February Sketch

This week has been filled with many different projects, but nothing is at a point where it's shareable.  Plus, I've been busy with lots of school stuff too.  So, I wanted to share a sketch that I did for my parents and in-laws for Valentines day.  Yep, it's a bit late for Valentines, but hey, I'll take flowers and a card from my little guy any day of the year. :) I had to sketch this portrait quickly because my little son was done posing for me after about 30 seconds.  I think that I caught his look pretty accurately.

I recently got a new Wacom bamboo tablet to help make coloring my sketches with Photoshop a whole lot easier.  I love to draw and sketch, and coloring them on the computer gives me the option to easily change up a sketch for different uses.  And yes, I've started to add water marks to any art that I post online.  I've just had too many problems with people who think that my drawings are freebies that they can use in any way they want.  It's frustrating, but I think that artists need to protect their work.

I'm thinking about starting to share more sketches of the kids in the future.  Maybe one each month.  I do love monthly themes.  What should March be?  Any ideas? 

Let there be sewing machine light

Today I just want to quickly share a great giveaway with everyone.   

Ecolux Lighting is sponsoring Patricia, over at a A Yankee in Queen Liz's Court, with a LED sewing machine light giveaway!  I've seen these puppies at quilt shows, and I can honestly say that they really do put out a lot of light right where you need it.  It's not in my budget right now to buy one, but maybe I'll be the lucky winner, who knows, or maybe it will be you.  Patricia gives you three chances to win so it's worth the time to head over to her blog and enter the giveaway.

Good Luck!

Melted Crayon Fish Valentines Cards

Do you like our armada. :)

They go with the great little Valentine's cards that the kids and I made-up this year.  There's just something so sweet about little kids exchanging Valentine's.  While I'm in no way opposed to buying the latest in premade Valentine's cards, it's always fun, when we have time, to make them ourselves.  

This year I found the most wonderful little Valentines printables on the I Heart Nap Time blog.  Aren't they just super cute!  If you need some quick Valentines for the kids, go here to find the original blog post and download the printables.

In the original example posted on the I Heart Nap Time Blog, they used swedish fish candy or fishy crackers for the fish.  

Since I didn't want to do candy or food this year, we made melted crayon fish using a fish ice try from Ikea as our mold.  As you can see, once you use the mold for melting crayons it's ruined for anything else but crafts and shouldn't be used for food or ice. 

The kids loved cutting up the crayons and choosing the colors for each fish, then we just stuck them in the oven at 250*F for 15 minutes and voila, brand spanking new multicolored fish crayons.  As fun as it was, I don't ever think that I'll do this project again using the fish molds.  The tails kept braking off when I took them out.  I actually found  that if I popped them back in the oven for 1 minute after they had completely cooled down in the fridge, they loosened-up and came out much easier.

Again, thanks Jamielyn from I heart nap time for the great printables.  :)  Anyone else find DIY Valentine's card inspiration online?

Hugs and Kisses Valentine's Wreath

Yep, it's that time again. Time when I start to feel that our door needs a seasonal update and deserves a new wreath.  Since I absolutely hate our cheap looking faux wood apartment door, I always try accessorize it in the latest seasonal fashions. Plus, my neighbors are disappointed if I don't change the wreath out at the beginning of each month.  Last year at this time, I did a heart shaped crepe flower wreath. This valentines I wanted to do something a bit different. After surfing the web and racking my brain, I came up with a hugs and kisses inspired valentines door hanging.

When I'm designing anything new, I first visualize what I want and then try to figure out how I can make my idea into a reality using easily available supplies.  I like to try to use what I have on hand as much as possible.  I really think that I end up with a more unique and creative item by changing my design to fit my supplies rather than running all over town trying to find supplies to fit my design.  For this wall hanging, I bought the wood letters at my local craft store, but all the other materials were from my stash of yarn and crafty stuff.

I also do a lot of trial and error.  I originally wanted to do the "O" in red yarn, which looked good on the craft table, but it really clashed with the cherry colored door so I had to change it to white.  Then for the arrow, I thought about using a wooden dowel rod for the shaft, but it was too bulky.  I ended up wrapping some wire around a pencil to form the arrow shaft and accented the arrow head with a bit of valentine's garland for some extra bling.  Add a little ribbon to tie the letters together and hang them, and voila, a sweet hugs and kisses wreath just in time for Valentine's.         

Does anyone else like to decorate their doors seasonally?  I'd love to know what you are doing for February.

Snow time is kid project time

Look at all this beautiful snow that we've had this last week.  Can anyone say snow man time!  Then coco with lots or marshmallows.  

Snow time is also project time, and snow puppy time.  Notice that the snow puppy has a stick tail, because no snow puppy is complete without a proper tail.
  

Awhile back my boys wanted some angry birds t-shirts.  We couldn't find any in their sizes at the stores so I had an idea that I could stencil some on plain t-shirts for them.  I had the shirts and the paint but not really a whole lot of time.  Then my mom sent the kids some official angry birds shirts that she bought in the States, and the project got shelved indefinitely.

Because of all the snow this week, the kids and I have spent a lot of time in-doors warming up after our outdoor snow related activities.  To keep my sanity I needed to find some projects for them to do.Thus, I revisited the angry bird t-shirt project with one minor adjustment.  They could paint the shirts for themselves. 

After I set up the shirts by backing them with freezer paper and a small sheet of cardboard so the paint would not seep through to the back, I asked each boy to paint their own version of an angry bird shirt.  My goal was to not interfere with them or give them examples or pictures to draw from.  I want to help them to learn how to properly use different artistic mediums, but I don't want to control or limit their own creative ideas.

While the boys worked diligently on their projects, I had the opportunity to watch each boy's artistic process.  Normally, I'm too involved in directing their progress or keeping the peace to observe how each child works.  My five-year old just dives right in.  He is spontaneous.  My eight-year-old is a planner.  He plans out his design and will sit looking at the blank spot he wants to fill for minutes before deciding what to paint.  

My little son decided to go with a star wars angry bird theme.  I just love his pink angry bird and his bomb angry bird.  My older son went more traditional with the pigs, stolen eggs, and angry birds.  I had to laugh when I noticed that both my artists signed their work. :)

I'm so glad that I stepped back and let the boys do what they wanted.  It's a fine line between teaching without controlling, and I'm just amazed with how good their shirts turned out without any additional mommy help.

 

Crochet Christening Gown

Another week has passed already?  Where does the time go?  I've been working on more crochet, some quilt blocks, and school work again.  I tolerate enjoy college, but I think I've gone insane again this semester by taking two classes at the same time.  It's just a lot of stress, and it really cuts into my crafting and blogging time!

But, my lack of substantial progress on other projects gives me an opportunity to share the crochet christening gown that I finished back in the fall.  I started this project without any real plan on who I was making it for.  I was only going to test the neck line to see if I liked it, and then I just kept trucking away at it over the next three months.

I love the simplicity of this gown accented by a detailed neckline and gathered sleeve.  The pattern calls for size 20 crochet thread, but I went up to size 10 and this increased the gown to a 6 month size.

It's not a hard pattern, but it gets a bit tedious after row 40 and the small metal hooks hurt my fingers if I go for more than an hour.

You can find the pattern here, or you can go to it's Ravelry page here.

Once I finished the gown, I decided that it had to have a bonnet to go with it.  Yep, that's me.  I spend 3 months making a homeless christening gown and then once it was all done I decide that it had to have a bonnet!  I'm starting to see a pattern in my life :)

I came up with a few different designs for bonnets, since I was making a blessing bonnet for my sister's baby (she already had a christening gown that's been passed down in our family, but the matching bonnet got lost somewhere along the way).

This bonnet has a spiral back and then shells on the sides and front.  It is the more feminine bonnet, and the shells match the gown skirt.

The second bonnet is more masculine with a ribbed band at the front and an eight pointed star on the back.  This one is very similar to the one that I made for my sister's little boy, and I was trying to balance pretty and heirloom without going frilly so that it would look right for a boy.

One of these day's I'll finish writing up these patterns to share.  I actually sold this gown and one of the bonnets on my Etsy shop.  I just started my shop a few months ago and it really has nothing in it yet, but I'm trying to get some good pictures of the crocheted items that I make so that I can do custom hats and other items through Etsy.  I love to shop on Etsy and have to give credit to all those people who have established shops.  It's not easy getting all the photography together and deciding on prices.

For those who don't know what Etsy is, you have to check it out at www.etsy.com because it's a wonderful site for hand made goods and supplies.  I love shopping there and have many favorite sellers that are just incredible.  It's addictive. :)      

Antique Rose Crochet Hat

Last week I was telling you all about the numerous crochet hats and legging that I've been making here lately. I wanted to share some images of my designs, but my portable little blue Nikon has been taking kinda iffy pictures (might be operator error) so I haven't had a lot to show.  Thanks to a my beautiful model and customer Kacey, I've got a really nice shot of my new wildflower hat in a chic black and pink color combination that Kacey requested.

 
 I've made this design in a few color combinations for little girls, but this is my first one in a ladies sized hat. The goal was to keep it whimsical while making it romantic and chic. I wish that you could see the shades of pink and mauve in the flowers a bit better, but black hats are notoriously hard to photograph well.  The colors are much nicer in person.

I think that the color combination and the scale of the wildflowers brings it all together. Of course, the best accessory that a nice hat can have is a beautiful woman to wear it :)

I know that the wildflower I'm using has probably been done before, but if anyone wants to make this simple four petal crochet wildflower, I've included some instructions below. I don't really write patterns for other people so I hope this is understandable.

Four Petal Wildflower
Hook: K
Yarn: Worsted weight Vanna's choice

Petals
1. ch 4, slst in 1st ch to form a ring
2. in ring, ch3, 2dc, ch2, slst; *ch 2, 2dc, ch 2, slst* 3 times weave ends around ring and cinch it up slightly.

Green accents
Take a length of green yarn and loop it in each petal spaces twice. Weave ends at the back leaving a long tail to use as the leaf. Using the tail and an F hook, ch 9; pull end through the last ch and then weave excess yarn up and down back through the chain towards the flower. Secure the ends under the flower.

My flowers end up just under 2 inch in diameter.