Valentine's Day Hearts

So, I love making miniature anything, so I made these super cute crochet hearts from the EasyMakesMeHappy blog

Kanzashi Flower Hairclips

So while I was browsing Etsy one day, I saw a beautiful flower hair clip made from fabric. I just had to make one for my little girl. I found out that they're typically called "kanzashi" flowers. Here is what I did: I found some fabric and cut out little squares and circles (I wanted to see the difference), stitched them together and jeweled the centers. Here are the results:

The one at the top was made from squares. The bottom three out of circles. Left is out of 5 petals, the rest 6 petals, but different sizes. The purple one is my favorite! You may see some of these coming to the Etsy shop soon!

Want to make your own? Here's one of the MANY sources for instructions
http://offbeatbride.com/2010/12/diy-semi-kanzashi-style-fabric-flowers-part-2

New Etsy Shop

So, I used to use my Etsy shop to only sell my origami. I've had it about a year but have had few sales. I know that my photographs need improvement, but the products are still great! I came to a realization that I'm not doing crafts to run a business of any kind. I just am trying to find a way to fund my craft adventures, and I need to price my items accordingly. I used to price the items so that I would make a decent profit (something like [materials +cost of time] x2), but I have drastically reduced the prices of all my items so that my inventory of finished crafts that I personally will never use will go away! Anyways. I have added a link to my shop to the side of my blog, and I plan on adding more crochet items pretty soon!

Share with your friends!

LivingTheCraftLife.Etsy.com

Baby Blanket out of Handicrafter yarn

Here is the finished product!

I took one of those ginormous skeins of handicrafter yarn (bernat brand) and worked up this blanket in one week. I loved the pattern that I found in a stitch book. So here is the pattern for a blanket. It turned out 3 feet long and 2 feet wide using a size H hook and a 14 oz skein of Handicrafter yarn.

Ch 133
Row 1: Skip 2 ch (counts as 1 dc), 2dc in next ch, *skip 3 ch, 1 sc into next ch, ch 3, 1 dc into each of the next 3 ch, repeat from * to end, leaving 4 ch left. sk next 3 ch, sc in last ch. Turn.
Row 2: 3 ch (counts as 1 dc), 2dc into 1st sc, * skip 3 dc, 1 sc into 1st of ch 3, ch 3, 1 dc into each of next 2 ch, 1 dc into next sc. Repeat from * across, ending with skipping the last 2 cd and then sc into the top of the turning chain.

Repeat row 2 until you run out of yarn!
It worked up so quick, and I love the way it looks!

Sunflower Crochet Pattern

So, I'm working on a blanket for my third child arriving sometime early May. I've also got a headwrap planned made from the same pattern as the blanket once I finish! Meanwhile, I decided to post my little sunflower pattern that I use to make hair clips.

Sunflower Applique

Materials:

Size H crochet hook
Worsted weight yarn, in brown and yellow
Sewing needle

Gauge:
Works out to be 3 inches across with materials listed.

Pattern:
Ch 3
Row 1: dc 13 in 3^rd ch from hk. Sl st with first dc and fasten off. (you can alternatively use the magic ring and DC
Row 2: Attach yellow anywhere, (ch3, Tr, ch3, sl st) in same dc. Then (sl st, ch3, tr, ch3, sl st) in each DC around. Fasten off.

Origami Dragon Order

I just completed and shipped an origami order for 100 dragons! That is the largest order I've filled yet. Here is a photo of the 75 mini dragons that were part of the order: