Z is for...

...ZOLINO!!

It's a type of friendship bracelet. Awesome, huh!?

I've been busy making this for the last few evenings. It's pretty time consuming as far as knotted bracelets go! But well worth the effort.

There are lots of tutorials out there for this bracelet. I used this one. Give it a go! 

Well...this is my last post for the A to Z Challenge. It's been tough but I'm feeling a little sad that it's over now! A massive thank you to everyone who has visited and posted on my blog over the past month :)

Look out for my reflections post!

Oh, Yarn!

Now that I am officially a novice crocheter (I made handwarmers!), my life is starting to fill with thoughts of yarn...

As it turns out, there is SO much yarn out there. Miles and miles of the stuff. All in different pretty colours and textures and thicknesses. It makes my head all fuzzy! I'm still trying to figure out how you buy the right stuff for each project, but I guess this might be something that comes with experience.

Thanks for visiting :)

X marks the spot

I missed posing yesterday, OOPS! I feel very ashamed, things had been going so well until now and we are so close to the end of the challenge!

But I am catching up today at least. X is all about cross stitch. Where Xes feature just about everywhere but in the name!

I was a big cross stitcher when I was younger. It's probably one of the things that has helped with my needle control and contributed towards my perfectionism in all of my crafts! Here is a pencil case that I made, many many years ago, decorated with pieces of cross stitch:

My photos are still leaving a lot to be desired, I know. I was home yesterday and just snapped these in a rush on my phone. I also forgot to pick up the nice sheet of paper that I usually use for a backdrop so I'm afraid my photos might not look great for a while until I figure out another nice backdrop!

Thanks for visiting :)

Wedding Fever!

I'm losing momentum with my last few posts so I apologise. It has been a long month with a lot going on for me.

I'm hopeful that Work is going to pick up in the next few weeks as I'm starting to gather things to keep me busy!

In a few weeks time I will be attending a 'Wedding Festival' which is apparently a reception in a field! With tents and camping and things. How exciting! It is for a friend I went to university with and it suits her down to the ground - so eco friendly! I'll be taking my best friend along for company.

Speaking of my best friend - she is also getting married in just over a year's time. I am a bridesmaid! I have never been one before and I'm super excited. On top of this I'm excited to spend some time doing some wedding crafty things to help make the day even more unique. I'm just not sure what yet. There is a huge wealth of wedding craft ideas out there on the internet, it is just a case of finding the right ones that will work for her special day.

What would you craft for a big occasion!?

Thanks for visiting :)

Vintage

V is for vintage. I have a horrible headache so I am sorry to keep this brief, I can't concentrate on the screen for long.

I made this scotty dog doorstop using a fabulous vintage Guinness fabric that my mum had stashed away in a drawer.

Thanks for visiting :)

Under the bed...

So, my plan for today's post says U is for 'Under the Bed'. Which was going to be all about the random stuff I keep under my bed, including lots of craft stuff.

Except, since I moved I have so much storage space that I no longer have any need to keep anything under the bed, besides a couple of pairs of shoes that I wear regularly! Instead, the craft stuff that I bought with me is now in either my immense wardrobe or my walk in cupboard.

And, clearly there is room for a lot more.......

Who wants to take me on a spending spree? Obviously I don't have enough clothes or craft stuff judging by these photos!

What do you keep under your bed!? (Although I'm not sure I dare ask!)

Thanks for visiting :)

Tutorials!

I am ashamed to say that I haven't managed to prepare a tutorial for this post as I really had hoped I would. I'm going to play the 'I just got a new house and job' card. Along with the 'I'm wary of telling people how to do my stuff in case they make loads of money from it/ do it better than me' card. I would like to post more tutorials, but I am rather protective of a lot of my patterns. They are like children to me...I slaved over them!

Anyway, there are some absolutely fantastic tutorials for all sorts of wonderful things out there already...

Here are a selection that I have bookmarked on my browser:

 

I made these dolphins and the dinosaur from the tutorials on Nuno Life. There are some really amazing free patterns and tutorials for stuffed animals among other things! Clearly Runo doesn't worry about sharing these things like I do...

I have used this nice simple baked cheesecake recipe to produce my own yummy cheesecakes! Cheesecake is my absolute diet downfall...

I had great fun jazzing up my earphones using this tutorial at Kiss Me Awake.

Following this knitting pattern I made a nice head warmer to keep my ears cosy walking dogs in the cold weather! (Note, that I have very little knitting experience).

Finally, this post from Cute n Cool Freebies showed me how to add a link in the comments that I post on other people's blogs. I looked it up at the beginning of the A to Z Challenge and it has been invaluable - it is so much easier for people to click on a direct link to my blog than have to search for it on my Google + page.

These are just a small selection, I have many many more tutorials bookmarked, some of which I refer to quite often to remind myself how to do certain techniques and things.

I hope you have enjoyed looking through them and maybe feel inspired to find a tutorial for that item that you really want to make, but don't quite know how...

Thanks for visiting :)