Crochet Bobble Blanket........out of hibernation.

Do you remember the Bobble Blanket that I started back in September?  

The gorgeous Rooster yarn and the few rows of my blanket has been hibernating, it's all stored in this case. The suitcase is in my lounge, so I look at it every day and keep thinking I must make a decision on whether I should carry on with it or frog it.

After the first few rows, I could see that it was going to be a "yarn eater", so I worked out how much yarn it would take to make a decent size blanket, you can see all my working out here.

 I could have used a cheaper yarn but the Rooster Almerino DK is so lush, I love the colours and is very soft and squishy.
Anyway, I've made a decision and I'm going to carry on with it, Mick bought me a few balls for Christmas and I'm going to buy a few balls, when I can.

The pattern I'm using is from The Nearsighted Owl blog and you can find a great You Tube tutorial video here for the Bobble Stitch.

This used to be my One a Day and as luck would have it, Carole from Gingerbread Girl blog has recently restarted it up again. Hopefully, I can get one row of pattern done, each day but I'll be happy with half a row as it takes quite a while to finish a complete bobble row.

I'm a day late with my Tuesday's Tallies but on time with WIP Wednesday, check out what everyone else is working on over at Tami's blog.

Thanks for stopping by and thank you to all the advice you ladies gave me back in October, I re-read all your comments yesterday, which helped with my decision.

xxxxDebxxxx

Two Challenges.....a sketch and using dies and punches.

Hello, on this gorgeous, sunny holiday weekend, I hope it's sunny where you are. I'm back today with a bright, summery card to match my mood.

I'm using this week's sketch from Sunday Sketch and Stamp and also joining in with The Craft Place Challenge.

Here's my card.

I used some pretty, summery colour papers from Basic Grey, stitching around the edges. I die cut a scalloped circle and plain circle, stamping a sentiment from Inspired by Stamping Trendy Circle Sentiments and a couple of flowers from Spring Blossoms. I die cut a couple of flowers in felt from Tim Holtz Tattered Floral, stitching a button to the centre, I also die cut a couple of felt leaves, to finish it off.

Supplies
Stamps- IBS Spring Blossoms, Trendy Circle Sentiments.
Papers- Basic Grey Gypsy.
Other- Felt, Buttons, SU Border Punch, Crochet Trim

Enjoy the rest of your day, we are off for a walk along the river, making the most of the gorgeous weather.

xxxxDebxxxx

Naming Day Cards........for twins.

Good morning, another long weekend for us, here in the U.K. Mick and I are going to Glynn Purnell's bistro later, which we've been looking forward to for ages. Mick loves to watch cookery programmes and one of his favourite T.V. chef's is Glynn Purnell, so for his birthday, back in March, I bought him vouchers to go to his restaurant. I was hoping booking in May the weather might be better but it's cold, wet and windy, much the same as March!!!

Anyway, I'm back to show you these Naming Day cards I made for baby twins. My neighbour knocked the door a couple of weeks ago, asking if I still made cards. She had been searching for Naming Day cards in shops but could only find one and was worried that everyone would be sending them the same card.

The brief was, one for a boy and one for a girl, simple and personalised, so I pulled out two sets of my Inspired by Stamping stamps and got stamping.

I used the Fancy Alphabet set, and stamped out their names, blue for a boy, pink for a girl, I punched out the letters using a square punch. I also punched plain, coloured card with a scalloped edge square punch to mount the letters on.

I then stamped the boy and girl outfit on the hanger, from the Oh Baby set, onto white card, in black ink and cut them out. Next, I stamped the same images onto patterned paper using the same colour ink as their names. I cut around just the outfit, without the hanger and adhered to the front of the other stamped image.

I hung them with foam pads onto some twine and on my printer, printed out "On your Naming Day", to give the curved 3D look, I put two foam pads on top of each other in the centre and a glue dot at either end.

My neighbour seemed really pleased with them and I'm sure the babies won't get another card like this. Here in the U.K. it's really hard to get cards for occasions like this, Baby Showers are the same, everybody has to buy the same card. Maybe, I should specialise in these, I might make my fortune, lol.

Have a great weekend, and a fab Bank Hoiliday to my U.K. friends.
xxxxDebxxxx

Baby Boy Knits..............

Hello Friends, I can't believe it's over a week since I last posted, I've got so much going on at the moment that I haven't been near a computer. I will catch up with all your blogs in the next few days, though.

My sister's baby boy is due any day now, so I've been knitting little boy cardigans, ready to give my sister when the big day arrives. I've knit plenty for baby girls before but I've only started knitting for boy's in the last 6 months, I was really surprised at how many trendy little knits are out there.

When I went to Brean a couple of weekends ago, I found a good old fashion knitting shop in Burnham, I loved having a mooch around, you don't get many bricks and mortar knitting shops any more. I bought the King Cole Baby Book 4 which is full of gorgeous patterns including this little shawl collar cardigan, I bought some Paton Smoothie DK in this denim blue and was ready to go.

I've now started another cardi, when I was at our local craft club, last week, I saw my friend Dee using some yarn that gave a mock Fair Isle effect. It looked gorgeous knitted up so when I popped into the local haberdashery shop, that has a small selection of yarn, I spotted some Sirdar Crofter DK which was what Dee was using.

I bought a couple of balls in this pretty blue and chose a simple stocking stitch V-neck cardigan pattern, which has knit up really quick, so I hope to have this finished tonight.

Finally, I wanted to share this super sweet photo that my friend, Maria, sent me of her grandson. He is wearing the Debbie Bliss Teddy Bear All-in One, I knit for him, back in November. Doesn't he look cute, in it?

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week.

xxxxDebxxxx

Mojo Monday #293.....

Hello there, did you all have a good weekend? I'm back today with this week's sketch from Mojo Monday.

Here's my interpretation of the sketch.

 

I loved this sketch as soon as I saw it and knew straight away I'd be using the gorgeous banner stamps from Inspired by Stamping. I went with half a doily and one of my favourite frame stamps, instead of the circles, adding a bow and flower to my frame.

Supplies

Stamps- Whimsical Banners, Fancy Labels 18, Birthday Greetings.

Papers- Prima.

Pretties- IBS Seam Binding, IBS Flower.

Thanks for stopping by, today.

xxxxDebxxxx

Inspired by Stamping May Releases.......Small Fancy Labels 2 with Fancy Labels 2 Die.

Good morning, I'm back today with my last project from this month's releases. I've made a card using the Small Fancy Labels 2 and Joanna has designed another matching die set called Fancy Labels 2 die. As you all know, I love to have the coordinating dies to go with the stamp sets, it makes things so much quicker.

Thank you all for looking over the last few days. Tomorrow will be release day where you can purchase all these gorgeous new sets. It will be free shipping on all orders over $20 using code "May Releases" This will start on the 10th and be available for only 48 hours. May 10th at 7pm to April 12th at 7pm Brisbane time only. All 7 stamp sets plus Die will be offered as a bundle for a 10% discount.

Check out what the other DT ladies have been creating.

Joanna

Kendra

Irit

Pam

Colleen

Calypso

Shea

Tina

Leah

Vicki

Joanna,  will be giving away a $25 gift card to the IBS store everyday from 6th – May 10th, for full details check out, Joanna's blog. Winners will be announced daily on a separate page at 7pm (Brisbane time) the following day.

xxxxDebxxxx

Inspired by Stamping May Releases.......Background Basics III, French Notes.

I hope you are enjoying the new releases, this month from Inspired by Stamping, I'm back today with another background set called Background Basics III and also French Notes.

My husband and I have been married for 25 years in July so thought I'd do a LO of the two of us on our wedding day using the sentiment 'Bisous' from French Notes. I stamped it onto one of the frames from Fancy Labels 18.

I stamped the music background onto some paper to make my own background paper. Again, this background set is so easy to line up to make a continuous pattern. I tore the music sheet slightly at the top and added some flowers and lace.

Check out what the other DT ladies have been creating.

Joanna

Kendra

Irit

Leah

Colleen

Gloria

Cindy

Vicki

Shani

Shea

Grace

Joanna,  will be giving away a $25 gift card to the IBS store everyday from 6th – May 10th, for full details check out, Joanna's blog. Winners will be announced daily on a separate page at 7pm (Brisbane time) the following day.

Free Shipping will be available on all orders over $20 using code "May Releases" This will start on the 10th and be available for only 48 hours. May 10th at 7pm to April 12th at 7pm Brisbane time only. All 7 stamp sets plus Die will be offered as a bundle for a 10% discount.

Thanks for looking, I'll be back tomorrow with one more project from May's new releases.

xxxxDebxxxx

Inspired by Stamping May Release......Background Basics II, Big Hope

It's the second day of May's new releases, today I've been using the Background Basics II and Big Hopes which have some wonderful sayings. I especially love this one I used.

I altered a shadow box covering it in patterned paper and Washi Tape along the front edge. I stamped the chevron background in three different colours. The stamps are very easy to line up to keep the continuous pattern.

I stamped one of the Fancy Label 18 frames and stamped my sentiment, attaching with foam pads to give dimension, finishing off with the beautiful bird embellishment.

Check out what the other ladies have been creating.

Joanna

Colleen

Kendra

Irit

Leah

Grace

Vicki

Tina

Shani

Calypso

Cindy

Joanna,  will be giving away a $25 gift card to the IBS store everyday from 6th – May 10th, for full details check out, Joanna's blog. Winners will be announced daily on a separate page at 7pm (Brisbane time) the following day.

Free Shipping will be available on all orders over $20 using code "May Releases" This will start on the 10th and be available for only 48 hours. May 10th at 7pm to April 12th at 7pm Brisbane time only. All 7 stamp sets plus Die will be offered as a bundle for a 10% discount.

Thanks for taking the time to look, I really appreciate it and all your lovely comments.
xxxxDebxxxx

Inspired by Stamping May Release.....Mason Jar Summer Add-On

Good morning, I'm back today to show you the first of May's new releases. I'm kicking off with the Mason Jar Summer Add-On, perfect for these lovely sunny days we've been having.

Strawberries are my favourite fruit so it just seemed right to choose the strawberry stamps to fill my jar. I can't get enough of the Washi Tape stamps so got that on my card too with the sentiment 'For Someone Sweet' from the Mason Jar Add On II.

Check out what the other DT have created with this month's releases.

Joanna

Kendra

Irit

Leah

Gloria

Colleen

Pam

Tina

Cindy

Calypso

Shea

Joanna,  will be giving away a $25 gift card to the IBS store everyday from 6th – May 10th, for full details check out, Joanna's blog. Winners will be announced daily on a separate page at 7pm (Brisbane time) the following day.

Free Shipping will be available on all orders over $20 using code "May Releases" This will start on the 10th and be available for only 48 hours. May 10th at 7pm to April 12th at 7pm Brisbane time only. All 7 stamp sets plus Die will be offered as a bundle for a 10% discount.

Thanks for stopping by, I'll be back tomorrow with another new set. I hope you are all enjoying the Bank Holiday, here in the U.K.

xxxxDebxxxx

Our First Time Geocaching..........

Happy May, everyone, I think Spring is definitely here in the U.K. I even sat in the garden, yesterday afternoon, soaking up the sun, reading some magazines, that I haven't had chance to look at. It is so nice to be able to get outdoors in the fresh air, it makes you feel so much better.

On Sunday, it was a dry, sunny afternoon but with a definite chill in the air but we decided to wrap up and go on our first Geocaching expedition.

If you don't know what it is, it is basically a treasure hunt using your GPS on your phone, you will be surprised how many  caches are hidden, locally to you, we even had one a few metres from our house. If you go on the Geocaching website, you can find all the details on there.

Inside the hidden canister there maybe just a log book, to write down, who you are and when you found it, sometimes there could be 'treasure'  that you can take but must replace with something else.

Our first destination, we decided to go along the local canal, armed with the GPS and compass on my phone, we trekked along the tow path until we reached where the map said the cache was hidden.

We were searching for ages and just couldn't find it, there were clues, like 'By Ivy and Ivy's friend', 'above ground level'. We were walking up and down looking for Holly but couldn't find any, we kept searching within the 5m the compass was showing but to no avail.

There were a few passer-bys (Muggles) so we stopped what we were doing and tried to look inconspicuous, as though we doing our shoe laces, reading text messages, etc.

We were just about give up, when Dan spotted it, we were so excited, as you can see in the above photo!!!!!!! Inside was a log book and 'treasure', Paige chose a ring and replaced it with a phone charm and Dan took a marble and put in a toy motorcycle.

After all that excitement, we decided to stop off at a canal side pub for a quick drink, while we were sat there , we started looking for other local ones. As I said, there is one right by our house, in a wooded area, so as we cut through the wood, we had a look for that one, too. The clue was a 35mm film cannister, 'In the Wood', we all took a tree each and started searching.

I found this one very quickly, but whoever put it there, had put a lot of time and effort into it. The cannister was hidden in a piece of old tree trunk, that was cut in half, secured with a wooden peg with the inside carved out to house the film cannister. Genius!!!

This was just a log book, so Paige wrote our names down, we were 35th on the list. We really enjoyed our afternoon of Geocaching, it's good fun for everyone and very family friendly. It's a great way to exercise too, I'd rather do this than running or going to the gym.

One last thing I wanted to share with you, I have just joined a Pretty Postcard Circle with a lovely bunch of ladies. Each week, I send a postcard and receive one, this is my first postcard that arrived, yesterday.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

xxxxDebxxxx