Turning Japanese

Here is the latest example of me messing around on a Sunday afternoon. Another idea from Pinterest that caught my eye, very cheap and reasonably cheerful. I say reasonably because I dug out my glue gun for this, and I forgot how flippin’ hot the glue gets…… ouch! Ah well, no pain, no gain, I guess. I bought a couple of these paper light shades from eBay for about £1.50, and a couple of packets of cocktail umberellas. Half an hour and several glue-burns later….. viola! I was going to stick the umberellas all over but kind of thought it looked okay like this, and didn’t want to break into my other packet of brollies as I plan to make another one, once my burns have healed a bit 😉 

Two Projects Tuesday

Hello there. Well, there was no chance of finding the computer ‘stepson-free’ on Sunday, and last night I flaked on the sofa, so here I am to ‘show-and-tell on a Tuesday! I made this card at the weekend. So much needs doing in the house at the moment, and the totally overwhelming-ness of it sent me running to the cupboard for therapy. I bought the puffy owl stickers from Hobbycraft, as owls are very cute, and very in at the moment. I used a sheet of my Papermania blue pad as background. The branch is a scrap, and I used another scrap for the leaves using my Martha Stewart punch, with a few puffy leaves from the sticker sheet. Finished off with peel-off greeting, stars, and wavy trim, and there you have it.

I have also started knitting a ruffle scarf using this yarn . Bit of a story here. My friend Maureen and I saw this yarn and a sample scarf in Hobbycraft months ago. Maureen loved it but doesn’t knit, so I thought  “aha, I will buy some and knit Maureen a scarf for Christmas”. So, I bought the yarn, found the pins, procrastinated for a couple of weeks……. then couldn’t find the yarn. So maureen ended up with a different prezzie. Two weeks after the big day, yes, I found it, tidied away (as you do, well, as I do!). I haven’t done any knitting for ages, but this is knitting up so quickly and looks so gorgeous that I may become a little addicted to making ruffle scarves and have already ordered more yarn from eBay. Photo at the weekend guys! Night night.

Remember Me?

First post in a couple of weeks! So sorry, but I have had a nasty, nasty, lurgy and just haven’t felt up to making or posting. I will try and make this up to you…. and to start here are two scarves for you to cast your eyes upon. The black one is from here. It is incredibly simple and fast, but it has taken me ages to finish because I decided to edge it with lovely pom-pom trim, and I needed lots of it and had to keep sending off for more. Now that it is finished I am wearing it as much as possible to justify the amount of time it has sat in my work basket waiting to be loved! The second one is from here, and again it is simple and I think it is quite elegant looking. It is fairly slim, but you could add a couple of rows either side to make it more substantial if you wanted. I love these colours together, and really like the picot edging too. My lovely friend Di has a new coat and I thought the red would match it, and I know that she loves these bluey green type shades. So Di, if you like it, it’s yours!  I am now making one in a gorgeous, rich,deep teal silky yarn. I found both patterns on Pinterest, and they are FREE! I have so many patterns and tutorials from this site that I need never buy any again……. obviously, I will buy some, because that’s what I do best, buy things! See you tomorrow. x

Essential Maintenance

This week at school we are making a huge effort to get students to wear the uniform properly. It has been slipping and slipping and has become unrecognisable from the uniform that was worn when I first worked there eleven years ago. I think this issue is about so much more than clothes. It’s about pride, respect, and standards, all of which should be raised. It also means that those students that want to look smart, clean, and tidy will not feel conspicuous,  but are able to concentrate on their  learning a little more rather than worrying that they will be called names because their tie is knotted properly or their shirt is tucked in! Let the work begin! 

Card-making Frenzy!

Hello. I’ve been busy restocking my card supplies, and here are some I made earlier! The cute animal ones are new baby cards. It doesn’t really show on the photo but the fronts of the cards are cut away, sort of a stable door type style. The zebra and tiger images are stamps from Kanban- so you can colour them however you want to. The pink background paper is by Pink Petticoat, and the blue is from a new pad that I have bought by Papermania called Blueberry pie. The pad has florals, dots and checks so can be used for girl or boy cards, and shades of blue look so fresh don’t they? I have used Card Candy on both to add a bit of interest, and a ‘Congratulations’ greeting. I have used a sheet of Blueberry Pie paper on the get well card too, along with an image by Lilli of The Valley (coloured in using good old Promarkers). I cut out a lacy border using my Martha Stewart punch and double mounted a ‘Feel Better Soon’ printed strip from Pink Petticoat. The circle greeting is from Craftwork cards. I love these and managed to get some a bit cheaper than usual from eBay- LOVE a bargain! The card has been finished by some tiny mulberry flowers to give it some depth. And the last card is made with bits from my scrap box. Papers are from Papermainia, K&Co, and Pink Petticoat. The tree is a Nitwits stamp which was free in a magazine. I’ve thrown on a few flowers (compulsory!) and again, used a Craftwork Cards greeting to finish it off. All in all, I have made ten cards this weekend AND done quite a bit of housework too. I impress myself sometimes! 

Out With The Old

Ta da! My completed Japanese Flower Scarf. I really like this, and it didn’t take that long as the flowers hook-up very quickly. It helps if you are working with glorious colours like these, and I have lots of yarn left over so if anyone would like me to make them one let me know. The most time consuming thing was sewing all the flowers together, but it’s relatively pain-free if you have something good on telly at the same time- multi-tasking is the way to go during the boring jobs.Today I have been multi-crafting! I’ve done a bit of stitching, bit of crocheting, and made some cards as my stocks are low at the moment. I’ll pop some pics of those on tomorrow. Bye for now.

In With The New

Hi there, the weekend is here which means I get to bore you again…….. yay! Thought I would show you WIP (works in progress) and my ‘ta da’s’ (completed stuff). My plan was to show you my lovely finished scarf first, and title the post ‘Out with the Old’ (new year theme, see?). But, I need to take a photo when it is light and I didn’t give it a thought earlier. So, you are getting ‘In with the new’ first, as I have managed to grab some time on the computer, no mean feat in this house, so I wanted to post, like, now! Okay, well the pictures are of what I have started this week. A cross-stitch project called Raspberry Lemonade. Now, I haven’t done any cross-stitch for a long, long time. I just went off it I suppose. But I saw this on Etsy and I think it’s stunning. It’s been designed by Joan Theodore from artfulstitches.com, and cost about £4 for the chart which was sent as a PDF file. I have stuck to the colours shown so that it’s not too complicated (for me!). I looked at loads of kits online but so many are just too cutesie and whimsical even for me, so I prefer abstract-type things. My other project is called a Luna Lovegood Scarf, and I got the pattern for free from Pinterest (via Ravel- great site with loads of patterns, quite a few are free). I am using three colours- a dark red, pale turquoise, and a dark teal. So far, so pretty! Photo on completion, of course, and sorry for the back-to-front posts but hey, you don’t mind do you?! 

Smile!

Tomorrow, I am back to school, and while it’ll be good to see everyone again, it is a bit of a reality check after the soft-focus sparkly-lit Christmas holiday. I am not a big fan of January. At one time I cheered myself up by heading for my birthday in March, but I am rather a way past the age of welcoming birthdays, especially since this next one is a ‘biggy’! Any how, I figured that some of you will also be returning to the grind of normal life tomorrow and may need some cuteness to help get you through. So here are some super-cute pets. I love the goofy dog. If my Jake had floppy ears he would look very much like this when he runs. The sausage dog is for my ‘sister-in-law’, Deborah, as she loves and wants one. I want one too as they are so gorgeous, but we already have a menagerie! All the best for the early start tomorrow, and remember, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Happy January! 

Happy New Year!

See the pic, yes, couldn’t have put it better myself! I hope 2012 goes well for you. I hit my 50th year in a few months. It’s 2012 and we’re not all walking around in silver suits or anything! When I was a little girl and we talked about the year 2000 it sounded so space-age didn’t it?  I thought that we would all wear shiny outfits, eat pills instead of food, and listen to tuneless music….. well I was right with the last one at least!!