100s Day Crochet Chain

I was looking around Pinterest for teacher's gifts  one day, and came across the idea to crochet a paper chain.  Say what? I know, amazing idea! So, I took it one step further, and instead of an end of the year gift, I decided to make a 100s day chain for my son's Kindergarten teacher.  I wanted it to be something she could use for several units. So, I made sure that each color had at least 10.  They use 10-frames in math for counting.  I also wanted the colors of the rainbow, so that she could use this for working on colors.

10-red
10-orange
10-yellow
10-green
10-blue
10-purple

That's only 6, so I added

10-black
10-white

which gave me 20 left over to get to 100. Those are the multicolor.

I used sticky back velcro to attach them.  For sturdiness, I used mostly Red Heart yarn and cotton yarn.  As in any paper chain, the vary a bit in length and width.
You can also find this post on the Facebook page./br>

Post by Big Bang Momma Crafts.

Perler Bead Inchies!

Inchies can be easier, or tougher, to make than one thinks!  There are so many ways to make inchies (1"x1" square pieces of art). I've mostly stayed with the general theme of paper crafted ones, but for my recent Inchie Swap on Craftster.org, I went out of the norm and created for each of my four partners perler bead inchies.  FYI, a perler bead inchie is made by 5x5 beads squared.  Of course, you can group these into bigger groups (just leave a bead spot separation) to make a larger picture.  3 out of 4 of my partners have received, so I'm going to go ahead and post these on here.  I apologize for sideways pictures.  Also, I found most, if not all, of these designs while searching online, and I just separated them into groups of 5x5 beads leaving a space between the groups.

Theme: black cats:

Theme: Harry Potter (Hogwarts crest):

What a difference they are separated vs together!

 

Here's this one put together so you can see it better.

 

Theme: Spring (Hummingbird)

And, the last set is secret until my final partner receives. It had a long way to travel, so hopefully it finds her safe and sound and soon!

Thanks for looking!

Queen Sized Striped Blanket!

Towards the end of last year I made a blanket with the same design and similar colors. That one was a Christmas gift. My husband and I loved it so much that we decided I must make another one.

So, we changed to brown from gray, and kept the other colors the same.  We went from Super Bulky to Lion's Brand Jiffy Bulky yarn. I used about 20 skeins! It measures about 100"x100". For reference, a quick search on Google shows that a queen blanket measures 90"x90".  I was getting pretty quick (when I didn't have to pull out a row or two for not finishing my "v" stitch) that I was getting about 7 rows completed in about 2 hours, or about a row every 20-30 min or so.

So....it repeats 7 rows blue, 3 rows white, 4 rows brown, 3 rows white, 7 rows blue....... all "v" stitch.

I'm going to apologize in advance for the lighting. When I use flash in my room, it distorts the color. When I turn the flash off, then the pictures are dark. I really need to learn the setting on my dslr to help combat that.

Close up:

 Thanks for looking!

The Northern Lights in Perler Beads

I've recently been playing with perler beads with my 8 year old daughter, and I've been wanting to make something that was Northern Lights. So...I thought, why not perler bead Northern Lights and  winter cabin?  This is my first attempt at free-handing and I've only made possibly a handful of these before. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

This is actually the back side. I'm still getting the hang of fusing them together, and I like how this side turned out better.

The books I've read in 2013.

These are the books (and novellas) I've read in 2013. And, when I wasn't reading, I was crafting. I also completed 4 crocheted blankets, and one super involved embroidered then quilted blanket. 2013 has been a busy year. My go to authors are Allison Brennan, Lisa Gardner, Karen Rose, and Chelsea Cain (she's amazing!) but I found that Liane Moriarty is a good author to read if you like Jodi Picoult type stories.

Have a wonderful new year!

1. ) Infection: Alaskan Undead Apocalypse by Sean Schubert (this is actually my    husband's old soccer coach)

2) Containment: Alaskan Undead Apocalypse by Sean Schubert

3) Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

4) Stalked by Allison Breannan

5) Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain

6) Did You Miss Me? by Karen Rose

7) Reckless by Allison Brennan

8) Touch and Go by Lisa Gardner

9) Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

10) Killing Justice by Allison Brennan

11) Stolen by Allison Brennan

12) The BFG by Roald Dahl (read with my 7 year old daughter)

13) Let Me Go by Chelsea Cain

14) Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

15) You Don't Want To Know by Lisa Jackson

16) The Princess of Coldwater Flats by Nancy Bush

17) Maggie's Man by Lisa Gardner writing as Alicia Scott

18) Night Road by Kristin Hannah

19) My Two Moms by Zach Wahls

20) Broken Silence by Karen Rose

21) Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah

22) Cold Snap by Allison Brennan

23) Crash and Burn by Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin

24) Silent Echo by J.R. Rain

25) The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

26) I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

27) Too Close: The Beauty in Between by Lilliana Anderson

28) What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

29) 36 Hours by Allison Brennan

30) The Perfect Family by Kathryn Shay

Secret Service CIA Snowman and Totoro

I have been very lax about updating my blog. I have a facebook Craft page I'm using much more regularly--Big Bang Momma Crafts where you have the opportunity to buy my crafts.

Anyway, today I decided to play with my small supply of polymer clay, and created these little guys. Since I don't have orange, and the black on white was looking a little spy-ish to me, I decided to deck out my snowman as a secret service CIA agent with a badge and scarf. He needed a buddy, so I put together a mini Totoro to hang out with him.

Thanks for looking!

It's a Red Pineapple Wedding Afghan!

I spent the first half on 2013 working very hard to complete this Anastasia crochet pattern from Herrshner's for my husband's cousin's wedding.   It was about 12 skeins of 2-ply red yarn. In the center, to crochet an inch, it was about 4 rows, and it took me about 3 hours (at least in the beginning) to complete. I am so pleased that it turned out so amazing.