Merry Christmas

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas.

May The Force Be With You

For our tenth wedding anniversary back in October, I crocheted a Yoda for Steve. He loved it and took it to work to put on his desk. Over the last few months the little guy has stood there beside his computer attracting quite the attention....so much so that I was asked to crochet a Yoda, and several other Star Wars characters, for one of Steve's coworkers.

Like it was with the dolphins, I was thrilled to have my work recognized and have someone request a crochet item from me, so I eagerly accepted the job. And then I learned that this coworker wanted these little figures for Christmas. Yikes! Needless to say I have been working on these guys every chance I have had for the last few weeks. And yes, I have callouses on my fingers and thumbs.

But they are done now, and they look incredible!! I am so happy with them. I am definitely going to make them for our household as well.

The pattern I used is from here - an amazing source for fun, funky, pop-culture inspired amigurumi patterns.

Here are the characters that I made:

Darth Vader

Yoda

Princess Leia

An Ewok

And here is the whole gang all together

I used both Bernat Handicrafter Cotton and Lily Cotton - all from my stash - for this project.

What do you think? I absolutely love them!

May the force be with you!

Card of the Week: Christmas Cards (4)

I have a few more Christmas cards to show you today. These ones were made with Bella Blvd.'s Christmas Countdown line (the same line I used for yesterday's layout).

This last card (below) was both a lot of fun and a challenge to make. I punched all the circles out using my Fiskars circle punches and then tried to lay them out in a random pattern on the card. Designing a random pattern that looks balanced while not too cluttered is a lot harder than you might think. I did a lot of fussing about and adjusting while making this card, but in the end I have to say that I am happy with the result.

I can not believe how quickly Christmas is approaching! How are all your preparations coming along? Have you made any Christmas cards? 

My Christmas Girls

This week's crafty challenge over at The Memory Nest is a color and theme challenge with a twist.

This is the color palette:

The theme is Christmas or Winter - very appropriate for this time of year.

And the twist is to add texture to your page through the use of "canvas, burlap, doilies, lace, ribbon or crochet".

For my layout I used a picture of the girls that we had taken for our Christmas cards this year. This is hands-down one of my favorite pictures of my girls ever. 

The paper I used is from Bella Blvd.'s Christmas Countdown line which I purchased a few weeks back after my unfortunate scrapbooking garage sale experience. The embellishment stickers are from Bella Blvd.'s Christmas line from last year; I had them in my stash and I love how they coordinate so well with the current line. 

To add a little texture to this page, I really layered up my patterned papers and tied some bakers twine around one of them. 

I am so happy with this layout. I love the picture, the papers, the layers...it is one of my favorite layouts that I have done lately. 

Now, as an avid crocheter I was inspired by the idea to add crochet to my paper crafting. In fact, this is an idea that has been rattling around my creative mind for quite some time, so faced with this challenge I decided to go for it and try to combine crochet and paper crafting.

I began by crocheting a red star (using the same pattern that I used for my Crochet Christmas Star Garland) and then I made this card.

I found that a simple, clean, uncluttered design worked best when including my crochet star.

And you know what? I love it. The combination of crochet and paper is really beautiful and it makes for a lovely card. What do you think? Do you like the look of crochet on a card? I do have to tell you that it does make the card a little heavy, which might make mailing such a card a little pricier, but for a hand delivered card, it would work fine.

This beautiful challenge really kicked my creativity into high gear and encouraged me to act on an idea that had been simmering away in my mind for some time. You just never know where a creative challenge may take you, and that is why they are so fun to play along with. 

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you back here tomorrow when I'll show you a few more Christmas cards.

Three Crochet Dolphins

Back in the summer I showed you a crochet dolphin that I made for my daughter Claire. Well, a good friend of mine saw this dolphin and asked me to make three of them for her girls for Christmas. Since this was the first time anyone had ever asked me to crochet something for them I was beyond thrilled to take on the job. My first crochet job! So exciting.

Before they get wrapped up and placed under the tree I wanted to show you this colorful trio of dolphins.

Aren't they cute? And they were a lot of fun to make. I worked on them assembly line style - making all the eye rounds, then all three bodies and snouts, and finally ending with all the fin and tail pieces. Sewing them together was a little time consuming but also incredibly satisfying to see all the pieces come together.

I hope the little girls who these are for have tons of fun playing with them.

Owls for Christmas

Last week Bridget was sick and home from school. And I was home with her. While she slept, I found myself in my quiet house with the day stretching out ahead of me completely unscheduled. 

So what did I do? I left the cooking, the laundry, the cleaning, and all the other chores alone and I sat at the kitchen table drinking cup after cup of coffee while making these two little guys.

Both are Christmas presents – one for my Oma and the other for my sister.

The pattern I used can be found here. 

I had a lovely day and truly enjoyed the calm of crochet, the time to recharge and relax, and also the happiness of having made some sweet presents for two very special people. Bridget rested and is feeling much better.

Card of the Week: Christmas Cards (3)

Saturday night, after the girls were in bed, I put on my cozy pajamas and fuzzy socks and sat down at my craft table to make a few more Christmas cards.

Using just the scraps from the other cards I have made with the Simple Stories December Documented line (see here and here) I made these two cards:

This is exactly why I cannot throw scraps of paper in the garbage, no matter how small they are: I made two beautiful cards from just the leftover bits and pieces....

Now I can hardly claim the idea for these strip Christmas tree cards as my own, as this design is everywhere. And now I know why, these are so fun to make.

I knew I would drive myself bonkers if I tried to make all the strips straight, so I angled all the pieces purposely.

And that was my Saturday night – cozy and comfortable while making cards.  That’s what I call a good night in.

She Loves to Dance

I am still working away on my 2013 album. Making good headway, but still a bit to go. Here is my latest layout using pictures from Bridget's ballet recital.

I used paper from American Crafts Letterbox line. It was the perfect match to my pictures.

I don't cut shapes out with my Silhouette as much as I could, but I was struggling with what embellishments to add to this page so I browsed through the online store and found these ballet slippers.

Working on my 2013 layouts and adding them to my album makes me so happy. I love every part of the process - picking the pictures and the paper, designing the page, searching for embellishments, and adding the journalling so that there is a story on each page. Basically, I love scrapbooking - which should not come as a shock to you all, but sometimes I just need to say it.

Card of the Week: Christmas Cards (2)

I'm back again this week with a few more Christmas cards that I made using paper and embellishments from Simple Stories.

To see the other Christmas cards that I have made with this paper line click here.

And please come back next week to see more Christmas cards....because as far as card making goes, I am focused on Christmas from now until the big day. So fun!

Smile, Laugh & Learn

Today I am sharing a layout I did for Make it Monday at The Memory Nest.

The challenge this time around was to follow a sketch, use something from your office supplies on your layout, and use one of the following phrases as a title for your page.

I chose to use three pictures from Claire's preschool graduation and followed this sketch. I had to change things up a bit since my pictures were not orientated the same as the ones on the sketch, but other than that I stayed true to the original design.

Claire was so excited to graduate from preschool. I love this picture.

I combined two of the phrases to come up with the perfect title for my page.

As for including something from my office supplies, truth be told, I struggled a bit. I was going to put a paperclip somewhere on the page, but I did not like how it bent the papers. Instead I settled for some graph paper (not real graph paper, but from Scenic Route) and I printed out part of my title (Laugh & Learn) using my printer....which is in my office, so that totally counts.

All in all, another great challenge hosted by Leslie over at The Memory Nest. Be sure to stop by and see the layouts done by the other ladies on the Design Team, and maybe even link up your own creation.