Sharpin Designs Blog

2018 Holiday Baubles! (aka Christmas Ornaments)

11/4/2018

I had so much fun last year making crochet Christmas balls I decided to make some more this year. The problem? These are like potato chips - you cannot make just one!

The pattern is called "Christmas Bauble" and is designed by Carmen Heffernan. You can find the pattern here, and it's free!

Last year I made them in non-traditional colors, so this year I decided to stay to the typical color pallet. I also did not change colors every row, which I think gave it more of a snowflake appearance. These work up very quickly and make great last minute gifts for friends, teachers, neighbors, etc. I've also made them with different types of yarn and with 2.5" and 3" balls, and the pattern adapts well.

Maybe this will become a tradition? I will need another tree!

Happy Hookin!

Care'

Another Holiday Head

10/29/2018

I think I finally made one he likes? What do you think?

Happy Hookin!

Care'

Getting Ready for Halloween

10/21/2018

I love Halloween. I love dressing up for the day, decorating the house, seeing all the kids in their costumes and, of course, all the candy. Each year I make a piece of jewelry to go with my costume for the year. This year I knew I had to make this necklace when I saw it at the Heart of Texas Bead Retreat. Nora Pero was there and this is her design, called The Dark Side. She's also a polymer clay artist - I may have worn her out getting some amazing tips from her, but that's another story!

This design incorporates a bit of bead embroidery and a bit of beadweaving - the perfect combo. I did decide to do a RAW necklace instead of a metal chain, but other than that I followed directions (I know - unusual for me!).

I'm super happy with this, as well as how quickly it worked up. Nora's instructions were great and her polymer clay cab was perfect.

Happy Halloween my Spooky Friends!

Care'

Holiday Heads: More Hats

10/14/2018

Getting ready for my next show at St. Jude's in Allen the first weekended in November. The selfie station was such a hit with the birdbrain hats, I decided to work on some holiday-themed hats too. So far I have a Rudolph Hat and two colors of the Elf Hat. I may make a fourth if my idea works out . . .

In the meantime, here's some pics of what I have so far. If you are in the Allen, TX area, come by and see me and try one on!

Happy Hookin'!

Care'

Treasure Bracelet

10/8/2018

A few weekends ago I attended the Heart of Texas bead retreat. While the retreat has been going for a few years, this was my first time to go. I really wanted to take a class with Amy Katz, and it was awesome. In her class we worked on the Treasure Bracelet, pictured above. It was a lot of fun to make the different elements, and I can see how easy it would be to take the components and build a larger piece. The pearl components work up super fast, and I think a bracelet full of those would be gorgeous. HINT HINT if you are looking for something quick for holiday gifts.

Happy beading!

Care'

More Birdbrain Hats!

10/1/2018

I've been very busy trying to make my sketches come to life. I'm pleased with the results and I hope you are too!

First up is a new Birdbrain Toucan Hat. I think you can easily make him look more like a crow by keeping the beak a solid color.

Next up is a more "runner friendly" version of the Turkey hat. I call him "Turkey Trot." I received numerous orders for this one and have been busy with turkey hat production.

Patterns for both can be downloaded from this site, Etsy, Craftsy, and Ravelry.

I'm off to make some more turkey hats!

Happy hookin!

Care'

Bling Bling

9/24/2018

A girl has to have her bling!

In our Dallas Bead Society meeting this month we worked on a Bling Ring pattern (pictures below). I loved this so much I decided to make a bracelet. Several members of our group made bangles and I knew I had to have one. I love it and I plan to make a few more in other colors.

Happy beading!

Care'

Birdbrain Hats and Happy Fall Fest Show

9/16/2018

Wow! What a busy couple of weeks it has been! This weekend marked the beginning of show season for me and my partner in crime Ruthann. Last year we only did one craft show, but this year we are going for three. Between the two of us, plus my sweet mother-in-law, we have a TON of crochet and knitted goodies for sale.

Since I had so much inventory, I decided to focus on making crazy hats. The idea was to get people into the booth and have a great time. It was most definitely a success! Not only did we have non-stop traffic all day, we had a huge crowd of people stop by to take pictures. Our booth neighbor got into it as well and was encouraging people to try them on.

I ended up with several requests, one of which is from the local librarians (pictured above). They want a set of these for children's story time, and we may be collaborating on other characters. So fun!

The patterns for all four of the birdbrain hats (Turkey, Chicken, Peacock, Flamingo) are all available on this site, Etsy, Ravelry, and Craftsy. I have a couple more in the works and will publish those soon.

Here are some pictures of the hats being modeled. Enjoy!

Happy Hooking!

Care'

Summer CAL (Crochet Along)

9/9/2018

I love joining in on BALs (Bead Alongs), CALs (Crochet Alongs) and KALs (Knit Alongs) from time to time. Sometimes it's nice to just focus on the process and the stitches without knowledge of what lies ahead. Other times you know what you are making from the beginning, and that's fun too because you see the progress of everyone that is working on the project at the same time.

When I saw this CAL offered by The Crochet Crowd, I knew I had to jump in. I love textures so I was excited to see multiple stitches come together in one piece. Also, the way the pattern changes keeps it from getting boring.

I decided to go for something really bright as I tend to gravitate to more neutral colors. I also used this as an opportunity to knock a dent in my very health yarn stash.

I am pleased with how it turned out, and now I can add one more blanket to my list for this year.

If you'd like to make your own, the pattern can be found here. Also, you'll see the gallery of all the other variations of this great pattern.

Happy Hooking!

Care'

Did Someone Call a Cab?

9/2/2018

Yep. You guessed it. I've been playing with the clay again. This time I decided to make some cabs. As most of you know, I tend to go overboard when I decide to play. Here are some pics of my experiments.

I have no clue yet what I will do with these. For now I will enjoy looking at them.

Happy Claying!

Caré