Red Robin Christmas Cards

We've been making Christmas cards this week. Last year we had
 reindeers, this time we have little red robins!

We really enjoyed our card making last Christmas and I wanted
a design that was as easy and simple but equally as effective as the
reindeers, something that we can all do together. I thought robins
might work. They're very Christmassy, appearing in cards, postage
 stamps and all manner of festive decorations every year and they're
cute too. So I came up this little idea to make them:

We started off with brown paint (we used children's washable paint)
and using their fingers, the girls made three or four brown circles
on the cards. Lulu needed a bit of help with this but Markie did hers
 all by herself.

When they have dried, Markie and I coloured in the bottom half

of the circles with red felt tip pens to make the robins' red breast markings.

Then it was adding the little details - eyes, wings, legs. 

Ta dah! Four little robins! 

I then used alphabet stamps to write the Christmas greetings
and it was done! Simple, quick and lots of fun.

We're really pleased with these and we're looking forward
to giving them to friends, family and the girls' teachers. As always
I'm glad that we can do things like this together, that they're happy
to help and join in, and I have the time to craft and be with them.
It makes this time of year even more special and really great fun.


We'll have more Christmassy things to share soon.
Thanks for stopping here. Enjoy your weekend!

Crochets

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These past few weeks I've enjoyed crocheting
in my spare time and I'm happy to say I've managed to
finish the little projects I've been making.

The first one is this doily which was based on the mandala

pattern from issue 13 of Simply Crochet. I love the colours

and the cotton yarn I used and had fun working on this over 

a cold, rainy weekend.

These coasters are also from Simply Crochet.
I made two sets and sent one set to Virna as a 'thank you'
for all the lovely things she had sent me. They are small and
simple enough for me to make and a great way to practice
turning crocheted circles into squares.

At the moment I'm back to sewing but I'm also
still working on my chevron throw.

I think we'll be well into springtime before I can finish this.
There's no rush though. I just like being able to pick it up and do
a bit whenever I can. I'm hoping to add a row or two this evening
although not when Salamander is on.




Thanks for reading!
I hope you're all having a lovely, sunshiny weekend!

Back soon!

A Yarny Carfuffle

Happy Valentine's Day!
I hope you've all had a lovely, warm and love-filled day.
My husband had the morning off work today so we were
able to take the girls into town where we did a bit of shopping
and then had a lovely lunch together at Pizza Express.

This afternoon I spent a lot of time working on this crocheted
 throw that I've been having a bit of trouble with.
 It's actually quite simple. I'm making the throw with
 these lovely Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn from Wool Warehouse
using granny chevron stitches.

The granny chevron stitch is simple to make (thanks to 200 Crochet

Stitches by Sarah Hazell) and it's easy enough for me to keep on
working while watching television in the evenings. I've been adding
a new colour every couple of rows, choosing whatever yarn I
fancied as I went along. My plan was to keep going until it was the size
of a throw or a small blanket. However when I looked at what I've made
so far the other day I wasn't too happy with the colours.

I really should have thought this through before I started.
So frustrating! I decided to start all over again and this time with
a clearer idea of the colours to use. I've written it down and I will
stick to this plan. This was how it looked yesterday.

Then today I thought I'll just look again at the first one I started
(still to be unraveled) and realized if I just unraveled a few
rows then added this dark brown yarn, I'd be happy with it again!
 I didn't need to completely start all over again.
What a right carfuffle!

So now I've decided to keep going with the first one I've started.
Luckily I've only done a couple of rows on the second one
so it's not too bad. Hopefully it's all plain sailing from now one.
 And yes, I've got the colours sorted this time round. I think.



Thanks for reading!

Wishing you all a lovely, safe and warm weekend!