There, their, they're coloring page

I saw a fantastic picture shared by a teaching friend on Facebook with there and their written neatly with the arrow head for there and the stick figure for their to show the difference and it inspired this coloring page. Turning the apostrophe in they're to an a was my addition.

I hope you enjoy this!!

Click the images below for larger versions to print and color.

There, their, they're coloring page- small jpg:

There, their, they're coloring page- large transparent png: 

Crayon Mandala- intricate version

Back in 2013, I drew a simple crayon mandala for back to school.  That mandala recently got shared on one of the coloring groups on Facebook, and people were talking about using it as a way to catalog pencil colors. The more people commented, the more I wanted to put together a more complicated version.

So here it is. A more complicated version of my crayon mandala to print and color. You probably aren't going to want to use crayons for it. Click the versions below for large versions to color.

Sm. jpg version:

Large transparent PNG version:

Hand Sanitizer Backpack Clip crochet pattern

Time for back to school, or you might be like me and find it sometimes helpful to have a small bottle of hand sanitizer available. This was designed for a store brand sanitizer- Kroger to be specific. This crochet pattern might need modification for other bottles to make it fit, but since the only shaping is in the neck area, it should be easy to adjust.

Hand Santizer Backpack Clip Crochet Pattern

You will need:

• 2 colors of worsted weight yarn- I used Caron Simply Soft 
• Size G or H hook
• Carabiner clip with split ring
• 5/8th inch button
• Embroidery floss
• yarn needle to weave in ends
• tapestry needle to sew on button
• hand sanitizer- mine is a Kroger brand 2 oz bottle

Stitches:

• sc=single crochet
• dc=double crochet
• sl st=slip stitch
• ch=chain
• st or sts= stitch or stitches

Gauge- 3.5 single crochet stitches per inch, 4 rows per inch

Take the ring off your carabiner and slide it on to the main color yarn, push it up out of the way.

Chain 12 loosely, sl st to join being careful not to twist chain

Rnd 1: Ch 1 (does not count as first stitch), sc in same stitch, sc in each st around, sl st to join (12 sts)
Rnd 2: Ch 1 (does not count as first stitch), sc in same stitch,sc in next stitch, 2 dc in next st, 2 dc in next st, sc in next 4 sts, 2 dc in next st, 2 dc in next st, sc in next 2 sts, sl st to join (16 sts) - this round makes the increases and the shoulders of the bottle
Rnds 3-12: Ch 1 (does not count as first stitch), sc in same stitch, sc in each st around, sl st to join (16 sts)
Round 13: Ch 3 (counts as first stitch), dc in next stitch, slide the ring down and around the hook and stitches so it's hanging freely from the ch and dc, sc in next st, sc in each st around, sl st to top chain to join.
Round 14: Ch 1 (does not count as first stitch), sc in same stitch, sc in each st around, sl st to join (16 sts)
Break off yarn and weave in ends

Flap:
Join in accent color 2 stitches before the last stitch of the previous round.
Row 1: Ch 1 (does not count as first stitch), sc in same stitch,sc in next 5 stitches
Row 2-9: Ch 1 to turn (does not count as first stich),sc in same stitch, sc in each stitch across (6 sts)
Row 10:  Ch 1 to turn (does not count as first stich),sc in same stitch, sc in next st, ch 2 loosely, skip 2 sts, sc in next st, sc in next st.
Row 11-12:Ch 1 to turn (does not count as first stich),sc in same stitch, sc in each stitch across (6 sts)
Break off yarn, weave in ends.

Put the bottle in the pouch, and pull flap over the bottle, mark where the button will go, and stitch button into place.

Put carabiner on split ring and attach to backpack.

The nice thing about this is that it's easy to take the bottle out to refill or replace it, and you can make it in any colors. So you can match for school spirit, or you can use your favorite colors. Acrylic yarn makes it washable.

This is the bottle I used.

Printable Apple Box

I hope you enjoy this printable stained glass effect gift box. It's an apple, which is good for back to school, autumn or fairy tales! Click on the image for a larger version, print on cardstock, cut, score folds, fold, glue!

Duck Tape® Index Card Case Tutorial

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

You expected cute little owls maybe? *grins* I actually thought about it and you can absolutely find my Retro Owls tape when you go to buy Duck Tape at Walmart. But there are so many prints available from Duck Tape®, lots of licensed prints including Mickey Mouse, 1 Direction, Despicable Me and the Avengers, plus a lot of their own designs (and Retro Owls! yeah, that's still amazingly cool to me) ... well, my family are pretty serious comic book geeks. So AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! (I think that's out of my system now)

You will need:

• Duck Tape®
• Non-stick scissors- I recommend Westcot
• hook and loop dots, squares or tabs - I used Velcro
• Index cards

Start by making a Duck Tape® sheet- I do my work on an old room service tray, but a self-healing cutting mat works too. It just needs to be a surface that won't be damaged by the tape and that you can pull the tape off.  Just put down a strip sticky side up, then another strip over it sticky side down, and flip back and forth until the sheet is big enough. Make it a bit wider than the index cards so you can trim down to nice neat sides.

Make the sheet twice as long as the cards are tall, plus a couple inches for the flap. In the photo below, I've already folded it up and placed a card over it so you could see the flap length. I've also trimmed the sides. Leave a little bit of room for the depth of the cards- at least a quarter inch.

Rub all the folds with the scissor handles to crease them well.

A lot of tapes are directional. Like Retro Owls has the design horizontally aligned. Avengers is vertically aligned. Alignment  will help you decide your decoration. In this case, I decided on a band down the center.

Because it would be upside down on the back if I wrapped it, I cut it off. It's folded over at the top and bottom.

Then lined up the design for the top flap. 

See how pretty that's lined up?

Now it's time to finish it up. Start by putting tape on the back. I picked a contrast color, but you could use the same color you used for the base color. Leave a small amount to fold over the front.

Repeat on the top, and put a piece of tape in the middle where the gap shows.

Then cut short lengths to tape up the sides, most of the tape will be on the back to create the bordered look for the front.

Repeat on the flap, then put another piece of tape on the back of the flap for the last border piece.

Now it's time to add the hook and loop closure. To get it to line up perfectly, take the backing off one side, then press it down to the flap. You can either put one in the middle, or do what I did and use 2.

Take the backing off the other side, and press it down to close it. The sticky will stick in the right place!

Duck Tape® comes in so many prints and colors that it can be used to personalize all sorts of things for school. You could tape up a 3 ring binder to match this card case, make a pencil case in a similar style, use it to show your personal style. It comes in enough colors that it's also possible to show your school spirit with Duck Tape®.

Plus, Retro Owls! Which I didn't actually show in this post. But thank you all for telling me where you are finding it and what you are doing with it. If you want to email me pictures, I'd love to do a photo post of all the really neat things people are doing with Retro Owls Duck Tape®.

Follow @TheDuckBrand for lots of great ideas.

 

Crayon Mandala to color

All the back to school supplies in stores, inexpensive colored pencils, 10 cent boxes of crayons etc, inspired this mandala. I hope you enjoy it!

Click the images for larger versions.
Small JPG version:

Large transparent PNG version:

Doodles Mandala to Color

The above is the small jpg version of this very simple mandala. It was fun to draw, and I hope you enjoy coloring it.

Large PNG version:

Apple Coloring Page

Now that all the kids are going back to school, I wanted to draw and apple to color. I'll be posting an embroidery pattern based off this design later! Apples for back to school, or for Once Upon a Time fans. I *love* modern fairy tales, and I'm really looking forward to the next season.
Click on the images for larger versions to color.
Small JPG version:

Large Transparent PNG:

My original idea involved knotwork, it didn't work out the way I wanted.

In other news, major windstorms knocked out power all over Anchorage yesterday. In my neighborhood, the power was out for 14 hours. 

Cable Patterned Cookie Boxes

This is my attempt at a digital version of cable knits, which are so trendy and timeless for fall and back to school. I put it on a cookie box template and colorized it 5 bright colors. Click on the images for larger versions and print at 8x10 inches on card stock, cut, score, fold, glue!

Also! A new bead project at Beadwork at BellaOnline!