Pom-Pom Gift Tags

The other day I had a bit of free time, so I had a rake through my crafty kits basket and pulled out a pom-pom gift tag kit which I got in one of the Lucky Dip Club boxes a while ago.

I have to admit, this kit was actually really easy to put together, and is more of a customisation deal than actually crafting.

You get three different kinds of gift tags - circle ones which can be taped to presents, tag shaped ones, and little flag shaped ones. You could then attach pom-poms or punch holes in the tags and then attach some of the coloured twine.

I decided to use some of my shaped punches to punch holes in the tags to make them a bit more fun.

I also decided to leave one tag to be attached to a future present with the tiny clothes peg that came with the kit.

So, not the most difficult crafty kit in the world, but it is another kit that I've finished and ticked off my list!

This project is a step towards completing my New Year's List. You can check out my progress here.

• Clear as many free and purchased craft kits as possible.

More Sticker Magents

I'm so happy I finally found a way to use all the awesome stickers I have that I feel are just "too good" to actually use on paper, and that way is to make them into magnets!

I made a whole bunch of them a few months back, and I had another little pile of stickers waiting to be made into magnets, so I finally got around to it.

These were all stickers I got free with various things I bought. I do love a free sticker!

Some of the more interesting shapes with these ones meant the cutting out did take a bit longer though!

The magnetic back of my desk is now full of super awesome sticker magnets! Yay!

Arbour Alphabet Flags Bunting

This make is the last thing I had left to make for Ivy, but I had to wait until she was here to see if she was actually going to be an Ivy, or if she was going to surprise us and be a boy.

The pattern is from What Delilah Did's Secret Garden Embroidery book. When I bought it I paid a little extra and got a little kit with everything you needed to make up the Arbour Alphabet Flags project from the book. It came with literally all the supplies, right down to the sewing thread and the waste canvas, which was great as it meant I could get started right away.

The designs were stitched on waste canvas over felt, using a number of embroidery stitches. I didn't notice that you were supposed to be using specific stitches to begin with, so had to do a bit of unpicking to get the daisy stitch looking like it should do, but I got there in the end.

I also think my designs are a little more squished than they should be, as I found it quite tricky to get my counting correct, but they looked lovely when I was finished, so I'm not too worried if I'm a square or two off in places.

I really love the colours for this project, and I love how simple it was but how effective it looks. The book says each flag takes about an hour to stitch, which I think was about what I managed them in, so it was actually a really quick project.

I've hung it on the end of her cot just now, though I may move it when she actually moves into her room, as I'm not sure how reachable the knots will be to her!

This project is a step towards completing my New Year's List. You can check out my progress here.

• Clear as many free and purchased craft kits as possible.
• Make things from my huge collection of craft books. 
• Craft for Ivy.   

Crochet Death Star

Last night was my friend Matt's birthday dinner, and as it was his 30th, I thought it might be quite cool to make him a present.

After asking his girlfriend what his favourite things were, I decided to go with something Star Wars. One of my favourite blogs, Pops de Milk, has a pattern for a crochet Death Star pillow, so I decided that might be quite fun to make, and would be something practical they could pop on the couch or a chair, instead of just something that would sit on a shelf.

This was quite a large project, but with aran weight yarn and a quite chunky hook, it came together in a couple of evenings. I bought two balls of yarn for this, but literally must have used about a metre of the second ball! So I have some grey leftover for some other future project.

Making the actual ball was pretty quick and easy, but stitching on the details took a little while at the end. I just used the pictures on Pops de Milk's post for reference and sort of made it up, but she does have a video you can watch for more detail on how she does the surface stitches.

Yarn Used:

• Drops Alaska.
• Light Grey Mix.
• Stylecraft Special Aran.
• Graphite.

Raverly Project Page.

Pink Iron Man Gloves

I really love it when people admire my crafty work when it's out in the wild. A girl that Donald works with saw his Iron Man gloves that I made him for his birthday, and asked if I could make her a pair but in pink.

I actually bought the wool for these last year but have just managed to get around to making them now.

As with the last pair, I decided to use Twinkie Chan's pattern for Strawberry Fingerless Mitts and then used the original pattern for the Iron Man Gloves for the circles on the hands.

I also went with a lighter yellow than the last pair, as I thought it went better with the pink and the light blue from the circles.

I really love this pattern! It's so easy and I managed to make each glove in about an hour and a half, which is really satisfying to complete a whole project so quickly.

Yarn Used:

• Stylecraft Special Aran.
• Cloud Blue.
• Fondant.
• Lemon.

Raverly Project Page.

This project is a step towards completing my New Year's List. You can check out my progress here.

• Make all the things I've bought supplies for but am yet to make.
• Make things from my huge collection of craft books.

Fries Before Guys

So even though I've had loads of posts go up this month already, this project is actually the first one I completed in 2016, as the rest were all done last year.

In August I posted about the Girl Power box I bought from Geeky Little Stitcher, and I've finally got around to making up the kit I got with it.

The complete kit featured an awesome pattern for a fries before guys cross stitch, which I wanted to knock up to pop in our kitchen.

This pattern was amazing to work up, as it was mostly whole stitches, with very little backstitch. I also loved the colour combos in the text, which are a total pastel dream.

There was also more than enough thread to complete the pattern, which is always a worry with kits as I've ran out halfway through before and it's a nightmare!

How cute does it look? Yet another food with faces thing to add to my kitchen collection.

This project is a step towards completing my New Year's List. You can check out my progress here.

• Clear as many free and purchased craft kits as possible.

Ricardio Pillow

Man maternity leave has been awesome for letting me beast through projects that I've been meaning to make for a while, and this Ricardio pillow is just one of them. This is the last thing I finished last year before Ivy made an appearance, I'm just finally getting caught up on blogging about it! If you watch Adventure Time, you may recognise Ricardio, and a while ago the lovely Twinkie Chan posted a free pattern for a mega plush/pillow of him on her blog. You can make just a heart pillow version, or customise him up to make him Ricardio.

I managed to knock him up in a couple of days. The actual body part was super fast, as it's all triple crochet, and then it took a little while longer to make all the features and get them all sewn on. Even though it's one of the biggest plushies I've ever made, the pattern was really easy to follow, much like all of Twinkie's patterns I've made. So don't be put off because it looks huge!

 

I have to say the hardest bit was stitching on the details, as I'm not the best at making the yarn look super neat, but he's turned out pretty Ricardio looking, so what more can you ask for? He's also super squishy and cuddly, so he'll be comfy to lie on. I think he'll be hanging out on our bed with my BMO plush.

Yarn Used:

• Caron Simply Soft:
• Autumn Red.
• Robin Bonny Babe Aran:
• White.
• Alaska Drops:
• Black.
• Dark Pink.

Raverly Project Page.

Christmas Presents - Donald

I always liked to stick a couple of little handmade things in with Donald's Christmas just to top up his pressies. This year I went with a little crochet gift and a little perler bead gift.

First up I made him a little crochet Nosferatu, which is a pattern from the Creepy Cute Crochet book, which I borrowed from my mum. Most of the little creatures in the book have the same basic body and face pattern, and then you just add on the little details.

He has a lot of detail on his jacket, like a tiny collar and little buttons, but you can hardly see them to be honest, but they're there, trust me! I made that tiny collar, I know it's there!

And secondly, I made him some perler bead characters from The Big Lebowski, which is one of his favourite movies. I found this image on Pinterest and made them using it as reference.

I was especially happy I actually had gold perler beads for the tinted sunglasses.

Yarn Used:

• Caron Simply Soft:
• Black.
• Robin Bonny Babe Aran:
• White.

Raverly Project Page.

Christmas Presents - My Family

One of the first DIY Christmas presents I made when I started this blog was some baking hampers for Donald's family. They were really fun to put together and I think they make a lovely gift for people.

This year I decided to make some baking hampers again, but for my Gran and my aunt and uncle. I did them a bit differently from last time, as I decided to not make them Christmas baking themed, and I also decided to buy a baking book to include, instead of just picking some individual recipes.

So here's the lovely bit and pieces I bought to include. Everything is from a lush pastel baking range by Jane Asher.

Each hamper has a tea towel, some baking cases, a recipe book, a spatula, a set of cookie cutters, a mini sieve, and an oven glove to store it all in.

I put as much as I could inside the oven gloves, attached the cookie cutters to the hanging loop, and then tied the baking cases to the oven glove with some huge Christmas ribbon.

To finish the present off I attached some of the gift tags I cross stitched earlier in the year, and then topped them off with some spare stars I had left over from when I crocheted Ivy her Mario baby blanket.

Not a totally handmade present, but a DIY one nonetheless, and it's really fun buying all the little bits and pieces to put into a hamper, so I would totally love to make more in the future.

Christmas Presents - Donald's Family

I'm quite proud of myself that I had the sense to decide that if I wanted to craft Christmas presents as normal I was going to have to make them quite far in advance to make sure they got made. I'm not sure how early I actually started making all the gifts for Donald's side of the family, but I know they've been sitting on my craft room desk for a good few months now. Go me!

This year, for Donald's sisters and brothers-in-law I decided to make some crochet mug cozies. This meant I also got to pick out some nice mugs to model the mug cozies on (and to make sure they actually knew what the present was when they opened it!).

For Donald's sisters, I used this basic mug cozy pattern which is free on Raverly, though I just did them in one colour, instead of using a contrast. I then crocheted up a little heart from this free pattern to attach to the front.

Then for Donald's brothers-in-law I went with this free mustache mug hug pattern.

These were all really quick to make, and really easy as well, so actually would have been perfect for last minute gifts.

For Donald's mum I made a couple of gifts, the first of which was a crochet hot water bottle cover. There are lots of granny style hot water bottle cover patterns on Pinterest, but this granny hottie crochet along series by Fox Lane was my favourite. I had loads of DK yarn in lush colours hanging around, so I managed to make the whole cover without buying any more yarn, which is always a plus!

I love how this turned out, and I love the colours together. This was also really quick to put together, and the instructions for each stage were super clear, which I loved. I would definitely make more of these. I also bought a hot water bottle to pop in it, as I didn't want to gift Donald's mum a cover if she didn't have a hot water bottle!

I also cross stitched up this cute teddy bear kit, which I've had for quite a while but never got around to making. It was one of those kits with many different shades of brown, cream, and white, which is never fun, but it was worth it as it looks really neat and lovely finished.

I also topped Donald's mum's gift with a leftover star from Ivy's Mario baby blanket, as I made too many at the time and didn't just want to throw them out. It was also a good chance to use one of the cross stitch gifts tags I had made, as I like using these on handmade gifts, though I forgot to use them on the mug cozies! Doh!

Yarn Used (Heart Mug Cozies):

• Caron Simply Soft:
• Light Country Peach.
• Stylecraft Special Aran:
• Lavender.
• Cloud Blue.
• Fondant.

Raverly Project Page.

Yarn Used (Mustache Mug Hugs):

• Caron Simply Soft:
• Black.
• Robin Bonny Babe Aran:
• White.

Raverly Project Page.

 Yarn Used (Hot Water Bottle Cover):

• Rico Basic Acrylic:
• Neon Orange.
• Paton Fab:
• Lilac.
• Stylecraft Special DK:
• Wisteria.
• Apricot.
• Fondant.
• Gold.
• Silver.
• Spring Green.
• Aspen.
• Robin DK:
• Madonna.
• Cygnet Wool Rich Crepe:
• Oatmeal.

Raverly Project Page.