Handmade cards and other crafts, templates & tips

As promised here's the slideshow for my crochet pansies, hope you find it helpful when making your own pansies.

 

Yesterday was Earth Day and maybe I should've posted this then but I think all days should be Earth Days, after all it's the planet we live on and we take so much giving so little back...

Anyway, I'm taking part in one of the many fun challenges/competitions we have at Kool Crafts and Arts, the Houseware competition in which we have to choose an item we have around the house and embellish it posting before and after photos of said item.

I made these crochet cosies for a few plastic containers I saved and which I'm using to store things. The yarn was either bought very cheap (20p a ball) at the local charity shop or it's leftover yarn I've had for ages. What do you think? Aren't they cute?

Before

After

It's my friend's birthday today and I made her this little cross stitched wall hanging, I hope she likes it.

The tree came from the sampler below featured in one of the cross stitch books I bought at my local charity shop.

This is the chart for the tree.

 I made a few changes by using different colours for the tree trunk and folliage and then added a few tiny yellow, orange and green beads and a dragonfly.

 

 

Inspired by a few real pansies I have in my back garden I made these crochet ones using different types of embroidery thread and 4 ply cotton.

It's actually a very good idea to use embroidery thread on your crochet projects because there's a wider range of colours and also by using different types of thread you get a lovely mix of different textures making your finished projects even more special.

These pansies are my own design so I don't have a chart or instructions for them but when school starts again I will create a slideshow so you can see how I made them and then make your own if you want

OK, call me crazy but I have actually started making Christmas gifts, although totally unplanned I must say!

This is a scarf I made for my 2-year old niece. I saw this wool at Hobbycraft and loved it so much I had to buy it and make something with it as soon as I got home. Because she lives in Portugal and it's very hot there now I'll only give it to her for Christmas when it should be cold enough for her to wear it.

I also made myself a scarf to wear during the much cooler Spring/Summer season here in the UK.

The stitch pattern used on my niece's scarf is called "Fanfarre" and you can find it here.

On my scarf I used the one below.

Below are some of my other crochet projects:

 Crochet necklace

  Paisley

This year I made little Easter gifts for a few people at my son's school using some mini baskets bought at Hobbycraft over a year ago on sale and meant for a project that never saw the light of day.

To embellish them I cut a few flower shapes and paper buttons (to make the centres for the flowers) with the Sizzix BigShot and used a few ribbon leftovers to tie the flowers to the baskets.

After decorating the baskets I filled them with tiny chocolate eggs and here they are, aren't they cute?