"The Craft Group" plus...

Once there was a little girl called Lila. She had a cute little muffin doll from Germany. She also had a very clever grandma, Lorraine. Grandma Lorraine had some teeny knitting needles, fine pink yarn and a lovely vintage doll clothes knitting pattern.  Grandma Lorraine then made a little bonnet for Lila's dolly. Then she made a pretty matching pink dress. And a cardigan for the cooler days. She made some booties so dolly doesn't get cold feet. With the 'left over' yarn, she made a snuggly blanket. Little Lila is very happy with the pretty things that Grandma made her. But now... cousin Ruby would probably like a set for her dolly too! And so Grandma Lorraine lived happily ever after making special things for her daughters and grandchildren.

This is a very stylish peg bag by Joan. I love it. Blue and white/cream would have to be my favourite combo. Every peg bag needs a gorgeous model. So here we have a stylish peg apron by Joan, modelled by a stylish but shy model, Anita (thus the cut off head - she insisted!) Joan's tip for Peg Apron use: Put your phone in the pocket before heading out to the line. It will save you many mad dashes back inside to try and catch that call!

Don't you think this is just the perfect card for a lady who is celebrating her 90th birthday? The card is by Pat and I'm sure it will be well received! This card is also by Pat but she is giving this one to 'spring chicken'.  The recipient of this card is only turning 80! Lovely and thoughtful cards Pat!

I found this photographic project on the 'net. Fascinating. Quoting from   My Modern Met... "How much do you and members of your family really look alike? Quebec, Canada-based graphic designer and photographer Ulric Collette has created a shockingly cool project where he's exploring the genetic similarities between different members of the same family. By splitting their faces in half and then melding them together, he creates interesting new people that are sometimes quite normal looking and other times far from it. He calls this series   Genetic Portraits ." Here is a sample: The left side of the face is the mother and the right side is the daughter. Click  here  or here  to see more blended family portraits. Some are very interesting.  I guess I find this fascinating because I am always intrigued by the way God designed us and the process of reproduction. So much genetic information being held in 2 small cells which combine and grow into anoth...

There is no stopping Elly! She creates card after card and is a constant source of inspiration to the other card makers at "The Craft Group".  Here is a birthday card that stands on it's own. the message is written on the back. This is a great card and the possibilities are endless. Especially if you love scrapbooking and decorating little panels with messages, photos or clever colour combos. If you are interested in any of Elly's cards and want the pattern, just ask me in the 'comments' below and I'll see if we can get a pattern for you, or at least tell you where to find it. Hey, it's friday again. Have a great weekend!

Father's day is only a few weeks away (4th September). I found this cute card on Martha Stewarts site. You can click  here  to see her instructions. Unfortunately the comments she received say she missed a few points in the making of the card. If you'd rather see   someone showing step by step  instructions, look at "Clair's Creations". Don't forget to plan something nice for Father's day. What traditions does your family have?

Rita made these 2 lovely cards. They are easy to post when they are lying flat. And they are easy to display when they are propped up like this... Rita gave us the card on the right so we can all write on it to wish Wendy all the best. Wendy is having an operation today and she was not looking forward to it.  (Who would?) Not that you will be reading this today Wendy, but all the best and we will be praying for you for quick healing! Thanks for the card Rita!

Anyone reading this from the northern hemesphere, yes, we 'down under' and are nearly at the end of our winter. So it is knitting and crochet season. Here are some more morsels from Nadia. A cute poncho and hat Nadia made for Anita's little girl, Summer. Nadia the Crochet Guru Peruvian hat by Nadia The coming of the warmer weather doesn't stop Nadia from crocheting. She will just change to using cotton and will make lovely airy tops!

I feel like eating a banana. With bananas at $13 a kilo since the cyclones, we have been holding off. Last week I bought 2 bananas and divided them up between the 6 of us. Each one cost about $2.70. Wow, we had a third of a banana each. But, I have seen them for $10 per kilo, so things are looking up. Then I can go back to my normal routine of buying bananas, then those that don't get eaten are put in the freezer where they go black on the outside and gooey on the inside and are perfect for making banana muffins.

I so wish I thought of this idea myself, it is brilliant and the sort of thing I would start (but would I finish?) Lea from   Leafcutter Designs  prepared balls of wool which matched the different colours of the sky. She had 6 different shades as you can see in the photo below. Each day she would look outside to see what colour the sky was that day.  She would then do just two row of knitting each day, matching the colour of the sky with the ball of wool she chose. Each day has 2 rows of garter stitch completed.   Here is the pattern  if you want to do this yourself!  Check out her  video here  where she explains things more fully and shows how she manages all her balls of wool. Instead of one ball of wool, she has done 2 smaller balls so she can do a mix, for example on a blue sky day with some white clouds, she knits the blue and white yarns together that day. I love this. She calls it 'conceptual knitting'. At the end of th...

When is a card more than a card? When the card is in a box and the box is a part of the card! Elly made this one for Rita's birthday last monday (Happy Birthday Rita!) Inside the pretty box is a folded card, tied together with a ribbon. It opens up and is full of pretty pictures, sayings and greetings. The ribbon is tied again to keep it in the open position. Elly saw a picture of this card and even though she didn't have a pattern, was determined to figure it out. And figure it out she did! Then of course, what do you think happened next? She found a tutorial of how to make the card after she had already figured it out. Very special Elly! If you would like a peek at where a lot of Elly's inspirations come from, check out  the Hobby Journaal  website. It is in dutch but you can see the pictures in English ;)

This is another cute crocheted creation by Nadia. A pretty pink cap is perfect for any little girl. There was only one little problem... We didn't have a little girl at hand to model the hat, so Nadia's little boy, Nathanael did the job beautifully for us. Don't show him this picture on his 21st! (Isn't that the cutest little profile?)

How brilliant are these cards? They are so simple yet clever.   The star opens up to reveal the message inside. Here are 2 cards by Anne These are by Ruth I will add the exact dimensions here soon so you can see how to make them.

Here is a great way to make a cosy throw/rug/quilt without lifting a needle! I am putting the exact dimensions here soon, so if you are interested, watch this space. Basically you cut 2 large rectangles of fleecy stretch fabric. You cut a fringe all the way around through both thicknesses.  You then tie them together. By tying them tight you can make the throw a bit concave, like this one which Jayne's 6 year old son, James can cocoon himself snuggly inside. If you tie each piece looser (but still securely with a double knot) it lies flatter. This is a great craft to do with a group of women. Our Church ran it as a part of the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) program. One person did all the buying and cut out the rectangles beforehand then everyone sat at big tables cutting and tying fringes and going home with a quilt!

For my Free Giveaway , I intended to give away one magazine. I had so much fun with the choosing of the winner (which involves a dog and is here in case you missed it) that I gave away 4 mags to the winner Marion, 3 to Jenni, 2 to Elly and 1 to Bronwyn. Then we had a "Pull the name tag out of the box" at The Craft Group last thursday and Ina won a bundle of magazines too. I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has said such lovely things about my blog or has become a follower or left some comments.  I really enjoy my blogging hobby. Knowing that it has maybe brought a smile to your face or given you some inspiration is so nice to know! Have a great week. No Monday-itis allowed!

As you already know... Cartoons are made up of 1000's of different drawings, each one slightly different than the previous one. Animations like "Wallace and Gromit" and "Pingu" are the same, except that photos are used instead of drawings. They make up a scene, take a photo, change the scene slightly, take another photo and repeat this 100's or 1000's of times to make something which, when played in quick succession, looks like a moving picture. This is called Stop Motion Animation.Very creative, effective and time consuming! Watch this one. It is the largest in scale of its kind. When you watch it, just remember that the fisherman in the boat is a real person. It's bigger than you think. After clicking on it, click again to see it slightly bigger. Then at the end, click on "WATCH THE MAKING OF HERE". Very interesting. What does this have to do with Craft? Well isn't it the same thing we do all the time? 1000's of stitche...

Shirley, (famous for her Red Cross Teddies) , made this lovely rug. She said she made one before and sewed strips of knitting together to form the rug. This time she tried a different method. Instead of sewing the strips together, she joined them using crochet in a neutral toned yarn which ties it all together beautifully. It adds a nice point of interest with the slightly raised  strips running parallel between the blocks. Put your hand up if you have in your "unfinished craft stash" a bag of knitted squares that never really became anything! I admit I have. I see some lovely wool, then find it therapeutic to sit and knit squares but then never get around to sewing them together! This is a great method for me to try. The squares are  knitted continuously in long strips instead of being knitted as separate squares. Then holding 2 strips wrong sides together, you crochet along the long sides, putting your hook through both layers and thus joining them toget...

We are very excited to have our very own "Cuttlebug" at The Craft Group!!! Did we beg, borrow, steal or buy it? No, Marion won it for us! She was at the shop "Alice in Paperland" in Rydalmere, Sydney and saw they were running a competition for someone to win a Cuttlebug. Marion had to write down why she wanted to win it. Well, she has a Cuttlebug machine and dies of her own which she brings along every week to share with other ladies at The Craft Group. She explained that we are a non profit, community group. She also told them that because of health problems, it is really hard for her to bring the equipment each week. It isn't all that light when you have a good collection of dies! Well, we are very thankful... and Marion's back is very thankful that she won it :) We will slowly start up a collection of dies and embossing folders ourselves and hopefully all the ladies have a play with it and enjoy creating some beautiful scrapbook pages...

 Here is a box made by Pat. But is it any old box? No! Open it up and inside it explodes into the fun of a hidden gift or message surrounded by little flying butterflies. Here are 2 pretty little boxes made by Ruth. The same surprise awaits anyone who opens them! An explosion of prettiness! Want to see more pretty explosions?  Did you see  Cheryl's explosion box? Very sweet.