Back at It

There are times when the most soothing thing in my world is yarn, a hook, and an excellent audio book.

Our Yard in Spring - Hawthorn

 
 

 
 

My New Crocheted Hat

 Project Pinterest 08

While Dale was away on a business trip last week, I listened to a couple Harry Potter audio books and crocheted a hat.

This was a new-to-me piece of apparel. The Slouch Hat. I found my inspiration on Pinterest.

It's an elongated stocking cap that's intended to fit closely around then head, then slouch down in the back.

The base of the hat is all done in increasing rows of half double crochet. It was fortuitous the way the yarn color changed just as I completed the base.

The pattern changes into alternate rows of half double crochet and a crossed double crochet. This was a new stitch for me.

The X pattern shows up better when using a solid color yarn. I chose a Lion Brand Yarn called Tweed Stripes in color 201 Orchid. This hat matches the scarf I knit last winter.

One of the best attributes? This hat even works if you wear your hair like Marge Simpson!

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Inspiration is the Kisses Slouchy Hat by Kristina Olson Designs

Our Yard in Spring - Tall Grass

In beautiful light, even the tall grass and weeds look pretty.

Our Yard in Spring - Tulip Redux

Nothin' but the dead and dyin' now

Until you look inside

Our Yard in Spring - Pretty White Clusters

I'm not sure what kind of plant this is. Maybe a spirea.

It blooms in the "fairy garden" at the base of a pine, crawling over the giant rock, hiding between the Oregon grape and the lilac bush.

The white clusters search for a bit of sunlight

then open up and breathe a whispered sigh.

Dandelion Meadow

Tulip Mandala

I took some quiet time to color today.

Drawing by Thaneeya McArdie from her book Flower Mandalas

Gift Tags

Project Pinterest 07

Today's inspiration was to make stacks and stacks of gift tags in bright colors. This is another craft made from dollar store finds.

Instead of using neon poster board, I decided to make my tags from blue, yellow, pink, and green index cards.

I used my nice Fiskars punch model #1335 to make the tags. They're about 2-1/4" tall and 1-1/2" wide.

I was able to punch three tags from each index card.

I used a regular-size hole punch to make the top hole. Then used baker's twine for the tie. The baker's twine is also from the dollar store. Three rolls per dollar. I found two color sets.

One of the pins I used as inspiration had a cute little punch at the bottom of the tag. Unfortunately, I don't have a punch quite small enough, so I gave up on that idea. The inspiration pin also used brown paper reinforcements around the hole. Again, my paper reinforcements were too big for my tags, so I gave up on that idea, too. As you can see, I was planning to color coordinate the reinforcements with the tag and tie color.

This was a great craft-while-watching-TV project. I ended up using 5 index cards of each color ... so 15 tags in each color. They look so pretty all stacked up together. Now ... what pretty packages shall I attach them to?

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Inspiration from knotandbow on Etsy

Our Yard in Spring - Lilac

Keepin' It Handy

Project Pinterest 06

I've been having a tussle keeping a pencil handy on the fridge next to my shopping list. So I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. This made for an easy crafty solution.

Clothespin

Wooden heart shape
Sticker

Hot glue
Magnet strip - the full length of the clothespin so it holds well on the refrigerator

Clip in a pencil

Hang next to the shopping list

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Inspired by A Night Owl Blog

Sparkle Bookmarks

Project Pinterest 05

On the tail of yesterday's coaster success, I decided to spend my Sunday making a couple more quick heart-y crafts. This idea was originally made with craft felt.

This is really cute and my first thought was to make them with felt. Then I recalled that I have a big bag full of sparkle hearts. This was going to make for a much quicker project!

I found some matching sticker pairs and attached them back-to-back to colored, coated paper clips. I color coordinated some of the hearts with the same color paper clips; on others, I switched up the colors. Both ways are pleasing to my eye.

I made them specifically for my task journal, marking my most used charts and lists. I'm giddy with the way the shiny objects all work together.

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Inspiration from Squishy-Cute Designs