A Blanket for Cosmo - I mean Parker

Some dear friends were blessed this year with a baby boy. They teased that they were naming him Cosmo Kramer W. in an homage to Seinfeld. While they chose a different name, I am still thinking Cosmo before his actual name of Parker comes to mind.
Here is the baby blanket that I knit for him and a small hat, too. I followed this pattern from the PurlBee for the blanket, and the hat was just a regular newborn hat pattern. I finished the main body of the blanket in record time, but the border took a bit longer (mostly due to my lack of motivation of picking up hundreds of stitches).

Better Late Than Never

At the end of the school year, this past May, we had a baby shower at work for three women who were expecting bundles of joy. These three kimonos were knit using a pattern from the book Mason-Dixon Knitting. They were fun to knit and only took minimal finishing. I changed up the pattern for each one - changing my increases and body as I went to make it more interesting. I knit all three in less than one week.

Some Assembly Required

WHEW! Just in time... I saw the Some Assembly Pattern on Laura Chau's blog and instantly knew that my Lego obsessed boys had to have a couple of these for Christmas. It was by far the most fiddley knitting I've ever had to do. There were provisional cast-on, loads of picked up stitches and LOTS of sewing, but (if I do say so myself) the end result is worth all the effort. Hopefully, the boys, who are having a bit of blanket envy, will be satisfied with Mommy's effort when they open them on Christmas Eve.

The MiniFig


Each piece before the final ends were woven in


Close -up of the sockets in the torso section

A Baby's Surprise

I'm fairly certain that the recipients don't read the blog, but just in case I'm only showing a bit of the project. Here is a quick peek at a present that will be delivered later in the month.

Angels, angels everywhere, but not a bite to eat

Macaroni Angels that is. I'm helping with The Doodle's "Happy Birthday, Jesus" party next week, and theme is angels. These are small pins for the mommies of his classmates. Each angel is made with 1.5 pasta bowties, 2 pieces of macaroni, 1/2" wood bead (no hole), a 1" pin on the back and a whole lot of hot glue. The kiddos will paint them and add glitter for a sweet little homemade present.



A close up for more detail

The Pioneer Woman

At the end of October, my sister called to ask if I would go to a book signing for her that was happening in Nashville in December. At the time, I had no idea who the Pioneer Woman was, but I sure do now! She is a wonderfully kind and gracious woman who has published her first cookbook. Ree, the PW, has a blog about EVERYTHING from separating wild mustang colts to cooking the best cinnamon rolls. Elizabeth and I braved the downpour had a fun time with all of the PW fans and shopping.



Elizabeth and I with PW herself!

Craft Day

Some of the mom's in my playgroup got together for a craft day. It was AMAZING. We each brought the materials for everyone to make our chosen craft. Below are photos of the crafts I made. The intent was to leave with 9 gifts to give, but I think I'll be giving them to myself ;)

Ornaments embellished with Cricut cut vinyl



A glass ornament that I filled with paint and then swirled.



A floating word frame (again with vinyl cut by a Cricut)









Coasters made with Staz-On and Tiles


















Peppermint Bath Salts (plus a bit of food coloring)

Holiday Marketplace

My BFF and I went to a local holiday craft show. Although I didn't find a gift for anyone I was buying for, I did find some beautiful picture frames that are perfect for our dining room. I added some vinyl above the center frame using the Cricut and CDS. I used the Opposites Attract cartridge and some accents from the Storybook cartridge.

LB's Hat

This is a hat for our four year old friend LB. As you might have guessed, she LOVES pigs! Her mom saw a hat similar to this at a craft consignment store and asked that I try to recreate it. Here's my version with an i-cord, coiled nose, garter triangles for ears, buttons for eyes and a sweet, short curly cue for the tail.

A bit late

This pic is a bit late in coming, but it's my Jack-o-Lantern from 2009. This was my first attempt at sculpting rather than carving. The pattern was from from Fantasy Pumpkins - which is a FAB site. Be sure to check out his Death Star pumpkin - a true master! I definitely needed to thin out the walls of the pumpkin, but I love how it turned out!

Cricutting

Jen C. at jensbrainthings came up with this WONDERFUL cut file. It was made for the Expression (on the 12 x 24 mat), but I only have the baby :( I also wanted to make it in reverse so it could be inside the window. With a lot of shifting the design around, I was able to reverse it and make it Baby Bug compatible. I just LOVE it. I used the Crafts Etc! brand of vinyl from Hobby Lobby. The entire piece is about 25 inches high and 16.5 inches wide. Once cut, I placed it on my quilting ruler, and covered it in painter's tape (a poor man's transfer paper).

Lots of cards at once!

Sheetload is a blog with a free e-zine that gives you a sketch and cutting instructions to make 6-8 cards or card fronts at a time. I found it was great to use up a bunch of scraps!

Karate is AWESOME!

J took Karate lessons last summer, and I'm just now getting around to scrapbooking the pics. Here is a SUPER Simple LO I made of his first broken board.

Hoppy Easter

I saw a title similar to this on the Cricut Message board many months ago, but I didn't like the font they had used. I made this one using all Doodletype and the Cricut Design Software.

Have a great birthday p-aargh-ty!

Our young friend, Dylan, will be having a party soon, and it seems to be pirate themed. Ahoy there, and have a great party. This card was made using my Cricut and it's Design Software. The original idea is from Cricut Butterflies and she got her inspiration from Susan's Card. I omitted the pirate hook and boots. The treasure chest should have been on the card, but a 3 year old pirate ran off with it LOL!

Happy Birthday Pop Up

I received this card for my birthday, and thought, "Hey, I can re-create this in DS!"


Below is my first try. It's not embellished yet, but I think it turned out okay.

Happy Owl-o-ween

I found this cute saying at ThriftyGranny's Blog, and I love the 3D owl stickers I found at Michael's. I designed the scalloped circle using Susan's scalloped circle tutorial and CDS. The trick or treat stamp is one that was RAK'd to me, and the stamp around the scalloped circle is my brand new toy. It's the monogram stamp from JustRite Stampers using the small font set. It's just a simple notecard, but isn't it cute! I'll be sending this one to my nephews.

Money, money, money, money

Here 's another money book that I've made. This time, it's for my nephew. He turned the big 1-0 a couple of days ago, and I'll be seeing him a week to give him his gift in person. Hope he likes it!





Materials:
Card stock
Rhinestone
Chalk for the front
CDS
Skittles
Embroidery Floss
JustRite Stampers Monogram Stamp
JustRite Stampers Small Font Set
Ribbon

Things you didn't know...

Jenny tagged me.


5 little known things about me...


1. I'm adopted. I can't believe my parents picked me from this picture. I sort of look like a baby Mr T. sans gold chains.

2. I knew DH and I would get married as soon as he asked me out on a date. I just had to convince him *wink*.

3. I have two tattoos, and no I don't have any pictures to share. They really look like one tattoo, but they were done at two different times. The first one is a butterfly on top a yin yang (the butterfly represents being born again - the etymology of both my first and middle names and the yin yang 1) because I was a dumb college girl and 2)I love the concept of the 4 laws of the symbol). The second is the Chinese symbol for dragon (my Chinese zodiac birth year).

4. I'm a closet (well not anymore) of all things Arthur. He is my fave character in a book, and I've made my kids fall in love with the PBS cartoon.

5. I have a celeb crush on Christian Bale. Not just of Batman fame... I've loved him from afar since Empire of the Sun. Even when he was a not so nice Nazi in "Swing Kids" I loved him - LOL!

Jack-o-Lanterns

Jen came up with this great 3-D jack-o-lantern. The moment J saw it, he said, "We can put candy in there." A new treat box for him was born. Looks like I'll be making 21 of these, too (just like the candy boxes of my July 31st post). Her cut file is available at her blog and it is baby bug compatible! Thanks, Jen!

To avoid the monotony of having to make the exact same jack-o-lantern, I've made a couple of other faces to add to the fun.