A colorful gem

I finished my shawl and finally was able to round up a model at work

 I LOVE the colors

....and how cute are these two??

Trying to get them to 

sit still & pose 

- well wasn't going to happen

This is the newest grandchild

Did you see the blue moon??

Robin

Gotta love Pinterest

I was feeding my Pinterest addiction and came across these two images - almost side by side

Hmmm.....

 inspiration for the dress????

You too can look like a sea lion

Gotta LOVE Pinterest!!

Robin

Little Fairy Book

These little books are so addicting to make!

You can let your imagination run wild

This one is fairy themed

If you want to make your own little book I have a tutorial here

Robin

Itty Bitty Book Tutorial

I have had several people ask about my little book that I posted about here.  I originally made a little Marie book for a swap I am hosting for a swap group I belong to.  It was the example.  When I made the book I did a tutorial for the swap members to follow so all of our little books would be the same.  They are going on a necklace which I will share with you later.  Anyway since I have it already done Im going to share it with you.

This little book is 1.5” tall by 1” wide. I cut the papers as follows- Cut your first strip of scrapbook paper 1.5” wide by the length of the paper (12”).  This will be your cover and you will cut the length down to size later.

Next cut a strip of paper just a little bit smaller than the 1.50” wide cover on each side. I placed the paper against the already cut cover strip and made a pencil mark where I wanted to cut it. If you look closely you can see the pencil mark on the pink paper. The inside of the paper will not show so it doesn’t matter whats on it. You will need the whole length of 12” paper. This strip will be the inside pages of your book. Now fold the strip in half, then into quarters. You now have four sections (see picture).

Now fold each section into thirds. This part can be a little tricky. Just be sure your folds line up on the outside edge of your book pages. You wont notice it if the edge that goes against the spine is uneven.

NOTE: the first picture below shows the folds going the wrong way to be able to make your folds and line up your outside edges. This is easy to fix by just folding the paper the other way :)

The second picture is going the right way with all the folds. You will have 5 pages and a piece on each end to glue to your book cover.

Next I ran my ink pad along the edges and the folds to make it look old.

Now apply Uhu glue (or your favorite glue stick) to the back of the folded strip.  Glue all the pages together then stick one side to the inside cover of your book.  Be sure to leave that little space all around your folded piece when you attach it to your front cover.  The Uhu glue allows you to slide the paper around until you have it placed the way you want.

Now flip your book over and glue the inside page to the back cover. Make sure there is enough room for your book to close but not too much that it puffs up at the spine.  Then cut your cover paper to size leaving the little space along the edge.  You will have five pages in your little book

You now have a little book!!  Next we will glue the pages in it.

To make the inside pages I cut and pasted images onto a Open Office Document.  Open Office is like Microsoft Word but a FREE program.  You can get it here http:/www.openoffice.org/ if you dont have Word. If you have Word just use that program.  Once cut and pasted, double click on the image and click wrap through the image.  This allows you to move the image freely around on the page.  Next resize the image.  Double click image uncheck lock ratio and change the size to .95 wide by 1.40 tall.  You may have to crop the image a little to make your image proportionate prior to resizing.  If you just want to use tiny images you already have cut them out slightly smaller than your little page.  You can cut a template from plain paper and use it to measure the rest.  Here are my sheets.

I got my images from here http://www.ekduncan.com/  She shares lots of wonderful fashion plates for you to use.  Just scroll thru her blog for LOTS of images.  Once I cut out my images I used the ink around the edged like I did on the book before I glued them down.  Here is the inside of mine.

Once you have your little book put together take a large needle and insert it thru the inside page and the cover between page 3 & 4 about ¼ inch from the top.  This makes a hole for you to put your jump ring thru.

And here is my finished book.  I think I will wrap a little string or ribbon around the book a couple times and tie a bow to keep it closed.  You can also add the tie under the front cover before you glue it on.  That way it won't come off.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I hope you enjoy making this little book as much as I did.

Robin

A hot (colorful) mess

How does it get like this so fast???

I spend time rolling everything up neatly

 and then after rummaging thru it looking for the right colors for

one project 

its like this again

I think I need a better system

More little books in the works for a swap on the Marie Antoinette swap group I belong to.

 Heres are my little books in progress

  

They will be part of a 

wonderful charm necklace

I will post pictures of the finished necklace as soon as everyone in the group receives theirs

I have the tutorial for these 

little books almost done

  

I will post it in the next 

couple days

Stay tuned....

Robin

I love my job

And it loves me back....

I am a bookkeeper but I get to teach

fun classes like this

Life's good!!

Robin

Half Flower Tutorial

As promised here it is

First

Here are a few tips:

I always start with a magic loop

(If you google it several tutorials come up)

I always crochet over my 

ends as I go

(I HATE weaving in ends)

I am using American crochet terms

Written directions are below each picture

Make a magic loop

Chain 3 (counts as first DC) 

DC 6 in loop Fasten off

(7 DC)

Draw up the loop so all 

DC are on one side

Draw up loop in 3rd chain 

of previous row 

Chain 4(counts as DC ch 1)

DC ch 1 in each stitch

(7 DC ch 1 spaces)

Fasten off

Here is the back side showing where I crocheted over my ends.  In addition, I take a needle and run the starting thread (pink here) thru the 7 DC on the magic loop 

just to insure a good hold.  

(Just be sure you go in a clockwise direction to continue the circle - if you go the other direction your defeating the purpose)

Draw up loop in 3rd ch 1 space of previous row

chain 3(counts as first DC)

2 DC in same ch 1 space

3 DC in each chain 1 space across

Fasten off

(18 DC)

 Draw up loop in 3rd chain from 

previous row chain 3 

(counts as 1st DC) 

DC in same stitch, chain 4

skip next stitch, *2 DC in next stitch, 

2 DC in next stitch, chain 4* 

repeat from * until you reach the last 2 stitches

skip stitch, 2 DC in last stitch

Fasten off

Draw up loop between the 2 DC of previous row 

ch 1 SC in loop 

(I always start my sc joins like this)

8 DC in ch 4 sp

*skip 2 DC, slip stitch, skip 2 DC, 

8 DC in chain 4 space*

repeat * across until the last 2 DC group,

SC between last 2 DC, fasten off

I use the join as you go method 

when making this.

(If you google it there are plenty of tutorials)

I have never really written a crochet pattern before, so let me know if there are any parts that you don't understand.

See this post

if you are looking for the 
full flower and valance pattern

I would love to see what you make!!

Robin

New Blooms

When I saw this yarn the other day at Joann's

(I just ran in to purchase 1 skein for another 

project I am working on..HA...really)

I knew it had to be mine

I fell in love with the colors

I thought this would be 

a good use for it 

Finished it today 

(its going to be a gift)

This time as I was working on the 

half flowers on the sides I wrote 

down the pattern

I will post it in a couple days

when I figure out how to write it

so you can understand it 

While I was at Joann's 

picking up one more skein of orange 

yarn to finish this project

 I needed wanted yarn for this

shawl that I saw on scottys-place

Isn't it gorgeous????

I 

** L O V E **

the colors

They had the yarn and it was on sale

 (yeah) 

I started working on it Thursday 

Its coming along nicely

But... when I was was 

lurking looking around on the 

internet last night 

I found the Elise Shawl on Ravelry

Its so light and airy and the comments 

said how quick and easy it is

(one said 2 hours....really???)

  

The pattern I already started is with a smaller hook and taking 

soooooooooooo long

I grabbed another skein of yarn 

and started the Elise

I think I like this one better

and I'm going to continue on it

.....for now

I {{love}} this Deborah Norville

Serenity Garden Yarn

Robin