Rag Rose Necklace

I learned to make fabric roses... and then I made a million of them. I couldn't stop. I had a compulsion to glue roses together. I ordered more of that fabulous Moon Ragg Yarn, made from recycled sari fabric. I arranged the roses and attached them to a felt backing and then attached the necklace. I think they look super cool. I'm not sure exactly who will wear them but I hope someone appreciates fun colors as much as I do. 

Crochet Yoga Strap

Awhile ago, I got this bright idea that I needed a knitted yoga bag... it was a bust. I spent so much time trying to cram my mat in there and ended up not using it. I came upon a tutorial that was just for a strap that is adjustable! It was so easy to make. I whipped up a handful in a few hours.

*I'm obviously not headed to yoga class. ;)

 

I also found this cute crochet bow tutorial that I adore! 

Convertibles!

I'm ready to play. :) I had a nice interweb hiatus over my winter break. I took a break from my usual job with kiddos to work with some old folks and really refreshed my batteries. What else? I haven't really been crafting too much. I've been on an organization kick. I feel like my entire family has a hoarding problem, which leads to insane amounts of container purchasing. *sigh* We're getting there.

What else have I been doing? Knitting. I'm working on the Burton Bear Cowl and I can't wait to post my completed photos. Before Christmas I completed a few of these hat/beard combos. How do I look with a beard? Not so hot! lol I have a confession. Every hat that I've ever made is too small for the recipient. Why? I don't know. They look cute but the recipients should consider it a decoration and not feel obliged to wear them. Back to the story...

I looked all over Ravelry for bearded hats and then I realized no one will really wear a fake beard more than once so I made these convertible. When knitting your hat, make a button hole on each side. I used a pattern, mostly made up and definitely forgotten similar to this:

Cast-on 40 

Rows 1-3  Sl st pearl wise, *K* 

Row 4-  Sl st pearl wise, K14, Cast off 10, K15

Row 5-  Sl st pearl wise, K14, cast on 10, K15

Row 6-  Sl st pearl wise, K2tog, *K*, K2tog, K1

Row 7-14   Sl st pearl wise, *K*

Row 15-20 Sl st pearl wise, K2tog, K2tog, K2tog, *K*,  last 7 stitches, K2tog, K2tog, K2tog, K1

Cast off.

Then I stretched my beard out over my face to see how much I needed to add in length to reach the button holes. I did a simple garter stitch side burn to connect the two pieces. I sewed them together and added the button. 

Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

State Pendant

I saw the cutest state pendant necklaces on this Two Twenty One and thought I would give them a shot. Very simple tutorial, print out your state, using pliars wrap your wire to the shape of your state, taping it down with masking tape until it is completed and make a simple loop for hanging. You can see the results below. I just wasn't crazy with my results. It a little big for my liking and not exactly stiff enough to not get bent with every little bump. I ended up using them as gift wrap decor. A family friend is doing a charity for People Feeding People. I got a few of my friends these gifts which include rice to feed a family of 5 for 2 weeks in their name. Cool huh? The Arkansas pendant is appropriate because the charity is based here.

Boot Cuffs

My sister has EVERYTHING. And by everything, I mean everything. Literally, I don't think she can cram one more thing into her room. Did I mention she lives with my parents and she's 25? Crosses my fingers for her moving out one day. But she did, however, mention well...text me a photo of boot cuffs that she wanted. Unfortunately, they were crocheted. I know, crocheting is supposedly really easy but I just don't want to learn. My wife thinks it would be really cool to be able to say "I knit AND crochet." I just don't really want to. Laziness I guess. SO I knit my sister a pair of boot cuffs and with the extra yarn, I made some for my grandma. We'll see where she wears hers! ha. I tried two different patterns. The first pattern is from here. Very simple but the effect didn't show up as well on this fluffy yarn.
Pattern:
row 1: *k2, p1*
row 2: *k2, p1*
row 3: *RT, p1*

The second pattern is just your basic k2, p2. I think it looks much cleaner with the yarn choice.

Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

It's a Bird!

Dusting this badboy off... Sorry for the neglect, friend. Life takes over and before you know it you have no energy left for blogging. I did get a little crafting in last week. The wifey and I got invited to two(!) white elephant parties. I saw this Flamingo on Pinterest and being a person who loves to glue things to things, I knew I had to try it. So simple. I ordered a 2-pack of flamingos on amazon.com. I'm going to do a charity craft sale this spring and I saw Walmart and Lowes have whole flocks of flamingos for pretty cheap so that may be the best way to go. Without further ado, I present my bird.

Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

State Pin Art

 There you have it, I'm an Arkansan. To be honest, I absolutely love Arkansas. I was talking with some people this weekend who are transports to the state who can't find anything to love here. I think it is what you make it. I can't seem to find enough time to do all of the things I want to do. I've been hoarding this idea that I saw here months ago. I purchased the supplies but never found time to complete it. It requires a lot of hammering of nails, and once you get those nails hammered, it loosens up all of the nails that you've already hammered...and once you wrap those nails, they get looser...and then you re-hammer those nails again. Endless loop of getting angry/getting your anger out. ha. It was definitely a fun project. I think my little one will be able to make one of these with some help. My wife talks about all of the cool things her dad taught her to do when she was little and I joke that my dad gave me a hammer, a board, and a hand full of nails and told me to keep busy. ;) I can't tell you why I chose these colors, looking at the photo all I can think is "why did I choose those colors?" I guess they just spoke to me. I printed an outline of the state and cut it out and then hammered my nails around the perimeter. I free-handed the heart, which is never a good idea. The tutorial I read said to be sure and use as many nails as possible for the heart, I didn't. It would have looked a lot better if I did. Note to self, listen. I think that's about it. Not bad for a quick gift.

Sharpie Cookie Plate

 

First! Okay...this is maybe a little too embarrassing and I shouldn't post it but I'm so excited to make one of these so who cares, right? I'm so so so in love with these plates on etsy, but not in love with the price.  Bakey-Bakey? I probably shouldn't post this but we are firm believers in dessert. We have it every night. Most days we are so lazy that we just put some pre-made cookies in the toaster oven...hence "bakey-bakey."

 Before: Plain white plate from the Dollar Tree. Write, draw, scribble on the plate with a Sharpie. Feel free to doodle as much as you want because you can wipe it off if you made a mistake. Really, you can. I was so afraid! I put a little hand sanitizer, because it's always handy (pun intended) on my plate and started over a few times. To finish it off, place it in the oven for 30 minutes on 350 and enjoy!

Copper Garden Ball

Disclaimer: This isn't a tutorial, more like a what not to do entry.  I've wanted to make one of these for a long long time, and really how hard can gluing some pennies to a bowling ball be? I almost lost my mind! First of all, finding bowling balls isn't as easy as one would expect but I did hit the jackpot at Savers...for $9.99 each. This better be good! I got $5 worth of pennies at the bank and some gorilla glue...which doesn't dry clear. In fact, it goes on clear but then becomes 3x its size and turns white. I covered 1/5 of the ball with pennies glued in this before it dried and I realized what I had done. The other thing I should mention is, before the pennies dry they really want to slide off of this spherical surface. I don't have an answer to this. After the first pennies dried, I was able to start adding and the first pennies became a boundary so nothing could slide past them. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but if you make this ball, you'll quickly understand what I mean. Also, you will note from the photos below that at one point during this process I wore gloves. Am I the only person out there who can't use their hands at all when wearing gloves??! Needless to say, I might get cancer from carcinogenic adhesives. OH, the glue that I found and loved is 9001. I got it at Hobby Lobby and I can't tell you the price because my lazy (but kind) cashier just picked one out of her head when it didn't have a sticker on it. What did I do with the white glue catastrophe, you ask? I did what anyone else would do and I Sharpied it! I'm attaching a photo/link at the bottom of my inspiration ball. When the ball sits in the rain it will patina and look super cool. This ball is for my father in law's 70th birthday. What else to get a rich old Jewish man? Money!

 

* Inspiration ball from Beth Evans Ramos

Chunky Wrap

Oh hi there. I recently finished this scarf/wrap/shawl monstrosity and I've gotten so many compliments on it so I thought I would post it here. I have a friend who loves to make shawls and I've always envied his patience. I knew I wanted something warm for the winter that would match everything and this is my perfect piece. :) I searched all over Ravelry but didn't find a pattern that would fit my needs so I improvised this. The yarn is Berroco Sundae yarn in Marmalade. I used 3 skeins on size 15 needles. In retrospect, I should have cast on at a corner and worked my way up but instead I cast on 160 stitches which meant I was stuck with a big 5 feet triangle. Had I started small and worked my way up in stitches, I could have had more flexibility with the size. The pattern is a simple lace pattern: knit 1 row and then knit 1, yarn over, knit two together on the next row... repeat. To make the fringe, I cut pieces 10" long and folded in half and then looped them through the edges (ever 3rd stitch).

DIY Interchangeable Iphone Cases

I've seen this idea floating around and I've wanted to make these for a long time. Unfortunately, I just got the new Iphone 5 so my friends will have to enjoy them without me. I ordered the cases on ebay for $1 each and used scrapbook paper that I already owned. I made a total of 7 cases with 6 interchangeable papers. 

Supplies: Pencil, Clear Iphone case, Scissors, and paper of your choosing.

Each case will come with 6 different interchangeable paper covers.

 

Lastly, use an exacto knife to cut out the camera hole. I don't have one handy for the finished photo.

DIY Felt Heart Hand Warmies

How cute are these? I love to keep these handy in the mornings for the little one. They are so quick and easy to make. I'm always looking for beginner sewing projects to do. I don't think I mentioned before but I'm an Occupational Therapist. Last year I had some of my older students working on fine motor skills with stitching these warmers up. I found this idea on Etsy. I decided to make mine bright fun colors with wool felt. They don't stay warm for too long but definitely long enough to get to school. I chose to fill mine with rice and little lavender petals for a little scent.

DIY Lace Cuff Bracelet

 

 I can't remember where I first saw this idea. I love anything with lace so a simple lace cuff bracelet is a must have. I first started making these last fall for a craft swap that I hosted among Facebook friends. I needed a quick craft that cost under $5.00 to make for 16 people. I was able to make plenty of these in no time at all. I used a 2" lace and cut each strip to fit the diameter of my wrist. To make this bracelet, apply Fabric Stiffener like a paint on both sides and then wrap the lace around something round to dry. I ended up putting some on beer bottles and wrapping a rubber band around them for drying. 

Anthropologie-Style Silk Necklace

 I loved this Anthropologie necklace but not $148 love. I stumbled into my local yarn store and found the perfect yarn to make one with. The yarn is 100% silk from Nepal and the label said the proceeds provide safe shelter, healthcare, and education for people in Indonesia, so I'd call this purchase a big win! 50 yards allowed me to make 8 necklaces in less than 45 minutes. I laugh at how simple the idea is and how awesome they look. I hope no one sees this before the holidays, if so disregard. ;) Oh, I almost forgot, I put a large silver bead at the back for a little flair. I chose to have these go over the head instead of worrying with a clasp.

I took my silk yarn and tied a knot in it every 8-10 inches. I then wrapped it around my neck as many times as I would like depending on how many colors I wanted to show. To finish them off, I tied the ends together while tying the other pieces together.