Crocheted Rag Rug...

I first thought of making my own rug after seeing a really cute rug that my sister had made. She made her rug out of old T-shirts and clothes that were going to be thrown away. I didn't have that many old t-shirts, but I did have a lot of scraps and left over fabric from various projects.

This was my first try and I love how it turned out. I didn't really care how the colors worked out, I wanted to use scraps and I like the look, but if you wanted you could plan out how it would look.

What you need: A LOT of fabric/scraps cut into 2 inch strips

A HUGE crochet hook (the biggest you can find, I found a big blue plastic on at Walmart)

a Pattern (if you are experienced in Crochet you could probably wing it, I started following the pattern I found HERE and then made some up as I went until it laid how I wanted it to.)

Free Printable....

I just fell in love with adorable printable! So cute! Just click on the picture to be linked to Craftily Ever After to get one for yourself or as a SUPER CUTE gift.....

Christmas Wreath 2....

I had to smile when I saw Megan's post about her Christmas Wreath.... because I have been making some myself! I thought I would just add to her post the pictures of my wreaths. Christmas ornaments are on a HUGE sale right now (I acutally bought and made these all after Christmas and New Years). This first wreath is for Valentine's Day, I actually wrapped a foam wreath form with ribbon and then hot glued all the ornaments on, it was pretty time consuming, but I really like how it turned out.

 This is our front door. I Love the bright green, I will probably leave it up through January. I love the bright pop of color it adds to the front of our house.

Here is a picture of where the Valentine's Wreath will be in our entryway.



Christmas Wreath

Yes I realize Christmas is over... but I have to back track and blog about all of the gifts I made so bear with me. This wreath just might be the perfect thing to make right now actually. I am pretty sure all the leftover Christmas bulbs are on clearance and there may be more time for projects now that the festivities are over. I found this super easy idea at Hope Studios... See her more detailed instructions HERE.

For this project you will need:
A wire hanger-- I would actually recommend skipping that and just getting regular wire at a craft store. Those wire hangers are seriously strong and hard to work with!
Tons of Christmas ornaments-- I bought all of mine (about 60-80 regular sizes bulbs) at dollar stores.
Glue gun! Don't skip this item!

First, hot glue all the tops of the ornaments together. I HIGHLY recommend you do this! We had a bit of a disaster when I dropped the wreath and lost most of my ornaments. It would have been so much easier to work with if the bulbs were all glued and stable!

After all the ornaments are glued, you just slide them one by one onto the wire. Ta Da! It's really that easy. Tie the top of the wire together and affix a ribbon to the top if you want. If you need more detailed instructions, check out Hope Studios blog. Merry Late Christmas!

Reusable Shopping Bags....

I think most of you can tell that I LOVE TO SAVE MONEY! (who doesn't?) I also really LOVE recycling, upcycling, and using things I already have. This tutorial does both. Did you know that some stores will take money off your order when you use your own shopping bags? Some stores will take 5 cents off per bag or offer other rewards (like Smith's offers points that turn into money quarterly).

I'm sure you all have a huge stash of grocery bags under your kitchen sink or stuffed in your laundry room, right? Well, this tutorial will use A LOT of them!

MATERIALS:

A LOT of plastic grocery bags.

Parchment Paper

Iron

Sewing Machine and Thread

Scissors

FUSING GROCERY BAGS:

Preheat Iron. My first tip is start with a LOW heat on your iron, like the SILK setting. If your iron is TOO HOT it will melt the bags into a crazy lump.

Take your plastic grocery bags and cut off the bottom of the bag and the handles. This will give you a plastic loop, now slide your scissors up one side and make a large rectanlge. If you really wanted to be precise you could cut each bag the exact same so that the print match up exactly, I don't really care that much.

Once you have 8 bags cut into large rectangles, sandwich them between two sheets of parchment paper. Place on your ironing board and begin to iron. ALWAYS KEEP YOUR IRON MOVING! or the sheets will melt. and make sure to get the edges. Once the bags begin to fuse it goes rather quickly. Once you notice that bags fusing (not melting), flip the whole thing over and iron the other side.

Remember it is HOT, so let it cool before you handle it too much. Once it is all fused you can sew it on your sewing machine and make your own reusuable shopping bags. I like to straight stitch and then zig-zag stitch my seams so that they can handle some abuse.

This first one I made I patterned after another fabric shopping bad I already had. I am working on a couple of other designs and when I get them finished I will post them. I hope you enjoy trying this out!

Grandma Edythe's Granola

Right after we had our first baby, my husband's grandma came to visit and help us out. She brought this AMAZING granola and it's been a family favorite of ours ever since. It's definitely one of the best granola recipes I have ever had. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.


Grandma's Granola
Recipe by: Edythe Marett

Mix the following in a large bowl:
9 cups rolled oats
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 cups chopped dates, raisins, or cranberries
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup almonds, whole or slivered (or macadamia nuts)
1 cup dry milk

After this, get another bowl and mix the following ingredients together really well:
1 cup oil
1 Tbsp. salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. maple

Add this mixture to the dry ingredient mixture and stir until everything is equally moist.

Spread it out onto two large cookie sheets or three smaller ones. Bake at 250 degrees for 75 minutes. Stir the mixture two or three times throughout baking to cook it evenly. It will be soft and moist when removed from the oven. Let it cool until it is dry and crisp.

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it makes my house smell heavenly for hours!! Enjoy!