I love crocheting!

I told someone the other day I was a yarn artist. She asked what that meant and I said it means I can pretty much make anything out of yarn...and it is so true!! I love how versatile yarn is! And there are so many different sizes, textures, colors, fibers...it truly is an artists dream of variety.

That being said, I made Chewbacca tonight. Out of yarn. I did not create this but I did follow a pattern and was able to make it. He look so cute!! It amazes me what people come up with! There are so many VERY talented people out there. Thank you for sharing your talents so I could make this super cute gift!!

Rainbows and Unicorns!!

I am pretty much obsessed with making things for my children. Well I would be worried if I didn't want them to look super cute with mommy-made stuff!! So I had to make this super cute Unicorn hat from yet again, Repeat Crafter me. I just love that site and everything she makes!! I am also so very much in love with the way it turned out! It was supposed to have a row of pink on the bottom but Lily liked it without the pink so we just did the other rainbow colors. She is in love with it too and is again convinced I should mass produce them for all her friends at school....not sure what we are going to do about that :) Oh well. Here's some pictures of my little Unicorn!

Hello Abigail!

There is a little girl at our bus stop who is the daughter of a single mom and an older sister to a 3 year old boy. She is in kindergarten and absolutely adorable! She also LOVES Hello Kitty. She has Hello Kitty paraphernalia all over everything and is always wearing clothes with Hello Kitty on it. Now that it is getting colder, especially in the mornings, she does not have a hat. I asked her if she had a Hello Kitty hat and she told me no. So, I decided to make her one. She didn't know anything about it and when my husband gave it to her this morning, she jumped up and down with excitement!! I am so pleased that I could share my talents with her to make her happy. Her mother is such a sweet person and works so hard, it really is the least I could do for their little family. :)

 I will hopefully get a picture of her in her new hat soon. Until then, Gwenna was happy to model it!!

A flock of owls?

This morning we decided to get up and get crafty! We made a flock of owls...is that a thing? Little pinecone owl ornaments from Sara of Repeat Crafter Me and we just LOVE them! They are super cute!! 

We have a family ornament exchange every year and I love making mine. I usually do a yarn-artsy kind of ornament but decided to expand my horizons and do something different this year! I think they turned out so cute and it makes me really excited to give them to my sisters this year! 

Later today we went to storytime with a friend at the local library and did another craft. We made cute little bats with movable wings made of paper and string. Gwenna had a blast even though she plays shy and refuses to participate. 

Then we did some goodwill shopping with friends for stuff to make halloween costumes out of. We grabbed a handful of things that we will hopefully make into some costumes including a round tablecloth (twirly skirt), poofy sweater dress (princess dress top) and black sweatpants with a black turtleneck (ninja outfit). We will see how they come together!! 

Later this afternoon we made a crown for Gwenna's princess dress and she couldn't be more thrilled!! She was so excited to help make it and she is so very proud of her new crown! We got the idea of making a crown from Repeat Crafter Me but ours is much more covered with glamour! :) 

It even has a big "G" on the front. She wanted to even wear it to bed. Lets see what else we can get done tomorrow!!

Rockin!!

I have been finishing up several projects started a LONG time ago...mostly just mocking me from the UFO bin in my room...taunting me that they were left unfinished...I hate that...

SO, I decided to be proactive and get them done!! I like to do a small project to get me "in the mood" to craft so I whipped up a pair of lace undies for my daughters American Doll! Quick knit and turned out a bit baggy but otherwise very cute!

My daughters almost entirely homemade doll :) the dress, bag, hat and undies are all homemade.



I also finally finished up a really nice dress for a friend of mines daughter. It is absolutely adorable!! I don't know if I would ever make it again as the way it is constructed is tedious and painstaking. I was happy to make it for her and I am 100% sure her daughter is going to look amazing in it! Here is a snapshot of it...

Overall I think it is a beautiful creation and I am proud to say I have made it! :) Special thanks to my sister Sarah from Bruington Photography for the amazing pictures!!

Lastly, I was talking with my older 2 children who are in elementary school last night and how today was wear your favorite rock shirt or band shirt to school. Well neither of my children have any shirts with band insignia or titles on them so I decided after seeing a super cute hat with a guitar on it on a blog yesterday, I was going to make it for my son so he would have a rockin' hat to wear!

Thanks Sara of RepeatCrafterMe for the awesome pattern!! He loves it and it looks so cute on him!!

Now to go finish up some other things :) Have a great day!!

A full day

This morning we attended the 3-mile event Mmmove and had a blast! The kids ran, walked, strolled, rode and slept and we had a wonderful time. It was exhausting but a lot of fun. We also spent the afternoon hanging around Roanoke, VA at several places. I didn't realize how sore my feet were until I sat down! So glad to be home!

I received a message from a long time friend this morning and it really reminded me of just what is important, but yet so fleeting. Time. Almost any parent will tell you in regards to your children, they grow up so fast! And that is completely and absolutely correct. It seems like 20 years is a long time, but really it's not that long. Time marches on relentlessly and although I crave ME-time, I am finding myself craving quality time more. And not because I want to torture my children or my sweet husband, but because I know that if I do not seize the opportunity now to spend that quality time with my children, I will choose to waste those moments and I want memories, not regrets.

SO, I have devised a plan of action!! (I am all about making lists and planning...not so great on the follow through but great at the planning and listing!) This summer, during our electronics fast, I will make certain that I am spending at least some time every day (not specific allotted amounts, just time in general) with each of my children individually. Baby is easy since I nurse him still. He gets the most 1 on 1 attention from me everyday. I have beefed up our craft box so we have lots to do when I hear the inevitable, I'm bored!! There's nothing to do!! I can simply direct them to the craft box or the activity shelves and they can select something. Or they can read. Reading is great! We are also planning weekly trips to the library!! Not for story time or anything like that but to check out books since ours are 'so boring!' We are already going out for a walk/run/jog almost daily. It's healthy and good to get outside and helps them see we are not couch potatoes either! I just hope things go smoothly this summer. I am sure there will be snags, bumps, hiccups and issues along the way but overall I think the kids will be happier for it and our family will be better off because of it.

p.s.-we also have outside stuff to do so I'm bored will just not wash!! (and if they think it should, they can wash the dishes or the clothes) :)

MIA but not AWOL

I have been offline for a while with my blog and business but I have not been idle. I have lived and breathed homeschool getting our kids finished up for the year and boy does it feel good to be done!!! That being said, I decided to start off this summer with a bang and we are all walking/running in a 3 mile event this morning, which I am actually a sponsor in with my business! My brother Stephen created an event and he needed things to give out to everyone that participates. Well, I kept having ideas of things made of metal that were personalized after I got an awesome personalized necklace for Mother's Day. SO, what do I do? I decided to try my hand at metal stamping! It went ok at first and I definitely got better as I went along. I made 130 metal stamped necklaces to give out! That is a LOT more work than I thought it was going to be. Some did not turn out as awesome as others but they all look pretty good for something free. I also either put my card stapled to it or a sticker with my logo and business name on it. I had some help from my kiddos and they had a lot of fun afterward with the extras making up things of their own. Overall a success? Yes! Will I be doing a lot of metal stamping from now on? Probably not. I will offer it as an option in my store because I think the idea is awesome but there is a lot of other people out there who offer so much more variety and options that I can offer. Here's some shots from the venture...

My proud little happy helper! :)

My husband Allen is also donating 2 shaker cups with packets of shakeology from his business so we are anxious to network with local people!