coasters

The other day I wanted a coaster to go on top of my piano for a glass of water when I teach piano lessons. I saw these in an old magazine and they looked perfect. I really only needed 1, but couldn't resist trying all 3 patterns. They are "safari coasters" from an old Leisure Art's magazine. Most of my crochet stuff is from that magazine. It was the greatest.

valentines boxes

I made these cute little boxes to give to the people I visit teach and another friend. They were made on my cricut. The box is from scrappingtable.com, the hearts are a cricut cartridge. -Doodlecharms I think. Benjamin has requested one for Valentines day. (Pretty sure he just wants one because it is filled with candy.

baby dress from shirt

OK, this is actually probably the reason I started this blog. A friend of Brandon's wanted me to make his twin daughters dresses out of an old shirt of his. I figured I could figure something out, but then the shirt was plad and I was worried about having enough fabric to make 2 dresses and match plads. I looked through patterns for a month, and finally saw this pattern in an old crochet magazine (I was looking for something else at the time mind you) but this looked perfect for the shirt. However, it was sized for 12, 18 and 24 month. I just changed the type of thread and hook and it worked out perfect. I did have to figure out sizes for the length. I ended up buying baby clothes to measure lengths and make sure the width was good. I used 2 different patterns, and liked the first one a lot better than the second. I also switched colors in the middle and they didn't match exactly and I liked the first one better. That would be how the dress ended up with flowers. It was to make the second one (which I didn't like nearly as well as the first) into something I liked. I made all of those flowers for Brandon to pick which one he liked best, and ended up using all of them, just on different dresses.
When I was done, I ended up with extra fabric so I made the little diaper covers out of the extra. That was also a combination of 2 patterns which I had to cut way down and just making it up out of my head. -I think both patterns were meant to velcro or something. I went for easy elastic.
I loved this project - I actually had to use some creativity, and I liked how it turned out. Woo Hoo.

more baby crochet

Here is a bib and blanket I made. I bought the fabric last year because I liked it and someone finally had a girl so I could use it. Thanks Ruth! :)
Note to self when making these - always overlock the edges. I somehow think that the crochet will take care of the edges, but it sticks out funny on the back. I did not overlock the bib, but after making the bib, I overlocked the blanket.

Christmas pajamas

Here are a couple of Christmas pajamas. I make them every year. I love this pattern, and if I think about it later, I'll add the number. It has a yoke, and I like how the neck ends up fitting better than other pj patterns I have tried. These are already a month old, so you can see that the neck edge gets kind of crunched, but hey, they are pj's.
Benjamin always picks the most interesting fabric. Last year it was bowling pins and balls. This year hockey pucks. However, I love the red and black of this year's pjs. Makes me wish I'd bought more of it.

Here's a picture of a couple of my favorite camo fabrics. I love the blue dolphins. They are hoodies I made the younger boys last year. I made them big so they would still fit this year. Great coat. The spider print is Duncan's pick for his pj's this year. I also love that fabric. I must me the mom of boys. Getting all excited over spider fabric.

Good Luck card

Yet another card - see still not great at them, but the cricut is very helpful in making it look like I may have some sort of an idea of what to do, even if it is only a vague idea. This card was for a missionary. We had a lunch where others women who had served missions got together and shared tips and ideas. I wrote mine in the card because I wasn't quite sure what exactly to do. (Plus it gave me a great excuse to have fun with the cricut.

flower arranging

Believe it or not, this is not actually MY craft. Brandon had our friend Laura come over and teach a bunch of guys how to do floral arrangements for their wives/girlfriends/moms. Of course man food was a draw to get people there, but they also did some nice arrangements. The one above is Brandon's. The one below is Duncan's.

snow cards

I'm so not a card maker. That is my sister's forte. (And she can sure make some cute cards.) It was one of the reasons I wanted and got a cricut. These are just a couple of cards I made in January. I'm such a goober that I went and set them next to a dish towel in the kitchen and then kept dripping water on them when I dried my hands. Takes talent, I know. :) I told you I wasn't a card maker. At least I'm attempting to try something new. I love making them, it is fun. They just aren't wonderful looking or anything.

Christmas crafts

I got the idea to make the plates above last year. They are supposed to be a tree made with our 4 boys handprints. The ornaments are thier fingerprints, and the star their thumbs. The trunk is Brandon and my thumbs. We made them for our moms for Christmas this year. I wish I would have gone gradually darker up the tree. I went lighter, darker, lighter darker. They still turned out cute enough, and Brandon ended up traveling to Vegas in early December so he was able to carry them on the plane.
The ornaments below are something I've wanted to do for a few years. I saw someone who had some similar a few years back, and I loved them. I love to collect nativities and anything that reminds me of why we celebrate Christmas. These different names of the savior were perfect. I tried to make some other balls with cricut cut snowflakes, but they didn't turn out as well, and for some reason I kept knocking them on the ground and breaking them. I made only 4 or 5 and broke 2. Sad because I broke them after sticking the snowflake on them, and that wasn't easy because I had to sneakily cut here and there to make the flat snowflake fit the round ball. They didn't work as I had hoped. I wanted them to match other balls I had on my tree. Ooh, I just got an idea, maybe I could make them and put them inside a ball. That's an idea for next year though.

baby crochet projects

Above is a baby bonnet I crocheted last week.  It is a new pattern for me.  I found it searching for edgings for bibs and decided to try it.  Not too bad.
Below is a baby bib.  I loved the color of the yarn around the outside.  A bit time consuming of a pattern though, and I didn't plan ahead and buy ribbon.  I totally thought I had blue.  Luckily I had some gold to sew on there and there was gold in the material.  I would have preferred a thicker ribbon though.

Here are the 2 pairs (ok, one isn't exactly a pair.)  of booties I made last week.  The one above for a boy.  It is the first time I actually made them with a button like on the pattern.  Usually I make a little tassel to go with a cute hat I make.
The ones below were not finished until after the baby shower - at the baby shower.  In the background you can see the cards I made on my cricut.  I was actually proud of the cards - I'm so not paper crafty.  I'm a follow a pattern type of person.  I can get a bit creative in crochet, but that is about it.  :)

Craft blog

So, I really don't need one more thing to do, but I just found a cute craft blog, and I want to have a place for my crafty bookmarks, plus I have some crafty things I've done lately that I want to post somewhere, so here goes yet another blog.  This is by no means my main blog, nor do I plan to maintain it as regularly as my food blog.  It is a purely fun blog for me, and a place for me to post some of my crafty items.