Wow!

As the title says, Wow! I can't believe that it has been a year since I looked at my blog. I don't know what has been happening 😕. 

What has happened in the last year? I passed my driving test 6 days before Christmas; that was huge for me. I'd originally started learning in 1997 & had my last test in 1999, vowing never to try again. Something inside of me last May decided to try again & I'm so chuffed that I did. 

My nephew is now 16 months old! Where does the time go?

Anyhoo, I'm having a declutter of crafty goodies in the hope of re-invigorating my craftiness. I have been crocheting the last year so not completely lazy. 

I'm currently sorting through goodies & have created a group on Facebook to sell them. If anyone is interested & would like to be added, the link is https://www.facebook.com/groups/1608608209368615/

I {heart} Crochet pt 2

I hope everyone is well and having a good evening.   You might notice that I'm trying out a new blog template whilst I'm trying to decide how I would eventually like it to look.   I think it's quite nice, the only annoying thing is it won't show the share buttons at the bottom of each post, even though the option is selected. I'd love to know what you think in the interim.

After my previous post on crochet, I realised that I'd missed off an item that I'd made for my very good friend, Michelle, for Christmas. 

This was my first attempt at a cowl/infinity scarf and it seems to look ok!   I used a King Cole Glitz Chunky yarn that has glittery thread woven through out.  The colour in the photo isn't a true representation of the colour. It appears to be a bluey purple when actually it's more of a red toned purple, almost plum in colour.

I've also managed to find a photo of the little shoes I made for Joshua.

I ended up making about 5 shoes to get 2 that were roughly the same size!  I think I still need to work on my tension for shoes!  The still look kind of sweet don't they??

I will be back with some more cards to show that I made last year, as well as trying to make new cards  for this year.  I was really happy when my last card made the top 3 in the Winter Wonderland Challenge!  The blinky is now proudly displaying in my sidebar.

I hope you have a peaceful evening. Thank you for stopping by and for any comments you leave as they are greatly appreciated.

xx

I {heart} Crochet

Good evening everyone.  I hope you are all keeping well despite all this horrendous weather we are having, both sides of the Atlantic.  I sincerely hope that no-one has been severely affected with flooding.

Thank you to everyone who left comments on my previous post and card.  It's always so lovely to know that there are crafters out there keeping an eye out for you after such a prolonged absence.

I thought today I would showcase a couple of items that I've crocheted in since I taught myself last year.

The first was my very first project, the baby blanket for my nephew, Joshua.  This was a simple blanket using treble crochet (double crochet for US) and then a scalloped edging.  I used two threads of yarn, a mint and a white, to make it warm and it also meant it grew quickly.  In fact, I finished this within a week.

This is a close up of the scallop-edging.  Not made for someone who had only been crocheting 7 days.

I can say for a fact that this blanket is getting lots of use.

The next blanket was my first attempt at a large granny square blanket and it was my father-in-laws Christmas present.  I'd not attempted a granny square before this.  The colours are Christmassy, but Jon chose them as, in his earlier, he was the owner of a fruit and veg shop, so the red's and greens were representing that time.  I put the the cream in to break the colours up.

The photo below is a bit of a close up on the simple border.

I have made a pair of shoes for Joshua but I can't find the photos for them.  I'm not sure if they were taken on my iPhone or are hidden on my camera somewhere!

Anyway, that's enough waffle from me today.  I hope you like my crochet creations.  My aims for this year are to attempt more techniques, particularly amigurumi.

Have a lovely evening and I will return again soon.

Sarah xx

A New Year, a New Me

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, received lots of wonderful gifts and most importantly, got to spend it with the people that you love.

2013 had highs as well as a number of lows for me, but I'm hoping that 2014 is going to be a year full of lots of new and exciting experiences for me.    The highlight of 2013 was welcoming the arrival of my gorgeous nephew, Joshua.  I can't believe that he's 4 and a half months old already.  I love him so much and try and see him as often as travel allows.  In those interim spells, Skype comes to the rescue.

I only made a couple of cards this Christmas, my mojo is slowly starting to return.  I would like to share one with you today.

I went with a very clean and simple card and I really like how it turned out.  I've been browsing the occasional blog to gain some inspiration.

As a lover of teddies, I had to treat myself to some of the new James the Bear stamps from LOTV when they released them last summer.  This was the only one that has been used so far.  I coloured him with Copics.

I would like to enter this into the Winter Wonderland Challenge which is Teddy Bears.

I will try to be a better blogger and crafter this year.  I'm not just a paper crafter now as I do enjoy crocheting and I've just treated myself to a sewing machine which, considering I have no idea to sew, should be interesting!

Thank you to anyone who has stopped by to read this, I really appreciate it after such a long absence.  I want to have a think about changing my blog layout to start the year afresh. If anyone can recommend how to go about this, I would be very grateful.

Sarah xx

Birthday Wishes

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable weekend. It's a shame that the nice weather we had during the week had to disappear for the weekend.

Thank you to everyone that commented on my last card, they are very much appreciated and I will reciprocate those kind words.

Today I've a card that I've made for a very good friend I work with.  It's her birthday on 1st May and I know how much she loves to receive one of my cards.

I've followed the sketch over at this months Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  It's a great sketch and one I would definitely think about using again. I've used the sweet Dreamweaver stamp and coloured it with copics.  I think this most only be the 2nd or 3rd time I've used it!  I can't remember the name of the Martha Stewart jumbo edge punch, but again, this is the first time it's been used!  I think the embossing folder is called Falling Daises and it's been embossed on Centura Pearl cardstock.

 

I apologise for the darkness of the photos.  I thought I'd try photographing on the empty shelf of my new unit but I don't think it worked out so well!  I don't think I'm ever going to be destined to photograph straight either!

This little bear was such a dream to colour.

I'm currently working on my granny strip blanket for the lounge.  I've only recently learnt to crochet, so this is a big project for me. It's started with a 240 chain and it covers the whole width of the largest sofa in our lounge, which was it's purpose!  I'm only 9 rows in at present, so there's a long way to go!  I will try and factor in some blogging time too.  It's so nice to be doing different crafts away from papercrafting.  It helps keep everything fresh and I'm a lot happier in myself too.

Thanks again for stopping by and for any comments you may leave, they are greatly appreciated.

xx :0)

Happy Anniversary

Happy Wednesday everyone! I don't know about you, but by Wednesday afternoon, things don't seem so bad, it's Hump Day after all!  For those of you that haven't heard this expression before, it's nothing rude!  Monday and Tuesday are the climb up to the top of the hill, by Wednesday afternoon you've reached the top and Thursday and Friday are downhill towards the weekend.

I do have a card to share with you today.  I made this at the weekend, but didn't want to post until today as it was for one of my best friends on her 3rd wedding anniversary.  My posts feed to my Facebook page so I didn't want her to see it before she opened it!

I've used some different colours for me today and I really liked the outcome.  I might have to use them a bit more often! 

 

The image is Popcorn Bear and I'll admit,it's been coloured up for a while, I've just been waiting for an opportunity to use it.  The papers are from a Papermania wedding set and the embossed panel is using the D'Vine Swirls folder.  Popcorn has been coloured in with copics.

This is one of those cards that I just loved when I'd finished it.

I'm entering the card into the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday - Sketch
Crafty Bloggers Network - Anything Goes

Thank you for stopping by and for any comments you may leave as they are greatly appreciated.  I will try and get by and do some blogging in the next evening or so, but I might be distracted with my next crocheting project!

Sarah xx

1 Today

I know, it's been over a week since my last blog post and I've not visited much either.  In my defence, things have been really busy and I've been working on the baby blanket for my sister.  This has been completed now and I will post photos shortly.

This is a card I made for my friends little boy's first birthday last month.  I know the LOTV stamp is usually for a new baby, but I thought it also worked well for a first birthday card as well.  He's been coloured up with my copics and cut out with a nestie set I've not used in a long time.  I can't remember what the papers were I'm afraid.  I finished off with a panel of large dots using a Sizzix embossing folder.

 The usual close up of the image is below.  I really like the blues.

Do you ever feel at times like you're not allowed to say what you feel is happening in your life on your own personal blog, or facebook page for fear of upsetting people.  I made a comment in my last post about falling out with a friend, who isn't a crafter, in my last post, but I'm now unsure whether she has seen it.  I want to be able to get things off my chest and now feel I have nowhere to be able to say this.  It's my blog and I should be able to speak my mind.

Sorry for going off topic and for being quiet.  This has been playing on my mind and might also explain my absence.

xx