Knitting and Crochet books

Hi all. Hope you are all ok and enjoying sunny Friday :) We've had a gorgeous sunny day (finally!) over here in Flintshire.

There have been two books I've been eyeing on Amazon for a while and finally here they are! At my place!  In my hands! :) These are Crochet Workshop by Erika Knight and Circular Knitting by Margaret Radcliffe.

Below, a few photos for you to have a peek. Both are beautifully published with lots of gorgeous photographs inside. Crochet Workshop features some lovely natural beige tone yarns and the projects look very appealing (I'm salivating whenever I open this book!). The book is targeted mostly at beginners (me in this case) but an advanced person will surely find something for themselves. There are nice explanations and pictures on how to master your crochet basics. Very appealing and tempting overall.

Some luscious photos <3

There are both verbal descriptions as well as the crochet symbol charts. Whichever you prefer. I really need to study those crochet charts. At the moment they are all mystery to me.

A couple of exemplary projects. I just love these slippers!

Or... how about a kindle / notebook cover?

I'm so eager to start on this one!

The other book, Circular Knitting Workshop is a very thorough and decent compendium on circular knitting techniques. Rich with information and explanatory photographs. 

The book is divided into 2 main parts - introduction to circular knitting in a form of a workshop and the projects for you to practise.  It guides you from the simplest knitted forms to the gradually more advanced ones.

The explanations are really good, the photos are clear and well taken.

There are technical details and specifications for each of the projects - I really like this feature. The layout and the material is presented in a modern and attractive way.

Ever dreamt of being able to knit a shawl like this? I have!

There is also technique evaluation and comparison - another bonus.

Love the books and very pleased with the purchase. I just love possessing all sorts of craft bibles and compendia embracing the whole knowlege. All in one place. A big crafty pill :) It is my big dream to be able to crochet all sorts of projects as there are so many tempting ones out there. As for knitting, my target would be to be able to knit some Nordic socks, hats and mitten as well as shawls and wrist warmers (for a start). Long way ahead but hopefully with these great resources I'll be motivated to explore a bit deeper the yarn world.

On the cross stitch frontline - still stitching the poor pink teddy for a card. It just needs some backstitch and mounting it on a card. Almost there!

Have a good weekend! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a little note behind :)  x x x

Back to folklore

Oh yes! I'm back to the folklore again and I will be doing it so in the future. Got a heap of gorgeous folksy scrapbooking papers, punches and stamps to work through and to show off  :) So here is my another try at this rustic countryside theme :)

This is a largely stamped card with stamps from Noolibird (the cockerel), GoScrap (folky flowers, 3 hearts) and Hero Arts and Kars stamps (the stamped frame, sorry, don't remember the name of these stamp sets. I've had them for years and got rid of the original packaging.) Blue, white and green is the colour combination I wanted to see on this card. The cockerel has been heat-embossed in a moss green embossing powder.

Purple and mint  below :) Another long narrow tent card with a decorative cockerel band (I think this is my favourite patterned paper). These great folky papers come from  a Polish scrapbooking brand - GoScrap. I also did a trick with breaking the ribbon and filling the gap with some self-adhesive gems. 

Upper and bottom stamped band - Hero Art stamp set.
"Jest pięknie!" stamp from GoScrap.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a lovely day. x

Medallion Cards

Yesterday was busy for me as far as the cardmaking is concerned. I made quite a few new cards and among them there were these three medallion cards with a sorta classic flair. The papers and the peel-off stickers come from my old card making set by Papermania. I've had it boxed and stashed away for months somewhere between the boxes with stamps and sheets of scrapbooking papers and forgot about it. Time to dig it out!

Basically, these cards are way away from my usual card making style as I don't make many classic cards and I don't use the peel-off stickers so generously but sometimes a change in style is good and I like to diverge from my usual tendencies. Just for a change and for fun! :)

Craft papers with a Scandi feel

Thought I'd share it with you. If you are a crafter in love with Scandi themes, like I am, and planning to have a Scandinavian Christmas, you may love these nice scrapbooking papers :) They are a Marianne's Designs brand; paper collections: Eline's Warm Winter Wishes and Eline's Scandinavian Winter. I bought them from the Cuddly Buddly online store. They are sets of 32 loose sheets, each with 8 different designs.

Eline's Warm Winter Wishes collection is all about knitted patterns (incl. one crocheted pattern), so typical of  the Scandinavian decor. They are the cosy browns, reds and creams /whites. I've already made 2 Christmas cards with them and also used the granny squares background paper for my folky cards (see the previous posts) :) 

Eline's Scandinavian Winter papers have got more snowy, frosty look with Scandinavian stars, snowflakes and Danish hearts patterns. They will also look fabulous as background on your festive cards.

I'm really looking forward to using these papers and getting my festive card making in the full swing :)
Today in the UK the sun's out despite the chill. Yay! Have a nice weekend everyone!

3 x ladybird card

Hi all.

Hope you everyone is doing well and you're keeping yourselves warm. The cold weather has returned (again!) and we have just had massive sleet over here in North Wales but...Nothing like sitting comfortably at home with a cuppa and blogging about it! :)

More card making news. This time it's the 3 cards with a ladybird theme I made them for a card challenge on one of the Polish scrapbooking blogs. I've never made a card with a ladybird so this challenge was particularly tempting for me. And anyway, they are such posititive and cheery tiny little insects that they surely deserved to be featured on a card.

I had a go at this challenge 3 times. Each time with a different effect.

This was the 1st card I'd made.

 I decided I didn't like it very much after all so I had another go:

A bit better this time :) Making a ladybird out of scraps of paper proved to be easier than I thought but finding a lady bird stamp in my vast stamping resources turned out to be more challenging. Finally, I managed to dig out this only one little mini-ladybird stamp that ended up on a card as an embellishing frame.

My 3rd go at the card:

I think the 3rd card came out the best. Most pleased with this one. All ladybirds have been die-cut, embossed or embossed with ink (Lori, thank you for the idea and inspiration!x).
All 3 cards together:

Just one more get-up to my half term break! It's going to be a very crafty one!

2 Cards with folky birds

More folky cards on my cardmaking frontline as I'm enjoying myself at this stamping session. This time it's 2 cards with a stamped and embossed red folky bird. The stamp is a Noolibird brand. The background backing papers is Marianne's Designs, Eline's Warm Winter Wishes - a set full of cosy knitted patterns. I chose the crocheted granny squares for the background, I thought they would look good in the rustic theme. Lacy band at the bottom has been punched with Martha Stewart's Botanical Scallop Punch.

And another go at the red folky bird. This time the backing paper is from Panduro website- the cross stitch set.

The other embellishments are the punched daisies, glass painting relief (red and white), sparkly mini gems, ribbons and a tag from GoScrap.

Chuffed

I am very chuffed today. A while ago, on this blog - Martha's moments - I found out that a big paper pad with Scandinavian designs by Martha Stewart was on sale.... well.... months ago, perhaps even a year ago (doh!). It's a complementary thematic addition to Martha Stewart wooden Nordic stamps with the very same motifs I bought last year. Naturally, my passion for Scandinavian patterns wouldn't leave me in peace. I couldn't stop thinking about those designs. I searched the web, here and there and managed to find this gorgeous paper pad (the last one in stock! lucky me!) in one of the UK online stores - The Happy Crafting Shop. How great is that! The paper pad has arrived today and I hurried up to share this news with you ;) I'm soooo pleased! 

The little pad of the (almost) same designs I bought at Craftie Charlie online store. This one has got some metallic papers too!

I just love these designs! The sheets are double so there's much to choose from! It's going to be a fabulous card making this year! 

A few close-ups of the designs:

The little pad:
The metallic sheets are gorgeous!

I love this wood pattern - simple yet decorative. I've seen a few cards on the web made with this design and they look really nice. In MS paper pad this design comes in two colours - brown and green (look above)

My other Scandi-shopping- Spellbinders Dies - Mittens, Marianne's Designs stamps, Studio Calico Christmas paper pad with some Nordic designs (!!!) and Nordic Baby stamp set from the Waltzing Mouse - a thematic follow-up to the gorgeous Nordic Spring and Nordic Winter stamps sets.

These are really cute stamps. I've seen some cards made with them and uploaded to the Waltzing Mouse gallery and they are fabulous. The Nordic theme has proved to be very popular with the customers and apparently they are working on some new designs! Yipeee!

Now, off to make some more cards. Thanks for stopping by.Have a good evening. x