weekend wip: finishing up.

hi there!
happy friday!

i'm loving how quick this short week went. it's a little strange to say that because on the one hand i look at little miss and see how she's changing everyday, getting bigger and so much older, and i want time to stand still for a little longer... on the other hand we really look forward to weekends with daddy (he's pretty fun to hang out with ♥).

designing a monster. little lulu.

spring colors + friendly monsters.

our valentine's day.

love. from our heart to yours.

happy valentines day (evening) ♥

i only have a few minutes before i completely pass out after our crazy flu-bug valentine's day... and before the sick husband beside me starts really complaining about the light still being on and me tapping away (he wouldn't ever do that)... but while i'm still vertical i would like wish all of my friends, family, and all of the visitors to my little piece of the web a very happy heart day. and more than that, i wish that we all continue to be thankful for the love present in our lives (in every form) and remain constantly open and giving of our love in return.

i am so thankful each and every day for my little family... my incredibly supportive, encouraging, and loving husband and best friend who works so hard to give us an amazing life (and to allow me to stay home with my little miss, such a gift!) and my little girl who makes every day an adventure and gives the best hugs and kisses ever! 

goodnight. and as always...

love.

p.s. the cute little lopsided pop heart i whipped up was a free ravelry pattern from MyGurumi that you can find here...  it was pretty quick and is so cute. i might do a million of these for next vday. (or close to a million.)

hooks and needles: an owl for valentine's day

hi there!

i'm so happy to introduce a new owl friend for little miss! i'm calling her val for now (really original i know, but nothing else has sounded right so far...)

i really love this little cuddly cutie and i can't wait for little miss to get her arms around her on valentine's day morning. i've asked joe three times this weekend if i could give it to her early, but i've been good and for now she's hiding...

this owl pattern was created by Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches and i absolutely love it. Stacey is a phenomenal amigurumi designer and sells the cutest little animals and monsters in her etsy shop. she also sells patterns and kits to create your own amigurumi and has joined the new Craftsy.com team teaching great workshops and classes online.

i took the Nelson the Owl Workshop on Craftsy and let me tell you it was more than worth it! i highly recommend checking it out... it was very reasonably priced and it was so nice to be able to chat with the designer, ask questions about the pattern, and to share with others making the owls. the directions were easy to follow and very well explained.

now my little val...

she's actually not so 'little' - she measures almost 11" !! i made her using stash yarn left over from little miss's newborn blanket... her body, wings, and eyes were made with Lion Brand Baby's First which is a chunky weight. i didn't have any yellow in the Baby's First so for the beak and feet i used a double strand of some Lion Brand Baby Wool, also from my stash scraps. (yay for using up some of my stash, yarn shopping time!)

my owl follows the pattern exactly except for the wing construction and the addition of the cross-stitch heart...

for the wings i had to come up with a plan that would accommodate one wing's worth of pink yarn, cuz that's all i had. i obviously had a bit less than a full skein of my main color to start out with and the wing is where it caught up with me, not bad. i basically split the original wing pattern in half and crocheted it flat, 2 in each color, and then whip-stitched the two pairs together (right sides facing each other, then turned right-side out).

i have been wanting to do cross-stitch on crochet for awhile but hadn't quite found the right project... i thought this would be the perfect opportunity (and it was an easy peasy way to make it a special ♥ day owl!) i sketched out a quick grid and used some more leftovers bits.

overall i'm quite happy with how she turned out and am eager to make a few more. i think a snuggly owl would go great with a matching quick knit baby blanket as a go to newborn set. i'm so excited to see abby's reaction to it... tuesday morning is going to be so much fun!

be sure to check out Stacey's workshops, classes, and patterns available at craftsy.com - i really like everything i've seen on craftsy so far and i look forward to what's in store for the site. if you haven't checked it out, you should. there is something for everyone! i just signed up for Amigurumi: Design Your Own Monster class taught by Stacey and can't wait to start (hopefully this week after i've gotten a little more work on this done...)

love.

what i'm working on.

hey there.

checking in.

i'm currently writing (and rewriting) a catch up post... but i thought while i have a tiny bit of time i'd share what i'm currently stitching up over here. 

one of my main goals this year is to really develop my crochet skills. last year i taught myself the basics of how to crochet and completed a few things... mostly in sc, dc, clusters, granny squares, etc. but i've really only scratched the surface. 

so to that end i decided to get some of my fall stash used up and looked for a sampler pattern so i could learn a few more stitch combos... i decided to try this Sampler Throw by Lion Brand because it called for a worsted weight yarn (which is what i had in stash), and i wanted to practice making "popcorn".

i'm taking my time with these squares. i'm trying to work on getting the gauge just right and keeping a consistent tension during the "special" stitches. must. stop. pulling. so. tight. i really like the zig zag surface pattern... it would make a nice texture for a baby blanket. 

i love the colors for this sampler throw. they are all Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight yarns in random colors that i picked up over the past year for separate projects. i ended up not using them and together i think they make a really bold color combo. i need one more color because the pattern has 5 different squares, i'm debating between a white-ish that i already have in stash or something else totally new.

i paused on that project this week to work on valentine's stuff. while valentine's day isn't my favorite of holidays... i'll admit that i do, kinda, love each and every holiday in a totally new way since having little miss. really any excuse for me to get her stuff, give her a cupcake, and make her cute things works for me. 

so one of the things i'm working on for her this valentine's day is this little friend...

i don't know her name yet. she's almost finished. i'll post more when she's all done. for now if you'd like to check out the really great and super easy pattern you can find it at Craftsy from designer Stacey Trock (FreshStitches): Nelson the Owl Pattern 

so that's a bit of what i'm working on for the moment... it's nice to be getting back to the blog again!

love.

i got a new friend today.
i'm very happy.
love.

technical difficulties.

hello friends.

i know, i've been a very bad blogger this week. truth is i have so much to share and a computer that won't let me share it! we've been needing a new computer for awhile... our G5 powerpc has been phased out and is on it's last legs. when i got my new canon T3i my computer wouldn't even recognize it and the driver isn't compatible. i had somehow magically gotten around that using iphoto but now iphoto doesn't even recognize my poor camera...

so i once again have some technical difficulties that i have to work through. i'm hoping this won't put me completely off track for all of my holiday decorating diy plans... we are working on finding a solution very very soon.


love.

making christmas. week 2.

hello friends...

not too much to share about week 2. we had a really great thanksgiving break at home with just the three of us. joey has a few big work weeks before christmas so we made sure to get in lots of fun daddy time and relaxation.
 
i did a little crafting and a lot of work on this...

i've been working on this cardigan for way too long. embarrassingly too long. i'm so ready for it to be done but frankly, i'm bored. i hate 40 inches of the same thing. ugh. i'm not a marathon knitter. if you were hoping to receive a beautifully knit & cabled sweater from me one year, think again.

we got our tree up and our 12 11 ornaments. santa met with a fatal catastrophe two years ago when we got a real tree... a catastrophe caused by a dog of course. i need to replace him very soon... i love our old world christmas newlywed set and i do not like the empty space in the set's box. (p.s. i LOVE my tree skirt, it was purchased from anthropologie a few years back and has a matching stocking. purchased on extreme discount i might add!)

so, what's on the agenda for this week?

finish decorating!

stocking & restyle diy's

a little nyc holiday market shopping

a trip to see the rockefeller christmas tree!

can you believe it's still in the mid-50s and 60s in nyc? there has been some rain today and a little more called for tomorrow but by thursday it will be all clear again so i'm hoping to enjoy some time in the city with little miss so we can enjoy these warm days while we can!

love.

making christmas: ornament wreath diy

 

hello again...

i'm back with part 2 of today's 'making christmas' diy!

for wreath #2 i wanted to make an ornament holder for a set of disney princess ornaments that little miss got for christmas last year. they are pretty heavy so i feel confident that you can recreate this without fearing for the lives of the ornaments you decide to showcase.

 

supplies:

wreath form

5/8" cup hooks (hardware)

ruler & pencil

glue (tacky or liquid nails)

 

let the glue dry overnight before crocheting the wreath or hanging any ornaments... preferably 24hrs but i totally could wait that long! then crochet the wreath as normal... simple statement wreath pattern by Good Knits! i used 1 skein of Lion Brand's Hometown USA in Monterey Lime.

when you get to each hook cover the hook base by crocheting around the hook. if you are following the pattern step 4 would be on the right side of the hook and step 5 is pulled through on the left side of the hook.

i started this wreath with an additional hook in the back to secure a ribbon for hanging but because of the weight of the princesses pulling it forward i decided to scrap that idea and just hang it directly on the hook on little miss's door.

if you have any questions let me know! please feel free to share wreaths that you've been working on or any crafting you've been doing this weekend to get your home ready for the holidays!

back tomorrow with this weeks review and plans for 'making christmas week 3'!

love.

making christmas: simple statement wreath

good morning!

who's excited to be getting into all of the christmas decorating? i know i am!

i'm very happy to be sharing my first 'making christmas' diys, and today it's all about this beautiful crocheted wreath pattern from Good Knits. if you are a knitter or crocheter the Good Knits blog is a must-read, must-follow! Lisa has so many great patterns available (for free!) and the items in her etsy shop are gorgeous. (check out her newly released pattern book Love Lace if you are into vintage lace patterns, it's so very lovely!)

i made this wreath with the 'simple statement wreath' pattern shared on the Good Knits blog.

did you miss that link? here's another... GET THE PATTERN!

once you get into a groove on this wreath pattern they are so quick to finish up! i maybe spent 3 hours or so on this one, in between chasing little miss around this past week.

i love this wreath pattern so much. it's so simple and pretty and so quick and cheap to make! i chose to use a 12" green styrofoam floral wreath form so that white wouldn't show through in case i didn't cover it 100% (i did, see troubleshooting in a min...) and the for the yarn i used Lion Brand's Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Cilantro. the red ribbon i used was recycled from a christmas gift one of us received last year that i saved. (free! reuse!)

troubleshooting. i'm a crazy tight, crazy overboard, all around crazy yarncrafter. i probably squeezed 3-6 (ok maybe 9) more single crochets than were really necessary on this first wreath to cover it. so in my opinion the loops look a little over crowded when i sit and stare at it, but my husband and everyone else who have seen it disagree so, you know. us crafters are always hyper critical of our own work.

i really hope you try out this pattern! it's so fun and easy... i think it'll be a great craft to do with kids too if you bought a smaller wreath form that was easier for them to handle. it's a great beginning crochet project.

i'll be back in a couple of hours with wreath #2 and how i turned this 'simple statement wreath' into an ornament holder!

love.

p.s. post-thanksgiving weekend was always the big decorating weekend at my house growing up... i'd love to hear how you spend your weekend OR how you have started decorating this season so far! ♥

thank you.

for my sweet little miss.

for a most patient & loving man.

for this perfect little family of ours.

for a roof over our heads,

food in our bellies, 

and the clothes on our back.

for everything we have,

and everything we don't have (yet).

for grandparents.

for great grandparents.

for our sister (and the coolest aunt ever).

for our ever supportive families and friends.

for smiles,

tears,

laughter,

 and mean faces.

for hope.

for love.

thank you.

i hope everyone had a fantastic thanksgiving! this time of year makes my heart feel so full and happy... so very thankful for all of the blessings in my life. we're having a great long holiday together and are so excited to get our tree tomorrow! 

love.

making christmas. week 1.

hello friends!

this past week i began all of the planning and preparations for our holiday season here at the taylor flat. i love this time of year. last year we did so much traveling in november that putting time into our holiday decor (and then turning right around to spend two weeks in indiana) didn't really make too much sense. especially with a 6 month old little miss who wasn't terribly interested in christmas just yet but...

this year is completely different! this year we are staying home and celebrating thanksgiving together as our little family of 3. this year we are starting our own traditions. we have the unique opportunity to stop, reflect, give thanks, and dream a little about our future too!

i feel so blessed that we have the ability each year to celebrate christmas at my parents'... their home is always so amazingly decorated, and tends to feel more like home to me than our tiny apartment. but this year i have the time to make christmas at our house!

so for the next few weeks leading up to christmas (can you believe there are only like 5 left!) i'll be sharing how i am 'making christmas' at our house. each week i plan to do a 'vignette love' recap post, share projects, and hopefully i can help share a little inspiration this season on how you can make christmas at your house without spending lots and lots on new decorations (no matter how much those target christmas aisles tempt).

as i said, this week was all about getting a solid plan together. we pulled out our two boxes of christmas decor from storage. i have a feeling we'll be putting more than two boxes back... but i'll worry about that later. :)

i started clearing some of our spaces and pulled some non-seasonal non-essential bits and pieces to be packed up in the christmas boxes to make way for  holiday vignettes.

i made goal lists that i felt were reasonable without overloading myself with too many projects... which is something i love to do. bite off more than you can chew much? i do! i made some recipe plans for thanksgiving weekend and grocery lists.  i wrote a plan for each room in the house and a supply list for all of the projects on my queue. oh, and gift lists!

later in the week i started working on a few of the diy ideas and patterns i've collected to experiment and see how long some of them would take. i'll share in more detail a little later but i LOVE the 'simple statement wreath' pattern by Good Knits. wreath #1, huge success!

and then to wrap up the week, on saturday we took a trip to the craft store.
i'm sure the first trip of many! hehe.

what's on the agenda this week? thanksgiving for sure. did i mention the 5 whole days little miss and i get with our most favorite? so happy. ♥

also...

cleaning. cleaning. cleaning.

(can't put nice new handmade decorations on dusty shelves!)

complete project list for little miss's room.

find a tree!

i hope everyone is having an amazing season so far and enjoying some time with family this thanksgiving week!

love.

vignette love: what a week.

 

  

  

 

besides my christmas planning (and birthday shopping) this week...

little miss had a doc visit, and some vaccines. not happy.

lots of teething, drooling, and sniffles 

(can't wait to try her amber necklace when it gets here)

a sick pup (roxy is much better now, thanks!)

a broken needle and other clumsy mishaps
tested a few diys for 'making christmas'
some harajuku mini shopping
(you know to help make the teething hurt less and make up for the shots)

despite the teething grumpiness we did have a great week. little miss turned 17 months old this week and every day i'm surprised at what a smart cute little girl she's becoming. i know i say this all the time but she learns things so quickly and comes up with things that just crack me up.


i'm very excited to start a series of posts for the holidays... 'making christmas' week 1 will be coming tonight!

love.