5 Little Monsters: April 2018

Dinosaur Softie

-Sponsored by Fairfield World, this post may include affiliate links-


One thing that I don't think many people know about me is that as a kid I loved dinosaurs. I have a picture of, I think, my 6th birthday with a dinosaur birthday cake, I had dinosaur curtains in my bedroom, lots of dinosaur books, and my favorite stuffed animals were dinosaurs. In fact, one of the first stuffed animals that I crocheted was a dinosaur. I figured that as many patterns as I have designed  it was about time I made made a dinosaur.

Superhero Day Masks

 -Toys in this post provided by LEGO, may contain affiliate links-


Did you know that April 28th was National Superhero Day? I had no idea until LEGO contacted me asking if I wanted a Superhero LEGO set to celebrate. Of course I said yes. Superheroes are a pretty big deal in our house so I felt like I needed to do something for Superhero Day.

Paper Gift Box with Tissue Paper Flower


It is once again time for the Create with Cricut Challenge and this month we were challenged to make something with tissue paper. I have to admit I was a little nervous about this one. I had not yet tried cutting tissue paper with my Cricut and even though I had been told it could do it I was a little hesitant to believe it. Tissue paper is just so thin and delicate. I imagined it sticking to the mat and not coming off, or tearing really bad. I was happy to find that none of those things happened. Instead it cut perfectly without any problems.

Tiny Owl Amigurumi


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I recenlty attended Snap Conference, a conference for creative bloggers. This year I had the opportunity to teach a class. They have lots of business classes that teach everything from social media to time management to the legal side of running a business, but in addition to those classes there are also a variety of hands on classes taught where you get to make something, maybe learn a new skill. In years past I have taken classes to learn things like paper piecing, and brush lettering (which I learned is not my talent, at least not without a lot of practice). This year I went to a gold leaf absract art class taught by my friend Natalie from Doodlecraft. It was great because I had never used gold leaf before and it is always fun to try something new. I taught a beginning crochet class, more specifically a beginning amigurumi class.

Be-YOU-tiful Hot Mess Canvas


This month I was challenged to make something using paint. I have been seeing hot mess canvases recently in a lot of facebook craft groups that I am in and I decided to give it a try. If you are not familiar with the hot mess canvas technique let me tell you what it is. In elementary school did you ever make an art project where you would color all over a paper with different colors of crayons and then cover that with black crayon or paint. Then when you scratched the top layer of black off the rainbow of colors would show through. This is kind of a grown up version of that.

Grad Gift Card Holders


This week I am joining a bunch of other creative bloggers to share End of the School Year projects we made with our Cricut machines. Anything from teacher gift ideas, to graduation, to summer vacation. I decided to make a super simple graduation gift idea.

Spring Tulips Pillow

-Product and compensation for this project provided by Fairfield World. All ideas and opinions are my own.-

The tulip stitch is a unique stitch that when worked in certain colors looks like rows of tulips. It is a perfect  crochet stitch for springtime.

Initial Pillows with Cricut Patterned Iron On

-This project sponsored by Cricut, this post contains affiliate links-


We recently moved our girls to a new bedroom so when I had the opportunity to make something with Cricut's new Patterned Iron On I knew I wanted to make something for their room. I decided to make each of them a pillowcase with their initial in a pretty frame.

Crocheted Llama

-Product and compensation for this project provided by Fairfield World-


Llamas are everywhere lately so I decided I wanted to try crocheting one. I had a hard time decided if I wanted to make it standing on all fours, or more like a doll/teddy bear style, or if I wanted to make it more flat, like a pillow. I decided on all fours but I think I might try one of the other styles, or maybe both, in the future. I think it would also look kind of neat to make a striped blanket to throw over it's back. I didn't get around to making that with this one but if I make another style of llama in the future I think I will add something like that for sure.