A Happy Loopy St. Patrick's Day

I hope everyone is having a wonderful St. Patrick's Day.  It is rainy and appropriately green and beautiful here today.  In February, I made my husband a Rasta scarf for his birthday.  I had plenty of the awesome green yarn left and decided to make a swirly scarf for myself for today.  The color is more vivid than it is showing here and really, really pretty.

I had some of the yarn left over and saved it until I decided what could be made with it.  Well, yesterday I discovered the Loop stitch and tried it out last night after my girls went to bed.  This morning they had new green jewelry for celebrating our Irish heritage.

Miss O with her Loopy green necklace.

Miss B with her Loopy green bracelet.

I quite adore this stitch.  It's not for everything, of course; but is rather perfect when you want to add an element of fun.  Fortunately, my girls love their new jewelry.  It could have easily gone either way with my little fashionistas.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Day!

Easter Crafting

I love Easter and Spring and every thing about this time of year! For some reason though, I feel like Easter has crept up on me this year.  I can't believe it's only twenty-five days away.  I decided I wanted to create some Spring/Easter items for my daughters and our home.  Quite conveniently, I then discovered that there is to be a Crafty Easter Linky Party at Crea in the City.  Naturally, I want to take part.  Feel free to visit her blog and sign up if this appeals to you, as well.

And now, here is my first attempt at a crocheted Easter egg.  Which, by the way, I found at Julie-k.

I have to say that I wasn't sure about the way this pretty blue egg looked.  Then, Miss O, my beautiful firstborn, asked, "Mommy, why are you making an Easter egg?"

I literally squealed at her question and she looked at me like I'd lost my mind just a bit.  When I explained that I was pleased she could tell it was actually an Easter egg she shrugged and just said, "Okay."

I will definitely be making more of these cute eggs.  I think what they need is more polyfill in order to appear more like an egg to my eyes.  In addition to the eggs, I am going to make Easter baskets for my girls and some pretty Spring time place mats for our kitchen table.  I really dislike our table so I'm hoping the vibrant mats will pretty the table up dramatically.  They will be something to include with the Pretty Crafty Home project, too.

Kid Art

My daughters love, love, LOVE art! They draw, color, and make things all the time! it is really wonderful to witness and be a part of.  Right now, they both want to learn to crochet and it is fun teaching then to make a chain.  However, as someone who can barely draw a straight line with a ruler, I am somewhat partial to their drawings.  Both of my girls use a lot of color and definitely express themselves with their art.  This, i absolutely understand.  I want to share some of their recent art work.

Self Expression by Miss O

Ice Cream Halloween Party by Miss O

Doesn't this just say it all? This made me giggle with its sweet and obvious request for a Halloween party.  And yes, Miss O wants to be a CowGirl this year.

Self Expression by Miss B

Cars

We went to a car auction yesterday.  Most of the cars on auction were classics.  There were, of course, the newer versions of such cars as the Mustang (gorgeous, by the way) but most of the vehicles up for auction were indeed amzingly restored classics.  We are a family who loves classic vehicles.  I grew up with a dad who also loves classics and spent time restoring a couple.  The fact that my husband loves the cars and we have passed this on to our daughters is quite wonderful.

Of course, my daughters also love the movie Cars as a result.  And they (all of us, actually) are itching to see the new movie Cars 2.  Needless to say, the subject of cars is at the forefront in my house today.  Miss O even did art work on the subject; with her favorite color dominant in her drawing:

Thank You Gift

Miss O's teacher loves all things patriotic and American.  So, Miss O wanted her to have something red, white and blue as a thank you gift for a wonderful school year.

Going for the Americana look with the wrapping,

Crocheted Patriotic coasters.  Miss O said her teacher loved them and that they'll go well with her table cloth.  Yay, a happy daughter and a happy teacher.  A great way to start the much anticipated summer vacation.

The Mommy Poem

Miss O - my eldest daughter - wrote me a poem.  needless to say, this lovely piece of art is definitely my favorite right now.  And will remain a favorite, I know.  She had just a bit of help from Daddy with the spelling but other than that - this is her sentiment.

In case it's difficult to read, it says:

Reading is awesome you

can learn lots of things

like a flower blossoms you grow

when you read.

Mommy I love when you

read to me because I love

you so much and you love

me.

Like I said, this heart-string yanker is a forever-favorite of mine now.

Gardening

Yes, I absolutely believe that gardening is an art! Normally, I am really, horribly bad at gardening! Seriously, I can not even keep a simple house plant alive.  Recently, Miss O and Miss B expressed a keen interest in gardening.  So, over Easter weekend my husband, our girls and I went to Home Depot and did some research on gardening.  We don't have a lot of space to plant a proper garden - so we decided to start with a couple of things in pots.  We got strawberries and Brussels sprouts.  Guess what, it's working - the plants are actually blooming! To say that my family is thrilled is quite the understatement! I hope these plants do indeed produce fruit and vegetables.

Brussels sprouts

Pretty flowers that Miss O planted with her Girl Scout troop.  I have no idea what they are - told you I stink at gardening.

Strawberries