Homemade for the Holidays

Since I've been on an origami box fetish this year I decided to make a ton of them and fill them with Christmas presents. I made dozens of boxes and filled them with flower hair clips, crocheted dishcloths, crocheted can cozies, magnets, cotton rounds and more. It's been fun and has taken countless hours. Not sure if I'll ever be this ambitious again to make so many presents for so many people but I hope everyone enjoyed their gifts and will put them to good use.

More Denim Totebags

Made some more denim tote bags to ship off for Christmas.
On this batch I added ribbons to the sides to help close the top a bit. There's a denim pocket on the inside and a patterned pocket on the outside. The strap is the waistband of the jeans.

Amigurumi Gnome

I finished up this little gnome yesterday and hate to part with it. I was actually on planning on making two but after making one I didn't have enough time to make another. I think it turned out so cute. I found the pattern on the lion brand website. I made a few changes though. Instead of sewing on beads for the eyes I did french knots instead. I also used white instead of flesh color for the back of the head so it looks like hair. Also sewed the sides of the face together with white to that looks like hair as well. Even though I'm not a big fan of changing colors in projects and sewing things together I'm sure I'll be making more amigurumi projects again soon since this was my first one and there are tons of super cute patterns on the lion brand website.

A Dozen Snowflakes

I needed some ornaments for a gift exchange so I crocheted up a dozen of these yesterday afternoon. It was great using regular yarn so they don't need to be starched. The hardest part was tying on the ribbon hangers. I had some cute pale blue Christmas cards with snowflakes on them so we used those to package them in. I love how they turned out. I'll have to make some more for a garland or something. Meanwhile I still need to starch my thread snowflakes that I crocheted in the Spring so my mini trees will finally get some decorations.

Custom Ordered Cloche

Finished up this custom order the other day and my client picked it up this morning. She was headed into a snowstorm so I hope it helped keep her nice and warm.
I wore my floral cloche this evening watching a holiday light parade and it protected me from the cold, evening air. I was def. glad that I grabbed it as we headed out the door.

"Scrabble" Tile Necklaces

We finished up these necklaces for Activity Day the other evening. My friend Jennifer made the artwork and actually the pendants too. She ordered the bails here. I got the suede cord and clasps (not shown) from Wal-Mart. The girls really seemed to like them. They are the theme for Primary next year. Jennifer also did artwork for the YW theme. She actually did that artwork first and then I requested the Primary artwork. They are so cute.

We also made origami gift boxes which the girls enjoyed. We had a few minutes left at the end and they asked if they could practice crocheting so I got out a few skeins of yarn and some crochet hooks. They were having so much fun making long chains that they all refused to leave when their parents showed up. Who knew they were so into crocheting? I guess we'll have to have a crochet activity next year sometime.

Bear Hat

This was a happy accident. I was attempting to make a hat for a small child but it ended up being a bit smaller than I needed so I decided to add ears and turn it into a bear hat. I keep seeing these and they are so cute. Now I just need to find a baby to try it on.

Hair Pretties

I made all these hair pretties during craft day yesterday. It took a while to cover all the hairclips with ribbon and glue everything together but it gave me lots of hair pretties to give for presents. I came pretty close but managed not to burn my fingers too badly. Now I'm off to wrap them up and tag them.

Because I needed another hobby!

This morning and last Monday some friends and I had a craft get together. One friend has a vinyl letter maching and gave me some to play with. When I got home I was lucky enough to find some old boards in the garage. I had my husband cut one of them in two. I've been painting them all week with white paint and wondering what color they should end up. Finally today I decided that enough was enough. I sanded the edges and adhered the vinyl. I have to say that I really like them. I can see that this could be a very addicting hobby. I'm actually glad that I just left them white. I think they look great. Now... Should I just put sawtooth hangers on the back or attempt to add ribbon hangers? Probably will just go with sawtooth hangers for now and if I come across any ribbon down the road I can snazz them up a bit later. Just wanted to share my new project. Now every time I see a blank surface I imagine the perfect vinyl lettering that it needs. Soon I'll be ripping off my kitchen cabinet doors and turning them into cute signs. I'm sure my landlord won't mind!

Eco Cotton Rounds

I had a bit of white cotton yarn so I crocheted these cotton round for a present. Since they are made from 100% cotton they can be used like a cotton ball and washed and reused. Just wanted to snap and post a picture of them before I wrapped them up.

When I layed them out like this they looked like a snowman so I grabbed some buttons and snapped another picture. Maybe I'll make a set for me and applique them on something for a snowman.

Can Cozies

I came across this pattern months ago and thought these were so funny I wanted to try it. I ended up changing it quite a bit but the end result is pretty much the same. It's kind of ironic for me to make these since I haven't drank soda for many years now.

A couple weeks ago I made a whole bunch of them in all different colors. Most of them are wrapped up for Christmas presents now. I actually had to go buy some soda cans to test the pattern. Luckily you could get a 4 pack at the 99 cent store. I'll use them up in soda bread.

Newborn Booties

I crocheted some booties from 2 strands of baby yarn and they turned out newborn size. Perfect for baby blessings. They come wrapped in tissue and gift boxed.

Off to market...

Some of my items are that is. I shipped off 20 scarves, 20 pairs of baby booties and 6 hats to a gift show in Salt Lake City this weekend. It's at the South Towne Expo Center. I went there once several years ago to a car show. It's a nice facility.

This weekend there will be over 400 vendors. My items will be in booth #613 and possibly a couple of others as well. If you go, find booth 613 and tell them Stacey sent you. Here's the website for more info. and a $1 off coupon for admission:

www.familychristmasgiftshow.com

I took a few pics of some of the items before I shipped them off so here they are:

A small sampling of some of my scarves. I've been making these for several years now.

Recently started making these hats and love them. I'm excited that soon it will be cooling off here so I can start wearing one.

One pair of each color of the booties I sent to the show. Started making these a few months ago. They are all gift wrapped in origami boxes and tied with a bow ready for giving.

Baby Floral Cloche

I made this hat this morning for a custom order and I'm so in love with it. It's so cute. I can't wait to make some more smaller hats now for little customers.

Child Floral Hat

I'm pretty sure my mom started making this hat for me over 30 years ago and it got set to the side and never finished. It was just a few inches shy of the second row of the brim. Luckily the pattern was easy to figure out so I finished the row and added a scallopped row to finish it off.

I thought it would be cute with a flower so I modified the pattern from below and made a flower with 5 petals instead of 7 and only did two rows.

I'll have to examine the hat further and figure out the pattern. I'd like to make another one. I think it'd go pretty fast since you are crocheting with 2 strands of yarn. I remember having a hat like this when I was little. It's warmed up to the 90s again here so it's too hot to wear my hat on our evening walks now but hopefully it will cool off again soon and I'll be able to start wearing it again.

Floral Cloche

I came across this pattern quite a few months ago and fell in love. It wasn't until last week when we had a super cold day (high of 59 instead of 118) that I made it. I love it and wearing it makes me feel like I'm from another time. Wore it a couple of evenings on walks and it did a great job of helping to keep me warm.
I'll be making a few more real soon.

Pink Baby Booties

This is one of the latest batch of pink baby booties. I had enough yarn to make five pair. They come wrapped in an origami gift box and a bow. You can virtually send them to your expectant friends using my new Stacey Lyn Designs Gift application on facebook or can send them a real pair.

Crocheted Edge Baby Blanket

I love it when I finish a project. I serged this baby blanket together years ago and just got around to finishing it. My pattern book has 8 different edges. I've tried a few of them but grew inpatient with going around the entire blanket 4 or 5 times so I shortcut on this pattern to only go around twice. I just did the first and last rows and skipped the middle rows. I think it's actually better not to have a such a fancy edge with lots of holes for little fingers to get stuck in. The thread is variegated pinks & white. I used a #8 hook.
I've already started on the next one so when I get done with that in the next day or two I'll post it.

Where have I been?

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. So busy with so many things I haven't stopped long enough to update about what I've been doing.

For one thing, I've been having a booth at the Queen Creek Farmer's Market every Sat. from 8am - 12noon. It's a great group of people and has been a lot of fun. Each week we are growing and now that the weather has finally dipped below 100 it won't be such a scorcher and I'm sure we'll attract more visitors. I've been taking my Cookie Lee jewelry and handmade items since it's been too hot for my candles but once it cools off I'll start taking those too. Other vendors include: Fresh Homemade Salsa, Tortillas and Tamales, Fresh Veggies, Avon, Gold Canyon Candles, Sports Memorabilia, Golf Clubs, Ceramics, Crocheted Items, Tupperware, Close to my Heart Scrapbooking and more. You can even get a massage! You never know what you'll find there. So... if you are looking for something fun to do on a Sat. morning stop by. It's at the NE corner of Ironwood & Ocotillo. I'll be there every Sat. that I'm in town.

Hope to see you there!

Fabric Mini Bag

My mom gave me this piece of fabric a while ago. I don't know if she bought it or how she ended up with it but I as you can see it was pretty ugly. I decided to rip it into strips and crochet with it since I'd never tried that before and thought it might be fun.

Today I randomly crocheted it into this bag which is really cute. It's amazing how an ugly piece of fabric can look so much nicer when it's crocheted up. At first I started making it too wide so after a few rounds I ripped it out and made it narrower. I love how it turned out. I'll have to write out the instructions and post them somewhere.

Pink Baby Booties

I was trying to figure out what else I could crochet since I've been making nothing but dishcloths for the last couple of weeks and I decided to try making some baby booties. I looked through my saved patterns and found this. They were pretty easy. A good pattern to make for the first time and I think they are super cute. I'll def. be making more soon.

And I was so excited that they fit perfectly into my origami gift boxes. They will make the

perfect present. Tied up with a bow and ready for giving.

Pretty in Pink Plaid Burp Cloths

I found some pink flannel in the drawer so I decided to make a couple of burp cloths to have on hand. You can never have too many baby presents ready to go. I've given away so many lately that my stash is running low.

Two More Totes!

I made two more totebags this morning. They are so much fun. The navy one I put a pocket on the outside to use up the last bit of fabric and to cover up a stain on the jeans.

Here are the "insides" but since they are reversible you can use them either way. I had a scrap of blue plaid fabric so I added a pocket to the liner.

Jean Tote Bags

Last week Josh ripped out two pairs of his jeans. They are pretty stained on the front but the back didn't look too bad. Of course I couldn't just throw them away like a normal person would. I washed them up and set them aside and pondered about what I could make out of them.

This past Sat. night when I went over to my cousin's house she showed me a couple of tote bags she had recently made. That got me thinking and I dug through my fabric but I could never decide on what to use. This morning it occured to me to try using the jeans. Luckily I had a bit of this blue & white plaid fabric that worked perfectly as a liner.

Here are the first two bags I made. The long jean strap is actually just the waistband. So easy since all you have to do is sew it onto the bag. No extra work involved. I ended up with a couple strips of the liner fabric so I used those for handles on the other one.

Love how the handles and liner match. Both of the bags are actually reversible.

I love how the label is still attached to the inside of the waistband and the tag is still on the top.

I'd never done a project like this before. It was a lot of fun. The would actually be perfect scripture tote bags.

TODAY

I received this quote a couple weeks ago in an email and really liked it. I decided to frame it up so I could read it everyday. It seems like I always have so many ideas in my head and never get around to doing all of them. I'm hoping that this reminder will help me be more productive in working towards my goals and taking the steps necessary to make them happen.
I just printed it off on regular printer paper using this awesome font from Creating Keepsakes. The ribbon is cream with pink & brown butterflies and flowers. It matches the master bedroom/bathroom so I hung it in there for now. I might add some additional embellishments later but for now I just wanted to do something fast and get it up.

ETSY Cards

I made these cards the other day. The letters are cut from the months from a Mary Englebreit page a day calendar. The cards are from Die Cuts with a View. They are really nice textured cards that are colored on the outside and white inside. The little flowers I glued on the envelope flaps are cut from a M.E. page a day calendar from a couple years ago. The paper borders are from scrapbook kits from Westrim I collected when I worked there eons ago.

Here's a closeup of one of the cards and envelopes. Trying to figure out what else I can spell so I can make some more cards!

A Trio of Dishcloths

Sometimes Goodwill is a great place to find crafting supplies. I stopped past there last week and found a skein and a half of cotton yarn for a mere $1.45. With it I was able to crochet up these 3 dishcloths over the weekend. Pretty good deal!

Curtains & Coasters

When I moved into our house there weren't any curtains on any of the windows. I had some fabric that I thought would be cute as a curtain in the kitchen so I gave it to my mom and she sewed it for me. (This was before I had a sewing machine.)

Yesterday I made these coasters out of the leftover material from the curtain. They look great with the green placemats we got for our wedding.

From Trash to Treasure

Before I throw anything away I try to think if there's a way I can repurpose it into something else. The other day I went to a baby shower and received a favor in this little box. When I got it home I thought that I could cut it apart and make it into a card. I ended up making it into 4 cards instead.

I made 4 cards. I'd picked up some ivory greeting card envelopes from Staples a while back since they were being clearanced out at an amazing price. I made the cards from two pieces of ivory cardstock I cut in half with my paper trimmer. The ivory, pink and green mattes are made from scraps of cardstock I made two pink cards for two friends who are expecting girls within the next few months and two green cards for two other friends who don't know what they are having yet.

Marble Magnets

Yet another project I did a while back but never got around to posting. Several years ago a friend sent me some magnets for Christmas. The images used in them were stamped but as you can see here you can use anything you have on hand to make cute magnets: stickers, cancelled stamps, scrapbook paper, ads, etc...

These images are from a booklet inside the last Pirates movie.

These planes are from a piece of scrapbook paper. They are all actually the same size. The angle of the photo makes them look different.

A cancelled Miss Piggy Stamp had to be preserved somehow.

They are pretty easy to make. The only drawback is the strong odor of the glue. This is a project best done outside.

"Scrabble" Tile Necklaces

A while back I came across Scrabble Tile necklaces and thought they would be really cool to make. Once I gathered up the supplies they were pretty easy. I've worn the one necklace several times and really like it.

I made 12 charms but have only worn the one so far.

The charms plus all the stuff I used to make them. Even though I've picked up a couple Scrabble games at the local Goodwill I actually used wood pieces that I got from Michaels for this project. They are square and a bit bigger than scrabble tiles so they worked better for the flowers. I have tons of patterned paper so I will make some with actual scrabble tiles too. One set I got was an original and the pieces are yellowed with age. They are really cool.

Yeah I've spent countless hours cutting out those flowers. I usually glue one each to the back of envelopes when I make cards.

U.F.O.s

As far as crafting goes U.F.O.s stands for "Unfinished Objects" and if you are anything like me you have a lot of them. When I dug out my box of cotton yarn a couple of weeks ago here are two that I found. The pink one is at a stand still. I cannot locate the pattern I was using and it's a very complicated stitch that I can't figure out so it's on hold for a while. The brightly colored one was only 2 rows but I was able to determine which pattern I was using so I've worked on it here or there while Mr. T. and I unwind by watching DVDs in the evening. If I'd been in my right mind I would've ripped the whole thing out and started over. The dishcloth is ending up to big much bigger than I'd like but maybe the recipient will like it. The pattern is pretty interesting. You make 8 shells stitches and then the next row you do a cluster in between the shells to fill in the open spaces. Quite different. I'll keep going until it's square and then tie it off and try something else. I'm going to make a notation in the pattern book to only crochet 5 shells across so if I ever make it again it will end up a better size. I've thought about writing the date in my pattern books when I make a project. Does anyone else do that?

By the way, I loaded this picture several times and it kept loading on it's side. Finally I decided to open it in GIMP and add some text and then maybe blogger would load it correctly. Even when I opened it in the photo editing software it said, "According to the EXIF data, this image is rotated. Would you like GIMP to rotate it to the standard orientation?" What does that mean and how do I avoid that happening????