Just Add Glitter and Stir

Hi everyone!

Well, here we are at the end of another year, can you believe it? I've always found it strange how time both crawls and flies. But it can't be stopped and we're now on the brink of 2012.

On a personal front, 2011 brought us Zippy:

Who is now 7 months old:

And Toot turned three:

This Christmas was a fun one as Toot finally "got" the whole concept of Santa and how a strange man would break into our house to leave her presents. She was thrilled. It was also Zippy's first Christmas and I can only imagine the Christmases to come when they're both a little older and a little wilder.

On a creative level, there wasn't much scrapping that got done (d'oh!) but I did rejoin the team over at Gauche Alchemy and created more mixed media projects.



2011 also brought my obsession with crochet to a head and I found myself drawn to the hook more and more.



In 2012, I look forward to watching the girls grow more and more and hopefully watch my creat…

Hi everyone!

Christmas is over, are you recovered yet? Now we get to look forward to a brand new year, see you in hell 2011! But before we ring in another year of possibilities, I wanted to show you what I made for my mom this year. I offered to crochet her something for Christmas and she picked out a sweater coat. Well, crap. I say that because I had never hooked up a sweater type thing before so this was a major project. But I did it! I can't decide if I'm happier with the way it came out or that I actually finished it in time to get it under the tree. Sometimes finishing something is more reward than anything else.


I used the Broadway Coat pattern from the September/October 2011 issue of Crochet Today magazine. And although the sizing is a bit wonky I think, I'm so proud of it. My first major crochet project finished! And sort of wearable! In your face, no skill! :D


This pattern was actually pretty easy, thank goodness! It also gave me the confidence to try…

Hi everyone!

Christmastime brings so many things: good times with family, great food, a chance to make someone's day merry and bright and crappy pictures with Santa Claus.

When Toot was born, I looked forward to the day when I could take her to see Santa. It was easy the first year as she was only 1 month old. (We like to go in late November to miss the crazy crowd.) And being just a month old, Toot obediently sat there while the photographer snapped away:

The next year, Toot was just over a year old and things didn't go so smoothly. Her and I were out and on a whim we stopped to see Santa. Toot promptly freaked out. Which really, you can't blame her. I had spent months screaming, "STRANGER DANGER!" only to plunk her down on a strange man's lap and demand she ask for presents. Parenting is awesome. The best part (or worst part as I like to call it) was they made me be in the picture and I'm so thankful that my child has this horrible picture of m…

Hi everyone!

I just finished up a year long swap on Ravelry, the last box containing an afghan for my partner, along with other good what nots. My partner loves the beach so I created a whole box filled with "beachy" items and used the Ocean Waves Throw pattern from Crochet Today magazine for her afghan.


I also decided to make her some beach themed flip flops:




Everyone could use a little beach time in the cold months, right? :D

Hi everyone!

Taking old crayons and making them into...well, crayons isn't a new thing but we did it for the first time today and found it to be super easy and really quick. Two things I always look for when doing something crafty with Toot. Toot has an unbelievable amount of broken crayons and it was either this, save them for my projects (of which I already have quite the collection) or trash them.

You don't need much for these guys:

Broken crayons (We had a bunch from going out to eat that the restaurants gave to Toot)A mini muffin pan (You could also use metal cookie cutters for fun shapes)Cooking SprayGlitter (If you want it...and you know you want it)
I was able to include Toot in the project by giving her the job of getting all the paper off the crayons. Unfortunately, she was too busy for a proper photo:

Spray your pan, break or cut your crayon pieces into smaller pieces and add them to the muffin cups. I also added a little glitter because well, I like glitter. …

Hi everyone!

The Gauche Alchemy guest designer for December is Cat Kerr who is a.w.e.s.o.m.e. I'm always inspired by Cat's work and love her use of vintage images and beeswax. So with her in mind, I created this mini canvas:

More pics after the jump...

Some of you may remember my post, FedEx Thinks I'm Fat in which I told a tale of horror as FedEx refused to deliver my package under the "No address on any house on street" clause even though my camera told a different story:


That was back in July and since then we've had one package delivered by FedEx with no problem. Cut to today. I got a new phone from AT&T and they only ship one way: FedEx. dun dun DUN! So today is when the new phone arrives...theoretically. We checked online for a status only to see our package as "undeliverable" due to "incorrect address". My husband promptly calls FedEx to be told by the customer service rep that the driver was unable to find our house due to "too many trees".

Too. Many. Trees.

I might buy this excuse except that none of the trees on our street block the house numbers. No wait, I'm not buying this excuse. "Too many trees"?!?! *face palm* I mean, come on. It's not…

You know, crafting doesn't always end with beautiful and amazing projects, shown in all their glory with gorgeous lightbox photos and Photoshopped edits. Sometimes crafting is about the FAIL. The crap that happens when you try your best and still suck. No need to be ashamed or hide your fails. Sometimes the most encouraging thing you can do for your craft is suck at it.

Wait, that makes no sense whatsoever. Don't listen to me, it always bites when projects come out looking like something ate it and promptly threw it back up again. Such was the case when I fell in love with the Acorn Bag Pattern from Roman Sock.
Isn't it darling??? At the time, I was doing a Fall themed swap and thought this bag would be PERFECT for my partner. So I furiously began hooking and from the get go I knew it wouldn't work...my yarn was too soft and my bottom fell flat. (Oh, how craft mirrors life at times...) But I was resolved not to give up and started on the top. Which looked …

Hi everyone!

You know, behind every good couch is a crocheted afghan. At least that's the story TV is selling us these days. Best story ever. I'm always on the look out for crocheted what nots in the background of my favorite movies and TV shows. In fact, I'm often pausing what we're watching (usually multiples times) to get pictures of my findings. My family loves it...at least I assume so.

Anyhoo, here's a crocheted beauty on "Psych" behind the lovely Molly Ringwald:


The granny square delight on the couch of Amy Farrah Fowler on "The Big Bang Theory":




And this fantastic afghan behind a hungover Ann Perkins on "Parks and Recreation":


Cool, right? By the way, how does one apply to be a set hooker anyway? I would really love that job.

Hi everyone!

I just love Thanksgiving. The parades, the food, the good times with family, the food, the naps...and more food. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving gets lost in the shuffle of Christmas that seems to get started in September these days. The husband and I have been trying to think of fun Thanksgiving type traditions to create for Toot and Zippy and since they're both a little too small for most Thanks-y type crafts, we decided to start an annual tradition inspired by our favorite Thanksgiving TV show:


A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving has been shown on television since the 1960s and probably one of the most memorable things about it is the impromptu meal Snoopy makes with Charlie Brown and Linus after Peppermint Patty butts in and invites herself over for Thanksgiving dinner. (BTW, where are these children's parents? And how does Peppermint Patty (not to mention Marcie and Franklin) not already have plans with her family? I mean, did her parents just say, "Sure kid, …

Hi everyone!

I was honored to be the guest designer for November at the LESSology blog. Their theme for this month was to make a mobile while upcycling materials so I created this Alice in Wonderland mobile using an old embroidery hoop, fabric remnants and various odds and ends:



Please check out the LESSology blog for more pictures and my step by step.

Have a great day!

Hi everyone!

You know, some crafty types make the decision back in January to make all of their Christmas gifts. They furiously crochet, glue, knit or otherwise attach stuff to other stuff in an effort to either 1. Save money, 2. Give their loved ones special and thoughtful handmade awesomeness instead of store bought crap or 3. Show off (I made a toilet paper cover that looks like a Southern Belle, in your face!)

I'm all three except that instead of starting in January, I'm just now thinking about it. Oops! Therefore I'm in the middle of three or four projects for people in my life that will hopefully be finished by this Christmas. Or maybe next Christmas. Or Christmas 2020. Haven't figured that one out yet.

Anyhoo, here's a wrap I'm currently working on:

I've never crocheted a wrap before so I'm interested to see it finished. Or maybe I should say interested in actually getting it finished.  I guess if I don't finish it I'll just send …

Hi everyone!

Recently I created a mixed media canvas inspired by Gauche Alchemy's guest designer for November, Frieda Oxenham. Frieda loves nature and I've been hanging onto a vintage book page with birds on it for ages. It felt good to finally get a chance to use it.


More pics after the jump

Hi everyone!

Halloween isn't a huge deal around our house BUT Toot loves to dress up so she ended up with about three different costumes this year. (What? I can't help it if she looks cute in everything! :P) But by far her favorite was her Strawberry Shortcake costume. She is obsessed with Miss Shortcake and her friends which thrills me to no end since I was obsessed with them myself when I was young.

We got her all dressed up yesterday and took her to the mall for some trick or treating around the stores. There was about 3 other Shortcakes there but Toot of course was the strawberry-est, the short-est and the cake-est.


We waited in a huge line for an hour before discovering that the line was for little goodie bags and entering the mall's giveaway. Booooo! So we grabbed our goodie bag, entered the giveaway (You owe me, Mall!) and then started off to invade the stores and demand our candy...uh, I mean politely say "Trick or Treat!" and act like Toot would b…