Category Archives: Baby

Spring Babies

Posted on by

It seems that it’s not only the animals that are having all their babies at this lovely time of year. I have been amazed at how many of the school Mums have announced they are having a baby or have given birth. So I thought it was a good idea to start on some more new baby cards.

My daughter’s ballet teacher is also due to give birth in the next few weeks, and all the Mums have had a collection. I offered to make the card as my contribution, so I decided to use my ‘dangler’ card style but make it A4 to allow enough room (hopefully) for all the Mums to sign it. We know it’s going to be a boy, so that made the choice of colours pretty straightforward! I added some blue gems as well after I took this picture. I hope she likes it!

P1240868

I really am loving making this style of card at the moment and having made a blue card I wanted to even up the score so, I made a pink one as well. This one is 5×7 in size and will be on sale in my stand at the newsagents down the road.

Pink pram

Pink pram

I can’t wait to make some more. I’m liking the idea of a yellow one, but I’m not so sure how popular that will be. Everyone seems to find out what they are having these days. I wanted a surprise, but I think I am in the minority.

I think I will go and enjoy some of the dry weather and add to my stock of baby blankets to go with the cards!

Happy spring crafting
x

The snowmen have landed

Posted on by

I was amazed how popular my little crochet snowman was when I took it to the dance school waiting room recently.

P1240326

So popular in fact that I was asked to make some more for Christmas decorations and keepsakes. These are my last Christmas orders for this year so I hit the hooks with some lovely soft white baby yarn and a raid on my stash for the accent colours. I was asked for pink and blue, as one was for a girl and the other for a boy! These have taken a little while to finish as I wanted them to be perfect, so the faces have had several changes. I’ve found that the best eyes have been made with black beads, sewn in tightly. I love the little crochet carrot nose too, and the earmuffs (or headphones depending on how cool you are) are very cute additions. The pattern was in an old issue of LGC Knitting and Crochet magazine and can hopefully still be found in their free patterns.

I’ve named these two Sid and Sally and they fancied having their photos taken before they got ready to go out in the cold. It was difficult choosing which buttons they would wear.

P1240686

After they had decided on their outdoor attire, they were ready to go to their new homes. I hope they have a lovely Christmas and get to see some snow!

P1240690

Happy crafting
x

New partnership

Posted on by

While I was at the Ramsbottom pre-Christmas craft fair the other week, I met a lovely lady, Emma, who has her own business, Empathy Holistics. She offers baby massage, pregnancy massage and workshops and was doing relaxing hand and shoulder massages at the fair. As well as the massage she makes up blends of relaxing massage oils, balms and creams.

Knitted Sacks

Knitted Sacks

We got talking and she fancied having something different to package her bottles of creams and oils in, particularly for Christmas. So we came up with the idea of my little knitted Santa sacks which I’ve used for sweets in the past. I’ve supplied 11 sacks in a variety of colours, to see how they go. Here’s a couple of the postings for the gifts showing my knitted sack.

Folksy
Facebook

They seem to be attracting some nice comments, so fingers crossed for them being a good seller. We might try some larger stockings if they go well.  The gifts are fantastic for Mums-to-be and new Mums, both for Mum and baby, so pop over to the shop and have a browse.

Happy crafting
x

New Baby Cards

Posted on by

A few weeks ago I received a request to make a large number of new baby cards, for a church group that give out packs of essential clothes and accessories for new Mums. So I started on a few samples. As I needed to be able to make a large number of cards in a similar style, I had to look at items I had in my stash that would allow for this. So out came my stamps and inks, as well as packs of pastel papers and some small paper doilies.

These were my first three samples.

P1240380

P1240379

P1240378

The feedback was good for these, and I really enjoyed doing some stamping for a change. So much so I think I will be making a trip to Clark Crafts soon on the hunt for some new inkpads.

The group often don’t know the sex of the babies, so they asked for some similar in neutral colours. I was slightly surprised at this request as I assumed everyone finds out now what the sex of the baby is at their scans. I didn’t want to know, but I was a real exception amongst the people I know. I decided I wanted a surprise, so all my initial baby purchases and the nursery were cream and beige. Anyway, I had to hunt out yellows and greens for the set of cards. It was much harder than I thought it would be to find little toppers that would go with yellow and green, everything I found was blue or pink!

I managed to make up the following sets in neutral colours.

P1240384

P1240386

I hope this will become a regular order, so I have ordered myself a set of new baby dies to make my own toppers from the papers in my stash. I can’t wait to get on with some more, as it has made a lovely cheerful change to all the Christmas cards I’ve been making!

Happy crafting
x

A Look Back in Time

Posted on by

I woke up this morning thinking about all the toys I used to make, wondering where I had put all the photographs of them. Mum and I spent a lot of time making toys for people about twenty years ago. It’s what really got me back into crafting after University. So I spent some time hunting out the old photo boxes today, which was a great opportunity to reminisce about my lost youth. It also gave my daughter a chance to have a laugh at my huge 80’s hair and glasses!

So I’ve scanned some of the pictures to show everyone what I used to make back in the day!

Pic06

I must have made about thirty of these octopuses over the years for friends and family members. If you’ve got one out there I’d love to see it now! My daughter has one in her bedroom that I made before she was born. In fact they have become a staple gift for all the new babies in the family!

I also made a lot of pierots and dolls for friends and colleagues. I believe one of these dolls was sent to Australia.

Pic08

Pic14

It’s been fun hunting out these reminders, I may add more in the coming weeks.

Happy crafting
x

Baby Blanket

Posted on by

We’ve had a manic few weeks with Christmas, New Year, daughter’s and in-laws birthdays and now we have a new addition to the family. My Brother and Sister-in-law have just had a little boy.  As they hadn’t found out the sex beforehand, and he arrived 2 weeks early, I had to be quick making his gift.

I decided to make a blanket for a change.  I usually make knitted toys, in particular an octopus, but as his older brother already has one I thought I’d try something different.

Blue blanket edge detail

I found some lovely blue variegated baby yarn and put together with a plain pale blue yarn I made a huge granny square blanket with a few stripes and a scalloped edge.

Blue blanket corner detail

I loved making this and it’s so warm. I hope they like it.

I loved the design too, so I think I might make some more.

Happy crafting
x

Baby Comfort Blankets

Posted on by

I’ve been working on a number of baby comfort blankets since Bury Show. I had such a lovely response to them that I couldn’t help myself but make up some more. I’m trying different patterns in the granny squares and trying out different ways to edge them together too.

I’ve combined different colours of yarn too. This one is yellow and two shade of pink, with a bunny in the centre. Each square has a different shape in the centre, heart, flower, square and circle.

Baby blankie 2

I then made one to match a blanket I made, using blue and white yarns. This time I added a birdie to the centre, and made plain squares with white square centres.

Blue Bird blankie

I like the birdie so made another in pink with yellow squares and pink borders.

Pink birdie blankie

I really enjoyed making crochet flowers and decided to make another blankie with just flower motifs. This one is white with pink flowers and borders.

PInk flower blankie

Finally I have another pink blanket, this time with alternate heart and flower centres to the squares and a bunny to cuddle.

Pink Bunny blankie

I don’t know which is my favourite. I love them all. They are fully machine washable on a cool wash and certainly kept my knees warm while I was making them.

Which is your favourite?

Happy crafting
x