Making Christmas

I don't know about you all, but I've been keeping myself busybusy with this holiday stuff!
I'm proud to say that I'm finished with my shopping, although I still have plenty of things to prepare before Christmas, which I just realized is next week (ahh!).

Here's what we've been up to in the apartment lately:

Brad made lots of beautiful snowflakes to hang in my craft room window!

We made our very own felt stockings! I sewed them and Brad and I decorated them. Mine is the tree, Brandon's (our kitty) is the middle, and Brad's is the snowman.

I've also knitted two hats recently - one for Brad and one for a Christmas gift (shh it's a surprise!). I promise to post some pics once the surprise is revealed ;)
I'm currently knitting my first pair of socks! I had intended for them to be a Christmas gift as well, but I have a feeling I won't be able to finish them in time.

On the agenda this week: trying to stay warm (hot chocolate is a good remedy), knitting up a storm, making some ornaments, baking Christmas cookies!, wrapping presents, watching all of my favorite classic Christmas movies, and counting down the days until we are with our families!

FRONT PAGE!

Today something happened that I've been dreaming about ever since I started my Etsy shop....one of my items made it to the coveted front page!!!

I'm so excited! I just checked my shop and I've already had 2 sales and tons of views because of it! Woo hoo!!

Last week was a busy, crafty week!
I finished making some awesome arm warmers for my good friend Mike.(I used this pattern from Lion Brand)
They turned out awesome! They are super snuggly and warm! Here's my hubby Brad modeling them ;)

(go seahawks!!)

I also made some of these pretties for my friend Emily (and in exchange she's going to make me some earrings!!)

And after about 3 times of unraveling and starting over, I made this hat for my shop.


After a trip to the craft store yesterday, I've been really inspired and have lots and lots of ideas filling my head and ready to be made. If only I didn't have to go to work this week and could stay home and create instead!
And as much as I hate to admit it and give in to it, I know the holiday season is fast approaching. I'm trying to deny Christmas and focus on Thanksgiving (we are having our very own Thanksgiving dinner this year with another couple!), I did give in and buy some felt at the store yesterday so I can make us new stockings this year!
I'm so excited!!
I hope mine will turn out this cute! (check out the Etsy shop I found this idea from: http://www.etsy.com/shop/rikrak)

Treasured

My doily bunting has been treasured! Check it out!

:)

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4ccaf53c507d8eef1ccffd6e/this-aint-your-grandmas-doily

Getting excited for Halloween!!

There are only 2 more days until Halloween, one of my favorite holidays!

I am currently listening to the Halloween themed station on Pandora and eating some Halloween candy at my desk. :)

Tonight Brad and I are headed to Michigan to visit with Brad's family. Tomorrow we are going on a bike ride tour through a few local wineries! I'm so excited!!
And I'll have lots of time on the train tonight to work on my scarf, and hopefully finally finish it so I can wear it!

Sunday night we are coming back and heading to our friend's apartment to watch the series premiere of The Walking Dead, a new zombie show on AMC. We're pretty pumped! A perfect way to spend Halloween night!

A new technique

I've been working like a busy little bee lately to get my shop stocked up for the holiday season. Usually around this time of year through Christmas I see my sales double or triple, which is great. But this year I'm trying to make more of an effort to be prepared for it by making lots and lots of things.

A few weeks ago I managed a pretty decent shop update and added some hats, scarves, and buntings. I've also been busy making some custom orders for friends, which is also fun.
With my last update I tried something new. Something which I've thought of doing before, but have always been very hesitant about.... I decided to be my own model in order to get some better shots of the hats I made. Luckily my husband was happy to help out with taking the pictures and he did a great job.

Here's what we came up with:
Now I don't know about you guys, but I rather hate looking at pictures of myself. Which was why I was so scared to be my own model in the first place. But I do have to admit that the pictures look a lot better than my usual pictures of the styrofoam mannequin head as the hat model.

So, anyone want to be my hat model???? I'll pay you in candy, or baked goods, or even crocheted/knitted stuff!! ;)

Custom Bunting follow up

So I forgot to post the pictures that the mom who bought the custom made buntings from my last post sent me.

They look so cute in her new baby's room!


I don't often get to see what happens to my creations once I send them out into the world, so this is pretty special :)

I promise another update soon...it's been busy at work and home lately, but don't worry, I've been doing a lot of crafting!

a day to rest

Thank goodness I took the day off from work today...the long weekend was great, but full of wedding activities and now I am ever so tired and had lots of things to accomplish today!

(here's a pic of Brad and I at the wedding this weekend)


I just mailed out those three buntings to a mom getting ready for a new baby boy! How exciting!
I love doing custom orders!


Now it's time to get back to work on cleaning up the messes I made in my craft room!

Wedding weekend

This weekend my best friend joins the married club! I personally think it's a pretty cool club so far ;)
I just have to make it through today and tomorrow at work and then I get to head home to Michigan for 4 glorious days in my hometown to spend time with my family and all of my best friends wheee!
And I get to wear this beautiful dress:
It's been sitting in my closet for half a year, just looking gorgeous and begging me to wear it, but since I knew I was going to wear it in the wedding I've waited. But now I get to put it on and wear my boots with it! Yay for fall weddings and love and for two totally awesome people getting married!

such an old pic of the two of us -look how little we are!

Falling for fall

Although it's actually about 90 degrees in Chicago today (summer's last hurrah I bet!), I've been thinking about all the fun things that come with fall. We've had some cooler weather lately, and I'm already pretty excited for fall activities. I get to be in a fall wedding next week (we get to wear boots with our dresses yessssss!), get to go through a corn maze, pick apples, pumpkins! Eee!
And the thought of cooler weather definitely makes me want to burrow down in our apartment and just craft away. I even started knitting myself a scarf in this beautiful pumpkin orange yarn - I can hardly wait to wear it!



A few weeks ago I made this wreath for my best friend:

I've seen them all over Etsy and thought that it looked simple enough for me to give it a go. And it turned out great! Now I need to make one for our apartment. I'm thinking they would make some really great Christmas presents as well (yes, I've already begun to think of the holiday season ;)


Last week I started and finished my first ever crocheted pillow case. I also finished another but the weather was too gloomy over the weekend to take a decent photo. I'm excited with how they both turned out and have lots of ideas for others!

Now I'm off to enjoy the last of summer's warmth! ;)

long time no blog

Oh jeez...how I've neglected this poor blog. Well, I'm back, rested up, and ready to start doing this thing again!
Here's what you've missed in the past few months:

-I got married!

-I went on a wonderful honeymoon to northern California with my lovely husband!
-I returned back to Chicago where it was HOT HOT HOT for the last 2 months!

-I attended some really great concerts : Arcade Fire, Rogue Wave, and Hanson (yes, I'm not afraid to admit I love them!!)

-I finally took up cooking, and have actually really started to like it!

And now things have drifted back to normal, domestic bliss. The weather is starting to cool down, and I can feel fall just a few weeks away. I've been very busy with my crafting lately, finishing up a throw blanket, 2 hats, and a special gift for my best friend (which I can't reveal yet in case she sees this).
I also have a few new projects in the works and many more on my mind after my trip to the craft store last weekend.

(throw blanket - completed after weeks of work!)

(a work in progress - granny squares to be sewn together to form a pillowcase)

(new hat just posted in my shop)

a crafty wedding

Oops...I've been a bit neglectful in my blogging. It's been nonstop wedding planning and wedding related activities during the last few weeks, which has been keeping me quite busy!

This past weekend we went to my dear co-worker Dina's wedding, and had an absolute blast!

Here's Brad, me, and my other co-worker Emily at the wedding

Tomorrow I'm taking a little mini vacation back to Michigan to go pick up my wedding dress on Friday. On the way I'll get to spend some time with one of my bridesmaids her adorable pup! Then I get to see my mom and spend some time with my aunt, who is throwing me a bridal shower in a few weeks! It should be a lovely time :)


This is what I've been working on in the meantime....and yes, it is wedding related. Of course!

these will be made into a banner to hang at the reception hall

pinwheels! (i won't reveal just what these are for yet...)

There is still so much to do, but I have to admit I'm having fun with the crafty things!

I did it!

After the previous week's attempt and fail at sewing, I got right back at it. I decided to try making a cover for my sewing machine, since it has it's own room now, and doesn't need to be hidden away in a closet. And I had this beautiful fabric just waiting to be used.
Well I was determined that this project would turn out beautifully, so instead of just eyeballing it and cutting, I decided to measure and draw out the pattern first. It worked! It was so much easier for me to do than just trying to measure the fabric and cut.

Here's the finished product:

Kind of makes me want to sew lots and lots of other things...now if only I had an unlimited stash of beautiful fabrics!

successes & failures

This long weekend we've been super productive, and also super lazy, which sounds crazy but it happened!
And I'm trying to remember that right now, as I'm feeling rather sorry for myself because my latest attempt at sewing something ended up a miserable failure. Apparently, I'm terrible at cutting fabric to the right size...oops. :(
Well, no more feeling sorry for myself, because I've got lots of other great things to talk about.
Such as:
- Finally unpacking, organizing, cleaning, and decorating up my little craft room
-Almost finishing (minus the assembly) another pretty crocheted garland
-Hemming another set of curtains and hanging them up in our kitchen (Brad helped me with this!)
-Getting around to taking proper pictures of my pretty doilies and posting them in my shop.
-Picking up some adorable and cheap (only $3!) paper flowers from Target for hanging up in my craft room
-Drinking some yummy margaritas and stopping at our favorite ice cream place for a mint chocolate chip (my favorite!) cone
-Spending lots of quality time with Brad and kitty Brandon :)

Hmmm, I'd say it's been a successful weekend. I guess one failed project doesn't seem so bad when I compare it to my list of accomplishments!

craft room in progress....

Week 20

I finished my doilies project at the end of last week...another little banner for making a lonely wall prettier! I think I will make one for my craft space, which is still looking rather cluttered and with very bare walls.

Unfortunately, I was feeling a little under the weather last week, so I wasn't able to be as productive as I had hoped. But I have a 3 day weekend with not too many plans, so I fully intend to do some crafting. Maybe I'll even take my work to the park to sit in the sun :)

Turtles and doilies

Last week's project was actually a little modification of the oh-so-pretty turtle dress I bought from my favorite store Anthropologie last week. I plan to wear it at our wedding shower on Saturday.
The sleeves were a little too big so I took them in a few inches and now it fits perfectly! The weather is supposed to be pretty warm this weekend, too - so excited! Now I just need some cute shoes to wear with it...hmm.

I also crocheted some doilies kind of like this:
for a little something I am working on.

Now I think I will go sit outside during my lunch break and enjoy the first day of sunshine we've had all week! :)

(Photo credit)

Week 18

Today I'm taking a much needed personal day. Getting caught up on my Etsy shop, doing a little shopping (I definitely bought a pretty dress today...), cleaning the apartment, snuggling with kitty on the couch.....and it's only 3:30! Love it!

Last week's projects included hemming our beautiful new Ikea curtains and making a pretty little flower garland for the shop!

It's hard to tell from the picture, but these curtains have an adorable flowery print!

And the fun and festive flower garland! I think I need to make one of these for our apartment...hmm ;)

A few nights ago I sat myself down in our still-cluttered craft room, shut the door, and brainstormed for about 45 minutes about new projects I want to make. It was wonderful!
Never before have I been able to sit down in my own room dedicated to creating and feel so inspired! Now I just need to find the time to make all of this stuff!

Week 17

Last night I sat down to crochet for the first time in (GASP!) over a week! What with all of the moving madness, I wasn't able to squeeze in much time last week for any crafting. I did get in a little time last Monday night I think, but I am sad to report I wasn't able to finish anything.
Hopefully I will be able to make up for it this week by making 2 things! In my new craft room! Um, once it gets all set up and organized that is. ;)

Anyhow, sitting down to crochet last night, I slowly felt all of the stress from the last few weeks melting away a little bit. It's amazing how my ability to fit in crafting time into my schedule really affects my mood and stress levels!

The move went well on Saturday, and although we still have a TON of things to finish unpacking, arranging, and decorating, we are absolutely loving the new place so far! So much space, natural light (this one is soo important!), and hardwood floors! Yay!

I will leave you with some pictures of our adorable (and goofy) kitty Brandon enjoying the new apartment ;)

Grannys :)

So last week I made one of my favorite things to crochet....granny squares!
I love putting together the colors and creating each piece at a time....details details.
Plus, they are just so darn cute and happy!
So I made a bunch and strung them together to make another bunting. Once I am able to take some better (non-shadowy pics) I will be able to add it to my etsy shop. So excited to be moving to a new apartment that isn't partway underground! I will actually have light for taking pictures!

Week 15

After buying the materials and letting them sit around in our apartment for about a month, Brad and I finally got around to assembling our happy spring branches on Sunday!


They turned out really great, and it was a really fun and easy project that only took about a half hour to complete (Glue gun + felt balls + branches = so simple!). Now we just need a pretty vase to put them in! I know they will look great in our new apartment, which we are moving into a week from tomorrow! YAY!
Unfortunately, this means my weekend will be full of packing and cleaning....boo.
I'll make sure to fit in some ample crafting time though. Plus, it will be totally worth it, because come next week, I will have my own crafting ROOM. Whoa!

Week 14

image credit

I think this will be my mantra for the next few months. It turns out that wedding planning, moving, and the coming of summer is making us insanely busy! Ha! Who would have thought, right?
Anyways, I shouldn't complain, because while last week was crazy crazy busy, it was still incredibly wonderful! We were able to reunite with some great friends and family, two of whom we hadn't seen in over a YEAR! And even better, they might be moving to Chicago! I was also able to spend a few days with my best friend, which is always wonderful!

I somehow managed to squeeze in a few hours of crafting time (in between all this friend time and helping to paint 6 (!) rooms in our new apartment) and complete a banner/bunting to be added to my poor, neglected shop. This weekend I will finally have time to take some pictures and get some things listed, phew!

I am so looking forward to staying home and doing as little as possible this weekend. Catching up on sleep, crafts, movie watching, and maybe a little bit of packing in there somewhere.

Week 13

Another busy week....last week we had beautiful weather here in Chicago...70 and 80 degree temps...in the beginning of April! It was wonderful!
We tried to get out and enjoy it as much as we could. We rode our bikes, picnicked in the park, walked instead of rode the bus.
We also had some apartment issues (a kitchen sink that liked to fill up on its own, broken washing machine, broken oven) and went to our NEW apartment to start masking to get ready for painting this weekend.
Well, with all this business and pretty weather, it left me with little time or motivation to sit down and create.
I did manage to get in my one required project (another headband, with a bigger leaf!), but sadly have no pictures since it's been so gloomy and rainy outside this week (no sunlight for pics boo).

Instead I will leave you with some DIY wedding projects I'm considering!

Week 12

Last week I made a little something for me!

A pretty and simple leafy headband. I love it so much and have already worn it quite a few times!

This is such a simple project that I think some of you out there could make this yourself!
Here's the pattern:

• Chain 103
• Turn, single crochet in 2nd chain from hook and in next 11 chains
• Now go back to making chains. Chain 79 (by this time you will be equal with end of the first row of chains you made)
  
• 1 single crochet in each of the next chains (from the first row of chain you completed). The single crochets are made to tie the headband around your head.
• Fasten off and weave in ends

Leaves:

• Chain 9
• 1 single crochet in 2nd chain from hook, 1 double crochet in next 3 chain, 1 sc in next ch, 1 slip stitch in next ch, 3 slip stitches in last chain
• flip to the opposite side of the foundation chain and work the following stitches: 1 slip stitch, 1 sc in next 2 ch, 1 dc in next 3 ch, 1 sc in next ch.
• Fasten off

Now attach your leaves to the headband!
This pattern can be made with just about any type of yarn and hook. :)