Creativity is Hereditary in our Family.

"While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness."

I know I have mentioned in my past blog posts that I do not necessarily believe that people need to be born with creativity in order to be artistic. I believe with hard work and hours upon hours of practice, anyone can be called an artist. You are not born with the knowledge of how to play the piano. You learn it. Just like you learn creativity and inspiration.

That is not true with my family however. We were born with creativity running through our blood. Our parents saw that, and they nurtured and encouraged it. I would say that my sister was definitely born with more creativity than I. She can do anything. And I do mean ANYTHING. This girl has done everything from graphic design, to cake decorating, to painting and now sculpting. She does it all flawlessly, and absolutely effortlessly. She amazes everyone who sees her work. Aside from a few art classes here and there, no one in my family has ever gone to school to "learn art". It comes naturally for us. 

So here is an ode to my amazing sister! Who never ceases to amaze me!

For Christmas my sister made me an AMAZING knitting bowl. Yes ladies and gents, she HAND MADE this for me! His ears hold the needles and the yarn goes through his nose. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this! I can't wait to use it!!! 

My sister and both have this weird obsession with Alice in Wonderland. She made these two figures, one of Alice, and one of The Cheshire Cat. 

My sister made a Guardian Angel piece shortly after her car accident. The angel has wings which are real feathers.

For my Birthday I asked my sister if I could have the sea monster sculpture that she made! I was so happy when I opened the box to find it waiting for me! His eyes glow in the dark too!

My sister has more talent in her pink finger than most of my "art friends" combined. I don't know how she does it. Her pieces have been sold for hundreds of dollars at auction. I only hope that one day I can get to the level that she's at!

If you're interested in a commission piece feel free to contact my sister Tiffany and TLeef7@hotmail.com

A Baby Blanket for Baby C!

"A baby is a little bit of heaven on earth"

I've ALWAYS wanted to make a baby blanket, but never had a baby to make it for. When my boyfriend's friends recently had their baby I thought it to be the perfect opportunity to start knitting my little hands to the bone. I have to admit though that I hate "baby" colors. Pink for girls and blue for boys. Who cares? A baby isn't going to be like "Woah hey now, I can't use this blanket man. The color is totally off!" So....I put my own little earthy twist on the blanket. I made the body of the blanket light grey, with a gold border and then bright knitted flowers going along one side. It took quite some time, but I'm so happy with the outcome and I was very excited to give the blanket to baby C's parents last night. I hope this is a blanket that baby C will grow into and love for years and years to come!

Miss Purl was a little sad to see the blanket leave!

I found the pattern for the flowers on the internet a few years ago when I knit a hat for my sister. I can't remember where I found it, but heres the pattern for all you crafty little knitters out there!

Cast on 4 sts leaving 3" tail

Row 1: (RS) Knit in front and back of first stitch (increasing one stitch), k3 (5sts).

Row 2: Knit in front and back of first stitch (increasing one stitch), p4 (6sts).

Row 3: Knit in front and back of first stitch (increasing one stitch), k5 (7sts).

Row 4: Knit in front and back of first stitch (increasing one stitch), p6 (8sts). Cut yarn and leave sts on needle, leaving 2-3" tail.

Make 4 more petals (casting on the first four sts on the needle holding the prior petals).

Don't cut the yarn after making the fifth petal.

Row 5: Join petals by knitting 40sts. Anchor tails as you go along.

Row 6: (P2tog) across (20 sts).

Row 7: (K2tog) across (10 sts).

Row 8: (p2tog, p3 tog, p2tog, p3tog) (4 sts).

Cut yarn leaving a 10-inch tail. Thread yarn onto tapestry needle and run through the four sts. Pull tight and anchor thread. Continue with same thread (on purl side) and sew open edges of 1st and 5th petal together loosely. Work thread back to center of flower.  Fasten off and cut thread close to the flower.

Preparing for a winter of crafting

"Successful organizing is based on the 

recognition that people get organized 

because they, too, have a vision."

One thing I absolutely hate is clutter. My mother would probably tell you otherwise considering my room is always a mess. But trust me, I HATE clutter. I moved back home with my parents a little less than a year ago, and I haven't had a whole lot of time to organize and arrange things the way I'd like. I kind of just moved all my boxes in and and slowly unloaded everything. Shoving things into any shelf that could withstand the weight of my junk. But now that the weather is changing, and I'm getting cooped up inside, I've been getting anxiety from all the clutter around me. 

So much like how animals prepare for hibernation, I'm preparing for a winter full of crafting. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and decided that I really wanted to create a "crafting" corner in my room. I have SO many projects going on right now. They just get thrown around and then I lose track of them. So I woke up bright and early this morning, scoured our property for some old wooden boxes and got to work. I'm not sure which was more amusing, me trying to use a power tool or me trying to weave in and out of our old barns without getting my new winter jacket dirty.

Here is the before:

I found an old drum in the barn and I figured it'd be neat to hang up and put yarn in it. I had to get a little creative with how to keep the round drum on the wall. I originally wanted to use a L-bracket, but couldn't find any that were small enough. So this is what I came up with. You can just call my Mrs. Macgyver.

After lots of leveling, hammering, and drilling this is what I came up with:

I'm TOTALLY in love with the final outcome. It's perfect and exactly what I had envisioned. And now I'm super excited to continue with all of my projects and start tons of new ones! Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of reorganizing to help with the creative juices!