Crafty Mermaid

And Kapiti Island in the background.

A series of cards using some of the stickers sent by my Brazilian advent swap partner.  They're fuzzy and I love the look of the different texture which unfortunately didn't come out in the photographs.

Given my recent trip to Kaikoura, whales are on my mind a bit.  These are PJ bottoms I made for BM in some whale fabric.  I really like the little label on the back - I got an overlocker for Christmas and will post about it in another post.

I'm in Kaikoura on the South Island for a week for work and have the great pleasure of sitting listening to the waves crash onto the shore and a light, slightly chilly but invigorating breeze flowing gently around me.  Unfortunately I still have work to do - but this definitely one of the best places to do it in!  I'd thought I'd take a little break to work through a few more of my photos from the last few months and record them.  The card above is one for a friend of mine and BM's and I'm really looking forward to giving it to him.  He's into airsoft so I think he'll enjoy the camo inspired card.  I really love the penknife!  Not much making on this one though as the four embellishments are purchased stickers, though I did rescue the outline from the recycle bin from a recent purchase by BM.

My parents brought over these ribbons to me when they visited for Christmas and I realised I hadn't posted them.  I like to note when I get new supplies so I can trace their stay in my craft room when I send them out the door on finished crafts.  I've kept the styrofoam balls they arrived on and fancy (well at the moment) using them for decorations at some stage in the future. I've also been tidying up my craft room a bit over the last while and organised my collection of patterns into more sensible arrangements (and even organised the orphan pieces back into the appropriate packet!). From this ... To this...

This is the project that wasn't.  I used a tutorial from crochet me  but things didn't go well.  I mastered the puff stitch and started with some acrylic yarn to get the hang of it.  This is the first non-scarf/blanket crochet project I tried to finish.  I made up the patter first off with the right sided hook but my tension is a lot  tighter than the pattern dictates.  I also managed to misinterpret the instructions and put the next row of stitches into the wrong hole the first (second and third) times I tried.   Attempt one failing - far too small - suggested fix - larger hook. Attempt two failing - increased the pattern too much - the hat was far too floppy. Attempt three failing - reduced the number of stitches in the middle (from 8 to 6) and tried extra increased rows before turning it.   Attempt four - realised I was putting the stitch into the wrong hole on the previous row.  Frogged it again  and started over following the pattern again.   Attempt five -

New card makes.  Mostly using up stickers from a set.  Most of these are a little more prescriptive than I would like.  However, I did get to break into the supplies sent by my wonderful Brazilian swap partner for the black border and paper above. This is one of my favourite cards from this set.  A make with the makee especially in mind.  The hunting image is from an old magazine and I've added an old playing card and some out of date maps as well as a sticker from my Brazilian swap partner.   (Thank you again!) I had a set of rubon embellishments which I used up over the next series of cards.  I think they work quite well over images from an old (and already partially destroyed) book and an addition of some washi tape for colour. I like how this one turned out - the scrapbook paper I think worked well with the golf swing of the rubon. These last two are my favourite.  I made them to give them both to someone in parti

Teaspoons for tea party guests from a vintage shop and a new mug (seriously reduced) - I think I want this dress!

A recent trip to the Dowse in Lower Hutt.  While the focus of the trip was the bedazzled exhibition, I couldn't help taking a photo of these frames elsewhere in the museum.  These would be great on a long corridor in a house overlooking the sea. Bedazzled was fun.  Its an exhibition of ballet costumes from the New Zealand ballet.  Some were really stunning (others were only really ho-hum). Sketches of the costumes were really lovely too - and nicely framed. I think my favourite was this cloak - I kinda want one...  Though wearing it to work could be over kill...