Category Archives: Craft

Christmas Countdown – Day Two

Hello! I hope you enjoyed the links and inspiration for Day One of the Christmas Countdown.

Looking back to last year and the Planet Penny Advent Calendar I found the little yarn balls which I made as tree decorations which then went on to have decorative use all year round.

This is how they started out…

mini balls and needles - Christmas Countdown day 2

Planet Penny Advent Calendar – Day Two

They then went on the tree…

And eventually found a new life as the Knitting Mobile!

Knitting Mobile Christmas Countdown Day 2

Knitting Mobile link to PDF

This year I made some slightly bigger baubles by the same method, leaving off the knitting needles and adding a contrasting button on the hanger.

So with the wrapping of threads in mind, here are a few more ideas…

These are made using balloons and I think would work well fixed over fairy lights.

home-dzine.co.zaI

I can’t find a link for this one but I love it, even though it would take oodles of yarn (and patience!)

This little tree is sweet, and makes good use of battery fairy lights which are a much safer option, especially when you have excited little ones around.

Homemade Gifts Made Easy

And this is a lovely, simple idea. What better time of year than Christmas to count your blessings and put them on a string?

A Soft Place To Land

I hope you like these yarn and string ideas. Don’t forget to click the images and links to find out more..

Have fun! See you tomorrow…x

Christmas Countdown – Day One

It’s that time again! Have you eaten the first chocolate from your Advent Calendar yet? We are now on the final run down to the ‘Big Day’, and there is always so much to do, isn’t there? Last year’s Planet Penny Advent Calendar was lots of fun, a daily post with a craft, decoration or recipe.

This year I’ve rather less time available, alas, but I’m planning an Advent Calendar reprise, the Christmas Countdown – with added extras!

Everyday I’ll be bringing you seasonal pictures, ideas and links which I hope will give some inspiration, and something to enjoy when you take a well earned break from the festivities! Just click on the images below to find the source and instructions where available

I do like to add a little individuality to my gift wrapping, but it does mean some forward planning. Last year I utilised a large roll of lovely brown paper which is so much cheaper than the glossy printed variety.

I should imagine it’s much more ecologically friendly too.

Planet Penny Advent Calendar – Day One

There’s masses of scope for imaginative decorations, and great fun if you get the children involved with cutting out and printing and the compulsory glue/ glitter combo! And how about the good old potato print?

Can Do Kids Crafts

printed paper Christmas Countown Planet Penny Day 1

Paper Inspiration – Sidestreet Style

You could use old comics, colour supplements or magazines…

Teresapalooza

Or raid your sewing basket.

Trader Joe’s Bags

This is a great way to uses your odds and ends of Planet Penny Cotton!

Last Minute Knitted Gifts – Joelle Hoverson

I do love a pompom!

studiodiy.com

…and these are so simple, but very stylish.

Wrapping - Christmas Countdown Planet Penny

Eden Rose

I hope you enjoy the links and they inspire the imagination.

I’m linking up today with Handmade Harbour for Handmade Monday, so do call over there for more inspirational links…

I’ll see you tomorrow!

Norfolk November Skies and a Rosy Glow…

Hello! I can’t believe it’s taken so long to get back here for a catch up. I must say the new look for the blog is really growing on me now, and it seems to sit much better on a phone or tablet.

Last weekend Two Rivers Trail Christmas Fair was AMAZING! We couldn’t believe how many people came, there were cars parked all over the village, with people having to walk for half a mile to get to us! The Planet Penny Stall looked like this…

..although I don’t think many people managed to stand back to have a look at anything! If you would like to see more, all the photos I took of the day are over on the Two Rivers Trail website where you can see some of the beautiful things from other members of the Trail.

I actually thought I would have a quiet week catching up with things, but it’s been anything but, and so busy I’ve struggled to find time to even get out for a walk with poor little Higgins…

He’s not impressed!

So in the spirit of a breath of fresh air, here’s yesterday’s walk which took place when the sun came out after a miserable gloomy start, and the wonderful Norfolk November skies came into their own.

You don’t get long after lunch for walk at this time of the year, do you? It does mean being treated to a wonderful view of the sunset as we head back home. Note the mud! Glorious isn’t it?

Ending just after we arrived back in a wonderful rosy glow.

And talking of a ‘Rosy Glow’ I’m going into boastful mother mode again, Last night elder son Thomas won a second award for one of his children’s books, The Pets you Get at the Brilliant Book Awards! Proud? You bet I am!

Adrian Reynolds, the illustrator, you may well have met before with the Harry and the Dinosaurs stories, which have been made into a popular TV series.

Since I often turn up here with a book review I have no compunction at all in recommending ‘The Pets you Get’ as an excellent buy for Christmas!

And now, I have a ‘cunning plan’ for December on the blog so I’m off to see if I can make it work! And it’s December tomorrow so I better get going…

see you then…x

Come to the Christmas Fair!

There’s a lot scurrying around going on in this part of the world this week, and it’s not just the mice! We have our very first Christmas Fair this coming weekend, which is exciting and scary in equal measures.

So who is this ‘we’ I hear you ask…

Well, if you’ve been visiting Planet Penny for a while you will know that for the last few years I, along with my print maker pal, Kit, have taken part of Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios. It turned out to be a wonderful way of meeting up with kindred spirits living very close by, so this year we got together as the Two Rivers Trail to create an Art Trail for Open Studios in May of this year.

It all worked so well we decided a year was too long to wait to get together again and so the idea of a Christmas Fair and Exhibition was born. It’s been a great excuse for meeting up over coffee and/or wine for planning meetings!

For various reasons this year the Planet Penny Etsy shop has been my only selling point so it’s going to be fun to step out of cyberspace and into reality and meet real people. I hope that any Planet Penny readers who live in the area will come to say hello. My fellow ‘Trailers’ are varied and very talented, so we’ve got a great mix of things to see, and to buy. If you call over to the Two Rivers Trail website you can find out more about us all.

It’s hard to decide what to sell alongside the pieces I will be exhibiting, as needlefelting is such a time consuming craft and it’s hard to fit it in alongside the pattern writing, crochet, yarn processing, blog writing, knitting and everything else. This is why it makes more sense to teach it so that others have the fun of making their own creations. Nevertheless, I decided to make a collection of ‘One Off’ creations, totally exclusive, no two the same. Collectors items for the Christmas tree!

I started with a basket of hearts, needlefelted with fleece from my massive bag of colours, another rainbow collection…

I was quite tempted just to leave them just as they are, and heap them up on my dresser but no, that is not the plan.

I sat in the corner of my studio with the hearts and gradually disappeared beneath a heap of ribbons and trimmings, buttons, beads and threads while I had a happy few hours making tree decorations…

And they do look really pretty on the Christmas tree…

Now I’ve just got to persuade myself to part with them!

I’ll be back soon with more pretty things, but for now I’d better get back to the preparations. I have a red tablecloth to hem!

If you are in the area, put the date in the diary and come and see us, we’d love to meet you, and there will be CAKE!

See you soon…x

Crochet Christmas Baubles – Part Two

When I wrote the last post about Crochet Christmas Baubles and the perils of pattern writing I really didn’t expect such a huge response when I tentatively asked for pattern testers. Many, many thanks for all the offers, it was very much appreciated. I’ve not done this before, and decided on 4 testers as I hoped that different things would be picked up by different readers but that 4 points of view wouldn’t confuse me too much!

It’s amazing how many typos got through, you really do read what you meant to say, not what you actually said. I was able to make tweaks to the pattern to correct anomalies, and to clarify instructions, so the testers’ input has been hugely helpful, so many thanks to Gina, Sarah, Alison and Janet. This is from Janet, it’s interesting to see someone else’s version!

I’ve added the American equivalents to the abbreviations which I hope will help, and I’ve put in illustrated steps which I hope will make things clear. It looks more complicated than it actually is!

The pattern is now for sale in the Etsy shop here, along with the yarn of course.

I’m now busy getting things together for the Two Rivers Trail Exhibition and Craft Fair which is coming up on 24th November, and coming up very quickly… eek…!

It’s the only thing I’m doing in the real world for a while (as opposed to cyber space) so if you are in the Norfolk area it would be lovely to see you. My fellow ‘Trailers’ are a talented lot and have very varied skills so there really is something for everyone.

I’ve just time to fit in a Higgy walk before it gets too dark so I’m off just now, but I’ll be back soon…x

And the Winner is…

I’ve just picked the winner for the Buttonbag Advent Calendar Giveaway and it was SO hard! So hard in fact I gave up trying to choose between all the wonderful Christmas traditions which so many people had told me about and went for the trusty Random Number Generator…

So the winner is Frances, who has a great family tradition which I would like to copy myself…

“Our Christmas tradition is that my husband and I buy each other a pair of pyjamas and a pair of slippers/or cosy bed socks, we give each other the gift on Christmas Eve so we go to bed and wake up Christmas morning in our new PJs. This is a tradition carried on from when my husband was a kid and his parents would give him and his brother new PJs on Christmas Eve, and has been carried down to our two children (our daughter nearly 3 years old and 7 month old son), as since my in-laws have had grandchildren they have sent a PJ parcel in the post to be opened on Xmas eve. There are so many things right about having new pyjamas at Christmas!!!”

Congratulations Frances, I hope you and your family have years of fun and Advent anticipation with your calendar…

Thank you all so much for taking part. As always I wish I could give everyone a prize. Do take the time to visit the post to read the other entries, they are lovely, really bringing home the family spirit of Christmas. The shops may be full of ‘stuff’ and consumerism, but the heart of Christmas is really about being with the people you care about…

I will be back before long with news about the pattern testing from the last post, so see you soon…x