crochet egg baby!!

okay okay, so I know this is probably the oddest thing I have ever posted on my blog, but let me explain.
My fabulous local yarn shop, Baa Ram Ewe, are having an easter competion. (if you go to their website, my mug cosy is currently on the home page) We have been provided with a polystyrene egg to decorate however we see fit, with yarn, of course. I thought of bunnies and chicks and humpty dumpty and even a ballerina mrs humptydumpty (I knew my brain was starting to go out at weird tangents at this point). But then I started thinking about what easter and spring were really about, new life, and as I started to look at the egg, which I had been fondly carrying around I started to see it as a baby.
my only fear now, is that it's going to end up on the "what not to crochet" site (I love that site).

on a technical note, the egg was covered with amigurumi style double crochet (single crochet if you are american), crocheted straight onto the egg to ensure a good fit.


The blanket is simple made with a series of dc's and spaces, with a crab stitch border on 3 edges.
The eyes and tuft of hair are sewn on, and the cheeks are coloured with marker pen.


On a more normal knitting note. I have made my favourite cardi pattern for a friend who has just announced that she is pregnant. I have made this pattern sew many times that the pattern is falling apart and I am contemplating buying a new one (the pattern is teddy 7177)
(I know my raglan seams are "well dodgy" but I know what I did wrong so please ignore them)

The yarn is sirdar snuggly in "wobble" colour, which is far nicer in real life than the photos make it look. I bought two balls but only just broke into the second ball so I had plenty left, so I decided to make these "snugg" boots. I got the pattern from Knitting magazine, but it is in this sublime pattern book if you are looking for the pattern

let's dance!!

my first parcel for the frantic stamper design team arrived today and in it was this fabulous dancer stamp, which I just had to use for this week's TMTA theme which is Let's Dance.
The flowers and brads were also in the same parcel (as well as lots of other lovely things).....lucky me!!!!

gingersnap tutorial

Today on the gingersnap creations site I have done a tutorial on how to make these easy tag in a card sets. I'd love to see what people do with them, as I think they have scope for a lot of imagination.
I have used some of the new stamps from the Artistic Stamper

my first stampotique stamp!

I keep seeing these quirky stampotique stamps on my friends' blogs and have developed a desire to own some for myself, so I have started with this "girl with heart purse" stamp, which I think is suitable for every occasion, and I just love her.
As I now own a stampotique stamp I can take part in the stampotique challenge which this week has the theme mossy green, rose pink and yellow, and is for stampotique stamps only.
I actually made this card for Chris's birthday, but luckily it fits the theme. (there's not much yellow, but there is a thin stripe of it on the paper)

lots to do: use a machine

The challenge at lots to do, is to use a machine. I love the look of machine sewing on cards, but rarely get round to doing it as it seems so much effort, despite the fact that my sewing machine is right there next to my craft desk!!
so I forced myself and made this using Inka stamps.

scrolls work sketch challenge

On the Scrolls work blog Jacque is running a sketch challenge, for use with Scrolls work stamps, as I had my old Inka stamps out to play I thought Why not? I don't think working to a sketch is my strength but it's always fun to have a play.

new design team!!

I have been invited to join the design team of Frantic Stamper, you can view the blog here which lists the other members.
The frantic stamper carries a wide range of stamps and stamping supplies as well as papers and embellishments.

Theme Thursday: Girls

This week at theme thursday the theme is girls, and some of my favourite girls come from Inka. So I decided to make this tag in a card using stamps from Inka, which are now available from scrolls work stamps.

Erica is back!!!!

Along with all of Inka's gorgeous stamps.
They are now all available from Srolls Work

sunday postcard art :cupids

Happy Valentine's day!!
I decided to take part in Sunday Postcard Art's challenge, using stamps from PaperArtsy.
I love this stamp, and it's probably one of the largest stamps I own. I enjoyed combining this ink and the dog stamp with some of the more doodly stamps from the squiggly ink range. This is one of the things I love about Paperartsy, they carry such distnctly different ranges, yet they still work together so well.
The wings and words are from a winter wonderland plate, the small heart is from a christmas fairy plate, and the large heart is a mini.
The ribbon is also from PaperArtsy
The Cupid background paper is Basic Grey

Gingersnap Creations’ Valentine Blog Hop

Welcome to the Gingersnap Creations’ Valentine Blog Hop and Hop Stop #5!
If you’ve already been hopping then hopefully you have just come from Jean at Bluebird Paperie . If you are starting here, welcome! It's a loop so you can start anywhere along the way!

At each stop, you need to collect a word! There are 9 stops in all starting and ending with the Gingersnap Creations blog where you can get all the specific information and get a peak at the the goodies in the Valentine Giveaway including some treats from The Artistic Stamper.

When you get all your words, 9 in all, unscramble them to form a quotation about love. Once you have your guess at the quote, email it and your name to gingersnapstamp@gmail.com by February 20, 2010. We will be picking one lucky winner at random from the correct entries to win the Valentine Giveaway package!

If you visit all the stops, you should end up right back at Gingersnap Creations with 9 words! Unscramble the words to come up with a love quote and email it on to gingersnapstamp@gmail.com. That's all there is to it!

If you get lost along the way, you can see the entire route at Gingersnap Creations.

My word is "becomes".

Your next stop on the hop is Laura at As Happy As.... Have fun and good luck!

my little hanger is made with stamps from the new artistic stamper range.

My heart pants!!

This is my piece for this the next challenge at the forever friends challenge blog which is starting next monday. The theme is hearts.
I am also entering this for the new stampotique challenge which starts today, where the theme is love. I know this is probably a bit cutesy for stampotique regulars, but I think this stamp is so funny. Apparently it's okay to use non stampotique stamps for the first challenge of each month

Zentangle heart

after seeing the zentangles done by the fabulous Carrie, I knew I had to give it ago.
Despite my poor drawing skills I came up with this on my second play, and I rather like it!


see more of my zentangles here

paperartsy tag

This was made for our forum collaborative challenge, this piece is for Deb who chose the theme "quotes"
All stamps, papers and ribbons are from PaperArtsy

Gorgeous free stamp!

The new issue of craft stamper is out today and the free stamp has to be the most gorgeous ever, it's from art journey.

I couldn't wait to play with it, so I made this quick heart shaped acrylic tag.

I am entering this for mixed media monday's "what was she thinking challenge" as she looks so pensive

shaped tag

second post today, and again I am playing with The artistic Stamper's new releases.
The theme at created by Hand is "anything but a square or rectangle"
For christmas one of my presents was a lovely pack of tea, which had on it the most gorgeous shaped labels which I kept to use as a template, and that's what I have done here.
I love the sequin waste background stamp, it's actually a full A6 size, so you can use it on large areas or just pick out small areas with masking.
The theme at lots to do is different shapped tags so I am entering this there as well.

Sugar is sweet, and so are you!

This week the new challenge at Gingersnap creations is romance. The challenge is being sponsored by The Artistic Stamper. I decided to make this little gift with some of the new releases from the Artistic stamper.

Make sure you take part in the challenge, there are stamps to be won!

forever friends: inside out!

This week at the forever friends challenge blog we want to see the inside of your card, there are many ways to interpret this.
You could make a special fold such as an easel fold which shows some of the inside when it is standing, or you could cut your card so that some of the inside shows through to the front. You could even just show us how you use forever friends images to decorate the inside of your cards.

I chose to cut my card in such a way that you can see the inside of the card when the card is closed. I achieved this by measuring 5 inches on each side of an open DL card (measure one side from the top, one side from the bottom) then cut across the line joining these point, this gives you two identical cards of this shape to play with.

The bear is stamped directly onto the card and coloured with pencils, and the balloon is done with mirri card. I have decorated the inside with k&co paper