Tag Archives: Hearts

Making Marzipan

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My daughter, Alice, was given a lovely baking set and set of recipe cards for her birthday and we have been looking longingly at all the lovely things we could make. So with the weather being so miserable this weekend, we got everything out and decided to have a go at making almond hearts. Now we could have done this very easily and just bought some almond paste / marzipan, but we thought we’d do it properly and use the whole recipe. Having quickly looked in the baking cupboard I thought we had everything we needed, so it was with great dismay I discovered we had no ground almonds at all!

This meant a much lengthier than planned walk round the neighbourhood shops looking for ground almonds. Eventually after 4 local shops and over an hour of walking we found some and head back home for a cup of tea and to get making.

The recipe is very simple but involved quite a lot of kneading. We split the paste in half and coloured one half with red food colouring. Then left it in the fridge for a while to harden up a bit and make it easier to roll out.

We were both quite impatient to make the hearts, so I did the rolling out and Alice cut out the shapes.  We did think about making some stars too, but the hearts looked so lovely in the different colours we thought we’d stick with them.  They’ve really got us in the mood for Valentine’s Day too, although I don’t think they will last that long to give out to all her friends!!

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This is definitely a recipe we will try again.  It’s fairly simple although it has left me with most of a tin of condensed milk.  I shall have to get my thinking cap on and see what I can make with the rest of it, it’s far too good an ingredient to waste.

Happy crafting
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Anniversaries

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I seem to be coming into the anniversary season in the next month or so. I was in need of a card at short notice the other day but I found I had nothing available in my collection. So it was time to find some more of my mojo and make something quickly.

I spent a good hour or so routing through my card and paper stash but I couldn’t find anything to spark my imagination, until I discovered my remaining crochet hearts. I thought simple was the best option and using my hearts I looked for some co-ordinating papers to set them off.

Crochet Hearts

Crochet Hearts

For the first time in a while I enjoyed putting papers together and finding matching colours. I put together a small collection of six cards, all different colours with some marbled paper inserts. I hope the recipients like them too.

Happy crafting
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My Valentine

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With less than a month until Valentine’s Day I’ve been thinking about my new collection of cards for this year.  As I’ve become somewhat addicted to crochet, I wanted to make something a bit different.  So I decided to add my crochet hearts and flowers to cards.

Starting off with my Valentine’s cards, I made a collection of 3 in a different shades of red.

My Valentine Dark Red Crochet Heart

The colour of the yarn really stands out on a simple plain white card.

These three cards proved popular last night on Handmadehour over on twitter and have now sold out. I am now making them to order though, so if you would like one of these please let me know. They are priced at £1.50 or £2.50 including UK postage.

I hope you like my cards and I would love to know what you think.

Happy crafting
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Crochet Hearts

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I’ve been working on some crochet hearts recently, perfecting the design and trying lots of different yarns. My question now is what to do with them all?

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I’ve thought about making a garland with some. Maybe putting some onto cards, or making them into brooches. I was also thinking about having them as Christmas tree decorations. I’ve had one suggestion on my facebook page to make them as wedding favours.

I’d love to know what you think I should make with them. Comments below by 10th November 2014 and I’ll put all names in a hat to win a set of 5 hearts in a colour of the winners choice.

Happy crafting
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Baby Comfort Blankets

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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
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Charity Hearts

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In the latest issue of Craftseller magazine, there was a lovely little pattern for crochet hearts. I’ve wanted to make hearts for a while so it was lovely to see the pattern. I have had a go and made a few, so I am looking to sell them to raise some money for physio for my former work colleague.

Each heart will cost £2 with £1.50 going to fund some further physio and speech therapy sessions.

I can make them in any colour you would like and I will add them to a keyring or attach a brooch back.

Crochet Hearts Order yours now. Send me an e-mail or a message on facebook.

Happy charity crafting
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