Crafty As L

It’s the last post of the month so it’s time for a Christmas make and this week’s cards were inspired by one of my current crochet WIPs, the Lapland Blanket CAL by West Yorkshire Spinners.   This is an overlay mosaic crochet pattern that, together with the chunky roving yarn, is creating a thick, warm blanket that is growing fast!   It looks complicated but it’s really not, it just requires a lot of counting. I used Visible Image’s Christmas Tree Grunge and Grunge Christmas Words and started by making my backgrounds.   Using Distress Oxide ink pads, I rubbed them directly onto the 5¼” square panels, blended the ink out with a brush then added water splats.   I also inked up panels for the trees too.   Once dry, I used a regular ink pad in a similar colour to add the small elements from the tree stamp set. I used Distress Oxides in Lumberjack Plaid, Twisted Citron, Weathered Wood and Mowed Lawn . Once the panels were dry, I applied anti-static powder then s...

Happy New Year! I’d hardly got used to writing 2022 and here we are already in 2023.   How time flies!   I hope that you had a peaceful time over the festive period.   Ours was railroaded by the lurgy – I had a cold and Mr L is still suffering with the flu.   As I’ve not been feeling very creative, I thought I’d share the makes I gave away for Christmas. Earlier last year, Mr L commissioned me to make a housewarming present for his friend.   I’d just bought the Animal Heads to Crochet book by Vanessa Mooncie and he wanted me to make the stag.   Talk about in at the deep end!   The pattern is quite easy to follow although making the antlers was a bit of a challenge.   It was great watching him come to life as the various bits were stitched into place.   Here’s Dermot. My sister was leafing through the book and said she liked the zebra so I decided to make one for her for Christmas.   Meet Zander. My sister and I also have a great lov...

Today is remembrance Sunday in the UK.  Since I’m stuck at home recovering from surgery, I’ve not needed a poppy to wear.  I saw a crochet poppy wreath kit on a website (it was sold out) so thought instead of a personal poppy, I could make a wreath for the front door.  After searching for a pattern, I bought one and then ended up following a YouTube tutorial instead as I preferred the shape of the flower.  To begin, I crocheted the centre in black with 12 dc into a magic ring, and then added some gold glass beads into the front loops. Next was to crochet the petals.  These are simply made by making 3 dc into the back loops of 3 stitches, turning, ch2 then 2dc in each of the 9 stitches of the previous round.   This is repeated 3 more times. To form the poppy, the tail from the petal is fed through to the back at the start point of the adjacent petal.  The ends are simply tied together in a few knots on the reverse to secure. ...

This week has involved a veritable feast of crafts! Firstly, it was my Mum-in-Law’s birthday.   Despite her saying that she didn’t need anything, you can’t not get anything for your nearest and dearest.  I crocheted a blanket for her from a Crystals & Crochet pattern called Rosslyn by Helen Shrimpton…. ….and made her a set of birthday cards. Next was her actual birthday card which was inspired by another SU! demonstrator from Mitosu Crafts who kindly shared a YouTube video on how to make a pop-up wiper card without using any dies for the mechanism. After making a mock-up of the mechanism to check I could make it work(!) I set to work stamping and colouring in frogs.  At this stage, I didn’t really have a design as such in mind, but I knew I’d need a few frogs! The front gives nothing away about what’s inside. This is the inside once it’s opened. Second this week was the start of the new series of The Great British Sewing Bee.  I LOVE watching thi...