I am happy to be back to the world of blog and out of the stone age! I am not sure what sinister illness possessed my computer, but for the past few months, I have not been able to access any sites that require a secure log in...including my Yahoo email, Facebook and yes, even Blogspot-yikes!!! If it weren't for the hectic schedule of the holidays, I might have lost my sanity without these. Sorry for the hiatus, but thanks to the hubby, I am back in business.
And boy do I have crafts and news to report! The first and most exciting news is that we have yet another set of grandparents back in their home. Hooray! Brannon worked so hard to get them in. We had hoped to move them by Christmas, but there was no way to get everything accomplished and an inspection the week of Christmas, but shortly after, they moved in to their practically new home. I will post pictures later. Now, just one more flooded home to go! Maybe we can get everyone back in before the one year anniversary-keep your fingers crossed!
I have had some free time...or I forced free time to complete a lot of crafts for Christmas. I won't overload you but here are some crafts of Christmas past and present:
I apologize for the sun and shadows in this picture, but this was on my door during October and November. This wreath was the start of my new obsession. I made it in November 2009 at my friend Katy's "Craft Day." I didn't think I was very crafty at the time, but this is what I felt I could handle since I had to bring some project to Craft Day. Little did I know that a year later I would be a craft-addict! Moral of this story: start with something small, even when you don't think you would be good at something, and you will never know where you will end up!
I used Martha Stewart glitter-which is just fab, Mod Podge and styrofoam cones to make my sparkly Christmas trees. I punched card stock to make the other tree, which was inspired by a tree featured in the Stampin' Up mini catalog.
I made some more gathered clutches as presents.
I crocheted some more pot holders and wrapped them around the Pampered Chef bamboo spoon set.
Looking forward to a great 2011-what a great way to start the year-doing plenty of projects which I love, celebrating the joy of the birth of my friends' children, seeing more family members get back to better than before the flood and watching another friend build her dream home! And there is more to come in 2011 like getting Pap and Nana back in their home and seeing my sis-n-law's high school graduation and start of her first year of college!
The ladies of the "crochet club" (yes, we're dorks) and I have been trying to learn how to crochet a hat. This is especially difficult since we do not know the crochet lingo or how to read a pattern. No worries, that is what youtube and ehow are for! However, after three attempts to make a hat from a tutorial Bonita found on youtube (I did everything right, but the hat was clearly made to fit an elephant not a human), I decided to make my own hybrid from the crochet stitch I learned on the tutorial and from counting the number of stitches on a crocheted hat that I already own. Fortunately, this hat did turn out because after crocheting the same hat three times and each time unraveling what I had done, I was ready to give up and just buy a hat and say I had done it. Luckily, there is an easy to follow tutorial for making the crochet flower that adorns the hat: slinky crochet flower. I did not have to repeatedly rework the flower....thank goodness!
Check out these cute Halloween cake plates that my mother made. You just take a black or Halloween-inspired plate (like the ones she found at Target), score a candle stick for a bargain at a yard sale and glue them together with some E6000. She even added some spiders for fun.
The spider web plate was my favorite and I was able to take it home with me, but not before she filled it with fresh baked cookies. Spooky and yummy!
Brannon and I just returned from a very relaxing, and much deserved (if I may say so myself) trip to the beach courtesy of my awesome in-laws. It was nice to sleep in and not have to get up and go sand something or hear nail guns and air compressors! We played some frisbee, ate a LOT of seafood, did some Christmas shopping and I spent some time crafting. I sat on the beach and crocheted potholders for our family members that flooded. I also completed a soft and cuddly crocheted scarf (see the green one below).
I also crocheted the gray scarf and made a ruffly scarf from flannel-I will be making another soon and will include instructions on how to make the ruffly scarf.
Prior to going on vacation. I completed some long overdue embroidery projects. My mother and three other ladies cook dinner for the youth group at White Bluff Church of Christ on Wednesday evenings during the school year. A local grocer donated black aprons to the ladies and I put their names on them for some pizazz.
I also embroidered a Built NY neoprene lunch bag that I scored at Wal-Mart for $4. I was just curious to see if my machine could even sew through something that thick and to see if my hoop would hold it. It was a challenge to hoop and I had to obsessively hover over my machine to repeat stitches for full coverage. So, even though I may not ever want to do it again, at least I know if I wanted to, I could.
Hope to post some more projects soon since my vacation continues with a day off from work on Monday-thanks to good ole Columbus for sailing that ocean blue!
My friends at work have started crocheting during our lunch break. Thanks to Julie, one of my crafting mentors and go-to trouble shooters, we learned how to crochet potholders. So far, I have made 6 potholders and only one was really odd looking-not too bad! I really like crocheting-and all the gorgeous colored yarns! I have another crafty friend at work who will be bringing her knitting needles to work pretty soon. I can't wait, but Brannon is concerned that I may have too many hobbies. Hmmmm...is there really such a thing?!?!
In the last blog, I had technically only made a small pouch (for makeup or something like that). So the next time I sat down at my Singer, I decided to try the credit card pockets and I also added a strap (which is not included in the free tutorial) to officially make the gathered clutch featured in the Noodlehead blog.
I have not yet taken that sewing class, but I couldn't help myself, I had to try the gathered clutch from Noodlehead. I also really wanted to give it to my brother's girlfriend for her birthday, so sewing class or not, I was determined to make that clutch. The main area of difficulty for me is sewing up to the top of the clutch where it meets with the zipper end pieces. It took a couple of redos to get it close to right.
So, I did have to use the seam ripper multiple times, and I do have room for improvement, that's for sure! Hopefully the next one that I make will be much easier now that I know more about what I am doing.
