Round and Round......

Yes, my friends, two posts in one day - and I really have been going round and round in circles - 256 times - all to construct a shawl for my daughter and her husband for their first baby due in little over three weeks.  

Here is the shawl in all it's glory - laid out on a dark blue sheet.  It was knitted in what we know as three ply wool - for those familiar with threads, it is similar in weight to two strands of pearle 5 thread.  I knitted it on size 3.25mm needles (size 3 US).  For those who are really interested in statistics, I cast off 1,848 stitches......  after six months of knitting.

Here are some other shots of it somewhat closer - this one shows the centre, which was started on double pointed needles, four to start, and then up to eight, before a 1 metre circular needle, then a 1.5 metre circular needle.


The ribbed pattern is very effective, but oh so boring by the third panel of it!!  The round outside of the petals was the most difficult to master.

This shot shows the next step, with the second round of the rib pattern.





I altered the pattern sightly on the final rib panel - if you look at the smaller round, you will see that above the point of the petal, the rib is fractionally narrower that all the others - this was a real pain when knitting as I found I was constantly missing the change and having to reverse, so in the final panel I made it the same on each (four stitch) repeat.


The shawl 'consumed' 15, 50gm balls of wool and cost more than I like to calculate to knit, by the time you add in the cost of the needles....  but I do know it will be appreciated - which makes it all worth while.  


Now to start the next one, which will be finer, for my DS and DIL!!!


Thanks for calling by and tolerating my going round in circles.

Thank you

Good afternoon to my visitors - it is good to be home and blogging again, and to see you here.

I offered some time ago to make a thank you card for an organisation that I am involved in, and this is the result.


I started with the green panel which I made some time ago during a 'doodle session', using the Cuttlebug Merci folder and Brilliance Thyme ink.


I knew that I wanted to mount it on the red, and added the braid and brads before mounting onto the white base.


This was my first easel card, and as I have repeatedly heard, they are easy to make!!


I finished the card with three silver brads on the base, and some punched red card on which I had stamped and silver embossed the word thanks.


This was a very simple card to make, yet very effective.  I am only sorry that the light was not very strong when I took the photo as it has dulled the colours somewhat.


Thanks for calling by - I really do appreciate you visiting, and leaving comments.

CAS - flower

Hello again, I had another afternoon in the studio and this is one of the cards that resulted.  I had in mind the Midnight Madness Challenge #46, and the need for more birthday cards :-)

I was quite amazed at how quickly this came together - the colours are not ones that I would have planned to put together, but this one  seemed to make itself.

The centre image is from the Layers of Color Architectural Blocks set, coloured with SU coloured pencils and the blender pen.  The colours are much deeper, and more vivid IRL, but this is a reasonable representation of them, apart from the ribbon.

The sentiment is embossed on vellum and sponged with Whisper Ink Rich Plum, and tones in well with the lighter pink in the flower and the pink in the ribbon.

Thanks for calling by - I treasure your comments.

Anniversary Blues

Greetings to you all - I have been too long away from here :-)  I have been busy with the celebrations and entertaining guests, who are still here, but I made time to get into the studio this afternoon and get some cards made.

This was an easy card to make - I started with a mid-blue base, as I know the recipients like blue.  I then took a piece of white card-stock and sponged the edges with Brilliance 'Mediterranean Blue' ink, before stamping the top of the poppy from the Stampin' Up 'Oh So Lovely' set, using Memento Summer Sky ink, stamping several images from one inking of the stamp.


The butterflies from the Stampin' Up set Garden Whimsy had been stamped in white ink (Brilliance 'Moonlight') on a dark blue card-stock some months ago in a doodle moment, so I cut them out and tried them on the white.... they looked great, so after stamping and silver embossing the sentiment, I adhered them into position.  


The sentiment looked a bit lost, so I  sponged it with the darker blue ink,  wiped the ink off the embossing, and presto it could be seen!!


The other corner was finished with the ribbon before mounting the white onto the base.  Three half pearls in each corner added some panache, as did a small white half pearl on each butterfly head.


Thanks for calling by - I won't be back for a few days as we will be out gadding again this weekend, but hopefully early next week I can post again


Thank  you for your support and comments - both are greatly valued. 

A different creation!

Greetings to all who visit - I am pleased to see you call by :-)


Today I have been in the kitchen, not the studio, decorating DH's 70th Birthday cake.  I made and applied the base icing earlier in the week - I love making and using this 'plastic icing' - must do it more often!!  

Today it was onto the detail - I rolled 70 small balls from the balance of the icing and placed them on the top of the cake - then made up some blue icing to pipe the writing.... as you may be able to tell, DH loves cricket, hence the theme and the final comment.


I used 7 candles - one for each decade.  The celebration is on Sunday with family and friends.


Thanks for calling by for a different posting.

Building blocks

Hi to all my visitors, this will be just a quick post today as I need to go out shortly......

I made this as I needed another masculine card and I was hanging out to use my  Layers of Color Architectural Blocks stamps. 


I also wanted a card for the Our Daily Bread Designs 2nd Anniversary competition, and also the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #45, and another entry in the Crazy 4 Challenges masculine card challenge


I used a dark green base card with a light cream layer before I stamped the architectural blocks stamps on light brown cardstock in Adirondack Caramel ink.



The centre panel  is my favourite scripture, embossed in gold, distressed and sponged with Tim Holtz Tea Dye ditress ink before being mounted in dimensional foam tape.

The corners were embossed in gold on the brown card stock using a larger version of the same stamp, cut down to fit, and I then added the 'gems'.




I used the balance of the corner pieces on the inside of the card, where I also placed the sentiment.

Thanks for calling by - despite the brief entry.

Have a great day.     

Triple Challenge

Hello from 'down under' to all my guests - I do love having you call by!!


Just a quick post today and a simple card for a brother who likes clean lines and no fuss on cards!!

As DB loves his fishing, I thought that this image from Hastings Rubber Stamps would be suitable... it is of the highest mountain in New Zealand, Mt Cook, some native flora, and the trout!


I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured it with chalks and the blender pen.  The photo does not do it justice as IRL the colours are stronger and brighter.


I mounted the image panel onto dark brown fabric, which was lightly frayed around the edges,  adding the top ribbons and brads before and the bottom one after placing the main panel.  


The fabric had already been mounted on the bright mid-green back ground.


Over all a simple card and I hope one that will be appreciated.


This card 'fits' three challenges:

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #44

Crazy For Challenges - Masculine Card

and

Our Daily Bread Designs 2nd Anniversary - Cotton  

I don't usually mange to incorporate so many challenges, so I was pleased with this effort.

Thank you for calling by, and for any comments left, they are always appreciated.

Sailing away

Hello to all my cyber-friends and visitors.


I have not got into my studio for longer than I care to think, so it was wonderful to be out there this afternoon and crafting!!

I needed a masculine card (again) and this time I resorted to a sticker for the main image!!  shock horror - I prefer to stamp, but I was a bit stumped as to which image to use, and I came across this in a rummage through my 'stuff' (of which DH says I have far too much!)


I mounted it onto a white background and chalked the sky behind it.... should have done that the other way round!!, and sponged on some blue ink for the sea, and  added some white and silver pen parks for the wake of the boat.


I then mounted this onto a scrap of maroon to give it some definition against the blue background, but did not let it show across the bottom edge against the foil, which had been embossed with the d'vine swirls Cuttlebug folder.


The silver foil at the base of the embossed piece is some scraps from a punched strip - I inadvertently left some double-sided sellotape showing, so out came some silver glitter  to cover that ....  silver sand???


The mid blue card was then pierced, and the corners rounded, the sentiment embossed in silver and I then mounted it onto the dark blue.   I was not happy with the stark appearance, so turned over the template that I had used for the clouds on the white card and chalked some white clouds onto the mid-blue. Again this should have been done before adding the layers, but this craft is a journey and I am always learning.

This card 'qualifies' for two challenges : 

Our Creative Corner - sketch challenge

and

Crazy For challenges #27 - paper piercing

Thanks for calling bye - I do appreciate your visits and your comments.

Time for a new look..

Greetings to all my cyber-guests :-)

I have not actually made much in the past few days.... but thought I would share this card from a blitz a couple of weeks ago.


I started by playing with a new Cuttlebug embossing folder that I had - Flourished Frame.  I ran the white card through and liked the result, but thought I would emphasis the embossing by running a brayer over it loaded with Brillance Mediterranean Blue ink.  The embossing picked it up beautifully, and so did the plain areas in the background!  


Time for some lateral thinking, so I cut out the the embossed image and layered it onto the green base card.... it's amazing how quickly a card can 'change direction' during construction!!  


I then cut a small square of the same white card to fit the frame, and stamped the two Pukeko (Swamp hens) side by side using the stamp-a-ma-jig to line them up. Next I  coloured them with S.U. pencils and a blender pen, adhered them to the centre and wondered where to place the greeting... That done I still was not completely satisfied, and then spotted my paper piercer and after a few seconds of work it was completed.


Thanks for calling by - I love it when you leave a comment too.