Textiles4you

Black Angry Bird

2012-01-30T16:40:00.000-05:00

For Christmas I had made my youngest nephew a red angry bird and a green pig from the Angry Birds game. His older brother asked me if I could make them more angry birds. Well my youngest nephew's birthday is in February, so I made him this black bomb angry bird. I hope that he likes it. The pattern is from a free ravelry download.

Tournament 4 of Nerd Wars starts on Wednesday. I'm on Team Club 33, which is all about Disney. So after tomorrow I will be full force into the wide world of Disney for the next 3 months. That means that if I make any more angry birds, it will be tonight and/or tomorrow. I think that I want to make a blue one for him. Speaking of Nerd Wars and Club 33, I am the blogger for the team. So I'll be pulling double blogging duty for a while.

Juice Carton Wallets

2012-01-29T15:01:00.000-05:00

Last night I looked at my ever growing stack of juice and milk cartons, and I had enough. It was time to reclaim my space. So I went about cutting up all of the cartons, tracing the template onto them, scoring them, cutting them out, and folding them into wallets. I made 7 last night, and traced the template on the rest of them.

You can find the template and the directions here.

Friday's Photos

2012-01-27T01:05:00.000-05:00

At the car wash.

What I've been up to this week:

2012-01-26T18:33:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I decided to cut up a bunch of bags to make plarn out of. People keep giving me plastic bags, and they take up a lot of room. I really need to make a habit out of cutting them at least once a week. They take up less room cut than they do uncut.

Here are the different balls of plarn that I've been making.

I have also started making a birthday present for a little girl. I need to block this square before I can do anything with it. It will either be part of a doll blanket or a bag. It is cable crochet, and here is the pattern.

I've also been working on a Tunisian crochet sampler. It really likes to curl up on me. When I'm finished with it, I will crochet a border around it to keep it from curling.

Here is the green loom knitted bag that my mom made for me for Christmas. I've been using it to carry my yarn in for my on-the-go projects.

Valentine's Swap 2012

2012-01-26T00:39:00.000-05:00

My Valentine's swap partner received her package from me today. Here is what I sent her:

Aside from the things pictured below, I made 4 cardboard hearts with cardboard string for her 3 bunnies. I also bought a wood bunny toy. She said that the corner has been chewed off of it already, and that 2 of the bunnies love the cardboard string. There is a Valentine's pencil, an envelope made from a Dora the Explorer 2011 calendar, a VHS tape flower barrette, a ribbon woven soda tab bracelet, and a pair of soda tab earrings with pink duct tape.

Full Heart Bobble Square hot pad. Free ravelry download here.

Kaleidoscope Hot Pad

Knitted bunny magnets from Teeny-Tiny Mochimocho by Anna Hrachovec.

Two different sized crochet soda tab bracelets. Free ravelry pattern here.
I also sent her another soda tab bracelet, woven with a pink ribbon.

Weaved hot pad pattern.
I really love this pattern. I have to make one for myself.

Small floofy cupcake.
I used some very soft and fluffy yarn for the top.

A cupcake bottle cap pincushion.

I plied pink acrylic yarn with clear plarn to make the bag below from.

12" x 8" loom knitted drawstring bag using the plied plarn and pink yarn.

13" x 7" loom knitted pink drawstring bag using acrylic yarn. The handles were made by braiding novelty yarn.

Crochet cotton heart potholder by Lionbrand.
I made one for my mom, both of my grandmothers, and one of my aunts as well.

This was a free pattern through one of those flyers that you find in the yarn section of the store.
I also made made one for my mom, both of my grandmothers, and one of my aunts.

I sent her one of these heart bookmarks. I made several more to give away for Valentine's Day.

Last year my swap partner made me a box of fake chocolate. I swear that I could smell the chocolate when I opened the box. So I wanted to do the same for my partner this year. Here is the free pattern for these ones and several more.

I made her this card like I make artist trading cards. First I made an envelope out of my son's Dora calendar from last year (see the first picture). Then I measured how big it was and cut a card out of watercolor paper to fit in it. Then I painted it with watercolor paint, and sprinkled salt on the wet paint. When dry, I cleaned off all of the salt. Then I drew on it with a fine tip sharpie marker. I made sure to work a few hearts into the design.

I had a lot of fun making all of these items for her.

Valentine's Swap Gift 2012

2012-01-25T10:47:00.000-05:00

Two days ago I received my Valentine's swap package from my partner CyndyinLawerence.

My favorite item, and my youngest son's as well, is the felted sweater tic-tac-toe board that is also a bag. The Xs and Os (aka hugs & kisses) are also made from felted sweaters, and they are all very soft. My son and I played a few rounds of tic-tac-toe after I opened the package. If you look above the bag you will see a blue bookmark as well. My close up photo of it was blurry, so I won't be sharing it.

My partner had gone to the Oz museum recently and gave me this postcard from there. She said that this hat was the hardest thing to make. My son said that I looked very pretty in it.

She has 3 bunnies, so she made this dishcloth with a bunny on it. I'll think of her every time I use it.

This cupcake is very large. The beads and sequence came from a t-shirt that she turned into tarn (t-shirt yarn).

She said that this was grass, but my son and I both think that it is a bunny. Either way it is squishy and soft and very cute.

She made a card out of fused plastic bags and potato chip bags. She also gave me several notecards, my favorite being the unicorn throwing up a rainbow.

She also sent me this strawberry chocolate tea. I've never heard of such a tea before. Also included in the package was some soda tabs for me to make things out of. She did not buy anything for this swap which is pretty cool. Also she used reclaimed yarn for many of the projects (from unraveled sweaters).

It was great getting to know her and making things for her during this swap. I feel that I have made a new friend. I loved everything that she had made for me. We both mailed our packages on Saturday, but mine isn't suppose to arrive until Friday. I can't wait to share what I made for her.

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Sticker Pictures

2012-01-24T16:21:00.000-05:00

This is a pretty straight forward and a simple one, make pictures using stickers.

The supplies are stickers and paper. However crayons and markers should have been included in this so that kids could use their imagination more when making their pictures.

This would also be good for making bookmarks.

Winter Love

2012-01-21T14:30:00.000-05:00

Thanks for following me!

Friday's Photos

2012-01-20T20:36:00.000-05:00

It snowed last night, and this time I think that it will stick.

My shoveled driveway.

This snow covered bush looks like a snow beast in a way.

Tunisian Crochet

2012-01-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was catching up on some recorded shows of Knit & Crochet Now, when they were showing how to do a basic Tunisian crochet stitch. When my grandmother passed away a few years ago, I got all of her knitting needles. One of them was a Tunisian crochet hook. I decided to give it a go, then wouldn't you know that it just snapped in half on row 3. It was a soft plastic hook. My only explanation is that it was really old. So I ran out to the store today and bought the only one that they had, which thankfully was a metal hook. I'm well past the 3rd row now.

The bottom likes to curl, but so far so good. I even found a lot of free patterns for it on ravelry. Right now I'm using some cheap acrylic yarn to practice with. Here is a you tube video that I found if anyone else is interested in learning how to Tunisian crochet as well.

Heart Bookmarks

2012-01-17T22:13:00.000-05:00

I am loving making these crochet heart bookmarks. These will make cute little Valentine's gifst to many people, plus they are easy to mail along with a card. I used a size 7 crochet hook and variegated pink crochet thread to make them. Then I starched them and ironed them.

Here is a close up of the bottom of them. Here is the free pattern for them.

These were the first 2 that I made using a size 5 hook and some thin fuzzy pink yarn. I prefer the crochet thread for this pattern.

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Miscellaneous Paper Crafts

2012-01-17T15:49:00.000-05:00

Every once in awhile the library has a "recycle" craft day where they bring out all of their leftovers from past crafts. This was one of those days. The kids colored a page full of flowers and circles.

Then we cut them out.

You can either glue the circles on top of the flowers, making the center of the flower.

Or you can just let them glue them anywhere that they want to.

The next project was a brown paper bag fish.

After coloring his fish, my son glued a popsicle to the back of it turning it into a puppet.

The next paper we got had a moon, a star, and a sun on it. Some were pre-cut for the kids.

After coloring them, we glued popsicle sticks to them. Now we have night and day puppets.

Dora Envelopes

2012-01-15T14:27:00.000-05:00

I just finished making 14 envelopes from my youngest son's 2011 Dora the Explorer calendar. Just fold the 4 corners together. Then fold the 3 new corners together and tape them. Next fold down the fourth corner which is the top flap. After you put your card inside, then you would tape the 4th flap in place.

Photos from this week

2012-01-13T20:49:00.000-05:00

Ice on my driveway.

Cap gun's empty cartridge.

Swatch for Sleeping Beauty Project

2012-01-12T10:57:00.000-05:00

Here is my swatch for the Sleeping Beauty cabled heart afghan that I plan on making for Nerd Wars. The pattern says that it should be 6", but I used a smaller hook (an F instead of an H). Mine is 4.25". By my calculations I need to make at least 144 of these squares to get a 52" squared lap blanket. It can be bigger, but I want it at least 52" squared. That means that I need to make 2 to 3 squares a day or at least 17 squares a week for 2 months. If I make more, they need to be in multiples of 12. This project has to be finished in 3 months. So in the 3rd month I will sew the squares together and crochet a border around the whole thing. I'm excited to get started. First I need to make sure that I'm on Team Club 33, then I need to turn in my dissertation application for this project. I'm almost finished putting the application together. As always I'm taking on too much. I've never done Nerd Wars before, but I'm taking on a 3 month long project along with the small challenges that they will be sending my way. Now the fun part will be following the challenges while making gifts out of the projects.

Here are the screen shots from Sleeping Beauty that a fellow team member got for me of her dress changing colors. I brought these pictures with me (on my phone) when I went yarn shopping. I think that I did a good job matching them.

Heart Hot Pads

2012-01-12T10:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I made these heart hot pads for Valentine's Day. They are gifts for my 2 grandmothers, one of my aunts, and my mom. I held two strands of cotton yarn together, and crochet them with an H hook. Here is the free pattern for them from Lionbrand. The pattern is so easy that I had it memorized after making one hot pad. They also have a knit version of the same pattern.

Nerd Wars Dissertation

2012-01-11T16:27:00.000-05:00

I am going to be doing Nerd Wars on ravelry for the first time. I am going to join Team Club 33, which is all about Disney (except for Jim Henson things, because those are for Team Fraggle). I just found out that there is something called a dissertation that is optional. What it is is a 3 month long project that you do along with the other challenges that are given. You have to write a proposal and have it approved. So I am thinking of making a crochet afghan inspired by Sleeping Beauty's color changing dress. Her dress changes from pink to blue and back again, because 2 of the fairies were fighting over what color it should be. One of the main people on the team took some stills of the film for me that show that it does fade into purple during the color changes. So today I went to the store and bought the yarn needed to make the afghan (it is Caron Simply Soft yarn). One of the requirements of the proposal is to show the yarn and the colors that you will be using along with a gage swatch next to a ruler to show size. So tonight I will be making my gage swatch. I'm using the same single heart cable crochet pattern that I used for the CAL that I recently participated in (see a blog post from this week) for this project. The heart also ties into Sleeping Beauty, because it is a love story.

Wordless Wednesday: A peak at a Valentine's swap project

2012-01-11T10:29:00.002-05:00

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: People

2012-01-10T17:55:00.000-05:00

This is an easy enough craft. Just find a stencil of a person or a gingerbread man, trace onto some card stock or recycled cardboard, and cut it out. Then let you child decorate their person. You can give them more than just markers and crayons. If you have scrap fabric, yarn, buttons, beads, or other things, let them use those supplies to make their people come to life. You can also take popsicle sticks or paint stirrers and glue them on the back of the people to turn them into puppets.

Crocheting Cable Hearts

2012-01-09T11:25:00.000-05:00

Here is the 12" crochet cabled hearts square that I made as part of a CAL (crochet along). I used cotton yarn thinking that it could be a dishcloth, however it is way to big for that. I might use it as a hot pad instead. Here is the free pattern for it. Doing a front post stitch around the same stitch twice threw me off at first, and I did have do round 7 twice. However it is an easy enough pattern.

Yesterday I made this cute little 6" square crochet cabled heart using cotton yarn. It was easy to make, and will make a nice coaster. If I crochet a few more rounds of the border, then it could make a dishcloth. Here is the free pattern for it.

After making 2 crochet cable patterns I'm not sure that I can translate knit cables into crochet cables. However I do want to try out more of these patterns. Basically a crochet cable is doing a front post stitch one row below.

Valentine's CAL

2012-01-07T00:35:00.001-05:00

Today I started a crochet along (CAL) in my ravelry group with a friend. So far there are 5 of us who plan on making the patten. What pattern is it? It is a square crochet cable pattern that has 4 hearts in it. Crochet cables are not a common thing. When you think of cables you usually think of knitting. So a group of us wanted to learn, and possibly be able to translate cable knit patterns into crochet patterns as a result. Here is the free pattern that we are using for the CAL. The pattern says that it is for an afghan, but I'm making a hot pad or a dishcloth by using cotton yarn for it. Right now I'm on round 6. I plan on finishing it tonight.

I've been busy making lots of things, but I can't share anything yet because they are for my Valentine's swap partner.

ETA: The pattern link works now. Thanks for letting me know about the error :)

Wordless Wednesday: Spinning in Motion

2012-01-04T18:12:00.000-05:00

Green Drawstring Bags

2012-01-03T20:39:00.000-05:00

Do you remember the yarn that I made from plying green variegated yarn with clear plarn this week?

Well I made 2 drawstring bags out of it. I used the green circular knitting loom to make them.

I still have a good bit of this new yarn left to make more. I love the look of the 2 materials mixed together, and it makes for a strong and interesting bag.

Happy New Years! Drawstring Bag & Plied Plarn

2012-01-01T18:13:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

My mom made me a green loom knitted bag for Christmas, and she stuffed it with great Lion Brand yarn. I liked it so much that I wanted to try and make one. Here is my loom knitted bag made using some lavender acrylic yarn. Another great use for cheap acrylic yarn! The drawstring for it works great.

Today I broke out the spinning wheel and plied some variegated green yarn with some clear plarn that my mom had made for me.

I'm making a gift from it. It might be for my Valentine's swap partner or for my mom. I haven't decided yet. Maybe I'll make 2, or 3, or more. ;)

I am leading a Valentine's swap in the ravelry group From Trash to Treasure. Partners were assigned today. So there are things that I am making that I can't share for at least a month. Its always hard to keep things hidden. I like to show off a bit. I'm a kid that way ;)

2011 Crafting & 2012 Craft Challenge

2011-12-31T19:19:00.005-05:00

I kept track of how many craft items that I made during 2011. Here is my tally:

Total Items Made: 789

This includes 37 quilt blocks.

January's total: 106

February's total: 52

March's total: 73

April's total: 48

May's total: 89

June's total: 17

July's total: 50

August's total: 18

September's total: 96

October's total: 42

November's total: 65

December's total: 133

This was all apart of my New Years Resolution to make 365 items during 2011.

As you can tell I did it. In fact I more than doubled that amount. My my 2012 New Year's Resolution is to make 700 craft items. I did not want to run myself ragged trying to out do myself from 2011, but I did want to set a higher goal.
Here is my little tag for my 2012 craft challenge. Feel free to post it on your blog if you want to take part in this challenge.

Mermaids & A Dishcloth

2011-12-30T20:20:00.000-05:00

Last Summer I crochet a mermaid that looked like Ariel, from the Disney movie, for my youngest son's friend for her birthday. I received a lot of compliments on her. I let one of my distant relatives know that I could make her daughter one if she wanted me to. Well 2 weeks before Christmas I get a request from her to make a red haired one and a blonde one. There was no way that I could make them in that short amount of time with all the Christmas crafting that I had to do for close family and friends. However I said that I would make them after Christmas. Her daughter is very young and wouldn't know the difference. So yesterday I made the blonde mermaid and today I made the red haired one. I did model the red haired one after Ariel. I wanted to keep both of their fins the same color, but I changed their tops and the length of their hair. My husband always laughs about how thick their hair is, but he loves it. He always says how cute the mermaids are. He wants me to make one for myself. I just might have to make 3 to represent the 3 mermaids from the t.v. show H2O.

Here is the free pattern for these amigurumi mermaids.

For the necklace, I chained 11 stitches, double crochet into the 10th stitch 3 times, and chained 9 stitches. Then I stitched the other color yarn into the double crochet half circle a few times. Next I tied the necklace around the mermaid's neck and tacked it in place (in the front and in the back). For the hair, I just continued what the pattern said to do, but I did it all over. Then I just trimmed it with scissors.

I also finished crocheting this diagonal dishcloth from "Contest Favorites Dishcloths, 17 Crochet Designs." It was very easy to make and resembled the basic dishcloth knitting pattern that I have used several times.

Diamond Overlay Dishcloth

2011-12-29T10:02:00.000-05:00

I finished crocheting this dishcloth the other day. Making the diamonds was a new technique for me. Its always good to learn new techniques. This pattern came from one of those thin booklets, "Contest Favorites Dishcloths: 17 Best Designs from the Crochet With Heart Dishcloth Contest." I got it for Christmas from my parents. I'm currently crocheting a 2nd dishcloth from the book. Right now I'm concentrating on the single color dishcloths from the book.

Christmas Presents

2011-12-28T12:55:00.000-05:00

Tiny Elephant from "Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi" by Anna Hrachovec.

I made this for my mom. I put a magnet on the inside, but it wasn't strong enough to stay on the fridge. So I glued a magnet on top of the inside magnet (from the outside). That worked better. I borrowed the pattern book from the library, however I noticed that it was available for the kindle. My husband gave me an Amazon gift card for Christmas, and I bought the kindle version of the book right away. I just love all the cute little patterns.

The one thing that my mom asked me to make for Christmas was a bright green knitted wig. She loved the orange one that I made for myself for Halloween. She loved it, and it looked really good on her. Here I am being goofy in it. Here is the free pattern for it.

Using the leftover yarn from the wig, I knitted up this mini sweater for my mom while at my in-laws' house. It took only 2 days to make. It would have taken only one day if it weren't for all the driving that I had to do on the first day. My mom is going to turn it into an ornament. Here is the free pattern.

These snowflake dishcloths were also for my mom. I used a Christmas cotton yarn to crochet them with. The pattern was from a Bernat's free flyer pattern (that you find hanging near yarn at the craft store). Here is the free pattern link through ravelry. I want to make myself a set of these.

While at my in-laws' house, I started knitting this cabled owl dishcloth. I didn't finish it until Christmas night. I gave it to my mom when it was done. Here is the free pattern for it. I really like it, and plan on making one for myself.

My husband loves 3D stuff. In fact we have 3D baby pictures of my oldest son (my husband learned how to make stereoscopic 3D photos). So when I saw the pattern for 3D glasses sleep mask, I had to make it for him. He loved it. He wants to post a picture of them on one of those "geek" forums. I say "geek" with love :) Here is the free pattern for them.

Tiny computer from"Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi" by Anna Hrachovec.

This computer was for my husband. He said that he will put it on his computer at work.

Everyone loved their handmade gifts from me. My nephews went nuts over the crochet angry bird and pig. They want me to make the other angry birds for them. One of their birthdays is coming up, so I'll make him some. After my youngest son opened his mini rainbow magnet present (from the same mochimochi book as the computer and the elephant), he came up and gave me a big hug. His face said "I really really wanted this!" He loves rainbows. It was the biggest hug that I got for Christmas. I could tell that my brother-in-law liked his crochet Death Star ornament, because he kept playing with. You can see all the handmade gifts in past blog posts from this month.

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Making Butter

2011-12-28T12:18:00.000-05:00

What you do is put some heavy whipping cream in a jar, and shake it until there is a lump of solid (butter) in the liquid. You separate the lump from the liquid, and now you have butter.

My Christmas Vacation

2011-12-27T23:26:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to share some photos that I took while on a short Christmas Vacation. Within 5 days we went to New Jersey, New York City, and Pennsylvania to visit family and see the NYC tree.

New York City Macy's Christmas window display.

Fire in NYC.

Empire State Building

Times Square

M&M Store in NYC

New York City's Christmas tree

My mother-in-law had a cute Christmas display in her house.

My in-laws' Christmas tree.

My parents' Christmas tree.

Tree in my parents' front yard.

My iphone in the reflection of an outdoor ornament.

Amigurumi Gifts for my Kids

2011-12-22T00:38:00.000-05:00

Tonight I made this tiny rainbow for my youngest son. I glued a magnet on the back of it. It is from "Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi" by Anna Hrachovec.

I made this Happy Poop tonight for my oldest son.

Here is the free pattern.

My oldest son loves the computer game Minecraft. So for Christmas I made him this Minecraft creeper. I used a food box to help keep everything box like. Minecraft is very pixelated, which means that everything is made of squares. Here is the free pattern for the creeper.

I probably won't be posting anything until after Christmas, so I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday: Apple Ornament for the Teacher

2011-12-21T16:46:00.003-05:00

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Kid Made Wreaths

2011-12-21T16:42:00.000-05:00

These 2 wreaths were put together by kids for our church's Winter pageant. We gave them the supplies, and they arranged them. I hot glued anything that needed to be tacked down for them. I think that they did a good job.

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Reindeer Games

2011-12-21T16:39:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month I helped out during my church's holiday fair. One of the places that I helped out at was in the kids' craft room. They made cards, ornaments, and reindeer hats.

Christmas Ornament Swap

2011-12-20T16:47:00.000-05:00

I received my Christmas ornament package from my swap partner today.

Inside of the package were some very lovely crochet items, a card, a tin with a cookie in it, a bag full of Christmas light ornaments, a bag with some fake flowers and a ribbon, and a lot of silver garland.

Here is the angel tree topper that my swap partner crochet for me. Wow! How lovely!

A crochet heart shaped ornament.

Three crochet snowflake ornaments.

I love everything. What a lot of work that my partner put into making everything.

Tiny Airplane

2011-12-19T00:04:00.000-05:00

Tonight I knitted this very small airplane for my dad for Christmas. To make it useful I glued a magnet to the bottom of it. The pattern came from "Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi: More Than 40 Itty-Bitty Minis to Knit, Wear, and Give" by Anna Hrachovec.

Transforming 5 Nightgowns

2011-12-18T20:25:00.000-05:00

Last week I finished making 3 pillowcases, 2 small purses / bags, and 7 pillows out of 5 nightgowns. The nightgowns belonged to a friend's recently deceased grandmother. My friend wanted to give her 2 daughters, her niece, and her mother something to remember her grandmother with for Christmas. She also wanted a keepsake for herself as well. The pillowcases are for the 3 girls to use with their American Girl Dolls, like sleeping bags. When the girls out grow their dolls, then they can use them as pillowcases. Also the small pillows are for their American Girl Dolls. The 2 throw pillows are for her and her mother. They both have a pocket on the front and the back of the pillows. As an extra I made 2 small purses for her daughters. The purses were made using the bottom of the nightgowns, and the handles were made from the sleeves. My friend loved them.

The neat thing about the pillows with buttons is that you can unbutton them without the stuffing coming out.

These 2 pillowcases are the reverse of one another. They used 2 nightgowns.

This pillowcase used 3 different nightgowns.

Cartoon Characters

2011-12-18T03:02:00.000-05:00

After making the Finn character (from the cartoon Adventure Time) on the toilet paper tube, I was trying to figure out what other characters from the same cartoon that I could also make using a toilet paper tube. The other night we were watching an episode that was all about the Ice King, and I realized that I could transform him into a toilet paper tube character. Here he is. I used 1.5 toilet paper tubes to make him. I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. He will be a gift for my oldest son for Christmas.

Also for my oldest son, I made this Finn felt ornament (from the cartoon Adventure Time).

I couldn't leave out my youngest son, so I made him this Patrick Star ornament (from the cartoon Sponge Bob Square Pants).

Green Pigs & Egg Carton Penguins

2011-12-17T23:18:00.000-05:00

Tonight I made 12 green pig ornaments from the Angry Bird game. Six are glittery and 6 are not. The nose, ears, and eyebrows are felt, and I used glittery black paint for the inner ears, nostrils, and mouth. I'll be giving one pig and one red angry bird ornament together to various people for Christmas. I bought the green and red ornaments from the Dollar Tree.

I had promised someone several months ago that I would make them some egg carton penguins with purple ear muffs. I FINALLY got around to it. Hopefully I will see her at church tomorrow. I'm giving her 5 of the 6 penguins that you see here. My mom will be getting one of the green ones.

Death Star Ornament

2011-12-17T11:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I crochet this Death Star ornament for my brother-in-law for Christmas. He likes to decorate his Christmas tree with Star Wars ornaments. Here is the free pattern link. The most time consuming part was the surface crocheting, but I was able to make it in less than a day.

Camera Ornament

2011-12-16T03:30:00.001-05:00

My dad is a photographer, and every year I struggle to find a few things to get him for Christmas. Most of what he wants is out of my price range, and there is only so much photo paper and SD cards that I would want to get him. Then I thought "well I'm a crafty person. Why can't I make him something?" So thats what I did. Its nothing big, but it is unique and special. I used eco-fi felt and made him this camera ornament. I hope that he will like it. I'm sure that he will.

Red Angry Bird Ornaments

2011-12-15T17:40:00.000-05:00

Last night I made a dozen of these angry bird ornaments. Six are sparkly like the one above, and six are not like the one below. I used felt, google eyes, and a feather for each one. I bought the red ornaments from the Dollar Tree. I also bought some green ones to make green pigs out of. I might make the pigs tonight.

Making Christmas Presents

2011-12-14T22:35:00.000-05:00

Mario mushroom ornament for a friend of ours.

Another green pig from Angry Birds for my youngest nephew.

A crochet tic-tac-toe board with a pocket to hold the Xs and Os for my youngest son.

Sixteen pairs of soda tab earrings for various people.

Wordless Wednesday: Kitchen Angles from a Friend

2011-12-14T18:50:00.000-05:00

Two dishtowels & an oven mitt for each angel.

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Gingerbread Men

2011-12-13T17:34:00.000-05:00

Today is the last drop in craft day at our library for a few weeks. We made gingerbread men, which are super easy but very festive.

They provided the kids with foam pieces, glue sticks, crayons, and pipe cleaners to decorate their gingerbread men with.

My son's gingerbread man is on the right and one of his friend's is on the left. I cut out the background because it had to many kids' faces in it. I'm ok with showing my son's face, but I don't feel right showing his friends' faces without permission. Anyway, the kids had a great time making this craft, and now we have something else to decorate our walls with for the holiday.

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Christmas Ornaments & A Tree

2011-12-13T17:05:00.000-05:00

My son made this snowball / snowflake ornament using a paper circle, some packing peanuts, glue, ribbon, and a stapler. So easy and a great way to recycle those packing peanuts.

I love to go shopping after the holidays. I found some blank wooden candy shapes for about 8 cents in the after Halloween sale bin. I thought that they would make great peppermint candy magnets for Christmas. However my son really wanted something to do, so I gave him these to color and put foam stickers on. It took a little bit of time and some muscle, but I got my small hole punch to go through them so that they could become Christmas ornaments. He is giving them to his friends for Christmas.

This one is supper easy, just cut an ornament shape out of construction paper and let your child decorate it. Then punch a hole at the top and attach some ribbon or yarn to it. Don't forget to date the back of it so that you'll always remember when your child made it.

I saw this at a preschool recently and I just loved it. All you need are some green circles, a yellow star, and a brown rectangle, add some glitter glue and some sequence and you're good to go.

Nightgowns = Pillowcases & Pillows

2011-12-10T22:52:00.000-05:00

A friend's grandma recently passed away. She asked me if I could make some pillowcases and small pillows out of her grandma's nightgowns for her to give as Christmas presents to her daughters, her niece, and her mother, plus a keepsake for herself. I said that I would as a present to her. Here are the 5 nightgowns.

Here are 2 pillowcases that I made using 2 of the nightgowns.

Here is the 3rd pillowcase. I used 3 nightgowns to make it.

Here is a close up if the 3rd pillowcase. The purple edging is the bottom of the night gown, which is why it isn't very straight.

Using the top of one of the nightgowns, I made this small pillow. She wanted some pillows for her daughters' American Girl Dolls. The neat thing about this pillow is that they can undo the buttons without any stuffing coming out.

Owls

2011-12-09T22:55:00.000-05:00

Today I drew owls on the reverse side of the ones that I drew yesterday.

I am looking forward to leading this fun toilet paper tube craft with kids later this month.

Toilet Paper Tube Characters

2011-12-09T00:41:00.000-05:00

The Tuesday after Christmas I am teaching a craft class at the main library in my town. The craft is going to be making characters and animals out of toilet paper tubes. To make things easier, I painted all the tubes with 2 coats of white paint. This way the kids can use markers to decorate their tube characters and they will be easy to see. Here are the examples that I made for the kids: Finn from the cartoon Adventure Time, a cat, and 2 owls.

Finn is reversible and the cat has a tail.

Here are the owls after I colored them. The pink one was colored with sharpie markers, and the yellow one was colored with a crayon.

I ended up making 3 Finns, one for the example, one for my oldest son for Christmas, and one for my husband's desk at work.

They are all reversible. I love the face on the left.

My husband had a brilliant idea, he suggested that I add hair to Finn that can be hidden. If you watch Adventure Time, then you might recall the episode where Finn removes his hat and reveals long, flowing, blonde hair. This one is my son's Christmas present. I hope that he likes it.

One Bottle of Sprite = 6 Flowers

2011-12-08T21:45:00.000-05:00

Last month I was editing some videos that I had made in May on making eco-crafts with a flower theme. I needed to get close to 30 minutes of edited video for my local access t.v. show, but I came up short. So today I was inspired and filmed myself making these flowers using one 2 liter bottle of Sprite. I hope that I will have enough edited video to have a new episode to turn into the t.v. studio. It was fun creating these flowers, and coming up with some ideas on how to use up 80 % or more of the plastic bottle.

These 3 flowers were made from the body of the bottle, and I colored them with sharpie markers. This will make a good Spring garland once I make more flowers.

The top left flower was made from the bumpy part of the bottle's body. I cut out leaf shapes, drew the veins of leaves on it, and punched a hole at the end of each piece. I sewed all the leaves together and glued a pom pom in the center. The middle top one was made from the top of the bottle, and the top right one was made from the bottom of the bottle. All 3 top ones were turned into ornaments.

Green Pig

2011-12-08T14:17:00.000-05:00

Last night I crochet this green pig for my youngest son for Christmas. It is the green pig from the Angry Bird game. Its hard to see the nose due to the color, but the nose is raised a bit. I want to make another one for one of my nephews as well. The pattern is very easy, and it is available as a free download through ravelry.

Wordless Wednesday: Fused Plastic Items

2011-12-07T15:12:00.000-05:00

http://www.greendecade.org/sgw

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Kitty Mask

2011-12-06T23:39:00.000-05:00

This week's craft is a kitty mask. Now the example one is a paper plate, but we used a recycled food box to make ours.

Here is the cat face traced onto a food box. I cut it out for my son, and he colored it.

We now have 2 other kids (sometimes more) who we meet up with every week at the library to make crafts with.

After my son was finished coloring his rainbow kitty, I punched a hole on each side, attached some yarn, and tied it around his head. The eye holes are to high, and we need to recut them. He loved making this mask, and I love that it used a recycled material.

2nd Red Angry Bird

2011-12-06T23:23:00.000-05:00

I finished crocheting this Angry bird on November 29th, but I didn't sew all the pieces together until tonight. I was either to tired, or my youngest son was around. Its a Christmas present for him. He looks more concerned or surprised than angry, but thats ok. I didn't slant the eyebrows enough. This is a free pattern download through ravelry.

365 Items in 2011: Update

2011-12-05T19:10:00.000-05:00

Since this is the last month of the year, I wanted to bring up my main New Year's Resolutions. It was to make 365 items during 2011. Well I have almost doubled that. So far I have made 688 items this year. I'm thinking that next year my goal will be 650. I know that I've passed that number, but I don't want to kill myself trying to out do this year's total.

Total Items Made: 688

This includes 37 quilt blocks.

January's total: 106

February's total: 52

March's total: 73

April's total: 48

May's total: 89

June's total: 17

July's total: 50

August's total: 18

September's total: 96

October's total: 42

November's total: 65

December's total: 32

Who else has participated in this challenge / resolution?

Record Wreaths

2011-12-04T19:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I helped out at my church's holiday fair. I worked at 3 different stations, and I got a little shopping in as well. Nine of my hat ornaments sold as well as 1 juice pouch notebook. Today after church they were selling some leftover wreaths. I thought that these 2 wreaths were very clever. They were made using records. What a great recycling / upcycling idea! I just had to share it with all of you.

Christmas Crafting

2011-12-03T00:13:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is my church's holiday fair, and here are my donations for the craft table: 21 hat ornaments, 3 crochet soda tab bracelets, 2 flower barrettes and 3 flower pins (made from VHS tape and plastic bags), 6 juice pouch notebooks, and 2 crochet Christmas ornaments. I am working the entire time at the fair. I'll mainly be at the raffle basket table selling raffle tickets. This will be my 3rd year working at that table. Its fun. However I am going to miss out on taking my 4 year old to the gingerbread festival at the library and also checking out the many other craft fairs happening at the same time. They have several at the same time on purpose, and they have this passport stamp thing at each location. If you fill up your passport at each holiday fair, then you are entered into a bigger raffle (I think).

I made several hat ornaments this week. For directions, please look at the blog post just before this one.

These ornaments are made using toilet paper tubes and yarn.

Tonight I made these 7 pairs of soda tab earrings. Four of them are for me, but the others are Christmas presents.

I also just finished crocheting this floral Christmas hot pad to give for Christmas to someone. To who? Well I haven't decided yet. I'll have to make more so that I won't have to narrow it down to just one person.

Hat Ornaments

2011-11-30T17:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday and this morning I made these 8 hat ornaments. Two of them are on my Christmas tree right now. I'll save 2 more of them for gifts, and the others will be donated to my church's craft fair. I have a lot more to make before the craft fair's deadline (this Friday).

Below is the video tutorial that I made last year on how to make these hats. All you need are scissors, a toilet paper tube, and yarn. The new ones use a wire hanger instead of yarn to hang them on the tree from.

Red Angry Bird

2011-11-29T18:38:00.000-05:00

I just finished crocheting this red Angry Bird for one of my nephews for Christmas. Now to make one for my youngest son. The pattern is available for free through ravelry.

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Dress Me Up Scarecrow

2011-11-29T18:10:00.000-05:00

This is an oldie but a goodie. We did this one last year, but it was fun making a new one with friends.

We took one paper with the outline of a person on it and one paper with a hat, shirt, and overalls on it. While I cut out the person, my son colored the clothes.

My son is really into using scissors when I let him, so he cut out the overalls. Then he let me cut out the hat and the shirt. Then he glued them all on his person.

Here is his scarecrow.

Here is his friend's scarecrow (yes she likes pink).

Ornaments from Christmas Past

2011-11-27T22:47:00.000-05:00

My tree is up and decorated. My youngest son had a great time hanging ornaments. I would hear him say "I remember this ornament!" It made my night. I'm going to share some handmade ornaments from Christmas past that are on my tree. My mom made the felt snowman 10 years ago. We sat down that year and made a lot of felt ornaments together. Its one of my treasured memories. I made the felt gingerbread man last year. He is made using eco-fi felt, which is made from recycled plastic bottles.

These ornaments were made from recycled items. The snowflake and the hat ornaments were made using toilet paper tubes. The bell and the penguins were made using egg cartons.

These 4 ornaments are crochet. Here are the patterns for the fancy ornament, the knitted version of the ball (I made up the crochet pattern for it, which is on my ravelry project page - KristyRecycles), the mistletoe ornament, and the angel ornament.

This is one of my favorite Christmas ornaments. It is Stitch (from the movie Lilo and Stitch) dressed as Elvis (one of my favorite singers).

"Gum Chain" Bag in progress

2011-11-25T14:56:00.000-05:00

I have 3 rows completed on my "gum chain" bag (made using potato chip bags). Each row is 36 "links" long. I'm going to make a change purse.

Part 1 of my "gum wrapper" bag tutorial

2011-11-23T17:07:00.000-05:00

This is part 1 of a "gum wrapper" bag tutorial using potato chip bags. Clean and cut the bags 4.5" x 2". Then fold in half, and fold ends to the center - long thin strip. Then fold in half the other direction, and fold ends to the center. To connect them, take each end of the folded part and put them through the center of another piece. The width of your bag is half the size of your chain. The hight of your bag = how many chains that you have. I am making a change purse, so I am joining 36 pieces together for each chain. I hope that people are able to understand this tutorial. Part two will come out after I finish my bag.

Gum Chain

2011-11-23T07:46:00.000-05:00

A while back one of my you tube subscribers asked if I could do a gum chain bag tutorial. When I was a little girl my mom taught me how to make a gum chain. I still have all of the gum chains that I had ever made as a kid. They are stored in an old wooden purse that had belonged to my great aunt before she passed away. Several years ago I was watching an episode of Craft Lab and they were showing how to make gum chains out of potato chip bags, and then they showed how to sew them together into a clutch bag. How clever! I just had to make one. It took a long time before I finally made a small little bag out of it. The problem was that I did not know how to properly add a zipper to it, so the most action that the bag ever saw was as an eco-craft example at various locations that I did demos at. So back to the you tube request... I had been putting off doing it, because it takes a while to make and I was busy with other projects. However I had promised that this was the month that I would start it. Above are some pictures of the steps to make them. I have filmed as much as I can right now, and now I need to just make several chains before I can start filming again (the assembly of the chains). I'm thinking that I will edit and release a part one of this tutorial on you tube this week. Then anyone who is interested can get started on making their bag as well.

You may ask what the paperclips are for. I use them to keep the folded pieces folded, otherwise they pop open and I have to refold them.

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Turkeys

2011-11-21T23:32:00.000-05:00

Here is a fun craft that we did at the library on Friday. First my son traced my hand on the paper. Then he placed his hand inside of the drawing of my hand, and I traced his hand. Next he glued the body of a turkey over our hand prints.

Then he colored his turkey. The two hand prints are the feathers.

Then during school, he made a turkey with 10 feathers. The feathers are a way to practice his speech.

I hope that everyone has a nice Thanksgiving week.

I Heart Instagram

2011-11-21T21:36:00.000-05:00

I am loving using the Instagram app on my i phone. It makes it easier to post pictures on this blog as well. I not only have my craft photos on there, but I also take photos of different things (nature, animals, family, etc.). If you are interested in seeing more photos by me, you can go to http://web.stagram.com/n/textiles4you/ or you can follow me on instagram (textiles4you). I am very inspired by others on there as well. I follow a lot of crafters as well as photographers. One photographer only takes pictures of cactuses, another takes a lot of Disney photos. Many are from other countries, and I get to see pictures of other countries from unique points of view. For Christmas I want to make some mini books or get some of my pictures printed to give as presents. I also would like to have a photo book of some of them for myself. Three of the images above are from Statigram, which sends me statistics from Instagram on a weekly basis.

Recycled Christmas Ornaments

2011-11-20T09:19:00.000-05:00

Friday morning I quickly made these ornaments and put together some other ornaments made from recycled materials. Then I went over to someone's house to show her everything, tell her how I made them, and give her some of them (including everything in this picture). Our town has a tree hunting contest every year. Different people and groups decorate certain trees in different open space areas of the town, and then people can go on a tree scavenger hunt to find them. You take a picture in front of the tree to prove that you found it. The lady I met with will be decorating one of the trees with her family using only recycled materials. She called the town's recycling office to get some ideas, and the recycling coordinator gave her my phone number. I am going to try and make a few more ornaments for the tree before Wednesday, which is the deadline to have the trees decorated by. The purpose of the scavenger hunt is to get people to go outside and enjoy the open spaces even in the cold, and they want them done by Thanksgiving so that families can have some outdoor fun during the holiday weekend.

The small chain of bottle caps was an example of how to make a garland out of plastic bottle caps. I used a smaller than normal hole punch and just punched a hole in two sides of the bottle caps. Its pretty easy to do. I took another plastic bottle cap and punched a hole on one side, then drew on it with sharpie markers. Then I put a wire ornament hanger in the hole for it to hang by. The other ornaments were made by die-cutting a white plastic milk carton. Then I colored on two of them with sharpie markers, and punched a hole in them for the wire ornament hanger. They are very easy to make. You don't need a die-cut to make nice ornaments either. You can cut them out using scissors or get a circle or some other shaped larger hole punch. With a large circle hole punch you can let your kids decorate them however they want with markers (Santa Clause, trees, snowmen, etc.).

Christmas Floral Hot Pad

2011-11-17T18:41:00.000-05:00

Here is a Christmas hot pad that I crochet this week. I'm going to mail it to my great aunt along with the other hot pads that I made for her. This one will be a surprise. She knows about the other ones already. I used the sparkly white and red cotton yarn. I wish that they made green sparkly cotton yarn. The base is just plain white cotton yarn. I lucked out recently and The Dollar Tree was selling cotton yarn, which is where I bought the green yarn. Here is the pattern link. If you want to see all the different versions of it that were made during a crochet along this year, click on this link. Six of my hot pads are pictured on there (KristyRecycles).

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-16T15:07:00.002-05:00

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Kitty

2011-11-14T22:46:00.000-05:00

This is a super cute project to make.

The supplies are cat faces on card stock, markers, 3 popsicle (2 cut in half), scissors, 2 chenille stems, and either glue or glue dots.

My son colored all the parts separately.

And then we assembled all the parts with glue dots. For the tail we twisted two chenille stems together and glued them to the back of the body. When we got home we glued magnets to the back of the cat. I think that it is really adorable. This project was inspired by the librarian's cat.

Mini Golf Instagram Photos

2011-11-13T20:17:00.000-05:00

We went mini golfing today, and I just wanted to share some of the photos that I took.

Purple Crochet M&M Minis Cozy

2011-11-12T11:43:00.000-05:00

I have been crocheting this cozy for a few weeks. I finally finished it today. It took a long time because I used thin crochet thread and a 1.90 mm crochet hook (size 5). I used a modified spiral pattern to create the stripes, that way the stripes are seamless. I slipped stitched the last round, which makes it stay on easier. This cozy and empty container is for my swap partner who likes purple. She can put small craft supplies in it, like sewing needles, buttons, stitch markers, etc.

The cozy was a little to plain, so I added a flower made on the peg loom to it. I used the same 2 colors of purple, and wrapped them around the loom 3 times (thus getting a 6 layered flower). Then I used 2 strands of the lighter colored purple thread for the center. Next I added a dot of black glitter glue to the center of it. My partner likes the color black as well.

Here name starts with the letter B, so I turned the M on top of the M&M minis container into a B with some black glitter glue. Why did I choose the lime green container? I asked her grandmother (who I am friends with) which color she would prefer: red, light blue, green, or orange. Those are the colors that I have been able to get a hold of with the M&M minis. I hope that she likes it. I really like it, and now I want to make one for myself.

Flower Barrettes

2011-11-12T08:57:00.000-05:00

The other day I bought a flower loom using a 50% off coupon (pictured below), and have been really into making flowers with it. Above are the flowers that I attached to some barrettes. I really love how they turned out. The first two that I made were out of yarn. The red and green are sparkly yarn that I had from last Christmas. The two black ones were made using VHS tape and embroidery floss. Its great finding another use for the VHS tape, because I have way too much of it. The yellow were made using plarn (plastic bag yarn - newspaper bags) and embroidery floss.

Here are the others that I had made. The black one with the peach center used plarn for the center. It didn't work out that well using the plarn for the center. Also another problem that I came across was that the embroidery floss sometimes split when sewing it through the center of the flowers, but it still worked. Sometimes I did a single layer of wrapping for the flower, and sometimes I doubled it. I prefer the double layer ones.

I can see these becoming Christmas presents.

These would also make nice brooches, shawl pins, embellishments on purses, clothes, and scrapbooks, and you could glue magnets or pushpins to the back of them.

The neat thing about the loom that I bought is that it came with 3 different sized circle looms, 2 different sized square looms, and a hexagon loom. All of them fit nicely into a container for easy travel. The directions came in 4 different languages and are easy to follow. I did make a video of how I made a VHS tape flower, and I'll be editing it soon for youtube.

Amigurumi Zebra Ornament

2011-11-10T10:45:00.000-05:00

My Christmas ornament swap partner really likes zebra stripes, so I wanted to make her a zebra. Most of the zebra patterns that I came across were not small enough to be an ornament, so I turned an amigurumi cat pattern into a zebra with the use of black & white yarn. For the body I used a yarn that changed from black to gray to white and back again. For the arms, legs, and tail I used black and white yarn, crocheting it in a spiral pattern that looks like seamless stripes. I then crochet the eyes (3 rounds for the white and 1 round for the black) and embroidered the mouth and nose. For the chain loop at the top I used the already attached yarn from sewing the ears. I hope that she likes it. My husband liked it and wants me to make him a cat one. It was his idea to add the little bit of white to the side of the pupil (light reflection).

Wordless Wednesday: Car Wash

2011-11-09T16:15:00.000-05:00

Tea Cup Pincushion

2011-11-09T09:29:00.000-05:00

I finished crocheting this tea cup pincushion yesterday for my holiday swap partner. The inside bottom of it has a few stones in it to add some weight. This is a free pattern from Lion Brand.

I also made her a zebra striped candy cane ornament.

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Dinosaur Hat

2011-11-08T16:58:00.000-05:00

This is an easy craft. Just find an image of a dinosaur and have your child color it. Then cut 2 wide strips of construction paper and staple them together to fit your child's head. Then staple, glue, or tape the dinosaur to the front of it. You can do this with any kind of animal. Thanksgiving is coming up, so you could make a turkey hat.

Candy Canes, Wreaths, and Hats! Oh My!

2011-11-07T15:59:00.000-05:00

I made some more crochet candy cane and wreath ornaments. I'm going to donate a few of them to my church's holiday fair next month.

I signed up for another swap, this time it is a Christmas ornament swap. My partner likes black, purple, and zebra striped things, so I made her some candy cane ornaments with those colors.

I also made her these two hat ornaments using parts of a toilet paper tube. Here are the directions on how to make them.

Candy Canes & Wreaths

2011-11-03T17:22:00.000-04:00

I put the last touches on my candy cane and wreath ornaments today by adding bows and bells. I have 2 more wreath ornaments that need to be assembled, I finished crocheting them today. I am planning on giving these as Christmas gifts this year. I will keep at least one of each pattern for myself though.

Here is the super easy pattern.

Here is a close up of one of the candy canes. I first wrapped the white crochet curl around a chenille stem, and then I wrapped the red one.

Before I added the ribbon bows and jingle bells.

This is what they look like after they have been crochet but before they are wrapped around a chenille stem. This pattern is really a piece of cake. Right now it is my on-the-go and t.v. watching project. I think that I might even try to make a curly wig using this pattern.

Hallowig

2011-11-03T17:01:00.000-04:00

I finished knitting my Hallowig last night (Halloween wig). Just in time to go trick or treating on Sunday (it was postponed due to down lines, broken tree limbs, and power outages this week).

Its not the best picture of me. The sun was in my eyes.

Here is the free pattern.

Wordless Wednesday: Crocheting Christmas Ornaments

2011-11-02T18:21:00.000-04:00

Pattern link is here.

Halloween Swap Package to Gekko

2011-11-01T21:24:00.000-04:00

Here is the package that I sent to Gekko in Australia for Halloween. I also included a Kool Aid juice pouch notebook, which isn't pictured here. The small goodies are a stamp, a pencil, 2 spider rings, a parachuting black cat, and some Peanuts Gang activity pages.

Gekko was one of my Halloween ornament swap partners. For her main ornament I made her this black cat. It is a super easy pattern to make. I made a different main ornament for each person according to what they said that they liked. All of them liked witches. Gekko liked black cats.

I also made her a cork witch as well.

And this wreath ornament. It was crochet around a plastic bottle ring. You can find directions for this in any of my other blog posts about Halloween swap packages that I made.

Here are the 4 magnets that I sent out to my partners. They are just pre-painted wooden pieces that I glued a magnet to.

I put a few of the small items inside of some of these toilet paper tube "pillow favors."

Here are the 4 cards that I mailed to my 4 partners. I just put some fun Halloween stickers on the folded card stock.

I hope that Gekko liked them, and I hope that she got them by now.

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Fire Truck

2011-11-01T20:51:00.000-04:00

Power Outage + Halloween Crafting

2011-11-01T19:32:00.000-04:00

Since Sunday we have been without internet, cable t.v., and land lines (phone). Thank goodness for DVDs and internet on my phone. Also thankfully we were one of the lucky 10% to 20% who had power in my town. A few regained power last night and today, but others aren't going to get it back until Thursday evening. Halloween trick or treating was postponed until this coming Sunday due to down power lines, broken / hanging tree limbs, and power outages. What happened was that there was still a lot of leaves on the trees when we got a wet and heavy snow fall. Many limbs snapped and fell on power lines. We just got back our cable, internet, and phone two hours ago. So I have a few things to share with you.

I made these spider Halloween ornaments by cutting out some flat plastic packaging. Then I put some spider stickers on it, and added some glitter glue around them. Once dry, I punched a hole just above the glitter, then I cut them out around the glitter and hole punch. Next I added the string and hung them up. This is a great way to recycle that plastic packaging that normally goes into the trash.

I've been working on making a Hallowig (Halloween wig) since Saturday. I ran out of yarn last night, and I can't get anymore until the craft stores regain power. At least I won't need it until Sunday, so there is time to finish it. Here is the pattern for it. My mom wants me to make her a neon green one. It is the perfect fun thing to make with the bad acrylic yarn that I have.

On Saturday we carved pumpkins. This one is mine. I used one of those pre-made templates that you can buy in a booklet.

This one is my husband's, designed after one of his drawings.

My 4 year old drew on this pumpkin and then I carved it out for him.

The best part about carving pumpkins is eating the seeds. I cook half of them with oil and sea salt and the other half with oil and cinnamon sugar. The color picture is before I cleaned them, and the other one is after they were cleaned.

Both of these pictures were taken on Saturday. One was before the snow, and the other was during the snow. Its crazy that we got snow before Halloween. That has not happened before since we've lived here (but it has happened here before). This was the 2nd snow of the season. The first one was light and melted quickly.

This was taken Saturday night. You could hear tree limbs breaking in our neighborhood.

Some of my friends are still without power. School was canceled from Monday - Wednesday (yes tomorrow) due to lack of power. Everyday a few more homes / areas get power. Hopefully everything will be back to normal by Friday.

Candy Cane Ornament

2011-10-29T12:05:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I crochet this candy cane ornament. It was very easy to make. All you need is some white and red yarn, I used a size F hook, and a chenille stem. I started making another one today. Here is the free pattern.

Peppermint Ornament & Candy Cozy

2011-10-28T11:19:00.000-04:00

Before making things for the Halloween swap took over my crafting life, I had started making a cozy for a plastic M&M container. I thought that the container would make a good crafting supply container for things like needles, beads, and buttons. I used some sock yarn and a size B crochet hook to make it. I want to try and make different types of cozies for the M&M containers that I have been buying for this purpose. My kids are very pleased with this crafting purchase, because they get to eat the chocolate candy. On a side note, you can see our first snow of the season. Its to early for snow!!!! I've been told that tonight or tomorrow we are suppose to get more. Yikes!

Christmas is the next holiday that is on my crafting radar. Sure I would like to make a few things for Thanksgiving, but I really need to make some Christmas gifts. I have some sparkly red and white cotton yarn that I wanted to make something small with, so I chose a peppermint ornament crochet pattern from Ho Ho Celebrations: 22 holiday projects to knit or crochet by Loops & Threads. It was very easy to make, and I learned a new way of crocheting with 2 colors. The pattern requires that you make 2 swirly circles and then crochet them together. This just might be one of the things that I make for various people. I could even put them on the outside of their gifts like a gift tag.

Candy Corn Dish Towel

2011-10-28T10:51:00.000-04:00

I loved the candy corn dish cloth that I made for the Halloween swap so much that I made one for myself this past week. I finished it just in time for Halloween. The free pattern for it is here.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-26T12:20:00.000-04:00

Episode 41: 3rd Halloween Special

2011-10-25T12:15:00.002-04:00

Here are the show notes to episode 41 of my local access show "Its Easy Being Green."

How to make Halloween treat containers out of toilet paper tubes.

How to make fun Halloween jewelry out of plastic bread tags.

Google eye picture frame

A little show and tell.

Swap package to LadyKatka & Swap package from LadyKatka

Swap package to spookycuddles & Swap package from sppokycuddles

Swap package to E.B. & Swap package from E.B.

T-shirt necklace Spiders & Plarn

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Spiders

2011-10-24T21:53:00.000-04:00

For Halloween, make some spiders with your child. The spiders above and just below were made with construction paper. Just cut an oval out of black paper, and cut 8 strips of black paper (spiders have 8 legs). Fold those 8 strips like a fan. For the eyes you can use construction paper or google eyes. Spiders can have 2 and more eyes. Many have 6 eyes. Punch a hole at the top to hang from the ceiling. Just glue all the parts together. My son wanted his spiders to have 6 legs and 6 eyes. The one below was from last year and the one above was made this year.

Here is my tutorial on how to make this egg carton spider. My (at the time) 3 year old helped me make them.

These chenille stem lollipop spiders were made by my swap partner spookycuddles. She just wrapped short lengths of chenille stems around the lollipops and then glued on some sequins.

We bought this spider cupcake last October. The legs are black licorice, the eyes are red hots, and the frosting has black sprinkles on it. Kids will love to help make these creepy treats.

And I just thought that I would share a couple of my spider photos.

This one was taken by my husband.

Halloween Swap Package from Spookycuddles

2011-10-24T12:07:00.000-04:00

My friend spookycuddles and I agreed a year ago that we would do a Halloween swap together this year. We both love Halloween a lot, and always decorate for it. Here is my swap package from her. I loved everything in it.

She sent me some wine bottle labels. I was really hoping to get some of her fun chenille stem items. She made a Halloween snowflake ornament and 6 Halloween candy canes out of them.

In the right hand picture above you can see two lollipops that she made sparkly chenille stem spiders for.

For the recycled item, she painted 3 thread cones to look like jack-o-lanterns and added fuzzy green thread to the top and bottom of them. So cute!

Here is my Jack Skeleton treat bag that she made. I can carry it on my wrist to Salem this year.

My little one loved the plastic pumpkin. He is using it to hold his marbles in.

I really wanted a set of holographic Halloween portraits. Spookycuddles titled them Grandma Ghoul and Grandpa Ghost. My youngest son loved them.

Check out this cool leaf mask that she made for me. I will be wearing this to Salem this weekend.

She also made me this cute felted tomb stone and crochet spider web ornaments.

This card was cute, and the witch is removable.

She even thought about my kids, and made them both a goody bag. I love the chenille stem twist ties. My youngest loves the plastic rings that were inside.

For the wearable item, she made me this fuzzy, sparkly scrunchie.

For the kitchen item she crochet this candy corn dish towel. It is hanging up in my kitchen right now.

I loved everything! I'm looking forward to our next swap together.

Halloween Swap Package from E.B.

2011-10-24T11:23:00.000-04:00

I received my 2nd swap package a week or two ago, but I haven't had the chance to blog about it until now. This package was part of the Halloween ornament swap. My partner made me a temari ornament, 3 blank cards, 1 card for me, a spider web with a spider ring, and 2 chocolate bars. The Peanuts Gang item above is an envelope. She used one of the Peanuts activity pages that I had sent her to make it. Very clever and cute. I love everything.

The temari rattles, because she made a rattle out of beads and two bottles caps and placed it inside. Plastic bags are also inside of it making it a very recycled item. She chose Halloween colors (secondary colors) for it. It is beautiful, and I have wanted one for a long time.

Halloween Kitchen Items

2011-10-21T18:41:00.000-04:00

I finished crocheting this Halloween hot pad set this week for myself. I was inspired by the colors of candy corn.

Here is the pattern for these hot pads.

These Halloween coasters were easy to make, and took only 1 day to crochet.

Yesterday I knitted this candy corn dishcloth. Here is the pattern for it.

Halloween Swap Package from LadyKatka

2011-10-18T19:46:00.000-04:00

Last week I received my first Halloween swap package in the mail. It was from LadyKatka in Canada. I loved everything.

For my trick or treat bag, I got this cool crochet eyeball bag. You know its cool when even my 12 year old, who doesn't show an interest in much, said "Whoa, that is awesome!" I've already used it as a project bag this month.

I took these for a spin today, since it was chilly at the park. She designed these cool spider Halloween gloves herself. I was really hoping for some fingerless gloves. Now I have something awesome to wear to Salem this year.

This is the decorative item, 4 squares that say BOO! I can either hang them up or use them as coasters. Then there is a little felt bat that will be added to my youngest son's felt board stories.

A little added bonus was this beaded spider. I'm going to have my jeweler friend help me turn it into a brooch. If you look at the first picture, you can see the front of the purple card. It had a cool drawing of a black tree.

The recycled item is these two painted tin cans that are tea light candle holders. The orange one has a jack-o-lantern punched out of it, and the Black one says BOO!

On one of the packages was this bow made from black and white pages of a magazine. I know that there are several different directions on how to make these on the internet (if anyone is interested).

She also send me some Kinder chocolate. You can't buy these in the states. I had heard about them, but I didn't really understand what they were until I opened it for myself. They are hollow chocolate eggs. Inside of the eggs are these yellow plastic containers. Inside the containers are surprises. Can you believe that this airplane fit inside of one of those plastic containers? The other one contained a small hour glass. We have yet to open the 3rd one. My kids loved them. I'm thinking of punching 2 holes in the top of the plastic containers, adding a jump ring and a key chain ring, and attaching it to my on-the-go crafting kit. It can hold something small in it, like stitch markers or buttons.

Thank you LadyKatka for everything!

Tuesday Tot Craft Time: Yertle the Turtle

2011-10-17T23:29:00.000-04:00

When we were at the smaller library in town, my librarian friend let the kids color these cute little turtles that you can fold and stack on top of one another. She said that they went along with the Dr. Seuss story Yertle the Turtle. So we check out that book and read it for bed time that night. Now we look at these little stacked turtles in a new way. My son had a great time coloring them and stacking them.

Phototastic Weekend

2011-10-16T17:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we went pumpkin picking at a local farm.

I had rained, so there were lots of puddles and mud.

Today my son's lego league went on a tour of a local dairy farm. It goes along with the theme of this year's robots / lego league.

Then during the lego league's break, they played hide and seek in the grave yard behind our church (where we meet).

One of the tombstones has a hole through it, which makes for fun photos.

Halloween Hot Pads: Orange

2011-10-15T10:15:00.000-04:00

I'm continuing to make Halloween colored hot pads this week.

Right now I'm working on the orange ones. Each one will have a different colored border. I am mainly using orange, yellow, and white cotton. However yesterday I bought some black and violet cotton, and I might add some green as well.

Fall Colors

2011-10-13T16:18:00.000-04:00

I got an itch recently to make this hot pad in candy corn colors for Halloween. I love the way it turned out.

I also made another chrysanthemum hot pad using the more neon yellow from the candy corn colors with the white cotton. I'm thinking of making a Halloween set, much like the patriotic set that I made earlier this year.

We were at the park yesterday when I saw this tree in all of it's Autumn glory.

And I couldn't resist taking a picture of these rings on the playground.

Halloween Swap Gifts for ElsieB

2011-10-12T17:53:00.000-04:00

The 2nd of my 3 Halloween ornament swap partners received her package from me recently. Inside was a witch's hat ornament, a wreath ornament, a cork witch, 2 toilet paper treat containers, a wooden Halloween magnet, some Peanuts Gang activity pages, 2 spider rings, a parachute black cat, a Halloween pencil, and a card. There was a last minute addition of a juice pouch notebook as well.

Here is the free pattern for this witch's hat ornament by Lion Brand.

This wreath ornament was made by crocheting around a plastic bottle ring.

The pattern for this ornament is:

- Chain 20 stitches.

- Take a plastic bottle ring and half double crochet around it.

- Join with a slip stitch.

- Triple crochet twice in every stitch around, and join with a slip stitch.

- Chain 15 to 20 stitches, and tie to the other chain length.

- Then just add accessories.

These cork witches were based off of this Korknisse pattern. I just modified the pattern slightly.

Here is my video tutorial on how to make these toilet paper tube treat containers. I put all of the smaller items in these containers.

I enjoyed making these items and I hope that ElsieB enjoys them.