Happy Howl-a-Days

Christmas is my favourite time of year for crafting even though I don't like cold weather.  I always have plans for more projects than I can ever possibly complete but this year I am determined to make more than usual.

I couldn't resist the Happy Howl-a-days chart by Barbara Ana because of the cute doggies and turned it into this ornament.  The chart is available as an instant download from Creative Poppy.  

 Last year I bought Mini Christmas Crochet by Val Pierce but never had time to make anything so I got started early this year and made the Rudolph on the cover using scraps of 4 ply yarn from my stash.  I didn't have any metallic knitting yarn for the nose but found Madeira metallic embroidery thread worked just as well.

I always liked Christmas trees decorated with white crochet thread stars so thought I would try to make one using a free pattern from the Lion Brand website.  I am not sure I like it though, I had to use masses of starch to make it look decent.  Perhaps I will try a different pattern before I give up.  Lion Brand are giving away a free crochet star pattern on their website every week for 10 weeks.

This was another free Christmas ornament pattern (knitting) by Debbie Stoller from the Red Heart website. I used oddments of d.k. and Aran yarn and the knitting needles are cocktail sticks with beads glued on the ends.

Wilberforce recently enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame on VetVits mail shots, under the heading "Wilberforce is Dressed to Kill".  This is my favourite photograph of him, as on my avatar and I decorated a plain metal frame with pirate paper, gave it a couple of coats of clear spray varnish and added some pirate charms leftover from a scrapbooking project.  This now has pride of place on the bookshelf in my lounge and it always makes visitors smile.  

Well, I am just off the finish another Christmas ornament, I am spending the evening in my craft room.  Happy Christmas crafting.

 

Hard Frost

Where have the last few weeks gone?  Can't say I have done anything in particular, just life, although I am resisting hibernating all day since the weather turned colder.  I just finished this Heritage design (Hard Frost) above but one thing I don't miss about owning horses is those frosty early mornings, mucking out, before making my way to work!

 

While looking through my photos suitable for scrapbooking I found this pic of me when I was younger with one of my horses, I must get around to doing some horsey pages soon.

Sleepy Village

This is another design by Heritage that is based on the village of Finchingfield in Essex.  I used to feed the ducks here when I was small so this bought back a lot of memories while I was stitching it.

Village Lane

John bought me the Village Lane kit for my birthday years ago but I only just got around to working it.  We actually bought this kit on a visit to Finchingfield from a shop called the Needlewoman on the Green, I wonder if it is still there?

 

I bought the frame packs from Heritage Direct and framed them myself.  I just got a local framers to cut the glass for me.

 

I have been using Madeira threads for the first time recently so made this little box which used to hold cosmetics to store them in.  The papers were free with a scrapbooking magazine and I just added some buttons and threads.  The spiral packs of thread fit exactly.

 

After I made this I was in a papercrafting mood so made this storage box for bits and bobs using papers that came free with Simply Homemade magazine. 

Happy Crafting.