I have moved my blog to http://www.crunchycrafts.blogspot.com/ for all my lovey readers please join me there!

Ive been getting addicted to dishcloth knitting again here's another

As you can tell I ran out of the main color but that was fine with me, its a great way to destash the green was a tiny ball of scraps that now is just about nothing only good for stuffing a toy.

Now I have started another dishcloth this time it will be pink and with have a heart saying love to knit! Then who knows what Ill knit I do however need to start knitting for winter that is quickly approaching.

I have been really busy. Its been a while since Ive show off what Ive been doing sorry for that. I made a kimono for Gavin thinking it would be cute with a long sleeved shirt under it but I don't even like it enough to block it. Its just too bulky but the point was I was trying to use up the yarn because I don't really like it. This will most likely end up in my etsy store http://www.greenmama.etsy.com/.

This hat I made for myself also another bulky yarn given to me. I hate bulky yarn but I love this hat. Its simple and easy.

I also made a hat for Lily. I don't know why I choose this color because it does not match her winter stuff but I like it anyway and the color looks good on her!

And finally two washcloths. I love this simple pattern it knits up corner to corner which makes it a little more interesting and the yarn overs make the cool design on the edges. These are for a man named Chris who I am swapping with. Hes giving me a bunch of acrylic yarn so I can make stuff for the ICU. Ive always wanted to I hope this will give me more determination to get it done. They did so much for us Id love to give back to them!

So there they are my finished objects. I'm currently working on another washcloth that I need to get done asap because I have a knit along starting the 16Th for another one. I am trying to up my washcloth stash as I am always running out. I'm also working on a hat for Justin (my husband) but I cast on more stitches and now I'm afraid its going to be too big for his head. I might just be gifting it to my brother Matt for x-mas luckily he has a big head. Sorry Matt. That's all for now!

what kind of squash is this?

I figured it out its a pattypan squash now- what to do with them

she knit what....

I was shocked when I found Lauren Porters work online If you haven't seen it you must check it out http://www.lauren-porter.co.uk/ she knit a toilet and a sink, and even a Ferrari!

Well Ive finally started the tedious task of cleaning the craft closet. I opened up my yarn tote and found a big mess, tangled yarn, yarn ends all over, labels, and a few needles. What did I do. It took me a about an hour to tighten the yarn ends and tape them on the skein so they dont do this again then I re organized the tote and made it look nice. I have a separator in the bin to keep natural fibers alone but I'm pretty sure I need a new big and the natural fibers side is filling up and I'm getting a yarn donation of acrylic Sunday. So I can knit a bunch of hats for the babies in ICU. Anyway this picture shows some of the yarn ends and just pieces and small balls i will never use that I will never use. Not much i know but I was glad to get rid of it.

On another not a few days ago the kids and I did a bug hunting adventure and I never posted the pictures. We had a blast finding bugs, catching them in our jar, looking at them with out magnifying glass and releasing them. Well all but 1 (my frog was hungry).

So here are a few picture of the kids exploring which is so exciting to watch!

Gavin was inspecting the grass looking for grass hoppers with were everywhere. We did end up catching a baby one boy they are hard to catch. But they are fascinating and have such a powerful jump.

Here is just one of the bug we caught. I wish i knew what kind of spider this was. We also caught a bee, a beetle, and a moth. Then we came home and drew pictures of what we saw.

More on the cleaning coming soon.

Ahhh Decluttering Feels Wonderful!

Today I woke up sick but to be honest I should say I went to bed sick first. Yesterday I did not feel well all day. Its my stomach, just fells yucky and a bit painful. So anyway I woke up the same way and it really bummed me out. However being a mother of two I can never just hang out and relax, I just cant. Not that My husband wont let me because he kept telling me to lay down but because there is always so much to do. I mean I hear a mothers job never ends but gosh its just so true.
So anyway today I started a mission I decided I am going to get rid of 100 things in my home. I need to give away, throw away, recycle, free cycle, or otherwise remove from my home by the end of the day. I kept track of each item as it went. I'm so proud of myself and I think my husband was shocked. So I started by taking my daughters crib down and putting her in her big girl bed (i took the top bunk of the bunk bed down for her) then I proceeded to clean the kids room which is really what started it all.
So here is the crib with all the stuff that left my house today

and the wagon full of it all (almost) on its way out

And here is the list
1-a sock
2-the crib (still in my dining room but leaving soon to thee in laws house)
3- crib mattress
4-dirt from the kids bedroom floor
5-broken toy (that Gavin tried to keep)
6-xylophone toy (he tried to keep this too)
7-white vest
8-crib sheet
9-Justin's sweater
10- another of Justin's sweaters
11-tie-die onsie (to be turned into cloth toilet paper tonight)
12-halter top
13-cloth swim diaper
14-cord coat
15-ugly dress
16-ripped book (thanks Lily for helping me get rid of this one)
17-batman ring
18-um a secret something from my undie drawer
19- another battery operated secret from the undie drawer
20-28- 8 crochet washcloths
29-35- 6 pairs of Lily's too shoes (the girls got too many)
36-Cologne
37-38-football cards
39-call of crappy acrylic yarn
40-another secret
41-burts bee's hand repair cream
42-bra straps
43-another sock
44-tank top
45-broken picture frame
46-deck of cards
47-a few magazines
48-thomas pillow
49-broken dragonfly nightlight
50-57- clothing items
58-binder
59-leather pouch
60-pic frame
61-pic frame
62-pile of newspaper
63-gift bag
64-apron
65-leather bag
66-catalog
67-cd case
68-vacation guide
69-cell phone box
70-72- bag of fabric scraps
73-moisture cream
74-ball
75-knit dino
76-80- bowling pins
81-toy truck
82-reuseable coffee filter
83-box
84-bag
85-another bag
86-umbrella
87-modem
88-dvd player
89-portable dvd player
90-95-vhs movies
96-magnet
97-something mysterious (i just dont know what it was)
98-cleaning chart
99-toy rake
100-play stand

so what do you think dident i do a great job!

Aren't these just so cool. I found this website http://thetoymaker.com/Toypages/49Animals/49Animals.html where you can print the template to make animals just like this and all you need is paper! There are a few more animals to add to the farm! I love the Giraffe! Hope these keep you busy.

Pure Embarrassment

Well I have to do it. Let me just say this has not always been this way. I used to have this under control, organized, clean, and well gorgeous but I had to take the shelf out for something more useful and now I'm just stuck on what to do here. So please look at these picture with no disgust but with pity as i have a ton of work to do and no clue where to start.

But before you see them just know the reason I am letting you in on my dirty secret is because I'm appalled by it and I need to make a change. I feel if I let the world know my secret I will be more apt to change the sick reality (keep in mind the rest of my house is very clean and I'm not just saying that).

This my readers is my craft closet. wonderful things come from here but you would never know it from looking at the mess. I need organization fast. So this week that is my task to figure out what to do here and make it organized and well orderly.

On another note I made these yesterday

because I listed them as a link for you guys. I thought they were oh so cool

and they are but for some reason I just cant get mine to look good. Well as good as everyone else. But here they are anyway

There not too bad I'm going to make a place to hang the kids art work with them Ill show you that when its done. Maybe you will have better luck making them if so let me know!

tutorial for the bored

I know Some days I go through a craft funk. I have a period of time where I don't know what to make here are a few things I love! Each is a click able link bringing you to the tutorial.

Lazy day skirt

Christmas Card Basket

cardboard spaceship

stamp pad ink recipe

new and improved whiteboard

redecorate clothespins

Plads and stripes?

I let them choose their own jammies. This just show why they don't pick their own clothes. Gavins outfit cracks me up especially since it is 75 degrees outside.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama you rock my world. You stand for what I stand for and you say it all so well. Bravo to you and thank you for understanding what the people need. The people who work hard and have families the people who are just trying to make it.

Wall Art how to

I'm sick of looking at my white walls. Living in an apartment and not being able to paint drives me well NUTS. If I had it my way every wall would be a different color well OK every room. But for now I have to improvise. Since I'm broke Ive been trying to figure out how to decorate my walls first I did the recycled art now this...

I had this vision of it in my head last night and just had to make it. So here's how you do it

First you need sturdy cardboard I used a cardboard box, you also need yarn and any kind will do, an exacto knife, a hot glue gun, hot glue and time.

Now figure out how big you want your circles, I traced around a large cup. The you make the inside circle and cut them out.

When you have them all done then you can start wrapping yarn. First attach the yarn with hot glue i used tape to show you where to attach it but you cant even see it in the picture.

now just start wrapping the yarn not too tight but now too loose I did not want it floppy looking but you should do it how you like.

you can wrap on loosely and then tighten them to your desired tension after a few wraps.

and just keep wrapping, this takes patients and a bit of time but stick to it!

I used variegated yarn for mine I love how the colors change. Make sure not to twist the yarn it needs to line up or it will look wonky. Here's a bad wrap.

So now you have to attach a piece of string so you can have them hanging together. just pick the length you want mine are about 3 inches apart and glue the string on make sure to do this before

you done wrapping to create a neater look. This will end up being the middle of the piece.

To join them you have to glue on the other end of this string to the next ring then start wrapping continue doing this until you have as many rings as you want done. That's it! Now hang and enjoy!!! Id love to see pictures so If you do this please give me a link to the picture!

Trash Can Woes- Painting a trash can

Ill bet your wondering what that is right. I love it Looks like wild and crazy graffiti to me! So this is my trash can. The kids and I decided to give it a face lift. I mean come on who came up with the idea to have a white trash can anyway. I was sick of it looking so dirty all the time no matter how many times I washed it and no matter what I washed it with. So we got creative! I set up acrylic paints in a few different colors and we had a blast the kids really loved this project and to be honest I did too. I wish I had more trash cans to "decorate" So here's the finished product.



I was a bit worried about how tacky it would look in our kitchen or how much it might stand out, but I think it looks cool! The best part is that the kids were so proud of it when their dad got home they were so excited to show him what they had done. SO go ahead get crazy and paint your trash can!!

Oh the cookies peanut butter cookies that is

One yummy batch down 2 to go!


Well this turned out to be about 40 cookies but I made them a bit small so the kids don't est too much junk! They are just so yummy I had to share a picture.


So now that you have seen them I know you want to make them. I hope you love them! I have perfected this recipe over the past few years to just the way we like them (very peanut buttery) and this time I added Vermont chocolate candies you can add M&M's, kisses, or peanut butter cups if you like or leave them just the way they are. If you add the candies do it right after you pull them out of the oven so the stick.

Ingredients-
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions-
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a large bowl, cream together the peanut butter, butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla one at a time. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Press each ball once with fork tines.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned.

Commitment to Loveliness

Ive decided to do it make my Commitment to Loveliness! This is a fun way to increase femininity and beauty in my life each week.
What do I do you ask? All you have to do is choose five things that you would like to work on or do during the week that will increase the loveliness in your life! If you want to do it go ahead! Here a link that started it all.
http://charmingthebirdsfromthetrees.blogspot.com/2008/07/july-27th.html

Heres my list for this week...

(this was harder then i thought)

1- Bake 3 batches of cookies to savor and enjoy
2- make a job chart for everyone in the house and stick to it
3-take the kids somewhere fun maybe a fun event
4-start yoga again and do it with the kids
5-go to a thrift store just for fun

ok so there they are ill let you know my progress as it goes!

The next best thing

The next best thing to barefoot just came in my mailbox!

I have been wanting someone to make me these for oh soooo long and Luisa Patterson owner of Croched Little Things www.piccoladonna2006.etsy.com came to the rescue. We worked together in figuring out a trade that she would also love and 40 recycled tags and a bunch of thank you cards later I got these wonderful shoes.

I wanted them because when i moved to Burlington I soon realized I cant walk barefoot as much its just too dirty so when I saw a pattern for these I knew I had to have them. Luisa and I made the arrangements to do a trade first she bought the pattern and ordered the colors of yarn I chose and quickly got these done in two days! So I am a very happy girl thanks to one lovely woman. Check out her shop she has some cute stuff and soon may even be offering these shoes in a variety of colors! www.piccoladonna2006.etsy.com

5 things you dident know about me

1- I'm lazy. Yes I sure am. I sometimes get big bursts of energy and get so much done but lately I'm just plain lazy. I know its not a thing to brag about and believe me IM NOT. I don't enjoy that Ive been this way, and honestly I feel bad for the kids and the house. Ive been such a bum. My kids usually get out of the house to do something at least 3 times a week and the house is moderately clean so im not terribly lazy but I sometimes wish I were that super mom that had a blast with the kids and had a spotless house and a wonderful homemade dinner. It will never happen and if it does it only last a week and there goes the house again.

2- I need my nap- my kids have been on nap strike for a few days lately and I'm going crazy I need sleep too. I know if i went to bed earlier i would not be so tired but no matter what that time of day im a blob even if I was my lazy self during the morning.

3- I hate white shoes- I know this is a really dumb fact but i was looking at my white walls thinking how much I hate them and it made me think of white shoes. Oh how i loathe them. I mean why would anyone want them. "hey look at my new shoes" kinda people I guess. I don't know. I have to say my husband is a white shoe guy and it drives me nuts he has 2 pairs of identical white shoes (he got them each for 8 dollars) and I hate them. My son has a pair of white sneakers and I never let him wear them, is that bad? Well I think the reason there is because they are the kind that light up and have a big cartoon on the side (Thomas the train) anyway the point is I hate white shoes. Period.

4- I love junk food- though I know how bad they are for me I just cant get enough, waffle fries, burgers, fired chicken, nachos, oh the list goes on. The funny thing is im so picky about ingredients. The burger must be turkey (sometimes ill eat beef but its very very rare) the waffle fries must be cajun with cheese on them the nachos must be veggie. Oh junk food how I love thee.

5- I cant sleep without beer- another very bad thing only half true though. I can sleep without having a beer at night but for some reason it takes me forever to fall asleep. It annoys me that this is true but i think I have gotten so used to that beer ever night that when I don't drink one I just can get my mind to stop thinking so much. Seriously I think about 25 things over and over at night and it keeps me up. I would say that's a form of adhd wouldn't you.

ok so i joined scoutle and have NO clue what to do now i want to make my chances of points and views great so those of you on scoutle tell me what to do im clueless!

well I'm getting prepared for winter. I'm very nervous about being stuck in side this year because that kids are older and have so much more energy. Somehow I am going to have to keep them busy and happy so we don't all go crazy. The other day I bought Elmer's glue 3 for a dollar and then I decided that I need to start stocking up on things to entertain the kids this winter. Ill have to buy games and fun toys to hide away for especially boring times. I suspect Ill be able to get a bunch of stuff from craigslist and free cycle but Ill have to buy the crafty stuff. I want to make sure that I not only have a lot but I want a good mix of stuff too. So today I found this

for an awesomely cheep price and I just had to scoop them up! I cant wait to get them. I bought them off etsy from http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5990059 she was destashing them and though Ive been trying to declutter lately I just have to stock up for winter. Ill need any help I can get!

Ive been working so hard today at bettering my shop. I'm taking all new pictures and boy is it a ton of work. I think it will be worth it though I want my shop to have a more uniform feel even though I have so many different items in it. I love this new picture the detail is great and I think it shows the item well

Its funny ii set up this whole photo area you would laugh if you saw it I had long sheets of paper taped from the wall on my back porch then it went down over the table, you wouldn't know from the pictures but they came out great! I plan on having a sale when I'm done to get rid of some things I'm no longer going to make but better pictures will help the sales also! Etsy is a hard place to sell and I keep hearing pictures and promote those are the best way to get noticed and get sales so I'm working on both first pictures then I have to promote.

Its amazing How one person can hate clutter but love stuff. Sounds funny I know but that's me. I absolutely hate clutter and could never be the kind of person to collect wicker baskets or little figures. The idea of collecting amazes me all the effort, money, time its just all so intriguing. But I could never allow myself to do it, never. Its too much useless stuff (in my mind) I just think if it has no really purpose why keep it, I also like to have things that serve more then one purpose and to me looking at a collection of lighthouses just does not do it for me.

However, I have tons of stuff and the more i get rid of it never seems to make much change. I mean in the moment of decluttering it is noticeable but a month later not so much. One huge example if my craft closet I have cleaned that 3 times in the 6 months we've live in this apartment and its still overflowing and unorganized. Will I ever get that right? So OK I admit it I do collect crafts such as fun pattern paper, stamps, yarn, and junk that can be made into things, my scrapbooking has been halted because of the enormous need of stuff for that hobby. But since i have so many crafts I do (now Ive added sewing) i have no way to truly organize it all. At least not in my small space.

The point of this post is to show you how much i have been decluttering lately because I'm feeling good about it! I started in that disaster craft closet but no pictures were taken of that because I'm afraid to show anyone. Seriously I don't know how I find anything in there. Maybe that's why I never put anything back..

So next I moved to the kids room to be honest I rarely clean it I just don't see the point. Most days ill maneuver a broom around in there to get up any crumbs and trash but that's about it. So i finally got fed up and started the enormous task of cleaning it. So here is the final result

the rug was taken out for some fun later in the day! Now it was nap time and it was much needed but it never happened instead i found this (keep in mind that we just cleaned the room)

But ya know it always works that way doesn't it. See I was going to say the clean room would last a few days because everyone knows it never lasts. well in my case It lasted through lunch and well that's about it. Poor me. So we gave up on nap time I was busy and had mind set on cleaning. So we all jumped in the bathtub and started stomping on the laundry. It was in rinse mode. So we all jumped around and got soaked but it was productive fun! I think the kids were surprised I was letting them do it but I was in such a great mood and wanted them to have fun while working. Once we rinsed I left the laundry there for a few Min's and came back only to find Gavin and Lily had dumped shampoo all over the clothes, ugh back to rinsing. Then we hung them out to dry

.

And scrubbed the rug that was fun too the kids really enjoyed it i don't know how much my downstairs neighbors did but they did and our rug is clean so I'm happy too!

So all in all it was a busy day at home and a fun one at that! and ya know what i think ill do it again tomorrow!

OK so i have to post this. I'm so in love with these pants maybe someday ill be able to afford a pair but until then ill just drool over them.. I have to share them with everyone because I think everyone should have a pair!
You can get them in tons of colors and even custom to your size! Here's the link where you can buy them http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=61654

and now

a skirt for lily

Learning to sew.

After Mindy helped me figure out my machine well now I'm just hooked. I put the kids to bed last night, ran to my craft closet, and pulled out my shinny white machine. I started cutting fabric from my bag o crap and proceeded to make Gavin some pants. When he first saw this fabric he said he wanted a pillow but I have no stuffing left and no pillow forms. Besides he has 2 pillows. So i decided to make the pants. As you can tell the fabric is upside down and i did drawstring for the waste but overall I think for a first project (with a machine) I did well. Check them out!!!

I CAN SEW

FINALLY!!!

Thanks to mindy we got my machine working. I coulednt for the life of me figure it out. Then after a little guessing and reading Mindy figured out for some reason the needle has to be in the fabric to begin sewing. Im so thrilled! Im going to sew and sew somemore and just keep going! Thanks Mindy you rock.

while we are on the subject of hair

Check out our rockers new hair doo!

The hair queen

Lily loves to have "buttons in her hair" we started collecting hair clips a few months back and her collection is starting to get pretty big, she wanted to try them all on at once and I thought its be cute too so we put them all in. Gavin helped of course.



We also like fancy hair ties (Lily not so much) so I made a few more for her. I pulled out the tiny scraps and Lily helped pick out what she wanted and also helped me press the buttons. I thought if she helped she would be more likely to wear them so here they are aren't they sweet!



From tiny fabric pieces to super cute hair ties! Recycling rocks!