Christmas Decorating

Furred Tree by akuadesigns

I knew we needed a new artificial tree.  How many times can you fold and unfold branches, losing precious artificial needles each time, before the tree is so 'needlebare' that your ornaments outnumber the needles?  Somewhere around 11 or 12.  My vacuum has eaten its more than fair share of the little green bits and I'm sure the animals may have ingested some over the years as well.
But, I do have to say, the tree my husband picked out this year had me feeling depressed every time I looked at it.  We went from a 7 foot tree to a 4 1/2 foot.  Sure, space is limited, and I knew in my heart it was better this way, but looking at the little 4 1/2 footer sitting on our trunk, I had actually considered taking it down and hiding it while my husband was at work and bringing up the old tree.  After all, hang enough decorations on it, no one would notice the lack of needles.

I did leave it though, thinking each time I looked at it of Christmas trees past.

Crocheted Bird Ornament from CraftingCallie

My favourite one comes to mind:  my Grandma Dobson's tree.  Complete with birds, and those aluminum reflectors around the bulbs, just thinking about it brings up such happy memories of Christmases at Grandma's house.

With two weeks until Christmas, there is still time to whip up some ornaments for your tree, or as last-minute gifts.  Why not keep a basket of handmade ornaments to hand out to holiday guests?
Some patterns available from team members:

Left:  crochet pattern for Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, from lostsentiments.  Check out  her patterns for a bear, snowman and even a tiny elf hat!

Right:  Mr and Mrs Bonhomme pattern for gift bags from crochetsal, app. 4 1/2" tall, or use crochet thread for a much smaller bag ideal for a tree ornament.

 These animal ornaments to the left would be great on your Christmas tree, or to decorate year round!  Although this set is sold, wigglysee does accept custom orders!











To close:  a quick and easy free pattern for a snowflake to use as an ornament, or glue a magnet to the back for a fridgie.  Uses worsted weight yarn.

Sweetie the Snowflake

October's Challenge Entries...

We have a couple of listings for October's creative challenge.  The themes for this 'round' were National Dessert Day (14), National Pizza Month and as an extra, Hallowe'en.

Quietnova created this adorable cake ring:

And from Smudgekitty, this set of 4 Christmas Sugar cookie fridgies:

For November's Challenge, our theme choices are:
Clean your Refrigerator Day (15) and Absurdity Day (20)

Christmas always seems so much closer this side of Hallowe'en...I'll be writing some Christmas posts  over the next month and a half or so, from Christmas memories, to decorating tips, free and for sale patterns and supplies, not to mention Christmas gift ideas from our members.

September's Challenge

We had a few entries in our challenge this month, some of which were just for fun and not listed (at least not yet) on Etsy in the entrants' shops.
In honour  of Make a Hat Day (Sept. 15th), the entries are definitely fun!

From BerthasBizarreBazaar there were three:
a baby size cupcake hat:

 A greedy goldfish hat

 And this fun chicken hat:

Yes, someone has definitely been busy!!

From quietnova, modeled by someone who looks like he loves that hat!  (Adorable model, btw!)

And from WeeBeeUniquesByJulie  a vampire hat, available in her Etsy shop, perfect for Hallowe'en:

Lastly, an entry for Teddy Bear Day (Sept. 9th), from Smudgekitty
(one shown is a gift, but bookmarks can be ordered in custom colours)

I'll be announcing October's fun challenge in a day or two, so check back!

August's Challenge Entry

Although we had a few entries in July, August must have been a busy month.
Julie from WeeBeeUniquesByJulie rose to the occasion, however, and chose to do a project for the Family Fun Month theme.  I thought this was a wonderfully fun idea, good for the whole family on family game night!

Be sure to check out Julie's shop, she has some adorable infant hats for photo props!  

Hopefully, we'll have more entries again for this month's challenge....

This month's themes are:
Make a hat day (15th)
Teddy bear Day (9th)

To create along, simply create something based on one (or both) of the themes, your imagination's the limit!

July's Challenge Entries...Announcing August's Themes

We had a few participants this month, with the themes being National Blueberry Month and National Hot Dog Month.
legendary crochet chose to do a few blueberry items:
A blueberry pie ornament (love the 'juicy' blueberries oozing out between the crusts!)

And a blueberry dog toy, it seems dogs like blueberries, too.


Also with the blueberry theme, from quietnova, some blueberry pi, favourite dessert of mathletes.

From WeeBeeUniquesByJulie, an adorable hot dog...complete with mustard leash.

I chose a hot dog theme as well, with this amigurumi mustard and ketchup bottles.

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And now, on to August's Challenge!  I decided to start using some of the individual days, instead of just special months, and out of several promising odd days, these are the two randomly drawn:
Family Fun Month
Book Lover's Day (the 9th)

To participate, create something inspired by the special day/month, and complete it by the end of the month.
Play with ideas, play with your yarn, and HAVE FUN!!
 

June's Challenge Entries, Announcing July's Challenge

Last month's creative challenge was to create something revolving around one (or both!) of these themes:  National Candy Month, or Smile Power Day.

A slow month again, with two entries.  We both chose the candy theme, and funnily enough, with all the different things we could come up with, we both chose 'cotton candy'.
Legendary Crochet designed this adorable doll, complete with her own cotton candy:

I chose the amigurumi route, and came up with cotton candy on a 'paper' cone:

July's challenge I did just a bit differently.  Instead of examining my choices and trying to think of ideas people could make and choose one that seemed to have a lot of options, I wrote the 'national xxx month' choices on pieces of paper and drew from a hat.
So, if you'd like to challenge your creativity, see what you can come up with for:
National Blueberry Month and/or National Hot Dog Month
Let your imagination free!

Just For Fun, June Challenge

Our second, Just For Fun challenge.  Again, there will be no judging, no winners, just the fun of challenging your creativity.  Choose one of this month's themes, or both, no limit to how many items you may 'enter'.
Although June is known for weddings and Father's Day, I thought I'd go for a couple lesser-known occasions.

***Candy Month. Sweet, colorful, teeth-rotting candy! Let your imagination wander, I'm sure there are lots of ideas inspired by candy, from candy amigurumi, to candy button accents, to bold, bright 'candy' colours!
***'Smile Power Day', for more info, visit this page.  Smiles themselves, or just something that makes you smile.
To participate, create something inspired by the special day/month, and complete it by the end of the month.
Overall, play with ideas, play with your yarn, and HAVE FUN!!

Team members can post their listing in our team thread.  If you're not a team member but would like to show off what you've created, and have a place online to post your picture, feel free to comment and include a link to your creation, along with a brief story about what inspired you.  **Comments are moderated.  If a link looks suspicious, I will not click on it to verify it, but will delete it.

May's Just for Fun Challenge

Our new monthly 'just for fun' challenges are off to a weak start, but it's a start!
May's just for fun challenge is over, and we have 3 members who participated.  Click on each picture to see the item's listing for information.
Quietnova came up with this fun strip of bacon (mmmmm....bacon!) key chain for the National Barbecue Month theme

legendarycrochet came up with this egg for the National Egg Month theme

and from smudgekitty, again for National Barbecue Month, a stuffed baked potato, complete with green onions and bacon bits

For those who wish to participate in June, our theme choices are:  Candy Month and Smile Power Day (June 15th).  For more details, check our team thread on Etsy.

It's Garden Time!

Now that the threat of frost has 'officially' passed in my area, it's time to get down to some gardening.  I love the look of flowers, and each spring spend hours cleaning out my overgrown front garden, putting down fresh dirt and planting flowers.  Then over the summer, I spend more time trying to keep up with the weeds that slowly but surely get ahead of me and finally I give up and let them have their way.  And then start the cycle again the next spring.  I am debating just filling it all in with decorative stone or mulch and plopping a couple of planters with annuals down.

With crochet, you can have flowers year round, whether you choose to create a life-like flower, or one from some corner of your imagination, and they never require weeding, feeding or watering.  And no dirt in the pot for Spot or Kitty to knock over and track through the house.

A few examples of these easy to care for flowers--click on the picture to see the Etsy listing, or click on the name beside to see the seller's shop.  Links should open in a new window.

The rose at left is actually a brooch and can be found in LeChatCrochet's shop.











Flowers can adorn a variety of things, do you scrapbook?

This set of appliques can be used in scrapbooking, like this set from WeeBeeUniquesByJulie .










They can be found on accessories...

  OOAKindness has several headbands in her shop, if you don't find a colour you're looking for, she does accept custom orders.















If you crochet and would like to try your hand at making your own, some of our members offer patterns...

petalstopicots has a pattern for a set of 6 different flowers, use a variety of colours to come up with a blooming garden of fantasy flowers!








Try different yarns and threads and create an entirely new look!

 I think I've fallen in love with this wool blend yarn from crochetgal, the metallic thread and 'midnight' colours would make beautiful flowers!

Just for Fun, May Challenge

Each month is full of little-known and sometimes bizarre special occasions, like National Asparagus Month,  Library Card Sign-Up Month, National BlueBird of Happiness Day, even Hole in My Bucket Day.
I thought it would be fun to challenge people to come up with crafts to celebrate these occasions, so have started a monthly challenge for Etsyhookers Team members (feel free to craft along even if you're not a member!)

This month's theme, a choice of two. Among other things, May is National Barbecue Month and also National Egg Month. Choose one of these (or both, there are no limits) for your 'entry'.

Rules: must be a crocheted item, finished by the end of the month.  Team members can list them on Etsy, and post in our team thread there.  Since this is just for fun, there will be no voting, so no limits on number of 'entries', and no 'real' winner, though everyone who comes up with an idea and has met the challenge is a winner.  Okay, that sounds a bit cheesy, but true.  Pictures of members' work may be posted here.

Overall, play with ideas, play with your yarn, and HAVE FUN!!

April Showers...

I had fully intended on finishing this treasury I'd started over 2 months ago when I woke up, and as I opened blogger to start a new post, realized 'April Showers bring May Flowers' was really suitable--I woke up to a cool April morning, fresh from an overnight rain.

A collection of flowers from Etsyhookers team, the kind that don't need water, or 'dead-heading' to keep looking vibrant.

'Flower Bouquet, Hooker Style' by Smudgekitty

A bit of yarn or thread, a hook and some imagination can create some beautiful fantasy flowers. Alone, appliqued on a hat, tote or pillow, you can have flowers anywhere! From Etsyhookers team members.

Crocheted Flowers for Beanie... sherryann325 $5.99	Pincushion emery crochet edg... chezviolette $10.00	Crochet Flower Brooch Pin - ... StitchKouture $11.00	Crochet Flower Brooch/Pin/Ac... RoseAlida $4.50
Crochet Flower Barrettes Arg... thejoyofcroche... $6.00	Wiggly Crochet Ruffle Raised... mylifeinstitch... $10.00	Newborn Crochet Flower Bonne... ThisanThatBout... $25.00	Tiny Sparky Flower Appliques... LeChatCrochet $6.00
Mustard Yellow and Rust Oran... PurdyThings $27.00	Crochet Flower Wash or Dish ... hippiescreatio... $8.00	Lacy Purple Flower Fingerles... LacyThings $15.00	Jordanita Bracelet in Pink isamocrochet $45.00
Flowered Maryjane Booties - ... bubblegirlknit... $18.00	Pansy Bookmark: Crochet BeatriceCLaNor... $2.50	Crochet Flower Accessory -La... gwengoods $4.00	Pretty baby spring beanie an... mysparetimedes... $22.00

Treasury tool supported by threequickquestions

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I apologize for neglecting the blog the last few months, but am hoping to keep up with regular updates.  Watch for new items, sales and treasuries featuring team members.
This week, a treasury featuring team members, all in green in honour of St. Patrick's Day.  Click on an item to see the listing.