Monday, March 26, 2012

Crochet Heart Doily Pattern

Hello Bloggers,

As promised, here is the pattern for my crochet heart doily.  Enjoy!  However, please link to this post instead of reposting or republishing this pattern.  Thank you!


Sample was crocheted using a 1.15mm hook and South Maid Cotton.

ch = chain
sc = single crochet
dc = double crochet
sl st = slip stitch
st = stitch
sp = space
sh = shell (2dc ch2 2dc)

ch 6, sl st in first st to form a ring
row 1:  ch 3, dc in ring, ch1, dc in ring, ch 1, 2dc in ring, ch4 turn
row 2:  2dc in first ch1 sp, ch2, 2dc in same sp, ch1, 2dc in next space, ch2, 2dc in same sp, ch4 turn
row 3:  sh in first ch2 sp, sh in next sp, sh in next sp, ch4 turn
row 4:  sh in first ch2 sp, ch 1, sh in next sp, ch1, sh in next sp, ch4 turn
row 5: sh in first sh sp, ch2, sh in next sh sp, ch2, sh in last sh sp, ch4 turn
row 6:  same as last row except replace the 2 ch2 with ch3
row 7: same as previous except replace the 2 ch3 with ch4
row 8:  same as previous row except replace the 2 ch4 with ch5
row 9:  sh in first sh sp, ch2, dc in ch5 sp, ch2, dc in same sp, ch2, 2dc in next sh sp, ch2, dc in same sp, ch2, 2dc in same sp, ch2, dc in next ch5 sp, ch2, dc in same sp, sh in last sh sp, ch4 turn
row 10:  sh in first sh sp, ch1, skip next ch2 sp, dc in following ch2 sp, ch1, dc in same sp, ch1, dc in same sp, ch1, skip next ch2 sp, sh in following sp, sh in next sp, ch1, skip next ch2 sp, dc in next  ch2 sp, ch1, dc in same sp, ch1, dc in same sp, ch1, sh in last sh sp, ch4 turn
row 11:  sh in first sh sp, ch1, sc in 2nd ch1 sp, ch3, sc in next ch1 sp, ch1, sh in 2nd sp from hook, ch4 turn (this should take you to the half way point of the previous row)
row 12:  sh in first sh sp, sc in ch3 sp, sh in last sh sp, ch4 turn
row 13:  sc in first sh sp, ch1, dc in sc, ch1, sc in last sh sp, sl st in next two st's to take you right next to the edge of the scallop from the previous row, ch5 turn
row 14:  sc in 2nd sp, ch4, sl st in 1st sc of last row, tie off

You should now have a heart with only 1 'hump'.  To make the other hump:

make a slip knot around your hook and tie in with a sl st in the 1st dc of the last full row on outside edge of the heart, ch4
repeat rows 11-14

You should now have a heart with a scalloped border.  You can add an extra border around the outside to increase the size of the heart and make it a bit more ornate.  Here is the border I added to the sample:

make a slip knot around hook and join in between the 2 shells in the 'valley' at the top of the heart with a sc, ch3, sc in next sp, ch3, sl st in 3rd ch from hook, sc in same sp, ch1, in next sp (2dc, ch4, sl st in 3rd ch from hook, ch1, 2dc in same sp) repeat for each ch5 and ch4 sp to the tip at the base of the heart and in last dc right before the ch6 ring that started your heart, 3dc in ch6 ring, ch4, sl st in 3rd ch from hook, ch1, 3dc in same ring, in next ch4 sp (2dc, ch4, sl st in 3rd ch from hook, ch1 2dc in same sp) repeat in all ch 4/5 sp's as in previous half stopping with one sp left, ch1, sc in last sp, ch3, sl st in 3rd ch from hook, sc in same sp, ch 3, sl st in the sc that began the border, tie off.  There should be 10 picots on each side plus one at the base.

Tuck in ends and starch to stiffen if desired.

Enjoy your doily!

Hugs,

Dawn

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Hang in there and a crochet heart doily

Hello peeps!

Before I get to my post, I would like to welcome my blog's new follower.  I'm so happy you decided to click the magic little follow button and hope you will find reason to stop in from time to time!

I hope everyone had a truly fantastic weekend!  I spent mine at a crop for the cure, which was very relaxing and I got to catch up a teeny bit on my scrapbooking (if such a thing exists), not to mention I didn't have to do any cooking or cleaning!  Does it get any better than that?

I have a birthday card to share today.  This one is for my mom, who has a distaste for her birthday, but she loves cats just as much as I do, so I thought this would be perfect:

I just love this stamp!  So full of possibilities...

Some info on my card:

Paper - Basic Grey DP from the Olivia collection, Bazzill card and 300g hot pressed water colour paper

Image - Penny Black coloured with Distress Inks (frayed burlap, antique linen, victorian velvet, spun sugar, stormy sky, tumbled glass, black soot and tattered rose)

Cuts - Magnolia Doohickey leaves, Cheery Lynn small exotic butterflies (cut on pink and swiped with picket fence distress stain to tone them down and give them a white washed look),  the shape for the image was created in SCAL2 using a rectangle and ovals

Other - sheer cloth, pretty petals flowers, mini clothes pins (which started out bright pink, so I painted them white with acrylic paint), hemp twine, American Crafts pink lace, computer generated sentiment and a crocheted heart doily. 

The doily on this card is my second attempt at designing a heart doily.  I now understand why patterns for heart doilies are impossible to find.  Luckily it is tucked in behind the image, hiding the fact that it is way too long.  However, I am nothing if not stubborn and persistent, so I tried again and came up with a shorter version:

It is not without flaws - most notably at the base where it just isn't even from one side to the other, though  a good starching would probably hide most of that (this one has not been starched).  If you are interested, I'll be adding my pattern at the end of this post within the next 24 hrs, so check back later.  I expect it will take a little while to type up all that code.  As I am not 100% happy with it, I will probably attempt designing another completely different pattern, but probably not until next year once I forget how frustrating the design process is :).

I've added the pattern to my blog in a new post available here.

This card was inspired by insanity and the following challenges:

Basic Grey Challenges - Mother's Day or Girlie - you choose
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Let's Play Bingo (I did flowers, lace and twine)
Totally Papercrafts - Humour (ok, so it's not ROTFL or even lol, but it might be good for a teeny smile)
The Sketchy Challenges - love this sketch; this is my second entry
Cute Card Thursday - where anything goes

Hope everyone has a great week!  Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to leave a comment!  I do love reading them and I love the chance to visit you too.

Hugs,

Dawn

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Mother to be

Hello Peeps!

First, I would love to welcome my blog's new follower!  So glad to have you!  I hope everyone is having a great weekend and is finding plenty of time for crafting and making creative stuff! 

I have a card to share today that I made for a new mother to be.  Baby isn't due until summer, but I was very inspired by so many challenges to make this one that I didn't want to wait!  The rainbow and green challenges are just perfect for a baby card, especially when you don't know if it will be a boy or a girl.

Supplies:

Paper - Bazzill card, 300g hot pressed watercolour paper, Graphic 45 DP from the Little Darlings collection - these papers are so beautiful!

Stamps - Magnolia 'Mother to be Tilda' - an absolute delight to colour and I just love how she has swollen feet!  Stampin' Up 'Elizabeth' and sentiment is from the 'Teddy and Train' set

Ink - Image was stamped with black Stazon, coloured with Distress inks (frayed burlap, antique linen, peeled paint, black soot, walnut stain, tattered rose and bundled sage).  Sentiment and flourish were stamped with walnut stain.  Flowers were coloured with scattered straw, tattered rose and victorian velvet; butterflies were coloured with broken china and black soot.

Tools - Cheery Lynn Designs small exotic butterflies, Magnolia rose leaf doohickey, Cricut elegant edges cartridge for scalloped oval

Other - Pretty Petals flowers, cloth is the same recycled cloth I have been using - used to be curtains a long time ago, so I won't be running out of it anytime soon :o), Little Yellow Bicycle doily, champagne coloured pearls.

This card was inspired by the following challenges:

The Sketchy Challenges - for the gorgeous sketch, which I flipped
Deep Ocean Challenge - butterflies
Magnolia-licious - colour challenge (photo inspiration)
Simon Says Stamp - green
Magnolia Down Under - old treasures (use something recycled - I used the cloth from my old curtains)
Just Magnolia - green
Crazy 4 Challenges - green

Thanks for stopping by and thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!  I love reading them and visiting you back!  Have a great week!

Hugs,

Dawn

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A little late for February

Hello bloggers,

Hope everyone is having a great week!  I have finally finished the February page for my mother's House Mouse calendar and what a learning experience it was!  If you haven't already learned the hard way, let me tell you all about Timber brown Stazon ink.  It doesn't really stay on very well.  After colouring my image with Distress inks (which it does stay on for) I decided the little lantern needed to look like glass.  So I applied Glossy Accents over it and to my complete horror, the brown ink bled!  I almost cried! 

I didn't want to waste the image and the time it took to colour it, so I restamped the lantern onto another sheet and recoloured it so I could piece it back together.  This time I applied Goosebumps thinking that it might be more compatible as it is the same brand.  It wasn't.  So, I stamped it again, this time with black and recoloured and used glossy accents.  For some reason, the brown ink bleeds but the black does not.  So, don't look too closely at the lantern as it is darker than the rest of the image and pieced together which just bothers me.  Of course, I say that in vain as everyone is now examining the lantern with a magnifier. 

Supplies:

Want 2 Scrap chipboard base
Papers - Bazzill card, Basic Grey DP inked with vintage photo DI
Image - House Mouse Tickle Phil stamped on 300g hot pressed watercolour paper with Timber brown Stazon and coloured with Distress inks (bundled sage,black soot, scattered straw, pumice stone, rusty hinge, walnut stain, antique linen, vintage photo, tattered rose, frayed burlap and barn door)
Tools - Martha Stewart edge punch
Other - feathers, seam binding ribbon dyed with tattered rose, glossy accents, burlap, calendar was computer generated and slides in the pocket so it can be changed each year.



I'd like to enter this calendar page in the Totally Papercrafts Challenge - my favourite things (I have so many!  Some of my favourites are House Mouse, ribbon and colouring with Distress inks) and I'm also linking up to the Make it Monday linky party.

Thanks for stopping in and for taking the time to leave a comment!  I love reading them and it gives me the chance to visit you to!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Hugs,

Dawn

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Just Buzzing by

Hello everyone,

First of all, I'd like to extend a huge welcome to my blog's new followers!  I'm so glad that you decided to join my crafting journey and look forward to seeing your projects and sharing inspiration!  I hope everyone has been well and has had plenty of time to craft this weekend! 

I have a quick card to share today. My hubby asked me to make it for a friend who is moving away, so we thought this would be cute to wish them a new honey filled hive.
For this one I decided to try a new technique and coloured the image on Kraft paper with my prismacolor pencils.  Hmmm - a little harder than I thought.  I think it turned out alright for a first effort, but there is a lot of room for improvement. 

Supplies:  Stampin' Up Just Buzzin' by stamp set, ribbon, brads and flowers from my stash, postage stamp shape cut with cricut elegant edges cartridge, edges inked with Distress ink in walnut stain.

This card was inspired by these challenges:

The ABC Challenge - K for Kraft
Allsorts Challenge- say it with flowers
Charisma Cardz Challenge- ribbon
Papertake Weekly - anything goes

That is all for now, though I currently have four other projects started, so hopefully I'll have something else to share soon.

Thanks for popping by and for taking the time to leave a comment - I love reading them and visiting you too.  Have a great week!

Hugs,

Dawn