Re-purposed Yarn

I have read a lot about people getting sweaters from thrift stores and repurposing the yarn. I searched and searched for a decent sweater to try this with, but I never found anything... until a couple months ago. Of course I didn't take a "before" picture, but I'll tell you the sweater was NOT PRETTY! It had obviously been handmade & shrunk. It was a baby pink with a bright green "I" in the middle of it. The yarn was soft though, and it was free. Tough to beat free right?
So it took me a while to unravel the yarn because of the way the sweater was constructed. I worked on it a little at a time here and there. It was also hard to keep the cat/dogs/baby out of it!
I finally finished it his morning! Look at all this soft yarn I got from it! The largest ball is about baseball size. I also made a few things with the yarn along the way so add one more small ball of yarn to the pile! The piece of the sweater with the "I" on it is under everything. I am going to cut it down and frame it as an "H" for my daughters alphabet wall.

Have any of you done anything like this? Did you have much luck?

Another Great Giveaway!

You have to check out this great new blog I found.  2 Boys + 1 girl = One Crazy Mom 

If you go check it out right now they are hosting a great giveaway for

It looks like so much fun!

I really think that Bug woulsd like making May some barrettes!  I remember making some like it when I was a kid.  What a great chance for her to make some fun memories!

There are lots of ways to enter multiple times so go check it out and share the love for a great blog!

Firestarters

M family lives in Alaska.  Things are super expensive there, especially heating fuel!  Most everyone I know has a wood stove to help heat their house during the winter.  I loved my furnace, but I depended on my wood stove and fireplace when I lived there too!  Fire starters are huge sellers too!  They sell them in varying kinds at almost every store in town!  I always wanted to make some myself from all the crafty tutorials around the web.  When we lived in Florida I started collecting the great big pine cones that were all over base, and dryer lint.  I never had dryer lint when I had the pine cones, and I never had pine cones when I had the dryer lint.  So, they never got made.  When we were packing up to move my husband asked me about my shoebox full of lint... "yeah, ok, I know I'm never gonna make them so throw it out."

So then last week I decided  that this year we were going to do homemade gifts for Christmas.  I knew my sister would LOVE some fire starters!!! 

Hmmmm.... I had egg cartons, and wax, but no dryer lint (because I have no dryer) and no sawdust....

Good thing she made her own!  She did a great tutorial on her bog too!  Check it out!  So, now I need more ideas for Christmas gifts for the best sister ever! 
Come on people - I need Ideas!!!!

Too Early???

Is it too early to start thinking about MJ's 1st Birthday??? 

I'll be honest, I'm not much of a planner, but when it comes to birthday parties I start thinking about the next one before the dishes from the current one are done. I love to thinkabout the party themes and favors and invitations and everything! Now, when it comes to actually getting it all done on time I may fall short, and often things don't come out exactly how I pictured them, but the plan is there!

I am totally excited about planning MJ's 1st Birthday party! I actually already bought her dress.  I'll give you a hint - it's green & frilly!  I already got a theme in mind too - CUPCAKES!!!  The theme came to mind when I saw this awesome craft for cupcake ornaments!  It will be something fun for Bug and her friends to make & they can be personalized too!  I am thinking "Thank you for coming to MJ's 1st Birthday" or something like that!  And I think some cupcake shaped soap would be a fun favor too! I will scour Etsy for the perfect invitations & post them when I find them.  Yes. I know. I could just make them myself, but why??  I'll tell you the only reason I would consider making my own invitations.  I would consider making my own invitations if I won THIS

Favecrafts.com is giving away one of these super cute Cupcake punches by EK success! This punch can be used for so many things!!  I would love it!!

Anyways, I hope that we can have some family there for her birthday, and I hope that some of the friends that have been there for us along the way will make it too.  I hope that the weather is great & most of all that MJ is happy!

If you have any tips, ideas, or anything at all to add feel free to comment!