Season's Greetings!

You are never too old to play on the beach!  Have a good festive season everyone!

Christmas Cassettes, Trees and a Narwhal.

For some very special people I have made some very special Christmas cards.  Firstly inspired by cheesy Christmas songs, cassette tape cards.  Taking a piece of white felt, this fantastic template, and my sewing machine, I created an outline.

I then hand stitched song titles in embroidery thread and stuck on card blanks.

Whilst I had my sewing machine out I remembered that it has some pretty fancy stitches.  So, on green fabric I outlined some triangles with straight stitch, and then added some stitched tinsel garland.

I really like the star stitch, with two colours overlapping.  I didn't bother to hem the triangles, as they were then spray mounted on to cards.  And finally, for MrCrafty, a Christmas narwhal card.  After all, narwhals are pretty amazing animals, a cross between a unicorn and a whale.  Using a (very blunt!) craft knife I cut out a narwhal outline in a piece of festive holly paper.

Used some blue shiny paper to fill the space, and printed a header and footer. 

Can you see me?

Now, everybody sing...

The C word...

As it is October, am I safe to mention Christmas?

Acrylic scraps have become little Christmas stockings courtesy of Jean Greenhowe's free pattern.  Each sock took about an hour to make, an easy TV-watching knit.

I can't wait to fill them with sweets!  Have you started any Christmas knits?

Merry Christmas!

Card stock, felt, buttons, and sponged snowmen. Wishing you all a very happy festive season!

Feeling Festive...

The tree is up.
Complete with silver crochet stars, fabric acorns and felt guinea pigs! My knitting of late has been some cute booties and hat, using these ever reliable patterns. To top them off I used some super cute teddy bear buttons.
Currently on the needles is another Op Art baby blanket. In hindsight I had forgotten just how many stitches goes in to one of these (99,012), and decided it would be perfect from my friend expecting in the middle of January. Currently I am only just over 21,000 stitches, on the plus side, knitting a blanket is a great way to keep warm in the winter!

From little acorns...

... do Christmas decorations grow! After seeing these acorns on Knitty Gritty Thoughts I just had to have a go. Made using styrofoam balls, fabric and pins. Each acorn took about an hour to make, but was an easy project to do whilst watching the tv.
The only problem is that these two acorns took just under a packet of pins - now that is a lot of pins!
I need more pins to finish all six balls, plus I think my thumb needs a rest for a day or two, from pushing in all those pins!

A wheek of Guinea Pigs...

After the dizzying fame of how to make a felt Jeremy in this month's Guinea Pig Magazine, I thought I'd introduce my guinea pig story. It started with a trip to the SSPCA, and a father and son guinea pig pair. Their names soon became Norman Stanley Fletcher and Lennie Godber. After all, they were held behind bars, and Fletch slept on top bunk (well, on top of the cave).
Their story was sad, they had been found in a box in a park, along with Mrs Fletch and some female babies. Fletch was quite a character, like an overgrown big hamster.
Fletch definitely performed the alpha male role, whilst Godber being the teenage son sulked in the pigloo. Fletch had some rather odd health issues, and when he passed, it left a very lonely and needy Godber. Godber by now, had realised that humans are good for food and lying on laps sleeping. He was quite an affectionate so and so.
As a friend for Godber, we got a young boar from Lanarkshire small animal rescue. Continuing with the Porridge theme, he was Jim McLaren. It was love at first sight between Godber and McLaren.
As he was just a baby when we got him, we didn't realise that McLaren was a sheltie guinea pig, with beautiful long locks. Fortunately McLaren was a very good natured beast who didn't mind the occasional bum hair trim!
One night McLaren stopped eating, and before we could take him to the vets in the morning, he had gone. Godber was heartbroken - first his dad, then his best friend. Godber withdrew and hid in his house. A new friend was needed, again off to the SSPCA, where we found a beautiful guinea pig with a tragic back story, Oscar. He was found in a box, along with a rabbit and two female guinea pigs, along the side of the road. When he was found he was in a terrible state, underweight, with bald patches from where the animals had been barbering each other (probably due to lack of hay and stress).
Oscar came home with us, a friendly guinea pig who seemed constantly amazed by fresh food (he certainly wasn't picky at all!). Unfortunately Godber didn't take to him.
I think Oscars presence confirmed to Godber that McLaren wasn't coming back. Godber retreated even more, and eventually refusing to eat. He developed a chest infection, and sadly died. This left the newcomer Oscar, after his turbulent few months we decided he could settle in on his own and get used to the good life. A few days after this sweetcorn adventure, Oscar had a seizure and died. Now we were without guinea pigs. A break in pethood was needed, but then I found Tom and Jerry at Becklen rescue.
Two brothers needing a home. So since May, the artists formally known as Tom and Jerry (the names implied a hierarchy!) became Mark and Jeremy (of Peep Show fame). These boys are certainly the most athletic guinea pigs we have had, Jeremy especially, I suspect he thinks he is a ferret some days.
Mark is the braver of the two, although they are still suspicious of us, and any new food!
Here are all the guinea pig decorations together.
Apparently the collective noun for guinea pigs is a group, which is a little dull. I think it should be a wheek of guinea pigs or a collection of cavies. What do you think?

The C word...

After the Guinea pig decoration post yesterday, I wonder if it is too early to mention the C word?
Are you planning any crafting for Christmas? Other than felt guinea pigs of course!
A great tutorial I saw today is from Knitty Gritty Thoughts who shared some beautiful fabric pine cones. They look beautiful - must get crafting!

Jeremy becomes famous

Today is a special day. Jeremy is now officially the face of Christmas.
No Christmas tree this year will be complete without felt Jeremy adorning it. Today a magazine was posted through our letterbox, issue 5 of Guinea Pig Magazine in fact.
This contains step-by-step instructions on how to make your very own felt Jeremy decoration.
Mark Corrigan remains unimpressed.
You can order your very own copy of Guinea Pig Magazine here, plus have a look at the cute guinea pigs wandering along the web page!