I can't believe its holiday time already

It seems like the other day fall was just arriving and now its almost Christmas! I've been super busy this fall with craft fairs and lots of custom hat orders. Over the past few fairs I feel like I've really gotten my display better. I have an event this weekend and hope to take some photos.

Craft Show Set-up

For anyone that needs some inspiration on setting up for a show this is a great blog, Craft+Show Designs . There are so many wonderful booth set-ups in there (plus its fun to see every ones products).

Time to start to think Christmas

It's only the day after Halloween but I should already be thinking about Christmas (well I should have been for about a month). There are so many great holiday projects to make that the month of November really should be devoted to holiday project. This year one of the projects I'm really excited to make is the yarn wreath that Starbucks was showing in their shops last year. This wreath seemed to be very popular this year because there are so many blog posts about making your own, just google "Starbucks Yarn Wreath". She Knits Shizknits has a great tutorial on how she made hers and so does Inspired Kara .

Ryan and I really wanted to make this project last year but were turned off by the high price of the styrofoam balls, and you need a good amount to make this. But this year I was inspired by Dollar Store Crafts to search there for my supplies. Rather than get the styrofoam balls I picked up a few boxes of plastic Christmas balls to wrap (who can beat 12 for only $1). I also found some silver bells to mix in with it. I have some yarn here at the house so I should be all set to try this project this week.

Yo-Yos aren't just for quilts

I found this on Country Living's website and they have some great ways to use fabric yo-yos in new ways. I think the shoes are my favorite.

Craft Fair Today

Here are some photos of my set up at the craft fair I had today. My husband made me some boards to display clips on using some photo boards, hinges and wood.

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Yo-Yos

I've always loved the way yo-yos look, the quilts, pillows, pins made of them..... I think part of it is the color/print combinations just intrigue me. Since they work up fairly quickly you can make some smaller projects in a afternoon. The worst part for me is cutting out the circles, but once that is done they make a great project for while watching TV or for travel since they are small and portable. I decided to make some yo-yo garland since I wasn't ready to take on a quilt yet.

To make this garland I made about 45 yo-yos using two different black and cream plaid fabrics (click here for how to make a yo-yo). Then I attached them, by sewing them onto a 6 foot piece of black ribbon, leaving about 5 inches of just ribbon on each side.

Feathers

I had a friend visiting over Labor Day Weekend and while she was here we had some inspiration to make feather hair accessories. We had gone shopping during the weekend and both really liked all the fun feather hair accessories that are out right now but they just seemed so expensive. So we went to the craft store and bought some supplies, for less than the cost of one headband we were able to make several items each plus have left over feathers.

Fall Craft Fair Season is Starting

Fall craft fair season is here! So far I have 3 booked, my first one is coming up next Saturday. I've been super busy making things for them (I need to take some photos of new items to post). Fall is my favorite season so I have no loss on inspiration for fall crafts. Now that I'm getting my inventory built up I need to find some display ideas.

Tried an Acorn

I had a little extra time tonight so I was able to try the acorn pattern in the post below. I didn't make the face on mine. I am planning on placing them in mason jars and putting them on a side table in my living room for fall. The patter is great because it works up so quickly and it will look fun in any color combo. Mine did come out a little large, so I may have to get some lighter weight yarn for this project.

Finding Fall Projects

Now that we have our new house I want to decorate it for every season/holiday. Fall is my favorite season to decorate for so I wanted to find some special things to make for our new house. I found a great crochet acorn pattern. The designer made her with a face, I plan on making mine plain in different brown tones and filling mason jars with them. I'm not sure where to put these once completed, maybe on the side tables in the living room or on the window sills.

Link to acorn pattern:

http://www.planetjune.com/blog/free-crochet-patterns/amigurumi-acorn/

Great Crochet Pattern Site

I always look online for new crochet patterns to try, there are so many great ones out there. I've been really into making shapes (like flowers and stars) and using them for clips, wreathes, magnets..... as well as kids hats. I like smaller projects that work up kind of quickly. I found the site Crochet Pattern Central --it's packed full of patterns for just about any project you could think of. It's definitely worth bookmarking.

Blog Makeover

I was thinking my blog needed a little refreshing and I found this great site, Shabby Blogs. They have tons of great backgrounds and extras and they all fit my taste and style, but I was able to find one that somewhat resembled my business card design, I'm trying to tie everything together. Today I was also taking some time to take some new product shots and did a new photo for my blog title as well. I think the blog makeover turned out pretty well.

The Craft Room is Coming Along

One the things I was so excited about when we moved to our new house was that I would get the extra bedroom to use as a craft room. My husband offered to put his office in part of our large finished basement so that I could have the extra room (he is so sweet!). When we moved in we really didn't have any furniture for it, all we has was a super small desk (it's good for laptop work and that's about it, but it looks really cute) and an old book shelve. Since we are really cutting back on spending after the move I knew I wouldn't be getting a work table or anything for it any time soon, so it was just kind of a storage room.

Well, this weekend the room started to come along. My husband was off on Friday so as a surprise he went to salvage and got me a desk. It's a really large size, both deep and wide, so that I have plenty of room to work on it. I was so excited!!! I also got some dowels and curtain supports to make hanging storage for my ribbons. I have a little more organization and work to do in there and it should all be done (photos will come once its complete).

Cutie in a Hat

I sent a hat to a friend of mine for her daughter a few weeks ago, the other night she got a photo of her in it. Just thought I would share.

This hat was made using the basic newsboy pattern I usually do but for the last row I used a larger stitch so that I would be able to weave a ribbon through it. I left the ends long so that she could trim them to the length she wanted and added a loopy bow clip so its extra girly.

Great Crochet Site

I was looking online tonight for some new crochet patters and found some great blogs. I had to share Crochet-Mania. There are several blogs all by a woman named Teresa. She does a great job of not only listing patterns but having YouTube videos for them as well, which is a great help to actually see someone do the stitches rather than just reading it. She has a blog for just several crochet topics, one for flowers, one for instructions......

Here are her links to some of her blogs

Her pattern blog

Her flower blog

A blog for granny squares! These were the first thing I learned to crochet in college and a great stand by for when you need a project. I love making them but hate to sew them all together. My friend Sarah makes them and sews them into scarves so there isn't to much sewing involved in that project.

Another new craft?

One craft I've always wanted to learn/improve on is sewing and quilting. I do have a sewing machine and took a basic sewing class in college but don't consider myself a sewer. I think the biggest project I've completed is a set of pillows for my bed once. Now that we have a new house I would love to be able to sew things for our house (nothing to involved I'm still a beginner I'm thinking curtain and pillow level right now). Once I get the basics down I would love to learn to quilt. I think handmade quilts are so beautiful, plus they are so special since so much work goes into them.

Fall Craft Fairs Are Coming Up

Its almost fall, which is my favorite season. I think its mostly because I love fall decor, the leaves and flowers. I always go nuts decorating my house with fall things. I can't wait to make some fall crafts for our new house this year! But now that fall is coming up there are quite a lot of craft fairs to get ready for. I've been searching for ones to participate in and will hopefully have my line up set soon. I just need to get busy making inventory.

Added some new products, and hats are getting better

I had some down time last night from all the unpacking craziness to work on my Etsy store. I had quite a few items that I had ready to photograph but hadn't hat time, so when I got home from work last night I took advantage of the sun still being out and took a ton of product pictures. I was able to get a lot of them edited and even get a few online. I do have some to retake, they just don't look that good. I would love to improve my photo skills, and get a new camera--I'm not a fan of EasyShare. I'm working on them and hopefully my photos are getting better as I go.

Since we've had most of our things in boxes I've been mainly crocheting instead of my other crafts since it is more portable. That has given me lots of practice on my hat patterns and I'm getting really happy with how they are turning out. I was able to list two on the store last night. I have a special one to send to a friend in Pittsburgh for her daughter too.

These are some of the new clips I've made recently

These are crochet yo-yos accented in the center with a button.

This is a loopy bow made from blue argyle ribbon

This clip is a crochet flower accented in the center with a bead

These are a few of the new hat styles I've done. The one with the pink bow clip is one I'm sending to a friend for her little girl, I hope she likes it.

This week flew by!!! I was hoping to get some time in to get some photos done and get a few new products up on my Etsy store but that didn't happen. We've been so busy trying to get things set up at the new house I just didn't have time. I did make another hat this week in the evenings when we finally got to sit down and relax (sorry no photo, one will come soon). With all this time away from crafting I have so many ideas floating around in my head that I want to make


Since I have no crafts to share I'm sharing this website. It's full of crafty ideas and inspiration. Its definitly worth taking some time to look at.
http://www.oneprettything.com/

The big move.....and then back to normal

My husband and I are finally moving into our new house this weekend!

We closed on June 30th but have taken most of the month to get some work done on the house before we moved into it. We started out just thinking we would do some painted on the inside and fix up the yard for now but we ended up also getting new carpet and re-doing the kitchen. I'm so glad we decided to do this now rather then wait a few months after we moved in. I think its much easier this way, not having to pack up our stuff again for the work crews.

Since we have been doing so much work on the house I haven't been able to give my crafts and store much attention. My husband and I are both so excited to get moved into the new house this weekend so that we can get things back to normal and back to our routines. During this moving/remodeling process we really found that we like our routine.

Even though we've been so busy I have had a little time to crochet. I've finally got the hat pattern down and have made a few this month. I just completed one last night for a friend's little boy. I'm hoping once we get the new house unpacked to get some photos done and get them online.

This is the hat I completed for her little one. Now he just had to try it on to see if it fits!

My First Craft Fair

Today was my first craft fair. I was really stressed about it and could not sleep on Friday night because I was actually a little nervous. It didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. It was over Arts Fest weekend so I think that took away a lot of people who may have visited this one. It was a great place to connect with other vendors and great networking opportunities, plus I sold a few things so it wasn't a total loss for the day.

A space for crafts

This will be a multi-part post, the finished results won't be up for a few weeks, but I'm so excited I will be getting a room just for crafts in our new house!

My husband and I will be moving into our first home of our own in a few weeks (its a split-level with 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, good sized kitchen, 2 car garage and a finished basement--just about everything on our wish-list) and we can't be more excited to be homeowners for the first time. We will have an extra bedroom in this house so I'll be able to make the smallest of the three bedrooms into my craft room right now.


Currently I have an armoir in our basement (see photo above) that we found on sale that I keep all my supplies in but anytime I want to work on something I need to bring up my supplies to the dinning room and use that table. I'm so excited to be able to have all my supplies in an area that I can work in. I'll also be able to set up my sewing machine that has sat in a box in my Mom's basement for the past few years (I'm thinking about all the new crafts I can learn with that). I'll be adding photos of the craft space transformation as I get the area done.

Some sites to see craft space ideas, mine will not be a Martha Stewart level room but I'll still be happy with it

Martha Stewart
Country Living
The Nest

Hats...Part 2

This past Saturday was a gloomy, rainy day--the kind of day you just want to lay around and do nothing. I was productive in the morning, I got up and cleaned the house and made french toast for my husband but after that it was some quality time on the couch with my DVR from the past week. It did give me the perfect opportunity to get in a good amount of crochet time (that is one of the things I love about crochet, you can be relaxing on the couch and do it at the same time). I was able to work on my hat pattern to try to get it right. They are starting to come out better and I think I've got my pattern right but I underestimated the size of kids heads. I brought the ones I had made into work to show the friend I had been working on them for and she took them home to try them on her little boy. The one I thought would fit a toddler fit on her 3 month old boy's head, and she said it should be a little longer, I guess I need to make them a little larger.

Here is what my other practice hats look like

Hats

A friend at work is in love with some of the crochet baby hats on Etsy, they are a newsboy style for little boys, and asked me to see if I could make one for her. I've never done a hat before but have worked other patterns in the round so I said I would give it a try. I researched some patterns online to see if I could find one that would work. I ended up combining a few different patterns to try to get what I wanted (see the list of links below that I used for research). I used some scrap yarn that I had in the house for this practice hat. The yarn I had was a thin baby yarn so I used a small size hook, I'm hoping with a different yarn and a slightly bigger hook it will turn out a little larger. The one area I think needs a little work is the bill of the hat, its has a slight ripple to it, I'm not sure if it's the yarn or the stitching. I'm going to try working another one with a slightly thicker yarn and a larger hook to see what happens. Once I get it right I'll post of photo of her little one in the hat.

Patterns I worked with

http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/preemieround.html http://crochetme.com/patterns/simple-newborn-hat-ear-flaps http://www.christinascrochethaven.com/baby_baseball_hat_and_mittens.htm

Bitty Bows

I took some time yesterday to list these new bow sets on Etsy. I love the colors and patterns of all the ribbon I used (there are others not shown in this photo). It seems ribbon is one of the supplies I can't get enough of, I went over the weekend and stocked up on more--I can't resist a sale.

New 4th of July Items!!

I finished some 4th of July hair clips and wreathes over the weekend and got them up on Etsy today. Click here to see the Holiday section of the shop. Enjoy!!

Feeling some stress....

So my first craft show is less than a month away and I am worried about preparing for it and trying to get everything done before we close on the new house (hopefully everything goes alright). I have about a dozen wreaths done and some hair accessories but I have no idea how much to bring. Plus I need to get my display ideas. Since crafting is a great stress relief for me I guess I'll just keep working.

Flowers

My bowl full of crochet flowers

I've been really into making crochet flowers recently. I've come up with all sorts of things to use them for plus its a great way to use leftover yarn. So far I've done hair clips, wreathes and candle rings and trying to think of more ways to use them.

Candle ring made of crochet flowers with pearl centers

Fall wreath made of crochet flowers and felt leaves

My first blog post

This whole starting a blog thing seems kind of overwhelming, just sitting down to write, I guess it will get easier as I go. I will use this to tell a little bit about me. I live in Central Pennsylvania, I am a newlywed and my husband and I just bought our first house. I work full time in an office job so crafting is a great creative outlet for me. I recently booked my first craft fair as well which I'm super excited about (and it happens to fall during our painting and moving).

Currently my two crafting projects have been working on children's hair accessories and wreaths. The wreaths I've been making have been a little different than you average flower wreath. I've been using felt shapes and crochet flowers to decorate them and well as making rag wreaths.