September Crafting

Hello lovely readers. This post is soooooooooo delayed but I have an adorable excuse. The major creation that I'd been cooking up for the past 9 months arrived 8 days late, on 19th Sept. My little girl, Thea.

 Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of creating done in the second half of Sept! I did get some done in the first half though whilst waiting for her to arrive. :o)

First, some beading. These earrings are based on a free tutorial by Sidonia.

 

Next, a haircomb. This is the Crystal Rose from Japanese Beadwork by Sonoko Nozue. I started this yonks ago for Bead, Book and Bounce (blogged about it here) and finally found the time to finish it.

Some knitting and crochet next.

The knitted elephant is designed by Sarah Keen and can be found in the fabulous book 'Knitted Wild Animals'. The stripy giraffe is a free pattern by Emma Dent and can be found on her blog here. The turtle shell and little hat are photo props for Thea but the shell turned out far too small! I'll eventually make it into a toy for her. I just made it up as I went along really after seeing some I liked around the net. Last is a bag made from boodles yarn. Again, I made it up as I went along. I made it for me to replace a handbag I use a lot but it's a bit small really.

I think that's everything I finished in Sept. I do have one more thing to show you though, the pendant I mentioned last month. I have given it to my friend so I can show it to you now. It's a shaped and textured sterling silver pendant with a yellow topaz centre. I think she liked it!

I doubt I'll have much to show you next month but I have started a couple of pairs of earrings so maybe I will have something if little Miss demanding allows it. :o)

Happy October everyone

xxx

August Crafting

Hello lovely readers. Hope you are all well. This post is a little delayed as I lost internet for a week end Aug/beginning of Sept. Having gotten myself a basic smartphone earlier this year, I didn't feel completely cut off but it was a little isolating. One of the major issues with no internet was that I started my maternity leave and having the internet would have made it much easier to chill but not having internet access made me think I should be doing this and that. Ah well, it's back now so I can read and reply to emails more easily and write this post too!

August's creating was almost exclusively maternity/baby related. I did do silver project for a friend's birthday but I haven't seen her so I can't show it to you yet, just in case she reads this. I completed a fair amount this month. My tutoring was quite light so I had quite a lot of spare time. First the knitting/crochet projects:

This is Blueberry bear. He's a King Cole pattern (#2000) designed for use with their sprinkles yarn. The yarn colour is called blueberry and I thought this was a lovely name for a teddy bear. Here's the link to my Ravelry project page for more info.

Next is a little dress I made for a friend's baby. The pattern by Rebecca Gunn and is free. You can find it on her blog here. I love the self striping yarn! Here's the link to my Ravelry project page for more info.

Next, a super quick make for me. A fribbly scarf using Wendy Frills yarn. I loved the colours and it makes up really quickly. The instructions for the scarf are on the yarn band.

 

I also made these little booties for bump. They are in the same yarn as the hat I made last month. Such a cute pattern but very very tiny. They are a free pattern by Saartje de Bruijn that I have done before. You can find it here. I knitted the smaller size in double knit and slightly larger needles before but this time I knitted the larger size with the recommended needle size and 4ply. Very tiny though. Not convinced they will actually fit a newborn. Here's the link to my Ravelry project page for more info.

Probably my favourite make this month is this minion. He's a free pattern by Linda Potts and it can be found on her blog here. Here's the link to my Ravelry project page for more info.

My other August projects were sewing. I made some maternity clothing from scratch and also adapted some charity shop purchases. The two adaptations are a pair of trousers and a skirt that I removed the waistband of and added an elasticated one. Here they are:

From scratch, I made this wrap cardy from super slinky jersey I picked up a little while ago. The free pattern is by Megan Nielsen and can be found here. Since taking the below picture I took out the sleeves and cut new ones as I felt they were too tight. I do love this wrap though. It will be great for breastfeeding too and for general wearing, not specifically maternity. The pattern was really easy to follow too.

I also made this maternity dress. I like it...I think. The fit could be better but it was quite an ambitious project for a novice sewer like me. It's a free pattern by Miriam of Mad Mim and can be found here. The design of the top part does lend itself to breastfeeding though I don't know how the dress will look with no bump. We'll have to see.

I also lined a toybox for baby with a remnant of elephant fabric I found in a local sewing shop. Just a quick little job really but here it is. Not a perfect fit but it doesn't matter as it's now filled with toys!

I think that's everything (apart from the aforementioned silver project). Quite a creative August! Some were started in July though. Not much done so far in September yet but there is one major creating that's been cooking for the last 9 months that's due this month. Hope to be introducing a little someone to you all soon. :o)

Till then, happy creating everyone.
Gemxxx

July crafting

Hello lovely readers. I hope you are all well. I am not too bad. Feeling increasingly lumpy and not long to go now. Readers from the UK will know we had some rather warm weather in July. Lovely for some but not so much when you're 7-8months pregnant! I've been melting somewhat.

I did very little creating in July. I started a few bits but have not been in a very crafty mood. Heat and sciatica (thankfully, eased now) did not help matters. I think the only things I competed in July were a little baby hat, some resin cabochons (a custom order) and three pairs of stud earrings that have been almost finished for some time now!

Here's the baby hat I knitted. It's far from perfect but I'm sure baby wont mind! I need more practice knitting in the round with dp needles. My tension in ok on the needle changeovers for the knit stitches but very loose on the purl rows. Ah well, never mind. I like the colour of the yarn! The free pattern is by Ulli S. Shibuya.

The cabochons I made were a commission. I was contacted through my facebook page and asked if I could make 5 watch part cabs with a black/very dark green background. After some discussion, we decided to use black resin with a hint of green mica (well eyeshadow actually!) Here is the result. The cabs are now winging their way to Australia. I hope my customer likes them!

The final thing I competed in July (I think) were these resin studs. They all feature a single dandelion seed tip and are backed with black resin. It was a bit of an experiment really but I do like the results. I'd like to do some in other colours at some point. These are technically for sale but I haven't gotten round to listing them anywhere yet.

I think that's everything I finished in July. I have already finished 2 things in August though so maybe I'll have a more creative month. There's lots I still want to make before baby arrives and I've only got approx 6 weeks till my due date. Eeek! Better get making!

Have a fab August everyone.

xxx

June Crafting

Hello lovely readers. Hope you are all well. Here in the UK we've been having glorious sunshine.... well glorious for most people. As I'm cooking up a little person, I'm finding the heat a little too much (9 weeks give or take to go eeeek!).

June's roundup post is a little delayed. Been busy and we went away to the Isle of Wight for a few days. I can't remember what I made in June either! I don't think I finished a lot. Time to hunt through my camera memory card to see what I can find!

I did make a few more pairs of earrings. Button studs and some dangly golden watch part trapeziums.

Hmmm...what else? I finished a baby cardy. Really pleased with this one as I've done minimal knitting involving shaping before. AS it was knit sideways there was very little seaming to do. Def a bonus as that's something that I don't do a lot of either. The fab FREE pattern is by Elizabeth Jarvis and can be found on Ravelry here. If you click on the photo below, it should take you to my project page on Ravelry about it with more photos and notes.

One other think I made in June was a resin cabochon commission for an online beady friend (though we did meet in real life at the retreat). She asked me if I could make a large round cab suitable for a sunflower centre. I said I'd have a go and experimented with brown sugar, cinnamon, cocoa powder and mica. Here's what I ended up with. I'm really looking forward to seeing what she does with it.

I think that's it for the completed June projects. There are a couple of bits on the go but I'm not feeling particularly creative at the moment. Blame the heat and the lumpiness!

Enjoy the rest of your July everyone, whatever you're up to.
Gemxxx

May Crafting

Hello lovely readers. Hope you are all well. Thought I'd get last month's roundup post done on time for once!

Some crochet to start with. I made these slippers to wear at tutees' houses in the summer so I'm not wandering round in my bare feet. I found the pattern here through Ravelry, but did end up adapting it to fit the chunky yarn I wanted to use. Lisa Gutierrez's excellent instructions make it really easy to adapt though.

I also did some beading. Here's a necklace I made for my Mum's birthday. The beautiful free pattern with easy to follow instructions is by Nicole Stanley of Hollybird Beads and can be found here on Craftsy.

Here's a beaded pendant I made for the pendant swap for the Bead Retreat I went on last weekend. The retreat was much fun, a group of beaders in holiday cottages near the little village of Monyash, Derbyshire, that has been happening for the past 4 years now. Its the first time I have been and I thoroughly enjoyed it even if it was a little far away from Southampton. (If you're interested in coming next year do check out the facebook page.)

The pattern for the pendant is by Justyna Szlęzak and can be found in her Etsy shop here.

Another VERY quick and simple make for the bead retreat was this little name badge for myself to wear on the Friday night. Many of the beaders there only knew each other via facebook so name badges were suggested for the first night. I didn't have time to make anything fancy but I rather like what I threw together at the last minute!

Whilst at the retreat I made these earrings. The pattern is by Kerrie Slade and is available for free here. The gumdrop beads were kindly donated to us at the retreat by York Beads. 

I also finished off 5 pairs of resin stud earrings yesterday so I'm gradually catching up with the earring challenge. Not taken proper photos yet but here they all are together. They all have sterling silver posts and will eventually be listed for sale...probably!

I did finish off a load of resin cabochons to sell at the bead retreat but forgot to photograph them all. They went down really well so I've decide to open an Esty shop selling my handmade resin cabs. Not up and running yet as the lovely ladies much cleared me out but I'll let you know when it opens.

I think that's it for May. I wonder how much I'll get done in June...
 

Have fun this month, whatever you're up to :o)

Gemxxx

April Crafting

Ooop! Its 10th May and I've only just gotten around to writing my roundup post for April. I've not been especially busy, just rather mind frazzled.

One of the things I made in April you have already seen if you are a regular reader. I made a crystal hairclip (in tutorial post).

I also made a couple of other beady bits in April. I made a simple crochet bracelet with 4mm cube beads and a pair of earrings for a friend's birthday.

I have also been knitting and crocheting for baby. I made 2 amugurimi animals from the book, Easy to Crochet Critters by Vanna's Choice; a crocheted star blanket from this Ravelry pattern; and a knitted hat from this Ravelry pattern with the left over yarn from the blanket.

I think that's everything I did in April. I've not been very creative so far in May yet so I wonder if I'll have anything to show you in the beginning of June. Hopefully!

Have a fab May everyone.

Gemxxx

March Crafting

Hello lovely readers. I hope you are all well. I am getting much better now I've hit trimester 2. Yay! More energy and MUCH less sicky.

So I actually got a little bit of crafting done this month. Not a huge amount but crafty bug is returning at last. The biggest projects I did in March were for the Mums for Mother's Day. I started off a scrapbook album for them both for baby. I got some lovely plain spiral bound albums from The Pink Pig, decorated the front and filled in 3 pages.

The frog picture was only on my Mum's album. It came about after because she sent me a frog in case I needed a second opinion. When I went up to visit, just after Christmas (and before I knew I was pregnant), I was telling her what I saw on Dara O'Briain's Science club. Apparently, frogs were used to see if a woman was pregnant. No, you didn't pee on them! The frog got injected with a woman's urine and if it layed eggs in the next 24 hours, she was pregnant.

I also made 2 pairs of earrings for my Aunt. She asked me if I could make a pair with a frosted sterling silver ball and an onyx pair to go with a necklace she had. I ended up frosting the sterling silver beads myself in my rock tumbler as I couldn't find frosted ones in the right size. For the onyx pair, I removed a couple of beads from the necklace so they would match perfectly.

If you read my last post, you will also have seen these earrings. I wrote a free tutorial following some beads I was sent from the lovely The Bead Shop Manchester.

That's everything that I finished in March, I think. I have started some crochet for baby and have finished something but that will have to wait for April's roundup post. Feel free to add me on Ravelry though if you want to see what I'm up to there. I'll also be completing another tutorial from the same bead mix I got from The Bead Shop in the next few days I hope, so keep an eye out if you're interested. I desperately need to catch up on the earring challenge too. I've only done 6 pairs so far and I think I should be in the mid teens. I have a few ideas in my head though. I want to get the silversmithing stuff out soon plus there are a few resin pairs half finished.

I still have various BB&B projects to finish off too. You may have read that I have taken a break from participating in those challenges for a while but do check out the Operation Tackle that Bead Stash blog if you want to keep up to date with that.

Have a fab April everyone.

Gemxxx

February Crafting

Ummmm....nothing at all! I can now share with you my excuse though. Remember I said I have been somewhat poorly? Well, its dragging on somewhat but for a very exciting reason. Major creation on the way, due around 11th September. :o)

I am starting to feel a little better now (I'm 12 weeks) so hopefully I'll be up to creating again very soon. I may even do some beading today, though I am feeling a little queasy at the minute. Better get back on the earring case too. I'm massively behind now, ooops!

Happy March everyone. Hope you're all as happy as I am (hugging toilet incidences aside).

Gemxxx

January Crafting

Happy February lovely readers. I hope you are all well. I've been somewhat under the weather myself but nothing serious, just hanging about and leaving me with no energy which is somewhat annoying. Ah well, never mind.

 

I did a little crafting in Jan but not a huge amount due to aforementioned lurgy. Just not been in the mood for the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately I can't show you all I've done yet though. One is a present and another is for BB&B (hopefully revealed in a few days). I can show you a pendant I made for someone as sort of a commission after she saw a pendant I made some time ago on my facebook page.

 

Here it is. Its a resin pendant with dandelion seeds, approx 2 inches across. I made the mould for it as I didn't have anything big enough using "vinamold". Great stuff that can be melted down and reused.

 

 

I have also been doing the earring challenge again. Readers from last year may remember that I was attempting to make a pair of beaded earring a week for all of 2012 as part of an OTTBS challenge. I did not succeed! This year I am not going to limit myself to just beading, hopefully there will be some beading, resin and silver work as a minimum. Unfortunately I am ALREADY behind. Oooops! I'll catch up when my energy returns but here are the 3 pairs I have made so far.

 

 

 

 

Almost everything in the first pair, including the fab instructions for the beaded beads, came from Pam Gordon of Westcoast Gems and Beads. The instructions and most of the beads came from Westcoast's 'beads of the month' Feb 2013 kit.

 

The second pair are stud earrings made from resin and tiny watch parts.

 

The third pair are resin and dandelion seeds.

 

The first 2 pairs are not for sale, the third pair should eventually go in my folksy shop, should I ever get it up and running again! If you want them though, the easiest way to get hold of me is probably via my facebook page.

 

 

I think that's everything I can show you at the mo. Hopefully February will be a little more creative.

xxx