Finished project... and kitties

I'm so proud to say that I finished the crocheted baby afghan I started a couple of months ago! Yay for me! I'm not very good at finishing projects... it's the excitement of starting something new that is the most fun for me.. and then I get tired of it all too quickly. That's why I like small projects.

Here's the last photo I showed you around Christmas  (uh.. .has it been that long already?)

All I can say is: Thank you Pammy Sue at Scotty's Place for keeping me on track and urging me onward to get it done!

Here's the finished blanket, before I blocked and shaped it.

It was terribly ruffley while I was making it... I was worried it wouldn't flatten out, but I wasn't about to tear a bunch out and change the size of my hook or change the pattern, etc. I hoped for the best.

I do love the colors. I had the pretty turquoise and white in my stash..... decided to buy the veregated blues and gray to add a little bit more pizzaz.... don't know if a baby needs pizzaz.. but I do when I'm working on something!

And here it is............... all done.....

The pattern is from Jonna Martinez at Fiber Flux on YouTube here and you can find her on Ravelry too, and her written pattern can be found on her blog here. This is called a Virus Blanket.... kind of a strange name and I'm sure there's a reason for the name! There are Virus Shawls too and tons of YouTube videos on both. I'm glad I watched her video first and worked mostly from that... her handwritten pattern was helpful but needed a few tweaks here and there.

I love the colors I used and I LOVE the design. I added my own scalloped edging.. one I use on most of my crocheted projects.

Here's pictures of my kitties................ just happened to catch them being still so thought I'd share.

Maddie... so sweet and regal....... can't believe it's been over a year since we rescued her!  She has surely stolen our hearts.

Rudy... our new "rescue" kitty, though he's not much of a "kitty" anymore! We call him rowdy Rudy.... very befitting.....

..............and he too likes to lay right by my keyboard as I type. This little pink blanket I got at the thrift store, and it has served me well as each kitty takes their turn sleeping there. First was Maddie when she was a kitten (I got it for her originally). She can hardly fit there now but she tries! Then our older "grandma" B.K. decided she liked it there and she kind of took it over (until Rudy)...... and then Rudy discovered it and he's sure it's ALL HIS.  I've been teaching him how to just lay THERE and not on top of my keyboard!  Oh such fun they are.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Old skirts and buttons

What did I make out of this????

 

It's an old (but never worn) country western skirt that I bought years ago for country western dancing, which I DID used to do! I loved dancing so much.... it was my passion for many years..... but haven't tapped a boot skootin' boogie for a good 15 years. Anyway.,. this skirt somehow shrank over the years.... hum.m.m.m just sitting on my fabric shelf? That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it! Just loved this fabric and knew someday I'd remake this into something fun.  It had a matching vest too... darn.. wish I wouldn't have gotten rid of it!

I got the inspiration to do something with this heavyish fabric of the skirt after I saw a blog post from my special blog friend Connie, at Crafty Home Cottage when she repurposed and recycled some old jeans into aprons and a darling travel banner. I went to Pinterest to look at all the recycled jeans projects... of course there are hundreds upon  hundreds...... and in all the looking, I decided I needed to make myself a nice big bag to carry "stuff" in, like books to the library, my boots when I travel, my yarn when I have a project going or to hold a quilt project. All of my other craft bags are full.

So here's what I made....

See here? it has the pockets, snap and zipper intact...and I used the belt loops to run ties through that I made from some other old (but new) southwestern fabric! I love it!

It's stuffed full of yarn.. and still more room in it!

All I did was sew up the bottom and sew the side slits... since it was a short skirt, I only cut off the little inch hem that was on it.. and I used that to make a few more belt loops to run the ties through. Super easy. I love the pockets on the outside.. I may put some velcro on them to hold them closed so I can put little odds and ends in them if I need to.  Hum.m.m.m. I see another western skirt (that has shrunk also) peeking out of my fabric stash............

ON ANOTHER NOTE:

I was looking for a little box for hubby to send a small gift to a friend.. and found the box but there was something inside. I had totally forgotten about all the little vintage buttons and cards that I had tucked in there! They were a gift from a friend a couple of years ago. I'm glad I found them. The cards are so neat.. and the prices on most are 25 cents or 29 cents. Hum... wonder what year that would take us back to? Anyone know? 

These shimmery blue ones are my favorites.

They are all still attached to the button cards... never used. Wow. Thank you Susie for these beautiful buttons!

Hope everyone had a fun weekend. Our snow is almost all melted! Yahoo!.... and we've had a few sunny days, though still chilly. Not ready for yardwork yet, but this sunshine makes me want to take a little road trip. How about you?


 

More eye candy......

I've had more fun this week making what I call "mini" albums.. but they are really more like little journal/tag albums or instagram photo albums. Although I don't "do" instagram, these little albums are perfect for small photos or instagram photos, which I understand are about 2x2 inches.

I seem to always gravitate towards making "small" things, such as little mini albums, little tiny boxes, tiny accordian albums, etc. I mean, a tiny one is just as much work as a large one! But I love the small things and miniatures. These following two albums are "one sheet 12x12 pocket albums".  There are many You Tube videos out there on making little booklets or albums from one 12x12 inch sheet of paper. This is one of my all-time favorites!

I was making these just for the fun of it. The two pocket minis I started over two years ago! I had the basic little album made, but needed (and wanted) to decorate them with some of my pretty vintage papers.... and then they turned out so cute, I decided to put them in my Etsy shop. The links to each one are at the end of this post.

More pictures of my "Sweet" pocket mini, full of at least 20 little tags and tiny photo mats: (these little pocket albums measure 3" x 4-1/2" tall and have 8 pocket pages.

There are two "secret" pockets at the top of two of the pages, that hold pretty vintage tags.

One of my pink crocheted hearts and a vintage pink button.

This next pocket mini, "Live Life in Full Bloom", turned out adorable, using some of my older hoarded scrapbook papers. I love how it turned out (same size..... 3" x 4-1/2" tall).  It also has many tags, I think about 26 or so and some little photo mats, with the two "secret" pockets at the top of two pages:

There are 5 quote tags. I found the quotes here and there online and printed them out and then cut the tags out with my Sizzix die cutting machine. Love that machine!

 

Of course I had to add some touches of lace!

I made the "Cherish" tag several  years ago, by using a rubber stamp and stamping it on a brown paper sack (after crinkling it up).. and then I scanned it into my computer to make paper I could print out, and then cut tags from it. 

Some of the tags have a Parisian flare, with the birds, and Bonjour and Post Card. These were cut from some free digital paper from "Free Pretty Things for  You". She has wonderful and awesome free digitals!

The peach colored tags I dry embossed first with little bird cages, and then cut the tags out.

My "big" album (all of 4-1/2" by 6").... comes with it's own little box wrapped with red tulle! I call this one my "Kiss Kiss" album. ........ this is a more traditional album with room for quite a few 4x6 photos. I LOVE the touches of gold here and there in it:

I made this to be more of a "photo album" with many empty pages ready for 4x6 photos and 5 photo mats tucked into side and top pockets. There are also ALOT of tags... I can't remember how many, I think around 30! The description of this album in my Etsy shop will describe the album more and how many tags it has. I didn't make all of these tags... I used some for a collection from Becky Higgins Project Life Lucky Charm collection.  

This is a "photo mat" tag that pulls out from the criss cross pocket page in the middle of the album. Love it! Love the gold.... and see the pink horse with "wild thing I think I love you" on it? 

The larger photo mats.. I think there are 5 in all.

For fun, I made two little vellum envelopes to hold a secret tag to write on, inside.

Tickets and tags!

This is fairly thick, and held together by an attached ribbon that ties into a pretty bow.

So... there's the three little albums I made so far. I'd like to finish two more that I started. One is black....hum.m.m. wonder what I can do with that one? Maybe shabby grunge? 

In case anyone is interested in tutorials for this 4x6 album, the main base album was on Bexswanson's channel right here.  The center page, with the neat criss cross pocket (which page is made with one 12x12" piece of paper) can be found on RoxyFur's channel here on You Tube. 

 FYI.... I made this sweet little square mini album awhile back, which is also in my Etsy shop.  It's my "Love Notes" album. Very sweet. I think it's about 4" x 4" but not positive. My Etsy description will show the exact size.  On this one I did use a black base and I really like  how it turned out.

Well ladies.. that's what I've been up to this last week, besides scanning fabric and making cards! I'm on such a roll now.. I don't want to leave my craft room. 

Here's the link to my Etsy store (MyPinkPaperCottage).  Click on the "Paper Mini albums" to the left at the top to find all of my albums. 

I'm sorry this was so long, but I just had to share!  

Have a great weekend!