Spreading Sunshine

I checked my email on Friday night and got such a sweet surprise. 

Lisa from Wicked Artsy nominated me for a Sunshine Award! :)

Thanks Lisa! I too am so glad I found your awesome blog during The Knitting and Crochet Blog Week!  I love reading about all your projects and seeing your art pieces from school.  Your kitty photos rock and always make me laugh : D 

The Rules 

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Answer the 10 questions on your favourite things.
3. Nominate 10 blogs to receive the Sunshine Award and let them know they've been nominated. 

1. Favorite animal: Panda Bears
2. Favorite number: 16
3. Favorite non-alcoholic drink: Smart Water
4. Facebook or Twitter: Facebook
5. My passion: Anything art related and teaching. 
6. Getting or giving: Giving
7. Favorite Pattern: I have too many favorites to pick just one, odds are if I posted it on my ravelry project page I love it. :)
8. Favorite day of the week: Tuesdays in the fall because of new episodes of NCIS and Saturdays when its not during the new season. ;)
9. Favorite flower: Iris or wildflowers 
10. Favorite country: I have not been outside the US much so I can't really pick one but I would love to visit Italy, France, Australia, and a few other countries in Europe. 

Now to nominate 10 of my favorites! 

The Magic Onions: I love the whimsical feeling of this blog, the amazing projects this mom comes up with and her fairy photos are awesome.  

Slugs on the Refrigerator: I love the photography on this blog and the honesty behind all the posts.  Her crochet patterns are beautiful and seeing the photos of where she lives makes me want to visit Europe that much more.

Frontier Dreams:  This blog is awesome! Nicole is so honest and shares her love for nature, crafting, homemade, and Waldorf.  I just love seeing her posts! She is a talented knitter and makes me want to learn to knit and has great ideas for projects with kids.  She also hosts a fun Keep Calm Craft on Series on Tuesdays. 

Linda Wagner: I found this blog a little while back and I love her clean eating recipes and juicing/healthy smoothie recipes.  Her cauliflower spaghetti is awesome as is her green smoothie and her green eggs and roasted tomatoes. 

Posie Gets Cozy:  I love the photography on this blog! Her home is awesome and I have found myself wanting to add in quite a few of her things in my own home. 

Smile and Wave: I love the vintage style this girl has! Her vintage collection and decor is fab and I hope to one day have as many awesome vintage pieces as she does. 

Loisirspassion: This is my fab. French friend's blog and I love reading it and seeing her beautiful crochet creations as well as her art that she creates. She is a total sweetheart and if you don't speak French you can easily translate her blog to English on her sidebar. 

AshleyAnnPhotography: When I first found this blog I was drawn to it because I loved her style, the way she added in so many vintage touches with some modern things and her craftiness.  Now after being an avid reader for so long I love seeing not only her crafty posts but her posts sharing memories with her kids, her honesty, and her openness. 

Wicked Artsy: I don't know if its allowed to send an award back to the person who gave you one but I am going to do it! :) I love seeing this girl's art and her reviews on books and patterns.  Her kitty photos at the end of the posts are awesome and remind me of myself....if you looked through the photos on my phone I am pretty sure I have just as many of my cats as I do my daughter lol :) 

I am leaving the last spot open.  I am always open to finding new inspiring blogs, do you guys have any awesome blogs that should be in my top ten? :) 

Thanks again for the nomination Lisa!! hugs :)

The little things in life :)

Its the little things in life that make my daughter happy. :)

Like these awesome vintage fold up binoculars we picked up at an antique fair for her for her birthday.  She loves watching the birds on the fence out back and when we go for walks, so these little pocket binoculars were perfect for her. 

 She spotted a bird!

I totally thought I had gotten her and the camera in this shot....no such luck.  She loves looking at the birds on the fence.  In the morning we open up the windows so we can listen to them while we are doing our school work. :) 

Our backyard garden has been a major work in progress lately.  We wanted to make the area bigger and also needed to fence it off to keep our big beast of a dog out. Can't wait to build the rest of the garden boxes for fall planting! 

I have so many pictures and projects to share since I was sick and not blogging last week.  Hopefully I can get my blogging mojo back so I can get to sharing with everyone again. Today we are off to Little Miss's birthday party with her friends, I finished up all the party favors yesterday.....after a run to the store because the bags I got were too small.  I am kinda glad that happened, I like the packaging a lot better now. :) 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday!! 

PS Lisa, I got your message, you are such a sweetheart! I will blog about it tonight or early tomorrow, thank you and hugs to you!! : D

Keep Calm Crafting On Tuesdays

I feel like the last two weeks have been kind of a blur for me with so much going on and so much to do.  Hoping after my daughter's big ninth birthday things will calm down a bit.  I am keeping busy working up some special homemade gifts for her for her big day, she picked out some really cute things this year. :)

I just finished a new pattern for an American Girl shawl/wrap for her:

I will be posting this pattern sometime this week.  It was inspired by the wrap I am making myself that my daughter keeps saying that she loves so much. 

Pattern notes for the adult version can be found on my Ravelry page here. 

I just finished working up a newborn version of my Little Girl Tiara for a sweet lady who messaged me on Ravelry.  Sadly, I don't have a cute little newborn to try it on, so one of my daughter's little baby dolls is the best I could do. :)

My pattern for the newborn tiara can be found here. 

Still lots more to work up for my little miss.... skirts, a mini unicorn, headbands for her AG dolls, and I am going to try {key word being try ;) } to start a matching wrap for her to match her AG doll.  I know I won't be able to finish that in time for her big day but she loves when I start new projects for her so the thrill of knowing something new is coming soon will def. make her happy. :)

Linking up today at Frontier Dreams Keep Calm Craft On.   :)

Getting Sneaky with Birthday Presents

As a homeschooling mom who loved handmade gifting, I find that I hit a little snag when it comes to gifts for my daughter.  Since she is home all day with me and I am pretty tired come 8:00 when she is in bed I have to find ways to get creative with how and when I can make her gifts.

Take this adorable hat I just finished.

She thinks I made this for my friend's little girl....when in reality it is for her birthday all along.  She fell in love with this hat pattern when I made it for my other friends little girl and kept saying how much she wanted one too.  I decided then and there to work one up for her for her birthday but needed a way to do it without her knowing.  So I asked her to design a hat that a girl her age would love under the pretext that it would be for my friend's daughter, I know some people might gasp at that BUT I want her to be surprised with her gifts so I had to think of something that she would believe and still be able to try it on her without her asking too many questions.   I had her pick out the yarn, the colors, and the buttons.  She knows this little girl is a lot like her so I told her to just pick something she would love because we both knew that little girl would love that too. :)  

I wanted to add two more rows to the hat but my daughter liked it the way it was because if she tilts it back, a little more of her forehead is exposed and if she wears it like this its a shorter hat.  Since it was going to be for her, I let her call the shots on it. I am going to make another one with the called for hook for her to wear for Christmas photos {I am making one for me as well}, that way it will have the more retro vintage cloche feel. 

Pattern for the hat can be found here. 

I worked up the child size but used a 4.00 hook and took out the last two rows.  I did this because A.  I knew my daughter was looking for a hat that fit snug but not too snug that she could not pin back the top part of her hair to get it out of her face when wearing this hat.  B. She told me she wanted it to be shorter and more loose fitting as I was trying it on her as I worked it up. She loves the way it fits and told me after trying it on and snapping a few quick pics {which is totally normal because I like to take photos of all my projects} that she wanted a hat that fit/looked just like this. 

I guess its her lucky day because in a few short weeks this hat will be all hers. :)

This hat pattern works up super quick and on the web posting their are directions for many sizes.  Perfect for family photos or quick and easy holiday/birthday gifts. 

Finding Balance & Some Awesome Free Crochet Patterns: Mother's Day & Baby Shower

Lately I have had so much going on with my daughter and working on projects for her upcoming birthday {still can't believe she is going to be nine!!} that I almost feel like things are in a little bit of a blur.  Schooling, Ballet, Crocheting, Crafting, Cooking, Housework, Garden.......I need about three more hours in a day and then I would be set. :)

To be able to get it all done {well most of it anyways! lol} I have found myself making daily lists in my planner, reasonable ones of what I need to get done that day.  Esp with all my projects for my daughter's birthday, she wanted a lot of handmade stuff, I know I won't be able to get to it all so I picked a few of her favorites and then mapped them out in my planner so I know how much I need to do of each project to be done in time for her big day.  At first I thought I was being a little  okay a lot of an obsessive over planner but you know what? It has helped so much and I find that with a more structured daily plan I am getting so much more done than before.  I don't know why this light bulb didn't go off sooner since our schooling has structure and daily plans.  The important part, the light bulb went off and its working fabulously!

Are you still looking for the perfect Mother's Day gift? Look no further, this pattern is awesome and works up so fast and easy!

I worked this one up in a soft bamboo yarn, is deliciously awesome yarn! I want  need a blanket made out of this yarn some day! Pattern can be found for free here. 

Spring for me seems like baby central....lots of birthdays for wee ones and lots of new babies being welcomed into the world. I stumbled across this pattern awhile back and fell in love! I worked one up for my friend's little girl who will be one in May.  I made it a little bigger by using a 4.00 hook.  The mom tells me her daughter's head is a little bigger than average and I knew she would not be wearing it until late fall/winter/spring so I wanted to make sure there was def. room to grow. :)

The textures in this hat are fabulously vintage! 

My daughter wanted to help, so I had her pick out the button for the middle, she was thrilled to be able to do that and get to be a part of this gift for our friend's little girl. The girls share the same birthday and Victoria thinks that's pretty cool. :)

And because its fun to share, I thought I would add in two other favorite things from this past week.  These awesome vintage canisters {glass} from 1975 that I just absolutely love and my new business cards.  I also ordered cards to attach to my finished pieces that I sell or gift so that people will know how to care for their items best. I love the fun whimsical print on them! 

Hopefully everyone is having a fun and productive week! What are you guys working on? :)

3KCBWDAY5 ~ Something a bit different

Day 5 of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week!
Something a bit different...

It's back, and this time it has the most amazing of prizes (look for the prize for 'most creative post'). This was a massive success last year, and for many it was the highlight of the Blog Week, so this year you are challenged, again, to find a new way of blogging.
This is an experimental blogging day to try and push your creativity in blogging to the same level that you perhaps push your creativity in the items you create.There are no rules of a topic to blog about but this post should look at a different way to present content on your blog. This can take one of many forms, but here a few suggestions:

• Wordless, photographic post

• Video blog post

• Podcast

• Cartoon/sketch of an idea

• Write about a subject from a different perspective (for example, you could write about a day in the life of a knitted sock from the point of view of the sock).

• Interpretive modern dance (why does someone always suggest this?)

• A poem or piece of rhyming verse

• Stop motion animation

The grand prize for Knitting and Crochet blog week, as donated byJenACKnitwear and Fyberspates will be given to the most creative blog post after a nomination and voting round, and due to the immensity of the prize it is really worth putting  bit of time and effort into this. At the very least you will get an amazing blog post out of it

Text image from Eskimimi Makes. :)

I thought it would be fun to do a photo post so that people could get to know me a little bit better and get a little glimpse into our days here as a homeschooling mom and a crochet and craft addict.:)

Today my day was full of........

.......among many other things, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

  { Except maybe to have had my love home, then it would have been a total perfect day. :) }

You can see other posts from Day 5 by typing 3KCBWDAY5 into your google search bar. 

3KCBWDAY2 Photography Challenge Day!

Day 2 of the Knitting and Crochet Blog week:

Today challenges you to be creative with your photography, and get yourself in with the chance to win the photography prize. Taking interesting photographs in this instance isn't about flashy cameras or a great deal of technical know-how, it's about setting up a story or scene in a photograph and capturing something imaginative. Your photograph(s) should feature something related to your craft, so that might be either a knitted or crocheted item, yarn, or one of your craft tools. One example of setting a scene would be to photograph a girl in a knitted red cape walking through the woodlands with a basket of goodies, as in the Red Riding Hood tale, or you might photograph a knitted gnome hiding among the flowers in your garden. Photo editing is permitted for competition photos.  

Text image from Eskimimi Makes. :)

I am going to do this post in two parts because I am so busy today and might not get to the second part till late tonight, early tomorrow.  Part one will be a wordless post with my photos and part two will be a homeschooling exercise that we did that goes along with it....you will understand once you see them both together, trust me. :D 

If you liked my photos, you can vote for them here.

Many thanks if you do! :)

Check out more awesome Day 2 posts by typing in 3KCBWDAY2 in your google search. 

~~You can view the homeschooling related post and the story behind our photos post here~~

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, the weather here is beautiful and I wish we had more time to spend outdoors basking in the sun. :)

3KCBWDAY1 - Colour Lovers

So excited that Knitting and Crochet Blog week is finally here! To join in the fun you can check out the details here.  Today's topic is all about color, I'm using the image from Eskimimi's site to explain what today's post is all about. :)

Colour Lovers
Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

As I started thinking about this post this weekend I thought to myself, this would be easy because as a painter and artist I love color and we have lots of it all over our house.  From bright happy tones to more muted soft tones.  But then when I pulled out my daughter's favorite pieces {most of my crochet work is for her or for others ....I also realized I needed to make some more stuff for me too this weekend! lol} I noticed a huge trend in the color pallet for her. So this post will be about her and I since most of my crochet items are for her so its a melding of her and I's tastes and color love. 

The clothes I make for her are all a more muted tone, with yarns that give off a vintage elegant feel.  My daughter and I pick out yarns together for her clothes, she always has the final say and I think its pretty interesting that this past year she has picked more muted soft tones.  If you saw her bedroom you would understand...its color happy and oh so busy. ;) 

Which is most likely why she picked this bright and colorful yarn for her new blanket for her room.  I will have to get a better photo of it....the colors are deep and rich and the the photo does not do it justice at all. 

While I love the yarn colors and think they are really pretty, its something that I would never pick for myself.  

I looked through my HUGE stash {I might very well be a yarn hoarder....those deals and sales on my favorite yarns get me every time!! lol} and these four colors {plus a spring green that I forgot to throw in the photo} grabbed my attention first. I love the soft muted feel of them.  The two yarns on the left are a soft bamboo blend and are def. my go two colors/yarns when making things for my daughter and I because they are my favorites as well as hers. The two on the right are a soft acrylic and the beautiful muted tones just really speak to me right now.  Ask me in another month and my thoughts might change....I def. use colors depending on my mood or what season I am going to be wearing it in. I guess I should probably be thinking about the finished piece but I usually don't do that...I just let the yarn "speak to me" and pick colors that way.  I like more basic muted or neutral colors for winter, earthy colors for fall, and brighter {still muted} colors for spring and summer like blues, pinks, purples, spring green, coral, ect..

Lately my daughter has been experimenting with color more than me....picking out more bright tones for her crochet accessories.  This is a scarf she is working on all by herself, she is hoping to finish it by the end of the summer....I like that her goals are reasonable and doable :)

This was my big experiment with color this year, a bright blue cowl.  I love the color and its fun to wear but I tend to go with my more muted pieces before wearing this one.  Not sure why because its so beautiful and soft.  I have one of these in a grey that I wear a lot in the cooler months and that is usually my go to piece for keeping warm. 

So what did I learn from this blog post? 

My daughter and I have a love of soft muted tones in yarns that are soft, elegant, and vintage feeling.  We experiment with color in the way of accessories, her more than I. :) 

Want to see more posts on color love?  Just search for 3KCBWDAY1 in your google search and blogs with this tag will pop up for your viewing pleasure. :)  

Tomorrow's post is 

Photography Challenge Day!
Today challenges you to be creative with your photography, and get yourself in with the chance to win the photography prize. Taking interesting photographs in this instance isn't about flashy cameras or a great deal of technical know-how, it's about setting up a story or scene in a photograph and capturing something imaginative. Your photograph(s) should feature something related to your craft, so that might be either a knitted or crocheted item, yarn, or one of your craft tools. One example of setting a scene would be to photograph a girl in a knitted red cape walking through the woodlands with a basket of goodies, as in the Red Riding Hood tale, or you might photograph a knitted gnome hiding among the flowers in your garden. Photo editing is permitted for competition photos. Here are a few examples of my own photographs to illustrate an imaginative use of photography, but you can do much better than these...

Image from Eskimimi Makes. :)

Paying It Forward via Crochet Goodies

When I was going through my google reader today looking through all the posts at the awesome blogs I follow I was intrigued and then inspired by the post over at Eskimimi Makes  


Her post was about paying it forward and spreading the love of handmade goodness, something that is near and dear to me.  I love giving, esp. when its something handmade.  It just brings a certain joy to the table that store bought gifts just don't do for me.  


So here is the game! {Rules taken from Eskimimi Makes}


1.  I will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this post. The gift will be handmade by me.  It will be sent sometime in the next 365 days. It will be a surprise.  We all love getting surprises in the mail, right?


2. To sign up and receive a gift, you must play along, too. Pay it Forward on your blog, by promising to make a surprise for the first three people who comment on the post. 

3. You must have a blog (that is updated, as I will blog stalk you to find the right gift for you).

4. After commenting here, you must repost this or something similar to your blog in 48 hours.  If not, I will chose the next person who comments…


Its that simple!! :)


I am looking forward to playing this fun game with my fellow bloggers and making something special and handmade just for them.  


If you are a fellow yarn lover like me, you might want to check out Eskimimi Makes Knitting and Crochet Blog Week next week. The topics look like they are going to be so much fun.  I already have quite a few ideas brewing in my head for them and can't wait to put them in action. 


Tonight I am hoping to finish typing a pattern for a headband and scarf set I am working on but my heavy eyes have other ideas for me .....most likely working on a few rounds of a project while watching reruns of NCIS .....I love that show!! 


Here is a sneak peak at the headband pattern I am hoping to list tomorrow or Saturday in my etsy shop. 

World Book Night 2012!

A few months back I signed up to be a giver for World Book Night 2012.  I filled out their application with hopes that I would get picked to hand out books since reading is such a big deal in our house for my daughter and I.  Not a day goes by that the two of us don't spend some time curled up with a good book.

I love that this organization gives an opportunity to spread the love of reading in your local community through the gift of free books.  Their web page can be found here and you can check out their updates on their facebook page as well.

When I got my email telling me that I was going to be a giver I was thrilled and then patiently ....ok maybe not so patiently waited to find out what book I was going to get.  I am so glad I got my top book choice, that way I know about the book and can talk about it with young readers that I am handing books out to.

When I went to pick up my books yesterday, I walked out of our local book store feeling like I just hit book jackpot ...or like I was stealing since I was leaving with 20 books free of charge.  lol

When we got home my daughter and I opened up our box and checked out the WBN editions of our book we had been given.  She was more excited than I was I think.....it was so cute to watch her get so excited over the fact that we get to give away books for free.

Our plan is to hand them out to kids in our local community.  I really wanted to be a part of the kids group of books because I truly feel that the love of reading grows from a young age, and when nurtured blooms into a full blown love. 

Super excited!! Only a few more days!! :)

Crochet Tiara Pattern {Birthday Traditions}

As Victoria gets older, more and more family traditions are being formed for our little family of three. I am finding myself so excited as holidays or special days come up and we get to share in another fun family created tradition. A few years back I started the tradition of crocheting a crown or a tiara for Victoria for each birthday.  She loves dress up, crowns, and hats so I thought this would be a fun tradition that her and I could do together.... from picking out the pattern to going to the yarn store and finding the perfect yarn.

Last year I made her this one:

Its a long band done in hdc that is long enough to go around her head and then tie in the back, with 3 granny square triangles sewn to it.  Its very simple and quick and easy to whip up.  You could sew some flowers onto the triangles or even jewels, whatever fits your fancy. :)

This year, she wanted to go all out and get super fancy, so we looked on the internet for a pattern/inspiration.  I was going to try and just make one from scratch but I wanted her to be a part of the whole process.  She is a very visual child so she usually likes to see something before saying yes or no.

We found this pattern here from Oodles 4 Noodles and she liked the concept but wanted to change it up just a bit.  She wanted it to look more like flower petals, wanted it to go more around her head, and she wanted ties instead of the elastic band.

With photo/pattern inspiration and the ideas from my little soon to be birthday girl I was ready to make a few tweaks to that pattern to make it just right for her.


Pattern After the photos! 

The crown I crocheted & she did the bead work for, for one of her ballet buddies. 

For the back of this one I took two long pieces of ribbon and then on each side I put it through the gap right next to either the ch 2 or the double crochet {depending on the side} and then pulled it through about two inches or so. Then I folded it over and hot glued the 2 inch folded onto the the long piece of ribbon.  This way it wrapped around either the ch 2 or the dc to keep it secure to the tiara.

Same concept for hers, only I used crocheted edging instead of ribbon. She wanted a more vintage feel to hers.

The front of her birthday tiara we made, she can't wait till her party when she can wear it and show it off to her friends and family. :)

Crochet Tiara Pattern

US Crochet Terms

A slightly modified version of Oodles 4 Noodles Pattern

{ length, extra stitch change, and ties in the back instead of band}

What you need:

5.50 hook 

Worsted yarn {I like a soft but not too soft yarn}

Yarn needle for weaving ends

Beads or other embellishments 

Needle and thread for sewing on beads and embellishments. 

Ch 61

Row 1

sc in the second chain from the hook and sc across till the end

Row 2

Turn

ch 2

skip 2 stitches

work 1 dc in the next, cross in front of the dc you just made and work a dc in the 2nd skipped stitch of this row

* skip 1, work 1 dc in the next, cross over that dc and make a dc in the skipped stitch *

Repeat that pattern until you have 2 stitches left. 

skip 1 and then dc in the last 

Row 3

Turn

ch 1

1 sc in the 1st space created from the previous row's crossed dc stitches {this will be in between your last dc of the row and the last crossed dc pair of the row

work 1 dc, 4 tr, 1 dc in the next space

* work 1 sc in the next space & 1 dc, 4 tr, 1 dc in the next space *

Repeat this pattern across ending with 1 sc in the last space

Finishing

Secure your yarn, weave in your ends and embellish to your hearts content! 

Here is a little teaser of another pattern this week, I worked up an American Girl Version of this pattern so Little Miss and her favorite doll can match on her big day! :)

This post is going in my Spring into the Holidays page, they would make adorable holiday or birthday gifts for little girls who love to dress up and have fun!

Mother's Day Gift Idea: E Reader Cases

Looking for a super cute handmade gift for Mother's Day? I know a lot of people like to make their gifts or gift handmade items so I thought I would share one of my favorite etsy purchases from this year so far.

For Christmas my daughter and I both got Kindles, which will do our home a lot of good since her and I are huge readers and every room seems to have books stored in some way or another. ;)  I looked on Amazon at all the covers there and also at a few stores near our house but we could not find anything that we really liked.  I really wanted to get my daughter a cover asap because I was worried something would happen to hers since she takes it everywhere with her...hence the chain store shopping.  But after the huge let down in selection I decided to go on etsy since I had already found some on there that I liked for me.

I got these two for us at Janine King Designs , mine is the adorable retro inspired floral print and my daughter picked out the fun whimsical floral bird one for herself.  I love these cases so much and am so happy with our order. They zip closed so there is no need to worry if they will fall out, the padding in the cases is great too.  My daughter can put her case in her purse or dance bag and I don't need to worry about it getting broken or falling out.  I have to say, with an 8 year old using it daily it still looks almost brand new which is fabulous imo.

I would have expected to pay more than I did for a handmade custom order but I was surprised at how comparable the prices were for handmade to factory mass made items.  For us, this purchase was a win all around, we are supporting handmade items, at a great price, they look fabulous, are functional, and do everything we need them to.  

My day today is schooling ,crochet, and cleaning...hoping to get all the boring chores out of the way today so I can enjoy the weekend {hopefully with some sun!} with the family and work on some more crochet projects.  Today's crochet is taken up by hats and tiaras :)

PS: I didn't get paid for this review, just wanted  to share a great gift idea and my love for a product that we purchased. :)

Crochet Easter Present: Crocheted Owl

In keeping with our family love of handmade/homemade gifts for the holidays, I worked up a quick owl for Victoria for an Easter present. It was my very first Amigurumi project and I was a little nervous going into it.  I am not really sure why, I guess the whole working up a 3D type project just threw me off.

As I got farther in to it {it works up really fast!} I fell in love with the whole process of it all. 
The pattern can be found here, there is a crochet version and a knit version. 

Instead of doing the eyes like the pattern called for I used some buttons from my vintage button collection.  I love the character that they give the mini owl. I used some Variegated yarn for this project and it was awesome because the front came out in a super cute stripe pattern. 

The back....not so much straight lines. lol  ;)

I crocheted my beak instead of using the felt method that the pattern called for.  

To do this beak you will need:

A small amount of yellow scrap yarn

3.50 crochet hook

Yarn needle

ch 2

single crochet in the first ch you made

ch 1 and turn

single crochet in the ch 1 stitch space and the ch from the previous row {2 sc}

ch 1 turn

 single crochet in the ch 1 stitch space , ch 1,  single crochet in the next {2sc and 1chain 1}

ch 1 turn

single crochet in the ch 1 stitch space, 2 single crochet in the ch 1 space, single crochet in the next {4 sc}

You want your stitches to be really tight so you may need to switch your hook or yarn size accordingly. 

Softly pull your yarn at the tip so that it pulls tight and you can see a nice point. Knot it and then weave it in and trim your yarn. 

Leave a 8 - 10 in tail up top at the wider part for sewing to your owl.  Knot it and then use it to sew to your owl's face.  I didn't sew down the point so that you could push it up and give the face more character. :)

I can't wait to give this to her on Sunday, she already knows about the crocheted shirt she is getting { after the many try on sessions :) } so this will be a fun surprise for her.  It works up really fast and easy which is perfect if you are short on time. 

I have already been on Ravelry today looking for more of these fun projects....found a super cute ladybug, and an adorable cat that I am thinking of making her for her birthday this year, my fingers are already itching for a new fun project! :)

I am adding this to my Spring into the Holidays Series because if made a certain way they would be great for little ones or even elementary age kids....or for any owl lover really! ;)