Been a while

Good Morning all! It's been a while since I posted. There isn't much to write about, but I did want to share more photos of some of my crocheted items. I am working on adding pages where there will just be pictures of my items that I sell at craft shows. Please know that if I used someones pattern, I will give credit and if you see something that you think I didn't credit properly, please email me and ask because it may have just been an over-site.

Diaper cover and headband

Check out this blog and her finished diaper cover and headbands. They are very cute!
http://tampabaycrochet.blogspot.com/2012/05/my-latest-crochet-projects-sock-monkey.html?showComment=1346238722006#c2915464326778350244

Busy Week

Well, unfortunately I did not get to blog at the beginning of the week like I had planned. Here it is Friday and I have never been so glad. I homeschool all 4 of my children and we started on Tues. It was a really rough day for me as my oldest started her Senior year and my youngest started First grade. I was in tears over everything-literally!

I did manage to stick to my schedule of walking Mon., Wed., and Fri. It was rough some mornings, but I had promised myself that I would not give up. I have now completed 4 weeks of walking. Next week I plan on adding another day-Tuesday. That will up my mileage to 10 miles a week. My ultimate goal is to be able to walk 25 miles a week. I will keep you updated on how it goes. I have discovered the Hungry Girl books and website. If you have never tried her recipes, it is definitely worth it. Go to www.hungry-girl.com to see some of her books and to find some really great recipes-especially if you're a chocoholic like I am.

These are some of the first of my daughter's Senior pictures. I am taking them myself and photo editing them using Picasa.These are what I am calling her natural look. :0) She is a jeans girl, but she has promised me that she will do some dressy ones in the near future.

Well, a little later than I would like to be getting this posted, but such is life. If you have read my bio you know that besides 4 children, we also have 3 dogs, 3 cats and 2 birds. We recently acquired the 2 birds at the beginning of the summer. While shopping for the cage and a few "toys" for their cage I kept noticing these fabric hanging things for the cage. It was pretty much just some fabric or yarn with bells and maybe some large wood beads. I thought they were a little expensive and figured I could make something myself. Here is a picture of what I came up with and it only cost me about $.87 to make one.

While browsing the reduced area at JoAnns, I found a package of gathering material strips. There were about 8 strips for $3.49. Using just 2 strips and a toilet paper roll, I created something similar to those high priced ones I had seen in the store. Granted, they're not as nice as those, but our birds like them just as much. Here is what I did. I punched holes on each side of the tube, threaded some of the fabric through and tied knots. Then I looped the fabric around one of the bars at the top of the cage and threaded them down through the tube. You could tie large wooden beads to the ends if you want, but our birds enjoy it as is. I hope this was clear and if not, please comment and ask questions.

Like many of you, I have become obsessed with Pinterest. There are so many cool ideas on there, but if you are like me, you want proof that they work. Well, starting today I will share one that I found and I know works great for me. It is the fabric softener for the washer. It comes from Food.com It calls for 6 cups of water, 3 cups of vinegar, and 2 cups of hair conditioner (this is a whole bottle of V05). I made it the way it called for the first time (I only made half a batch), but found that it seemed like too much vinegar. The second time I made a full batch and reduced the vinegar to 2 cups and this was much better. It costs me less than $2 to make about 3/4 of a gallon of softener. It lasts our family of 6 for a month to a month and a half (depending on how much laundry we have in that time period). I think it works just as well, if not better than the commercial brand that cost 2-3 times as much.

Well, that's it for today. I hope I haven't bored any of you and that I have helped you with saving some money. Have a great day!

Finished work

Well, I have been a very busy crocheter these last few days. I have been working on baby bibs. I got 2 different patterns-one from Bernat.com and the cupcake pattern from Crochet Today! magazine. I changed some things and added some things, but they were still very simple and I have had fun making them. I am getting ready for the Forest Festival in Dover, OH, Oct. 19-20. I hope I do as well at this festival as I did at the one in May. If you live near Dover, make sure you check out this festival. There is a lot to do and see and then make time and stop by Katiekin Designs and see all of my baby and children items. If you are interested in buying any of the bibs before this, let me know by either commenting or emailing me at katiekindesigns@aol.com They are $7.00 each + tax. I take checks and most major credit cards.



I had only planned on posting twice a week, but I will be posting a very simple DIY item tomorrow. If you own birds or know someone who does you will want to check out my project that I am going to share tomorrow. Plus, I will be sharing some thoughts on projects from Pinterest that I have done. I will let you know if they worked for me and how well they worked.

Have a great day!!

First ever blog

Good morning everyone! I started off this beautiful day with a 2.5 mile walk, got to see a beautiful sunrise, and enjoyed quality time with my 17 year old. Then enjoyed a filling breakfast of S'More oatmeal from the Hungry Girl 300 Under 300. If you haven't checked out this great cookbook, let me encourage you to do so at hungry-girl.com. Throughout this blog you will hear about my struggle to lose weight and get my life back from Type 2 Diabetes. I will also share about my 19 year struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia.

This is my first ever blog, so I am a little nervouse about hitting that publish button, but this is one of those things on my "bucket list". When I hit 40 (3 years ago) I promised myself that I would start doing some of those things that I had always dreamed about but been afraid of doing and failing. Well, I've learned over the years that in order to fail at something, you first have to do it. So, my first venture was earlier this year when I attended my first festival as a vendor. I was so surprised to find that people liked my items and wanted them. In fact, I almost sold out of items the first day. I am now preparing for 2 more shows this year and plan on doing at least 4-5 next year. My next item was starting this blog, and soon I will be starting on the third item on my list-selling on Etsy. I have always loved to do crafts and make things. When I taught myself to crochet 11 years ago, I had no idea that it would develop into my passion. I love making hats for my oldest daughter and my youngest daughter the "dancing" dresses I make for her. My boys like that they alway have unique hats in the winter.

Oh my, I think it is going to be one of those days! As I am trying to do this, one of the cats tried to crawl in the birds' cage, my Golden Retriever, Bentlee, is wanting to play ball and my 7 year old is asking for pizza. Maybe I will be able to get some crocheting in today.

                                                      Meet Sapphire (Saffie) and Cisco

I will post about twice a week. I would love to hear from you and hope everyone enjoys Katiekin Designs.