By the Cute and Girly mid month reminder and Free Star Crochet Pattern

Hi,
Just popping by to remind everyone that BTC&G's "Twinkle, twinkle little star" challenge runs until the end of the month.  Details, rules, prizes and inspiration here.
Your entry must include a star or be based on a Nursery Rhyme, ok?
All crafts are acceptable so my mid-month make is a crochet star suitable for a Christmas decoration or for giving to anyone who is a star in your life....

Here is my Star pattern.
I am using European crochet terms (not US)
Picot is made by making 3 chains and slip stitching to 1st of the 3 chains (making a small loop on top of a stitch)
I used a 3.50mm crochet hook, cotton double knitting yarn and a curtain ring approx 2" diameter.
Tie the yarn on to your ring.
Make 50 double crochet stitches around the ring and join with a slip stitch to the 1st double crochet.
Make 1 chain, work* 1 double crochet into 1st stitch
Work 1 half treble into next stitch,
Work a treble crochet into next stitch
Work 1 double treble crochet into next stitch
Work 1   "            "          "         "      "        "
Work 1 treble treble crochet, a picot, and 1 treble treble crochet into next stitch
Work 1 double treble into next stitch
Work 1    "           "       "       "       "
Work 1 treble into next stitch
Work 1 half treble into next stitch
You have now made one point of the star
Repeat from * 4 times and join to 1st stitch with a slip stitch
Decorate with bells, pom-poms, bows....and don't forget a loop for hanging!
Any problems just leave a comment and I will try to help you.
Ger x

Twinkle, Twinkle little star - By the Cute and Girly November Challenge

This month at By the Cute and Girly we are asking you to make a project using stars or inspired by a nursery rhyme.  This months sponsor is Crafts and Me and here is my star-studded card made using two of their digis, Irish Christmas and Christmas embellishment (the surrounding circle with the holly).

As usual we have some great prizes from our regular sponsors, Simon Says Stamp ( $20 gift certificate) and Joanna Sheen ( £10 gift certificate) while Crafts and Me have donated 3 digital images.

So why not get cracking and craft up some starry makes?   They dont have to be Christmas themed, just contain a star or stars.

For more details of this challenge and to see the DT's inspirational project please see HERE

Ger x

Time for BTC&G's Birthday Blog Hop!

Welcome to By The Cute and Girly's 3rd Birthday blog hop celebration!
If you have come here from Tammy's blog then you are on the right track, if not, you need to start from the beginning at Lora's blog.
The design team have all been busy making something to celebrate our 3rd birthday and we would love for you to visit us all to see what we made.

The blog hop rules are very simple, all you have to do is visit each of the design team members blogs and leave a comment on each one, then finish up at our challenge blog and leave a comment there to let us know you have finished the hop.

Your name will then be put in a draw to win one of the blog hop prizes.

If you also enter our challenge this month, you will also be put in the draw to win one of challenge prizes.

You have the whole month to enter and you can enter the challenge as much times as you like, as long as each entry is a different craft eg: 1 card, 1 scrap page, 1 altered item, 1 knitted item etc.

And as always, you can enter with any craft you like, from paper craft to baking and everything in between. If you made it yourself then you can enter is, it's as easy as that :)


The theme is "Birthdays" so it's a nice easy challenge and we have lots of prizes up for grabs from some great sponsors! Please check out the challenge blog to see all the prizes we have to give away!
Each design team member is featuring a different sponsor today, so you will see images or other products from a different sponsor being used on each of the dt blogs. We also have other sponsors on the challenge blog, so there really are lots of prizes to be won :)

The sponsor I am featuring is Pink Gem  and I have used their Keep Calm and Eat Cake digi to make a birthday card suitable for anyone who dreads birthdays and getting older.  Also tried to keep a Pink theme going ie cute/girly and pink with some gems!

I used the Sizzix Framelits Fancy tags die to cut out the image and an overlay of pink vellum.  Background is embossed with Divine Swirls folder and edging is made with EK punch.  Ribbon is from local craft shop and the flowers are made with Memory Box Honeysuckle spray die.

The next stop is Uta's blog.
Remember to leave a comment on this post and on all the other design team members blog hop posts for a chance to win one of the prizes. Then leave a comment on the challenge blog post to let us know you are finished the hop and your name will go into the prize draw.
Here's a list of the blog hop order in case you loose your way.
                                                    Lora

                                                   Celine

                                                    Aideen

                                                    Tammy

                                                    Geraldine

                                                    Uta

                                                    Carol

                                                    Brigitte

                                                     Kate

And finally, there are 2 Little Snippets selection boxes on the list of lovely prizes!  You can visit Little snippets etsy shop to see more lace and crocheted lovelies...

Good Luck and Happy Blog Hopping!
Ger x

Another Pink Gem card and Blog hop Reminder

Back again to remind everyone of By the Cute and Girly's Birthday Blog hop.  Details of prizes, rules and DT creations can be found HERE
I was lucky to get two images from my sponsor Pink Gem Designs and here is the card I made with their Steampunk Owl digi:

I used Bo Bunny Timepiece papers on Kraft cardstock, TH sprockets and gears die, a stick pin decorated with beads and wire and two metal bead caps that I hammered flat and filled their "petals" with black Stickles.  The grey/silver centres are Papermania Dewdrops (used them on owl's hat also).  The sentiment is machine embroidered on calico.  I have discovered how to do wonky writing on the emb machine so beware of wonky sentiments on everything!
Yes, it seems that I have had to make a lot of men's cards this year - this card was for OH's 60th birthday last week.  It would be lovely to sit down and make pretty pretty cards and stuff but life is not all lace 'n feathers.
Apologies for not blogging much recently.  I have been sick on and off for the last 2 weeks and can barely crawl at the mo...have had to shut down my Etsy shop for the time being....only doing this post 'cause I have to lol!
Finally, please don't forget to enter the BTC&G Birthday Blog Hop - there are 15 fantastic prizes to be won (including selection boxes of goodies from my Etsy shop!)
Ger x

BTC&G Male Challenge Reminder

Back with my mid month make to remind everyone that there is a forthnight left to enter By the Cute and Girly's Men/Boys challenge.  Details of rules and prizes here
While we were beachcombing in Donegal I found the end of an old tobacco tin with the government health warning on it.
So I decided to make a present suitable for a man, maybe especially a man who smokes!


If you look closely you can see the word "bás"  which is the Irish for Death so I suppose thats the Smoking kills bit!

The background is an old IKEA mirror frame that I painted with pald yellow and orangey gold to get a rusty effect.  Then I glued the tobacco tin end over the mirror.
Who says Men are difficult to buy/make presents for? lol!
TFL and remember BTC&G is an all crafts challenge not just for cardmakers so go on - spoil some man you know with a crafty make! 
Ger x

Result of Draw for Crochet Brooches

Sorry for the delay in drawing the winners but OH arranged a surprise trip to Donegal for a few days and everything has slipped backwards.   Anyway here are the results!!!!

The Winner of the Brooch, drawn from blog comments, is BABE!!!  Big Congrats!!  I have emailed you for your address.

Winners of Blog + FaceBook comments are CraftsbySabrinaBowden and NannyMaggie.  Sabrina and Maggie were the only people who left comments on blog + FB so they get a brooch each.   Congratulations ladies and well wear!  Will contact ye via FB.

Finally the winner of the FaceBook brooch is Lia, Congratulations!  Think I have your address already!

Thank you to everybody who took the time to enter and who knows there might be another Giveaway sooner or later!

Ger x

Men/Boys challenge at By the Cute and Girly

Hi Everybody,
This  month our DT boss, Lora, has chosen Men/Boys as our challenge theme.
                                       Boys/Men

Make something for a boy/man or use a male image on your creation.Remember you can make anything you like, from a card to knitting and anything in between.

As always we have some great prizes up for grabs

Prize 1: $20 gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp 

Prize 2: £10 gift certificate from Joanna Sheen

Prize 3: $20 Gift Certificate from Fred She Said who has given the design team some fabulous images to use.  Please pop over to the challenge blog to see their creations and get some inspiration.

Well, I have been drifting away from card-making lately so I decided to alter a plain note book for OH to use at his Italian evening classes.  This is his 3rd year doing these classes so he should be at the stage of writing a bit down!

First I decided on a Red/White/Green colour scheme (the Italian Flag) and replaced the girly pink ribbon bookmark with some green ribbon with a white stripe.  Then I covered the back, front and inside covers with red paper.

 Front cover edged with Basic Grey "Out of Print" paper, Hero Arts stamp "Italy background" and various Prima frame stamps.

 Inside of front cover using  a Prima notelet with MENU stamped on it, more little framed words made with Prima stamps and the Trattoria image is cut out of the brochure from the local Italian restaurant.

Scooter is a Kanban stamp mounted on another Prima notelet to decorate inside of back cover (these little packs of notelets are very useful!)

Back of notebook is decorated with more Out of Print paper, a La Blanche stamp with what I hope is Italian writing and a Hero Arts border stamp.
Anyway, OH was delighted with it and as it is our wedding anniversary on 1st September that is my present to him.
So why not make the Man/Boy in your own life a little surprise present and enter it in our Challenge?   Details HERE
Happy Crafting
Ger x