Day 2 Winter Hibernation

In the 29 years I have lived in Charlotte, we have never missed going to church do to winter weather.  I'm calling this my Winter Break (from work).  My day off was Friday, then came the snow and the ice and just as I thought the libraries closed, so I got Saturday (my day to work) off.  Yay

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸Snow is rare in Charlotte and even though it's mostly ice, it's still beautiful¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

Took this picture of the front of our house.  There is a one inch sheet of ice and our driveway is totally covered. The Library I'm sure will probably delay opening.

View of our back yard

Icy Palm Leaves

 

Cold weather and ice doesn't hurt this 25 year old Windmill Palm.  My husband does not like one bit to see the covered of ice.

Look carefully, there is a thin sheet of ice covering part of the pond.

When it's cold outside, I do get in the mood to cook.  I doctored this recipe from the Cook Yourself Thin book I got from Donna. The recipe is on page 115 and it's called Healthy Potato Skins.  It called for sweet potatoes; I only had one so I also used regular potatoes.  It turned out pretty good and healthy it is with the addition of spinach. I omitted the bacon and used regular milk instead of buttermilk.  They were delicious.  Cliff made the turkey burgers.

٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶ Wonder What I'll cook tonight....I may running out of food ٩(-̮̮̃•̃)۶

Hearts for Haiti

My limited edition From the Heart Cell phone cozy sold the same day it was listed. Hearts for Haiti has raised $22,634.80 as of January 29, 2010.  The money raised goes to Doctors Without Borders.

If you are an Etsy seller consider participating.

A Happy Owl

This picture of one of my Owl cozies was sent to me by Lesley.  She is very happy with it too and it just really warmed my heart to get such a nice feedback.  Lesley does have an Etsy shop and I also share her love for paper ephemera.  So I'm thinking when the owl is not fulfilling its duties to protect the cell phone, it can just be used to decorate any little corner of your house.  Thank you Lesley.

Speaking of owls....Most of them have sold and the only penguin I had listed has already been shipped.  I found these bright buttons and discovered they will look great to secure the cozy's strap.  It's great to finally find a use for these bright buttons.

The bright green buttons match owly's eyes.

I have already selected the yarn I will use for the Blackberry Cozy that a friend has commissioned me to make. I'm just tickled that she would like a monkey.

...so stay tuned....Monkey Blackberry Cozy coming soon....

Cabin Fever Month - No Not Really - My Birthday Month

Once again my birthday arrived and I was pleasantly surprised by the many thoughtful gifts I received. (restaurant gift cards, Biscotti, socks, coffee, earrings, flower decoration, etc...etc...) Every one at work was so thoughtful.  January can cause many the cabin fever blues including me, so this tokens sure did a lot to brighten up my day.

 I took the day off at work and enjoyed a delightful day in the company of my DH.  We ate a delicious lunch at the Olive Garden and also saw Sherlock Holmes that afternoon.  The day was perfect in every sense with the temperature climbing up to 74°F.  Nice.  The next day winter and the lower temperature returned. 

This wonderful creation was crafted by Connie, who has been learning all about something that was new to me, welding letters together using the Gypsy Cricut and Make the Cut program.  She is quite an inspiration to me and her creativity is contagious.  I just don't have enough time to do something like this Name Card. 

Connie said that once the name book was made the challenge was to think of how to decorate it.  Instead of using chip board, Connie sandwiched together 4 pieces of card stock.  I am so touched that she would make this for me.  This book stands on its own and mine is been displayed on my mantle.

I've been working on Newborn Pixie hats which I will list soon on my Etsy Store. These cute hats were made using the so soft 100% cotton yarn, I Love This Cotton.

The green and yellow Pixie Hat

Thinking about Valentines Day

Valentines Day will arrive soon.  I have always loved to craft hearts.  In my opinion Valentines Day is a great holiday, is it considered a Holiday?  Maybe not, since we don't get the day off at work.  It's all about letting our spouses, children, grandchildren, friends....etc....know that we Love them.  On a recent visit to the Target $1.00 section I found these brads and new I could put them to use.

Paton's Grace 100% mercerized cotton is the perfect yarn for crocheting a small heart.  I used a crochet hook C (2.5mm)

On card stock I printed this background

For the tag, cut the red card stock to measure: 3" by 4-1/2".  The printed background is cut 2-3/4 by 4-1/4"  Fold back the corner of a white piece of paper to cut out the tag corners of the red and printed card stock.

Using double stick tape or a glue stick secure both tags.  Punch a hole for ribbon and using an awl or a sharp needle puncture tag on the right upper side.  This is will be used to secure the crochet heart to the tag.

If you like you can tear the bottom of the printed card stock. 

If you'd rather make a card cut the card out of red card stock to measure 5-1/5" by 4-1/2"  Fold in half and press with a bone folder.   Cut the printed background 5-1/4" by 4" and secure to card front using double stick tape or a glue stick. Secure the crochet heart to the upper right corner using the brad.

For a larger heart, use worsted weight yarn and a larger hook such as the H (5.00 mm) This one was made with cotton yarn. 

The crochet heart pattern is here.  The printed background is here.

Owlmania

I'm saying goodbye to my first Owl Cell phone cozy this weekend. I'm thrilled to know that someone has decided to bring him into their life.  Making cell phone cozies is quick but also a little bit addicting. My inspirations come from the many children books I come across at the library.

A cute and whimsical owl deserves special packaging.

Speaking of owls.  I do like them a lot so making them delights me. I finally finished the knitted owl I made from the pattern by Amy Gaines. Her patterns are very detailed and easy to follow. This owl was knitted with my favorite cotton yarn: I Love This Cotton.

This next cute owl family is an upcycled creation.  I used one of Cliff's wool ties.  He hasn't worn a tie in years.  The pattern came from ManiMina studio.  Just made Papa owl and baby owl.  I would like to add other members to this sweet owl family.

Baby owl looks sleepy....

Shawna loves my Lacy crochet hats.  She has 3 boys but many friends with girls.  This newborn size Lacy Crochet hat is for her friends soon to arrive baby girl. Feels good to have a repeat customer.

I am now offering a courtesy gift card upon request for my Etsy customers.

The Lacy Crochet Hat looks good on babies, children and adults.  These three were made in the adult sizes.

I almost forgot........

I purchased this owl this past December in Target. One more for my collection.  He was made with mostly natural materials.

Now I wonder where the real owl that lives in our woods has been.  Haven't heard him in a while.  I could not help been a little jealous when Beth at work told me this past week about the owl that has been visiting her back yard.  He's not shy at all and shows up during the day.  I would just love to see a real owl on my yard.

New Year's Resolution

 One of my New Year's resolution is to continue recycling whenever possible and to reduce the amount of plastic bags used by using my reusable bags.  My daughter got me a set of produce bags this Christmas I absolutely love.  On the first day of the year I went grocery shopping and I was surprised I used most of my bags. These wonderful bags are made by loveforearth 

 

A total of eight bags in different sizes fit in the knit bag.