Little owl necklace

Last night I found the most adorable little crochet owl applique pattern {here}. It's SO cute!.. so I followed the pattern and made one myself! Before I finished it, I knew just what I would do with it... 

Turn it into a necklace!!!
 The pattern I followed gives instructions on everything, 

but here's how I did it anyways..

After crocheting the body and head, I hot glued them individually onto a piece of white felt and cut them out.

For the eyes I used felt and beads. I just hot glued the beads to the little circles of felt and glued them down to the head. For the nose and feet I used yarn and a big needle {oh yah, this part was done before gluing the head to felt}.

For adding the necklace chain I put a line of hot glue across the back of the head and laid the chain straight across, added another line of glue on top and covered that with a strip of felt.

And then I just hot glued the head to the body! 

 {I traced a little button to make the felt circles}

The ears are so cute {especially the ones in the pattern I followed}, 

but I cut my end pieces of yarn a little to short. And the one ear is a little twisted.

AnyHOO, {I just had to say it!)

Now I have me a new little friend

.. and a new necklace :)

Hi little cutie!  I sure like you!

.. I always look like such a little girl! haha!
.. will wearing this owl necklace make me look even younger and sillier than I already am?!!?

Anyway, am I aloud to say that I'm proud of myself for making this??
.. cause.. *blush blush* I am!

Making space equals Making pretty

Today I made some space in my cupboard!! Does anyone else get excited about making more space for other things in the cupboards?! :)

We have a set of 8 mugs that came with our dish set, and we don't really use them {because of my huge collection of other random mugs that I LOVE and use}, but I like them.. and so they just sit in the cupboard taking up space.. that I can definitely use for other stuff. 

So... 

I came up with this idea!

Cute,  huh? 

It makes me think of spring :)

I like my new couch pillow!

 Ugh, when we got our used loveseat last year for $30 (off Kijiji.ca), it came with it's throw pillows too. They are ugly and sometimes it grosses me out that we have kept them. I did wash them before we put them to use, but still.. So I've been wanting some new pillows in our living room. MAN! Are throw pillows expensive, or what?! At Walmart they are 12 to 19 bucks a piece! ... am I cheap??? .. cause I passed...

Then I saw these awesome adorable crocheted pillows 

{by Lacasadecoto}

.. and I started to day dream :) 

.. then whipped out some yarn and a crochet hook! 

.. and got to work

Following this youtube video tutorial, I crocheted two circles. Each one has 12 rows of double crochet. I still don't understand how to make a FLAT circle! It kept puckering. 

{ewwww my hands look so gross and wrinkly! I guess that's the cold Canada weather for ya!}

I put right sides of crochet together {I like the "wrong" side of the crochet better than what is actually the "right" side.. I think I'm right.. maybe not.. but whatever side is facing me while I stitch, I liked that side better}, and then I stitched them together by slip stitching around...

.. and leaving a part open for stuffing. I actually stitched it closed more than the picture shows.. I just didn't take another photo of it after I did it. It was probably about 6 or 7 inches open. 

Then I stuffed it with 100% polyester stuffing after I turned the material right side out. I cut some material from an old white sheet to line the insides so stuffing won't pop through, but .. not sure how long that's going to last. I guess I hadn't thought that step out all that well! The material pieces will shift I'm sure and the stuffing will most likely pop out here and there someday. oh well! 

After stuffing it I slipped stitched it closed with a much smaller hook, because the slip stitch creates a raised stitching and I wanted it to look as less noticeable as I could get it. I didn't know any other way to close it up and I don't have a big needle for yarn. 

But I managed to finish it and here it is all comfy and cute on our couch.

I found the two gray throw pillows yesterday- 2 for $5. They're smaller and thinner than I would prefer, but they're alright until I become rich. They have zippers and an insert inside, so I can redo them sometime if I want. I don't know why they look shiny in the photo, because they're not. They'll also go with the colors I'd like for our bedroom, so maybe they'll eventually find their way in there.

And here's me enjoying my new made-by-me pillow!

.. it's pretty comfy! 

I'd like to make a few more for the living room in some fun bright colors!

What do you think? Am I becoming too crochet happy? .. because the last several posts have been all about crochet! haha! 

Baby shoes

No, I didn't make these for any particular reason. 

{aka: we are not expecting}

But aren't they so cute? 

Did you know that you pretty much can't find adorable bootie pattens online for free? All the free ones are, in my opinion, ugly. The pattern I used for these was a free online pattern for Mary Janes, after becoming a member to the site. I kept redoing what I had crocheted, because something seemed like it wasn't turning out right. But finally I just followed the best I could and made them.. then ran out of this yarn and couldn't make the straps! Whoops! So I found a tutorial for TEENY little bows and just sewed them on. {forgot to keep the link to get back to them!}.

So I've just been practicing at my crochet and learning some new things...

Crocheted coasters

 Crocheting over here has been rather slow and uh.. well, non existent for the past couple weeks. Hubby was sick a couple weeks ago then I got it- the flu! UGH... It was a miserable few days and I couldn't eat anything! But I'm okay now :) Back to my ole self again.. and wanting to crochet stuff!.. anything!

I found these adorable crocheted coasters on an Etsy shop called Unravel Me Designs {it's the pattern for the coasters she sells}. I wanted to figure out on my own how to make something similar! So I did some searching around and I found this video on how to make round circles. I stopped after I finished round 3 and then added scalloped edges, like in my scarf.

And here is my copy-cat set!

The scalloping is a bit on the wonky side.. I still need to master that! 

But I still think they're cuties even with imperfections!

After I was almost finished with the first blue one, I realized I was using my larger hook .. and for the brown ones I used my smaller hook. Oops! Oh well.

Like my new coasters? :)

Vintage Pyrex Mixing Bowls!!

After a year and four months of being married, I now, as of tonight, have my very own set of mixing bowls! Thursday I was browsing through the adds on Kijiji.ca and came across a set of 3 vintage Pyrex mixing bowls for $15. Oh boy was I excited! .. but then, I figured they had most likely been sold already.. because adorable vintage bowls just seem to be the rave these days. But I sent an email to the seller anyway. .. Well against my doubts, they had not been sold, and she was even willing to hold them for me {for TWO DAYS} until I could come get them! .. I almost died! How sweet of her! {usually people say "first come first serve"} Then she sent me another email including a photo of two larger bowls that matched right along with the other three, .. just in case I was interested in these too {for another $15}!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?! I love you!!!!! .. okay, that wasn't exactly my reply to her, but it was something close to it!! Anyway, I'll just shut up now and show you the bowls! Who really wants to sit here and listen {er.. read..} my blabbing anyway!?! 

EEEK!

I loveth them dearly!

{what's that big ole stack of books doing on my kitchen table?!... 

oh yah, my Hubs is preaching tomorrow night so he's been preppin' away for his sermon in Philippians!}

Sigh...

I need to take a break from all this giddiness! 

Cute little crocheted HEARTS!

Here's a super a-dorable little cutie for celebrating that special day coming up this month! I found a great tutorial for these crocheted hearts over at Little Birdie Secrets. There's even a video tutorial!! {Watching videos helps me pick up on this whole crochet thing so much faster.. I'm very much a visual learner!}

Anyway! I tried out some of these hearts just to see if I could do it, and they turned out so cute! 

hearts!

hearts!

hearts!

How about embellishing pretty Valentine's cards,

or

stringing them to hang from ceilings or in windows..

.. or 

making banners to drape across a fireplace mantle ..

..or

attaching a small safety pin to the back to wear on a shirt or scarf..

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go make a bunch few more of these little sweeties up.

"Search me, O God, and know my 

heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

And see if there be any wicked way 

in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Psalm 139:23,24

Another chocheted scarf!!

Eeeek! Scarf number TWO is my new pride and joy! 

I started this one yesterday afternoon and finished it by this afternoon. 

This scarf was super fun to make! .. a little challenging towards the end though, when I wasn't sure of how to get the scalloping done on the other edge of the scarf. But overall it was a pretty fun and quick scarf! I love the double crochet stitch!! So pretty! 

I decided to make this scarf after seeing Tristin's scarves from Two girls.. being crafty. She links to a free online pattern she followed and she also gives instructions in her blog post for the scalloped edges! (I followed her instructions for the scalloping, because I couldn't understand the online pattern's). She also gave me some tips when I got stuck and confused on some parts. {thanks for the help Tristin!} The length of mine is a tiny bit longer than the pattern says to do, and I added another row of double crochet stitches to make it a little wider. I wish my camera would take nicer pictures, because I think this scarf turned out SO CUTE.. pictures just don't do it justice :) 

These would be such fun and perfect gifts!!

My first crochet scarf!!

My first real crochet project is finished!

I'm so excited to show and tell about it.

 Here it is when it was just a wee little thing ..
(it's just the single crochet stitch all through it)

..and I was so impressed with myself because it was SO LONG!

.. and getting longer.. 

*ehem* 

Introducing... 

My new favorite scarf!

 It's a little wider than I wanted it to be, but I actually don't mind it! 
And it's pretty comfy too! AND it will go with lots :) That makes me happy.
It curls a bunch, .. not sure how to fix that, but it kind of adds some character so I'm okay with it.

Like my scarf modeling skills?? 

Oh yeah!

How exciting is it that I can say "I made that!" 

about something I can wear?! .. pretty exciting, let me tell ya ;)

.. now what else can I crochet?!? ...