Scheepjes Christmas Blog Hop - Christmas Baubles!

Welcome the my contribution to this wonderful blog hop :-)

Ok so let's start off with a little recap on the beautiful projects we've seen so far!

Sarah from Crafts from the Cwtch started the blog hop with this stunning Knitted Star Motif

Next we visited Kirsten from Haak Maar Raak for a tutorial on making an extremely cute Reindeer Mug Cozy (including fluffy butt....oh you can't beat a fluffy butt!!!)

 

Then off to see Jellina from Jellina-Creations where we were treated to a gorgeous Christmas Tree Garland tutorial.

The following day we were off to visit Atty's blog for a lesson on making some bright and cheerful Christmas Coasters.

Yesterday we popped over to visit Nerissa at Miss Neriss where we were treated to a fabulous tutorial on making a Christmas Wreath.

And that nicely leads us to today!

As this weekend is traditionally the most popular weekend for decorating our Christmas trees I thought it would be cool to make some baubles. Something special that can be used year after year.

Ready to get started? Ok, let us begin!

You will need....

Yarn of choice. This can be small amounts of leftovers so great for stash busting! I've used Scheepjes Cotton 8 in white (502) and pale blue (652)

Crochet hook (mine is 3mm)

Scissors

Bodkin or darning needle

Needle and thread (if you are adding seed beads you need to make sure that your needle will go through the bead!)

Co-ordinating Buttons

Seed Beads (mine were by Gutermann in colour:1005)

Stuffing

Small lengths of ribbon to hang your bauble

The first step is to make your crochet bauble. There are lots of different free sphere patterns out there on the internet. I found this lovely one. Not only has it got a free PDF download, it also gives you lots and lots of size options. So basically you can make whatever sized bauble that will suit your tree :-)

A word of advice!!!!

When starting on the decrease rows, sometimes you can be left with fairly noticeable holes.

Lalylala has a lovely video tutorial on making an invisible decrease. Give it a go! It really does work!

I would advise starting to stuff your bauble once you've done the first couple of decrease rows. Leaving it to the end will be very tricky and may even cause you to utter some very bad words!!!

Stuff as you hook the decrease rows. That should be your mantra ;-) And remember to stuff firmly. There is nothing worse than a badly stuffed bauble!

Ok, well yes there is....but let's not go there :-)

So now you have your finished bauble :-)

Yes it's fiddly, but isn't it worth it????

This is 14 row sphere. I also made 18 and 22 row ones to decorate.

Basically you can decorate your bauble however you wish :-)

I chose to use buttons on one and seed beads on the other....because I'm a glutton for punishment!

Drag out your button box and choose some buttons that will work with your colour scheme and begin sewing them on. This is a nice activity to do while watching TV. 

I evenly spaced out the buttons I was sewing and didn't worry about it being too uniform. I wanted a rustic appearance hence the different sizes and shapes. I finished by attaching a ribbon.

The seed bead bauble was made by sewing the beads in every little hole made by a double crochet stitch. 

This may sound like a whole heap of sewing but actually, it was very quick! I finished the bauble in about 2 hours whilst watching TV. I love the effect the beads give!

So there you go! Two different baubles to hang on your tree this year and for years to come! You can alter the colours to suit your colour scheme :-)

I suppose I should really put my tree up this weekend to display them!!!

I hope you've enjoyed my little bauble project. Don't forget to pop over and visit Tammy at Canadutch tomorrow! I can't wait to see what she has in store for us. When am I going to find the time to make all of these wonderful projects????

Tomorrow I shall try to explain my prolonged absence from blogland and update on a couple of projects. See you then!

I'm Back!!!!

Blimey!!! Can someone please explain where on earth the last 2 months have gone? I seem to have totally mislaid December and January!
Well, to be fair, it's been a little hectic round these parts. Work has taken over most of that time but gladly, things seem to be settling down. I say that with bated breath. It rarely happens!

So what's been happening since I last managed to squeeze a blog post into my busy life?
Well...I had a lovely break in Holland. Wow! That seems like a lifetime ago. It was early December. I really really needed a break as I was exhausted. I love my Holland visits. Time to totally relax and recharge the batteries.

Check out that sunset in the clouds....it was totally breathtaking and made me feel quite giddy...

Or maybe that was the wine ;-) My flight was delayed on account of the very high winds in Europe. Well what's a girl to do when delayed....duty free shopping, choke on a blueberry muffin (don't even go there!!!) and have a glass of wine after said traumatic choking episode.

 

We took in a Christmas Market... the donkey totally stole the show! He was a little feisty!!!

The rest of the nativity scene were a little cautious of the diva donkey!

There was freshly baked bread. Oh. My. God. The smell of this stall was totally amazing! No wonder they were overwhelmed. The raisin bread was the nicest I've ever tasted. Delicious.

The market was packed to the rafters. There were out of control fire pits at every corner. The smells were amazing. We had hot chocolate/mulled wine. There was even an ice rink! 

I didn't have any real plans for this holiday other than to relax. I did exactly that! Oh and I had my very first spinning lesson! I've wanted to learn to spin for ages. My friend had a lesson booked while we were there, and thankfully the teacher happened to speak very good english so I booked a beginners lesson! 

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Check out the concentration on my face!!!! I'm not known for my fantastic co-ordination! She was the most patient teacher ever! The picture doesn't include the fabulous log burner that warmed the barn. Oh that place is heavenly. The smell was quite something. Wool fibres have a delicious smell! We spent a very happy couple of hours there before heading off into town then lunch and of course shopping!

I managed to amass a huge amount of Christmas decorations while over there. The dutch do Christmas really well and there are no end of gorgeous bargains to be had. And as per usual, it didn't fit in the suitcase! The packing morning was the most stressful yet! No way was this fitting in the case. Cue hand luggage! Anyways we managed. Thank god for KLM hand luggage allowance. Christmas was duly transported home!

Gorgeous tree decorations.

Pretty tea lights.

Love my newly purchased ceramic house.

Cute little Christmas Tree.

The Christmas hanger.

Christmas came and went. It was lovely. A few days off work. Some down time. Lots of time to relax and sound time with family and friends. Happy days.

Best Christmas present ever????

Meet Mabel! My very own Louet S10. It came in the biggest box ever and I've never seen so many polystyrene chips!!! I love her. 

I've been practising. I think it's safe to say I'm not a natural. But I'm getting better. Luckily, Whitley Bay has a spinning group! Who'd have thought! It would seem that spinning isn't that obscure after all!

Apart from spinning, I've been very busy on the hooky front too. Lots of projects to share. I think 2014 is going to be very productive!

Til next time

Mx