Crochet - One Skein Wrap

First off I wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!! So excited for 2012 it's going to be great

Moving on with my "what everybody got for christmas series". I made my aunt this beautiful crochet shawl. The pattern for it I got from the Caron International Yarns website, you can get it here. This wrap only takes one pound of yarn, with a little to spare. I made my wrap a little longer, and left off the frindge and still had a decent amount left over to do something else with.

Sorry about the pic, I forgot to take one, the "Christmas Day" pic was the only one I had.

I don't know if this makes a difference though but I used Lion Brand's Pound of Love because that was all they had at Wal-Mart at the time.

My picture really does not show the drape well so here is the picture from the pattern to give you the idea

Win A Silhouette Cameo!

I just wanted to take a quick second to tell you the amazing thing that is going on today.
Little Miss Momma is giving away a Silhouette Cameo!!! I'm super excited. Those of you who are my facebook friend can tell because I have been entering giveaway's all morning. Go over there and check it out, There are also some more giveaways, check my blog roll to enter more.

Craft Clay Ornaments

Keeping with my "what everybody got for Christmas" series of posts, this next one was also for my husband but from the kids. We made craft clay ornaments and I had the little one paint them for his daddy. I even painted one myself with baby girl's hand print, as a baby's first christmas kind of thing. Sorry I don't have any pictures of him working with the dough cutting out the ornaments. We were having so much fun I totally forgot to take pictures.

Normally I like to use salt dough, but I wanted to try something different and actually make something that I have pinned on pinterest. So I used this Easy Craft Clay recipe I had found. You use baking soda and corn starch (that's where your box of  baking soda went honey haha) and cook it on the stove, which was really cool to watch. It also comes out a bright white color which was nice.

Noah LOVED playing  with the dough, he rolled it and smashed it, after we cut out all the ornaments we needed (using a glass, and a straw for the hole) he played with the left over dough for a few hours, it took forever to get him to stop.

One thing I did not like was that the bigger ones we made cracked. You were supposed to let this air dry, which takes a few days, and over those days the craking starts. I would have much rather used a salt dough next time and baked it so that it came out right. But who knows, it could have been something I had done wrong. If you try it let me know how it turns out.

It took a while to get nana's handprint right, the internet makes it seem easy, but it's not, she did not like it. I even tried her foot, which i realized was too big to actually hang. When I first painted it, it didn't look christmas enough, so I added glitter with Mod Podge. I recommend if you do, add Mod Podge to top to seal it in. I just added the words with a fine tip sharpie.

He also had fun painting them, I was a little nervous about letting him use my acrylic paints because I never painted with him before but he was very good and we both had a blast. I tried to coax him into using more christmas colors,  but then I figured he was having fun let him do what he wants. But next time I think I may draw designs on a few for him to work on painting in the lines.

Stenciled Apron

Hope everybody had a wonderful Holiday. I know that I did! Christmas being over always makes me a little sad because I love it so much, but I am excited I get to share with you all the fun projects I made as gifts this year.

This first one was for my husband. A stenciled apron I made using freezer paper. Now this was my first time using freezer paper stencils and I am VERY happy with the results and have to use this technique more.

The technique is pretty easy and doesn't really need a tutorial but for the newbies to this I'll just tell you how I did it. First thing I did was cut my paper to 8 1/2 X 11  and printed off my design (on the matte side). After I had already printed it out, I had the idea to next time just set the font to an outline to save computer ink.

I taped my paper to the back of my cutting mat and cut the shapes out with an x-acto knife. Clumsy / accident prone people shouldn't have sharp objects, so the whole time I kept saying to myself go slowly and carefully. Once my hand started to get a little shaky I stopped and finished again later.

Once all cut out place on your fabric (don't forget to put the little pieces back inside, like in the D and the A) shiny side down. Iron down the paper with your iron setting to a medium to high setting. DO NOT over iron! After it sticks and looks good, stop. I think I started to over iron a bit and it started to picker up and not stick anymore in some places. Once attached take out our paint and paint away!

 Here it is all painted before I removed paper. Removing the paper is easy it just pulls right off any doesn't leave anything sticky. There were a few spots around the edges where it sort of bled through but that was where I over ironed, I think it adds character and over all I am happy how it turned out, and the hubs loved it!

Last Minute Gifts - Crochet Cowel

Today I wanted to show you one of my (very) last minute Christmas gifts that I made. Last Thursday my husband comes home and asks me to make something for his supervisor at work to give to her tomorrow. Freaking out on what to make with only having one skein of yarn and only a few hours I browsed raverly on a good and quick pattern. This cowl is super cute and only took about 5 hours of continuous work to complete ( I went to bed about 2am that night). I was super exhausted when I was done but was so proud I had created something so cute in such little time. You can find the pattern for this here and create one for yourself or as a last minute gift for someone else.

Lady A's Knits

Today I wanted to share with you a wonderful website called Lady A's Knits. This site is owned by my friend Andrea who makes WONDERFUL crochet scarves.

Everything is made by her from her original designs which are totally fab, and an even bigger plus is that each creation is a one of a kind so you will be the only one wearing it.

Here is just a sample of some of her creations

See that super cute dress on the mannequin.....it's made of wrapping paper....yeah, she's that amazing.

Check out her page now, place an order for a scarf or two (or a dozen). She also does custom work so she can supply all your warm and cozy crochet needs.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Today I thought I would share with you the hub's Christmas gift from last year. This adorable little crochet Christmas tree with matching tree skirt and even little yarn covered presents to put under.

This was such an easy project to do, it was my first "amigurumi" type project that wasn't a hat or a scarf, and although a very last minute idea (made on Christmas eve) I was very pleased with the outcome. Honestly it took only a couple hours for the tree itself, would have been shorter if I didn't have to keep pulling it out and starting over.

I found the pattern for it online, you can see it here, for my tree, however, I used a regular green worsted weight yarn (Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice) and the size hook it said on the label. Also I used some brown yarn and made a circle the same diameter as the bottom, stuffed, and sewed it on. This is stuffed with an old t-shirt because at the time its all I had, but I'm sure you would get a much fuller tree with some poly-fill.

For the skirt I just made a circle with a double crochet stitch until I liked the size,then added a scalloped edge. The yarn I used for this was Lion Brand's Homespun. I don't know if this is the correct way to do the edging, but the way I did it was: {single crochet in first double crochet, chain 4, skip next double crochet, single crochet in next}repeat around.

The boxes are just paper origami boxes. Here is the tute I used. I'm not quite sure how I made the smaller box, but it was made with paper also, after that I just used glue to wrap with yarn, used some yarn scraps to make a bow, and sat under the tree.

I have been wanting to make little ornaments to go on the tree, or at least a tree topper but I'm not quite sure how I wanted to make it. I felt that a topper should be made with yarn too, so if you have any ideas please leave them in a comment below ( I love stars, so if you know a pattern for a little 3D star that would be nice). I was thinking that for ornaments I would do pretty round beads on ear ring findings as bulbs, but I wasn't quite sure if it would look right since the tree "branches" are so close together. For right now, the simplistic look is just perfect.

I may make some garland from embroidery thread and beads.....when I ever find them in my boxes of stuff haha.

Dear Santa...

I'm so excited for Christmas to get here, it feels like it is taking forever. I finally figured out what handmade gift everybody will get so I hope to start on them tomorrow!

Yesterday I told you about the number one things on the lists for the kids, today I thought I would share whats on Mama's list.....Craft storage.

Since moving I haven't been able to craft like I want to. Part because of space, part because I'm still trying to balance having to kiddos and baby girl grows so fast she wants to be into everything, and mostly because I know what I have but i have no clue where in the 4 stacked boxes and 1 suitcase it is. HIGHLY discouraging. Sometimes I feel like I would rather buy new whatever instead of attempting to dig around to find it. This year I asked Santa for a tall dresser to store all of my madness in an organized fashion. Now the thing I WISH Santa would bring me is a Workbox. What? You never heard of one? Let me introduce you to one of the greatest things ever made. The workbox by The Original Scrapbox.

Isn't this thing great? Look at all that storage, and a workspace too. It's like a little crafting sanctuary all in one little piece of furniture that looks oh so nice when tucked away. Not only does it come in white they have a few other colors/finishes to choose from. The Original Scrapbox makes a few other styles of crafting furniture that is worth going to the site and taking a look at.

If you want to see a really cool craft room that uses all of the Scrapbox products check out Linda's craft room from Craftaholics Anonymous. She even has a video tour to envy this room even more. Seriously, if this room had pink accents, and a papasan chair, it would be my vision for my future craft room with the grey walls and white furniture.

That's all for now, maybe I will be good enough for Santa net year, who knows. ;)

Thinking About Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. I know I did, it's so nice to spend time with family! Now that thanksgiving has passed us by everybody is thinking about Christmas. I absolutely love Christmas so I have been thinking about it for a while now. We have even had our tree up for a week already, haha.

I have a few upcoming projects in mind to start on, but the sad part is I cannot post them until after Christmas since they are gifts (don't want to spoil the surprise). That being said, I love giving handmade gifts, they are so much more personal and heartfelt. What kind of handmade gifts will you guys be giving this year?

Sometime the smaller kiddo's don't appreciate the handmade gifts as much and rather have a new toy with extremely hard to open plastic packaging. That's ok though, I picked out the perfect gifts for them this year. For the boy we are getting the Leapster Explorer by Leapfrog with the camera attachment, because he loves to take pictures like his daddy.

I've done a lot of research on this toy and have read lots of reviews and I absolutely LOVE it. I know he will have tons of fun playing games and I will know he is learning. You can even track your child's learning progress by hooking it up to your computer. There are a ton of games for this toy but my favorite part is that you can download games, videos, and interactive books directly to your handheld... NO LOST GAMES! If he does get an actual game cartridge we will probably go with the Mr. Pencil game as it seems like one he would really like. Oh, and I forgot to add my other favorite part. The difficulty of these games change as your child learns, how could you not love that, you know its not going to be a game he completes in a day and is done with it.

For baby girl we picked out the cutest little doll perfect for her age. The Baby Stella doll by Manhattan Toy. This doll comes in a few different styles but we choose the one with the black hair, isn't she just the cutest?

There has been TONS of good reviews for this doll as the perfect "first doll" for little girls, and I am a big advocate of every little girl having a dolly. Stella is a nice cuddly soft doll which I love. I think soft dolls have so much more character than the plastic face/bodied dolls. She even comes with a little magnetic binky to give her

You can get lots of clothes and accessories for her which I love, every girl (even a dolly) needs lots of accessories. Looking around the Internet I did not find a lot of free (or even paid) patterns for diy clothes for this doll...except one for a diaper pattern from Treasures For Tots. I know when she gets it I will try to work on lots of clothes and accessories patterns to post as there is a lack of them on the net already. [so excited!] One day I hope to get her a Waldorf doll like the ones here, but for now, this one is perfect.

 That's it for now, tomorrow I will share with you whats on my Christmas list.

Disclaimer: I was not paid or compensated by anyone to write about these products. I just really liked them and wanted to share my opinion.

Kids Krafts Friday - Pinata!

YAY! I'm so excited this is my first Kids Krafts Friday. This project was long in the making because I promised Noah that I would help him to make one of these a while ago after he saw one on Nick Jr.

It may not be too pretty but he had tons of fun making it and that's all that really matters.

Here's what you will need:

newspaper
few sheets of white printer paper (optional)
flour
water
tissue paper
white glue (like Elmer's)
scissors
Patience (lots of it)

First thing first, rip newspaper into strips, this is a long and boring process so I did this while watching TV (and browsing pinterest)

Then we mixed the glue, this was his favorite part, he told me he was Chef Noah while he was mixing it. I used a ratio of 2-1 with 2 cups of water to every 1 cup of flower. If you are doing a small pinata like the size of ours that should be enough but if you are doing anything larger, double it.

The next part may be a little common since because I think everybody has made a pinata in grade school,but just in, case you haven't I'll tell you. Dip paper in glue mixture, wipe of extra with your fingers, and put all over balloon. Be sure to overlap pieces a little and cover the entire balloon. It helps to put the balloon in a small bowl to hold it still while you are working.

Now, the ideal thing to do is let the first layer completely dry before you start your second layer, but working with a 3 year old that did not exactly happen. I figured if I didn't wait, it would turn out the same. I was right, but it took days to dry, and it made the kitchen smell like the flour mixture, so please, try to wait between each layer. About 3 or 4 newspaper layers should do it. Here he is, very proud of his first layer

Optional - add a layer or two of white paper to cover up the newsprint if you would like.

While you wait for your pinata to dry cut your tissue paper into small squares. It doesn't have to be perfect, just get some scissors and go crazy.We used Christmas paper because that's what he wanted, but it looks nice to used color paper and go for a pattern look lol. To speed up the process it helps to cut in strips, then stack the strips to cut the squares. (I had Noah separate all the pieces that were stuck together, he started to count them, then says mom there is just too many, it was funny)

After its all dry, its time to add the candy and decorate! I used a sharp knife to cut a hole in the bottom big enough to fit the candy in it(but do not cut it all the way off), doing this will pop the balloon, be sure to get that out before you do. I used tape at first to hold the hole closed, but the tape I had wouldn't stick to anything so I just glued it shut wit some strips of white paper. Since you need to hang it up the easiest way to do this is to make two holes close together at the top and string some ribbon or yarn through. I used screws to make the holes, and I used a tapestry needle to help get the ribbon through, if you don't have one of those I guess you could tape your string to a toothpick.

Give yourself a pat on the back, or clap like Noah did because you are almost done. Now its time to add all that tissue paper you cut up. We did it the old fashioned way I remember doing in elementary school. Wrap the tissue paper square around an unsharpened pencil and dip in glue, press and hold on pinata, and viola! it sticks! repeat until you are all done

When its all dry, string it up and knock it out! The hubs didn't think it was a good idea to do that in the apartment so we are going to wait until Saturday and do it outside at grandma's house. Will post a pic when we do so you can see :)