Christmas Gifts

Today was the last day of school for Jessica, so we got to give her teacher her gift. And Amy got to give her friend her gift as well.

I wanted to make her a lion (the school’s masc0t) and found a new pattern to use.

The mane is removable! So cute. I found the pattern here on Etsy from this shop. It was a hit with her teacher. Yay!

And remember the owl hats? Well, this blogger shared a penguin hat pattern as well. Oh my…Amy’s friend adores penguins and lime green. She was thrilled! Yay! You can find the pattern here on Repeat Crafter Me.

These were fun to make and give. But there always seems to be something on my crochet hook, so hopefully soon I’ll have more to share.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Have a wonderful weekend and if I don’t make it back before Tuesday, have a wonderful holiday!

Elf Hat and a Dragon

I don’t know why my blog yesterday posted twice. Sorry about that.

This week is Spirit Week at the middle school and Amy is happily participating. Today is crazy hat day and for once, my kids have a sort of crazy hat to wear! I picked up a couple of these silly hats at the second hand store last weekend. Who knew they’d be such a hit with the girls?

Sorry about the evil red eye that Amy is sporting. She was giggly, promise.

Last night was her Girl Scout troop’s holiday potluck and Secret Santa gift exchange. The little gal whom Amy gave to loves dragons. So, naturally I went on a search to find a dragon pattern to crochet. And found a pretty darn cute one!

Amy even tried her hand at crocheting a teensy bit and made the belly patch! Yay. I don’t think crochet is her first love, though. That’s okay. I first learned when I was young like her and didn’t really get into it until a few years ago. I only dabbled before then.

Anyway, this adorable dragon pattern is by Amy Gaines and you can find it in her Etsy shop here.  The gal who received this just loved it. Yay! *Ü*

We got a couple of inches of snow today and it’s pretty cold, so it’s starting to feel more like Christmas. The weather forecasters are teasing us and saying we might get some more snow on Christmas Eve into Christmas. That’d be pretty cool, but I’m not gonna hold my breath.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Let’s hope I don’t double post again. LOL

It’s a Christmas Card!

The one and only card I’ve managed to make this holiday season, no matter that I bought supplies to make cards. Oh my! LOL Why is it I always think I will have more time than I actually have to complete projects? I guess I am a positive thinker. ;)

I colored this sweet image called Stocking Goodies from Whimsie Doodles with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. Isn’t she just precious? I love the sentiment as well, which says, “May your stocking overflow with goodies.” I would have kept the sentiment only I tried to sponge the background and messed up. The piece actually ended up in the trash until yesterday when I realized I could “fussy” cut out the image and still use it. (Slaps forehead with palm). I pretty much cased this card on the Whimsie Doodles blog. My papers are from Martha Stewart’s holiday matstack and Recollections Jolly Holiday stack.  I pop dotted the image as well. The numbers are cut on my Cricut, using the Storybook cartridge.

I honestly tried to make a couple of other cards, but it didn’t go so well. I am so very rusty at stamping anymore. It’s almost like I don’t know how to stamp now. So sad. I didn’t have time to color up another image, unfortunately. And my Cricut was giving me fits by not cutting really well. Let’s just say any other crafting yesterday was an exercise in frustration. LOL

What’s been keeping me busy? I have been sewing  some doll clothes for the girls for Christmas. Well, for the dolls the girls have(and will get very soon), more specifically.I don’t have a dedicated space to sew, so I have to pull all my supplies out to the living room and set up shop, then put it all away when I’m done and before the girls get home from school. I’ve also been crocheting, still. More? Again? I am also working on a knitting project when I can.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I know I’ve been a sporadic blogger and I really do appreciate your visits!

It’s a Christmas Card!

The one and only card I’ve managed to make this holiday season, no matter that I bought supplies to make cards. Oh my! LOL Why is it I always think I will have more time than I actually have to complete projects? I guess I am a positive thinker. ;)

I colored this sweet image called Stocking Goodies from Whimsie Doodles with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. Isn’t she just precious? I love the sentiment as well, which says, “May your stocking overflow with goodies.” I would have kept the sentiment only I tried to sponge the background and messed up. The piece actually ended up in the trash until yesterday when I realized I could “fussy” cut out the image and still use it. (Slaps forehead with palm). I pretty much cased this card on the Whimsie Doodles blog. My papers are from Martha Stewart’s holiday matstack and Recollections Jolly Holiday stack.  I pop dotted the image as well. The numbers are cut on my Cricut, using the Storybook cartridge.

I honestly tried to make a couple of other cards, but it didn’t go so well. I am so very rusty at stamping anymore. It’s almost like I don’t know how to stamp now. So sad. I didn’t have time to color up another image, unfortunately. And my Cricut was giving me fits by not cutting really well. Let’s just say any other crafting yesterday was an exercise in frustration. LOL

What’s been keeping me busy? I have been sewing  some doll clothes for the girls for Christmas. Well, for the dolls the girls have(and will get very soon), more specifically.I don’t have a dedicated space to sew, so I have to pull all my supplies out to the living room and set up shop, then put it all away when I’m done and before the girls get home from school. I’ve also been crocheting, still. More? Again? I am also working on a knitting project when I can.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I know I’ve been a sporadic blogger and I really do appreciate your visits!

What Can It Be? Revealed

Thanks for the guesses you shared. I know I didn’t really give any hints to help, but I really couldn’t think of any that wouldn’t give it away.

As a little backstory as to why I made this hat. We do a gift exchange with members of Steve’s family and the gal I’m giving to is Steve’s niece who is pregnant with her first child…a boy. She wanted gifts from her baby registry. When we went shopping we noticed she chose things with a monkey theme. Amy told me I should make a monkey hat like the owl hat and so I have…

I used the sock monkey pattern from Repeat Crafter Me for the basic hat and ears (only I used two colors in the ears). The eyes are modified eyes from the Owl hat pattern. I used half double crochets instead of double crochets. And the mouth? Well, that’s me just playing around til I got the shape I thought worked. All in all, I think it came out kind of cute.

I initially did a Google search for monkey hat patterns and this one really inspired the colors. Isn’t that the most adorable baby?? I guess Sock Monkey hats are pretty popular as many of that type came up. I’m not a big  fan of that type of monkey though.

Anyway, it was a fun, fast, little project. And now Jessica would be most happy if I got back to work on a project I was making for her and from which I have gotten completely sidetracked.  Oops.

Oh, we braved the bitter cold(18 degrees and falling) last night to go to the annual Winter Fest in the next city over from us. We went for the first time last year and wanted to see it again. Aside from the frigid temperatures, we had a good time. We thought this ice sculpture was pretty dang cool and thought I’d share. Pictures are from my phone…

The gal said each reindeer took two hours and it was about 4 hours to make the sleigh. Pretty impressive, if you ask me!

We saw all the prettily lit up trees and stood by several huge bonfires to warm up. We even watched an outdoor puppet show and sang Christmas Carols! And we got those neat 3-D looking glasses where when you look through them at lights a holographic image shows up. This year the image was snowmen. And if you tilt your head from side to side, it looks like they are dancing. *Ü*

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope your week is off to a great start!

What Can It Be?

Right after I finished crocheting the Holiday Cables Throw I shared, I immediately started crocheting a new project. It’s a hat as you can see, but what will the final result be? I thought it might be fun to see what kind of animal guesses you come up with. It’s just for fun and I’ll share when I finish it up. It’s not an exotic animal or anything, but not one I’ve seen as often as the owl hats.

Thanks for stopping by and playing along.

Got Completely Sidetracked by a Crochet Project…

I just finished it, so now I can share. *Ü*

I was shopping in Hobby Lobby one day just a few weeks ago and was checking out the magazines. I flipped over one of the crochet issues and saw a picture that just had me smitten from the second I laid eyes on it. It was a crochet project from Red Heart and the textures I saw made me giddy. I saw the pattern was free, so I wrote down the pattern number, finished up at Hobby Lobby, went home, looked up the pattern, downloaded it (it was free) and noted the number of skeins of yarn I needed. I went back out, to Michaels this time where the yarn was on sale,  scooped up the yarn, purchased it, went home and immediately got started. That’s how hard I fell for this project! And I’ve been pretty much working on it in my free time since then. And I just snipped the last piece of yarn just a few minutes ago, so I quickly snapped some photos to share.

 

Thanks to Jessica, my sweet model, who literally just woke up a little bit ago and was very willing to snuggle under the throw. She has already told me she is going to steal this whenever she can because it’s so soft! LOL  I used Red Heart Soft yarn in Really Red. And it wasn’t until after I got started that I realized I misread the yarn I was supposed to use, but no matter, I love the feel and the texture of this yarn, so it was a happy mistake.

You can find the pattern on the Red Heart website. It’s LW3152. And if you click here, you should go straight to the page where you can download the pattern.

Honestly, the stitches you use to create the patterns are not difficult. The designer uses traditional stitches in unique ways (I feel). If you can do a chain, slip stitch, single crochet, double crochet and triple crochet, you can create this throw. You may need a little help, like I did, with the Barker Celtic Weave stitch, but the designer of the pattern, Bonnie Barker, has posted an excellent video on how to create the stitch. Honestly, it’s triple crochets. It’s just how you place them that makes the fabulous texture!

Speaking of the designer, Bonnie Barker, she has a website that you can find here. She also has a pattern book out that has patterns for creating Aran Afghans. I think I will be looking into buying it.  I just adore the texture she has created in these patterns. She is also very helpful. I noticed there was an error in the pattern and ended up contacting her. She was quick to respond and  indicated some errors were edited into the pattern and immediately shared the correct information I needed to complete the stitch/pattern. I really appreciated her help

I know these pictures aren’t the best, but I couldn’t wait to share and let you know what’s kept me busy these past few weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Couple of Fall Cards

I honestly cannot remember exactly where I first saw the digi images I am using in these cards. Could have been a blog post or it could have been Pinterest (in passing). Regardless, I was smitten and pretty quickly headed over to Sassy Cheryl’s Digis shop to pick these images up. I also added her blog to my reader.  I sure had fun coloring Sassy Sally!

   

Isn’t she adorable? I colored the images using Prismacolor and Koh-i-Noor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. The paper is Simple Stories Harvest Lane. They sure have the perfect fall feel. I inked the background using distress inks from Tim Holtz. The top one uses Tumbled Glass and the bottom one uses Wild Honey.

Enjoy and thanks so much for stopping by today!

Birthday Cards

I thought I’d share the birthday cards I made for the gifts I gave on Sunday.

My friend and her daughter have their birthdays 5 days apart, so for now they celebrate together.

For our Hello Kitty loving girl, her mom loaned me her Hello Kitty Sizzix die.

The pattern paper is Sweet Nectar from K & Co. As you can see I added some Martha Stewart glitter. The sentiment is from CTMH.  

You may or may not remember the Angry Bird cupcake holder I made for a friend’s birthday back in September.  Well, our Hello Kitty friend is his sister and when she saw his Angry Bird cupcake holder, she wondered why she never got something like that. Well, that comment was noted and remembered and this is my finagled Hello Kitty-ish version of the cupcake holder (from the Sweet Tooth Boxes Cricut cartridge). I reduced the size by an inch or so. Inside we put a package of pink Tic Tacs (which were found by Jessica at the checkout counter. She has always had eagle eyes. Hee, hee.  Our friend seemed very happy with her own personal kitty. Yay!

And for her mom? I was inspired by a card made by my friend Barb here at The Buzz. In fact, I am the very, very lucky recipient of the card she shared in that post. It’s even better looking in person, I must say!

Anyway, Barb has been so kind and sweet to answer my many questions recently and with her  tips I was able to complete this card:

I learned how she adds the ink (Tim Holtz distress ink) to the image before taking it out of the Nestability. The ink I used is Antique Linen, I believe. And you can certainly tell that I spritzed the card with Shimmer (maybe I overdid it just a tad?  Nah…) The image is from Meljen Designs and is colored with Prismacolor and Koh-i-Noor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. The paper is from DCWV matstack, Autumn Splendor from last year. It’s the paper stack, not the cardstock stack.

Here’s another angle where you can see the glitter I added better. You can find the image here at Meljen’s Designs. They are so fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Few More Crochet Hats…

Jessica’s teacher told me that her son loves the owl hat I made for him. I guess he has, up to now, refused to wear any hats, but once he got the owl hat, he wears it all the time. Yay! She asked if I’d be willing  to make a couple more. Of course, I said yes.

Here’s the second owl hat…

I just changed the accent color and when I braided the tails, I grouped all of the same color together.

For the next hat, I kind of wanted to try a different style altogether and I hoped it would work out okay with her son. What do you think? Would a 2 year old like to wear something like this?? LOL

I just couldn’t resist this hat. I got the pattern from the same gal who shared the owl pattern. You can find it here. She says she hasn’t tested the pattern except on her own kids, but I went ahead and tried it anyway. I didn’t have any issues and it fit Jessica okay, so it should be fine (I made it the same size I made the owl hat). I got the yarn at Michaels. It’s the one she recommended and it sure is soft.  And thankfully, I had plenty of black buttons in my stash.

The teacher was in a meeting when I brought the hats to give to her today, so I just left them on her desk with a note. It’s nice to leave a happy surprise.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are having a great day.

Crocheting Behind the Scenes…for Birthdays

I kind of dropped off the radar again for a bit. I’ve been crafty, but haven’t been able to share what I’ve been making because they were gifts and I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. But, yesterday, the gifts were given to their recipients, so sharing is what I aim to do! Be warned this is a long photo heavy post.

First up, one of our little friends loves Hello Kitty. Although this year, it appears that Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) of Disney Princess fame is carving out a niche in our friend’s heart. But Hello Kitty is still a love. Whew…because there was still a good chance she would like this little purse I crocheted…

It is so hard to photograph white, sorry. But, I think you get the idea. I found the pattern here. This was actually crocheted well over a month ago (yay, I was ahead of the game and not crocheting at the last minute). I liked the bit of gingham for the lining. Jessica picked out a little Princess cell phone lip gloss to tuck into the purse, thereby acknowledging both loves of her friend.  Our friend seemed very happy with her little purse.

Actually I was ahead of the game for all the projects I’m sharing today…yes there’s more…LOL

Next up…the recipient of the next items has an affinity for owls. And this year, more than any other, it seems that owls have exploded on the scene. Not just owls, really, really cute owls.

I was wandering Michaels one day, (if memory serves, the same day I got the book for Jessica’s doll dress that I knitted for her birthday) and I impulsively picked up one of those booklets they have in the yarn section that promotes the yarn behind the booklet. In this case, I came across this booklet and thumbed through the pages, not expecting anything at all. And I flipped past this next project and I was smitten…

Oh my goodness, it’s a Christmas tree ornament and it’s knitted! I guess I can knit a little bit.  I am really tickled with the end result of this little impulse buy. I love the eyes and lo and behold, I found those wooden looking buttons….in my stash. Don’tcha just love it when that happens?? There are other projects in this booklet that might find their way on my hooks/needles. I’ll share if that happens.

And finally, I have been SO itching to share this last gift. Yes, my friend got totally spoiled because of the plethora of really cute owl items out there this year. I just couldn’t help myself. See if you agree that I couldn’t resist this pattern when I came across it on Pinterest…

Isn’t this neat? As I said I found the idea on Pinterest and that led to the purchase of the pattern here. You have to check out this crafter’s Etsy page! My goodness, such cuteness!

I was initially drawn by the owl blanket/afghan, but didn’t think I would have time to get that made. But this tote sucked me in, big time! I substituted the yarn though. The pattern calls for 100% cotton yarn, which I don’t have in my stash anymore and there were 16 colors…sorry, too many for me to pick up for a project, so I went through my yarn and had enough Super Saver type yarns for the owls. I did pick up the brown (Michaels Loops and Threads brand) and found a pretty turquoise color at the second hand store-love the serendipity of that one.

Again, this was crocheted well ahead of time and about 2 weeks ago I went to Joann’s to find a fabric for the lining. Not having made something like this before I asked the gal at the fabric cut counter for help and she immediately told me to look for this owl fabric in the nursery section of fabric. Nursery section? What a great idea for decor for a nursery. I was so pleased at how perfectly it fit with the tote.  And the gal who helped me so loved the tote, I took her email address and sent her the information on where to get the pattern. Love sharing like that!

So, for weeks now I have been itching to share these projects with you. And I’ve also been resisting other owl items I’ve seen every where I go. And now I finally have. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for reading if you got this far.

On this Veteran’s Day weekend I salute those in uniform who fight for our freedoms. You deserve all the honors coming your way. Thank you for your service and sacrifices on our behalf.

 

Hope you have a wonderful start to your week! Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pinterest Inspired Project

I found a crochet project on Pinterest and wanted to make it asap for the teacher we know who is going to have a baby in January. I’m very happy at how it came out and the teacher loved it. Yay!

 

Didn’t it come out cute? I know I’ve seen these types of hats around, but I hadn’t researched how to get the pattern. When I clicked to the blog where this pattern was shared and it was free, well, I just had to use it! The blog is Repeat Crafter Me and here is where you can find the pattern.  You should check out the blog. Sarah is very talented and shares great ideas. In fact, I started following her blog in Reader, I liked it so much.

This hat didn’t take long at all to make either. I was almost done in one session sitting in the van waiting to pick up Jessica. I didn’t finish only because I took just the brown and blue yarn and couldn’t crochet the other pieces because I didn’t have the yarn with me. LOL

I don’t know how long the baby might even be able to wear this, but part of the appeal of this hat is its smaller size. Sarah has larger sizes posted, too, so I will try some of those as well.  Thanks for the inspiration, Sarah!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great night!

Happy Halloween!

Well, goodness, I’ve wanted to share this  for days and for one reason or another didn’t get to do so. Guess today is better late than never, right?

My friend, Barb, over at The Buzz has been charming me with her cards featuring Meljens digital images. (You can find her shop here). Barb does a fantastic job coloring with her Copic markers and recently posted how she adds glitter to her cards in this post. This card is completely inspired by Barb’s excellent work. Thanks for sharing and inspiring, Barb!

I used that super cute Haunted Manor paper from Doodlebug. Now, you all know I don’t have many markers and am much more comfortable with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. That’s what I used to color in this card. It was a fun image to color. I added the background using chalk and a small pom-pom.  I have to admit though, I think Barb’s skills in creating backgrounds way exceed mine. *Ü*

Next up is a little project Jessica and I worked on together for her class.  

Jessica did a great job stamping the “happy, happy, happy” and “halloween” from CTMH’s Seasonal Thoughts stamp set. She had to practice a little though to get the right touch. As you can see, witches were a part of the project. I found that stamp, a wooden one (gasp) at Michaels last Halloween in their dollar bin. Didn’t use it last year, but it sure came in handy this year. 

Here’s what we (okay, I mostly) made. 

Are these not super cute? I got the idea from Diana Gibbs blog here.  And I happened to have a brown Sharpie marker in my stash. You can see a bit of the Tootsie Pop peeking through. Very fun.

And here’s a funny shot of Amy pulling out pumpkin guts last night.  LOL

Happy Halloween to you and yours. Hope you have a fun and safe time trick or treating or celebrating in your own special way. Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween Printer’s Tray

Oh my, did I have fun this afternoon! I’m probably the last person to pay attention to this idea, but better late than never. I decorated a 7 Gypsies Printer’s Tray with Doodlebug’s Haunted Manor paper and a bunch of fun embellishments. Check it out!

I’m very happy with the final result. I bought the tray a month or so ago, but haven’t been able to play. I knew for sure I wanted to use Doodlebug papers and today, everything kind of just fell into place. In addition to the 6x6 pad of Haunted Manor paper and Doodle Twine, I bought a sheet of die cuts and added them here and there. Some have pop dots and others don’t. I also found some goodies at Michaels, the sequin kitty, the owl (these two are ornaments), the bat and the “bottles” of scary stuff. The buttons were in my stash and the blingy spiderweb/spider is from Michaels last year. I  thought it would be fun to try to make a very small rosette. I cut three 6 inch strips 3/4 of an inch wide  and scored them at 1/2 inch intervals. I tried with two strips, but I couldn’t get it to lay flat. The brad on the rosette and the candy corn brad are from Hobby Lobby. I was tickled to add the googly eyes as well. All in all, this is the type of Halloween I like, cute and fun! Thanks, Doodlebug for the great paper that inspired me!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you are getting into the festive spirit and are having a great week.

Happy Birthday, Jessica…the Big 1-0

And now I can reveal why I haven’t had much crafty stuff to share the past week or so…I’ve been getting ready for Miss Jessica’s 10th birthday party. Screeech…what? There is no way that she is 10 years old. In fact, Steve kept telling her that we weren’t going to have a party after all so she would stay nine. She was on to that idea. She knew that wouldn’t stop her turning 10. Darn.

Warning…picture heavy post coming up…click on pictures to enlarge

Here’s the birthday girl this morning.

  

She’s wearing a necklace my friend made and sent to her for her birthday.

And this is the main reason I haven’t posted. I know I said I wasn’t much of a knitter, but when Jessica found this book in Michaels several weeks ago, she pleaded ever so prettily about my getting it. Of course I told her no, we weren’t there to get that in my mean mom voice.

Obviously, I knew I was going back without her to pick it up and to work on a project for either her birthday or Christmas, depending on if I could actually create a project. It is knitting after all and I’m not much of one.

So…I’ve spent several school hours working on the purple dress you see on the cover and I managed to finish on Friday.  Ta-da! Oh and a time or two I left a piece out and had to finagle a way to hide it so she wouldn’t notice.

 

I had one happy 10 year old when I came out with Jessica Anne wearing the dress. Yay, mom says with a fist pump. Guess maybe smaller projects are okay.

The theme of our party was Pirate, inspired by the tv show, Jake and the Never Land Pirates. Jess enjoys watching it in the morning before school.

 

Here is the cake table. Thanks so much to my friend, Susi, who graciously loaned us the candelabra, chest AND jewels to set the mood.

 

 

The girl pirate on the show is Izzy and we made these little bottles of pixie dust for the girls who attended. Izzy wears a pouch full of pixie dust to help the fellow pirates out on occasion.

 

The cake is my take of the idea shown on the Family Fun website here. Thanks to Susi’s kids for loaning us the mini figure pirates and cannon.

 

I knew the cake wouldn’t feed everyone, so we made some simple cupcakes, too .

A couple of more shots of the cake. It is reminiscent of Bucky, the ship in the Jake and the Never Land Pirates show. Jessica colored the sails and Amy added the Rolo candy for the Crow’s Nest. I personally liked the plank on the back end. LOL Anyone remember rootbeer candy? Or am I totally aging myself? We added some to the cake because they make great barrels. I ate one and was instantly transported back to when I was growing up.

 

Our pirate girl ready to par-tay. I found that shirt at the thrift store yesterday by a totally serendipitous fluke. The hat, too only we added the skull to it.

  

Some of the decor. I found some great pirate themed party supplies at Hobby Lobby and took full advantage of their 40% off coupons. The die cuts on the window are cut from my Cricut using Life’s a Party. My friend, Felicia graciously loaned me that cartridge. Thanks, sweetie! I need to take a picture of the front door where we had a map and the phrase pirate party.

 

Playing a game where you drop a penny into the water. At the bottom is a small bowl or shot glass that you are trying to get the penny into. The kids seemed to like it.

 

Birthday girl looking pretty happy.

 

We also played the same dice game that we played at Amy’s party and the Cookie game as well.  This  young man sure likes this game! He’s pretty good, too.

 

And after the party, Jessica had a great time putting together one of the gifts she received.

Oh and the cake…

Destroyed…but in the best way. Yay!

Whew, I’m pooped, but happy to have another party under the belt and a happy 10 year old.

Thanks for stopping by and reading this, if you even got this far!

Hope you had a fun weekend and are ready for a brand new week.