A Little Monkey for A Little Monkey!.....and Catch Up!

Happy 4th Birthday Owen!!

My grandson Owen is so cute and expressive in his facial gestures.

Mallory picked out a crocheted monkey for me to make for his birthday.

 

I haven't posted for awhile so you won't know this,

I don't really believe in New Years Resolutions,

but I went on and made one this year.

I would make and have them done on time,

homemade gifts for each of my 14 grandkids birthdays this year.

 

I've got 4 down and 10 more to go for the year. 

 

 

Here's what I made for Owen

A Monkey for A Little Monkey!

I bought the pattern on Etsy from Luvly-Gurumi's shop.

The pattern was easy to make and great instructions. 

 



 

I also made Owen a little car case.

I updated this version with 2 roads.

I learned a few things from making the first one and so this one was a little easier to make.

 

 

and now here's Owen 

 Happy Birthday Owen!

 

 

 

....and Catch Up!

 

In January we had 3 grandkids with birthdays.

The second set of  twins, Leigha and Liam turned 5.

I had fun with Liam's toy.  Making it and playing with it in the process.

 

So first is Leigha's cupcakes.  I crocheted her a set of 6 yummy cupcakes.

I just went with the flow and designed my own cupcakes.

I think they turned out pretty darn cute! 

 

 

and a cupcake purse for Leigha's goodies. 

 

 

and the Birthday girl. 

 

 

 

and now for Liam's alligator. 

 

My grandma had made my older kids some animals when they were little

and I found the pamphlet on Etsy.  It is an Aunt Lydia's pamphlet.

The alligator is pretty much completely made of granny squares

....which I altered a little bit to my liking.

 

 

and here's Liam with his brother Austin playing with his alligator.

Hee!  Hee! 

 

 

 

Next we had Chad, Jr.s birthday.

Chad also turned 6 this year.

I made Chad a Minion and a little evil minion. 

 

I bought the pattern from Aradiya Toys on Etsy.

The evil minion I used part of her pattern and my own thing for part of it.

 

 

and here's Chad, Jr.

 

Enjoy Chad!!

 

 

Finally, I can't leave out my Jace who also had a birthday in January.

Jace turned 9 and he is a Pokémon Trainer now.

So I crocheted him so Pokémon Balls by just playing around

and looking at pictures of the balls online. 

and Jace opening a gift. 



 

 

I hope all the grandkids enjoy their gifts from Nana

and Jace from his Mama.



The Crochet Bucket and the Other Things I Made for a Friends Easter Basket

I crocheted this cute Minnie purse and lined it with fabric . 

It also has a button closure on the back.

 

I also crocheted these cute cupcakes for playtime fun.

 



Next I made this Travel Car Case.

I had never sewn on vinyl before and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Tissue Paper, Tissue Paper, Tissue Paper is a most on sewing on vinyl!

I machine quilted 2 pieces of flannel to the front and 2 onto the back so the mat is nice and thick to play cars on. (6 layers of fabric altogether)

I also added little garage door holders so the cars won't keep sliding out on their own.

I just used some little strips of fabric and Velcro.

Finally I added a piece of black ribbon for the road and a strap for closing the garage.

A machine quilted basketball bookmark for the reader.

 



I crocheted this Goosey Goose for the baby of the family.

 



 

Next I made this neat Card Holder for a boy that has several decks of cards.

I decided to use vinyl so he could see which decks are stored in each pocket.

The traffic sign fabric goes with his bedroom and again I machine quilted the fabric so it would be a little sturdier to hold the cards.

I just drew around a hanger for the shape and then added the length I wanted.

I just added some binding around the edges and I think it made a cute hanging holder.

 



 

 

 

and now for the entire Easter surprise for my friends kids.

 

 

I'm glad I got to help make the kids Easter fun!

The best part is that everything is machine washable,

even the bucket! 



Gratitude, Cupcake Swap and Another Fall Swap

Melissa hosted a Gratitude Swap back in September and well the package that was sent to me

must have gotten lost in the mail and the package I sent out hasn't moved from the second postoffice on it's destination since Nov 6, according to the tracking information. I'm not quite sure what to do about that??? Anyway here's what I made

It has a section for 2 ink pens, cards, an address book or journal, stamps, a letter opener and some stationary.
This is some of the cards I made and sent.

Then for the Cupcake Swap hosted by Margy my partner Becky sent me a super cute cupcake hot pad, a cupcake, 2 dishcloths, some cupcake fabric, bookmarks a wooden cupcake, a package with beads and a cupcake.

Everything was so nice!! Thanks again Becky! I went on and made Becky the Gratitude Package but with the cupcake theme.

The inside with all of its compartments
Then I sent a crocheted cupcake and some cupcake postcards, cards and tags that I made.
The two tags in the front with the little cupcake in the corner I bought from Denise at Polka Dot Moon's Etsy Shop. They are so cute!!

Then for another fall swap my partner Katrina sent me this really cute scarecrow, a yummy smelling candle, some fall themed embellishments and a wooden scarecrow for the kids or grandkids to color. Thanks again Katrina!! I really like everything you sent!

Then my partner hasn't sent me her address yet so I have this package boxed up and ready to send out to her as soon as I know where it goes.

08/08/08 Postcard Swap

I was in the 080808 Postcard Swap. We each had to make 8 postcards and mail them to 8 different people and then we should each get 8 different postcards back. They were all suppose to be postmarked 08/08/08. Mine actually made it to the post office about 10 minutes before they closed. I can't believe it! I was actually on time for once!! Anyway here's my postcards. I have never made a postcard before and I wasn't sure how much embellishing I could do so I just stuck with something simple and machine stitched the background paper to an index card and then machine stitched the cupcakes on top of that.

I also mailed one to Mallory since her birthday was on 08/08/08 and to myself for my scrapbook. Mallory mailed one to someone special to her too. So I hope I didn't break the good luck of the 080808 by mailing 11 cards out!!

Bags, Crochet and Cupcakes and Tea Anyone?

Here are a few of the things I have been working on the past couple of weeks. I just thought I would share them with you.

HELP!

Which bag do you think a 12 year old girl would like the best??

The jean one isn't done being decorated yet. I'm going to add a couple of crocheted flowers to it and I have to finish sewing the lining in.

A bag for a friend

I started crocheting a baby blanket for a friend. She wants all white and Granny Squares.

A little ornament I made for a baby girl

This is the back side

A cupcake wristlet (Purse) I crocheted for Olivia, my 6 year old granddaughters, birthday.
I got started on the cupcake and tea idea and couldn't stop.
I used vintage chenille for the tops and flannel for the bottoms. I haven't finished decorating all of them yet. The tutorial for the cupcakes is on Rachael Rabbit's blog.
I made some Alice in wonderland tea pot tagsand some more cupcake and tea tags

I've been getting quite a bit done actually. My mom wants me to make 25 grocery store type canvas bags for her by the first week in September. I'm definitely going to be busy, busy, busy!

Rachael Rabbits Cupcake and Tea Swap

I received a package today from all the way from the U.K. from Gemma. It was for Rachael Rabbits Cupcake and Tea Swap. The kids were so excited when the package came. They love when I get a swap package and especially when it has goodies in it and Gemma didn't let them down! She sent everything we would need if we were to sit down for a relaxing afternoon cup of tea.

Look how cute the gifts are all wrapped in cupcake wrapping paper!

Gemma sent a wonderful magazine, some tea, lemon candy, shrimps (they're like the orange candy circus peanuts) a really cute cupcake she made, a box of Rounds (extremely chocolatey dark chocolate) and the cutest little tea towel she embroidered. Oh, and see the cupcake card she sent. It has tons of different cupcakes on it, it's so cute!

These are the four corners of the tea towel. A tea cup, tea bags, teapot and a cupcake. I love it!! It is so cute!

Thank you Gemma for all of the wonderful things you sent! I love everything and the kids love the chocolate and lemon candies!! I will be sending mine out on Friday to a different partner. I'll post pictures soon.

My Weekend Projects

Here are a couple of things I've been working on over the weekend. These are for the Alice in Wonderland Shadowbox Swap. I have 4 different parts of pictures layered on top of each other to make a more dimensional look. Except for the rabbit, I forgot to order 4 sets of prints on him. (brain fart!)

These are the backings to the 4 little shadow boxes that I am using. I glued pages from an old Alice book to them.

and these are 3 of the little shadowboxes. I bout them from the Dollar Tree. They had some corny thing on the inside, but the boxes are really nice. I'm sanding them down and repainting them.

I made 4 sets of cupcake cards and tags for a swap and for my Etsy Shop. Here are 2 of the sets.

Anyway, this is what I worked on over the weekend. I can't wait to get the shadowbox done. I've never done one before and I'm hoping it turns out like I've imagined it!!