Rag Rug Tutorial

So, I got put on call from work the other night and I decided to do something fun, rather than do what I normally do and try and get caught up on "stuff" around the house. . .

or . . .er. . .waste time on the computer. . .

Who does that?

Certainly never moi!

Anyway, I have had this project rattling around in my brain for a while and I decide to hit the fabric closet to see if I could find enough scraps to get my plan into action.

I found several different colors of leftover fabric from quilts and an old white bed sheet. . .

Perfect!

I cut the fabric into 2 inch strips and then got out the largest crochet hook I could find. 

I started with a chain about 2 feet long and then started single crocheting around that chain in a spiral. . .

The pattern I went for was to do a row of white and then a row of colors.

Here are a few action shots. . .

Loop and pull through. . .

When you start turning around the spiral you will need to add some extra stitches to keep the rug from turning into a bowl. . . on some of the rows I ended up doing two stitches in the same whole every other space around the curved part. I just kinda played it by ear to keep the rug flat.

Next to join the colors or when switching to white. Trim off. . .

Cut a slit about 1/2 inch or so. I doesn't have to be perfect.

Repeat with the next color. . .

Fold and snip. . .

Layer the two pieces together with the short tail on top. . .

Thread the long tail through. . .

Pull through. . .

Tighten. . .

And keep on working until the rug is as big as you need, then finish off just like you would with a crochet blanket. . .

This rug is big enough for a door mat.

I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out!
Best of all it came completely from my scrap closet and I was able to complete is in a few evenings while watching tv with the fam. . . I loooove multitasking a project!!!

Momentous Birthdays. . .

So, "they" are saying that 40 is the new 20. . . 

So, if 40 is the new 20, then no one will mind that I am announcing that someone in my family turned 40 last weekend. . . 

I made this card to celebrate this momentous occasion. . . 

And I go to eat Indian food! All is well. . .

I used a retired paper pack from my stash and combined it with Ponderosa Pine cardstock. I topped it all of with our new Shimmer Trim and our Pixie Glitter Alphabet for the numbers. . . 

I am not normally into all of the "bling-bling", but man I love that stuff!!!

I had so much fun getting to spend time with the Birthday Girl! Here is to many more!!!

And out of respect I will not tell you that she is the one in the middle. . .

What Goes on Behind the Scenes. . .

The following two pictures are behind the scenes photos as taken by my four year old.

It seems like if I ever try to get some crafting in then I end up with little munchkins wanting to join in the fun . . . usually slowing the process down dramatically!

I was trying to finish up a birthday card and he picked up my camera and started snapping away. 

Most of the pictures are out of focus, but here are a couple that stood out. 

I love looking at pictures that my kids take. 

They are on a totally different level. . .and I am talking about altitude not aptitude!

I love the perspective of the above picture. 

When was the last time you were eye level with the edge of a table?

 The action shot he captured below is pretty cool. . . kinda interesting to see yourself at work.

I then removed the expensive equipment from his sticky paws and turned the lens on him.

As much as it interferes with my productivity I love being interrupted by this guy!

We do have to share the space after all. . .

and he needs his hair trimmed. . .

Cup Cake Card. . .

Here is a card I made for my nephew, Mikah.

He is the last of the 4 year old birthdays this year.




Happy Birthday !!!

Simple Scrapbooking. . .

The thing I love about Close To My heart is how easy it is to use their products. I loooove the Workshops on the Go kits!!! They are the first things that I purchase when the new Idea Book comes out. I love being able to grab the bag and create a fantastic project without any hassle.

Each kit has a little bit of stamping, dimensional elements, and teaches a new technique.

This is the Stella WOTG kit. It looks slightly different than the directions, but that is the cool thing about these kits. You can change them up a bit to make them fit your pictures and then you have a layout that is uniquely yours!!!

 

If you are interested in joining one of my clubs and working on these amazing kits together, please contact me! Happy Crafting!

Working on The Room. . .

Here is my first creation for my space here and forever know as. . .

THE Room!

I wanted a pretty place to hold all of my little tools on my table.
I collected several little rectangular boxes from my work, glued them together and then covered them with paper. I am very happy with how it turned out, and now I can display it in the center of my work table.




For those of you that care. . .

I used paper from the Cherry-O and Jingle paper packs and (what else?) Buttercup cardstock.

I used paper flowers with a button and an adhesive gem. Then I inked the originally white butterfly with buttercup ink and added bitty sparkles.

Perfection. . .well, I think so anyway. . .

I found these two wall plaques while I was out last night.

I think they will go a long way in bringing the color scheme together. Not to mention that there are at least 20 of these little gold finches flitting around outside my windows at any given time.

That is it for now! I will keep posting projects as I get them done. I can't wait to reveal the whole room to you someday soon!

To Be Continued. . .

Normally every Wednesday I have been posting some sort of craft project. . .

This is where I have been making my creations. As you can plainly see it is just a wee bit empty!




The big move is officially just three days away and I sacrificially eagerly packed up all of my crafting supplies and help Farmboy to load them on the trailer last night. They are now sitting in the shop at the farm awaiting our arrival this weekend!

So, for a little while my crafting will have to be placed on hold, but I will be posting pictures of my progress in creating THE room!

Feel free to check out my Pinterest board for some of the ideas I have been collecting!


See you soon from Even Meadow Farm!!!!!

Yo, Bro!

Up next on the Birthday list is my big brother. He is a Cali boy, too, but is taking a hiatus is WV with his wife and two boys. It has been fun being able to see them more. I truly never thought that I would have all of my siblings within driving distance at the same time!

Ha! I am sitting here writing this post at 4am, looking at a picture of the finished card and just realized that I made him one year older than he is! True, he is pushing 40, but he still has three years to go, not two! It looks like I will be busting out the stamps tomorrow and fixing the card.

Note: This is the updated card. I wouldn't want to embarrass myself in front of everyone and display my airheadedness
(Is that a word? It should be)! People might make fun of me.

Note on the Note: Stop laughing at me.

Happy Birthday, Old Man!

My Valentine. . .

Today I gave Farmboy the best Valentine's Day gift I could think of. . .

I put the kids in the car and we drove away!

Three evenings of peace and quiet just for him.

And a card. . .

Happy Valentine's Day, Love! We will see you in three days!

Place your bets!

These cards make me happy!
I had made them to go with this layout and took my pictures and forgot to add them
 to the blog post. I really love the cheerful colors, especially in the midst of winter. . .

I must digress, though, down a bunny trail. . .

This winter has been muy, muy disappointing. I have a hankerin' for a good snow! With my luck, however, it will be deposited on the ground the weekend we move. . .
Let's just see if I jinxed myself, shall we?

I just came up with a delightful idea! Leave a comment below as to if you think "The Big Move" will get snowed out. I will randomly select someone who guesses right and send the winner a set of cards (or a card kit to make their own)!

Ready to place your bets?

The Grateful Kittens. . .

When we went on our trip to SoCal a few weeks ago our neighbors made sure our kitties were fed.

It was a very neighborly thing for them to do.

I made them some cookies and this little card as a, "thank you!"




Signed by the boys of course!

So. . .who wants to watch the kitties next time?

Winter Thank You Cards

Here are a couple of thank you cards I made a few weeks ago.

For the first card I stamped the snowflakes with white ink and
then put glitter glue in the centers for added detail.
I colored in the bird using a blending pen and
then finished the card up by distressing all of the edges.





The second card used a stamp from a VERY well used stamp set
(I hand stamped all of my brother's wedding invitations).
 It was fun revisiting this one!

Hope you are having a cozy winter!

Birthday's galore. . .

Tis the season for birthdays in my extended family. It started in December and will continue marching right on through the spring. My goal is to create a card for each family member and then post it during the week of their birthday.



December Birthdays

The first card was for my baby brother and you can see that here.

Next came my sister-in-law for whom I made the Aloha Card set seen here.

Now for my sweet neice Anna, who didn't get hers on her birthday. . oopsie! The thing you have to know about Anna is that she looooooves ponies, so for her card I found this stamp set in my bin and then hit the scrap stash for the paper and ribbon. I loooooooove this card!!!

And I looooove my niece! Happy Birthday, Anna Banana!

January Birthday

This card is for my big little sister. She is my big sister. . .but she is very little. . .hehehe!

I went for a bit of an Asian feel with this card, because she might as well be Asian. . just sayin'.

I love the colors of this card. . .especially the soft blue. . .like her eyes. . .again, just sayin'.

She is sweet and she is perty! She is my sister and my best friend. Love you, Jenn!

On to February. The end.

Memory Lane. . .

Perhaps one of the things I like most about scrapbooking is reliving the memories. I know some people try to keep up with recent events, and try to get it all in while it is still fresh, but there is just something about spending an hour or so focusing in on a very special past memory.

This was Morgan the very day she turned 4. She got to have a party with her pre-school class at Crosspoint and she absolutely had to have birthday hats! She is still kinda partial to birthday hats!




We got to drive by her old school while we were visiting SoCal this weekend. A lot of fun memories inside those walls!

 I have enjoyed reliving every one and look forward to reliving them with her as she continues to grow right before my eyes.

Life Is Good.

WVU Birthday Card

My little brother turned 30.

My baby brother grew up.

My wittle baby brover is a man. . . and a doctor.

How did this happen?

Why does it make me feel so old?

My brother graduated from WVU and still "occasioanlly" watches their football games and has maybe even been to a game or twenty, so I wanted to make him a fun yet "manly" card,

 'cause he's a man now. . .

But no matter how OLD he gets he will still be my baby brother. Love you!

Aloha cards gift set

I made this note card gift set for my sister-in-law for her birthday. . .like me she is a December birthday, so I wanted to make her something definitely NOT Decemberish. . .

I haven't been so pleased with how a card set came out in a long time. . .they just make me smile!


I used my Silhouette to cut out a box and lid. It was a bit tricky getting it the right size for the cards, but after some trial and error and a few pieces of paper for the trash. . .I was very happy with the end result.




The cards and their envelopes fit perfectly inside!

I made two of each design.

Card 1.

Card 2.

Card 3.

Card 4.

If you look closely you will notice that I cut all of the papers the same size, but just attached them  differently on each card, making each one look unique.

This was such a fun project! I hope she likes it!