Gratitude Journal Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Gratitude Journal

I published a book.  So crazy!  About 10 years ago I had a gratitude journal that I wrote in fairly frequently.  Recently I remembered about it and wanted another one but couldn't find one to my liking so I thought I should just make one being a formatter and all.  It took longer than any book I've ever done and didn't turn out exactly as I'd envisioned it but I love it.  I've been writing in one for a few months and it really helps to keep a better perspective on life.  You can order one here or if you are local I ordered a case and will be selling them for just $5 until Christmas.  I have an idea for another book so I'll work on that when I have the time.  If I can publish a book anyone can!

Operation Organization: Basement Bathroom

We picked up this dresser for FREE on a local facebook group.  When we got to the house we were surprised to see it was our dentist.  haha!  We've had a lot of dentist bills this year so we've seen him a lot recently.  Anyways, the dresser was your standard light veneer.  The trim on the top left was missing and it was also missing a knob.  The knobs it did have were sports balls and were pretty faded.

So this dresser has been hanging out under our carport all Summer as we were trying to decide what to do with it.  Eventually we spent $$$$ on some power tools and my husband made a new trim piece for the top.  I spent hours searching for the perfect knobs and finally decided on these beauties.

I wasn't sure where we were going to put it.  I told my husband to pick up more paint like another project we did but he didn't check the name before he went to the lumberyard and ended up getting a different color but I love it.  Very cheery!

I finally figured out that it would fit perfectly in the basement bathroom.  This room only gets used a couple times a year when guests stay with us but I needed somewhere to store towels in there and I thought we could use the rest of the drawers to store our swim gear since we won't need it for a while now.

The top drawer has extra towels in it.  The second drawer holds beach towels.  The third drawer contains our swimming suits and the bottom drawer holds the swim floaties.

I'm so happy to get this in the house before winter hits and so glad to have a few more things in the house organized!

It's so nice to have places to put them items that were previously homeless.

Infinity Scarf - Free Crochet Pattern

After crocheting my first infinity scarf a couple weeks ago I wanted to make another one with a slightly different pattern.  I searched high and low and could never find the pattern I was looking for so I made one up.

Supplies:
H hook
Red Heart "With Love" Yarn

To begin: Loosely chain 25 (use an I hook if you want)

Row 1: dc in 4^th ch from hook, ch1 dc twice in same space.  *Skip two chains, 2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc in next chain.  Repeat from * 4 more times . skip 2 chains, 2 dc, ch1 1dc in next chain ss to first space of beginning chain. = 7 double clusters made.

Row 2: Turn.  Ss over to first ch 1 space. Ch3 dc, ch1, 2dc all in same space.*2dc ch1 2dc in next chain 1 space.  Repeat from * to end.

Repeat row 2 to desired length (I used the whole skein of yarn)

Ss both ends of scarves together and weave in loose ends.

Wear and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Even though I made this pattern up I’m sure there’s someone else who has figured this out and there’s probably another pattern just like this out there somewhere.

This is my first time publishing a pattern so if you find any mistakes please let me know.  I have a lot more patterns in the works that I will share as I find the time.

Sock Monkey Hat

A childhood friend of mine sent me a message on facebook and asked me to crochet a sock monkey hat for her grandson who is expected to make his appearance in June.  I found this pattern and went to work.  The pattern was pretty easy to follow.  It took me all day to crochet (in between taking care of my little ones).  Not difficult but just time consuming to make all the different parts and sew them together.  I don't think I'd made a pom pom since grade school but she had a link to a tutorial for that as well.  It turned out so cute that it was hard for me to mail it away this morning.  My little guy was quite enamored with it and was disappointed it didn't fit him so I might have to make one for him.  The pattern has sizes from newborn - adult.  I made the 6-12 month size so it will fit the new baby his first winter.

Peppermint Sugar Scrub

Sorry about the terrible picture.  I made a bunch of these over the holidays to use for Christmas presents, Birthday presents and neighbor gifts.  The little container is a baby food container.  I used up all that I had unfortunately so I will have to try to find someone to give me more.  Anyways, the label I got from skiptomylou but I just searched and couldn't find it so maybe she took it down?  I'm a big fan of using 12x12 paper to make gift boxes so that's the little box bottom you see there.  I also included a spa washcloth.

Here's a blurry picture of it.  Ugh!  The pattern is from the Lion Brand website  I just use a cone of cotton yarn from Wal-Mart and an "H" hook.  It's pretty thick.  I've made a couple of dishcloths in this pattern and they are really nice.  I'll post some pics of those here soon.

There are tons of recipes for the sugar scrub out there but the one I used is this:

2 c sugar

1/2 c coconut oil

20 drops peppermint essential oil

The coconut oil I got from costco and even though I made a ton of these for presents I didn't even use half a jar so I still have 1 1/2 jars left.  Need to start researching other uses for coconut oil!  Used a bunch of sugar but luckily I had just bought a giant bag and still have a bit of peppermint oil left.

I need to use it more.  It really does help my extremely dry hands that tend to crack and bleed easily in the dry weather.

First I scooped the coconut oil into a glass bowl and melted it in the microwave for a little bit.  Then I added the sugar and mixed it really good and then added the oil and stirred it a bit more to get everything blended together.

Since I don't bake these were the perfect gift for me to make.  I've actually already made neighbor gifts for this Christmas coming up but probably shouldn't blog about them until I give them out?

Crocheted Face Scrubbies in Bowl

This was a project I did back in June.  I'd crocheted some face scrubbies for a friend a couple of years ago and she decided she wanted a bunch more.  I can't remember how many I made.  30 maybe?  Once I'd crocheted them all I thought it might be handy to have a little bowl to keep them in so I made the bowl.  (Just made it up as I went) I thought the scalloped edge is pretty.  Hopefully she agrees.

Christmas Stocking

My friend that I crocheted 5 Christmas Stockings for in December 2012 had a new baby December 2013.  She needed a stocking so my friend asked me to crochet one more.  She wanted pink.  When I went to the store to find yarn I decided on this bright pink and this variegated yarn to go with it.

This is the pattern I used.  I'm not sure why it's called "Quick and Easy" because it takes me all day to make it.  Maybe I'm just slow!  I did change the pattern up a bit.  I crochet in rounds instead of back and forth as it suggests.  Doesn't seem like it would be strong enough to be sewn together and I'm not a fan of that step so I eliminated it.  Also I make the stocking shorter and attach the band to the top of the stocking instead of having it fold down over the top.

I can't find that I blogged about the original 5 that I did a couple of years ago so here's a picture of them.

I love how different they are and that they are the favorite colors of each of the kids.  So fun!  I still haven't decided on stockings for my own family.  Since we randomly spent Christmas Eve in a hotel this past year I guess it didn't matter but I should decide what I want for this year and make them while I still have the whole year to get them done.