Crochet Hearts, a birthday gift set and a crochet catch up.

When I started my little crochet adventure back in April, never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would be making a birthday present for a friend that involved crochet. OK what I've done is very simple but I think very effective and should encourage all you novice crocheters (like me) out there to have a go.

Ooooooh what are these......?

My very good friend is celebrating her 'girlie' birthday this week. She is a lover of all things 'hearty' and has an excellent eye for detail, creating lots of interesting little corners in her house. Anyway the 'hearty' thing was my starting point.


So where do you go when as a crochet novice you need a bit of handholding and advice? Off to lovely Lucy of course, where there was a lovely teeny tiny heart tutorial which was just perfect for my needs.

The hearts were so straightforward to make and I had purchased a white box frame for them to nestle into.

But then of course I had to make the card and think of a suitable wrapping. Here's what I came up with.

A tote'ish bag made from good old reliable wallpaper lining to house the frame, using hearts as my theme and working with the same colours as the crochet hearts.  Shall we have a closer look......?

A carefully placed sentiment and hearts randomly stamped onto a strip of white card which were then cut into squares and mounted onto card. I wanted a faded heart look, so I stamped some of the ink off before stamping onto the white card.



This might give you a better idea....



The ribbon was simply tied around the handle and the handles were made from red card and attached with eyelets.

Although this was for a birthday, what a great Christmas present it would make wouldn't it?

And talking of all things crochet, just in case you were wondering...............

........my crochet blanket is coming along nicely. I left off it for a few weeks as sewing projects took over but I'm determined to get it finished in time for Christmas. I'm aiming for a 10 squares by 12 rows blanket and I'm on row 10 now, I should make it shouldn't I?

Enjoy your day and thank you for stopping by x

Gift set for a friend, a topical tip & a little bit of Downton?

Recently my lovely friend celebrated a birthday and so a decision had to be made as to what to buy for her. My group of girl friends and I are a little like the Queen in that we have 2 birthdays, our official family birthday and a girlie birhday, both celebrated with equal importance and aplomb. I thought you might like to see what I gave to her.

A while ago, I made bedroom curtains and cushions for her....

and as I had a little of the fabric left over, this was my starting point.

A fabric storage pot for a bedside table but it needed a friend and something to sit on.

I don't think your can ever go wrong with wicker and as my friend is a language teacher I thought these little bits would be the perfect combination for her bedside table.

But then how to wrap it all? I must admit I did huff and puff on this one. In the end I used a tip from my Stampin' up chum. Wallpaper lining paper! Yes you did hear me correctly not the most inspiring thing in the whole world but when you stamp, or roll in this case, an inked image onto it, it comes to life. So that's my topical tip for the day! I always keep a couple of rolls it's like brown parcel paper, so versatile. So about half an hour and 3 metres of linen thread later.....

....... her gifts were all packed and ready to go and thankfully she seemed quite pleased :)

Had a glorious evening last night with the TV all to myself I decided to have my own little 'Downton Abbey' fest and catch up on all those recorded episodes I had not seen, the problem is ever since I saw the skit that Victoria Wood did for comic relief, I can't quite take it as seriously as I used to.

Now I'm actually going out to celebrate another friend's birthday tonight who specifically requested "a fabric picture of beach huts please", when I asked her what she would like. So I'll share that one with you next week until then have a great weekend x

A young man's birthday!

Good morning lovely people! It's birthday day in our household today. So as it's a school day we were all up at the crack of dawn to wish my youngest son a happy twelfth birthday and smother him in cards, prezzies and affection. So far the day has consisted of.....

A card from an older brother.....

...complete with cute little tiny tag sentiment tied on with my lovely linen thread .

A card from doting parents.......(had lots of fun on photoshop with this one).... I think he was going for mean and moody.....

.....using masculine colours and a metal edged tag to hold the sentiment....



....and a teetering pile of prezzies.

Of course, fellow crafters, they're all handmade. I never buy cards now and I'm starting to prefer my own wrapping paper. I don't think there's anything quite as nice as brown parcel paper stamped with a simple image and dressed with a luxurious ribbon.

Anyway the request was for "Chocolate Fudge Cake please", so spare a thought for me as you read this as I'm probably knee deep in cake mixture.

Hope you're all having a good day. I will sit down with a slice of afforementioned cake and a cuppa later and do some perusing of your blogs. Have fun.

Nature Birthday Gift Set

Hello all, slightly late in the day, but here is my contribution for today. It was my very excellent and lovely friend's birthday last week. Much merriment was had over a few glasses of wine and platefuls of curry (as us girls do) and of course lots of present giving.
My friend loves nature and has very exacting tastes so it's always a challenge to come up with the 'perfect' present for her. However, luck was on my side this year and I happened to be with her when she went into raptures over a very lovely Emma Bridgwater mug - problem solved! I sneaked back a couple of days later feeling very pleased with my self.

Anyway here is the card......



I embellished the top left hand corner with a simple pearlised button and some linen thread.

........ and the gift tag, taking the same design from the card and using that wonderful linen thread again secured by an eyelet.



...... and the set. I wanted a very simple, natural design. The bag is made from lining paper and is stamped in a gorgeous earthy brown with the same image as the card and gift tag.



But what was the mug like.......?



Lovely isn't it?

Well I hope you're all enjoying your half term breaks. I'm spending a couple of days soaking up the history of York with my lovely family. Hope you're having fun and thank you for visiting me today I do love reading your comments. 

Retro co-ordinated gift set

Regular visitors to my blog will know that I also enjoy paper crafts and am particularly partial to a co-ordinated gift set.  I've had the idea for this in my head for a while now and had the perfect opportunity to make it reality this week as it's my lovely sisters birthday.

The inspiration for this piece was the wonderful Orla Kiely. I managed to catch a flavour of what she is all about. I love the way she uses simple shapes and colour choices.
Here is the card......

.......and here's the box. It contains store vouchers and I think it's a really nice way of presenting them.

........ and together.

I love to personalise cards and gifts in this way, it almost makes them part of the gift itself and is always so well received. I know when I exchange gifts with my girlfriends, there are always just as many oooohh's and ahhhhh's about the actual packaging as there are about the gifts themselves.

Now my sewing machine is calling, he's been sadly neglected for a couple of days and is in need of urgent attention.

Have a good day.

Coordinated gift set

It's my lovely friends birthday today and so a card was called for and suitable gift wrapping.  This is what I came up with.

I was going for a 'basket from a French market' feel with the bag and I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

Would you like to see what's inside ....?

A beautifully ornate bird cage - isn't it lovely?  I placed a little sweet pea inside with the idea that it will grow up and through the bars of the cage.
The card picked up the embellishments, design and paper from the bag and I love how these colours work together.

It's a gorgeous day here today. I've already been on a bike ride and I'm just off the tackle the weeds at the front of the house now. Have a great weekend, whatever you're up to and thanks for stopping by.

Caroline