DVRocks

Being thankful for DVR is lame, I know. But I seriously love it and cant imagine life without it. I even wonder what we did before it!

Actually, I know what I did. I set my VCR timer to record shows. But it was such a pain. And if you forgot to make sure you had room on the tape, you were SOL. It actually makes me chuckle because K is so old school she asks me if I "taped" shows. Well, no, no I didn't, but I did record it. Haha

The DVR allows me to have a life and still watch all the bad TV I want. It's allows for quality time with the wife. And it helps me with my procrastination issues. How, you may ask? I will often be sucked into something on live TV knowing I have something else I need to do or somewhere I need to be. With DVR, I can press record and walk away from the TV and not feel like I am going to miss something. Most of the time when I do this, I rarely even go back and finish watching it, but it makes it easier for me to walk away knowing I have the option. LOL

The downfall of DVR is it makes me think all aspects of life should have it. Driving down the road, I will miss something they say on the radio or want to listen to a lyric in a song again and I want to rewind it like I can on TV. I even do this in real life. Someone will say something, or maybe someone will do something funny that I missed and I want to be able to rewind it. But I cant.

So, thanks to the genius that discovered DVR! It rocks!

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!