Showing posts with label crochet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crochet. Show all posts

Thursday, December 4, 2014

I suppose it's time to wake up the blog. It seems to have hibernated through the summer and fall. Alas, I am back. So let's just get right into it.

In my last post (way back in the spring... whoa), I mentioned how I had a few projects on the go. Some birthday gifts and some home projects. As it turns out, the home projects aren't quite finished. I have come to the realization, that, we are a family who has all these great ideas, plans and intentions; however, we rarely finish anything. That's just how it is. And as a result, my craft room is not finished. In fact, it's barely even started. In the meantime, you can check out my pinspiration for the craft room here. I have also set up a temporary crafting corner in my guest room. I'll post some pictures once I vacuum. This place is a mess.

Another home project that we (haven't) finished was the bunk beds in lil' Sprout's room. I took some shots of the progress and figure, hey if it's good enough for us, it's good enough to show you. So here it is:

We essentially turned lil' Sprout's closet into bunk beds. Here is his closet.
And here is no closet. As it turned out, we had to completely tear down the existing closet and start from scratch. His existing closet was not big enough to house a mattress.

.
The beginnings of a bunk.
Ta-da! The top bunk is a single bed and the bottom bunk is a double bed. Perfect for sleepovers.


We also added windows in one wall.
The bunks are great. Lil' Sprout still sleeps on the bottom bunk for now, but he does like to climb up every now and then to check things out up there.

The birthday gifts were much smaller projects, and so, they were actually completed. For my niece, I put together an apron and floppy chef's hat.  It turned out great!

If you remember, I mentioned in my last post that I made a headband for my sister in law. After a few prototypes, that is, once I got the fit right, it turned out beautiful. It's difficult to make a headband for someone when you have no exact measurements, and even more so if you want to keep it a surprise. Eventually I had to tell her about it so she could try it on and I could get a better idea of how it would fit. You can check out the pattern I followed over at Gleeful Things.

A few other things that I put together lately include: 
  • two Frozen inspired apron style costumes for another nieces' birthday (a step-by-step tutorial can be found here)

  • mini trick or treat bags for lil' Sprout and his cousins for this past Halloween (I just sorta winged it, but used this video tutorial for the words on the bags) 

  • and a little dress as a Christmas gift for someone special. You'll have to stay tuned for that one. Hopefully sooner rather than later this time.

So tell me, what crafty things have you been up to lately?

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Spring has Sprung!

Wow, it's been a while. Sorry about that, I've been quite busy. In all the commotion, spring has finally arrived! I, for one, am happy. The winter has been a very long, and snowy one. It's nice to start seeing some green again outside. I'm especially excited for the tulips to be popping up!

So, what have I been so busy with lately? Lots. The biggest one being the Great Cloth Diaper Change put forth by the Real Diaper Association. This is an event to help raise awareness of cloth diapering while trying to break a Guinness World Record by changing babies into cloth diapers.  This year, the event was held on April 26th. I was one of the organizers, which seemed to take up most of my time. Although, we didn't qualify to count towards the official world record breaking numbers (there needs to be a minimum of 25 participants, we had 14), we still had a great time.  I can't wait to do it all again next year!
Just before the change.
The change!
After the change.

I've also been working on a few birthday gifts. One for my sister-in-law, who was out of town on her birthday. That bought me some extra time. I made her a headband that I found on this crochet website: Gleeful Things. The site has some great patterns available, some for purchase and a few for free! I especially love the the Gumdrop Slouchy Hat which may very well be my next crochet project.

Both my sister and niece's birthdays came and went as well. I made something adorable for my niece but will have to post it later. She has not received the gift yet, so stay tuned.

My husband and I decided to change things up in lil' Sprout's room. We were thinking bunk beds. This is still a work in progress. Once it is finished though, I will have a full write up and tons of photos to go along with it. In the meantime, you can check out our inspiration here.

Last, but not least, my craft room is still under construction. It seems to be an ongoing saga. I can't wait for it to be completed and for all my crafty things to have a home.

We have lots of outside chores to do this year too. I attempted a garden in the backyard last spring, but I found out the hard way that it was in a low spot of our yard. With all the rain we had last summer nothing grew :( I was so discouraged to have a huge mud pit in the backyard, but my husband suggested we build up the garden. So that project is on the to-do list. We also have to finish staining our deck (again, too much rain last summer made it hard to find time to finish staining). We scored a paint sprayer on our yard saling expedition this past weekend which should help speed up the staining.

Speaking of yard sales, that is something we absolutely love scouring once the cold, icy winter melts away. There is nothing better than finding treasures for a steal of a deal. When I was a kid, we used to go yard saling almost every weekend. It certainly has helped me with my negotiating skills, thanks mom :)

So tell me, now that the nice weather is here, what are some of your favourite activities?