GUEST BLOG: Seaside Inspiration

Time for another guest blog! Read on to find out how a trip to the beach inspired a crochet masterpiece...

 With half term coming up and summer just around the corner you could try to create your own crafty project to remind you of fun times with family and friends!

Hi Everyone, this is Hannah here from Happy Smiley Crafts. Thanks so much Lucy for asking me to feature as one of your guest bloggers.

For those of you that don’t know me I’m a self-confessed crochet addict, so naturally my favourite Stationery Geek product is the Crochet Project Bible and I use it for all my projects.

I love stationery so I enjoy using all my different pens and pencils to write and draw in my project bible.

This week I have been using my Crochet Project Bible to plan a Summer inspired project. Apparently Summer is on it’s way, although down here in Devon we have had snow! I did however spend a couple of sunny days with my sister in Cornwall.

We had a beautiful day out in Newquay at Watergate Bay, an amazing and enormous beach. My nephew Sebby had a great time kicking his football about and paddling in the rock pools. Mabel, my sister’s crazy border collie, loved swimming in the sea and chasing after her tennis ball.

There were plenty of photo opportunities throughout the day and I especially love this one that we took from the cliffs above the beach.

There were so many lovely colours I thought it would make a great crochet wall hanging. With a decision made on what I wanted to make how was I going to plan such a unique project? My Crochet Project Bible to the rescue!

The project bible is split into two pages for each project. One where you can write everything down and that means everything! Pattern name, yarn types, hook size, start and finish dates and even a space for yarn samples. The next page is squared paper, ideal for drawing your projects.

I used my photo as a reference and drew out a square. I was then able to split it into the different coloured sections of the picture. I have chosen to use StyleCraft Cotton Classique for this project, in various colours, which I could write down and colour code! (Out came the coloured pencils!)

I decided upon a ripple design for this project. I thought this pattern worked well as the waves of the sea. I have used Attic 24’s neat ripple pattern which can be found on the Attic 24 blog.

When working the sand part of the design I used a sparkly Rico crochet cotton alongside the Stylecraft cotton and I’m really pleased with the result.

At the beach we found lots of different shaped and coloured shells and pebbles. There were some beautiful purple coloured rocks and I wanted to use this colour in the design.

I decided to make some different shell motifs using Stylecraft Cotton Classique and Rico Essentials DK Cotton, to embellish the sand part of the design.

I liked this idea so much I decided the do a bit more. On the grassy cliff tops there was lots of lovely yellow gorse so I thought a few yellow flowers would represent this.

Then to balance out the whole design I embroidered a few seagulls in the sky.

One complete beach inspired crochet wall hanging.

This project was made so much easier with the help of My Crochet Project Bible and it’s a great tool to look back on. It shows me how much I achieve of the months and if I really like a project I am able to recreate them. It also means if I start a project and don’t finish (It happens a lot!) I can look back and know what I should be doing instead of guessing and using the wrong pattern or hook, then have to start again!

If you are a crocheter you really need one of these books in your life, or if you’re a knitter you can have Knitting Project Bible, give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.

If you like what you have seen of my work you can check me out at,

 Instagram as @happysmileycrafts

Facebook as Happy Smiley Crafts

Twitter @hs_crafts

Or follow my blog at happysmileycrafts.blogpot.com

Thanks again Stationery Geek and thank you everyone that takes the time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it!

Hannah x