Birthday presents for Mum

I was racking my brain trying to come up with an idea for Mum's birthday present and I turned to the copy of 'Cute and Easy Crochet' on my shelf.  It had a very simple pattern for a circular cushion cover and, as I happened to have a small circular cushion laying around, I decided to give it a go!  The pattern was basically a stripy circle, very easy to do and when I'd got it to the size I wanted, I thought it would be nice to add some embellishment to the front.  So I turned to my very much loved 'Crochet Bouquet' book for some compound leaves and simple flowers.  The leaves were perfect but halfway through making the flowers, I decided the shape was wrong so I improvised a more circular look.  Stitched everything on and crocheted the cushion pad in (it's non removable once it's done) and then thought hmmm...hope Mum's mind doesn't go to the same place that mine does!

They do NOT look like booby flowers, ok!?!

On the reverse...

Hope she likes it!

Myf has been working incredibly hard this weekend on presents for her 'Moogie' as well.  She has a few crafty books all her own and she wanted to knit her a little purse.  Unfortunately, the instructions were a little confusing and I can't knit at all (Myf used to know how but it's been a few years) so instead I crocheted a small strip for her and she stitched it together, added a button and then went to her new jewellery making book that an auntie gave her for her birthday.  She chose to make a bracelet with wire wrapped beads-aside from cutting the wire for her and making the fastening, she made the rest entirely herself.  She then made a silver one for me and a little one for herself that I'm going to take photos of to put up tomorrow as they're wonderful!

Back to another book to look at some card making techniques and she chose one involving stitching with wool-

And we're done!  Still got to finish up another project that despite its small size is taking forever!  My poor sister must be bursting with the suspense...:-( Sorry darling, I promise it'll be finished soon!

Having fun with crayons...

One of my lovely little nieces just had her third birthday and I couldn't think of a thing to crochet for her-I'm not very good at crochet toys and I wanted to make something a bit different this time!
Myf and I came across this on Facebook and decided to give it a go :-D.  We have a lot of crayons around...

And after much peeling away of paper and breaking them into pieces, we were ready to put them into the oven!  Ten minutes or so later...

They need a little stir with a toothpick to get the colours all swirled together-I think Myf enjoyed that part the most!

Once they'd hardened and cooled, it was easy to pop them out and voila!  Chunky crayons, perfect for little hands to scribble and scrawl with.

A little cellaphane wrapping, some purple sparkly ribbon and done!  We added a colouring book for her as well and hopefully she loves her present.  My other littlest niece has her birthday in a few days and we have another set ready to go :-D