Snow Woes and Crochet Santa & Poinsettia Magnets

Those of you who know me will know that I really hate winter.  This would probably be different if I was even mildly athletic and could ski or snowboard, or even if I kind of enjoyed the cold.  But I like being a couch potato in the winter time and I enjoy being warm.  Plus my car enjoys being in one piece.

I'd like to state that not only did my ABS kick in this morning, but I also spun out once.  Then I nearly crashed into another car who was fishtailing through a stop sign, so that was awesome.  I also just heard someone crashed into a building down the street.  This was all not much more than an hour ago and it's already melting.  Gotta love seasonal transitions in PA.

At least it's starting to look a little more like Christmas now that the ground is covered in white.  I hate snow, but it hasn't felt like the holidays without it, either.  So in honor of our first snowfall, here are the finished crochet poinsettia and Santa magnets I finished for Paula (shipping out this week):





The Santa faces are based off a pattern from Mary Maxim that is no longer in print.  I end up making at least a few of these every year because they're just so darn cute that my friends and family fall in love with them.



This time around, I made the poinsettias out of crochet thread.  It wasn't as awful as I had imagined, and I think I completed them quicker than I did when I made them out of worsted yarn.  Go figure!  I thought it would be tedious, but it was painless - and the results were well worth the work.



There's a picture of the poinsettia with a water bottle cap to give you an idea of its size :)

Also, my blog has been listed in the Top 40 Knitting & Crochet Blogs!  Check out the site to find out why.  I'm thrilled to have been chosen as #16.  Thanks so much, Tara!

That's it for today!  Have a great Hump Day :D

A Disheartening Tale of Homemade Christmas Cards

To my fellow crafters and me, Christmas is our favorite time of year for crafting.  With it being the season for sharing time with family and showing appreciation for everything we have (as opposed to what we don't), we spend a lot of time pouring love and time into our gifts and greetings.

If someone doesn't like what we've gifted them, we therefore can take the reaction more personally than if we were to give a purchased gift; however, we're all big kids and can handle some rejection because most people have the maturity to at least humor us.  We're the whacky crafters, after all.

Today, I read this Dear Abby article that made my heart ache for crafters around the world.  If you don't craft, please read this and understand that this  is probably the most cruel thing you could do to us other than burn one of our finished objects in front of us.

DEAR ABBY: Five years ago, when my niece was 9, we came up with the idea of making Christmas cards and sending them out to special friends and family members. We both work hard to make sure each is attractive and in good taste, and we handwrite a personal note inside. We also print on the back that the card was "handmade with love." This has become a tradition for the two of us, and the cards are quite beautiful.


Last year, after we sent them out, I received a card from a friend with a small check inside. The card read, "I'm sending you this check so you can afford to buy 'real cards' next year." I was, to say the least, hurt and offended. I wondered if others felt similarly, so I asked around and was shocked to learn they, too, thought I was "cheap." Although it cost more money and time to create each card, no one appreciated them.


We won't be making the cards this year, but how do I tell my niece why? I don't want her feelings hurt, too. -- BLUE AT CHRISTMAS


DEAR BLUE: Tell your niece what you were told -- and by whom -- so she won't waste any more effort on these rude and unappreciative individuals. Better she hear it from you than one of the recipients.


As to the "friend" who sent the check, I hope you returned it and deleted her from your Christmas card list. What she did was uncalled for.

What a group of winners!  Seriously!  I wish I or my friends would find the time to hand-craft our holiday cards, and when it does happen, I treasure each one.  Whatever happened to "it's the thought that matters"?  I'm not sure what circle these ladies travel in, but it doesn't sound like a good one.

Chin-up, girls!  Handmade items are anything but cheap.  Not only are supplies usually more expensive than if you purchase the item at Target, but it's made with love - something you can't put a price on.  So keep crafting and sending cards to those who appreciate your talents.

And now, to get back on topic... here are some items I've completed in the past week :)  I've also finished my Santa and Poinsettia magnets, so look for a separate post about them in the coming days!

The Neverending Christmas Flower Picspam

If you're not a fan of the red/green color combo, then this post probably won't be your cup of tea!

I don't know about all of you, but I'm still hanging in there with my holiday crafting!  As much as I can, anyway.  I haven't started anyone's crocheted necklace gifts (though I have everything purchased to make them) and I don't think I've so much as looked at my bolero in two weeks.  BUT that will be changing soon.

In the meantime, I recently received my goodies from the flower swap I participated in mid-November.  They came in the mail last week and I was finally able to take photos over the weekend.  Then every time I'd come to update my blog, I'd realize I never uploaded them to Flickr.  I took care of all that last night, so here they are in all their Christmas-themed glory :D











The flowers in this swap didn't have to be crochet, so I was thrilled to receive the gorgeous ribbon flowers (the last two in the photo series!).  But in reality, they are all stunning, and I was so happy to open the bubble mailer to find these inside.  There are some talented people out there, and I think together we can all appreciate each other because we know the work and love that goes into a handmade item.  So thank you, ladies, for your wonderful flowers!

In keeping with the flower theme, my final custom orderes this season are for Santa Face magnets (okay, not really a flower) and crocheted poinsettia magnets made from crochet thread.  Here's a picture of my works in progress - almost done because I just need to make the leaves!

I say "just have to make the leaves" as if I'll be whipping them up in an hour, but truth be told they take about 20 minutes per leaf.  It's too bad they're so darn cute, though.

Whelp, that's it for me!  Thanks for reading, and I hope all of your holiday crafts are coming along at whatever pace it is you want them to :)  Have a great afternoon!

Lots of custom hats = completed! Onward ho!

By now you've probably envisioned me falling off the face of Planet Earth.  And in a way, that's what happened.  The good news is my classes for this session have been over for more than a week now, and I did really well in them!  One more math class to go before I only have marketing and management classes left.  HURRAY!

I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings :)  Hubby and I had a great time visiting with our families and finally taking it easy for at least one day during our 4-day weekend.  We did wind up being busy pretty much all weekend, but I'm proud to say that I still got a lot of craftiness accomplished.

Below are just some of the projects I've finished up since my last entry:


Purple Whitney Headband


Brown Whitney Headband


Chunky ribbed hat (this hat's for a guy, so just ignore my model, haha)


Whitney Headband for Young Girl


Burgundy Whitney Headband


Grey Whitney Headband with Pink Flowers


Set of 3 Black Whitney Headbands

I've since started my final custom order hat, then will only have to make two cowls, a crochet poinsettia, and a Santa face magnet.  You can check on my progress here (PS: If your hat is marked as completed and you haven't received a link to purchase, that means I'm taking the photos this weekend and will have them to you shortly!).  With any luck, I can finish all of those up this weekend and have them mailed out to everyone next week!

Speaking of mailing, I've decided to skip post-office-awfulness this year and invested in a scale from Staples.  For $19.99, it was well worth the price.  What does this mean?  No more waiting in line, and your orders get shipped out faster (since I don't have to wait until the weekend to get to a post office anymore).  So far, I've mailed two packages this way and have been enjoying the easiness.  Now I really have a shipping center in my craft room :)

Have a great weekend, everyone, and I hope it'll filled with a bunch of fun crafting and holiday decorating like mine will be!  And also, Happy Hanukkah!

My Christmas Flower Swap Contribution - Crocheted Poinsettias and Lollipops

Once again, I participated in a flower swap.  This swap's theme was Christmas, so I immediately went online in search of the perfect small poinsettia pattern.  There were so many nice ones, but my favorite (by far) was this one.

I thought that adding both rows of red would make the flowers too big, especially since these were being sent to people who might use them for scrapbooking, so I opted to make the smaller version (as well as some crocheted lollipop flowers, made by combining some cream yarn and gold thread):



Instead of a yellow crocheted bobble for the poinsettia's center, I used some gold beads I had purchased for another project and glued them down.  They seem to be hanging on pretty tightly:



I then attached them to some paper I had in a card stock book and created a lacy border using one of my Martha Stewart punches.  They're held on by sewing a piece of yarn through the back and tyring them to the card stock through two small holes I punched out:



I think they turned out pretty nicely, don't you?

My poinsettia-making is not done this holiday season, though!  After posting these photos to a craft album on my personal Facebook page, not only did I get some orders for flowers, but I got a TON of custom orders for my hats and headbands.  Pretty neat!  I also received some orders from my etsy shop, so the next few weeks are going to be crazy busy for me - but all worth it!

If you're interested in seeing what I have on my plate this holiday season, I created a custom order page so that we all can keep track of where I am with my projects.  I blew through some of the headbands this weekend and started a hat.  Right now, I think I'm doing well in keeping up with demand, but I suppose we'll see just how well I do as the holiday season progresses :)  Wish me luck!