Things have been a little busy lately, with some work and plenty of Pearl time, plus the lows and highs of a migraine, a round of dim sum, and a trip to the zoo to meet the new baby elephant in the mix… he was awfully cute!

but now that I’m back in front of the computer, I wanted to post up a few crafty tutorials you might be interested in.

First, I wrote a new how-to over at CraftStylish this week. Here’s a super simple project: whip up some beaded stitch markers for yourself or a knitter friend.

Some others there that I thought were awesome this week are Diane‘s button cards, Kayte‘s leaf napkin rings, Lee‘s holiday count-down projects, and Linda‘s ongoing crochet-a-long (one of these years I swear will learn to crochet!). In fact there is a whole section of the site on holiday crafting ideas, so you can browse a whole bunch of handmade decorating and gift projects in the same spot.

And here is what I am super eager to make for Pearl (and since she is six months old and doesn’t read my blog, I’m not too worried about ruining the surprise): this beautiful play kitchen made with Ikea stuff! I’m doing a play food swap, too, so in the next few months I’ll be getting a nice mix of handmade felt food for her to play with. I’m so excited. Hooray for play food and play kitchens!

Speaking of swaps, I am also very happy to be part of Nancy‘s Mixtapes for Minis music swap! There is still time to join up, so if you want to trade music with us, please do. I am already planning mine out — I think it will start dance-y and end lullaby/nap-friendly. We’ll see if it works any magic on the actual minis.