Clean and simple pencil crayon Christmas card.

It's been a while since I posted.
I have mostly given up papercrafting and stamping and am now focusing on yarn crafts.
This is purely down to lack of time.
Occasionally though I just can't resist and have to whip up a card.
This is the simplest card made from kraft card and pencil crayons.
The white edging on the central piece is just done by running a white pencil around the edge.

Quick Crochet Gifts: His 'n' Hers Linen Stitch Scarf with Contrast Ends ( Plus one for the dog!)

Wouldn't this be the perfect christmas gift for a couple with a dog?

However that's not what I made them for! The scarves are going to a couple, but the dog scarf is a separate gift for a friend's dog.

This whole set came about quite by accident. I decided to make stripy scarves for a couple, and then decided these colours would be nice. The light grey is the same for each scarf, but I've team it with charcoal for the "His" and Oatmeal for the "Hers".

I really wanted to make these with just 200g for each scarf, but was concerned that it wouldn't be enough so erred on the short side. However it turned out that there was much more yarn than I thought and decided to use the leftovers to make contrast ends.

There was STILL some leftover so I decided to make the dog scarf in all three colours, and there was STILL a little bit leftover!!

I thought I'd include basic instructions in case anyone was interested.


Yarn: 2 x100g StyleCraft Life DK in two different colours (you could use other yarn of course, but I know that there is enough with this yarn)

hook: 4mm

instructions

Chain approx 255 in colour A (or more if you want less contrast edge - up to about 350 for no contrast).

The whole scarf is made with Linen Stitch
Which is basically 1dc -british (or 1sc american) then one chain.

here's a great youtube video that will explain it better



Anyway......

-after finising your chain, 1dc (all my instructions are british) into 3nd chain, chain 1, skip next chain in chain row, dc into next chain. continue accross to end. finishing with a dc.

Change to colour B
-turn, chain 2, *1 dc into first chain space, chain 1, continue to end from *. 1 dc into turning chain.
-repeat this row.
(so all stripes except first and last, are made up of two rows)

Change to colour A and repeat last two rows.

Continue in this way, carrying  yarn up the side, until you have 21 stripes. (40 rows). The first and last stripes only have one row.

Contrast Stripes:

Do not cut yarn.

Take the colour you have used last, and chain two, turn work sideways and work linen stitch along end, stitching 1 dc into each stripe, finishing with a dc as close to edge as you can.
Continue in one colour linen stitch until the contrast end is the length you require.

Fasten off

Go to other end of work and pick up othe colour which is still attached and do the same to form contrast end.

Sew in ends.

The Doggy Scarf. (modelled by the gorgeous Hugo)
PLEASE NOTE: I have had the following comment on my blog
"I don't want to be a party pooper, but while the doggy scarf is cute it could potentially be deadly to the poor pooch. All it would take is for the loose end to get caught on something (or grabbed by another over enthusiastic dog) and it would tighten. Perhaps it could be reworked to not be adjustable, or to have a breakaway part somewhere."

This is certainly something to bear in mind. So Please use this pattern with caution. Maybe only use it as a photo prop. 

For this I did a linen stich in three colours, changing colours after each row. You will always know which colour is next as it will be right there waiting for you at the beginning of the row.

Chain the desired length.

Do a 3 colour linen stitch until desired width.

Turn as for contrast edge and linen stitch accross. (I pulled mine in a bit and doubled up some of the stitches so that the contrast edge is narrower than the scarf). Linen stitch in one colour until desired length when folded, and sew in half.

Finish by doing a single row of linen stitch in same colour along other edge (this covers all of the carrying threads)

Fasten off and sew in ends.

Chutney Tuesday: Christmas Chutney 2014

 I thought it was about time that I cracked on with a chutney for christmas. I made one last year that was nice but I decided to refine it a bit, and make a much larger quantity.

 Ingredients
6 tbls veg oil
1kg white onions - diced
4 Bramley Apples - peeled and diced
2 Parsnips - peeled and very finely diced
5 fresh figs - base and stalk removed and diced
zest and juice of one large orange
400g frozen cranberries (I would have used fresh if they had any)
500g dried mixed fruit
500g dark soft brown sugar
375 ml sherry vinegar
125 cider vinegar
spices:
10 cloves- I just pinched of the heads and crush them with my fingers and dispose of the stalks
2 tsp ground coriander
3 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp mustard seeds (whole)
1/2 grated nutmeg

optional - a large slug of brandy

method
Heat oil, add onions and spices and cook until soft.
Remove from heat and add all of the other ingredients (except brandy).
Stir well and return to heat. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for approx 40 mins or until parsnip softened. Stir regularly.
Uncover, add brandy and simmer for approx 20 mins until reduced to a chutney consistency.
Spoon into sterilied jars and seal. Makes approx 3 to 3.5 litres.

christmas bagelope

After making the bagelope for my guest designer spot at PaperArtsy, I realised I needed another to wrap a present for a friend
Before folding the envelope I stamped it with stamps from this set in brown inks, and again onto a white tag.
I also used the splatter from this set using white ink. The bell is from a set of 10 from the poundshop
The instructions for the bagelope are here.
I wish I could enter the challenge, but I think I wouldn't be allowed to!!

my final guest designer week at PaperArtsy

Have you seen my final week as guest designer on the PaperArtsy blog? I'm concentrating on last minute gifts and wrapping.

Of course there's a challenge, and you can win stamps.

Although I've officially finished my guest designer work at paperartsy, I'll still be popping up... to make sure that us clean and simple crafters are still represented!!

less is more: christmas card- use a bird

The theme at Less is more this week is to use a bird on a Christmas card.
For the Christmas cards that I make for my book group each year I try to incorporate book pages somewhere on the card. So, that was what I had in mind while making this.
Also every time I see this leaf die from the grunge flower #1 set from PaperArtsy, it reminds me of a bird, so I thought it was time to try it out in that way.
I have used PaperArtsy paints too. The blood orange (for the red breast) and spiced paprika (for the body) are both translucent so show the words through well. The cinnamon (main body) is semi-opaque, so gives a bit more coverage but not too much. I only applied a tiny amount of the paints, anyway, for a subtle hint of colour.

I drew on the eye and feet with a fine tipped marker.

The words are from PaperArtsy's squiggly ink range.

p.s. sorry, I know it's tuesday, but I have no new chutney recipes this week!

Less is more - string or twine

I love this challenge theme at the Less is More Challenge, I have a bit of a thing for string it's so cheap yet adds a lovely rustic feel to projects.

At first, I was just going to use it to hang a bauble on a card, so went straight to this Jofy set of stamps. Then I spotted the "trunk" of this christmas tree and thought it would be perfect to be made of string.

I stamped it once onto the base card and glued the string directly over the trunk. I stamped it again onto card and coloured with a combination of pencils and marker pens. The attached with 3D foam.

I finished with some more string to further highlight the theme.

I have been working with string in another way this week. A friend asked me if there was anything I could design that you could pop over a salsa jar so you could put them straight on a table without looking cheap. I thought that a string based cover added a nice rustic feel to a table and made these covers by crocheting string. Very easy to do, double crochet (US single crochet) into the back loop only of previous row, until it fits round the jar stretched. Make it as wide as you want to cover the label on your particular jar. Mine is 9 stitches wide.

Chutney Tuesday: Joanne's Christmas Chutney

This was a highly experimental Chutney recipe, but I think it worked out okay.

I wanted to make a chutney that combined all the flavours and smells that make me think of christmas.

recipe

vegetable oil
3 Parsnips
2 cooking apples
3 medium onions
15g ginger
6 dried figs
100g dried cranberries
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 grated nutmeg
350ml red wine vinegar
100mls dry sherry
250g soft dark brown sugar
zest of half orange


Peel, chop and roast parsnips (coat with oil) at 220 degrees celsius for about 20 minutes until soft but not too browned

meanwhile prepare other ingredients. Peel and chop apple into small chunks. dice onions. finely chop ginger. Chop figs quite small.

add ginger to oil and cook for a minute add onions and cook until soft. add spices and cook for another couple of minutes.

add apples, figs, cranberries, chopped up roast parsnip (will be quite mashy), orange zest, vinegar, sherry and sugar.

bring to boil and cook until jammy. Store in sterilised jars.

I'm back in time for christmas

I can't believe how long it is since I have blogged, but it's time to start thinking about christmas cards, so I thought I'd share this reaaaaaallly basic one layer card that I made today. The stamps are from Crafty individuals (this is a great stamp sheet for christmas, there's so much on it)

I've used crushed olive distress ink, black arcvival and loose glitter (so now I'm all sparkly too)

My wish for the new year..

...Happiness.
The challenge at stampotique is "wish for the new year".
I decided to decorate a bauble with the Happy Definition from stampotique. This can then go on a bottle as a gift for a new year party host. I like the idea of giving decorations at new year, as people still have their trees up.

I stamped the definition repeatedly onto creamy/brown tissue paper, then tore it up (to remove the birthday bit of the definition. I attached this to small bauble with mod podge, left to dry and then sprayed with varnish.

Crochet Mistletoe Bauble

My work Christmas do had a competition to make our own baubles. I decided to crochet mine.


I got the pattern for the mistletoe from a book (but made it smaller). The ball is made using prinicples of arigurumi (check out youtube for techniques). I hope that the photos pick out the lovely sparkle in the white yarn. I finished with some beads from a broken bracelet (I say broken..... to be honest I cut it up just to make this, but in my defense it was a really cheap one)

Quick Crochet Gift.... it's not too late.

I originally got this idea from pinterest (an evil site that steals hours of your life without your realising)

And it's not an original idea (you can buy something similar here), but I loved the idea of making an "indoor snowball fight" for my kids for Christmas (just in case it doesn't snow this year). Each ball takes about 30 mins, so it really can be a last minute crochet gift.

I had recently crocheted a bauble (to be blogged soon) so knew that it was easy to crochet a ball.
-basically crochet a small ring, then dc (note I use british stitch definitions - not US) 6 into ring, continue in spiral, dc 2 into each stitch for first round, then 1 dc into 1 stitch 2 dc into next for one round, the dc into next 2 stitch, 2 dc into next, continue in this way until you like the size, then continue without shaping until the size looks right. Then start to decrease, reversing the procedure, but dc 2 tog, where you did 2 dc into one stitch before (basically this is amugurumi and there are much better instructions on the internet)


The problem with using fluffy yarn is that you can't see the stitches so there is a lot of guesswork, but the fluffiness hides any mistakes. all the balls may end up different sizes, but that makes them more like real snowballs.

The balls are stuffed with toy stuffing and then crammed into a nice jar. (from poundland). Decorate the jar to finish.

less is more: green

I find it really hard to not take part in the less is more challenges, they are just so tempting! For this green challenge, I simply stamped a christmas greeting (that came free with a magazine) with forest moss distress ink, and then added vintage christmas flower soft along the bottom of the letters (this is definitely one of my favourite flower soft colours, it just shouts "Christmas"!!

a non-traditional christmas

This week at the Stampotique designers' challenge we challenge you to use non-tradional colours in your christmas card.
When I first saw this snowman stamp from Jo Capper-Sandon's range at stampotique, one of the first things that I thought was it would be perfect for football (soccer) fans with that stripey scarf. Here in Leeds, our local team is Leeds United who play in white, yellow and blue. So this card is for all the Leeds United fans.

I have coloured the image with whispers markers, including a little grey picked up on a blender pen for shading. I finished with some stickles glitter glue.

We Three Kings for the happy daze blog

As Christmas rapidly approaches, I find the need for quick and easy cards gets more urgent.

Here's an easy one made with one simple stamp from stampotique.

I have coloured the card with pencils, highlighted with glossy accents. I have also used some gilding flakes to accent the bands around the crowns. I finally finished with some gold cord.

Christmas with non-Christmas stamps

You don't always have to buy special Christmas stamps to make your Christmas cards. Sometimes you just have to look at the stamps you have in a different way. This general tree from Stampotique, can easily be made to look wintry with simple colouring, and the addition of white flower soft or glitter. The tiny bird from Jo Capper-Sandon's range can easily be made to look like a robin redbreast with the appropriate colouring



all stamps are from , I made this for the Happy Daze challenge (where you can purchase your stampotique stamps)

knitted hat with crochet mistletoe

or a christmas "kiss me quick" hat.

I found a pattern for crochet mistletoe in a book and made a few (although I changed the pattern slightly from the book) I decided that it would be cool to put it on a hat, so I knitted a simple hat in white sparkly yarn and sewed on the mistletoe. I added a couple of faux pearls from a cheap bracelet for the berries.

mistletoe bird house

The new monthly challenge at Happy Daze is Christmas or Hallowe'en.

The design team were given these tiny little wooden bird houses to play with. Unsurprisingly I kept mine simple. The only stamp I used is Jo's Mistletoe stamp from Stampotique.

Check out the instructions and what the rest of the design team did on the Happy Daze blog.

This year's batch Christmas Card??

Every year I do a couple of designs for cards that I will be able to batch make (usually in late november). I think this is this year's first design. It's quick, uses minimal materials that are easily replaced, and is perfect for batch making.

The Stamps are all from Jo Capper-Sandon's range at stampotique, (available from Happy Daze in the UK) stamped in brown versafine on kraft card, and coloured with coloursoft pencils. the berries are highlighted with Glossy Accents, and the knotted ribbon is glued on.

This is one of my favourite ways to use ribbon, and so is my second entry for this week's Less is More Challenge. I have also entered this for the Kraft Jounal's Christmas in July theme.