DIY Valentine's Card with Crochet Brooch!

It happens every year. Valentines Day equals corny messages and bad love songs stuck in my head. For example right now in my head I am singing "what is luh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-ve, anyway? Does anybody love anybody anyway?" and doing the obligatory shoulder pushy eighties dance. And now you are too. Sorry.

Last year I made gifts for my kids which were a hit! So here I go again. Mr Acorn-head brooch was made using this pattern from crochetspot. I added a face and leaf and a brooch back - it's handy to use your ends to sew on the brooch back.

Miss Apple-face was made using a pattern for an apple fridge magnet by Cylinda Mathews but I can't for the life of me find the link! So I've included the pattern below. To make the brooch I downsized a little, leaving out Row 4 and adjusting the shaping of row 6 accordingly. It was simple. Trust me.

It looked fine on plain old card stock in the photo above, I know, I know, but I couldn't help over complicating things with a little bit of added collaged imagery!

Pin the brooch through the card and it's done!

 

 

 Here are the speech bubbles if you want to print them for yourself... 

 

 
and here is the apple brooch pattern. I've translated it to English/Australian Terms. Yay!

Green Apple Designed by Cylinda Mathews

Materials:
Small amount of worsted weight yarn, (Lt. Green)
Small amount of worsted weight yarn, (Brown)
Small amount of worsted weight yarn, (Dark Green)
Hook size F (I used a 3.5 and 3.0)
Hook size E

Finished Size 3" W x 4" T

Apple:(Using Lt. Green and Size F hook)
Row 1) Ch 2; 8 dc in 2nd chain from hook; join with a slip st in first dc: 8 dc.

Row 2) Ch 1, 2 dc in joining; * 2 dc in next dc; repeat from * around; join with a slip st in first dc: 16 dc.

Row 3) Ch 1, dc in joining, 2 dc in next dc; * sd in next dc, 2 dc in next dc; repeat from * around; join with a slip st in first dc: 24 dc.

Row 4) Ch 1, sc in joining, dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc; * dc in next 2 dc, 2 dc in next sc; repeat from * around; join with a slip st in first dc: 32 dc.

Row 5) Ch 2, htr in next dc, tr in next dc, (2 dtr in next dc) twice, tr in next dc, htr in next dc, dc in next dc (center top), htr in next dc, tr in next cc, (2 dtr in next dc) twice, tr in next dc, htr in next dc, dc in next 6 dc, htr in next dc, 2 tr in next dc, htr in next dc, dc in next 2 dc, htr in next dc, 2 tr in next dc, htr in next dc, dc in last 4 dc; join with a slip st to 2nd ch of beg. ch 2. Fasten off, secure ends.

Stem:(Using Brown and Size F hook)
Row 1) Attach Brown to center top of Apple; Ch 1, dc in joining; ch 1, turn work.

Row 2) dc in dc. Fasten off, secure ends.

Leaf:(Using Dark Green and Size E hook)
Row 1) Attach thread to center top of Apple in same stitch stem is worked; Ch 7, dc in 2nd chain from hook, htr in next ch, tr in next 2 ch, htr in next ch, dc in last ch, slip st joining. Fasten off, secure ends.

Finishing:
Attach magnet to back or Brooch clasp.

illustrated by wayne

On Saturday I needed to get a Wedding card....and yes, everyone had told me to make one but I hadn't got around to it, okay??? In a desperate-last-minute-wedding-outfit-and-card-buying-dash, I ventured to the city. Outfit issues were quickly sorted(i.e.girdles on sale) but as for the card...whoa! They were hideous!!! Then walking through the Bourke Street Mall, I saw Wayne with his cards laid out neatly on the ground. 

Wayne was hunched up on his haunches and doing his best to hide under his hoodie. I was stopped in my tracks by the artwork and so relieved to see him there. I pretty much gushed all of that and more. He lifted his head up and smiled when I told him how much  I loved his cards and how much more interesting and lovely they were than anything in the shops. 

He told me how his mum used to have a peacock in the back yard and he based his painting on the memory of that bird. And I told him how superstitious my granny had been about peacocks - how once my Mum made her a table cloth with a peacock on it and when Granny and Grandpa later had a fight with the table cloth present on the table, Granny blamed the peacock and threw the tablecloth into the wood stove and destroyed it! (Yes - I am descended from a very strange gene pool...)

This tree through the seasons  was the perfect image to celebrate a marriage, don't you think?

Wayne's cards are 4 for $10  and I stocked up. Wayne was working on an intricate painting as he sold his cards and I look forward to seeing it in print. Best of all, my loud lauding of his skills seemed to draw more customers his way.

If you see him in the Bourke Street Mall have a look and support a lovely artist.






 

last minute lace love heart stamps!

Okay – so how many hours until Valentine’s day?

Yes - it's me – doing last minute craft….AGAIN! When will I learn? But maybe you need some last minute inspiration and ideas too? Or you can tuck the idea away for another time. Next year. It comes around fast enough.

Using mostly recycled materials I’ve made some last minute love heart lace stamps. Here's how:

Look at the doilies and find bits that would fit together to be a love heart. The scalloped edgings are great for the top of the heart. Any square or rectangle doilies have corner bits that work for the point. Don’t worry about gaps in the puzzle. It still works.

I only had two bits of wood blocks left over from the skirting boards at our house. I also used box lids.

For the stamping I used acrylic paint. Because that's what I had. I added a bit of water too.
I placed the paper* on top of the stamp and pressed down.

Add any extra designs with a sharpie or other stamps. i had some letter stamps.If you are still making something for your Valentine, may the Saint be with you and enjoy! Is there anything better than making something homemade for your loved ones?

*I love this paper that my Mum made from recycled paper. She passed away almost two years ago and this is pretty much the last of her paper I have left.

thankyou notes

In keeping with my intention to put pen to paper more often, the younger kids and I have been making thankyou cards to post to all the aunties that sent us all a gazillion Christmas gifts.

There are many cards to download and print - here are some I found:
A bunting card
A lovely vintage inspired card
A stylish "put a bird on it" card

Ours are little more tactile...lots of pasting...here's how we did it.

We made two styles - a stand up person and a person on a card.

The template for the person is from here. If you want your card to stand up, I would suggest you make the fold back a bit bigger. All that glue and hair makes them a little top heavy.
I downloaded the image and made a page of them in  Adobe illustrator then I printed the templates on cardboard.

For my kids, I pre-cut the people out because they are too young for that.

I printed a page of the the word "thankyou" on some transparency paper but I it could have just as easily been done on coloured card or white paper. 

We "dressed our person first". I used some left over print outs from the magnetic paper dolls I made before Christmas.

We also just cut shapes in felt and coloured paper. The kids love round circles for puffed sleeves and silver pipe cleaner tiaras for the ballerinas. We used a hole punch to make circle eyes but I did convince them to just draw some of the faces.

As to what to write on the card, here is a great guide to writing a thankyou note - Anatomy of thankyou notes  - thanks to krrb blog

Now off to the post office!!!

Christmas Craft - recycled felt 2

How to make a knitted Christmas Tree card!

1. Hot wash a greenish jumper to create felt or just cut up a greenish jumper - ask first if it is not yours! As long as you glue it pretty much straight away it won't unravel. 

This triangle measures 7 cm across the base x 8.5 x 8.5 cm sides.

2. Stitch on coloured buttons as baubles. This could be glued unstead of stitched I guess!

3. Add silver thread tinsel in long zig-zag stitches.

4. Glue tree to the front of the card.

5.Cut out a bucket for the base -I recycle old wrapping paper/cards/music/wall paper for this. Glue in place.

6.Glue a star button or sticker star on the top of your tree.

note: I covered the card with commercial white felt as the background.

Merry Christmas!

Writing Christmas cards in on my Christmas to-do list today. First I have to make them!

But the sun is shining! The park beckons! The "really, really big park" and the museum - even though the kids say "but the animals there are all dead"! Picnic in the park first - Christmas cards later!!!