Tag Archives: Christmas

Day Two of the ‘Virtual’ Advent Calendar!

I’ve had lots of encouraging comments about my Christmas blogging marathon, a post a day for the virtual Advent Calendar until Christmas Eve, thank you all very much!  (And if you’ve just discovered what I’m up to, scroll down to end of this post and find Day One’s crafty wrapping ideas…)

Today is all about my celebratory Giveaway for my 5 years living on Planet Penny, and I’ve deliberated long and hard to think of something everyone can enjoy,  whether you are a maker, or someone who just appreciates what is made.  So the prize is ready made, and part of it is the Advent Calendar make for today.

Having spent so much time with my Rainbow collection of yarn I thought it would be good to celebrate that with colourful tree decorations, so I have made some mini balls of yarn complete with tiny knitting needles.

mini balls of yarn with needles

These look lovely on the Christmas tree…

mini balls of yarn on tree for Advent Day 2

…but are far too pretty and colourful to hide away for the rest of the year. Can you imagine them strung on a line adorning someone’s crafting corner, or hanging round the edge of a lampshade perhaps?

mini balls in Planet Penny yarns for Advent day 2

They are simple to make if you want to do your own.  I used a small polystyrene ball as a base and glued the yarn on to start with.  Then you just wind round carefully until the base is hidden and the ball is the size you want.  Glue the tail back on itself to form the hanger.  The needles are made from cocktail sticks with beads on the end and pushed through the ball…simples!

But you can win your own if you enter the Give-away  Prize Draw!

The next part of the prize has to be needlefelt don’t you think?  It’s been so much of what I do.  So this too could be yours…

needlefelt Mouse for Advent day 2

..a little Christmas Mousie…

Christmas Mouse for Advent Day 2

And finally, I’d like to include a book, and this time there’s a choice.  It could be a copy of ‘Knitting on the Road’…

…if you are a knitter.  There are some beautiful and unusual patterns from around the world…

Oslo Sock for Advent Day 2

Sock pattern from Tallinn Advent Day 2

Or if sewing’s more your thing, there’s  ‘Zakka Style’…

This has some stylish and unusual designs which are very appealing…

Zakka Style Message board

Zakka Style

…or if you or  someone in your family would prefer to snuggle up with a good read you could choose this…

Haunters by Thomas Taylor

…which will be signed by the author, Thomas Taylor,  just for you.  I know him quite well!  (You can find out more about Thomas, the book and how we know each other from this post)

So to recap, the prize is –

  • 14 hanging ornaments – mini rainbow balls of yarn with knitting needles
  • a Christmas needlefelt mouse with hat and bell
  • And a choice of one of three books

And what do you have to do to have a chance of winning?  I didn’t want to make things complicated so all you have to do is follow me in some way.  You can subscribe by Email in the little box at the top of the left hand column.  If you do that already there’s also the choice of Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter.  And then just leave a comment on this post or any other of the Advent posts to let me know so I can add you to the list.  You only have to do one thing, but if you sign up for more than that you get more chances!

If you sign up to follow me on any of the other sites, please let me know via a blog comment so I don’t miss you off the list! 

This will run until after Christmas to give every one as much of a chance as possible to take part and I will make the draw via a Random Number Generator in the week between Christmas and New Year.  In the meantime, do call back and find out what happens next on the Crafty Christmas Countdown Calendar!

See you soon…!

P.S.  Don’t forget to call over to Handmade Monday  to see what else is going on in the crafty world!

 

An Advent Announcement

It’s December 1st, I can’t believe it’s come round so quickly and Planet Penny is celebrating! It’s five whole years since the first tentative post, with that fear of having  nothing to say, to anyone!    Since then there have been over 200,000 visits, so to celebrate I’m trying something a little ambitious.  I hope I can keep up!

The first plan is the  Planet Penny Advent Calendar…

Everyday until Christmas Eve I shall be posting a Christmas make, recipe or link which I hope will give you a little inspiration for the Christmas Season.

Secondly, there will be a Christmas Anniversary Giveaway as a thank you for all the support  over the last five years and this will be explained over the next couple of posts.

But, to begin with, the Advent posts…and it’s …

Advent  Calendar- DAY 1

It’s wrapping time, and although pretty paper can be very expensive there are lots of ways to make very basic materials look special and individual.  I was recently send some pretty tape by the DotComGiftShop which has meshed really well with my current favourite Scandinavian theme of red and white.

Red and White paper tape - Advent Calender Day 1

The tape comes in a natty little box with a cutting edge so it’s easy to tear off just what you need.

Red and White paper tape - Advent Calender Day 1

I’ve used Kraft brown wrapping paper which comes in a massive roll and is a great background colour for lots of projects.  The red and white is set off beautifully by the buff colour of the paper and the tape is easily cut to mite the corners as shown here.

Red and White paper tape/Brown paper wrap - Advent Calender Day 1

I’ve also experimented with wrapping leftover yarn and butchers red and white string, looks pretty doesn’t it…?

Red and White paper tape/BrownPaper - Advent Calender Day 1

I also found this gorgeous woven Christmas ribbon which I shall use sparingly on very special pressies if I can bear to part with it!

Gift Wrap for Advent Calendar

If you run out of gifts to wrap and there are still a few centimetres of tape to use, it makes really lovely teeny tiny bunting, which can be hung across windows and around the Christmas tree or across the fireplace.  The tape is folded round fine cord, embroidery thread or yarn and cut to shape.  Really easy, and a fun project for older children to do.

Bunting made from paper tape

Tomorrow I will tell you all about the Giveaway,  which will run until after the ‘Big Day’ , so do pop back then and every day to see what I’m getting up to!

 

 

Angels and Light – Part 2

A brief pictorial post to bring you up to date with the angels from this post.  I’d like to share the beauty of our local church, St Michael and All Angels,  and the talents of people in the surrounding area who have made it look even more beautiful for this festival.

Wooden Angel

Dolly peg angels

You can see Knit and Stitch have quite a selection of angels, apart from the dollypeg ones!

wheat sheaf Angel

Angels on the font

Hessian Angel

The one I found most moving was the British Legion Angel, an amazing labour of love made as a tribute to all the lives lost to date in Afghanistan.  Four hundred and thirty five men, three women and one dog…

British Legion Angel - Angels and Light

British Legion Angel  Angels and Light Festival

Each poppy an individual tribute to a lost life… Such a waste…

flying Angels

Angel Banners - Angels and Light Festival

If you live in the Norwich/Broadland area this is well worth a visit.  The church is open until next weekend from 10 -4 and you will also find some lovely ladies serving delicious soup, cakes and tea and coffee!

And if you are too far away, I hope you enjoyed this virtual visit!

See you soon…x

Searching for Reasons to be Cheerful…

I have to admit to having to look really hard this week for any cheerfulness at all!  It’s entirely weather related, and I’m sorry to be so feeble.  I haven’t coped at all with the heavy layer of cloud which has been sitting on top of our little corner of Norfolk, my mother describes it as being inside a Tupperware box with the lid on…

But this morning, hooray… after a gloomy start the clouds started to break…

and as the weather lifted, so did my spirits…

and of course there are reasons to be cheerful!

The very first one must be the wonderful response that I had from my last post about Team Hannah which you can read in the comments there.  I know Hannah has been very appreciative and if you go to the Team Hannah website you will see the amount raised is moving steadily up, although there is still along way to go.   Its very uplifting to find out how many kind and caring people are out there.

I’ve been beavering away making Christmas decorations for the Pick’n’Mix Makers Market which is not far away now, and as part of my stall I have bought a Christmas Tree, which is …whisper it….up my studio with decorations on it!!!!!  In November!!! Very scary!  I’m not going to frighten you with pictures of the tree, but just a little peek…

Coming on nicely I think, and out on my walk this afternoon there was holly…

and ivy…

…so I’m really getting into the spirit of things!

Out in the garden, there are still a few brave plants doing their thing.  the Welsh Poppy…

…and these little blue flowers which normally flower in late Spring whose name escapes me for the moment…

…and the Eden rose.

This isn’t a rose I would really recommend as it has these spectacular heavy blooms on spindly weak stems so it’s very droopy, and the roses easily rot in wet weather.  but they do last for ages as a cut flower, and it’s trying awfully hard to do its stuff at the moment!

I also found this dear little bird feeder in our little market town this morning which I hope the birds will discover soon…

…and it cost £3!! I couldn’t believe it!

Well I’ve certainly exceeded my three reasons this week, and I haven’t even come to the one which cheered me up no end last night.  I won something!!  Such a surprise.  Wendy over on 1st Unique Gifts had a giveaway draw, and despite having 72 participants, I won one of Wendy’s brilliant clocks.  And it’s SO appropriate!

Isn’t it great!

So what are your Reasons to be Cheerful this week?  Can you share them so that if like me, someone is having fit of the winter glums we can visit your blog for a little happy moment.  Just add yourself to the Linky at the bottom of this post and then we can find you, and if you don’t have a blog do join in via the comments.  I love to hear from you…

I’ll leave you with another beautiful Winter Sky…

See you soon x


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