Attempting to Grow Succulents

There’s this plant that I love. I love it because no matter how much I neglect it, no matter how much I don’t water it, no matter where I plant it, it survives! It is the weed of the succulent world but I love it all the same. I finally know it’s name: Jade plant (Crassula).

Look how lovely we are!

I’ve written about this plant in my home before. This plant makes me feel like I’m not a complete plant killer. This plant can be propagated from any of its parts and it’s soooo easy! I can take any stem piece or any fallen leaf, stick it in the ground or in some container with the worst soil, and it grows.

Recently, we’ve been in the process of beautifying our home. We had considered moving but had a change of heart and decided to put our money into our home instead. We started with the outside by painting the house, replacing our dilapidated fence, and the nicest of all, properly landscaping the front yard. I made sure there would be hardy, waterwise plants out front that could survive my black thumb. I was assured that there was little I would need to do to keep them alive.

Gifts, Gifts, Gifts!

Now that Christmas and my Birthday are over, I’m sharing my bounty. Let’s start with Christmas. I love mermaids. Everyone knows I love mermaids. And my gifts for Christmas reflected my love of mermaids. I don’t normally brag about the gifts I get but I couldn’t resist showing off the beautiful mermaids I recieved.

Christmas

First up is a BEAUTIFUL art piece my daughter created for me. It is so wonderful, I thought it would be a shame to keep it to myself.

This doesn’t do it justice. You can get lost staring at all it’s details in the hair and tail. There are all these little shapes that she does free hand. It’s gorgeous. 

My hubby surprised me with a stunning mermaid print that he had framed. I’m shooting through glass so there’s glare and the colors aren’t as vibrant but just trust me, it’s soooo pretty.

I can’t wait until we put her up on a wall!

My son gave me this adorable jewelry box. I don’t have anything in it yet but I’m trying to decide what’s a worthy enough treasure to go in there. 🙂

This one speaks for itself.

Birthday

Once again, my family knows me well. My daughter got me delicious caramel covered apples and chocolate covered strawberries. Yum!

My son got me this:

I want to take this with me to Ren Faire in March. I just have to be super careful not to break it!

The one that got my attention the most was from my hubby. He gave me this:

That’s right! They’re stamps! Legitimate postage! I can’t wait to use them. It’s one of my dolls with a picture I took and it even says yochet.com on the side! I can’t wait to mail something out!

Best presents ever!

Tunisian Crochet Dolls

I love doing Tunisian crochet. I fell in love with it when I was trying to follow a pattern for a cell phone case. It said crochet but it looked like knitting. I was intrigued enough to look into it for several reasons. One, I wanted to make that phone case and two, I didn’t like knitting but liked the look of knitting. So I could pretend to knit while crocheting? I definitely needed to do that.

So after I learned how to do it and finished my phone case, I was hooked. It became a permanent part of my repertoire. But I like making dolls and I had to figure out how to make them using this method. I didn’t know at the time you could do Tunisian crochet in the round so I looked at it as cloth and what shapes I would need in order to sew them together to make a doll. I got to work and created these dolls.

I used Tunisian Knit stitch on this one. The top of her dress was Tunisian simple stitch. My hubby said she looked like a peanut.

I used Tunisian simple stitch to make this one. My son said she looked like a Nutter Butter cookie before I put clothes on her. 

Disney Mickey Mouse Ears Crochet Ideas

Sometimes (always) I can become a little (a lot) focused (obsessed) about certain projects. We all remember the sweaters/coats I made. I just wanted to make one and ended up making three because I kept thinking the next one would be better. As it turns out, the first one is my favorite.

Then there was my Minecraft phase where it was all about Minecraft. That rolled into my Pokemon phase where I was making all kinds of Pokeballs. Oh, and the puppet phase. There are plenty of other phases I’ve gone through and right now I’m in the middle of my ‘Disney Mickey Mouse Ears’ stage. I have mouse ears coming out of my ears!

Let’s start at the beginning of the first ‘Ears’ phase. Awhile back, I crocheted my own hats to wear at Disneyland because we had passes. I wanted something unique and I made two for me and one for my hubby.

The first hat I made. This one was for me of course. 🙂

This one came second. The bow helped the ears stand upright.

This one was for hubby. He got many compliments whenever he wore it.