This weeks crafting

This week I have been mostly knitting.  I have a few unfinished projects I would like to get finished and I have been concentrating on these.  The first is a purple and lilac striped hoodie that was originally for my friends granddaughter.  I have spent so long on it that it is probably too wee by now.  I have been doing it on metal needles and the difference in weight between them and bamboo is really noticeable. I found my fingers were getting sore and swollen after only an hour.  I have completed the back and two sleeves so far.

OH wants some lightweight loose bedsocks.  However, I can only do socks from a pattern and so far they have been too tight or not big enough.  I started a pair with 4ply sock yarn but after doing the cuff and heel I decided they were much too thin and if walked on the would disintegrate. So back to the drawing board.

I took a break from knitting to make some girls jewellery.

Monster High stud earrings

two sets of earrings, ring and hair clips.  The first with sparkly Mickey Mouse shapes

and the second with sparkly bows

I also made one card this week.  It is not for anyone in particular so i may list it for sale

thats it so far this week.  Happy crafting!

Been too busy to craft!

Had a hectic fortnight as work has being getting done on my house but (finally!) finished my daughter, Ami's hooded scarf that was supposed to be for Christmas.  In the end it took 8 balls at £2.99 each.  I would have been cheaper buying one.  There are pockets at the ends of the scarf.

The yarn is King Cole Splash.  Colour Embers.  It is a self patterning yarn which I used doubled on 9mm needles.  I had to scroll through each ball to get the colours to line up.  There was some yarn left over so i made a matching pair of hand warmers

Mandi, my niece, and I went to Homebase to buy paint and whilst there we spotted a lovely wine glass in the sale.  Only one left so she asked me to put her name on it

I still think i'm smudging the letters but Mandi liked it (or so she said).  Also did a Tea Money jar for the Thursday Group

Got the Debbi Moore Twilight Queen cd and made a couple of Gothic themed cards.  The one below is my favourite.  I echoed the skull and clock design with a pair of removable charms that could be put on a necklace or bracelet.  I'm going to try to sell this one on eBid Link Here

This morning I picked up a knitting and crochet magazine in the charity shop and it has some lovely baby, and a cute girls bag patterns in it so that will probably be my next craft project.

Back to Knitting

My Silhouette Cameo is not working properly on print and cut so i phoned and was told to return it and it will take around a month to return it! However I have a few half knitted projects that I have to finish so i'll just get on with that meantime.
The first is a baby hat that i've accidentally knitted all on 3.75mm needles instead of changing to 4's after the rib.  This has made it quite dense so will be lovely and warm.  The original pattern had intarsia but my arthritis is playing up and my hands were too sore to do all the twisting so I knitted it plain.  I think it looks quite good as it is. Click here to buy

The second item i've done this week was a kit from one of my knitting magazines with a slip stitch pattern that I liked the effect of.  They call it a craft bag but with its lovely sunset colours I think it would make a great handbag. Now on sale on eBid.

Although I made and listed lots of Valentines Cards I only managed to sell 2.  I just don't see why more people don't buy their cards online when they are cheaper (and nicer I think) than shop bought cards and you can have them personalised free.  Like Moonpig I offer to put your message inside and send direct to the recipient but still they don't sell well.  I wonder what I am doing wrong.

This is the 2 that did sell

The one above went in the monthly charity auctions and raised £2.25 for the Thursday Group (a mental health charity I support)

I think I will start on Mother's Day and Easter cards next.  Have to go back to making ordinary cards without using the cameo but that might be fun for a change.

I am also knitting a hooded scarf for my daughter that was supposed to be for Christmas but I ran out of yarn.  It has taken 8 balls so far as i'm knitting it doubled on 9mm needles but hope to finish it by the weekend.

All Work & No Play...

Went through to my desk at 10am with the idea of doing


a couple of invitations before breakfast.  Various disasters occurred and another 3 sheets of expensive card ruined.  Took a break and went to post some items and when i came back I wanted to make a gift tag for my daughter's birthday.
Rather than start anew I decided to rummage through my saved offcuts to see if I could find anything suitable.  5 hours later I had amassed a pile of tags, though mostly Christmas.

Think i'll list them at just 99p since they were mostly all leftover bits from kits and magazines.

Made a couple of cards too

this is from one of the Debbi Moore Designs cd.  Greece I think but could be Rome. It is now on eBid, Link Here

This is for my friend Jessie whose husband is very ill


  

Mother of Pearl Button Jewellery

This week i've been working on some jewellery made from vintage mother of pearl buttons.  As a child I love to sort through my grandmothers button box and my favourites were always the mother of pearl.

I started with a blank silver coloured charm bracelet chain and using grey MOP buttons I added a jump ring to one of the holes.  I attached these to the chain at regular intervals.  The I got some crystal beads that are clear on one side and silvered on the other.  I put these on silver plated findings and topped them with smaller black bi-cone beads. I attached these in front of the buttons. I got a larger crystal & black bead and put them on a headpin for the end of the extender chain.

I am quite pleased with the end result.

These photos also show how bad my cutting mat has got with adhesive.  I really need a new one :)

The second button bracelet is called "Bells, buttons and bows"  I used creamy coloured MOP buttons in varying sizes and types and strung the interspersed with little silver bells and cream coloured bows on jump rings.  This one took around 3 hours to do.

I do have it for sale on Etsy but i'm thinking of keeping it for my eBid.net friend Buttons-and-bows as she was my inspiration for it.

Started knitting a striped bag that came as a kit with a knitting magazine but the arthritis got the better of me and I only managed 2 rows.

Etsy Shop and new jewellery

Opened an Etsy shop WiccaBasketUK.  So far I have only listed 5 items but hope to add another 5 later today

Wedding Invitations made on the Cameo and other crafty makes

 My daughter is getting married in June and my nephew in July.  I am making their invitations.
This is my daughters evening invitations

The background is printed from the Printable Heaven's wedding set and is an image of a car with Just Married on the back of it and lots of little hearts.  It was printed in lilac on silver shimmer pearlescent card.
I used metallic silver to make a mat with plain pearlescent on top of that.  The heart topper was cut with thw Silhouette Cameo using a file from the Silhouette store.  This was raised up on foam pads.  The sentiment is a silver coloured peel off.  On the Wedding invitations i used some heart shaped gems but can't decide whether to use them on here. The envelopes are 130mm square lilac pearlescent.

My Nephews card is a lot more complicated.  It is an easel style card on a similar card as above and is print and cut on the cameo.  The ink takes almost 4 hours to be dry enough to put through the cutting machine without smearing. (I wasted a considerable few sheets trying to get it right).

The cutting file was a freebie from Bird's Cards I think.  Apologies if it was from elsewhere.  Cutting the topper also took a few goes to get the settings right.  I print the topper and stopper on an a5 sheet and the base on an a4 sheet.  The topper is set to double cut at speed 2, thickness 33, blade at depth 6.  It takes almost 20 minutes to cut one.  The base is single cut at depth 6 speed 3 and only takes 1 1/2 minutes.  The details of the reception and RSVP is printed on the base.  I attached the toppers with double sided tape and the stopper with foam pads.  The flatback pearls are 4mm and are attached with Anita's tacky glue.  The envelopes are 5 inch square silver pearlescent.

I have been so busy with these that I have had little time for other crafting.  My youngest daughters Christmas hooded scarf if still awaiting pocket fronts.

I did manage to knit a white sparkly mobile phone sock and make a Valentine card for eBid.net's monthly Your Donation Counts (YDC) charity auctions

http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/ydc117-hand-knitted-sparkly-mobile-phone-sock-ydc-117-for-ltg-124105922.htm

http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/ydc-117-a-late-entry-handmade-valentine-card-ydc117-for-ltg-124357694.htm

The phone sock was knitted on 4mm needles with James C. Brett Twinkle yarn to my own pattern.
The heart card was cut on the cameo using a file from the store and was decorated with red self adhesive gems and a peel off.  The insert was cut using 120gsm decoupage paper. It is approx 130mm square.

If you would like to place a bid on these, (or any of the other 150 YDC auctions), they run from the 24th to the 28th of the month.  If you are not yet a member of eBid you can join here using this link.

Thats all for just now.  Hoping to finish all my invites by the end of March, so may not do much blogging till i'm done.