Creation Consolidation - 2013!

As it's the last day of 2013, here is a concoction of the creations I've posted about this year!

Knitted Stripy Snake
(Actually made as a Christmas present for my nephew the end of last year, but blogged this year)

I finally completed my Waterlily Blanket!

I crocheted a Sidewalk Shawl.

A couple of quick makes: decorated a tin and added ribbon to a crochet tealight holder (hardly worth mentioning really!)

I crocheted a cute pink owl.

I made some crochet balls for my nephew.

I made a zipped make-up pouch.

I created a wedding embroidery for my sister-in-law's sister's wedding.

"Making" slowed down drastically due to moving house in May, and having lots of DIY to do!  A bit of fun DIY was the dresser makeover.

I made a tea cosy for my brother, in Southampton FC colours, and posted a tutorial for it.

I created crocheted Christmas Star Jar Covers, with a tutorial.

I made washi tape Christmas tags.

I baked some melting snowman biscuits.

I made a pair of Christmas stockings.

I made a last-minute Rudolph gift bag, complete with twiggy antlers.

And I made a cuddley monster for my nephew for Christmas.

There are actually a couple of other homemade gifts I gave, that I will post about at some point soon.

Wow, after slowing down in the middle of the year after the house move, I became mega crafty in the lead-up to Christmas!!!

Hope this wasn't too boring for you, but it was cool for me to see all my makes throughout the year together in one place.

It just leaves me to say, HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Have a lovely night tonight, and see you in 2014.  I hope it'll be a creative year!

Cuddley Monster!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!  Ours was great!

Just popping in to show you a present I made my nephew for Christmas...

It's a monster cushion / soft toy, made from fleece with felt features.

My nephew (who was 2 yesterday) thinks it's an owl!!!

It didn't come out quite as I had pictured in my head - it's not my best work - but it is still quite fun, and nice to cuddle.

Hopefully he'll enjoy having a snuggle with his monster toy!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas all my lovely readers!!

Bit of last minute crafting - I just whipped up this Rudolph bag, using a brown paper bag I had, and inspiration from Pinterest.  It's to house a handmade gift, which I will show another time!

He has a red glittery nose!

The Lumberjack has been busy too today, making mince pies.

They taste delicious!  He cheated a bit, and used shop bought pastry and mincemeat.  However, he couldn't resist tarting up the mincemeat with a generous glug of sherry, extra sultanas, mixed spice and brown sugar.  (He thinks he's a bit of a chef, I just humour him... and eat them!)

I hope you all have a lovely day tomorrow.  We've got the fire going, and are going to watch a Christmas film in a bit - then off to my parents' house for a family Christmas tomorrow!

My Birthday

Thanks for the great comments on my stockings - I'm really pleased with how they turned out!

On Tuesday it was my birthday - 34 (how did that happen?!)  We took the day off and went out to Alresford for a potter about and a cream tea.  In the evening my family came round for food and present giving!  It was a lovely day!

I'll share some of the crafty-related bits I got.  My sister-in-law (and brother) got this for me:

Love it!  So cute, and very apt!  The Lumberjack can vouch for that - he said the other day that I don't need a craft room (as he looked at craft stuff strewn across the living room)!!

He gave me the crafty bits above.  Looking forward to using them!

My Mum and Dad got me the lovely yarn below to use for little fun crochet projects - love the colours:

And this book:

So much crafting to be done!!

I was very lucky and got lots of other gifts - but I won't bore you with them all here.  Apart from just to share this one last thing from the Lumberjack:

Kenny Rogers!!!  Hell yeah!

And one last thing... I had my work's Christmas party yesterday - 80s theme!  Here is a blurry selfie which gives a bit of an idea of my costume... (kinda wanna dress like that all the time!!)

If I don't post again before Christmas, then...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Have a lovely time!  Eat, drink and be merry!

Christmas Stockings!

At the weekend I finished the Christmas Stockings I'd hinted at previously!

The fabric was from paper-and-string - a lovely shop, and a lovely blog!  I bought two fat quarters, one of the gnome fabric and one of the red spotty fabric.

I used the free pattern and tutorial from here.  It was a great tutorial with a printable pattern.

I lined them with some light blue polka dot fabric I've had for years...

I couldn't get quite everything I needed out of each fat quarter, so I veered off the pattern slightly, and instead of the cuff being made from the same fabric, the underside of it is in the lining fabric:

Which makes no difference really!

I'm very pleased with them, and glad I pulled my finger out and got them made!

Such fun!

Christmas Cookies

I've been partaking in a bit of Christmas baking today!

I made biscuits using this recipe from Hydrangea Girl - but I ended up sticking with the original and not adding the lemon (for the sole reason I didn't have a lemon and couldn't be bothered to go out and get one... lazy...)

(I just read this out to the Lumberjack and he's outraged that I didn't use the lemon juice we've got to at least make the icing lemony!!  Ha, oh well!)

I also didn't have enough icing sugar, so the above biscuits are the ones that were left plain (which enabled me to faff about with ribbon and create the picture above... for no particular reason other than I thought it would look nice - I'm just going to take the ribbon off and eat them!)

The rest of the biscuits got iced and turned into.............

............. melting snowman biscuits!

I'd got the idea from Pinterest (but couldn't seem to actually find a recipe or a proper original source unfortunately) and my attempt is a very poor copy of the inspiration!!

In case you can't tell, the head is a marshmallow stuck onto the icing.  My marshmallows were quite tall, so I cut them in half, and stuck them with the cut side down.

My mum, dad, brother, sis-in-law and nephew are coming round on Tuesday evening for a little birthday celebration (it's my birthday that day!) so I decorated seven, so that we all get one.  Then, I had enough - it was quite tricky - and the rest are being left like this...

Poor faceless snowmen - as if melting wasn't bad enough!  (Well... they're still going to taste the same!!!)

Before I go, check out these flowers the Lumberjack bought me yesterday:

Love those bright happy colours!!

Oh... and Alex, yes - you got it!  Haven't made them yet, though, my greedy belly distracted me.

Christmas Bits and Baubles...

Look what I received with my Christmas card from my lovely friend Anna...

Such a beautiful crocheted snowflake, adding some more Christmas sparkle to my home...  Thanks Anna, I love it!

I have been loving coming home to my Christmas tree after work each day...

I've got plans for a Christmas make (well two makes) using this fabric...

If I pull my finger out, hopefully I'll be able to show you soon(ish).  My momentum has slowed down a bit lately - after the initial enthusiasm of crocheted jar cosies and washi tape tags.  This is why I go with the early flashes of crafty creativity - as if I don't do it then, I may never do it!!

Thanks for all the lovely comments lately - I always appreciate and enjoy them!

Oh, and I completely forgot (sorry!) thanks so much to Laura from Blue Giraffe Crafts for nominating me for the Sunshine Blog Award - much appreciated.  Thanks Laura!

Christmas Tree

The Lumberjack arrived home this week with a tree he acquired during his roamings in the New Forest...

Today we bought some bits and bobs to decorate it and got it in position - it's pretty big really!

This is the first time I've ever had a real tree, and now it's in place and decorated I do like it - but I think a fake one will be more manageable in future.

(I've tucked that left-hand stray end of blue tinsel around a bit since seeing these pictures!)  My decorating style is pretty haphazard really - shove it all on!

Here's a picture from a few weeks back - I baked some little blueberry muffin/cake things, and look at the blanket!  (It hasn't been touched for ages now - I've been slaving on a present for my nephew... to be revealed in time...)

That's all for now...