Another brilliant theme at Less is more this week: three squares. I decided to revisit the technique I did for the craft stamper article back in October. This time I masked off squares using post it notes-in fact I managed to mask the first and then pick up all of the post-it notes joined together and reposition them (that made it alot easier) The top square is inked with bundled sage distress ink and a little bit of peeled paint at the bottom. the middle one is peeled paint and a little forest moss, and the bottom one is just forest moss. The twig and sentiment stamps are both Hotpicks from Paperartsy.
and in case you are wondering, yes, the ribbon is covering a smudge!! -- thanks angelnorth, I shall henceforth call this "an embellishment opportunity"
I saw something similar to this recently in a knitting magazine, but for a larger hot water bottle and knitted by a completely different method (in two parts and top down)
The first thing to note about this pattern is that it uses the magic loop method.
I have no intention of explaining it here. Just watch this video from youtube
One of the best things about this pattern is that it is a "less than one ball" pattern. you should easily be able to make one of these with a 50g ball of yarn (unless it's a spectacularly heavy yarn)
I saw these mini hot water bottles in poundland recently and decided that I had to make lavender hot water bottle covers for this years book club presents, so I immediatley bought 10. Yes they are a horrible colour, but I intended to cover them so that was okay. This picture shows how small they really are. Materials 1x mini hot water bottle 1x 50g ball of DK yarn (about 100yd) if doing in just one colour, or you can easily use up oddments. 1x 4mm circular needle scrap of fabric dried lavender (I got mine from ebay)
gauge (important) 21st and 23 rows over 10cm square stocking stitch.
instructions cast on 40 stitches, and divide in half on your circular needle, using the magic loop method. each of these halves I will call a "section" and two sections make a "round".
increase one stitch at each end of both sections on next three rounds. Knitting every row (creates stocking stitch when knitting in the round) - I increase by knitting into the front and back of the first and last stitch. (46 stitches)
continue knitting for 43 rounds ( 46 rounds in total)
decrease 1 stitch at end of each section for next two rounds ie :( K1 KSPO K to last 3 sts of section K2tog K2 KSPO K to last 3 stitches K2tog k1) twice
k 1 round
k1 p1 rib 34 rounds, cast off in rib.
to make the pocket pick up 16 stitches in the middle of one side of 11th row, as shown. stst 18 rows (ie k1 row p 1 row - you are not knitting in the round anymore, just using your circular needles as normal needles) k1p1 rib 2 rows cast off in rib.
sew sides of pocket to main piece.
sew up bottom of case.
The neck of the case is stretchy enough to insert the case from the top. you can then tuck the neck in to disguise the hot water bottle,
or fold it back on itself... if you manage to get a nice coloured one! now make a lavender bag. decide what size you want (do you want it to poke out of the pocket?) and cut two rectangles slightly larger (seam allowance) sew right sides together leaving small gap for turning. turn right side out and stuff with lavender. sew up gap.
This week at the forever friends challenge we have a sketch challenge for you, sponsored by Stitchy bearsThe design team were given some lovely digital papers and sentiments to play with. I'm not really a digi crafter, but I really liked these and they transferred easily into "my Craft Studio" The only part of this card that wasn't done with their stuff was the bear stamp. It is with much regret that this will be my last forever friend challenge on the DT, I've handed over the running of the challenge to the more than capable Sande. I shall be popping up occasionally as a guest DT as I have some sponsorship pieces still to use.
I have made this for two purposes. 1) Scrolls Work stamps are currently running a competition on facebook where you can win $50 worth of stamps. you have to upload a card made only with Scrolls Work stamps to their wall today and tomorrow and then the cards will be voted on. 2 ) Wednesday Stamper has a "I can Fly" theme
I hadn't used Erica for a while and she's still my favourite, so I decided it was time she came out to play. The wings and words are also from Scrolls Work. And I have used my "paper sculpture" technique again
I am also going to enter this into less is more's spring theme, butterfly wings and blossom, very spring and lots of white space to satisfy the less is more principle.
Our hostess this week, Monique challenged our team to use a technique on their creation. And, we decided to take it a step further and what better place to turn than Pat Huntoon of the Technique Junkie Newsletter. Stampotique is teaming up with the Technique Junkies team to create using the Faux Barnwood Technique. We want you to join us this week and you can use the Faux Barnwood Technique or any of the techniques Pat uses on her website. Please make sure to link within your post which technique you are using. If you are a Technique Junkies subscriber and using a technique out of the newsletter, please highlight the name and issue you are creating from.
What are you playing for this week? Oh.....good question! How about we give away 2 prizes this week along with 2 winners??? Pat Huntoon has been very gracious and is giving away one of the Fancy Folds and Motions CDs PLUS a two year, online only subscription (2010 and 2011 issues) for one winner and the other winner will be receiving a $30 gift certificate towards stamps to the Stampotique store. We will randomly draw 2 winners for the prizes before our next challenge on March 9th.
Make sure to stay tuned to the website as both the Stampotique design team AND the Technique Junkies design team participated in this challenge and we will be sharing some wonderful creations using the Faux Barnwood technique over the next 2 weeks here.
So, what are you waiting for????? Get out some papers, some inks, some stamps and join us!
Please remember the following rules when entering this challenge: 1. This is a STAMPOTIQUE ONLY stamps week 2. You must LINK to the Faux Barnwood Technique or a technique from Technique Junkies that you chose to use within your blog post 3. Please link directly to your challenge post, not to your general blog 4. Contest will close at March 8th at 5 p.m. EST 5. HAVE FUN CREATING!!
For my card, I used a chipboard tag, and used the faux barnwood technique with blue and brown acrylic paints with PVA glue, I stamped the tree from Stampotique, and then made an interesting discovery. I could colour over the top layer of paint with my pencils, whilst the glue acted as a resist on the other areas. I mounted my tag onto kraft card and stamped the sentiment from stampotique.
It almost pains me to start thinking about Christmas, so I found this week's one layer Wednesday a real challenge. But then I realise that I have actually already started my Christmas knitting. (watch out for a pattern coming soon), so it shouldn't really be so scary. so I made this quick card with Stamps from PaperArtsy. I masked the sentiment and then dragged my very old whispers ink pads accross, with red in one diagonal direction and green in the other. (the ink pads are so old now, that the ink on the red pad has started to crystallize, still they do what I need)
For the gingersnap challenge this week, this week, you need to use crowns. I decided to have a go at a heart shaped card (oops sorry, of course I meant crown shaped card!! thanks Jo!), and used images from Stampotique to decorate.
on the frantic stamper blog today, I have this card with instructions. I love the look of paper sculpture, and I wanted to recreate the effect using die cuts. This is such a simple card, but i think it's really effective.
The theme at Paperplay challenges is Hearts and Flowers but NOT a Valentine. brilliant theme I made this card using Stamps from Stampotique. This card is a perfect example of what happens when a one layer card goes wrong. I'd stamped and masked the images perfectly and then SMUDGE!!!!!!! so I trimmed down the main image, embellished and mounted, et voila! a save!
The background uses a flower stencil and some heart sequin waste with victorian velvet distress ink.
It's the second week at the less is more challenge and it's another great theme. This week you have to make a One Layer Card with flowers or trees. How could I resist? This is similar to another card I made awhile ago, but I've changed it about a bit, made it smaller, changed the colours, didn't use a sentiment and added some script, so I guess it's actually nothing like it really! lol
I've used coloursoft pencils on kraft card, definitely my favourite technique at the moment! I masked the flower before over stamping the script. Cutting out the mask was the part of this card that took the longest to do!
I am also entering this for the Secret Crafter challenge, which is " a stamped flower"
There's plenty of love inspiration at the stampotique designer's challenge. As the design team has grown, the challenge posts are now split over 4 posts, so it's worth popping back and seeing all the creations. Don't forget to take part in the challenge, and as it's the first challenge of the month you don't even have to use Stampotique stamps (and lets face it we all have something love themed in our collection) and you could win $30 worth of stamps!! My challenge piece will be posted on wednesday, but you can get a preview here. I decided to make a simple valentine gift box. (I did see something similar to this on a blog recently and meant to credit it but can't find it, if you know where it is please let me know.) - I found it.... here
I simply chose the size of label die that fit my image and then made a really simple box, and used the diecut as a lid. I added a ribbon and a tag and fastened with velcro. This would be perfect for holding chocolate or jewellery, but believe it or not actually holds 3 pairs of socks!!
My book group meets on the second Monday of each month and of course that means that it falls on valentine's day this month. We considered moving it, but then decided that really we might as well be with friends than forcing our husbands to treat us to overpriced meals full of loved up youngies. I decided though that I wanted to mark the date with a little valentine something for the members of the group. I found these little chocolate hearts, and then decided to make them into cards. I used a book page for the heart, and used this fabulous Mark Twain quote, which could have been made for book groups! both the floral heart and quote are from Scrolls Work Stamps.
These cards were so quick to make, I'm thinking they would make the coolest wedding invitations. I decided not to put these cards in envelopes, as they are so bulky, but make little brown paper bags
After they were all finished I closed the bags with a presonalised embellishment stapled to the bag This fits many challenges this week, including Papertake weekly - have a heart Crazy Amigo - valentine Created by hand - queen of hearts (As I'm "in charge" of the reading group lol) wednesday Stamper - expressions of love theme thursday - words
it also fits the stampotique challenge, so don't forget to check that out, you could win $30 of stamps!! I haven't shown my piece for this yet as the stampotique team is so big at the moment, the designers' pieces are being staggered on the blog, so keep checking back for inspiration.
The theme at gingersnap this week is charms. I decided I wanted to make a charm rather than use a charm. at first I was going to make a mobile phone charm, but then I decided to make a book charm. After all I always have a book with me, so why shouldn't that get a charm. of course it's just a book mark really, but a fancy one! I used shrink plastic cut with a spellbinder die, stamped a rogue redhead stamp, and coloured with colour soft pencils before shrinking. The beads were from an old necklace and the embroidery threads were from when I used to do cross stitch. They were just plaited. really easy!
I love the challenge at one layer wedneday this week. You have to use 2 image stamps, just 2 stamps, no more, no less. No embellishments. The only things you are allowed to do are colour images with markers, and heat embossing. I chose to use two Scrolls Work images. I used Emma in a recent collage article in craft stamper, and I think she's lovely. I stamped the music stamp in grey ink and the Emma in black. I coloured her bow with whispers marker, and then sprinkled a little cranberry embossing powder loosely on the image and heated from the back. Both of these ScrollsWork stamps are available directly from ScrollsWork or from Happy Daze in the UK
.... and not a hippopotamus in sight (you'd have to have come from the OLW challenge to get that!)
Less is more is a new challenge blog. I've taken the following from their blog
We aim to promote the making of classic Clean and Simple cards, with different challenges each week to help stimulate your imagination and allow you to share your creativity. There will be prizes, usually at the end of a month, from amongst entrants who have contributed to each challenge in that particular month! We will be showCASing some entrants' cards each week and choosing Guest Designers from amongst contestants.
The theme this week is pink, white and black. I've chosen to use the stamp that cam free with this month's craft stamper mag. This is a big card for me 7"x5", that's a lot of white space!!!
the paper along the bottom is stitched onto the card.
Do you remember these little guys "daphne and delilah"? Well, I made those for my youngest son and he adored them. My oldest son has been asking me for ages to make him one, but very specifically it had to me black and white and he didn't want the baby (I guess he's not ready for that sort of responsiblity!!). He wanted the pocket to put his ipod in. Every night when he goes to bed he listens to audio books on his ipod, now he has a monster that "reads" to him. I love the mismatched eyes. he's so cute.
This week at one layer wednesday is nice and easy with plenty of scope. All you have to do is use 1 image, a border and bling. I decided to play with photostamps as they are much overlooked in one layer stamping and there really is no reason why they should be. As we all know Photostamps stamp best onto glossy card, but as we all also know versafine is the best ink for detail (yes you can argue archival is good, but I love my versafine). The problem is that the two are not compatible, versafine does not dry quickly (if it ever dries) on glossy card. The soloution: clear embossing powder, or even better... sparkly clear embossing powder!! And that brings in my bling! I have made this for my sister for her birthday, so inside I added the quote "sisters are different flowers from the same garden" which I did in MS Word.
The flowers are coloured with whispers markers and the bow is paper ribbon.
stamps are by Stampotique 8938 little sisters 9107 heart flowers
