Pink Art Deco Card

Believe it or not, I've made another birthday card using my Cricut! I made this using the design #M379C9 from the Art Deco cartridge, although you can tell I didn't quite get everything lined up perfectly! I used a textured cream card base and various pink papers/cards from my stash. This was a bit fiddly to put together, but I do like it, especially with the addition of the Cricut-written text. Finally, I added some pink Liquid Pearls for highlights.

Pink Floral Birthday Card

I made this lovely pretty birthday card for my Mum, using my Cricut. I used a textured cream card as the base, and cut it using design #M21136F in Cricut's Design Space. I also cut it out again in a dark pink pearl paper, and cut out individual flowers for highlights. I even used some leftover flowers to pretty up the envelope (apparently I need some cream envelopes, I could only find white in my cupboard!) I used my Cricut to write "happy birthday" on to pale pink paper in Cricut Sans, and added miniature silver gems to the dark pink flowers for added interest. I love how effective and feminine this card is, and I love that my Cricut allows me to guarantee neat writing on my cards - no more slipping hands!

Forever Friends Baby Card II

A family friend welcomed another gorgeous little girl to the world recently, so I put together this little card for them. I coloured in the stamped Forever Friends teddy bear using Whisper Strokes pens, before cutting it out with a circular punch and mounting it on one of these gorgeous marble papers and some brown parcel paper. I added a pink paper flower and small silver gem from my stash too :)

You can see the previous card I made with this stamp here.

Crochet Stegosaurus

Confession: I've never really got "into" dinosaurs. They've always felt scary and not caught my interest. Dragons on the other hand? Love them. Metallic scales, huge wings, breathing fire and jewel encrusted stomachs? Awesome.

Anyway. This dinosaur I do love. He's cute and friendly, and loves roaming through overgrown grass. He has four cute tubby feet and amazing pink spikes. I crocheted him using Stylecraft DK (still leftovers from my rainbow blanket!), following this pattern by The Button Ship. The pattern works in a new way to me, as it requires you to break your yarn and restart in a different place. But I think the finished look is worth it.

Rawr.

Butterfly Card

Butterflies are such beautiful, delicate creatures. I wanted to send a friend a card that was butterfly themed to decorate her room, and I thought how cool it would be if it could fold up small and open into a big butterfly! Butterflies can look plain when their wings are folded, but when they are stretched out their beauty and detail really shines.

I drew myself a template, which you might have noticed me share over on the Facebook. I attached some beautiful textured paper from my stash to some sturdy white card, and cut around the template.

I wanted some extra interest to the butterfly, and so decorated it with pearl paints and liquid pearls. This adds some lovely shimmer and picks out some interesting details without making the entire card too busy.

What I love most about this design is it can be cut from a piece of A5 card, and fold up to fit in an A6 envelope. The fold works for giving the card enough structure to stand and it implies the body of the butterfly. There is plenty of room for writing inside without compromising on the butterfly shape, and there is the magic of opening what appears to be a standard card to find a huge butterfly inside!

Summer Brights Birthday Cards

I recently went through a pile of Craftseller magazines from a couple of years ago, and found in them a whole selection of craft papers I had forgotten about! It's lead to some experimenting of mixing patterns and colours I wouldn't normally use, inspired by the graphics provided. It's been a lot of fun :)

This gorgeous tag with the red polka dot balloon was included in the range. I was even more impressed that I had a pink paper in my stash that (nearly!) perfectly matched the pink edge of the tag. I raised the tag with 3D dots, and added a little ribbon bow so it would appear tied on.

I loved this Birthday Wishes graphic, and how it had matching floral papers. I stuck with the red and white theme, mounting it on some hammered white card and red paper. I'm not used to using a graphic as bold as the red and white zig zags (or chevrons, as they're called these days!) but I think I made the balance of pattern work, and raising the graphic off the background helped.

I used some of the floral papers in this card too, for a friend who has a sweet tooth! The colour combination is so bright and fresh, but the empty space balances out the amount of pattern. Although I have to admit to finding these off shaped graphics awkward to work with!

I love this polka dot balloon, and used it to make a smaller card. The graphic uses off white rather than pure white, so I reflected this in the hammered ivory paper, and then picked up the red again in the "gingham" paper. I love the turquoise and red together!

Moving Pinwheel Card

I have such a fun, bright card to share with you today! With a hint of pink, lots of bright yellow, mandala patterns, polka dots and some pearl paper... and a pink brad that ensures it even spins!

Of course, it then needed an envelope which it would fit in. Thankfully there is a wonderful resource on the internet called Template Maker, ensuring I could make an envelope to fit. I think next time I'd add tabs to the envelope design, but it fulfils it's purpose :)

Floral Cards || Mother's Day

Included in the large stash I inherited last year were an array of stickers. Now, I don't normally like using stickers on cards as I think they look cheap, but these stickers are printed on fabric and I think they look absolutely beautiful.

I mounted this sticker on some cream card, cut around it and attached a small pink brad, so it almost looks like a hanging gift card, before mounting on some complementary green card too.

This sticker I mounted on some dark green card before cutting out. I also had this beautiful white and gold tissue paper in my stash which I glued to the main body of the card for some extra texture and interest. I like the combination of gold and green, and the lace and script. I wanted the flowers to pop slightly, so I added some detail with gold Liquid Pearls paint - another new addition to my stash which I think will be getting more use!

Fluffy Cowl and Mittens

I was in Wilkos before Christmas, and found this amazingly soft, fluffy and brightly coloured wool by Yarnfair. I fell in love and a ball fell into my basket!

I began by making myself a cowl, based on this pattern by Delia Creates. Based on, because I adjusted the number of stitches in my foundation chain and the number of rows to suit my personal taste. Also, I began the cowl with half double foundation crochet, rather than working into a chain. And I got slightly distracted and realised afterwards the cowl isn't actually in hdc, because I managed to add an extra yo and pull through in the middle of every stitch, which is why the "knit look" is less effective - at least I made my mistake consistently!

I loved this wool so much that when I finished the cowl I immediately started on a pair of fingerless gloves too. I used the same pattern, just a smaller starting chain, and left a gap for a thumb hole. I ran out of wool partly through the second one, so I had to buy more (such a shame!)

I received a black leather jacket with bulky silver zips for Christmas, and I have enjoyed the contrast of wearing that jacket with these soft, bright feminine accessories. I also discovered a brooch I had previously made matched the colour scheme perfectly, and I love that it is an extra accessory for either the mitts or the cowl :)

Unicorn Cross Stitch

I found the chart for this unicorn cross stitch over on Do Small Things With Love, and I thought it would make a lovely gift for a unicorn obsessed friend! I used sparkly aida, and threads I had in my stash. I backed it with white felt (a Google search suggested a running stitch around the aida at the back, then tacking a felt circle over the top, and I'm happy with it!) and added some extra hearts.

Grandmother's Buttons

If you follow me on Facebook, you may recognise the colour inspiration for this canvas, which I shared last month!

When going through my Nan's button collection recently, I came across these beautiful magenta, lavender and turquoise buttons tied together by a piece of yellow cotton. I love the combination - the button colours coordinate well, and I like the jarring sensation of the tiny amount of yellow!

You can see here I included a tiny amount of yellow, and I think it worked :)

There is also a sparkly shimmer made with pearl dust going across areas of the canvas - one just has to catch it in the right light!

As always, the print is available here, and do contact me if you are interested in owning the original painting, or for more information.

Crocheted Teddy Bear

Earlier this year, my husband gifted me a lovely book, Crocheted Bears by Val Pierce (it's actually part of the series "Twenty to Make", which I'm really enjoying!)

I created this bear on the basic shape (although I had to edit the pattern for the head, don't know what went wrong when I first tried!)

The skirt is from "Belinda Butterfly Bear", and then I just added a little bow to finish her off :)

I would like to think she's a beautiful little bear, and I can see myself making more!

Lotus Flower Canvas

I have had so much fun working on this commission for a friend!

The inspiration was a lotus flower, India, bright reds, pinks and golds, and a bit of sparkle!

I know it's hard to see, but the petals have pearly highlights, and the background is scattered with gold and red glitter... A lovely sparkle in the sun :)

[Acrylics on canvas.]

Crocheted Mug Cosies

Hello :)

Two of the secret Christmas presents I crocheted (back in November!) were mug cosies. I was inspired by quite a few posts I'd seen round the internet, but loosely based the pattern off this.

The first one was worked in two different pink DK wools...

and finished with a white button...

and two white crocheted stars, worked rather finely!

The second was a penguin version! Worked in chunky black wool, and with a velcro closing this time.

With features added in felt!

Pink Granny Square Cube Toy

Granny Squares are lovely to look at, aren't they? I'm not a very girly girl, but there's something very happy about a range of pink!

I used a pattern from my Nan's collection (I can share if anyone would like me to) - this is just the first 4 rounds from a huge design intended to be a rug. It is worked in 2 strands of DK, and I alternated with bright pink, baby pink and white :)

Like most people, I hate tying in ends. However, I do love stitching things together! I stitched the 6 squares into a cube. Although, I used the word "cube" loosely... Initially it was more of a sphere with a few straight edges! So I made up a fabric cube to go inside to help hold the shape, and it's certainly better. (Although I hope the fabric cube stays together... My sewing machine is truly dead, and my hands were rather too tired to behave!) I have also put a jingle ball inside with the stuffing to add interest!