Catching Up

Whew it's big a big crochet month. I *finally* finished all 12 Etsy orders a few days ago, and now I'm working on my sister in law's order of 5 beanies. I also have at least 3 more from 1 Etsy order...and she might add to that order. The beanies really don't take that long to make, it's just difficult to be able to crochet with a 5 month old who wants to be entertained by me all day :) I will probably end up going to my parents house on Saturday so they can babysit, and I can crochet and do laundry all day.

Craig got a promotion! The only problem is that promotion is like 2 hours away, which really isn't bad...but it's still far. At least it's way cheaper to live their, an apartment like ours here costs about $400 less!

Well Ethan is waking up now, but I'll post a few pictures of him in a Ninja Turtle beanie later :)

Cupcake Hat Picture

Here is a picture of Ethan modeling the cupcake hat, he's almost 5 months old already!






I'm a little behind on beanies right now, I sold a lot in August so I'm still trying to catch up. That and the fact that I got married and went on vacation! It was a small super casual wedding at a lake, but it was absolutely perfect. We had all family with a couple of friends, barbecue and a yummy cake.



As soon as I'm caught up in beanies, I will finish my Murloc and Batman beanie patterns...and hopefully finally get my old beer bottle patterns up! I would also love to have some finished amigurumi's for sale, like special rum bottles that are very decorated. More collectible, less toy.

Beach Bunny Designs was not what I had set out to name my business, it just kind of happened that way. I've been thinking of renaming it to something with "...stitches" in it. An example would be "Starfish Stitches" or something of that sort. We'll see, I'll keep thinking about it and see what I can come up with.

Spiderman Beanie and Cupcake Beret

Finally things are calming down a bit! Ethan is amazing, even if he doesn't like to sleep! I actually have to face him away from the TV or he will just sit and watch it...he's only 11 weeks old, I dont want him to have a mushy brain already haha. I haven't been able to crochet much, in fact I have a few unfinished patterns because it's been a little crazy. I've also been doing some working out...again when Ethan lets me put him down heh, to try and lose the baby weight, I'm already down 36lbs! I gained around 50 lbs though....even though I was trying to be careful.

I have sold a few Ninja Turtle beanies and cupcake beret's, so that's been taking up my crochet time when I have a moment!

Here is an example of a cupcake beret I made:






I really really want to finish some World of Warcraft themed stuff since I'm going to Blizzcon in August. I'm thinking a Murloc beanie, quest (! and ? symbols) on beanies or skinny scarves, and maybe a 2D hearthstone that can be used for keychains/pendants.

Hopefully I'll be crafting more in the next couple months so I can update this more :)

Oh! Here is a Spiderman beanie in action on Ethan..

Baby Ethan is here!

Ahh I've been missing from blogging, but for a good reason, I had my baby! Ethan was born on April 7th (3 weeks early!) and was considered a preemie by 1 day since he was only 36.6 weeks. Actually he was more like a preemie by an hour and a half since he was born at 10:28pm. He was 6lbs 1oz, and 19 inches long.



He's pretty mellow, the hardest part is not sleeping! Luckily I don't work, and Craig just started a new job that is 4 hours a day for 2 weeks for training, so he can kind of ease into it.

I was making a baby cocoon for him but I never got to finish because he came to early, so hopefully I can work on it more soon...right now he just likes to sleep in my arms so much I don't have time to do much crafting! Not that I'm complaining though :)

Easter swap talk and embroidered cupcake

I'm in a spring Easter swap on Craftster, so I've been busy doing projects for that. I'm also planning on making another baby cocoon, maybe with cables this time! I've never crochet with cables before, but I love the look and have been watching Youtube videos on how to do them so we'll see how that works out. I've also just made some name letters to hang on the wall above Ethan's crib, all I need to do is varnish them and hang them up and I'll post a picture!

I'm going shopping today for some baby stuff and maybe another maternity dress...it's been so hot here (at least I have been!) that I've been living in sundresses haha.

Just so it's not a text only post, here is the cupcake I embroidered and attached to the pink baby cocoon :)

The color is a little off, but you get the idea.

Baby monster booties and hat

Here are two more projects that I made for the little baby girl....monster booties and a little hat!





I also added the adult version of the Ninja Turtle hat pattern to the newborn one...so when you buy it you get two patterns. I *still* am trying to get my shrug pattern together, it's an easy pattern...but I need pictures! :)

Spiderman Beanie

Eep, I was hoping to do a full post today...but I've been so busy! Hopefully in the next couple of days :)

Meanwhile, here is a pattern for sale on my Etsy shop for a baby Spiderman beanie!

Baby shower projects and crochet baby cocoon

I've been really lacking on the posts lately, but I've been busy! I had my baby shower last Saturday and I was working on projects for that. I made around 100 truffles as party favors, along with Sculpy peapod magnets! I also made a couple of sunflower arrangements, but I don't think we got pictures of them. Oops.

If you want to see pictures of the shower, my Dad has photos on his Flickr, not sure if you need to "friend" him or anything.

I made S'mores Truffles, which were definitely my favorite...they were so rich!



And here is an assembly line for the rest of the truffles, Lime Coconut, Mint Oreo and Strawberry Lemon Cake Balls.





Here are some of the Sculpy Pea Pod magnets...



It was so much fun! I feel very fortunate :)

A friend of ours is also having a baby girl (due today! Or yesterday, I forget hehe) so I wanted to make her one of those crochet papoose/cocoons...and here is what I came up with. It is cloudy outside so I couldn't get a great picture...hopefully I can get a better one later. EDIT: Here is a better one:



I don't have a baby yet to model, but here is a teddy bear.



It measures 17 1/2 inches long, and 11 1/2 inches wide. It super warm and fuzzy and was made with two strands of yarn. I'm also going to make a little felt cupcake applique and embroider her name on it...I have to finish it today so I can mail it out tomorrow!

I wrote up the pattern and am putting it up in my Etsy shop today if anyone is interested :)

Cupcake Beanie

I finally finished my cupcake beanie pattern! It took a little longer then I thought it would since it's crochet from the bottom up. Now that I've made one...it will be a breeze to make more. I want to make a blue one with a dark brown bottom...I think that would look cool. I wonder if Craig would let me put it on the baby haha. It's blue, that's a boy color :P





I was supposed to go to the store earlier to get the ingredients for truffles, but I spent way to long finishing this oops. I still have time, but I really wanted to start them earlier since you have to let them refrigerate for a few hours before you finish. I better be off then! :)

Crochet Valentine's and baby shower planning!

I play World of Warcraft. It's not a dirty little secret, I tell people honestly how I met Craig when they ask. I do sometimes get raised brows....but I don't care. I have fun, and it's cheap :)

Even when I play World of Warcraft I craft though, and it drives Craig insane haha. I made these this weekend when we were raiding.

This is not normally my style of crochet, but I saw the pattern in this issue (Jan/Feb '09) of Crochet Today and I fell in love. They are perfect to use as coasters, or to attach to cards as Valentine's. The only crochet thread I had on hand was a lot smaller then what the pattern wanted, but that's ok...it just means smaller coasters :) I made half of them with the edging, and half without; and I think I like it without better...you can see the hearts more. These were also super fast to crochet, maybe 20 minutes each? It was kind of hard to get a shot of the lacy detail, but I tried!



Here is a close up of one of the red ones:



The other day I went to Michaels in search of a flower arrangement for my baby shower. I'm looking to do something like this...but with sunflowers instead.



So I bought a fishbowl shaped vase (it was like $20 cheaper then the square...wtf?) and some of those green marbles in the floral section. The hardest part was the find the sunflowers! They had some, but they are giant....like I'm going to have to cut off 6 inches to a foot of stem off. They will work, but I was really looking for smaller bushels of sunflowers, so I could also put 1 in singular vases for other tables. I have until February 21st, so today I'm going to check out a local craft store to see what they have.

My plan is to also make 2 different types of truffles as favors. I cant decide which ones, but I do have recipe's for strawberry shortcake truffles and green tea truffles. I'm not 100% on the green tea truffles though because not everyone likes green tea....but my shower is peapod themed and I though they looked like little peas :) I could also do coconut lime truffles which look delicious AND green! I'll probably make a batch of each to try them out, then bring the rest to my parents house so I don't eat them all haha.

This site has boxes that hold 2 truffles for $0.54 each. Which is a great deal...but it was $18 shipping to ship 40 boxes and 1 package of candy cups to hold the truffles. $18!? Really!? They cannot be that heavy. So today I am going to check out a couple of places to see if it's any cheaper, or if it about equals the same between retail or shipping. They don't have green boxes, but they have Tiffany blue boxes which I think would look neat with either lime green or brown ribbons. I'm pretty sure that craft store I'm going to had boxes....and ahhh I just thought of something, Michaels just had a 20% off your entire purchase coupon, it probably would of been best to just buy a bunch of boxes there :( Oh well.

I was also thinking of crocheting little peapod magnets to go along with the favors, but I think I'll need about 40 (I'll have to check), so I'm not sure I want to crochet that much lol. I'll probably make 1 to see how long it takes though.

Teapot and Saucer

The ultrasound on Wednesday went great, they checked everything (for about an hour!) and the doctor came in and rechecked everything real quick, and said everything looked great! Yay!

I also finished a new pattern...a little teapot and saucer! I should of straightened the trim out more on the teapot before I took the picture though. Oops.

This is just a quick post because I have to run....but I couldn't wait to share it! :D

Mini Holiday Swap!

Yay I got my swap package from sweetlysedated on Craftster! I LOVE it. She did an awesome job. I actually didn't even know I received, the package was behind my tomato plant...luckily I actually like to water them haha.

I mentioned that I love snowmen, and I got a package full of snowmany goodness!

When I opened the package, I was greeted to this (minus the ornament, I forgot to put it in the picture oops)...



The first present had an adorable little snowman themed stocking...perfect for the baby! I especially love the carrot colored buttons! It also contained little snowman coasters that are almost to cute to actually use....so I have them hanging up as a decoration :) I *might* let Craig use one if he's good!



Then she sent not one, but TWO embroidered onesies! Her embroidery is perfect, my newbie skills are very jealous :) I cant wait to show Craig the BYOB one, he will love it haha. Turquoise is my favorite color so of course I'm loving the Bebe one :)





She also stalked my Wists a bit and saw some super glittery ornaments I have on it...and she made me one! I LOVE it. I don't know what it is about glitter, but it makes me happy. Here is a picture of it on my tree.



She also sent me the leftover snowman fabric which is super awesome, don't the snowmen look like they are made from marshmallows? AND some snowmen scissors! That's actually pretty funny, I was just saying today that I need new scissors to cut my felt since they are getting to dull.



Thank you sweetlysedated, I love everything!!

Oh and whatever kind of chocolate is in the orange wrappers is amaaaaaazing.

Christmas Gifts and Baking

Today I'm going to my grandparents house, but I wanted to share a few pictures first. I've finished*most* of my Christmas gifts, and here are a couple of pictures that I know the recipients wont see first :)

2 "One Skein Scarves" from the book The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller. These are super easy and really cute, so I made them for Craig's 2 cousins. I also might make one for Shellie, depending on if we do anything for her birthday. The green picture here was taken at night so the color is a bit off, but it's a nice Olive green. Both were made using Caron's Simply Soft Eco yarn.





I also attempted freehand embroidery on a onesie that I'm going to give to Craig, it just says "Punk", but I made the U into a smiley because it was so huge lol. It's not the best looking, but eh I'm sure the baby wont mind :)



I also spent yesterday baking, and I think I might make 1 more thing, depending on if I finish my crochet projects.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies. While I really really love the flavor of these, I do wish it was more of a chewy cookie recipe instead of cake-like. Next time I will try adding banana to a chewy recipe :)



Beinjinho de Coco aka "Little Coconut Kiss". I was actually surprised how chewy these were, they are definitely more of a chewy candy then a cookie like I thought they would be. Craig said "Grats babe, you invented a new gum!" LOL. They aren't that chewy, but I think he wasn't expecting chewy either.These don't get a fancy plate because my dishwasher is the size of a toddler, so paper it is :)

This recipe is pretty much the one I used, except I omitted the cloves and rolled them in a mixture of powdered/granule sugar and coconut flakes.They have a slight natural coconut flavor, and they are really neat. I think they would be better as like a gift for a little kid, dyed all crazy colors.



I didn't get a picture of all my baking since I wanted to put it in tins asap, but I also made Martha Stewart Pecan Squares and omigosh they are so good! Superediculoustupid (can you read that? lol) fattening, but oh so good.


Chocolate Cream Cheese Truffles mmmm these are my favorite of everything I made. So good, so chocolaty and tangy....and cheap to make! They are a bit soft, but I'll just tell them to keep them in the fridge or something. I wont post her image here, because I love her site so I don't want to take her bandwidth.

Mini Holiday Swap

Since my partner received her package for the Mini Holiday Swap, so I can post the pictures!Two of the things she said she loved are Nightmare Before Christmas, retro/rockabilly...so I tried to craft using that theme. I crochet a black scarf and attached a felt cherry applique that I made, crochet a Jack Skellington ornament, and that white tree from a few posts down. I also sent her some Christmas Hello Kitty stickers and a Rudolph pez dispenser.

I had my second doctor appointment yesterday, and I've only gained about 10lbs so far,and I'm like 20/21 weeks...which surprised me since I feel like I've gained a lot more then that! I do have to go for another ultrasound since they weren't able to get an accurate picture of all the chambers in the heart...but that's ok with me because that means I get to see the baby again :)

I've finished all of my Christmas shopping (although I forgot Craig's Uncle, oops!) and I've just got something like less then 10 projects to finish and I'll be done lol. They are quick projects though. If I have time I also might make some ornaments for everyone. We'll see!

Thanksgiving, Ami Snowgirl and Ultrasound

Two days ago was our 19 week ultrasound...and it's a boy!! It was so cool to see the heart pumping, the spine, the fingers...everything. We're going to make copies and send pictures to everyone in Christmas cards, but I also took a picture of the ultrasound picture to email to people :)

It's a little fuzzy, but pretty good I think for being a picture of a picture.



Good thing I never gave away that starghan I made!

After the ultrasound we went out to lunch/early dinner with my parents at Red Robin, and they gave us a little bib and some cute socks that have a picture of a puppy on them....and it looks like our dog Misty :). We went into the WalMart right across the street after Red Robins, and I bought us an artificial Christmas tree! It was between the 4 foot prelit tree for $25, or the skinny6 foot tree for $20. I ended up going with the 6 footer because it really didn't look that big,I think it's a perfect size. I'll probably set it up on Monday, and that will still give me plenty of time to see if I need more ornaments or anything. For the garland, I'm going to crochet a long skinny scarf and just wrap that around.

Craig and I were planning on just spending Thanksgiving together, and then going to my parents house on Sunday for another Thanksgiving. Craig said he'd make a turkey on Thursday, I'm making the super easy sweet potato's (mmm my favorite), Stove Top Cranberry stuffing with added orange zest, and a pumpkin cheesecake. I'm at least going to *attempt* a pumpkin cheesecake, since I bought the premade cheesecake filling and I'm not sure if I can just mix the pumpkin straight in or what.

Now Craig is saying there is a *slight* chance we might still be able to go to his family's house down in L.A., if he can finish all of his clients today then his work said he could have Friday and Saturday off. BUT one client is being stubborn and only wants services on Saturday, so we'll see if he was able to do it today.

I finally finished my snowboarder girl! I ended up giving a bonus sled pattern, since the first snowboard I made was a bit to big, and Craig said it looked like a sled. Ahaha good idea :)
I'll have the pattern up for sale today as soon as I find our copy of Adobe PDF maker, there is a lot of instructional pictures in the pattern, so to PDF is to big for all the free PDF makers that I've seen.







LOL Lynelle (the hooker from the movie Borat) is on the radio this morning and she's hilarious.