Valentine crochet coasters

Are you ready for your Valentine crafts? If you love to crochet these lovely coasters from Adina (daisiescrochet) are a great idea for you!

Heart shaped Coasters.

Skill Level: Easy

SIZE: 3 ½” x 3 ¾” (9 x 10)

CROCHET HOOK
I – 5.5 mm crochet hook or size to obtain correct gauge.

ABBREVIATIONS
ch – chain
sl st – slip stitch
beg – beginning
sc – single crochet
hdc – half double crochet
dc – double crochet

MATERIALS
For 1 coaster needs: 10yds Sugar and Cream Cotton (120yd/109m – 2.5oz/70.9g) Worsted /4ply or any other blend of similar yardage yarn.

Visit my blog to learn how to crochet dc decrease and more.
daisiescrochet.blogspot.com/

NOTE: The hearts is worked in rounds.

Start ch3, join with sl st in first ch to form a ring.

Rnd 1: ch1, work 11sc in ring, join with sl st to beg ch1.
Rnd 2: Ch1, sc and hdc in 1st ct, 2dc in next 4 cts, 5dc in next st, 2dc in next 4 sts, hdc and sc in last st, join with sl st to beg ch1.
Rnd 3: Ch1, st in next 2 sts, sc and hdc in next st, 2dc in next 3 sts, dc in next 5 sts, 5dc in next st, dc in next 5 sts, 2 dc in next 3 sts, hdc and sc in next st, st in last 2 sts, join with sl st to beg ch1.

Edging:
Take contrast yarn.
Join yarn with sl st in first st. Sc in all sts around.
Fasten off.

Happy Crocheting!!

All rights to this pattern are owned by Daisies Crochet.

Please, no resale, copy, forward or distribution of this pattern allowed, and no resale of items made using this pattern is allowed. This is for personal use only. Thank you for understanding.

Mothers Day Contest results

The wonderful Mother's day is approaching and Russian Artists team came up with a cool gift for all of you our dear readers, fans and followers. Why to spend hours looking for a perfect present for your mom? We already did the search for you. Russian Artists team just had a Mother's day gift contest with a large selection of astonishing and beautiful hand made gift ideas for your loved ones. You don't have to search any longer. Just go to Russian Artists Facebook Page where all great gift ideas are already pre-selected for you.

Each Russian Artists team shop could submit one item to the Mother's day contest. Our friendly challenge turned out to be a huge success with 78 team shops suggesting gift ideas for our moms. All of the entries are outstanding, crafted with great care and absolutely unique. The access to the voting page is public so everyone was welcome to cast his or her vote. With so many beautiful items to choose from it was tremendously difficult to make a choice!

Nevertheless three items that received the highest number of “likes” are as follows:

1. Hand crocheted freeform scarf by Allmadewithlove


2. Stained Glass Panel by FleetingStillness


3. OOAK Angel "Saveliy" by timBelinskas


To give you an idea of how many amazing and beautiful items were actually submitted to the contest we decided to feature three more art pieces created by Russian Artists team members. These items were among the most "liked" ones.

Venice, Bridge - Print of Original Artwork by Yury Tarler


OOAK Suede Tote in Coral by FineEmbroidery


White dreamy tulips blank note card by IrinaPhotography


Thank you so much to all of our wonderful and amazing Russian Artists team shops and to everyone who took time to vote and to tell the world about our special Mother's Day team contest!

Free digital collage with Valentine's day images

Happy Valentine's day!

This day, we'd like to share one more free digital collage from Irina (GraphicLand shop). These great square images will be perfect for glass tiles, scrapbooking, scrabble tiles, bookmarks and so on. Look, what the gorgeous glass tile pendant can be made with one of the graphics :)


The collage sheet is 4x6 inches (10x15 cm) and 300 dpi. You can print as many as you need on your home printer. For better results, we'd recommend on laser printer. You can download the free clip art there.
Please leave a comment if the link doesn't work. We'll fix it. And don't forget to come back and download the digital collage :)

Please keep in mind that the collage sheet can not be sold as digital collage sheet.

Felted heart brooch tutorial

This great heart shaped brooch is fun to make with easy to follow instructions and colorful photographs by Tanya (soroka)

To make a heart like this you'll need:
natural undyed wool batt
red wool batt
felt needle #46, #48
foam sponge or a special brush for felting
Pin back

Make a middle part of your heart:

Take a fist size amount of natural undyed wool and form a triangle. Poke through the wool evenly with needle #46. The special notches on the tip of the needle will engage the fibers and push them deep into the product. Make sure that needle passed through the whole piece of wool. Use the foam sponge as a working surface to protect your fingers from the wounds.

Make a top of your heart:

Take 2 small pieces of undyed wool, about 1/4 of initial volume and roll them into beads. Leave the end of each bead unfelted:

Attach one bead with unfelted end to the left side of your triangle. Gently needle bead to the base to connect them. Repeat with the right side.

When the whole piece is holding together well and resembling a heart needle all over the piece to secure the fibers on the surface.

Continue working all over the heart shaped base until it will reduced in size and become firm. At this point you will not be able to stick a needle in it anymore.

Take a look at your heart. It should be firm with smooth surface. If you see some small unperfections simply add some more wool to the spot and needle it to the base.

Cover the base evenly with thick layer (about 1/2") of red wool and slightly needle it with needle #48.

When all fiber is attached start needle felt it all over until the surface of the heart is evenly coated and very smooth. Do not needle through your piece. Add some more of red wool fiber if needed. Continue needle felt until you are happy with the results.

Your heart is ready. If you like it like it is it's time to attach pin back and enjoy your new brooch.

If you'd like to proceed and try a wet felting technique you can wet your heart with warm water and soap and gently rub with your fingers. At this point you can also shape it some more. Rinse it with clean water, gently squeeze the excess of liquid and let it dry overnight or until dry.

If you like you can embellish your new heart with embroidery, beads or bows. Sew the brooch pin on the back and enjoy your new brooch!

If you like this brooch but not into felting you can purchase the one like this from Tanya's shop! Please visit her shop today to see the wonderful selection of her felted items!

Tutorial by Tanya (soroka)

Translated by Tanya (Socksandmittens)

The Heart is going to it's new owner! Our Valentines giveaway results

The time is up to choose the winner of our Valentines giveaway, this lovely felted heart brooch made by Tanya (soroka)

... and the winner of this giveaway is Ligata: Tanya made a table and give a number to each participant, then she used a random.org generator to pick the winner.

Ligata's comment #26 was chosen as a lucky one and now Tanya will contact her to verify her shipping address!

Congrats to the Ligata and thank you for participation, everyone!

Our new giveaway, Valentine's felt brooch "The Heart"!

A Valentine Day is almost here and it is time to think of gifts for your loved ones! Here is the chance to get this magnificent felted brooch shaped as a heart for free!


Tanya (Soroka), a talented designer from Moscow, Russia and a member of our group is hosting this giveaway today. She has been creating wonderful felted goods for several years now, here is just a few:



So if you like this brooch and would like to give it to your loved one on Valentine Day please join our giveaway! Just follow the simple rules:

1. Visit Tanya's shop, browse her collection and leave a comment here on what you like the best (1 entry)

2. Heart Tanya's shop (1 entry)

3. Follow/ subscribe our blog (1 entry)

4. Grab our button and place it on your blog (1 entry)

5. Follow / subscribe Tanya's twitter / facebook / blog (1 entry each)

6. Share this giveaway on twitter / facebook / your blog (2 entries)

Please leave a separate comment on each entry and don't forget to LEAVE US YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS so that we could contact you!

~ You can find Tanya's creations at her Etsy shop ~
~ Visit her blog and become a fan! ~
~ Follow her on Twitter! ~
~ Become a friend on a Facebook! ~

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001104583044
http://twitter.com/#!/zara_bezbazara
http://zarabezbazara.blogspot.com/

This giveaway will run from January 15 through the 24th, and the lucky winner will be announced on January 25th, 2011.

Good luck!

Wonderful things Wednesday - Holiday gift guide: gifts under $20

Every year we have a Holiday gift exchange between our friends. We are pretty fluent in what we are going to buy as a gift but we have our limits: all our gifts are supposed to be under $20!

If you are trying to find the perfect gift within a budget here is the solution: shop online at Etsy! It is easy, convenient and you don't have to spent hours to find something great and wonderful which will fit your budget!

To prove that great gifts don't have to be expensive and they can be cool without breaking your piggy bank please check our collection!


1. White Christmas/ Fabric rosette statement ring by StudioElenus
2. Sterling silver handstamped Zodiac earrings by BlueberryCream
3. Organic Strawberry Facial Scrub Sample Size Natural and eco-friendly no soap vegan cleanser great for acne by Herbolution
4. Knit felted purse cellphone holder by Allmadewithlove



1. White felted wool acorns set of 5 by CityCrochet
2. Deep red flower brooch by Cushyadornments
3. Snowy Owl Necklace Polymer Clay Medallion by ArtHarmony
4. Winter House Clay Ring by Smafactory


1. Cordoba tile patchwork pot holder by RizalaYa
2. Felted flower brooch by Galafilc
3. Ornament - red hearts by AleksandraRoo
4. BLUE gamma striped felt bracelet by Soroka