The Cake

I found this rainbow cake in a magazine and I loved it.  I thought it would be so much fun for Celeste's birthday.  I made the cakes about a week in advance and then froze them.  I frosted them all on her birthday.  When you cut the cake it looked so awesome!

This is the first time I have ever done anything more fancy than just frosting a cake in a pan. I was really proud of how cool it turned out.

Getting Crafty

When Grant turned one I tried to make his birthday special. I wanted to do the same for Celeste.  A first birthday is more for the family and parents than the child.  The one year old doesn't have a clue what is going on.  I knew that would be the case and so I wanted to make/do something for her she would like.  

I decided to make a rainbow tutu.  Long story about how I came to this idea, but I thought it would be fun.  I watched a you tube video on how to make a tulle tutu.  I was lucky because tulle was on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off!  

It was easy to make.  I cut wrapped tulle around this box that was exactly 15 inches!  Just the size I needed.  I then cut the tulle into strips.  Then you just take the tulle and tie it into a crocheted head band.  It is super easy and just wait until you see how it turns out!

Christmas Wreath

I love crafts.  Anything crafty.  One of my favorites though is making floral arrangements and especially wreaths.  I was a little sad when Kyle told me he threw out my old Christmas wreath.  But, not so sad when I found out it was covered in mouse poo.  I got all excited to make myself a new one!  I decided to do a more winter theme wreath so I can keep it up all winter.  I think it looks awesome on my big red door.

(I will ever be grateful to Shayla for teaching me how to make such awesome bows.)

A Thanksgiving Craft

I made this "thanks" banner at a Relief Society activity.  I actually added brown binding to the edges of the flags because I didn't like the raw edges.  The funny thing about this banner is I actually made the banner at home.  I went to the Relief Society night to socialize.  I ended up helping a few sisters who had never sewn anything before.  I spent two hours helping and visiting.  It was wonderful.  I came home and whipped this banner up in less than an hour.  I love how it turned out. 

Hand Towel Bibs

Celeste started eating cereal and baby food about two months ago.  I pulled out my old bibs and they were nasty.  I needed new ones.  I decided to make some awesome hand towel bibs.

When Grant was a baby my Aunt Carol made some bibs out of hand towels.  They were some of my favorite bibs.  My mom and I have since perfected the art of hand towel bibs.  We made three major changes.  One, we added sleeves; two, we made the bibs longer; and third, we added ribbons instead of velcro.

It is really to make a hand towel bib.  You need a hand towel, some ribbon, and ribbed knitted fabric.

1. On one side of the bib you are going to cut a 6 inches into the towel.  Then make a "t" by cutting 1.5 inches on either side of the cut.  This will make the sleeves and neck.  If you have a chubby necked baby you may want to go a little bit bigger than 1.5 inches.  

2.  Fold over the rough edges and sew together.  Leave the neck open. We will sew that next.  I recommend using a zig zag stitch, a surger, or sew over twice.  The terry cloth of the towel has the tendency to fray. 

3.  You are going to take a 10 inch strip of ribbed knit.  The strip will be 2 inches wide and the ribbing run parallel to the 2 inch sides so that the neck will look like a t-shirt neck.  I used an iron on stabilizer because the knit is stretchy and I don't want it to move when I sew it.

4.  Fold the knit in half and pin on to the towel.  Rough edges together.  Use a lot of pins especially around the corners.

5.  Once you have the neck and back edges sewn together fold so the neck is at top.  You are now going to make a small one inch seem on the outside edges to make arm holes.  

6.  You are going to pin 8-10 inches of ribbon on each side of the neck.  I like my ribbons a little longer because I think it is easier to tie.  I also like thiner ribbon verses thick ribbon.

The first bib took me about 40 minutes to make.  Then I decided to make a whole bunch more and I made about 5 bibs in an hour.

Cupcake bib

Owl bib

Pink stripe

Frog bib

Monkey bib

I watch for Target or Wal Mart to have hand towels on clearance.   They often change their coordinated bathroom sets and will have towels for cheap. I didn't spend more than 4 dollars on any of the bibs.  I like the thicker terry cloth because it is more absorbent and washes up better.  

Little Boy's Tie

Little boy Sunday clothes can be hard to find...check that...CUTE little boy clothes are hard to find.  Than if you have a little boy that won't wear clothes with buttons it is a serious issue.

I have always kept my eyes pealed for cute Sunday clothes for Grant.  At Christmas and Easter I usually have the best luck.  This past Christmas I found some cute boy ties.  Well, the first time Grant wore one of the cute ties he pulled really hard on it and basically ruined it.  It ticked me off since these ties aren't cheap.

Since, I started looking for little boy ties that don't have clips.  Well, they don't exist.  I wanted "real" ties so that a certain little boy couldn't pull on them and ruin the knots.  As I was looking I found a pattern to make a tie.  It didn't look too terribly hard and so I gave it a try.

I included this picture because I love his smile!

We went to the fabric store and picked out some cute fabric.  Grant picked out these sharks!  I also made a plain green one because Grant's favorite color is green.  

The pattern was pretty easy.  The trickiest part was hand sewing basically the whole thing.  It would have  been a lot easier and faster if I could have used my sewing machine.  The problem is you don't want the stitching to show threw the front of the tie. 

I will probably be making more of these.  If I do it again I will pick a slightly different pattern.  A smaller pattern will work out a little better. 

If you would like the pattern you can find it for free here: 

http://purlbee.squarespace.com/little-boys-tie/

Yarn Projects

I made this crochet hat and cocoon for a friend who had a little boy.  The hat was a little hard because I used stretchy yarn.  I love the colors!

This cocoon I made by loom knitting.  I love the looks of a knitted stitch but loom knitting is so boring.  I would stop and measure the cocoon about every other row to see how much farther I had to go. I actually used two yarns together.  The baby yarn I bought was to thin to use by itself and the cocoon wasn't holding shape.  By combining the two colors it turned out much better.

Santa Hat

I found this pattern a while ago and thought it was SO cute!  I am proud of myself for getting the hat made BEFORE the holidays.  I actually made this hat as a photo prop for my sister-in-law.  Before I gave it to her I had to see if it was cute or not.  I think my nephew makes the hat even more adorable!

This one is my favorite!

Blowing kisses for his Auntie!

Christmas Stocking

Bragging time!  I made this Christmas stocking for my nephew.  I didn't have a pattern, but I wish I would've so I could make some more.  I used glitter white yarn to add a little sparkle.  The 2011 is written in sequins.  I thought it turned out so cute.  The best part?  I whipped this up in about a day and a half.  Start to finish!  That includes having to redo part of it because I didn't like the shape.  

I want to try making another one because it was pretty fun.

Flower Hat

I knitted these matching hats on a loom.  I then crocheted the flowers for the hats.  My niece LOVED her hat.  George loved his hat too!

Cars Blanket

Grant loved the Cars 2 movie before he even saw it.  I found this super cute Cars 2 fleece and decided to whip him up a blanket.  I got some blanket binding and sewed it around the edges.  Blanket binding is so easy!  It only took about an hour to make the whole blanket.   It is a little pricey to buy the binding pre-made, but with a good coupon at Joann's I consider it reasonable. 

Crochet Cocoon

I made this cocoon for my nephew.  I made this cocoon using a knitting loom.  It was pretty easy to make.  I wish I would have done a different color.

Crochet Project

I taught myself to crochet about a year ago.  It was kind of a whim.  I looked up some "how to" videos on youtube to learn.  I watched a few videos and wa-lah!  

This is actually my second afghan I have  done.  I didn't get pictures of the first one because I finished it about 2 minutes before the baby shower.

This afghan was a lot of fun. It was fun to do the waves.  The only thing I didn't like about this afghan was the yarn.  The orange was thicker than the green or blue.  It made the whole thing go a little lumpy.  I don't know why it was the case.  I bought the same brand of yarn for each color.  Oh, well.  I still think it is pretty cute.

The Latest Craft Project

I got this idea from a home decor magazine. I put my own spin on it and sha-bam! It is very easy to make and it didn't take very long at all. Now I can find all of my necklaces and they are easy to get to.

My Latest Creations

I have managed to do a little bit of digital scrapbooking. I think it has helped my sanity. I thought I would share some of my favorite pages.