And that's all my phone has to say about that...

Weekend phone dump. This week according to my phone:

 new art project for my kitchen. detailed post coming soon.

 finally feeling springy! Been high fifties, dress wearing weather all week!

 testing out the new Sig Sauer .40 and the target we (he) built

 

look! sugar peas in the making!

 

 Cicero. He knows what's up.

"Mama? What are you doing out there!?"-window watch cat

 

I never wanted a flower garden. I swore I wouldn't have one.

And then my house came with flowers. Dang it.

 

This is what a flailing cat who doesn't like a collar and ID tag

(required for on-base pets) looks like. He bites the plastic tag. Wild thing.

 

Making husband's early morning breakfasts in advance!

 Heat up in oven for 5 minutes and good to go!

 

A spring-time kity cat hat for a 5 year old little girl who is friends

with my littlest sister. The friend was recently diagnosed with cancer

and is undergoing chemo. Please pray.

 

"Bugggg-eerrrr-aaaa!"

 

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend! A happiest Easter to all!



Bella's Custom Animal Hats on Facebook

...because all forms of advertising now somehow end up being by way of social media...

https://www.facebook.com/BellasAnimalHats

Long story short: 

I make hats. And those hats now have a Facebook page.

PS: Hats like orders. And people you know/you like hats for Christmas.

Check out the page for options and details!

It's that time of year- CUSTOM KNITS AND CROCHETS!

Hey everyone. I generally try and avoid posts like this on my blog, but now that I am no longer trying to run an etsy and am only doing custom orders (and am a broke college student who drives a gas guzzling SUV)  I wanted to do a post about cozy knitted and crocheted items I would happily custom make for anyone who is interested!

Crocheted Animal Ear Flap Hats! 

I can do whatever sort of eared animal you desire, with or without felt/button faces. Or simply a ear flap hat, sans animal characteristics if you would prefer. Adult or child sized.

Below are a panda, fox and a sock monkey.

Knit or crocheted BEANIES and BERETS! 

Any size! Any color combo!

KNIT HAND WARMERS/FINGERLESS GLOVES

 These are great alone, or layered over fingered gloves. I have only made adult sizes, but I would be able to alter the pattern to a child's size. You pick your colors! (Perhaps to match your favorite coat. Or a fabulous above pictured custom hat!?)

And these aren't wearable really, but are equally as cozy...

 Crocheted AMIGURUMI STUFFED ANIMALS!

Pretty much any animal, in colors of your choice.

I've done bears, dogs, cats, bunnies, elephants, turtles, pigs, birds, pandas...

Usually around 8-12 inches in height.

Fun stuff, eh? Great for fall. Wonderful for winter. Also, all of these things make great gifts!

Comment, or send me an email at call(DOT)me(DOT)ardent(AT)gmail(DOT)com if you are interested in discussing a custom order or pricings! Thanks everyone!

What has 2 thumbs and a sock monkey on her head...?

...My cousin Julia!

My cousin has a thing for sock monkeys. More of an obsession actually. Not sure why, but the point is she like them a lot. So my aunt, after reading my other animal hat blog posts, put in a custom order request for one very spectacular sock monkey hat, complete with ear flaps, pompoms, and button eyes!

So, I pulled up a couple google image as inspiration and did my magic.

And look! She looks AWESOME (just look at how amazingly she coordinated her outfit of outerwear to her hat! Obviously we are related.). And so does the hat I made! 

Still open to more suggestions and CUSTOM ORDERS!!!!!


*photos courtesy of my aunt. Thanks to both of you two!!

This, that, and other things...

Today was supposed to be a big, at least minorly exciting day but instead it is another snow day. And by "another" I mean like probably the 6th in the last month?

This morning my alarm went off earlier than normal.6:20. Today was SUPPOSED to be my first day at "real life college" (aka not in the computer. I did an online career school for a year, finished, and declared I was done with online learning por siempre). I was supposed to have English class at 8:00. English class in and of itself if not a big deal at all (especially Basic Composition. Been there, done that, but still have to take the class.) but the experience was new. May I remind you the last time I was in a formal classroom was more or less kindergarten. Yes, I was homeschooled (which I liked as I struggle to focus amongst other people and do better by myself). Anyway, here I am, almost 20 years old, and pretty unfamiliar with classrooms. So I was excited (/nervous) to get started.

But...when I woke up snow was falling from the sky. Again. In mass quantity. We knew yesterday that we would getting six inches. School knew. I knew. But yet that selfishsmelfish school didn't want to cancel morning classes last night. So I got up this morning at dawn's buttcrack, saw that they finally had decided to cancel, and went back to bed. No English class for me today. Bummer.

Instead of class today I am going to work on my never-ending synopsis project, clean my room, do some laundry, blare music on repeat (Current song: Shekinah, off the IHOP Joy worship album. SO GOOD!) and pack up my life in a suitcase and move out.

Move out? Well, not really. Just for a week. I have a habit of making extra money by sitting in people's houses, babysitting their pets and furniture while they go on vacation. This week I am house sitting for some friends headed to FL. Imma chill in their house with their bouncy black dog Madison and 2 cats Tigger and Digger.

(Sorry this post is all over the place. Trying to cover a lot as I don't know how much I will be posting next week.)

In other news, I have a lot of new yarn in my life. My gma is the biggest encourager enabler of my yarn addiction. Last week she gave me a white trash bag full of yarn. Only thing is that I had no place to put it other than in a big, ugly blue storage bin. Unacceptable. So I went out to my barn (which is a magical place), hoping to find an old suitcase or something to store my goods in. But I found something better. It had my name all over it- literally!

 My vintage toy chest from when I was a wee person, hand painted by my mom (yeah, I'm not the only ridiculously artsy one around here).

 I put it on a medal pedestal from another chest/trunk thing I had. Doubles as a couch side table!

 Are you ready to see this?

 Yup. I put it all in rainbow order. Maybe I am insane, but it makes me incredibly happy.

Now I am all organized and ready to make as many wee squares and animal hats (There are more coming! Customs! You just wait!) as I can stand! Right after I do all that other productive, educational stuff I mentioned...

Sigh. Overall today is not going anything like I thought it would. I wish it would just be spring already. Snow is really inconvenient...

Psychology class on Monday, if the snow doesn't ruin it!

Until then, I will be cleaning, writing and babysitting couches.

Is FOXY the right word to use here?

 I don't know if you remember but... I LOVE FOXES. I am not really sure why, but I do. Maybe it is because they are catish and doggish. Maybe because they are orangey red. Maybe it is because I like how they prance with their little black legs. Maybe because they are cute. I dunno. But I like them and would keep one (or more) as pets if that were an option (and IF I did have foxes the girl would be named Aubergine and the boy would be Lucius. In case you wanted to know...) I also would rather like to be a fox so...

I made this! A ear-flap fox hat!

Recently I have been seeing lots of animal/monster ear flap hats on blogs/etsys and what not. I really wanted to make some, starting with a fox, but I couldn't find a pattern that fit what I wanted it to look like. So I looked through a bunch of random ones, meshed them together in my head, and on Thursday I made my own version of a foxy hat!

 I'm super happy with how it came out and it was quite easy to make. My little sister was a tad jealous of mine (the girl likes anything with pom-poms/puff-puffs) so now I am making her a bear hat (a panda, as per her request) and I think I am going to sew felt eyes and a nose onto the front of it. Pictures to come, I promise!

I am thinking the possibilities with these would be almost endless. This is almost like a personal amigurumi on MY HEAD! Anybody else want one? I can alter my crocheted pattern into any size and a good variety of animals (cats, bears, bunnies, most things with ears...faces too if you like that!). Similar patterns on etsy go for around $20-$25. Let me know in the comment section if your interested! I am always happy to do customs!

 There is just something fun about having an extra set of ears atop your head. And pom-poms dangling down from the sides. Those things makes me incredibly happy...

An Awesome Apron for Awesomebella

So we all know that I am practically a world class chef by now (...or something...), and obviously every world class chef (...?) needs an APRON!

Previously I had quite an aversion to aprons. Aprons are for Martha Stewart, Betty Crocker, and Cinderella...
There is something very girly and cute about them and those are 2 things I tend to avoid. But... as I sometimes do, I caved in.

Every time I am in Anthropologie I look at all their cute little aprons and think "eh, they aren't that bad..."

*exhibits of such aprons...*

And I figure once you've crocheted 144 granny squares (YES! I am done. Sometime soon they will be formed into a blanket!), as I have, you might as well wear a girly/cute apron (somewhere deep down inside of me there is a girly girl who occasionally sneaks her way out). It is all downhill from there. I seriously should just give up...

Anyway, yesterday afternoon I didn't have much else to do (by the way I am officially done with my online career schooling today. This post is being written by a legitimate CERTIFIED freelance writer!) and I was feeling a desperate need to MAKE something. In particular to SEW something.

Now, you have to understand, I don't like sewing. I REALLY don't. I especially hate machine sewing. It is awful stuff and I wind up angry every time. However, I do really like having sewn, as in I like having one of a kind things that I have made so...I sew from time to time.

Yesterday I sewed an apron (I free handed the whole thing. I don't use patterns in the very same way that I don't use recipes)! It is quite wild. And has NO ruffles, so...it isn't totally girly! (quit lying to yourself, Bella...)

Check out my girly/sewing/cooking self!

Pretty good, eh? The top was a pillow case (well...half of one. The other half became a purse.), the bottom was some remnant I bought at Joann's a while back. It is some sort of canvasy thing. I bought it because I liked the tiny orange stripes. The pocket was left over from a custom purse I made for my cousin Julia, the ties are cut out of a green vintage curtain, and the orange buttons were cut off some garment that got thrown out.

I really, really love the mix of patterns. All the orange and blue makes me really happy. So...yeah, maybe aprons are lame and uber girlish but mine is handmade, one of a kind, and a little bit cool. Feel free to call me Cinderbella Stewart Crocker...