Losing Your Handiwork

Losing a hand-made for yourself item is a special kind of hurt among crafters. When I was pregnant with my fourth child, I was in New York, went to the yarn shop Stitches and bought this beautiful cotton yarn and made a special yellow, green and white blanket and hat. And months later, somehow, in the jumble of corralling 3 little people and an infant out of church, I left the blanket behind. And never saw it again.

Fast forward to a couple years ago, I had bought this beautiful - I mean beautiful! - green silky yarn and crocheted this intricate, wavy, fan stitch shawl that truly was the envy of many people. It was perfectly light and lady-like and not at all old-lady-shawl-ish.  Then last summer, I was at a conference, and somehow, somewhere, it was separated from me. I still maintain that someone picked it up because otherwise, it would've been somewhere in the vicinity of where I may have left it. Like my daughter's baby blanket, it couldn't have just vanished, right?

And it's not so simple as "oh, just make another one."  Nope.  Primarily because I'm so mad that I lost the piece in the first place, I don't even want to think about it. Then I delude myself into thinking that no, I didn't actually lose it as in never to be found, it's just misplaced, and someone will turn it in to Lost & Found or it fell to the bottom of my closet.  If I just wait and then look later, slowly, it'll ta-da be there.  Note - this method has not worked yet.

Maybe it's a part of life, this losing things. Maybe it's my own frazzled-ness of not keeping track of my stuff.  Maybe it's an unfriendly crochet-stalker that's coming after my yarn. Whatever it is. Losing the work I've put so much time (and money) into is hard.

Let me know in the Comments - Have you lost - or found - a special handmade work?

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#WIP - #DIY Decorated Clipboards

If you've read a little bit here, you may have picked up that in some ways, I'm still an old-school paper type of gal.  You know, with the paper planner and all.  So, I still find I need to write stuff down on real paper and I hold it all together on a  good old-fashioned clipboard.  In my organization meetings, for swim meets, counting Girl Scout cookies, kids doodling in the car - I still have a handful of clipboards scattered about the house.  But they're that dull, chipboard, industrial brown.  Boring.

But I've got a couple shelves full of scrapbooking and crafting supplies!  Modge podge, paper, doo-dads - meet plain brown clipboard.

• Any area that's not going to be covered in paper, paint with basic craft paint.
• Cover the rest of the clipboard with ModgePodge.  It's okay if it mixes in with the glue.  Lay the paper on top and smooth it out.  Rub out any bubbles and wrinkles.
• Add any other embellishments you have - flowers, buttons, stickers, letters, ribbons, pictures.
• If you want a little more shine, or if you might be using this poolside, you can go over the paper with a coat or 2 or 3 of ModgePodge.  (Don't ModgePodge the 3-D stuff, like my flowers.)

Ta-da!  It's such an easy project and you can't mess it up!  You can even do it with a margarita in hand - what else can you ask for?

You can be fancy and make our clipboard functional, too:

• Print kids' chores and to-do lists, affix the paper to the board
• Include pictures of your goals, encouraging words - it's a portable vision board!
• Use the clipboard for your daily to-do and grocery list

Enjoy!

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Yarn for a New Fall Scarf

A funny thing happened on the way to Costco. I passed the yarn store, so what could I do on a beautiful sunny afternoon but stop and look around?

I actually did have some intention - I need ("need"? let's just go with that for now) a cotton yarn to trim a baby blanket.  But there was some variegated yarn and it was on sale. And I got distracted.

My next WIP (maybe).  A scarf for the fall?

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Melted Crayon Projects

It's been all over Pinterest, these melted crayon art projects and a friend of mine did one, too, so eventually I had to try it.  It was a fun project to do with the kids - it was simple, creative, and low-mess.  We wanted to do something different than the straight across melted rainbow and were inspired by some other creative ideas we found.  The kids came up with their plans, then gathered our supplies.

Materials:

• a bunch of crayons - many of the examples I saw had brand new crayons, but this seemed a perfect recycling project. We have a bucket full of used crayons, I'm sure anyone with kids has their own collection.
• art canvas (this is my second art canvas project and I have a few more in mind, this might be my new favorite art project base)
• glue gun
• blow dryer
• silk flowers

Before you start - cover your workspace in newspaper to protect against melted and spattered wax. Or work outside.

1. Glue the crayons in the desired design. You have to move fast because the hot glue cools a bit fast.

2. Turn the blowdryer to high and blow across the crayons. Wave it over the crayons slowly. Depending on the angle of the blowdryer, you will also get some splattering of the crayon. Use it to your creative advantage.

For the flower picture, cut the silk flowers so that they have no stem and will lay flat on the canvas. Hot glue in place.

The crayons will dry pretty quickly and be ready to hang!  My kids were so surprised and happy with the finished pieces - and so was I.  Let me know if you try it. Enjoy!

Craft Challenge - Project 4: Baby Blanket

I don't know what's going on lately, but there seems to be a baby boom (that I am glad not to be a part of!) and I've been making one baby blanket after another, barely making it to the next baby.  My kids are even getting pretty good at picking out what yarn and design a baby would like.  There's just something about wrapping a little baby in a soft, comfy blanket and holding them tight so I do enjoy making these unique gifts for the little people coming into the world.

This one I finished the other day but didn't want to post it until after the shower, which was this past weekend.  It's a self-striping yarn, that's probably better suited for knitting than crochet.  The first couple attempts ended up in pooling patches of brown that I didn't like.  I had to play with the pattern awhile to come up with a combination of double-chains and single-chains to get the striping pattern the way I wanted it.  The white stripes have splashed of blue and green, divided by the cafe brown stripes.  And - I forgot to take a picture of it - in one corner, there's a little heart charm.  (The picture's not that great - I was rushing and didn't grab my real camera.)

Welcome to the world, Baby Boy J!

And for mom-to-be, one of my college friends of over 20+ years, and dad-to-be - best wishes for a healthy last trimester, as easy a delivery as possible, and a healthy, beautiful baby. 

Craft challenge - Project 1: Beaded Bracelet

I have a beaded bracelet that "not me" broke. If you have any children in your house, you've probably met "not me". Sometimes she's accompanied by her friends "wasn't me" and "I don't know". Somehow, "not me" climbed up on the counter and got my bracelet out of the bowl it was oh-so pleasantly lying in and broke the string.  But at least "not me" saved most of my beads.  I've been sadly looking at my broken-string-lost-bead bracelet for a few weeks now.  Restringing the beads started off my craft month.

Granted, it may not be the most creativity-required project, but it did require some crafty effort.  I bought elastic beading string and some beads that matched (on sale at that!) - they aren't the exact same size, so I mixed them in with the others.  I used a beading wire from my stash of supplies to string the elastic then tied it to chain section of beads.  There is still a long string hanging off because I'm wondering if I should glue the knot or will it hold when I cut it?

In the meantime - here's my project for today...

      

 

Ta-da - my bracelet's as good as new!

Weekend project - Cozy Cafe Cowl

Every weekend, I am in the bleachers/stands/seats of some sports facility watching my children in some sporting event (last December, I also went through hours of play rehearsals, too). And I get fidget-y sitting around with nothing in my hands, so I crochet. At practice, at games, in the car to and from. Generally, I take a mindless project with me that I don't have to keep track of stitch count in between cheering for the basket, fussing about the foul, or watching the stop watch. The best projects are the ones I can get done - start to finish - between Friday and Sunday.  For the many other mom's out there who will be cheering someone on for doing something this weekend, let me share my latest project.

Baby alpaca (1 skein) - cowl

I've had this skein of baby alpaca yarn in my stash for awhile.  (I think I sent my best friend 2 skeins, I'm not sure if she's made anything with it yet, but she should because it's sooo soft.)  I used a 10mm hook and Tunisian stitches to complete a long panel, then sewed the ends together to form a round.  It's perfect for slipping over my head, under my coat collar, and heading out the door. No scarf tails, no wrapping, fits easy and cozy.  How long did it take?  It didn't even take the full weekend - I did this during last Sunday's swim meet! Hours-long swim meets are great for 1 skein projects, I generally only get half a project done during a basketball game.

I'm still sorting through yarn and ideas for this weekend.  I think we have 2 basketball games and of course, the big game - the SuperBowl!