Easy Crochet Red-Nose Reindeer Baby Hat

The holiday excitement has hit me early this year, so I'm taking it out on crochet.  Knitting and crochet are winter activities for me—I just can't get all tangled up in wool yarn in the hot summer months.  Last year I didn't do much crochet, but now that I've got some little muses in the form of my friends' kids, I'm back with a vengeance.  First project of the season: reindeer hats!

Image via JTeasycrochet

I sucked it up and bought an instant download pattern from Etsy, which was totally worth it.  I usually try to find something for free but there's a lot of sorting through the very cheesy junk. Plus this has easy instructions and pictures.  I made two, one for 0-3 month old Julia, and the other for 3-6 month Arianna. I wanted to get them done in advance so they could be worn throughout the Christmas season.

You need 4 yarns altogether, and I strayed slightly from what the pattern suggested so I could use what I had instead of buying an entire skein to make two tiny eyes. I used:
-For the head, Lion brand silky twist, super bulky #6 in Oatmeal
-For the antlers and ears, Lily Sugar 'n Cream #4 worsted weight in Ecru
-For the nose, some leftover maroon worsted weight, not sure of the details
-For the eyes, Lion brand Wool Ease #6 in Charcoal

Baby hat, minus the baby

You can crochet this pretty fast since baby heads are so small.  The pattern was very easy, beginner level, the trickiest part was attaching the ears and antlers.  I recommend using a tapestry needle to sew them on.

Sew them tight so they stand up

I don't have a baby to model it on, so here it is  eating a lamp, and looking a bit like Fozzie Bear.

Again, if you want to give it a shot you can pick up the pattern at the JTeasycrochet Etsy shop

On another note, happy 111th post!

Cookies!!

Although crafts have been lacking lately, baking has been in full swing.  I've done a little experimenting with food photography in the process.  Here are a few of the delicious sweets I'll be fattening up with this holiday season.

Spiced ginger cookies. Ornament not edible

Rumballs, looking suspended

Snowy tree macaroons

A few more varieties, boxed up for giving

Not really one for keeping cookbooks, all the recipes are online:

Chewy molasses spice cookies

Pecan rum balls

Lemon Whippers (seen on the right side of cookie box)

Macaroon trees Note: The recipe calls for 5 tsp of vanilla extract but I found the 3 was sufficient or they will be runny

Chocolate and butterscotch dipped shortbread. I followed the recipe for cookies and then dipped mine in melted butterscotch or chocolate.

Easy Oreo truffles I substituted mint Oreos and mint chocolate and they are always a hit!  But keep refrigerated until serving or they get melty and no one will eat them.

Yummmmm!

Making this year's holiday cards

Truth be told, I was pretty unmotivated to make Christmas cards this year, or even writing out store bought ones.  But after a lazy afternoon of watching Home Alone, inspiration struck.  I freehand carved this design into a speedball speedy-cut rubber block, and went for some glitz by using metallic inks.

Here they are drying on my clothing rack (a very good place to dry cards)

I even did a little experimenting with red paper and leftover white ink, which I'm totally diggin'.

The festivities start tomorrow night for my family, and the weather is predicting a possible white Christmas.  Well, 1-3 inches which will melt immediately but I'll take it!

DIY Christmas gifts for my bffs

This year, a few of my very good friends will be getting some very special Christmas presents: Ke$ha themed ornaments.  Be honest music elitists—Ke$ha sings a good party song. And although I don't really consider myself a party girl, my friends and I won't deny it's fun to dance around to her raunchy, catchy jams.  Now that I've defended myself I'll show you what I've created.

Hey girl, hey

These mini bottles purchased from Amazon were filled with glitter from confetti.com in the party rockin' shades of watermelon and prisma silver (because I guess there are a lot of silvers). I created the labels in photoshop with lyrics from her infamous single Blow, "Go insane, go insane, throw some glitter, make it rain."

Words to live by

In case you haven't seen the video, it stars Dawson Leary so I highly recommend watching it.  Tie some hemp cord around the bottle neck and you've got a top Christmas present perfect for the friends you met in Catholic school.

The hollerdays are a special time of year

It's pink, so you know it's for girls

Party on, friends.

Recycled holiday gift tags

Sadly this December hasn't been my craftiest holiday season, and though I'm bursting with ideas, I just haven't had the time to do many of them.  Blame a heavy work load, an increased interest in baking, and finding out that I have to move at the end of the month.  The next week leading up to Christmas is going to be heavily creative to make up for it (I hope, I may have just put a lot of pressure on myself).

To kick things off, here are some gift tags made with recycled grocery bags, stamps, and baker's twine.  I found it best to double layer the bags and hold together with rubber cement to make them a little sturdier, then cut into shape and attach the string last.  Simple, quick, easy, and cheap!

Rubber stamps were Martha Stewart except for the star,
which I made out of some leftover linoleum

Joy: A nondenominational message we can all appreciate