5 Little Monsters: 2019

The Best of 2019 - Top 19 Posts of the Year

It is always fun at the end of a year to go back and review the things I have done throughout the year. Since we are ending 2019 I decided it would be kind of fun to look through my analytics and see which were the 19 most popular projects I made this year. So counting down from number 19 here are the most popular posts from this year...

My kids love when, every once in a while, we buy a box of mini donuts. Sometimes we will get them as treats for a family night or part of a special breakfast and they are a hit every time.

Which Cricut Machine is Right for You?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Have you been considering purchasing a Cricut machine either for yourself or for a gift? Between gifts, whether for someone else or for yourself, and Christmas crafting a Cricut may be on your wish list this time of year. If this is you how do you know which machine is right for you?

Have you ever wanted to put together a Craft Night? This year I really wanted to get together with a group of women, family or friends, and make some Christmas crafts. I thought it would be fun to have some kid-free time to visit with other adults while making some fun projects, so we got all of the women in my family together and I came up with a few projects we could make in an evening together.

Handmade gift tags are easy to make and can be a simple way to add a small personal touch to your gift wrapping.

Celestial Swirl Scarf

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I was recently sent some yarn to try out from Brown Sheep Yarns and I thought it would be fun to use it to try out a new scarf pattern. The yarn, Stratosphere, is a DK weight super wash wool.

This school year I am down to one kid left home all day. While the other kids are at school it is just me and my three year old. Often this is the time that I work on projects, or run to stores to pick up craft supplies for the projects I am working on. Because he is there with me while I work, he loves working on little projects or making little kids crafts too.

Christmas Reverse Canvas- 3 Designs

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I just planned some crafts for a girl's night with the women in my family, which I will share more about later, and I wanted to come up with some things that would be quick, easy, and inexpensive to make.

Post Stitch Hat

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Almost 2 years ago I shared my Bead Stitch Hat pattern and it has been by far one of my most popular patterns. It also happens to be one of my favorites so I am glad other people are enjoying it too. Earlier this year I shared a couple of new patterns that were made in the same style but used different stitches in place of the bead stitch.

25 Personalized Cricut Christmas Crafts

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

It is really fun to make things that are personalized to the person they are for. Sometimes this may mean adding their name to it, sometimes maybe it is making it for their specific tastes or likes. Either way, making personalized gift or other items is easy to do with a Cricut. I especially like to make personalized gifts for my kids. They love seeing their name on something and knowing it is theirs. Hanging their own special ornament on the tree, or using something made just for them.

Mini Maker Kits

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Leisure Arts recently sent me a variety of their Mini Maker kits to try out and I thought they would be really great for this time of year and wanted to share what I liked about them. I think they would make great gifts for any crafters on your list, especially if you know there is a new craft they would like to learn.

My mom recently showed me some lanterns that she had made using mason jars, solar lights, rocks, and fake succulents. They don't take a lot to make but look really neat sitting on a patio table or inside on a windowsill.

Personalized Ornaments with the Cricut Maker

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Every year at Christmas time my family has an ornament exchange. We draw names ahead of time and then we get an ornament for the person whose name we drew. Each year it is fun to try to find an ornament that is perfect for the person you drew.

Over the past week I have shared 5 new crocheted dishcloths, or washcloths, I never know which one to call them and use them interchangeably. After sharing those 5 patterns and thinking of all of the other washcloth patterns that I have shared over time, I thought it would be nice to gather them all together in one place.

Dishcloth Week- Alpine Stitch Dishcloth

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Today is the last day in a week of dishcloths. This one may be my favorite of all. I have been wanting to try this stitch for a while and, like I mentioned earlier this week, dishcloths are a great way to try out new stitches.

Dishcloth Week- Single Crochet Ribbed Dishcloth

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Dishcloth Week day 4. Today's pattern is a really simple stitch with a lot of texture, The Single Crochet Ribbed Dishcloth.

Dishcloth Week- Bead Stitch Dishcloth

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The pattern for day 3 of Dishcloth Week is The Bead Stitch Dishcloth. This particular design is one that I have been wanting to make for a while.

Dishcloth Week- Bloque Stitch Dishcloth

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Day 2 of Dishcloth Week. Yesterday I shared the first of 5 new dishcloth patterns this week, The Single Crochet Mesh Dishcloth. Today I am sharing the second, The Bloque Stitch Dishcloth.

Dishcloth Week- Single Crochet Mesh Dishcloths

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I have been wanting to do a "Dishcloth/Washcloth Week" for a while and I am finally doing it. I really like making crocheted dishcloths or washcloths for a few reasons, and judging by the popularity of those patterns on my blog I'm guessing I'm not the only one. For the rest of this week I will be sharing a new dishcloth pattern everyday. All of the yarn used in these patterns is 100% cotton yarn provided by Darice.

Plaid Christmas Tree Pillow

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Today I am super excited to be joining a bunch of bloggers for a holiday themed pillow party. We were all sent 20 inch pillow inserts from Fairfield World and challenged to make a Christmas or Winter Holiday themed pillow with it.

Type 1 Diabetes Awareness T-Shirts

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For Diabetes Awareness Month I shared our story of my daughter's diagnosis earlier this year in my previous post. Today I wanted to share a couple of t-shirts I made for us to wear to spread awareness this month.

November is Diabetes Awareness Month so I thought it would be a good opportunity to share our Diabetes story, as well as some of the signs and symptoms to watch for, and a little about what Type 1 Diabetes is (or isn't)

I have shared a roundup of Halloween crochet and of Halloween Cricut projects, but today I wanted to share all of the pumpkin patterns I have on my site. I am not including any Jack O Lantern crafts, only plain pumpkins that can be used to decorate all throughout the fall, even after Halloween. These all work great for Thanksgiving too. So here are a few different crocheted pumpkin patterns, painted pumpkins, stitched pumpkins, and more.

Panda Tote Bag

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My daughter and a couple of her friends decided they wanted to dress up as pandas this year for Halloween and she asked a couple of weeks ago if I could make Trick or Treat bags for them with pandas on them.

I'm New Here Baby Bodysuit + 5 Things I Love About my Cricut Explore Air 2

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

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About 3 1/2 years ago I got my first Cricut Machine and it was pretty much love at first sight. At the time I was pregnant with my youngest son and the first thing I made was a little shirt for him. I loved how quick and easy it was. Since then I have owned a few different machines as they have come out with new ones. My first machine was a Cricut Explore Air, then I got an Explore Air 2, and finally a Maker.

Spider Halloween Hair Bows

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With Halloween next week I am starting to move away from Halloween projects and start working on other holidays and things I have coming up, but I figured there was time for one more quick project.

Fair Isle Crochet Projects Book Review

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For all of the crocheters out there, do you ever have certain techniques or types of crochet that you have never really tried but would like to learn? I love trying and learning new things. This could totally apply to other crafts too, but in this instance I am going to talk specifically about crochet.

Halloween is only a couple of weeks away but there is still some time to make Halloween themed projects. If you are looking for a quick project to make, Cricut projects are perfect. Whether you are looking for home decor, costumes, Halloween themed shirts, or Trick or Treat bags, here are 17 quick Halloween Cricut projects.

V-Stitch Stripes Beanie

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Time for another hat pattern. I haven't been as quick at getting these up as I had hoped but this is the 3rd hat in the Variegated Yarn Friendly hat patterns. These are patterns that work well for using up that variegated yarn that you have in your stash that looked pretty in the skein when you bought it, but doesn't work up quite as well as you had hoped, or maybe you bought it for a specific project and have some leftover that you want to use up.

A while ago I picked up some loop yarn from Michaels for my girls to try. My 7 year old wanted to make something with yarn and I figured that would be a good project to start with. She loved it and made a couple of things for her dolls, but I still had some left over and wanted to find something I could make with it.

This past weekend was our church's (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Semiannual General Conference. If you are not familiar with this it is a weekend twice a year where we listen to leaders of our church speak on a variety of topics. Sometimes during conference announcements and changes are made to different programs in the church. Some of the changes announced this time had to do with the Young Women's program (program for 12-18 year old girls).

Jack O Lantern Trick or Treat Bag

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Every year I make trick or treat bags for my kids. Sometimes I actually sew the bags, sometimes I just add fun iron on designs to tote bags.

Painted Pumpkins 4 Ways

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Over the past couple of weeks I have shared a couple dollar store foam pumpkin makeovers. Today I have another one to share, or kind of 3 or 4 in one. The simplest way I could think of to transform these pumpkins was with a little bit of paint.

Thick and Thin Stripes Crochet Hat

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One of the very first crochet patterns that I published on my blog was a little newborn striped hat that had an anchor appliqué on it. It was made with alternating rounds of single and double crochet to make thick and thin stripes.

Good Vibes Only Hat with Cricut EasyPress Mini

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

I recently received a new EasyPress Mini and I was excited to be able to try it out. I have the full set of EasyPress 2, the small 6"x7", the medium 9"x9", and the large 12"x10". The Mini completes the set and is great for smaller or odd shaped projects.

Trick or Treat Pumpkin Shirt

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My three year old is obsessed with Halloween. He loves seeing all of the Halloween stuff in stores. A couple of weeks ago he saw some shirts in the store and I decided I needed to make him some Halloween shirts.

Cricut Be Kind Challenge and Kindness Design Roundup

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This is a super last minute post, I actually had something else planned for today but decided I wanted to share this instead. This isn't sponsored, I wasn't asked by Cricut to share this but I think it is an important message and I thought it was really cool that they were doing something to help spread it and I wanted to share it some more. I won't get all soapbox-y about it but I think kindness is something that we need so much more of in the world and when I see initiatives that promote that idea I want to share.

Flower-Filled Pumpkin

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A few days ago I shared how I transformed a dollar store foam pumpkin by wrapping it with yarn. The next thing I did with one of the other foam pumpkins that I bought was cut it open and fill it with flowers.

Yarn Wrapped Pumpkin

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I was at Dollar Tree the other day with my daughter, she earned a trip to the dollar store as a reward for doing something really hard. While I was walking around waiting for her to choose something I was looking for things I could use as craft projects.

Easy Halloween Pillow Boxes

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Today I am participating in another Craft Lightning round. This is when a bunch of craft bloggers share super quick projects (15 minutes or less) that go along with a specific theme. This week the theme is Party Crafts.

Puff Stitch Stripes Hat

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Have you ever been sucked in by the pretty colors in a skein of variegated yarn, buy it and bring it home and wonder what you were thinking. You try a bunch of different stitches and/or patterns only to have everything you try look terrible? The colors pool in weird ways, or all of the colors look really busy and you can't see the stitch definition?

Toddler Skeleton Shirt

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I have a 3 year old who has been obsessed with Halloween lately. He has been talking for at least the past month about what he wants to dress up as, and it changed on an almost daily basis. We have heard everything from Batman, and Catboy, to a vampire, Chewbacca or the Hulk. Now that Halloween decorations have started coming out in stores he has gotten even more excited.

Welcome to Our Web

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I know it is barely September but I am definitely feeling ready for fall. I think once the kids go back to school I am ready to make the switch from summer to fall, and even more once September hits. Part of that is wanting to start working on fall and Halloween projects.

Happy Birthday Coupon Book with New Cricut Tools

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Cricut recently came out with 4 new tools for the Cricut Maker and I just got them a few days ago and had the opportunity to try them out. All 4 tools are part of the adaptive tool set that works only with the Cricut Maker. There is the Basic Perforation Blade, the Wavy Blade, the Fine Debossing Tip, and the Engraving Tip.

Having posted a few new unicorn themed crochet patterns over the past few weeks I thought it would be fun to do a quick unicorn craft roundup and put all of the unicorn crafts I have made in one place. And since I have a unicorn obsessed daughter I have quite a few.

Crocheted Unicorn Purse

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After I made a mermaid purse to go along with my mermaid pencil bag I decided I also needed to make a unicorn purse to go along my unicorn pencil bag. I made the mermaid version to match pretty closely with the pencil bag, but this time I kind of changed things up a little more. However, you could make them match more if you want.

Textured Crochet Hat

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A few months ago I shared a little newborn hat pattern that used the Lemon Peel Stitch to give it a neat texture. I really liked the way the hat turned out and thought it would be nice to make a similar hat in a larger size.

Home Sweet Home Block

-Some products used in this post provided by Cricut and Plaid Crafts, all ideas and opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links.-

I have had this little house shaped block sitting in my craft supplies for months after I picked it up at Michaels. It is actually supposed to be a birdhouse but I thought it would be cute with "Home Sweet Home" or some other home themed saying on it. I brought it home and set it in my wood shapes bin and kind of forgot about it.

5 Mermaid Crafts

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Since I have shared a couple of mermaid patterns over the last couple of weeks I thought it would be fun to gather up all of the mermaid posts that I have shared over the years into one place.

Crocheted Mermaid Tail Purse

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A couple of weeks ago I posted a crocheted mermaid tail pencil bag, and as I was making it I thought that a coordinating mermaid tail purse would be really cute, so I decided to make one.

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