Review and Giveaway: The Sharp Crochet Hook

***This giveaway is now closed***

I love to crochet, the only problem is that I can only crochet things that are square or rectangular. When my daughter was born, I made a huge baby blanket made entirely of about 70 or so crocheted squares joined together. I was pretty impressed with myself because before then, all I had made was a ton of scarves. Needless to say, when Laura from The Sharp Crochet Hook contacted me about doing a review and giveaway of her product, I was thrilled to be able to make something other than a scarf.

The Sharp Crochet Hook is a brilliant little crochet hook with a sharp point on the end that lets you easily add decorative crochet edging to projects without having to poke holes through the fabric before crocheting. You simply push the sharp end of the crochet hook through the fabric as you crochet. It's perfect for people like me who aren't experienced crocheters because you can easily add crocheted edging to projects to give them a beautiful handmade look.

Armed with my new Sharp Crochet Hook, I decided to make an appliqued shirt for my daughter. for Valentine's Day.

Supplies:

• Shirt
• 2 colors of felt squares
• Sharp Crochet Hook
• Yarn
• Sewing machine and basic sewing materials 

First, cut out a heart from one of your squares of felt. Make sure it's about 1/2 inch smaller than you want your final heart to be since you'll be crocheting a border around it.

Next, use your Sharp Crochet Hook to crochet a border around your heart. I used The Quick and Easy Variation stitch in the Crochet Edging Handbook that came with my Sharp Crochet Hook. It was really easy to follow, and it contains 14 other stitches that I'll be trying on other projects soon.

Since the felt was so thick, I had to wiggle the fabric a little to get the crochet hook to poke through, but if I had chosen to use knit fabric instead I wouldn't have had any problems. The hook made edging SO easy since I didn't have to bother with poking holes through the fabric beforehand. I simply crocheted away while watching television and after a little while, I had a beautiful little crochet-edged heart!

Once you have your edging finished, pin your heart to your shirt and sew around the border to secure. Cut a second heart from another piece of felt and place on top of your crocheted heart. Pin and stitch to secure.

That's it! The the crocheted edges really made the shirt and gave it some personality. I can't wait to use my new Sharp Crochet Hook to add decorative edging to other projects!

So how would you like to win a Sharp Crochet Hook for yourself?

Laura is giving away one of her Sharp Crochet Hooks to one of my readers. The Sharp Crochet Hook is perfect for adding decorative edges and borders to receiving blankets, gloves, clothing, towels and even paper products!

You can enter 3 different ways to win your own Sharp Crochet Hook:

1. Like The Sharp Crochet Hook on Facebook and leave me a comment on this post letting me know

2. Tell me what you would make if you won
3. Follow My Own Road and leave me a comment on this post letting me know

**The giveaway ends at 11:59 pm CST on February 16th. The winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced here on February 17th. Please make sure you include your email address in your comment if it's not linked to your profile.**

Even if you don't win, the Sharp Crochet Hook would make a great gift -- or just buy one for yourself! You can buy the Sharp Crochet Hook by itself for only $6.99, or you can purchase the combo pack that includes the hook and the Crochet Edging Handbook with 15 different crochet patters for $10.99.


Good luck, and thanks for entering!

DIY Valentines Roundup

Need some fun ideas for last-minute valentines that you can make yourself? Here are a few great ideas I've spotted around the web!

Invisible ink message in a bottle @ Minneco.co.uk

I was soapin' you'd be mine valentine soaps and printables @ My Own Road

Photo valentines @ Design Mom

Free printable candybar wrapper @ Anything But Perfect

Matchbox valentines @ Inchmark

 Valentine fish bowls @ Faboolous

Hopefully this roundup inspires you to try your hand at making your own unique valentines this year. Happy (Valentine) crafting!

Warm winter strolls

The weather has been unusually warm in Tennessee lately. That means more walks outside, which is something I absolutely love. My husband is not so happy with the lack of snow. He came from Pittsburgh, the land of freezing cold. Every time we visit PA in the winter, I have to remember to bring heavy layers and big jackets. Here in Tennessee though, it's pretty perfect for casual strolls outdoors with my kiddos.

It's a good thing it's been so warm too, I've been needing to peel myself off the couch where I've been glued to The Hunger Games series. Seriously amazing books. If you haven't read them yet, go out and buy them. And also find a comfy couch and plan on being there for quite awhile because you won't be able to tear yourself away. It took me about a week and a half to finish all three books and now that I'm done, I'm a little sad. I always feel like something is missing when I finish a good book.

I did finally get around to doing a couple of projects though, including putting together a couple of giveaway posts that I'm really excited about :) Make sure you check back soon, I can't wait to show you what I've been up to!

How about you, have you been having more of a summer than a winter lately?

Perfect printable

How many people can say that they first met in the check out line of a Mongolian restaurant, or that they walked down the aisle to "Afternoon Delight" after they were married? If you can answer "yes" to both of those question, we have to talk because we NEED to be friends.

When I first met my future husband, he was this brilliant, handsome grad student, and I was a naive girl with no idea of what was best for me. After a brief conversation that first fateful afternoon at the Mongolian restaurant, we met again a week later at a friend's birthday party. Patrick, who I was about to find out was as much of an Anchorman fan as I was, randomly burst into a chorus of "Afternoon Delight" in the parking lot. I began to harmonize with him for several verses, and from then on, we knew that we were both equally as weird, so we had to be meant for each other.

Our relationship has always been unique. We were engaged 4 months after we started dating, I was pregnant a month and a half after we got married, and baby number two followed not long after. Nothing was ever forced with us, it just felt.....well, perfect.

Of course, no one is perfect. When we first got married, one of our first arguments involved me yelling at Patrick for leaving a dirty bowl in the sink for days without washing it because as EVERYONE knows, you're supposed to rinse the bowl out and put it in the dishwasher as soon as you're finished. Consequently, I also learned that it's weird and annoying when I leave multiple used paper towels laying around on the kitchen sink to use for later.

Apparently I'm less than perfect too.

Isn't that what love is all about anyway? Finding that one person who loves and accepts you despite all of your imperfections? I know it's true for me, and I wanted to free printable in recognition of all of our perfect imperfections.

Click HERE or click on the picture below to be taken to Google Docs where you can download this free printable in your choice of yellow, turquoise or gray, size 8x10.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I still leave paper towels laying around the kitchen.

Check out my sidebar to see where I link up each week!

Banned

If you follow my Facebook page, you know that I banned all computer games and crafting last Saturday so that we could have some quality family time together. My husband said he felt like he was grounded, but for me, it was really nice to unplug and spend time together for the whole day.

And also, I liked not having to battle for attention with Pat's Star Wars The Old Republic game.  

(I took a bunch of pictures with my iPhone throughout the day, so they're a little grainy :)

We rented Kung Fu Panda 2 and watched it with the kids. Connor was obviously thrilled. He fell asleep almost immediately.

This little girl loved having us to herself though. We went through 2 bags of popcorn before she lost interest and Pat and I were left to finish the movie by ourselves.

For dinner, we broke out our fondue pot and made beer cheese fondue using this recipe. We both love the Melting Pot, but we don't love the price so making the fondue ourselves was a LOT cheaper - and a lot more fun! Our fondue pot was a wedding gift, and it hasn't seen a lot of action in the past 3 1/2 years, so it was good to get some use out of it for once.

I justify eating all that cheese with the fact that we're dipping veggies and fruit into it. And bread - you can't forget that.

In case you're wondering, the recipe was really good! It tasted almost exactly like the Melting Pot's version (and according to the source, it was actually shared on television by representatives of the Melting Pot so it's supposedly the real deal.) It was so good, in fact, that we made it again this past week.

While the Melting Pot generally uses a cheap beer in their cheese fondue, we found using the right kind of beer makes a world of difference. Newcastle is my personal favorite. And as an added bonus, you get to drink the rest of what you don't use :)

So that was our computer and craft-free weekend. Nothing huge and exciting, but enjoyable nonetheless. If I didn't think Pat would hide my fabric stash somewhere, I might consider doing another ban this weekend :)

"I was soapin' you'd be mine" Valentine gift {soap tutorial and free printables}

After my recent adventures in soap making, I got a little hooked. I just can't tell you how easy it is! I'm doing the 'melt and pour' method of soap making though, the kind where all I have to do is....well, melt and pour the soap.

When I told my husband that I learned how to make soap, he pointed out that I'm not actually making the soap, I'm just mixing it. Way to crush my little crafting heart. Next time he goes to play one of his computer games I'm going to remind him that he's not actually a wizard.

So there.  

So back to making soap. I have these cute silicone heart molds that were meant for muffins, but why make muffins when I could have a year's supply of heart soap? I also included some free downloadable tags so you can give them as gifts.

Supplies:

• Glycerin soap 
• Red food dye 
• Silicon heart mold
• Fragrance of your choice
• Cellophane baggies
• Free printable tags HERE
• Ribbon
• Cardstock
• Hole punch
• Decorative edge scissors

First, follow the instructions on the back of your glycerin soap to melt your soap in small batches (5 or so ounces at a time). I like to use a kitchen scale to weigh out the soap, then melt it in a clear measuring cup to make it easier to pour.

After you have your soap melted down, stir in your desired amount of food coloring until the color you want is achieved. Next add your fragrance according to the package directions.

Pour your soap into the mold and allow it to dry. Mine took approximately 30 minutes, but time will vary based on size of the mold and amount of soap.

After it's cooled, pop your soaps out of the mold, and it's ready to be bagged!

I made some free downloadable gift tags that you can download HERE. Just print on cardstock and use decorative scissors to cut them out.

To package my soaps, I put a couple of them in a cellophane bag and tied it with ribbon. Then, I punched a hole in one of the sides of the tags and threaded one of the ends of the ribbon through it.

Simple and cute. These heart soaps would make a great Valentine gift for co-workers or friends!

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Pinned it, made it: food

One morning recently, I woke up with the sudden itch to actually make some of the things I pinned on my Pinterest board. Novel idea, right?

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that, when it comes to Pinterest, I find myself scrolling through the pictures for a ridiculous amount of time while pinning pictures like a mad woman. Then I realize that it's been 10 minutes since I blinked. I know I sound like an addict, but I can stop anytime.

Really.

I've got tons of boards for categories like things I'd like to make myself, inspiration for future projects, food, and things I'd like to make the kids, but I could count on one hand the things I've actually made from Pinterest. So I decided it was time for some action!

Over the past week, I've been trying out some of the recipes that I pinned, and I thought I'd share them with you too so you could hear what I thought of them and give them a try.

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1. 2-Minute French Toast in a Cup from Prudent Baby

Prudent Baby has always been one of my favorites. They always have great tutorials for clothing and other crafts, so I knew this one would be a winner (and it doesn't hurt that french toast happens to be one of my favorite breakfast foods.) The preparation and assembly for this was SO easy. I had all the ingredients on hand, and all I had to do was mix everything in a cup and cook for 2 minutes in the microwave. Brilliant, and yummy! I'll definitely be making this again.

2. Cinnamon Cream Cheese Rolls (via Jen McCaffrey on Pinterest)

This recipe had no source to it, so I'm linking to the pin itself since the instructions are in the caption. I immediately liked the idea of making these because the ingredient list was so simple: bread, cream cheese, butter, cinnamon and sugar. I had my doubts that they would turn out very good but I have to say, these were delicious! The sugar and cinnamon that the rolls are covered in, along with the crispy texture and creaminess of the cream cheese, remind me of getting a cinnamon sugar pretzel with glaze dip at Auntie Anne's. They are rich, but I think these would make a great snack or addition to a Sunday brunch.

3. Pepperoni Rolls from What About Pie?

As a child, there was a local bakery down the road from my church that would make pepperoni rolls each day. The recipe was basic, just bread filled with cheese and pepperoni, but that homemade bread and gooey cheese was to die for. After church each Sunday, we would drive to the bakery and pick up pepperoni rolls for each of us and devour them on the way home. This recipe brought all those memories flooding back. Since the bread is store-bought, it wasn't the same as the bakery version I remember, but I would like to try this again with my own homemade dough. All in all, it was delicious!


4. Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup by Chefnini on Food.Com

This last recipe is one that I made just recently. My husband is a sucker for Panera's broccoli cheese soup, so I decided to make this with him in mind. I kept the recipe the same, however I did substitute one cup of 1% milk in place of one of the cups of half-and-half to cut down on the fat and richness and it worked just fine. The only thing I would change would be to reduce the amount of nutmeg. Otherwise, this dish was a winner. I might double it next time since there were hardly any leftovers.

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Are there any recipes you've made from Pinterest that you absolutely love? Leave your suggestions in the comments below, I'd love to try them myself!

Also, if you want to check out the rest of the food that I've pinned on my "Eats" board, or to follow me on Pinterest, you can find me here.