Happy New Year

I know it isn't quite the New Year yet but I have made a New Year pressie for you all!

As I had a lot of positive response from the one I did last year, I have made another downloadable calendar.

Making the calender was actually the easy part, printing it off was another matter!!!!!

My A3 printer has decided to throw a temper tantrum and won't print properly. I ended up with lots of lines through the pictures - when there was any coloured ink coming out at all!

So, I am now in the middle of using my photo printer to reprint all the photos on A4 and am having to stick them on to the A3 sheets with the calendar bit printed on.

Another problem is going to be putting it together. Last year I borrowed a friends Bind-It-All. What a wonderful machine! This year I don't have access to it so am going to have to improvise yet again.

I think ring binder punch and lots of ribbon may be in order here.

I will let you know how I get on.

And, as I am now working, I may even treat myself to a BIA this year.

In the mean time, enjoy the calendar. I have uploaded it as a pdf so you can print it off as A3 or A4 as required.

If you download it or add a link to it on your blog or site, please leave me a comment to let me know.

Working Hard.

In between everything else that has been going on, I have managed to transfer all of the Free Patterns and Tutorial over to their new home.

I haven't yet done the pdf versions to go with them but they aren't that urgent.

I am not entirely sure that all of this is a bad thing. We have been complaining about msn for years. White pages when trying to post, erratic delivery of posts to and from your inbox and thousands of other things far too many to mention.

I have been considering finding a new home for the group but shied away from all the work that needs doing.

I didn't get a lot of choice when they decided to close!!!!!!

Its me again!

This time my crocheted Tree Angels are the free project on the Advent Calender - so go and take a look!

And if you haven't seen what else is on offer, why not?????

There are loads of lovely free projects to choose from.

I am running very late again. Every year I promise myself I am going to get those cards done early. Every year I don't.

And this year is worse than usual. I haven't even made enough so need to get on with them!

But, I am going to cheat a little. I usually make far too many and have a very nice little stash of cards bulding up. Of course, I can't normally use them as I sent them to everybody last year.

However, this year both Mark and I have new jobs. This means I can use up some of the previous years cards.

Less for me to make and some space in the filing cabinet all in one go!

What a result.

I forgot to tell you.........

That I uploaded the December desktop calender last week.

Yes, I know it was a bit late but I hadn't got around to finding a suitable picture.

But then we had this really hard frost and I got this one!

Using the flash made the frost sparkle - just right for Christmas.

Hope you enjoy it!

Grr! Msn!

As if I don't have enough to do just now!

Between the new job (which I am still getting used to) amd Christmas (which I will never get used to) I have more than enough to do.

Then msn announce they are closing.

After a discussion with the members who didn't like Multiply, we decided to move to Yahoo.

It is nice and familiar. Most of the members already have Yahoo accounts. And there is space for all our links etc.

Unfortunately, one of the things Yahoo doesn't have is space for pages to put all of the free patterns and the crochet tutorial. So, I have left some very helpful members transferring this lot over from msn to Yahoo while I work on a complimentary website.

This means that I now need to transfer all the photos over to an online album and all the pages over to a free site. I have chosen Photobucket and Bravenet.

This is the result so far -

Of course, it needs loads more work before msn closes all the groups on February 21st 2009.

However, you are all welcome to take a peek.

Have you all been following the Advent Calendar? There have been some great free projects on there.

Window No.8

Its me again!

I hope you enjoy this Crocheted Bow.

I made it for Scrapbooking. It didn't occur to me to use it for Christmas Parcels!

Click on Window 8 for the pattern.

Can't you tell its nearly Christmas?

Cos I feel like I have even less time than normal.

It is just going so fast. The fact that I now have a job and all the Christmas activities have started may have something to do with this.

Lets face it, I chose a really bad time to start. Just before Christmas!

Most of the Christmas stuff is all organised and I seem to be finding out about most of it as I am going along. I would much rather know whats happening before hand.

However, I did get to go Christmas shopping - with somebody elses money. That has to be a bonus. Whether I got everything I was supposed to is another matter.

Today I have to wrap them and find out how many more I need.

But have you seen this gorgeous project for the advent calender?

They are so cute!

I might just have to go and get some dolly pegs.

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And if you missed yesterdays, go and take a look!

Window No. 2

Is me!

I told you it would be.

You can make these Lucky Pennies into Flowers or Stars.

I did originally intend to make a new one every Christmas for Benjamin but.........

There is still time to catch up.

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If you want to snag the calender for your own blog or website, just click on the bit that says "COPY" on the bottom of the one on the left.

Full instructions provided.

Its December!

And the advent calendar is up and running!

If you haven't snagged yours, then there is plenty of time.

And if you want to add a project to it, there are still windows left.

Todays is this lovely little Advent Diary.

This will look lovely hanging on your tree.

And you especially want to look tomorrow, because it is one of mine!

But don't tell anybody I told you!

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Here is another quilted photo frame.

This one is Sunflowers and Ladybirds.

I have used the "Sun" with a big button to make the Sunflower and the "Pansy" leaves with added stalks to make the leaves.

The stem is a crocheted cord that is used for Romanian Lace.

Baby Boy

Wow! A post two days running!!!!

But I finished this last night and just couldn't wait to share it.

And, as it is a boy frame, I have had no complaints about using my sons photo.

I made the "baby boy" writing with a 1.50mm hook, rather than the 2.00mm hook the pattern says. It means it came out just a little smaller buts fits so much better on the frame.

I took photos of some of the others as well and, provided things go to plan, I will blog about them later and set them up to post tomorrow.

I want to make sure I use that facility right because I may need it for another project later.

Christmas Frames

I have finished the Christmas Frames.

I have decorated the tree with ribbon, beads and bells so that it tinkles.

This is the landscape version - done in gold trimmings.

The Angel and the pressies are from my Christmas Earrings pattern.

The mistletoe is something I designed just for these and will be adding to my site as a free pattern asap.

This is the portrait version, all decorated with silver trimmings.

The star is from my Christmas Earrings pattern. However, you can use the free one on my site just as effectively.

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And did you notice my Advent Calender?

SC made a special background just for me using my Christmas Tree Decorations?

Isn't that good?

Its nearly Christmas!

And to celebrate my friend SC has made this Advent Calendar.

If you would like one, you can get it on her blog or just click on the "COPY" on the calender itself.

And here are some more finished quilted frames.

I know you have seen these two before but they were not finished then!

And here are the close ups.

Due to great protests by my son, I had to take his photos out and use some of me.

This is me with my Mam, Dad and Nana.

This is me with my Mam.

And the close-ups

I was going to take some pics of the others today - but it is SNOWING!

This week has been just as hectic!

And I have been buying stash again - but more of that later.

I got fed up waiting for the tape to come so I improvised. I cut strips of the same fabric I used for the front and staples it on the back as I was going to with the tape.

Then I used the designer labels I made and stapled those on as well. It doesn't look quite as professional as the tape would but it does the job nicely.

I now have 7 finished and two of them up for sale in the Florists. I am thinking about putting them on Etsy as well.

Here is the finished Leaves frame. And some close ups.

All of the frames are 20cm x 20cm and made to fit a 9cm x 13 cm photo.

And finally that stash!

First of all, I have to say that the lady was wonderful. I realised that I had ordered two different sized padded stars and emailed her to ask if she could send them the same size and add the difference to the postage.

Then I emailed her about some punches and couldn't make up my mind about them so decided not to get one as it was getting time to go to work.

I asked her for the total, which she sent and I paid. However, she hadn't adjusted it for the stars and, as I had turned the puter off and would be late for work if I turned it back on, didn't do anything about it.

The stash arrived the next morning, complete with the alternative stars. How is that for service? I emailed her to ask about the aditional cost and she came back to me to tell me that she hadn't altered it on purpose.

So, if you want great service and quick delivery, I suggest you pay her a visit.

Her shop is Pink Marshmallow on eBay.

Doesn't Time Fly.....

.....When you are working?

20 hours doesn't sound like much, especially when there are 168 in a week. In fact, when you think about it, it is actually less than one whole day.

But 20 hours spread over 4 days, plus the time to get there and back, creates a HUGE hole in your time.

And things just keep falling through it!!!!!

Basically, I have lost the best part of four days and have to fit everything I normally do in seven days into the remaining three. I am not doing so well.

I know other people do this all the time. But they are used to doing it. Hopefully I will get organised at some point and get into a routine where I can fit everything in.

However, the good part is that I finally have some money to spend! I have to be relatively good as I have things to pay out and sort out first but I have treated myself.

I bought a staple gun so that I can finish off my pictures myself without hassling Mark to sort out the big compressor one down the shed and some tape to cover the raw edges on the back. I also got some of those nine pocket pages to keep my ATCs in.

Marks Mum picked up twelve 8in frames for me last week so now I am all set to finish off the quilted photo frames, or I will be when the tape arrives.

As you can see from the photos, I have already mounted theones I have finished and just need to finish the backs off.

I had to change the photos in the Baby Girl ones due to MAJOR complaints from my son. I had used photos of him as I didn't have any of baby girls. Then my Mam pointed out that I had some of me. So they have been duly scanned and printed to use.

I only have time to edit a few of the pics to use, so will show you the others another day.

The other thing I really wanted to show you was this lovely lot of stash I got from Linda E. Thank you so much! I love it!!!!!

And finally, I took this from the back door this morning.

The sun was coming up in the front and the moon was still really bright out the back.