I realize I haven’t posted a project in probably three weeks. All I’ve been doing is crocheting like a mad woman. Haven’t been inspired to do anything else. However, if anyone has any project ideas they’d love to do, but simply don’t have the time – send ‘em my way and I’ll see if I can give it a shot!
I typically don’t crochet blankets simply because I like the smaller, faster projects better so I can enjoy my finished product more quickly. You have to be pretty dedicated to finish a project of this magnitude. However, these past few weeks I’ve decided to tackle not only one blanket, but three! Ha. When I get bored with one, I move onto a different one. I like variety! I’m almost finished with all three. Like I said crochet-a-holic. Not ashamed.
This is a full view of one I'm working on. It's almost finished. I think. I haven't decided if I should add on more squares. Right now it's a perfect square all together, so I'm debating on making it more of a rectangle shape.
Each color has a different pattern and texture to it. I love that! The original pattern was free from Lion Brand's website. I simply altered mine a bit.
Still have to add the decorative trim border (that I’m totally going to make up, because I love pretty trim). But I’m pausing for a bit until I officially decide if I like the size yet or not…We shall see…
Happy Crafting!
For those of you that don’t know me or have never been in my house, I have a lot of French/Eiffel Tower decor. It’s a homage to my travels there back in 2009; a trip I will never forget. As well as it serves as a reminder of how much I would like to go back there one day. I loved it. So much art, culture, music, and a variety of people from all over the world. Jeff and I will also be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary this year, a small triumph in the grand scheme of things; but we’re still pretty excited about! My inspiration for this particular project came from French street signs.
Here's kind of an idea of where my inspiration came from.
I'm not even going to pretend like I free-handed this. I'm terrible at writing. So I printed the letter off the size I wanted, cut them out, and used them as stencils. Worked pretty well. The smaller letters up top were a beast to paint around. Ugh.
I could not have done this without these tools. My brushes could have been in better shape, but I always prefer my flat brushes verses the round ones. And I had to keep switching to a smaller and smaller brush. Plus I like my needle nose fiskar scissors for that detail cutting like those letters.
The finished product.
Hope you like it! If so – feel free to hit the Facebook “like” button below!
Now I didn’t want my last Monday post to get TOO full of different projects; so I decided to make a separate post just to break up so many projects.
These are lil' boot covers. They're great for keeping that lil' bit of chill from between your jeans and boots...especially when your boots are too short to wear leg warmers.
This is my "French" inspired neck warmer. Jeff thinks it looks like a Pilgrim, but I don't care. I like it. Reminds me of an old fashioned dress. Plus I like that it makes it look like I'm wearing a sweater under my coat.
This is what it looks like without a coat on. I wanted to make sure it was long enough to cover a V-neck shirt. Keep those chilly breezes out!
These are my spunky leg warmers! I like to wear them on top of my jeans under my boots. The one on the right is, of course, a tribute to Harry Potter. PS - I know it's a horrible picture, but it's really hard to take pictures of your own legs upside down.
I hate posting pictures of me, but this one just has to be worn to get the full cuteness.
Super comfy and warm. Hasn't even been quite cold enough to need it yet. Love that flower!
I’m completely addicted to crocheting. I know, get it out – any/all old lady jokes you’re thinking in your head, because I don’t care. I love it. It’s so soothing. It shuts off all the worries/stresses I have going on and simply puts my focus into creating. It’s my therapy. Lately I’ve been into creating some of my own patterns. I just get an idea in my head and just want to try it out. Some aren’t very successful, but others – I rather like the results. Here’s just a few examples of some of the things I’ve worked on lately.
I made this one for my niece, Lydia. I can't claim complete credit for this one. I got the idea for this one from a picture on Pinterest, but I at least "winged" the pattern.
Note the eyelashes. I knew I wanted to make it even more girly. This add-on was Jeff's idea.
This hat is for my nephew, Eli. This lil' baby was Jeff's envision, I just created the design for it. He was very particular how this dinosaur was supposed to look like. Boys.
Now this part was apparently very important...how the tail's end spikes looked. He very specifically told me there HAD to be four small spikes. Ha.
I've been very into make dog collars too. Of course, every girl needs some bling; even dogs.
Gracie was my puppy model. I put her on the table and she just immediately tightened up and was like "uhhh mom, what are you doing to me?!" Hahaha. And don't worry, I made Roxy one too. She actually seemed much more excited about it, she thought she was pretty hot stuff wearing it.
Gracie's other dog collar. If you didn't know - pink is Gracie's signature color. The black part is a bow.
I was inspired to make Gracie's collar so she can match my neck warmer that I made up.
You could also wear it completely buttoned too. Please ignore the extremely white skin.
Looks super cute poppin' out of my pea-coat. The perfect amount of a lil' flirty and fun.
Lastly, Gracie's Christmas sweater. That's right, folks. Every dog needs one. But seriously, I accidentially shaved Gracie's hair too short last time and she's been awfully cold lately. Whoops.
The sweater pattern I was inspired by came from a free pattern on Lion Brand's website. It just had to be altered quite a bit to fit Gracie, so I ended up pretty much making my own pattern. My own fun addition was making up the Christmas tree add-on. I however did NOT make Roxy one - TOO much yarn!
I actually made this around the same time as I made all my fabric wreaths, but I wanted to dedicate a separate post for this one because I think it’s so fantastic. The inspiration for this project is actually because of a former client, Abby, that I worked with a few years ago. Abby found this idea on Pinterest and created a beautiful wreath! However, she said it took like 15 hours and I wasn’t sure I was up for attempting that, so I chose a smaller but similar project idea. I browsed Pinterest until I found the same project Abby made and followed the lady’s instructions, they were quite easy to follow. Here is her link:
http://www.domestifluff.com/2009/11/how-to-make-a-ruffly-felt-rosette-wreath/
The only difference was I used small styrofoam balls instead of a giant wreath to conquer. It took me about 2 1/2 – 3, 9×12 sheets of felt per sphere. That’s it! Now, since I wanted to make this as door decor I was afraid that it wouldn’t fit in between my front door and storm door. So I cut the sphere in half – make the work even LESS! Ha! So, here is the result:
I went with some neutral friendly colors so I could leave it up year-round! Hope you try this project out! I really enjoyed it!
If you enjoyed this project, feel free to click the Facebook “like” button below. Thanks!
So I took a extended break from my fabric wreath and actually didn’t finish it, I still plan to go back to it…one day. Now I’m in Christmas mode so I didn’t really feel like doing a fall wreath. So I decided to make some Christmas ones! The same instructions apply as the fabric wreath; you still completely wrap the styrofoam wreath in fabric, expect this time I used ribbon for each. And I think I actually like the ribbon better, I think it has something to do with the wiring. It just seemed to wrap better. I used both 1 1/2 width wired ribbon and 2 1/2 ribbon – both worked great!
This is my Candy-cane Wreath! Got to be careful about putting heavier items on the side. I did that to all of mine because I thought it was the most visually pleasing...but it also is hard to get the wreath to hang correctly without being lop-sided.
I went for a really simple look on this one. But I really like it. The gold leaf thing had a huge stem so I had two options either cut it or hide it. I hid it under the wrapped layers. I had to wiggle it in, but if you already know what you're including on your wreath then you can wrap the stem as you go.
This is pretty much where Christmas is centrally located in my house. Ha.
This one is actually for my bestie, Kristin. She just became a home-owner a couple of months ago and I wanted to make her something that fits her sassy style. The Fleur de lis is a lil' tribute to our trip to Paris.
If you liked this post, feel free to push the Facebook “like” button below. Thanks so much! Have a blessed day!
My mom had these wooden blocks that said Merry Christmas that were set up every year. I always loved putting them up on the mantel. I don’t know why, but I did. So I wanted to make some of my own; only for mine, I wanted them to say “Happy Birthday.” I think too many people get caught up in gift buying/receiving, Santa Clause, and any other commercialized item you can think of – people tend to forget the real reason for the season. It’s a time to celebrate Jesus’s birth! So I like to have this lil’ reminder on my mantel to remember to say Happy Birthday to Him who was born merely to die to save me.
Here’s some basic instructions (they’re very similar to the Christmas Calendar Blocks):
- Buy wooden blocks/letters from Michael’s (I had to search about 4 Michael’s to get all the letters)
- Paint blocks/letters
- Use mod podge to attach paper to the front of the blocks
- Use wood glue to attach letters to blocks
- I also used sand paper to get the paper to match up to the exact size of the blocks and also to give the corners a more “rustic” look
If I were to do this again, I would just cover the whole block with paper. The paint took forever. You have to let all the sides dry and it took about three coats to get a solid finish. I would also nix the sanding idea, it took a while to sand through the three layers of paint.
Just a lil’ somethin’ to add to your Christmas decor. These are just lil’ calendar numbers to keep track of the date and as Christmas draws closer and closer!
I cut my scrapbook paper to 4x4 and then used mod podge to attach it to my blocks.
I drew my numbers on the backside of my pattern paper and then cut them out. Then I used those as a stencil to create my "shadow" numbers out of brown cardstock paper.
I attached my numbers and then painted the edges with brown paint. Plus don't forget the stickles!
TADA!
It’s been so hectic with pictures/editing this week that I haven’t really made time to make a “crafty” project. But I always make time to crochet every week because it’s my down-time, theraputic activity. And this week I’ve been making cowls like crazy! For those of you that don’t know what a cowl is – its basically like a circular scarf that’s really short or small. You just slip it over your head and wear it almost like a necklace. There are also cowl-neck sweaters…they’re the ones with the droopy neckline. Any who – I love them! And I found a pattern that I just love so I continue making it in several colors. I now have it completely memorized! The pattern is from Lion Brand it’s their “Scalloped Cowl” pattern. I love their website because their patterns are free! Can’t beat that! I don’t have a super cute picture of the finished product, but I thought I’d post a quick one that Jeff took of me this Sunday. It was the perfect weather to wear mine yesterday!
This is what the finished product looks like.
So this idea is totally not mine, but my friend Kristin got it from Pinterest. We had a “craft” day and got together to make these…but decided to make cupcakes and watch Hocus Pocus instead. So I took the project home and finished it.
All you need is an 11×14 picture frame and a piece of fabric, we actually used a bandana. Then you can draw out your calendar lines on the fabric, or I actually drew them on the back of the glass. It’s scary with sharpie, but you can use windex and it comes right off if you mess up. Then when you’re done drawing your grid, flip the glass over, insert it into the frame and put the fabric behind it. Pull the fabric tight to get out the wrinkles first. And then on the front of the glass you can use a dry-erase marker or a sharpie to write in the month and numbers and any events you have. Kristin’s idea was that this was not only a calendar, but a meal planner too – but we hardly ever plan our meals in advance…so…this is just a calendar for me.
Hope you make one too! It’s super easy and quick…which is why I chose it this week!
love love love these projects …. now that pilgrim thingy is/was fondly refered to as a ‘dickie’ back in the day darlin … boy how i remember those white and baby blue dickies we used to sport back in 1968 … haha … whaley has created a yarn monster for sure! MISS YOU!!!!
BAHAHA, Bill, I googled a Dickie – definitely not what I envisioned, but similar. I like to think of mine more as a scarf or a cowl. Certainly wouldn’t wear it in just on top of my shirt…only under a winter coat. Ha.