Star of the Show

I began crocheting about a year ago.  It's something that I really enjoy, especially as I watch TV with my husband.  I must admit, I'm not very good with just sitting and watching TV...I have to be doing something, so crocheting and knitting have become my answer.  I think I like crocheting so much because I feel that if I make a mistake, it's easy to tear and try again without worrying about picking up stitches (like in knitting).  

My goal in my last several projects has been to use some of the yarn that's been accumulating, without buying more. I chose to try Chromium Star Blanket pattern to try and use some of my cotton skeins.  About six months ago, I tried to use this pattern and failed, so this time I was determined to figure it out! With a little help from the author's blog, I was able to figure out how to do some of the trickier, new stitches.

Used Lily Sugar n Cream Tangerine with In Motion variegated cotton.

After finishing the crocheting, I went on the hunt to find some flannel to back the blanket with.  I was in luck when I ran into this cute polka dotted fabric at Hancock Fabrics.  I was even happier to learn that my fairly new sewing machine is capable of sewing through the fabric and the crocheted blanket. 

Flannel fabric from Hancock Fabrics

 

I am so pleased with the final product and even have someone is mind to give it to!  Thank you to Laura Lynn Hanks for the beautiful pattern...I plan to make many more in lots of different color combinations!

October Card Chain Challenge

Once again, I'm joining the ladies at Lily Pad Cards for the October Card Chain Challenge.  This month, I've decided to use the theme 'balloons' for my card.  I'm waiting on an order of hot air balloon stamps that I wanted to use for the challenge, but they didn't arrive in time, so I made my own! Both balloons are made with scrap paper and oval punches.  Then some string was added to attach the baskets.  My Lawn Fawn stamp set with 'enjoy the ride' seemed like the perfect sentiment for this fun loving card!

If you'd like to join up with the Card Chain Challenge, simply go over to Lily Pad Cards and sign up...so fun to receive a beautiful handmade card in the mail every month!

Guess Whooo?

For Cricut Cardz Challenge #92, we were to make a Halloween card using an owl from any cartridge.  Obviously I would take on this challenge...you know my love of owls!  While Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays to craft, I do like a lot of the color combinations that work well for this time of year.  For this card, I used bright orange, green and purple!  The owl is cut from the cartridge Hoot 'n' Holler, and the paper is from my stash.  I used the sentiment, "guess whooo?" from a Hampton Arts set (Autumn is in the Air).

Generations of Crafters

First baby sweater made for a family friend.

Second sweater...love the green!  Pattern by

nadia crétin-léchenne.  

I just finished putting together my second knitted baby sweater! It was a lot of fun to make and turned out really cute.  As I was taking photos of my sweater, I began to think of the legacy of crafters that make up my family.  One of my grandmothers is a knitter and the other is a crocheter.  Both of them will actually be visiting me next weekend, and I can't wait to show them my latest project! Thankfully they have passed their "craft" down to the next two generations, as my mom and one of my sisters also knit.  

In the mail yesterday, I received a quilted bag from my husband's aunt.  Along with the bag is a framed piece of a quilt from Derrick's family.  It is my pleasure to be able to hang that piece of quilt in my house, as a legacy of Derrick's family and their craft...quilting.  My quilted bag will be used with pride as Shelley continues to create for the Ford family. 

 Here are some photos of the products of my family's creativity!

A washcloth crocheted by Derrick's mom.

Blanket crocheted by Derrick's Aunt Marilyn.

Framed quilt square made by Derrick's grandmother and great grandmother.

The green blanket knit by my sister, Nancy. The yellow blanket crocheted by my Nana.

Hat, sweater and blanket knit by my grandma.

Bag quilted by Derrick's Aunt Shelley.

Little girl bear knit by my mom, little boy bear knit by me.

The next generation, my niece playing with a monkey I crocheted for her last Christmas.

So happy crafting...enjoy the crafts of previous generations and make sure to pass them along to the next!

Pumpkins

So, I am definitely ready for the fall season to be here...but, with the 88 degree temperature today, I think we've got a little ways to go! For the September Card Chain Challenge by Lily Pad Cards, I chose to make a harvest card with my new stamps by Lawn Fawn.  I also chose to do some embossing in order to enter this in the current Lawnscaping Challenge.  In order to make my pumpkin pop off of the page, I paper pieced the various pieces at varying heights. 

If you love to receive beautiful cards in the mail, then the Card Chain Challenge is for you.  Just click on the link above for more details!

Lawnscaping Blog Hop

Welcome to the first ever Lawnscaping Blog Hop!  So glad you’re here!  You should have come to me by way of Ashley.  This month's theme is magical...holiday projects! The hop runs from Friday, September 9th - Sunday, September 11th! Make sure to comment on all of the blogs because there are LOTS of prizes to be won! All the details can be found on the Lawnscaping home page (http://lawnscaping.blogspot.com).

This year, I've decided to mail out Thanksgiving cards instead of Christmas cards.  With my love of the season, the colors and the pumpkins...I thought it would be fun to do something out of the box! It was a lot of fun making my first Thanksgiving card using the Lawn Fawn set, "Harvest Season." 

 After making the card base from brown craft card stock, I stamped the leaves using my Ranger Distress Ink in antique linen.  Next, I stamped the "Happy Thanksgiving" sentiment.  You can see that in order to fit it on my card, I stamped each word separately in two lines. Next, I worked on my pumpkin, stamping it on some off white card stock and also stamping it on the plaid paper from my stash.  I used my Stampin' Up markers to color the pumpkin, and after cutting it out, I used pop dots to adhere the pumpkin over the image stamped on the plaid.  I distressed the bottom of the plaid paper and used my sewing machine to stitch the zig-zag pattern in a chocolate brown.  I used some yarn and off white string near the top of the card to add some dimension.  A Martha Stewart punch was used for the top in a gold-orange card stock and for the bottom of the inside of the card.  

To finish off my card, I stamped the sentiment, "You are a blessing to me," and some more leaves in the Distress Ink on the inside of the card.  Now I just need to pull out that Christmas card list and get to making a lot of Thanksgiving cards!

Next head on to Cathy's blog. If you've gotten off track, don't worry! Head on back to Lawnscaping to see the complete list of designers and prize information!

Peace

For Cricut Cardz Challenge # 90, we were challenged to use the card feature on any Cricut cartridge to make a card.  I chose to make a card for someone in my church who is going through a difficult time.  These cards are always difficult to make, but are just important to have on hand to bless someone in need!

I used the Wild Card cartridge to cut my circle card in white.  I then cut the teal paper using the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge.  Home Accents cartridge has a lot of beautiful images and this is where I found my gray image.  The green background is stamped with a flourish from Lawn Fawn's Harvest Season stamp set. 

The inside of my card is stamped with a Stampin' Up set called, "Thanks for Caring."

Enjoy the Ride!

 This week at Cricut Cardz Challenge, the focus was on back to school using the color red, ribbon and rhinestones.  My sister is just starting her first teaching job as a music teacher, and so I decided to make her something with her name on it for her new classroom.  As a teacher myself, I am so proud of her as she begins her school year! 

I started with a plaque for her desk that has her name on it.  I just used a picture frame and cut some music notes and her name.  I chose to use this polka-dotted paper because it does include her school colors, blue and gold.  There are some rhinestones added to her name too...she loves her bling! Her name is cut using the Wild Card cartridge and the music notes are from the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge.

I had to make a card to go along with this gift, so that is where I got the 3 R's in.  Making the apple from the Doodlecharms cartridge and then covering it with Glossy Accents was so fun!  I also used a stamp from Lawn Fawn's Admit One set that says, "Enjoy the Ride." I am hoping that she really does enjoy the school year!

New Stamps!

 My mother in-law and mom both have a birthday coming up AND I just got these new Lawn Fawn stamps at Archiver's when visiting my sister in Indiana last week!  The perfect time to try these new fun stamps out. :) This is only my second set of Lawn Fawn stamps...but I seriously love them.

Just looking at this Ferris Wheel makes me happy! I also love the sentiment, "Enjoy the Ride," which I think my mom is doing right now.  I can see her loving spending time with her cute granddaughter, enjoying being an empty-nester and working a job that keeps her feeling young (she's a preschool teacher).  Her birthday is over Labor Day weekend, so I'm hoping that my husband and I will be able to travel the few hours to spend some of her birthday weekend with her.

It was so fun coloring this Ferris Wheel and I love the purple gem added to the middle.  Stars from the set are stamped in the same color as the background paper to give it some depth.

This next card is for my mother in-law, whose birthday is in the end of August.  This card will have to be mailed, so I tried not to add too much bulk or the mailman will get cranky! My mother in-law just spent a 1 1/2 weeks visiting us in Illinois and is facing some medical problems right now.  I love the balloon from the "Admit One" set, so I thought I'd make her a bunch of balloons covered with Glossy Accents to help her celebrate.  Hopefully this card will make her smile when she receives it.  We are praying for her to have amazing strength from above through the next couples of months!

 "Happy Birthday" is from Hero Arts set LL662 (Small Greetings)

One of a Kind!

I absolutely love this time of year...all of the yummy fruits and vegetables from our garden! One of my favorite Hero Art's stamp is from a clear set titled, "Stamp a Garden" (CL379).  This cute little set of vegetables always makes me smile! I used the "One of a Kind," from Hero Arts too (CL129).  I think this card will definately make someone smile. 

I am participating, once again, in Lily Pad Card's Card Chain Challenge for the month of August.  Obviously, I decided to use the vegetable theme!  The challenge ends shortly, so if you are interested in making and receiving a card from someone else around the world...hop on over!

Oh Deer!

Recently a friend from church asked me to crochet her a deer.  She found a pattern on ebay from Annie's Attic and I added the body from a pattern from the book, “Amigurumi!: SuperHappy Crochet Cute,” by Elisabeth A. Doherty.  I had already made the deer from this book, which is much more whimsical looking than the one my friend requested.  It was fun and easy to combine the two patterns, I'm hoping that she loves him!

Hi Pumpkin!

My favorite time of year to make cards would definitely have to be Autumn! I love all of the pumpkins, leaves, critters and of course the beautiful colors for this time of year. 

This week at Cricut Cardz Challenge, we were challenged to make a card for any holiday.  As I was looking through my cartridges on my Gypsy, I was immediately drawn to the pumpkin.  I made this card with my niece in mind....she is a very cute 17 months and definitely a "pumpkin," in every way!

I used the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge to cut the pumpkin and the base for the card.  The stem and leaves were run through my Fiskars paper crimper and a green ribbon was added there too.  The "hi" is stamped with Hero Arts stamps and the "pumpkin" stamped with Studio G cling stamps.

Here's to New Beginnings...

Cricut Cardz Challenge #84 calls for making a card with a monogram on it.  My sister was here this weekend preparing her soon to be new classroom by using my Cricut to cut a bulletin board.  She bought her own paper and then left me the scraps! In just a couple of weeks, she is moving down closer to me in order to start her new job, so I decided to make her a card using the beautiful zebra-like paper.

I used the Gypsy Font and Gypsy Wanderings cartridges to cut everything for this card.  Hoping it will make her smile when she opens it up!

Happy 84th Birthday!

This coming Sunday is my grandfather in-law's 84th birthday.  Because we live so far away, we won't be able to join in the festivities; but we can send a festive card! I'm entering this card in Cricut Cardz Challenge #83.  This challenge was to make a grandparent a card using any cartridges and colors.  Perfect time to make grandpa a card!

Hoot 'n 'Holler cartridge

Handbag for Grandma

While away this week at a wonderful Christian music festival, Lifest, I worked on my grandmother’s birthday present.  It was great to be able to sit in my lawn chair, listen to some great bands and crochet at the same time! (Above is my view of Chris August playing on Saturday.) This handbag was created pretty quickly…I started it on Saturday afternoon and finished it on Monday.

I chose to crochet with a bright teal cotton, as that is Grandma’s favorite color.  The inside is lined with some beautiful fabric from Hobby Lobby.  The pattern comes from futuregirl.com as does the tutorial for making a lining for a bag.  This bag is the medium size, but the pattern can be made three different sizes! I plan on hand delivering it to her when a couple of my sisters, mom and I go for a visit. 

 Here is the little flower embellishment that I added with some leftover cotton.

 Third bag I've lined...this time I decided to add a pocket inside for keys or a cell phone!

I love this fancy stitching on the edge to give it a little personality!

 

My sister Rachel, Grandma and I at the beach in June!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Card Chain Challenge for July

As I'm packing to leave on vacation this week, I had time to make a card for Lily Pad Cards "Card Chain Challenge."  The challenge this month included a color palette, sketch and theme ideas.  I really wanted to use my new sea creature stamps from Recollections that my sister gave me for my birthday, so I went with the "friendship" theme and used the sketch. 

 The turtle is a stamp by Recollections and "Just Wavin' Hello" is from the sea critters set by Lawn Fawn. All paper came from my stash! The polka dot stamp used on the green in Versamark ink is from Stampabilities.

I used glossy accents and some gems on his shell to make him really shine! :)

The challenge is open until July 14....so go on over and play along. The best part about this challenge is that you receive a beautiful card in the mail!

Sweet Summertime!

Cricut Cardz Challenge this week was to make a card with a BBQ or picnic theme.  Although I don't eat watermelon (I'm allergic to all melon), my husband is working on cutting up tons of watermelon to take to our church's annual 4th of July picnic.  This card will be for the lady at our church who has organized the picnic for us all-as a thank you!

The cricut cartridge that I used was Doodlecharms and the sentiment inside, "You're so Sweet," is from an Inkadinkado set.  I used glossy accents for the seeds and wrapped some green "fun fur" around the green to make it a little funky!

Happy 4th everyone!

Variety is the Spice of Life!

I am excited to have finished all of the projects that I previously blogged about! 

First, I worked on a baby gift for a friend at church.  She is about to have her first little girl after having two boys.  As I was searching ravelry.com for pattern ideas, I ran across some cute patterns for banners.  I thought that this would be perfect for my friend, so I set about designing my own pattern. 

 I used the pink, green and white because those are the colors she is using to decorate her nursery.

 There is a flag on each end of the banner that just has a simple flower in the middle.

A close up of her daughter's name!

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My next project was for a friend from high school who just gave birth to her first child, a little boy.   She lives in Michigan...where the winters are really cold and snowy, so I decided to knit her son a hat for this coming winter.  This pattern is called "Simple Stripes Baby Hat" by Danielle Norris.  It is found on ravelry.com or on her personal blog at http://justanotherpatternblog.blogspot.com/

 

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And my last project is a butterfly hat that I made for a little girl who is battling cancer.  I've learned about her through one of her family members on facebook.  I'm hoping that this hat will make her smile!  This pattern was called "Olivia's Butterfly" by Valerie Whitten and can be found on ravelry.com or on her personal blog at http://vallieskids.blogspot.com/2009/06/olivias-butterfly.html

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I have one more finished project that I put in the mail today, but I want it to be a surprise for the recipient...so I'll blog about it later!

Thanks for looking! :)