Granny Square Scarf

     Today we have a special guest blogger, my mom, Julia Hathaway.  Here's a little bit about her:

I'm Amber's mom, the one who introduced her to crafts at a very early age.  I'm primarily a wordsmith.  I maintain a book review blog Julia's Journey and  write poetry that I perform at open mics and am working to get  published.  As for handcrafts, I most fancy fabric arts, especially counted cross stitch.  Soon I plan to start stitching some of my favorite quotes and poetry with motifs that compliment the words.  I love photography.  I'm vice chair of my town's school committee.  I volunteer with Orono Public Library and Orono Community Garden.  I prefer being outside in nature to being inside, think must see tv is an oxymoron, and treasure time spent with family and friends.

     This week my mom is going to explain how she makes granny square scarves.  This is a great project if you have lots of scrap yarn you want to use up.

I craft the opposite of a lot of people.  Instead of deciding on a project and buying materials, I see what I have and what I can use it for.  People give me yarn they don't need and don't want to throw out:  scraps from their finished projects, projects they know they won't finish...even an afghan that had a close encounter of the Rottweiler kind.  This project will let you make use of small balls of yarn while creating a really nice gift for a friend or family member.

You'll need:
14 small balls of medium weight yarn
A large ball of white, cream, or a unifying color
Size K crochet hook
Yarn needle

Stitch abbreviations
Chain: ch
Double crochet: dc

Directions:
Start with one of the small balls.  Ch 6, join with 1st stitch, ch 3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc, ch 2, 3dc, ch2, 3dc, ch2, join with 1st stitch;
Ch3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch2, repeat 3 times, join to first stitch,
End off.
Make 13 more small squares.
Take the large ball of yarn.  Join in the corner of one of the small balls.
ch3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch2, repeat 3 times, join to first stitch, end off.
Repeat with other 13 squares.
Arrange the 14 squares in the order in which you want them and sew them together.
Now, using the large ball, you want to make one more row around the whole scarf.  Corner spaces will require 2 3dc cluster separated by ch2.  Noncorner spaces will require 1 3dc cluster separated by 1 dc.
When you have gone all the way around end off.
Fringes at the end are a nice option.
I routinely make small squares out of yarn scraps and put them in a pretty box.  Then when I need to whip up a scarf quickly (like today for Amber's blog) it takes me a minute to pick my 14 small squares and unifying color and go from there.

Another Card Book

     Looking for a way to display your favorite greeting cards that requires minimal effort?  Here is the craft for you.  If you're looking for something a bit snazzier, check out my previous card books.

Materials:
*Greeting cards
*Hole punch
*Binder rings

Directions:
*Punch holes in the cards and clip them together using binder rings.
*If you wanted to be a bit more creative, you could design a cover for your card book, but I've just had my wisdom teeth out so my motivation has been nonexistent.

Rose and Crystal Drop Earrings

Materials:
*Earring posts
*Rose shaped beads
*Jewelry glue
*Crystals
*Headpins
*Jump rings
*Wire cutters
*Round nosed pliers
*Flat nosed pliers

Directions:
*Glue rose beads to earring posts.  Let sit for however long is required for the glue to dry.
*Trim down the headpins so that they are about 1/2" longer than the rose beads.
*Slide headpins through the rose beads and use the round nosed pliers to curl the end of each headpin to form a loop.
*Open up a jump ring and slide through the loop in one of the earrings and also through a crystal.  Close the jump ring.

Decorated Whiteboard

     have an old whiteboard that's a bit beaten up or just generally kind of plain?  Jazz it up with a few basic craft supplies.

Materials:
*Old whiteboard
*Stickers, craft tape, and any other embellishments you would like.

Directions:
*Cover the border of the whiteboard with craft tape in a color or pattern of your choice.
*If your whiteboard has rounded corners, as mine does, you may want to cover the corners with stickers rather than taping around them.
*Cover up any sizable dents in your whiteboard's surface using stickers.

Treasure Map and Clues

Brian's treasure map

One of Brian's clues

     For my birthday party, Brian surprised me with a treasure hunt.  Rather than just making a treasure map, he included a set of clues for an additional challenge.  Since I'm almost always home when Brian is over the summer, he had to be sneaky to hide his plan from me.  I saw him aging the paper and he told me that he was using it to make ant traps, that he had seen online that you could soak paper in coffee and then put sugar on top of it and the ants would come eat the sugar, overdose on caffeine, and fall asleep.  I wondered why he never ended up setting out the traps, but I was also somewhat relieved because I was afraid that he might accidentally kill the ants from the caffeine overdose.

Materials:
*Coffee
*Printer paper
*Baking pan
*Black ink pen

Directions:
*To give your treasure map an antique look, follow the directions for aging paper that I give in my Halloween Potion Pendants post.
*Rather than drawing your house or yard, transform the landscape into an island in the sea.  For example, cars could be drawn as ships, roads become waterways, pine trees turn into palm trees, etc.
*For an added challenge, leave off the X marks the spot aspect of the treasure map and instead write a list of clues that work in conjunction with the map.  Lead people to various landmarks on the map before cluing them in to where the treasure is located.
*Roll up the treasure map and tie it with ribbon to make it look like a scroll

Receiving the treasure map and the first clue

Searching for treasure

My octopus (you'll notice her likeness on the pirate paper cups) Mary Anne Bonny Read (she's named for pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny) guarding the treasure

Felt Pirate Eye Patches

     These felt eye patches are great for a pirate themed party.  You can either make them to give out as party favors, or you can let partygoers make their own patches by tying the elastic to the felt patches.

Materials:
*Black felt
*Hole punch
*Black elastic
*Scissors

Directions:
*Cut out eye patches from black felt.
*Punch out a hole in either side of the eye patch.  The hole punch I was using was rather dull and so it only punched out the circle halfway, but I actually liked it better that way because the holes weren't as visible.
*Tie elastic to the holes, making sure it is neither too tight nor too loose to fit properly on peoples' heads.  This step can also be left to the partygoers themselves.

Pirate Themed Perler Fuse Bead Coasters

     I found some of these patterns on these sites and also in one of the Perler Mega Ideas books, while others I came up with on my own.

Materials:
*Fuse bead kit (e.g. Perler beads kit)
*Iron
*Black felt
*Black embroidery floss
*Scissors
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:
*Arrange beads on a small square peg board, following the patterns shown above for guidance.
*Cover your pattern with a sheet of waxed paper and iron the first side, then remove from the peg board, flip over, put waxed paper on top and iron the second side.  You can find more detailed directions here.
*For the octopus coaster, glue a scrap of black felt to a piece of black embroidery floss to create an eye patch.
*Thread the embroidery floss through the holes in the coaster and tie in the back to fasten it to the octopus's head.
*Glue the eye patch in place.