How To Crochet: The Magic Ring

I have been wanting to make some short crochet videos for a while, showing a stitch or technique, and I decided to finally do it. One of the crochet techniques I get asked about most frequently is the magic ring (also called the magic circle or magic loop), so I thought I would start with that. In this quick video I show why you may want to use the magic ring in place of working into a ring of chains, and how I make the magic ring.

Cricut 101: Tools and Supplies (and a Cute Sign)

-Sponsored by Cricut. This post contains affiliate links-

Today I have a fun project to share that uses some cool products that I haven't ever used before, but first I want to talk tools and accessories. What do you really need for your Cricut projects? And what kinds of things are not needs but are nice to have?

Cricut 101: Uploading Your Own Images

-This post sponsored by Cricut, all ideas and opinions are my own-

In the year that I have had my Cricut I have made so many different kinds of projects. Somtimes I can find exactly what I am looking for in the images available through Cricut or I can adapt one of those images to make it into what I need. But sometimes I am looking for something I can't find, or maybe I just have a specific image I want to cut out. For example, I cut out a logo sticker using my 5 Little Monsters Logo. Of course that isn't going to be available through Cricut because it was something that I designed myself, but I was able to upload that image and cut it out that way. I did the same for a logo for my husband's website. I also uploaded my own images for some of the geeky shirts that I made for my baby. I have used that feature quite a bit so today I thought I would demonstrate how to do that.

Extra Long Star Wars Pillow

-Compensation and product for this post provided by Fairfield World, all ideas and opinions are my own-

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Fairfield World recently came out with a new product called a bench pillow, it is a 38" long by 16" pillow form, and they sent me one to try out. I knew right away that I wanted to use it a an accent pillow in our master bedroom. I don't have a bench to put a pillow on but I used to have a long pillow that I would put on our bed and I liked the idea of doing that again. I had a few ideas of how to use it but I really wanted to come up with something that had some significance to us as a couple. I originally thought it would be really cool to do something pieced for the front but I also kind of wanted to add a quote. In the end I decided to keep it simple and just make a plain pillow cover and adding a black iron on quote. I am so glad I decided to go that route because I love the way it turned out and it was really easy to make.

Easy Cloth Diaper Burp Cloths

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MomsHelper #CollectiveBias

Four weeks ago my sixth baby was born. I can't believe it has already been almost a month since he was born. I feel like getting this little guy here has been quite the adventure. This pregnancy was by far my most difficult and I had a few complications so I was very ready for it to be over and to not be pregnant anymore. The delivery was kind of the same, more complicated than any of my other births. In the end everything worked out great and a beautiful, healthy baby boy was handed to me. I was so relieved and happy to have my little baby boy here. Everything seemed to be going great and we were able to go home from the hospital the next day. His brothers and sister all loved him from the start and couldn't get enough of their new baby. 

Universal Pacifier Clip

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

We just had our new baby last week and leading up to his birth I made quite a few little baby things for him, some I have posted about and some I haven't. I mostly made things like receiving blankets, swaddle blankets, and onesies. A blogging friend of mine made me a couple of pacifier clips and sent them to me. You can see how to make her version here.

Geeky Baby Onesie Ideas- Plus 2 Free Cut Files

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We only have one month left until this baby boy gets here so we have started getting everything ready, washing all of the little baby clothes, getting a new car seat, setting up the cradle, etc. I actually got rid of a lot of our little baby boy clothes a few years ago because I thought that Maren might be our last baby and a lot of the stuff that we have left is not exactly seasonally appropriate. Our other boys were born in January and March, this little guy is coming the end of July. As a result we figured he might be spending the first month or two mostly in onesies. Since I got my Cricut a few months ago I have had fun designing some shirts and onesies, in fact the very first project I made was actually a baby onesie, so we figured it would be fun to design some onesies for the baby.

Christmas Star Table Runner

As part of working with Fairfield World as one of their Master Makers I was recently sent a variety of fat quarters from the Urban Scandinavian line from P&B Textiles. There are a ton of fabrics in the line, lots of different prints in 6 different colors. I was sent a sample of the fabrics, 3 of each of the 6 colors. I went back and forth on what I wanted to do with them because part of me wanted to use the whole stack, all of the colors together, to make a quilt or something. But, on the other hand with Christmas coming up I was really tempted to pull the reds, greens, and grays from the stack and make a Christmas project. I kind of liked the idea of making something with Christmas colors but not really Christmas fabrics so it wasn't quite so Christmasy, a little bit more subtle I guess. I figured out how many squares of different sizes I could get from those 9 fat quarters and drew up a quilt design that used some solid white to take up some of the space so I could get a slightly bigger quilt. I really liked the design that I came up with but even with the white I felt like it was going to be too small and I was worried that in the end I wouldn't love it. Plus, I stared at that stack of fat quarters for so long trying to decide which way to go that it was getting too close to Christmas and I wasn't sure I would have time to get a whole Christmas quilt made.

Christmas Cuddle Floor Cushion

Christmas time has officially arrived. We spent the day on Thanksgiving with my brothers and sisters and their families at one of my brother's houses but after a few hours there we came home and spent the evening just home together as a family. The kids had been begging to put the Christmas tree up for a couple of weeks so we finally got it out and set up and then we just let them go to town decorating it. I always dream of having a nice, perfectly put together tree. We have even tried the two tree thing, one upstairs in the living room that has white lights and pretty matching ornaments, and one downstairs in the family room with colorful lights and all of our old ornaments mixed with the ones the kids have made and gotten over the years. But, somehow it always seems that as the kids get or make new ornaments they end up taking over the nice tree, they are always so proud of them that they want them to be on the tree that everyone sees. And then you throw in the fact that we have always had toddlers around who like to un-decorate the tree or rearrange the perfectly spaced ornaments. Then you add into all of that the fact that the lights on our nicer tree weren't working and we decided just to put up our little colorful lights tree with all of the mismatched ornaments and the truth is, I kind of love it. I think perfectly put together trees can be beautiful but my kids are awfully proud of the tree they decorated with clumps of ornament in some places and bare spots in others and ornaments that each of them have made at school or church or at home. Someday we will have the pretty tree but right now we have a tree that represents out family and our kids and it is perfect.

Crocheted Stocking Heel Video Tutorial

A couple of weeks ago I posted the pattern for my Crocheted Stocking Advent Calendar. The heel portion of the pattern was a little bit difficult to explain in writing and I had a few questions about it so I made a video tutorial to help clarify that portion of the stocking. Hopefully this will help if you are having a hard time figuring out the heel. 

Extra Large Cuddle Suede Tote Bag

With 5 kids to take places like the library or trips to the park, sometimes it is nice to have a really big sturdy bag. One that can be stuffed full of library books or hold a picnic blanket and lunches for everybody. This summer I bought a cheap large tote bag to take to the park and after just a couple of uses the handle broke. I thought I would just try making one of my own, that way I could make it nice and sturdy.

Mickey & Minnie Inspired Pillows

Today I am sharing the tutorial for my Mickey and Minnie inspired pillows that were my entry in this week's So You Think You're Crafty Competition. The theme was Disney Inspired and really, what says Disney more than Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

DIY Wooden Photo Stand

This week's So You Think Your Crafty theme was a little bit harder for me than any of the other weeks. The theme was "Paint" and although I have made a lot of painted projects in my life, I haven't really shared any painted projects on my blog. I played around with a few different ideas before deciding on the DIY Wooden Photo Stand. I really wanted something that I could share how to make, not just paint something that I bought or that would be difficult to replicate.

Kid's Halloween Pillows

These Halloween pillows were my project for week 2 of So You Think You're Crafty, Kids Can Do was the theme. I haven't really done a lot of kid's craft projects on my blog but it is something I have been wanting to do more of for a long time. I think it is so important for kids to have opportunities to be creative and to learn how to create. When I was deciding on a project I wanted something that they could do from start to finish, with varying degrees of help depending on their age and abilities. I wanted them to start with the design and then see their idea become a reality.

DIY Trick or Treat Bags: Pumpkin, Ghost, and Frankenstein

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #TrickOrSweet #CollectiveBias

I can't believe we are already a week into October! Halloween is just around the corner, are you ready? Probably the most exciting part of Halloween for kid is the trick or treating. You get to dress up, knock on doors and people give you candy, really as a kid what is better than that? Besides the costume there are two important things that we need for trick or treating, candy to hand out and a bag for kids to collect candy in. I took care of both of those things this week when I ran to Walmart and picked up a couple of Large Variety Hershey Candy Bags. The bags were huge and had some of our family's favorite candy in them. My family loves Reese's, Milk Duds, Kit Kat, and Twizzlers, all candy that came in the bags we got.  I figure if our family loves it then other people will love getting it on Halloween. It is nice to be able to pass out candy that we know other people will like getting.

Roll Up Picnic Placemats

Summer is the perfect time for picnics and barbecues and outdoor get-togethers with family and friends. I thought it would be fun to make some placemats to use for those summer picnics. I wanted something that would be cute, portable and functional and I think these Roll-Up Picnic Placemats are all three. They are also really easy to sew together.

Easy Kid's Art Apron

I mentioned in a previous post that I have had the opportunity recently to start working with Fairfield World. A couple of times a month I will be sharing projects on their website and last week I posted my first one. I thought I would share it here so that you can go check it out, along with all of the other great projects ideas they have there. I made these really simple art aprons for my kids. They are made with Oly-Fun Fabric which doesn't fray so I didn't need to hem or finish the edges. That made the aprons really fast and easy to make and they are great for summertime art projects.

A Girl Scout Sash For Your Doll

About a year ago our kids school started up a little girl scout troop and we decided to let Eliza join. The first year there were only a couple of girls but this school year they have grown quite a bit and now there are several little girls in their troop. Eliza has really enjoyed it and really looks forward to the days that she has girl scouts. Because she is deaf and goes to a deaf school her school friends don't live near us, they are spread out all over the valley and some even further. As a result she doesn't have many opportunities to get together with them outside of school. She loves her friends and I think that is a big part of why she has enjoyed girl scouts so much. It is a chance to do something with her friends each week outside of school. 

School Supplies for Your Doll

Back to doll accessories, today it is school supplies. If you are sick of doll stuff I promise I will be done soon. If you like it, well, I still have a 6 year old daughter so I am sure that although I have almost finished posting all of the doll things from Christmas there will probably be more someday. Not to mention the fact that she has 2 younger sisters so I am sure there will be lots of doll stuff in our house for several more years. 

I thought it would be fun to make Eliza some little things to play school with her doll. I figured that since school is such a huge part of her life right now, she might enjoy having some school things for her doll. 

Accessories for Your Doll's Pets: Dog Bed and Leash Tutorial

The other thing that Eliza really wanted for her doll, besides the bed, was a dog. Well, a dog, and a bed for her dog, and a collar and leash for her dog, and a pink tutu for her dog. She saw all of those in the American Girl catalog and, other that the pink tutu, she got all of them. The bed isn't exactly the fancy princess dog bed that she saw in the catalog and the collar is just the one that came sewn onto the dog, no sparkles or rhinestones or anything fancy like the ones that she wanted but when she opened it up Christmas morning she didn't seem to mind at all.