The packaged arrived on Tuesday but I had to wait until today to open it as I wanted to photograph it for you. I knew it would be the green crochet rose earrings from Singapore so it was torture having to wait this long! I was super eager to see whether they would look as pretty in real life as they do in the Etsy listing.

Before I can show you the earrings, I have to take it out of the envelope.  The earrings are somewhere inside the plain brown envelope.

Then…. I fold over the flap of the brown envelope to be greeted with bright beautiful trees. Not so plain anymore! In this photo you can also see the “Thanks” written on the bottom right corner of the brown envelope.  Things are looking very promising…

And then, behold my green crochet rose earrings!!! They definitely are as pretty in real life as in the listing!

I know you want a closer look.

Aren’t they beautiful? 

Perfectly formed roses made with tiny stitches:  I think 1.5mm or 2mm hook, and cotton thread.

I honestly can’t wait to wear them!

The seller of these beauties is Khin, a 20 year old Civil Engineering student from Singapore who loves to do crafty things.  If you also want beautiful crochet earrings, visit her Etsy store. Or you can read all about Khin on her blog: Khins-craft-space.

I now have two pairs of green crochet earrings bought on Etsy. The other pair look like this. I totally love green, so I think it’s justified that I should have a hanging pair of green crochet earrings, as well as a stud pair. I also love rose stud earrings, so to my thinking it’s perfectly fine that I have two pairs, one in red felt. The red studs look like this. And who can forget my custom made turtles, blogged about here?

I’d like to think of these earings not so much as earrings for me, more like support for Etsy sellers. That’s a good way of justifying thinking isn’t it?

(I may have to get more ear piercings. It’s a disgrace that I can only wear one pair of earrings at a time.)

So this concludes my Etsy shopping spree unboxing posts. Don’t fear, I guarantee there will be more of these in the (very near, knowing myself) future.

I hope these three unboxing posts have inspired you to also support handmade sellers. If you like instant gratification, support handmade by buying at craft markets. If you like a leisurely browse and opening parcels, buy online. Either way, you’ll be making a crafty person very happy.

Hear, hear for handmade!

I will be braving the waters to post a baby blanket that was bought on Folksy yesterday.  (Yeah! I love getting sales!) Somewhere in Wales there’s a baby boy waiting for his blanky, so off to the post office I will go.

After last night’s sale I now only have these three blankets left over in my Etsy shop.  If you click on the photo it will take you straight to the blankets section of my shop.

Off I go. Umbrella in hand through the raging waters. Okay, it’s not that bad, but it’s still wet.  I think I’ll have to pop into Costa for an Earl Grey with soy milk on my way back from the post office. Right?

The package came all the way from the US of A, so I knew it had to be the magnetic bookmark from Lori A McKee.  I really love Lori’s artwork. So much in fact that this was my second order from her. The first was a perpetual calendar, like this one, that I bought in December.*

Behold my beautiful silhouette lovebirds bookmark. Even the business card is pretty! 

On the back of the business card Lori wrote a note and gave me a discount code for my next order. Yeah! 

The bookmark is brilliant. It’s pretty, practical and it can’t fall out of my book. Perfect!

Please have a look at all the other beautiful things Lori sells in her Etsy shop.  I think I’ll be using my discount code for a set of notecards or a pocket mirror. I have visions of myself sitting in the train, opening a book at the magnetic bookmark, and then checking my lippy in a matching mirror. How chic!

*I started to enter birthdays and anniversaries into my brand new calendar, in pen, only to realise I was entering January dates into December! Suddenly my Mom’s birthday fell on Christmas Day instead of 25 January. In pen!!!! I got out the Tipp-ex but I haven’t had the nerve to start again. Bad Natasja - you have a beautiful calendar just waiting to be used. Grow a spine woman…. and use a pencil.

What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!

From now on I will go through my photos every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxxx

Isn’t this the cutest little crochet bird house?  So colourful and cleverly made! It’s from teenyweenydesign.blogspot.com.

I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday! As I gave myself the day off work yesterday, today feels like a Monday but it’s Tuesday. Score!

Have a hooktastic day!

Natasja

Because the front and back of each one is different there are four different ways of displaying them on the couch alone!

I really can’t decide exactly where and how I want to display them. They were made for the couch, but they also look good on the chair in front of the window…

and on the storage box stools.

To recap the details of the cushions:

Front:

The flowery squares pattern is the Roses and Daisies Throw from Melody Griffiths book Crocheted Throws and Wraps. I made 16 squares for each cushion.

I used Rowan Handknit Cotton in Mist as the background colour. The flowers themselves are done in Rowan Handknit Cotton, Drops Paris and Stylecraft Cotton Classique in various bright shades.

To join the 16 squares for each front panel, as well as to join the front panel to the back panel, I used Lucy’s method, which you can find here.

Back:

Chocolate Box from Jan Eaton’s book 200 Crochet Blocks.

There are links to both the books on the right of the blog.

Hubby really loves the cushions. He even helped to choose the colour and sequence of stripes for the chocolate box squares for the back. He loves the bright turquoise, so I used it as the last round for one cushion. When it came to doing the second back, I was asked to please add more red because he really likes the bright red. So sweet! Out of the two cushions he has “called dibs”  on the one with the turquoise back.

When I have to arrange crochet pieces I always do the arranging on the coffee table. I’d arrange, walk away, come back, swap them around, walk away, make a cup of tea, come back and arrange some more. Eventually I’d declared “I’m happy” and then start crocheting the pieces together.

Well… on Friday evening I was in the kitchen after having declared “I’m happy” when Hubby walks in.

He says “I think we need to talk about the squares”, takes my hand and walks me to the coffee table.

“Those two bother me. It’s too  much green together. We have to fix it”.

Aaaaaah, bless! I gave him the biggest hug ever and we started to swap and rearrange squares until it was perfect. That’s how we spent our Friday evening. The hooker and her amazing husband.

Even though he really loves the striped stopper, the identify crisis blanket and now these two cushions he asked me to please stop making things for the house now because “I can feel my manhood slipping away”. Those were his exact words.

Our house is really very small so these bright, hard to ignore crochet items really pack a punch when you walk into a room. I totally get what he’s saying. It’s only the two of us and, well, he has to live here as well. And it’s not as if he’s unsupportive or forbids me from crocheting at all. He just knows his wife (and I think he’s seen my queue on Ravelry which might have scared him a bit.)

As he suggested, I’ll focus on cardigans and sweaters for myself or gifts for others for now. At least for the forseeable future (read: At least until next Winter when I might be able to convince him that we need a afghan to liven up the brown couch a bit more…)

Until then, we’re enjoying our lovely, bright, cheerful cushions.

I’m thinking stars, hearts, cupcakes.

The Gods of Crochet must have been reading my blog and sent inspirational hooky vibes to the owner of OneandTwoCompany. This young nurse is selling applique crochet patterns in her Etsy shop, which include exactly that: the most beautiful stars, hearts and cupcakes! Can you believe it?!  

She also sells patterns for whales and hedgehogs that would work well with my clocks. I’m especially loving the hedgehogs!

Can you see it? A white clock face with a brightly coloured whales or hedgehogs (or both!) on 3, 6, 9 and 12?! It would be sooooo cute!

Ooh, and what about this scene. Absolutely perfect*!

OneandTwoCompany sells many other applique patterns, but I think only the ones I mention here, would work on my clocks seeing as they are flat enough.

PLEASE NOTE: I have to point out that her finished items (apart from the hearts pattern) are a bit big for the standard size clock, so you would have to:

1. either keep going in pattern rounds for the clock face so that the clock is large enough to accommodate the applique; or
2. use a 4 ply yarn and smaller hook for the applique.

Even if you haven’t bought my clock pattern, I’m sure you will find something to decorate with OneTwoCompany’s cute applique. Hats, scarfs, blankets, towels, cushions – just about anything! 

The patterns start from as little as $2.50 (roughly £1.62) so what are you waiting for?  I certainly didn’t wait…. *I bought the cloud, tree & houses pattern. Not sure what I will be using it for yet, but inspiration will hit soon enough I’m sure. 

Pattern stashing is like yarn stashing isn’t it? You know you love it, you know you have to buy it, and you know that you will (probably, eventually) find a use for it. Right?

I’ll be sharing each of these purchases with you as I receive them. The first package arrived yesterday, from Lynn at One I Made Earlier Today. (Lynn is from Manchester and the other two shops I bought from are in the US and Singapore, so theirs will arrive later).

I took photos of each step in the unpacking process. Trust me when I say it was rather difficult not ripping off the wrapping, having to pause and take a photo before moving on!

When the envelope is decorated, you know it’s going to be good…

Beautiful flowery tissue paper, raffia, tag and a card in a see through envelope. Sensory overload!

The card had a handwritten note from Lynn. Only when you buy handmade do you get these personal touches.

And here it is. First sight of my green notebook. Isn’t it cute?!!! It’s only 10.5cm x 10.5 cm. Perfect to keep in my handbag to jot down notes. But wait, there’s more! Lynn included a something extra.

It’s a wallet for stamps! And the first page of my notebook even has a “This Book Belongs To” space.  Love it!

Even the back of the stamp wallet and last page of the notebook is cute.

Thank you for the surprise stamps wallet and for taking the time to wrap it all up so beautifully, Lynn.

I’m going to write my name in my notebook to claim it as mine, mine, mine, and start using it immediately!

Congratulations Susan! As soon as you send me your postal address, I will send you your two brooches.

Here is the screenshot that randomly selected no. 84.

How did I award numbers to subscribers you may ask?

My 103 subscribers consist of 30 fellow WordPress bloggers, and 73 email subscribers (WordPress bloggers also receive copies of new posts by email so it’s the same thing). However,  I had to deduct two from 103, seeing as I subscribe to my own blog 1) via my work email adress and 2) as a WordPress blogger – hence 101 as the Max number.

In Excel I listed all the blog followers and email addresses in one colomn. I then sorted them alphabetically and that’s how each person was allocated a number. When Random.org selected 84, I just referred to Excel sheet to find the corresponding email/blog address. All very scientific and fair.  Promise!

Thanks to this Valentines Day giveaway my blog subscription went from 80 to 103 since its launch on 6 February, which is amazing! Thank you to each and every subscriber that help me reached over 100 subscriptions. You are the best!!!!

To the rest of you who weren’t lucky enough to be drawn, here’s a Valentines Day card* from Me to You.

I hope you all have a super duper Valentines Day!

*The card is available to purchase in LemonsForLemonade‘s Etsy shop.

What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!

From now on I will go through my photos every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxx

This is the back of one of the Roses and Daisies cushions. Isn’t it totally cheery?! The pattern is called Chocolate Box  from trusty ole Jan Eaton’s 200 Crochet Blocks (you can find a link to the book on the right of this page). I was about three rounds in on this one, when I knew I was going to HAVE to make a whole blanket out of Chocolate Box blocks some time very soon. It’s just too good not to – much like a box of chocolates…

Seeing as its Valentines Day, here’s a another chocolates box for all you hookers to get your teeth hooks into – crochet style!

I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday and a surprising Valentines Day!

Natasja

Isn’t it divine?! The colours, the design, the tassels! This proves once again that you just can’t go wrong with a granny square. It also proves that guys can hook. Yup, the blanket was crocheted by a bloke: Matt of the blog AccordingToMatt.

AccordingToMatt is written by Matt Farci and Dennis Marquez of Hamburg, Germany. The two of them make the most beautiful things and the photos on their blog are absolutely gorgeous. In fact, it was through their Instagram photo feed that I found the blog.

It’s not all crochet though. Dennis has recently gone over to The Dark Side by venturing into the murky waters of knitting. Shock. Horror. However, he’s so good at it that even I will be following his progress.

I really love AccordingToMatt. Not because it’s two guys. No, it’s because the blog is written in such a nice, informal, chat-around-the-kitchentable style and their photos are stunning. Go have a look. There’s a link to AccordingToMatt on my blog roll on the right of this page. You won’t be sorry. Promise!