Tuesday, April 5, 2011

More Teacher Gifts

Still along the lines of altered candy gifts, I had some extra mints after the Christmas season craft shows; and my sister gave me a box of baby food jars.  This is what I came up with:

Monday, April 4, 2011

Teacher Thank You Gifts

In addition to my crocheted flower addiction, I also have a candy addiction.  Not so much eating it (although that's fun, too); but when I see candy, I find myself thinking of how I can alter it.  This obsession extends to other foods, too, like popcorn...

So when I found a good deal on some mini bags of popcorn the other day, of course I had to buy them!

They're the perfect size for a small thank you gift, and using different patterned papers can completely change the look.  My first go-round is for teachers.

I started with a 5x10 inch scrap I had, but the paper didn't cover the blue wrapper so I added a 6x10 inch base.  I only had 3 scraps of patterned paper so when I had to use a new piece, I cut them 4x10 so I could get 3 strips out of each paper.






Once that was done, I wanted some sort of a card on the top; but I also wanted it to be big enough to hold a gift card.


The ribbon is secured in the back, but it's loose in the front so it can be moved down a little bit to open the flap.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Flowers Galore

Several months ago, I asked my mom (who has been crocheting for as long as I can remember) to make me some flowers.  I thought for sure she would love to make some lovely flowers for her favorite eldest daughter.  As I eagerly anticipated receiving this wonderful gift, I checked my email.  Instead I found 3 emails with links to patterns and even a YouTube video.



Since I realized I was going to have to make them myself if I wanted some flowers, I grudgingly purchased some yarn and a crochet hook.  Aside from knowing how to make a chain and simple single crochets, I don't know how to crochet - so my first few flowers were more like lopsided, wavy circles.  But after watching the video above about 15 times and pausing every few seconds, I eventually got the hang of it!



The problem is that now I find I'm addicted to making flowers.  I'm supposed to be doing other things (like laundry, dishes...), but all I want to do is crochet flowers!  I'm quickly amassing a collection of different yarns and crochet hooks and dreaming of everything I can embellish with a cute little crocheted flower...



These are larger flowers (just made with thicker yarn).  I actually forgot that Mandy had sewn a button in the center of her flowers when I sewed these on, but I originally envisioned a brad in the center. 











At some point, I will probably attach some of these to cards or some other paper craft with a brad - or with a button like these.

For now, though, I will just have fun making hundreds of little flowers in different colors!






(My flowers look a little different than the ones in the video because I (not being a crocheter) did not know the difference between a double crochet and a triple crochet.  So anywhere that calls for a dc is actually a tc in these pictures.  The good news is that now the flowers won't take as long to make, and I'll use less yarn which means...more flowers!!)