Total Count:

16 of these bad boys!!! 

That's the most I've done so far!

 I called to tell my mom today how many I did and told her I was out of material so if she wanted them again next year, it meant she was going to have to head to the fabric store and go through the grueling process of cutting the strips. She said she thought this was the last year. My initial reaction was to jump for joy... but then I think I was a little sad. I have made these for the last three years and as much as I hate them and they literally make me angry sometimes when I am doing them, they have become somewhat of a tradition. Perhaps I will take Teenah's advise and sell them on Etsy. LOL

Scrubbies

Scrubbies - Oh how I hate thou.

Every year, I crochet beloved Scrubbies for my mom's Christmas Craft Sale at her church. She says they sell like hot cakes to all the little old ladies. (Ssshhh, we wont tell her that she qualifies as one of those little old ladies she so fondly refers to.) Supposedly, they sell so fast she can barely get them out on the table before they're all sold. They're a hot ticket item.

The first year she asked me to make them, K and I had just started dating. Imagine my embarrassment when I told her I was "crocheting scrubbies". I am certain her first thought was, "How old is this chick?" and her second thought, which is what her response was, "What the hell is a scrubbie?"

This seems to be the general response from those in my generation. The only way I know how to explain it is they are like homemade SOS pads. I guess. I dont really understand them either, I just make them.

They are kind of a pain to make. The material you make them with is netting bought at the fabric store - by the yard. In order to crochet these little boogers, they have to be cut into 1-2 inch strips. WAY too much work for me, so that's where my one stipulation comes in - "I will make them for you, Mom, but you have to cut the netting." aaaand, it's a deal.

Last year my mom sent me 4 neatly cut and rolled balls of netting. I couldn't have possibly done all four balls in one year, so I promised her that I would hold on to what I didn't use and use it for my supply the following year.

Now... it's the following year. I have a little purple left, a whole roll of red left, and a whole roll of green left. I have been putting off doing them for over a month. Every day telling myself, I'll start them tomorrow. Tomorrow never came... but then, Episode 17 of Lost happened and instead of finding a dull knife, I got out the scrubbie material and started crocheting.

Here's how I make mine:

Chain (CH) 4, connect to make a circle with Single Stitch (SS) in first Ch
Ch 3 (counting as your first Double Crochet), Double Crochet (DC) 15 into circle (16 total - it's a tight fit) connect the first and last DC with a SS.
Ch 3, DC twice in each DC space in the ring below (32 DC total), connect first and last DC with SS
 Tie off.

Repeat the above directions.

Connect the two messy, netty circles with a Single Crochet around the edges.

I typically make them all one color

I despise making these little boogers. The material is difficult to work with. When I crochet with yarn, there becomes a flow... a rhythm that you get into. The needle flows smoothly in and out of the loops. Not with these little boogers.It's constantly getting tangled and you cant be too rough with it because if you do, you'll tear it and it will break.

The material is also rough so after making a few of them, my fingers begin look red and swollen and feel raw. This adds to my anger and frustration as the needle refuses to smoothly flow through the difficult material.

They're timely. I timed myself last night and one scrubbie takes me almost 45 minutes to complete from beginning to end. And that doesn't count all the times I throw a small tantrum and have to put it down while I allow myself a moment to breathe and count to ten. 

Lastly, I especially don't care for doing these little boogers, because after all that pain and suffering I go through to make them, I don't take a step back and think, "Oh, but they're so cute." Because they're not. And even if they were, I would always think in the back of my mind, "They're so cute... and someone is going to ruin the cuteness by cleaning their dirty dishes with it." So I guess when looking at it like that, it might be better that they're not cute.

BUT, for as much disdain I feel towards these little boogers, I have 100 times that amount of love for my mom and I know that making these makes her happy and that's all that really matters. So, I will continue to make these every season until my generation becomes little old ladies and no one knows what the hell they are.

If I make two a day from now until the 28th, I will have made about 30. That's totally doable and twice the amount I have made in years past. Stay tuned for a final count update!

1st Christmas Craft of the Year

I saw this pin on Pinterest and thought in the day and age of the Words with Friends craze, this could be cute, but it would definitely need some dressing up.

Here's my version of dressing up.

All I did to dress them up was to put color to the ribbon, and as you can see, I tied little bows on Barbara's.

Simply hot glue the letters together. The glue will ooze out on the front and back of the tiles when you put them together, but don't fret. When it dries, it's super easy to just pick off and it cleans right up.

They're kind of fragile. I dropped a few while assembling them and they just snapped right apart, so I thought a little reinforcement might help.

Here's what I did to add reinforcement.

I just added a little ribbon on the back. It gives more support to the tiles and dresses up the ornament even more.

I am planning on using these as the gift tags for their actual presents. Hopefully, actually people will keep them and hang them on their tree!

Obviously there's a lot more you can do with these to dress them up. I may do that as I do the rest of them. I only have about 40 more to make!

The biggest challenge is going to be finding enough Scrabble games to complete all of them. Watch out thrift stores and garage sales, I'll be coming for your Scrabble games!

Happy Halloween

A couple of weeks ago, my sister, Denise (her name not changed to protect the innocent), sent me an email with a link to a project she thought would be right up my alley and she was right!

With Halloween just around the corner, I needed to get this project done before it was too late. So, Friday after work, I made it my mission to get the supplies.

After avoiding Walmart for almost two years, my mission took me there thinking it would be a one-stop-shop. I could get groceries, jars, and tissue paper and then head home. I was wrong.

Groceries: The Walmart by my house is apparently not a Super Walmart, thus their grocery selection consisted of cereal, chips, candy, alcohol, and a very small freezer section. Definitely wasn't going to cover my grocery needs.

Jars: They had jars, but I had to buy them in cases of 12. I didn't need 12 not to mention, I want varying sizes. Hmmm... I am thinking about what I can do so I don't have to make a third stop at Michaels and I remember that I put some spaghetti jars in the recycling bags the other day. Perfect! I will just use those.

Tissue paper: They had that and it was cheap. All under $1 except for the bulk of white tissue paper I got. I figured with this project and all the coasters I will be making people for Christmas, I would need the white tissue paper. Only problem was, they didn't have purple. Seriously? I think the Michaels Gods are working against me and doing ALL they could to get me to go there.

I buy the tissue paper and I head out of the store to the grocery store. I grab the things I need, even looked for some Mason jars there and thought I would check out the wrapping paper section for some purple tissue paper. I knew it would be a little more pricey here, but it could prevent that Michaels trip I am so desperately trying to avoid. Annnnnd, they had it! SCORE!

I head home all excited to dig my jars out of the recycling and get to crafting. I dug in the recycling, all right, but I didn't dig out any jars. :o( I guess we already took that bundle of recycling to recycle center. I was heart broken. I did find one jar, but it was an odd shape and I wasn't sure I wanted to use it. I ripped the label off and threw it in the dishwasher anyway.

The next day, when I got up, my sister-in-law had left her old pickle jar soaking on the counter for me. So sweet of her. She knew how disappointed I was the night before because I didn't have any jars.

After cleaning that jar, I suddenly remembered that someone had given us a small Mason jar of homemade apple butter last year and started frantically looking for it in the cupboards. YES! I found it! This was starting to come together. :o)

I wont bore you with the details on how to do the project. You can read that other chick's blog for step by step instructions. The only thing I did different was I used black tissue paper for the faces and just Mod Podged it right onto the jar. She used black paper and glue.

Oh, and one tip: the tissue paper is very fragile when doused in Mod Podge. There are a number of spots that the tissue paper ripped while I was working on another part of the jar, but don't fret!! I just patched it up with a small piece of tissue paper and more Mod Podge. Only the close inspector will be able to tell.

I made these little guys first:

This was the one that was a weird shape that I wasn't sure about wanting to use. Turned out perfect if you ask me!

And while I was making them, K (the wife... I decided to just start identifying her as K... less to type) reminded me that we had a really big Mason jar in the garage from a 50/50 raffle we did for the Relay for Life event last summer and it would be perfect for a ghost!

Off to the garage I go, to begin crafting the ghost. He was a little more special, this ghost. I drew his face on the black tissue paper and I just did two small ovals for the eyes and one large oval for the mouth. As I was cutting the mouth, I decided I wanted the mouth to have a different shape... like the mask from the Scream movies. Well, let's just say my free-hand cutting abilities aren't what I thought they'd be.

WARNING:  This blog may contain different images, some of which are considered objectionable or offensive by some readers.

That's not going to work. :o\ Hmmm... How can I fix this? So I went to the computer and Google imaged the Scream Mask and literally traced the face right from the computer screen, onto my black tissue paper and got this:

Here is what they look like all set up together:

Pretty stinking cute. Thanks to my sister for finding the blog with the project. Special thanks to K and my sister-in-law for not letting me get all suicidal over another failed project and helping me find the jars I could use around the house. I had a lot of fun doing it and was even a little bummed out when I was out of jars to do. This was the extent of my pumpkin carving this year. Quite frankly, I would be ok if this was the extent of my pumpkin carving every year.

Did you notice that I was all upset because Walmart didn't even have the purple tissue paper? Did you also notice that out of all the jars, not one of them had purple?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Pumpkin French Toast

I saw this pin for Pumpkin French Toast on Pinterest the other day and knew I was going to have to try it! French toast is my favorite breakfast and I love all things pumpkin. Once I looked at the recipe and realized it was a baking recipe and I wouldn't actually have to put the stuff in a pan, I was even more excited.

I followed the recipe pretty closely. I didn't use the entire loaf of bread. There was maybe two slices I didn't use, plus the heels, but who actually uses those?

I got a little impatient with the "topping" mixture because the butter I used wasn't quite soft enough so it was taking more arm muscle and energy than I was willing to spend on it. So I added a little more of the butter. This made it turn more into something that was spreadable, not so much sprinkle-able. I did my best to sprinkle anyway.

The general consensus of the house was it was a hit! The error I made with the topping being more spreadable ended up being a good thing and when I make it again next time, I might just make more of it It gave it a glazed effect that was absolutely delicious.

OH! Be forewarned!! If you don't already have crushed cloves on hand, they are PRICEY!!! $10 for a bottle and all I needed was 1/4 of a teaspoon. I was considering foregoing the cloves when I was fortunate enough to find some off Mexican brand that came in a cellophane bag for $.99. Huh, maybe that was why we felt funny after eating it. Was it really cloves in that baggie? Just kidding, just kidding. We all felt fine!