My First Official Creation!

Since my last post about the passing of my mother, life has done a complete backflip on me and now we are in the process of planning a happy occassion.
On Saturday 15th November at 3:00pm, my first born and only son, is getting married!!!

It's an exciting time for all of us, but also a sad one, knowing that mum won't be able to be there and witness her grandson taking this huge step in his life.

I have been busy helping them out to put things together for the wedding. They decided they wanted to create their own invitations from scratch, so we went on the hunt for materials to make them.
They wanted a rustic theme, so we managed to find something that was suitable and this is what we came up with....

The front of the invitation - it's amazing what you can do with paper doilies, twine and hessian sheets.

The inside, with a pocket made from a paper doily for the RSVP card.

They also wanted to make their own place cards, so I designed some using Publisher that fit in with the invitations. Just some simple tent fold cards with a name tag placed on the front (sorry, no pic of those).

As well as that, the bride didn't have her "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" arranged. 

So I set to putting something together for her: 

• The something old & borrowed is going to be an antique marcasite watch that my mother was given by my father on their wedding day in 1965, which she passed on to me on my 30th birthday and I wore on my own wedding day.
  
• The something new & blue is a pattern of my own design, a garter
  

I hunted in all the usual places - Ravelry, Pinterest, blogs, Google search, and could come up with nothing that looked "right" for the day, so I got out my hook and some crochet thread that I had in my stash and set to work designing one.

I had to play around with it until I got it looking how I wanted. It's just a simple little pattern, but I love how it turned out and have actually decided that I am going to publish it and offer it on Ravelry :) 

I'm calling it - Dainty Little Garter.

This is the actual garter that I made for the bride (and she loves!)...

I'm in the process of adding a store front to my Ravelry and once it's done, this will be my first official pattern release!

Once it's set up and finalised, I will be including the pattern link on this blog, so stay tuned! 

Wish us luck for a smooth day with wonderful weather :) 

Is This The Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy.....

When I thought of writing this post, the first thing that popped into my head were the first line of lyrics from Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody! lol

I suppose you are already wondering why I would choose those words for a post....well wonder no more...

I had finally managed to spend some time sorting through my stash of yarn and seeing what I actually had and came across a nice little stash of some bright coloured yarn which I wanted to do something with.

For a while now, I have been wanting to make a throw that was bright and not just the same old, same old stitch. So off to Ravelry I went and stumbled across the pattern for the Fantasy Blanket and knew right away that it was the one!

I picked out my colours and found my favourite hook and set to work.

I really liked the mix of different stitches and the way the colours were working together, it didn't take long at all to get it to the length I wanted.

I didn't want to do the border that was included in the pattern, so I decided to do it my own way. Which ended up being a mix of some of the colours of the blanket being used around the edge in a simple single crochet stitch, finished off with a white reverse single crochet (crab stitch). I'm not 100% happy with the edging and am actually thinking of changing it to something more to my liking, but for now, it can wait until inspiration strikes.

Here's a photo I took of the blanket just before I added the edging, I love the way the colours just "pop"!

Once I decide on the type of edging I want to change it to, I'll share another photo. 

Surprisingly  it didn't use as much yarn as I  thought  it would, so I actually have enough left over to start another multi-colour project. Now I just have to find the right pattern.....

Finally.....Reveal #2

A while back I posted about some "mystery" projects that I had been putting together.
Reveal #1 was done a while back, the Luigi and Yoshi amigurumi's, now I can reveal what the other 2 projects were.
They have finally been delivered to their new owner, so I can now share what I was working on....

The first one, which, if you've been following along, you would remember me showing you this...

 Well, now I can show you what it is :)

 It's a project bag  that was sent to a good friend in America! The whole bag was "rebel crocheted". I took a pattern for an Owl project bag and used the pattern for the body of the bag for this one. I then had to painstakingly create the face and legs. I didn't have a pattern for these, so had to do them from scratch. (The green dots on the face are actually pins that are securing the face onto the bag). I think it turned out pretty cute!

And what's a lion, without a tail!....

It's big enough to hold the yarn, pattern and pieces of a smaller pattern. You definitely wouldn't be able to fit an afghan project in this ;)

So, onto the next reveal......

You'll remember the teaser photo as looking like this....

Well, this is the finished project....

It's an angel lion, created for the same friend that received the lion bag. Can you see a theme happening here!!! lol

This is from the pattern called " Dalenna - Angel Of Courage" by  Gurumiorama (http://www.etsy.com/shop/gurumiorama)

I decided to 'rebel crochet' this one as well. The pattern called for a yarn mane, where pieces of yarn were cut in lengths and then attached to the head.

I decided to delve into my yarn stash and found a skein of eyelash yarn and then went through the process of crocheting this to the head, working in rows. I love the way it turned out :)

The wings were made with some silver lurex type yarn I had here and I used a silver pipe cleaner for the halo.
I had to make this for my friend, because it sums her up beautifully!

So that's it, that's what I've been working on and they have all now gone to their new homes.

As a side note: I'm still working on the Owl Tote and am close to reaching the finish line. I have the body of the bag completed and one handle attached. I just have to make the other handle and then decide whether I want to line it or not.

Stay tuned......

WIP's & Chains Excite Me...

I thought I would share my most recent WIP's (Work In Progress) with you :)
I'm pleased with the way they are both coming out and I love the colour combinations.

This first one is a pattern that I love!
It's called "Owl Tote'em" by Marken of The Hat & I
It's definitely worth taking a look at her patterns. She also has a hat and scarf in the same type of motif!
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/marken-of-the-hat--i

Currently I have 6 motifs worked up and it's been a great pattern to work with. The instructions are clear and very straight forward. It's my first adventure with reverse single crochet and I think I took to it like a duck to water lol

Anyway, here's where I'm at with it at the moment....

Of course I still have to finish the eyes and attach them and the beak and then attach the motif to the others, but you get the general idea. Feel free to comment! :)

This other one is a design of my own....a rebel crafting expedition so to speak lol

I recently got myself an iPad and couldn't justify the cost of the covers for it, so I thought I would break into my stash and make my own.

I bought the cotton yarn from Ebay a while back and it had been sitting there waiting to scream out at me and tell me what it was to become, I love the colours and the way that it is coming together.

Rather than me blather on about it, here's a preview....

I'm about 1/2 way done with it and the ideas are coming thick and fast for how I'm going to "pretty it up" when I finish the main body of the case.

Don't panic! That's not the only ball of yarn I have like this. I bought 3 of them and there is more than enough to get this project finished and maybe another smaller project once I decide on what else it will be.

So that's what is on my hook at the moment......

iPad cover update:  
I ended up "frogging" the iPad cover :(
For some reason, I did the really awesome job of decreasing stitches and it started to lean inwards and look funny. I started ripping it out and by the time I had found where I'd made the 1st mistake, it was too far down, so I just gave up and pulled the whole thing out. In disgust I went out and bought myself a folio for the iPad lol
Looks like I'm looking for a new project for the purple variegated cotton lol

Secret Crafter's Business

I decided that I would give a bit of a teaser in regards to my last post about what I've been up to.

I'm only going to show small snippets of each item and let's see if anyone can figure out what they are! :)

 

Ok I know! Not the greatest snippet but you should still be able to get an idea of what it may be!

 

 

 Same colour as the previous picture, but this is not the same object. It's something completely different. Do those eyes look familiar?? lol

 

 

This is something that I have designed myself and is going to someone special. It's a definite case of 'rebel crafting' and I hope the intended recipient likes it as much as I do!

 

 

 This final snippet is from a cute little project that I just had to make for someone. This has another dose of rebel crafting because I didn't like a part of it, so chose to do it my way!

Any ideas as to what they could be??? No??

I guess you'll just have to wait until I can post the full photo's. 

Stay tuned! :)   

My Creative Daughter

It's good to know that I am not the only creative one in the family. My daughter also seems to have a creative streak!

My mother gave her a pair of shoes and she hated the fact that they were so plain. She's 16 and very fashion conscious.

She came up with a plan to do something with the shoes, all she needed was some greaseproof (baking) paper, some sharpie markers and creativity. 

This is what she came up with.....

I love the way she's chosen a "theme" for each shoe. One for Dinosaurs and the other for Monsters. All her friends are nagging her to make them a pair, but she tells them they are "one of a kind" shoes. My girl definitely likes to be unique!

I think they turned out wonderful! 

And here's the creator....

 

 

She will most likely hate me for posting this photo of her here, but, thems the breaks kiddo! 

Love ya Eb :)