Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!  

              This year has brought many great changes. I have ventured out in my crafting, found great new ways to organize my home and family, and made great new friends. All while loving life with two wonderful toddlers and one amazing husband.

I reluctantly started this blog but I am so glad I did. I have met so many wonderful people and learned so many new crafts along the way. Thank you can not be said enough. This blog is my outlet and I can not believe how many wonderful things it has done for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and I hope 2012 brings great things for all.

I didn't have Ruby Red Slippers so I got the next best thing....Ruby Red Toes!!

~ Have a Blessed New Year Everyone~

Snow Family Ornament Part two and a late Merry Christmas!!

So Merry Christmas!! I know it is a little late but I had last minute family in from out of town.  I have been playing hostess and not much of anything else. I really wanted to get these last few thing posted before Christmas but I am only one person. :( I should have asked Santa for an extra pair of hands.

I finally finished our 2011 Family Ornament!!! I did put our names on our hats and our dogs names on the small snowballs. What do you think? I love them and can't wait to make more. I used E6000 glue to attach all my snow people together. Now the clay doesn't bake up white so I did have to do a good coat of white paint over the bodies before I painted everything else. For great tips on making clay ornaments check out this crafty mama's blog

Sarah at the Spicy Pinecone.

The funny snowball on the top of our heads has our last name and the year written on them. Can you believe Mr.Wonderful and I have been collecting them since our first christmas together 10 years ago. :)

We also let the  boys make hand print ornaments. I love them!!! I will cherish these forever. I painted them white and painted the hand prints with glitter paint. On the back I wrote their names, the date, and what they asked for from Santa.

Now this ornament is near and dear to my heart. It is still unfinished because I still unsure of the wording. This is my thumb print and Mr. Wonderful's thumbprint. I painted it white and then painted my little birds with the thumb print as the body. Isn't it so cute?!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year!!!!

~Link Parties~

                                               Beneath My Heart

~Crochet Slippers and Headbands~

I am in LOVE with these slippers! To bad they aren't for me. ;( These were a gift for my mother in law. She loves little slippers. I found this site for slipper making and used the base of the pattern and grew from there.Good Knits

I wear in between a 6.5 and a 7 in a women's shoe. In the pattern where she does 24 stitches in the round and then increases to 32, I stayed at 24 stitches and continued the pattern. When I came to creating the sides 17 stitches was the magic number for me.  With this sole it is all about fit. You really need a good measurement if you are making these as a gift.

After I finished the sole I did 1 round of single crochet and then did a reverse single crochet with decreases in the corners to size. Sorry I am not sure if reverse single crochet is a real crochet stitch or the correct name but I simply did a single crochet just entering under the loop from the back. I am very new to crochet and learning through books and YouTube so forgive  me all you veteran crocheters. Oh and I also recommend using some really nice, soft, fluffy yarn for these. I love silky smooth yarn but it made it slightly uncomfortable walking around of the stiff double crochet stitches.

I whipped these up one night for my mom. This is her foot modeling them for me on Christmas.

This is a set of Ear warmers I did for two sisters. One has a flower and the other a snowflake. I took measurements of their heads exactly where I wanted the headband to rest and took off an inch. I did a chain getting my length and then a small section of single crochet right until the band meets the ear and then I changed the stitch to a double crochet all the way across until I reached the point where it came past the ear again and I went back down to the single crochet. The next 3 or 4 rows were all single crochet. I wanted a solid section covering the ear so they would be functioning ear warmers.

After that I did the reverse of the first two rows. I did a slip stitch all the way around the warmer to finish the edges and them made a couple flowers. One was really large for the front and then a small one to act as a button attached to the back. I stitched a small loop opposite of the small flower and Viola I had a cute little ear warmer.

This is the back side of the snowflake warmer. There is a small loop around the snowflake that is attached to the other side to hold it nicely in place.

The last one is a little headband for a friends little girl. She is about 6 months old. Again I took her measurements and subtracted an inch. For hers I did a single chain to get my length and then a slip stitch to join the two ends. The next row I did a single crochet, then a double, then another single, and finished off the with a simple slip stitch all the way around for a nice finished edge. I gave her a nice big snowflake atop to where for the holidays. Thinking about it now I should have put the snowflake on a clip. I think the next time I go to visit I will do that so she can where the flake as just a bow. To do that you simply cover an alligator clip with some ribbon and hot glue the snowflake to the covered clip.

I am really enjoying the crochet projects I have been learning. The items seems to work up quickly and I find it extremely relaxing. I love that I can take it from room to room and even to doctors offices to kill time while waiting. if you haven't tried it you should. It is pretty simple it just takes practice. YouTube works wonders! I also got a ton of helpful tips from the book Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker  by Debbie Stoller. Plus it has some really cute, fun patterns in it.

If anyone has any helpful crochet tips or crochet corrections(I am still very much a crochet newbie) for me feel free to leave a comment. Happy crocheting!!

~Link Parties~

                                             

                                    

Snow Family Clay Ornaments: Part 1

So every year we get a family ornament with our names, pets, and the year on it. This year I decided to tackle making our ornament. I will say it is a very fun task that definitely gets better with practice. I do have a link to an awesome crafty mom who makes my clay work look like childs play.Sarah at the Spicy Pinecone has a great tutorial and tons of tricks and tips. I highly recommend checking out her blog. She is a wonderfully creative mommy.

Now I used the plain jane Sculpey Original.Next time I will take Sarah's advice and use the stiffer studio clay and the softener.

 

Here is K's little snow man. I think I am going to put our initials on our hats and the dogs names on little snowballs.

Here is little E. It was so hard making all the tiny parts with the soft clay. That is where I am hope the stiffer clay will be different. The clay was heating up and becoming really soft as I was working with it. That does not make for a nice looking tiny carrot nose. It took me FOREVER!!!

This is me. ;) I am really happy with how I turned out. What do you think?

Here is my Mr. Wonderful. He is a ball cap kinda guy so I figured I would be true to his fashion. I love it! His nose turned out the best. I really like the little crook in the end of the carrot.

They are all finished now and almost completely painted. I am going to join them all together and then  I will share the finished products.  so what do you think of them so far? They aren't perfect but I am extremely happy with how they turned out.  Do you have an ornament family tradition? Feel free to share!

P.S. Hopefully I will have a tree skirt to share with you in a day or so. I have kinda hit a creative block with it.  It still feels like it needs something....hopefully I figure it out before Christmas!

Link Parties!

            Beneath My Heart

Owl love!

My Owl Barn is offering free, make your own owl  2012 calendars!!! I just made mine. With a great variety of beautiful owl art you are assured to make an awesome calendar. A big thank you to Myowlbarn.com and all the artist for the beautiful artwork!

I am nursing a sore jaw at the moment. I had two wisdom teeth removed earlier this week. I have a few post lined up and a few W.I.P. Hopefully I will get them up here in a day or two. I have some crochet goodness coming and hopefully a tree skirt. Want a sneak peak of the crochet....

Now hopefully I can get them posted in a timely fashion. Wish me luck I am going to need it! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Fun Christmas Wreath

I am so excited to have finished my Christmas wreath before Christmas! I say before Christmas because sadly my fall wreath is yet to be completed.

:( We have so much at the end of October and during November that the time slipped away from me and I failed to complete my table runner and wreath. Not for Christmas though. ;) I am very happy with how it turned out although it is far from the original drawing. 

I went for a not so traditional look. I used some great blues, warm whites and a dash of red. I wanted a lot of texture with my flowers so there are a variety of them. I did a few crochet and a few fabric. Do you see that red netting? Can you guess what it is? If you said the bag my tangerines came in you are absolutely right! I always save those little bags. I have used them to adorn gifts, decor, gift bags for the doggies Christmas gifts, bows, and so on. There are tons of cool ways to use them.

I covered a straw wreath with masking tape and spray painted it red. Then covered it with some warm white yarn. The wrapping isn't perfect because I wanted a little of that red to peek through. After searching high and low for the perfect ribbon to make my bow I stumbled upon something a little different than what I had in mind. One look and I knew it was exactly what I was looking for. Turns out I wasn't looking for ribbon after all. ;)I found these at Target....

I purchased two of the blue and one white. Using needle nose pliers I shaped the stem around my wreath and trimmed the excess with wire cutters. Then I simply shaped all the little arms to my liking. What do you think? I personally love it!

After putting my new finagled bow and all the flowers on Mr. Wonderful pointed out that it was missing something. Merry Christmas! He said it needs a greeting since it will be at the front door. It is always nice to have a fresh set of eyes when you are working on a project. I knew it need something but I was sure what. He  nailed it. So I got out some craft wire, yarn, needle nose pliers with a wire cutter feature, and I typed up and printed out Merry Christmas as a guide.

Here is the gauge of the wire I used. It was really easy to shape...maybe a little too easy but it held it's shape so I went with it. I used the pliers to get nice, even curves. This takes a little while so maybe sit down to one of your favorite shows to tackle this. I watched Next Iron Chef (GO Zakarian or Guarnaschelli).

Here is the finished Merry Christmas.  I am pretty happy with it. The T gave me fits but the more I worked with it the crazier looking it became so I just left well enough alone. I tacked everything on with some small pin needles. It is holding very well. Oh and on the end of the letters that didn't continue into the word ( IE the M) I used a small piece of double sided tape to ensure that the yarn stayed put.

I love how lovely it looks perched on the front door. The red taffeta ribbon gives it just the right pop, I think.  

Not sure if you can see this but I used an upside down command hook on the inside of the door to secure the ribbon to. My ribbon was wired so tied it with a little curly cue bow. It is pretty on the outside and the inside. The bow also conceals the command hook a little.

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!! Tree is up, wreath is on the door, some lights are hung, Christmas music is playing, and now to bring out a few other little things around the house. Did you make a wreath this year? Feel free to leave a link to a post or pics I would love to see them.

Link Parties!!!