Cartwheels In My Mind

Stitch in Style: Crocheted Baby Afghan

Hello everyone!  I'm so excited to share this crochet project with you today!  It's simple enough for a beginner, so don't be shy about trying it out if you're new to crochet.
 
 Supplies:

3 skeins each of 3 different colors (I used Stitch Nation Full o' Sheep yarn in Clementine, Thyme, and Aquamarine.)
Crochet hook in appropriate size for your yarn (I used a K-10.5)
Yarn Needle (for weaving in yarn ends)

This afghan is composed of 9 "strips" of 11 "squares" of yarn.  Each "square" of yarn is 8 rows of stitches.  I assigned each color a letter, so if you decide to use different colors, it'll be less confusing hopefully.  Clementine=A, Aquamarine=B, and Thyme=C.

 

STRIP 1 

With A, chain 15.
Row 1: Half double crochet in 3rd chain from hook and each chain across – 13 stitches.
Row 2: Chain 2, turn, half double crochet in each half double crochet across.
Rows 3-8: Repeat Row 2. 
(First "square" is complete.)   
Change to B by fastening off A, then joining B with a slip stitch in first stitch of next row and repeat Row 2 for a total of 8 rows.
(Second "square" is complete.)
Change to C and repeat Row 2 a total of 8 times.
(Third "square" is complete.)
Change to A and repeat Row 2 a total of 8 times.
(Fourth "square" is complete.)
Change to B and repeat Row 2 a total of 8 times.
(Fifth "square" is complete.)
Change to C and repeat Row 2 a total of 8 times.
(Sixth "square" is complete.)
Change to A and repeat Row 2 a total of 8 times.
(Seventh "square" is complete.)
Change to B and repeat Row 2 a total of 8 times.
(Eighth "square" is complete.)
Change to C and repeat Row 2 a total of 8 times.
(Ninth "square" is complete.)
Change to A and repeat Row 2 a total of 8 times.
(Tenth "square" is complete.)
Change to B and repeat Row 2 a total of 8 times.
(Eleventh "square" is complete.)

Fasten off.  And set aside.  You have now completed Strip 1 of your afghan.  

 
  STRIP 2

Work as for Strip 1, first working 8 rows with B, then 8 rows with C, 8 rows with A, 8 rows with B, 8 rows with C, 8 rows with A, 8 rows with B, 8 rows with C, 8 rows with A, 8 rows with B, and 8 rows with C. Fasten off.

STRIP 3
Work as for Strip 1, first working 8 rows with C, then 8 rows with A, 8 rows with B, 8 rows with C, 8 rows with A, 8 rows with B, 8 rows with C, 8 rows with A, 8 rows with B, 8 rows with C, and 8 rows with A. Fasten off.

STRIP 4
Same as Strip 1.

STRIP 5
Same as Strip 2.

STRIP 6
Same as Strip 3.

STRIP 7
Same as Strip 1.

STRIP 8
Same as Strip 2.

STRIP 9
Same as Strip 3.  

FINISHING 

Arrange strips in numerical order from left to right and sew together along long edges. Weave in ends.  The dimensions for my finished afghan are 40 inches x 37 inches and each "square" was approximately 4 inches by 3.5 inches.  I had plenty left over of each of the third skeins of each color of yarn that I can use them on future projects!  If you decide to try out this pattern, and have any questions, please leave them in the comments so I can answer them! 
  

Jumpstart On A Wednesday: Gracie's Sleep Space...

We've got a problem at our house...one that I never ever thought I would say as a bad thing: My children love each other WAY too much. Why is this a problem, you might ask? Because not only do I spend 80% of their waking hours peeling them away from each other, but also because we live in a 2 bedroom apartment right now and they were supposed to share this beautiful, inspired nursery I designed for them. But after a couple weeks of my sleep-through-the-night-at-2-weeks babies waking each other up multiple times a night, I decided that for my own sanity things were going to have to change.

So into our bedroom Gracie's crib went. Our very very white-walled bedroom, that is...

Prior to her moving in, I hadn't really done alot to this room. I certainly don't spend much time sleeping, and Nate doesn't care as long as he has a place to lie down...so I've kind of been focusing on the living room, my art studio and kitchen and just adding random bits of decor when I got the time. However, I'm a big believer in having babies surrounded by color, so I made her little corner a priority this past week. 

Here's a peek at the only real decorating that I've done to the room...just to give you an idea of the colors.

My first order of business was to find a quilt that matched the colors of the room since my old childhood pink girlie quilt she had been using was going to clash horribly with our green bedspread. But after searching everywhere for a colorful girlie quilt that had a little funk to it, I was getting a little discouraged...until I pulled out this colorful afgan that I found in the attic in my old house in Ohio when I moved in (and discovered was handmade by the deceased mother of a good friend of mine!). I immediately knew I was going to design the entire area around it and got to work. 

Next, I desperately wanted to get a curtain up on the window. The white blinds on the white wall (both came with the apartment) just weren't doing it for me, so I decided to go the same route that I did with the kitchen windows...add a shower curtain. And this blue polka-dot one just seemed perfect with the handmade afgan. After the curtain was up, I pulled the little animal mobile that I had despised right up to that point and had stored in our Goodwill donation box. But once I added it next to the afgan and curtains it didn't seem nearly as wretched...I'm sort of even loving it now. (Don't you love when that happens?) Next, I added a few throw pillows from Target to leave in there during the day when she's not using it.

And for the final effect, I switched out the plain white shaded lamp for this retro green one (the green is the exact color of the bedspread in real life) with it's blue and yellow flowers on the inside that shine through when the lamp is switched on on top of my little sewing supply holder-turned nightstand. (You can view that make-over project here.)

And that, my friends...is the story of a new little corner of our home that we like to call Gracie's Space.

I can't say for certain since she can't talk...but from a purely selfish-mama standpoint judged by long nights of babies sleeping straight through...I'm going to go ahead and call it a success. And from the look on her face when she wakes up in the morning, I think she might agree.

 

P.S. The crib itself is a hand-me-down from Nate's uncle. It started out as a Winnie-the-Pooh bed, but I painted over the Pooh decals with the blue that matches the rest of the room (inside the little circles on both sides of the bed).

Jumpstart On A Wednesday.

CUPCAKE PAPER FLOWERS:

I don't know about you, but I'm a complete sucker for the $1 section. It doesn't matter if i have $200 or $3 to spend, finding something cool for just one dollar is just such a fabulous feeling. And my trip to Micheal's this past weekend, where I found these colorful Paula Dean cupcake papers, was no exception. I had no idea what I would do with them (especially since I don't make cupcakes EVER), but I knew I had to do SOMETHING.  

So once I got home I started messing around with them and soon realized that the wax on the papers allows them to hold shape really well. And as soon as I figured that out, I knew they would make super cool paper flowers...especially with the different colored centers helping guide where to fold to make them somewhat even.

To create my little cupcake paper bouquet, I simply ran little adhesive lines down the center of the flower and then folded it in to create the ruffled petal effect.

(I may or may not have gotten completely carried away and made like 10 thousand of them...:D)

When I was finished folding and gluing, I hand-stitched little lace trim circles in some of them and little rosebuds in others. I knew I wanted it to eventually go in the nursery so I tried to stay within that color theme while varying each flower just a little from the rest. 

After the trim centers, I used metal glue to adhere little metal flowers to the centers to add a little something extra.

And finally, I stitched each flower onto a little kabob stick and arranged them in a vase I spray-painted white to allow the flowers colors to stand out a little more. Then I just placed it on the babies' dresser next to the new lamp we got last week and was so excited at how it cheered up their little dark wood dresser.

And just like that, I found a new way to use something totally different, thanks to the $1 section and a preference to creating art rather than baking...:D

Have you ever created something with cupcake papers? I have all these ideas bouncing around in my head after this little project...maybe I'll have to try another soon! If you have used them on a project before, please share with us. I'd love to see how they inspired you. And if not, why not grab a few from the cupboard and jumpstart your week by trying something new with something very familiar? :)

P.S. Can you tell that the patterns on them are little pots and PD for Paula Dean? I don't feel like it's obvious at all after altering them so much...:)

Nursery Decor.

Living in a two-bedroom apartment with two babies means that we only have one nursery and not only is it hard to decorate with 2 cribs and all the necessary baby furniture, but having one boy and one girl just adds to the challenge. So when it came to figuring out colors and a design for their room, I searched long and hard for a color combination that was neither too boyish nor too girlish but still stayed within my home decor requirements as far as colors and vintage touches, etc.

So during my vast search both online and in stores, I finally found exactly what I wanted...and ironically the answer was sitting not 2 feet away from me in one of my scrapbook paper racks, Sasafrass's Vintage Yummy collection. I have long been a fan of Sassafras (formally Sassafras Lass) and was even on their first design team, so I was super excited when I saw this line. I felt like the little boy paper was perfect for a 1 1/2 year old and the baby girl went so well with Gracie being a newborn. And the best part? The colors match so perfectly that they can be intermixed.

So with my new inspiration in hand I got right to matching paint samples to the rich colors (I choose the blue color as an accent and even loved it so much I painted my entire kitchen the same color!) and creating accents using their products to draw it all together.

And my first project was these two little altered vintage frames that I got at our local antique store back when I was living in Ohio.  

DIRECTIONS:
*Paint black frames cream using Making Memories acrylic paint.

*Use sandpaper to distress the paint a bit allowing the black to show through just a little.

*Cut Sassafrass patterned paper to fit inside the frames, then distress the edges using sandpaper.

*Cover the chipboard butterflies with the October Afternoon Cream Paper, then ink the edges using the VersaMark ink to make them stand out against the patterned paper.

*Attach the butterflies to the patterned paper allowing them to go off the edge a bit and bending the wings up and out using Pop-dots to make them appear to be in flight.

*Add pearls and gems to the center of the butterflies.

*Create journaling on computer and ink the edges before attaching it to the frame with the smaller butterfly.

*Insert completed paper projects into the frame.

*Admire! :)

JOURNALING: the quote is from an old nicole c. mullen song. it says: 'fly high, little butterflies...cause you'll never ever know if you don't try.'

SUPPLIES:

6x4 Frames On Stands: Antique Store Finds (just $4.99)
Patterned Paper: Blue Little Boy & Pink Baby Girl - Sasafrass; Cream Printed - October Afternoon
Chipboard Butterflies: Jenni Bowlin Studio
Blue Pearls: Crystal Stickers by Mark Richards
Colored Gems: Joann's Craft Essentials
Blue Ink: VersaMagic

Acrylic Paint: Making Memories

It's Friday! What are YOU creating this weekend?

xoxo, Cheryl