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

Birthday Gifts for a Friend...

Okay, since the party is in just a few hours, I can pretty safely share these projects without the recipient (Hi Becky) seeing them. If I had posted earlier and said, don't look, I'm pretty confident she'd go ahead and look! When I said I was busy earlier, with not much to show for it, these are the reasons why.

Becky is a big fan of owls and, even before I asked her for ideas for a birthday gift she might like, I already had a plan in mind. She just confirmed what I was already thinking. Don't you love it when that happens?

Since I'm currently having a love fest with my Cricut I looked for owl images and wasn't disappointed. This owl is from the Cindy Loo cartridge.

Not much to explain as it is pretty straightforward. The only thing I might change, if I could, is the background paper. Unfortunately, I didn't have any other paper that would work well. 

I loved this foil accented paper in the Amber Autumn stack.

I'm really pleased with the end result of this little project.

*Ü*

Here is another owl, a squishier kind.

His name is Rupert.

(or whatever name Becky decides)

 The pictures don't really do him justice.

He is rather cute, dare I say a smidge elegant, in real life.

That's a really royal looking purple yarn. And a bit of dark green and tan.

What I really liked about this pattern is its unique design.

I hadn't done an amigurumi piece using double crochets before.

 And the "ears" are adorable!

I found the pattern here on Etsy. 

If the link doesn't work, type in Rupert the Owl and the listing will show up.

He came out larger than the sample shows, mostly likely because I used worsted weight yarn, and possibly, a larger crochet hook. That just means there's more to love, right?

I also asked Becky what ideas she had for her daughter, Julia, whose party we are attending.

Julia loves Hello Kitty.

Well, kitties of any persuasion, but Hello Kitty in particular.

So, I looked for a kitty image to use in my Cricut.

The one I found is not quite there, but close enough,  think.

Somehow, I don't think Julia will object.

And I lucked out when I searched for Hello Kitty crochet patterns. I found one here, that turned into this:

Bumblebee Hello Kitty!

 Complete with wings!

Isn't she a cutie bee?

The blogger translated the pattern from a Japanese one. She did okay, but hadn't tested it before posting. Luckily for me, I have enough crochet experience under my belt that I was able to adjust for a few errors in the translation. 

And, the pattern called for a crocheted ladybug, which I made, 

But the consensus was it was too big!

I had a some ladybug buttons in my stash that I was able to use instead.

I didn't realize when I started that Hello Kitty has a yellow nose. I thought it was black. But, thankfully I learned the real nose color before I used that color. LOL I'm hoping Julia will be happy with her kitty.

So, this is what I was busy with earlier this week!

Amy's team won their game today...yay!

Hope your weekend is going well.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lazy (?) Days of Summer

Ahhhh...the good ole Summertime has officially started this week.

Which means in a few short days Amy will have a birthday. (Her 9th, sniff, sniff)

We've got a family road trip coming up soon, too.

Until then, we've managed to keep ourselves busy at home. 

Well, not AT home, but around town.

*Ü*

We've been to swim, a playdate (a make up one, since the originally planned one was postponed due to one of the playees becoming sick), roller skating and a local carnival. And three of those occurred in one day!

Ahhhhhh, the lazy days of summer.

Steve noticed a carnival set up in the parking lot of a local mall and after dinner last night said he'd like to go. 

So, we loaded up into the car (sans camera-darn) and headed over.

I was quite impressed at how daring the girls were this time, especially Jessica. She was quite vocal on the attractions she wanted to try. And try them she did, with a big happy grin on her face.

Amy wanted to ride the Sizzler, which is one of those spin type rides she discovered last year when Grandpa was in town. You know the one where you sit side by side and as the ride gets going one of you gets smooshed by the other one. I wore flip flops (what was I thinking?), so couldn't ride with her. Steve got the honors and they both had a blast. (Jessica wasn't quite tall enough, so she hung out with me).

It was a fun, happy time. 

And while the prices they charge are exorbitant, 

the smiles on their faces, 

while munching on a 2 dollar snow cone 

was definitely worth the price of the ticket(s).

This fun trip was after the made-up playdate, and 

the terrific time at the roller rink.

Yep, I have to agree with the girls, it was one awesome day.

Lazy days of summer, indeed.

For the record, they were up this morning, before 7am!

As you can see, Mommy has still found a little teeny bit of time to crochet.

This is Mama Tortoise. Baby may (or may not-I'm ready to work on other projects) follow soon.

I couldn't find the same yarn as the sample in Crochet Today, but I really liked the colors in this multi colored yarn and decided to throw caution to the wind and make a pink turtle. LOL

Hope your summer adventures bring you lots of smiles, too!

Gone Fishin'

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments on the Father's Day gift idea I shared. Hope you're right and Steve likes and doesn't think it's too cheesy. LOL

Been busy crocheting another project from the Crochet Today issue I picked up. This project is one of the main reasons I picked up the issue. The s'mores were a happy bonus.

First up, here's a cute little bear:

He wants to go fishin', but needs a few things...

Like a hat to protect his sweet ears and head.

When he gets to the creek, he'll have to make up his fishin' pole

Like, so.

Oh, goodness...looks like he was pretty successful already!

Yep, he sure had a happy day!

Whoops, looks like those little fishies want to try to get back to the creek!

Not to worry, our little friend got them back into the basket.

Now, doesn't this make you wish fishing in real life looked this cute?

LOL

*Ü*

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Inspired to Crochet...

A project found in the July/August issue of Crochet Today magazine.

I was wandering around JoAnn's yesterday and had some 50% off coupons burning a hole in my purse. This is the first time in a long time I've had good coupons where the store didn't already have the magazines on sale, so I quickly scanned through this magazine and the May/June issue. I liked what I saw, so I bought them both. 

*Ü*

I actually didn't see this project until I was on my way home and checking it out at a red light. Then I couldn't wait to get home and show the girls.

Boy, they were as excited as I was!

Yay!

So, I got to work and before long had these made up.

Marshmallows on a stick!

And you can't have marshmallows on a stick without something to toast them over, right?

Omg...check this out!

Isn't that just the cutest little fire you've ever seen?

And I never, ever thought I'd say that about a fire! 

LOL

Me thinks it is a hit with my girls!

So, what do you do after you toast the marshmallows?

Hmmmmm.....

How about...

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make S'mores!!!!

Yes! So very cute!

One on its side and view of the top graham cracker.

I think I giggled the whole time I was making this.

Did not take long at all, I had ALL the pieces crocheted last night and put the marshmallows together on the stick and had the fire done. I just needed to sew together the s'mores. Which I did just a little bit ago.

Just the ticket to pretend it's s'more weather

even though it's still raining.

And that's enough to put a smile on anyone's face.

*Ü*

Happy Sunday to you!

Amigurumi Heart Critters

Just in time for Valentine's Day! When I saw this pattern on Fave Crafts here, I knew they'd be a fun (and fat free) gift for the girls' teachers. What got me was that hair! I changed up the eyes and added a little mouth, too and think they are pretty dang cute.

I made this one first and followed the pattern for the legs, but after I was done, I decided they looked a little too much like chicken legs with those extra stitches on the top two rounds. It's cute, but I didn't do those rounds on the second one and I do like it much better.

I wasn't going to have enough yarn to do the second one in the same colors and when I found the skein of yarn with the bright colors, I could picture the hair being a little more wild and crazy. I love how it came out.

I hope the teachers like them.

I don't know if I've mentioned Fave Crafts before. I discovered it via one of my thrifty type blogs and I signed up to get the newsletters. I get one a day and once a week I get one for crochet. They also offer free e-books full of craft ideas. I'm tickled to have discovered the site (but now I have way more ideas  than I can ever hope to create in this lifetime~LOL).

Hope you have had a happy Wednesday! Thanks so much for stopping by. It sure felt good to crochet again. *Ü*

A Few More Gifts...

Yesterday afternoon the girls and I went to my friend, Becky's, house so the girls could have a playdate with her kids, Aaron and Julia. Becky and I weren't sure that Aaron would be up for having some fun since their beloved dog, Bronco, had to go to doggie heaven. Bronco had been ill since August and it was time. I hope the girls helped distract him a bit from feeling sad about the loss of his friend. They have another dog, Tucker, who probably helps to ease the sadness just a bit.

Anyway, I had to create a couple of goodies for the kids and waited to share until after we saw them.

I have the book Amigurumi Two (as well as the first one, which pretty much started my love of Amigirumi) and in it were a pair of robots. A boy and a girl. Amy and Jessica thought that the boy suited Aaron and that he would love it.

Amy wants the girl one now...are you surprised? She is very much the same except she has two antennae (and is stitched with red and pink stripes). Anyway, the girls had fun playing with this little guy until we left for our playdate. hee, hee! They kept talking in a robotic voice while doing so. Too fun.

The girls pretty much pore over my patterns and tell me each critter they want me to make. Let's just say, I will never be without something that I could be creating. I might even need an extra room just to house all the ones they want. LOL

Miss Julia LOVES kitties. And I found the pattern for this little cutie on the cover of this book at the library. I modified the face slightly. I initially bought the eyes that look like real eyes, you know with color and the pupil. I placed (but didn't attach) them on the face and proceeded to freak out just a bit. You know those portraits that are hung up where it looks like the eyes are following you? Well, that's how this one looked to me as I was trying to figure out the placement. It gave me the heebie jeebies and I thought it might also give Miss Julia the heebie jeebies, too. So I used my trusty black safety eyes.

I also changed the color of the nose and mouth. In the book they are yellow. Yellow? Seriously? That was a little disconcerting, too, so I used a sweet pink that reminded me of Sarah's nose.

What really appealed to me was the fact that the kitty was created in such a way as to look like it was playing with the ball of yarn. So of course, I had to roll up a little ball. I wasn't quite sure how to secure it so it wouldn't unroll, so Miss Julia (or her mom) can roll it back up if they want (or toss it if it gets too annoying...lol)






These were fun to make!

******
I just came across a post on Bakerella's blog that had my jaw hanging open and drool dripping down onto my keyboard. I don't know if you subscribe, but this is too incredible NOT to share. Check out Candyland. Wow!

Hope you have an awesome Christmas Eve!

Meet Lucy Lion

I have to share this! I'm giggling as I look at what I created today. The girls' school mascot is a lion, and I got the  bright idea to crochet a lion for their teachers as a holiday gift (in addition to the ornaments I made). Anyway, I used a pattern by Vanna White from a little booklet I picked up at Hobby Lobby (you can find it at Joann's and Michaels, too I think).

The first one is done and Amy named her Lucy. Jessica named hers (yet to be created...starting tonight) Louie.

Look at that little piggie like tail. Oh my goodness, this turned out way cuter than I thought it would. LOL I hope the teachers like them. *Ü*  Amy wants one now....