Flower hat

This is the first hat out of all the hats I've been making lately that I made for and decided to keep for myself. I followed this pattern but changed it a little bit. 

This is how it was supposed to look.

But this is how I ended up making it.

Instead of making it into the "cloche" style, I shortened it and made it into a beanie. It just didn't work right with it long and folded, so I added a round of single crochet around the bottom to make a smooth edge and finish it off. 

The pattern was really neat, it used a special stitch that I actually had to watch a video of to figure out how to do it. It was supposed to be somewhat of a flower pattern. Once I got the hang of it it was easy to do, and really turned out pretty.

I've already worn it a few times, kept me warm and somewhat dry at Zoolights a few weeks ago.

Mom's birthstone necklace

I spent a lot of time on Etsy awhile ago trying to find the perfect necklace featuring the girls' birthstones. I finally narrowed it down to one that I ended up buying, but I was not really happy with it. I actually ended up buying a couple different things, and wasn't very impressed. I could have made better versions of the items I got, for much cheaper than what I paid. Oh well, live and learn I guess. 

The birthstone necklace I purchased had a pendent with two birds on it, with the girls' two birthstones hanging in front of the pendent. It just didn't look right, so I ended up taking it apart and making two different necklaces. The bird pendent I put on its own chain, and wear it plain. 

I put the two birthstone beads on a new necklace, and added a couple charms I got from Joanns.

I've always liked keys for some reason, and they're all over the place now, thanks to the steampunk craze that seems to be going around. And I really wanted the "mom" charm, but they were out, so I decided to just use "daughter." I'm a daughter, and I have daughters, so I figured it worked. 

Madelyn's birthstone is the topaz, and Audrey's is the amethyst.  

After a lot of rearranging, I'm finally happy with how it turned out. It's a fun necklace to wear with meaning behind it, I wear it all the time. Just goes to show, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself :)

Borax snowflakes, swirlies, letters, snowman, the possibilities are endless!

A friend of mine had a bunch of crystal snowflakes on her tree that I really liked. After asking her and looking up on pinterest, I found out they were made using Borax!! So after a trip to the grocery store, I went a little crazy. These things are so addicting!

After looking up a few different recipes, this is what I ended up doing.

Materials

Pipe cleaners of various colors

Borax

Water

A glass container of some sort

String

Pencil

Directions

1. Use pipe cleaners of various colors to make different shapes you would like to be turned into crystals. This is the fun and creative part. Snowflakes are a good place to start. I really liked the look of using colored pipe cleaners, they turned out prettier than the white pipe cleaners, I thought.

2. Boil (or as close to boiling as you can get) water. Pour into the glass containers. Add a few tablespoons of borax to the container, stir until it all dissolves. The amount of borax you add varies and doesn't really matter. I ended up re-using the solution several times, just adding a little more borax each time, so it was nowhere near an exact amount. Just add some till you think it's good and make sure it dissolves.

3. Tie string to your shapes and suspend in water, looping the string on a pencil to straddle the top of the glass.

4. Let sit undisturbed for 8-10 hours.

5. Pull out and let dry overnight.

6. Enjoy the awesomeness of your beautiful crystals!!

7. Repeat. Many, many times repeat. To re-use the solution, put the glass container in the microwave and heat until the formed crystals in the glass all dissolve again, heating in 2 minute intervals and stirring after each time. I usually added a few more tablespoons of borax each time, too.

This is the set-up I used to make all the ornaments.

Then here's how they all turned out!

A white snowflake.

A red crystal swirly. 

A red snowflake.

An A and an M for Madelyn and Audrey.

They look so pretty hanging on the tree with the lights shining behind and through them.

This is where I got creative. I really liked how the snowman turned out. I only bought red and white pipe cleaners, but with more colors you could make even more shapes.

I finally stopped making these, but I had the whole system going for about 4 days straight. So much fun!

"Bonita" hat

This hat I gave to a friend for a baby shower, actually the same friend that I gave the little bear hat to. 

I tried taking pictures of Madelyn modeling it, but they turned out blurry and I already gave away the hat, so this is the only picture I got.

I used this pattern. It's kind of a beret style hat, not quite what I expected when I originally started the pattern, but it was cute.

Kitty hat

This hat was inspired by a hat I saw on a random little girl a couple weeks ago. I was admiring the hat, thinking it would be cute for Madelyn, so my mission became finding a similar pattern to make my own version.

I had pinned this pattern a while back, but I wanted to make a generic kitty hat, not necessarily a Hello Kitty version. Out of all the commercialized characters, Hello Kitty is one I actually like and don't mind Madelyn having things with the character on it, maybe it stems from my liking it when I was a kid.

Here is the pattern as it was supposed to be...

and here's how I changed it.

I chose to use brown instead of white, and didn't end up putting the face features on the hat. I wanted Madelyn to be the kitty, rather than a kitty plastered on her head.... 

as seen below.

 Isn't she a cute kitty?

All-in-all a fun project, and a great pattern to follow. I ended up making the ear flaps a little more off-centered than the pattern required, just to make them cover more of her ears instead of her face. 

Little bear newborn hat

This little hat was a quick project. I made it for a friend's new baby boy. It was fun to look up a boy hat pattern, since all I've made so far are hats for girls :)

I originally intended to make the hat into a monkey hat, as per the pattern found here. However, once I finished it and made the ears, I thought they looked cuter on the top, making a little bear hat instead of a monkey hat. 

This hat was so little it would not fit on Audrey's hat to model it, so Madelyn's baby had to step in to do the job. 

Hats, hats, hats...

I've been in the hat making mood lately. They are so quick and easy to make, and there are so many cute patterns available, they are kind of addicting :)

I made the two hats in this post for my mother-in-law. I liked them so much I wanted to keep them for myself, they really turned out great. 

The first one was made from this pattern. It consists of a "cloche" style hat with a wide brim and a large, multi-colored flower. I used two strands of a worsted weight yarn instead of sport weight like the pattern called for, and used a size L crochet hook in order to reach the correct gauge.

I attached the flower with safety pins so it can be removed or switched for a different colored flower.

It's SO HARD to take good, attractive pictures of a hat (and yourself) without help. This is the best I could come up with. I got tired of trying to look "good" so I just started making weird faces.

I almost like them better :)

The second hat I made from this pattern. The pattern is called "Elegant Hat'." I REALLY liked this one, and actually tried making one for myself, but the color of yarn I used the second time was awful, and it ended up being too small, so I gave it to Madelyn. It looks pretty cute on her. 

This hat has a band that was made using reverse single crochet, something I haven't tried before, with a bow attached to the band. 

Here's another "pretty" picture.

This is a good look for me :)

Julie the jellyfish

  I recently bought this crochet book

from Joann's. I've been having a lot of fun with it, there's a ton of cute and easy patterns. I would like to make every animal, but since I couldn't pick which one to make first, I had Madelyn look through the book and pick whichever one she would like me to make. I ended up making her a narwhal, which created a discussion and learning opportunity (for her AND me) about what a narwhal is and that they are, in fact, a real animal, not just a pretend, made-up animal like I thought they were (yes, I admit it). When I was taking pictures today of recent projects I've made, I couldn't find the narwhal, he must be hiding somewhere in Madelyn's room, so I don't have a post for him yet. 

However, after making Ned the Narwhal (yes, I named them), I made him a friend.

Meet Julie.

She likes to lounge around while waiting for Ned to get done traversing the Arctic Ocean looking for food.

Don't let that cute grin fool you, her tentacles can pack a punch!

Once I find Ned I'll make a post for him, too.

Madelyn's birthday cupcakes

With Madelyn's birthday always landing right around Thanksgiving, I wanted to make her something "fall" or "Thanksgiving" themed. She's been obsessed with cupcakes, and since I just recently got this cupcake cookbook...

I promised her I would make her some cupcakes. I made two different recipes: the Golden Vanilla Cupcake with an addition of a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, and the Gingerbread Cupcake. I topped them with Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting.They both turned out delicious, the Gingerbread one was amazing, definitely my favorite. 

After baking, cooling, and frosting, I wanted a cute way to decorate them. I searched Pinterest and finally found this tutorial for how to make little pumpkin pie cupcake toppers out of fondant. 

Success!!

I couldn't get over how cute they were!! My mom and I had fun making them while the girls napped, it was kind of like playing with playdough. I got the recipe for the fondant here, it was VERY MESSY to make, but turned out pretty good. I had to use lots of shortening to keep things unsticky and moist, but it worked better than the last time I used fondant making Madelyn's first birthday cake, which kind of turned into a cake wreck. 

Madelyn was pretty excited to see them after they were made and all the kids had fun eating them at her birthday party. She really liked her "pumpkin pie cupcakes" or "cupcake pumpkin pies." She couldn't decide which one they were :)

An afghan for our living room

Finally got around to making an afghan to go in our living room. This is actually the second full-sized afghan I've made. I made one for my sister but forgot to take a picture of it (but still need to). 

The pattern came out of the book (pictured below) that I got as a Christmas gift from my mom last year.

I made the pattern called "Light and Airy Afghan".

I really like how it turned out. It has lots of detail and matches with the red and orange colors of our living room. 

The edging on the afghan was really fun.

This turned out to be a pretty good-sized afghan, the finished size was 47" x 65". The perfect size to cuddle up on the couch with.

I'll end with a close-up of the stitches. It was a fun and easy project!

A new hat for Madelyn

Okay, it's been forever since I've updated this, but I guess that's just what happens when you have two kids. Audrey is now getting to the point where she's less needy (at least most of the time, except when she's screaming) but I now have a chance to start making things again. I've been crocheting again while the girls nap, and have been able to do a few other craft projects. It's so relaxing and rewarding to be able to spend some time on my favorite hobby again.

The weather has started to get cooler, and after going through Madelyn's hats, I realized she didn't really have any cute ones, just some that I had made on a Knifty Knitter that didn't fit very well, and some random ones she had been given as gifts. How could this be? So I got right to work making her one. I first made one according to the pattern on this Ravelry page, but alas, I crochet too tightly, and it was too small. I ended up giving it to a friend's little girl, although it looked SO CUTE on Audrey, but she instantly ripped it off-- no cute hats for Audrey this winter I guess. I tried a second time using a bigger needle and adding a few more stitches in the rounds to make it bigger. And it fit!! Yay!!

So, without further ado... here is the hat I made for her.

I got the flower pattern from here, it was pretty simple and fun to make.

I'm very happy with how it turned out, and also excited that she wears it. She likes to wear hats now, which just means I can have more fun making her ones to wear!! 

Kitty

This little kitty just might be the cutest thing I've ever made. It was for our other friends soon-to-arrive little girl, Madison Faith. I used this pattern for the kitty, and this pattern for the little flower. I had a lot of fun taking pictures of this one...

 I like her little smile :)