Mug Rugs

Late one night, surfing craft blogs, I came across Sweetwater, which makes these super cute fabric labels that you can iron on to your work. They just started their Label Crew and if you sign up, you get mailed 4 themed labels (this month it was hearts and love), 1 label with your name, a pattern (this month it was for mug rugs). How fun! So I signed up.

I got my first Label Crew packet this past week and squeezed in some time to make two mug rugs. 

This is the first one I made. Not bad.

And here's the second one. Better.

I cannot for the life of me do mitered corners, so my borders are a bit wonky, but, as you can see, I got a little better with the second one. I ironed on my labels from the Label Crew (top left corner of the first mug rug, and bottom right of the second one) and then I stitched them on with the machine as well. 

I like them. My husband lovingly calls them glorified coasters, but I prefer the trendy title of mug rug a lot more! 

Cupcake Crazy!

There are so many cute cupcake hats out there, especially on Etsy. I thought, I can do that!

This is my first attempt at a knitted cupcake hat.

I liked it, but thought it looked a little pointy. So I changed yarn and came up with 

this one.

 With this hat, I used the same super bulky brown yarn for the bottom, but used a softer bulky, combined with a very thin sparkly yarn for the icing part.

 The first "sparkly" hat came out too big, so I made a smaller one. Now my daughter and I can have matching hats. :-) 

 Here are some action shots.

I have another idea for a third type of cupcake hat in mind, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it. I have many other ideas in my mental queue of crafts!

The Wonderful World of Hair Clippies

Lately, I've been into hair clippies. I bought some on Etsy and then decided I should try to make my own.

 

 I have a newfound appreciation for some of the artists who design fabulous clippies on Etsy, like Robin at Robin's Craft Tree. Her work is soooo good. She's so detailed and I WISH I could make clips like hers. Maybe with a little more practice... Until then, I probably will keep visiting her store.

The clips above were fun to do and I was happy to give them to friends!

Kitchen Floor Mat

I decided one evening last week to finally make a kitchen floor mat to place in the spot where we previously had one (long story involving my son). I saw a tutorial on Sew Mama Sew a few days before starting this. Because I am not a perfectionist sewer, I went from memory and this is what I made.

 It is nowhere near as good as the one on Sew Mama Sew. It has irregular sides, some lumpiness, and is altogether poofier than I'd like for a kitchen floor mat.

But, as the saying goes, it's good enough. I zapped the bottom with some hot glue, let it dry, and it doesn't slide so much any more. So far, it's been just fine. Would I have liked one a little better done for my kitchen? Of course. But I have lately come to this realization: the first one of anything made (pot holder, baby dress, sweater, kitchen floor mat, etc.) is always going to be the worst one because you're learning as you go. If I were to do another one, I know it would be better (at least a touch). But because there are so many projects I'd like to do, I probably will only be surrounded by mediocre homemade crafts. For now, that'll do.