Bird's Nest Earrings and Necklaces

I really love the beautiful bird's nest necklaces that have been floating around blogland. So I thought I would try making some bird's nest earrings.

I've seen a few dangly bird's nest earrings, but nothing on studs. And when I'm around the kids all day, studs are much more practical. Plus, I had a bunch of posts from previous projects here and here to use!

Of course I did try making the necklace as well.

 See these greenish-blue beads? They were bronze and, feeling daring and desperate, I used some nail polish to make them more of a robin's egg color. Not sure if it really turned out so well! So then I just used pearls again for another necklace. I used two pearls to represent my two kids. I debated a third pearl for daddy, but my son said, "Daddy's not a kid."'Nuff said.

To make the bird's nest, I followed this awesome tutorial here.

Fun. Easy. Just my style.

Linking up with these parties today:

Sugar Bee Crafts
Funky Polka Dot Giraffe
Mommy By Day...Crafter By Night

The Pink Baron Scarf ~ Knitting Pattern

Mmmm...Seed stitch. It is simply the most beautiful stitch to knit, in my humble opinion.

I think it just exudes softness and beauty.

It has so much texture.

I think my daughter looks pretty cute in her scarf as it coincidentally matches all her winter apparel. Awesome.

Below is my son staring pensively at the ducks milling about the icy pond. I made this scarf for him about three years ago. 

He still wears it!

His seed stitch scarf was the first scarf/wearable item I ever made (knitting, sewing, gluing, you name it).

When he wears it, we call him The Red Baron.

So he gave his sister the moniker, The Pink Baron (though it's kinda purplish. But The Purplish Baron doesn't sound so good.).

If you'd like to make your very own Pink (or Red, or Purplish) Baron Scarf, this is what you do:

Tools:

US 7 knitting needles

1 skein of worsted weight yarn

Pattern:

Cast On 29 stitches.

Row 1: K1, *p1, k1; repeat from * until end of the row. Finish the row with a knit stitch.

Repeat Row 1 until you finish the skein, or until desired length.

Bind Off, weave in loose ends.

If you are making one for a toddler and would like the scarf to be less wide, CO 19 stitches instead.

Enjoy the Mmmmmm of seed stitch before the winter is through!

If you are interested in making a something for your husband or boyfriend (or even yourself), check out my newest creation: 

Early Spring Cabled Fingerless Mittens found

HERE.

and

The Garter Scrap Cowl 

found 

HERE.

Christmas Quilt Reveal #2

Now it's finally time to post my daughter's Christmas Quilt! 

Yes, I certainly wish I'd gotten both her's and my son's quilts done before Christmas Eve so that I could've taken pics and posted while we were all still in that post-Christmas glow. But I figure, why not do it now, even if all the Valentine's stuff is already hitting the shelves! Why not, right? So here it is. And I have to say, I totally dig it.

 Even the sideways panel strip on the back. Just didn't have enough of the old-fashioned Rudolph print to put it the other way. And just didn't realize I could've put the strip going the other way too -- until it was too late. Doh! Oh well.

 I have some wonky quilting going on. Just enough to keep things together.

I wanted this to be a really cozy, thick quilt. One that my daughter could snuggle up with in the years to come. I did the turn-it-inside out method and then sewed a 1" line around the edges for a binding look. It turned out, that respect, just how I wanted it too. Never mind that it was also super quick!

 The blocks were 9"x9". I had tons of fun putting the creative juices to work for this part. I also found this book really helpful in this stage of the game.

The finished quilt ended up being 46"x56". A good lap size or toddler bed size, I've found.

 

Looking forward to many more Christmases wrapped up with this one. And my little munchkin.

Linking up with Canoe Ridge Creations and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story!

Scrappy Little Apron Skirt

 I love this stretchy hounds tooth material, but without enough to make an entire skirt for my little one, I improvised with an old t-shirt of the teenage size.

 See the yellow hem? I just cut off the bottom of the shirt and stuck in the hounds tooth. Well, it wasn't really that easy, because the hounds tooth had already been hemmed and stitched up from another project-gone-wrong. So I had to piece together the waistband, and ended up sewing two seams, on either side of the hounds tooth. But, it turned out well enough. My daughter thinks it's the bomb.

 Especially because now we can be twinners. Should I make one for Dolly with the extra itty-bitty scraps? Hmm, it has crossed my mind.

 Time out for a little window-ledge climbing. Dolly, you with me?

 Yeah, I think it's pretty cool too that we can dress alike. I've become one of those moms.

 There you go. The latest in our fashion arsenal. The Scrappy Little Apron Skirt!

Linking up at these parties:

Mommy By Day...Crafter By Night

Sugar Bee Crafts
Today's Creative Blog 
Funky Polkadot Giraffe
Rae Gun Ramblings 
Our Creative Spaces 

Baby Shirt Necklace Tutorial

 I am probably one of the most sentimental people you'd ever meet. I have a hard time deleting sweet emails from my hubby; I have made several baby photo albums (out of the 1,000s of pics I've taken); and I can't bare to part with many of my kids' baby clothes. 'Cuz they just hold so many memories! I'm a sucker for nostalgia.

So, just because I couldn't throw away a sweet shirt of my daughter's (even though it had some terrible, yucky stains on the chest), I decided to make it into The Baby Shirt Necklace!

 I loved the pretty embroidery and knew it had potential. 

Look, it's so easy. 

Snip, snip. Dab some glue on the pendant backing, adjust the fabric, assemble the frame. Add a necklace. Simple.

Now go enjoy your pretty piece of new jewelry!

Linking up here:
Somewhat Simple
Tatertots & Jello 
Mommy By Day...Crafter By Night
Sugar Bee Crafts 

Silhouette Wall Art

Silhouette. Done.

This has been on my to-do list forEVER. I was kinda scared to do it; the process just seemed time-consuming and...difficult. 

But the good news? It really wasn't. 

Especially f you use the photo method, like I did -- versus the tracing-a-shadow-on-the-wall method which, with a four-year-was impossible. At least my four-year-old.

Want to know how I did it so you can give it a try, like, tonight? Ok, here goes.

All I did was plop him down in front of a dvd. Took his profile pic. Printed it out. Traced it on black construction paper (granted, this is not the best black paper to use but it was all I had). Mod-Podged it to my painted canvas. Let it dry for, maybe, a minute. Then Mod-Podged the whole canvas, including the silhouette. My turquoise paint-job looks a little spotty here, but in person it looks great (or, good enough!). Give it a try! As soon as I can find another 8x8 canvas, I'm going to do my daughter's.
Love the modern color and how it pops in my living room! 

Linking up with these parties today:
Rae Gun Ramblings
Sweet Little Gals 
Funky Polka Dot Giraffe
Somewhat Simple 
Tatertots & Jello 
Babyberry

Christmas Quilt Reveal #1

We had a beautiful day today and so it was the perfect opportunity to take my Christmas quilts outside for a little photo shoot. I sweet talked asked my darling husband to hold the quilts while I took dozens of enough pics, and he begrudgingly loving obliged without complaining once about his arms getting tired so hurry up.

And, so as not to overwhelm anyone with photos, I'll just show you my son's quilt and save my daughter's for another day. ;-)

 It took me quite a while to do these blocks, but I found myself enjoying it a lot. I tried to incorporate pieces that I knew my son would really like ... space scraps, Rudolph, a turtle (so tiny, can you find it?), etc. I also had this really questionable great idea to order a Grinch fat quarter at the last minute, and so on Christmas Eve, I had all but the last block sewn onto the top. Yeah. I was up all stinkin' night finishing.

But it totally cracks me up when my son sings "You're as charming as an eeeeeeeel!" So who wouldn't want that memory in their quilt?? Here's the back. Dontcha love the old-school Rudolph-Santa stuff in the middle? My son loooves the "Bumble." And....he liked this side better than the front side. The front, which I so pain-stakingly loving put together. Strip by strip.

 Here's another picture of the top, which *I* love. Below is a close-up of one of the blocks. I incorporated some "feely" scraps into this one. The shiny green on the left and the fleecy green in the middle were both scraps from his 2010 Hungry Caterpillar costume. Ah, memories. That's what quilts are for. Aren't I right?

 Some detail from the back. My previous quilts don't have pieced backs. I enjoyed tacklin' this one.

Love the fleecy red and the minky green. I like watching my son push on the minky dots as if he's trying to pop a bubble...

And down below is a close-up of one of my favorite blocks from the front. A scrappy Rudolph block.

This quilt is lap size. I'll try to measure it soon and put up the stats. It's 50" x 50" - a nice big square. Currently it lives on my son's bed. Love. :)

Thanks for visiting!

Linking up here:

Tatertots & Jello
Canoe Ridge Creations 
Sugar Bee Crafts
Today's Creative Blog 
Mommy By Day...Crafter By Night