Sassy Crochet Flower Pin

Working at Spark Craft Studios I have to occasional design new classes and events. I was recently asked to come up with a Crochet Wine and Craft project and developed this gorgeous flower pin.



Ingredients:
11 yards Manos del Uruguay in Flame (flower)
Five yards Worsted Lambs Pride in Kiwi (leaves)
Crochet Hook - Size G
One pin back
One decorative bead for flower center
Coordinating embroidery floss or thread to attach components
Hot glue gun (optional)

Flower Pattern:
ch 5 and join with sl st to form ring.
Rnd 1 – make 10 sc in ring. Join with sl st.
Rnd 2 - Working in front loop only of ea sc in previous rnd, ch 8, sl st to same sc. *Ch 8, sl st to next sc. Repeat from * to end of rnd. Join last ch 8 loop to first with sl st. (11loops)
Rnd 3 - Sl st to back loop of sc *ch 3, skip 1 sc, sl st in back loop of next sc. Repeat from * four more times
Rnd 4 – *Sl st into next ch-3 space (1 sc, 1 hdc, 1 dc, 3 tr, 1 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc ) in same ch-3 space. Repeat from * four more times. Sl st to first sl st. Fasten off.

Leaf Pattern:
ch 12
Row 1 - *Sl st in 3rd ch from hook, sc in next st, hdc in next 2 sts, dc in next 3 sts, hdc in next 2 sts, sc in next st, sl st in last st. Rotate work to crochet down opposite side of foundation chain.
Row 2 – Sl st in first ch, sc in next, hdc in next 2, dc in next 3, hdc in next 2, sc in next, sl st in last ch

Do NOT fasten off. Continue to make second leaf. Ch 12, turn. Follow directions for first leaf.

Finishing:
Weave in ends. Attach flower to leaves with a few tacking stitches, keeping the leaves evenly arranged behind the flower. Attach decorative bead to center of flower, working through all layers of flower and leaves and pin back. Hot glue gun threads around pin back for extra strong attachment.

Setting Sail with PMC

Monday, Marissa O'Brien, a visiting expert/creativity consultant at Spark Craft Studios gave us a free PMC basics class. I am totally hooked.

PMC is Precious Metal Clay, it consists of microscopic particles of silver or gold suspended in an organic binder to create a pliable material with a consistency similar to modeling clay. After firing, what remains can be hallmarked as .999 silver or gold.

I made these great earrings. The back disk is imprinted with a Japanese wave design, the front with a starfish. I burnished them and hammered them into dome shapes. I then put a patina on them with liver of sulfur to highlight the grooves and burnished them again to shine up the raised parts of the designs.

I am soooo pleased with myself and the other pieces that I made. I think that I just formed a new and expensive habit.

Stamp Kissing

I recently took an Amuse Stamp card making class. Spark Craft Studio offers these classes for every holiday, we made the cutest Valentines day cards. I love taking these classes! The instructor Renee is awesome and the designs are unbelievably creative. For some reason I just have a hard time being creative with papercraft stuff so classes like this really inspire me.

Renee taught a new technique called stamp kissing. Its really easy and comes out beautifully. Take a solid stamp, one without a lot of detail, stamp it with pigment ink. Then take a patterned stamp and stamp it into the solid stamp. The patterned stamp removes ink from the solid stamp and you are left with the negative of your pattern on your solid stamp. Then take the kissed solid stamp and stamp onto cardstock.

I got so excited by all the ideas I garnered from stamping class that I just had to share them with my Mom and Grammie. So, I made up three card designs: one with the stamp kissing technique, one using polymer clay fruit that we made after Thanksgiving, and one that had a bunny butt stamp that I had been dying to use.

We had a ball! Here are Mom and Grammie in action!