Rainbow Korknisse

Oooo, a little toadstool house.
Who lives here, I wonder?



*knock knock*



Of course! It's the little Korknisse!
How lovely to see you.
How are you?
Are there any more of you in there?



Oh how super! Lots of Korknisse.
And rainbow colours, too.
Please can I have a nice photo of you?



Oh now, that's just silly.
Please behave.


Thank you, that's better.

Now, can I take a photo indoors, so we can see you in all your summer finery?

Right, in a line please.


Really. You are just being naughty now.
Stop buggering around and behave.


That's more like it. Thank you.



Well now, that's just plain showing off now, fellas.



"Nice butterfly."
"Ta."

Oh dear, I think the sun got to me today.

'Korknisse' means 'cork elf' in Norwegian. They are traditionally knitted Christmas ornaments, but I crochet mine Amigurumi-stylie and love 'em at any time of the year.

I've already made Spring Korknisse here and Royal Wedding Korknisse here too.
Mad, but true.

Some up-do action

The crochet's a bit slow this week- too many WIPs and not enough progress on any of them - probably because my creative juices have been running elsewhere.

Take this, unassuming 1930s bureau, minus the openy-top-thingy (woodworm, apparently).



Purchased from charity shop for a tenner.
Given a bit of a sanding (I'm a bit unenthusiastic about this stage and get bored easily, so am not thorough).
Holes and cracks filled with flexible filler (marvellous stuff).
Slapped about with 3 coats of eggshell (not carefully applied- managed to get it on the curtains and the sofa- don't tell the Mister).
Jooooshed up a bit with some lush paper from a nice arty shop.

Et voilà!



Lovely shelves for the little'un's room. I'm actually very surprised at how nicely they've turned out, as it goes.

Moving on..
Another up-do. A little table, given the same treatment as the shelves above (minus the pretty paper). Sorry, no 'before' photo, just an afters:



I love that knitting bag. Charity shop find, obviously. I thought the cats looked happy and they are wearing bow-ties, which is always a good thing in my book.

I digress. Yet another up-do in the form of some little shelvy-things (originally Ikea, mine from Charity shop, of course):



This time I went mad with spray paint. Two coats. Very quick and dried in no time.
Then glued the same paper I put on the shelves.

Bingo!



And here's some more shelves I had a go at, just different paper glued to the front.



Pretty and easy too.

Wishing you all a creative and crafty week (if the kids'll let you)

Happy Monday, all. Xxx

Mail, hair and awards

A lovely little envelope was delivered by Mr postman today:



An old page from a Clifford book, made into an envelope?
Genius.
What's inside?



Comedy eyes?
Winner!
Many, many thanks to Melissa from All Sewn Up- your gift of sticky eyes made us laugh and laugh today.

The first recipients were very pleased:



I feel they'll be put to good use this holiday!
Thanks again, Melissa (Do have a peep at her lovely blog- it's lush. Xx)

That was the 'mail' bit of my title. Next is the 'hair' bit! - and I'd like to thank you all for voting on my little elf's barnet choice and can reveal that the winner ...is .....

...blue!



I agree, I think this looks cute and I promise, I won't let the little pink and black wigs go to waste- I'll be making dolls for them soon.

Another thank you to the marv'lus people who have given me awards. Thank you so much. I still feel humbled that anyone would read my little bloggy - do check out the side-bar to the right and take a peekie at their blogs too. (I had to hijack the Mister's work laptop to put the awards onto the blog so sorry for delay- ipads are cool, but there's plenty of stuff they can't do)

Here's a handful of interesting (?!) facts about moi:

* my actual name is Sarah
* my blog is named after my daughter's nickname
* although I love holidays abroad, i feel at home when surrounded by the green stuff - grass, trees and the like
* I'm a real autumn/winter girl- dark evenings, crisp mornings, scarves, cosy jumpers, blankets, rain, candlelight, mulled wine, fireworks, long walks, real fires (preferably in pubs on a Saturday lunchtime)
* actually, I'm a real Christmas girl - all that nostalgia above made me get my Xmas groove on. Bring on the red and gold, the holly and ivy, the tinsel and stockings.

Thanks again for the awards. If you are reading this, you all deserve one too!

Right, am off to get glass of wine and catch up with all of you, too.
Have a good weekend.
Xx

What d'ya reckon?

Well gals, I could do with your advice -

You remember the little elf I made in my last post? See here

I just need to know:

black, blue or pink?







Ta muchly!
Xx

Bits n bobs

This is one of those funny little posts where I have some odds and ends to show.

Like this crochet pin cushion/ upcycled jam jar combo.



Inspiration here
Rainbow colours to brighten a dismal day.

Here's another WIP. Another doll. [See the first here]

[And actually, I think my dolls are little Elves (not the sort that Father Christmas might employ, I might add). I like their pointy ears.]



She's using the same, modified pattern of Beth's (do see here)

Now I know that many of you wonderful ladies were a tad envious of my little Noro-wool-extravaganza-charity shop-find in my last post.

Well I didn't want to disappoint you today -
Here's my latest haul: 10 balls of mohair for 6 quid. Hmmm one ball missing from the photo. Must be camera-shy



Look at that old BHS logo on the label- it's got to be from the 80's (showing my age, now).
And here's what I made with some of it .. Can you guess what it is ...?



No?
Well they are leeeeetle wig caps for my Elf (can't decide on a colour yet- will be asking you clever ladies for some advice in my next post when the wigs are completed)
And can I say- crocheting with black mohair? Suicidal. I could not see where the stiches were and so 'used the force'. Luckily, it's turned out ok. Must be some sort of Jedi luck.

Still with me? Well I also thought you might like to see how I work. I've read a few posts by other bloggers who have shown their sketches/ drawing boards and I think it's interesting to see the process. Here's my messy notebook: anyone do something similar?


(note to self: must make copies to a 21st century computerised device to prevent getting burnt in fire/ lost in transit/ scribbled on by toddler.)

Often, I wish there were more hours in the day- mine are spent with the little'uns (priceless) and then I get some quality time to mull over the day with the Mister (sanity), and then I might just get a bit of time to crochet in the evening (restorative).
I dream about crochet/crafty projects at the moment, I guess because I don't have the time during the day, but I have to say, I am the happiest I think I have ever been.

Thank you to all who find the time to follow, read and comment on my blog.
You make this all worthwhile.

Enjoy the weekend. Xxxx