Delicate Pink Lipstick Cosy

I made this in an hour or two, it's not a difficult concept just a fiddly thing to do. I don't know if I'll make another one, but it is very pretty if I do say so myself!

delicate pink lipstick cosy

I have to keep my tension as even as possible and I find that hard as some stitches are slack. The pattern is easy, which I made up myself. I haven't seen any pictures of a lipstick cosy quite like this. I like this one as it's more dainty than the ones I just saw on google images.

a pretty cosy for my favourite lipstick

First start with a flat circle of 10 dc, 2nd round is 20 dc. Then stop increasing and start going up the sides. I used my favourite pretty stitch handed down to me by my grandmother. Then I ended with a round of 5 dc scallops. I used a pretty variegated pink number 20 cotton and my 1.25mm hook.

... and now it is perfect!

I think this is really pretty! It's going to live in my handbag, something little and pretty just for me! And after living in my handbag for a week, I realised it needed something extra, a little strap to stop it from slipping. Now it is perfect!

Every Saturday I like to link in with my only blog party, Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound. Please check it out!

Grandpa's Easter Beanie

Two years ago I made a simple brown beanie which I gave to my father. He's been wearing it to bed because the sleep apnoea machine he has to use digs into his ears at night. But the beanie is too warm to wear in summer, so he's asked me to make him a cotton one. Although summer is nearly over, I've made him this green and blue cotton beanie to wear for now. I'll make him a warmer one for winter.

Grandpa's Easter Beanie

For this cotton from Bendigo Mill, I used the recommended 4mm hook. To get the size right, I started with a round of 20 dc. I thought to make 6 increasing rounds, but this made it too small and I had to unravel it and make a 7th increasing round. The pattern is simply (dc, sk 1 ch 1) repeated, this makes spaces and a light wearing beanie for warmer months.

I wasn't happy with the round joints and how the yarn was showing through because I was carrying it and not cutting it at every colour change. Luckily this Wednesday I had a chance to go to my old craft classes, now that Thomas is in childcare one day a week. My old teacher was still there, thank goodness, because she is a most excellent teacher! I haven't been since I was pregnant in 2010, so it was wonderful to go back and ask her some pressing crochet questions! Dell showed me how to twist the carried yarn so it wouldn't show from the front. She also suggested I put an extra slip stitch to stop the beginning of the round slide too far over, which was making the first stitch of the round too spread out. I secured the first stitch inside a chain, thanks to Dell. I hope I will find time again soon to go back to my favourite crochet class at Creative Women's Centre at Greenslopes Mall. And nope, I don't have a link to their website, because they don't have one - shesh!

Despite having to unravel most of it when I was nearly finished, this beanie still didn't take me long to make. I hope it fits my dad and he likes it!

7 Easter Flowers

In some parts of the world, Easter is a Spring celebration, but no matter what season it is where you are, you can't help but think of flowers! Here are 7 different types of flowers I tried out the other day, fooling around to find different ways to crochet flowers.

several different kinds of crochet flowers

These 7 flowers were all made up off the top of my head, I didn't follow a pattern. I was mainly trying out the idea of a petal having chains on either side, instead of a descending pattern of stitches like I usually do. These flowers with large petals are (4 ch 2 trb) in same, (2 trb 4 ch sl st) in next. Smaller petals are (2 ch 1 dc) in same, (1 dc 2 ch sl st) in next. Some flowers have a sc centre, while others have a dc centre. A couple of flowers don't have a separate centre at all and the petals work into the starting loop. All these flowers have 5 petals so I could really try out different arrangements of basically the same idea. I used the last of my first ball of variegated acrylic from Wangaratta Mill. I'm very glad I still have another 100g ball of this left! I think I used the 3.5mm hook.

I'm not sure what I'll use these flowers for, but it was a very good exercise to learn there are many simple ways to crochet flowers, and I don't really have to follow a strict pattern. A very appropriate fiddle while waiting for Easter to arrive!

Lilac Easter Egg Cosy

Here is my first successful attempt at a crochet Easter egg which I finished yesterday. I decided on a drawstring cosy to make it easy to put the egg inside, and to get it out!

delicate lilac egg cosy

When I first saw these a year or two ago I thought they looked amazing and far too hard for me to attempt. This year, when I saw them again I did think I could try it, but I didn't think it would be as easy as it turned out to be. I'm now planning to make quite a few of these! The handy drawstring can also be used to hang the eggs as decoration, if you're that way inclined!

I used my 1.5mm hook, anything smaller than that and I start to go cross-eyed! I chose some fine candle-wicking cotton my mother gave me (she has given me almost all of my cotton, thanks mum!), in a pretty lilac colour. Last weekend I went to the trouble of blowing some chicken eggs and dying them with food colouring. Then last week I saw these plastic ones that you can open at Lincraft for $1.50 so I grabbed them.

While I'm still learning, I'll use these plastic eggs. When I get more confident I'll use the real egg shells. I hope I don't smash them!

Granny Square Bunny Rug

I made these granny squares from baby yarn so long ago now I'm not sure when it was, it must have been sometime last year. I think the colours are perfect for an Easter themed bunny rug, so I recently joined them together to make this baby blankie!

granny square bunny rug

My mother gave me a large bag full of small balls of baby yarn, in lots of white with some pink, blue and yellow. There was also a tiny bit of purple and variegated yarn. I didn't know what I would do with it all so I started making simple granny squares thinking I would make a large rug. But I've recently decided on another project for the left over baby yarn so I lay the squares out and I had enough to make a 6 x 7 bunny rug. Only 2 squares didn't get used.

detail of corner and joining of granny square bunny rug

These granny square rugs are pretty simple to make, I'm sure you don't need me to explain how to do it! I chose to join the squares with sc, and then edged the finished rug with 3 rounds of sc. I kept the edge plain so as not to distract from the simple squares. I couldn't remember which hook I used for the squares, it might have been the 3.5mm so I used that for the joining and edge.

I like this one, I think I'll use it as a pram or cot rug for my baby boy <3

Fluffy White Bunny Ears Beanie

With Easter less than 2 weeks away, its time to start sharing all my Easter projects for this year, starting with this very cute fluffy white bunny ears beanie!

fluffy white bunny ears beanie

 For the fluffy ears and edge I used  a very fluffy 50/50 wool acrylic blend I got for $1 from the RSPCA op shop, and a 6mm hook. I didn't have enough in the 25g ball to do the whole beanie, so the rest of the hat is made using frost luxury wool from the Bendigo Mill. For that part of the beanie I used a 4mm hook.

To learn how to do the ears, I first did a sample in wool to learn the pattern. It's hard to see what you're doing when working with very fluffy yarn, so I could see the stitches better just using wool. The pattern for the ears came from pattern from an amigurumi pattern at Craft Passion. But for my ears, I added an extra increasing round (round 5, 2 sc, 1 sc in ea next 5 sc, sl st) so there are 5 rounds increasing then 10 more rounds not increasing. This way they are slightly bigger to match the beanie.

practicing making bunny ears

The beanie itself was quite straight forward, it has 6 increasing rounds then 10 more rounds not increasing, then 3 more rounds of the fluffy yarn to create a cute edge. The first round has 16 dc, the second round is (2 dc, dc) repeated.

these ears are not too floppy

I stitched the ears quite firmly to the beanie so they would have a chance to stand up. They looked rather cute on, so I thought I share a photo of Thomas wearing them!

Embroidered Sweater

On the day Thomas turned 15 months, he started going to childcare one day a week. I labelled a bunch of clothes for Thomas to wear with laundry pen and blue ribbons attached to the tag inside. Then I needed to label this plain grey sweater. But it was too boring so I decided to do some embroidery instead!

embroidery detail

My mother first showed me how to embroider chain stitch when I was a child. A couple of years ago I wanted to try it but couldn't remember how to do it. I watched a youtube video to remind me so I could embroider a D onto a handkerchief for David.

embroidered grey sweater

Stitching my son's name onto this grey sweater was easy, I drew it first with white crayon. I used some red crochet cotton for a nice contrast to the grey. I'm quite proud of how it turned out in a rustic kind of way.

Small Crocodile Stitch Purse

I made this small purse as I was learning how to do the crocodile stitch. I liked the stitch so much, I turned my learning sample into something practical.

small crocodile stitch purse

I saw how to do the crocodile stitch on a youtube video by Teresa. But the scales were rounded, like the ones in my first round, which is at the bottom of the purse. Then I saw another video which said to add ch 2 to the end of the scale to make it look more pointed. I did that from the second round up. I rather like how I managed to make the shape of the purse look rounded by folding an otherwise square bag. I added a button hole by (sc sc dc, ch 1 sk 1, dc sc sl st). For this purse, I used a 3.5mm hook and some of the pretty variegated acrylic from Wangaratta Mill.

I think this purse looks so cool, I'm going to carry it with me in my handbag as a small make-up purse.

Hello to all my fellow Pink Saturdayers! I'm linking in with my favourite blog party hosted by How Sweet the Sound, be sure to check out this great blog party!

Here are two other bloggers who link in with Pink Saturday that also like to crochet, check them out!
Charlotte's Web - Oh Baby!
Howling at the Moon - Sort of Grannies

Pair of Mango Flowers

Following the African flower idea, I made two more flowers like this. I used some soft acrylic I call 'mango' which is really nice to crochet with.

a pair of 'mango' flowers

Using a 3.5mm hook, I was thinking this flower would go with my mango hat. With winter coming up, this is one of the many things on my to do list! But when I made the white centre with orange edge flower, I wasn't sure it looked so nice, so I made another flower in reverse colours.

I'm not sure either of these flowers look right on my mango beanie, so I'm not sure what they'll get used for. I'm sure to think of something!

Purple Newborn Beanie

I made this little beanie last week when I thought I was giving up on the hexagon jackets. It was meant for a 1 year old girl, but ended up being too small and would fit a newborn.

purple newborn beanie

I used a 3.5mm or 4mm hook for this, and some of the purple Bendigo wool. I started with 5 rounds of increasing dc, then switched to 5 dc scallops. 7 rounds of scallops are finished off with a round of dainty picot.

All this needs is a pretty flower, or maybe it's pretty enough as it is? I wonder if this is something I could try and sell in my Etsy store ...

Small Pale Green Plastic Bag Holder

I need to keep my smaller bags separate from the larger bags, so I made this smaller one. It's narrower than the other plastic bag holders I've made but otherwise the same, so smaller plastic bags will fit inside it better.

small bag holder

By now this is the fourth bag holder I've done, and I realised if I started with a chain, I could have one less fasten off. The chain at the start will form the first drawstring. The chain is double the width the bag will be. For this one I used a 3.5mm hook and some more of the pale green craft acrylic yarn which was made in Australia.

start with a chain to make the 1st drawstring

Now I've made this and taken photos, it needs to be put straight to work! There are so many projects I want to finish now, and some things for around my own home seem to keep falling down my priority list. Hopefully I can get some more housey things done in the next week or two!

An African Flower

I found a page on crochet African flowers, and the choice of colours really caught my eye, so I had a go at making one!

my first African flower

I couldn't find a pattern there. On that page there are two videos, one is not in English the other video is for a different flower. So I guessed the pattern by looking at the picture that has flowers made in different stages. I used my 4 ply cotton and my new 2mm hook. I don't have pink or purple in 4 ply so made it using yellow, orange, red and white. Here is a link to the photo on pinterest, I think it explains the pattern easily enough.

I don't know if I'll make any more of these, maybe I'd add green to the mix. If I do make more, I don't know what I'll make them into! Time will tell ...

Purple Flowers & Blue Butterflies

I've made up these little flower and butterfly embellishments to go on a larger project I've been planning for a while. I couldn't find any patterns for these that I liked, so I made up my own! I want to write down some notes here on how I made these so I remember what I did for next time.

purple flowers and blue butterflies

I used a magic circle to start the flowers. One flower started off with a pink 10 dc centre, but I prefer the other flower which has a pink 5 sc centre, then a 2nd round of 2 sc in every sc. Then using purple, a petal is (2 ch 3 dc 2 ch sl st into same) sl st into next, sl st into next, repeat petal, sl st, sl st to create 5 petals.

I was inspired to make these butterflies by some I saw on Pinterest, but I didn't follow anyone's pattern. For the butterfly, I started with a 4 ch loop, then 4 ch 4 trbl 4 ch sl st into loop to form one large upper wing. For a smaller lower wing, ch 2 3 dc ch 2sl st into loop. Repeat a small low wing and a large upper wing to complete the butterfly and fasten off. In a contrasting colour, tie some wool around the middle and knot it at the top to form the antennae.

I used a 4mm hook and some of the classic wool from the Bendigo Mill for these. I'm looking forward to seeing them on a two way tea cosy I'm going to call "Royal Garden"!

Dainty Pink Flower Headband

On a whim, I decided to make this headband for myself to wear on a special day for good luck.

dainty pink flower headband by Teena Sutton Murphy

I used my new 2mm hook and some silky variegated cotton my mum gave me, it took me about an hour while I had trouble sleeping. It often happens when Thomas has gone to sleep, then I can't sleep myself!

Basically, this headband started as a chain, then a row of dc, then a row of 5 dc scallops. I turned and continued scallops around the other side. I finished with rows of 6 dc, every 2nd row leaving a 2 ch space for a button. This way the length of the headband can be adjusted.

The 7 petal flower is for good luck. It's the same as my simple 6 petal flower, except the 1st round has 13 dc instead of 11.

I don't often wear headbands, but I rather like this one. Maybe I will wear them more often now?

As usual, I am linking in with my favourite blog party Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound, check it out!

Baby's St Pat's Bow Tie

After I did my yarn stocktake, I realised I had quite a bit of this green acrylic, but what to do with it? Well for starters, with Saint Patrick's Day coming up, why not a cute little bow tie for baby?

Baby's easy St Patrick's bow tie

This is the same as my easy red bow tie, except a little smaller.  I used a 4mm hook and it took me less than an hour to make. Easy!

The difference between acrylic and wool

I just learnt how to tell the difference between acrylic and natural fibres like wool. This is important because you don't want to mix them together in one project, especially because they have different washing instructions.

my stash of 4 ply cotton

After finishing a rush of projects I had to finish by birthday deadlines, I did a stock take of all my yarns to decide what I would make next. I realised I still hadn't sorted all of my yarns into acrylic and wool, although my cotton is all separate. I've already made a couple of scrap rugs out of unidentified yarns, now I know that wasn't a good idea because some of it could be wool, while most is probably acrylic. I will have to wash those rugs as if it is all wool. I still had left a big bag of yarns that I assumed was acrylic, but I wasn't sure. How could I tell what was wool, and what wasn't?

I asked Google, and found on a site called Yarn Yak that one way to tell is to burn a small section of yarn. Here is the direct quote from that site "take a tiny snip of yarn, light it with a match. If it smells like burning hair, it's wool. If it smells like plastic, it's acrylic"

the reclaimed wool from a big pile of unidentified yarns

David and I couldn't tell the difference by just the smell of the yarn burning. We burnt lots of tiny sections of yarns that I knew were either acrylic or wool to learn the difference. What we found was the acrylics will melt, the ends becoming hard like melted plastic. The wools and cottons will ash, the burnt part falling away when you touched it. We blew on the burnt yarn to cool it then felt the end.

Burn a tiny section of unidentified yarn.

If the burnt end is hard and melted like plastic, it is acrylic. 

If the ash falls away, it is a natural fibre like wool.

Hoorah! I have now properly sorted my stash of yarns! Now ... what shall I make next???

Red and Green Striped Toy Sleeping Bag

I made this bag for a toy I was given at an RSPCA Op shop. I wasn't there looking for soft toys, I like to go there to source second hand books for Thomas. I have managed to build up quite a collection of good quality board books, and he is well on his way to becoming an emergent reader.

For this quick little bag I used some acrylic yarn. The pale green was given to me by my mum, and the red I bought from K-Mart. I can't remember the project I bought the red yarn for, but it's been used in lots of projects since then, like my red Lady Bird two way tea cosy. I used a 4mm hook to make this up quickly, it took about an hour.

Should I explain how I made this? It wasn't too hard. I began as if I was making another little bag I like to make, keeping the yarn and carrying it over to the next round to create the stripe. When I got to about head height of the toy, the rounds became rows as I left a space for the face, turning back the other way for the next round. Three rows in total create the face space, then 11 ch and sl st to close it up again. Then a round of dc, 11 of which were in the chain, then a row of sc to join the two sides together. Then I switched to green to do a round of sc around the inside of the face space, then a ch to thread in and out through that round of sc to create a drawstring. See? Not too hard at all!

I might pop this into someone's birthday present along with some other things. I hope they think it's cute, I do!

Baby's Easy Red Bow Tie

I quickly whipped up this smart looking bow tie for my baby to wear for good luck on a special day!

I looked on google for images of "easy crochet bow ties". I could see straight away how I could make one for my baby to wear so I made it within an hour. Luckily, it was a Saturday morning so David could look after Thomas while I made it before we got ready to go to the birthday parties!

easy red bow tie for a baby

Using a 4mm hook and some red acrylic I bought from K-Mart a while ago, I started by making a little red bag, then closed it up to form the main body of the bow. I fastened off then made the middle section, then the neck strap which is closed with a button. It was pretty easy!

easy bow tie in progress

I just meant for this to be a bit of fun, to lighten the mood on a potentially difficult day. Sometimes its a good thing to look silly. Especially if it's your baby, then he just looks super cute!

Truck with Flowers Birthday Card

truck with flowers birthday card

I think this birthday card is so sweet, and just perfect for a special little boy on his first birthday!

I really like the handmade cards my mother makes, so I like featuring some on my blog. I really hope she sets up her own blog soon so I can redirect people there. I'll keep you posted!

Pink Plum Hat, free pattern

Here is the hat I made to match the Pink Plum Jacket I posted about yesterday. I would like to share my pattern with you.

Pink Plum Hat

There are 5 increasing rounds to begin, when the increasing is done its time to do granny clusters. Each round has 16 granny clusters. Finish the hat with a round of scallops in a contrasting colour, and a simple flower embellishment. This hat will most probably fit a 6 month old baby, but might also fit a newborn up to 12 months due to the extra stretch in the hat. The circumference of my hat measures 14 inches, 16 when stretched, but that will depend on your tension.

4mm hook and 8 ply yarn, this takes less than 50g of yarn
1. ch 3, sl st to form loop, 3 ch, 15 dc into loop (16 st)
2. ch 3, dc into same, (dc, 2 dc) to end, sl st
3. ch 3, dc into same, (dc, dc, 2 dc) to end, sl st
4. ch 3, dc into same, (dc, dc, dc, 2 dc) to end, sl st
5. ch 3, dc into same, (dc, dc, dc, dc, 2 dc) to end, sl st
6. ch 3, 2 dc into same, (sk 2, 3 dc) to end, sl st (16 granny clusters)
7. ch 3, 2 dc into same sp, (3 dc in next sp) to end, sl st (16 granny clusters)
8. repeat round 7 until desired length reached (eg. about 10 rounds of granny clusters)
9. in contrasting colour, (5 dc in middle dc of next granny cluster, sl st in next sp) repeat to end, sl st in 1st dc, fasten off (16 scallops)
10. in contrasting colour, make a simple flower and attach with main colour and yarn needle.

I'm still learning to write crochet patterns, so please feel free to point out any errors by leaving a comment!

Pink Plum Hat with jacket

Pink Plum Jacket

Here is the 2nd toddler jacket I've made this week, this one is to give to a little girl whose 1st birthday is today. This is the same pattern as the other toddler jacket I made this week, which was for a little boy who also has his 1st birthday today! These babies are in my mother's group, I hope their mummies like them! Here's a link to this project on Ravelry, which has a link to the free pattern.

Pink Plum Jacket and Hat

These jackets are based on the idea of using two folded hexagons joined together at the back. But to fit a toddler, the hexagon shape has to be altered, with some sides shorter, while others are longer with added rows. Otherwise the sleeves would be too wide and the middle too small. For this 'Pink Plum' jacket, I used a contrasting purple to scallop the edge which has turned out rather nicely, if I do say so myself!

Pink Plum Jacket

For the purple flower I followed my free crochet flower pattern, I'm chuffed this flower suited it so well. Sometimes I feel very surprised when my crochet stuff actually works out! I made a cute hat to match, I'll share the pattern for it tomorrow. For this I used classic wool from the Bendigo Woollen Mill and a 5mm hook.

I'm thinking I could make this set in other colours and give them fun names like Citrus Splice (yellow & orange), Festive Season (red & green), Blue Skies (sky & blue), Strawberry Cream (red & white), Jaffa (brown & orange) and Honey Bee (black & yellow). Maybe someone would like me to make them one, or I could even see if I could sell them. Maybe one day I could open an Etsy shop, but I don't know if I'm good enough for that!

Pink Plum Jacket detail

Today I am linking up with my favourite blog party, Pink Saturday hosted by How Sweet the Sound. I'm happy to share my pink creation with you today, I hope you like it!

Blue Toddler Jacket with wooden buttons

For some reason I thought making this jacket would be easy, as I was using the basic hexagon jacket principle. But it turns out the hexagon shape is not well suited to a one year old and I had to alter the pattern to fit. This is one of a pair of jackets I've been planning to make for a while now, to give to two babies whose birthdays fall on the same day, this Saturday. Here's a link to this project on Ravelry, which has a link to the blog that explains the pattern.

blue toddler jacket with wooden buttons

There was a moment when I thought these just weren't going to work. But it was a puzzle that needed solving, and I kept at it until I worked it out. At one point I was planning to make this one a double breasted jacket, with one side much wider than the other so it overlapped. Perhaps it could have two rows of buttons, I thought. At that time, I was also thinking to make this a two-toned jacket, with one side blue and the other green. Luckily my husband's opinion proved useful and honest, as he told me the two colours and the uneven shape 'looked funny'. This was just the kind of honest opinion I needed, so I pulled it apart and made it even, and all blue.

jacket in progress, working out a pattern

By the time I had two even sides both in blue, I was planning to finish with a green edge. I had coffee with my friends Tanya and Hazel yesterday, and they didn't like that idea, Hazel said because the green I had was not quite the right shade. So it was going to be all blue! Then we went to Lincraft and picked out some buttons.

I just hope this jacket fits nicely and ends up getting used. I used 8ply wool from the Bendigo Woollen Mill with a 5mm hook. It took me hours spread over the week while I fiddled around with it to work out the pattern, but if I was to make another one, now I know what I'm doing, my guess is it would take me about 3 or 4 hours. Maybe I will make a green one the same for Thomas?

Blue Flower Handmade Label

I've been needing some lovely handmade labels to attach to my crochet gifts, and this is what my mum came up with!

blue flower handmade label for crochet gifts

When I give someone a handmade crochet gift, I need a label tag to attach to it, saying what kind of fibre it is and the washing instructions. I also want to put my blog address so if anyone wants to learn more about the item I made for them, they could read more about it on my blog. Although I'm pretty sure most of them don't do that!

My mum has a special cutting machine that cut out these tags, I think they do the job very well as they fold onto themselves. That way there is more room to write washing instructions inside, but its still a cute little tag. I'll tie some pretty recycled ribbon to attach the label to the crochet gift. Very pretty I think!

Purple Butterfly Birthday Card

purple butterfly birthday card

Here is a pretty purple butterfly birthday card my mother made. I'm giving it with the purple flower baby headband I made last week, and a white and purple cardigan I made when I was pregnant, as a gift to a one year old girl for her birthday.

purple butterly envelope

Before I found out I was having a boy, I crochet baby clothes and blankets in white, purple and green. My intention was these items would be ok for either a girl or boy, but I secretly thought I might be having a girl. Mainly because I assumed the chances were I would, because everyone I knew had boys! Surely a girl was due? That's why I think that purple and white cardigan has flower buttons, I must have subconsciously chose them. I noticed them recently and realised I wouldn't put it on my son, so needed to give it away or it would never be worn!

The birthday card comes with a special envelop embellished with purple butterflies. I hope the birthday girl likes her purple package!

Purple Flower Baby Headband

purple flower baby headband

Here is my first baby headband, with a pretty flower. Its a good thing I had a baby boy and not a girl, as any daughter of mine would be obliged to wear these, and often!

I made up my own pattern for this, as I don't think it was difficult. My first attempt used a 5mm hook to make the headband, but the stitches looked too slack so I undid it. I switched to a 3.5mm hook and made the flower first. When I was finally happy with it, I then made a headband to suit it.

For the flower, I started with a round of 12 dc, the second round has the 6 puffy petals. A petal is in every 2nd dc with a sc in the other dc, a petal is sc, hdc, dc, 3 tr, dc, hdc, sc. I then pinched the 3 tr and turned the petals so they popped out and were rounded. I then turned the flower over and underneath, added 2 dc to the back loop of every dc of the 1st round, for a total of 24 stitches, then turned it back around. The last round of the underneath is some simple scallops (sk 1, 5 dc, sk 1, sl st). Underneath sits flat and helps the front petals sit up nicely.

closeup of Isabella's purple flower

I then made a headband to match, it has a 42cm circumference and fits around my one year's old head. I'm sure he doesn't mind being measured for a baby headband! I started with a chain and sl st to form a loop to make a circumference to fit my baby's head, the 2nd round is a row of sc in every ch. Then I did granny clusters (3 dc) in every 3rd sc. At the end of the round, there wasn't quite the right number of sc so the last granny cluster is a little closer to its neighbour. I did 5 rows of granny clusters, then finished with a round of sc.

For an embellishment, I used a small piece of lace I picked up at the local RSPCA op shop, and sewed it to the middle of the flower with lilac thread, then I sewed on a pretty purple button. Finally, I secured the flower to the headband with the lilac thread. I hope the recipient likes this gift, I sure hope it fits!

A pair of pretty handmade birthday cards

a pair of birthday cards made by my mum

Here are two handmade birthday cards I commissioned for my mother to make for my friend's birthday, and also for my sister's birthday, which is today!

I think these two are really pretty, with delicate flowers and butterflies. They are very similar, the main difference is one has a green border and ribbon instead of the pink. I'm sure the recipients will love these! Thanks mum!

As usual, today I'm linking in with the only blog party I like to follow, and that's Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound. Be sure to check out all the pretty pink posts!
<3