Short Break...Be Back Next Week!

I apologize for not having daily posts the last week. We're moving in two days and as of today my craft/sewing room is all packed up. I had hoped to get a few fun tutorials up before the packing, but I wasn't able to get them all completed. Sorry!

So please check back next week for the new tutorials!!

See you next week!

Crochet Bracelet

Crochet Bracelets are SUPER cute and a great accessory. I wear along side my leather watch and silver jewelry, or completely on their own. All you have to do is alter the number of rows to fit any size. Make some for your daughters!

(4 stitch wide)

Materials: Yarn (most of the bracelets pictured are made from medium weighted cotton), USG6 crochet hook, scissors, yarn needle.

Instructions:

Ch 5 (for wider bracelet just increase the number of chains)

Row 1: SCc in 2nd CH from hook and all CH's till the end (total 4 SC) Ch 1 to turn

Row 2: *Rib stitch each sc back loop, ch 1 and turn*  (total 4)

Row 3 + : *Continue rib stitch in each rib stitch until reached desired length. 

Final Row: sc in each rib stitch (total 4) tie off

Using yarn needle weave excess yarn to seam ends together. 

(4 stitch wide)

(4 stitch wide)

(6 stitch wide)

(Lighter weight cotton yarn, 8 stitch wide with button)

(4 stitch wide, shorter length to fit little girls wrist, with added button on top)

(Lighter weighted cotton yarn, 4 stitch wide, shorter length and added button)

To purchase our crochet bracelets, visit our Etsy Shop

(Copyright Information: This pattern, including text and images, is copyrighted to Heidi Cogdill, Hip Chicks Craft Too. No part of this pattern can be copied, shared, distributed or sold. All rights reserved. No commercial use of this pattern is allowed (which means you cannot sell the finished product).

Hip Chicks Cook Too! Bruschetta Recipe

My daughter and I were watching the movie Julie and Julia together and one of the recipes caught our eye. It was visually pleasing and looking oh so yummy! We froze the screen and began to analyze what we believed to be in the recipe. We knew that she had cut up and fried a french bread in olive oil. Then covered it with tomatoes, red and yellow peppers and something green...which we determined was spinach.

The next day we set out to make this beautiful masterpiece. We played with the ingredients, the seasonings, until we got it just right. And it was to die for! Seriously! My nine year old daughter ate all the tomatoes and peppers, moaning the entire time. Now this is a girl who says she'll gag is she's forced to eat tomotoes.

We sat down to watch Julie and Julia again, but this time we watched the extras and low and behold...this beautiful, yummy thing we'd made was called Bruschetta. So I looked up the recipe online and found that the green stuff...was basil  instead of spinach.

We still prefer our way of making it, although we do add basil now.

Here is our recipe.

Ingredients:
2-3 (medium to large) FIRM tomatoes
1 Red Pepper
1 Yellow Pepper (you could use green if you prefer)
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 clove of garlic
1/2 tbs sugar
1 teaspoon salt & pepper
Basil or spinach (to taste) I use only a couple of leaves.

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut tomatoes into cubes (I cut and then scrape out the seeds), cut the peppers and put into a bowl

Step 2: Add the olive oil, salt, pepper (and basil or spinach)

Step 3: Using a garlic press, add the garlic to the bowl and mix well. Put in the refrigerator while you fry the bread. Let all the juices mix and get YUMMY!

Step 4: In a frying pan add a thin layer of olive oil. About 1 cup, then add the sliced bread. I like to flip the bread to get olive oil on both sides, then leave to fry.

Step 5: Remove bread from pan and add the tomatoes and peppers to the top.

Step 6: Sprinkle ground parmesan cheese over the top.

(Copyright Information: This recipe, including text and images, is copyrighted to Heidi Cogdill, Hip Chicks Craft Too. No part of this recipe can be copied, shared, distributed or sold. All rights reserved. No commercial use of this recipe is allowed (which means you cannot sell the finished product).

Peace Sign Quilt

My 9 year old daughter is a hippie at heart. She was definately born in the wrong era. She's very into peace signs right now and she asked if I could make a peace sign for her comforter.

She and I took a trip to the fabric store, where she picked out these colors:

We chose to go with quarter flats. Once we got home I measured the comforter and then using large pieces of paper I created a pattern of the peace sign and then measured out the quilt blocks.

After all the fabric was cut into squares, we started placing them around the peace sign pattern till we felt the look was just right.

Once my daughter gave her seal of approval, I began quilting this sucker together. And let me tell you...it was not as easy as I had invisioned in my mind. After a few days of quilting and ironing, I finally got to lay it out of the comforter. From there I pinned and repinned until it lay perfect.

And then came the hard part! Sewing the quilted peace sign to the comforter...a FULL size comforter. It was awkward and frustrating at times to get throught the sewing machine and also to sewing in circles.

But...in the end, it was all worth it. My daughter was thrilled and that's all that matters.

I even had enough squares left over to make a quilted pillow to add to her bed. I quilted the front and used a quarter flat for the back. Then we bought a pillow from IKEA to use inside, so I didn't have to stuff it.

Art Journal Pages

Sorry it's taken me so long to post the outcome of our first try at art journaling. My brother-in-law was in a terrible car accident and my husband and I rushed down to California to be with my sister.

Here are our first attempts at art journal backgrounds.

My son went with a spiderman theme:

My daughter chose to go with a fashion design theme:

And I went with a yoga, peaceful theme:

It was a first try and I'm SO excited to try it again. Hopefully things will come down a little and I can work on a few more pages this weekend.

On another Hip Chicks Craft Too note...I've been sewing like a mad woman. My daughter wanted a peace sign on her bed quilt, so I designed and sewing one on. Then I used the extra fabric to make a quilted pillow and chair covers for their desk chairs. Photos of those will be posted tomorrow.

Art Journals

Do you journal? How do you journal?

Years ago, when I first moved to Chicago from Oregon, I kept these amazing journals, full of poems, ramblings, photos, clippings. I still have them! And I love looking through them. However, once I was married and having kids my journals became only thoughts lining the pages of  various types of journals. I missed my hodgepodge type journals, but didn't find time to put them together.

The last few weeks, I've found myself drawn away from my typical form of creative expression--writing. I began drawing again. Which I haven't done since I was a kid. As I began sketching again, all these memories of the drawing, calligraphy, and fashion design I did as a young person came back to me. What happened to that? Where did that creative part of myself go? Did  I just funnel it all into my writing? Had I buried that part of myself for a reason? These are all the thoughts I tried to work out in my head while drawing, but then I decided to release those thoughts, feelings, and emotions onto the page along side my sketches. It began to take on a form all it's own.

Then I discovered this thing called Art Journals. Which is essentially what I was doing all those years ago, well...without the massive layering effects.

My daughter became very fascinated by my sketch book and asked to have one of her own. Now a side note about my daughter, this child has more journals collected in her 9 years then I have in my...well, let's just say, more then 9 years. But I love that she seeks out every creative avenue and that she's always eager to try new things. I would never want to discourage her creativity in anyway and since I can't see the future and know what she'll be when she grows up, I will never stop what might be her ultimate form of creative expression.

So together we began researching this Art Journal thing. My pages are very "one layer". We began reading and watching YouTube videos on how to create backgrounds and the proper tools we needed to use.

And now that we have our list...we're off to the craft store.

I'm a little scared. I'm nervous to make a mistake, or to have them not turn out as amazing as some of these other artists. My daughter doesn't have any of these reservations. She's thrilled! She's excited! And I know she'll jump in with both feet and open her mind, heart and soul to the experience. So today, I learn from her. Today I will let her be my teacher as we embark on a new creative medium.

I can't wait to show all of you how our first endeavers turn out.

But in the mean time, tell me if your journal. How do you journal? What type of journal do you use? Do you art journal?

Crochet Heart Garland Tutorial

I've had this heart garland made for a few days, but with two sicky kids in the house, I haven't gotten to the computer to post this tutorial. Sorry! But...here is the much talked about garland.

Crochet Heart Garland Tutorial

Materials: Cotton (Medium Weighted) Yarn (I chose a white for the chain and a marroon and pink for the hearts), Crochet Hook (I used a USF/3.75MM on the hearts and a USG/4.00MM on the chain), Yarn Needle.

Step 1: With chain color, ch 151, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, continue sc in each ch till the end. (Total 150 sc). Depending on the desired length, you can adjust the ch amount.

Step 2: Make your hearts. I crocheted 18 hearts total (9 of each color). I figured I wanted my hearts about every 8-9 stitches.

Step 3: Using yarn needle, attach heart to chain.

Step 4: Tie off and snip ends.

Here is it hung over my daughters window.

(Copyright Information: This pattern, including text and images, is copyrighted to Heidi Cogdill, Hip Chicks Craft Too. No part of this pattern can be copied, shared, distributed or sold. All rights reserved. No commercial use of this pattern is allowed (which means you cannot sell the finished product).

Greeting Card Designs

Today didn't turn out how I hoped it would. My long list of "To Do's" didn't get done. Instead, I spent the afternoon in the doctors office with my two kids who are sick.

So I thought I'd share a few of my greeting card designs.

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing a quick and tasty recipe...as well as a crochet heart garland tutorial.


(Copyright Information: This pattern, including text and images, is copyrighted to Heidi Cogdill, Hip Chicks Craft Too. No part of this pattern can be copied, shared, distributed or sold. All rights reserved. No commercial use of this pattern is allowed (which means you cannot sell the finished product).

Folded Accordian Paper Greeting Card

I'm definately not the first person to mix sewing and paper, but it truly is one of my favorite things to do. I just love the way it looks! So last night while I was organizing my scarp paper, I pulled out a few blank cards and created an accordian fold with my decorative paper and then sewed it to the front of the card. Super Easy!!

Materials: blank card, decorative paper and sewing machine.

Instructions

Step 1: Fold 1/2 on each side. This is will your overhang on top and bottom.

Step 2: Begin folding. You can fold into tight  folds or larger folds.

Step 3: With your 1/2 folds from step 1, hook each on the top and bottom. This is where you'll be sewing.

Step 4: Sew along the top and bottom. You can add any type of decorative stitch or just use a basic straigt stitch.

(This is how it'll look when you're done sewing)

Step 5: With a needle take top thread and insert through stitch hole to the back. Then tie together and snip off excess thread with scissors.

Here's the finished look!

Now you go and make some!!

(Copyright Information: This pattern, including text and images, is copyrighted to Heidi Cogdill, Hip Chicks Craft Too. No part of this pattern can be copied, shared, distributed or sold. All rights reserved. No commercial use of this pattern is allowed (which means you cannot sell the finished product).