I am BAAACKKKKK! updaten and GIVEAWAY.

Hey there all of you!

I am back. Finally!I started listing new items to my shop last friday and will add more in the following weeks.
So besides crochet patterns, I am now selling stationary featuring my foster cats. I am really excited about it and I hope you like it as much as I do.

The cards are the first in line but I am planning on other things. 

And as you know I still sell crochet patterns. I have listed the ones I loved most in my etsy shop and I have added a new one.

His name is Yawn the Yeti!

He is cute right? He is for sale in my etsy shop and is available through instant download! Yes, I have decided to try this new option etsy is offering.

So because I am back and I would love to celebrate this with you I have decided to host a giveaway!!!!

What to win?

I will be giving away two yawn the yeti crochet patterns.

How?

Go to my facebook page and hit like on my giveaway post (one entry)

or

Share my giveaway post on facebook (one entry)

or

Leave a comment here (one entry)

or 

do all of the above for the biggest change to win!

The giveaway will be closed on Friday (6th of september).

Good luck to you all!!!

crochet amigurumi tutorials

I really wanted to make some crochet tutorials for a long time, and I finally found the time to do so.
This is part one:

New pattern: Cherry love

My new pattern: Cherry love is just in time for valentine. It is a perfect pattern if you are just starting amigurumi or if you need something to crochet a last minute present!
Now for sale in my etsy shop!

Humpty Dumpty egg cozy: NEW PATTERN!

Finally it´s finished, my new pattern!!!!!
I really wanted to make another pattern from alice in wonderland, but I could not decide. But with the beginning of the new year, new ideas came! So here he is:

Humpty Dumpty egg cozy

The patterns is now for sale in my etsy shop!

Halloween Pattern

Let me introduce to you: Amy the little witch!

I did not plan on a new halloween pattern this year, but hey, what can I say? I just LOVE halloween!

The pattern of this little witch with her monster friend is now available in my etsy and ravelry shops!

September Challenge!!!!!!

Some exciting news! My first challenge! And something to keep you busy in the last month of summer!

How does it work?
-Crochet one of my patterns. I have lots of free ones available, click here
-Take a picture of the result and upload it to your blog, website or flickr account. (Or whatever other web pages are out there)
-Post a link to your picture and your email adress below
-You have one month, enter before september 25th 
-1 entry per person
-I will pick a random winner

What to win?
2 patterns of your choice from my etsy shop

Good luck!!

Brainnnnssss, FREE PATTERN

I finally finished a new pattern. I was so inspired by all the amazing stuff on the etsy dark team, that I had to make something weird and a bit dark, so here it is:
Brainnnnnsssss. This little brain, likes zombies.......for diner.
download now

Etsy Dark Team

Hi there,

I haven´t been around a lot, I know, but it is about to change.
I have teamed up with the etsy dark team. An amazing group of artists who create art with a dark twist!
Go check them out, click!
Or check out our blog

Today I also created my first treasury (it wasn´t easy trust me, but I finally figuered it out, :) ) on etsy: weird pink

I have also started on a new crochet pattern!!!!! Hooray! finally! I will keep you posted on it!

Cheers,

embroidery art

Finally I finished my embroidery art!!! I made three little hoops, one with a bat, a vampire and a skull. Besides this I included buttons, several different stitches, little scissor charms, felt, and yarn.

I think you have to be a little weird to create. That was what I was thinking about when I designed these pieces of embroidery art.

I hope you like them. They are for sale in my etsy shop!

Edward Scissorhands!

Finally my new pattern is here!!!

Edward Scissorhands is now for sale in my etsy shop!

How to stuff your amigurumi

Last year I was a guest writer on crochet spot. I wrote a piece about stuffing your amigurumi. Today I realised I never added it to my blog. So even though it´s a year later, here it is!:

You just finished crocheting all parts of your amigurumi. So now you are ready to stuff them. This is a very important part of your work, because it determines what your finished doll will look like. I want to share some tips to help you get the best result.

First of all, stuffing actually begins before you even start with your amigurumi, by choosing the right crochet hook. You want to crochet as tight as possible, so the chance your filling will be showing through your crochet work is minimum. The tighter you crochet, the bigger hook you can use. For example, I am a very loose crocheter so I always choose a very small crochet hook.

Now back to your finished amigurumi parts. You have to use the right filling. Of course you can buy doll materials like fiberfill in your local shop but I like to use a more budget friendly version, filling from old cushions. I think it works great.

Try to stuff your amigurumi with one piece of filling, instead of adding a piece after piece. If you would add little pieces, your amigurumi would become very lumpy.

For a head or body, try to stuff as firmly as possible, but not overstretching it. You don’t want your filling to start showing through. For legs and arms, be gentle with stuffing, otherwise you could loose your shape.

When the opening of your arm or leg is very small, use something pointy to get the filling all the way down to hands or feet. I always use my scissors for this, but be careful, not to hurt yourself.

Stuff the feet more firmly then the legs, to ensure you get a nice shape.
If you have too much filling in, just pull out what you don’t need.

When you have the filling in, start ‘moulding’ the doll’s parts, it’s amazing what you can do to the shape of your doll.

Now your doll part is finished!

The last tip: Have fun making your amigurumi!

SPRING GIVEAWAY!!

Since I have a new layout for my blog and I was cleaning out some of my drawers at home, it is time for a new giveaway! I found some postcards with my old drawings of funandfang on them. I made a little package (I also added some stickers) and it could be yours!

these are the postcards!

What do you have to do?
-Leave a comment below telling me what you think about my new layout of this blog. Or send an email about the same thing to funandfang@hotmail.com (1 entry)

-Grab my button and post it on your blog. Then leave a message below telling me you have done so. (2 entries)

When will this giveaway close?

Be sure to leave your comments/emails before friday the 1th of april 12 (UTC+01:00) in the afternoon.

When will I know if I have won?

I will anounce the winner monday 4th of april. (or maybe a little sooner)

Good luck to everyone!!

New layout......

I finished my new layout. As you can see I have added pages to the top of the site. This way you will be able to find things much easier. I have also took pictures of my workspace to share with you. I added some new follow me buttons and I made a grab me button. It´s yours!!! Just copy and paste the code to your blog/website. Last but not least I have updated my flickr photostream. Be sure to check it out.
That´s it, I really hope you like it. Please let me know what you think, what you like, don´t like, or miss!!!!

My first donation!!!

Hi everyone,

I just made my first donation! I choose to donate to Pieterburen Zeehondencreche. This organisation helps (baby) seals who are sick. They nurse them, untill they are better and they release them back into the wild.
They really need all the help they can get, because this year there are more sick seals then ever.
Thanks everyone for buying my patterns, because of you we can help these seals a little bit.

Renske

What a beautiful day today.....

Spring is really near! I bought some beautiful flowers yesterday and I just had to share them with you!

I have spend all of the afternoon on my balcony. While I enjoyed the sun, I worked on two patterns. A pattern for my etsy shop and a .........FREE one. YAY!
So keep an eye out for more updates!
Hope you all also had a great day filled with sunshine!

He is not scary... He is cute.....

My new pattern. A little amigurumi shark. He is now for sale in my etsy shop.

Also for sale: shark and jellyfish money save pattern. You will receive both the mommy and child jellyfish pattern and the shark pattern. You save 20%!

New pattern!!! Jellyfish!

As you might know, I have decided to donate everything I make to animal welfare organizations. Right now I am focussing on the sea. There are a lot of problems with the fish and animals in our seas. We need to help them, so I thought it would be fun to make some sea amigurumis!
Jellyfish mommy and child!

This pattern is now for sale in my etsy shop!!!!

Big Update: charity

Hi everyone,

Besides crocheting I have another thing in my life that plays a big role. I am 100 procent vegetarian and I give my time to raise public awareness about animal cruelity around the world. Me and some friends made a dutch blog about the subject. And I volunteer at an animal shelter in the neighbourhood. Because of this I have decided that from january 1st of 2011 I will donate a minimum of 80 procent (maxium 20 procent will be used for paypal/etsy fees) of what I earn with funandfang to animal welfare organizations. When I have raised 20 dollars, I will make a donation to an organization of my choice. When I have done so I will tell you about it through my blog.
I have chosen not to mention this in my etsy shop, since the rules on etsy state you have to write a piece about which organization you will donate to and with me this will vary. I want to support various animal welfare organisations on different levels.
I am very excited about this and I will keep you all posted on the subject!

And we have a winner!!!!!

The winner of this giveaway is: Brittany!!!!

Congratulations!!! Please contact me, so you can chose two patterns from my shop!!!

Thanks to everyone who entered! It was so much fun!