Paper crafting

Last night I held a craft evening at my friend’s house. I needed to think of some Eastery ideas, so I turned to pinterest. I found so many things I wanted to try out! If I knew how to link to pinterest I’d let you have a look at my Easter board. (On that subject, if anyone knows what I need to do to put a pinterest link on the side bar, please let me know! It’s the sort of thing I’m sure I’ve done before, but have completely forgotten.)

Anyway, when I got back from my fun weekend away, I got started on some experiments. I decided that some were a little too complicated for a craft evening, but these are some of the things I came up with…

I also took some polystyrene eggs. I didn’t really know what to do with them, but my friend had some pretty napkins which she and another friend used to decopage the eggs. The eggs were finished off with a pretty ribbon and a thread through the middle to hang them. I only got a photo of one of them. The other was pink.

Someone else decided to make a bunny garland. So pretty!

And here are some of the things I came up with that I decided not to take. I’ve really enjoyed having a go at paper cutting, but it takes quite a lot of time – possibly too long to explain and have a go at all in one evening!

I’ve had a few more paper cutting ideas, but I need to give my neck a rest for a day or two!

More chicks and bunnies

I’ve just got back from a very fun but quite chaotic afternoon. We met in a small cricket pavilion which comfortably holds 30 people. I have no idea how many people were actually there, but it felt like a lot more than 30! Despite the chaos (and lack of scissors – why did I think that 1 pair would be enough?!) I think most people had a great afternoon. Alongside the Easter egg hunt, games on the field, Easter nest making and colouring in, I was kept busy all afternoon making pompom animals. This is the calm before the storm…

Boy, was there a lot of fluff to clean up afterwards!!

Here are my originals…

And here are some of the ones made this afternoon. I didn’t get to take a picture of all of them, but we had some really great creations!

A wild, multi-coloured dog

A bunny with crazy ears

A multi-coloured pompom monster

A cute chick with a wonky beak (that was my fault!)

It was great fun and hopefully we’ll do something similar in the next holiday!

 

 

Chicks and bunnies

I’ve just whipped up this cute little duo in preparation for an afternoon of fun with some kids tomorrow-what do you think? They were super easy to make-I made the pompoms by wrapping wool around my fingers then used a glue gun to stick the eyes and felt on. Hopefully it’ll be just as easy with lots of kids!

April showers

Ever since a drought was announced we’ve had a whole lot of rain. It has been properly gloomy some days and not at all nice to go out in, but perfect weather for staying in and getting creative! And it seems like I’ve had a pretty productive month.

In April I have…

… finished a baby blanket (including sewing in all those pesky ends)

… ordered more wool and started 2 more blankets

… been creative with tea towels

… celebrated Easter

… covered 100 buttons

… finally put the finishing touches to a stripy bag

… announced a giveaway

… played with buttons, books and pin boards

… made clothes for a special Bunny

… whipped up a baby hat and some tiny little slippers.

Phew, I think I need a cup of tea and a sit down after all that.

Edit: At some point soon I’ll link all these things to the original posts, but right now I need to get on with dinner because I’m out tonight teaching knitting to some friends!

Birthdays

It seems like a lot of people were born on 25th April. I can think of at least 6 people without even trying. But of all those, only 2 got presents from me. I have just popped round to my friend’s house to drop off Bun Bun for Little Girl. And I think she liked it (although she’s pretty overtired, and her brothers are completely hyped up!) – the first thing she did was start playing with the buttons and poppers. Mum and Grandma loved it too – I may have to make bunnies for them too!

The other person to get a present is my lovely friend Helen. She has fairly recently bought a brand new house, so I decided to make something pretty and practical – a pin board!

Her favourite colour is blue, and her kitchen is full of blue and white spotty things, so the white/cream buttons seemed like a good idea. The board will take pride of place in her kitchen next to the sink, just right for pinning up all those odd bits of paper that need to be put somewhere.

It is a completely wet and windy kind of day, but Helen and I decided to brave the weather and go to the beach. We headed to Lyme Regis, where it was surprisingly sunnyish (for an hour at least). Sadly I forgot to take my camera – there were some truly spectacular waves breaking over the cobb. We weren’t brave enough to actually walk along it, but as we saw some people get very wet I think that was probably a good thing!

We also found a lovely little cafe called Aroma which has amazing gluten free cakes – they were completely yummy! We also had a little potter around the shops. There are so many pretty shops in Lyme – it was complete bliss. I was fairly self controlled though, and only came back with a skirt – a bargain find in a charity shop. It’s fairly thin cotton, but beautiful patterns and will make a very nice cushion cover. I’ll line it with plain cotton to make it stronger and probably add ribbon or lace in places too. And there will probably be enough over to make a few other pretty bits and pieces. I can see it very clearly in my mind, but whether or not it turns out like that is anyone’s guess. Anyway, have a look…

And some close ups…

I especially like this panel with the writing. 

Pretty isn’t it? Hopefully I’ll manage to actually make the cushion cover, rather than just plan it in my head!

Oh, and on the subject of birthdays, don’t miss your chance to enter the Big 30 Giveaway in celebration of my 30th – you still have a couple of weeks 🙂

Another bag of stripes

I did it! I actually finished something! In the end it really took no time at all, so I have no idea why I didn’t just get on with it before. So here it is, my completely finished bag of stripes, now with 2 straps and a handful of flowers.

Isn’t it pretty? Just perfect for brightening up a gloomy day. And I’m loving the cheery flowers. I used Lucy’s patterns for crochet flowers and teeny tiny flowers. I think they just finish it off nicely (and hide some of the ugly stitching where I sewed the handles on!).

I also remembered as I woke up this morning that I’d promised you a look at the crochet cardigan I made for Bun Bun. Yesterday was really far too gloomy and dark for taking good photos, but I managed to catch a spot of sun this morning. Here she is…

Not bad considering I’ve not crocheted any clothes before and had no idea what I was doing! It may not be completely as I pictured it (although the pictures in my head were rather vague and woolly anyway) but it’s not too bad and I think Little Girl will like it. I finished it off with a little button which should (hopefully) be quite easy for Little Girl to do up herself. It’s her birthday tomorrow, so I’ll let you know what she thinks of it 🙂

Granny square baby blanket

At long last it is finished. Although I only actually started this a month ago it feels like it’s been hanging over my head for a while waiting for me to just Get On With It. The baby blanket that started life as a little bunch of colourful squares has now been completely, properly, absolutely finished. Hurrah!

The blocking process actually took longer than I planned – because I forgot it was there! Pinned to the spare room floor it was out of sight and out of mind. So it stayed there for 3 days instead of just 24 hours. And here it is…

Let’s have a proper look, shall we?

No unsightly ends poking out any more, just a wonderful, colourful, snuggly blanket. And I’m really quite pleased with it. Not bad for a first attempt I think. At some point I’ll give you all the details of size, weight, time it took, etc. But I’m off out in a minute so trying to rapidly get down all that I want to show you!

In my spare moments this week I also whipped up a little crochet cardigan for Bun Bun. I took a photo of her looking all snug and cosy, then realised that one of the presents I made yesterday was right behind her! So I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tomorrow before you see it. Sorry! Enjoy the rest of your day, and hopefully my next post will be a little less rushed and have a bit more to it 🙂

 

 

Bun Bun

Normally when I get a burst of productivity it’s very short lived. However, I’ve managed to be productive this morning too, which rather surprised me, but I’ve made the most of it and finished off something I started 3 months ago.

Those of you who’ve been reading since the beginning might remember a cute and fluffy Bunny I made for a very special Little Girl. I was feeling very smug and organised as her birthday isn’t until the end of April. But then I got side tracked. And poor Bun Bun (Little Girl’s name for bunnies) has been sitting on the shelf all this time.

Here she is.

She may look finished, but the poor girl obviously needs some clothes!

Although she’s only small her clothes take an awfully long time to make. I did all the measuring and cutting last night, and have spent this morning stitching away.

So she now has a very snazzy pair of pantaloons…

And a pretty, flowery dress.

The pattern for Bun Bun and her outfit come from Crafting Springtime Gifts, but I’ve made a few alterations to her clothes to make them more child friendly. Both the pantaloons and pinafore are supposed to have darts put in them to make them fit. But that would make it very hard to take the clothes off again, so I added elastic instead. Bun Bun’s looking out of the window here, and giving you a good view of the elasticated bit at the back of her dress.

The straps are supposed to be stitched on at both ends too, but I added poppers so they can easily be undone, even by a 3 year old’s fingers (hopefully!)…

So here she is, all dressed and ready to meet Little Girl next week. By that time she may also have another set of clothes, but I’ll have to see how much time I have. Until then she can enjoy having a little sit down – she’s unlikely to get much rest once she goes to her new home!

Time flies…

…when you’re busy crafting! This week has been fairly productive, and I’ve actually finished some things!

Remember that second fluffy scarf I told you about? Done! And added to my Operation Christmas Child bag.

And another project I started last week (but don’t think I told you about) is making good progress. A daughter of some of my closest friends will turn 3 in a couple of months. And she loves rabbits. She’s had a couple of ‘Bun bun’s since she was born, and it’s a nightmare if she ever loses them. And a while ago her Mum saw a pattern in Crafting Springtime Gifts. It’s a very cute rabbit with a smock dress and pantaloons which Little Girl would just adore. So I decided to make one for her birthday.

This is the work in progress on Tuesday:

 

Bunny in progress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the finished article:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She’s so cute! And lovely and sunggly and soft – I made her from a dressing gown that was only £5 in the sales – bargain! I’m really pleased with how she’s turned out so far, and looking forward to making her clothes (which will probably be made from other bargains found in the sales). More will follow…

 

In addition, I’ve been buisily hooking away at a lovely ripply scarf. I came across the ripple tutorial at Attic24. I thought to myself “That looks fun – I’ll give it a try and see what happens.” So I tried it and this happened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I thought “Well, that’s quite pleasing. I wonder what it’ll look like if I keep going?” So I kept going and it started to look like this…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And before long it grew into this…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you tell I enjoyed making this?! It took some time, but yesterday I made the finishing touches, edging it with a lovely purple border, and I now have (yet another) scarf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I haven’t quite decided yet whether to keep it for myself, or give it away (which I’d quite like to do, but can’t decide who to give it to). I’ll hang on to it for now, and keep gazing at it’s lovely ripplyness 🙂

 

So it’s been a productive week, but the mittens and socks sadly remain unfinished.