12 Cute Valentine Tutorials

TISSUE ROSETTE KISSING BALL

If you are looking for the Grow Your Blog post scroll down or go here.

There are so many darling Valentine's projects out there! Searching for some ideas was a lot of fun and I couldn't resist trying my hand at this cute rose kissing ball.  It was easy and needed very few materials - just two rolls of crepe paper, a Styrofoam ball and a glue gun.  The directions are linked below along with links for some other really great Valentine's Day decorating and gift ideas.  I hope you have fun checking them out and making one or two. Which one is your favorite?

Swedish heart
Vintage Valentine Collage sheet (free download)
Confetti Hearts
My Funky Valentines
DIY Felt Valentine Envelopes
Kiss Flip Book
Crochet Heart Garland
Hearts and Buttons Hanging Decoration
Tissue Rosette Kissing Ball
A Wall of Paper Hearts
Felt Heart Garland
Paper Heart Garland

100th Post Giveaway

I can't believe this is my one hundredth post!!!

I have decided to mark the occasion with a giveaway. As you know, awhile back I was making star garlands and posted the directions. Well, I continue to be enamoured with garlands and so will be giving away this multi-colored floral garland. It is about 49 inches long and has small loops at each end to help with hanging. I think it would be fantastic to hang at a birthday party or in a little girls bedroom window!

Now, how to win...leave a comment on this post for one chance to win, follow me and I will put your name in the hat twice, link me and it will go in three times! Your comment must be posted by midnight central time on Wednesday and I will draw a name on Thursday. Please be sure to leave me a way to contact you (blog link or e-mail address). Good luck and thanks for reading! It is the comments and interactions with readers that make blogging so much fun!

Fourth of July Garland

I've been working on a little Fourth of July project for you. There are so many cute garlands around the bloggosphere that inspired me to try one out for myself. These stars are crocheted and then attached to a crochet chain, stiffened and voila you're ready for a celebration.

I tried another version and sewed them onto a red, white and blue ribbon but they didn't hang right, so I've decided to use them to run down the middle of my table and I'll take some and tie them around some napkins for napkin rings. It will be very festive.

The great thing about them is they take no time at all to make and you can whip up one of these garlands, or at least all of the stars while you are watching your kids at soccer or during a T.V. show. If you are not a crocheter here is a link to some good directions, including a video! Here are the directions for the stars.

Fourth of July Stars

Materials

1 skein red and 1 skein blue Size 5 Perle Cotton

Stiffy fabric stiffener

wax or parchment paper

buttons (optional)

Size 1 crochet hook (or whatever guage you want)

Make 7ch, sl st into first ch forming a ring.

1st round 1 ch, work 15 sc into ring, sl st into first sc.

2nd round 9 ch, work 1 sc into 4th ch from hook, 1 hdc into each of next 2 ch, 1 dc into each of next 3 ch, skip first 3 sc on ring, sl st into next sc, *9 ch, work 1 sc into 4th ch from hook, 1 hdc into each of next 2ch, 1 dc into each of next 3 ch, skip next 2 sc on ring. sl st into next sc; repeat from *3 times more placing last sl st into same st as sl st of previous round. Fasten off.

I made 13 stars (7 blue, 6 red).

To attach to chain. With red make a chain about 4 inches long. sl st into the top of a blue star, ch another 3.5-4 inches, sl st into the top of a red star. Continue alternating red and blue stars finishing with a blue star and make a 4 inch chain beyond the last star.

The stars will curl a bit so I used Stiffy and diluted it with the same amount of water. I painted it on both sides of the stars being careful not to get it on the chain and laid them out flat on wax paper to dry. You can sew or glue a button in the middle of the star if you want.

Now to get the picnic gear!!!!

Crochet, Geometry and the Universe

On Tuesday I was listening to Here on Earth a show on my local Public Radio station. The guest was Margaret Wertheim a mathematical scholar from Australia who has studied hyperbolic geometry and, along with others, has been crocheting examples of hyperbolic space. I must say here, that I am pretty much a math-phobic person, but this was so interesting I went and checked out the websitewith her work, the Institute For Figuring and its galleries. Margaret and her sister Christine are involved in crocheting the coral reef. They have gotten the help of many, many crocheters around the world. The site contains a lot of images of the crocheting and if you are a mathematician at heart it also has a lot of information about the geometry and theory of hyperbolic space (which I actually read and understood).