Crochet Projects - Chicken Hat & Chris-moose

I love the summer. It gives me time to work on projects. In-service days begin next week and students come back on August 13th. These are the last projects I had time to work on this summer - Chicken hat and Chris-moose.

After I finished working on my version of a Dolly Parton-ish doll,

I had the itch to work on something else. I dug through my printed pattern box and found the moose pattern from K's Crochet Critters. I modified the pattern a little bit to make my Chris-moose. It will carry a gift card and be part of my work's annual White Elephant Gift exchange at Christmas. 

Then, I was randomly scrolling crochet patterns and came across the Chicken Hat pattern and the Angler Fish hat pattern by Crochetverse. I immediately bought both patterns on Etsy and decided to work on the chicken first.

The chicken pattern is made using a double strand of yarn. I looked through my yarn stash and found a skein the perfect yellow color. The only problem was that I needed 600 yards of yellow so I had to go buy another skein. 

 

Luckily, Red Heart Super Saver yarn is pretty consistent. The yarn skein from my stash was from 1986. It felt a little bit rougher than the new yarn. I was surprised the Bright Yellow color was almost an exact match. I also had to buy Bernat Velvet red yarn. The rest of the yarn came from my yarn stash. Most of the other colors feel like they are Red Heart Super Saver Yarn. I have had several people give me collections of yarn so I don't have labels on a lot of my yarn stash skeins/balls.

I started working on the chicken pattern on Sunday and finished it around midnight on Thursday. I have no idea how many hours I spent making it but it was most of the week. My husband, son, and I went skydiving Thursday morning and I took the project to work on the one hour drive each way and in the lobby of the skydiving center. It helped calm my nerves before the big jump.

I forgot to take pictures while working on the chicken. The pattern was well written and easy to follow. I added a few extra feathers at the front and lengthened the collar by about two inches so it would sit on my shoulders. My version is not perfect but I love how it turned out.

I plan on wearing it for Book Character Day at my school on Halloween. I am pairing it with the book The Little Yellow Chicken by Joy Crowley.

Faces cannot be covered by masks at school so I am leaving the face hole open. but I am planning on adding a yellow piece of material, not sure what kind, to cover the hole from my nose down. I'll attach it with little hooks so it can be removed, if I want to wear it at places other than school.

I ordered several things from Amazon to add to the costume.  I am having fun with it.

I'm curious... What have you been crafting?

Penguin Ornaments

Every year, Boogs gets Grandmaman a new ornament for her Christmas tree. This year, we decided to make ornaments out of polymer clay.

I first took out this package of Creative Paperclay. It was a crumbly mess. Hmmmm... it has been in my craft room stash of stuff for a looong time. On the back of the package, it said it expired in June 2002. Whoops!

Next, I took out this Sculpey Clay to try again. I've had this package since before Boogs was born. It was perfectly fine.

We had to knead and warm up the clay a little to get it to cooperate.

Step 1: Roll the black clay into a round ball. This was about half an ounce of clay.

Step 2: Flatten the ball into a circle.

Step 3: Shape the flattened ball. We were making different looking penguins. I made mine into a pear shape, Boogs was more rounded.

Step 4: Roll a small amount of white clay into a ball. Then shape it to fit the bottom third to half of your penguin.

Step 5: Take a small pinch of orange clay to make a beak.

Step 6: Add eyes. I had a package of black sequins in one of my craft bins, so we decided to use those for eyes. I added white around the sequin. Boogs pushed his sequin directly into his penguin's head.

Step 7: Add accessories. I put a Santa hat, flippers, a candy cane, and feet on my penguin. Boogs decided to put ear muffs on his penguins. He rolled small pieces of red clay into balls and attached them to his penguins heads.

We used red Stampin' Up Wire Works wire to connect the ear muffs.

 Boogs added a little heart on the belly of each of his penguins.

 Look at that smile!

 These were ready to put in the oven.

Step 8: Twist a piece of wire into a loop and attach to back of penguin.

Step 9: Place clay artwork on an oven safe glass dish. Put in a 275 degree F oven for 15 minutes (or whatever your package of clay recommends).

Step 10: Take out of oven and let cool. Attach string to loop for hanging ornament on a Christmas tree.

I think these turned out so cute. You do have to be a little bit careful with them. I accidentally dropped my phone on my penguin when I was trying to take this picture. Oops!

My phone broke off one of my penguin's flipper arms and one foot. I pulled off the second foot and I think it still looks okay.

Boogs and I enjoyed working on these today. What kinds of Christmas crafting have you started doing?

                                                  

This post is linked to:
Saturday Sharefest
Crafty Weekends

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

2016 is almost over. We are ready for the last few weeks of school to pass by so we can enjoy our Christmas break.

Boogs helped me pick out twelve treats to include in his teacher's 12 Days Until Christmas Break gift basket.

We put together one of these basket each year for his homeroom teacher. This year's basket has some fun things in it. Boogs' teacher has a pet ferret for the classroom, so we included a toy for the ferret. His teacher likes pickles. I found some dill pickle flavored icee pops. (Eww!) The gift basket comes with a note that says:

There is an envelope in the basket that says, "Open me last." When that envelope is opened, it is revealed that the gift basket came from Boogs.

I found these printable reindeer cards and directions for making these HERE. I am going to give them to the ladies on my team at work.

I think they are adorable. I really like the EOS lip balm. I used the Summer Fruit scent because it was the best red color for Rudolph's nose.

 

The day after Thanksgiving, Boogs and I dragged all of our Christmas decorations out of the attic.

Boogs loves looking through all of the ornaments. Every year he gets to pick out a new ornament that he will eventually take with him when he is grown up and leaves our house. (Sniff!)

We had to wait a day or two to place the topper on the tree. Daddy always lifts Boogs up to put it on.

 Boogs is so big, they had to try a couple of times to get it.

December 25th will be here before we know it.

Santa-tizer Gift

I needed a quick and easy little Christmas gift to give the ladies on my team at work. I usually make some kind of yummy treat, but I know a couple of people are counting calories. I made these Santa-tizer crafts to hand out. I have seen these around for the past several years.

I found 2 oz. bottles of scented hand sanitizer at Target for $1.29 each. I brought them home and used them to decide what measurements I would need for scoring and cutting.

I cut 8 1/2 inch by 11 inch red cardstock into 2 in. by 11 in. strips. Then I used my scoring blade to score at 1/2 inch, 2 inch, 5 inch, and 6 1/4 inch.

I used a 1 inch circle punch to punch a hole in between the 1/2 inch and 2 inch score lines. Then I flipped the strip to the other end and used a decorative border punch to make it look cute.

I cut a 2 inch by 1/2 inch black strip for the belt. Then eyeballed the size square I needed for the belt buckle. Then I place a small rectangle of black in the center of the buckle.

I ran a strip of mono adhesive along the 1/2 inch section before my first score mark. Be sure to put the bottle of sanitizer inside the red strip of paper before you glue it together.

I attached a little note on the back and I was finished with the quick and easy craft gift. My team mates thought is was cute (and calorie free).

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I can feel the holiday season getting started. That means it is time for gatherings, crafting, shopping, baking, and a visit from our elf.

We put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. It was fun listening to Boogs talk about the memories he associates with each ornament on the tree. Every year, since he was two, Boogs has picked a new ornament to add to our tree. I write his name and the year on the bottom of these ornaments. When he is grown up and moves out, he will be able to take these ornaments with him for his very own Christmas tree.

 

I love all of the crafting opportunities that happen at this time of year. My husband needed a container decorated for work. Stampin' Up punches are the best!

 

Tomorrow (Dec. 4th) will leave us with 12 days until our school's holiday break begins. Every year, we like to give Boogs' teacher a gift basket filled with a little treat for each of the 12 days until Christmas break. We use the teacher's list of likes on our PTA website page to help pick the items we put in the basket. Boogs does not reveal who the basket is from until the last day of school before the break. The little bag with the OPEN ME LAST sticker contains a gift card and a note with Boogs' signature. He thinks it is fun keeping the secret.

Cutesy the Elf has returned to our house for the fifth year in a row. This year, Cutesy left clues for Boogs to solve to figure out where Cutesy was waiting.

 

Boogs liked running around the house searching for and solving the clues.

He finally found Cutesy resting on the shoe rack in the laundry room.

Boogs was very happy to see Cutesy return. He can't wait to see what kind of mischief Cutesy causes this year.

To celebrate Cutesy's return, I made a special Elf in the House lunch for Boogs to take to school. In the ELB lunchbox: pb & honey house sandwich, Babybel cheese, carrots, hummus, trail mix, and applesauce.

On Day two of Cutesy's return, Cutesy was waiting under the tree reading a new book to give to Boogs.

We can't wait to see what Cutesy is going to do next. Do you have an Elf visiting your home? You can see Cutesy's past adventures by clicking HERE.