purple flower hat

nothing too exciting - just another hat. this one is definitely at the top of the list of favorites. i think she's tired of being my model though . . .

Yarn love

I'll admit it: when my 7-year-old asked me to make her a doll blanket, and I allowed her to pick the yard, I hated her choice. I thought it was ugly (truth be told). But, keeping to my word, I allowed her to purchase it, and I set out to make her a blanket for her doll.

As I got going though, I realized that while it was never something I would choose, the yard was so pretty. It is fun and colorful, and totally matches her personality. Of course, I'm sure it doesn't hurt that I absolutely love the pattern - and I love that both sides of the blanket are completely the same. It is also much softer and loser than most crochet patterns, so it makes a great blanket. I actually think this would make a cute baby blanket.

more hats

Is anyone sick of my beanies yet? I think my husband may be . . . but I'm not.
Bryn wanted a cat hat. I realize now in these pictures that one of the eyes is too high - guess I'll be fixing that asap. Other than the crazy eyes, I think it turned out pretty cute. Especially considering the fact that I made up the pattern all by my self.
G wanted an owl hat. There are ears on it, but you can't see them in this pic. She wasn't exactly cooperating . . . I don't love the pink stripe, but it was what she wanted.
Here's a hat I made for my friend who is having a baby soon. I love this hat - its way cuter in person than it is in the pictures.

Blue beanie

Every girl needs a hat to match her eyes. thanks for the yarn aunt jen

second try

Take #2 on the angry birds hats. I still don't love them - and I know they don't look exactly like the originals - but I do think they're wearable. I do have to admit that they are much cuter in person.

the angry elmo and lop-sided monkey

So, I know that i used to be a better blogger. But I sorta got sick of the bloggy one-upmanship mentality where it felt like everyone was trying to prove that they were the funniest person alive, that their kids were the cutest, their husband was the hottest, and their life was the best. And I am not saying that I am above all of that - I totally fell into the "keeping up with the bloggers" category too.

In my attempt to prove that I am SOOO not that person, I present to you two of my recent craft FAILS:

Fail #1 - the ugly elmo hat. it started as an attempt to make angry birds beanies as christmas gifts. well intentioned? yes. well executed? no. Hell NO. The beanie itself is great. The face notsomuch. The eyes are too big and the eyebrows too cartoony. Time to unpick and try again. At least the model is cute.
Fail #2 - the lop-sided monkey. I'll admit that this was a failed attempt. At least the socks were only $1. I blame pinterest and a poorly worded tutorial. None of this was my fault at all. I did not make the mouth waaay too small. And I did not sew the legs unevenly - the sock was simply more stretchy on one side . . .

This is one for the trash pile. I bought sock monkeys from Target (my 5 year old is kind of addicted to sock monkeys. . .) and i will not be attempting to make my own again.

hats!!

i have been busy making hats for everyone i know. i probably shouldn't post them here, as some are gifts . . . but i can't wait for christmas. i'm too excited, so i have to share them and bank on the fact that i don't think many of my family and friends even read my blog. . .

more pinterest inspiration - cute crochet hat

So, I found an adorable crochet hat on Pinterest. Unfortunately, the site is in Dutch (at least I think its Dutch . . .I can't read it anyway). So, I improvised. I think i want to add a cute crocheted flower on the side, but I like it. It is a little tighter than I would like - I need to figure out how to loosen the tension when I crochet. Does it surprise anyone that someone as high-strung as me even crochets tightly? Wait . . . don't answer that.

Anyway, here's the hat:The model is pretty cute too.

inspired by pinterest - Christmas ornament wreath

Pinterest is an addiction. Lest anyone think I just sit around and pin things to my board all day, I thought I would post a project I completed, inspired by one that I found on that site: a fun christmas ornament wreath
And a silly insect-girl.
I raided the dollar store, and $10 dollars later, I had my supplies.
I made a hanger out of crafting wire, and wrapped the styrofoam in green garland. I was having so much fun, that there are no pictures to show the process. But it was pretty simple - just a lot of hot glue and patience.

What to do with hole-y jeans

Is it just my kids, or is it a common thing that the knees of jeans wear out long before they grow out of the pants? Maybe its some conspiracy that clothing companies have figured out to keep us buying. . .

At any rate, it seems I have a plethora of holey-kneed jeans. So, I decided to try and make a cute ruffled skirt with a pair of my favorites.I cut off the legs, just below the pockets and I used a $.97 piece from the scrap bin (I found a cute piece with some sparkles that matched the sparkly thread in the jeans) to sew the ruffle. I even made some matching leggings with some ugly $1 ones from a thrift store (I cut about 4-inches off the bottom, and them made ruffles for the bottom of the leggings).
A closeup of the skirt and legging. I'm super happy with how they turned out - I think this is my favorite refashion so far.

quilted Easter table runner

I've been wanting a fun, spring table runner. I pieced this one together and machine quilted it along the seams (I think there's a technical name for that . . .) I like how it turned out, but I decided this one is going to be a gift for my mom. I had originally planned to give it to her for Mother's Day, but I'm thinking it would look good for Easter. So, its a "thank you" gift for watching my kids while I was in Boston.

It was super easy. I bought the pre-cut fabric strips (just from WalMart too, as much as I despise the place), so total time from start to finish was only about 4 hours.I had originally planned to just do the stripes going one way - but after I got it pieced, it was too short and fat. So, I cut about 8 inches off the entire length, and cut that strip into 3 equal pieces. I sewed one to each end, and then unpicked the middle and sewed one into the middle. I LOVE how it turned out. The change in direction added just the visual interest I was looking for.

20 minute refashion

I have a seemingly endless supply of cardigans. While I do like them - they are the staple of my wardrobe - they do get boring. Hence, another refashion.

This time, I started with an old pink cardy. This particular one was a hand-me-down from my mother. She grew tired of it, passed it along, and now I'm tired of it too. But, its still in good shape and a shame to get rid of.

So . . .

I started with the boxy/boring cardy. 20 minutes later, and a little shirring:

Tada! I nice, ruffled look.
I promise it fits better around the boob area - its just that I'm moving my arm really far out of the way to take my self-portrait.

Braided rag rug

I came across this tutorial for a braided rag rug. Hers is gorgeous, and I decided that I wanted one too. I have a bucket full of scraps - surely I had enough.

Overall, I'm happy with how mine turned out (I seem to say that a lot . . .). I didn't have a piece large enough to sew it onto, so I just sewed it together with nothing on the bottom. Two problems:
1) the edges curled, not unlike a giant lettuce edge.
2) it turned out a bit skewed - ie. not entirely symetrical

I don't love the colors either, although suppose it is good enough to sit on the floor where I do the dishes (the former rug was awful!!)

Scraps

I think my husband may be right - I just may have some hoarding tendencies. But, why throw anything away when you can make a pretty pincushion with a scrap of paisley, small circle of felt, and some stuffing from an old pillow.

Or a pretty little flower hair clip from some scraps left over from a skirt.
I do throw out the stuff that I will honestly never use. I promise.

One (wo)man's trash

A few weeks ago, my sister told me she'd cleaned out her closet, and had 4 bags for the thrift store. I asked if she minded if I went through them first, and of course she said "YES". Yipee. I love thrifting - and free thrifting is the best.

I ended up with some gems - in fact, I took about 25% of her stuff. My husband thinks I'm becoming a hoarder. . . no comment on that . . .

One of my favorites was this shirt. I could hardly believe she was throwing it out. I just love the ruffles, and the light fabric.It did have some very small holes down around the bottom of the shirt, but since it was quite long, I was able to fold up the hem and shirr around the bottom. It turned out super cute. I also cut off the ruffles around the arms, and stitched them down the front.

It was SO simple, and literally took me less than 30 minutes. I got TONS of compliments. Its so fun too - I love new things that cost me nothing.
The finished product (er. . . close-up of the ruffles down the front.)

Maxi skirt

I've been wanting a maxi skirt for awhile - that's a fashion trend that I can wear. So, the other day when I was home with a (kinda) sick daughter, I decided to throw one out. I roughly followed this tutorial, but I kinda did my own thing too. I wanted a long skirt, with only one ruffle at the bottom - and I wanted some embellishment. Overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out. I think it would maybe look better a little tighter, so I think I'll take it in a couple of inches. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with it. Just need sandal weather to officially get here, so I can wear it.

Catch of the day

A quick craft I threw together on Saturday as a thank-you gift to my dad. And because he's been diagnosed with cancer - he's going in for surgery this week, and he loves this picture. Every summer he takes my girls fishing, and this picture from last year was his favorite. He'd been asking me to blow it up, but I'd taken it on my cell phone, which was lost shortly after the picture was taken. Only recently did I remember that I'd sent it to my computer. I had though it was gone forever.

Materials needed:

A wooden frame
Mod Podge
Scrapbook paper
Paper cutter
Acrylic paint
Sand paper
The finished product:
I chalked around the edges after I sanded for an even more worn look. If I hadn't been making this for a grandpa, there definitely would be some type of ribbon or other embellishment. I don't love the "gone fishing" in the corner, but he did. And that is all that counts.