a little more inspiration for quick last minute card? Good, because I have one more for you making use of the new stamp set HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Instructions:
First I inked the edges of some paper scraps and layered them on top of each other. Stamping the "Wreath" onto some white cardstock, I coloured the image with various shades of green and added a little clear glitter glue to some areas, for a frosted look.
The sentiment "Happy Holidays" was stamped onto a strip of masking tape and added to the top of the card.For the final touch, I used a border punch to avoid too much white space at the top and added a few drops of clear dimensional paint.

Supplies used:
Cardstock - Mad About Cards
Papers - Authentique
Inks - Stampin' Up, Clearsnap
Other - Glitter Glue, Dimensional Paints
Tools - Martha Stewart border punch


Thursday 15 December 2011

Papermaze DT - December PT III


The below post went live on the Papermaze blog earlier and is my last project for Papermaze.
I had such a fabulous time with them but all good things must come to an end.

I am TOTALLY into papers that have musical notes or old newspaper clippings printed onto them - why, I really don't know but I just cannot pass them by and have to have them.
Imagine my delight when I was presented this month with a selection of Bo Bunny's Et Cetera line - a paper line after my own heart *swoon*

For the following layout I went to town with an array of circle punches and made good use of the Symphony paper. After distressing the edges with some Chalk Inks from Clearsnap, I stared to randomly place the circles on my background and also raised some of them with the aid of adhesive foam dots.

Cutting various bits and bobs from the Et Cetera Cut outs paper and adding a little bit of punchinella and American Crafts chipboard thickers and my layout was completed.
Now I need to get me some more musical note papers :)






Tuesday 13 December 2011

Donna Salazar - December DT Pt I


Below post went live on the Donna Salazar Blog earlier today.

Today I would like to share a step-by-step tutorial on how to get the best use out of the Crafty Chronicle and Donna's versatile Artistic Papers.

I love creating tags as they are not only a great way to use up those scraps, but they also come in handy when you need a quick card or something to adorn a present and you have no time (or mojo) to get crafty.
Whenever I am not in the mood to create a bigger project, I sit down and dabble in tags. They are then all stored in a little basket on my work desk, so I can grab one quickly whenever I need it.

Now, the Crafty Chronicle and the Artistic Papers are perfect for tags - especially the Chronicle with its plethora of wonderful quotes. For today's tag I have chosen the following:
"If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun"
- Katherine Hepburn

** click on any of the images to enlarge/sharpen their view **
My starting point for this tag was actually the layered flower, it kind of evolved from there.
I had so many scraps of paper flying around from my Chronicle,  which were perfect for a selection of various sizes of the Scalloped Circles die from Spellbinders.
I used some Smooch Spritz in Cashmere on all circles to give them a more aged look. After they dried I started folding
and pinching the individual circles
Some circles I pinched, folded and scrunched more than others in order to get different widths
With the help of glue dots placed in each middle section, I started to layer
Can you see the delightful shimmer from the Smooch Spritz on the layers? I love the aged effect the Cashmere colour gives to the Chronicle.

But I was not quite done there and wanted to add  bits of interested to a few areas of the layers. With the help of the new Emboss Gloss I was able to get to the exact areas I wanted - it makes life so much easier. The gloss stays wet long enough and allowed me to change my mind about four times as to which colour from Donna's new Embossing Powders I was going to choose. In the end, I opted for Chiffon.
I LOVE how the embossed areas look like I dipped the scallops in some paint. But there was still something missing, because you just can't have a layered flowers without some Fairy Dust Glitter, eh?
A self-adhesive pear from Want2Scrap placed in the centre gave the flower a lovely finish.
As soon as this was completed I knew that I wanted to showcase the flower on a tag, so I took a piece of the Artistic Papers, traced along the outline of an old tag and hand cut my own.
Its colour was too bright for what I had in mind, so I started to distress the background by first blending a generous helping of the new Mixed Media Inx in Honey and Leather over the whole of the tag. A little Smooch Spritz in Wood Stain and Mixed Berries added to the aged look.
The rest was then a matter of fussy cutting and layering.
Firstly I hand cut the quote I mentioned at the beginning of my post from the Chronicle and adhered it to some black cardstock. Then I hand cut one of the gorgeous butterflies from another sheet of the Artistic papers and adhered it to the tag with foam dots to add some dimension.
I did not distress or alter the butterfly with any inks or mists as I found the cream and black to work perfectly as a contrast to the layered flower. Had I altered the butterfly I think the tag could have looked a bit wishy-washy.
When I started with my layered flower I had no idea what my project would end up to be and once I finished the tag, I initially I thought I would stick it on a card. But writing this post and looking at the tag again, I have decided I want to display this on the wall and will be looking for a fitting shadow box.

Products used
Other products
Pens: Zig Millenium pen in black
Adhesive: Helmar, Scrapbook Adhesives
Other: Embroidery Floss, Self-adhesive washer



Sunday 11 December 2011

Gel-a-Tins - December DT, Pt II

Below post went live on the Gel-a-tins blog earlier

Today I would like to showcase another Christmas card with you, which was created within the matter of about 10 minutes. I can sometimes spent hours on getting just one card finished but the gorgeous new stamp set HAPPY HOLIDAYS makes creating cards a doddle!
Instructions:
I started stamping the tag with the "Merry Christmas" sentiment first and then added the little "Swirl" to the corners of the tag. Previously I stamped the "Holly" twice to a sheet of white bleedproof paper, coloured it in and hand cut the image, adhering it to the tag with the aid of some foam dots.
To add a little more interest to the "Swirl", I adhered a red flat backed pearl to the lower part to compliment the berries from the "Holly" image.

Finally I added the tag to my cardbase with a double helping of adhesive foam pads, to raise it off the red background and allow me to tuck some punchinella behind the tag.

Supplies used:
Cardstock - Mad About Cards
Papers - Donna Salazar Designs
Tag- WH Smith
Inks - Stampin' Up
Other - Bakers Twine, Punchinella, Button


Thursday 8 December 2011

Papermaze DT - December PT II

The below post went live on the Papermaze blog earlier.

Today I would like to show you how fabulous and effortless you can create a quick page with the papers of Simple Stories' Life Documented line.


To create my layout I made use of the following papers:

  • 100% Real Life
  • For The Record
  • Journaling Card Elements #2

In order to get a little dimension onto my layout I adhered a few circle punchies with some adhesive foam pads to the background and also added flowers on top of a journaling strip with adhesive dots.




Tuesday 6 December 2011

Crochet YAY - The Socks (again)

I have so many WIP's going at the moment (see this post), that I am actually surprised I finish ANY right now...but there yes, they are starting to all become YAY's swiftly.

Memba when I started on the burgundy socks? I tried a different stitch for the main body of the sock too (see this post) and now they are finally done.


To tell you the truth, the picture doesn't do them justice - they look uneven and crooked here and the colour does not show as dark and rich as it really is.

They turned out to be quite expensive at £10.40 (approx $17.00) for the pair which I would NEVER, EVAH pay for shop bought socks, but I just adore to wear something that I created and they are soooooooooooo soft and snuggly.

But, my next pair are going to be knitted, as I want some thinner socks and with crocheting you only seem to be able to achieve this thick look.

 I'd be interested to know - how much money would you pay for a pairs of socks?
Shop bought or handmade?

Sunday 4 December 2011

Gel-a-Tins - December DT, Pt I

Below post went live on the Gel-a-tins blog earlier


I don't know about you all, but I am SOOOOO ready for Christmas and the fabulous new stamp set HAPPY HOLIDAYS had me super excited to get started on my Christmas cards!

The detail of the wreath is the best I have even come across and looks awesome just left as it is or coloured in. For today's card I have chosen to get out my ProMarker pens and colour away...
Instructions:
First I stamped the image onto some bleedproof white paper and then added various shades of green all across the wreath, adding a few bits of red for the berries. I hand cut the wreath from the paper and added it to the background with some adhesive foam dots.

I also wanted to feature the totally cute little bow, and after it was stamped and coloured it, I hand cut the bow and added it to the bottom part of the wreath. As a final touch, a piece of bling was added to the bow
Supplies used:
Cardstock - Mad About Cards
Papers - Bo Bunny, Authentique
Punch - Woodware
Inks - Stampin' Up
Pens - ProMarkers