Montag, 4. Mai 2015

YOUR Personal Freeform CAL - "Week" 26

You need such a visual diary blanket as well?
It's really never to late to start it!
I will always post your pictures
on my page Dada Neon Crochet & add it to our CAL photo album!
No time pressure at all!
If you wanna join this freeform adventure you can find the first project here!

♥♥♥

I'm so blocked when I think about crocheting
the very last puzzle piece!
I have a fabulous idea (given by Sandy)
but I just CAN'T realize it!
So I'm really happy that Saskia
has given me another idea
for a puzzle piece...
Great to have some more time before
going on with the last one! ;-)
Can't say goodbye to this project yet!


It means so much to me
& I'm so happy about
the friendships it has made!

Isn't this amazing:
Lisbeth has crocheted this gorgeous monkey
& has sent it from Denmark to the USA!
A present for her CAL friend MariaElena!
(MariaElena/Malena has also sent lovely gifts
to Lisbeth & me!) 


I bet MariaElena & Greg
have lots of fun with their growing kindergarten!


I received a dreamcatcher &
a crocheted granny heart from MariaElena! ;-)


AND a wonderful scrumble for my CAL
with a beautiful handmade card from Saskia (MalleSas)!


It's so special to have something in your hands
crocheted by lovely friends.
The world is becoming smaller
& it's just amazing to have found
such great playfellows!

And I have to show you some newborn Nanas! :-)
Both are created by our CAL friend Nora
& really special!
On the left a flaming heart Nana
(I might have to borrow your idea, Nora!)
& on the right side
a Nana wearing the colour of Nora's motorcycle!
Nana-Power, yay!
(The free pattern is to find here!)


I'm also in progress with a new Nana!
My Facebook page will have it's
first anniversary on 7 May 2015
& there will be another giveaway Nana! :-)

♥♥♥

My greetings go to:
 Roberta,
Jodie,
Ulrike,
Gwenda,
Sandy (Sandy's Sundries),
 Alicia (Marcalic Eve)
Marina (Freeform Crochet World, Freeform Crochet World Group,
Snovej, The Snovej Circle, Snovej Crafts & Kal's of Maine),
 Anouk (Een steekje verder), the highness MariaElena,
 Lin (Crochet in Colour)
Shawn (Dragonbird Creations) Lisbeth,
Jane,
   Princess Saskia ("MalleSas"),
 Cilly, 
Michi (Knittenfee),
Brenda,
Enna (Mishook aka Strikkeliese & Mishook), Nancy (Needleful Things),
 Judy,
 Nora,
 Jacqui (Hooky Delights.),
Denise (Wickedcrochet),
Alex,
 Lindy,Anne,
Marijke,
Katherine,
Cathy,
Kerry (Silver Owl Promidi),
Shelly (or Shell!)
& Anoinette (Moonbrush Wood Studios)
Kathy,
Ilene,
Bj

 ...and: A new member of the CAL Club!
Christine Leconte has found her way to us!
She is a really inspiring freeform artist from France
& I'm so happy & proud she has joined us!

 Here is her puzzle piece number 1,
unique & colourful as all her makings:


And her beautiful hand project:


Welcome to our CAL, Christine!
I wish you a wonderful adventure!

But there are more progress pictures to present!

Bj has crocheted this amazing yarnpainting,
what a wonderful place to stay!


Some gorgeous puzzle pieces of Monique (Yemanja)
have arrived me, first her gorgeous childhood memory project:


Here is Monique's sunny days puzzle piece,
makes happy just to look at it!


...and: Her sensational CAL in progress! Just wow!


And our Antoinette (Moonbrush Wood Studios)!
It's such a pleasure to see your works!
Here you can see her wonderful heart project:


...her homage for Terry Pratchett,
what a piece of art!


And her favourite childhood toy:
Pencils, of course!


And what a tiny detail work for Antoinette's favourite movie:
Groundhog Day! Awesome!


...and just in time this beautiful foot has arrived me!


Thank you so much for presenting me your works,
means so much to me to see it grow!

 ♥♥♥

Our topic this week (haha!) is crocheting
our favourite symbol!
What a great idea of Saskia ("MalleSas")!
I'm attending a real interesting lecture about symbolism
in university at the moment
& actually I wasn't sure what my favourite symbol is
when Saskia gave me her inspiration!

I wanna start with her project
& her own words about it!
Saskia's favourite symbol in yarn:


And her words about this gorgeous crocheted symbol:
"My symbol is the pentagram, it is used by Pagans/witches. I own a lot of pagan books because I am interested in what pagans do. It is a nature religion, you can do what you want but don't harm anyone. I love this, everybody should live by that one rule, there would be peace on the world. :-) "

A beautiful work by a wonderful Lady!
Hugs to my good witch! ;-)

And now my symbol...
First I thought about the "ankh" symbol:


 It's an egyptian hieroglyphic character
& it has different meanings.
It can symbolize life, sun
& it has also inspired the sign for the goddess Venus.

But then I remembered another symbol
which is just perfect for a person like me...
And actually the "ankh" is integrated in it!
An anchor!


An anchor has also several meanings,
it stands for hope & home.
And it's one of the most
popular tattoo symbols ever...
Hope & home are wonderful meanings
but I love this symbol for another reason.

Because of a real special Lady!
She was born as a bavarian princess.
(Of course I'm also a bavarian princess
but she was officially royal!)
Some of you might have seen the Sissi trilogy movies
with Romy Schneider...

I honestly love this movies -
but I read lots of biographical books about the
Empress Elisabeth of Austria 
& her own poem book...
The movies don't show
all the fascinating shades of her personality.


She grew up as a wild nature child 
in the countryside
& married when she was 16.
To become a caged bird.
As a free mind she was suffering
because of the formal & structured life.
One of her daughters died early,
her other children were raised
very strict by her mother-in-law.

She escaped her golden cage
& has travelled the world -
she had problems with her lungs,
the best excuse for her journeys.
She was open-minded,
loved to learn languages
& meet other cultures.

And Sisi (she hated it when people called her "Sissi")
got a tattoo!!!
Her husband Franz Joseph I of Austria was shocked!
About the anchor on her shoulder!
Sisi didn't care.
For her the anchor represented
desire of freedom
& her love for the ocean 
& being on a ship.

The end of her life was so tragical.
An italian anarchist stabbed Sisi
 with a sharpened needle file.
He only knew she was royal.
I wonder if he would have done this to her
if he would have known what
a libertine, rebel & free soul she was. 
What a pretty, strong lady!


There would be many more stories to tell
but...here is my anchor!
For my soulsister Sisi
in loving memory:


Haha, I love it!
For the background I tried something funny:
Granny freeforming,
I just played around with granny stitches,
so much fun!
Who says they should be squared?


  PLEASE give me some more ideas!
I don't want to complete this CAL 
but I'm running out of ideas! :-(
And MalleSas,
THANK YOU for your support again, my princess!

♥♥♥

Stay awesome my princesses & princes,
 your friend Dada (or Julia)!!!

♥♥♥

Let me see your art in Marina's & Donna's Freeform Crochet World Group, on Dada Neon Crochet or Ravelry!

Mittwoch, 8. April 2015

Granny Square Mosaic Photo Tutorial - With Mosaically!

Since many years I often make mosaic collages as last minute presents -
you can find many free mosaic photo editors online.

The artist WorkByKnight (WBK)
makes stunning granny square mosaic pictures
is also recreating his pictures in yarn!
I can't show you a pic here because of the copyright
but have a look yourself! ;-)

I wanted to try it myself...

It's actually great because you can just
design your own patterns for blankets.

Haha, I could totally recreate myself in granny squares now!

I've used Mosaically.com for my test
& I thought I show you a short step-by-step tutorial...

1. You need LOTS of granny square pictures,
I've cutted out my granny squares with 
the free photo editor Picmonkey...
I just used the "square option" which is offered 
in the "Crop" section on the left side.
(On this screenshot you see part 2 of my 


2. Go to Mosaically.com!

3. Upload the photo you want to transform to a mosaic!
Click on "Step 2"!


4. Upload your granny square pics in "Step 2"!
(I've used 47 granny photos,
the more the better!)
Click on "Step 3"!


5. Play around with the
colour & the size
until you are satisfied!


6. Download it!
I've also added my signature
& increased the shadows in the pic for a better contrast...
Picmonkey.com is a real good free online editor! ;-)

Dada Neon Crochet Photo Mosaic Tutorial

7. Crochet your own mosaic blanket
or do whatever you want with this photo!

If you also make such a photo mosaic
or really crochet such a blanket
be free to show it to me on Dada Neon Crochet!

Freitag, 20. März 2015

YOUR Personal Freeform CAL! - "Week" 25

You need such a visual diary blanket as well?
It's really never to late to start it!
I will always post your pictures
on my page Dada Neon Crochet & add it to our CAL photo album!
No time pressure at all!
If you wanna join this freeform adventure you can find the first project here!

♥♥♥

 Finally I'm in a better condition,
I had a bad flu & I'm a bed person when I'm ill,
no way sitting on the desktop
but you are already used to wait for my blogposts I guess! ;-)

Something has made me sooo happy before!
My Nana Julia has arrived in the USA!
Nana Catgirl wasn't amused to have a look alike
& so I've sent her to MariaElena!


 She is in loving & caring hands now
& has such good company!
MariaElena & her prince Greg
two monkeybrothers
& Baby Flower Monkeygirl!

Just in case someone of you has missed her blogpost
about how to make a fabulous yarn bowl



I find it fantastic when creative persons
share their brilliant ideas
& my blog is always open for friends who wanna show their skills
but don't have their own blog!
So just tell me about your ideas!

Another wonderful guest blog has been published:
has offered us a fantastic tutorial
on Marina's Snovej page!
This just rocks
& I totally celebrate the friendship & support
you give each other!



And then I have to show my new yarnpainting
because it only exists because of his CAL!
The beautiful tree in the middle is crocheted with the
It was her tree project & I'm so happy she wrote down the pattern!
The stained glass around is freefomed.


A disaster has happened today!
I ran out of neon yarn
& it will take some time until I can get me new one.
Damn money!
Of course I still have kilos of other yarns
but without neon it's less fun!

But I also still have some plarn,
so I can go on with my huge Nana...


And yes! It's finally spring & I can crochet outside again!

On Monday I have a job interview,
next month I continue my studies & I need a part time job
to finance it...
Less time for the pages then
but sooo important for me to get into regular structures again!
So don't wonder when less Dada Neon action will go on...

♥♥♥

Soooo, now the hello to all my lovely members!
Much love to:
 Roberta,
Jodie,
Ulrike,
Gwenda,
Sandy (Sandy's Sundries),
 Alicia (Marcalic Eve)
Marina (Freeform Crochet World, Freeform Crochet World Group,
Snovej, The Snovej Circle, Snovej Crafts & Kal's of Maine),
 Anouk (Een steekje verder), the highness MariaElena,
 Lin (Crochet in Colour)
Shawn (Dragonbird Creations) Lisbeth,
Jane,
   Princess Saskia ("MalleSas"),
 Cilly, 
Michi (Knittenfee),
Brenda,
Enna (Mishook aka Strikkeliese & Mishook), Nancy (Needleful Things),
 Judy,
 Nora,
 Jacqui (Hooky Delights.),
Denise (Wickedcrochet),
Alex,
 Lindy,Anne,
Marijke,
Katherine,
Cathy,
Kerry (Silver Owl Promidi),
Shelly (or Shell!)
& Anoinette (Moonbrush Wood Studios)!
Kathy

And...new members, yay!!!

Ilene has started her adventure with this first gorgeous puzzle piece!
A real colourbomb, we can expect to see her CAL grow
bright & fabulous!


And we also have Bj in our team now!
Here we can see her hand project,
a wonderful work!


 I wish you lots of fun on this adventure!

But also some more other projects have been created:

Gwenda has crocheted her favourite fairy tale:
The red shoes!
It's also connected to her favourite book,
my current read:

Women who run with the wolves
by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés!


And another awesome fairy tale has been created:
Here we can see Saskia's ("MalleSas") favourite one,
"The lion & the mouse":


 Some more progress pics of Denise (Wickedcrochet)!
Such beautiful works,
first her gorgeous recreation:


Then her happy & friendly
"Sunny days" puzzle piece:


 And here her CAL in progress!!!
I love it!


 Haha & our Lisbeth has progressed again, too!
Her great friendship symbol:


Her happy Nana in the sun!
What a joyful picture!


 ...and also a CAL progress pic, yay!
Awesome!


Antoinette (Moonbrush Wood Studios) has also created 
wonderful & unique works again,
here we can see her house (with pond, yay!):


Her beautiful, beautiful eye project:


...and her favourite song:
Shining light by Ash!


And here we can see this fabulous tapestry work
by Monique (Yemanja),
it's her favourite poem!


And here we can see her favourite movie...
Hmmm, could it be...
Life of Pi, yay!!!
I think I'm right! ;-)


Thank you so much for presenting me your works,
means so much to me to see it grow!

 ♥♥♥

Sooo: Time to present our topic for "week" 25, haha!
 It's getting sooo hard to find new topics!
I've consulted Sandy & she had some really good ideas
but the one I wanna realize is really challenging,
so it needs more time
& will be the next puzzle piece.
And my last one to add to my blanket.
I wanna freeform a border
& with 2 more puzzle pieces
it has the perfect shape...
You can still give me ideas to realize
but maybe it's also time to
create the REAL personal puzzle pieces for yourself.
Things that only mean to you but wouldn't fit in a general topic.

Saskia has rescued me with an idea,
of course we need an artist signature
on our work: 
Our given or chosen names!
And I can present you more than one inspiration...

Gwenda did it months ago!
And what a brilliant way to do so!
I LOVE her name & this is so fantastic!
I don't know if she will use for her CAL
but she really could! 


 And here we have Saskia's version,
she has crocheted her artist name "MalleSas"
in such a special way!


And here you can see two more versions,
I've made a crochet version
based on a cross stitch generator
& I still have to freeform around it actually.
OR I totally make a new one.
Just wanted to show another option,
I think I will need a more crazier signature...
And Alex has also crocheted his
name in this psychedelic way! So cool!


Thank you so much for the inspirations
Gwenda & Saskia!


 Let it grow
& give me some ideas, haha!
I don't want to complete this CAL somehow... :-(

♥♥♥

Stay awesome my princesses & princes,
 your friend Dada (or Julia)!!!

♥♥♥

Let me see your art in Marina's & Donna's Freeform Crochet World Group, on Dada Neon Crochet or Ravelry!