Innocent Smoothie Hats

When I was at the trainstation last year one of my Innocent Smoothies came with a little knitted hat.
It was so cute!
After some googling I learned that it was a thing to raise money for the elderly fund here in Holland.
I was to late to send in some of my own, and I can't knit but I was determined to send some in this year.

I still can't knit so I had to figure out how to crochet something like that.
Now I have never crocheted a hat before so I wasn't quite shure how to start.
And then by chance I found some little hats on Instagram.
The maker was kind enough to share the pattern so I was good to go.

It really was ridiculously easy!

If you're in the mood to make some little hats here we go:

The things you need: a 4,5 mm crochethook and some colorfull matching yarn (DK size)

1. ch3, 9dc into 1st ch. Slip stitch to join.
2. ch3 , 2dc in each dc around (18dc)
3. ch3, 1 dc in each dc around
4. repeat round 3
5. repeat round 3
6. chain 2, 1 half dc in each dc around

( the pattern is in US terms. The ch3 at the start of each round does not count as a stitch. You should slip stitch to the first dc at the start of that round to join)

Pattern credit: @purlrose

With the little hat finished you can add some embellishments.  My favorite is the cream one with the bright pink pompom ( I wanted to make more pompoms but may have had a small nervous breakdown making more pompoms so I scrapped that plan )

For more information on the whole project visit the Innocent website.
Here in Holland hats must be sent in by the 1st of December but check the page for your country for rules applying to you.

Holiday Extravaganza

This past weekend I took part in The Holiday Extravaganza over on rukristin.com.

Now you have to know that the whole christmas-thing doesn't start really start here in Holland until "Sinterklaas" leaves on the 6th of December. So we are not exactly in christmas-mode yet.
But this was just too much fun to miss!

There where guest-posts, DIY's, games and a total of 10 challenges.
Because of the time difference I missed the live blog Party chat. But thankfully they recorded it.
I stil need to watch it though XD

I went on a major craft-binge and had a go at ALL of the 10 challenges. And I proud to announce that I finished every one of them! Which is a big thing for someone who isn't very good at finishing things.

 I'll show you what I made:

 Challenge no.1 : Holiday Storytelling.

 The challenge was to create a project that tells of one of your holiday stories.
I picked our tradition to buy a tree. We always do this right after "Sinterklaas". I made these pictures last year for my december daily. I love how they tell a little story together.

Challenge no.2 : Holiday Cards

The challenge was to create a hand-made card to give to a friend.

Now I write a lot of christmas-cards. But never tried to make any of my own. So I wasn't really shure where to begin. I folded a regular white correspondece-card in half. then used my calligraphy-skills and wrote on it.

it still felt a bit bar after that. So I stamped some gold stars on it and glued some gold star-sequins on.
I really like how it turned out. Maybe next year I will make my own christmas-cards...

Challenge no.3 : Document the right now.

The challenge was to document the right now.
I still had a big currentl-card lying around. So I filled it out and glued it on some christmas-paper.
Taadaahh!

Challenge no4. A few of my favorite things..

The challenge was to make a project based on a given mood-board. It included hot pink and gold stationary , hand lettering and gold stars.. I knew instantly I wantend to make these hot pink note cards with some gold stars on the bottom. After a lengthy search of my stash I couldn't find any paper in the right kind of pink. 

The shops had already closed. And wouldn't be open on sunday... Thankfully a phone-call by my mother-in-law reveald that the shops would be open!! Yay! So after our monthly walk on the beach with some dogs I had to do some shopping. I found the perfect pink cards.

I made the "notes"-stamp myself and stamped the gold stars on. ( I am very much in love with the cheap HEMA star-stamp and Hero Arts gold ink)

 Challenge no.5 : Prepairing a holiday album

That was an easy challenge. I already started on putting together my December Daily album. And because I did some work on it fridaynight I got to use it for this challenge =)

More on my december daily album HERE

Challenge no. 6. Color challenge

The challenge was to use a certain colorscheme in a project. It didn't scream "holiday" to me but I knew this picture of Abby would be perfect. I used some of my christmas paper and added some stickers ("cut & paste" I believe)  I bought at the scrapbook-fair this summer.

Next up is to find a frame for it..

Challenge no.7 Get messy.

The challenge was to get messy and use paints, sprays, mists or any messy products on the next project.

So I pulled out my acryllic paints and painted a christmas tree on a small postcard-size canvas. I stuck some sparkles and a gold star in the wet paint.

As usual when I use paints I was coverd in it.. messy indeed..

Challenge no. 8 Minimalist style.

The challenge was to embrace minimalism and create a project that speaks volumes without shoving it in your face.

I had a really hard time with this one..
I combined this challenge with a project I had already in the planning. For my intuïtive developement course I need to make/buy a smal present for the last day. I knew instantly I wanted to make a stamp. But all the designs I could think of where to difficult. And then.. this one came to mind. Simple yet meaningfull.

Challenge no.9 DIY gift-wrap and Tags

The challenge was to create your own gift wrapping, tags of other gifwrapping embellishments.

This matched up very well with my stamp for my course. I found small kraft box in my stash just big enough for the stamp and a small inkpad. I stamped it with gold stars (there is that HEMA stamp and Hero ink again).
I cut a little tag with the stamps desing on it and wrapped it all up with a white and yellow ribbon.
Done!

Challenge no 10. Holiday Extravaganza Inspiration.

The challenge was to use one of the holiday extravaganza projects as inspiration.

One of the gustposts was a DIY to upcycle a moleksine. I am a big fan of notebooks and decided this was it. I have a "small" stash of empty notebooks inculding some faux-moleskines. I love the kraft covers. They are easily decorated for specific occasions.
I took some papers from my december daily stash and stuck them on. Trimmed the edges and added a label on the front. When the glue is totally dry I will add a layer of clear adhiesive plastic.
I'll use the little cutie to help me record my december stories for my december daily album.

And with that cute little notebook I finished all the holiday extravaganza challenges! 

I really enjoyed all the challenges and getting to do so much crafting.
Did you take part in the holiday extravaganza?