ribbit
I made these on Friday as a baby gift for a friend that recently had twins. They were so easy and I’m really happy with how they came out!
all i want for christmas is a craft store gift card
The obsession continues.
I think I pulled a muscle in the back of my left hand, and yet I continue to crochet.*
The good news is, not only did I sell the burnt orange hat/scarf set to a bloggy friend, but I brought some things to a real life craft show and sold 3 hats and 6 scarves. Woohoo! I have the Christmas money I was hoping for!** And yet I continue to crochet…
Let’s just say a few of Josh’s teachers are getting scarves for Christmas. :) And maybe a few other people too.
Here’s a couple of lap blankets I made for the craft show but they didn’t sell. I’m not sure I’m happy or sad about that, especially since the orange/brown one matches my bedroom and I could, ya know, keep it. Both are a bit over 3 foot square.
Can you tell I like burnt orange?
I kinda like purple too, especially mixed with gray:
I swear I work in other colors besides purple and orange!
Like red. I love red.
Somehow this scarf ended up 8 feet long. No joke. I might not have been paying attention when I started it, I just kept on crocheting…
*I really do have other stuff going on besides crocheting and dealing with George. It’s all just too boring to write about. More boring than yarn and a cat? You know that’s pretty bad.
**And it’s quite possible I might spend it all on yarn at Michael’s and AC Moore’s Black Friday sales!
yarn crazy
I spend my Sundays pouring over the sale flyers, cutting out 40% off coupons and then trolling the yarn aisles of every craft store in a 15 mile radius around my house. The days when a 50% coupon shows up, well, woohoo!
I spend my evenings crocheting like mad. I’m obsessed with the softest yarns, the prettiest colors, and of course the cheapest prices I can find. I’m hoping to sell a few scarves and maybe a blanket to make some Christmas cash, but I won’t be too disappointed if I get to keep some of it for myself! (Not the cash - the scarves!)
Yes, they are are soft as they look. :)
holiday gift plans
Did you know Christmas shopping in an unexpected sleet storm bites? If I didn’t know before I sure do now! Gah! Add in that special circle of hell also known as Wal*Mart and my day today was pretty horrid! I did get a couple of gifts at the local used book store though - yay! That almost redeemed the rest of the day.
I actually have very little shopping to do since I’ve made quite a few presents already. I wish I could tell you more about them but I don’t want to ruin any surprises for my anyone in my family who might be reading this. I thought I could do a post about possible handmade gifts, but I’m making so many of them it would give too much away! Sorry!
I can tell you though, that one of the best things we’re doing to save money this year is a “hand me down” Christmas exchange with the little ones in my family. All the kids have way more toys and books than they can use so they’re picking out some their own stuff to give away to their cousins. I think it’s going to work out really well, and the kids love anything that’s “new” to them, they don’t care if it’s not new in a box! I’m so psyched the rest of my family was as excited to do it as I was! (We haven’t done gift exchanges between the adults in my family for years. There are waaaayyyy too many of us!)
Next up is holiday cards. I think I’m going to have to give up on the idea of making all my own cards. I’ve done it before, but not during a year when I was making all the gifts too! A girl has only so much time for this stuff! At this point I’ll be doing good just to get the cards in the mail on time.
All in all I’m coming along really well with my plans and I shouldn’t have to do any unexpected last minute shopping. I’m soooo glad of that!
ps. This is the final day of NaBloPoMo! Wooohoooo! I think I’ll let you all catch up on your feed readers before I post again! ;)
crocheted ssssssnake
Last spring I saw this post on Krista’s blog and I knew I had to try making a crocheted snake for the boy myself. It took me forever and I had a bit of trouble with the head, but it’s finally done!
I did a few things my own way, including using pipe cleaners on the inside so I wouldn’t have to worry about the boy getting poked with wires. I also used a bit of felt for the tongue instead of yarn, I thought it would hold up better since it’ll actually be played with.
Btw, I’ve never learned how to follow a pattern so I was winging it! Pretty cute, huh?! But, um, never again! Next time I take on a crocheting project I’m going back to straight lines.
the craftiness
I’ve been alone for 5 hours. How terrible am I if the boy was starting a bit of a cold and I let him go anyway? Yeah, I suck. I let him go, with promises that if he gets worse or he wants to come home early they’ll call me. Now I have a pounding headache and a sore throat. Karma, people. Karma.
Anyway, you know the list of stuff I had to do? I’ve actually managed to get some of it accomplished!
- Yesterday I found a super cute skirt, red black and white - so me!
- I did the dishes after all. No more for the week.
- I found a mat so I can finish framing my artsy craftsy project for the wedding present.
Woohoo! The only annoying thing was, I spent an hour at the craft store looking at the mats and frames, picked one out, and when I got it home the opening was too small. Grrr. The I went digging around in my craft closet and found the perfect mat. Dang. Who knew I had one all along?!
Speaking of the crafty. Are you ready to see what I do?
Paper #1 is the one I’m giving to my cousin:
She likes purple. A lot. Otherwise, I generally do more muted background colors. Are you wondering what you’re looking at? It’s a handmade paper with flower petals, leaves, and other organics embedded in the paper making process. The greenish tinge here and there? Sometimes a flower petal will bleed unexpected colors while it’s drying. Purple tends to bleed green, red tends to bleed blue, that sort of thing. It helps make each one completely one of a kind.
I generally get all of the floral stuff from around my yard - that’s how I made this one. I also have a pile crappy old computer books full of leaves from my old house! I had such a pretty Japanese Maple there. Anyway, big heavy (otherwise useless) books are a great way to dry and press leaves and petals.
Sometimes I’ve made the paper out of something special that a client specifically wanted. Like rose petals from a Valentine’s Day bouquet, or used a wedding invitation in the center with a nice border made from the envelopes. I think if I set up an online shop I’ll have a special order section for this kind of request.
Here’s what it will look like framed, sans glass just for the photo, yet my photography skilz still bite:
Uh, yeah, when I put it all together for real, I swear it’ll be straight.
Paper #2 was my backup paper. I had lots of purple pulp leftover so I made an extra. I still have purple pulp leftover so I’ll probably make a third one. I hope someone else likes purple!
Paper #3 is one I made about a year ago and never did anything with it. If I remember it was my back up paper from the last wedding present I made!
This one was made with rose petals, and bits of stuff out of old potpourri that I had on hand.
All three of these are about 8×10 and I mat them to fit in an 11×14 frame.
Paper #4 is smaller, about 3×5 and I’ll mat it to fit in an 8×10 frame:
That’s it. That’s what I do when I have time. I’ve tried tons of different crafts, and I still do some of them, sometimes I crochet, sometimes I make jewelry, once I had access to pottery equipment and I sold some cute pots. A couple years ago I had a business with a friend in Virgina where we took anything old and crappy and reused it in a new way, such fun! Now, the paper making calls to me. This is what I’m supposed to do. This is what I want to try to sell.