As promised...

... here are some pictures of Christmas cards I've made, and the scarf I'm working on.  Sadly, I have to admit that the scarf has not progressed much further since the pictures were taken quite a few days ago now.  It's been a busy week and not a lot of crafting was accomplished :(  Hopefully I'll get to create over the weekend, it looks blissfully free so far!

Christmas cards

I sat down and pulled out some 12x12cm cards and a kit from My Minds Eye which I got last year but hadn't used very much.  I had also stamped all the sentiments previously, ready to go on cards.  So now was the time and within a relatively short time, using the kit and just a few extra bits, I had made four little cards :)


Scarf

I'm making this for my mum's birthday in November, it's a teal Arran yarn from Tess Dawson, and I'm using a pattern from a little supplement to a knitting magazine I got last year.  I love the pattern and all the cables, but it is fairly slow going, because there is so much cabling going on.  It would also help if the puppy didn't try and snatch balls of wool every time I sit down to knit...

Now, the cushion cover I mentioned in  my last post is nearly finished.  For reasons best known to myself, I joined the back and front BEFORE weaving in all the ends...  However, it shouldn't take too long, and once it's fully finished with buttons and cushion pad inside, I will post a picture on here :)

Well, that's it for now, thanks for stopping by!

Must Try Harder

Me, that is.  I'm completely out of the blogging groove.  I have a number of blogs which I look at regularly, but never seem to find the time to leave comments, and I find even less time to update my own blog  :(  Don't know when I last joined a challenge!  So I'm resolving once again to change all that!  I AM making stuff, you know!

For example, it was my FIL's 80th birthday at the beginning of the month, and I made not one, but two cards for this occasion.

The larger card is all Stampin' Up! while the little one also uses some PTI stamps.  I like that you can use "New Year's Celebration" for other celebrations, too.  You probably can't see very well on this picture, but the background is stamped with the champagne bottle from this set.

And then there is this tiny little blanket that I made on middle daughter's request for her Build-A-Bear bunny, so that the bunny has her own little bed in middle daughter's bed :)

I have also started making some Christmas cards, but have not been able to photograph them yet (and now the weather has turned horribly grey!), my granny square blanket is currently on hold while I'm knitting a scarf for my mum's birthday next month, and I've finally found the cushion cover that has been in progress for an awfully long time, which eldest daughter has been asking for over and over again.  I was very happy to discover that I am much further along than I thought I was.  Only one more round and then joining of front and back - yay!!  I will post pictures of all these projects very soon, once I've got some decent light to photograph them in!

Hmmm, I'm starting to see why there may be a lack of time for blogging...  But thanks for stopping by, hope to be back soon!

Woolly Stuff

I didn't take any papercrafting stuff on holiday this year, instead, I took a crochet hook and several balls of brightly coloured wool!

I'm still very much inspired by Lucy's creations over at Attic24, and ended up making not one, but two squishy, soft, woolly bags, following Lucy's tutorial.

This is bag #1. 

I love the bright, cheery colours, but unfortunately, I forgot to take into account that my yarn was thinner than the one Lucy had been working with, and I didn't add more stitches into the first round, so when this bag lies flat, its bottom is rather more pointy than rounded.  I also got muddled when I started new rounds and new colours, so the back of the bag is looking a bit funny as well.  Eldest daughter called it "wonky", her favourite word at the moment :)  But from the front, with a few things inside the bag, it looks reasonably presentable.

This is bag #2:

My favourite green, I had to go and order another ball!  This bag is a fair bit smaller, but much more perfectly formed, since I learned from my mistakes with bag #1!  It's still very bright and cheery, with its colourful stripes at the top, and I'm really rather pleased with it!  The only question is: what am I going to use these bags for?  Most likely, they're going to carry my woolly works-in-progress, although, unfortunately, crochet hooks (and knitting needles, too) have a nasty habit of poking out between stitches...  Bag #2 might also go on the odd outing to the shops, only filled with items big enough not to poke out.  Of course, I could line both bags with fabric, but I am not exactly on best terms with my sewing machine, and cutting into fabric frightens me, never mind trying to work out a template to use for cutting said fabric to the right shape and size.  So we shall see, I'll let you know if and when I take my bags out on wee trips :)

Thanks for stopping by, hopefully I'll have some other crafty project to share very soon.

I'm back!

The summer holidays are over, the girls have been back at school for 3 days last week, and slowly, things are getting back to normal.  It's a slightly different kind of normal, since eldest daughter started high school and has to get used to so many new things: getting up earlier, lots of new subjects, new teachers, new classmates and apparently, lots of tall people everywhere she goes! :)  The other two are pretty much settling straight back in to their normal routines, which is nice.  And I've suddenly got lots of quiet time at home, but of course, there's still a puppy to entertain, and then there's all that housework to tackle that somehow fell by the wayside over the summer (read that to mean: major declutter needed in more than one room!).

I have a few cards to share that I've made over the summer, starting with middle daughter's birthday card.  She really enjoys strawberries, so here was an obvious choice for a theme :)

The strawberry paper is by Doodlebug, the stamps are from Papertrey Ink, and the inks are Stampin' Up!

Next is a birthday card for youngest daughter's friend:

Love this Magnolia stamp and used some Basic Grey papers which I just had to have, even though I'm really trying not to buy any more papers...

Next up, a card for my MIL's birthday:

I used some My Mind's Eye papers that came free with a magazine, Papertrey Ink stamps and Stampin' Up! inks again.

And lastly, sadly, a sympathy card.  Don't like making those.

Well, I hope you liked this wee selection, including the photo right at the beginning, which shows the view from our holiday cottage in Glen Quaich, Perthshire.  Aaah, it was beautiful, and I didn't want to come home!

Last Installment

A wedding card a friend asked me to make, finally using my lovely new birdie punch!

Another "finally": finished the layout for youngest daughter's first day of school last August, using a SU! kit.

Birthday card for youngest daughter's birthday a couple of weeks ago - I cannot believe she is 6 years old - she's the little one!!!

Well, this is probably the last post for a while.  Today was the last day of school in our part of Scotland - the last day of primary school for eldest daughter!! - and the girls and I are off to Germany on Saturday for the week.  When we come back, we've got a week to get ready for our family holiday and then we're off to a remote cottage in Perthshire for two weeks!  With the puppy...  I shall let you all know how that goes.  If the weather continues the way it's been, we'll have a lovely time, but summer might have finished by then, because, let's face it, it's been going on for an uncharacteristically long time ;-)  We are enjoying it while it lasts, however, and trying to make the most of it.  If you saw youngest daughter, you'd be forgiven to think she's been abroad already, she's that tanned!

Now we're off to a favourite restaurant to celebrate the last day of term and the end of primary school for our eldest.  See you all in August, have a lovely summer! :)

Back with more

Well, I may not have been getting round to crafting much lately, but I've still got a few cards to share that I made a while back.  So without further ado...

This card is based on FTL#89 on the Clean&Simple Challenge Blog.  I'm not sure I'm entirely pleased with it, but I do like the simplicity of it.

This is a "just because" card, I was in the mood for colouring, for pink and girly and for some big flowers :)

And lastly, I had stamped several flowers from this set - SU!, Petal Pizzazz - and wanted to use them so came up with this light and fresh card, which I'm rather pleased with, if I may say so myself ;-)

Thanks for stopping by, another post coming up soon!

And a few more!

I recently put in a couple of orders with Papertrey... Here are a couple of cards made with my more recent purchases. Oh, if only I had more time to play!

This second card is quite closely based on a card by Nichole Heady, which I can't find just now to link to. I love that butterfly set!! Thanks for looking :)