Oops, it's seems I  have been away from here for a little longer than I realised.

Unfortunately the last few weeks I have been a magnet for germs, having bronchitis followed by tonsillitis, grrrrrrrrrrrr.

 

To cheer myself up I decided to do those things that I enjoyed doing as a child, my favourite being blowing bubbles.

 

 

I always loved the colours they make and the way they dance in the sky.

 

I am not a fan of little plastic bubble wands, not pretty enough. So first I spent a nice few hours making bubble wands fit for a fairy princess.

 

 

 

I gathered a few twigs that I had collected and dried and painted them with some very pretty glitter paint and let it dry. While they waited I threaded beads and buttons onto strands of jewellery wire .

 

 

I was then able to wind the wire around my sparkly twigs, Tra-la, pretty bubble wands.

 

 

Having covered myself in glitter paint I decided that while I left the rest of my twigs to dry fully it would be nice to make some wands out of the wire only, and add little bells for some added twinkle.

 

 

 

 

 

I think I may have to spend the rest of the day sending pretty bubbles into the sky x

Went off to do a craft fair yesterday, unfortunately it was a very quiet event with not many visitors. Oh well at least I got to spend some time with my lovely son who came along to help.

He also had a lot of fun taking plenty of pictures with his new camera.

 

 

Well here it is, the last day of November. Now for December with its glitter and sparkly lights and lots of homemade loveliness. 

I do have to admit that I have been Christmas crafting for some time now, getting ready to try my luck with a couple of Christmas Fayres and making lots of gifts made with love for family and friends.

 

I have hooked up a whole snowstorm of these gorgeous snowflakes from the pattern by Lucy at Attic24, I plan to hang them on my tree and use them to decorate gifts.

 

 

 

I've also enjoyed making lots of these mini stockings, I saw a pattern in a magazine for large stockings and just messed about with the stich count until I got it to the size I wanted. I have made them in different yarns and different sizes. I was hoping to have enough made for an advent calendar but kept giving them away to friends!

For everyone who still puts an apple and orange in the Christmas stockings, these cosies make them look a lot more special (and if you're not into fruit a chocolate orange also fits quite nicely) The pattern for these were in issue 1 of Mollie Makes magazine.

A little more recent is this gorgeous holy pattern in issue 12 of Simply Crochet. Think I might add these to the Christmas jumper I need to decorate for work.

And I mustn't forget to finish my Christmas bunting from Inside Crochet.

There are just so many lovely Christmas projects to be getting on with!

After having a sort out in my craft cupboard (well one of them) I seem to realise that I have developed a bit of a problem. Yes, I have become addicted to buttons! I can't resist them, I see pretty buttons and I just have to buy them. Sparkly ones, spotty ones, dainty ones, wooden ones, I just can't go into a craft shop without coming out with some buttons.

It all started with my grandma's button jar. As a child I loved to play with the buttons in it, they all seemed so special. I still have some of those gorgeous vintage buttons.

Soon I had my own button jar, then button tin, then tins and jars - I just love buttons.

 

Buttons are something that don't cost a lot (well most of them) and always make me feel happy well I leave with my pretty little packet and think about what I could use them for.

 

 

 

 

However these pictures show that I don't always get round to making all the things I plan to.

I did make myself this pretty hat ( pattern is the McKinley Springtime hat pattern on Ravelry which I just increased in size to fit an adult) and used some of my button collection to decorate it. I love being able to make my own hats so I can make them long enough to cover my ears as I hate buying hats and then finding the don't keep my ears warm.

Well I shall now return to my cup of tea in my button mug, and think of other pretty little things to decorate with all my buttons x x

On Sunday I decided that I would get out and enjoy the autumn sunshine before the 'big storm' arrived (it didn't get as far as us in the end). So off I went with my little camera in my pocket, which I was glad I had when I came across all these beautiful fungi.

Sometimes we need to just stop and look around at the beauty in nature around us.

I love autumn, the fresh crisp mornings and chilly nights. I love the changing colours of this season.

 

 

I always feel inspired by these colours.

 

 

My friends the fairies have been loving the autumn sunshine too. I love to make these happy fairies, makes me feel like a child again, making up fairy tale stories about their adventures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holiday Coasters

While sitting in the caravan on my holiday I did manage to get in a bit of hooky time and made some pretty little coasters to brighten up lunch time.

I had taken lots of small balls of stylecraft DK that was left over from my ripple blanket and my trusty 4mm hook.

Start with ch4, join with a slst to form a ring.
R1,  ch3 (ch3 counts as a tr throughout) 11tr into the ring. Join with a slst at top of ch3.

 

 

 

R2,   ch3, make a tr in st at the base of the ch3, 2tr in each st around. Join with a slst at top of ch3.

R3,   ch3, 2tr in next st *1tr in next st, 2tr in next st** repeat around from * to**. Join with a slst at top of ch3 and change to 2nd colour.

 

 

 

 

 

R4,   ch3, 1tr in next st, 2tr in next st, *1tr in next 2st 2tr in next st** repeat around from * to **. Join with a slst at top of ch3.

R5,   ch3, 1tr in next 2st, 2tr in next st, *1tr in next 3st, 2tr in next st** repeat around from * to **. Join with a slst at top of ch3.

R6,  * ch6, miss 4st, slst into next st** repeat around from * to **.

 

 

 

 

R7,   work 1dc into 1st and 2nd st of the ch6, 2dc into the next 2st, 1dc into last 2st. Repeat in each of the ch6 sections. Join with a slst and finish. Weave in all ends.

 

 

 

 





 

 

I love these coasters because they work up quickly and brighten up any table.