OWL WAYS SCARF ......

Owls, Owls, Owls ....... I have a HUGE love for these birds !!!!

My (not so) little niece turned 7 in January - it doesn't seem possible, but hey, the calendar doesn't lie. She's the sweetest little girl. To be honest, her nature is SO much like my daughter's was at the same age ..... sweet and gentle, with a little bit of Drama Queen thrown in for good measure :-)
I LOVE being an Aunty ....... and I'm lucky to have the best three nephews and niece in the world !!!!

Yes, her present is late ..... but just think of the surprise it'll be for her !!!
She lives where it gets really rather cold, particularly at his time of the year, so what better gift to make for her than a cute, chunky scarf, that will keep her little neck snuggly warm.
The pattern I chose was THE OWL WAYS SCARF . It's a well written, fun pattern that knits up really fast. It uses Chunky yarn ( I used LionBrand Wool Ease yarn). The scarf itself used only a single ball of yarn, with a little bit used from a second ball, so it's very economical too. The pattern is written for a child's size, but it would work just as well for an adult, if you just knitted an extra few inches in the middle piece.
It has a cute matching owl hat pattern too, that you could try if you wished to.

It needed a good blocking once I had finished it, but that's easy enough to do !!! Let's be honest, everything looks better once it's been blocked :-)

Finished with some stylish tassels .... the scarf and the owl himself :-)

His eyes are some rather perfect little black buttons that I found at Joann's. Look at the perfect little ring in them that looks just like a little pupil. He has a little heart shaped button for his nose, also from Joann's.

I hadn't knitted anything in a while ..... it was fun to pick up those long. pointy sticks again.
Happy Birthday Jess ..... we love you to the moon and back !!!!!!

ZOMBIE CUP COZIES .....

We all have that one friend, who just gets our idiosyncrasies  !!!! I am fortunate because I have two of those friends. We met a number of years back through our blogs and some swaps we took part in - they are my crafty "go to" girls :-) Years later, we text each other regularly, it's just a really special friendship that has grown between the three of us, and I love it !!!!

So what do you do, when you have the urge to play? Play with fabric, felt, beads and anything that you think might go together ..... Well you play of course !!!
One of these sweet friends decided to host a Zombie Cup Cozy Swap ...... she ended up having to cancel it, as it seemed everyone was just too busy with beginning of the year stuff. I decided to go ahead and make some cup cozies anyway .... who doesn't like receiving Happy Mail ?

 Zombie Mummy, complete with his wiggly loose eye and bandaged body !!!

 Arrgghh ..... The life of a pirate, especially a Zombie Pirate, with his little peg leg and his hook arm.

I used 100% wool felt for the cozy itself. I used it double thickness to make it a little more sturdy. For the zombies, I used a mixture of whatever I had - acrylic and wool felt.
The patterns for the zombies came from a little book called Zombie Felties. I bought that book a couple of years back, and I have used it over and over again. I t was worth every penny I spent on it.

So cute, and so fun ...... should make for an interesting Starbucks run :-)

COOKIE CRAZY ....

Well Happy New Year everyone .......
We'll just pretend that a whole month has not passed since my last post !!!! I hope that 2016 has gotten off to a marvelous start, and by the feel of things, we better all buckle up and hang on tight, because it's going to be another fast paced ride !!!!

Cookies and cookie baking have taken on a life of their own for me over the past couple of months - and I'm loving it !!! My Christmas Cookie orders way surpassed what I could ever have dreamed of, and I'm SO excited to see where my 2016 cookie journey takes me. That being said, I needed to get better organized. I needed to have my cookie cutters more visible, so that I know what I have and what I don't have, without having to scratch through numerous plastic containers. Pinterest had any number of choices and ideas available ...... one in particular, I loved, so I challenged Hubby to the task of making it for me !!!!

I painted a piece of pegboard white, and he did the rest ....... it is AWESOME !!!!! It holds all of my cookie cutters, with space for me to grow !!!
I've used 6" long pegs, and then I decided on baskets for the bottom. They don't stick out as far, and so were less likely to cause bodily harm :-)
It freed up so much cupboard space too ...... my baking cupboard looks so much better now.

So I thought I'd share some of my recent cookie endeavors with you ......

Christmas 2015

Pastel Flowers for a lovely lady's 90th birthday celebration :-)

Frozen themed cookies, to celebrate a little princess's 2nd birthday.

Cookies for your Love ...... Valentines Day 2016 !!!

These were made for two very special friends of mine ....... Mug Hugger Cookies !!!!

So as you can see, the flour has been flying, and the mixer whirring in my little kitchen !!! Talking of mixers, I was so completely, unbelievably, hugely spoilt by my daughter at Christmas ...... She gave me a RED Kitchen Aid Mixer .......... there are NO words to describe just how elated and excited I was !!!!!

Until next time .....