More Socks!!

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Heather

I wish I knew why I love socks so much. They are so fun to knit, and just a treat to have on my little feet. šŸ˜‰

Mona socks, designed by Cookie A.

Mona socks, designed by Cookie A.

These are Mona, my second pair of socks from Cookie A.’s book Knit.Sock.Love. They are knit from Panda Cotton in colourway Powder Blue. It was a fairly straightforward pattern, but I really didn’t enjoy all the twisted knit stitches.

BFF socks, designed by Cookie A. (WIP)

BFF socks, designed by Cookie A. (WIP)

I’m now working on BFF, the next sock in the book. This time the yarn is Dye-Version’s Bamboo Stetch Sock in colourway Candy Apple. It is a very squishy yarn, and the cables show up much better than I expected. I’ll be reversing the direction of the cables for the second sock because I like symmetry.

Unfortunately, it looks like the KAL for theĀ Knit.Sock.Love. book that I was taking part in has collapsed, but I’m hopping to continue on with it myself. It isn’t like I don’t have a pile of sock patterns, but I like having a plan to follow.

5 Comments | Posted in Knitting | Tagged , ,

Ultimate DIY Bundle

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Heather

Once in a while I like to share products and books I really believe in. Today I’d like to share the Ultimate DIY Bundle with you. It is a collection of creative ebooks that will get you crafting. I know that we all love cross stitch, and many of you are knitters, crocheters, sewests, etc. Well, in this bundle, you’ll find lots of ebooks to inspire you and maybe introduce you to your next favourite hobby.

For the crazy low price of just $34.95, you get access to a carefully curated library of over 75 eBooks and eCourses from the worldā€™s leading DIY and crafting bloggers ā€“ enabling you to pick a project and jump straight into it with confidence. Itā€™s the perfect tool to skip the information overload and throw yourself straight into a new activity.

Hurry though! The Ultimate DIY Bundle will only be on sale for 6 days ā€“ from 8am EST on Wednesday, January 21 until 11.59pm EST on Monday, January 26.

You can buy with complete confidence because youā€™re covered by the Ultimate Bundles 30-day money-back guarantee. That means you have a full 30 days to enjoy all the eBooks and eCourses in the bundle, and if you donā€™t think they provided enough value, youā€™ll get a full refund.

Not only that, but The Ultimate DIY Bundle comes with 4 awesome bonuses, worth over $118. Thatā€™s 3x the price of the bundle alone! These includeā€¦

A free $15 Store Credit PLUS 8Ɨ10 Art Print from Hope Ink ($43 Value), a free online class from Craftsy (up to $60 Value from a choice of 18 popular classes), free $15 store credit to Fawnsberg.com, and a free sewing pattern PLUS a Premium Video Class from UpCraft Club ($19.99 Value). Seriously, the free Craftsy class is pretty much worth the price, not to mention all the great ebooks you’ll be getting too. (I love me some Craftsy!)

So, donā€™t miss your chance to grab The Ultimate DIY Bundle, and get 85 incredible eBooks and eCourses for just $34.95. All you need to do is take action by midnight on Monday, January 26!

This amazing deal ends in justā€¦

motionmailapp.com

Pick up your copy right now, before itā€™s too late. Or, learn more here.

 

All of the included ebooks and ecourses are listed below. Click the links to find out more.
Continue reading →

Comments Off on Ultimate DIY Bundle | Posted in Crafts |

Pretty Kitty

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Heather

I’ve expressed my huge respect and admiration for PlanetJune in the past. She comes up with really fabulous animal crochet patterns, and I adore them. Her most recent set of patterns are cats.

Single Colour Cat, designed PlanetJune

Single Colour Cat, designed PlanetJune

I’ve stitched up one of the patterns, Single Colour Cat. She is so sweet! I used Bernat Satin in Grey Mist Heather, and added 9mm green cat’s eyes. Her whiskers are made out of jewellery stringing wire, which worked out much better than I expected.

There are three more cats in the series (tuxedo, calico and tabby), and I hope to finish them soon. Sadly, I don’t have any more of the cat’s eyes. Still, I’m sure they will still be really cute.

7 Comments | Posted in Crochet | Tagged , ,

Sparkling Ombre Necklace

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Heather

Before all the Christmas madness began, I finally got around to finishing up (actually, fixing) a necklace I made in one of the classes I took at the CreativFestival. The piece is called Ombre Necklace and was taught by June Beach, a Create Your Style with Swarovski Elements Ambassador.

Ombre Necklace

Ombre Necklace

The necklace is so sparkly and happy looking! It contains around 100 Swarovski roundels in graduated sizes and three different colours. (Of course, the picture doesn’t do it justice.) I did manage to finish the necklace in class, but unfortunately I pulled the wire too tight before closing the crimp beads, so it didn’t hang nicely. I ordered replacement wire from ArtBeads so I could fix it, and I’m so glad I did! It looks so much nicer with just a little bit of slackness in the wire.

Earring Ideas

Earring Ideas

June also gave us some extra beads so we could make matching earrings. I haven’t done so yet because I’m not sure how I want them to look. The picture above shows two possibilities I’ve come up with. Of course, the finished earring would have the beads pulled tight together, not spaced out. Tell me what you think: do you like the left or the right, or neither?

7 Comments | Posted in Jewellery Making | Tagged , ,

Searching for Santa

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Heather

WeĀ  are having a bit of a warm-up here today, which is a nice change from the unrelenting cold of the past couple of weeks. But, that means lots of slush, and another excuse to stay inside. šŸ˜‰ Actually, I’ve spent a lot of time inside this winter working on various projects. Okay, I’ve spent a lot of time surfing the Internet and wasting time, but I have made some time for stitching. My main focus right now is Santa’s Journey Stocking from Dimensions.

Santa's Journey Stocking (WIP)

Santa’s Journey Stocking (WIP)

I was pretty disappointed with myself when I hung up my son’s Christmas stocking this year (Dimension’s Naughty or Nice), but still didn’t have stitched stockings for anyone else. The store-bought ones we have are nice, but I really want to finish stitching stockings for all of us. So, feeling guilty, I dug out my mom’s stocking from the bottom of my work basket and I’ve been diligently working on it.

Truthfully, I’m not sure this will become my mom’s stocking. I really want to stitch Windswept Santa Stocking for her, but I can’t find one for a reasonable price. They show up once in a while on eBay, but they are either $$$ or won’t ship up here to the Great White North. šŸ™ If you happen to have this kit and are willing to part with it for a reasonable price, please let me know.

Windswept Santa Stocking kit

Windswept Santa Stocking kit

Also, if you are interesting in signing up for the creative class I mentioned the other day, be sure you do so before the 20th! Seriously, don’t miss out. I’ve really enjoyed working through the worksheets and I think I’ve got a whole lot out of it. Click here to sign up or check out my post here.

2 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , ,

Creativity Course

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Heather

I’m in the middle of a winter funk and not feeling very creative. So, I’m so glad I came across this little course: Four Steps to Recover Your Inner Creative Genius. It is being put out by the people behind the Ultimate Bundle, and looks to be really interesting.

If you decide to sign up, let me know. It would be fun to share our thoughts on the course.

2 Comments | Posted in Crafts, Crochet, Cross Stitch, Knitting |

Smalls SAL – 2014 Winner!

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Heather

I’m behind again, I know. And I apologize. I was waiting for a piece of the final prize, but sadly when it did arrive it wasn’t what I expected so I needed to search out a replacement. Thankfully, I believe I have put together a great prize package for our winner. Who is it?

Linda of Stitching With My Furbabies

Congratulations, Linda. And, again, I huge thank you to everyone who stitched along with me in 2014. We had over 400 entries for the entire year, and averaged a little over 30 entries per month. Some of you entered every month, or very nearly, and some of you entered only once in a while. I was happy for the company either way. šŸ˜‰

2015SmallsSAL

The 2015 SAL is underway now, with the first check in scheduled for January 28th. I’m stitching away and will definitely make it on time, and I promise that post will be up on time too. šŸ˜‰ If you’d like to join in, check out the details here. There will be a prize at the end of the year again for everyone who enters.

cscstoryDid you know our little SAL made it into a magazine? We were included in a round-up article on SALs in the January 2015 issue of Cross Stitch Collection. Sadly, I think I missed the hard copy of the issue, but I was able to get the digital edition through my library system. Check it out if you can, you may recognize some other names in the article too. (Hi, Jo!)

9 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged ,