Valentine's Candy Jars

I may have mentioned before that I am not a huge Valentine's Day celebrator. I know, I am kind of bah humbug about it, but it seems like such a retail holiday. I love the people I love EVERY day, not just on Valentine's day. But for some reason this year, I was feeling the love and I wanted to celebrate it.

I happened to be in Northern California spending time with some of my biggest loves and so I thought, "I don't get this opportunity very often, I want to do a little something." So, the BFF and I headed out to the stores after the kids went to the school and got creative.

My niece, aka "Princess" is like her mom and I in that she loves all things peanut butter. So her jar is filled with peanut butter M&Ms and her card says, "You're the peanut to my butter."
My nephew JP likes just about any candy so I got him Starburst and told him he was my "shining star." Awww!
And my other nephew, who I don't really have a nickname for without giving away his name, likes chocolate mint stuff so I got him York Peppermint Patties and told him we were "mint" to be together. Schmoop!
(The Reese's hearts were from their mom.)

I also made similar ones for my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew - theirs just had different kinds of M&Ms. Oh, and my sister and bro-in-law got a bottle of wine with theirs too. And then they fed me a delicious steak dinner.

OH! And I almost forgot the best Valentine's/Birthday gift ever! My sweet nephew, JP, gave me this:

It says, "I love you so much, I will build you a house of money." Ugh! Just melt my heart, why doncha! He has a heart of gold, that kid. It was agreed that I couldn't spend it until he came down to So Cal to visit me. That middle part? That's a $20 bill folded into a shirt. That's 25 dollars that kid gave me. I mean, I have to wait and spend it with him, but what 11 year old do you know that would give away $25 of his own money? He's the only one I know!

Baseball Flip Flops

I recently traveled up to Northern California for some much needed friends and family time. While there, my BFF and I were crafting machines! We made these really cute candy jars for Valentine's day (stay tuned!) and a few days later, we made these cute flip flops!

The BFF got the idea from this pin, which doesn't link to a blog or any place I can give proper credit to. We winged it and made them our own and since we were figuring it out on our own, naturally they got cuter as we went along. 

See? We were so excited to just get the first shoe done! One down, five more to go. 

Here's what you need:

• Flip flops. (We got ours from Old Navy and Target.)
• Leather Hole Punch Tool
• Ribbon
• Baseball beads
• Some rhinestone embellishments (from the scrapbooking section)
• Super Glue
• Patience

This is the first pair:

Cut the ribbon long enough to go on both sides of the shoe with extra to at the end to tie. 

We punched five holes on each side. 

Tied one end of the ribbon. (As you can see, this part was the key part to figure out. My concern was that the knots would not only loosen when walking, but might even irritate the skin/foot. I think we nailed it on the next attempt.)

Weave the ribbon through the holes, putting a baseball on when the ribbon is on the outside of the strap.

Repeat till you get to the other side of the shoe and tie off. 

Then we super glued the embellishments down (this is the part where you need patience) and we even glued the baseball beads down for good measure. 

Here's our second attempt: 

We did these the same way as the other ones except we tied the ribbon (and super glued for good measure) to the little prong thing on the bottom of the flip flip. After tying it on there and securing with super glue, we just pushed the prong thingy back into the shoe for a smooth transition! Genius if I do says so myself. (I wish I could take the credit here too, but it was technically my sister's idea.)

And last, but not least, these ones were my favorite! 

The only thing we did different on these is instead of 5 holes, we punched two. One on each side of the thing that goes between your toe then tied off the ribbon into a bow. They are both really cute, but the less busy is just my personal preference. 

We'll see how well they hold up. I mean, they're not made to play baseball in, they're made to look fashionable while you watch someone else play baseball! So they should be fine. 

 As soon as the BFF posted them on her Facebook page all the other baseball and football mom's wanted a pair so I think she's jumping on the opportunity and will perhaps make a buck or two making them!

I am proud of both of us for making our (really, her) vision come to life. 

And thank goodness she painted her toes the day before we made these!

Bottle Cap Magnets

I don't really get along with this project and it seems so simple to do!

1.) Drink some beer and save the bottle caps. (I'm really good at this part.)
2.) Use a 1" circle punch to punch the pic.
3.) Glue pic to bottle cap and allow to dry.
4.) Put glossy substance over pic and allow to dry.
5.) Add magnet on the back of the bottle Cap.

Simple.

Or so it should be. The first time I attempted these, I half assed glued them down and didn't allow for drying time so when I added the glossy substance the pictures moved and sort of floated into weird positions. And there were bubbles in the glossy substance. This attempt, my glossy substance was a liquid glass of sorts I use for scrapbooking.

So this time, I filled the cap with a layer of glue and let the glue dry overnight. It still didn't really seem like it was dry but I'm impatient. Plus if it didn't dry in 12 hours I'm nit convinced it was gonna dry. Haha Anyway, I added the glossy substance. This time I used Mod Podge Magic Dimensions (or something like that) and, well, it dried wierd. Kind of concave. And with bubbles. :o|

Whatever. I was over it. I slapped a magnet on the back and sent them off to their unexpected recipient. She'll love them because she's not the anal critic I am and probably won't see all the flaws like I do. :o)

Not sure where to give the original credit to because the idea came from multiple pins on Pinterest and I probably checked out all of them to see where I was making mistakes sooooo - for original cred see various pins and blogs on Pinterest.

School House Treat Jar

So, I made another one of these guys. (You can find the instructions here.) This one was for one of my BFF's that runs her own in-home day care, hence the school house theme. My thought was it could be a special treat jar for her kids as a reward for when they have good behavior or do something kind, but of course she's welcome to use it however she sees fit! :o)

This is a left over from my pay it forward post from 2012. ("Pay it forward 2012. I promise to make something hand made to the first 5 people that comment. Then post this to your status and do the same... It can be as simple as a coffee, hand written note, or something more. Just has to be done in 2012.") The beauty of being a procrastinator is that the people that were promised these things have likely long forgotten that they've had it coming. So when it does finally come, they aren't expecting it and it becomes a random act of kindness that hopefully puts a smile on their face. 

She likes the "Live, Laugh, Love" saying so I threw in those cards to go with it. I think she was pleasantly surprised since this is the Facebook post that followed after she got it:

Interchangeable Picture Plaque

This lil guy couldn't have been more simple and less cost effective! I got the plaque from the dollar store for - you guessed it! - $1! I had the paper, Mod Podge, paint brush, photo corners, and pictures.

All I did was remove the wire hanger. Then I Mod Podged the paper to the plaque. Let it dry, then put a couple more layers of Mod Podge to seal it. Once that dried, I pushed a tack through the paper where the holes already were on the plaque and re-threaded the wire. Then I put the photo corners on on the picture and attached the picture to the plaque.

I could definitely be embellished more if you wanted to. I love that the picture can be changed out. Once I started this project, it took everything in me to not run out to the dollar store and buy 16 more plaques because I suddenly had several pictures I could use and multiple ideas for gifts for people!

Scarf with Pockets

Forgot your mittens?? No problem! 

A name buddy of mine had one of these when we worked together in Sacramento about 4 years ago and I thought it was the coolest thing! So ... fast forward 4 years and I finally made one!

The ironic thing about this scarf is I now live in So Cal... Where winter doesn't really exist. Sure, it gets cold... but not scarf cold. Unless you head to the beach and it's windy, then maybe it could be considered scarf cold.

I did the photo shoot for this blog by myself. I tried to get K to help me, but we just never found the time - or rather - never made the time together. I tried to make it happen on a day we were headed to the beach for a lunch date. It was probably 80 degrees out and I was in a tank top, shorts, and flip flops. I thought that outfit would carry quite a bit of irony considering where we live. Ha! No?

Perhaps I will send it to my cousin back in Indiana. I still owe her a hand made gift from 2012!! 

It's super easy and generic. I used "Loops & Threads" brand yarn. It took just under two skeins, so be sure to grab two from the store. (I had to go back.) I used an I/9 -5.50 mm hook.

Scarf
Chain 18
Row 1: Double crochet in third chain from hook, double crochet in each chain across: 15 double crochets
Row 2 - ??: Chain 3 (counts as first double crochet from here on out), double crochet in back loop only of the next 14 double crochets across.
Repeat until you get to your desired length. Remember you need about 8-10 inches longer than your desired length so you can fold over the ends and create the pockets.

I folded the bottom up about 10 rows. Lined up the two sides and sewed the sides together to the best of my ability. Repeat three more times on each side of the pocket, leaving the top open for access.

I would tell you how to sew it, but I don't have a clue what I am doing when I am sewing. I just run the needle and yarn through holes on the side and hope it doesn't come undone anytime soon. Ha! I am pretty sure you could do a better job than I can instruct.

Whether you use the pockets to keep your hands warm, perhaps to tuck your phone into, or a place to store your mittens and beanie when it's hung up... I think once you have pockets on your scarf, the regular scarf will never be the same again!

As usual, if you have any questions, I am here for you.

Treat Jar

How freaking cute is this little gem?!

Sooooo cute!

This was probably one of the first pins I pinned on Pinterest. I remember thinking we had a bunch of those fish bowls left over from our wedding center pieces and this was the perfect project for them!  

When I first pinned this, I was working in an office environment in a cubicle that was known to have candy for those in need. I thought this would be perfect for my desk. Since then, I have changed jobs and while it's still an office setting, I don't have an assigned desk so it makes it kind of hard to host a candy dish.

Anyway, the pin leads to a couple different blogs which then leads to a couple different tutorials. The tutorial posts are this one and this one. I used a combination of the two.

Here's what you'll need: 

Fish bowl

Terra Cotta pot & saucer

Wood nob for lid handle

Paint

Ribbon

Glue Gun

E6000 Adhesive

1. First I painted to terra cotta parts and the wood nob and let them dry. I only did one coat, but it probably wouldn't hurt to do more than one.
2. Then I let it sit for days because I never went back to the store to get the E6000 adhesive. 
3. I suppose you could spray the painted parts with a gloss/sealant. I didn't because I wasn't sure if I was going to further embellish or not, but since I went with not I kind of wish I would have sprayed.
4. Once I got the adhesive, I adhered. I adhered the bowl to the pot and the nob to the saucer/lid. Read the directions on the adhesive package before adhering. I got a little nervous after reading my package because it gave all kinds of scary warnings like don't breathe the fumes or you'll get cancer kind of warnings. There was another brand of adhesive at the store that was made for glass... that might have been less scary to use. By all means, if you know of a better, safer, cancer-free way to adhere - I recommend doing so. Cancerous fumes are no joke. 
5. Figure out the ribbon. For me, it was at this point I figured out who I was making it for.
6. Anyway, most of the ones I've seen just have the ribbon/bow around the bottom of the fish bowl. My fish bowl was one of those with the wavy edging (for lack of a better description - see picture below) leaving a weird gap between the lid and the glass that I didn't care for.
   I thought it would be too much to put another bow up top so I just gave it a collar. I adhered all the ribbon with the glue gun.

I wanted to embellish it a little more by writing "Treats" or "Sweets" in silver glitter, but I was going to have to free hand it and that scared me. I knew if I kept messing with it, I would press my luck, screw it up, and hate it. Why go there when I loved it in it's current state?!

I often start my projects not really knowing who I am making them for. I always have people cross my mind as I am creating, but there is usually an ah-ha moment when I discover who its intended recipient will be. For this project, it was the ribbon. I knew immediately I was giving it to my friend, Ms. Rink from Bows and Leopard. (I am sure you can figure out why.)

Initially, I thought, "She has a cubicle like I used to, maybe she'll use it for candy." And then I remembered, she doesn't really like people that much. Well, at least not as much as she likes animals... So then I thought maybe she could keep it at home and put her precious Buffy's treats in it! We shall see what she decides to do with it!

Hooded Scarf...

...because I love hoods and not all things are hooded. 

Note: I was left to my own devices for the photo shoot so they leave something to be desired. Please just focus on the cuteness of the scarf!

I am not one to buy books on how to crochet things since there is already sooo much available on the internet, but I guess there's always an exception.

While browsing in Michaels one day, I came across a gem called Hooded Scarves to Crochet by Leisure Arts. I had never seen anything like them and I knew I needed to make one!

This pattern is called "Warm & Woodsy" and I am not sure about the plagiarizing laws/rules as far as sharing the pattern, but I am gonna go out on a limb and share it with you. YOLO! 

Materials:

• Medium Weight Yarn - (5 oz, 244 yards / 141 grams, 233 meters) - 2 skeins
• Crochet hook - size H (5 mm) or sized needed for gauge

Gauge: I'm lazy and don't ever do the gauge and since I am too lazy to do that, clearly I am too lazy to type it out... so here it is:

Photo of print from book noted in above text.

Scarf:
Chain 281

Row 1: Sc in 41st ch from hook (fringe loop made) and in each ch across: 241 sc
Row 2: (Right side): Ch 40 (fringe loop made, now & throughout), turn; sc in back loop pnly of each sc across
Note: Loop a short piece of yarn around any stitch to mark Row 2 as right side
Row 3: Ch 40, turn; dc in back loop only of first sc * ch 1, skip next sc, dc in back loop only of next sc; repeat from * across:121 dc and 120 chs
Row 4: Ch 40, turn; sc in back loop only of first dc, (sc in next ch, sc in back loop only of next dc) across: 241 sc
Row 5: Ch 40, turn; sc in back loop only of each sc across
Rows 6-17: Repeat Rows 3-5, 4 times: 241 sc
Finish off.

Hood
Row 1: With right side facing, skip first 80 sc ad join yarn with dc in back loop only of next sc; * ch 1, skip next sc, dc in back loop only of next sc; repeat from * 39 more times, leave remaining 80 sc unworked: 41 dc and 40 chs
Row 2: Ch 1, turn; sc in back loop only of first dc, (sc in next ch, sc in back loop only of next dc) across: 81 sc
Row 3: Ch 1, turn; sc in back loop only of each sc across
Row 4: Ch 4 (counts as first dc plus 1 ch), turn; skip next sc, dc in back loop only of next sc, * ch 1, skip ext sc, dc back loop only of next sc; repeat from * across: 41 dc and 40 chs
Rows 5-9: Repeat Rows 2-4 once, then repeat Rows 2 and 3 one more time: 81 sc

Joining Row (Back Hood Seam): Ch 1, turn;with right side together, matching sts on Row 9, and working through outside loops of both thicknesses, sc in first 34 sc, decrease 3 times, finish off.

And that's it! The only thing I might change for next time is take away the "fringe" at the bottom.  If you give this a try and have any questions - fire away! I will do my best to help! Happy hooding!

 

P.S.

 

Santa's Belly

I know, I know! It's toooooo early for Christmas! Can we please get through Halloween and Thanksgiving before we start on Christmas?! Trust me, those that know me know that I despise how the retail industry shoves Christmas down our throats so it's the last thing I want to do to you... But look how cute this guy is!!

When I bought the glass ornament balls for my niece's Invitation Keepsake Ornament, I of course couldn't buy just one, I had to buy four. So when I saw this little guy on A Crafty B's blog, I couldn't resist making one.

• Paint black strip around the ornament (I used regular acrylic paint - I think Crafty B used puffy paint)
• While that dries, cut red card stock into strips. I did various widths and lengths. I also lucked out because I had a ton of strips already left over from a different project I had done so I didn't have to cut that many! :o)
• Touch up the black paint strip/Santa's belt. Allow it to dry. 
• I used some silver glitter glue stuff that I had in my scrapbooking supplies. (Crafty B used white puffy paint.)
• I was impatient and didn't want to wait for all that to dry before I started putting the paper in so I used a roll of masking tape as a holder so the ball would stand straight and there would be no damage to the drying paint. 
• Roll the paper strips tightly around a pen or a paint brush or your finger or whatever you see fit. Slide the paper off the contraption you use and then drop it into the top of the ornament. Don't worry - it will unravel a little. You can also roll them a little less tight to give it varying degrees of tightness. I also rolled some of mine in a spiral around said apparatus just to give it a different texture in the ball.

I think this little guy is just precious, so simple, and inexpensive! I would be surprised if everyone in our family doesn't get one for their tree this year! 

Jar of Love Candle Holder

Thanks to Pinterest... I have taken to saving most jars that come into our house - spaghetti sauce, pickle jars, jelly jars, etc. I have empty jars everywhere. And this was my first time finally using one for a project. 

A few weeks ago, we were in Laguna Beach doing some touristy shopping. Yes, I know we're considered locals, but we had family in town so we did the touristy thing. Anyway, in one of the little shops, I came across Trapp candles that I had found years ago in San Francisco and never found them again. I was like a kid in a candy store! Their scents are amazing! But the prices are not so amazing. 

The little candles are reasonably priced, but then the next size up are $20+. The only problem is the little candles don't come with a candle holder. That's when I decided all the jars I have at home just might come in handy.

This little guy was inspired by a couple different pins. This one and this one. (Both inspirational photos to the left.)

The end result didn't really turn out the way I had envisioned which is pretty normal for me, but I liked the end result enough. 

Here's what you'll need: 

• Tissue paper
• Heart punch
• Scissors
• Mod Podge
• Sponge paint brush
• Ribbon or twine or string of some sort. 

First, I punched the heart out of the tissue paper, which wasn't as easy as it sounds. The tissue paper is too thin for the punch and the punch just kind of wanted to chew it up instead of cutting it. I ended up folding the tissue paper to make it a little thicker and more sturdy... that worked better. I picked which heart turned out the best and did a little trimming to clean up the edges.

Then I cut several one inch squares from the white tissue paper. 

Then I Mod Podged my little heart out.
I placed the hearts first.
I laid the white tissue paper in a scattered pattern and just trimmed as needed to make it fit.
Once all the tissue paper was in place, I let it dry for about 20 minutes and did a couple more coats of Mod Podge to seal it off. (I let it dry for 20 minutes between each coat.)

I needed something for the top of the jar to sort of clean it up because the ragged tissue paper edge wasn't working for me. I went to my ribbon reserves and couldn't find one that matched my colors so I went with colored string. I just wrapped the string several times around the top and tied it off with a cute little bow and - VWUALA! I had me a candle holder for my scrumptious new candle!

Happy 4th of July!

It's been a while since I've done any crafting. What better time than to get into the spirit of it with a quick, inexpensive, 4th of July project?!

I got the idea from a pin that lined to this blog, which provided no instructions on how to do it, but it looked easy enough.

Supplies:

• Medium Mason Jar
• Mini flag ($1 at Michaels)
• Hemp or string of some sort. 

Directions:

Hold the flag in  place on the jar, wrap string artistically around the jar and flag. Tie off the string.(I'm sure if you wanted to do it more permanently, you could mod podge the flag down and maybe dip the string in mod podge before you wrapped it.)

I got some flameless candles and I had one real candle. I tried both to see which I like better. I liked the real candle, for sure, but if I decide to put these outside, I will stick with the flameless candles.

Flameless on the left, real on the right,

Pre-candles. They're even cute without candles!

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. Keep your pets inside where they're safe and leave lights and TVs on to try and muffle the sound of the fireworks!

In other news - HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY to my first born nephew. If I had time, I would dig up some baby pics of him, but he's lucky. He gets this one of us from about two years ago before his high school graduation.

Lemon Cake for Kamtastic!

The photos wont do this particular blog any justice because well, I didn't take any because I didn't think I'd be blogging it because it's not what I do these days. However, I am on vacation this week so I was feeling some blog motivation!

Here's the best picture I have:

I told you the pic wouldn't do the cupcakes justice. Don't worry, I'll get to the decorations!

I got the recipe from Martha Stewart's website. I know, I cringed too, but I wanted to make something special and from scratch so I gave her a shot. The recipe is for cake, but I made cupcakes since I thought they'd be easier to have at beach bonfire b-day party.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest (I used a total of 4 lemons for the whole recipe.)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded
• Lemon Buttercream frosting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-by-2-inch cake pans, tapping out excess flour. (Or put cupcake liners in a cupcake pan) In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.
   
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Beat in 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined.
   
3. Divide batter between pans; smooth tops. (Or fill cupcakes about 3/4 of the way full - I did still smooth the tops, but I'm not sure it was necessary.) Bake until cakes pull away from sides of pans, 32 to 35 minutes. (Or bake cupcakes for 20 minutes - until a tooth pick comes out clean.) Let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges of pans and invert cakes onto a wire rack.
   
4. These next two steps pissed me off. Once again, I didn't fully read the recipe before committing to making it. It wasn't as big of a pain as I thought it was going to be, but it annoyed me none the less. While cakes are baking, bring remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Add lemon slices and simmer 25 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer lemon slices to a waxed-paper-lined plate. Stir remaining 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice into syrup.
   
5. Using a toothpick, poke holes in warm cakes on rack. Brush with lemon syrup. Let cool completely. Frost cooled cupcakes and top with candied lemon slices. <~ I skipped this last part. 
   
   
   We tested them out before frosting them and they were lemony delicious!!! They were so lemony, I almost skipped the lemon frosting. Once they were frosted with the lemon buttercream frosting tho, you could barely tell the cupcake was lemon too! I do think if I were to make them again, I would skip the lemon frosting. The lemon cupcakes were too much work to not give them the spot light! 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ok, for the decorations. I saw a pin on Pinterest where someone put they're kid's pic on cupcakes for their 1st b-day and I thought it was hilarious. I had to do it! So I sent my friend's wife a text and asked her for a funny picture of her. She sent me one, I had 25 wallets printed out, I glued/Mod Podged the pics to scrap paper and I got to cutting them out. (You could skip the gluing to scrapbook paper part if you want, I just wanted them to have pretty backs.) Once they were all cut out, K glued tooth picks to the backs and we stuck them in the cupcakes. 
   
   
   They were a hit! Party guests thought they were hysterical and dubbed them the "Redneck Army". LOL! They seemed to enjoy the cupcake, as well! 
   
   

   

   Good times! Happy Birthday Kamtastic!

    
   
   
   
   

Breast Cancer Beanie

The other day, a friend of mine had asked me if I could crochet a beanie for a friend of hers (that I had never met.) She was going to be starting chemo treatments for breast cancer in the next couple weeks and inevitably would lose her hair. I had never made a beanie, but I was happy to try. Later that day, I met my friend's friend and thought she was such a joy to be around. I was even more happy to make the beanie for someone so sweet and funny! (Not to mention she had one of the cutest Charpet dog I had ever seen!)

Here's how it started:

I got the pattern from a blog called "Knit, Crochet, and Everything Else Fun..." She called it a Spring Spirals Beanie. The spiral pattern is pretty awesome. I will let you go to her blog for the pattern, but here's a couple tips:

1. Her directions confused me when I got down to the 3rd row. She said, "Row 3: *2 sc, 2 sc in next stitch; repeat from * around (24 sts)". You may understand this, but I threw a little temper tantrum trying to figure it out. Translation: 1 single crochet in next 2 stitches, then 2 single crochet in the next stitch - repeat. (I also learned that having to count while crocheting makes me angry. K can attest to it - I think she still has the other side of her face after biting her head off because she was trying to talk to my while I was counting. We wont mention that she didn't know I was counting.)
   
   
2. When doing the brim, she says, "Make sure you do not slip stitch tightly." This is muy importante! She suggested using a larger hook. I didn't listen. I thought, "I got this!" I didn't. I put it on (thankfully before tying it off) and it made me look like that angry cat that's been floating around on the internet. I was lucky and was able to just undo a few rows and it was fine.
3. Use a stitch marker. I have never used one before - don't even own one. I just used a safety pin. I'm not even sure I used it the right way, but it was definitely helpful when crocheting the hat/brim.

Wait! It's not done yet! I thought it would be cute to throw a pink "ribbon" on it. This is where the true battle came in. I did some test runs before I went out and bought pink yarn since I am not a huge fan of pink and this is likely the only project I would do using pink. The test runs were successful in that I could make them, but it was bigger than I wanted. (I didn't take a pic of this one.) So, I tried a thinner yarn. It improved it, but was still too big. (See pic below.) Next, I stuck with that same yarn and just tried a smaller needle, which made the size much better. I think I even left the third row off the one on the bottom.

I got the awesome ribbon pattern from "Little Orphan Skein". I am so grateful to bloggers that share their patterns. If I was creative enough to come up with them on my own, I would absolutely share! The author of this blog created this pattern all on her own while cooking dinner. Impressive! 

Again, I will let you go to her blog for the pattern. She deserves the traffic on her blog for coming up with something so rad!!

Here's the final product:

I am not completely excited about how the ribbon turned out, but it can be easily removed if she feels the same way about it as I do and I won't be offended if she opts to take it off!

Honestly, I feel honored to make this for such a great woman! I hope it helps her through the journey she is embarking on. I have not a doubt in my mind that she will kick cancer's ass!