Crocheted Snowman Ornament

I originally made this little snowman ornament as part of the 12 Days of Christmas Series on Here Comes the Sun and couple of weeks ago and now I am sharing it here as well. When I was trying to come up with an idea of something to make one of the first things I thought of was an ornament. Ornaments are usually pretty small which means they are also usually relatively quick to make, and you can make pretty much anything. I had made a Santa ornament a week or so before I made this and I decided it might be fun to make several ornaments all the same size and same basic shape. The shape of two balls stacked on top of each other, the top one slightly smaller that the bottom, lent itself perfectly to a snowman. So using the same basic body pattern as my Santa ornament I made this little snowman. Since then I have also shared a penguin ornament also made from the same basic body shape.

Christmas Cuddle Floor Cushion

Christmas time has officially arrived. We spent the day on Thanksgiving with my brothers and sisters and their families at one of my brother's houses but after a few hours there we came home and spent the evening just home together as a family. The kids had been begging to put the Christmas tree up for a couple of weeks so we finally got it out and set up and then we just let them go to town decorating it. I always dream of having a nice, perfectly put together tree. We have even tried the two tree thing, one upstairs in the living room that has white lights and pretty matching ornaments, and one downstairs in the family room with colorful lights and all of our old ornaments mixed with the ones the kids have made and gotten over the years. But, somehow it always seems that as the kids get or make new ornaments they end up taking over the nice tree, they are always so proud of them that they want them to be on the tree that everyone sees. And then you throw in the fact that we have always had toddlers around who like to un-decorate the tree or rearrange the perfectly spaced ornaments. Then you add into all of that the fact that the lights on our nicer tree weren't working and we decided just to put up our little colorful lights tree with all of the mismatched ornaments and the truth is, I kind of love it. I think perfectly put together trees can be beautiful but my kids are awfully proud of the tree they decorated with clumps of ornament in some places and bare spots in others and ornaments that each of them have made at school or church or at home. Someday we will have the pretty tree but right now we have a tree that represents out family and our kids and it is perfect.

Seafoam Circle Scarf

Over the last couple of months I have made several scarves/cowls that I have been meaning to post patterns for and I just haven't had time to do it. I am finally getting around to posting one today. Part of the reason it has taken me so long is because I wanted a picture of someone wearing it and didn't want to take a picture of myself. Finally I just broke down and took the picture so that could get the post up.

Kids Crafts with Cool Brands

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how important it is for kids to have opportunities to be creative. I have a 7 year old daughter who loves to make things with me. I try to find projects for her that she can do, she has done a few simple sewing projects, some embroidery, and lots of paper and felt crafts. I make a lot of stuff with yarn, usually crocheting, but for some reason I haven't attempted to teach her that yet. I just worry that she isn't quite ready, or maybe that I just won't have the patience to help her.

Crocheted Stocking Heel Video Tutorial

A couple of weeks ago I posted the pattern for my Crocheted Stocking Advent Calendar. The heel portion of the pattern was a little bit difficult to explain in writing and I had a few questions about it so I made a video tutorial to help clarify that portion of the stocking. Hopefully this will help if you are having a hard time figuring out the heel. 

Penguin Christmas Ornament

A couple of weeks ago I shared a crocheted Santa ornament over on the Fairfield World site, then I made a matching snowman, same size and basic shape, to share on Here Comes the Sun as part of a 12 day of Christmas series. Now I made another ornament to add to the set, this time a little penguin complete with hat and scarf.

Crocheted Nativity Set

*Purchase an ad-free version of this pattern on Etsy or Ravelry*

This Crocheted Nativity Set is probably one of my favorite things that I have made. I really love the way it turned out. When I was trying to think of what I could make for the finale of So You Think You're Crafty I went back and forth on what kind of project I wanted to do. I thought about making some kind of quilt or something but every time I thought about it I kept coming back to crochet. I feel like although I enjoy sewing and doing other crafts, crocheting is the most representative of me and of my blog. I have more crochet patterns on my blog than anything else, it is what I spend the most time working on and I just felt like it was the craft that would really represent me as a crafter and as a blogger and I really wanted my final project to be me in a project. I love nativities and since it is almost Christmas time I decided that  it would be really cool to make one. When I finished making it, I felt so happy with what I had made. It wasn't about winning or losing the competition, either way I had made something that I loved and I was happy with that. Feeling that way made me feel like I had succeeded in what I wanted, I had put myself in a project. When I found out that I had won I was really excited and happy, I am still sort of in shock about it. When I first started out I told my husband that I really just didn't want to be the first one to go home. The longer I stayed in the more I wanted to, and thought that maybe I could, make it all the way. Making it to the finale felt awesome, winning was really great.

Minnie Mouse Inspired Bag

A couple of weeks ago I made Mickey and Minnie Inspired Pillows for the Disney Inspired week of So You Think You're Crafty. I had a little bit of fabric left over from the pillows and the same weekend that I had to turn in my project we also had a birthday party for one of my nieces who was turning 3. Turns out she loves Minnie Mouse so I thought I would make a little gift for her using the leftover fabric. This Minnie Mouse inspired bag is the gift that I came up with for her. 

Embroidered Felt Snowflake Ornaments on Craftaholics Anonymous

Yesterday my latest post for Craftaholics Anonymous was posted and I wanted to share it here so that you can go check it out. I wanted to make a quick and easy, cute Christmas project so I came up with some simple little snowflake ornaments. They are just a little snowflake embroidered on a circle of felt, simple but pretty. I love red and white together at Christmas time so I used red felt for my felt circles but I think a light blue or turquoise would be really pretty for the background as well.

Click Here to get the full tutorial

SYTYC Finale

Another week of So You Think You're Crafty starts today and it isn't just any week, it is the finale. I can't believe I made it this far. When I first started I told my husband my goal was to not go out the first week. I can't believe that I am one of the final two. This week was a wildcard challenge so we could make anything we wanted to. In a way that made it kind of hard because, well, it could be anything and it is the final so I felt like I wanted to do something kind of big. It was a fun challenge to come up with a project and win or lose I am very happy with what I made. The whole competition has been an awesome experience for me and I am really grateful to have had the opportunity to participate. Thank you to everyone who went and voted, now go vote one last time on your favorite project. The voting is open until Wednesday evening and you can vote once a day until then.

Crocheted Stocking Advent Calendar

I have been wanting to make a crocheted advent calendar for quite a while and I was determined that I was going to get it done this year, and not only was I going to get it done, I was going to get it done early enough that we could actually use it. Every year it seems like I don't think about making things like this until it is too late. When I was trying to come up with a gift idea for this week's round of So You Think You're Crafty I was having a really hard time thinking of something because a gift could really be just about anything. Then I thought, maybe I don't have to make the actual gift, I could make the gift delivery system instead. It is still related to gifts. Maybe that is a little bit of a stretch but my kids love advent calendars and getting a little treat everyday so I thought it would be fun. Plus it was my chance to make something I had been wanting to make and I kind of had to get it done quickly.

Crocheted Owl Pencil Bag

Back in August before school started I shared patterns for several different crocheted pencil bags all based on a basic pencil bag pattern. This one I originally shared as a contributor post on Craftaholics Anonymous but I thought it would be good to share it again here. Especially because although I originally made it thinking of back to school time, it would make a fun Christmas gift as well and it is time to start working on those. I have made lots of owl hats to give as gifts or to sell and they are always a big hit so when I was trying to come up with pencil bag ideas an owl seemed like an obvious choice.

Crocheted Santa Ornament

Each month I share a couple of projects over on the Fairfield World site and I recently posted a new one. I figured since it is November it is time to start thinking about Christmas projects so that we all have time to get them made before Christmas actually gets here. No, I haven't forgotten about Thanksgiving, I made my turkey for Thanksgiving last month, but if I am not working on Christmas stuff by now there is no way it will be done in time. For this project I decided to make a crocheted Santa ornament.

SYTYC Week 6- Handmade Gifts + Giveaway

After winning last week's "Disney Inspired" round of SYTYC I am in it for another week. It is down to only 3 of us, the 2 who make it through this week will be competing in the final round next week. The theme this week is "Handmade Gifts". It was kind of a hard one because a gift can be pretty much anything but I am pretty happy with the project that I came up with, I hope you like it too.