Ear Warmers

This is my first official pattern so here goes:

I had some left over hand dyed/hand spun yarn that is approximately 20 yards or less.  So I decided to make some ear warmers for my little girl.

Gauge: Approximately 2 sts/inch

Needed Materials:

Knitting Needle: US 13 (9mm) double point needles

Large eye yarn sewing needle

Measuring tape or ruler

Gauge is very important due to the nature of thick n thin yarn varies.  Before binding off make sure to measure.  Measurements in diameter: Newborn 6″, 3-6 months 7″, 6-12 months 8″, toddler 9″, and adult 10-11″

Size of ear warmer:  Newborn (3-6 months, 6-12 months, Toddler, Adult small, Adult large size)

Cast on 24 (28, 32, 36, 40, 42 ) sts evenly on the dpn

Then, do not turn to knit instead join to begin knitting in a circle.  Being very careful that the stitches are not twisted.  Continue knitting each stitch around and around with the right side on the exterior.  Knit until piece measures about 1.5 inches for newborn and 2 inches for other sizes or until desired length.  Bind off.  Weave in lose ends.

Finished Ear Warmers

I embellish the hat using the cut of ends from the ear warmers to make flowers, felt for the leafs and pearl beads for the center.

To make flowers from the ends I used fabri-tac to glue down the leftover pieces in circles.   I also made sure that the little flower pieces didn’t have a big hole in the middle so you are able to put the pearl bead in the center of the flower without losing it from the hole.

Flower pieces

Next was to make the felt leaf.  I basicaly drew a leaf shape on the felt and cut it out and then emborider it with white thread down the middle.

Now to tie it all together.   Sew flower and pearl bead on ear warmer.  Then to secure I also added a little bit of fabri tac and then glued down the felt leaf.

Your finished!  It took me about less than 30 minutes to make this project.  Happy knitting!

PLEASE USE FOR PERSONAL USE!!!

Toddler Size Ear Warmer

Testing out Ear Warmer

DIY Bumblebee invitation tutorial inspired for Norah’s birthday

Norah’s going to turn one soon!!!  I can’t believe it already!  I have been looking around for birthday invitations but can’t find ones that are to my liking or they are really expensive (for example $45 for 8 invites).  One of my dearest friends made lady bug birthday invitations for her daughter’s 1st birthday and the wings open up to reveal the invite.  I thought it was such a cute idea!  It got me motivated to make my own invitations for Norah’s birthday.  Since Norah was a bumblebee for Halloween I thought it would be cute to make her bumblebee theme birthday invitation with colors of pink and yellow.  So… I made a tutorial of a bumblebee theme invitation pull tab style.

This is my first tutorial so please bear with me.

Materials Needed:

paper trimmer

x-acto Knife

envelope opener or something similar

healing board

1 circle punch size 2″

1 circle punch size 1.5″

1 scalloped hole punch

1 bumblebee punch from Martha Stewart

scrapbooking glue

coordinating ribbon

coordinating paper

3-D foam squares

The invitation will consist of three layers.  The base layer, middle layer, and the invite.

The size of each layer:

Base layer size: 5″x7″

Middle layer size: 4.75″x6.75″

Invite layer size: 4.5″x6.5″

1st Step:

Print your invitations out.  I set my word document to the invitation size needed with my left & right margin at 0.5.  Different printers will print differently.  For my printer it printed my invitations in the center of the cardstock paper so I was left with messing with measurements.  If your printer does the same as mine then continue on with the tutorial if not then skip this step.   After printing out the invitations you need to trim the size needed.  Again this is if your printer prints the invitations out in the center of the cardstock.  Trim off each side of the invitations 2″.  Then trim off the bottom of the invitation 4.5″.  Now put your invitations to the side.

2nd Step:

Next you want to cut your base and middle layer paper to the size you need.  Since my invitations are pink and yellow theme.  I decided to make the base layer pink and the middle layer a polka dot coordinating paper.

3rd Step:

Now glue your layers together.  Glue invitation to the middle layer and then middle layer to the base.  Set aside.

Your invite should look like this:

4th Step:

Next we will work on the cover of the invitation.  I have made a template for the cover here.  Use whatever coordinating cardstock paper to make your cover for the invitation.  In this step, I recommend using one white cardstock as your template and then use that to trace out the other invitations with your coordinating paper.  Or the other option would be to print out the template on your coordinating paper and then fold where the printed side is facing inside.

On the template cut the dotted lines and the solids lines are to be scored.  Note that if you want to cut out the semi-circle you can, but I used the circle puncher instead.  So if you want where the circle is for now just cut a straight line.

Scoring the paper where the solid lines are will help to fold the paper smoother.  In this step I used my envelope opener as the tool to score my paper and the paper trimmer as my guide.

Scoring the paper shown here:

Scored paper should look like this:

After cutting and scoring your invitation covers it’s now time to glue the edges of the cover together.  Let the edges dry off.  Make sure not to use too much glue or it will overflow out and in your cover which, will make it hard to insert the invitation.  As a tip, after you glue the cover place them between something heavy to hold them down while they dry.  In this case I used books.

Finished cover:

5th Step:

Making the bumblebee tabs!  Yay! Almost done.

The tabs consist of 4 layers.  The base (2″ circle punch), scalloped, 1.5″ circle punch, and bumblebee.

Making the base by using your 2″ circle punch and punch out with paper used for your invitation cover.

Using coordinating paper use your 2″ scallop punch.  I used white cardstock paper for my 1.5″ circle punch.  Using coordinating paper punch out your bumblebee.

I had a hard time punching out my bumblebee so I had to use my xacto knife to carve out the bee.

Since the body of the bee was empty, I decided to fill it with chocolate brown cardstock.  You can do the same or just leave it the way it is.

Once you have all the layers you need now it’s time to put them together.

Glue the bumblebee on the 1.5″ circle.  Then glue that piece on the scallop circle.  Next using your 3-D foam square, put those on the scallop circle piece with bumblebee and then put that on the 2″ base circle.

6th Step:

Putting the invitation and cover together.

Insert the invitation into the cover.  Using the cut semi circle in the cover as a guide, place glue on the invitation where the semi circle is cut out.

Then place your bumblebee tab on the glue making sure it matches up to the cut out semi circle on the cover.

Wait for the glue to dry.  Congratulations you now have a bumblebee pull tab invitation!

For embellishments I added a polka dotted yellow ribbon since I thought it was a little plain with just the cover and invitation itself.  I hope this tutorial was fun for you.  I should have done a more simpler tutorial but this is what came up at the moment.  Please feel free to ask questions in the comments or just comments.  Enjoy!  ^__^

Please feel free to do what you want with the tutorial but don’t take credit is all I ask.  Thank you.

Happy Easter!

I made a brown bunny hat set for Norah with pink ribbons on the ears.  I thought it would be cute.  I did pretty well with the bunny hat orders and somehow found the extra time to make Norah a hat set just in time for Easter!  So this morning we went out to the park and took some Easter photos!  It turn out pretty good.  I’m not a photographer so these shots are with my point and click camera.  On my list of things I would like to learn photography or take a workshop class or something.

Well on that side note…photos!

The eggs and basket kept her still enough for me to take the photos.  She kept wanting to take off her hat and crawl everywhere.  =-)

Well with lots of singing, jumping around like bunnies and putting a pair of bloomers on my head I got the shots I wanted.  It’s a lot of work taking photos for babies.  She was worn out enough to take a long morning nap after the photo session…yay!

Jenny Marrs, a photographer in the Bentonville, Arkansas area took photos of the bunny hats I made for her twin boys.  I thought I share with you her photo and how cute they turned out.

If you are in the area or you live there, then look her up!  She does a wonderful job at capturing your special moments.  Jenny Marrs Website.  Jenny Marrs Facebook.  Jenny Marrs Blog.  Thank you Jenny for doing a beautiful job.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Bunny Ears FTW!

Been knitting like crazy!  Trying to prepare for Easter.  I have been making bunny hats and diaper covers with bunny tails for Kamila Photography and for my shop.  It’s been fun.  I’m planning on making a set for Norah for her first Easter.  I think it’s going to be great and fun photos.  Kamila has been kind enough to take photos of some of my items made on my shop.  I can’t wait to see the outcome!

If you’re in the Clearwater, FL area and are looking for great affordable photos look up Kamila Photography.  She is great and wonderful to work with for your photo sessions.  She offers so much for so little.  Follow her on Facebook to find upcoming events.  It might not be too late for her Easter mini session she has going on right now.  You get a photo session with live bunnies!  Imagine your baby’s first Easter picture with live bunnies…HOW CUTE!  For information on her Easter session click here.

Enlightened by light box

I’ve been wondering for a while, since I’ve been shopping and selling on Etsy.com how these people take such creative pictures.  I have a dear friend who is a graphic arts designer that told me they use a light box.  I’m not into photography so I didn’t know what the heck a light box was or what it look like.  Her and I found a website that helped make a cheap light box and now I’m excited to take better pictures.  If you like to try to make one of your own here’s the link to DIY that I used.

I didn’t buy fabric to cover the light box.  Instead I used undershirts (that was going to be thrown away) that was still white and in okay condition to cover the light box.  The amount I spent on the light box was $4 for 2 sheets of bristol paper at your local craft store.  That’s it!  Cool!

The result:

Making Baby Food

Before having my daughter I thought baby food in a jar would be fine.  Well…things changed once that baby came!   I wanted what was best for my baby but, at the same time hassle free or at least the minimum.  The other problem that arise when researching how to make baby food was the idea you had to buy these fancy baby food making equipment.   Well I found a book at the library that is called “Baby Love: Healthy, Easy, Delicious Meals for Your Baby and Toddler“.  This book is awesome!!!  I totally love it!  You don’t need any fancy baby food equipment and the recipes are easy.  The only con I found in the book is the author mention the ice cube being 2 ounces each (unless you buy specifically the baby food trays with the cover then those are 1 ounces) I used regular ice cube trays and found those were not 2 ounces each but 1 ounce each instead.  I made a whole bunch of baby food already for my daughter.  I borrowed the book twice, but now I plan on purchasing the book for keeps.  Best of all I notice my daughter is much more of a hearty eater with the baby food I made compared to the jarred baby food.

The pictures show the fruits I bought from the local farmer’s market not including what’s in the fridge.  The pot is the recipe for cinnamon apple oatmeal raisin which, by the way taste like apple pie (YUM).  The rest are the puree food poured in ice cube trays and froze overnight.  In the morning, pop the cubes into freezer bags then date and label.

Here is how I planned it out:

Each day make one or two recipes from the book.

Reasons why:

• You won’t have enough ice cube trays to make all the recipes at once
• I don’t think you will have enough freezer room unless you have no food in the freezer…lol.
• Last, time…start small

So the night before I would prep (since the baby will be asleep by then) and cook in the morning.  I cook in the morning due to the loud noise from the blender it’s easier when the baby is already up.  Pour everything in ice cube trays and saran wrap it and put in the freezer.  I found it takes longer to freeze pureed food then water so I let it freeze for an entire day.  Next morning, pop out the cubes of food and store.  Then prep later at night when the baby is down for the night.

Positives:

The cool thing about making baby food is you offer a variety for your baby instead of one jar meal.  For instance, right now my daughter is 9 months so for breakfast is 4 cubes of banana apple pear (4 oz equivalent to one stage 2 baby food jar) with baby oatmeal for added thickness, lunch is 3 cubes of zucchini & carrots with orzo (for texture) and 2 cubes of blueberry & apple (5 oz total), and dinner is 3 cubes of broccoli, spinach, and cauliflower with orzo and 2 cubes of cinnamon apple oatmeal raisin (5oz total).  Of course, this is just a sample menu of her daily meals, but you get the idea of the menu variety that is available instead of a jar of peas or carrots and that’s it.  My daughter use to eat 4 cubes of baby food but I’ve been noticing that she seems a little hungrier so I added an extra cube of food.  The other positive about making baby food is if your baby seems hungrier that day you can just add an extra cube (1 oz) instead of opening a whole new jar, which can be a waste.

Negatives:

The only thing that took up most of the time maybe the prep process for the recipes. Also, if you don’t have a lot of freezer room it could be hard to store.  Those are the only negatives I can come up with so far.

If you’re a busy mom (like most moms) you can plan out your baby’s meals the night before.  Just put their frozen cube food in those BPA free containers in the fridge to soften over night and when they are ready to eat just pop in the microwave for 10-30 seconds increments (depending on the microwave) and you’re ready.

Next post will be a comparison of prices, jarred vs homemade.

Those who are looking into making baby food check out the book.  It made the process easy and painless!

Tyler’s Birthday Surprise!

Tyler is my closest friend’s son. He’s turning 3 years old (how time flies)! His favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba and his favorite character in the show is Plex. I decided it would make me the coolest Auntie if I made him a Plex shirt. His birthday is this coming weekend and I can’t wait for him to see it.