Keen Handmade Creations Shop Update

The past couple weeks have been pretty busy in my house so I haven't been able to post lately, but I have been crocheting up a storm. I'm crocheting a baby blue skirt, hair bows, and a Sponge Bob inspired hat.  I'm going to have a Crochet Hair Bow Sale and a Giveaway soon.

                                

                                                 1940's Inspired Cloche Hat with a Large Bow

I'm in love with this 1940's Inspired Cloche Hat with a Large Bow. I love the color combination that my daughter helped me chose for this hat.  This hat would look great in any color combination, but I think I'd like to make a black and white version of the hat also.  Custom Colors and Appliques Available. Pattern by Cre8tion Crochet

                                              

Crochet Sunflower Bookmark 

I'm a avid reader and writer so I decided to make this  Crochet Sunflower Bookmark since I'm constantly shoving junk mail or napkins in books to keep my place. The sunflower bookmarks can be made for any size book or your bible. Custom Colors and Flowers Available. Pattern by Meladora's Creations

I'm currently adding more crochet and upcycle items to the Keen Handmade Creations Shop. Lately I've been on a roll with crocheting so you'll probably see more crochet items. What items would you like added to the shop?

Philippians 4:13 Printable for Personal Use Only

Here's another of my favorite bible verses that gives me strength. It's actually one that I can remember all of the word to it since I struggle with memorizing them so it's a big accomplishment for me to remember it. I've actually know it since I was a little girl in vacation bible school. It's an excellent verse to lean on always.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Click on the image to download.You'll need to right click and highlight save image as then left click.

It's for PERSONAL USE only and Please don't claim it as your own work. If you have any questions leave a comment

Tutorial: Upcycle Dishwashing Sponge with Handle Tutorial

A few weeks ago I caved and bought a kitchen dishwashing sponge with handle for a dime in the clearance section.  My daughter said it will be easier to clean the Mason jars we use for leftovers and glassware.  While washing dishes I got grossed out about the germs harboring on the sponge so   I thought about throwing it away, but  the upcycler in me decided to figure out a way to replace the sponge with something reusable instead. I decided to replace the sponge with a thrifted t-shirt that I can wash it so I threw the sponge away and replaced it with the washable t-shirt rolled up.

Materials

4X thrifted T-shirt (If you use a smaller t-shirt cut more strips)

Scissors

Ruler (optional)

Directions

1. Lay shirt out flat on the floor or a table. 

1. Cut horizontally across the t-shirt four inches above the seam, but don't cut all the way through the shirt.

2. Cut another strip four inches above the last cutting all the way through.

3. Cut diagonally across from one section to the other so you'll have one continuous strip.

4. Cut slits 1- 1.50 inches slits in on both sides and an inch apart on the long strip like the picture.

5. Roll the strip into a tight ball then slide through the handle of the dishwashing sponge. You may have to cut the slits a little more.

Care: Wring dish wash sponge handle after use and allow lean in dish drying rack or against sink. Machine wash in a lingerie bag or pillow or hand wash. I spray vinegar water on mine to sanitize often.

Visit my handmade shop at Keen Handmade Creation

John 3:16 Printable for Personal Use Only

I've always loved playing around with art programs since I started designing blogs and scrap booking some of my families pictures.  One of my favorite bible verses has been John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The printable is free to use for Personal Use Only, but please give people the link to the post instead of distributing the printable. It's not to be sold to anyone. If you have any questions about the terms leave a comment or email me @keenhandmadecreations I made the printable 8X10 this time. If you have any problems printing it feel free to email or comment below.

What bible verses or quotes would you like to see next?

Enjoy

Cre8tion Crochet Design War Contest

Are you a crocheter? Cre8tion Crochet is having a design war

 

The start date is July 1st, 2013 and ends July 31st, 2013. I will be entering the contest, but I don't know which pattern I'll be entering. 

Here's the information on The Cre8tion Challenge

The first category will be Cre8tion Crochet Cre8tions where each participant will pick a Cre8tion Crochet pattern of their choice and enter their finished item in the contest. It can be any CC pattern and it can be embellished in any way you see fit.

The second category will be Cre8tion Crochet Fan Cre8tions where each participant will design their own crochet "cre8tion" to enter in the contest. It must be designed by you and cannot be a pattern designed by someone else. It doesn't have to be a formal written out pattern but it must be YOUR design.

Each winner* will receive a Yarn Bowl designed by Mudcrush Pottery! As well as a one of kind necklace from Cre8tion Crochet (your choice of a Tree of Life or a Crochet Ring Necklace). For every ten entries each category receives I will add another prize, just as fabulous as the first two!!! So the more entries the better the prizes packs will be.

The contest is open to all fans of the Cre8tion Crochet fb page. Tell your friends.

*If you happen to win both categories will receive the bowl and either a handcrafted hook from Craftwich Creations or a skein of handspun yarn from The Spinning Wheel.

Homemade Peach Lemonade

After seeing a recipe for homemade lemonade I decided I would try my hand at making my own lemonade with a twist. I knew how to make lemonade and a sugar water ( honestly I cannot think of the exact name of it at the moment.) so I decided to make my own lemonade, but I didn't have enough lemons so I decided to add the 10 flying saucers/donut peaches.

                                                             photo credit: Kingsburg Orchards


 I picked them while shopping at Walmart. Actually it's a strange story how I found them. I was grocery shopping at Walmart almost ready to leave, but I wanted to pick up some fresh fruit and veggies before leaving so I went to the produce section. When I came around the corner a really strong smell grabbed my attention that smelled really really good. So I asked the produce worker what the smell that smelled really sweet. She looked at me a little strange and I really cannot blame her. How many people ask what smells so good at a grocery store? She told me I don't really know, but it might be peaches so I went looking for the sweet smell. I did find it once I smell from a little distance the different fruit in the produce section. This things smelled as delicious as they tasted once I went home. They don't come loose like most peaches they come in a mesh bag like the oranges or onion you see in the produce section.  They are so... so... good

Homemade Peach Lemonade

8 small-medium sized lemon
10  ripe flying saucers (You can use small peaches.)
3 cups white sugar


Cut lemons and flying saucers or peaches in half.

Squeeze lemons and flying saucers or peaches by hand or with a juicer into a bowl.  I hand squeezed them since I couldn't find my juicer.

Pour juice from both through a strainer or remove seeds from juice.

Bring a 5 quart saucepan  3/4 full of water to a boil. Pour sugar into saucepan then stir until sugar crystals are dissolved.

Pour sugar mixture into gallon pitcher then stir in lemon and peach juice.  Stir well and taste with a spoon. If it is too tart fill the remaining pitcher with water. Stir again and serve with ice.

Keen Handmade Creations Store Opening

I'm happy to announce that my handmade store is now open. My store will include handmade crochet and upcycle gifts. I currently have crochet items in the store, but I will be uploading upcycled items soon. If you don't see something in the store currently  contact me for a custom order for you.

Here's a sneak peak of one of my favorite items in the store

Praying for the Storms to Pass

Yesterday we sat quietly in the house listening to the winds beat up the siding and rain like crazy. We heard things hitting the side of our home, but we didn't go outdoors. The thunder claps made me jump several times. Storms are one of those things that I totally dislike since seeing my babysitter hit by lightning when I was a child.  ( A story for another time) I’ll actually walk quickly to get into the house.  I don’t like watching the lightning hit ground or hearing the claps of thunder at all.  

While I was waiting for the storm to pass I did get to work on the Upcycled dog bed made from old denim jeans of my daughter I started several months ago for Bandit  and I got several parts finished and prepped myself for installing a zipper something I have been avoiding like the plague. I've been a button, snap, and Velcro crafter for closures until I decided I need to overcome the obstacle of installing zippers, which I haven’t yet since I’m still cutting, pinning, and sewing pieces together.   

We kept the local news channel on the entire time even through the crummy paid informational ads that repeat the same thing over and over. Finally went to sleep at about three o’clock in the morning after the worst of it went through. Before going to sleep I did find text weather alerts from the Weather Channel before going to sleep, which was a relief since our local news channel only has alerts for iPhone4s and above phones.  It doesn't make any sense to me at all.

Saturday morning my daughter, Bandit, and I went for our daily morning walk looking for damage around our neighborhood. It was really wet out so our feet sunk in the ground. I was really glad I chose to wear tennis shoes instead of my flip flops I've had for at least five years otherwise my socks would have been soaked from the pot holes in the road and wet grass. Thankfully the only damage I found was a tree limb laying on the ground snapped in half and some leaves laying all over the ground that weren't there Friday evening.  

Upcycle Embroidery Floss Holder

I'm always looking for ways to incorporate upcyling in my crafting. I found the perfect way to organize my embroidery floss without purchasing a plastic holder. Using cereal box cardboard for this holder saved me money and turned out to be a great conversation piece in doctor's offices.  It works since I don’t use the embroidery floss that much.

Materials:

1 Cereal box or similar packing

Embroidery floss

Scrapbook paper

Ribbon

Markers or crayons

stickers (optional)

Elmers White Glue

Scissors

Hole Puncher or Use Scissors for holes

Directions:

1. Cut one Embroidery Floss Holder from cereal box packing like below. You'll need one embroidery floss holder for every two skeins. I made two spaces for mine since I like to keep my projects portable.

2. Cut a front and back template the same size as the embroidery floss holder above without the indentions. Set aside.

3. Cut slits on every embroidery floss holder template as shown in the picture.

 4. Cut paper to cover both sides of the front and back template. Glue the paper and decorate with stickers, glitter etc. to  both sides. Let dry overnight.

5. Punch holes on the edge of each embroidery floss holder template and on the front and back template.

 

6. Sew Button on the front  where the second hole was punched. Thread elastic through back cover and tie a not. The elastic should pull around the front to keep the Embroidery Floss Holder together.

6. Wrap floss around each of the embroidery floss holder spots.

7.  Thread ribbon through each of the embroidery floss holders with the front and back lined up. You’ll have the perfect Upcycled Embroidery Floss Holder

I know my picture are not the best quality, but I decided to share this tutorial anyways since it can help a lot of people save money while organizing your craft items.  

Do you have any questions? Ask Away

Monday Crafty Roundup- Crochet Sea Creatures

This week I picked a beach theme for the tutorial round up. I'm making a sea themed mobile for my mom for Mother's Day. She spends a lot of time at the beach so a mobile seems like the perfect Mother's day gift.

#1 First sea creature I've picked for the weekly roundup is the Go Fish. The fish would look quite turned up right as an octopus also.

#2 An adorable grouping of Fish Appliqués that would look great on a piece of card stock or cardboard placed in a frame. 

#3 Can you imagine these cute whales crocheted together into a stylish spring scarf. 

#4 I’m so in love with this cute triplet of octopus,starfish, and sea weed. I'm going to add the octopus to my Mom's Ocean themed mobile. 

#5 Here's a sea creature that could pass for both a squid and an octopus. He'd look great on the wall for a beach theme baby room. I <3 the adorable eyes. 

All images are copyright to the websites/blogs where they were found.

Learning the Value of life through Birds

                                                                   Source: google.com via CraveCute on Pinterest

I learned a good lesson on the value of life this past couple of weeks. We've had a birds living on our porch roof for the past few years. It gets pretty noisy up there some times, which drives my dog Bandit crazy sometimes.  Occasionally we think someone is knocking on the front door and it's the birds knocking on the steel roof.  It gets annoying at times, but we don't try to keep them away.

A couple of weeks ago I found a dead bird lying on the gravel drive way. I asked my daughter to remove the bird. I just cannot handle dead animals. I get really nauseous when i try to pick them up.  A couple days went by and my daughters didn't pick up the bird. Finally I held my breath and grabbed the shovel and garbage to throw the bird away.  I picked the bird up and tossed it in the trash.

Right after I picked up the bird I felt extremely guilty for tossing the bird away. Thoughts ran through my head about how mortified I was when my ex-stepfather threw their cat away in the garbage can. I got to thinking about the fact that I was no different than my ex-stepfather who tossed their family pet away.  I wouldn't do that to Mason when he died last May.

I had just started Overcome the Lie forty day challenge, so I was spending a lot of time praying and reading my Bible.  I started thinking about the Bible verse Genesis 6:19 "You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep alive with you."   If God loved the animals enough to save them from the flood why am I not valuing them as much as he did? At that point, I decided that throwing any creatures in the trash wasn't the best solution for the dead bird.  I decided I need to be more respectful to all creatures wild or domestic.

A couple of days later I had a chance to redeem myself sadly another bird was dead on the gravel drive way again! At that moment I did decide to bury the bird in the yard. It did take me a couple of days to do it because of nausea I felt.   I picked up the shovel again, dug a hole next to my shed and made a shallow grave for the bird then walked back over to the dead bird picking him or her up from the ground. I felt horrible inside only glancing at the poor bird thinking about the life he lost from dying. I took him or her over to the hole I dug and carefully laid the bird to rest. It was at that moment after asking God to care for the bird I realized how very precious life is.

Overcome the Lie: Let Go Let God

Have you checked out the Overcome the Lie Challenge? If you haven't you’re missing a powerful movement that being felt by bloggers and tweeters. It's a powerful movement that's spread the word of God while his followers give up one thing for 40 days similar to lent.  Ashley the creator of Overcome the Lie sends some powerful messages and just today sent one powerful message that really hit home with me.

For forty days, I've decided to not engage in negative conversation about other people and let people worry about their own stuff. It’s a real challenge since I live close to a few people who sell drugs. I've decided that I'm not wasting my breath even talking about their comings and goings.

I've decided to let God take care of the problem. I'm not the type to tell other people what to do or what not to do with their life. Does it affect me? Yes and No, but it doesn't do me any good wasting my time talking about since I cannot do anything about it.   I've decided to let go and let God even it’s a struggle to keep my tongue quiet.

Monday Crafty Round Up- Sharpie Art

This week I decided a round up of all things Sharpie after buying a set of Sharpies to create my own Sharpie Art. It all started when I saw the Youtube video Doodle Pendants by Hectanooga1. I cannot wait to make lots of pendants based on the tutorial.

The DIY Sharpie Dinnerware caught my eye quickly since I have several mugs from a set, which makes it hard to figure out whose has cream, sugar, or black with cream. I thought this would be a great way to add a message or write on name to know whose cup is whose.

Turn Children's art into tea towels  I love the tea towels so much. Even though my daughter is nineteen years old I still have page after page of her art work especially from preschool. They did an entire series of drawing an animal or thing to make the letter and I kept it. 

Sharpie iPhone Case  I love this idea since I own a plain colored iPhone case  I'm not quite brave enough to do it quite yet. I'd probably do it with a ruler. 

Alice in Wonderland Pencil holder  These dominoes are so darned cute. It's pretty amazing they were made with a sharpie marker and a stamp.  

DIY Sharpie Wallpaper tutorial  I'm not great at holding a ruler pretty straight without having a five pound weight on my cutting board for my rotor cutter so being able to hold a ruler and draw is pretty amazing. Now you know my secret- a five pound weight. 

Spring Fever Sharpied fabric poppy This adorable flower so reminds me of spring, doesn't it? I love how Elizabeth took a piece of material and made it into an adorable flower. Imagine it made into an entire boutique of flowers for mother's day. 


All images are copyright to the websites/blogs where they were found.

Looking for Handmade Time

I'm struggling to get my handmade store stocked with enough products to open. I probably could open the online shop now besides Facebook page where I am currently taking orders. So many distractions sending me in 500 directions. Taking my daughter to school and work, living with chronic pain, household chores, family and a one year old puppy whose having a lot of anxiety. On the positive side I have completed several necklaces, almost done with a tractor hat, and have a drink coaster set pinned together waiting for my sewing machine. I've been looking at all sorts of great ideas for crocheted and sewing tutorials. I'm hoping to include tutorials on this blog. Tomorrow is Monday and chasing after my college kid starts again.
How do you manage school, work, and pets?

Coffee Date #1

Alissa from Rags toStitches is talking about the Mommy Wars. At first, I didn't know what she was talking about until I viewed her video.  Mommy wars are the debates between moms about the way we choice to parent our children.

My two cents:

I do agree with Alissa that Moms need to agree to disagree.  Moms arguing breastfeeding vs. formula feeding, cloth diapering vs. disposable diapers, co-sleeping vs. separate sleeping, gender neutral toys vs. gender specific toys etc is completely wrong Moms need to band together to raise each other up instead of bashing each other. I could go on and on about the debates, but you get the idea.  We all need to help each other with the mindset if someone doesn't agree we let it go and don’t take it personal. Parenting is SOOOOOO hard.

I’m a big fan of breastfeeding since I did breastfeed my daughter after her first birthday. Yes, I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me, but it was what worked for MY Child and worked for ME. I didn’t choice to breastfed until I was eight months pregnant. My Mom completely disagreed with me, but having this ridiculous stubborn streak I did it anyways. I tried cloth diapering, but I couldn’t keep up with it since I was a fulltime student on top of being a teen mother. Yes, I had my daughter way too young, but I did take my responsibility serious.   

Until Next Week,

Sasha

I'm linking up with Rags to Stitches

Monday Crafty Round Up

Since winter is almost gone I thought I'd celebrate with a Monday Crafty Round Up with some necklaces to bring in spring instead of those wool hats and gloves.

 #1 Crocheted Flower Necklace- I'm crazy about crocheted necklaces especially ones with flowers and leaves.

#2 Upcycled Tie Necklace I've seen a lot of crafty projects made with ties, but I really like this necklace. This necklace would be adorable way for a nursing baby to hang onto while nursing.  It's a great way to have something of dad's while the baby is nursing.

#3 Fabric Crochet Necklace- Here's a mixture of crocheting and  upcycling  to create an adorable necklace. This necklace would be great made with tye dyed fabric or t-shirt scraps.  I'd love to add some pony beads to this necklace.

#4 Cherry Blossom/Japanese Sakura Necklace I love this necklace so much.  I've had a thing for cherry blossoms since my dog died. They put his ashes in a wo box covered with cherry blossoms. 

#5 Quick Crochet Necklace- Here's an adorable necklace made with bulky yarn instead of worsted weight yarn. It would look great in variegated or solid colored yarn. If you don't have any bulky yarn try using a couple strands of worsted weight yarn.   

April's not just for Fools

I guess I'll jump right in with a blog post to start your April out. I'm currently working on several crochet and sewing projects. I tend to jump around my projects since I get bored with projects especially larger projects. So I mix things up a lot. The biggest project I'm currently working on is a crocheted spa set. Right now I've completed a washcloth, facial scrubbies, ands a soap sack.