Crocheted ponchos.....

I am slowly trying to make my way back to blogging!  The last several months have been extremely busy but I think things will slow down a bit now.

I made a couple ponchos this year as Christmas gifts for my two nieces.  As you can see, the teal one is smaller....but both are for little girls.  I love ponchos, especially during the change of weather!

I crocheted both of these using "I Love This Yarn" because it is so soft!

Crocheted mouse coffee cozy

 This spring someone traded me some Starbucks for a coffee cozy.....you know I can't resist Starbucks!

She requested a mouse and some purple....here is how it turned out.

I didn't write a pattern this time.....

a little more knit.....and crochet

I'm slowly adding "catch up" posts to include some of the things I've made since January.....

This is a cowl I made for my sister in law.  She looks AMAZING in all those pretty Easter egg colors.  I use the Lady Godiva pattern and some dazzle yarn:

I made another arm knit cowl.  I found this lovely yarn "Encore Mega" for a steal in a fancy yarn shop in Destin.   The store tends to be incredibly expensive so when I found this for only 6 bucks a skein, I snatched up two.  It is so soft, like baby alpaca but does NOT shed like baby alpaca.  I'll be back for more.

I made another scarf for my sister Page.  She and I have the same coloring so when I come to town wearing something, she always wants one too.    It works out for me because she ALWAYS buys me some of that expensive yarn as a thank you.

Here it is.  The yarn is a magic ball called Alp Oriental.  I just double half crochet throughout.  

The only tricky part is the fringe.  The ball COMES with some fringe attached so you can see what yarns are included in the ball.  But you need to cut additional fringe before you get going so it isn't all cut from one length of yarn.  the beauty of this scarf is in the variety of textures and colors coming together.  The scarf looks good with EVERYTHING and is incredibly soft and cozy

Hook and a Book

another good read and another Christmas gift on the hook!

The Walking Dead crochet coffee cozies

In anticipation of The Walking Dead season preview, I made a few coffee sleeves to help me through....

one for me...

and a few for some friends......

yep, I think we are ready!  I wonder how many other couples will be glued to their tv sets instead of going out?

Hook and a Book

Nothing like a good book to read when I need a break from crocheting.......

more arm knitting

Last week was my first week back to work and it was a busy one.   One good thing was that Osa wasn't left alone all at once.   Dean was off a couple more days and Matt is still home for 2 more days.

We have had too much going on to take down holiday decorations so instead of trying, I just relaxed a little and made a few more scarves using the arm knitting technique I learned.

I made 3 of them while watching Tombstone....we love that movie!

Here is a cream one

and a pretty butter colored one

and lastly, a multi colored one using some yarn I've had in my stash for about 10 years!

I took a close up of this one so you can see the colors....it is beautiful.

Most of these are gifts so I have a headstart for the year!

A year of crafty challenges....

Last year, I hosted a craft along.  I posted a challenge each month and then participants would post what they made.  

Here are the things I made:

I am so glad I hosted this event, it wasn't my most successful, but I made a lot of things I could either use myself or as gifts!

December's challenge....

For my last project, I made an arm knit infinity scarf.   I used a video tutorial by TheCraftyGemini....I strongly suggest you check it out if you are interested.  She does a really good job and uses slow mo for tricky parts.  

This first one took me about 45 minutes but after making it I know it won't take that long next time.  The trickiest part was casting on.

Wishing you all a Happy Crafting New Year!

Holiday happenings...

A couple days before Christmas, the kids were home alone.  They heard a loud noise and went to investigate.   They never discovered what made the noise...but I did!  The icing on the gingerbread house let loose and fell off the cake stand!  The reason it made such a loud noise is it was up on top of the china cabinet.

I replaced it with some carolers....they looked just as nice up here.

I helped Kaela make stockings using sweaters.  She got the idea off pinterest.  They were SUPER easy to make....though a little tricky using a regular sewing machine...

Osa loves to shred tissue paper.  We had just started putting gifts under the tree....lucky for me, I heard her and saved the present.

  This is what happens when you don't have thumbs!

We all went to the midnight service on Christmas Eve.  It is my favorite service because the music is acoustical and they use candle light.

We were all tired but it was totally worth staying up for it!

Crochet coffee cozies

I love cute coffee cozies!  

Dean was out of town a couple weeks ago so I filled a few hours crocheting some.

It was a great way to use up some yarn in my stash while watching "Boston Legal" reruns.  Plus, they turned out super cute.

and of course, I made myself one.....

Now we just need some cool weather to give us an excuse to use them!

How to: paper mache snowman heads!

A couple years ago I made some snowman heads for my tree:

I wanted to do something similar for this year's ornament swap....without the hat and frill. 

Since I had to make so many this time around, I thought I'd share the main process here.   This made 14 "heads."

Here are the supplies I used:

glitter
DAS premade paper mache "dough"
ping pong balls
drill with teeny bit
teen eye screws
paints
modge podge
paint brush and sponge brush
little bowl of water

this is what DAS looks like.  Use a coupon, it can be pricey.

Take your DAS and pinch off 14 equal sized blobs.  Roll each blob into a ball and set aside, keeping covered so they don't dry out.

Here is the ping pong ball brand I use, cheapos from Walmart.

 To get started, fllatten a ball of DAS and wrap it around the ping pong ball.  Using a teeny bit of water, smooth out lumps and edges.  Set aside and do the others.  

Once the heads are done, start the noses.  Make teeny cone shapes and carefully attach to the face.  Smooth out edged where the nose meets the face.  Now set aside to dry overnight or even for a couple of days.

Once dried, take the smallest drill bit and make a teeny hole where you want the hook to hang.  Use a bit smaller than the eye screw so it won't fall out.

Then paint your carrot nose and face and let dry.  Sorry, I forgot to take a photo! (Now Kaela said I should have made them into Gru faces or even Penguin heads...at this point, it is up to you.  I opted to stay with snowman heads.)

Once the face is painted and dried, "paint" your snowman heads with Modge Podge and sprinkle with glitter.  I actually used a bowl and dunked mine.    Let them hang and dry for a few days.  Then go BACK and check for coverage.  I hung mine in the washroom!

If you are weird, like me, and want the hook to be glittery, turn them over and glitter the eye screw the same way.

After that, you simply attach the hooks and you have a bowl of happy snowman heads.

Of course, I put one on my own tree!

craptastic to fantastic~November's craft along challenge!

Okay, so I couldn't resist that title

Last January, I found a crappy little tree on the clearance shelf at a local store.  It was 90% off.   Yes, I spent 2 bucks on a broken tree....

So I took it home and found the broken light and fixed it.  Then I drug out this urn I had in the garage and painted it a goldish color.  After stuffing it with floral foam, I shoved the broken end of the tree into it and stabilized it with more foam.  I covered the whole mess up with a bag of mixed moss.

It was meant for my kitchen bar but Kaela wanted a tree for her room this year.  So, I swapped this out for the 4 footer I had at school.    This sits on the back table and all the kids love to come check out the hand made ornaments on it.

I have another urn and have been eyeballing these same little trees....just waiting for a good sale.  They were originally 30.00, no way am I spending that!

Crochet Club

I co-sponsor a crochet club at our school.  It is pretty neat teaching students this fiber art.    We keep it simple and just teach the basics.     

It amazes me how many children don't know how to make a slip knot but each year we have to teach this simple knot.    Growing up, I knew all sorts of knots.  The kids I grew up with could turn a blade of grass into a whistle and weave pine needles into bracelets.  Now, kids are so wrapped up in video games, they don't have the patience for actually learning something useful.
I fear knit and crochet will slowly erode and become one of those lost arts like canning and pickling has become in mainstream America.  

The students come in every Monday and we split them up according to skill level, pass out any needed supplies and get to work.   (We supply the yarn)  They love learning and we can hear them chatting, explaining it to each other in "kid terms."  They are so proud of their creations. 

Each month we choose what to make for this little tree in the front office.   This was the beginning of our Halloween tree.  By the time they were done, it had spiders and kitties and black popcorn garland ...lots of twirlies too.  

As for me, I don't know where my time goes.   This is about the only knit/crochet I've been doing of late.    I am hoping that I'll find some time settle on the couch and create something pretty...and soon!

Busy hands....

Last weekend my BEST friend from forever came over.  I'm talking 5th grade on up.  I practically lived at her house.  Seriously.  
We reconnected via FB and have stayed in touch.  We recently realized both of us are crafty, canning wine drinkers...so decided to craft and can and drink and rinse and repeat....

Then we decided canning and sewing was something we could do and swap so we could concentrate on crafting and catching up.

She brought me 24 quarts of canned tomatoes and I made her 11 aprons.   (Some were duplicates)  I made all but one as my favorite canning apron style.  The LSU one is a butcher style.

Here they are...as usual, this style doesn't really look cute on Ms. April, but they are precious once they hit girly curves!

and a few jars of the yummy tomatoes!

Before arriving, she had asked me to help her make some painted wine glasses and santa ornaments.....but when she got to my house, plans changed and we made several other things.

Not to worry, she brought a supply of her uncle's homemade strawberry wine, AMAZING.  And no, not even a hint of "Strawberry Hill" in it.  See how pretty the wine is...it is close to a Pinot Grigio, dry and just a tad sweet.

Here is a sampling of our craftappalooza.

Sweater pumpkins and 24 more candy corn glittery bottles as party favors for her daughter...

dotty wine glasses, Santa Starfish and a fabulous Snowman for the door....

Overall, we tore the town up buying crafting supplies and then craft and ate and drank for 2 solid days.  Oh my gosh, we had the BEST time.....

Spookify me! Amaretto drippy bottle

Several years ago, I did this same craft with another bottle.  ( Here is the post.) 
The bottle looked great but I either accidentally threw it out or stored it so well that I can't find it.  Either way, I needed a new one!
 I cleaned an Amaretto bottle a friend gave me and added a spooky sticker.  

Then I used some taper candles I bought last year after Halloween.  I used them to build up the wax around the neck.  It would be SO much easier just to light a candle and let it just drip like crazy.  But finding drippy candles is next to impossible.  Throw in that you want them to drip actual COLOR is even worse.  Most candles nowadays have a coating that burns away and leave a whitish wax behind, no color at all...including this black candle in the photo.

 That being said, once I built up the wax, I melted crayons over it for the color.  If you do it, be careful, I held them with tongs and then just cleaned them up afterwards.

Here the bottle is in a lighted area (sorry, I did this at night)
Just a note: when the candles burn down and need replacing, a lot of wax gets broken off.  Just put in a new candle and then fill the gaps up with new crayons.  Easy.

Right now, "Werewolf Drool" sits on my bar....awaiting Halloween night......

Years of "wax build up" took me about 2 hours to achieve, while watching a couple reruns of Boston Legal.   *Denny Crane, Alan Shore, Shirley Schmidt-ho*...the BEST!

Spookify me: repurposed Starbuck's Frappuccino bottles!

All summer long, Kaela drank those Starbucks fraps that come in bottles.  She LOVES them!   The bottles are so cute that I just couldn't bring myself to pitch them (this area doesn't recycle...boo!)

So, I washed them and stashed them in the hall closet to "play" with later.  

Now, is later!

Here is what I made!  So cute, if I do say so myself.  This is one of those projects that looks exactly how I envisioned it.

These are super easy to make and look adorable when filled.

Here is what you need:

Frap bottles.  Cleaned and dried.  (Just a note, the stickers come off but if there is any residue it is easily removed with rubbing alcohol.)
candy, scissors, glue, stickers (optional), cupcake liners, glitter and ribbon!

Start by putting a cute Halloween sticker over the Starbuck's logo (not that we don't LOVE her)

You could paint it or cover it with paper too...I just had these and they fit perfectly.

Now, take your glue and run a fairly thick line around the edge of the neck of the bottle, right above the body of the bottle.

do this around the bottle, then set upright and let the dripping begin.  If it isn't drippy enough, add a little, but start small.  It is easier to add glue than to clean up excess.

Once the drips have run a good way down the bottle, sprinkle LIBERALLY with glitter.  Make sure to have something to catch all that glitter to save it.  I used fine black glitter and a chunkier silver glitter for mine:

Now, set your bottle UPSIDE DOWN for about 10 minutes.  This sort of sets the glue to keep it from running off the bottle.
After 10 minutes, flip it back rightside up to finish drying.  When you flip it back, you can add the other color glitter if you'd like.  I did a mix.

Once dried, you can blow or lightly brush the excess glitter off  easily.

Now, fill the jar with candy and put on the lid.  It is cute just like this....but not cute enough!

Now take your cupcake liner and place it on top to cover it.  

Then take about a foot of ribbon and criss cross it once and then tie it.

Now you are done!  

These are so easy to mass produce and the best thing is that you can do this with SO many holidays!  I've already got Christmas ideas swirling....