Family Pictures

So I saw this idea on Pinterest and loved it. You get cheap wood plaques from Hobby Lobby ($1-$2), paint them and then mod podge your pictures onto them. It's a permanent but fun way to display your pictures. So I did it with my favorite pictures and I think they turned out so cute! 

I haven't hung them up yet so this is all I have to show for it. 

(oops...sideways)

I had a mix of small and big ones and I can't wait to hang them up

Coolest Cross Stitch Discovery!!

Ok, I'm going to rave for a minute- but have you seen this site?!?!   It's called Pic 2 Pat and thanks to a friendly ravelry member, I found it today and am instantly in LOVE! You all might think I'm crazy but I'm so excited about this. 

So here's the deal, you go to the site, upload the picture you want to do and then you pick the size you want, the embroidery floss brand you like, how big the stitches will be.....and then it prepares everything for you! After you choose which picture you like best that they come up with (they have about 10 different versions), you download it to your computer and you get the picture, the full chart (including all the symbols), the embroidery floss colors needed and how many skeins you need of each color! (this is especially good for me cause I'm really not good with picking colors.)  And the best part... it's FREE! 

This is the one I did as a demo (I'm not really going to stitch it up) but think of the possibilities!

ok, I'm done now, but I'm really excited about it :)

Owl Hat

Yes, I caught on to the craze. These are just so darn cute!!! I found a really cute free pattern on Ravelry. Hers is much cuter than mine, but I still like it

Crochet-top Dishtowels

Hi all! LONG time, no post. I have been crafting, but have also been incredibly lazy at documenting said crafting. Trying to be better. 

Annette bequeathed me two darling dishtowels, one of this embroidered owl in a tea pot (don't ask me what he was doing there...) and a cute little Mexican girl wearing an over-sized sombrero doing the wash. I found a breezy tutorial on crochet top dishtowels, Pinned it and voila! I used left over cotton yarn and a button I had around. Took me 20 minutes, not including the pesky hemstitching I had to do to the top, by hand. >:-/ Wish I had a hemstitching machine. I love this style because you can hang it up on your oven door handle and you won't have dishtowels falling to the ground every time you dry your hands. Can't wait to start the other dishtowel!

Sorry for the poor quality, camera phone.

I'm proud

I finally finished a project I've been working on since December about a month ago, but just getting around to working on it.  And since my playroom is actually clean at this very moment, I decided to take a picture and post.

As part of my work with Lucy, I was helping to stage a home she was trying to sell.  The owner wanted to get rid of this really tall bookshelf  I told her I would take it, since I always have books that need shelves :) 

Once I got it home, I decided I wanted to use it in my playroom, but thought it would be silly to have a bookshelf that the kiddo couldn't reach most of the things.  So I lay it down on it's side.  I used the anchor shelves and drilled holes using Jared's Dremmel tool.  As you can see in this picture, I used a T-square and level to draw a straight line, then tried to drill in the middle of the line.  

 I'm pretty happy with it, and it hold most of Paul's toys.

P.S. The black and purple toy holders are from IKEA.  The purple were four for 2 or 3 dollars, and the black ones from 2 a piece, I think.  

Afton's Afghan

---Revised---
Jan. 8 2013

I made a video tutorial and posted it on Youtube here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7FIHaz9cvw&feature=youtu.be

It's my first video tutorial so be patient :)

----Revised----
Aug 28 2012


This is the Blanket Grandma Turner (Tyson's Grandma) made for Afton when she was born. Since then I have been trying to figure out the patter because it's so amazing!

Yes, it would have been easier to just ask for the pattern but it was fun trying to figure it out on my own.

Well, I finally did it so I thought I would share because it really is one of the neatest patterns I have ever seen. It gives the afghan a 3D look and I love it.

So I kind of came up with a pattern but it was kind of hard to explain so I decided to do a picture tutorial. (also, I always wanted to try a picture tutorial) It's not the best but here it goes.

This is the actual pattern I came up with:


Here's the revised version to try and make it easier to follow

Grandma's 3D Baby Afghan

Hook Size H

Lion Brand Pound of Love: pastel Pink

Row 1: Using this technique of a no chain foundation, 122 dc. Turn

Row 2: ch 3 (does NOT count as dc), 3 dc in next dc. (ch3, sk next 2 dc, 3 dc in next dc) 40 times. DC in last dc. Turn

Row 3: ch 3, 3 Bpdc in the first dc of 3 dc set. ch 3 [working behind the ch 3 of previous round, 3 Bpdc in 1st dc of 3 dc set, ch 3) 38 times. 3 bpdc in 1st dc of last 3 dc set. Dc in last turning ch of previous row. Turn

Repeat row three until desired length

Last row: ch 3, (dc in next 3 dc, dc in ch 3 sp ) repeat to the end of the row. Dc in last turning ch. fasten off and weave in ends.

Photo Tutorial:

Starting on Row 3-

Ch 3. Yarn over,

Going behind the ch 3 of previous row

bpdc in the first dc of next 3 dc set

(Going around the front of the stitch)

(Yarn over, pull through, finish dc)

When making the next bpdc in the set of 3, do it the same way but make sure the second one goes on top of the first one, not beneath it. (which mean you may need to pull down the 1st st in order to get the second one on top of it) So the three stack on top of each other. You'll get a totally different look if you do the dc under the previous one.

Here's what it looks like when you just finish the 3 bpdc

This is what the back side looks like

ch 3 and repeat till the end. Then dc in last st (it's the turning ch 3 from the previous row)

This is what the edging looks like

And here's a few rows done

Wow that was not an awesome attempt to explain that but I hope it helped even a little. I love this blanket and I think I'm gong to make lots. It goes pretty fast too.

Basketweave Earwarmer

This is What I made for Lex for Christmas.

I couldn't find a free pattern so I mad one up and posted it on Ravelry. (I love Ravelry).