It's been so long....

Obviously I haven't done much on here in a long time. Life goes on. My newest adventure has been foundation paper piecing.  If you'd like to check out some of my creations hop on over to BlueButterflyQuilter.blogspot.com

A Game born of desperation! Ball Toss

So we've all been down with a version of this cold / cough. Thankfully the little one has only had a runny nose and cough. I on the other hand got every possible version of it. Fever, cough, the whole nine yards!! So in my desperate attempt to keep H occupied so I could get some kind of rest this is what we got.

Instant ball toss game! Cost - Free! Empty diaper box, some tape and miscellaneous small balls. And H LOVES it.  I will need to go back and reinforce it with better tape. All that I could find handy was scotch tape. I was also thinking of covering it with some left over gift wrap or something. But really she doesn't care, she loves it just the way it is! Isn't that the wonderful thing about kids?!

Here's a side view.

Here it is in action. All of the 'balls' aren't even balls, one of them is a green apple from her kitchen set! But it works just fine and she doesn't care so why should I!

Spring Flowers

So Mother Nature decided to tease us with one gorgeous day and then slap us with below normal temperatures! She can be so cruel!! So I decided to get alittle flower garden started inside. We started this last week and we've already got very nice progress.

We started with 2 little egg 'pots' that we found in the $1 section at Target. One had Daisy seeds and the other had Zinnias. The instructions tell you to only put 10 seeds in each pot so we spread the rest of the seeds into cups.

H didn't care for getting dirty much but she did like watering the seeds. Once we were all planted everything got put into the sunny kitchen window.

 

I've done most of the watering but every couple of days I have H use her little water pitcher to water them. She was amazed when they started sprouting.

After only one week the Zinnias are going crazy! The Daisies (middle cup) are alittle slower but they're starting to pop up too now. It's hard to see the Daisies but if you look really close you can see tiny leaves popping up. 

 

Here they are after 16 days. They're going to be ready for transplanting soon!!

More Easter crafting

Paper Easter Eggs

Using the center pieces that were cut out for the frames to out 'Stained Glass' Easter Eggs we simply glued yarn. You could also use markers or crayons to decorate the eggs.  I wanted this to use different textures than plain old colored eggs.  I prepared ahead of time by snipping different sized lengths of yarn in varying colors.  Then I handed over the glue stick and let her go to town.

Birthday Time!!!

I can't believe H is 2 already!!!

Last year I did a massive Caterpillar cake for H's 1st birthday. It was amazing!! Three different flavors (chocolate, yellow and strawberry).  We also had a small cake just for the birthday girl.  So how was I going to out do that masterpiece?!  Well I wasn't going to try. The party this year was going to be much smaller than last year so 1/2 a sheet cake would be fine. I decided on trying something new. I found my inspiration here http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/toy-story.html#c6 (which is actually the same site I got the inspiration for the last year's cake!). 

Now to decide on the subject......Dora! That's it! H loves Dora and Boots right now so she'll love it.  

Here's how I did it.

I've never done anything like this before so I was a nervous wreck!!  I started by printing coloring book pages that I found on the internet. Dora, Boots and some balloons. I taped the images to a cutting board, then stretched plastic wrap across the cutting board and secured it with tape. It's very important to make sure the plastic wrap is very secure and pull it tight so you don't have any wrinkles!! Also make sure to free up some space in your freezer before you begin.

Mix up your buttercream icing. I used Wilton Icing Colors
and colored small batches of icing as I needed it.

Begin by outlining the images using black or another dark color. Put it in the freezer for 15 minutes or so to set.

I used milk to thin the remaining icing down a bit before I continued (you could also use corn syrup but I thought that would make it way too sweet!). Don't worry about it not being perfect. Remember you're looking at the back side of the work! The plastic wrap side is your finished side. I piped the icing in to color each area then went back with a small rounded knife to smooth everything out. You want to be sure you don't leave any air pockets on the plastic wrap side! I popped it back in the freezer for a few minutes to set after each color.

Once all the coloring was done I left it in the freezer over night. The next morning I finished putting the final coat of icing on the cake building little mounds where I was going to put my images. Then one by one I CAREFULLY placed each one on the cake and pealed back the plastic wrap. Boot was alittle hard to handle because his arms and legs were so thin. I saved the left over icing for just this reason. So I was able to go back and repair Boots.

For my first attempt I was pretty happy and my daughter loved that Dora and Boots were on her birthday cake!

Last year's cake

Last year's caterpillar cake

Recycled Valentine's Day

Ever since my daughter first picked up a crayon I've been saving her artwork. Knowing that one day I would be able to use it in some way.

Over the weekend I was trying to come up with an arts and crafts project that she could do for her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. She lost interest in those projects quickly. So I came up with the idea of cutting out heart shaped cards from her artwork. They were a big hit with everyone! She had a blast handing out the cards to everyone and saying Happy Val-tine Day. She really concentrated hard on saying the word Valentine!! So cute.

This was some old card stock weight paper that I brought home from work.

I even used the pages with stickers on them.

Think Spring!! Daffodils

I've searched and searched the internet for the perfect daffodil pattern without success.  So I've played around and have come up with my own version of a couple of different patterns that I tried.

This is what I came up with, I hope you like it!

Yarn: Baby Sport Weight Yarn (sport would also work fine) in pale yellow, white and green (orange would be nice too)
Needle: Susan Bates Crochet Hook Size F
Other: Pipe cleaners to give the stem stability (1/2 for each flower)

Stitches and Abbreviations Used:

• ch = chain 
• yo = yarn over
• sl st = slip stitch
• sc = single stitch
• hdc = half double stitch (yo hook, insert hook in the next stitch to be worked, yo, pull yarn through stitch, yo and pull through all loops on hook)
• dc = double stitch (yo hook, insert hook in the next stitch to be worked, yo, pull yarn through stitch, yo, pull yarn through 2 loops on hook, yo, pull yarn through last 2 loops on hook)
• tr = treble stitch (yo hook, insert hook in the next stitch to be worked, yo, pull yarn through stitch, *yo, pull yarn through 2 loops on hook, repeat from * 3 times)
• dtr = double treble stitch (yo hook, insert hook in the next stitch to be worked, yo, pull yarn through stitch, *yo, pull yarn through 2 loops on hook, repeat from * 4 times)
• picot = ch 3, sl st in 3rd ch from hook
• Rnd = round

Directions:

Rnd 1: With F hook and pale yellow, ch 4, sl st in first ch to form ring, ch 3, 11 dc in ring, join with sl st in top of ch 3 (12 st).
Rnd 2: Working this rnd in back loops only, ch 3, dc in each st around, join as before.
Rnd 3: Working in both loops, ch 3, dc in each st around, join.
Rnd 4: Ch 2, sc in first st, (ch 2, sc in next st) around, join with sl st in first ch of ch 2. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Petals
Rnd 1: Join white (or pale yellow) yarn with sc in front lp of any st on round 1, ch 2, skip next st, (sc in next st, ch 2, skip next st) around, join with sl st in first sc (6 lps).

Rnd 2: Sl st in first ch lp, *(ch 2, tr, 3 dtr, tr, ch 2, sc) in same lp, sl st in next lp; repeat from * around.
Rnd 3: *Sc in each of next 2 ch, sc in each of next 2 sts, (sc, picot, sc) in next st, sc in each of next 2 sts, sc in each of next 2 ch; repeat from * around, join as before. Fasten off.


Stem
Rnd 1: Join green yarn with sc in front lp of any st on round 1. Sc in each loop around (including the loops used in Rnd 1 of the petals) (12 st)
Rnd 2: Ch 2, hdc in each st around.
Rnd 3: Ch 2, * hdc next 2 st together (yo, insert hook in the next stitch to be worked, yo, pull yarn through stitch, yo, insert hook in the next stitch to be worked, yo, pull yarn through stitch, yo and pull through all loops on hook). Repeat from * around.
*Rnd 4: Ch 1, *sc in next st, sc next 2 st together (insert hook in next st to be worked, yo, pull yarn through st, insert hook in next st, yo, pull yarn through, yo, pull yarn through all st on hook), sc in next st, sc next 2 st together. (4 st). Continue sc in each st around until stem is desired length. Fasten off and weave in ends.

*Note: I found it easier to insert the pipe cleaner through the center of the flower when I'm about 6 or 7 Rnds in and work the stitches around it.  Pull the pipe cleaner through more as you go. This worked better than trying to push the pipe cleaner through the entire length of the stem as it seemed to catch on the stitches.

Leaf
Rnd 1: Ch 21, sl st in 2nd ch from hook and next 3 ch, sc in next 15 ch, 4sc in last ch. Continuing on opposite side of the chain, sc in next 15 ch, sl st in last 4 ch. Working up the center of the leaf sl st in each hole of the original ch. Finish off leaving enough yarn to sew to stem.

Finishing
Sew 1 or 2 leaves to each flower. I attached the leaf  at a slight angle on the stem from the bottom of the leaf about half way up and left the rest to curl.