Hooked on Crochet

Hello lovely peeps and welcome to my new follower.

Please allow me to introduce my new crafty obsession ......... crochet!

I've been dying to learn crochet for ages now, ever since I saw someone had crocheted a baby groot (from Guardians of the Galaxy). The pattern looked a bit complicated though so I've been keeping an eye out for a simpler project to get me started. 

Then I saw that one of my ex-Polkadoodles teamies, Cara, had crocheted some oh-so-cute little cats and that, as they say, was that  :D

I watched several YouTube videos, did lots of practice with some acrylic DK and a new set of crochet hooks, then took the plunge and bought some proper yarn. Cara recommended a few different ones and I went for YarnArt Jeans which I got from Our Little Craft Co (fabulous service).

One of the cats I regularly cat-sit for is Jim, a gorgeous grey tabby. I decided to make my first kitty based on him as his owner's birthday is coming up soon. 

It took me several sessions to get him finished (and it took ages to do his facial features) but I'm quite pleased with how he turned out.

I used:-

3mm crochet hook

YarnArt Jeans shades 46 Grey & 80 Light Grey 

(& strands of 62 Snow White for whiskers)

Ricorumi shade 008 Rose

black acrylic DK

large needle

stuffing

free pattern for 'Itty Bitty Crochet Kitty' from Thoresby Cottage

I would like to enter my kitty in the following challenges:-
Show us Your Pussies-Cat Only Challenge #65 Furrything Goes
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #49 AG with critter

Love To Craft #57 AG

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe
Katrina x

Retirement card

Hello lovely peeps, hope you are well.

A really quick post to show you a retirement card I made with a free stamp from Making Cards magazine, coloured with promarkers. I like to personalise my cards wherever possible so here I coloured the cat to match my friend's siamese.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
Passion For Promarkers Challenge  #553 girl power 
Pixie's Snippets Playground #383
Show us Your Pussies-Cat Only Challenge #56 Furrything Goes
Rabisco Challenge  AG with haberdashery item

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe
Katrina x

A Lap Full of Kittens

Hello lovely peeps

The theme for this month's challenge at Crafty Calendar is 'For a Child' and we're sponsored by A Day For Daisies

Ink Smooshing with Purrfect Digi Stamps

Hello lovely peeps

This is another one of the cards I had published in Creative Stamping magazine, made with the Purrfect set from Simply Sweet Stamps.

Pawly but Purrfect

Hello lovely peeps and welcome to my new follower :o)

Today's card is a variation on one I had published in Creative Stamping magazine last month featuring Simply Sweet Stamps. Sorry, did I not mention that? My first magazine commission, woo hoo! (although I have to say I'm disappointed they didn't send me a copy of the magazine.)

Purrfect for Simply Sweet Stamps

Hello lovely peeps

Just popping in to show you another set of stamps from the new brand 'Simply Sweet Stamps' which will be available from Friday from their Etsy shop and also from Lili of the Valley.

Something New for Crafty Calendar

Hello lovely peeps

It's the first Saturday of the month, which means it is time for a new challenge at Crafty Calendar.
The theme this month is 'Something New', and there are two sponsors

Lawn Fawn


Bugaboo Stamps

My 'Something New' is one of the new release stamps from Bugaboo called Bug Cat 6.

I love this stamp, it reminds me of our cat Millie. She was our 'Something New' in January 2010 when we adopted her from the local RSPCA branch. After she's eaten (or sometimes for no apparent reason) she runs around the house like a complete loon, with eyes like saucers.

The stamp has 6 panels, but I've split them up and made a little concertina book. I printed the image onto 3 different papers (2 Tail Wags patterned papers from Nitwit and plain white) then paper pieced each panel.

The sentiment is from the Wilfred and Wally set by Hobby Art. I inked up the words individually and stamped straight onto the printed panels.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
 Show us Your Pussies-Cat Only Challenge #14 Furry-thing Goes
Allsorts #397 Cats or Dogs
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper  Anything goes with Patterned Paper
Creative Knockouts #175 Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs (monthly) January Anything Goes
Classic Design Team Challenge #10 Anything Goes 
Catch The Bug   Anything goes

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x

Pots of love

Hello lovely peeps.

As promised, I am showing you some competition entries this week.

For my first card I used the Pots of Love stamp from Lili of the Valley, coloured in with Promarkers and GraphIts. The sentiment comes with it, and I've used this to make a plant label. You may recognise the leaves from my previous post, though these don't have so much ink on them. 

The watering can was made by cutting grey pearlescent card with a Sizzix die and edging it with orange gilding wax to make it look rusty. I've finished off with cord, buttons and ribbons from my stash.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge 102: anything goes with a twist ... autumn colours

My Time To Craft #306 autumnal colours

Pile It On  #91 Fabric, Lace or Ribbon

 Passion for Promarkers #319 Lots of layers

Allsorts Challenge Blog 333 - All sentimental

TTCRD - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #297 Anything Goes

Graph It Colour Challenge #41 Autumn/Christmas colours

Stamping Sensations - Colours of autumn

ABC Challenge - T is for Two (2 cats, 2 papers)

Thank you for stopping by today,

Katrina