Crochet Me A Bow

Hello blog-o-sphere friends! It's been a little bit since I did a fun little tutorial and I was feeling crafty, sooo I am sharing with you a fun little pattern that I have found for making cute crocheted bows!

What you need:
Crochet Hook H (5.00mm)
Worsted Weight Yarn
Yarn Needle

Now Let's start...
Row 1: ch 12, sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across: 11 sc
Rows 2-4: ch 1, turn, working in back loops only, sc in each sc across: 11 sc
Border: do not turn, sc in along side of each row, in each ch across bottom, and along other side of each row.
Finish off.


Thus far you should have something that looks like this...

Next, tie a knot in the middle of your bow. We aren't going to worry about end right now since we will weave them in at the end.

Wrap the yarn around the center until it looks just right to you! Tie knot in the back of your bow and finish it off. Weave in the ends to make it pretty, and well-ah! You have your very own crocheted bow!

Some ideas for what to do with these bad boys:

Glue or sew onto a headband.

Put a pin on the back and attach to your purse.

Attach to a onesie for a lovely little baby bow tie.

Jumping On The Band Wagon!

Hello you beautiful people. It is the last day of March and boy does that seem surreal.. But April brings lots of fun (even if it's supposed to rain a lot) and one of those things for me is the Photo A Day Challenge! 

I have seen tons of other bloggers doing this and it seems like so much fun, but I never seem to remember to look out for the list before the month starts. BUT TA-DA! I have done it for April and am here to share it with you! 

My plan is to take a picture a day, and then as my Saturday Stack-Up, share a week full of fun pictures! It will also be a linky party, so come and join me! You don't have to do the same thing that I'm doing.. Just link up a post about your week!

I hope you all have fun with this list thanks to @fatmumslim! Follow her on Twitter... I know she'll appreciate it!

P to the S.. Remember that my Bloggy Book Club starts tomorrow as well! So excited! :)

Currently...

I feel like I've been kind of hidden behind different things going on my blog these past could of days. I guess writers block hits us all at one point. Sometimes I think that people don't want to read all the personal 'junk' I throw up on this little webpage, but I have to remind myself that it really doesn't matter what they think and that I should just write what I am feeling or doing. Heck, I started this bloggy home to do just that! So here's what has been going on the last couple of weeks/days...

We are finally moved back into our apartment. The floors are either entirely new or they have dried them out. Because of the flooding from our washer though we've been talking with our insurance company about claiming some things like our bed that absorbed the water into the wood, and the U Haul that we had to rent to put all of our things in while staying in a hotel. I have scanned and emailed all the receipts and such to our All State agent but still haven't heard a reply. Talk about stress! I am very happy to not be living in a hotel room anymore though!

We've been having a little bit of money troubles (mostly because of me sadly) and are now throwing around the idea of breaking our current lease to move into a cheaper apartment, saving us $200-$300 a month! The only deal breaker will be how much we'll have to pay in to get out of this lease and knowing if we'll get back any of our security/pet deposit money back. Cross your fingers that it all works out.

I have also been busy, busy with thinking up new ideas for the month of April. You already know about my Bloggy Book Club that I am super excited about. There's also going to be a special Q&A session with one of my favorite authors! Included in all of this fun stuff are lots of special posts that I have been lacking here for the past couple of months for my sponsors. I apologize for not giving my past advertisers the correct treatment and spotlight that they deserve! I feel like a very bad sponsor host. *Insert sad face here.* To change that though, I have mad a fun little schedule for myself to make sure that they get the best treatment that I can give them. This will include a 'Meet My Sponsors' post, 'Links That I Love' post each week with links back to their blogs, Twitter and Facebook love throughout the month, and a 'Sponsor Wrap-Up' post at the end of the month. Oh, and I can't forget about my 'Sponsor Goody Bag Giveaway'! If you are interested in being a sponsor check out my sponsor page. I'm even doing swaps!

I'm very excited with how many followers I have now. Okay, compared to some blogs 37 followers is not a lot. BUT to me I am ever so grateful for those of you have gotten at least one thing out of my blog! I'm planning on doing more link-ups and trying to become closer friends with bloggers. I have a hard time becoming friends with someone I have never met, so maybe I'll start looking for bloggers in Washington. There are a bunch, I know that! Speaking of meeting bloggers... I really hope that I will be lucky enough to be able to snag a ticket to the PNW Blogger Meet Up in Portland. There are only 50 tickets and by the sounds of it, there are a lot more than that interested. I would love to meet some of the lovely ladies that are behind some of my favorite blogs!

Now... I need all of your opinions on this next one! I am looking at getting an e-reader/tablet. I am really interested in the Kindle Fire, but have heard that if you are looking for more of a tablet you will be disappointed. Would you recommend the Kindle Fire, The Nook Tablet, The Kobo Vox, or any other? I really would like to know your opinions before I take the plunge!

That is all for now on my little update post. I'm sure I'll be getting in the groove of things soon! Hope you all have a spectacular weekend!

A Monster Has To Have Clean Teeth!

Our favorite time of day is bath time. No matter how our day has gone we always have fun when Bentley is in his tub. One thing that we have to do is have him play with his tooth brush a little. He won't let me totally brush all of his teeth, so the dentist said to let him put it in his mouth and chew on it. Since I don't want him running around with it, sitting in the bath seems the best time. He think's it's just the coolest thing in the world!

We have recently bought him some fizzy bath colors and paint soap. He though the colors were cool, but how the paint is you can't really grab it in order to paint. It's really slimy (since it's soap) so I have decided to let him play with it as much as he can and make my own storing it in the cool little containers! Shaving cream with food coloring sounds fun to me! :)

His hair is also getting so long! It's really fine so you can't really notice the length of it unless you lift it up, but it actually does little curls in the back and we can put it in a fun little mo-hawk when it's wet! Hm, I wonder how long I'll let it grow until we cut it.

Well I hope you are all having a lovely Thursday! Thanks for reading about our time in the tub!

Winner!!

Congratulations Danielle!! Thanks to all of you that entered this giveaway. Stay posted for more fun things happening this month.

If you are still interested in sponsoring go to my sponsor page and check out what you can do. Even ask to swap?

Reminder!

Enter my Giveaway!

There's only 1 more day to get in on the action my friends. I am offering up a 200x300 x-large sponsor spot for FREE this month! There aren't that many entries, so you better jump on it! :) Click here to enter or check it out in my sidebar!

12 Projects for 2012 - Picture Art

I love being crafty. Always have.. So when I noticed that my house needed some art I decided to have a little artsy session with the family. Now I'm not sure if this project is yet completed. I really like it with just our hands, but I'm debating putting each of our names between Logan's fingers. Put Larson's in the left bottom corner, and Est. 2011 in the right bottom corner. What do you think? 

Daddy's Hand

Daddy & Mommy's Hands

Daddy, Mommy, & Kids Hands

5 Personality Traits of a Friend/Family Member You Admire {Listable Life}

1. Optimistic. I have to say that I don't always look at my cup being half full. I really admire this about my mama. Even if she isn't having the best day, she'll look at it as if it's not the end of the world. I really need to learn how to do this!

2. Straight Forward. My best friend Patricia really has this gift (or is it a curse? just kidding). She doesn't care what people think of her. She's going to be blunt with you and let you know if you have done something wrong. It has bettered our friendship I think, because we talk things through unlike other girls who go and talk behind each others backs.

3. A Fighter. Being a young mother I have some fighting in me, but I really look up to my friend Katarina who had her son when she was just starting high school. She has learned to fight for what she wants as well as raise her son all by herself. She is quite amazing! Plus she's still going strong in school with a high GPA! 

4. Cleaner Extraordinaire. My mother in law has the neatest house ever. She keeps it so tidy and nice. I really envy her for doing this. I need to learn from her on occasions! 

5. Let's Go. Another thing Miss. Patricia does, is she always wants to get out of the house and have fun. Some days I just want to let my depression take over me. When she gets me out and about I feel 100% better and want to do it everyday. Now if only I can get my mind to agree with me the next day!

Linking Up To:

Let's Cause Chaos!

Trying to find fun things to do with my family I came up with this list. It to help me visualize and be able to sit down and pick something to do for a day or weekend. Some of these items are for Whidbey Island residents. So if you don't know the places in parenthesis that would be why! Hope you get as much out of this as I did.
Free:

• Goecaching (GPS & www.geocaching.com account needed)
• Picnics
• Library Time (Sno-Isle Libraries)
• Photo Sessions
• Catching Bugs
• Bubbles
• Kites
• Hiking
• Playgrounds
• Bikes
• Family Newsletters
• Melting Crayons
• Chalk Fun
• Harborside Parade in Freeland 11am-12:30pm
• Dog Parks Technical Park, Clover Valley, Patmore Pit, Marguerite Brons, Double Bluff)
• Beaches (Maxwelton Beach, Double Bluff Beach)
• Clamming (Grasser's Lagoon)
• 4th of July Fireworks
• Field Journal and Research Party
• Draw Mandalas
• Puppet Show
• Stargazing
• 'Digs'

$5.00 and Under:

• Strawberry & Blueberry Picking
• Tye Dye
• Goop (Cornstarch, Water, Food Coloring, Ziploc Bag)
• Greenbank Car Show - Father's Day 9am-5pm $5.00 admission
• Dollar Store Crafts
• Disposable Camera Randoms (Let your kids snap the pictures) 

$10.00 and Over:

• State Parks - $30 annual pass fee (Deception Pass State Park, Joseph Widbey State Park, Fort Ebey State Park, South Whidbey State Park)
• Thrift-ing
• Gardening
• Farmers Market - May to September - Thursdays 4pm-7pm
• Jamba Juice Date
• Movie & Dinner
• Pikes Market
• Space Needle 
• Museums

*If you have any other ideas that you do with your family please comment and let me know!!

Wedding Inspiration via Polyvore

My brother and his girly friend have finally gotten engaged! I am so freakin' excited that I just want to scream, but instead I am being creative with Polyvore to help with the process of different outfits for different parties, pictures etc. that my soon to be sister-in-law will be going through. Here are some of the outfits that I have come up with. Enjoy!

Fly Away Fairytale

Cowgirl Chic

Blue Fairy

Flower Princess

Rose Sensation

Fancy Floater

Be Bold?

I just felt like dressing up a bit and playing with my camera. Being silly is fun and taking selfies always seems to boost my confidence, even if it's only for a second. So let's do this, shall we? 

Living Behind A Mask

Depression sucks. Is it alright if I keep it at that? Having this disorder as they call it is quite hard at times simply because certain days you can just be in a funk where you just want to sit and do nothing but sleep and of course you don't know how to describe it to someone who doesn't have depression. Sometimes this is what happens between my husband and I. 

The problem is that he just holds everything in and doesn't talk to me. How am I supposed to know if I'm doing anything wrong or upsetting him if he doesn't say anything and tries to act normal? I think there's a part of marriage that you can't always think of the other person's feelings when they are doing something that is making you really unhappy. Communication! I screwed up this month. I didn't keep track of money the way I should have, and with all the flooding things just kept going down hill. Logan actually just left without giving me any warning to go drink with some friends. It really upset me. I was depressed, anxious, and in a hotel room with just Bentley all night long. It's not a good feeling when your spouse doesn't even want to talk about the situation at hand until 'tomorrow'. 

I guess I'm wondering if marriage gets better after the first year or two? We only have about 4 more months to go before our one year anniversary and I want us both to be happy with how our marriage is going. I'm new to this, I'm young and never got to experiment with money or not being responsible all the time really. So at times my teenage-ness gets a little out of hand. I have to take a step back and take a break to really absorb everything. I just want to be forgiven in this sense at times. I'm still learning.

I just want to say that... I LOVE LOGAN SO MUCH! He is my prince charming in Carhart and a cowboy hat! Ha-ha. Did you guys know we met at a country music festival? That's another story though. 

Update!

I have some very fun things that are going on in April my friends! Let me tell you about them...


So as you saw, I am starting an X-Large sponsor spot each month for one lucky person. I normally will ask someone if they are interested in doing so, but I'm doing a giveaway to start it out. The spot is 200x300 and you extra special attention, including twitter and facebook love. If you are interested in doing this go enter my giveaway here!

One thing that I am super pumped about is my Bloggy Book Club! I've been wanting to start it for awhile now, but wasn't sure how many people would actually participate with me. Right now it's sounding pretty good! If you'd like to participate with us go here and see the schedule for the April book, 'The Help'. You can also join our little community by going here and linking up or commenting! Hope to see you there.

Now for the news that I'm most excited about...drum roll please.... I will be doing a Q&A session with one of my favorite authors. Now if you know me and have been reading my blog from the beginning you can probably guess who I contacted and asked. If not it's going to be a fun surprise! I was nervous that I was going to get an, "I would love to, but I'm really busy." answer to my email that I sent. Instead I got a, "I would be happy to!" I cannot tell you how amazing this is to have someone who is such an idol in my world, having her words here on my bloggy home. I can't even describe how giddy I am. So stay posted friends!

I will also be having some giveaways, like my sponsor goody bag, and possibly some new items that will be going into my store. I have many ideas for this, and based on my poll it's looking like I'll be playing with felt in my future. I'm also putting more clothes in there so you can shop my closet a bit! Hope you guys stay tuned.

Just for a reminder, I have sponsor spots open and would be happy to have some more of you lovelies on my sidebar! Ask me to swap... I'll be your friend in this here community! You have to start somewhere..

Well, now that I have updated you on some of the fun things that are going on here, I think I will sign off. Hope you have a wonderful Monday! :)

Jump On This!!

Okay peoples, so here's the deal... I have 1... Let me say this again, 1 X-Large spot available for the month of April. It is a free spot that gets tons of attention here and I have no one to fill it this month, sad! So what I'm going to do is I'm going to have a little rafflecopter to see who wants to be featured. Again this is FREE so go ahead and follow what the widget tells you to do! Thanks much! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Calling Goecachers!

Well hello there lovelies! Tonight I want to ask ya'll some questions. I'm not quite sure how many people have gone Geocaching, but I am very intrigued with the thought of going on a treasure hunt! I just made an account and have looked around the Hide and Seek page, but am still a little intimidated by the whole thing. So here is what I would like you to answer...

1. How was your experience when you went Geocaching?

2. Would you get a trackable?


3. Is it better to go by yourself, or with a partner in crime?


4. Is there anyone willing to go with me if you're around the Oak Harbor area?


5. What GPS would you recommend using?


Thanks guys! I cannot wait to hear what you have to say. If you want to find me on geocaching.com, my username is KatlynLarson.

Dear Washington...

Since I've been talking about combing through the beaches here in Washington, I'd show you some of the pretties that I have picked up. Between all of the shells that I don't know what I'm going to do with, I also got a couple little pieces of drift wood, stones, and sea glass that I am going to use for jewelry! It's tons of fun to go with my family and find little treasures. We also found a star fish thanks to Elena! :)

And now here is my little 'Certified Hunk'! Oh how much fun we have.

Title Options For My Autobiography {30 Days of Lists}

A Monster Inside Your Head....

Katlyn,

Why are you such a screw up? Do you plan on going anywhere with your life? Do you really think you can just sit at home and be a mother while your husband is out working for your family in order to survive in this world?

Why do you go and spend his money when you know you don't need anything? Can't you just be happy with who you are and what you have? Stop it! You know better. You were never bad with money when it was your own. You saved $500+ so you could buy things for Bentley in only 4 months with a minimum wage job! Was it really that hard to do?

Why can't you be normal? Being able to go about your life without taking breaks just so you don't get to upset or depressed? It doesn't matter what other people think of you! Screw 'em all..

If you keep living this life how you are, do you really expect Logan to hang around for the ride? You already pissed him off pretty good. It's pretty hurtful when you get told the love of your life is just so mad  and angry when they're around you that they don't know what they want anymore. Yeah, you did that. With your overspending, your stupidity.. You're worth nothing right now. I bet if you jumped off that bridge down the road that no one would really care besides your mother and Bentley. And that's why you don't do it. You know that you'll always have someone in your life. You'd never mess that relationship up! You're going to be the best mother you can be no matter what wall you run into.

Well DO IT! Get your shit together, pick up the phone, and start calling out your future. You're home all damn day sitting in front of the computer when you aren't playing with Bentley. Why can't you be doing school work and actually moving forward!? Because you're lazy... Well knock it off! Get out of this rut, pop those pills if you have to, to stay in your 'happy place'. That's what they're there for, right?

You know that you can be better, you think about it every day when you know you're being a disappointment. Change that... You can!

A Bentley Surprise!!!

First of all, I still can't get it through my head that I have a 1-year old. Seriously? Have I really accomplished a whole year of parenting? It goes by so fast and it's so much fun that I wanted to get something special to celebrate Bentley being 1. So we hit up the promo over at Studio Maxx. Here is what we go...

Now since we were tight on money I only got these two poses, but I cannot be happier at how they turned out! I love how he looks so happy and like he is having a blast, when really he was throwing a fit the entire time. Ha! I also love the vintage look that's going on! Can you say baseball player too? :)

Well I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! Have an amazing rest of your weekend!

Saturday Stack Up

March 18, 2012

March 19, 2012

March 21, 2012

This is how our week in a hotel has been! We got out an about but we still were in a funk from having our schedules messed with. Bentley learned how to take a nap when he's supposed to better though! :) 

Link up so I can see how your week has gone!