A frog and a butterfly

I've made a couple of birthday cards. I wanted to try out my new water colour pencils that I got for my birthday, so I stamped a few images on water colour paper, coloured them in and cut them out... and made them into a couple of cards. It's always nice to have a few spare cards lying about....

On this one I've used the Versa Mark ink for the shooting star background and for the flowers on the yellow stripe. I like the Versa Mark ink.... it gives such a subtle colour... and it always matches the colour you're stamping on. It kind of makes a water mark on your paper/cardstock.

Here you can see it a bit better. I also used a paper with some shimmer in it for the lilac circle.

And of course, the images are coloured in with water colour pencils and gone over with a wet paintbrush afterwards.
The froggy card is already in the mail on its way to someone... Here I've used a lilac Hero Arts shadow ink for the shooting star background.

Both the butterfly and the frog are mounted on pop dots... I like them too... gives the card a bit of dimension...

Thanks for the lovely presents!

Woops... it's been over a week since I last blogged... time flies when you're having fun... and the fun this week was that it was my birthday.... and look at all the goodies I got! (Photo is not even showing everything...)

My 6 year old daughter had written a looong wish list for me. She'd worked on it for quite a few days... "Muuum? Do you want any fabric for your birthday??" and other similar questions was regularly asked during the weeks before my birthday. She took my hubby out shopping for almost everything on the list...

Look at the cute fabric she picked out for me... and she also picked out these stamps...

I'm going to have so much fun with my prezzies... thanks a bunch!

Spicy dishcloth

I knitted myself a new dishcloth last night. Just a quick and easy thingie, no pattern, just made up as you go... Made from 100 % cotton so it's nice and soft and will absorb water well.

It goes well, colourwise, with the spices on my worktop, don't you think?

I used knitting needles 5,5 mm so the cloth is a bit loose, not too bad though... I think it'll work anyway.

(Note to self: I cast on 25 st for each sqare... that made the dishcloth a tad on the small side...)

Winter holiday

Last week was winter holiday at Maja's school, so the girls and I spent the whole week at my parents house. The girls really enjoyed spending time with mormor and morfar (granny and granddad)... especially when mormor would read to them.

And I had plenty of time to finish my knitting....

New slippers for Susie...

Same slippers as Daddy's, just another colour.

They were a bit too slippery on the wooden floors though... so they weren't used that much... I'm now making another pair... for Maja, this time. These slippers were really easy and so much fun to knit that I might even have to make a pair for myself as soon as Maja's slippers are done...

Susie had her 2nd birthday while we were away on holiday. My mum made her a cake and I made the chocolate decorations... teamwork is always good...

I'm wondering where the time went though... How did this little poppet...

...become this little girl in just two years? (Susie insists that she is three though... and a baby...)

Something new on the needles and slippers for hubby

I've got something pink and blue on my knitting needles at the moment.... what will it be?
I just finished knitting these slippers:

Two tones of blue sports yarn. They were going to be slippers for me, but the gauge was all wrong... so they turned out too big...

... and now they're slippers for my husband. They'll keep his feet nice and warm.

Since my last post was about how much snow we got last saturday, I thought I'd end this post with a photo of what the world looked like the day after, on Sunday... even more snow... I spent the best part of two hours trying to dig my car out... (compare this photo with the 3rd photo down on my previous post to see how much difference one night made....)

... it still looks like this.

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I won't be around much the next week or so. I'm taking the girls to see my parents... Unfortunately hubby has to work, so he can't spend winter holiday with us... maybe next time...

I gave up....

It's not often I give up doing anything, but today I had to... I was going to walk to the post office to post a parcel, it's only a five minutes' walk, but I had to turn around before I was half way there because of the snow. Maja had brought her skis, so she was ok. But I'd put Susie in her push chair (in the hope that she would fall asleep)... bad move. The pavements weren't properly cleared of snow, and it was absolutely impossible to push the pushchair through it...

So we turned around and went home... I still needed to get Susie to sleep though, so I was pacing back and forth in front of our house for half an hour until she finally closed her eyes. The neighbours must have thought I'd gone mad.... Maja was happy though... playing in the snow and having a ball....

Just to show you how much it has snowed today... This was my veranda at 14.45...

...and here it is at 21.05... You can hardly see the banister...

There are some more photos from today in my facebook album if anyone is interested... (don't know if I have to add you as a friend for you to see the photos... if so, let me know and I'll be happy to add you.)

A new family member!

We've got a new family member... He is small, green and very cute and his name is Judas... He used to be my brother's budgie, but my brother is travelling a lot with his work, so he couldn't keep Judas anymore and asked us if we wanted to give him a new home. I don't know if there is a reason behind the name, but... I don't think it's a Judas... rather a Judith... (I'm quite sure, actually)

Anyway... the girls are sooooo excited. They're fighting, well almost fighting, over who is going to let him/her sit on their shoulder or head...

Susie was quite determinded from the first time we took him out of his cage, that he should not sit on her hand but on her head...

Maja just wants to hold him all the time. She doesn't care where he sits, as long as it's on her...

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In lack of a telly, Susie makes herself comfy in front of Judas'/Judith's cage looking at him for ages... she even brought her snack....

My wee helper and a birthday present...

If I am to sew during the day, this is how you'll most often find me.... With Susie on my lap, helping me. Susie's job is to take the pins out of whatever I'm sewing and put them in the pin cushion (if you look closely, you can see that I'm using my new pin cushion... the one I won). It takes... eh... a bit... longer with this help, but at least I get to sew. Right?

And I must admit, it is kind of cozy having her there on my lap showing an interest in what I'm doing. Here, she's helping me sew a wee drawstring bag.
I (we) finished the drawstring bag and a travel tissue holder yesterday. Maja's friend from school had her birthday party last night, and Maja needed a present for her. I hope she likes it.

Every little girl should have a pretty bag, and when Maja realized I was making a drawstring bag for her friend, she wanted one too. So when I spotted this lovely fabric in the shop yesterday (had to go and get a string for the drawstring....), I thought of Maja's wish for a pretty bag.

Look, it even sparkles...

Maja was over the moon by the thought of getting a bag in this pretty fabric. Don't know when I'll get the time though. I have to drag my sewing machine and everything I need downstairs and use the kitchen table for sewing. My sewing room is still just a mess with boxes from the move....

I won! I won!!

Look what I found in my mail box yesterday... no, the day before yesterday (time flies too fast sometimes...) I feel soooo lucky. I was one of the winners of Vickie's giveaway over at her blog "Mid-Ohio Knitter". And look what she sent me... A cute little purse, a box of buttons, a lovely pin cushion and a bunch of gorgeous 3" fabric charms... and even the card matched... wow.

The pin cushion had a different fabric on each side. I can't decide which side I like the best.... which side will be the top and which will be the bottom. I might have to alternate between the two... well, both my girls loves to play with my pins, so I'm sure they'll be happy to help me transfer the pins from one side to the other...

Look at all the beautiful fabric squares... Oh, I can't wait to make something nice out of them. I need a new runner for my kitchen table, but also one for my living room table...

This was the firs time I won a giveaway (and I've entered a LOT...) so I'm over the moon! Thanks a lot Vickie!

Slippers... again... and the pattern for them

Maja has been nagging me about getting slippers like mine ever since I knitted mine. So I guess it was about time I made her some. PINK! No other colour would do... I made them the same way I made the adult ones, but with fewer increases and they fit perfectly. She was really pleased with them.A couple of weeks ago, Maja had her class' mascot lion home with her. Each pupil gets to have Lissi the lion home one weekend each. The only item of clothing Lissi had was a knitted hat, and Maja thought maybe Lissi would like some slippers to warm her paws... How can you say no? So I let Maja choose the colour... and guess what colour she chose...?? Yup! Pink!

I think Lissi looked really cute in her new pink slippers. She looks pleased... Some of the girls in Maja's class was sooooo excited when Maja brought Lissi back to school that Monday.... "Look Lissi has got ballet shoes!!!" to which Maja replied "NO! They're slippers...." I had to laugh.

I've had so many requests for the pattern for the slippers, that I thought I'd put it here for all of you that want to try it out. This is really easy knitting! And quick. I don't know where this pattern originated, but after I got mine from Tofo, I've seen it several times in other blogs (only in Norwegian though), so I guess it's OK to put it here as well.... I've translated it to english, but I'm not that into english knitting lingo... so if there's any problems/questions let me know. (I'll add the Norwegian version of the pattern at the end.)

This is the pattern for the adult version (these slippers are very stretchy and should fit most people, but if you've got big feet, it might be a good idea to increase a few more stitches.):

POCKET SLIPPERS:

Use yarn that goes with needles 4mm.
The whole thing is knitted back and forth.
CO 5 st, K 6 rows
Continue by increasing one stitch at the beginning of each row until you have 22 stitches.
On the next row, increase in every stitch (front and back loop of every st)= 44 st on needle.
Continue knitting a 15 cm ribbed border (k2,p2)
Next row; k 2 tog until you have 22 st again (all stitches)
Then, decrease 1 st in the beginning of each row until there is 5 st left on the needle.
Knit 6 rows and BO

Fold your slipper in half and sew the two narrow bits together and the sides of the ribbed border together. Now it looks a bit like a small purse… but the slipper is very stretchy.
Decorate it with a crocheted flower, a button or whatever you want.

Og så på norsk:

LOMMETØFLER:

Det er brukt garn som passer til pinne nr. 4.

Hele arbeidet strikkes fram og tilbake.

Legg opp 5 masker, strikk 6 pinner.

Fortsett, men øk 1 maske i begynnelsen av hver pinne til det er 22 masker.

På neste pinne økes det i hver maske (fremste og bakerste maskeledd) = 44 masker.

Strikk videre 15 cm vrangbordstrikk med 2r, 2vr.

Strikk så 2 og 2 masker sammen til det er 22 masker.

Fortsett med å felle 1 maske i begynnelsen av hver pinnne til det er igjen 5 masker.

Strikk 6 pinner og fell av.

Brett arbeidet og sy sammen de smale remsene og sidene på vrangbordstrikken. Det ser nå ut som en liten veske, men den er veldig tøyelig og passer godt på foten.
Pyntes etter smak og behag!!

Hope this can be of some use to someone. It would be fun to know if you find the pattern here and use it... I'd love to se a picture of your slippers....

Maja relly wanted to make Lissi's slippers herself, but since she's never knitted anything before, it took too long.... They would have been blue/turquoise if we went with Maja's own knitting...

Award

I got this award from Matja. I've got it before as well, but I'm just so glad that someone likes my blog enough to give me awards that I'm going to accept it anyway....
This is the text that comes with this award (it's in Norwegian... se my other post for english version):

Denne bloggen investerer i og tror på NÆRHET - nærhet i rom,tid og forhold.Disse bloggerne er usedvanlige, sjarmerende og søte,og formålet er å finne og å være venner. De er ikke opptatt av utmerkelser og selvhevdelse. Vårt håp er at når båndene på disse utmerkelser er kuttet, vil enda flere vennskap ha forplantet seg.Vær vennlig å gi litt ekstra oppmerksomhet til disse!Gi denne utmerkelsen til seks bloggere,som igjen må velge seg seks nye. Inkluder denne teksten på utmerkelsen deres.

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The six people I want to pass it on to is... oh, this is soooo hard... So many of you have it from before, so I'm only going to give it to Therese just now...