Strum Me a Few Notes

It's been way too long since I made a card. I've even been guilty of buying a few cards lately. 

I know, I blush. I have lots of things I could blame, but I'm not going to. It just hasn't happened, but I'm glad I finally got to play again.

I made one for my sons' birthday coming up this week. He's been known to walk into a room, find a comfy spot in a corner somewhere or on some stairs and start playing and singing his heart out. He fingerpicks and strums, so we get treated to some great songs. When thinking of what kind of card to make him, it wasn't hard. 

 

Oddly enough, one of the things I don't have is different sizes of round punches. So I had to trace and cut. However, I think it's close enough. It's a cute card and I found it on SplitCoastStampers HERE. Since the instructions are explained there, I'm not going to repeat them here. Go have a look and find out how easy this one is to make. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Blessings,

Carmen

Crochet Appliques For Boys

It's Labour Day weekend! 

Hope you are all enjoying some well deserved peace and rest. 

It feels like the world today is spiralling.... and that there are no answers in sight. I'm curious why people don't shut off their TV's and just be kind to each other. I also find it very interesting that in times of real trouble, like in Texas, people are there. There are humans helping humans and no one is asking if they're right or left, and no one cares if they're mexican, white or black...or maybe those people just don't help. I don't really know, but what I'm seeing is real and people haven't changed all that much. They care.

So I have to wonder - -

Why does the media only report about bad things and skew the truth, and why don't they tell you the good things? I know it's on everyone's mind, because how can it not be? I sincerely hope people have their eyes open and are checking into things....because their childrens' futures depend on it. 

Just a few of my thoughts lately. I know this isn't that kind of blog, but it's just so in your face lately.

In the meantime I've been playing with hook and yarn. I found this little pattern and I don't know what I'm going to do with these yet, but they were fun to make.

I featured an incomplete one on my Facebook page asking what people thought it was. I thought for sure they'd guess a UFO, but the only guess was a handbell. Oddly, that's what my husband guessed too.

Once you add the little details, it becomes a vintage car. Or several vintage cars. 

I. Just. Couldn't. Stop. 

These little vintage car appliques were from a free pattern. Get yours from My Crochet Projects.

Aren't they sweet? Now to make up a blanket or something they can be used on. Any ideas?

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Carmen

Sleep Tight Teddy Bear Blanket

It's finally done! 

And I am so happy with the way it turned out! This blanket is for the newest addition to our family, Bristen Erick. 

I highly recommend this pattern as it was easy to follow. I was not familiar with all the stitches and hesitated to purchase it, but I'm so glad I did. The instructions were easy to follow. The end result was an adorable, beautifully textured baby blanket. 

I would have made the lovey, but I ran out of time!

The original pattern was by Christins, from My Sweet Potato 3, and the pattern name is My Sweet Teddy Bear Set on Ravelry. It includes the Lovey. 

I hope you all had an amazing weekend! Now onto the rest of the week! 

Blessings,

Carmen

The Period of Purple Crying

Hello! 

What a summer it's been! Though it has not come near us (fingers crossed), the wildfires are all around us. Kamloops is an evacuation center not only for people, but also for much livestock and pets. The corporate donations have been impressive, and the volunteers have been amazing! It's not over yet, as we are just coming into the hottest part of our summer. So we pray for intervention, as many thousands have already been affected by these fires. I am staying inside mostly as the smoke is thick and acrid outside. 

I thought I'd show you some of the caps I made for The Period of Purple. These are hats made for babies with shaken baby syndrome. They must be at least 50% purple. I found a few free patterns (there are some on their site) and made them up. I did mostly boys, as I believe there may be a shortage of boy hats. 

I would say the last one is more girlish, as there's a bit of pink in it, and the color is a red/purple.

The small balls of colorways acrylic yarn was perfect for these. They are only $1.00 a ball on sale, and one ball makes about 2 of these hats.

 I am hoping they can use these. There are some guidelines, such as size, color, and bulkiness.  It's all on their website if you want to have a look! 

Well, I certainly hope things calm down in BC soon. Pray for us, would you? 

Blessings,

Carmen

Quick, Easy Father's Day Cards

Father's Day is a mere two days away at this writing and for those of you who haven't made your cards yet, this is the post for you!

I love cards that are easy to make, but look like you've spent a lot of time on them. So without further delay, here are a few cards for you to make. This first one was made using the Bo Bunny's Weekend Market Collection. I used one page out of this pad for this whole card.

One and a half inches were trimmed from the left side of the page to cut out a few circles (using bottle and container caps to make the circles) and then I inked the edges with black ink. They were placed here and there on the page with dbl-sided tape, as you can see above.

Using a permanent fine tip marker, I highlighted the edge of the globe to make it stand out a bit more. the words were made using stickers from the Dollar Store. The words "in the" were done by hand. These were put in place with double sided tape. Done!

This next card went to a Dad that loves the Cinema.

It is a super easy card to make too, using 2 sheets of the paper, some cardstock and the corner stickers from My Stickease, Silhouette Level 1.

Keeping my card base in mind (I just buy the ones from Michaels with the envelopes included), I cut some cardstock to fit inside the card base, and cut the Curtain Call paper to fit inside that. I don't use measurements, but eye it up. It's easier, and no one can tell the difference. Then I put the little corner stickers from the Stickease set in place. I adhered the cardstock together with dbl-sided tape.

I cut out the Charlie Chaplin character and put that on the card with foam tape to give some dimension.

You'll notice the copper on the top left of the card - that's actually a film strip cut-out someone gave me, but most of it is behind the paper. I liked the look so kept it there.

Then I took the frame from the Stickease set and put Letter stickers from the Dollar Store on there. I adhered the left side with dbl-sided tape (to sit on the Charlie Chaplin image) and the right side with foam tape. I had a little metal dancing shoe embellishment that I adhered with a brad. Then I taped the finished card top to the Card base. Done.

Just for fun I'm going to include an old card I made years ago that works well for Father's Day and is super easy to make using the Tie Image from my Etsy Shop.

For this card, I used random papers I had around. Using a bought card base, I measured some black cardstock to fit within 1/4"  of the card. 

I measured the designer paper to within 1/4" around for inside the black cardstock.

Then I ran off the tie image on 4 different pieces of designer paper and fussy cut them out. 

Using the 4 ties as a gauge, I cut a rectangle of paper for the background. I used a bold stripe. Then cut out black cardstock to frame the striped paper. 

On top of the striped paper, I put a piece of self stick mesh I had in my stash. Then adhered the ties on top. 

I used some dew drops as an embellishment. 

Then I adhered it all to the card base. 

A quick and easy Father's Day Card! 

Well, that's three quick Father's Day Cards. I hope these have been a bit of an inspiration. Super easy cards that are quick to make but look classy enough to make them think you really took a lot of time. 

Have a great weekend,
Blessings,
Carmen

Honey, I shrunk the.....

Hello Everyone,

How's life? Mine is full lately. I went to Lillooet to visit with some family from Holland, my dad and my sister.

My sister, who also loves to make things, showed me a couple of little things she made. I didn't realize it, but it seems Shrinky Dinks are popular in the crafting world right now. I love what she did with these, so I set about making my own. First, here are her projects.

This was a name tag she made for my Dad's new puppy. She used a dog biscuit cookie cutter for the shape. I've covered over the phone number, for obvious reasons.

This is her grandsons handprint made with acrylic paint, then shrunk. It was made for her son to keep on his keychain. Cute hey?

So after seeing these, I decided I wanted to make some too. As it turns out, while looking up Shrinky Dinks, I came across this post by Repeat Crafter Me. She had some fun making stitch markers. She also provides a template. 

I loved her idea for the Yarn Ball Stitch Markers, so with this in mind, I made my own little Shrinks, thank you very much! 

I found a couple of images for a yarn ball online as a guide and printed them off on some white paper,. There are literally tons to choose from. This is a full 8.5 x 11 sheet of the shrinky dink paper so you can tell about how large the images were to start with.

With a black permanent Sharpie on the smooth side of the paper I 'sort of' traced the yarn images, making some changes as I went along. 

I drew a heart on the white paper and used it as a template for the hearts on the labels.

Then I used colored Sharpie markers on the textured side of the paper.

The colors get quite dark when baking, so I used these lighter colors.

Once they were all colored in, I cut them out and made a hole in each one with a regular hole punch. Remember, the holes will shrink too. Then I placed them on a cookie sheet covered with foil.  Also, make sure when you place them on the foil, they're smooth side down, textured side up.

I baked them in a preheated 325F oven for about 1 1/2 minutes. They will curl first, but you want them to be flat before you take them out of the oven. Don't be impatient like I was the first time around.

Here they are fresh out of the oven. Yes, same ones! You want to start big. Look how much darker the colors are after baking as well! 

I also decided to do a sewing machine, because I love to sew. 

It's nuts how small they get, right? Here they are again. I will be making key chains and earrings out of these. I may have to make a few more balls of yarn so I have matching colors. 

For the keychains I used a small jump ring to join the yarn ball shrinky dink to a clasp or ring. For the earrings, I will do about the same, but attach them to a hook.

The sewing machine image was found HERE if you'd like to make your own. Again, there are tons of yarn images on the web that you can use.

Well, that's about it for today! 

Have a wonderful weekend,
Blessings,
Carmen

Farmers Market Totes, Comfy Babies and Boot Cuffs

Good morning,

How are you all doing on this beautiful sunny day? It's going to be a hot weekend here in the Loops. Hopefully I can get a walk in before it gets too hot. So what have you been up to lately? Are you getting lots of crafting done? Do any of you sell your items, or are you like me - you just make things and give them all away?

Ah well, at least someone enjoys them, right?

I couldn't decide if I should just show you everything I've been up to lately, or divide it up into a number of posts since I haven't been all that good at posting regularly. Life kind of whirls around me and I'm never sure what will happen from one day to the next, but there's always something happening, it seems. 

So maybe I'll just start typing and see where it leads. 

I'll first share some of the crochet projects I've made up. I actually made something for myself this time. Some Saturdays I go to the Farmer's Market in Kamloops. I really enjoy this and will usually bring a fabric shopping bag (the kind they sell for 99 cents). I decided to upgrade when I found this super cute pattern on the Net. 

I'm wishing I'd made the handles a bit longer, but it'll be great the way it is. 

This was a free pattern (believe it or not). I love it.

Also, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but we are expecting another grandchild. I was asked to make some little baby sneakers. These came off my hook - - -

I was quite happy with how these turned out and will probably make more and see if I can sell them. The pattern came with a little converse box. Super cute! I couldn't adjust the margins on it with my computer, unfortunately, so I couldn't use the box.

I thought I'd shown you all my boot cuffs, but looking back on my blog, it turns out I only showed you one. So here's a photo of all of them. I believe these were all free patterns too. Don't quote me on that. 

              

I made up my own template for the boot cuff box. It's a bit different than the ones I show above, but after some edits, this is the one I decided to use. 

Trying to figure out what to make next with all that yarn? 

I saw a post on a Facebook page that our Vancouver Children's Hospital is looking for knitters and crocheters to make these little (at least 50% ) purple hats for babies that have 'shaken baby syndrome' and are now in hospital because of it. Apparently these little hats are helpful. The page has links for Canada and the US, so if you're American, you can still participate. 

They've provided this website: Period of Purple Crying for more information. You can make any pattern you like but because they're so small, something fairly plain and cute would probably be best. Here's the flyer that was posted. There's a number provided if you want more information. 

Such a worthwhile cause!!

My next post will be on Shrinky Dinks and then I'll be sharing a pouch I've been working on. I may include a written tutorial for it. It's a super easy pouch and fun to make. 

Have a wonderful day and Blessings to you,

The Chunkier the Better, or Just Wrap it Up!

Good morning,

And it's a beautiful morning here in the 'Loops! We have clear blue skies, and it looks like spring is well on its way. My lilacs are starting to sweeten the air around here, and my tree is almost ready to blossom. I love this time of year! 

So it seems the crochet bug never really left me. I am really loving the bulky crochet and decided to whip up a hat and some boot cuffs yesterday. I know it's spring and summer is coming, but that doesn't worry me so much. I just like to make things.  I also custom made a wrap which I have written up a pattern for. I think I'll be putting it up on Ravelry when it's been edited and tested.

First the hat; I call it a Chunky Flapper Hat with Bulky Flower. This was a fun one to do up. I love working the bulkier yarns, and I love the big flowers! 

It's a bit overexposed, but I either lost the brown or the white depending on the background.

Then these twisted their way off my hook. I love these because they're so thick and rich and cozy looking. Plus you can dress them up a bunch of different ways; a big button, a bow, some pom poms....it's endlessly fun! 

I'm not sure which buttons to use. Should I go natural, black, or retro?

Finally, last but not least, the wrap I made. This is a special wrap because it was made for someone who cannot wear many of the new man made fibres. This one had to be made of 100% cotton in a smoke free, pet free home. She requested a navy blue, which makes it a bit hard to see, but I will include a few pictures. 

This is the wrap folded up. You could use a bigger button on this, but this one was made to fit into a Triple Crochet space, which I enforced for strength.

Here's a close up of the button. It's kind of pretty! 

This is Diane, aka 'Di'. She has her arm up in this photo, but the wrap sits quite nicely normally. She was smiling so sweetly in this photo that I wanted to use this picture.

This wrap is about 20" wide by 52" long. I thought it would be too small, but it fits well. She claims the stitch I used caused the wrap to sit nicely without stretching out. My DIL (who brought it to her) said she absolutely loved it! Sigh of relief! 

Well, that's it for today. I hope you're all having a sunny day too! 

Handmade Blessings,

Carmen

Ink Pad Stamped Card

I'm back for my second post today.

I really had fun making this card, and it was super easy. I'll write up a tutorial for you, so you can make your own. 

First, here's the card:

And here's how I did it. 

First I took out my Distress Ink Pads in Pink, Orange, Yellow, Blue and Green. 

Using a piece of cardstock I'd cut to size, I took the Pink Pad and rubbed it across the top of the cardstock. 

I repeated this for the Orange, Yellow, Blue and Green, using a piece of paper to mask the rest of the cardstock.

I didn't get a strong swipe initially on the blue, but decided to leave it. Then I made up another mask with paper to cover the blue portion and create a different shape for the lake bottom. Then I inked the green below that and filled in any exposed cardstock with color. (either green for grass or blue for water)

Then I sat there and looked at it wondering what on earth I was doing. Lol --

Here's the stamp set I used put out by IndigoBlu. I don't think this set is still available, but you can still get the stamps as singles, or in other sets. 

I used the bottom strip of this one, and I used a Tim Holtz stamp for the birds. I use Staz On ink a lot, so my rubber stamps look black. As you can see, I've used these a lot.

First I stamped the 'greenery' across the bottom of the Cardstock using Black Staz-On Ink.

Then I inked the stamp, but covered up a part of the stamp, and stamped on the back side of the blue lake portion to about 2/3 of the way across the card, I re-inked and stamped the last bit a little offset.

Oops.

Okay, so that was a happy accident. 

I did the same on the front side of the blue portion (masking the portions of the stamp I did not want to use), being careful not to get too much of the stamp in the center. I used the stamp on each side, then used a black fine tip pen to fill in the rest of the grass in the center by hand. 

Finally, with a white fine tip pen I carefully touched up the top of the blue water where the grass meets the water, to give more of a watery effect, and to clean up the offset 'greenery.' I used a black fine point pen as well.

I finished it up with a bird stamp by Tim Holtz. 

It kind of looks like a runny painted sky. I may have moved the pad around a bit, but I like the effect. I also have a few streaks of blue in the sky. 

Pretty easy though hey? I'd like to try something similar with other stamps I have. 

I got the idea from Stampscapes. They create stamps that are perfect for scenery cards. I think he uses a brush with the ink pads, and felts, etc. to add color. Anyway, they look gorgeous. You should definitely check them out.  Here's a link: Stampscapes

Hope you'll try it out~

Blessings,

Carmen