Welcome


Hello, my name is Dionne and I have been crafting for a very long time. As a very young child my mother tried to teach me to knit, it was a disaster. However, it must have sparked an interest in making things and, partly to prove that I was not totally useless and partly because I really wanted to make things, I taught myself to crochet. Over the years I have developed a love of cross stitch and all types of paper craft ..... I eventually even taught myself to knit.


I am married to a very understanding man, thank goodness, because I spend all my time either crafting, thinking about crafting or talking about crafting. I am hopeless at housework and dinner is often late!


Thank you for visiting my blog.


Dionne

Friday, 21 April 2023

Silver Sparkles

More winter woolies to share with you today.

I have put together an ensemble using this Double Knit wool from Lovecrafts.  However, you may remember that I recently accidentally threw out all of the ball bands I had been keeping so that I could tell you about the yarn when I got around to blogging these new cardigans.  Well, I think this one is the sparkle silver from the King Cole Glitz range.  Despite having a metallic looking thread running through the yarn these are very soft and ideal for children.


This pattern is adapted from one of my ebay purchases and does not have a makers name or number.


I had quite a bit of the yarn left over after I had finished the cardigan so decided to make a matching beret, mittens and scarf.


The first beret I made came up far too large for my young niece, so I made a second, smaller, one.


I also made her a matching hat, using a Snuggly pattern as a guide.  These odd little hats have proved very popular and now all the kids want one.  Who would have thought!

Have a good day.


Dionne


Wednesday, 19 April 2023

Birthday Bears

Have you ever sat down to make a card, knew exactly what you planned to do, and then made an entirely different card?  Well that is what happened to me the other day.

I started playing around with some dies I had recently purchased when I spotted these two bears.  I cut them out of some brown glitter card, which unfortunately obliterated all of their embossed features.  Undeterred I added some small black flat backed pearls for the eyes and noses.


I cut and layered several different colours of Crafter's Companion pearlescent card and a birthday sentiment from metallic gold card.

I hope you like my spontaneous creation!


Dionne


Monday, 17 April 2023

Ah, So Soft!

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you may recall the Easter Bunny I posted last week.  I made the bunny using some yarn left over from a cardigan I made for my great niece - I thought she would enjoy having a matching bunny.


The yarn is Rico Baby Dream DK, from LoveCrafts, it is so, so soft.  The pattern is one of my Stylecraft ones - number 4909.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.


Dionne

Thursday, 13 April 2023

Time for a Birthday

Today I would like to share with you some more of the new metal dies I have recently acquired from Amazon.  They were an extremely good price but there was no makers name on the packaging.  


I was in a bit of a hurry on the day I put this card together but as I worked away it occurred to me that there was probably more I could do with this die.  I am now really eager to have another go at the skeleton clock die.

Oh, by the way, I am sure that in reality the colour of the 'Happy Birthday' looked much better against the red card.

Have a great day.


Dionne

Tuesday, 11 April 2023

The Easter Bunny

Well, OK maybe not the Easter Bunny, but it is my Easter Bunny (well, it was until it went to it's forever home on Saturday).


The colour changing yarn I used to make this rabbit is amazingly soft and makes a very cuddly toy.  Unfortunately, it does not hold a shape terribly well and therefore the face is not quite as sharp as it should be ..... did I mention that it is very soft and cuddly!


I recently cleaned out my knitting bag and got rid of all of the detritus at the bottom, unfortunately this included all of the ball bands (I knew there was a reason I was keeping them), so I am afraid I cannot tell you the brand.  The pattern is from Knitables.  

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

Dionne

PS  I am a big fan of the Knitable Teddies, here are the links to some of the others I have made:

Fairy Elephant
Super Giraffe
Thank you Bears
Red Cat
Supergirl Giraffe




Monday, 10 April 2023

Happy Easter

I had intended to post these cards yesterday but it turned out to be one of 'those' days and it just did not happen.  Nonetheless, here they are today, my 2023 Easter cards.


I may have mentioned to one or two of you that recently I have been collecting metal dies from Amazon, unfortunately they do not have a maker's name on them.

I have had the backing papers quite some time but I believe they were from Kanban Craft's and the gold and silver mirri board and the glitter card are all from my stash.

In the UK the sending of greeting cards at Easter is not very common but this year I received a record number of cards, so I thought I would share them with you and thank those who sent them.  I was thrilled to receive them, thank you.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your Easter break.


Dionne

Sunday, 1 January 2023

Cars and Sparkle

Happy New Year to all.  I hope that 2023 has started well for you.

I have a little birthday card to share with you today - well, I say little but it is actually on one of those 8 x 8 Craftwork Cards blanks.  This image and backing paper come from a couple of ancient Kanban Crafts kit, which I purchased from QVC a very long time ago, when Dawn Bibby was presenting.


As you can see, I cut the backing paper to fit the shape of the card blank.  Using 3D foam pads I added layers of the 'pringle' look card and topped this with the image of a car.  I just added the small cars and steering wheels to finish it off.

I do not usually put two birthday cards in the same post but I did not think this next card deserved a post of it's own as I did so little to it.


I purchased this card from a shop, along with several other cards of a similar size.  When I got them home I decided to give them a make-over.  However, this card was slightly larger than the others and once I mounted several times it on alternating old gold mirri card and Stampin' Ups Night of Navy card there was not really any room left to do anything with!

I hope you have a great day.

Dionne