Crocheted Mandala Wall art

My friend Amy over at Mama's Little Monkey's gave me this cute idea.  A simple crocheted mandala attached to an embroidery hoop.  Super cute, simple, crochet wall art!

I was lucky enough to have a 6 inch hoop just laying around...YAY ME!

I searched for a pattern that I like and ended up deciding on THIS one.  I just loved the spring time look of it.

I used WW yarn and a 4mm crochet hook.  I started with 10 groups for rnd 1 (instead of 12) and then followed the pattern as written.

When I got to rnd 8, I did a sc rnd before working rnd 9.  I just did a sc in each sc and 3 sc in each ch space.

Then I did rnd 9 as instructed but I used the FRONT loops ONLY for this rnd.  Remember to SKIP the sc that was originally between the ch spaces from rnd 8.

This left the back loops free so I could attach it to the inner loop.

To attach it to the inner loop, I used #3 cotton and a D hook.  I just went through the free back loops and crochet around the loop.  I pulled each stitch tight as I went.

Then just attached the outer loop and slide all the stitches so they are tight, straighten out the ruffle, hang and ENJOY!

This is how it looked after I did my sc round around the loop.  Yes, it is a little messy looking but this is easily fixed by sliding the stitches around so that the tops of the sc are towards the back.  This also helps to pull the mandala taught. 

Side view with the stitches pulled tight and the outer ring attached.

Hanging on my kitchen wall.  I love it and I may need to add some more to this wall! 

Close up view. 

Here are a few links to other mandala patterns you may enjoy or want to use for this fun project:

- http://crochethealingandraymond.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/ornamental-pot-holders/
- http://www.crochetconcupiscence.com/2012/07/7-best-crochet-mandala-patterns/
- http://www.beingspiffy.com/blog/tea-rose-crochet-dishcloth-pattern.html
- http://winkieflash.nl/2012/11/12/free-pattern-mandala/

Rainy day fun...FLUBBER!

My little guy and I were home today and wanted something fun to do on this rainy day. I have lots of projects on my "to-do" list but today's choice was FLUBBER!!

This was seriously one of the easiest projects we have made, that had such a great success.  This stuff is really great and the kids are having a blast.

Here is what you need: (I only had a 1/2c of glue, so I halved the whole recipe and it worked GREAT!)

3/4 cup COLD water
1 cup Elmer's glue
Liquid food coloring
1/2 cup HOT water
1 tsp Borax
TWO bowls

- First you want to mix your glue and COLD water in one of your bowls and set it aside. 

- In your other bowl, mix the HOT water and the borax.  Mix it until it is completely dissolved. 

- Next, you want to slowly add the glue/water mixture to the borax mixture. Stir while adding.  It will instantly start to set so you may have to get it off your knife or stirring stick to keep mixing. 

- Mix well and then you will pour off any excess water. 

-  Then I took it in my hands and molded it together until it was a solid consistency.  It will NOT stay slimy and messy if you do it right. 

-  NOTE:  I laid ours on a paper towel for a sec and the paper towel does NOT come off..LOL  I got as much off as I could, the rest as molded INTO the flubber...can't even see it anymore.  haha

Here is our completed flubber.  It is so soft, NOT messy and easy to play with!

Small cup + flubber = fart sounds

Landon making fart sounds.  He is having a blast.

Easy to mold, stretch, roll into a ball...anything!

Fun making hand prints

We made bouncy balls also, following THIS recipe.  We were not too impressed with the finished bouncy ball but it was easy and it DID work.  Flubber is the clear winner for today's FUN!

My Birthday Butterfly

My little girl is 7 years old today.  She has a love for butterfly's, particularly the Monarch Butterfly.  I saw THIS pattern and I knew I just had to make them for her.  They looked simple enough but let me tell you, crocheting around a molded hanger is much more tedious then it looks.  I could only get one wing done per evening.

Hangers molded into wing shapes and yarn picked out. 

Night two, progress :-)

Ta Da...completed Monarch Butterfly wings. 

My newly 7 year old butterfly

She wanted to act out the life cycle.  Egg, caterpillar, pupa, butterfly.  Love this little sweetheart!

They were a huge hit.  She is even sharing them with her new pet horse!  

Fluttering Butterfly - FREE pattern

My little girl is currently obsessed with anything butterfly's.  As her 7th birthday is approaching, I am making any thing and everything butterfly related.

These little butterfly's are something I learned how to make years ago.  It is so simple that I just memorized it.  If you look on line, you can find many versions of how to make these.  They are very popular and there are many free patterns available.

Since many of you asked, I went ahead and typed up the way I do it when I make them.

Materials:
*  WW yarn
*  I hook (or any size you prefer)
*  Pipe cleaner (one for each butterfly)

Start with a ch 6, slip stitch to first chain to form a ring
(crochet over the starting tail when you do rnd 1)

Rnd 1:  ch 3 (counts as 1st dc), work 2 more dc in ring, ch 2.  Work 3 dc, ch 2: 7 times.
*  You will have a total of EIGHT 3 dc clusters and EIGHT ch 2 spaces.

Rnd 2:  ch 3 (counts as 1st dc).  You will now be working 2 dc in the LAST ch 2 space from rnd 1.  It is the space right before your ch 3.  You will feel like you are working backwards. 

Work (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in each ch 2 space around.
When you get to the last ch 2 space, you only need to work 3 more dc and then ch 2.  Join to top of first ch 3 from the rnd.

Showing first ch 3 and 2 dc of rnd 2

Rnd 3:  ch 3 (counts as 1st dc), working in the last ch 2 space from rnd 2, work 3 more dc.  See Picture

Showing the first ch 3 and 3 dc of rnd 3

Sc in each space between dc clusters and work 10 dc in each ch 2 space.  

Showing first sc and first 10 dc group

Showing the sc in the space between the clusters

When you get to the last ch 2 space, you only need to work 6 more dc, join to the top of the first ch 3 for a total of 10 dc in that last space.

FINISH OFF

Showing last ch 2 space before working last 6 dc

Fold in half, matching up the 10dc groups evenly.

Fold pipe cleaner in half and position around butterfly as shown.  Twist close to the top about 4 times to secure. 

Use a pen or crochet hook to wrap the pipe cleaner into a curly.  My K hook works perfectly :-)

You now have a beautiful butterfly

*  Add a string and hang in your little girls room
*  Use as a Christmas tree ornament
*  Add magnets to the back for a fun 3D magnet
*  Make several of these into a bunting for a fun way to decorate a room or for a party.
*  Just play with it and have FUN!  :-)

Home made water colors. So much fun

*I wrote this post around Easter time and just forgot to share it, oops* 

My kids and I love having fun with water color paints.  The ones you buy at the store have such small paint areas and always end up being a wet, mixed up mess of colors.  I stumbled across a tutorial for making our own water colors and we just had to try it.  The actually mixing and making of the paints was so easy.  The drying/waiting part was the "hard" part.  We had to wait about a day and a half for them to completely dry and be "set".  I think if you had a space heater or other warm area in your home, they could dry faster sitting near that.  I just had mine sitting on my kitchen counter.

Now that they dried we were anxious to use them, We had a busy Easter weekend so we had to wait till after the holiday to sit down and use them. 

First, here are our water colors after we mixed them.

Here they are after the dried

And...here they are being used.  They worked GREAT!  I did find they needed a little more water to get them started then the store bought water colors.  We didn't mind at all though.  

We used white crayon to reveal a secret message. A great way to play with water colors

Want to make your own watercolors?  You can find more detailed instructions HERE! 

Happy Earth Day

Even though we celebrate and appreciate the Earth every day, it is nice to pay a little extra attention today.  I spent time subbing at the kids school today or we would have more fun recycling projects to show you.  We will try to fit in a few more this week. 

This particular project was completely spur of the moment...like 10 minutes ago.  I got home and was browsing on facebook and someone had shared a link to THIS blog.  What a cute project...right?  

I quickly searched for a container we could use out of our recycling bin.  I found this small little sour cream container.  It is smaller then I was hoping for but for a quick project, it was just perfect.then I

So, here is our container. You can see that I had already started taking the print off.  I just used a Mr. Clean magic eraser and it came off fairly easily.  Just a little elbow grease needed ;-)  

Next, I used an exacto knife to cut the top rim off.  I just waned a neater edge to work with.   Next I used a hole punch and went around the edge.  I got a little too close to the top a few times but I made it work. 

 I let my little lady pick out the color yarn for the top and then I crocheted around, decreased a little towards the top, added handles and a drawstring.

Working hard on her design.

 She made a beautiful spring scene.  I love her self portrait, her flowers and her butterfly.

 SO happy with her new little purse/container.  I am sure she will store many of her treasures in here. 

Bring on the sun ~ Sun Visor

One of my favorite pattern designers is updating a few of her amazing patterns.  I am lucky enough to be selected to test them in the process. 

I love this pattern.  It is so simple and FAST to make.  This is the perfect time of year for these too. 

I am going to be participating in a craft festival in May, I will definitely be making up a bunch of these.

Order your custom made sun visor HERE

Sun/Golf Visor.  Pattern by: Crazysocks Designs

This is my silly little 4 year old modeling the one I made today :-)