Harts and Crafts Blog | Creative Jubilee

The London crochet bag

By Christina Lee| May 30th, 2021|Crocheting, Yarn Addict|

Trying new patterns is a great way to make sure your crochet skills don’t fall to the wayside. I recently picked up a copy of Crochet Dynamite by Jaime Eads Maraia and it’s filled with inspirational gift ideas that go beyond crocheted scarves, towels and blankets.

This time around, I landed on The London Crochet Bag as a means to get creative with my yarn scraps. When tackling a new project such as a handbag, it’s important to not get caught up in intricacies of the end product, and instead, to take it stitch by stitch, line by line.

For the yarn, I used a combination of a multi-colored blue, royal blue, baby blue and violet purple. And for this handbag, it’s better to use the cheap stuff such as the Red Heart Super Saver yarn as opposed to the soft wooly stuff, since it’s a bit tougher and you’ll be schlepping things around.

Making up the body of the bag is the half double crochet stitch. Once you do a line or two, you’ll master it pretty quickly. While you’ll find yourself doing a couple of rows a day, this isn’t a project that’s easy to throw in your purse, since I had to carry four balls of yarn throughout. It might have been easier to just stick with one color, but that probably wouldn’t have been as fun and exciting to make.

Stitching together the components: the body of the bag and the handle made it come to life.

Now the question is, what will you fill it with?

‘A Starry Night’ in yarn

By Christina Lee| April 18th, 2021|Creative Inspiration, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Punch Needle, Yarn Addict|

One of my favorite museums to visit was the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. I traveled there on a solo trip a few years back and this was one of the things you must do when you’re in Amsterdam.

Walking through the museum was like seeing the pages of your history book come to life. Well, it was better than that, but you know what I mean. His self-portrait, The Yellow House, The Bedroom, Sunflowers, and Irises were a few that I enjoyed. Of course my all-time favorites, The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum and A Starry Night were at a different location, but nonetheless, it was there in spirit.

It also inspired me to work on “A Starry Night” with the one thing I love: yarn. I found this starter kit on Etsy that came with just about everything you need to make this piece: punch needle, hoop, monk cloth, and a set of soft wooly yarn including shiny royal blue to make the village scenes pop.

This was indeed a fun piece to work on especially since I hear there is now an Immersive Van Gogh exhibit in San Francisco. The digital experience features some of his most iconic paintings across 300,000 cubic feet of space where you can lose yourself in an array of color, texture and light.

I can’t wait to check it out!

Gardening in a high rise

By Christina Lee| March 20th, 2021|DIY Home|

Who says you can’t garden in a high rise smack in the middle of winter?! While many took to baking sourdough or gardening with their spare time, I too, decided to start an herb garden way up here on the 20-something floor. I’ve got my planters, two bags of soil, some seeds and my two bare hands ready to work. I mean, how hard can this be? You pour in the soil, dig a hole for the seeds, cover it up, water it and let mother nature do the rest.

While there were mixed reviews online about actually having the herbs grow, I’m going to be optimistic about it and plant a few of my favorite herbs: chives, cilantro and basil. In a couple of weeks, I should be plucking the “fruits” of my labor… or heading to the nearest Trader Joe’s for Plan B, which is buying a basil plant and some organic chives. But let’s not go there just yet, I’m confident that something will come of it.

Because this is how we roll

By Christina Lee| February 18th, 2021|Creative Inspiration, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, In the Kitchen, Learning from the best, Oh My Crafts!|

It’s been nearly a year since we’ve been working remotely and zoom fatigue is at an all-time high as we continue to buckle down on work and hang tight hoping the tides will change this year. Increased levels of productivity and stress call for a much needed time out and a chance to come together as a team to reset.

Our manager suggested a virtual team building activity — one where we can sculpt and make something out of clay or one where we can fill our bellies with chocolate goodness — and the scale tipped at chocolate making (which was almost a no brainer!).

We each got a kit from Tiny B Chocolate where we got to learn Brigadeiro Basics, Brazil’s most loved dessert and cousin of the chocolate truffle. The kit came with three jars of brigadeiro, eight toppings and a jar of spread along with plates, spoons and everything you need to get started on becoming a chocolatier.

Making these brigadeiro chocolates couldn’t be any easier than 1-2-3. You scoop out the chocolate and roll it into a ball, dunk it in your favorite topping, and set it aside or put it into your mouth. There is no need for baking. What’s great about this virtual team building activity is you get to make gourmet Brazilian chocolates and bond with your team without any “whoopsies”. And best of all, you create photo-worthy creations that are yet to impress your friends and family. What a fun way to break away from the office.

One line a day journal: year two

By Christina Lee| January 1st, 2021|Creative Inspiration, Humbling Hobbies and Habits|

While many of us couldn’t wait to kick 2020 to the curb, there was still plenty of good that came from such a tumultuous year. From the pandemic to racial injustice, social strife and political upheavals that claimed to overtake our lives, came strength, fortitude, patience and empathy. Acts of kindness — small and large — filled our hearts and opened up our eyes to what could be a better tomorrow if we all pulled together. And these are the things worth writing down, recording and remembering.

This past year, we all got a lot of time to ourselves and learned to be comfortable with solitude. And with this time came the ability to focus on finding ourselves, looking inward and taking care of our own mental and physical wellbeing.

In doing so, I learned to disconnect, take longer walks, appreciate my neighborhood and find gratitude in people, nature and my surroundings. There were so many instances where I took all of this for granted and didn’t open my eyes up to the true nature of life and all of its beauty. With so much devastation, hurt and loss, I want to make a commitment to finding and practicing gratitude on a daily basis. I want to live in the moment, smile more and appreciate the very things life is offering me. I want to overcome the challenges that come my way and live up to the values that make me who I am. I want to make memories worth keeping and recording. Here’s to year two and life lessons worth remembering.

Merry Christmas!

By Christina Lee| December 25th, 2020|Holiday Fun, In the Kitchen|

It’s been a tough year and this Christmas will be unlike any others. Many people won’t be able to travel or spend Christmas with their family. Many people have lost loved ones or are hurting. I, along with my immediate family, am one of the lucky ones who has good health, a stable job and a warm roof over my head. In today’s times, that’s all that matters.

While this will be the first year that I won’t be able to spend Christmas with my extended family, I am more than happy and humble to be afforded the opportunity to share Christmas with my mom and my sister. I invited them over for a small, intimate gathering at my place. It will be the first time I host Christmas. Because things are very different this year, we focused on making this cozy and warm — and at the center of all of this is gratitude.

To get into the holiday spirit, we made hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies. This time I decided to make the icing. I usually get store-bought icing along with sprinkles and an assortment of little candies to decorate cookies, but I couldn’t pass up the idea of homemade icing — especially since it only took three ingredients to make. Plus, I also secretly enjoy playing with food coloring. Mom, Susanna and I each sat down at the table decorating light bulbs and only light bulbs this year since Mom lost all of the Christmas cookie cutters. Sticky fingers and crumbs on our faces, we managed to decorate a tray full of cookies!

As the Christmas music played in the background and the living fireplace warmed up the room, I rolled up my sleeves and put on my chef’s hat. On the menu is vegetable pasta with summer squash, red and yellow peppers, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and capers, and cheesy spinach-stuffed pork chops. With the banging of pots and pans, I was able to plate the pork chops with pasta and sit around the dinner table together. We raised our glasses and toasted to family, health and a better year ahead.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without presents. Cooper was most eager to open his last day on the Advent Calendar, this time with Grandma and Auntie Susanna. With a hearty treat in his mouth, he was already onto the next, sniffing out his Christmas gifts under the tree. He was eager to get a new set of tennis balls since tend to lose them by the handful. I watched Mom and Susanna open their gifts and tore a few open myself.

Despite this hellish year, we are so lucky to have each other. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas.

Spreading Holiday Cheer

By Christina Lee| December 10th, 2020|Crocheting, DIY Home, Handmade, Holiday Fun, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Oh My Crafts!, Yarn Addict|

Are you making your gifts, buying your gifts, or do a little bit of both? I guess it’s a little late in the season to be asking you about your holiday gift-giving game plan, but it’s still fun to ask and hear about it. This year, I did a combination of both: making some gifts and buying others. Throughout the year, I went through a number of phases: making coffee cozies, trying my hand at new hobbies (ie: punch needle embroidery and marker drawing) and continuing to build row upon row of my knitted and crocheted blankets. Along the way, I made new friends after starting a new job the previous year and spent time checking up on old friends throughout this hard-hit year. If you haven’t already checked up on someone, it’s a good time to pick up the phone, write an email, send a card or mail a care package. All the while, I decided to dust off my crochet needles and put some finishing touches on my coffee cozies. I love making custom cozies that pair with a plain porcelain cup — especially for the holidays — since most of us are bundled up and ready for a tall cup of hot cocoa. There’s nothing more heartwarming than happiness in a mug.

For once, I ended up getting most of my holiday cards and Christmas gifts out by early to mid-December. Everything was wrapped, stuffed, packaged, sealed and stamped — all ready for my trip to the post office before the holiday rush. Some careful planning on my end helped make a handful of these gifts extra special. The best part about sending these gifts and spreading holiday cheer are the happy faces and photos of their Christmas cheer.

Hot Cocoa in my Cooper cup

By Christina Lee| December 1st, 2020|Creative Inspiration, DIY Home, Holiday Fun, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, In the Kitchen, Oh My Crafts!|

With Thanksgiving out of the way, it’s officially Christmas season every single day of this month. Christmas music on KOIT 96.5, living fireplace (with the Christmas tree), warm scones and hot cocoa in my official Cooper cup.

Earlier this year, Cooper and I decided to make these photo cups as gifts to the family in honor of his tenth birthday. Each mug has a photo of Cooper as a puppy and a more recent one throughout the year, paired with a family photo. Of course the red and green ones have a special holiday family photo with Cooper. It’s especially difficult to get Cooper to look at the camera if we are all in the photo, but sometimes the photographer just has that magic touch. Regardless, I love that we have Cooper cups for every season, but the Christmas ones just seem more magical.

Well, now that I have my hot cocoa in my Cooper cup in hand, it’s onto holiday cards.

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