Knit One, Purl Two

Recently I have gotten back into a hobby that I have neglected for a bit. Knitting. And, for some reason I am in love with shawls this season. So, I wanted to share with you a shawl that I finished.

I LOVE IT! YIPPIE, it's done! :) When I saw this pattern back in October, I knew immediately I wanted to make this for Christmas Sunday.  

The red yarn is just stunning. The yarn is hand dyed by a gal named Mira out of southern California. The yarn is LaJolla by baah yarns. You can find Mira's fantastic yarns HERE or HERE.

It took me the entire two months to finish this, as a matter of fact, I was blocking the scarf on Christmas Eve at 5:00p.m.! But, I was determined and I am so glad I was! 

It is pretty basic until you get to the lace portion of the shawl...then a bit of concentration is needed.  

The funny thing is that I do not wear this like a traditional shawl. I wear it "backwards", with the point of the shawl in the front, then wrap the two ends back around to the front. The pattern that I used for this shawl is called the Holden Shawlette and the pattern is FREE on Ravelry.com.

So, here it is on me...

The picture is super blurry, sorry!

Happy knitting!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcome 2012!! I am so ready for the ceremonial re-start that we all take at the beginning of a new year. I have one big plan for 2012.....

SIMPLIFY

Hahahahahaha! I know, right. But, I mean it, I am gonna do it! The last month has been a very blessed, crazy, stressful month and a month where I was on my knees, a lot. The only thing I learned from this past month is that there is only one answer for me...and you guessed it, to simplify.

Now, on to fun stuff! I must have been a good girl last year because Santa Clause brought me this....

A brand new, stinking beautiful sewing machine! This sewing machine also has an embroidery attachment that I am super anxious to learn!

I am on "rest" mode for the next week or so, so instead of laying in bed, I thought sitting on my sewing chair was just as good! I wanted to sew something fun and simple to try out my new machine.... 

So, I made up this cute Valentine's pillow. Yes, I said Valentines. All of you crafters out there know that you are making up your crafts now too!

But, what I really wanted to show you was a "cheap" trick to pillows. We all know that pillow inserts cost a pretty penny. So, Here is a trick that I do to save money on pillow inserts.  

Take a $2.50 bed pillow from WalMart. I made my pillow the same width as the height of the bed pillow. I determined my height of my pillow and measured up on the bed pillow and cut. 

Cutting through all the stuffing can be a bit tricky.

I then pinned the open edge closed and stitched.

I used a zig-zag stitch to sew up the edge of the pillow. Slip your new pillow form into your pillow... 

And there you have it, a $1.25 pillow form! Easy. There is enough of the pillow left to make a second pillow. 

I made cute little ribbon ties on the back of the pillow to close it off. 

The pillow looks cute on my chair in my office...but, this little gem is going to my Mom. She has been a lot of help this past week, and I think this makes a cute thank you gift.

Linking pillow here:

Northerncottage

Give Thanks Banner!

I know that the fall season has just started, but...oh how I wish that the fall season would last longer! I love to decorate our home with the fall colors. So, this last week I made a decoration for our home....

I love the addition of a new "GIVE THANKS" Banner!

I decided that I wanted to make the banner using a hard backing on it so that it would store away easy and not ruin. Sometimes paper crafts get ruined while being stored. 

So, I asked my dad to cut out each pennant of the banner with 1/4 inch backing board. (Not too sure if that is what it is called, but it is super smooth and super strong and works great!) 

I started to collect the embellishments that I thought I wanted to use. I was not too sure where I was going with the idea, but I knew I wanted both paper and felt on the banner. 

Here is what it is looking like with the paper layered up on it. I love the doily for the center! 

I used gold glitter paper for the letters. Trust me, the glitter is there! 

The banner would have been way too long if I used the word GIVE as well, so the word GIVE is on a small pennant on the "T" pennant. 

I love the bird punch from Stampin Up! 

And, here is the felt...I love this flower! I also used felt under each letter between the doily and the blue fan fold paper flower. 

I connected all the pennants together with brown w/ glitter tulle. I love this banner! I am truly grateful for this season.

Specimen Art with Hearts!

I know, I know, specimen art is all over blog-land. Even still, I wanted to try one out. I have so much "stuff" in my studio (doesn't it crack you up that people call their craft rooms, studios these days!) that I knew that this could be a craft that I could make without having to run to Micheals! A while back I had bought three of these frames when they were 50% off at Micheals. They have been sitting in the garage, and to be honest, I have felt guilty for buying these frames and not using them yet.

I knew that I wanted to make the specimen art with hearts. So, I pulled out the trusty Cricut and one of my favorite fonts, Simply Sweet.

I chose three different patterned papers to make the art with. I then cut 12, 2 inch hearts out of each patterned paper.

After cutting the hearts out, I stacked the three patterned hearts together and I pulled out the trusty sewing machine...

and I sewed straight down the center of each set of hearts.

I stitched the hearts without cutting the thread, to end up with a heart garland. I cut the strings to separate the hearts.

I then, "fluffed" the hearts to give them dimension and to show off the patterned paper on the hearts. 

I then lined up the hearts on the white paper that I covered the front of the glass in the frame with. Oh, before I covered the glass, I took red thread and made a border on the paper by sewing the border on the sewing machine. I eye-balled the hearts onto the paper and attched them with glue dots. 

I think it turned out pretty cute! 

This was a really fast, really simple and really cheap craft project! I love the way the single mint green heart looks with the red hearts! :) 

I do love the dimension of the hearts on the frame.  

Instead of the "12th" heart, I cut the word love out of the same cartridge and put it in place of the last heart.

Have a great Wednesday!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the "Be My Valentine" blocks! Click HERE to enter the giveaway! Good Luck!

Valentine Card Tree

Oh love is in the air...or at least all over blog-land! I have put a few decorations out for the upcoming Valentines day and wanted to share them with you! Look how stinking cute this felted heart swag is!

My mother surprised me with this swag and I absolutely love it! Mom takes 100% wool sweaters and felts the wool. Then, she cuts out the heart shape, added buttons and then did a blanket stitch around two hearts. Super cute!

The little buttons and the homespun look of the hearts is adorable! I wish you could feel and see how cute this swag is! 

I have the swag going across the top of our kitchen hutch...I know it is hard to see, but it is there - and it is stinking cute! 

I wanted to show you how easy it is to create a little Valentine display. I combined a couple of "heart" decorations and then, I took a candle that was left over from Christmas and added the Valentine paper and vintage clip art, and viola~ a Valentines candle!

But, by far, my favorite Valentine decoration this year is this great card tree!  

My father made this great card tree for me. It is done in a deep wine red and stands about 34 inches tall.  

Look at the cute vintage cards on the tree...I smile every time I walk by the tree.  

I know that you will all want a tree of your own...so, I asked my dad to make a few extra trees! If you would like a card tree...check out my Etsy shop on the sidebar! Just think how cute this card tree will look at Christmas time with Christmas cards on it! I can't wait for Christmas to do this! Thanks Dad!

Oh ya, one more thing! Don't forget to enter to win the Be My Valentine blocks!

Click HERE to enter!