Saturday Spotlight Feature ~ Week 6

This week the Midwest and East Coast have definitely seen their share of winter. As most of us are finally digging out and others are still housebound and now baring down for the freezing cold temperatures. These are the days when the whole family is stuck inside to keep warm and you are sitting around trying to figure out what to do for fun. Well I found something that the whole family can do and it looks like SOOO much fun. I would like to give a big warm welcome to Ashley from Simply Designing with Ashley.

Indoor Snowball Fight Kit

"We have recently had two big snowstorms and I am sure more are coming before winter is up.  With the blustery weather and the below freezing temperatures I am always on the search for fun and simple indoor activities to do with my kiddos.  This one is inspired by my local Children's museum's Winter Jolly Days exhibit.  At certain hours during the day, they bring out these soft and fluffy "snowballs" and let the kids have an indoor snowball fight.  It's a lot of fun!


So I decided to set about creating a few soft and fluffy snowballs of my own and here is what I came up with!"

Most of our readers know that for crystal and I Yarn is a huge part of our lives. I think the next time we have a craft and play date with the boys we will definitely be playing this. You can find more awesome ideas from Ashley by going to her Blog Page. You can also follow her on Facebook.

Happy Crafting,

Easy Yarn Swatches

Ok, so I have a problem.... I'm a crochet-aholic! I'm addicted to everything relating to crochet!! From hooks to patterns to... yarn! I find myself pulling out my bins of yarn over and over to find the perfect colors for almost every project. That turns into a big mess. So I've come up with a solution and its helped me several times!

I've made myself some yarn swatches!! Perfect for matching colors, taking to the store to restock or even take to craft fairs for customers to see what choices you have to offer. With a few dollars, you can make swatches for all your yarn easily!


What You'll Need:

1. Glue Gun and extra glue
2. Plastic or cardboard bobbins
3. Permanent marker
4. Yarn
5. Yarn needle
6. Scissors
7. Metal Rings
8. Chocolate ~ as long as your not working with white yarn! He he, in my case, yarn and chocolate always seem to go together!

Step 1) Preheat your glue gun.

Step 2) Write the name of the color/brand of yarn on your bobbin. This can be done after but is easier to do before wrapping your yarn.

 Step 3) Taking a small amount of yarn, loop it around one slit at the bottom of the bobbin. Wrap it 5-7 times. (More times for thinner yarn, less for thicker.) From the back of the bobbin, loop the other end around the opposite slit.

Step 4) Using your yarn needle, weave the yarn ends behind the wrapped yarn just as in picture shown to the left. 

Step 5) With the glue gun ready, place a small amount between and around the ends. This will secure it.

Step 6) Let the glue dry.

Step 7) Snip the ends to give more of a neat appearance.

Step 8) Insert bobbins on metal rings. I have mine according to brand and weight. 

Keeping the colors somewhat together give a nice appearance as well! 

And there you have it! Just don't forget to eat your chocolate! 

Until next craft....