Making a Mobile

This mobile, from the Hingmade Etsy Store, is SO cute (as are all of her other items), but I am super cheap, and $100 for something my baby could get nightmares from (I haven't met the baby yet, who knows what she'll like!) is just way too much for me to pay.

  

So... I am going to make one myself!  We got this rocker chair for the baby (thanks Mom and Dad), that I absolutely love and I am going to be using that for my inspiration. 

The basic supplies I gathered were felt, ribbon, fiberfill, a couple dowels, glue and some wooden balls.  I also found a music button to put in, it plays Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - so cute!!

I free-hand cut out all of the animals/characters from the felt, making sure to make a front and a back side to the character. 

All my little guys done and ready to be sewn and stuffed!

And finally (with a little help from hubby) the finished product (disclaimer, these are not the best pictures, but I think you get the idea):

Hand Painted Onesies

I have had onesie ideas in the works since I found out I was pregnant, and so today I decided to try out making my own hand painted onesies.  I followed the steps on Lavender's Blue Blog and they were pretty easy!  Don't get me wrong, they take some time and planning - you need to work on stencils of some sort and also prewash your onesies.

Supplies I used:

In Process:

Finished Products:

I'll admit I need a bit more work on some things, like making sure my freezer paper edges are FULLY ironed down, but I would say for a first shot I did pretty well!  Also I am happy to say that all designs are my own creations/drawings and shouldn't be copied. :)

Now I'm not sure if we're having a boy or a girl, so these are as gender neutral as I could make them... but I plan on adding them to my Etsy store (I swear it's coming, working on my sellers permit now!), so gender doesn't really matter too much!

No Pattern Knitting

Finished case

I am fairly new to knitting, so making something without a pattern, was for me, crazy...  But I did it!  I made this basket weave pattern Kindle cover for my Mom's Christmas present.  I think it turned out really well!

I was inspired by a scarf my mom has in the same pattern (basically alternating squares of knit and purl), and used that to create this.  This is the cover before I sewed the side seams together and added the button:

I have a few more no-pattern projects in mind (aside from my cable cowl, which I already came up with using a picture), hopefully they turn out just as well as this one did!

Amigur... What?!

Lets talk about amigurumi... if you haven't heard of these sweet little crocheted animals/dolls/toys, you are missing out!  They are adorable and fairly easy to make if you can crochet in the round.  (Note, you can also knit amigurumi, but I am not at that stage in my knitting career yet.)  One of the very first crochet projects I made was this elephant for my mom... He's rather cute, if I say so myself!

Since then, I've made turtles, rats, and most recently, a unicorn.  These are among dozens of other projects, mostly for my many cousins' babies.

 

There are several great amigurumi pattern books out there, but a few of my favorites are by Ana Paula Rimoli, you can check out her designs, many of which are featured in her books, at her Etsy store. 


One of the great things about these kinds of projects, is that once you know the basics, you can use your imagination and go for it.  The giraffe and turtle below were done without patterns, but were inspired by various pictures I found on Google.  If you are ready to start crocheting, this might just be a great place to get started... after all, all you need is sc!

Pintrest, Ravelry, and Etsy... Oh My!!

So if you haven't heard of these amazing websites, I'm obsessed, and you should check them out.  Not a day goes by that I don't spend at least a little quality time on Pintrest; where just a few minutes of surfing can lead to tons of ideas for crafts, food, vacations and practically anything else you can think of.  Only problem is... it's a bit addicting!  And the best part is, once you pin something, you can find it forever.  No more bookmarking in my browser, pinning s where its at!

Ravelry, on the other hand, not so addicting, but very helpful!  The site has literally thousands upon thousands of patterns for knit or crochet and searching the site is easy.  Or you can browse... want a cowl? A scarf? An adorable little baby jacket?  They have the pattern for you.  Not all of them are free, but because I am cheap, I know that most of them are, and that comes in handy when you want to create a project for just the cost of yarn.

Finally, Etsy.  This little gem is a shopper's paradise (and also great for getting the crafty ideas flowing).  You can buy almost anything here, from Harry Potter macbook decals (I love mine, thank you very much), to felt pincushions, to caffeine molecule earrings (A great gift for any coffee-dependent chemist you may know), to beautiful knits.  They really have it all...

For any crafter, or wanna-be crafter, these sites offer a great place to get ideas, find neat stuff on the web, or just waste a couple hours.  Try them, just just may get hooked!

Bootie Time!

It's a girl!!

Quite a few people I know are having a baby soon (or trying really hard to be having a baby soon), and that means that I needed to find a good baby pattern or project that works up fairly quickly and is cute.  My recent go-to baby gift for my cousins has been amigurumi, but they are really just too time consuming for everyone to get one!

What I stumbled across instead was this adorable bootie pattern from Crochet Dreamz.  I worked it up a couple times following the pattern, but then I started to get creative and added my own touch to the finishing of the booties.  I think either way they turned out really cute and worked up in a few hours, so an easy gift overall.

I hope the people who get them love them as much as I do! :)  

Little man loafers...

For twin girls

The Four-Year V-Stitch Blanket

About four years ago, for Christmas, I made my mom and mother-in-law these nice little v-stitch throws. I also made one for my cousin's baby who came along about a year after that... the whole time I was also working on one for myself, compliments of this Lion Brand yarn pattern. Well, after working a row here, and a row there (for FOUR years!), today is the day I will finish my blanket! I found this great crab stitch tutorial that I decided to use for the edging, and now, just need to weave in my ends. So, even though it took four years to finally get it finished, I will be cozy all winter long now!

Ready to get cozy!

Crab Stitch Border