Mother's Day Gatefold Card

Gatefold cards appear to be all the rage now, so I decided to try one for Mother's Day. New pictures added 05.16.10!







Here's the inside.

Umbrella cards

Easter Cards

These cards were made from the leftovers of the floral paper I used to make the apron cards and carried the stitching idea. The bunny is a Sizzix die cut from a multi-occasion pack. The flowers are made with random punches that I had. Clearly, I need to invest in embroidery floss as the white thread gets a tad lost. nonetheless, these guys are cute enough.

Apron Cards

I may retake these pictures as the colors were really washed out by the flash. I heard someone mention a "natural light" lamp that they use for youtube video-making, so I may look into something like that. Even though I finished these cards yesterday, I didn't take pictures until long after the sun went down. This card is adapted from a template found in Papercraft Inspirations Issue 69 (January 2010) with a download here of the apron. The egg-shaped letters were punched using a sizzix die. I did the stitching by hand, although the mag contemplates use of a sewing machine. One card is more three-dimensional as I used thicker foam tape more liberally than on the other.

Cowl/Neck Warmer

I haven't made any new scarves this year for myself since I've been busy with other things. However, it's been unusually cold this winter and last year's scarves have getting lost of wear which has resulted in some stretching. This whipped up super quickly. I got the idea to make a cowl from our trip to the north woods of Wisconsin where someone brought along a few fleece ones. I like that it covers my nose, if needed.



The pattern is a combination of a few I found online and basically goes like this:

Using an I hook and Lionbrand Homespun yarn, chain 60. This should fit over your head, but not be too loose.

Row 1: Ch 1, turn, *sc, dc*, repeat from * around. Sl st to first ch.
Row 2: Ch 1, turn *dc in each sc, sc in each dc, repeat from * around. Sl st to first ch.
Repeat Row 1 and 2 until cowl is desired height. Sc around.

Holiday Treat Bags

This pattern appeared in December 2009's Crochet World p. 20. I filled them with homemade caramels and store-bought peppermints. The only deviation I think I made from the printed pattern was to adjust the height. Aren't they just adorable?

2009 Christmas Cards - 4 cards

Here's the last of them. It took nearly as long to photograph and upload them as it did to make them ;)


This went to my husband.

2009 Christmas Cards - 6 cards

2009 Christmas Cards - 4 cards

This went to my auntie, I think.

2009 Christmas Cards - 3 cards

Since I'm posting these more than a month after, I have no idea which card went to whom unless otherwise noted. You may also note that I got a lot of use out of both the positive and negative of a particular tree stencil.

2009 Christmas Cards

It took a whole weekend, including late nights, but I managed to finish all my holiday cards before Christmas! Individual shots of the cards will appear in subsequent posts.

Diagonal Throw Pillow

Needing to jazz up some old throw pillows, instead of working on my Christmas presents, I crocheted this pillow case.


It used a whole skein of Lion Brand Homespun and maybe a little more. Used a K hook. The pattern was fairly simple and went something like:

Chain 3. 2 hdc in 2nd chain from hook, hdc in last.

Turn and ch 2. 2 hdc, hdc, 2 hdc in last.

Turn and repeat increase on either end until you've reached the the desired maximum diagonal for your pillow. Then decrease hdc on either side until you reach the other corner.

For the back, I did simple rows of hdc to close up the pillow. It also created the nice visual of diagonal stripes on one side and horizontal stripes on the other.

Halloween Afghan

I made this using a pattern from the Sept/Oct 2009 Crochet Today. Since it's a gift, I made it a little larger using 4 skeins of black super saver instead of 3. I also switched up the colors to make it a little more adult.

Puppies and Pandas

Two recent cards that I whipped up to put in care packages.

Welcome to my new blog

Hopefully things will go here soon. For the time being, I've imported my posts from my old Geocities crafts blog. 07.08.2009

Father's Day Card

Card made for my husband's father. I couldn't make a golf or tool card since I've made those for the past few holidays, so this caught my eye. The accompanying gifts were bottle stoppers with globes at the ends, so I thought boat=world travel? Hey, I try. Wonder if I can send this one to my SIL for her birthday?

Making a book for my husband

It's been awhile since I did some serious scrapbooking. If I do say so myself, my skills have improved since I did our wedding album 2 yrs ago. Loads of pictures to catch up on.

Robert's Birthday Card

Cupcakes

Still working on the colors. I like the background papers, but not sure about my coloring.

Bear