Green is the new Green?

Well I have been loving this green color lately...

that and brown of all things.

You might find out about why I am liking brown in my next post.

I recently went exploring in my big book of crochet stitches and I came upon a fun and easy stitch I haven't tried out before...

it's called the:

Plain Trellis Stitch I

Starting Chain: multiple of 4 sts + 6

1ST ROW: 1sc into 6th ch from hook,

*5 ch, skip 3ch, 1sc into next ch; rep from * to end, turn.

2ND ROW: *5ch, isc into next 5 ch arch; rep from * to end, turn.

Rep 2nd row.

After learning the stitch I decided it would be

perfect for a cute little shrug.

The green was such a nice color choice too!!

Here is what I came up with.

So one of my other projects is learning how to french braid my hair. Now my mom was awesome at french braiding my hair when I was growing up...

but now I live far away from my mom and she can't show me how to do it.

So I went on to youtube and have been watching countless videos on how to accomplish this impossibly hard task. I tried and tried and eventually ... my hands and arms got tired enough I didn't think I could try any more. About an hour later I thought well I will try starting the braid higher on my head. Well this is what I ended up with.

Kind of cute, kind of strange, but hey I did something

I couldn't do before so I will count that as a success!!

Hope you all are doing well!!

And remember...

Craft Hard

Welcome to the Jungle

Welcome to the crochet jungle that is...

it's been a wild and crazy adventure creating these new friends.

This elephant was actually the last one of the group to be finished.

These animals are an extra step beyond my crochet monsters.

The monkey was actually my first creation to this group.

I wanted to make him a stuffed animal version

of my watercolor monkey I usually paint.

He even has a removable banana.

The lion was sooo fun to make!! It took awhile to figure out

exactly how I wanted him to look but I think he turned out kinda sweet.

As I was making the giraffe I realized I needed to make the little brown things on the top of its head... by its ears.

As I thought about it, I wondered what they were called? I asked my husband what he thought they were called and he said he didn't know but they should be called

"Dongles"

I'll give you 20 points if you know what they are called ... without looking it up on google!!

Here is the answer : They are called Ossicones

And I love this little piggy my husband lovingly named him

Breakfast :)

What's a pig without a curly tail?

My husband also likes Otters and his old nickname used to be "Scotter"

Nothing like a squishy Penguin!!

I have loved learning how to make all these fun animals and I really wish I had created patterns to go with them. Maybe the next one I make I will do a tutorial on and include a pattern. :)

Anyone interested in that?

Besides these guys love having new friends :)

The Monsters in my Closet...

As some of you may have guessed by now,

I don't have skeletons in my closet...

I have monsters.

Yes it is true... I am not some 5 year old who is scared to go to bed at night with the closet door shut. (I actually prefer it shut) No, I guess I am not afraid because I am the one who put them there. In fact I am the one who created them.

Yes 7 adorable squishy monsters now live in my closet.

Here is the original sketch that brought these little guys into existence.

And here they are alive and well

Have you ever heard of The Sock Monster?

Well now you finally get a chance to meet him. This guy lives in my dryer.

He likes to steal random socks every now and then.

(Notice the colored socks on his legs... not one of them is the same as the other)

He loves a good mystery and he likes to share the love by keeping you guessing too.

I had so much fun making these little guys I couldn't just keep them all to myself... so I decided to share. My beautiful sister is going to have a little boy in April and I knew he needed one of these monsters to watch over him when he finally gets here. So I sent a monster along with this cute hand made car seat cover. The cover was actually easy and really fun to make thanks to an online tutorial I found. :)

There are a lot of people around me that are pregnant right now

(I guess it's that stage of life hu)

One of my friends is about to have her little girl (any day now)

and so I made this layette for her.

It was my first time making a full jacket...

it was a lot of work but I think it turned out beautifully.

Craft Hard

Craft for a Cause 2010

I am going to share with you something I haven't really talked about on here before. I have been so blessed in my life to be a part of many wonderful experiences and organizations. For the past 3 summers I have packed my bags and headed out to the beautiful state of Colorado. There I spend 2 weeks in August with a wonderful group of people. The program I have been working with is called:

The Children's Hospital Burn Camp Program

For the past 3 years I have come to love the Children's Hospital Burn Camp Program. This program is designed for children who have suffered a burn injury and are learning to cope with the aftermath of the injury. These children are given the opportunity to come to the beautiful mountains in Estes Park Colorado. During this week long camp the children learn life skills that help them to be successful during the program as well as when they go home.

This organization has opened the doors for these children to meet others who have been in similar experiences and see that just because they have gone through something terrible they can grown into something wonderful. The past 3 years I have donated my time by working at this camp in the arts and crafts cabin as well as working with the 8-12 year old girls. To see these kids express themselves in art and find new talents in the process is both rewarding and humbling.

When I came home from camp this year I told myself that I would try and be more involved in the program outside of those 2 weeks a year I spend with them. I was given an opportunity to do this by helping to design the invitations and the save the date reminders that went out this year for the 3rd Annual Children's Hospital Burn Camps Program Dinner and Auction!!

After I helped with that I found out that Joann Craft Store was holding another contest.

(Last time I entered a Joann's craft contest I was disappointed)

This time I am donating my contest entry to be auctioned off to help raise money to send kids to camp for next year!! So any way you look at it, it is a positive thing.

Joann is hosting a Craft for a Cause contest for 2010.

Here is the scoop:

Crafters — Enter to Win $1,500 Gift Card
· Using materials purchased from Jo-Ann make and donate useful crafted items to your favorite charitable organization. Experience the satisfaction of giving!
· Submit photo of each donation — crafted items will be judged for prizes!
· The makers of the top five crafted items will each win a $1,500 Jo-Ann gift card.
*Judged on creativity, quality & functionality for the charitable organization receiving item.

Here is what I came up with...

I decided to crochet a lap blanket of the Children's Hospital Burn Camps Program's Logo!! I think I put in over 50 hours on this project. I hope it goes for big money, lets send lots of kids to camp this next year :)

If you are interested in finding out more about The Children's Hospital Burn Camps Program or how you can donate

visit this link noordinarycamps.org

Burn Camp 2009 - This photo was taken right after play day with one of my favorite buddies from camp. (just imagine a field day that ends with a massive shaving cream fight)

Pigeon Fashion Show...

If you happened to read my post about my little black jacket you might remember reading something about the pigeons watching my fashion show... Well I think they are fed up with my fashion. One tried to let me know that they think my idea of fashion is, well... CRAP. It seriously tried to take a dump on me. Stinking bird. Well I didn't let that stop me from taking a few pictures of my most recent adventure in clothes making.

I got a sewing machine for my birthday (I have been wanting one for about a million years)

Thanks to my wonderful family they all donated to the Ashley's Sewing Machine Fund... which opens up another sector of creative freedom. (I had a joke going with my husband that it was probably a good thing I didn't have a sewing machine because that would mean the a whole other side of the craft store would now be open to me)

I have done a little bit of sewing here and there, mostly in Home Ec. class. I sewed an

awesome patch work pillow that year. I have also given my Mom's machine a try but most of the time it had tension issues. So I was thrilled to play on my new machine and try out some of these great projects I have been seeing on blogs everywhere.

I decided that a skirt would be a great place to start. It's not always easy to find a good skirt that fits the way it should and is knee length. So I got an idea in my head and started to go for it. I learned a lot as I went along. Lucky for me I thought ahead and bought 2 yards of fabric just in case I messed up :) Oh and did I mess up. I learned a lot about measuring out extra fabric for elastic waist skirts.

But here is the final product.

A few months ago I also made these little goodies. Crochet is too hot to sport in the AZ heat so I tried something a little different with these two.