Warm felted slippers

After two years or so I've finally worn a hole in my felted slippers. Fortunately, it only took me one evening and two quiet shifts at work to make a new pair! I had hoped the variegated yarn would appear more even after the felting, but they're ok. One go in the washing machine in a 60 degrees Celcius one-hour cycle was enough this time.
These are just fabulous in the wintertime, or when eating breakfast outside on crisp cold spring mornings, or on chilly rainy summer evenings, or to stretch the outside season longer into the fall... It's a wonder they've lasted this long.

For size comparison, the new unfelted slipper, and my old worn-out one.

New on my needles

I've finally started the Jeanie shawl! It's a bit scary, I have to admit... But so far it's working out ok - as far as I can tell. The really scary thing is that although I'll be dropping some stitches along the way, there are many columns of stitches that won't be dropped until the shawl has been knitted to its full length! So as I knit, I don't see what it's going to look like when finished. And even scarier, what if I make a mistake along the way and the whole thing unravels completely wrong? Or stops unravelling half-way through? Ooh... so many possibilities for disaster. It makes me even more determined. ;) I will make this work!
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You can just see the blue thread on the right side in the picture (and in between the first row of stitches) - that's the waste yarn from my provisional cast on. It will later be removed to expose the live stitches so the cabled band that runs along the side of the shawl can be continued along the edge.
The stitch markers are a great help. The blue ones mark the change between each of the three charts, the white ones various points within each chart. I just wish the recipe was more specific about the placement of the in-chart markers... By my calculations I'll need 19 markers in addition to the chart markers, not 19 in total. I wonder where my mistake is?

Blog candy

It's that time again: Here are some blog candy alerts coming your way!

Steph is celebrating 50 000 hits with this amazing candy! (Closed)


Kim is celebrating her 1st blogoversary and have passed 20 000 hits in her first year! (Closed)

Siri has a candy going on with some amazing paper and more. (Closed)

Tonya is celebrating 200 followers with this candy. (Closed)


Debbie is celebrating her first blogoversary with a candy to drool over... (Closed)

Jennie has some wonderful stamps and more up for grabs. (Closed)

Stitch markers

I've finally decided to have a go at the Jeanie shawl I've been drooling over for a while now... But first thing first, I needed to make no less than 19 stitch markers! The blue ones will mark the points between charts, and the white ones will mark various stitches within each chart.

These are some I made a couple of years ago, for much bigger needles. You'll soon see which project I used them for - I just have to finish it first...

Torgny 60 years

So... you want an explanation, you say? Well, this guy travels all over the country (can you guess which one?) on job related stuff, and the request for this card was to somehow incorporate that. Hmmm... Not an easy task, but I think this worked out ok. I have to admit it stands out a bit from the other cards I've made lately... ;)
I've sewed the lines on the map with actual needle and thread, but the rest is faux stitching.

What I found in my mail box today

As all of us card makers know well, there are some things in this world that can never be done electronically with quite the same impact as the good old way. Like recieving a big fat envelope with something exciting inside! Today, in my old fashioned green snail mail box, I found a wonderful package. It's my prize in the March challenge in Ett Trykk, where I won third prize for my butterfly set. Wohoo! It was a surprise prize, and a great one! I love these rub-ons, in fact I already have one of the sets and it's quickly being spent... Good thing I just got a refill - and more... ;)

Ole Martin 60 years

Well look at that, it worked in blue as well! ;) The inside is super simple - it was done very near midnight...

Helge 50 years

For a builder/handyman! You can barely see it, but the mini brads look like tiny screws...

Kari 23 years

This has got to be my absolute favourite pattern paper! Magical Moments AmyLynn's Afghan by Daisy Bucket Designs. Girly, but classy. I've already bought two, but that's not going to last long...

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The big stamp with wings is by Tim Holtz - it's actually two angels facing each other, but I've hidden much of it behind the sentiment stamp. I've embossed it with a light brown Distress embossing powder to make it stand out more. The Core'dinations Black Magic paper has been torn and sanded to reveal the brown core colour. Inside sentiment stamp by Penny Black, corner swirl by Cuttlebug, and of course all the Spellbinder nesties.

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I've entered this card to the Stamp with Fun challenge #2 (brown and pink), and also to the ABC challenge "J is for jagged edges". And I just have to say it now, because this is all fairly new to me, that I really really really enjoy reading your comments! I started entering challenges just this last week or so, and I'm not used to getting so many comments. So every time I've checked my blog lately, I find myself blushing! Thank you all so much! And I intend to nose around in all your blogs too. It just might take me a little time. ;)

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When I was done, I looked at it and suddenly felt like it had a certain western-style. I'm seriously considering redoing it in blue to give it a denim feel.

Blog candy

Desire is celebrating 20 000 hits with this lovely candy! Her blog is full of beautiful cards and photographs. Closes June 8th.

Carol is celebrating her birthday with no less than three piles of candy! Congratulations Carol! (Closed)

Kath is celebrating an amazing 100 000 hits with a candy with some of my favourite colours! Love it. (Closed)

Bev has some delicious candy on her blog, celebrating her blogoversary and an unbelievable 200 000 hits and 600 followers! (Closed)

Baby socks #14

Didn't I tell you these would be finished quickly? ;)

Thanks, Linn, for the cheery colour choice!

Camilla's confirmation card

So, finally the correct colours for Camilla's confirmation card. This time, I found a great sketch at Friday Sketchers (challenge #47). And it was a great reason to bring out my new swirl stamps and oval nesties! I'm sure I'll use this sketch again. Creative Inspirations challenge #3 is something as simple as scallops - so I'm entering that one too!
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I feel obliged to mention that the light today is the weirdest thing... Honestly, the card looks much much better in real life. I've coloured the edges of the white paper ever so slightly purple, but here it just looks dirty. It's not, I promise. ;)

Close call

When this card was nearly finished and the recipient's name just attatched, I suddenly realised that I promised to make it in purple colours! Oops... So a little rescue operation was quickly arranged, and the card now gets to sit in my drawer waiting for the right occation.
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I followed a really nice sketch at Sukkersött (challenge #35)- I just had a little trouble fitting it all in (as usual). But I just might use it again - it's very flexible and just the way I like it!

Happy easter!

I thought I'd share this easter egg tutorial with you today. A super quick recap of the technique: hard boil your eggs, roll them on hard surface to crack the shell (do not remove shell), pop into bowl/cup of cold water with food colouring, leave in fridge overnight, carefully peel away shell next morning to reveal beautiful surface. This was so much fun! I was so excited to see the results I could hardly wait until this morning before I peeled them... But it was worth the wait!

Lurking beneath the surface...

As you can see, I had two kinds of food colouring in my cabinet, red and yellow. While the yellow is great, the red turned out a disaster... ;) The colour never made it past the thin skin under the shell, and when I peeled it the whites of the egg came away with the shell. Didn't even bother to photograph it. Clearly, different kinds of food colouring has diffferent results - Jayne (who wrote the tutorial) wasn't pleased with her yellow eggs, but got a whole bunch of gorgeous eggs in all kinds of other colours! Take a look, they're amazing.

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Have fun making your easter eggs. Happy easter everyone!

Celina 29 years

An easter inspired birthday card for my friend Celina! I've added it to the Simon Says Challenge, which calls for cards in yellow and green. There's not a lot of green, but it's there.

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I might have gone a bit overboard with the Glimmermist here, but hey, I have to try it out, right? All the flowers have been sprayed with Glimmermist Pearl and/or Sunflower. Even the crochet flower (recipe here) have recieved the same treatment. The "mist" part is clearly visible as the white thread has taken on a strong orange colour, but the "Glimmer" part is less apparent. Oh well, there should be enough glimmer on this card anyway.

And how neat is that ribbon? It's made from several many-coloured paper threads (similar to Scrapper's Floss) woven together, and can be stretched very wide to show off the individual threads like I've done here. I found that the easiest way to get it like this was to shape it onto a low-tack tape, spray it with spray glue, turn it over and attatch it to the card while carefully removing the tape. Finally, I trimmed the edges and secured them with some ordinary craft glue.

The "price tag" on the inside came as set in the form of a punched pattern paper. In case you can't read it from the picture, it says: "Smile - XS: Extra Sweet - (barcode) Priceless". So cute. ;) I can't wait to use more of these.

Runa 35 years

To my good friend Runa, who I don't see nearly as often as I'd like. I had a little look around the web for some inspiration, and went for the Sketch and Stash Challenge #7! I don't think I'm too late...? The sketch was well suited for a completely symmetric card, and although I was tempted to use my standard flowers-in-opposite-corners technique, I resisted. It's so nice sometimes to deviate from my usual stuff. And since I've decorated the inside more than I've done in the past, why not enter it to the ABC challenge too? I've still kept it fairly simple inside - I usually want lots of room to write.
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I just love these pattern papers from Jillibean Soup! 100% recycled paper with great retro designs in black and red. I bought one of each in the series at Scraporama, and here I used Fresh Mint and Pinch Garlic Salt. The metal flower spacer is also new, bought the same day. And the inside sentiment from Penny Black, my favourite sentiment series. And the Glimmermist, must not forget the Glimmermist... ;) The flowers were generously sprayed with Old Lace.

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So, lots and lots of new stuff on this card! Besides that, I've used my good ol' retro punches, Bazzill cardstock of course, brown Scrapper's Floss, QK Metro, Magnolia stamp coloured with Prismacolor pencils, and the outside sentiment stamp from Kreativ Hobby (thanks, Krissie) was heat embossed in red.

Blog candys

I made a card last night but can't post it just yet - got to make sure I don't spoil it for the recipient. ;) Here are some a whole bunch of blog candy alerts while we're waiting.

Claire at Crafty C's Crafting Library is offering a great blog candy to celebrate recent DT posts, lots and lots of hits and her upcoming birthday. (Closed)

Carole at Stardust, Gems and Ribbons has a really cute candy up for grabs to celebrate her first blogoversary. (Closed)

Nicki at Little Ted Cards is celebrating her birthday with a candy full of exciting pattern paper and more. (Closed)

Brocéliane at Tite Envie de Scrap is giving away no less than five candys to celebrate her birthday and blogoversary, wow! (Closed)

Eliz at Must Go on a Stash Diet (don't you just love that name?) is offering a candy that has my eyes popping out of my head. (Closed)

Sheila at ManicStamper is celebrating 80 000 hits! Congratulations. (Closed)

Vicki at Paperlicious Oasis is celebrating 30 000 hits with a candy full of stamped images and other stuff. (Closed)

Melissa at Creating from the Heart is giving away a Cuttlebug machine! That's just amazing! (Closed)

Jacqui at Cats Whiskers is celebrating her first blogoversary with a Messy candy: lots of great stamps! (Closed)

New on my needles

Oh yes, it's yet another pair of baby socks. This colour was ordered by the mother of this soon-to-be-born boy, and what a refreshing colour it is! Especially after 13 pairs of cream and white/pale blue/light brown socks. I feel energized when I grab the needles now - I couldn't quite seem to stop myself from knitting last night. I have a feeling these will be done quite soon... *smile*

A list, a messy desk and a short-distance relationship

Not really in the mood to make anything these days, sorry guys. I'll get there eventually.
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Made a list of things to to in my home instead. It quickly grew to 21 tasks, large and small. I completed seven of them today and am very pleased with that.


Tidying -Organizing -Clearing my desk is on the list, but not a task I feel up to just yet. Maybe tomorrow.
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In the mean time, I want to share the most amazing video with you! Take the time to watch it. It's just over 10 minutes long, but definitely worth your while. It put a smile on my face.

eva

i lost something that wasn't mine to lose. my head ache was relieved by a glass filled to the brim with ice cubes (and a little ice coffee). the rediscovery of having very good friends and neighbours - and mail man - helped even more.

inspiration

In my neighbourhood

I met this guy on my walk today. Doesn't that first stove look exactly like one of those statues on Easter Island? He had brought along some friends, too. Strange how they all took on their own personality after a while.

Some stragglers, waiting to catch up with Easter Island guy and the rest.

And this old greenhouse, overgrown and seemingly half-buried. If it wasn't so pointy I could have imagined a hobbit living there long ago.