Fall wreaths over cabinet doors

One more fall decor project to share before I go into full on Christmas crafting and decorating mode. Or I may take a few days off because my dogs are barkin' and I need a nap.

This project is 3 dollar tree grapevine wreaths and 3 different dollar tree leaf swags that I pulled apart. The design was loosely inspired by this pin on Pinterest. I hot glued the leaves to the wreaths and tied a big checkered ribbon bow.

They are hanging over cabinet doors in my dining room, by lengths of ribbon.

Here is a close up of the leaves and some stuff that was on one of the swags. I used it all. 

Another close up. 

Such a quick and simple project. 

This idea was a Pinterest find. Use a command hook on the inside of the cabinet door to hang the wreaths from a length of ribbon. Easy as can be. Now I can make more for different holidays too. 

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Burlap and lace table runner, wrapped vases and jars

It's beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving around here. My son has raked a ton of leaves from the yard. We had our first overnight freeze this week and our first foggy morning yesterday. Yahoo! Finally.

The preparations are under way inside the house too. I have been cleaning and decluttering and crafting during my much loved Thanksgiving week vacation. I love this time of year. Everything about it. I have so much to be thankful for and I am thankful everyday, but I love an extra special time set aside to concentrate on family and our blessings.

Here are my dinner table decorations I have completed this week. Two upcycled jars, wrapped in jute, burlap, lace and twine and embellished with buttons. The jars are from my mom, we both share a love of cute little containers and uniquely shaped jars and find many practical ways to reuse them. The lace and the twine are from my mother in law, she was a crafty woman also and very frugal. These were things that I inherited from her collection when she passed. I love using them now for this project.

These are two dollar store flared top vases and candles in glass jars. The only new things that I bought for this project. Again decorated similarly as the jars, I was inspired by this idea and this idea and this one too. You can see the influences each inspiring photo had on the final outcome of my project. 

And finally my favorite new addition to my Thanksgiving table scape, the burlap and lace table runner. I have had this and this inspiration pinned for a long time but it wasn't until I found this post for preparation and this wonderful post for execution, that I felt confident enough to purchase the supplies needed to make my own. It turned out wonderfully thanks to the step by step instructions on Ella Claire Inspired and Mikaela Rae blog. What beautiful blogs and amazing photo tutorials. Made the project feel less intimidating and more possible.

I am lucky enough to have a big beautiful table that will comfortably seat 8 people. My runner is 6 feet long. It is a thing of beauty. I am so ready to have the table set for family to feast at. Happy Thanksgiving. 

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Crocheted slouchy beanie, fingerless gloves and a chain cowl

Here is Ang, the rightful owner of the slouchy beanie I originally posted here. She had purchased some Loops & Threads Country Loom yarn in Rich Granite and asked me to make her a slouchy beanie and some fingerless gloves.

So I searched and searched Pinterest and we agreed on this pattern. For the gloves I just custom fit to her thin hands and wrists by chaining just enough to reach around her palms and upper wrist area. I crochet a rectangle of half double crochets and then sewed up the side and leave an opening for the thumb. Super simple.

Here's another view of the hat so you can see the cute slouch of it. I see myself making many more of these. I also had enough yarn left over to make two of the chain cowls you see her wearing. I kept one for myself.

I got my inspiration for it here. I just crocheted my chain and wrapped the lengths around my neck at the length I liked until the chain was 10 loops long, I tied the ends together and then crocheted a small rectangle and sewed it together to cover the tied spot and cinch the 10 loops together. 

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

My crocheted waffle cone slouchy beanie

My first attempt at a hat not made on the Knifty Knitter looms. I really like it. I followed this pattern, mostly. Once again, I kind of went off and did things a little wonky at first but finished up pretty much just like the pattern said. That's is my story and I'm sticking to it. I am making this commissioned hat for a friend. I made the band first to fit it around her head. So I had to work the hat in reverse of the pattern instructions, but I think I pulled it off. 

I used Loops & Threads Country Loom in Rich Granite. And now that I pay closer attention to the pattern I realize that I used half double crochets instead of double crochets, which would explain why I had to add 3 extra rows to get the slouch that I wanted. But I kind of like the less open look of the finished hat. Oh well, it was an A for effort and a series of happy accidents finished into a nice hat.


Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

My crocheted Heidi cowl

I saw this cowl on Pinterest and knew I wanted to recreate it. This blog has the coolest concept, It's Our Pinteresting Life. I love that! My life has definitely gotten more interesting, more crafty, more flavorful, even more healthy, more educated and more sensible since I discovered Pinterest. I bet you can tell that though by how almost every post links back to some Pinsperation or another.

For this first photo I used Lion Brand Jiffy yarn in black and a sized J crochet hook. My thought was that the yarn was not as bulky as the pattern called for, so I didn't used the size hook the pattern called for. But that is the only change to the pattern that I made. The finished cowl is fine but a bit to firm, not floppy and soft enough for my tastes. And its a bit too short, again for my tastes, some people like these and call them neck warmers. I like longer, softer cowls. 

So here is my second attempt, using the same brand of yarn and a sized M crochet hook, and the exact same number of stitches. Much better. In my humble opinion. This was a learning experience for me, I just thought I would share.

All was not lost on the first attempt though, I tied a 1.5 inch ribbon bow around it to cinch it like this pinspiration, and gave it to a much thinner friend who could pull it off.  Yahoo!


Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Loom knit scarf & crocheted fingerless gloves

Here are my latest yarn creations. Above is a scarf made from some Yarn Bee Fleece Lite in Rustica, a friend picked up for me out of the clearance bins at Hobby Lobby. It is thick and yummy.

Ugh! sorry for the terrible lighting in these pictures. I took them at night by plain old lamp light. The scarf color is a pumpkin orange with bits and flecks of a deep dark green. Definite fall yummy-ness going on here.

These are some fingerless gloves I created my own pattern as I stitched. I had ordered some yarn online, never having felt it, and it is the roughest toughest stuff. Not at all suitable for cowls or scarves, unfortunately. So I thought I would just play around and see if I could create come gloves fit to my hands. It worked. And as gloves the yarn is not terrible.

I did single crochets and popcorn stitches and a few single crochet decreases on these gloves, that's it. Pretty simple. They are unusual, but I like them. I have affectionately named them my Ewok boxing gloves. No idea where that came from, but it has stuck.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Knit ruffle scarves

I've been at it again. Knitting ruffle scarves that is. I made some fun and festive Halloween style ruffle scarves and one new chocolate brown Flamenco yarn scarf.

The two outer black and orange scarves are Red Heart Boutique Sashay Team Spirit yarns. The next two towards the center are Sundance Holiday Frill brand ruffle yarns, I ordered from Herrschner's online and then we have a wonderful brown Loops & Threads Flamenco scarf in the center.

Here is a close up of the Sashay.

And the Sundance in Jack O'Lantern. 

Another color variation of the Sundance yarn.

And finally the Flamenco. I love knitting these ruffle yarns, they are so quick and easy and the finished scarf is so pretty and easy to wear.


Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!