Etsy: Beaded Barefoot Sandals

 One of my first items on Etsy: these beaded barefoot sandals. I have several different thread colors and lots of bead colors too. Adult size available here, and baby size available here. I also sell baby blessing ones here (frosted white beads on white or cream thread)

My Etsy Shop!

Well, I've been pretty busy with a new baby and moving, but I've finally got my Etsy shop really up and moving. I've been making quite a few sales lately, and wanted to show everyone on here what I have available. I'll be updating my Etsy page on this blog (http://createdbykelli.blogspot.com/p/etsy.html), which you can easily get to through the tab at the top, with direct links to items you may be interested in! I should probably also start posting on here more often :)

Food Storage: Salisbury Bean Steak

INGREDIENTS:
2 cans beans (I used 1 can black beans and 1 can kidney beans)
1/8 C water
1/2 C Bisquick
1/8 C dried minced onion
salt and pepper
2T olive oil
2 C brown gravy

DIRECTIONS:
1. Rinse and drain the beans. Use a food processor or blender to cut up the beans (add the water first). I like to stop while there are still some larger pieces, to give it a bit more texture.
2. Transfer beans to a large bowl and mix in Bisquick and onion. Season to taste. Shape mixture into 6 oval patties. Wrap each individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet pan over medium heat. Coat each chilled bean patty in a thin layer of Bisquick. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Pour brown gravy over patties, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Serve with mashed potatoes and green beans (we used dehydrated mashed potatoes and canned green beans, which we heated up while the patties were simmering).


We liked the texture of the patties (the first time I tried, they completely fell apart), but thought we should season the beans more. I'll have to update this when we figure out a better spice blend.

Nilagang Manok

So, I decided it was time for me to fully embrace my heritage and learn how to cook some Filipino food. Every time I have ever visited my grandparents, I have had this chicken-cabbage soup. I never even knew what it was called until I decided to try to make it! Well, I looked at several different recipes and made some adjustments to get it as close to Grandma's as I could. It turned out to be a huge success, and now I can help pass along some culture to my quarter-Filipino children!



INGREDIENTS
2 T olive oil
1/2 small onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C ginger root, minced
8 C water
1 stalk celery, broken in three pieces
1 bay leaf (or 1t chopped bay leaves)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast meat, cut up
3/4 lb boneless skinless chicken leg meat, cut up
3 C cabbage, sliced
1/2 bunch green onion, cut into 2" pieces
salt and pepper, to taste
patis, to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. In large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and cook 2-3 minutes or until onion begins to look translucent.
2. Add water, celery, bay leaf, and chicken. Bring to rolling boil; reduce heat to low and cook 30 more minutes.
3. Remove celery. Add cabbage and green onion. Season with salt, pepper, and patis, to taste. Cook an additional 15 minutes, or until cabbage and green onions are soft.
4. Serve on rice with patis.

--------------------
I used sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Growing up, I always had it with white rice, but I made brown rice because I'm trying to be healthier.

Design on a Dime: "Quilted" Name Boards

I love the HGTV show "Design on a Dime", even though they spend much more than what I consider to be a dime. But I guess by the time you own a house and want to redo something, $1,000 is cheap. I mean, I'm actually guessing, because I have zero experience with that (and don't even know how many more years it will be before I know what that is like).

So here we are, almost four years into our marriage, still living on a student budget, renting apartments that we aren't allowed to paint or do anything to really (although I long ago decided that it was worth it to me to lose a few dollars from our deposit to put some nails in the walls and make it feel like a home while we live there). I really wanted to do something cute for the girls, but was stuck with the white-ish walls and a pretty small budget. So here's what I came up with (it ended up costing me about $1 to make each of these, not including the cost of tools like the paper cutter and ink pad):

I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. I do want to to add some more decoration eventually, but for now I think it makes their spaces look cute and personalized, and it was easy on the wallet too! So you want to know what I did? This is my tutorial for a 32"x16" name board (because that is how big my cardboard was).

I started with a cardboard box. We've moved somewhere around 6 times since we've been married, so we had plenty of these. But even if you don't, I hear a lot of stores give them away once they're done unloading shipments. Or you can keep an eye on the free section of craigslist -- there's always someone giving away boxes. Absolute worst case scenario, you splurge and buy a new one. Anyway, I used one side of the box, plus the top and bottom flaps. I cut another flap in half and used it to reinforce the folds where the flaps meet the side. (In the future, I would probably avoid using a piece with creases, because it gave me a little trouble at the mod podge stage. But if you want something bigger than just the side of a box, it's manageable.)

Next, I picked four sheets of scrapbooking paper that I wanted to use. I love buying big stacks of paper, because you know all the stuff inside is going to coordinate well. It makes selections much easier. Stacks of 180 sheets usually go for $20, so if you go when there is a sale or you have a coupon, you can get one for $10 or so. So four sheets cost me about 25 cents.

I cut each sheet into four 6"x6" squares, then cut one square of each pattern into one 4"x4" square and five 2"x2" squares. Then comes the fun part: positioning the pieces! As you go through, you may need to cut some more of the 6" squares into the smaller 4" and 2" ones, so keep your paper cutter handy.

I basically just started on one end and worked across, leaving the small squares for last, since those are the easiest to fit. I made it so that each pattern was never adjacent to itself, and tried to avoid having them even touch corners when possible (there were a couple places where they did end up touching corners). When I got done, I didn't think the green was spread out well enough, so I just made a few adjustments.

Again, I moved the bigger pieces first, and then made the smaller pieces fit. At this point, you need to TAKE A PICTURE. You will need to refer to it, since you have to take all the pieces off. Set aside all the pieces that you did not use. You may need them, but it will be easier if they aren't mixed in just yet.

Using an inkpad, carefully distress the edges of all the squares that you will be using. Because I'm a little bit OCD, I rotated through all the patterns to see how many of each I used. I found that I had the same number of 6" and 4" squares for each pattern, but had fewer 2" squares for one of the patterns.

If I switched one of each of the first two patterns for the third pattern, I would end up with equal amounts for each. I really hoped I could do this, and set these pieces aside in pairs, just in case I could make it work.

Once all my squares were inked, I referred to my picture and stuck them all back on. With the first one, I just stuck some double sided tape in the center of each square, thinking the mod podge would get all the corners nicely. This was not my best idea. For the second one, I actually stuck tape in the middle and on each of the four corners. It took much longer, but the mod podge worked a lot better. (In the future, I think I might actually skip the tape, and just use the mod podge as the base adhesive when applying the squares to the cardboard. I think this would have helped out with some of the wrinkling I got.)

Anyway, after sticking the papers down, I cut out letters for the names. I divided the width of the board (32") by the number of letters, to figure out how wide to make the letters. So for five letters, I cut some paper so it was 6" wide. For Bekka's name, this meant only two more sheets of paper (so another 12 cents). For six letters, I cut the paper into 5" strips (but still made the small letters 6" tall). Anyway, I just free-handed the letters on the back side of the paper (drawing them backwards so they looked right when I cut them out). I inked the edges on all the letters too. On the first one (where I only taped the middle of the squares), I stuck the letters down with double sided tape before applying the mod podge. This was not a good idea. So on the second one, I put the mod podge over the paper squares, then applied the letters and put mod podge over them. This method worked much better.

 

  Since I wanted to make this project as budget-friendly as possible, I decided to make my own mod podge. It was actually super easy, and the only downside was that homemade mod podge only comes in matte finish, so if you want the glossy stuff, you've got to splurge. Anyway, you add equal parts white glue and water (I just used the whole bottle of glue, then filled it with water and added that) in a glass jar. Put the lid back on and shake it until it's completely blended. Then it's ready to brush on like the expensive stuff!

So, like I said, the first one did not work out as well as I had hoped. Since I didn't tape the corners down, they all started curling up. And since I adhered the letters before any mod podge touched the project, they started getting too wrinkly. The second one worked much better, and I only had a couple corners come up. There was more wrinkling than I had hoped for, but like I said, I think in the future that would be helped if I actually used the mod podge to stick the paper to the cardboard.

After letting them dry, I went back and touched up all the curled corners with some more mod podge, and they did end up looking pretty nice, despite the wrinkling. I got out a hammer and some nails and stuck those babies right about my girls' beds.

So now that I've made two, these are the changes I would make:
1) Avoid using cardboard that has creases or bends (when you apply the mod podge, they show up a lot more)
2) Trim the paper around the edges so that they do not extend past the cardboard base
3) Use mod podge to adhere the squares to the cardboard
4) Apply mod podge over the squares and let dry before sticking the letters on.
5) Use the mod podge to apply the letters

And for anyone who wants to make a 32"x16" board (or a 16"x8" board with 1", 2", and 3" squares), and doesn't want to figure out the positioning, here are the positions I ended up using:

Taking the Etsy Leap

Even though I've been crafting like crazy lately, I haven't been updating very much because I've been trying to get my Etsy shop up and running. I only have a few items right now, but I hope to be adding some more soon!

I'll also try to catch up on here with all the stuff I've been making. I've only got about a week and a half before Baby comes, so I'll try to do it quickly!

Toddler Couch/Hidden Storage

Living in an apartment has taught me how important it is to maximize storage space. And what better place to hide storage than in plain sight? So I set out to not only disguise some storage, but to make it doubly functional as well!

How did I come up with the idea of a toddler couch? Well, our current living room felt too cramped with two couches, so we stuck one in Bekka's room. She liked having "Bekka's couch" where she could cuddle with her stuffed animals and read books. When we finally got around to selling the other couch, we put "her" couch back in the living room. She was a little distressed by all the changes, so I had this brilliant idea and promised her that I would make her a Bekka-sized couch.

I started with a bin full of baby clothes that I want accessible, but don't need right now (3-12 month clothes). I knew this was the perfect height for her, because she kept sitting on it when it was just laying around on the floor. Then I added a box of all my really cute pre-Riley clothes that I've been carting around for 3+ years hoping to fit in them again. I have until we move out of this apartment to lose enough weight to fit in them, otherwise we're getting rid of them. Anyway, for the time being, they're not very useful, so I figure it's okay if they stay boxed up for a while. I originally put it on top of the bin, but didn't like how wobbly it was, so I decided to place it behind the bin.

We have A LOT of blankets. I'm always really grateful during the winter months, but it's hard to store all of them when summer rolls around. So I used one of them to give some padding to the "seat" of the couch. Then I rolled up another one to add some height to the back, and give it a more traditional sofa look. That one was purely aesthetic, but also freed up some space for other things.

Next I threw another blanket (we seriously have A LOT) over the top to make it soft, comfy, and more couch-like (the fabric is perfect for this, right?)

I decided to add on some "arm rests," so I rolled up a couple of Bekka's blankets (she also has way more than she can even use during winter, and they've just been sitting in a pile since the weather has been nicer).

I adjusted the top blanket so that the rolled-up arm rests were covered too.

And the final touch was a couple throw pillows, which look rather cartoonishly big , but Bekka loved the idea and even asked me to go find more for her. And voila! Not only did I find a place for these storage items, but I managed to make it all cute and serve another purpose. Oh, and I made my kid super happy because she now has her own special couch that she doesn't have to share with anyone (well, for now)!

Baby Gladiator Sandals

Boy have I been busy! (Also, my house has been sadly neglected for the past week...) But I had to post these shoes I made for Bekka! I came up with this pattern because I wanted some fun summery shoes for her. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try to universalize the pattern and sell it. These were made specifically to fit Bekka's feet, so I'll have to figure out what adjustments are needed to get different sizes. If you're dying to have this pattern, just shoot me an email and I'll send you what I've got so far. I think anyone who follows my blog deserves special treatment :)

Dainty Flower Headband

One day, my daughter found a scrap of yarn and kept trying to tie it around her head so she could be "byooful." So I took it and crocheted it into this dainty little headband. It was super simple, and a great way to use up small amounts of leftover colors.

Make a chain that snugly fits around the child's head. I think I did about 45 for my daughter. Slip stitch to form the body of the headband. Chain 4 and slip stitch together to form a small ring. Chain 3 and sc in ring 5 times. Work sc, 2dc, sc, slst in each of the five loops. Slip stitch to first sc and fasten off. Hurray!

Ruffle Purse

MATERIALS
worsted weight yarn, any color
I/9 (5.5mm) crochet hook

SPECIAL STITCHES
pair Xdc = pair of crossed dcs [skip 1 stitch, dc in next stitch, then dc in skipped stitch]

Xdcdec = crossed dc decrease [skip 2 stitches, yarn over, insert in next stitch, yarn over and pull a loop through, yarn over and pull through two loops; yarn over, insert in next stitch, yarn over and pull a loop through, yarn over and pull through two loops, yarn over and pull through all three loops. yarn over, insert in first skipped stitch, yarn over and pull a loop through, yarn over and pull through two loops; yarn over and insert in second skipped stitch, yarn over and pull a loop through, yarn over and pull through two loops, yarn over and pull through all three loops]


PURSE
Rnd 1: Ch 28, sc in 2nd ch from hook, 1sc in each of next 25, 3sc in last ch. Working along bottom of starting chain (do not turn), 1sc in each of next 25, 2sc in last chain, sl st to join. (56sc)

Rnd 2: Ch1, 2sc in same stitch as joining, 1sc in each of next 25, 2sc in each of next 3, 1sc in each of next 25, 2sc in each of next 2, sl st to join. (62sc)

Rnd 3: Ch1, sc in same stitch as joining, 2sc in next stitch, 1sc in each of next 26, [2sc in next, 1sc in next] twice, 2sc in next, 1sc in each of next 26, 2sc in next, 1sc in next, 2sc in next, sl st to join. (68sc)

Rnd 4: Ch1, sc in same stitch as joining, 2sc in next stitch, 1sc in each of next 27, [2sc in next, 1sc in each of next 2] twice, 2sc in next, 1sc in each of next 27, 2sc in next, 1sc in each of next 2, 2sc in next, 1sc in next, sl st to join (76sc)

Rnd 5: Ch1, sc in same stitch as joining, 1sc in next stitch, 2sc in next stitch, 1sc in each of next 28, [2sc in next, 1sc in each of next 3] twice, 2sc in next, 1sc in each of next 28, 2sc in next, 1sc in each of next 3, 2sc in next, 1sc in next, sl st to join. (80)

Rnds 6-10: Ch3 (counts as first dc in Xdc), dc in previous stitch. Work 39 more pairs Xdc. Sl st to top of beginning ch3 to join. (80dc)

Rnd 11: Ch 3 (counts as first dc in Xdc), dc in previous stitch. Work Xdcdec over next 4 stitches, work 18 pairs of Xdc, work Xdcdec over next 4 stitches, work 17 pairs of Xdc. Sl st to top of beginning ch3 to join. (76dc)

Rnds 12-15: Ch3 (counts as first dc in Xdc), dc in previous stitch. Work 37 more pairs Xdc. Sl st to top of beginning ch3 to join. (76dc)

Rnd 16: Ch3 (counts as first dc in Xdc), dc in previous stitch. Work 2 more pairs Xdc, work Xdcdec over next 4 stitches, work 17 pairs of Xdc, work Xdcdec over next 4 stitches, work 14 pairs of Xdc. Sl st to top of beginning ch3 to join. (72dc)

Rnds 17-18: Ch3 (counts as first dc in Xdc), dc in previous stitch. Work 35 more pairs Xdc. Sl st to top of beginning ch3 to join. (72dc)

Row 19: Sl st in each of next 12 stitches. Ch 1, sc in same stitch, 1sc in each of next 33 stitches. (34sc)

Row 20-30: Ch1, turn, 1sc in same stitch and in each stitch across. (34sc)


Row 31: Ch1, turn, beginning with same stitch sc2tog, 1sc in each stitch across to last 2, sc2tog (32sc)

Row 32: Ch1, turn, 1sc in same stitch and in each stitch across (32sc)

Rows 33-34: Repeat rows 31 and 32. (30sc)

Rows 35-37: Ch1, turn, beginning with same stitch sc2tog, 1sc in each stitch across to last 2, sc2tog (28sc, 26sc, 24sc)

Row 38: Ch1, turn, beginning with same stitch sc2tog, sc2tog, 1sc in each stitch across to last 4, sc2tog twice. Fasten off. (20sc)


RUFFLE
Row 1: Attach to side of first sc in Row 19 with sl st. Ch3 (counts as first dc), dc in same stitch, 2dc in each stitch (or side of stitch) around flap. (116dc)

Row 2: Ch3 (counts as first dc), dc in each stitch across. Fasten off. (116dc)

STRAP
Row 1: Ch 6, 1sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each of remaining 4 chains. (5sc)

Row 2: Ch 1, turn, 1sc in same stitch and in each of next 4. (5sc)

Repeat Row 2 until strap measures 24 inches. Fasten off. Attach strap to sides of purse next to sc's on either side of Row 19.

FINISHING
I recommend lining this purse if you are going to put any small items in it. I used my KAM pliers to attach plastic snaps. I put the top snap in the center of the flap (near the ruffle), and I put the bottom snap through the lining and yarn where I wanted the flap to attach.

Giraffe!

 I'm participating in the 2012 Handmade Pay it Forward, and decided to make a giraffe for my friend because that is what she chose for her little girl's animal. I didn't find any patterns that I liked, so I made this one up! This is one of my first completely original patterns, and I couldn't be more thrilled with how it turned out. I'm thinking I might try to sell the pattern on Etsy, but if I decide not to, I'll definitely post it here.

 A special thanks goes out to my hubby for letting me know that my original design wasn't giraffe-like enough. Thanks to him, I elongated the neck and added the spots (because apparently my first try looked like a goat). I LOVE how the spots turned out, and I'm so glad Jeffrey convinced me to do them!

Gluten Free Coconut Snickerdoodles

 INGREDIENTS

2 C sweet rice flour
1/2 C cornstarch
1 1/4 t baking powder
1 t salt
3/4 C unsalted butter
1 C granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1/4 C granulated sugar
1 T ground cinnamon
1/4 C shredded coconut

DIRECTIONS
1. In small mixing bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and 1 C sugar. Add eggs one at a time; blend thoroughly between each addition. Add vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.
3. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and blend until dough forms. Cover dough and chill for two hours (or over night).
4. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and 1/4 C sugar. Have coconut accessible in another small bowl.
5. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Flatten each ball into a circle that is 3/8" thick. Dip both sides in cinnamon-sugar then place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle a pinch of coconut and another pinch of cinnamon-sugar over the top side of the cookie; pat coconut and cinnamon-sugar down into cookie.
6. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to wire rack to cool.

(This recipe is based off of these Gluten-Free Snickerdoodles, with the changes that I made.)

Crochet Contest!

Hello Friends! I made this adorable sock monkey hat for my nephew's first birthday. I loved it so much, I decided to enter it into a crochet/knitting contest -- and now I need help to win! If you have a Facebook account, please vote for me here. All you have to do is like the picture. You don't have to add an app or like a page. It's quick and easy, and if I win I will get some yarn (great since we're still on a pretty tight student budget) as well as a really nice crochet hook set and a knitting needle set. I want to learn how to knit so badly, but good needle sets can be pretty pricey and I don't know when I'd be able to get one. If I win, I promise I'll post lots more cute projects!

Lund Family Scrapbook

So I've been doing some digital scrapbooking lately, as a way to journal about our family and the fun things we do. Anyway, here is a sample of one of the pages I did (for Valentine's Day). I'm putting all the rest on my new blog, Lund Family Scrapbook, which is private because there are going to be lots of pictures of the kiddo (and I don't want just any random stranger to have access to them). But if you would like an invitation, send me an email at kellilund08@gmail.com.

Best Cheesecake Ever

I'm going to be making this on Sunday, and it took me forever to find the recipe so I decided I'd post it on here so it won't be so hard to find it next time. Anyway, I originally got it off the Raskas cream cheese box (so no, I am not claiming any involvement in the creation of this magnificent recipe). The original recipe calls for double the amounts, which is perfect for a 10" springform pan, or two regular 9" pie pans (like the disposable kind that comes with the graham cracker crust already made for you!). Since I'm going to cheat and buy the crust, and since I don't think we need to be eating so many calories, I'm just going to make one 9" cake using the following recipe.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2/3 C sugar
1 t vanilla
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. sour cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare pan with crust (sometimes I make a graham cracker crust, but I usually cheat and buy one that comes in the tin).
2. Beat eggs until thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla; set aside.
3. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Blend in egg mixture and sour cream.
4. Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Turn oven off and leave cake in oven with door ajar for one more hour. Cool 1 hour at room temperature; chill.

Eggless Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

So I wanted to make dessert today and needed to figure out what I could make with what I had on hand. I had three bananas* in the freezer (which kept falling out every other time I opened it), so I decided to make banana bread. But everything is better with chocolate, especially bananas (my roommate and I used to make banana-chocolate chip pancakes in college all the time, but I haven't had them in such a long time because of Jeffrey's strange and unfortunate aversion to bananas -- except in banana bread, because he doesn't think it tastes like bananas). Anyway, I found a recipe for chocolate chip banana bread and started making it before I realized I didn't have any eggs. So I used unsweetened applesauce as a substitute. I also used whole wheat flour for a third of the flour called for. Anyway, it came out so moist and delicious! In fact, by the end of the day there were only two slices left (and we would have probably eaten all of it if we hadn't eaten so very much for dinner).

*Note: I let the bananas thaw a bit, peeled them, chopped them up, then let them continue thawing. Some of the liquid separates when you have frozen the bananas, and I know a lot of people drain it, but I just mash it all up with the liquid because I figure it came from the banana and getting rid of it might affect the taste and texture.

Here is the recipe I based it on.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 C butter, softened

1 C white sugar

1/4 C unsweetened applesauce

1 T mayonnaise (I actually used the Kraft mayo with olive oil, because that's what we had on hand)

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 C all purpose flour

1/2 C whole wheat flour

1/4 t salt

1/2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9"x5" loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the applesauce, mayonnaise, and bananas. In a separate bowl, stir together the flours, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture; stir just enough to evenly combine. Fold in the chocolate chips.

3. Bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 to 75 minutes. Cool loaf in the pan for 20 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

St. Patrick's Day Granny Square

So I only had one skein of Caron Simply Soft in dark sage, and I really wanted to make something for St. Patrick's Day. So I decided to make a mini-afghan, or I guess you could call it a chair back. Anyway, I wanted to make something to drape over our beat-up, kind of yucky couch to make it pretty and festive. Anyway, the pattern for the squares is below. I hope it makes sense; I often write patterns in my own special short-hand, so it might have some confusing parts. I made 9 (the skein could have made 10, but I thought a 5x2 would look weird), then whip stitched them together. If you had two skeins of the green, you could definitely make 20 and do a 5x4, which might actually serve to keep someone warm. For the white, I used a big skein of baby sport weight, and just crocheted a little loosely. It would probably work better if you had the Caron brand of white, or at least a similar soft, acrylic worsted weight.

CLOVER SQUARES (the center is based off this pattern, but I made some adjustments)

Using an I (5.5mm) hook

1) w/ green MR8sc, slst
2)ch3, 2dc S, ch3, sk 1sc; {3dc in next, ch3, sk 1sc}3times, slst 3rd ch of beg ch3
3)ch3, dc S, dc, 2dc, {ch3, 2dc in next dc, dc, 2dc} 3 times, dc in 3rd ch of beg ch3
4) (slst, ch1, slst) around joining dc, sk sc, 5dc, slst, 5dc, sk sc { (slst, ch1, slst, ch1, slst) in ch3sp, sk sc, 5dc, slst, 5dc, sk sc} 3 times, (slst, ch1) around joining dc, insert hook in joining dc-sp, YO w/ white and complete slst
5)ch7, tr same sp, ch3, sc top 1st shell, ch3, sc 2nd shell, ch3, * (tr, ch3, tr) in ch3 sp, ch3, sc top 1st shell, ch3, sc top 2nd shell, ch3**; rep * to ** 2 more times; sl st in 4th ch of beg ch7
6)sl st into sp, ch3, (2dc, ch3, 3dc) in space, ch 1, {3dc in next ch3 sp, ch1} 3 times; * (3dc, ch3, 3dc) in corner sp, ch1, {3dc in next ch3 sp, ch1} 3 times**; rep * to ** 2 more times; sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch3
7)slst in next 2 dc and corner sp, ch3, (2dc, ch3, 3dc) in sp; work around square (3dc, ch1) in every ch1 sp, (3dc, ch3, 3dc, ch1) in every ch3/corner sp; slst 3rd ch of beg ch3
8)work as R7
9)slst in next 2 dc, insert hook in corner sp, YO w/ green, complete slst, work as R7 beginning with first ch3, FO

Headband Holder

I've been trying to organize things around the house and couldn't figure out what to do with the big pile of headbands spilling over the bathroom counters. I finally found this tutorial for a clever headband holder made out of an old can of oatmeal. So guess whose whole family had oatmeal for breakfast this morning. After clearing it out, I picked out some cute paper to wrap it.

 Forgive the sloppiness. In all my unpacking, I have yet to find my most important crafting supplies -- proper adhesive. But since I was impatient to make this, I went ahead and did it with packing tape (the only other alternative was duct tape, and that just wasn't the look I was going for). I figured it would mostly be covered with headbands anyway, and it's not like anybody will ever see it (except Jeffrey who would never notice something like tape anyway). I had just enough of that pink grosgrain ribbon to go around the bottom and the edge of the lid (I also cut out a circle of the solid pink paper to cover the top of the lid).

And in about half an hour, I had my brand new headband holder! I only put my most used headbands on (I would have put more if there was room!) and the rest of them I packed nicely into an old shoebox that tucks away at the back of a shelf in the bathroom. I hate wasted space, so I also put my clips, hair jewels, and hair sticks inside the container. And now it all fits on a shelf and is easily accessible!

Crocodile Stitch Purse

Oh my gosh! I love, love, love how this purse turned out! I used this pattern for the Crocodile Stitch Purse. I used an H hook with a soft acrylic worsted weight. I used the explanation for the crocodile stitch from this site because it didn't require me to watch a 30 minute video.

I lined it with some plum-colored satin that I had in my stash, and finished it off with a snap using my new KAM pliers!

Crochet Instructions (from pattern):


Rnd 1: ch 38, sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each of next 35 chs, 5 sc in last ch, working on opposite side of ch, sc in each of next 35 chs, 4 sc in last ch, join (see Pattern Note) in beg sc. (80 sc)

Rnd 2: Ch 1, sc in each of first 37 sts, 3 sc in next st, sc in next st, 3 sc in next st, sc in each of next 37 sts, 3 sc in next st, sc in next st, 3 sc in last st, join in beg sc. (88 sc)

Rnd 3: Ch 1, sc in each of first 38 sts, 3 sc in next st, sc in each of next 3 sts, 3 sc in next st, sc in each of next 39 sts, 3 sc in next st, sc in each of next 3 sts, 3 sc in next st, sc in last st, join in beg sc. (96 sc)

Rnd 4 start crocodile stitch ch 1, dc in same st, ch 1, sk 2 sts, *2 dc in next st, ch 1, skip 2 sc, dc in next st, ch 1*, repeat to end, ch 1

Rnd 5: Without turning work over turn your work 90 degrees *5 dc around post in second dc, Flip work around and put 5 dc around post of other dc, Sl st around single dc*; repeat * to end

Next round: ch 1, put 2 dc in each single dc and 1 dc in space between 2 dc

Make 9 rows of crocodile st (and 9 rows of dc)

Sc in each crocodile st (6 sc) - you will have 96 sc in this row
Do 2 more rows of sc
Fasten off

Straps (make 2)
Chain 101 sts, sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each chain to end (100 sc), ch 1, turn
Row 2: SC in each st, ch 1, turn (100 sc)
Row 3 and 4: Repeat Row 2
Sl stitch down both sides and sew strap to purse
Cut lining to fit inside and sew lining in to the purse.