Cactus Hat

For as long as I can remember I have always been terrible at plant upkeep. I love the idea of gardens and flowers blooming in my yard and I’m amazed at the beauty of houseplants, but such never came to be for my own home due to my lack of green thumb. Everything I touch seems to die despite countless research, advice, and plant enthusiasts in my corner. However, something finally changed this year. I’m not sure why this summer has been any different, but I’ve been able to keep cacti and succulents alive! Even in the past, despite being told how easy those two types of plants were to care for, I’d never get them past a season. Maybe there is a shade of green showing on this thumb of mine after all? Whatever the change may be, I’m just happy that I can finally have a little army of succulents and cacti on my window sill to happily greet me every day. So naturally, I’ve had cacti on my mind and to celebrate, why not make a hat? I couldn’t resist!

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Baxter The Squirrel

Back in the days of renting my husband and I found ourselves in an older home built in the late 1800s. It was a cozy little place with all of the cute little nooks and crannies that often times bring charm to older homes. As with many rental homes, however, came quirks as well. One of those quirks were hidden holes in our walls leading to outside, as our landlord had failed to repair portions of the house before we moved in. Much to our surprise, we quickly discovered that we were not the only tenants of the house, but rather, a wild squirrel had previously claimed ownership of the place! That squirrel was quite the character with a big attitude and seemingly large annoyance with us being his new roommates. The squirrel became so much a part of living at that house that we affectionately named him “Baxter”.  Every now and then we’d hear a scurrying sound in our attic or walls. We knew it was Baxter.  Occasionally he would pop up from the outside of our house and hit our windows as if to say, “Hey! Get out! I was here first!” and always came a big startle from such occurrence! It was crazy how much this squirrel really began to test our limits. If ever I put a plant outside, he’d quickly dig it up. Every single morning while my husband left for work there would be a chatter from the trees above. My husband would look up and there Baxter would be, angrily waiting and throwing nuts at him! Sometimes he even hit him!

Despite numerous calls and complaints to our landlord, no fix ever came to keep this squirrel out of our living space. The last straw came when we arrived home and found our loyal orange tabby cat staring a hole into our kitchen cabinets. No matter what we did, he refused to leave the strange stare down he was having. Soon we figured out why. There was a crash from inside one of the cabinets and in no time it was very apparent that Baxter had found another way into our house! Luckily, we moved out a week later and gave up the house to Baxter, opting to buy and thoroughly inspect a new home instead. While at the time it was a very stressful and frustrating situation, we can now look back and it all and laugh at how ridiculous it was. Because of this outlandish tale, the inspiration of a new creation came to be. So I present to you Baxter the Squirrel.  Continue reading Baxter The Squirrel

Dish Scrubbies

Dish scrubbies. Such a simple cleaning item, but oh so underrated. It was my first year working at our local farmer’s market that I discovered not only the convenience of being able to create my own household cleaning item, but also how absolutely AWESOME the crochet dish scrubber is. Seriously, crochet dish scrubbies are AMAZING. Not only is it something that works up insanely quickly, but it is LONG-LASTING in your kitchen, EFFECTIVE at cleaning, and totally capable of being RE-USED. If it starts to smell funky, just toss it in the dishwasher/washing machine and it’s ready to go, BRAND NEW, once again! I could go on and on about these, but how about I just pass on the knowledge someone else gave to me instead?  Continue reading Dish Scrubbies

Peter Pumpkinhead

Halloween is drawing nearer and nearer! All of the trees are changing to vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows finally after this extra warm fall we’ve been having. The chilly days are now here and it’s the perfect time to crochet after a day out at the pumpkin patch. And what better thing to crochet than this cute little pumpkin patch inspired toy? Meet Peter Pumpkinhead 🙂  Continue reading Peter Pumpkinhead