Crochet Projects

            As you may or may not know, depending on how deeply you've looked into my online profiles, I have been crocheting for years now and lately I've been working on making this an actual work from home job (so to speak). I hardly refer to this as a "job" only because I'm so used to it being more of a fun hobby. But over at livingskiescrochet.com I found an article, published back in 2014, that helped me understand that even though I enjoy crocheting, doesn't make it any less of a job. I have found it hard to get it off the ground because currently I mainly sell to friends, family and their extended friends. I'm sure that some hard work and persistence is all I really need to get this thing going. After opening an Etsy shop over a year ago, I realized I needed to develop a little more before just diving in head first. Because they charge to post, and posts expire if they don't sell without refunding that charge, it just wasn't making good business sense to keep reposting. As you can imagine, this was cutting into my profits. Etsy is a wonderful website for showcasing and selling homemade items. I learned however it's better to be more established before getting in over your head from the get go. I opened thinking my items were going to sell right away and this simply was not the case. 
             If you too are trying to get a homemade items business started I would suggest taking a look at this article. It's written for crocheters but the business angle of selling the items would be a help to anyone wanting to start selling. It definitely helped me get in a better mindset and hopefully I can take this knowledge and develop a better bussiness model around it. As always, thanks for reading. Now I want to share with you some photos of new crochet items I've been working on. I am building an inventory of things so I have more things on hand. Thats why I've neglected this blog of mine. Busy, busy, busy working at my J-O-B

A scarf, beanie and boot cuff set

An ear warmer and boot cuff set

Baby turbans!

Beautiful brown scarf and ear warmer set

Off white scarf and ear warmer set

Cupcake beanie

Shell stitch beanie with flower being modeled by my daughter

Shell stitch beanie with flower accent

Some loop booties

Minnie Mouse baby shoes

A Minnie Mouse baby beanie

Another scarf and ear warmer set

I know I really need to do a tutorial post. I always think of it too late. I promise to post one soon. 

Sewing project: baby pants, headbands and bibdannas

    I have been super obsessed with pinning sewing projects on Pinterest ever since my hubby bought me a sewing machine. But other than mending a few things, and some small practice projects, I hadn't really got around to making any of the things I've been pinning. Well I'm proud to say that is no longer true and I'm so excited and proud of what I've done, I'd like to share them with you today.

   Baby leggings was always what I had the intention of making when I added sewing machine to my wish list, and I found this super easy, super cute tutorial on how to make them on Pinterest and let me tell you, as a rookie, I was stoked to find out just how simple it was to follow and create some awesome leggings. and once I started, I couldn't stop. I also found a tutorial on making baby head wraps, which I decided would be adorable as a matching set with the leggings I made. Then I was thinking to myself, what about the baby boys? They too deserve some adorable looks. So back to Pinterest I headed and found a free patter for a bandanna bib. These are very popular right now. I've seen them on many of the Instagram shops I follow so I can't tell you how excited I was to find a FREE pattern! And of course it was super simple to make, and I'm a beginner so you can trust my word on that. Here are the pictures of what I've made so far. Along with links to where I found my PINspiration.

That double needle hem. SO clean

     This was the first set I made. This is the tutorial I followed. Everything Golden I love everything about this blog and shop, definitely worth checking out for any craft/art/design lover. I did read many different blogs and tutorials on diy leggings of course, and somewhere along the line I remembered one of them raving about a double needle. Incidentally, my sewing machine came with one and I was ecstatic. I made the hem on these, then I broke my double needle :( It was a rookie mistake and totally my own fault (don't attempt too wide of a stitch with a double needle fyi). Any way I was sad about that but it didn't stop me from continuing on without it. I do plan on buying another one though. 

     I made the matching head wrap following this tutorial. These came out so so cute I'm so happy I found this tutorial. making the pants and head wrap as a set really complete the vision I had for my handmade homemade future self. Here is the other set I made (without the double needle it still came out adorbz)

A close up of the head wrap

Here's a little cutie being a model for me 

     And for the boys I made the pants following the previous tutorial and the bandanna bib, which I am now calling the Bibdanna ( I don't know if that term has been previously coined or not, I may have heard it and then later thought it came from my brain place) following this tutorial. Here's what it looks like completed:

Pants and bibdanna for a baby boy

     All of the fabrics I used were stretch knit, except the front of the Bibdanna which is flannel. I really enjoyed making these and plan on making so much more. I hope people I know start having more babies soon, or I could just have one myself (hoping). I have major baby fever right now so that might just happen (yay!) and I can have a baby fix, and have a baby to make these for :) Thanks for reading. I suggest clicking the links to see the full tutorials and I hope to inspire some more creativity in you.

MLP Rainbow Dash birthday party on a budget

     Today I want to share with you how I made my daughter’s My Little Pony themed birthday party on a very tight budget. I am a crafter at heart so immediately my mind went to a place where it believed I could make EVERYTHING I needed for this party. And with a partner (my sister) I pulled it off quite well I think, with dollar store items mostly! My daughter’s favorite pony is Rainbow Dash so I focused more on a theme based mostly on her.

     First of all, like any good party planner these days, I got on Pinterest and started searching for My Little Pony themed party ideas. Lucky for me (and you) there were a TON. I started saving pictures and stealing ideas. I decided that tissue paper, balloons and construction paper were all I really needed to decorate. I made some tissue paper balls following this tutorial and used seven different colored layers to create rainbow ones. My sister made a Happy Birthday banner and used the Equestria font to fit our theme. I threw a blue table cloth on a round table and hung strips of different colored tissue paper ( the same I used for the paper balls) coming down around it. I got a MLP table cloth from Party City for the larger table.

This was our whole set up

Here's a closer shot. just look at that banner. So cute.

     I got to work making the party favors for the children. I made them using construction paper of different colors and followed this tutorial. We bought a package of My Little Pony party favors from Party City. It was $10 and came with 48 pieces (enough for eight kids). Here’s how they turned out:

I made eight of these in different colors. they are filled  with MLP favors and one lollipop

     Like I mentioned in my earlier post, my sister made the piñata I bought a package of candy from Walmart to fill it, but I didn’t get a good picture of it completed before the children destroyed it. Here’s what it looked like after the kids hit it a few times then I remembered I needed a picture:

That's the birthday girl after a few swings to the Rainbow Dash pinata.

     It really was quite adorable. As you can see, it was Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark and the white balloons were made to look like the clouds above the rainbow lightning bolt.

     I ended up making the game as well because I could only find a “pin the tail” game that was MLP themed using Pinky Pie, which was ok, but obviously I wanted Rainbow Dash. There were a few Esty shops that sold a digital file of a Rainbow Dash pin the cutie mark but me being me said to myself : “ummmmm I can make that.” I bought a poster size paper from the dollor store, and drew Rainbow Dash myself. I can assure you I am no professional artist. I was looking at a google image of her the whole time and just did the best I could. It came out better than I could have thought. I started with pencil, traced it with marker and colored her in (her body is painted mixing blue and white acrylic paint because I did not have a light enough blue in markers). Here’s how she turned out:

Pin the Cutie Mark on Rainbow Dash game

 

The birthday girl

     The cutie marks I drew also on cardstock and used good old fashioned double sided tape when it came time to play the game. I was very proud of this drawing and my daughter didn’t want to throw it out so it’s hanging up in her room like a poster now J

    

     The most money was spent on the food of course. I wanted to keep the food to fit the theme so my husband helped me and we came up with using the actual menu from the Ponyville Café. (with some small changes, I wasn’t going to feed my guests hay!) So one thing on the Pony’s menu is Daffodil and daisy sandwiches. I made Nutella and strawberry jam sandwiches and bought a large flower shaped cookie cutter. I cut the sandwiches in this shape and these were for the children. For the adults we ordered a few of the party trays of sandwich rolls from the Albertson’s deli. These were our “HLT (hay lettuce tomato) sandwiches from the Pony menu. The last pony menu item was the “Hay fries” I bought a couple bags of Veggie Straws and put them in a bowl. Simple enough and it looked just like hay fries. My mother also made some pasta salad for a side. We had an early afternoon party so with these relatively simple finger foods, it was perfect.

The "HLT" sandwiches

"Hay fries" aka veggie straws.

    

Sorry I didn't take a better picture of the daffodil and daisy sandwiches.

For dessert, like I mentioned in my earlier post, my mom is the cake queen. Well she made cupcakes. I got the idea from none other than Pinterest and all I had to do was send her a picture, and she recreated them and they were adorable. She also made a small smash cake for my daughter and bought some ponies from Walmart to put on it. I bought a candy mold from amazon in the shape of a lightning bold (Wonderbolt) and some yellow candy melts as well as sticks. The “Wonderbolt pops” and “Loyalty Lollipops”(from .99 store)  were a big hit. Cotton candy bags which I labeled “cotton candy clouds” were also on our dessert table, and that did it for the food. The refreshing raindrop punch was Hawaiian punch (the blue one, whatever flavor that is I can’t remember now).

Refreshing "rain drop" punch aka blue Hawaiian punch

These are the cupcake my mother made. What did I tell ya, she's the best.

Her little smash cake which was bigger than a normal smash cake. Obviously she didn't eat all that herself ;)

The Wonderbold pops and Loyalty Lollipops together on a stand purchased at Walmart

The cotton candy clouds

Just skittles and marshmallows in a platter dish

     So that just about does it for my Party. The kids LOVED it and everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves as well so I would say mission accomplished

Pre Party

I plan on sharing whatever project I will be making next, but right now we are in full birthday party planning mode. Every time I tell myself I’m not going to go all out and this one will just be a small get together, I’m really lying to myself. Let’s face it those things are just not in my abilities as a creative mommy. How my mother did this four times a year is beyond me (makes me think having only one child ain't such a bad idea) but then I get baby fever and that thought flees me while I hold friends and family's brand new bundles of joy. But I digress. My next post will most likely be how I managed to pull off a My Little Pony themed party for my daughter on a [very] tight budget. It may not be as fancy has some of the one’s I came across in my weeks [months] of research [obsession]. Luckily I have a sister who is also quite creative, and she happens to also be my daughter’s godmother therefore more than happy to help with all my crazy party planning/decorating needs. This year she is making a piñata. I know, I know blame the half of me that is Hispanic but my siblings and I always had one at our birthdays (even while in Iowa), and they were always by far the biggest hit of every party. And I do it all for the kids, right? Along with that she’s got birthday banner duty and she’s also getting (not making) the birthday girl’s party outfit.

Preview of the Rainbow Dash pinata. Just look at all the awesome
and it's so much cheaper than buying one at the party store.
(white balloons will be added for cloud at top)

Preview of Happy Birthday banner/sign. (We might just make it a poster size sign rather than a banner) Of course it is the MLP Font (I believe it's called Equestria).

      I am also quite lucky to have a mother who has mastered cake and dessert making. This year we decided to go with cupcakes (pictures to come) since we are doing finger food for the entire party, and it’s just easier. She is also making a small personal cake for my daughter so we can put the candles in and sing happy birthday (because blowing out the candle is the best part). I will share with you the cake she made for last year’s birthday party. It was all kinds of awesome as well as delicious. I am also making party games (yes, homemade party games. Let’s pray this works out the way I see it in my head) 

This is the cake that my mother made last year which would've also gone really well with this year's Rainbow Dash theme, but we've opted for cupcakes. I just wanted to share/prove how talented my cake lady/mother is. (I will be sharing the pictures of her cupcakes as well as the other desserts).

     So, I’m sorry to keep this short, but I need to get back to the grind aka party prep. Just wanted to give a small prelude to my next post which will be all things MLP and specifically Rainbow Dash (the birthday girls fave) (don’t say I didn’t warn you). 

Just in case you aren't familiar with the pony my daughter
thinks is the coolest pony in all of  all.

Origin Story

First of all, this is not my first time trying to blog. This is my first time I've made an honest mental decision to try hard to create a blog that is interesting, personal and informative for a general audience. Maybe 'general audience' is too general of a term, but I just don't want to be too specific about who this blog is intended for. I could say stay at home mothers, since that is what I am. I could say entrepreneur mothers, since that is what I am trying to be. I could say craft lovers, since that's probably what most of my posts will be about. And sometimes, general audience will be a good enough term because I might just have something to share about a general topic or two, or five. All I can say for sure is anyone who wants to drop by and take a read is welcome, and encouraged :) I want to share as much and as deeply as humanly possible because you never know who's life you can touch or change with your words. That being said here's me:



     I am a twenty something [losing count on purpose] stay at home mother to a beautiful soon to be four-year-old little girl. We are California natives and currently reside in Los Angeles. I know what you're thinking, valley girls through and through. And thought I can't say you're wrong, I can say that I do have some very simple ideals, and even though I LOVE being so close to the city and the beach and the valley all at the same time, I've made sure my family values and how my daughter is raised stays a little bit small townish, if that makes sense. I spent a small bit of my childhood in a very small town in Iowa and I believe a piece of that town will forever be in my heart. Now, pardon me one minute while a gush about my darling daughter. She is the most amazing thing I've ever done and the more I see of her smile, and personality everyday makes me appreciate life and the time we spend. I can truly say that this tiny person absolutely and positively saved my life in every imaginable way. Not only do I feel blessed to have her everyday, but I feel like I owe her everything and plan on spending the rest of my life making good on that debt. (Gushing over)
     I love being a stay at home mommy but for the last few years I've had this desire to create. I get these ideas in my head of things I want to make and it doesn't take long for me to figure out how to do it. I've been crocheting since I was in high school but I've gotten really good at it the last four or five years and have actually started crocheting gifts and things for my family and friends. They have all been telling me I need to create an Etsy account for years, so I finally did. It's still in very early stages but my Etsy shop is open. I do plan on adding more items as soon as I actually get this business off the ground. For now I post a lot on Instagram (kellzcrochetcreations) and Facebook (facebook.com/KellzCrochetCreations) I just got a sewing machine and right now I'm focusing on figuring it all out but I do take custom crochet orders. I spend my days at home with my daughter who keeps me more busy than I can imagine but in between I like to get a little crochet or sewing projects done. I plan on sharing whatever I can when I can about all of my little humble adventures and I hope this blog becomes everything I  want and imagine it will be. And I hope whosoever happens to stumble upon it is not only entertained but inspired. :)