Collection of Christmas Pattern Freebies!!

I have been floating around facebook, visiting some of my favorite pattern designers and have made a list of designers that are offering free pattern downloads today! Yay! I mean come on, who doesn’t like free right!?! So, here is the list of the designer’s Facebook pages. Feel free to head over and get the info on how to get their deal!

Click the image to go to her website for more info!

 

Click the image to go to her Ravelry shop.

Click the image to head to her facebook for the details!

Click the image to head to their Ravelry page!

Click the image above to head to their Ravelry shop.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My family and I would love to wish all of my fans a very Merry Christmas! I hope that Santa has treated you all very well! We decided to stay home this year (can’t beat the 80+ degree weather here in SoCal), and it was pretty nice to be able to do things on our own schedule.

I posted earlier this week about my Teacher and Classmate gifts that I made for Miss M’s preschool class. So, I figured why not tell you guys a little bit about one of my family traditions that I love dearly! This was done at my Mom’s house every year as well as in her home when she was little and I hope when my kids get older they will continue the tradition in their homes.

We put up our Christmas trees early in the month, I like to put mine up after Thanksgiving dinner (we use a fake one). Then as our family presents come in or get wrapped we place them under the tree. So, our tree has lots of pretty wrapped presents under the tree for weeks before Christmas. The kids might look at them to find what presents are theirs, but they never really bother them until Christmas. I believe that this is a very good way to practice patience with the kids. That is something that they have to learn and do their whole life so, why not start with Christmas presents.

Then on Christmas Eve, Santa comes and adds his presents to the pile. The girls know which ones are from him because they are wrapped all in white tissue paper and tied with red/green curly ribbon. I just love this look! It makes it so easy to spot the Santa presents in with all of our regular ones and I think it makes them get even more excited when they see them for themselves!!

What kind of things do you do for traditions in your family? Please share, I would love to hear some others!

Teacher & Class Christmas Gifts

This is my first year of ever having to do Christmas gifts for teachers and classmates. I didn’t want to just do the blah thing of buying all the teachers an ornament. So, I searched Pinterest and the internet until I found something like I liked. I ended up finding a blog that was written by a teacher and that said that one of the best things to give a teacher was something that they could actually use. So, I figured why not something in a jar or bottle that they could reuse. Hot Chocolate! Isn’t that something that always reminds us of the holidays? I know it does here for sure!

I ended up going to Michael’s to find something to put the hot chocolate in. I ended up finding these super cute Ashland glass bottles with cork tops! They were perfectly sized for some hot chocolate and some mini marshmallows! I grabbed four and away we went (I had Miss S with me since Miss M was in school)!

Click the image to go directly to the listing on Michael’s website!

When I got home I took out four packets of hot chocolate mix from our cabinet. I used Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate since that is all we drink in my house… and who could go wrong with that stuff! It’s the best (in my opinion of course)! Once I poured a packet in each of the glasses (and remember to wash/dry the glasses before adding any food to them), I got out the Kraft Jet-Puffed Mallow Bites and put in a layer of those. MMmmm so good right!? They fit perfectly into the bottles without having to worry about them not coming back out when her teachers went to make their hot cocoa.

I found a cute little poem on the internet for the labels… so I did a quick on up in Photoshop and printed out four of them. I used elastic string to attach them to the bottles. Then added a ribbon to the neck of the bottle.

Teacher gifts… Done!

 

 

For the kids gifts I got cellophane bags and put little treats and goodies in there before I added our special little surprise. My girls love putting out their little bags of Reindeer Food on the lawn on Christmas Eve… so we decided to make some for all of Miss M’s friends. These are super simple and easy to make. All you need is little zip-lock bags (got ours at Michael’s), Oats and big Glitter (color is totally up to you).

 

Once you have all of those things gathered together you can start putting them together. What I like doing is putting a little bit of the oats in the bag first.

Then you add enough glitter to be able to see it mix well in the bag.

After that you fill it up the rest of the way with oats and give it a little shake after you zip it up tight.

Now, you just need to attach the little Reindeer Food poem and you are done!

If anyone makes any of these cute Christmas crafts please feel free to share!

UPDATE – Sharing some love this Christmas Season

So, I had posted earlier this month about a little girl named Addie and her wish of Christmas cards to fill every room in her house. I am sure that everyone remembers that touching story (if you missed it click here). Well, I was contacted by someone at American Greetings and they informed me about their awesome contribution to making little Addie’s last Christmas the best that it could be! On their blog they set up a way that you can sign a card (free of charge) and American Greetings will put your signature on a card for you! This makes it even easier for you to do it, so please please please head to their site by clicking the image below and fill out the five question form!

Of course you are also welcome to send your own personal card instead of using American Greetings form by mailing them to:

Box 162, Fountain Green, UT 84632.

Either way please take a few seconds and spread some Holiday love this year.

Pattern Test for Sweet Potato 3 Patterns – 04

This little pattern test was for the larger sizes of Christine’s NICU Challenge premie pattern. This hat is just so adorable and perfect for the holiday season! It’s a very quick one to work up since you work it as a flat piece and then stitch it together to make the hat. She gives you two different ways to do the top part of the hat too! Love when hats come with options!

 

Little Miss S actually wanted to model this one for me! I was pleasantly shocked…. I should have know there was a catch though. She had to have her tongue out! Ha!

You can get this super fun hat using the following links!

Ravelry / Craftsy / Etsy

Be sure to follow Sweet Potato 3 Patterns on Facebook too!

Sharing some love this Christmas Season

Each year I try to find some way to share some Christmas spirit and love for the holidays. It could be something like donating new toys to Toys For Tots, donating non-perishables to the local food bank or making preemie hats for NICU babies.

This year I signed up to make NICU hats for the little babies at our local hospital again. I still remember the feeling that I had when I received a knitted hat for little Miss S when we left the hospital. So, I will probably do that as well… every year that I can.

But this year I decided to do something extra… I am going to send a Christmas card to a little girl who is very sick. I found her story because my friend posted the news article on her facebook page. The story was so touching and it is such a simple wish that this amazing girl and her family have this holiday season that I couldn’t help trying to fulfill it!

Little Addie is 6 years old, and when she was just 3 years old she stopped growing which has caused her to only weigh 23 pounds. The doctors don’t know what is wrong with her… but they say she will probably only live roughly a year more.

Addie loves checking the mailbox and seeing if anything is for her… I mean what kid doesn’t! So, her Mother is asking everyone to send a Christmas card for her. They hope to cover every wall in their house with them!

If you would like to help by sending Addie and her family a Christmas card please send it to: Box 162, Fountain Green, UT 84632.

 

You can also read about her story here: http://q13fox.com/2014/12/01/little-girl-who-weighs-just-23-pounds-has-one-christmas-wish-before-she-dies-can-you-help/

Giveaway over at Melody’s Makings! 10 Free Patterns of Your Choice!!

Melody over at Melody’s Makings is having an awesome giveaway right now! It ends on Friday December 5th!

She is offering 10 Free Patterns of Your Choice! I mean who doesn’t need some more patterns right?! I don’t think I have ever heard a knitter/crocheter say that they had too many patterns and didn’t want anymore.

To enter all you have to do is click the image above to leave a comment on her post! Then for extra enteries head over to her facebook page and link some of your crafty friends who would love this deal as much as you do! Then if you win they will too! How awesome is that!!??

To get your extra entries follow this link!

https://www.facebook.com/MelodysMakings/photos/a.166904303368142.38508.164711616920744/812584068800159/?type=1&theater

 

Melody has also been doing some extra deals on her facebook page every day until Christmas. Today was $3 off one of her Ravelry patterns! There are 23 days left until Christmas so that offer was only good for the first 23 customers! Tomorrow’s deal will only be available to the first 22 customers and so on! So, be sure to keep checking her page! She is posting them at random times during the day so everyone has a chance to get in on the fun!

Nightmare Before Christmas inspired man eating plant wreath

Everyone in this house just LOVES Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. Everything from it’s stop-motion to it’s characters and story are just amazing! Even Miss M and Miss S fell in love with the book, movie and ride at Disneyland. I will be honest I was a little worried how a 4 year old and a 2.5 year old were going to handle the movie due to it’s darker tones. But I think that the way that my husband and I slowly introduced the story to them, they were able to handle it very well.

I have been wanting to make one of these wreaths for awhile but kept it on the back burner until I felt that they wouldn’t be scared of it. So, with their new found love of the movie I decided to put my creation to work this year!

So, lets get on with my Nightmare Before Christmas wreath, shall we?!

Supplies:

• Wreath
• Red ribbon for the bow (I used a wired ribbon so you can shape it how you want)
• Sprigs of red berries
• White foam sheet for the teeth
• White modeling clay for the eyes (I used Crayola’s Model Magic)
• Black Marker or Paint (to put the dots on the eyes)
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors

Step 1: The first thing I did was fluff my wreath. They always come a little matted and blah.

Step 2: Put white paper behind the wreath and draw out the teeth.

Step 3: Cut the paper teeth out and trace them onto the white foam.

Step 4: Cut the foam teeth out carefully. Don’t worry about the straight edges too much because you will probably shape them a little bit more while you are putting them on the wreath.

Step 5: Make ribbon bow to the size that you want it and tie it onto the lower part of the wreath. I used a red pipe cleaner to attach the bow to the wreath. This will allow you to reposition the bow once you get all the rest of the stuff on it (I ended up moving it lower once I put the teeth on).

Step 6: Flip wreath over and glue teeth onto the underside of the wreath. I had to cut pieces of foam off in order to fit them onto the wreath nicely due to the framing.

Step 7: Turn the wreath back over the correct way and re-fluff the branches and bow if needed.

Step 8: Form the eyes using the modeling clay and dry using the required method. The modeling clay that I used just had to be left out over night to be hardened enough to the touch. This allowed it to be glued onto the wreath perfectly. It will continue to harden for the next 72 hours.

Step 9: Pull berries off of sprigs to glue randomly on wreath. Glue eyes (when dry) to the wreath. Make sure you position them so that they look angry so, slightly downward in the inside.

Step 10: Draw/paint the dots for the eyes very carefully so that they are even.

Then wallah you are done! Go and hang that bad boy on your door! I am sure it will be a conversation starter when someone comes to your door. Plus, in the story Jack Skellington finds Christmas Town the day after Halloween (my favorite holiday) and starts planning his take over of Christmas shortly after. So, I take that as I can have this wreath up from November 1st until the end of December! One wreath for two months, hells yeah!

Dollar Bin Challenge – Christmas Edition

I have been a member of a blogger group for a couple of months now, they have been doing a monthly challenge between the people that belong to the group. I usually didn’t sign up to do it… until this month! Their dollar bin pick was Target’s $3 Mini Christmas Tree! I looked at this tree for awhile trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Then it hit me… make it into a crochet tree! The bottom of the tree was just screaming for a crocheted cover. I didn’t think that anyone would have a pattern for something like this. So, I decided to design my own! Yup, that’s right… I wrote my first pattern (which I will be sharing with all of you, for free)!

The first thing you need to do is pick yourself up a Mini Christmas Tree. We got ours from Target in their $3 bin.

Once I got it home I fluffed it up and took off the burlap wrap on the bottom of it. I was a little surprised to just find a a cylinder shape piece of concrete there to stabilize the tree. To be honest I didn’t know what to expect under there… but I didn’t think that.

After I took it off I dived into making my own pattern for a cover. It’s pretty cute if I might say so myself. You can make it striped like mine or one solid color. I didn’t specify my color changes in the pattern so that it’s completely up to you!

Mini Christmas Tree Base Pattern

This pattern will work with a 16.5 inch mini tree with a 3 inch wide x 2.5 inch tall cylinder base.

Materials:
Worsted Weight Yarn
H Hook

Gauge: 6 sc sts and 7 rows = 2 inches

Abbreviations:
Ch – Chain
Sc – Single Crochet
Slst – Slip Stitch
Flsc – Front Loop Single Crochet

Row 1: Ch 4, Slst into 1st Ch.

Row 2: Ch 1, Sc 8 in loop. Slst into 1st stitch. (8)

Row 3: Ch 1, 2Sc in each stitch around. Slst into 1st stitch. (16)

Row 4: Ch 1, *2Sc, Sc* Repeat from * until the end. Slst into 1st stitch. (24)

Row 5: Ch 1, *2Sc, Sc in next two stitches* Repeat from * until the end. Slst into 1st stitch. (32)

Row 6: Ch 1, Flsc in each stitch around. Slst into 1st stitch. (32)

Row 7-12: Ch 1, Sc in each stitch around. Slst into 1st stitch. (32)

Row 13: Ch 1, *Sc in next 3 stitches, Ch 1 Skip 1 stitch* Repeat from * until the end. Slst into 1st stitch. (32) (This row creates the holes for the tie)

Row 14: Ch 1, Sc in each stitch around. Slst into 1st stitch. (32)

You can end there or repeat Row 14 until you reach the height that you want. I would suggest trying it on to see how you like it. I ended mine with Row 16.

For the tie, I just braided the three colors of yarn together and cut them to the length that I wanted. You can use whatever you want: yarn, ribbon or twine to name a few!

Tree Decorations: I made little balls of yarn and stars to decorate my tree and I used a small string of LED lights.

Yarn Balls: For the balls I just rolled up the colors that I wanted. Then when I was happy with the size of the ball I glued the loose part of the yarn down to keep it held together. I took toothpicks and made crochet hooks and knitting needles to stick into the balls.

Stars: It took awhile to find a good start pattern that I liked, but I found one on Ravelry. The little stars from Amination where the perfect size and super easy to make! You can find them here: http://aminationblog.tumblr.com/post/44573037824/reach-for-the-moon-and-stars Once I had them made I just glued little buttons to the centers. For the tree top I made two and sewed them together, Leaving the bottom open so that I could slide it over the top of the tree.

All you have to do is make a bunch of these until you are happy with how full your tree is. I did three yarn balls and three stars per color (red, green and white).

And here is my finished tree!

 

Now that you have seen my entry for the  $3 Mini Tree Challenge, be sure to check out the other bloggers that participated! You will surely get some great ideas on how to decorate your Mini Christmas Tree!!

: DIY Inspired : Life With Lovebugs : Zoo Cutie Printables :
: Simply Creative Ways : Pandora’s Craft Box :