Top 16 of 2016

At the end of the year last year I did a top 15 of 2015 post and I thought it would be good to do it again this year. It is always kind of fun to look back at the things I have made throughout the year as well as to see which ones have been the most popular. Sometimes they are the ones I expect and sometimes they aren't. I thought since in 2015 I did the top 15, in 2016 I should do the top 16. I am only including posts that were published this year, some of the most popular posts on my blog are older posts but since this is kind of a year in review type post I am only including posts that were new this year.

Mini Nativity- Stable

-Product and compensation for this post provided by Fairfield World, all opinions and ideas are my own. Post may contain affiliate links-

A couple of weeks ago I shared my mini nativity pattern that included a Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus in a manger. As I was working on it I had the idea to make a little stable to go along with them. I wanted to make something pretty simple and that would stand up on its own.

Christmas Bags and Family Parties

-Sponsored by Oriental Trading Company, all ideas and opinions are my own-

This time of year can be so crazy and busy with all of the things that are going on. There are school performances, work parties, church parties, parties with family and friends, presents to buy and wrap, and so much more. We have had most of our Christmas shopping done for a few weeks, all we had left to do was stocking stuffers and we are finally done with that too. We have had Christmas parties every weekend this month and on top of all of that we have had a nasty cold making its way through our family. As a result it is taking me so much longer than I planned to get posts up on my blog,  I have had this post and another almost ready to go for quite a while but having extra kids home from school makes it so much harder to get stuff done. Now it is almost Christmas, which I can't, believe and I am running out of time.

Death Star Ornament

Yesterday I published a new pattern on Fairfield World's site and today I wanted to share it here. When I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my project I had decided I wanted to make a Christmas ornament. I really wanted something that could be used for Christmas but I wanted something small that would be easy for people to make since it was going to go on the site only a week and a half before Christmas. I thought an ornament was the perfect thing. Last year I made some really traditional ornaments for Christmas, a Santa, a Snowman, a Toy Soldier, and a Penguin. So far this Christmas I have kind of done the opposite, mostly very non-traditional ornaments. Colorful Owls for my sister and nieces, a painted Pokeball for one of my nephews, a paper dinosaur ornament for another. As a result I couldn't really decided what I wanted to do for this one. I asked my husband for ideas and he mentioned that the new Star Wars Rogue One movie was coming out this weekend, in fact he is taking our boys after school today to go see it. I thought that would be a fun theme to go with and decided on a Death Star.

Thank You Cards and Hearts

This Christmas our family has been trying to focus on service and on Christ. We have been following along with the #LIGHTTheWORLD Initiative on Mormon.org and we have been trying to come up with ways that our family, including all of the little kids, can participate. I think one easy thing to do is to write a little thank you note to someone. There are always people you can thank for things, little or big, they have done for you. Even the kids that can't write yet can draw a picture to say thank you to someone.

Iron On Christmas Shirts- With Cricut Cut Files

A few weeks ago I was playing around in Cricut Design Space and I came up with a Christmas design that I originally thought would make a cute pillow. I was planning to make a plain black or white pillow cover, cut out the design, and iron it onto the pillow cover. The only problem, I have a lot of Christmas pillows and don't really need another, not to mention the fact that it really wouldn't have matched the others that I have. I still liked the design though, so I decided I was going to use it anyway. I thought my 3 girls would love some shirts for Christmas so I decided to use that design that I already had and make a couple more to go along with it. I ended up with 3 different designs and new Christmas shirts for each of my girls.

Layered Paper Dinosaur Ornament

I have one last ornament to share from my family ornament exchange. My son Jak had one of his cousins, a boy who loves dinosaurs. Jak decided that he really wanted to make the ornament for his cousin and that it had to be a dinosaur ornament. We talked about a few different ideas and I showed him some things we could do. He really wanted to use my Cricut because I think he thinks it is pretty much magic, he thinks I can make anything with it.

DIY Pokemon Christmas Ornament

Like I mentioned in my previous post, each year my family does an ornament exchange. The ornaments don't have to be handmade but I think it is fun to make as many of them as I can. I made the crocheted owl ornaments for all of the girls that we had but I wanted to come up with some fun stuff for the boys too. One of my nephews is really into Pokemon so I came up with a really easy ornament for him and I thought I would share the idea here. When I think of Pokemon and something easy I immediately think of a Pokeball. It is pretty simple to turn anything round into a Pokeball.

Colorful Owl Ornaments

My family has a tradition of doing an ornament exchange every year. All of the adults (my parents and siblings) draw names and get an ornament for the person whose name they drew, then the kids all draw names and get ornaments for that person. This year between all of us we ended up with 3 girls we had to do something for ranging in age from 5 to 16. One of them likes owls and the color purple so I had the idea to make a her a purple owl ornament. Once I had it done I thought, why not just make a couple more for the other girls. 

Basic Double Crochet Hats: Preemie-Adult

-This post is sponsored by mormon.org and the #LightTheWorld Christmas Campaign. All ideas and opinions are my own-

I love Christmastime. It is one of my favorite times of the year. There is so much wonderful stuff about Christmas time. It is a time to focus on Christ and his birth, it is a time to think about others and a time of giving. I think it seems like in general people tend to be more charitable and giving around Christmas but I also think that sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the business of the season and get lost in all of the other stuff that is going on so that in the end maybe we don't do as much as we would like. This year the LDS church, which I happen to be a member of, has a Christmas campaign that is encouraging everyone, regardless of religion, to participate in a month of service. They are using #LightTheWorld to share all of the acts of service being done around the world. If you want to participate through social media you can use that hashtag to share the things that you do. Beginning on December 1st they are starting 25 ways in 25 days, 25 ways to serve over the course of 25 days ending with Christmas. If you go to their site mormon.org, they have an advent calendar with different themes or ideas for each day beginning with a worldwide day of service on December 1st. Some of the ideas are really simple, writing a letter, or making a phone call, small things that can brighten someones day. Others may be bigger things that require a little more planning but you can do anything that you want. There is no specific thing you have to do, just a reminder to focus on being Christlike and serving and helping those around us.

Mini Nativity- Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus

-Product and compensation for this post provided by Fairfield World, all opinions and ideas are my own. This post contains affiliate links-

One of my favorite crochet projects that I have ever made was the Nativity that I made last year. It was a project that I had been thinking about for a long time but I just kept not starting it. Then last fall I was participating in a craft blogger competition and I made it all the way to the finale. Prior to that each week in the competition had a specific theme but the finale project could be anything. I really wanted to crochet something because I felt that that would be most representative of me as a blogger and crafter. I tried to think of something that would be big enough and exciting enough for a finale and I thought of this idea I had had for a while to make a nativity and decided to go for it. It was kind of crazy because I only had about a week to get a project done and I wanted to make several pieces but I did it and I loved the way it turned out. It ended up winning me the competition too, which was a nice bonus.

Merry Christmas Around the World Sign

-This post is sponsored by Cricut, all ideas and opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links-

I have had my Cricut for less than a year now but it has become one of my favorite things when I want to make a quick project. I love that it is so easy to use and that I can make pretty much anything I want to. Before getting my Cricut I had never used one before but I have felt like it was really easy to learn to use and since then I have been able to make so many things, vinyl signs, shirts with iron on, paper crafts, and so much more.

Faux Leather Hair Bows

“This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of SoCozy. All opinions are my own and not edited by the sponsor”

I have 3 little girls ages 8, 4, and 3 which means lots of hair that needs done. All of them have such different hair, we have thick hair, thin hair, curly, straight, and somewhere in between. When I was little I had very curly hair, my mom used to call it naturally crazy hair. I think a couple of my girls have inherited my naturally crazy hair. The older two both have or had curly hair, Eliza's has straightened out a lot as she has gotten older but Lucy's is still pretty curly. I love Lucy's curly hair but she hates letting me do anything with it because it always gets so tangly. In fact, when I am doing the girl's hair she will grab the brush, run off and hide it, then come back ready for me to do her hair. I try to be gentle but she still hates getting her hair brushed. When I had the opportunity to do a post with SoCozy kids hair care products I immediately thought of Lucy. I was excited to try out some of their products to see how they worked on her hair, as well as the other girls. They sent me a couple of products to try out so on Sunday when we were getting the girls ready for church I decided to give them a try. I also made them some pretty new faux leather bows with my Cricut. They only took a few minutes to make, I ended up making more that morning because they all wanted certain colors.

Scandinavian Snowflake Christmas Pillow

My second Christmas pillow I just posted on the Fairfield World site a couple days ago. For this pillow I decided to try out corner to corner crochet. I have seen it around a lot lately, it seems to be pretty popular right now to do graphs in crorner to corner and I have been wanting to try it for a while. I thought a Scandinavian type design would work really well for a graph and since it only uses 2 colors I thought it would be a pretty easy place to start.

Classic Granny Square Christmas Pillow

I have been working on some Christmas projects over the last couple of weeks including some Christmas pillows. I have posted the patterns for a couple of them on the Fairfield World website and now I am finally getting around to posting about them here with links to the patterns. The first one I originally posted a couple of weeks ago. It is a classic granny square done in Christmas colors but if you aren't looking for a Christmas pillow this one would work great in any color.

Quiet Activity Bags for Kids

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RitzFilledNotHangry #CollectiveBias

Last month I made some trick or treat bags using some colorful canvas bags and adding vinyl to the front. The bags that I got came in packs of a dozen so I had a lot leftover and immediately I started thinking about what I could use some of the extra bags for. One Sunday we were getting ready to head out the door to church and I was grabbing a few small toys and books and stuff to keep the kids busy and it got me thinking, there are often times that I need to keep the kids quietly occupied while we are out somewhere whether that be church or a doctor's appointment or even just in the car. I had the idea to use some of those extra bags that I had to make some quiet activity bags that I could fill up with some small toys, a notebook and crayons, maybe some small snacks. Something to keep the kids busy other than electronics. 

Be Grateful Sign for Thanksgiving

-Product for this post provided by Cricut, all ideas and opinions are my own- 
-may contain affiliate links-

I feel like sometimes it is really easy to pass over Thanksgiving because once Halloween is past Christmas kind of takes over. I know I have already started working on and planning Christmas projects so that I can hopefully get them up on my blog early enough for people to use them for Christmas. I wanted to make sure I didn't just completely pass by Thanksgiving though so I made a really quick and easy wood and vinyl sign with my Cricut. The longest part is waiting for the paint to dry. And really although I made it for Thanksgiving it is a good reminder all year round.

Extra Long Star Wars Pillow

-Compensation and product for this post provided by Fairfield World, all ideas and opinions are my own-

-May contain affiliate links-

Fairfield World recently came out with a new product called a bench pillow, it is a 38" long by 16" pillow form, and they sent me one to try out. I knew right away that I wanted to use it a an accent pillow in our master bedroom. I don't have a bench to put a pillow on but I used to have a long pillow that I would put on our bed and I liked the idea of doing that again. I had a few ideas of how to use it but I really wanted to come up with something that had some significance to us as a couple. I originally thought it would be really cool to do something pieced for the front but I also kind of wanted to add a quote. In the end I decided to keep it simple and just make a plain pillow cover and adding a black iron on quote. I am so glad I decided to go that route because I love the way it turned out and it was really easy to make.

Quick and Easy Trick or Treat Bags

-This post sponsored by Oriental Trading Company. I was sent product to review, all ideas and opinions are my own-

It is crazy to think that Halloween is only a week away. I figured it is probably time to start getting ready for trick or treating. Getting ready for trick or treating when you have a house full of kids means not only getting candy or treats to hand out to trick or treaters but also making sure your kids have costumes and bags and are ready to go trick or treating. Most years I make trick or treat bags for my kids, usually trying to match their costumes but this year life has just seemed so crazy that I wasn't really sure what I was going to do. Then I had the opportunity come up to partner with Oriental Trading Company for a post and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Halloween Embroidery Trio

~This post may contain affiliate links~

Every month I design a few projects for Fairfield World using their products. Occasionally they will partner with other companies so that we can use their products in out projects as well. When they asked if I was interested in using DecoArt products in one of my projects I knew right away the type of project that I wanted to do. Earlier this year I made an embroidery that combined a stencil and fabric paint with the embroidery. It was really fun to combine paint and embroidery and it turned out to be one of my very favorite projects. I wanted to do something similar to that again. I picked out the paints that I wanted to try, SoSoft Fabric Paint to paint on the fabric, and Chalky Finish Paint to paint the frames. I originally thought that I would make a Christmas project but when I got the paints I was really excited to get started on a project and there were some colors that I thought would be perfect for Halloween. I decided to do a Halloween project instead. I like to use interfacing or fusible fleece behind my embroidery projects and for this project I chose to use Smooth Fusible Fleece from Fairfield World.

Crocheted Halloween BOO Basket

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, MARS. All opinions are mine alone. #BOOItForward #CollectiveBias

Halloween is such a fun time of year. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the gory, bloody part of Halloween but I love pumpkins, Jack O' Lanterns, and cute little ghosts and witches. It is also a fun time to make and give treats to friends and neighbors. When I was a kid I remember BOOing our neighbors. We would put together a little plate of treats, leave it on a neighbor's doorstep, ring the doorbell and run away. A paper was left with the treats telling them they had been BOO'd and asking them to pass it on to another person. Today I am sharing a cute way to BOO your neighbors or friends by making a crocheted container and filling it up with candy and treats. You can find lots of fun stuff at Walmart to fill up your BOO Basket.

Faux Leather Flower Clips

-This post may contain affiliate links-

Today I am joining up with a bunch of other bloggers to share projects made with our Cricuts. A while ago we all got a box filled with lots of fun stuff, different kinds of vinyl and paper as well as some other things. At the end of this post you can see all of the projects that everyone made as well as enter a giveaway to win the same box that we got. Our challenge was to make something using at least one of the products in the box. It wasn't really a challenge to come up with and idea, for me the more challenging part was to choose which idea I was going to go with. One of the products in the box was something I had never used before, in fact I had never even seen it before. It is a faux leather that is really thin so that it can be cut with a regular blade. You don't need a deep cut blade like you would to cut real leather. I thought it seemed like it would be something fun to try. The other thing is I felt like the textures and colors had a very fall feel so it seemed seasonally appropriate.

Crocheted Ghost Treat Bowl

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #CatchMoreData #Ghostbusters #CollectiveBias

Halloween is such a fun time to have family movie nights, there are so many fun movies that you can watch together and when you do it is always nice to have some treats to eat. I thought it would be fun to make a Halloween themed bowl that you could use for treats while you watch a movie and it can double as a candy bowl for trick-or-treaters later. I decided to make a ghost bowl since ghosts are pretty classic for Halloween and I thought it would be fun for a movie night.

Ghost Costume for Baby

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BacktoBabyBasics #CollectiveBias

Halloween is just around the corner and it is time to start thinking about costumes if you haven't already. I enjoy making costumes for my kids and it is especially fun (and easy) to put together cute little costumes for babies. This is my newest little guy's first Halloween and he will only be 3 months old so I was trying to think of a cute and easy halloween costume idea for little babies. You really want them to be comfortable and warm so a long sleeved bodysuit seemed like the perfect place to start.

Fruit Hats on a Knitting Loom

Earlier this year my little sister made a bunch of baby hats and I thought that they were so cute that I had to share them. She made them on a knitting loom and finished them with crochet details, little stems and leaves to make them look like different kinds of fruit. I thought it was really neat how she turned a simple loom knit hat into so many different, cute designs. A pumpkin, an apple, a watermelon, and lots of others. I don't have directions for how she made each one but I thought I would show pictures of them and maybe they will inspire someone to make some cute, loom knit hats of their own.

Frankenstein

Since it is the beginning of a new month that means it is time for a new Fairfield World pattern. This is the last of the set of matching halloween decorations I have been working on. First was a Jack o' Lantern, then a black cat, and now a Frankenstein.

Crocheted Halloween Witch

Product and compensation for this post provided by Fairfield World. All ideas and opinions are my own. 
May contain affiliate links.

I have been working on a lot of Halloween themed projects lately and today's project is one of them. This little stuffed, crocheted witch is about 9" tall, which is a little bigger than I had originally pictured when I came up with the idea but I think it turned out to be a good size for setting out as a decoration or for playing with. My 8 year old daughter has already claimed this one for herself.

Black Cat Halloween Decoration

A couple of weeks ago I shared a new pattern for a crocheted Jack O' Lantern for Halloween and I mentioned that I would be making more matching patterns. I have finished and posted the pattern for the second pattern, a Black Cat. It is made the same way as the pumpkin and is the same size, except for the ears that stick up a little higher. 

No-Scratch Baby Mittens

This post is sponsored by Owlet, they are providing compensation for the post, all ideas are my own. 

Today I am working with Owlet as part of Baby Safety Month. They are doing a blog hop with several different bloggers posting about baby safety this month, one every day. Yesterday Whitney from Beauty, Baby, and a Budget shared some tips for Grandparents on how to baby proof their homes. In addition to all of the blog posts on baby safety Owlet is also sponsoring a huge giveaway with lots of great baby safety products including an Owlet Baby Monitor, a car seat, and more. You can enter at the end of this post.

Crocheted Jack o' Lantern

Fall is just a couple of weeks away now, which I am really happy about, I love the fall and I would not mind some cooler weather. That also means that Halloween is next month. My kids have started talking about what the will be dressing up as, although they may change their minds a few times between now and then, and I have started thinking of Halloween projects. Yesterday I posted a crocheted Jack o' Lantern over on Fairfield World and I thought I would share the link over here.

Reversible Superhero Capes

These kind of capes have been around forever but they are so easy to make and kids love them so they are one of my favorite gifts to make for kids, especially little boys. A few months ago I decided to share a pattern for how I make my capes over on the Geeky Mormon but I never shared the link here. When I originally posted the tutorial there it was right before Salt Lake Comic Con held their FanX event and I thought it would be an easy cosplay type option for little kids, in fact my youngest daughter wore one the day that we took the kids. Now with Comic Con next week, Halloween not too far away, and Christmas not long after that I thought it would be a good time to post about them again. Batman and Superman is obviously the most traditional cape but my girls love superheroes as much as my boys do so I decided to make a girl version with Batgirl and Wonder Woman too.

Pokeball Pillow

Pokemon Go is super popular right now and our house is not immune to the obsession. Our boys where already really in to Pokemon before the game thanks to the show on Netflix so of course when the game came out they both wanted to try it out. Now the obsession has reached a new level.  My 6 year old spouts a constant stream of Pokemon facts that he has memorized from the Pokemon books that he is always reading, both boys always want our phones anytime we are out of the house. We get asked pretty much everyday if we can go on walks to catch Pokemon and hatch eggs. I know some people absolutely hate the app but we have had a lot of fun just watching the boys get excited about each new Pokemon that they find and going on walks as a family. As a result when Fairfield World asked if anyone would like to make a Pokemon themed project I decided to make one. Honestly, I had already been thinking about some things that I could make, this just gave me an opportunity to do it.

Easy Cloth Diaper Burp Cloths

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MomsHelper #CollectiveBias

Four weeks ago my sixth baby was born. I can't believe it has already been almost a month since he was born. I feel like getting this little guy here has been quite the adventure. This pregnancy was by far my most difficult and I had a few complications so I was very ready for it to be over and to not be pregnant anymore. The delivery was kind of the same, more complicated than any of my other births. In the end everything worked out great and a beautiful, healthy baby boy was handed to me. I was so relieved and happy to have my little baby boy here. Everything seemed to be going great and we were able to go home from the hospital the next day. His brothers and sister all loved him from the start and couldn't get enough of their new baby. 

Laptop Lap Pad

Product and compensation for this post provided by Fairfield World. This post may include affiliate links.

Do you ever use your laptop while sitting in bed or on the couch? I have a desk where I can sit and work on my computer but more often then not I end up sitting somewhere else with my laptop on my lap. This project is perfect for those times. My husband actually requested that I make it for him and it turned out to be a really quick project.

Crochet Hexagons Pillow

I have been wanting to make a project using crochet hexagons for a while and I thought a pillow would be a good project to start with. I want to make a matching blanket too, but I figured the pillow was a good place to start.

Universal Pacifier Clip

-Product and compensation for this post provided by Fairfield World-

We just had our new baby last week and leading up to his birth I made quite a few little baby things for him, some I have posted about and some I haven't. I mostly made things like receiving blankets, swaddle blankets, and onesies. A blogging friend of mine made me a couple of pacifier clips and sent them to me. You can see how to make her version here.

Hogwarts House Scarves Blanket

Last year I participated in the Happy Harry Potter series that Rae Gun Ramblings does each July around Harry's birthday and I decided to join in the fun again this year. Last year I made crocheted bookmarks that looked like the house scarves from Hogwarts. This year I decided to do another Hogwarts house scarves project but this time I made a blanket. Perfect for snuggling up under to read a Harry Potter book or watch one of the movies. It is basically 4 giant scarves, one in each of the house colors, sewn together to make a blanket.

Embroidered Dumbledore Quote

-This post contains affiliate links-

Last year I participated in the Happy Harry Potter Series that Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings puts on each July and this year I joined in again but instead of doing one Harry Potter project here on my blog I decided to do two, one here and one over on my husband's blog The Geeky Mormon. Today I am sharing this Harry Potter themed embroidery over there, next week I have another project that I will be sharing here. For this project I decided to embroider a quote from Dumbledore that he says in one of the movies. It is a pretty popular quote so I'm sure you've heard it before and seen different versions of it but I like it so this is my version.

Crocheted Olympic Torch

I thought that with the Olympics coming up next month it would be kind of fun to do an Olympic themed project. I thought about what the most iconic symbols of the Olympics are, the rings, the torch, the medals, and ended up deciding to make a torch. I remember when the Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake it was a pretty big deal when the torch came through town, everyone went down to watch it pass by. It was pretty cool. I thought it would be fun to make a torch that could either be used as a decoration for an Olympic's party or just for the kids to play with. It turned out that after I made it my son got really attached to it and carried it around all weekend playing with it. Granted, he spent more time pretending it was a rocket than a torch but I guess the fact that he had fun with it is all that really matters.

Crocheted Ice Cream Cones

There is nothing better than some cold, yummy ice cream on a hot summer day. These crocheted ice cream cones may not be cold and yummy but they are a quick and fun little project to make on a hot summer day, or any day really. They don't take a lot of yarn so they are a great stash buster project and they hardly take any time to whip up. My girls are excited to play with them as play food and they are the perfect size for that but I thought they would also be really cute strung on a string as a garland, maybe to decorate for a birthday party or something. 

Easy Oly-Fun Tooth Fairy Pillow

-Supplies and compensation for this post provided by Fairfield World-
-post includes affiliate links- 

My son is at the age where he is just starting to lose his teeth, he lost his first a couple of months ago and then just the other day he lost his second. When he lost his first tooth the tooth came out and then he lost it, literally, he couldn't find it to put it under his pillow. I showed him some pictures of tooth fairy pillows and told him that I could make him something like that to help him not lose the next one. Besides, the tooth fairy that comes to our house has always thought that taking a tooth out of a pocket and replacing it with money seems like it would be way easier than trying to dig around under their pillow to find a tiny little tooth while not waking them up. He liked the idea but I didn't really get around to it right away and kind of forgot about it until the other day when he announced that he had just pulled out tooth number two. It was actually right around bedtime that he reminded me that I said that I would make him a tooth fairy pillow and that he needed it right now. I brought him in my sewing room and together we came up with a really easy design that I could make quickly and he picked out colors and everything. Not too long after that he had a little tooth fairy pillow to stick his newly lost tooth in and he was ready to go to bed.

Geeky Baby Onesie Ideas- Plus 2 Free Cut Files

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We only have one month left until this baby boy gets here so we have started getting everything ready, washing all of the little baby clothes, getting a new car seat, setting up the cradle, etc. I actually got rid of a lot of our little baby boy clothes a few years ago because I thought that Maren might be our last baby and a lot of the stuff that we have left is not exactly seasonally appropriate. Our other boys were born in January and March, this little guy is coming the end of July. As a result we figured he might be spending the first month or two mostly in onesies. Since I got my Cricut a few months ago I have had fun designing some shirts and onesies, in fact the very first project I made was actually a baby onesie, so we figured it would be fun to design some onesies for the baby.

Moss Stitch Crochet Pillow

I am sharing a new crochet pattern over on the Fairfield World site today. I wanted to make a crochet pillow cover that would be really easy, more of a beginner friendly pattern. I also thought it would be kind of fun to use some bulky yarn. Bulky yarn is fun to work with sometimes because projects that are made with it tend to be pretty quick projects. A lot of times I think people think of bulky yarns as being used more for winter/cold weather projects like scarves and hats so I wanted to find a way to make a more summertime friendly project. I thought this pillow would be the perfect way to do that.

Glitter Arrows Baby Shirt

Almost two months ago I had the opportunity to attend Snap Conference, a conference for craft and DIY Bloggers held here in Salt Lake. I can't believe that it has already been that long ago. Anyway, while I was there one of the sponsors was Expressions Vinyl and they were giving out sample packs of vinyl for us to use. I was really excited to get it because just a couple of weeks before I had gotten a Cricut Explore Air so now I could make lots of cool vinyl projects. I opened up the pack and looked at the different colors and types of vinyl and had lots of ideas of how I could use it. I actually made something, a sign, shortly after Snap was finished using some of the vinyl that I was given and eventually I will get that project posted but I didn't love the pictures that I took of it so I need to retake them first. In the meantime I came up with a design for a baby shirt, although really you could put it on anything. Onesies are one of my favorite things to make because it is such a quick and easy project. In just a few minutes you can have a cute little onesie all ready to go. They are perfect to throw in with a baby gift. I have already made a few for my baby that is due in a couple of months and have more designs ready to go. This one however, is not for my little guy but will be used as a baby gift for a little girl. The glitter heat transfer vinyl is so fun for a girly touch, it adds some extra sparkle to the shirt and since I have mostly been working on baby boy projects it was king of fun to do something girly.

Crocheted Phone or Tablet Stand

Yesterday I shared a new pattern over on the Fairfield World Site and I thought I should share it here too. This time of year is all about Dad's and Grad's, men and teenagers/young adults, probably the two hardest groups to make handmade gifts for. I have no problem at all coming up with gift ideas that I can make or new babies, little kids are pretty easy too. Feminine gifts are also easier come up with but something handmade and at all masculine is a little bit more difficult. I wanted to try to come up with a gift idea that could work for either of those groups, either as a Father's Day gift or as a gift for a recent grad. One thing that it seems like those two groups have in common is their love for  technology. I have seen some pillow type stands that can be used for propping up phones, tablets, or e-readers and thought maybe that would be a fun project. Not too long ago I featured a knitted version in a link party, a little different style but similar idea, and I have seen other knitted versions as well as sewn versions. This is my crocheted version.

DIY Embroidered Espadrilles

 As one of their Master Makers Fairfield World provided me with supplies used in this project as well as compensating me for this post, but all ideas and opinions are my own. This post also includes affiliate links. 

This past month I have had such a hard time keeping up with blogging, I think partially this pregnancy has just taken a lot out of me, then you throw in the end of the school year with everything the kids have going on, it has just been a crazy few weeks. Hopefully I can get back in a good routine and get back to posting more regularly but going into summer with all of the kids home and 2 months left of this pregnancy, I'm not making any promises. I actually have lots of projects to post about, some that are already finished and some that I am working on, it is just getting them written up that I have been having a hard time with. Today I am sharing a project that I have been meaning to do for a while and finally got done. I made a pair of shoes for my daughter. That probably seems like kind of a strange thing to make but it was actually really easy.

Creatively Crafty Link Party #14

Another week has passed and it is time for another link party. I have had kind of a crazy week and haven't had a chance to post much but I have several projects to get up so hopefully this week I will have a little more time to get those posts up. Thanks to everyone who shared projects with us last week. As usual each of us will be featuring our favorite projects that were linked up this past week.  If you are featured be sure to grab the "featured on" button. Also, be sure to go check out all of the co-host's blogs since we will all be featuring different projects. Link up any projects or posts that you want to share and you might get featured next week. You can link up your blog post or even a  Facebook post or a picture from Instagram.

Creatively Crafty Link Party #13

I can't believe it is already Thursday, this week feels like it is flying by. Thursday means it is time for another Creatively Crafty Link Party. Thanks to everyone who shared projects with us last week. As usual each of us will be featuring our favorite projects that were linked up this past week.  If you are featured be sure to grab the "featured on" button. Also, be sure to go check out all of the co-host's blogs since we will all be featuring different projects. Link up any projects or posts that you want to share and you might get featured next week. You can link up your blog post or even a  Facebook post or a picture from Instagram.

Boxy Monkey

About a year ago I posted a pattern for Boxy Fox. People seemed to like it so I decided to do a little set. I ended up making a trio of woodland type animals, a fox, an owl, and a bear. They still tend to be some of my more popular patterns so for quite a while I have been thinking about doing another set of animals and I finally decided to do it. So without further ado meet the newest member of the boxy family, Boxy Monkey.

She is a Wildflower Embroidery

*This post contains affiliate links*

The first of each month I participate in a craft challenge with a group of craft bloggers. This month the theme of the challenge was "Garden". I decided that I didn't want to something actually for the garden but instead something that was flowery and reminded me of a garden. I decided on a flowery embroidery project. I wanted to try something kind of new so I combined the embroidery with a little bit of paint and I really liked the end result.