Baby Blankets

My Fairy God-daughter is expecting twins! What's even better, they are due on my birthday!
I've been busy crocheting a couple of blankets to give her at the baby shower.  
Baby pink with a white scalloped edge, threaded with pink and white gingham ribbon...

...and a baby blue with white scalloped edge, threaded with blue and white gingham ribbon...

...making a nice bright baby bundle of blankets...

. ...♥... .

21st Birthday Card

Another family member reaches a milestone 21st birthday.
This card is basic cream linen card with a 2 cut out and ragged in a vintage inspired postage stamp paper in browns and plums.  The 1 is in a green coloured vintage map print from the same paper set as the postage stamp print.

I tried to keep it simple with the embellishments and opted for green and red wooden buttons with coordinating jewel and star.  I sneaked a deep green organza bow on it and a small brass key to symbolize the 'Key of the Door' landmark birthday.

. ...♥... .

The Loom of Doom and some more relaxing therapy

'Come build a loom and make a pom-pom blanket' they said.  'It'll be nice, relaxing and therapeutic' I thought.
Oh boy!!
Mother Bear and Sister wanted to make pom-pom blankets and had shown me the links to video tutorials (there are vast numbers of them online, take a look for yourself if you fancy tackling this as a project) and caught me up in their enthusiasm.  Both Mother Bear and Sister built their own frames but I chose what I thought was the easy option and headed off to visit the lovely ladies in our local charity shop.  I emerged £2 lighter but two frames heavier.  Armed with my nails, hammer and a great deal of gusto I chuffed a fine walk to meet up with Sister and we headed off to Mother Bears house.
After spending far too long trying to work out the mathematics of my frame and where to nail the nails I got down to some serious hammering.
Once all the nails were in the frame (a fine job I made of it, even if I do say so myself) I was up and at the weaving of the base wool.  Ah, the relaxing therapeutic bit...
Oh my good giddy God in his striped pyjama's!!!  Relaxing? Therapeutic? Wobbly nails :( Hammered thumb :( and NEVER EVER try to weave on a nail loom in a knitted cardigan!  I think I wove more of my cardi than the actual wool in the first half hour!
Several hours later my loom looks like this...

...and now I'm out of wool so this project will have to wait.

So today I decided to make some more wallpaper envelopes.  I find this VERY relaxing.  I think it's the cutting and folding and sticking that soothes my soul (and after yesterday's shenanigans it needed a soothing!)...

....it looks like my craft mat could do with a good scrub down but that's another day of a different kind therapy!

. ...♥... .

Ha ha ha Happy New Year...

Ok, so it's been a while.  No excuses, no story to tell.  I've still been crafting but maybe not as much as I'd like.

I've seen a lot of sewing mats on Pinterest and other people's blogs so my mum, sister and I set to one day and made one each.

I went for a nice fat quilted base in plain cream with a lovely vintage-style rose printed edge.

The pockets along the front are made with a sewing theme printed cotton and have vintage sewing pattern panels on them.

I'm hoping this little mat will keep all my sewing necessities in one place and save me time in the long run (I'm always putting my scissors down and losing them, even when I'm just sat at my machine :/ ).

. ...♥... .

Every Woman, Every Man...

Join the Caravan...

Christmas is Coming...

Just a few hand-stamped cards for the coming festive season...

Happy 30th Birthday

A pretty hand-stamped card in beautiful pinks with a hint of green...

And a gorgeous envelope too.

. ...♥... .

Little Book of Love

This beautiful little book is made with pockets to tuck pretty little things into.

The front is decorated with a snippet of vintage lace and a tiny key tied with an organza ribbon.

The book ties together with thin crafters thread through two little heart-shaped lock embellishments.

Inside are 6 little card hearts with ink-smudged edges, just lovely to write a little love note or special date on.

The back is finished with a heart lock and a small heart-shaped button.

. ..♥... .

Another Little Handmade Book

This one is covered in a blue and beige scrapbook paper and finished with a vintage-style plate, turquoise wooden heart-shaped button and pearly beads.  The little padlocks on the front and back cover relate to the fastening string to tie the book closed.

The spine is decorated with giddy little ribbon ties in organza and ric-rac braid knots.

The pages are old school maths book pages.

and the signature ties are finished off with little paper hearts and tags.

Handmade Book

I made this book a while ago and added the finishing touches recently.

The cover is made with a scrapbook paper printed with postcards and old letters.  It is decorated with a newsprint frame, tiny jigsaw pieces and a wooden heart button...

with the signatures tied through the spine with cotton twill ribbon knots.

The pages are made up from craft papers, handmade papers, 

pretty card, old book pages, vellum and doilies.

The signature ties are finished with little charms of acorns and a leaf...

...pretty buttons...

...and a tiny tree and flower charm.

. ...♥... .