Blogtober 2016: The Result.

Aaah.  Nothing like the smell of slightly caramelised pumpkin in the evening... and the sense that the month, and Blogtober, are coming to a close.

I set my own goal for Blogtober, which was the standard "blog every day" goal.  I am happy to say I only missed one day!  And nobody's perfect... so hey!  I'm very pleased with myself.

I had a few setbacks this year, the worst one being that my Blogger app no longer works on my phone.  This means that I could not have a set time of day to blog (such as the school run) and as such I ended up scheduling posts on a mass scale.  I am hoping that maybe a fresh install will solve it, but if not, I may have to strategise.

I am looking beyond Blogtober into my blog-future.

I haven't been blogging regularly since the emergence of the quicker social media-- like Twitter and Instagram.  These days when I have a photo to share, I just plonk it right up on these other sites without as much wordsmithery or explanation at all.  The immediacy is great, but at the same time I feel like I'm leaving behind a part of myself; the verbose part!

I am all over the internet now like a rash, as I explained in an earlier post this month.  Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, Twitch, YouTube, and not forgetting the website.  There's nine right there that I've mentioned, so I can't even dedicate one day a week to posting on each!  Vine is the one that suffers.  I love Vine as a viewer, but as a contributor I have a hard time condensing anything good into 6 seconds. The next least-used is Pinterest.  I need to find a good way to link my pins into websites and web shops so that I can better publicise my stuff.

I am considering getting back into regular blogging by doing certain posts on certain days of the week, and I'm sure you'll know all about it the moment I decide exactly what I'm doing!!!

Until then, why not drink the dregs of Blogtober 2016 by visiting my original post, following the links to the three other blogs participating and give them some loving (or maybe just friendly) comments. :)  I know I intend to!

Thanks to Karen, Wendy and Lyn for joining me, and I hope to see you far more frequently leading up to next Blogtober!

Oh... and Happy Hallowe'en!

Cro-tat Christmas Ornaments

It's been such a long time since I'd been to a crafting class that I wasn't teaching!  When I signed up to this Cro-tat class from Rainbow Valley Crochet, I was so excited... I could hardly sleep the night before, and I got there so early the workshop wasn't even open yet and I had to go looking for a cafe that was actually open before 10am (strange, you'd think most of them would be... but apparently not on Rochester High St).

The class was being held at Unravel & Unwind CIC and when I got there and got to meet Helen from Rainbow Valley Crochet and get stuck in, I was just so thrilled.  The time went by very quickly indeed and I got nearly one entire ornament done, minus the final round, before I had to pick my daughter up from school.

What a great workshop it was!  I ordered all of the kits so I could make more at home with my new skills.

Cro-tat is a combination of crochet and needle tatting and it was actually the first type of tatting that I ever learned, but I only tried it a couple of times and then years later I discovered shuttle tatting... but I think now that I've tried it, I like cro-tat better. :)  I suppose really I could now try needle tatting too!

Anyway... This is my first foray into Christmas Crafting for the year, not counting the samples I made for the beginner's cardmaking classes at Unravel & Unwind.  The first one is on Monday the 14th of November, in case you were wondering... :)

And I'm sure you were wondering what this Blogtober 2016 thing is that I keep banging on about.  Check it out on the original post.

As Blogtober 2016 draws to a close, I will be blogging my thoughts about it all... tomorrow.

Broomstick Lace Scarf

Seems like there's a halo over this, probably because it's just that good.... if I do say so myself...

I have had a go at broomstick lace several times, but have never actually persevered long enough to make anything useful... until now!

I saw a broomstick lace scarf made using the self-striping yarn with very subtle colour changes.   I love this kind of yarn, but as a crocheter, I don't often get the desired effect with them.  I still buy them because I just love to look at them.  I had started making a lacy bolero with this yarn-- King Cole Riot-- and the project sort of stalled.  I knew I needed more yarn to make it and I ordered some.  It came and I never even unwrapped the bag... until this pattern reminded me of its existence!

So I took the new balls of this yarn and started to make this.  I am really enjoying watching the colours change and watching this new pattern take shape... each time I finish a row, I enjoy just admiring it for a minute before starting on the next one.  I just love it.

Broomstick lace is one of those things that I can see my friends watching me make and going, "Oh, I could never do that, it's too fiddly!" and yeah... it was for about 3 rows.  After that, you just get into it and you get used to it.  Patience, that's all it takes.  Perseverance.  And for effect I should use one more word beginning with P.  Patience, Perseverance, and... Perniciousness?  I don't know what Pernicious means but ah well.  None of the other words I was thinking were at all appropriate.  Pernickety?  Pyewacket?  Precocious?  Pro-active?  Professional?  ... no, definitely not that.

Pumpkins!  That reminds me of October.  October?  Blogtober.  Take a look at other Blogtober 2016 participants by visiting this post.

Bookmarks, All Finished!

Here they are, as promised... well, three of them at least.

This is what became of the coloured-in bookmark sheet kindly provided by Crafters Companion, the company behind the Spectrum Noir Colorista colouring course that I took online a couple of months back.

Once the sheet had been coloured, I cut out each individual bookmark, laminated all of them, punched holes where indicated, then lined the holes with some no-setting-required "snap" eyelets that I have had in my stash for years.  I'm happy to have started using them up, and they were perfect for this project!

As a finishing touch, I dug through my stash for some weird yarn to use, and came up with this teal eyelash yarn, which I think worked a treat!

I liked the bleed-through effect that was on the back of the card, so I just laminated the one sheet with no backing layer.  Now I can enjoy both sides of the design... at least until I give them away!

My daughter has already taken one, and I believe I reserved one for myself as well... but where did it go?  I only have three here and there should be four... kitty?

So... we are rapidly nearing the end of Blogtober 2016.  I am pleased to say that through a great deal of scheduling (I maintain that scheduling is not cheating!) I have managed to do every day but one.  I missed yesterday because I was having a great time at a local craft drop-in centre, at which I am now volunteering twice a week.  We ended up just sitting and having a staff natter and it got very late indeed.

I hope that the one day is the only one that I will miss this month.

24-hour Scarf Marathon!

I guess this one is going to take some explaining...

GMYD stands for Good Morning You Drunks, a show on Radio Free Radio, hosted by Matt Wade, Nathan Emilio, and Justin Wilson out of Hampton Roads, Virginia.

I have been listening to Matt and Nate and anyone who wishes to join them for about two years.  It started with a podcast, then a 24 hour podcast streamed onto YouTube, then an internet radio station, and now a second 24 hour YouTube stream simulcast onto their internet radio station.

These 24 hour efforts are made in order to raise money for their cause.  This year in particular, they need some funds to upgrade equipment and file paperwork to become a non-profit entity, opening pathways into becoming an FCC-licensed Community Radio Station.  Exciting!!

So I was wondering how (other than shooting them a chunk of change which I already did) I could help... perhaps using my skills?

Hmm... Crochet?

I decided to join them in their 24 hour journey, listening and watching, but also crocheting.  The resulting scarf could then be sent to them and maybe they could auction it off or something...

...then I saw the finished article and decided that no one in their right mind is going to want to bid for such a monstrosity!  I'm sending it to them anyway... but only as a creepy gift from a creepier fangirl.

The scarf was made using DK yarn already in my stash, in the colours of their show logo.  During the 24 hour part, I didn't crochet all through it but it still ended up being 6 feet long!  Any longer and it would be a trip hazard I suppose...

I decided to add the letters GMYD to the scarf, so I looked online and found Moogly's Crochet Alphabet.  Google it, it's free.  And from what I've already tried, quite easy to do with the basic crochet stitches.  It's in US terminology, if you're interested.

So Blogtober is coming to a close... if you still want to see who else is taking part so you can read their blogs too, check out this post.

Colorista Course Week 2, bookmarks!

The second week of the Colorista Course was about Colour Theory and I chose a colour scheme for my bookmarks... can you tell what it is?  I think it's triadic, or maybe split-complimentary... depends how much green I used, which as you can see varies wildly on each of these bookmarks.  I have a thing about colouring leaves anything but leaf-colours.. green, yellow, red, orange, brown... maybe a little aubergine veins on a green leaf.  This was fun though.  I have since laminated each one of these and attached a plastic eyelet thingy and some eyelash yarn in teal.

Must find that photo.... :)  I didn't already blog it, right?  Blogtober 2016 is playing tricks on my brain!!!

Colorista Class colouring page

I took the free Colorista Colouring Course recently.  I really enjoyed it, and the people from Spectrum Noir (Crafters Companion I think) provided it free of charge, with downloadable colouring sheets, projects, videos and e-books.  It was a great way to launch their new Colorista collection and make sure everyone gets the best out of their colouring products!

I have some catching up to do, I haven't completed all my "coursework" but I have been a bit crochet-mad recently... not sure if you noticed!!!

If you want to check this out, find the Crafters Companion channel on YouTube and there should be a playlist called Colorista Course.  Fill your boots while it's still up!

Only a week left in Blogtober 2016... you can still join in!

Shameless Folksy Plug!

I thought I'd show you a few of my Folksy items again today...

Just in time for your you-know-what shopping....

Yeah, I said it... 

I also can cook up different colour schemes if you have one in mind...

Free UK shipping. :)

This fine entry is part of Blogtober 2016.  Check it out before it's over... or in your own time.  Not sure how long the linky will last!

Tiggy's New Friend...

Well if it isn't Paintbox Yarns making an appearance... my kitty boy Tiggy decided it would be nice to fall asleep in my yarn pile and half on top of me... so as he was totally CAT-a-tonic... I lifted up his paw and made him cuddle this yarn and took his picture.  Is that mean?  He seemed to love it.  When he woke up, he just cuddled it more and went back to sleep... silly boy.

Tiggy has been around yarn all but 8 weeks of his life.  As such, he isn't a yarn chaser.  He happily will sit and watch me crochet... sometimes between me and the crochet... and he won't interfere with it at all.  As for his sister Lady... I have no explanation for why she is convinced that all yarn is alive and it's her job to kill it... she's had exactly the same upbringing as Tiggy.  Tiggy has attached himself to me, where Lady Whitefoot has imprinted on my 13 year old son Cameron.   Perhaps that's why-- Tiggy is closer to the yarn!

Sleep tight, boy... stay warm!

Cat Cave... post-surgery!

Issue 43 of Simply Crochet has this pattern for a Cat Cave... it does stay up on its own... just.  I needed to try and fix the left-hand side of the opening, and it's still a bit weird but there is just that little improvement in the support of the opening so the cats can go in....

I used a 10mm hook and Hoooked Zpagetti yarn in brown.... yeah, I know what it looks like.  I know that in any other colour it would not look like that... but hey, it matches my decor better than any other colour... and it's right up our family's alley humour-wise.  So it's ok.

I was planning to make two, and I bought two rolls of this fabric yarn, but after sore fingers, RSI and using up way more than I'd planned to, I think I will stop at one.  Now what to use the leftover bit for?  Hmmm.... it is still brown... it makes everything look like a.... well, you know.  Not sure it would be the best choice for a water bottle cover... ick.

Once Upon a Cable, colour change!

Wow.... I have been incredibly lucky...

I decided to change colours by adding a white background, reducing the pink to just the criss-crosses, then changing to teal for the criss-crosses... then go to solid teal.  It just so happened that this extra bit of white Aran lasted exactly as long as I needed it to.  Whew!!!

Now, I am solely crocheting in teal, back to one ball, no need to fasten off after every other row.  Now I can go back to mindlessly crocheting!

I really love this pattern.  It's for sale on Ravelry, and the name of it is actually Once Upon a Cable Blanket.  The pattern can be made at a variety of widths, so you can make a scarf, a baby blanket, or a quilt!  It is very heavy the way I've done it, with Aran yarn and a 5mm hook... I will be rolling mine around a bolster cushion and making circles for the ends, and one side will be pink and the other teal, and will go on our bed... cool :)

Remember... Blogtoberfest 2016 continues!  Click the link to see more.

Simply Crochet CAL, Month 2

Here's the second pair of squares from the Simply Crochet CAL!  I'm happy to see how these colours are mixing together as they colourways change.  I love how I have nearly an all-purple one and nearly and all-blue one, each with their own appropriate green.

These photos were taken at different times of the day, so you can compare the purple squares in the two pictures and see the differences in tone... the background image behind the purple square is one of the original colourways.  I do love that teal...

Again, this is part of Blogtober 2016.  How is your Blogtober going?

Simply Crochet CAL, Month 1

CAL: That means Crochet-A-Long.  Everyone's doing it... aren't you?  I used to feel left out because it always seemed to be a KAL, or Knit-A-Long that was being done and I didn't know how to knit back then... now I am a happy bunny, because although I do know how to knit now, I still far prefer crochet.  So Crochet-A-Long it is!!!

This CAL is appearing in subscriber copies of Simply Crochet magazine.  Their recommended colour pack was more or less a rainbow- it had a cerise pink, an orangey red, yellow, lime green, teal, blue etc etc... I can't remember it all, but it was 8 rainbow colours plus grey.  I saw the preview photos and decided that I wanted all cool colours for my CAL so I chose my own yarns... artistic license, right?

The recommended yarn was Cascade 220 wool.  I couldn't really afford £50 for a yarn pack, so I went over to LoveCrochet.com and picked a bunch of Paintbox Yarns in aran, and this is how my first two squares came out.  I'm happy with them!

This CAL is going to be going for a year at least... so you will be seeing two squares a month.  Except for this month, because I'm playing catch-up and already have another two squares done!

This blog entry is part of Blogtober 2016.  Check the original post for more information.  It's never too late to join in... unless it's November!

Holiday Here-We-Go!

So... Here cometh the red, green and gold.  And here cometh a new opportunity for me!!!

Feast your eyes on the samples for the first edition of Discover Papercraft, a right-from-the-beginning look at cardmaking and other papercrafts!

If you're in (or willing to travel to) Medway in Kent, check out Unravel and Unwind for more details on how to attend.  I am hoping to accompany this with some YouTube videos, but I must take it one step at a time.  At the moment, I am hard at work making samples and organising the Christmas stash!  Come and join us for some relaxed, holiday-themed fun.

This is the part of the blog where I talk about Blogtober 2016.  It's a thing.

Irish Crochet Pincushion

I have always wanted to try Irish Crochet, and there was a small pattern and an introduction to Irish Crochet in Simply Crochet Magazine several months back.  I decided to give it a try!

It's very interesting- mostly using rings, loops and chains.  It reminds me of tatting, which I have also been doing, but not so much of late.

There is a free-form side to Irish Crochet which I'm keen to try as well, but at the moment, my crochet dance-card is full.  Overflowing, actually.  And I love it!!

Upcycling Mobile Device Boxes

I have always maintained that boxes that hold expensive mobile devices make fabulous craft storage.  These HUDL boxes are no exception!  Victoria got a HUDL one year for Christmas, as did I.  As such, we had two boxes with little ribbon drawer-pulls at our disposal.  Perfect for a little crafting chest for my little girl!

The two boxes were glued together using Golden Gel Medium.  Then they were wrapped in foiled paper to unify the outside.  As for the inside... I found some little plastic containers with lids that have nicely sectioned off the drawers.

The purpose of this little unit was clear before I even completed it.  I wanted Victoria to have a card-making station, with die-cut or punched shapes, some adhesives, some card blanks, and whatever else she needs to make cards for her friends.  We just need to get round to the cutting and punching bit!  I'm hoping that it will make short work of my scrap box... and the boxes it has overflowed into!!!

Blogtober 2016 is just about halfway over!  Have you been to the original post to see the other bloggers involved?

Adult Colouring... not a new thing!

Hey everyone!  Yes, I'm doing it too- Adult Colouring.  The thing is... most cardmakers have been doing this since day one.  We just didn't call it Adult Colouring!  This particular partially-done piece is made using Chameleon Pens.  They're cool, look them up. :)  That's how the gradients got onto my work. :)

This design is part of a page from the partwork Art Therapy by Hachette.  I've been getting this since it started and I have up to issue 77 now!  I think they're planning 100 issues, but that could change... and I fully expect it to, given the popularity of it.

I have colouring books as well-- but not too many.  I have four by Johanna Basford: Secret Garden, Enchanted Forest, Lost Ocean and Magical Jungle.  I also have the Secret Garden Artist's Edition, because the paper is so luxuriously thick and also the designs are printed on one side only, so I can use my alcohol markers without fear of bleedthrough!

I have recently taken the Colorista Colouring Course online, through Crafters Companion.  It was a lot of fun, and I encourage you to go to YouTube and find the Crafters Companion channel, on which you will find the Colorista Course Playlist, where you can find all the lessons.  There is info in the video about how to register for the course, but I'm not sure if it's still accepting new users because the course itself is already over... but if you can get on, they had free downloads... colouring pages and e-books to accompany the course.

Whether you colour just for your cardmaking or whether you also colour just to relax, there's valuable technique information in there, so I do recommend you check it out!

This blog entry is part of Blogtober 2016.  Check out the original post for more details.

Here's Claude!

 Introducing Claude the Octopus!!  He is my buddy.  I made him.  I even had to unravel a little bit of something else I made in order to complete him... he is forever grateful for this, and the donor doily is now his security blanket.  It goes everywhere with him!  Here he is, for once *not* caught in a compromising position... just cuddling his doily.

Claude was made from a pattern of the same name (Claude the Octopus) from Simply Crochet Magazine.  I ordered his eyes from Amazon, his topside is yarn from the pound shop, and his underside and edges (and suckers!) are scraps from my stash... and I'm pretty proud of myself for using them up!

This post is part of Blogtober 2016.  To participate, check out the original post.

Party Bags for Victoria!

This year, Victoria had a sleepover party at her house and I, as I normally do, made her goody bags using the time-honoured Bags From Envelopes technique.  This one actually did end up on YouTube.  Click here to watch the video!

If you don't want to watch the video, I'll just paraphrase the making of these... mainly because I have used this technique so many times and most likely I have blogged them almost as many times.  So here's the skinny:

I seal the envelope and make sure it lies flat.

I decorate the front and the back the same way, so it is more or less continuous.

I cut one side off of the bag and score the same size margin around the remaining sides and really burnish the folds down well in all directions.

I also score a diagonal line from the intersecting score lines to the outer corners of the bottom of the bag, and burnish and fold these as well.

I pop the flat envelope into a bag shape by reaching inside the cut-off edge and manipulating the folds etc. (if you need help with this bit, the video will probably help... )

Then I punch two sets of holes in the top of the bag, so that the holes go through all layers of the folded sides, and pass a ribbon through all the holes, forming a large loop, so it can be pulled up to make handles.

I do this all the time, and when I blog or otherwise document it, I always say that it was originally taught to me by a Stampin' Up!  demonstrator, a very very long time ago and it has been a very useful technique through the years.

The decoration was done as follows:

I applied Distress Stains to a strip going across the envelope, in a variety of colours.  I over-stamped a swirly border on the top and bottom and also over-stamped the coloured area with a french border stamp from Stampin' Up! called En Francais, which I believe is discontinued now.

Enjoy the video if you're going over there to watch it- if you're not, why not check out the other Blogtober 2016 participants?  You can find links to their blogs in the original post.

Two Pretty Horses...

Awww,  Aren't they sweet?

These are two of my Carousel Horse Shadow Boxes.  They are made out of a variety of die-cuts and hand-stamped, hand-coloured images all lovingly assembled in a box frame.  I had a blast making them, and they were recently listed on my Etsy and Folksy shops.  One of them even got curated onto a Nursery Decor selection!  I was really proud of that!

Neither of them have sold yet... but I have been making other shadowbox frames and one of them was sold pretty quickly... I have since made more but I haven't been very good at keeping my listings up to date or spreading the word about my items... so it's kind of my fault really. :)  Perhaps it comes down to having far too many things I want to do and still, despite constant protest, there are only 24 hours in a day.  Who do I talk to about that?

I absolutely love this design and I have made one more in purples.  I'm sure that eventually, Etsy or Folksy will show these to the people who are meant to have them and I will get some money, which I will inevitably spend on making more things that people will want.  That's the plan, anyway.

Blogtober2016 is upon us!  It's never too late to join in, so head on over to the original post for the event, register your blog and join us!

Art Journal Cover Background

I'm wondering if you've ever seen anything like this before on my blog... because when I went to choose tags for this post, there wasn't one that really covered this.

I am not a big Art Journaler, but I love the idea and I wanted to have one to put things into as and when the mood struck me.  I was planning on making messy, painty backgrounds and then adding motivational phrases to them in an arty way with pigment pen or something later on.  So far, the pages are getting made but no phrases have made their way onto them yet.  I have been collecting motivational phrases, so it will be possible... soon!!

I was enjoying a bit of gelli printing and stencilling and decided that this piece was starting to look like a good start of a cover for my art journal, so I let it hang around in plain sight for a while, because it still needed that certain something....

I later discovered that certain something was metallic gilding waxes in bright colours, which I ordered for myself from Cosmic Shimmer... I saw them in a magazine and thought it was good that they came in smaller containers for a smaller price, which meant that I could have more of them than the more expensive Treasure Gold products... I later found out that the quality of the Treasure Gold far surpasses that of the Cosmic Shimmer ones, which I have had to mix with turpentine to keep them moist enough to work with.  I'm not impressed but the smell sure is interesting!  In future, I may just buy Treasure Gold... in all its beautiful colours.

These did behave themselves for long enough to make an ethereal glow on my already brightly-coloured paint blob!  I still adore looking at it.  I am making additions to it as we speak- so this month you may even see another post with this baby.

Speaking of month, this is October, and this post is part of Blogtober 2016, a blog-hop-style event where people can register their blogs on my Blogtober page and we can all visit each other and comment... a process on which I still have much catching up to do.  If you want to join in, either as a reader or a blogger or both, stop by the original post.

More Pringles Cans

Look what I found!  The other two pictures of the rest of the Pringles cans I decorated for my craft retreat!  If only editing the videos of their production was as simple...

...but alas, it has not been.  I don't know if I have just not ever edited such long videos before and have finally hit the limitations of Windows Movie Maker, or if I've run into a bad sector of hard drive, or if I'm just finally *that* insane, but the process has been fraught with difficulty.  I have had to split each large crafting session up or cut longer bits out of it to make it more manageable to watch.  It was initially a live stream on Twitch, and a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in years showed up to say hello!  So as excited as I was at the time to get back in touch with her, I'm pretty sure YouTube doesn't want to hear us catching up as I dry the ink with a heat gun... so editing has been quite slow.

Speaking of which, I really must get back to it.  I'm putting it all into a playlist on my channel, so it will be easier to find.  Check it out if you would like, and subscribe while you're there!  I'd love to have you as part of my little crafty audience... especially if you like to leave comments or ask questions!

This entry is part of Blogtober 2016.  If you're interested in registering your blog or reading the blogs of other participants, head over to the original post.

Pringles Cans- up a notch!

Well, look at this!  I haven't blogged this yet?  Incredible.  I made these in February!!  I actually made 12 of them.  I streamed the making of them live on Twitch, and I decided to go "Instant Gratification" and speed up the entire thing by 16x and put it on my Youtube channel.

I had a comment come through just yesterday from someone, constructive criticism, could have been worded better, but whatever... and it echoed something another friend had said-- that she wanted to see it in real time with explanation.  Now that someone has actually commented it on YouTube, I decided to try and find the original videos and edit out some of the chit-chat and put them up.

I'm in the middle of all that editing now, which is why I'm nearly 12 hours late putting up my blog post!!  Sorry!

How is your Blogtober going?  This entry is part of Blogtober 2016.  To register your blog or to read others in the group, go to the original post.

A second Peacock Throw?

Yes, a year ago on this very blog, one of my crochet-labeled entries contained a photo of my cat sitting on a nearly-done peacock throw.  And if you look at that photo and compare it to this one, you will see that the colours are very different.  That's because this one's for me!

Having done this throw already, I have decided to take another tack with this one- and tack I shall!

The previous throw had each feather pattern sewn on individually, regular spacing be damned!  (but don't tell Wendy)

This time I have decided to tack the motifs together.  Initially, I tried to sew them together along several stitches, but the piece had no movement and started to look like a hexagonal tesselation rather than a collection of teardrop shapes.  So I took them apart and tacked them together in three places.  Much better!

I haven't worked on this one for a few months, but as the cooler weather sets in and I don't mind sitting underneath a mass of crochet, it will come out again!  I can't wait.

This blog entry is part of Blogtober 2016.  To read other Blogtober blogs, or to register your own blog, please check out the original post.

A quartet of card bases

Four different looks, one die set!  This is a Spellbinders Create-a-Card set, annoyingly made in American dimensions.  I used the sentiment tag to make up the difference though, so hopefully cards I make with this won't look too awkward...

These are just the backgrounds.  I die-cut the panel that is comprised of the four corners and the bit in the middle  out of white cardstock, and then I used a blending tool to blend Distress Inks over the frilly bits, leaving the middle white.  I also cut the sentiment pieces separately and inked them too.  I chose my cardstock-- two lime green and two kraft-- to stick them onto.

Despite having done these months ago, I still have not made them into cards.  When that happens, I'll let you know. :)

This entry is part of Blogtober 2016.  To participate, take a look at my original post.

Yellow Baby Blanket

This was a stream-of-consciousness make.  A friend asked me for a favour in return for giving me a crafty item of hers that I couldn't take my eyes or hands off of!  The favour was called in-- to make a blanket for a friend's upcoming new baby!

I fancied trying Sedge Stitch, so I made a square of that... then I wanted to move on to something different, so I went around the edge in a dc-ch-dc-ch way, making corners as I went, and then dc in the chain space, chain, etc etc, for the next rounds.... got bored of that, started doing granny rounds, then went back to that dc-chain thing again, then back to granny again... that's as far as I got in the photo below.  The only thing I added to it was a ruffle around the edge, which was just 3tr in each stitch around, maybe more for the corners but I can't remember for the life of me!

The top photo is the blanket folded into quarters and then rolled.  A nice ribbon would have made for good presentation... but I only just thought of this now!!

This blog entry is part of Blogtober 2016.  To participate, visit the original post.

3D Patisserie Card

I'm quite happy with this one.  The stamp set I used (the shop window, the lady walking the dog, bike and chairs and table) came free on a magazine-- I think it was Cardmaking and Papercraft-- and I knew immediately how I wanted to use it.  I had an idea in my head and for once, I was able to make that idea come out as nicely as I had planned it!

I coloured all the stamped images with ProMarkers, and die-cut the flower and vine strips, colouring them in too with the same colours.  I made a shadowbox and then attached that to a card.  As such, the shadowbox does fold down flat so that this card can go into a normal envelope for posting!

I made a few in different colourways and I hope to add them to my Folksy shop and my Etsy shop soon.  I have given two away though for special birthdays. :)  So perhaps I don't have many left after all!

This blog entry is part of Blogtoberfest 2016.  If you'd like to join in, either by reading the other participants' posts, or by registering your blog, please do so on the original post.

Tatted Angel

It's a bit early for Christmassy things, but I suppose this has an everyday vibe to it as well... it's my latest addition to my Etsy shop, a tatted angel, and I originally bought the pattern from Lacemakermom on... Etsy!

For those unfamiliar with tatting, it's a series of knots and picots, sometimes in a loop, sometimes in a straight line, and it can be done with a tatting needle or with shuttles.  I prefer shuttles.  I learned tatting on YouTube.  If you can get hold of tatting shuttles, it's a great craft to try!  This angel was a little bit complex, but there are simpler patterns you can start out with.  I do love this angel though...

It's in a little 4-inch silver frame that I got from Wendy at Scrapbooks And Cookbooks.  She is participating in Blogtober, as I am.  If you'd like to know more, to register your blog or visit other Blogtober bloggers, please visit the original post here.  You can join in, or just read along-- it's your choice!

Stampin' Up Lotus Set and Memento Inks

Today's photo is of my experiments with my Stampin' Up lotus flower stamp set I got in 2015.  It was a special thing, I can't remember what it was called!  Sale-a-bration?

The lotus flower is one of their two-step stamping sets and I loved having the opportunity to play with my new memento inks and find their perfect partners for this set.

I haven't actually made a card with this yet, so perhaps I ought to get going on that... :)

How's your October going?  Mine is just getting started!  I'm taking part in Blogtober 2016 and trying to blog every day!  Do you have a blogging goal for this month?  Join us!  It doesn't have to be every day, it can be whatever you'd like it to be.

To register, or to view the other Blogtober blogs, visit the Blogtober original post here:
http://karmacraftblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/what-are-you-doing-this-october.html

Welcome to Blogtober 2016!!

First off, if you are participating in Blogtober 2016, right click the above photo and select "save image as..." and put it into your blog layout somewhere, maybe in your side margin, and link it to my original post about Blogtober.  Here is the URL:

 http://karmacraftblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/what-are-you-doing-this-october.html 

This will make a quick-access link to the list of participants, as well as serve as a little badge, should you wish to remember your participation!

Any trouble getting this to work, please comment here and I will check regularly!

Now that the formalities are over, my first entry for Blogtober is going to be a quick intro about me, what I do, where I can be found on the internet, and what you can expect to see from me throughout Blogtober!

My goal is to post every day throughout Blogtober, so you should be seeing plenty!  You only need to look as far as my post labels to see what my passions are:  Scrapbooking, other Papercrafts, Crocheting, Knitting (a bit), Tatting, Floral Punch Craft... bit of Mixed Media and Adult Colouring, which I should be sharing this month if I haven't already.

My name is Sy Peddlesden, I have a little organisation of one called Happy Accident Studios.  I do a little bit of everything there too, because it is merely an extension of myself as a crafter.  I have a:

•  Website
•  Facebook Page
•  Twitch Channel
•  YouTube Channel
•  Folksy Shop
•  Etsy Shop

I can also be found on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Vine (rarely) and my name on all of these is @hapaxstudios.

That about does it for my crafty side... I make stuff, I sell stuff, I like to teach people how to do stuff.  

Now for the rest:

I am a Stay at home Mum to a 13-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter.  I am also involved in community arts and crafts groups and a secondary school PTA.  My latest volunteer venture is with a group called Infinity Life Skills CIC, which launches soon.  Also deep in the depths of my alter-ego, I have a very immature and a little smutty podcast which you must never, ever find. :)

I'm not a very good homemaker.  I enjoy walking (until my fitness band tells me I don't have to anymore) and playing tennis with my daughter.  She's just learning, so at the moment I can just about drag myself around the court to try and keep up with her!  It's easier to get my steps in for the day when I'm running around trying to return her freakish serves.  And we have a two-bounce rule to protect my aching muscles.

Here's the worst thing though-- I also like Minecraft.  I reached out in an attempt to understand what my kids were so into, and I stayed.  I got sucked right in.  Problem is, first-person gaming makes me motion sick, so I am limited to digging in a more or less straight line and mining supplies for other people, and building roads.  I could go on. Don't get me started on the abandoned mineshaft I found and am now systematically stripping out... 

You may commence laughing at me in the comments section for that one.... and I'll be back tomorrow with actual photos of crafty stuff, not Minecrafty stuff.  I promise!

Finally, I will end like this:

This post is part of Blogtober 2016.  You can register your blog and see who else is participating here.