Beginners Crocheted Baby Hat {Try New Adventures Thursday!}

The I'm-40-weeks-pregnant-and-can-someone-please-get-this-baby-out-of-me restlessness has hit. It started after Christmas when I no longer had a holiday to plan for. Since then, we've been going for a family walk every morning, I'm bouncing on the labor ball frequently, and periodically I'll look up articles on ways to naturally induce labor (even though I know baby will come when baby will come). The day after Christmas, I decided that I needed a project.

You know all of those adorable crocheted hats that you see in a lot of newborn photography? Like this...

Source: ontobaby.com via Rachel on Pinterest

(Haha, the "You Need This" caption cracks me up! Way to work on a pregnant mama's hormones!)

I've been wanting (not needing) to get a similar hat for baby boy for all the times I subject him to mini newborn photography sessions. So I found this tutorial from Hooked On Needles and decided to give it a shot.

For my 1st hat, I used some basic, soft, medium gray yarn and a size I crochet hook. I had to redo my first few rows because I followed the instructions incorrectly, but after that, the project flowed smoothly.

I finished in one day! Which, when it comes to crochet projects, is probably a record for me.

Ta-Da!!!

I must say, crocheting a hat is incredible medicine for I'm-ready-to-pop restlessness. We're taking this little hat along with us to the hospital, and I can't wait to see it on our sweet baby's head. :)
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Link up your adventures below for Try New Adventures Thursday! Meanwhile, I'll be bouncing on my labor ball and looking forward to what you have to share. Just link up your blog post below, link back to Alicia's Homemaking, and leave a few sweet comments on other participant's posts.

Beginners Crocheted Baby Hat {Try New Adventures Thursday!}

Felt Rose Tutorial {Try New Adventures Thursday!}

I did it. I bought a glue gun.

Since Pinterest has opened up a new world of do-it-yourself projects to me, I have read tutorial after tutorial that sounds easy and doable, until I got to the part that said I needed a glue gun. Sounded like a high tech, expensive tool to me. But I trecked to Michael's, and lo and behold! They cost a mere three dollars. I was pleasantly shocked, and am now the official owner of a glue gun.

With a few burns to prove it.

Ready to see something fun you can make with a simple glue gun, felt, scissors, and (if desired) a bar pin?

Sweet felt roses! Like the two in the middle of this fabric flower arrangement on my newly made wreath...

Like I said, this is all you need. Felt in your desired colors, scissors, a low temp glue gun, and a bar pin.

First, cut a largish wavy circle out of your felt.

Then start to go around your felt circle with your scissors, cutting the circle into a long strip (about 1/2 in. thick). The bigger your circle the bigger your final flower will be (sounds logical, right? hehe).

When you get to the end of your piece of felt, leave a little bit of the circle at the end. This will be the back of your flower.

To start making the flower, go back to the beginning of your strip of felt (the end without the circle) and begin to wrap the strip around itself. I found it helpful to use a dab of glue from the glue gun periodically to hold the strip in place as I wrapped it around. This is what you'll have (approximately) when you're done:

Yay!

The last bit of the strip gets placed at the back of the flower, where you can glue it securely in place.

Next, I glued on a bar pin, so that I can wear this nifty rose!

I made a bigger flower in purple and added leaves to the back.

I also made some felt roses for this fun wreath that I put together yesterday. It's a burlap-wrapped wreath with fabric/burlap/felt flowers...and I'm quite proud of myself!! In this case, I just hot-glued the flowers directly onto the wreath.

Is there anything else I can hot-glue around here? It's kind of addicting to have so much adhesive power...
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I'm sure that while I've been gluing my fingers together, you've been having equally blog-worthy adventures...so link them up here! As always, don't forget to link back to Alicia's Homemaking. And it's always nice to leave a few comments on other people's links! Ready, set....go!

Felt Rose Tutorial {Try New Adventures Thursday!}

Getting Ready For Christmas in October {Try New Adventures Thursday!}

I'm usually one of those last-minute Christmas people. In part, I think, because the weather in Florida takes so long to catch up with the cooler seasons. It doesn't feel like Christmas until the holiday is literally upon you. And then sometimes (like every 15 years) there will be snow flurries, and other times you're still in a t-shirt.

The mantel at my parent's house last Christmas...:)

But enough excuses. This year at Christmastime, I might be in the hospital having a baby (I'm due on the 29th...1st baby was 3 days early). So I'm going to be a little occupied or I'm still going to be gigantically pregnant. Either way, not quite up to running around to gather last minute supplies/ingredients/gifts related to the holiday.

This will also be our first family Christmas at home, away from family (unless they come to us). A little sad, and a little exciting. If I haven't had the baby yet, I would like to have some sort of Christmas meal planned, although necessity may require it to be simple.

We like to keep our Christmas stress-free and minimalist in general. I love to give away baked goods, and we treasure our few family traditions. Our gifts to family and friends will be primarily homemade/handmade. And the budget is tight. All the more room for creativity and fun, right (if I'm not napping, that is)?

So, back to planning ahead. I printed some nifty Christmas planning sheets from Life...Your Way and am in the process of deciding which handmade gift to make for who, what supplies I need, what I want to cook (and can I freeze it ahead of time?), who to send Christmas cards to, what addresses I need, etc.

Shaa-zam! Somebody pinch me...this must be the pregnancy nesting urge kicking in. :D

Pinterest (are you pinning yet?) is my new Christmas search engine. Here are a few festive things I might try this year:

                                                                                                                 

Source: wohnidee.wunderweib.de via Alicia's Homemaking on Pinterest

I love candles in the wintertime! They are particularly cheap at the Dollar Store.

                                                                                     Source: prudentbaby.com via Alicia's Homemaking on Pinterest

A Salt dough ornament may work perfectly for our family ornament this year. :) Remember the handprint snowman ornaments we made last year?

                                                                                         Source: tidymom.net via Alicia's Homemaking on Pinterest

I've been wanting to make peppermint bark for awhile now...sounds scrumptious.

            

                                                                                            Source: christmas.yourway.net via Alicia's on Pinterest

Homemade hot cocoa mix sounds like a fun gift for the neighbors!

                                                                                 Source: danielleburkleo.com via Alicia's on Pinterest

I would be very proud of myself if I managed to make a wreath that looked this cute.

                                                      Source: fromthetortoiseandthehare.blogspot.com via Alicia's Homemaking on Pinterest

In our 700 sq. ft. apartment, I have very little room for Christmas decorating. But these cute winter wonderland jars might find their way onto the coveted space on our one kitchen shelf...

Here's to a festive holiday season full of sweet memories, a huge stomach (because of the baby, ya'll, not the goodies), dear friends, and, of course, the proper amount of food. May there be lots of last minute spontaneity and very little last minute scrambling....
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It's Thursday, so link up your recent adventures below! The rules are simple: link up your blog post, link back to Alicia's Homemaking, and then leave an encouraging comment or two on someone else's post!

Getting Ready For Christmas in October {Try New Adventures Thursday!}

DIY Soap Dispenser and Pinterest Inspiration {Try New Adventures Thursday!}

Ya'll, I finally "get" Pinterest. Most of you are probably way ahead of me in figuring it out and loving it, but the lightbulb just clicked in my head over the last few weeks. And WOW! It's the best method I've found for categorizing gems that I come across on the web--tantalizing recipes, helpful homemaking tips, photography ideas, activities for kids, and crafty things that I could actually-possibly-maybe do. And did I mention lots of recipes? I have an entire board devoted to nutella. So appropriate. 

The best part is that Pinterest revolves around pinning pictures of said cool idea/recipe/outfit/craft. Perfect for my visual self!

So, back to the craft part. Because as you know, I don't own a glue gun or a sewing machine. Which means it needs to stay simple. My latest Pinterest-inspired endeavor fits the bill....and it involves a canning jar. Yay!

It's a cute little soap dispenser! A way better version than the plastic recycled bath and body works container that was by my kitchen sink.

To make this soap dispenser, I simply:

1) Stole the soap pump part away from one of my bottles of unused lotion.
2) Drilled a hole in the top of a Ball canning jar lid (and here's how to make the craft even easier...get your sweet hubby to drill the hole!)
3) Inserted the soap pump into the hole and filled the jar with soap!

Many of the online versions of this that I found involved complicated things like epoxy. But honestly, my soap dispenser looks and works like a charm, and I didn't have to deal with that!

Other Pinterest-inspired creations made in our house recently have included:

Playdough filled balloons

At almost 2 (in November...!), Squishy is in love with ballons. He's playing with two of them right this second. So he loves the little playdough-filled balloon that I made for him in about 1 minute after seeing these on Pinterest.

                                                                             Source: playcreateexplore.com via Alicia's on Pinterest

A hit! I'm collecting cool occupying crafts like these to put into busy bags for Squish for when baby arrives.

My menu plan is also benefiting. I tried this cheddar soup...it has beer in it (which is not a great hit with me, but my hubby and our neighbor thought it was great!).

                                                                                         Source: kayotic.nl via Alicia's on Pinterest

And this sweet and sour chicken was awesome.

                                                                              Source: livelovepasta.com via Alicia's on Pinterest

So....are you on Pinterest? Have you tried any of the fun ideas you've found there?
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Link up your new adventures below--it's Try New Adventures Thursday! Don't forget to link back to Alicia's Homemaking, and leave some cheerful comments for other participants! :)

DIY Soap Dispenser and Pinterest Inspiration {Try New Adventures Thursday!}