Welcome 2008!

I'm posting from scratch here on my brother's computer by the beach ;)

Hope you are all enjoying the rest of the holidays with a happy new year celebration. I have been eating and sleeping a lot here the past 4 days. Hopefully, the daily walk by the beach has burned enough calories so I can still fit into my crocheted clothes :p.
Since I wasn't able to bring my own camera, I have to rely on the pics taken by my son - which I'll share soon as we get back home. Meantime, here's a photo of my two nieces in Australia, which I got from this computer.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Its called Christmas with a capital "C"...

Wishing everyone the joy of Christmas!

Purple Shrug

This is the 4th (!) shrug I made from my pattern: Shells and Flowers Shrug.
This is size small and I've modified the pattern a little to make it fit snugly.
I used 3 balls of size 10 cotton thread and 2mm Tulip aluminum hook. More details on Ravelry.

Holiday pictures

My son recently got himself a camera and designated himself as our family's official photographer. This also means that I need not use my camera that often for my projects, since I have my very own in-house photographer ;)
For practice, he has instantly taken some creative shots. Photo above shows our Christmas tree (which looks better with the effects...)
Shown below, the crocheted snowman that was in my Christmas decorations basket, and, my nephew and son with the holiday stuff toys they got as souvenir from Saisaki restaurant.
















And here's my current WIP, a shrug that I want to wear soon. Haven't worn a shrug in public, so we'll have to see if I can pull it through ;)

Photo Gallery

Recently, I have collected a few more photos of projects made from my patterns. I have taken the liberty of adding these to my photo gallery :)



Michele and Melanie's lip balm holders


Jennifer's twisted wrap


Kimberly's poinsettia coasters


Pewee's flower applique


And...oh so cute baby pics!


Flower frame by Manuela


Helmet hat by Riohnna

Gift wrapping tips - for crochet items

The other day, I saw on TV an artist sharing innovative ways of wrapping gifts. He is the well-known international artist, floral architect, Rachy Cuna.
I don't have any photos of what was shown on TV, but I saw that another blogger shared the picture below showing what was demonstrated by Rachy in another venue.



So pretty and interesting, but I might not be able to duplicate it. He used handmade paper, raffia, sinamay ribbon, gold paint, banana leaf, and many more, most of which can easily be bought cheap at Divisoria. I don't go there though, so if I buy materials at the mall, its not going to be cheap. Anyways, I got some tips from Rachy, and the inspiration to make gift-wrapping a challenge and a gift in itself.

Using materials that I already have, I came up with two gift-wrapping styles.

"Doily Wrap"
I used leftover handmade paper (use any size bigger than the item to be wrapped), abaca twine, and a tiny crocheted flower. I just rolled the paper together with the doily, tied it with twine, made a bow with the twine, added the little flower, and tied a small card:



"Peppermint Stick"This one shows how I wrapped a crochet hook.

Purse Keychain by Mary Jane Hall

Last week, I wanted to give to my 3 nieces visiting from Australia, a handmade gift that they will like. Just in time, these yarns arrived from my sis in London.



Lustre Fancy Yarn, distributed in UK by Wilkinson,
50% polyester, 50% acrylic.
It has a metallic look, so its hard to photograph. I loved working with it, its smooth and soft. (Though I had a hard time weaving in the ends with a large needle.)


These are the three keychain purses I made, I bought 2 pairs of fancy silver earrings, which I used to embellish the purse. I also bought 3 charm bracelets, to put in each of the purses, it was a nice gift!...but I think they liked the bracelets more :p



Yesterday, I made another one of the purse keychain, since I have one more of the earring to embellish it. I tried to get a good shot, but still...



So, I scanned it...