We're Alive!!

Looks like we survived the end of the world.... again.

Survived 1999. The whole Y2K bug, the various other "apocalypse" predictions in the last several years. If you were one of the people that said that the Mayans just ran out of room on the rock or they thought that maybe nobody would care this far out in the future or whatever else... Good for you! Personally, I think they just ran out of room on the rock. It happens.  It's not the end of the world. ;)

I have given away 3 of the handmade Christmas gifts so far. I ended up making a few things for my husband's coworker. I was feeling pretty random the other day and made my little brother some little ornaments for the tree my mom got him (a tiny one, being he is off in Cali on his mission). I made him a bacon ornament, a pickle, some ribbon candy and a gingerbread man. The coworker thought the bacon sounded awesome. I ended up making the ones pictured below for him. I even got the honors of one of them hanging in his cubicle! The other is going on his parent's tree (he wants it to be a surprise when she is taking the tree down and finds it... haha). The reason it is "honors" is because not just any old thing will get to be displayed in the coworker's cubicle. He mostly puts up collectibles (like special edition action figures or whatever).

The other things I gave in a gift exchange I had with my friend and her bf when they came over to hang out. We played the Michael Jackson Experience, Little Big Planet 2, and ate junk food! She made rum cake that was really moist. I just threw some monkey bread we got the other day in the oven. 

The pink hat I had given her last year. I made her the bob-omb bag this year. (The fuse is the drawstring to the bag, the fuse cap is the lid. It even has the little wind up thing on the back!)  The hat on Pinkie's bf is supposed to be one of the ninja turtles. Kudos if you know which one! (It's his favorite one, which is funny, because it's my favorite, too!)

There is one other I gave already... well Z gave.  It was that bearded beanie I showed a few posts ago. I do have a picture of him wearing it! Woot!!

Well. Until next time!

So Now This Is December

It's the last month of the year already. Can you believe it? Crazy!
It's barely snowed! I work with a lady from Texas and she gets really excited every time she hears it's supposed to snow. She wants to have her very first white Christmas. She's cute.

Here are some hats I made just because I wanted to try out a pattern or try to come up with one...

The blue one is a pattern I found on April Draven's craft blog. It's filed under "plain slouch hat" and I just changed the colors to some yarn I had gotten and wanted to see what pattern it would make. Sometimes you think it will give you one pattern and it doesn't, ya know?

The kitty one is a basic beanie pattern (I believe the pattern was called snowboarder beanie, but I am currently unable to find the pattern to link to it. I hadn't noted where I found it. Sorry.) and found a picture that was kind of pix-elated. I think it was a picture of those beads that you put together to make a picture and then melt them to keep them together... (Just google images and type in "hello kitty and pixels" and you will probably find something similar.)  I used it like you would a normal graph and did it with color changes (I think some call it tapestry crochet.)  It ended up being kinda big because I waited until after I was done with the increase rows to start the kitty head. It will fit an adult man pretty well. Possibly an adult woman. (It's kinda big on me.)

For the panda hat I used the earflap hat from Micah Makes (I linked it in the last post. I really love that pattern!) And just made some changes of my own. I used the ears from her monkey/bear variation and then some circles for the eyes and embroidered the nose on.

The red scalloped hat I used the same snowboarder beanie pattern and came up with a way to get the bottom edge to scallop.  I'll probably be adding eyes or something to it to make it a pacman ghost! (I made a blue one and a pink one last year for my aunt and a friend, respectively.)

The multicolored hat in the middle was made using Peruvian Print Red Heart yarn.  I believe I based the design on a pattern I found on Purple Sage Designz (She has 2 free patterns listed. One was earlier this year, the other a few years ago... closer to when she started that blog.), and then just changed the sides and top a bit.

The red, black and light gray hat was made following the other free pattern on Purple Sage Designz for the zigzag tam. (The one earlier this year.)

The tan and purple hat was based off a picture I found and couldn't find the pattern to. I saved the image and just tried to guess which stitches had been used. The I believe the colors I used were Red Heart's Grape Fizz and Buff. I just alternated every few rows. 

On other craftings...
A (sort of) Tutorial!

Dice Bags!

My husband and Dad are getting giant bags of dice. I ended up making dice bags for them. Z requested a bag for each type of die so that he could keep them all separate. That means about 7 bags each. 14 in total. (He already had a bag that his friend's wife made so I already had one out of the way!)

Here is what I have done so far:

(Sorry. My shadow kinda photo bombed the picture.)
Also, that little blue bag was made using some material left over from when I made Z some pj pants.
The blue used on the gray bags has little squares on it. 

Hubby picked out some fabric he liked from the remnants bin. There were only 2 that he liked that did not look girly, so we got them.

To make them, all I had to do was lay out the material (and have it folded in half so I could cut both sides at once), trace around my hand far enough away from my hand so that I had a seam allowance and cut it out.

     I put the appliques on so they can tell the bags apart better. They will know which bag has what. You can skip this part if you want.
     If you do want to put them on, I used some of the left over material and found some of the pictures and cut them out (mostly with a template I made in the shape of a hexagon). I cut out pieces of the blue color we got in pieces just a little bigger than the GI Joe pictures. I sewed them together.
     NOTE: You can also use fabric markers to draw on them or you could embroider numbers or even cut out numbers to sew onto the shape. Be creative!

After that I pinned the appliques to one side of the bag and sewed it on. 

I then folded the top edge of both sides of the bag over to create a casing for the drawstring.

Now, put the 2 sides of the bag (right sides facing) together and pin. Sew along the edge just below the stitch line for the casing. (See image below.) If you start higher you will not be able to put the drawstring through later. (You will end up with a little bit of a raw edge here, but it's barely noticeable. I just wanted to make it faster.)

Now turn the bag right side out. Get some string or yarn or whatever you want to use for the drawstring (I used some hemp bracelet material I had lying around. It kinda has a coating on it, which seemed to help get it through the casing.) and put it through the casing. It makes it easier to get the drawstring through if you tie one end of it to a safety pin or a paper clip and guide it through that way. Tie both ends of the drawstring together and you are finished!

Any questions?

What have you been doing/crafting lately??

What I Have Been Doing For The Past Year(ish)

Wow... I haven't posted anything in quite a while!

I have been crafting my pants off for the past year (more or less) and have really, really wanted to share some of the stuff I have created! I just don't want to spoil anything by posting stuff and then having the people see it before I can give it to them.

{Please, please don't show the person(s) I plan on giving these to. 

That would be greatly appreciated!}

FYI!  I have decided that I can share some of the stuff I have made (reasons: some of the people I am giving these items to are too little to really know or care AND/OR will not be browsing my blog that I am aware of.)  Any of these items that I made using a pattern created by someone else I will post who the creator is and/or a link to the pattern (if I find it or remember where I got them) for those of you wanting to make them for yourself!  Also, I found most of the patterns while surfing google (usually under "free patterns and crochet and _________"  just fill in the blank with what I was looking for. Ex: slouchy hat or tam.  I would then click "images" and hunt through the pictures until I found one I liked and if there was a pattern there I would copy it.) 

NOTE: If you find a pattern online that you really like, make sure you copy/save it, the web site you found it on and who created it. Sometimes things happen and the page is taken down/no longer availabe/no longer free AND you want to note if they are cool with you using it to sell if you plan on doing that later. Plan on referencing back to that page with the pattern, just to be safe. 

Ready? Steady?! On we go!!!

For my nieces.
Top Left: 12" squares using various block patterns.
Top Right: Giant Granny Square using boucle yarn in red and black (with other colors in the skein).
Bottom Left:  Minnie Mouse blanket.
Bottom Right: Baby hat, diaper cover and leg warmers.

The kitty blanket was made using a kitty applique pattern (they used it for a scarf) and some various other blocks (mostly granny squares). I'm pretty sure the one with a flower was found on ravelry. 

The mouse blanket was done using circles (I think I found a pattern for those hunting google images. It was based on a coaster pattern, if I remember correctly), then I figured out a pattern for the triangles. There was another basic pattern for the flowers and leaves between the mouse tirangles and then I just went around the outside with double crochets and then a picot stitch around that. 

The earflap hat I got from Micah Makes (for free! She has the pattern for baby size all the way through adult size AND has lots of ideas to spruce it up), the diaper cover was off of Ravelry, the leg warmers were found here.

For some young cousins!
I used the earflap hat from Micah Makes and just changed them to things I knew my cousins would love!
I found the Batman symbol at Louie's Loops and created the oval and Ear parts myself.
The other is inspired by Capt. America's his shield and then I used a star (found on Ravelry) and
made up the ear/wings based off a picture I found.

For some other young cousins!
Left: Ravelry. I followed the pattern, but it still ended up really small..
Insert: Flowers and bow. Bow from the hat pattern, flowers from various patterns (Ravelry) or made up.
I just sewed little pin bracket things to the back of them so they are detachable.
Middle: Brainwaves hat and Car applique.
Right: Micah Makes earflap hat. I think I based the owl coloring and parts off a picture I found.
Similar to this pattern or this one. 

For hubby's friend.
Used the earflap hat, but left the flaps off and extended the length a little.
I used 2 different beard patterns (one on youtube and the other hunt on google).
I came up with a way for the beard to attach to the hat w/ buttons and have it not gouge the ear.
It's kinda like a little pocket for it. 

I think that is good for now. I will post more as I get the photos uploaded and everything!

I have an idea I'm planning on using next year for gifts that will be a lot less time consuming! I should be fun! I'll probably be doing stuff for each family (like last year) instead of each person. . .       ~(o.O )~

Until the next post (hopefully soon!)

Pictures!

I just put up a new header today! What do you think? :]
I like that it's colorful...

I want to post some pictures so bad! I've made so much stuff and would love to share it.  Problem is, I don't want certain people to see certain things. (i.e. the people that will be receiving the items I would be posting pictures of.)

I've got a whole bag of stuff that's been made and I've checked off most off my "to make" list.  I just have a few that I'm still trying to figure out what to make. If you have any awesome ideas, send them my way. (I've been crocheting mostly. Done a few cross stitches. Haven't really sewn anything.)

I have been thinking about tweaking the pattern I made for Jo's slippers and then maybe posting the pattern. We will see.  

I was looking at my really ooooold posts. I've had this blog since 2007! Wow. I've been thinking about pruning this blog or starting another that is just about crafting... I might end up doing the latter. Probably easier. I would have to come up with a new name and stuff. I kinda like the one I have. Hmm... what to do, what to do. 

Crochet Your Socks Off!

I'm so close to being finished with making stuff for everyone. The only ones I have left are the more difficult people. People that I'm not really sure what to make them or what they like. . . or I don't want to get them the same thing they always get. . . or they like things that are hard to find/make.  I'll figure it out. I have a few months left!

Link to Pattern for booties on the left.
Link to Pattern for booties on the right.
They are both on Ravelry.com.
You might need to sign up to get the patterns.
It's free to do so, don't worry!

I also made some booties for my aunt.  She's strapped on time (working full time, going to school, etc.) and didn't have any left to whip some up.  She wanted them for a friend's baby shower. I made the smaller ones first and thought they might be too small, then made the bigger ones. She tried the little ones on her newest grandbaby and there was still wiggle room! 

I had tried out a pattern a few months ago (the one for the smaller ones) but with a bigger hook, so they ended up about the size of the converse looking ones above. My littlest niece fit in them and liked them a lot. Next thing I know, the other two want some slippers! Haha.  I ended up tracing their feet to get a general idea on size (since I won't be around them that much) and tried to get some the right size. I ended up coming up with my own pattern. I'm probably going to keep messing around with variations of that for the oldest one. This is what I came up with for the middle child....

I'm probably going to put some kind of flower on the toe.  It's not very big... maybe a size 1 in toddler sizes. I'll probably post up the pattern later. She chose a bunch of wild colors, but kept comping back to mostly just pink and yellow. The oldest one I'll do in some multicolored yarn. 

Of course, this is all going to happen after I'm done with the handmade Christmas stuff. If you want to see the blankets I made the nieces, look at one of the older posts.  The pictures are there. 

So Much Going On

Had a lot of things to do in June.   Now July seems a little bland.  I don't think I have a lot going on this month. . .

SO, I think I will be getting a lot of my DIY Christmas stuff done! I think I'm about a third of the way finished...

I've moved on to cross stitching. I haven't done it in FoReVeR, but it's so fun!  I found some stuff I want to put together...  I will have to go buy some more picture frames when I get paid again.

I also wrote up a pattern for some slippers for one of my nieces. I tried out a pattern last week that I liked and they happened to fit the littlest one.  I let her have them. (Forgot to photograph them first :/ )  Of course, now the other two want some. They don't fit in the baby sizes, so I have to come up with patterns or find some that I like. The middle child (that I made up the pattern today for) has pink and yellow slippers. I think I might put some kind of bow or flower on them before handing them off to her.

Zac thinks I need to stop indulging them.  I usually bring my crochet stuff up with me when we go to visit my in-laws.  The girls see what I'm working on, then want me to make them something. I made them all blankets for Christmas (pics on FB). I think for the one on-the-way, I'm making something that won't take a week to make. Like booties, a hat or something.

I've been trying to think of what I want to make/give to some aunts/uncles/cousins.  I have a few pretty figured out.  (Mostly cuz I know them better and they vibe on the same wavelengths I do.  Makes it easier.)

I found a really cool superman pic i would love to make for Zac, but I know it's going to take forever. I think instead of making a million little black X's for the background, I'm going to see if I can find some black cross stitch material. I would post some more of the stuff I've done, but I don't want *certain* people to see them! I will be uploading sooo many pics after christmas this year.  O_O

Should be fun. . .

Oldest niece's blanket. She loves HK.
About 3 ft x 4 ft.

Education Idiots

What is with the people in charge of education being stupid these days?  You would think they would be a lot happier with students NOT vandalizing the school or getting someone hurt... I guess that's not the case.

One I heard this morning was about a couple dozen students in Michigan deciding to ride their bikes to school that last day of classes.  The principal freaked out and suspended them. Also threatened to not let the seniors walk next week for graduation.  You can read the story here and I believe there is a link to the same page, but you can click here or here for that.

The other was in Indiana and is about 5 students, a janitor and some sticky notes. The link to that story is here.  The seniors put up sticky notes around the school to "decorate" the hallways.  Some of their artwork is displayed with the story (the link I have above).  The janitor was fired and the students were suspended. I just have to say that at least they didn't use spray paint! Maybe they should've. The punishment might not have been so severe...? *roll my eyes*

There was another where a little 4 year old girl was not allowed to take part in school photos because her hair was "against school policy."  The link to that is here. She has her hair shaped into a bow, but the school in the UK says that braids are against the school's policy.

Any other "boners" you and your's have heard about lately?  Let me know!

Randomness!

Link
To see other superhero chickies, if they were created 100 years ago!

Looking at some random stuff today. I love surfing the web for random stuff! It's fun. Like this awesome Bento Box! 

Link
Made me think of my grandma...
She loves tigger!

I got these 2 off of a a site I have recently decided to follow (Neatorama).  I've found some other fun stuff, too.  

Yesterday I made a baby bootie that looks kinda like a converse & it's orange.  I think that's what I'm going to do for people I know that are having babies. . . Make fun and different-type stuff! Oh yeaaah...

 

Now for more randomness!

I was trying to organize some stuff on my computer (because I have a lots of stuffs on it that I've collected and it's too messy).

Here's what I found!

I am still trying to decide what I want to do for everybody for birthdays and Christmas.  (Yes, I am getting a very early start, but if I'm making people some stuff, it will take a while to get the ones I want to make all put together. Crafty holidays are great!)

Craft Sites to Pass The Time

Ahh... The wonderful world of crafting and the internet!  Here are some blogs/sites that I really like to cruise by every here and there.


Craftzine

If you are really into DIY and Crafting, one of the best websites I've found is Craftzine.com!  It's got so many cool, random projects!
Here are a few things it's shown lately:

AT-AT Cat Condo
Earth Day Goodies
Turning Your Shoes into Funky Lacey Shoes
Ruffle Top FlipFlops
Wooden Cookie Box

Basically, anything from shoes to hair, food to toys.

Think Liz

She does a fun project every week for her Toddler Tuesdays, sews a lot and has some fun projects every once-in-a-while. She has a few tutorials and patterns that you might find fun!

Totally Tutorials

This site is pretty fun.  It's kinda like craftzine. It has a ton of random tutorials for diy/craft stuffs.

Neatorama

Only found this one recently.  It has a few random things.  The last few things it's featured were food-related.  They show sewing and stuff on there, too.  They had one on there lately that shows you how to build a pillow fort.... the right way!  Haha..

CraftFail

They put a lot of things that they try that sometimes "fail" and sometimes don't.  It's interesting.... They talked about hair chalking and food and sewing....

Creepy Cupcakes

I don't think she's put much up lately, but if you love Halloween you will love this blogger! I swear she is obsessed... Hahaha.

Kandee

I think this will be the last one I'll talk about right now.  She has 2 blogs, one more about the crafting and the other is more like a diary-blog.  She's a makeup artist based out of California.  She's so funny and bubbly!



I would totally say that if you are bored or want to do some major crafting, you should totally check these blogs out!

Uploads Finally Worked!

I finally got some of my pictures of my craftings to upload! I have made a few other things since, but I will put those pictures up when I take them. With the stockings, I have mine (the brown and turquoise) and Zac's (the blue one) shown. I made Mom's & Jarom's before that but they are at my parent's house. I finished Dad's yesterday and also started Amber's yesterday. I'm going to give the King Boo hat to my uncle in a few months for his birfday, probably with a lemming or something. I made the potholders for Mom and going to make more (she's gonna use them for part of wedding prezzies or something). The scarf & other hats, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with. 

Adipose Baby & Ninja

Christmas Stockings (These are mine & Zac's.)

Washclothes/Potholders

Scarf

King Boo hat w/ Crown that I have yet to attach

Hello Kitty Beanie

Cat Face w/ Ears Beanie

What do you think?


I made breakfast this morning and knocked a glass off the counter. Cleaning it up, I pricked my index finger. It's all bandaged up, so typing isn't too bad. 


I have to finish some of my homework, but other than that & work I've got to figure out what else I want to do.


I put grips (like the ones you put on pencils) on my crochet hooks so it wont rub my finger(s) raw while I hook.  So far it is working out pretty well.  I had to get used to it first, though. 

Not-So Manic Monday

I have to write a page on Mary Cassatt & make a slide show (about 10 slides, I think...) to show the last day of my art class.  Should be interesting.

I started working on my dad's Christmas stocking, but I don't have enough of the purple. I need to go out and buy some more. That's going to wait until I get paid.

I have done next to nothing all day - other than going to work. Just sat around all day. I've gotten so lazy.  With school and work and homework, I don't fell like doing much else.  I don't get how some people can go to work full time (or possibly even 2 jobs), school full or part time, have kids, cook, clean, etc. etc. and still have time to go have fun. Crazyness, I tell you!  There can't possibly be enough hours in the day for all (or some combo) of those things!  One would have to take some personal time so they don't go incredibly insane! Totally taking me time in the near future.... After school is out, most likely.

Still have to sign up for FAFSA. Ugh... school. I'm so not into you. I'm sick of it. I miss the fun classes! I hate the busy book work. It's boring and I am learning nothing. What I do learn goes right out the window and sinks to the bottom of a lake (most likly ol' Salty over there... but hanging with Nessie would be cool!), never to be heard from again. Seems pointless sometimes. Ugh...

Art is the only fun thing.  I miss those 1010 courses.

Sad.

Beginner Crochet Kit

Still having technical difficulties getting my pictures to upload...
Maybe I will have to put them on my little memory chip and then put that in the computer. Hmm....

In the mean time, I am supposed to be doing my homework (which I have been shamefully putting off).  I think, right now, I would rather clean the apartment than write my papers... Ugh.

Car Cozy

I have been brainstorming ideas for putting together a beginner's kit for crochet for my cute little cousin Dana!  I pretty much know what I want to do with it.

Crochet hooks turned into bracelet!
How cool is this!?

1.  Get a good sized crochet hook(s)  (probably a G, H or I size would be good. F would be the smallest I'd go. Them smaller hook sizes are hard when you are just starting out!)

2.  Find some good yarn colors for her (I'm probably going to use some that I already have and make them into smaller yarnballs for her).

3.  Find some super easy patterns (I've already found a few) and print them out for her.

4.  Maybe put a few stitch markers and/or a needle (a big plastic one)  and/or safety scissors... I'm sure her mother has some scissors, so I might leave it at that.

5. Find a cute bag pattern and make it for her and put all the stuff in it.  I'll probably find a flower to attach to it, too.  Make it that much cuter!    <(^-^)>

Something like this:

Seems like a good plan to me....

Any ideas/suggestions?

I also found a really cool way to make your plain o' hooks into comfy comfort grip hooks! Super easy, too!

Wouldn't this be cool to make?! Here is a link for ideas on how to store your craft/crochet/knit stuff!

Electronics

I've been trying to upload some pictures of some of the crafty things I've done lately, but I'm having trouble getting it to work.  :(

Also, my mp3 player is on the fritz and was frozen for a while.  I tried to plug it back into the computer and now it won't turn on or do anything! Not good!  Zac is going to try messing with it when he gets home from school.  We will see how it works out. .  .

Stupid electronics.

“Propel, propel, propel your craft softly down liquid solution. Ecstatically, ecstatically, ecstatically, ecstatically, existence is simply illusion.”

--Mr. Rogers/King Friday XIIII know.... The picture and the title/quote have nothing to do with anything else I'm writing about, but they are funny so I don't care. (^_^)

I've been doing a lot of crafting lately. I've crochet'd a lot of stuff. As soon as I can get the pictures to upload I will post what I've done. :)

I'll have to show some of the stuff I've done for my art class too....

I've had some fun classes so far this semester: psychology 1100 and intro to drawing. I like the professors.

Depending on the day and the people I talk to, I like work. I really like the easier days when I don't have every-other person mad for no reason. When I don't have really complicated orders and the people I talk to are fun/entertaining/nice.

I have been feeling really tired/lazy lately. I kinda hate it. I don't like mornings and I get to get up at 6:30 every day. (Tomorrow it will be earlier because I have to be there at 6:45 instead of 8.)

Tonight I have my brothers over (Amber didn't feel like coming). We (me and Cameron) made mac & cheese and pigs in a blanket!

I think I'm going to go to bed soon, now. Gotta be up earrrrly.... :/ I hope it's really slow tomorrow. *Hopehopehope*

Good night world!