day 350: crocheted snowflakes

happiness is time spent crocheting!~

day 350 and i am getting ready to put some more winter into my home with the help of attic 24.  i had so much fun making may roses yesterday i wanted to go back to her website and try something else for today.  i pinned these sweet snowflakes last night and thought they were ideal for this time of year to add somewhere around the house to something, anything!

the snowflakes come together in three rounds of crochet so that's good for me as it's not too taxing on my wobbly crochet skills.  i started out with a cotton blend yarn and a size 3 hook to make the first one.

back to my happy place again today ;)

after the first round it looked like this

round two :)

round 3 done and the snowflake just needs stretching for completion :)

the second one is made of wool and made on a size 4 hook.

the two snowflakes made with different hook sizes and yarns :)

outcome:  planning is under way to attach these to the chalk board in the kitchen with a winter saying .. i just have to find one!  i love that by changing yarns and/or hooks you get such different looking snowflakes, that's just so cool!  i am going to spend my evening making a few more, lucy is right they are addictive :)

my thanks, once again, is to lucy of attic 24 for the easy to follow snowflake tutorial ... attic 24 is totally my favourite go-to place for crocheting tutorials and know how!

A PINTERESTING LINKY PARTY

Welcome to A Pinteresting Party! 

The idea of this party is to show off your creativity so we can pin and share one another's awesome creations :)

This linky party is proudly brought to you each week by

Tutus & Tea Parties  & Here's to Handy Andy

and this week I am GUEST HOSTING, thanks for the opportunity Lauren!


Features from last weeks party:

Most Viewed {tied}:
Crochet Flower Patterns from Earning My Cape
Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti from This Vintage Grove

My Picks
Handprint Garden Markers from Reading Confetti 
Nana's Sign from Queen B - Creative Me

 Go on and grab the "I was featured" button for being so Pinspirational. You deserve it!

Follow us on Pinterest:
Tutus & Tea Parties I Here's to Handy Andy
365 Days of Pinterest
{follow our boards to see what projects we pin each week}

Grab the party button!

<div align="center"><a href="http://tutusandteaparties.blogspot.com/search/label/Link%20Party" target="_blank"><img alt="Pinterest Party" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/7262842680_cf899af85f_m.jpg"/></a></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Grab the party button & invite your friends!</span></span></span></div> <br /> <script src="http://www.inlinkz.com/cs.php?id=155552" type="text/javascript"> </script>

day 349: crocheted may roses

a may rose complete with leaves ... yip, i even got game enough to hook up some leaves :)

day 349 and i am sitting at home with a bit of time to play with crochet hooks and yarn ... ahh, the joy of having time to play and try something new.  i found these may roses on pinterest from attic 24 and desperately wanted to have a go at them today.  the roses are also pinned to my crochet board on pinterest.

i have fallen in love with attic 24 and her gorgeous, amazing, stunning crochet designs ... the colours are just so cool!  any ho, the other wonderful thing about her patterns was the stitch descriptions at the top of her tutorial ... lo-ve! for every stitch i knew exactly what i was supposed to be doing.  so off i went with my hook and yarn, a cup of coffee at my side, attic 24 in front of me and i spent the evening crocheting and i didn't yell once ... didn't even throw the hook in despair.  and a may rose i did create.

this evenings happy place ;)

it looked right and i was starting to believe!

it even twirled around like it was supposed to ... my only issue was the flash backlash!

pride in the finished product!

outcome:  after today's endeavours i am really starting to love crochet.  its been a rocky start and a long road of learning stitches but today i got it so much better and really enjoyed seeing my flower take shape ... insert little face of pride ;)


my sincere thanks to the lovely lucy of attic 24 for making my crocheting world a much happier, stressful place ... love her designs and i will be trying SO many more of them :)

day 348: cake box cookies

strawberry cookies

day 348 and it's a busy, busy day in our household .... lots on, lots of errands, lots of hockey, and somewhere in there are hours of learning for the peeps!  luckily, the peeps are always keen to get their work done on a thursday as we have hockey practice and get to see their friends ... somehow they think if they do their work fast hockey practice will  come sooner (yeah, i'm not going to tell them any different!).

i manage both the peeps hockey teams and we always put on afternoon tea if one of the team is having a birthday during the week.  today we have a special little person's birthday to celebrate and i wanted to try a new recipe to feed the masses ... but it had to be quick and easy, cake box cookies seem to fill those requirements~!

the ones i found on pinterest come from taste and tell blog and are strawberry cake mix cookies.  i need some pink sweets to take to a breast cancer fundraiser on sunday so figured a group of 30 peeps were bound to tell me if they were ok to bake for others or not :)  nothing like having a research group on hand to taste test new recipes.  while i was at it, i figured i would also try the vanilla cake mix and throw in some chocolate chips to see if this type of cookie would also be approved by the test team ;).

first up, the strawberry cake mix was mixed with eggs, oil, and coconut then teaspooned onto a cookie sheet.

the ingredients

sweet and delicious :)

second on the baking agenda was a vanilla cake mix that had eggs, oil, and chocolate chips mixed together before being spooned onto a baking sheet and slid into the oven for ten minutes.

ingredients

the final cookie ... really good :)

outcome:  they were gone ... not in 60 seconds but very close :)  peeps all loved them, the strawberry ones are more of an acquired taste, toffee sweet, but still good. my favourites were the vanilla chocolate chip ones because i don't have the biggest sweet tooth, it's growing after the last 300+ days though ;)

my thanks to taste and tell for testing the recipes taking the risk out of trying them for such a large research group who were bound to be vocal on their opinions re: new baking!  i will be back to recreate many more of the successful recipes from taste and tell with pleasure.

day 347: getting ready for winter with some cool looking subway art

the framed subway art with the happy snowmen!

day 347 and we are continuing to count down the days as we draw close to the end of 365 days of pinterest creations.  at which time it will also be winter and i need some festive winter décor to warm up my heart for this cold, rainy season :)

i found the perfect winter subway art from funky polkadot giraffe (such a cool name for a website!) that completely matches the scarf colours of my snowmen i made on day 315.  the free subway art is also pinned to my winter wonderland on over on pinterest.

i then found a frame (its an 8" x 10" print) and put it in ... ahhhh, i am done and i have made something pretty and it only took 10 minutes ... really no excuses for not having a bit of subway art up in your home when it's this easy and beautiful ;)

print and frame ... 

and done ... but it's so impressive for so little time ;)

outcome:  really, what's not to like, the time it took was tiny, the effect (because i love subway art at the moment) is gorgeous, and on top of all that my home looks like i am starting to enjoy the coming changing of the seasons even if that means its wintery and cold.

many thanks to funky polkadot giraffe for this sweet piece of FREE subway art that has made a great addition to the winter decor starting to appear around the house ... and fantastic colours to go with my happy snowmen :)

YAY ...

thanks pinterest for no longer considering me spam ... i can pin again from my blog and so can you ;)

love you guys at pinterest for sorting it so quickly :)

i have only a couple of weeks left to complete 365 days of pinterest creations ... any ideas on what i should be doing/making/creating over these last days .... anybody?

day 346: crockpot roast chicken

the crockpot roasted chicken, it was so very delicious!

day 346 and i am making a roast in the crockpot.  i have been wanting to try a chicken roast in the crockpot for ages but have just never got around to it.  today i did and i was so pleased i did ... trust me.

the recipe and inspiration comes from busy mommy and is pinned to my recipe must do's board on pinterest.  the lovely emily of busy mommy has a rub for inside and outside the chicken to make it like a bought rotisserie one.  sounded good as i love purchasing cooked chooks because they are such an easy dinner on busy days :)

the rub has garlic, dried onion, paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper, and these are made into a paste with water.  i put the chicken rub all around the insides and outsides, turned the crockpot on high and walked away for 3 hours ... then i came back to the most amazing smell, honestly the smell was so good i started salivating!

the rub ingredients plus i added a little peri peri seasoning ;)

rubbed and ready to cook ... sorry jenny, more poor food photos!

another terrible photo but the smell was so good, we couldn't wait to taste it so it was the only one i got!

outcome: i will never cook another chook in the oven, this is way too easy and doesn't make a mess in my oven with splatters!  the taste was divine and the meat was beautifully moist and actually falling off the carcass ... so good, the whole family loved it.  i'm going to make one again this week as it was that yummy i wanted leftovers for sammies but this one didn't survive to see the fridge ;)

the biggest thanks to emily of busy mommy, you have saved me from cleaning my oven from a chicken roast and given me another perfect dinner go-to for busy nights .. truly awesome, try it yourselves!