Crocheted Little Boe Peep

Crocheted Little Bo Peep  

 I am so pleased with my latest project that took a month to do.  That is a good time for me. I am still not that fast.  but I, oh so enjoy my new found Love of Crocheting.  

So my sister, who lives back east, wanted a Little Bo Peep outfit crocheted for her daughter.  Her husband Loves Every thing "Toy Story," so as a surprise for this upcoming Fathers Day she wanted to take pictures of their daughter to give to him.   I will post pictures when she takes some of her in this outfit.  For this Out fit I used Carrons Baby soft pink and white yarn.  You can find them here at Joann's or Amazon  

So let me start on the dress first.  I could not find a dress pattern at all for this project.  So I new I was going to have to find some thing similar in style and then go from there.

I found a pattern that was going to work with very little changes.  You can find the original pattern here.   In the original pattern it has you change colors with green and white a couple times in each square.  Instead I made them a solid pink and then 4 squares of just white.  The white was used for the very front.  It is under the the lacy blue.  You could make them blue, I had just messed up and not realized that the front part was blue until I already had it sewn together.  But my hubby said he loved the way it turned out better any way.

For the circles I did a Magic Circle, chain 3, dc in following stitches, and then join and tie off.  Really easy right!  I left my ends about 8 inches so I could use them to sew on to the dress.  I made about 30 circles.  Depending on how close you want them will depend how many you do.

Now for the blue lace look if you choose to do this part. This was the challenging part for me.  It was really a guessing game to get through it.  so You may have to play with it as well.  If you are a well seasoned crocheter it may be easier for you.  
     Row 1- Starting on the front, join yarn on right bottom side of the white squares.  Right between the sc and the dc.  Sc in the next 13 stitches,  Chain 2,  sc into 2nd st above last sc, turn.
     Row 2- *Chain 7, sk 2 sc, sc in the next sc* repeat 2 more times, chain 7 dc into last sc, turn. 
     Row's 3-12 - Chain 9, sc in middle of chain 7, * Chain 7, sc in middle of chain 7,* Repeat 1 more time, Chain 7, insert hook through 7th sc and into 1 pink and 1 white st, 2nd st above last row. 
     Row 13- sc through white sc and the chain 7 of blue, repeat to end.  

For the bonnet I used a pattern from Here.  It is a pretty easy pattern to follow.  When I was finished I still needed to get the rounded sun visor look.  I was really nervous that I wouldn't figure it out.  I only ended up froging the first 2 rows twice before I got it.  I was surprised it didn't take longer.   

Row 1-So starting on the front, join yarn to right side corner.  Chain 1 and sc in the next 44 st, turn. 

Row 2-  sl st in first st, sc in the next 20 st, 2 dc in next 2 st, sc in next 20 st, sl st in last st, turn.
Row 3- sl st in first st, sc in next 17 st, 2 dc in next 2 st, dc in next 4 st, 2 dc in next 2 st, sc in next 17 st, sl st in last st, turn.
Row 4- Slip st in the first st,  Sc in the next 14 st,  2 dc in the 2 st, dc, in the next 12 st, 2 dc in the next 2 st, sc in the next 14 st, sl st in the last st, turn.
Row 5- sl st in the first st, sc in the next 11 st, 2 dc in the next 2 st, dc in the next 20 st, 2 dc's in the next 2 st, 11 sc, sl st in the last st. Tie off and tuck in the ends. 

For the staff, I started with a magic ring, with 12 double crochets, with out joining, I worked in the rounds till the top were I did slip stitches on side to give it a curved affect.  I did not right the instructions for this.  I feel it could look so much better then how I did it.  

The ruffled leggings I used a Pattern from Design Adventures.

All in all I well pleased with the out come of this project.  I hope you all have as much fun as I did with making this.  

Melody Map

 I am so excited.  I just published my very first pattern on Ravelry.  I find it amazing that after only a year of crocheting I created a pattern.  It was never my intention to do so when I first started.  But with encouragement from family and friends, I did it!   

I started this project as a gift idea for my husbands brother and his wife.  They both love music and I wanted some thing different but would still look pleasing to the eye as well.  From the reactions from others I think I did what I had set out to do.

To get this pattern head over to Ravelry to purchase this Pattern Melody Map.

Having Trouble with Chores or Even Bad Behavior?

Having Trouble with Chores or Even Bad Behavior?

I did, and it is a work in progress every day.  As a Mom I think we all hit a certain point and we ache for some advise, some course of action to help get our kids to help more around the house with out making it some End of the World Drama.  I won’t even go in to the trouble I am having with my to older ones and their constant fighting.  I have had enough, I needed something to entice them to help more, fight less, and I needed help.

So I did some Pintrist searching and after following a behavior chart that I had found which had them move up and down with a point system, with very little luck as a long term solution. I needed to revamp it for my kiddo’s.  So I am here today to share with you what I came up with.

This Behavior and Chore Chart System is a big blessing in our house.  Is it not perfect, not by a long shot, but it is working very well.

Having Trouble with Chores or Even Bad Behavior?

I did, and it is a work in progress every day.  As a Mom I think we all hit a certain point and we ache for some advise, some course of action to help get our kids to help more around the house with out making it some End of the World Drama.  I won’t even go in to the trouble I am having with my to older ones and their constant fighting.  I have had enough, I needed something to entice them to help more, fight less, and I needed help.

So I did some Pintrist searching and after following a behavior chart that I had found which had them move up and down with a point system, with very little luck as a long term solution. I needed to revamp it for my kiddo’s.  So I am here today to share with you what I came up with.

This Behavior and Chore Chart System is a big blessing in our house.  Is it not perfect, not by a long shot, but it is working very well.

What I did was take One Room with every thing that needed to be done in it and assigned points to each chore.  Some are worth 10 but most are 5 points.  Trust me, it adds up fast.  The pictures above just show a couple of the rooms.  I have Living room and Family rooms, Bedrooms, Kitchen and Dining rooms, Office and or Library, Laundry room, Pantry, Bathroom, and Hallway and Stairs.

I also have a card with extra chores. For me I have Pull weeds, each min of pulling weeds is 1 point.  Clean the door knobs of the whole house, read for 20 min for 10 points, and Help clean the car. I also have for our house music practice points.  Each time my Son practices his Violin for 30 min he gets 10 points.  Gets him doing something he needs to do any way and he still feels rewarded by getting bonus points.  

Now, to help with the bad behavior that my kiddo’s have had of late, I minus points for certain behaviors.  A couple of examples are Not listening and fighting minus 5 points.  Another one is Lying to us.  I can’t stand this so it is one of our big minuses.  If they tell us they lied before we find out they get less taken away, but if we find out first then it is even more.  We have not had any more lying because of this.  One more I will share is Bad words and hurtful words to family members.  That one is a work in progress with siblings.    Behaviors will change in each home as to what is not okay and what is.  That is Okay, as long as you can be consistent.

I also think you should reward for good behavior as well.  So if the kids are cought doing good things they will get points added.

Now for the big and so simple reward for why this system works in my home.  They get to spend their points on two different things.  the first is 1 point for 1 minute of electronics.  that could be computer, t.v. or tablet  time.  The next one that they can spend their points on may seem low to some but for me it is a compromise.  They can spend the points on 1 point for $0.01.  So if they have a 100 points they get $1.00.  For me it is a compromise because I don’t really think my kids should get an allowance.  I feed them, cloth them, cook for them, and many more things that come from being a mother and a parent.  Yes I asked for it, I wanted it with all my heart, but I am also a human being who needs help as well.  And like I said before the points add up fast.  If they did every thing I asked during the day in chores they could easily walk away with $5.00 each.  Now I have two kids old enough to help with these chores.  My 3 year old is struggling with learning that she needs to help, especially as a third child because older siblings could do it for her.   The day will come were the kids walk away with only a couple dollars each but I am sure as they get older I will need to revamp in adding and taking away some things to this system.

To get my Cards you can email me or message me through face book.

Please if you have any suggestions,  I love feedback on the things I post about, so feel free to contact me.

Ocean Waves Blanket

Ocean Waves Blanket

I just finished this fun afghan for my niece for Christmas.  Her favorite color is teal blue, so I really wanted to do something that would give it a beach or ocean feel.    I looked around for several days before I found this beautiful pattern from Frayed Knot.  It was well worth the price and I highly recommend it to others looking for some thing a little different.  I say different because it hasn’t been anything I had seen or done yet.  Obviously with it only my third completed project I haven’t seen much. LOL, but I am working hard on changing that.

I made a few changes of my own for this project.  I add a few more rows then Frayed Knot’s pattern, I also did it almost big enough to fit a twin bed.  I wanted her to be able to grow into as she got older.  it turned out to be about 50 in wide and 62 in length.  It will make a wonderful little movie blanket.  I got a little taste of it, and now I need to make one for my self, eventually.  Till then I will enjoy knowing my niece is getting it.  

The materials I used were:

3  Caron Simply Soft Paints Peacock Feather

3  Caron Simply Soft Blue Mint

3  Caron Simply Soft Pagoda

Hook size 5.5 mm

Honey Mustered Chicken Spinach Salad

Oh My, do I have a recipe to share with you today.  I made this for my family last night and it was a huge hit.  With us trying to eat better by making things that have little to no sugar or trying to find substitutes with no Gluten for when My parents eat with us, I took a recipe I got from a friend and made some changes to fit our family’s likes and needs

My First Step was Take 6 pieces of Chicken strips along with half of the bottle of Hak’s Bbq sauce Smoked Maple Mustard and put them in the crock pot for 4 hours on high.  When they where finished cooking I placed it in the fridge to cool.  I did this first thing in the morning so it has time to cool.

Dinner time is here, time to put every thing together!

In a large bowl combine 8oz of Spinach,

1 Cucumber,

3 Roma tomato’s,

1 Green Bell Pepper,

1 purple/red Onion,

1/2 Cup Cheese,

1/4 Cup Slivered Almonds,

And finally we get to add our chicken after we have diced them into bite sized pieces, and 1 Cup of the Hak’s Sauces that you cooked and cooled.

Stir and enjoy your labors!  We sure did. 

Color Flashcards

Sorry, this month has been a rough month.  I also have good intentions of doing a post and something happens.  I will try to do better. 

I have mentioned in one of my first posts that I love to make things that help my kids learn.  I finished these Color Flash cards a while back and thought I would share them with you today.

Made into a 3×5 card, double sided, and then laminated to make them more sturdy and to protect them from my amazing Kids.   My 3 year old loves them.  She colors on them using dry erase markers and all I have to do is wipe them off and there back to like new.  She also likes them because they are not too small but not too big for her to hold.

To get my Digital down load email me or hope over to face book and message me.  

Southern Utah Sunset

I absolutely love taking photo’s.  I am not great at it, but it is something that brings me joy into my life.  A photo can tell a story, it is a memory, it is a treasure.

I took this picture on our way home one evening in Southern Utah.  I love sunsets.  The colors are just amazing.  This particular photo caught my eye immediately after taking it.  The haze in the photo gave it almost a mystic feel to me.  Just like this photo life isn’t always clear.  We may be unsure of things unsure of what to do next.  It can drag us down in to a bitter and stressful bog. But life is also beautiful, it is full of life, love, and hope.  Life isn’t easy but it is how we view it that will change how react to it.

Lol, here I am getting all serious when I am one of the most stressful people out there.  Now if only I could remember this every time I start stressing about things. I guess we all can learn from a sunset huh.