granny stripe blanket + some other things

I finished my blanket a couple of weeks ago, and although I've been dying to brag about it, it hasn't been possible. 

Turns out that being pregnant in your third trimester and having an 18 month old makes things HARD. I mean, I always knew it was going to be tricky but in the back of my mind I also thought I could handle it. Yes, I have been able to handle it... that is when I'm not about to have a meltdown. 

The poor hubs just looks at me and tells me "we can do this, don't worry, it CAN be done." I sure hope so. I'm putting all my faith in him.

But not everything is that bad, we have also embraced fall (my favorite season of the year!) and we have been out and about enjoying all the colors of the landscape and also all the yummy baked treats that come with fall weather (pumpkin spice lattes and lots of baking!)

We celebrated Thanksgiving (Canadian Thanksgiving that is), and the hubs really wanted to start a new family tradition where we prepared turkey, cranberry sauce and pecan pie. So there has been lots of leftovers for dinner lately. But it was really nice. 

Santiago and I really enjoy cooking together, and little S is learning to help out with little things around the kitchen (and mostly eating everything his little hands can reach).

Oh yes! back to the blanket topic... It took me around 2 months of crocheting. My goal from the beginning was to crochet at least one line a day, obviously some days I didn't, and some other days I had to stop because my hands started to hurt. 

I was determined to finish before October started, and I manged to do it! Yay for me!

I followed two tutorials for the blanket, one by Lucy at Attic24 and another one by Easy Crochet Pattern.

The edging of the blanket is also from Lucy at Attic24. (I love her blog and all of her projects! if you like to crochet I'm sure you will find her blog to be very useful)

I'll be posting about the creative swapping with Lindsey from The Joyful Owl soon! And I will also post about our baby shower soon!

ps. I've also been working on knitting hats for newborns (surprisingly it is not that hard!!)

favorite "loving handmade" pins and a creative swapping idea!

So, if you know me (or follow my blog) you definitely know about my Pinterest obsession...

If you happen to follow me on Pinterest then you know all about my "loving hanmade" board. Thar board has so many pins that I might never be able to keep up with all those amazing projects, but I do have my fave pins and I would like to share them with you.

So here are some of the pins that are top on my Pinterest TO-DO list:

via purlbee

via CRAFTYisCOOL

via The Boy Trifecta (I've already done one for little S here)

via Gleeful Things

via Persia Lou

Ok... the list could go on forever and ever but I really have to go and read with the little one so that would be all of my favorites for today!

Hope you enjoy!

*** About the creative swapping... I got the idea from Lucy's post from Attic24 

(I heart her blog!!! and although I didn't put any pictures from her blog on my list today, you have to know that I follow her patterns and super detailed -and photographed- instructions all the time!)

So I went ahead and asked around on facebook! So far my little sister and my friend Lindsey from the joyful owl are in! I hope I can get more people interested on the idea! 

If you are interested on participating just leave a comment and we can arrange the details! Like my little sister said: the rules are that it has to be something handmade!

I'm super excited about it, I think it's nice to do something special for others! ****

ps. I always try to link the images to the correct source but if you find some mistake on my links please let me know!

crocheted cushions

There's been so much going on around lately that I don't even remember most of the things I want to blog about!

The weather has been so nice, we have spent most of the time outside on our little backyard! 

Pekka and I spend most of little S's naps there, enjoying the sun and reading peacefully while the baby sleeps... It's been awesome!

Although little S keeps me super busy all day long, I've managed to find some "me" time. If I'm not reading you can find me crocheting... here are some pics of my latest project.

I must confess I have developed an addiction to granny squares... just last night I started a granny stripe blanket to go with my cushions!

Hope you enjoy!

Little S's Elmo's first birthday party

Although Santi's bday party was three months ago... I'm posting some pictures of all the food and decor we (the hubs and I) made for him and his little friends.

I got many ideas from Pinterest, and I'm adding the links here.

Elmo Cake Pops 

Food and table setting 

Birthday Hat

Tissue Paper Pom Poms

Hope you enjoy!

Red and white polka dots... oh! and Elmo

This week little S turns one!!!! I can't believe it... it's been so fast. He is no longer a little baby!

We have been crazy busy planning his birthday, of course it is an ELMO themed party! What else could it be?

Since I want to do everything myself, there are some things that need practice like cake pops... so here is pic of our first try at Elmo Cake Pops!  

I followed bakerella's instructions. You can find them here. She has the most AWESOME ideas ever!!!!

Oh!!! and I also did this little hat for the birthday boy! It still needs some work done, when everything is ready I'll share more pics!

I found a super cute tutorial on how to make your own birthday hat! You can find it here.

Have an awesome week!!!

(I can't believe he is turning 1 on Wednesday!)

a dino-hat for S

Life can definitely get a bit crazy with a wee one around the house... specially when he starts crawling!! But we have managed to survive and also have some "free" time to crochet a bit.

I saw a super cute "dino spike crochet pattern" on Pinterest and of course I had repin it to my never ending lists of things I want for the little one. 

The pattern was only for the spikes, so I started looking for a baby hat with ear flaps and ended up finding this amazing baby crochet monkey hat (which is next on my baby to-do list).

I added a bit of my own to the patterns, specially since I had my little model around. It was way easier this way, I tried the hay on him several times until I was completely happy with the results and then went on to crocheting the spikes! They were easy and I decided to make a little one and three of the same size, just because I thought it looked cute!

So here are the pics

Here are the links to the spikes and the baby hat patterns.

So, what do you think?  (I think he looks adorable! the hubs thinks he looks like a little hooligan... hahaha)

welcome to S's room

I have finally managed to take some pictures of the nursery… It has been lots of fun to start working on his room, specially trying to display all the special things I got for him from my friends and family!

a little bumble bee hanging above his crib... my sister did this cutie (and the rest of the mobiles creatures)

S doesn’t know it but his room has a lot of “hand-made” things made especially for him, which is what I like most about his room! All those owls, mobiles and little details that remind me of my friends back in Vancouver (I miss you a lot guys!).

Here are some pictures I've been working on. I will post more pictures when the room is completely ready… it is still missing a couple of things… I want to print some family pictures, frame them and hang them over his crib… and I’m also working on a garland I want to put on his closet doors… and lots of other things that I will eventually do.

I love the colors of the bedding... what I like the most is that owl's hair!

my sister and I worked on this mobile... she did the stuffed animals... I did the display! (she's awesome!)

we found this amazing rug 2 weeks ago.. the colors work perfect with Cheryl's  painting!

Cheryl's mobile close-up

All kinds of owls for Santi! (thanks Cheryl... he loves the painting)

Cheryl sent me some pics of the process for the owls! How amazing!!! (she's so talented)

Cheryl's mobile and owls for the baby!

  

The baby shower owls and a special little guy Cailin made for Santi and I! (thanks Cailin!)

 For now I hope you like what I've been doing with his room!

** special thanks to everyone who has made Santi's room possible... thanks for taking the time to do such lovely things for him! I truly appreciate all your talent and hard work! xoxo** 

I've been entertained...

I don’t blog much during summers. I kind of prefer being outside, enjoying the sun and blue skies. But this summer has been quite different, now that the baby is here; I have been home a lot!!

I spend most of my days enjoying him, playing, trying to make him laugh and just having an amazing time as I get to know my little one!

I've been promising some pictures of his room, which I’ll post next week… but for now I want to share with you my sewing endeavors (if you can actually call them that!)

I don’t know how to sew but I’m trying to learn and do simple projects I can use around the house as I learn. My first project was a tag blankie for the baby inspired by my Simple Sewing for Baby (by Lotta Jansdotter) book and I also dared to do a little embroidery…

I think the results are quite good… it really helped that it is such a simple project that makes any beginner feel secure behind a sewing machine (they can be scary… I least I thought so). The thing I love most about this blankie is that it has become the baby’s favorite! He loves staring at the ribbons and putting them in his mouth… we carry it everywhere!

So this is my first completed sewing project so far!

(I know it is very simple but I’m learning… so yes, I’m proud of it!)

Two fabulous blog discoveries from last week

I have no idea what I was actually looking for when I came across Craft Snob… and I say I have no idea because it is clear to me that whatever I was looking for was not important at all! As soon as I entered this blog I totally forgot about everything else and was just so happy!

Obviously my first pick was the “knitting 101 with Elisa McLaughlin”… I already know how to knit, but the picture of that headband / cowl on the button was just fascinating to me… I read all of the 4 posts, downloaded the “it’s a cinch” pattern, looked for my smallest needles and started knitting! Two days later I had my own headband which I really want to wear but haven’t had the proper weather to be wearing such a warm headband…

Obviously I am now following Sara’s and Elisa’s blogs! 

my sweet tooth is kicking in

I have always been more inclined to salty food (and chocolate of course) … but since the last couple of months of my pregnancy I started developing an addiction for sweets! Obviously I blamed it all to the pregnancy and started eating tarts, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, you name it!

My baby will turn 3 months tomorrow and I have to confess that being pregnant had nothing to do with my love for sweets. I still have crazy cravings and eat a lot of chocolate and ice cream… thank God my metabolism is up to speed and you can’t really tell I eat so much sugar!

Another addiction of mine for the last couple of months is “pinning”… oh yes, I spend hours looking for inspiration and cool things on Pinterest, and since they came up with their mobile app I must confess my addiction has gotten worst.

I decided (about 5 days ago) that if I was going to be pinning so much I might as well try some of the things I’ve been keeping on my boards, specially my 3 favorite boards (cute little things, food and other goodies and loving handmade). Yesterday after two or three days of procrastination I finally started what I’m calling my “pinning adventure”. I’m choosing some of the most amazing stuff I’ve pinned into my boards and I’m following the tutorials and recipes from the original posts and see how they turn out. 

I’m sure this will make me a better crafter/cook! (you can find my boards here http://pinterest.com/carmendlp/)

Having said this, I finally jumped into my cooking groove and prepared Nutella Meringues (seriously people… Nutella is the MOST addictive thing ever… since I bought some for the meringues, I have had Nutella and toast for breakfast -and sometimes lunch- every single day!)

The recipe is SUPER easy and the instructions are very clear (I’m kind of a control freak and need to do everything perfectly and find it is much easier to try new things when the instructions are easy to follow). I originally found the recipe on Pinterest and was directed then to http://creampuffsinvenice.ca/  just in case you’re feeling curious.

Here are some pics of how my Nutella Meringues turned out!

I’m going to do some more during the week to practice more on my presentation skills… I kind of like the way they look but I would like to perfect them a little bit!

Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions if you have any ideas of how to improve my "meringue skills", I always appreciate feedback!