Christmas Cards and Crochet

This is a post a lot of Christmas cards, and a little bit about crochet:-)

Christmas really is right around the corner. I LOVE Christmas and everything about; the music, the food, the family, and I can honestly say that I love the shopping!

Now that we have our family photos complete I have been eyeing which Christmas cards to buy from Shutterfly. I love the idea of one big ole picture of Belle like this:

On the other hand, I feel that I have to get a card that shows of more of the pictures that Kate Krueger took of us. There are just too many that I love to not put more than one on our Christmas cards. So, in perusing the Shutterfly website I have decided to go with this style:
The plan is one big picture of Belle, as well as some small ones, and at least one with Paul and I. Let's be honest, most people really only want to see Belle anyway.

Find your favorite card here and here at Shutterfly.

Last year, Paul and I ordered our Christmas cards with one big picture of Mac and Belle. This year I am excited to add more of a family pic, although Mac might be sad that he is not a part of this year's card. I have used Shutterfly in the past for my Christmas cards and have always been really happy with the quality and the fast shipping. I am currently working on Belle's baby book through Shutterfly, and I will eventually get that sucker completed (maybe when she turns 5)!

On another note, I just found that Shutterfly now offers gift tags! Fabulous idea, huh? Check out there gift tags here. My favorite ones are these:

Now, being that I am a crocheter, I am often thinking of things I could crochet as gifts. One year I crocheted blankets for everyone in Paul's family. I have also done some crocheting for my nieces for their first Christmas'. Last year I actually crocheted a stocking for Belle that I LOVE!

It seems that the pattern I found online is no longer there, so I might have to do a bit of research. This is actually not my photo, but a photo from Granny-Along. I might have to hound her so see where the pattern for this went!

Anyway, what are you crocheting up for Christmas?

(FYI, if you write a blog and want 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly, click here)

Monday Monday

I can't hardly believe that I haven't posted in two weeks. I am so sorry! Things have been crazy around here, but good!

On a personal note, Belle has started to walk! Nothing is quite so adorable as a one year old trying out their legs and taking those first steps. She falls on her butt a lot, but she sure is confident!

Along with beginning to walk, Belle is talking tons! She says Mac (our dog), Mama, Dada, Uh-Oh (her favorite), No (another favorite), and Hi. She says things like "yuck" and "duck," but she has no clue what those mean really.

On a crochet note, I have been SWAMPED. I finished 8 orders this weekend, but still have 40 more to complete. 40!?!?! I sure hope that I have kept track of my orders well and haven't missed any. I feel that I have been on top of things, but every time I finish one order, I get two more :-) The upside 0f this is that my secret stash of crochet revenue is growing and Paul and I are debating where to spend the money. Not a bad problem! So far the decision is between putting it towards finishing our basement, going on a shopping spree, saving it for our trip to California next year, new couches, or just keeping it in savings and not touching it. The latter sounds way too boring!

I hope to take pics of some of the things I have made recently and post them soon. Instead, I chose to post pics of my family and my baby girl tonight....although she isn't much of a baby anymore! I hope to post some pics of new patterns I have tried out eventually, but right now there is no time to try new patterns! Duty calls :-)

Hopefully there will be a link party this week!

Ordering Freeze

I have reluctantly decided to have a two week ordering freeze. I HATE doing this, but I really feel that I have no choice. As soon as I finish up with one order, I receive another two on top of it. I never feel like I am getting ahead. I hate feeling that way. I want to feel like I am on top of things.

I am currently working on a 35 order list. I would like to get that list down to 10, which is much more manageable. I feel that in the course of two weeks I will be able to do this. So, please bare with me as I ask everyone to wait two weeks until they put their orders in. This will allow me time to catch up and get a breather!

This two week freeze means that I will not be taking any orders for any reason. I hate saying no to newborn gift orders, but I must right now so that I stay on task with my other orders.

Thank you to everyone for understanding and allowing me time to focus on the orders I have!

A Little Humor for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

For those of you who have never checked out The Inner Hooker, you HAVE to. I have purchased many of her patterns and love the things she does. I think I crochet much looser than she does, however, because I have to adjust the sizing when I make some of her patterns. Either way, they all are so adorable!

Her newest creation is just hilarious, and I HAD to share it. She has made a hat that actually looks like a boob! I know some people may take offense to this, but she has a great reasoning behind this (based on some breast feeding woes), and I really think it is great considering that this month is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

This hat is offered for free on her blog for those of you who are interested. Be sure to check out the pics because they crack me up!

FREE BOOB BEANIE CROCHET PATTERN

On My Hook Linky Party

The pictures are in! This was something I posted about last, but the professional pictures came on of my little buddy, Rory, in her new crocheted duds :-) I just LOVE HER, and she knows how to wear a hat. She was a bit of a stinker for the pictures, so the diaper cover only gets a quick shot, but she can be as naughty as she wants and still make everything look cute! So, here is what was on my hook this week:

There were two people who linked up this week. First, Diane, from Something Diane Made shows off her Adult Slippers. We gave a pair of these cuties away a couple of weeks ago and you can buy them at her Etsy shop. Love them!

Even more slippers from You, Me, & Miss E. TOO cute. I love red.

So, let me see what else those hooks are whipping up this week! For those that don't crochet feel free to link up with any of your own craft/house/etc projects! I love new ideas and love to drool over the crafty things other people do.

Baby Set

My favorite part of crocheting is creating new things and picking out the colors. I also love to try out new patterns. One of my greatest friends just had a baby--side note, it's amazing how quickly holding a newborn brings on baby fever--anyway, I wanted to make them something for her newborn pics. I have really worked hard this week on many orders and was able to catch up enough to take some time to make this cute little set.

My only instructions were to make a hat with a flower in fall colors. Thankfully, I had just bought a pile of fall-colored yarn and was DYING to use them. I knew I wanted to make a hat, but thought I might try my hand at a diaper cover. I found the greatest pattern off of Ravelry. Don't worry, I will share this at the end of the post. I bet you this entire set was complete in about an hour and a half.

The hat was something I created myself, and I think I might write down the pattern, even though it is very simple. I am constantly making newborn hats without a pattern and debating on how many increase rows to make and how long to make the hat. Once the professional pics of this set are complete I will post the pattern for the hat with it :-)

I can't wait to see this on Rory and to see those ruffles on her bootsy! Maybe I need to quick whip up a pair of booties to match! Any suggestions on what kind of booties I should make? Mary janes? Boots? Slippers?

Oh, and as I promised, the link to the diaper cover: Diaper Cover