Crochet Lockdown style

Before I show you what I've made you need to understand a bit of background. My Mum was an amazing knitter. She made the most exquisite baby jackets, bootees and hats, jumpers, cardigans and gloves. I remember she came with me to a university interview and virtually knitted a whole cardigan in the station at Lancaster when our train home was late! Although I'm left-handed, I learned to knit right-handed and was incredibly slow and laboured, giving it up as a bad job at the age of about 18. I'd never picked it up again or ever tried crochet. At the beginning of March, one of my crafty friends and another Leftie showed me some basics of crochet. I learned just one stitch, then 2 weeks later she showed me another two stitches. I was worried that I would forget what to do, so kept practising about an hour each day. Let's face it, If I could forget what I went into the kitchen for, forgetting what to do is not outnof the question!  I am loving it and can say I'm definitely hooked, lol.  Some yarn fell into my trolley in Aldi and my first neckwarmer was created...

Then I managed to get more yarn from our local Boyes store and number 2 was made...

And then number 3, 4 and 5...

By now I could crochet with the TV on and it wasn't taking me years to make something, lol. Three of them have new homes to go to as well. I was however running out of yarn. I had walked past a local wool shop on the way to the post office at the end of March, so found their facebook page and discovered they do deliveries and paypal. I asked for Autumn colours and decided to try learning another stitch and make granny squares. I can totally recommend Bella Coco's you tube channel, as she does left and right handed demonstrations. Also, through a friend on facebook I found Attic 24 that has some brilliant step by step photos and patterns. Both of these are British sites with UK terminology which is different to American terminology.  I am hoping to have a nice granny square blanket for cold evenings in the Autumn. I'm 50 squares in and can do trebles now, lol. I'm already planning what my project will be after that. I fancy the Attic 24 moorland blanket - such beautiful colours.

I think my Mum would be doing a happy dance now and I'm adding Yarn to my list of crafty addictions.  It just goes to prove you are never too old to learn a new skill.
Thanks for looking!

Mid month Rainbow inspiration

It is mid-way through April so time for our mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations where the theme is  

****Somewhere over the Rainbow****

 For my card I used another woodware stamp over a distress oxide background. The sentiment is from Hobby Art. This one is currently on display in my front window, in support of our wonderful frontline workers. I do hope you get chance to enter the challenge. It is certainly cheering me up to see the entries.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving comments. Over the past week on our local walks, we have seen people doing things like washing their driveways and I can't help but be thankful that I have plenty of hobbies to keep the boredom away. I don't think I would ever be bored enough to wash my driveway 😂 May your stash be immense and your mojo be endless in these difficult times.
Take care friends  xxx

Non-stamping craftiness

Thanks so much for all your lovely comments on my previous post. Thought I would share some of the things I made before lockdown. I had this post all ready to go, but hadn't published it, so I've tweaked it a little and here it is now. 

I've done a little needle felting over the past few months. I am a complete beginner, but had been introduced to it by my lovely friend Lynne as stress relief last year. I bought some leaf templates from Mum's Makery and started felting oak leaves. With a bit of stitching and a few seed beads I've begun to turn them into brooches. All this sewing and needlework made me realise I could do with a pin cushion and after a quick internet search I found a very easy tutorial to make one in the style of a pumpkin, and here is my first attempt, made with an Aldi fat quarter and a pair of old tights for stuffing.

Mid March, one of my crafty friends found me some orange fleece fabric and I made 3 more, which look so much better with decent stuffing in them! The missing one has gone to live with Megan in Sheffield 😀

 I did wonder about trying to sell a few pin cushions, but not sure how many people would want one...

Thanks for all your birthday wishes for Meg. She is currently taking a break from her medicine course and is not on the front line, like the rest of her year group. They will not be doing any final exams, but have all been allocated hospitals to work in taking on the role of F1s. Meg is currently working for two health related charities, and will hopefully be starting a masters in human nutrition in September for a year, before going back to finish her degree the following year.
Thanks for looking!
  

How is it going?

I hope you are well and coping in these strange times. Three weeks into social isolation here and this week I haven't had a whole lot of mojo. I've sat in front of my craft table and not done anything constructive, card-wise several times. It just didn't feel right to be having fun creating with everything that is going on. On Thursday I knew I had to get myself motivated to make a birthday card for Meg, which needed posting and I will share with you in due course, and finally found a bit of inspiration. After that I decided I should create a scene I'd like to walk through, even though the countryside is a little too far to walk to at the moment.

So here is my riverside scene with stamps mostly from Crafty Individuals except the one at the top, which is from Inkylicious. The background scene is on satin finish art card, brushed with very old adirondack inks. the background stamping was done with memento ink. I stamped the kingfisher in versafine clair onto watercolour card and coloured with zig clean color markers and a bit of white gel pen. Finally I cut her out, shaped her a little with an embossing tool and stuck her on with 3d glue. Did you know the female kingfisher has a black upper bill and a red lower bill?
I'm entering this at Allsorts, where the challenge is something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The old is my adirondack inks in mountain rose, pool and peach bellini, and the blue is my kingfisher.
I'm also entering it at Penny Black and more, where the theme is Anything Goes.
I hope my card gives you the same feeling of peace that I got from making it. Maybe we could have a virtual stroll along the river and spot kingfishers together.
Thanks for looking!

Get the telly on!

Here is a journal page I made using the new papers that are being released by Crafty Individuals on Hochanda today (Tuesday 7th April). The first show is 7.00am and the second show is 1.00pm. There are some fabulous stamps, papers and images, as well as lots of stunning samples from our lovely Jean and other super-talented teamies. Hope you can join us or if not, watch on catch-up. You won't be disapointed!
Thanks for looking!

Stamping Sensations challenge for April

Good morning, It's time for our April challenge at Stamping Sensations and this month we are looking for

****Somewhere over the Rainbow****

Rainbows seem particularly apt at the moment as they are seen as symbols of hope, and many children across the uk are drawing rainbows and putting them in their windows to cheer passers by. As the title suggest we would love to see your hand stamped creations that reflect that song or the colours of a rainbow. I am sure you will come up with lots of fabulous designs.

My card this month was made with a woodware stamp and matching stencil. The stencil was sponged over with distress oxide inks and the stamp was coloured with zig clean colour brush markers.  
Our sponsors this month are Be Creative.

Please can I remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image which reflects the theme as the focal element of your artwork , this means:

Stamping must be the central point of attention and interest

 Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous creations from my talented team mates and more details of that prize from Justin and Gordon!
Before I go, Jean Hardy and Crafty Individuals are on Hochanda on Tuesday 7th April at 7am and 1pm. There should be some lovely demos and a chance to see the new stamps and papers as well as oodles of great samples from my teamies.  
Thanks for looking! 

Men and Boys (and anyone who likes insects)

The challenge over at Allsorts this week is to create something for Men and Boys. I picked up some 'Tool' stamps from PDA a few weeks ago (never heard of them before) and thought I would try them out. Here are the results...

 As a continuation of my stamping on fabric and adding embroidery, I decorated a small notebook cover. The paint I used is irridescent so it shines nicely when you tilt it.

 I also made a card using a cosmic shimmer paint palette and distress oxides on the base card, then made a second note book

I hope you like them. Thanks for looking!

Rudolf Days for March

Hi there! How is everyone doing? I have sent off all my samples for the next Crafty individuals show and now I am just catching up with a few bits and bobs here in blog land. We are observing social distance rules, exercising regularly and only braving the supermarket once a week. Crafting, gardening and crochet with local walks and a bit of karate practice is seeing me through. The only thing that is being curtailed at the moment is baking, due to panic-buying, stock-piling nicompoops (Don't get me started!) Hope you are coping okay.
Anyway, now is the perfect time for preparing for a handmade Christmas, lol. Many friends will be receiving a crocheted gift, and of course we can get on with Christmas cards. Without further ado, here are my two cards for the Rudolf Days challenge this month, both using a woodware wreath stamp that I had for Christmas.

They were both coloured using watercolour pens (a mixture of Zig and Arteza) with added dots of glitter glue and liquid pearls. The design papers were from a pack I bought from the works, as were the stitched dies.
Do pop over to Maureen's blog to take a look at the inspiration there.
Thanks for looking!

A digi from Dora

It is time to showcase another Digi from Dora. Our DT theme this month is farms and horses. I used this lovely horse image, printed on to kraft paper and coloured with my arteza professional colouring pencils. A bit of Mulberry paper and some old designer paper from my stash, with a spellbinders die cut to finish it off.
You can find Dora's digis on her blog here.
I'm entering this in the current challenge at Allsorts where the theme is creatures from the animal kingdom
Thanks for looking!

Mid month post for Stamping Sensations

It is mid-way through March (Where did that go?) so time for our mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations where the theme is Spring Flowers. For my card I used stamps and dies from Thirsty Brush, our lovely sponsors this month. I gold-embossed the stamped images and painted the flower with cosmic shimmer pixie powders made into a wash. The sparkle is gorgeous! I do hope you get chance to enter the challenge.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving comments. It all feels a little bit surreal at the moment with everything that is going on. I hope you can find a little bit of calm in your crafting, and that if you are having to self-isolate that you have plenty of supplies to keep you going and are well enough to craft. Stay safe and lets hope it doesn't last too long.
Take care friends  xxx

Very different for me!

A few weeks ago I did a workshop at PDA, Langley Mill with Suzanna from Belle and Olive. Suzanna is a textile artist who specialises in all things vintage. We tea-dyed, stamped on fabric, sewed and embroidered. I didn't finish mine in the 2 hours we were there, but brought home my pieces thinking I'd like to add some more colour. After playing around for several days with distress ink and other scraps of paper and fabric, here is my finished piece.

I have to admit that I hadn't done french knots for about 25 years, but it didn't take me long to get back into embroidery. I cross-stitched lots around the time Meg was born, but used to find I'd wake up with painful hands the morning after an evening of cross stitch. I'm happy to say I have been able to do this with no problems.
I decided to try something similar with my own stamps and opted to use one of the small fennel stamps from Woodware.

 I found an off-cut from some shorts I made and used tea to dye it. I then stamped in versafine clair and used a mixture of normal embroidery silk, metallic embroidery thread and seed beads to add to it, which you can see here.

 A bit of mulberry paper, old music, lace and a kraft notebook finished it off.
Thanks for looking!

March Challenge at Stamping Sensations

Good morning, It's time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations and this month we are looking for

****Spring Florals****

As the title suggest we would love to see your stamped creations that reflect the theme. I am sure you will come up with lots of fabulous designs. My card this month features stamps from our spensors this month, Thirsty Brush. The sets are called Calm Circle (flowers) and Modern Floral (words) I stamped in Versafine Clair and coloured with Arteza watercolour brush markers. 

Please can I remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image which reflects the theme as the focal element of your artwork , this means:

Stamping must be the central point of attention and interest

Our prize this month is from  our new sponsors, Thirsty Brush.  Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous creations from my talented team mates and more details of that prize! Thanks for looking!