Funky Fairy's Challenge #43

There are two challenges on the FF Forum this week. The first is the sketch, and the second is to make a card in pink and blue. You can do these separately or combine them. I chose to combine them in this get well card for a friend. The papers are from the Blue Christmas download from FF's Inspiration Blog, but I have turned the snowflakes into snow flowers by adding a pink punched centre. The image is a lovely freebie offered by IngerHarding. Please visit her blog and leave her some love! I have coloured it with watercolour pencils, but Inger also has a coloured image available

An Inherited WIP...

This was started by my friend Dot, who died in September. Her husband brought me a large black bin-liner full of knitting yarn and five started projects. The wool is peach acrylic, not what I would use for something that entailed as many hours work as this pattern, ( in my experience, it pills after half a dozen wearings) but this has front and back finished, and a started sleeve that I shall need to frog as the slight difference in our tensions will always show if I continue where she left off. It took a while to work out what size she was knitting, and I have become so used to knitting from charts, that the K1, P1, Drop 1 of traditional English patterns is now annoying and hard to follow, so I sat down and made myself a chart from the knitting she had done. The little string loops you can see are there to remind me where the pattern changes. Once charted, it is an easy pattern. The increases up the side are all into a moss stitch band. In from this on each side there is a 17 stitch panel of a moss stitch zigzag on a purl backround, followed by a 6 stitch cable with 3 moss stitches on each side, and the centre is a diamond cable. The 6 row increases fall nicely in line with the zig and the zag, as do the cable cross overs. Below you can see how far I have knitted in two evenings; my sleeve is on my favourite circular needles. Oh, and the colour in the top photo is much closer to reality...

Funky Fairy Challenge #42

Funky Fairy's Papercraft have opened a Forum for their Challenges. This is my card for their Sketch Challenge #42. Papers used are Funky Fairy's Blue Christmas download. Dove stamp is by Uptown Rubber Stamps, coloured with two shades of blue felt tip and a waterbrush. Swirl is Inkakdinkadoo, and the sentiment is from an unbranded box of Christmas stamps.

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #37

The challenge this week is to use snow or snowflakes. Papers are Funky Fairy's Blue Xmas. The frames were either too big or too small for the card, so I used the inside of one as a pattern and drew the shape with felt tip. I didn't have a blue closer to the background colour, but IRL it is a good match for the base card. The punched snowflakes have pale blue gems. Tilda looks very pale and cold, but that is the fault of the scanner; I can't figure out how to correct this. I should really have a play with the settings...

Candy in the mail

I received a pretty packet of stamped images and some cut-outs today that was my candy from Allison's PIF. They arrived in a very smart tartan folder, all the way from Glasgow. My pifs have already been sent out. The picture isn't all it could be, but I did it in the scanner because I couldn't lay my hands on the camera...

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #36

This week's Challenge is to use green and red in a card. I still had the green and red Shabby Princess paper out, so I used that to make this card. The trees are part of the same free download. I don't know if it is still available, because it was from Christmas 2006! At this stage there was not a lot of cute about it, so I drew, painted and cut out the tiny elves; I hope they are cute enough for you...

Magnolia v Stampavie #3

This is this week's sketch;

Resizing of elements is allowed, but I think I went a bit over the top with the parchment work rectangle! It has the required scallops, but all the way round and not just on one edge; when you start on this intriguing craft, it is hard to stop once you get the rhythm of it...

This shows you that I forgot to rub out the yellow tracing lines, that I was not so much in the mood for pricking that I was prepared to perforate all round the edge, and that I need more precision in placing my tiny star tool...in other words; I need lots more practice!

Sketch Saturday #25 & DCM

The challenge at Sketch Saturday this week is to make a Christmas card following this sketch. I have pricked holes down the sides of the card to add a little interest. The holly paper is from an Artylicious CD, the vertical vine is recycled from a card, and I drew the little robin and coloured it with oil pastels and a stencil brush.
Daring Card Makers Challenge is to feature a bird, so this little robin qualifies, I think...

A finished WIP

The kneewarmer/shawl that I showed here is now finished. I ran out of wool about 4" from the end of a row, so I improvised. Because I work on circular needles, it was easy to push the stitches to the other end, and use a crochet hook to cast of the stitches already completed, When I got to the remaining unknitted 4", I crocheted them from the other end and pulled the end of the wool through to fasten the whole thing off. The beauty of knitting really hairy wool like mohair is that it all matts together nicely and hides a multitude of sins! The last stripe rows were made with all the tail ends of the other rows twisted end to end. I am happy to report that there is absolutely nothing left, not even an inch of fluff!

Ignore the dark splodges across the shawl, they are just shadows cast by the bamboo...

QTC from KR

This little work of art is from my friend KR; one of a series of Landscapes that she did for an Exchange on her Quilt Group. This is entitled Sunlit River, and isn't that just what it is?

Sketch Saturday challenge #24

I can't stop coughing, and I feel like crap, but I am trying to keep myself occupied so I don't sleep all day. I borrowed a couple of the stamps from the Craft Club box, thinking I would make a couple of cards, but my stamping skills are pretty amateur, and I usually end up with missed bits that have to be filled in with pencil, or messy splodges where my inky fingers have hit the paper before the stamp. So it was with the post box image; there was a large black smudge in the top right corner....then I came across Sketch Saturday...the stamp is Anita's, coloured with watercolour pencils, the papers are scraps of Pink Petticoat, and the snowflake is made of wood and came from Casa.

Christmas Dotees...

...for a swap on ArtWeMail. All made from the same material, but finished differently. Nell on the left has her fur-lined coat on, Spangle on the right is wearing her best hoodie, and Rapunzel in the centre is having a bad-hair-day.

Doubling Up

The low Winter sun makes photography difficult sometimes! I made this card following the sketch for the Stamp with Stampavie Challenge. Following a link on the blog of one of the designers there, I came across another Challenge Blog for Stampavie and Magnolia stamps, and their Challenge #2 was for a card that was "Clean and Simple with no more than three colours". I thought this card looked clean, so I am entering it there as well.
Stamp is Lily by RAM. Teabag papers and strip were designed by me years ago using royalty free images. Tiny tag is by Pink Petticoat.

Beate's Weekend Sketch #65

Here is my entry for Challenge #65. Papers are all from a Shabby Princess download. Snowman stamp is Stampendous, coloured with watercolour pencils.

A Work in Progress

I've been sorting out a bin bag full of wool that has been in the top of the wardrobe for ages, and thought I would do something with all the odd balls of mohair that I collected back in the '80s. There are no two the same colour and they are from three different manufacturers, but all are about the same weight. I'm using a 7mm circular needle, and a very easy garter stitch ripple pattern, putting 6 rows of one colour followed by two rows of another. I have used some oddments for many of the two row sections. I've first used all the pinky/mauvey colours, then used an ombre green to brown to lead into the centre section that is shades of brown and tan. I'm now using a grey/green/tan combination with stripes of bright green, and I have a ball of vanilla to tale off with. It is easy knitting and is already long enough to keep my legs warm as I knit. It is very light and very warm, and destined as a kneewarmer for Bossman, or a draught excluder for me as I sit at the computer. There is no way that Charlie is going to continue using it to pad on!

I've won some Candy!

Allison, who designs for Funky Hand, had a PIF Candy on her Blog. The first three people to comment will receive some stamped images from her, on condition that they Pass It Forward on their own Blog. So here we go; the first three people to leave a comment here will receive some stamped images from me.

Blog Candy...

First call is to Lisa who has some clear stamps and some Basic Grey papers to give away. There is lots of inspiration on her blog.

Second call is to Bernie who is offering;

• A set of Inkadinkado Clear Stamps
• Basic Grey Euphoria 6x6 pad
• Pink Ribbons
• Mixture of Prima blooms
• Handful of Autumn Leaves buttons

Super Blog Candy ...

...over on Enfys' Blog...to celebrate 100,000 hits!

Friday Sketchers #26

I have rotated the original sketch.

My take on the Challenge is a little liberal...the triangle might have been bigger....all the papers and the image come from Pink Petticoat. The flourish stamp is by Inkadinkado.