Crocheted Candy Cane Pattern

Since we are siting here, waiting for it to snow, I decided to figure out some Christmas ornaments for this coming year. This pattern was actually a mistake, but turned out perfect!

THE PATTERN:

This is so simple to make, and takes only maybe 10 minutes.
Materials:
1 ball Red Heart Holiday in Red
1 ball Red Heart Holiday in White
G Crochet Hook
Darning Needle
White pipe cleaners
Ribbon of choice
With white, Chain 33
1st Row: Work 1 DC in the 3rd CH from hook. DC in each chain across to the end of chain.
2nd Row: Join red. Work 1 SC in each DC across. Fasten off.
Wind crocheted piece around white pipe cleaner. Trim pipe cleaner at ends if needed, bend top of Candy Cane to form a hook shape.
Tie a ribbon in a bow around the candy cane to add that special touch.
I can’t wait to see what you all come up with. Have fun with this, use different yarns and experiment!

What are you making this year for ornaments or other decorations? 

Cold, Rainy, and warming up with Zuppa Toscana

Yes, the boys thought I was nuts to be taking a picture of our dinner last night :) But I am a little crazy, as we all know! This recipe was extremely close to the olive garden version, and oh so good!! I found this recipe at eighteen25, totally awesome ideas there, you must go check them out! This will be one of our go to soups for winter, the boys couldn't tell there were onions in it, and didn't even mind the kale!! Sweet, I won a food challenge vs. the men in the house for a change! With leftovers of this soup in the fridge, I'm thinking some for lunch is in order on this rainy day.

Olive Garden Copycat Zuppa Toscana Recipe
4-6 servings
Ingredients:

1 lb Italian Sausage
2 large russet potatoes, sliced in half, and then in 1/4 inch slices
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 bag Oscar Meyer bacon bits
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups kale, chopped
2 cans chicken broth
1 quart water
1 cup heavy whipping cream








Directions:
1. Cook sausage in a 300°F oven for approximately 30 minutes.

2. Drain sausages on paper towels and cut into slices.

3. Place onions, potatoes, chicken broth, water, garlic in pot, and cook on medium heat until potatoes are done.

4. Add sausage and bacon and salt and pepper to taste.

5. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

6. Turn to low heat and add kale and cream.

7. Heat through and serve.

SPOOKY! Garland made with my cricut.

This was so much fun! I got the idea from Dittle Dattle. I made the letters from the Winter Woodland Cricut cartridge. I used BoBunny paper, purple velvet ribbon, and attached the letter blocks to a black iridescent ribbon with mini safety pins. I used used the doodlecharms cartridge for the spiders.

Here is a close up of the spiders. I took purple glitter glue and highlighted their eyes and legs. I also used black glitter glue around each letter square.

Let me know what you think, I love your comments!

Paper Pumpkin from Martha Stewart

I was watching Martha Stewart today and saw the show where Martha made this cool pumpkin.
For some reason I had mommy brain fade out and only used one sheet of 12 x 12 paper instead of two. I might make another one tomorrow with 2 sheets to see what I think.
I also used the cricut and the stamping cartridge to make the leaves, and I used a scrap piece of bamboo felt to make the stem.
So if you would like to make one of these totally cool pumpkins go HERE and get all the specifics, I would love to see your pumpkins when you get done.

Check back tomorrow, I was working on another fun Halloween garland this afternoon, but didn't quite get finished. I will be posting this project tomorrow, kinda cute and I used the cricut again.

Vintage Halloween Garland

This project was so much fun to create! And making it also inspired me to clean the house and decorate for Autumn, and my 2nd favorite holiday, Halloween.

Since it's such a rainy day here in North Idaho, and I have a yummy chuck roast cooking in the crock pot, I'm going to make some more of these fun garland, and some other vintage things.

Halloween CAL!

Halloween CAL... Let me know who all wants to be a part of it. As you get them done post pictures so we can all see.
I found the cutest little Halloween decoration that we could all do together. It's the cutest little BOO, and the pattern is free....
http://www.pixiekitten.com/Item.aspx?Item=Boo

I'm also working on trying to figure out why the comments won't work! Hopefully one day soon blogger will get back to me!!! 

A new Yahoo Group!

  
  Click to join cozyathomecrochet

I decided to make up a yahoo group for all of us to share crochet, and all the at home things we love about this blog. This group will be the same things as I share on here, but more crochet :) So please join so that we can all make this new crochet/cozy at home group really successful!!

I love ya all!!!!

A new shop & blog

Hey Everyone! Well I am going to try and pursue my love of paper again. I am working hard at filling a shop on etsy call Buttercup Cut Ups... buttercupcutups.etsy.com
Please e-mail me and let me know what sorts of things you would like to see. I'm also going to be changing my crochet pattern etsy shop to a different shop. I think the name is what's wrong with the low sales, so I have some ideas for a new name and a new shop.
Please stay tuned to what is to come.......

For some reason a lot of you have been trying to leave comments, and aren't able to. I have put an e-mail into blogger for help with this problem. If I can't get it resolved I will probably move my blog to wordpress or typepad.

Thanks for all your support and continued reading! I love you guys, you make my day so much brighter.

Natural Little Acorn Bag, Waldorf Inspired

I really liked the big acorn purse that I made a little while back, so I decided to make a very small version as fall decorations or little gift bags. The little Tomtie was made for me by my friend at Rainbow River Designs.
I've been really busying making things for my etsy shop, hoping that now that fall is coming my shop will get busy. I've put up a variety of things today, Baby beanies, patterns, french press cozy, apple cozy, and more. I also have a new pattern for gauntlets that I will be putting up as soon as I get it written.

I've also been making these fun little apple cozies for some friends. They are so much fun, and I think they will look great as a decoration in a bowl of apples.

Acorn Purse Crochet Pattern

My latest creation, an acorn purse! I had so much fun making this pattern to sell in my etsy shop, and there are so many things you can do with it. Besides a purse, I am going to make one fully out of 100% wool and felt it down as a door hanger! I made this one out of Lion Brand Hometown USA, And I'm so please with the way the colors have turned out. There are so many color combos that you can use for this, it can get so creative!
I'll post when I make one and felt it, I'm really excited about all the ideas from this one pattern!

So you go Clucks, Cuddles & Crochet and check out this and other patterns I have.

Canny Women

Cannywomen

1. Cautiously shrewd; prudent; wary (our eyes are wide open).
2. Frugal; thrifty (always).
3. Skillful; clever (absolutely).
4. Gentle or quiet (sometimes – huge grin).
5. Pleasant; good; attractive (of course – wink wink).

Wouldn't you just love to be "canny"? I would!
This new and totally awesome website http://cannywomen.com/ is the best frugal finance and family website I've ever seen. So many tips and tricks to make life simple and frugal. Please join me in using this website to, as Cindy says.... Do instead of Buy, Shop and home first, and Procrastinate.

So my first feat on trying to save money, be more frugal, "Shop at home first!", and get out of debt, I've made up an inventory of what we have on hand for foods in the freezer, pantry, and fridge.
So far I have 37 meal ideas put together with the food we already have on hand. I also used www.allrecipes.com to use up some things in my pantry... this awesome website lets you put in your ingredients you have on hand and it will bring up different recipes, it's so awesome!

My Garden is doing awesome! The cucumbers are starting to come in, and we have carrots, peppers, and lots of tomatoes that are coming in. It's been so nice to have fresh veggies from the garden, I have a lot of things that I'm going to change, but most of all I love gardening and have been totally bit by the bug!

NEW BABY HATS!!
I've put some new baby hats in my etsy shop, trying to make some extra money to go towards paying off our credit cards. Go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/coziathome to check them out, I also have teen hats up. If you have any suggestions please let me know!