Tiny Tea Leaves for Hannah

Can I just say, I am sooo excited to be sharing this sweater with all of you. For a few reasons actually. First, I'm just thrilled my crafty/creating motivation finally came back to me a few weeks ago. I was really starting to get worried about that.

Well, the small hiatus created a huge NEED to make things. And make things I did. Over the next week or so, I'm going to share some of my latest creations. I'm excited about all of them. But this one, this is my favorite, so I just had to start here.

Not too long ago, in reference to gift giving (we have quite a few birthday's approaching), I found this saying: "Something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read". I love it, in all it's simplicity and ease. This may just be our new motto, especially considering we're about to become a family of five. Well, this was supposed to be Hannah's "something to wear" gift. She, however, couldn't keep her hands off this yarn (neither could I, I absolutely love it!). Every time she saw me working on it, she insisted on trying it on, asking when it would be finished and when she could wear it. How could possibly tell the little girl she needed to wait till August?

Here she is modeling it. And truthfully, it was really difficult to get a picture of it because she kept trying to grab it and put it on. Once it was on, she had to dance and twirl in it, because after all, it is a "dancing sweater".

The pattern is Tiny Tea Leaves and the yarn is Malabrigo worsted in Molly. It was such an easy and quick knit, that as soon as the ends were woven in, I wanted to make another, just like it. I really thought it would take at least a month for me to finish it. I had it completed in just under 10 days - I'm not sure what that says about me, lol.

There is an adult version of this pattern, and I can almost promise that you will be seeing that finished project on here before the year's end.

Thanks for letting me share with you all!

-Lisa

Handmade Holiday Gifts

As much as I love Christmas, and everything it brings along the way, I also love the days after. The slowing down, and easing back into the rhythm of our days is comforting.

Annnnd, now that the gift giving has ended, I can finally share some of the handmade gifted items of the year - yay! I'm a little frustrated with myself for not taking pictures of everything before wrapping. I gave some things away that I can't share with you all because I failed to take a photo first. I'm sure these photos will be enough :)

I'd like to introduce you to Hannah's little Gnome family. Yes, unfortunately, the nature baby swaddled in maroon has been shunned to sleep with the pigs. Oh Hannah...

And what is a fairy princess with out a wand?

Here's the little stinker in action - constant action. I couldn't get a good shot of her momma-made pixie hat and scarf. Both are my design, I'm working on writing up a pattern to put in my online shop once it opens (more on that later!)

Here's a slightly better shot of her hat...

And, well, momma needs to match right? Right. But, note to self - this should happen AFTER the holiday so I'm not so rushed.

Some super cute (I think anyway) ear warmers. You can find the free pattern here.

We made lots and lots of treats. Here is one of many gift bags filled with Country Oatmeal Cookie mix in a jar, and gingerbread men and dragon flies - yes, dragon flies :)

And of course the holiday outfits I made for the kids. I'm pretty sure I bombarded you with enough of those photos.

I hope you are enjoying your days just as much as we are.

Take care!

-Lisa

Holiday Cookie Round Up

I have been baking uncontrollably for the last week or so - seriously. I just can't seem to stop myself. Though I don't think my friends and family will protest - we have been bombarding them with treats.

Because a lot of you have been asking about the recipes I use, I thought it would be fun to do our Holiday Cookie/Treat recipe list here.

This list does not include all of the items I make each year, but definitely a lot of our favorites.

1) Healthy Coconut Oil Fudge (pictured above)

2) Chewy Ginger Snaps (pictured above)

3) Triple Layer Peppermint Bark

4) Eggnog Truffles

5) Cinnamon Biscotti Cookies (pictured above) - this was taken from a December issue of Better Homes and Gardens years ago, and I don't know if legally I can reprint it...

5) Homemade Bread - I make all sorts of braided sweet breads using the tassajara bread book.

6) Chocolate Covered Pretzels - just follow the melting directions for your chocolate of choice dip the pretzels and let cool.

That's pretty much it. Most of these I make weeks ahead of time and freeze. This allows me to pull things thing out at the last minute if I need to, and I never feel too rushed.

Have a great day!

-Lisa

Tutorial: Pot Holder Mitt - not a glove

It dawned on me this afternoon, that for the last six years, I've never once purchased or used a pot holder, seriously. Maybe that's one of the reasons I always end up hurting myself in the kitchen, hmmm... Anyway, I decided it was time to finally start using one. And because I'm quite certain I would never be able to find exactly what I wanted for a price I was willing to pay, I decided I must make my pot holder mitt. I wanted to be able to slide my hand inside of something, but I didn't want it to be one of those big bulky gloves - I just don't like those. I also wanted it to double as a table trivet, and use up some of the insanely large mistake purchase of commercial grade insulated batting. That batting is the reason I had such a hard time with the lunch bag project (well one of the reasons at least). I also didn't want to spend a dime. Wow, what a list of demands! I did it though, and this is what I ended up with....

I have to say, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. The super thick batting made it a bit tricky with the biased tape, but other than that, it was pretty easy. If you would like to make one for yourself, this is how I did it...

What you need:
plain paper (to make your pattern)
Insulated batting (or a couple old towels)
Cotton fabric of your choice, and enough to cover both sides
Biased tape - 1 pkg
Quilting Pins
Fabric marker or chalk
Coordinating thread

Ok, here we go!

First make your pattern with the plain paper. I used one 8" x 9" and one 8" x 3.75"(you will cut two of these). You don't have to make the pattern, but it will make things a lot easier later on.

I just wanted to share with you the incredibly LARGE piece of insulted batting I bought a while back. Definitely the wrong stuff, yup. But, it still works and I'm determined to use it all up. Ideas anyone???

Lay out your pattern pieces on the batting, and draw around them, adding a half inch to all sides. You will need enough for 1 of the large pattern pieces, and 2 of the smaller ones.

Next, place your batting on top of the wrong side of your fabric.

Fold the fabric over the batting so that the wrong sides are touching. Cut out the fabric around the sandwiched batting.

Using quilting pins, pin the material to the batting, all the way threw, and make sure it's still sandwiching the batting.

Now you need to make your stitching lines to give it a quilted look, and to hold everything in place. I made diagonal lines every 1.5" and used my clear ruler as a guide to keep it even. Do this over the entire piece.

Now sew along the lines, removing the pins as you go. Just a word of caution, as you get further down your fabric strip, don't rotate the direction that you're sewing in, or you could get fabric bunching that just wouldn't look so pretty.

This is what it should look like when you're done.

Now take your pattern pieces, and cut out 1 large piece, and 2 of the smaller pieces. It should look like this.

Next, grab your biased tape. I took a picture of mine because it made me a little sad to open it up. This and the striped fabric were gifts from Granny Grace. Thank you!

Pin and then sew on the biased tape to the meeting edges on both small pieces.

Line up the edges of the smaller pieces with the large piece so that it looks like this.

Sew along all of the outer edges. You're almost done!

Pin and sew your biased tape around all of the outer edges. Be sure to add half an inch extra when you start so you can fold it under at the end and there won't be exposed seams.

That's it! It does it's job as a pot holder, and as a trivet when placed flat on the table. And, I didn't spend a dime. Again, if you don't have batting, just grab an old towel and make 2 to 3 layers depending on how thick it is, and use that as batting.

Take Care!

DIY leather and bead necklace

Hi Everyone!
I'm really excited to share this post with you! One of my favorite things to do when flipping threw magazines is to ask myself if I could make whatever I'm looking at. A lot of times the answer is yes, but for the price tag, it's not worth the time and effort. The last one I came across however completely was. I found this necklace in the August edition of Rachel Ray Magazine, in the Everyday Faves Style section. The necklace they feature is $128! Really?? For a strand of leather and three beads??? It's super cute and will pair well with a white T-Shirt (ignore my outfit in the finished photo - because it really doesn't go with that!) I went out and bought all of my supplies for this, which came to less than $4 dollars - and I could make at least 4 more without spending another dime! So here goes....

What you need:
`Leather string (found in the jewelry section of craft stores)
`Beads of your choice (1 large & 2 small) - make sure the holes in the beads are large enough to fit the leather string
`Scissors

1) Collect your supplies.

2). Cut the sting to the length you'll desire. You will have to fold the string in half and then measure. Be sure to add about and extra inch or two for trimming at the end. String your large bead, and let fall to the bottom center.

3) Tie a knot (looping both ends around your finger and then inside each other) at the top of the large bead, making sure that your end pieces are similar in length. Try and get the knot as close to the bead as possible.

4) Measure where you would like the necklace to fall on you, and then keep your finger in that spot when you remove it. This is where you will make your next knot (again, looping them both around and then threw).

5). Lay the bead down and line up the knots. Place a finger where you want to tie the next knot. Make sure there will be enough room to slide the large bead threw the gap. Then tie your second knot in the same fashion as before.

5) Here is an example of what it should look like:

6) String each small bead onto the ends of the necklace and decide how far down you want them to dangle. Then tie a knot under each bead to secure it in place. Make sure to pull the knots as tight as you can to make sure they won't come undone.

7) Trim your ends and you're done!

That's it! I love it! It only took about 10 minutes start to finish, and saved me $124 dollars (not that I would ever spend that amount on fashion jewelry, but still). Again, I think this will look great with a white tank or Tee - not what I'm wearing in this photo :)

Pipe Cleaner Flower Pots

This is a great Spring project, and doubles as a gift your children can give to relatives for holidays and birthdays.

What you need:

Pipe cleaners - assorted colors

Pony beads

Dry beans

Dixie cups

Small Styrofoam balls (1 for each "pot")

Paint - we chose green and brown to be realistic, but get creative here!

Craft Glue or Glue gun

1. Paint the Dixie cups and Styrofoam balls and allow to dry.

2. Once dry, fill each Dixie cup with about a half inch of beans - give or take so that your painted ball will still rest nicely inside the Dixie cup.

3. Glue the ball to the Dixie cup by applying glue along the inner edges of the Dixie cup where both objects will touch. This secures the beans.

4. Take one pony bead and one pipe cleaner, loop the pipe cleaner threw the pony bead to create the petals. Expect to ruin at least one pipe cleaner while you get the hang of this - I tried doing this in a bit of a rush, big mistake! :) Allow a bit of pipe cleaner to extend from the loops so that you can attach it to the stem.

5. Create stems by folding a green pip cleaner in half and cutting at that fold (1 pipe cleaner will give you two identical stems).

6. Twist together the flower and stem, and then push the bottom of the flower into the pot.

That's it!

This was a fun project for us, and I think it turned out pretty cute.

Be sure to check back often - I'll be updating the site and adding new posts more frequently.

Did you try this one? Let me know, leave a comment :)

DIY Wooden Bookmark

Welcome Back!

Sometimes when I'm flipping threw a magazine, I come across something that catches my eye because I have one of those "I could do that!" moments. That's where this project came from, and I thought it was a cute idea - the real ones sell for about $6 I think. This one set me back about $.82 with tax because I had everything else on hand. This project is definetly for older children, and would make for a really cute gift too.

What you need:

Stamp
Ink pad
Thin rectangular sheet of wood (I didn't do a thing to this piece execpt sand the edges)
Ultra-fine sand paper
Ultra-thin tip black pen/marker (I used Micron at 0.2 cm)
Markers

1. Sand away any rough edges.

2. Choose your stamp, and then stamp the image onto the wood lightly. Take your thin tip marker and outline anything you want to show up black.

3. Color in any areas you want to have color in with marker.

That's it! You can also free-form draw your image - I did that with the heart in mine. Don't be afraid to improvise, and be creative. If you're going to give one away as a gift, you could also write a poem or note on the other side.

Don't forget to sign up for a free daily email subscription to this blog so you don't miss a thing!

Let me know how yours turns out, leave me a comment :)

Have a great day everyone!
-Lisa

Valentine Cupcake Flower Card

Welcome Back!

I saw a picture of this project in the February edition of Better Homes and Gardens for this year and wanted to try it. I think it turned out pretty cute, and these can double for both a Valentine card, or a decoration.

What You Need:

2 Sheets of 8.5 x 11 Card Stock in any colors you wish

Paper cupcake liners (I used Valentine themed liners)

Scissors

Decorative edge scissors

Photographs of your children

Green felt

Craft Glue

1. Cut both sheets of card stock in half, then take the two sheets you want to use for the top layer and cut a decorative edge around it. You can do this by hand, or using specialized scissors. Glue together

2. Cut out a stem and leaf shapes and glue to the top sheet of paper.

3. Glue the back of a cupcake liner to the paper at the top of the felt stem to create the flower.

4. Cut out the pictures of your children in a circle shape and glue to the inside of the cupcake liner.

That's it!

I hope you enjoyed this craft - there will be more tomorrow.

If you want to receive daily emails instead of following the feeds, simply type your email address into the box at the top of the blog.

Thank you for stopping by!

Have craft ideas you'd like to see here? Let me know!

-Lisa :)

DIY Art Deco Canvas Bag

Hi Everyone!

I'm really excited to share this project with all of you. This is something I used to do with my mom when I was younger. She has TONS of artsy tricks up her sleeve that I'll be sharing with all of you over the next few weeks - I'm sure she won't mind.

To do this project, all you need to do is decide on an image you like (you can draw it yourself directly onto the freezer paper, or you can cut the freezer paper down to 8.5 x 11" and print out a design).

This project is much easier than it looks, so let's get started!

What you need:

Art work - design your own or find some online and print it out

Freezer paper

Exacto knife

Iron & Ironing board

Cutting board, mat or thick magazine

Fabric paint or Acrylic paint

Canvas Bag

1. Decide on your design. For the bag above, I had my son sit down at the computer with me and come up with what he wanted. I used my design software, but you could very easily find a .jpeg image and copy and past it into a word document.

2. Once you have your design ready, cut down a piece of freezer paper to 8.5 x 11 and then you'll be able to print you image directly to the paper (just make sure the side getting printed on is the paper side and not the wax side, or you'll have an inky mess).

3. Using an exacto knife, cut out all of the areas where you want to have color filled in - I cut out all of the shadow sections to make the image above.

4. Turn your iron on it's highest cotton setting, and place the freezer paper design wax side down on the canvas bag so that the paper side is what will be coming in contact with your iron. You don't want the wax side touching the hot iron, you'll ruin your iron.

5. Press firmly with the iron until the paper is set to the fabric.

6. Paint over the image in any color you like. The wax paper is sealed to the fabric, so the paint will not bleed.

7. Allow to dry completely - probably overnight. I made the mistake of taking the paper off too soon with this bag, so some of my edges are not perfectly formed.

That's it! Now you have a completely customized canvas bag that you can use for shopping, to carry books, for the gym, to hold toys and much more. Get creative with this one, you don't have to stop with just one color. You can layer colors and designs, just be sure to allow each color to dry completely before adding the next.

What do you think? Did you try this one? Let me know how it turned out...

Thanks again everyone and have a great night!

-Lisa

Magnetic Picture Frame

I've decided to start a little early on Valentine's this year so I'm not caught in a mad dash once February rolls around. My son had a great time putting this together, and he already picked out a picture to put in it for my husband.

What you need:

2 Sheets of felt

Scissors

Craft Glue

3 Index cards

Tape

Magnetic Tape

Pen for labeling cut marks

Embellishments (we used glow-in-the-dark self adhesive hearts and swirls)

1.Decide what size you want your frame to be, and cut both pieces to the same size.

2. With your pen, put cut marks where you want the "window" for the picture to be (make sure there will be enough of a ledge so that the picture will remain inside of the frame.

3. Cut out the "window", and put glue on along the outer edges except for the top (see the photo above for an example).

4. Place together and let set.

5. Take the 3 index cards together to form a stable backing for your frame, and then glue a piece of the magnetic tape to the back of these cards. You may have to use a heavy objects to flatten it completely and to help it set. There is an example of this above.

6. Let your child embellish the front of the frame however they want.

7. Once the embellishments are set, glue the non-magnet side of the index cards to the back of the frame and allow to dry.

There you have it! A cute little frame that your child can give as gifts. The colors and themes can change to any season and any design - get creative with it.

Did you enjoy this project?

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Come back again tomorrow for another project!

Have a great afternoon!

-Lisa