FPC New Year's Eve!!!

Wouldn't you know it? I've finished up with Book One projects on the last day of the year!! Many of you are out at parties by now or sitting home with your family enjoying the festivities, or still recovering from the holidays. Here's a treat for you-- the crimson rose from the front cover of Book One, minus the little white flowers. I do plan on doing the little white flowers to complete it, but here it is sitting on my keyboard to celebrate another year over.

Any resolutions? 5...4...3...2...1...

FPC Friday - Hydrangeas

My hydrangeas are complete! Here are three cards I've made with them. They take quite a while to make but they are really worth it and the process is simple and enjoyable. I will be doing these again for sure.

Art of Crochet Square 45

Sorry, I seem to have forgotten about this again this week. Recognise this? It's the first square, back again. I made loads of these in purple for a textured wrap I made. It's such a thick pattern, it takes longer than you'd think to work up.

In other crochet news, I decided the tam-o-shanter is not the hat for me, so I unpacked the end and started another hat and pulled the yarn as I needed it from the tam-o-shanter. As it unraveled, the new hat took shape. Lovely! I made an Inca hat with ear flaps and plaits- much more my style. I had yarn left at the end, so I could still make a few more things...

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Crochet double Sunday!!

Life's been hectic this week. Then when it all slowed down on Saturday, my brain decided I had time for a migraine. My pre-blogged crochet ran out ages ago, so here I am playing catch-up.

Issue 47 of Art of Crochet had a guide to assembling the upper left quarter of the throw, so I've done that. Also, square 44. I'm sure you can tell which is which.

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FPC Friday - Flower 21

This is it!! The final individual flower in Floral Punch Craft Book One by Leone Em. You've seen it before because I've used it on a card, but this one has some subtle differences and I think the flower is all the better for it.

This flower is made with (I feel like a broken record here) the Jumbo Sun punch. I didn't have it before and had to resort to using the sun punch I already had, which didn't really do the job.

The old flower had seven layers-- this one has ten.

I used more than one colour to shade the petals.

These little changes made good flowers into great flowers!! I will be making these again.

FPC Friday - Flower 20

This one's called a Begonia. I'm not entirely sure how I'll use this one yet but it won't be in a standard way I'm pretty sure. I may ask around and see who else has made something with this one. It was another quick one and I'm sure once I find the right application for it, I'll be making it again. It's quite delicate really, this photo doesn't do it justice.

Art of Crochet square 43

Another granny square. It was nice to revisit this one. I forgot just how quickly these are made up, even with colour changes.

My next delivery is waiting for me at the sorting office. I'm off to pick it up today! No other crochet news to report this week.

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Sorry to have Kept You.

I didn't intend to keep you in suspense so long. Real life just caught up with me and-- perish the thought-- I forgot to blog!

Anyway, here's the end product. They're little glittery cones of sweets for my kids' teachers. The stamp is by Creative Expressions. You stamp it however many times you want, score the flaps and make it into a box or basket or even a little lampshade. Creative expressions make a whole range of stamps that assemble in this way. Fantastically fun, especially at this time of year.

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FPC Friday - Flower 19

This flower is the first outing for my "medium tree" punch. That punch proved to be one of the hardest ones to find out of all the punches in book 1. Here it is, though! Ta-daaa! Another large flower that is fun to make and takes very little time. With nine petals arranged sequentially though, it is going to take some practice to make them look even.

what's this?

Here are my supplies. What am I making with it?

Guesses, leave a comment. Answer on Saturday!

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Art of Crochet Square 42

Yes, you've seen this before. It was nice to revisit this striped square. I think I had a tougher time with it this time than I did the first time. Not sure why.

In other crochet news, I made a hat for Vix using only 100 grams of Aran wool. She loves it. I started the hat last week and finished it in three sittings over 2 days. What can I say, she needed it. :)

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Lily of the Valley card

I finally made many of my Floral Punch Craft items into cards. I will be posting these for the next few days.

The FPC is the main feature of the card so I've kept the rest simple, with just mats and a peel-off greeting.

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The Second Tunnel Card

There are quite a few differences, aren't there? Have fun!

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Birds tunnel cards

I made this tunnel card, inspired by one I saw in Craft Stamper. This one may be a bit simpler than the one in the mag but I'm thrilled with it.

I made another one the following day. See tomorrow's post to play Spot the Difference! :)

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Swirly Notepads

(I have no idea how Blogger-Droid will format this...)

These are two of the same jotters as the one I blogged earlier, but these are quite simply covered with a marbled paper and a few flourishes cut on my Sizzix Sidekick.

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FPC Friday - Flower 18

Lily of the Valley. I love this flower, but this still needs work. Some of the flowers are pointing up when they should be pointing down!! Oh dear... I shall operate on it and then use it on a project and then you'll see the difference in it. Keep your eyes peeled!

Bingo Board Revamp!

I've been meaning to get round to this for some time. I used to have a lilac and titanium-gold bingo board, but it had the clip at the top which isn't very good for holding the bingo cards at the social club. A friend of mine found a side-clip one at the pound shop so I got one and put off decorating it for months on end. I finally did it. Like it?

Its first outing won me a fiver! Go lucky bingo board!

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Art of Crochet Square 41

Another repeat, a square of white with a blue cross-stitched diamond motif. :) An Oldie but Goodie.

In other crochet news, I'm making the Inca hat from the partwork, only all in one colour. It's for Victoria. She'll look cute in it! Hats I make are usually too small for adults.

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Copic paper- what to do?

I bought a pad of paper suitable for Copics, but I just noticed upon using it for the first time that it's 70gsm! So basically, it's see-through. So I stamp my image on this lovely paper that takes the copic ink really well, and then I can't really mount it on anything but white.

Don't get me wrong, the paper is nice and does what it says on the tin, but I don't know what to do next...

This is a Tesco Value jotter that I made up using the image I stamped on the paper. I needed special adhesive that wouldn't show through as well. Another bugbear! And I will need to decorate the join too as it's visible.

Suggestions anyone?

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October Crop Part 5

Where are the pictures? Oh, yeah, right down in the corner. I went mad with stickers from the Basic Grey Green at Heart set. There's an offset white panel that's been punched all around the edge with loops, and the die-cut title finishes it off nicely. It's Victoria riding those spring-mounted animal things at the park in Walthamstow.

This was the last page I made at the crop, and also my last page to date. I ran out of photos! I have since taken more, and school photos have come in, so I've got them to do now.

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October Crop Part 4

This one relies heavily on stickers and a die-cut title. It's my little girl at Tumble Tots, balancing on the beam.

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FPC Friday - Flower 17

Here's another great example of how good the stamens in the middle of a flower can look if you have the right Jumbo Sun punch. Fantastic!! These leaves are crinkly-- according to the intructions! :) Not me being heavy-handed with the tool. The flower is light purple but it's hard to spot because of the light. This is a large flower and may be used on its own or with very few others in an arrangement. We'll see what comes together.

October Crop Part 3

Yet another outing for the Touch of Pink set by Papermania. This time, a double layout of Victoria's 3rd birthday party. Aww...

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Art of Crochet Square 40

The repeats just keep on coming... this time it's the second showing of the mock-cable square. I am thinking of comparing this one side-by-side with the last one I made to see if I improved at all. I seem to have had more difficulty this time. Odd...

In other crochet news, I am happily walking around in a matching scarf, tam-o-shanter and mitten combo. It's fine for a while and then I feel hot and have to take them off... especially the hat, so I am saving the hat for exceptionally bad hair days. :)

October Crop Part 2

Another outing for the Touch of Pink collection and loads of Thickers. I'm pleasantly surprised at how far a pack will go!

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October Crop Part 1

This double LO was made with the PaperMania Touch of Pink collection that I got two Christmases ago from my Sister-in-law. This kit has really stretched quite far. I still have papers and stickers left after making a lot of pages and a few cards with it. Great craft mileage!

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Debden - The final part.

While everyone else was packing up, I was hard at work assembling this. It was based on a sketch from A Trip Down Memory Lane, but I had to tweak it to suit my own photos. I don't print according to I'm going to scrap it, I scrap according to how it prints. I had to combine two pictures into the main image, but for the three smaller ones, I was lucky I had room to crop them down.

This is Victoria kicking a ball around before Tumble Tots.

And thus ends what I made at Debden. There's just no blogging all the hilarious conversations we had at silly o'clock, and all the other things that made the weekend fun. Scrapbooking and friends-- there's just nothing like it.

Debden Part 24

Chalk another one up for the border-punch fiesta! The background paper is really fun-- a K and Co donation from KraftyKaren. It was just whimsical enough for a mexican page. :) This was little Victoria's first taste of Taco Bell. She had a Taco Supreme and a Churro.

FPC Friday - Flower 16

I'm really motoring through this book. I've done all the flowers in Book One. I finished in late September. You'll be seeing one a week until you've seen them all, then I shall be moving on to Book Two.

For now, here's Flower 16. I finally got my Jumbo Sun punch by Leone Em. Fabulous!!! I love it! This whole flower is made with the Sun punch. The rays on this one are much nicer than the rays on the Woodware one, and of course the flowers that use the Sun punch do call for the Leone Em punch and it's very obvious why, having used both.

Debden Part 23

I did get a lot done at Debden, didn't I? This was the last one I did before Sunday lunch, I believe... Just a simple one with the background paper doing most of the work, a robo-cut scalloped oval for the journalling and a little flower spray to embellish. It's a little snapshot of Victoria at 3 years old.

Art of Crochet Square 39

Another one of these lovely bobbly squares. The bubbles are made with scraps of yarn left over from previous squares.

My extra yarn hoard grows bigger every time, so it's good to see scraps put to good use.

A little look forward: I have just received my next shipment of four issues. No new patterns, but I will be posting them anyway.

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Debden Part 22

Can you see the title? The colours match a little too well in this and they don't show up in the photo. Oops...

Debden Part 21

This is the lazy girl's Double layout. No mats on the photos, just a haphazard arrangement and a die-cut title to stick down. Brenda Pinnick saves the day again. I dipped into my never-ending stash of it to find two identical sheets with a border already on them. Job done!

I just love the variety of expressions on their faces, sometimes different, sometimes similar. They're cute. I'm not ashamed to say it. :)

Debden Part 20

Here come the Double page layouts... I like to do these but sometimes my paper prevents me. I buy a lot of Basic Grey collection packs and they have one sheet of each pattern on them, so I either have to find patterns that can sit next to each other or just not make a double. This time I used some Brenda Pinnick paper. I still have plenty of that!

In "All Played Out," Victoria is hard at work building a puzzle cube and then sleeping on the sofa. Bless.

Debden Part 19

Hmm... the lighting on the photo is pretty odd.... anyway... Another border-punching spree, this time with Martha Stewart's doily lace punch. Another robo-cut title, another robo-cut journalling oval, more primas, more die-cut leaves and two photos, et voila!

This one is a picture of straighter bunches put in my daughter's hair. It's getting easier to make them even now that her hair is a bit longer.

FPC Friday - Flower 14

I'm really pleased with this one-- even though it could use more stamens!! It's a great, quick flower to make, and I can see this one being used instead of a bow on top of a gift. I'm going to try this in a few different colours as gift-wrap when I get the chance. Also, I now have the correct punch for the middle (it's the sun punch again) and this one was done with the incorrect punch. It'll do but the little yellow bits are not quite right.

Debden Part 18

I thought that would show up a little better than it does. Ah well...

These are cute pictures of Victoria sitting on the wall outside our house eating an apple. Not much else to it. I just thought, "That dress and the apple make a great colour scheme, I'd like to scrap a photo like that." So I took the photo with the intention of making the page. It only took four months to come to fruition!!!! (no pun intended.)

Basic Grey papers, but I can't remember what the range is. I think the stickers are from Lemonade though. The paper might be Indian Summer but I could just as easily be wrong.

Art of Crochet Square 38

Looks familiar, doesn't it? Yeah, it's the same as one other I did previously, in colour and pattern. I have done this pattern in many colourways. I think they are going to combine to make a pinwheel effect on the throw. I'm thinking perhaps there will be two pinwheels on the throw. I do enjoy changing colours. It's fun!! Plus, if someone sees you crocheting with two balls of yarn at once they think you're pretty clever. :)

Debden Part 17

Another entry, another Brenda Pinnick page. Letting the background do the work again, I am only matting the photos and using self-adhesive cardstock for a title and journalling space.

This was the day we bought all of Cameron's new school uniform. Victoria was in a mood. If you blow this up to full size (by clicking on it) you might just see the fed-up expression on her face. It probably looks a lot like mine that day! Cameron was proud of his new uniform and wanted to wear it right away!

Debden Part 16

Mummy Made It! This goes for the sweater pictured and the page scrapped. :) Brenda Pinnick again, plus two small perpendicular diamond-lace (fiskars) rectangles supporting a small corsage in the corner of punched leaf sprays, punched buttons, and prima e flowers. Robo-cut title of course. :)

Victoria is wearing the sweater I made for her. She really does love it and when she puts it on she doesn't want to take it off!

Today is my mom's birthday. I used to watch her crochet when I was little. Now it has come full-circle and my little one watches me crochet too. When her dexterity improves I will give her a hook and some yarn... assuming she wants them...

Debden Part 15

The light in the crop room didn't do well to bring out the shades in this page. There's a lot of rusty orange and brown at play here and the lighting in the room was a bit yellow. I hope you can see the title. It's "Got Cute Will Travel." I realised while I was putting this together that a better choice of title could have been "Have Gurn, Will Travel." Never mind.... the title had already been cut and I didn't have any of that colour cardstock with me, so it stayed in its original form. I matted the photos and made the edges a little more interesting with a loopy Martha Stewart edge punch.

Scrapbooking is like Halloween... there's a TRICK to it, but giving and receiving the books is a real TREAT!

Happy Halloween, Scrappers...

Debden Part 14

Here's the second Sports Day layout. It uses the same background paper as before, same title and the same doodling, but I threw in some stamped embellishments. The arrows add movement to the arrangement.

FPC Friday - Flower 13

This one was quick and it will be useful on cards that need to be a bit flatter for posting. There's slight shaping to the leaves, but nothing that would suffer too much if it was put through the post. It was quick to make too. Interested? Here's a link.

Debden Part 13

What will follow this is another page that looks very similar. Because it's a school event, it will be recorded twice; once in the family scrapbook and a second time in Cameron's school scrapbook. It's Sports Day. We take lots of photos so I try to use one batch of photos for two pages. This year I was lucky to get enough good ones to fill up the pages. I kept this and the one to follow quite simple, with little doodled photo frames and a robo-cut title, letting the Brenda Pinnick background paper do the work.

Art of Crochet Square 37

Ah, here we are. This square looks like the one I did when I was approximately a quarter of the way through, or so I thought. This will make up the second of four central squares in the throw. It's a granny square made with full rows of trebles instead of clusters of three and spaces. I find this one challenging but I think it came out better than number 18. Click the crochet tag and find 18 and you'll see what I mean. I do like making this type of square so I may try again and who knows- I may even make something out of squares like this one day.

In other crochet news, I'm halfway finished with the second of the two mystery objects I am giving my mother-in-law for Christmas. Sorry, can't say. Only my husband knows. I loved making this particular project, also from The Art of Crochet partwork. I will be diving into my growing pattern library to make hats for the kids again this year. For my son, a purple one to match his uniform (I am lucky to still have plenty of purple for that one due to the Great Sweater Disaster of 2009!) and for little one, pink and other leftover bits will hopefully make a fun and whimsical hat. I look forward to a little stash- busting.

Debden Part 12

Oh, the desperation of a small child to get at the very very last of the Pringles crumbs!

Following the success of my hand-drawn frame for Chef Vixie (earlier post), I decided to do the same for No More Pringles. I used Brenda Pinnick paper. Again. Yes, I do have quite a lot of it despite doing a lot of scrapbooking with the one single 200-sheet pad I bought. I'm lucky I've got a lot of fun, playful layouts or these colours wouldn't really go...

I used stamps this time for my fun embellishments. I just simply cut and layered some shapes from CleverCut (Stamps Away.) I hand-drew the ribbon with the date on it and used Papermania letter stamps for the vertical title. This is a very flat page but I still think it's quite effective.

Debden Part 11

Simple seems to have been the order of the month!

This page was made with two sheets of BasicGrey Phresh'n'Funky in Pholiage. I used one sheet as the bg and raised parts along the edges by using the same pieces in an additional layer. I used those really strokable Prima blossoms-- the ones that come six to a pack and were kindly given to me by my not-so-secret santa during the gift exchange at the retreat. I also used quite a bit of Stickles to liven it up and some pins, just because I hadn't used them in a while. The title was cut using the robo and then I glittered the letters to give them a Thickers look. Using the blue Stickles on the not-quite-right pink cardstock corrected the colour too.

This is my little one wearing some costume jewellery. She asked me to take a picture of her in the earrings. She hasn't seen this page yet. I hope she likes it!! I enjoyed making it.

Debden Parts 9 and 10

I've got two photos for you today:

This one was a simple one. Just a title cut with my Craft Robo onto self-adhesive cardstock and a matching scalloped oval for journaling. I gutted the paper underneath the orange bit and cut some of the motifs out of it to attach to the front. I may have made a little flower with a piece of ribbon... yeah, that's what it is.

The picture is of Victoria and her friend Karleigh eating lunch together. Aww, how cute.

Another simple one. This is a Brenda Pinnick background with Bazzill in the middle, all cut with a Martha Stewart Punch-Around-The-Page set. I love this scalloped border-- especially how the corner makes a rounded edge inside the scalloped part. I used Prima flowers and some punched-out button shapes and a Robo-cut title again, on self-adhesive.

The picture is of the kids at the shoe store acting all angelic. I recently blogged this photo. Now it is scrapped!