Holiday Crafts!

This Holiday Season I was pretty busy with my Air Explore 2. Once I got my Cricut Easy Press out of the box and was brave enough to try it, I fell in love with using Heat Transfer Vinyl and I'm so happy that I have branched out into making different things.


This year my best sellers were the Christmas Elves and Moose from the Dollar Tree. Throw on some HTV to personalize and they were a huge hit.

Another set of really popular items were the customized pot holders and cutting boards. (Also from the Dollar Tree!)

I also made Santa Cams- which were made from Nightlights from the Dollar Tree and cell phone wide lenses also from, you guessed it, the Dollar Tree. Then I used Extreme glitter Mod Podge on the backs of the nightlights to add some sparkle and to cover the scratches that are on them. You can also use frost spray but I didn't like how they came out. Then I just added a small vinyl decal and a tiny rhinestone to look like a Record light. I love how they came out and they were a hit too.

Buffalo Plaid was everywhere this year, including the Dollar Tree, they had these adorable faux fur topped stockings that were perfect for personalization.

Acrylic ornaments were something else that I really enjoyed making this year, I made dozens of them with names, images and they were a little challenging because they are so small but the finished product came out really pretty.

I also made some Teacher/Bus Driver appreciation gifts for my girls and their teachers and the Bus Driver/Montior enjoyed them.

And of course BOWS!

Happy Crafting!

Crochet Christmas Wreath

Hi Everyone!!
It's wreath time again!
I made this one with a 14" flat style floral wreath. I went into this one not really having a plan, I just grabbed some Christmas floral accessories from JoAnn, and found this adorable JOY ornament from Target for $3.00, I just cut the twine off and hot glued it on. All of the holly berries and twigs were stuck into the foam.

For the crochet portion I used a little less than 2 skeins of Loops and Threads Charisma in Real Red and about 1/2 skein of White.
I also used a 7.00mm crochet hook
Chain 22
DC in 2nd ch from hook and across, Ch2, turn.
DC in BLO across, repeat until your sleeve wraps around your wreath.

Crochet Turkey Wreath

I usually don't decorate for Thanksgiving but last week I saw a post that Sarah over at Repeat Crafter Me posted and since I was already going to get yarn for another project I figured why not give this a try. It worked up super fast and was a lot of fun.

My kids love it also, my two year old thinks it's hysterical that we have a turkey in the house. So here is what mine looks like! I tweaked it a little from the original version but I really like it and I am thinking of different wreath designs for winter and spring!

Jack Skellington Graph

Just in time for Halloween!

Here's a Jack Skellington graph!

It's pretty basic and only uses two colors! If you are new to graphgans you should really look at the bobbin method, it helps minimize weaving in ends and is a huge time saver! If you are doing this as a C2C, it should be a pretty large blanket!
Here's the link to the FREE download!

Happy Hooking!

Princess Beanie Pattern

 

For Halloween this year my little one is going to be Sleeping Beauty, a cute headband came with her costume but for where we live she needed something warmer to go trick-or-treating with her sister. So I decided to make her a hat with a gold crown applique.

For the hat I used Loops and Threads Charisma yarn in pink with a 5.00mm hook.
For the crown I used Vanna's Glamour Yarn in Gold. I also bought the silver to try and it looks just as cute! This is a sport weight yarn so I used a 3.75mm hook.
This hat was made in size 3-6 months and I follow the template from Sarah over at Repeat Crafter Me.

Bulky yarn and 5.00 hook was used for this hat.

Pattern   (3-6 months):
Round 1: Magic Ring DC11 into ring, join to first DC, ch2
Round 2: 2DC around, join to first DC, ch2
Round 3: *2DC, DC in next* around, join to first DC, ch2
Round 4: *2DC, DC in next two* around, join to first DC, ch2
Round 5: *2DC, DC in next 10* around, join to first DC, ch2
Round 6-11 DC in each around, join to first DC, ch2
Fasten off, weave in ends.

Crown Applique: Pattern modified from Little Frills Designs
Ch 13 loosely
Row 1: SC in 2nd stitch from chain, sc across, turn
Row 2: DC across, turn
Row 3: SC across, turn
Row 4: *Ch3, skip 1, SC into next st* repeat 4 times so you have 5 "loops"
Row 5: Ch6, 1 DC into first loop, ch4, DC into next loop, ch6, 1 DC into next loop, ch4, 1 DC into next loop, ch6, 1 DC into last loop slip stitch into last st, turn
Row 6: HDC 6 into first loop, HDC 4 into second loop, HDC 2, DC 2, HDC 2, into third loop, HDC 4 into fourth loop, HDC 6 into last loop. Fasten off, leave a long tail for sewing.

Sew the applique to the hat, gloves, headband or whatever it is needs the royal treatment.
Happy Halloween!

Yarn Wreath- Winter Edition

Pretty right?

This one was very easy, I used some chunky yarn in 3 colors, Grey, a teal and a varigated green/blue purple.

The roses were croched from a very simple pattern, as long as you can do the main crochet stitches you can make these flowers.

Crochet Rose: (found on youtube but I'll write it out for you)

Use any size yarn/hook depending on how large you want your rose to be. I used 2 different size hooks here.

Leave a long tail for sewing CH 28, sc across, turn work. *sc, hdc, dc, tc, dc, hdc, sc, [all in same stitch]  slip stitch,* repeat to last stitch, do puff stitch. (yo, go in hole of last stitch, yo, pull out, yo (until you have 5 loops on hook) yo and pull through all stitches, cut yarn and sew into shape. Hot glue onto wreath, or sew into scarf or anything else you want to use them for!

Crocheted Skirt for Elf on the Shelf

Sittin' Pretty

When I buy something for my daughter, even if a million other people have it, I like to try and make it as custom for her as possible. I know how huge the Elf on the Shelf is and even though we got her a girl elf, who she has named "Snow Angel" she didn't look very girly. So in about 30 minutes I whipped her up a quick skirt and the next morning she was sporting her new fashion from the North Pole.

 

I've written up the pattern, it's very easy! Have at it, and if you make some link me in the comments, I would love to see other color combinations!

Looks like a fuzzy doughnut

View Pattern Here

So cute!

Sewing 101

I finally learned how to thread my sewing machine and get it working, I still have a little ways to go but I'm getting there. At least I can sew in a straight line! I'm very excited to start work on some projects that were put on hold. I'm also very excited for the holidays so I can make some wonderful homemade gifts. I know, "oh joy" but trust me, homemade gifts can be fun, creative and in these tight economic times, nice and friendly to the pocketbook. I may be spending even more time on Pinterest than usual to get some inspiration.
What the heck did people do before the internet?

Oh, and we're thisclose to getting 200 "likes" on facebook! So please share us with your friends, it's very exciting to have so many readers and I'm looking forward to spending more time crafting and blogging so I can share everything with you!
I hope everyone had a happy and safe halloween!

Candy Corn Costume

Look at this adorable little boy!

I've seen a version of this on Pinterest and no matter how hard I tried I coudn't find a pattern for it. So I made one. Knitting this up only took a couple of days and since I used cotton yarn along with the eyelash it ended up being super warm.

I didn't take exact measurements of this but since it is like a coccoon you could make it a tad bigger or smaller and it could've fit on my almost 3 year old as a dress.

The body of the costume was actually very easy, and the hat I modified from this pattern on Ravelry. I used less decrease rounds and didn't have as severe a point, but if you want a really pointy hat, this pattern would do. I also cast on fewer stitches since it was for an infant.

Materials:
1 ball each of yellow, orange and white cotton yarn
1 ball each of yellow, orange and white eyelash yarn (white is fun fur, yellow and orange are lash max)
size 15 circular needles
tapestry needle.

Both pieces are worked with one strand of cotton worsted weight yarn and one strand of eyelash yarn.

Body:
Cast on 40 sts in yellow, join in round.
Knit for 25 rounds
Switch to orange
Knit for 20 rounds (if you don't want tank top sleeves, knit the extra 5 rows and bid off, if you want sleeves, continue)

Straps:
Cast off 13 sts, knit 4 sts, CO 5, knit 4 sts, CO rest of stitches.

P1, K1, P1, K1 on first strap
Place 2nd group of 4 sts on stitch holder.

go back to first strap and repeat P1, K1, P1, K1 for 15 more rows
Bind off

Pick up second group of stitches for straps and repeat
P1, K1, P1, K1 for 16 rows total.
Bind off

Sew straps to body, or secure with buttons

Optional:
Sew up bottom

Easter!

I hope everyone who celebrates had a great Easter!

We had a great day with our family and I just love having holidays at our new home. I love having everyone together. I didn't take too many pictures but I did get one of the centeripece I did for our table.

I used peonies, hydrangeas and some stick thinkies from JoAnn's and for the vase I just used an existing vase and put scrap book paper along the inside.

And this is the Bunny Bait. Another recipie inspired by pinterest.

I used:

Plain Popcorn

Pretzel Sticks

Pretzel M&M's

White chocolate (melted and poured on)

Sprinkles (or where I'm from, Jimmies)

After it set up I broke it up and put it into bags for the kids.

I also made but didn't take pictures of:

Funfetti cake batter dip

Lasagne (YUM)

I have a couple of projects I'm currently working on. One is collecting knit/chrochet hats for my local hospital's maternity unit. If you would like to help please contact me -------> over there.

the wreath!

not being a pro (yet) with the hot glue gun i'd say it came out pretty good! i'm probably going to do a different one for next year but not bad for my first go at it! once again, thank you Pinterest for the inspiration!

Materials used: Paper Mache "D" from Jo-Ann fabrics around $3.00, boxes of mini ornaments on sale $2.99 per box (i bought 6 boxes and any leftover ornaments will go on our tree), string of silver beads, $7.99. Spool of black ribbon $2.99, and my lovely hot glue gun.

Originally posted on 12/5/11