"Friendship? Yes, Please" Tea Bag Holder

Don't ask me why I was in the mood to make this this morning... When I should be packing!! Because we are going to be moving... AGAIN... That's another whole post though. And don't ask me why I am making a tea bag holder when the cost to send something like this in the mail is RIDICULOUS now.... But, I was in the mood to make a card or something this morning. Then I remembered the tea bag holder I made before. I tried to find the instructions on Pinterest. They are no longer there. So..... I decided to just go for it myself. (Good idea, dummy...)  I tried to write everything down so I can remember for the next time I try to make one. These are not the best tutorial/instructions, but maybe you can make sense of them...

This is the stamp I used, it's from Stampin' Up I think? And I have no idea where you can get one. I think they are discontinued. But, you could use any stamp really. Or a sticker, a die cut... Whatever.

After four attempts I stamped it onto the color cardstock I wanted to use, THEN I used the punch to cut it out. I have these pictures backwards I think... This is the two colors I used to color the inside of it.."Maroon", and "Rasberry".

Lined up the image inside as best as I could to see where to punch it out... (Nervewracking-well maybe just for me. I had two dogs and one cat I thought for sure was going to jump up on the chair next to me,  and startle me or something....) 

Then, I folded the piece of cardstock in half  widthwise (?) and cut down to 3 1/2" wide x 4 3/4' tall. Then, approximately one inch from the folded edge, put a pencil mark. Then, turning the piece with the folded edge on the bottom, approximately 2 1/4" to the next dot, put another pencil mark and make a diagonal line, lining up the ruler from dot to dot. Cut. 

Cut a darker/contrast color piece of cardstock 3 1/2" x 2 1/4" (ish). Then cut another piece of patterned paper 3 1/2" x 1 1/4". (this will also go on the inside of the tea bag holder/card, too so make sure you have enough for both pieces). Secure to the darker piece approximately 1/4" from the top. Then, secure the whole strip to the tea bag card lining up side and bottom. Now glue/secure the "Friendship" circle to the card... Then, cut a piece of the patterned paper approximately 4 1/4" (plus one dot more?) by 3 1/8", glue to the inside of the back piece of the tea bag card/holder. Using a hole punch, punch two holes- one just above the strip and a little over 1/4" away from the outer edge, the other one just a little bit to the top of the halfway point of the patterned paper, the same amount away from the edge. I just eyeballed it... Then measured it later.  Then you put a ribbon in and tie in the front.

Here's the finished tea bag holder.  Since I couldn't find a tutorial online (and I don't write things down or put links in my blog for things-ughhhhhh-I need to start doing that better), I thought I would write it all down here.  This is the one I made about 10 years ago. (No real notes, as you can see, but you can see the picture...) Maybe I'll make a purple one now. 😀No! I need to pack....  Stay focused.. LoL

 

Happy 2026

Today is the first day of 2026. Wow. I am not into that "New Year, New Me" BS....  It's just another day to me. But... "Happy New Year". I remember when it turned 2000. I couldn't believe it. (Remember "Y2K"? 🙄) Now it's already 2026...  

I picked apart the pink edging on the baby basket, and I redid it in all hdc's. You can't really tell from the pictures, but it lays better. And I like it better. Then I said "This baby needs a blanket. It's only 22 degrees outside." (LoL).  (It was actually only 9 degrees out this morning!) So I crocheted one I found on Pinterest. But, I did not do the whole thing. I only chained 24, and I did five rows. Then I did the edging. 

Here it is, all bundled up. Now what to crochet.... 

Okay, I took a picture of the side view. You can see it isn't all tight around the bottom like it was before, and pulling in. I must crochet single crochets tighter than half double crochets. Who knows... 

Doll Bed/Basket

After all my Christmas crochet projects were done (well, except for the Penny Hat), I didn't know what to do...  I have been wanting to crochet doll clothes/things for a long time still. I wanted to make a bed for the dolls. Not a cradle purse, but... I thought "What about those 'Moses Basket Beds'?"  I looked for one for an 8 inch doll (to fit the dollar tree dolls I bought). I found this pattern. I didn't do the bunnies or anything, I just kept doing sc's until I thought it was long enough. I might actually pull the sc's apart and do hdc's because it looks too tight. But other than that, it's finished.  

This is the only dollar tree doll I have clothes that I crocheted for, so far. There isn't very many 8" doll clothes crochet patterns out there! I guess I'll have to crochet my own...  But for now this is what I have. It was the Sweet Pea Outfit pattern. It's a little bit long on this doll but other than that it fits. The bib was from a different doll I have. 

Here he is in the basket. The basket has a "mattress" insert, too. But I didn't do that. 

It's 26 degrees outside with 50 mph winds. 🥶🥶🥶 It was 19 this morning. Spuds was in the garage all night! We don't know how he got in there (my husband must have gone in there and he got in when my husband went in), but I'm glad he wasn't outside in this weather last night! It sounded like worse than 50 mph winds last night and it was soooo cold! Even with his heated pad/shelter, I was worried.

Well I guess maybe I need to crochet a blanket for this now... :P

Don't ask me why I'm crocheting doll things when I don't have little kids or any grandkids... (I keep hoping, that's probably why. 😁)

Christmas Is Over, Happy New Year

Can we just skip winter now and go straight to summer? 😭 Even though we didn't even have a White Christmas. (We had a White Thanksgiving, but a Green Christmas. 👀) I still don't want to do winter. Sigh....  

I took the Christmas Tree down by myself just now. And all the Christmas decorations. I can't reach the boxes on the shelf in the garage, so I will have to wait until my husband gets home to help me. I asked Eon to get them down for me..  

I made a card this morning, too. For New Year's. I don't know if you can see the sparkly center of the flower.

I just used what I have... My dollar twenty five plus store stencil for the numbers, and a marker to fill them in. And a ribbon spool to make the "scallops" edging. 

And I used a glue stick and embossing powder to do the flower center. I have a few circle punches. 

This is the video "tutorial" I used to make this card.

I don't know what will happen in 2026. We may be moving, though. Again....  I thought the next move we made would be our retirement home. I am so done with moving. But.... It will be to help out my family.  I might need a straight jacket soon...

 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. 

We opened our Christmas Stockings last night (we would do that when the boys were younger, and we just kept doing it..). And, what I thought was true: Eon is not into golfing. 😞 He does this with everything. He got a guitar, and played it a couple times. Now it's just sitting in his closet. He got a punching bag. It's just hanging in the garage... He bought a weight bench and weights.... Sitting in the garage gathering dust and cobwebs... I should have known. 😏 Now what am I going to do with two crocheted golf club covers, though? I probably won't even give them to him today...

 

Winter Solstice

 

Today is technically the first day of winter. But it has felt like winter for a long time. You can read about the winter solstice here.  It's the shortest day and the longest night of the year. All I have to say is it's depressing.  I hate winter.

Oh Christmas Potato...

I finished the potato. And I got eight gifts wrapped. (Six are small paperback books, missing ones from a collection that I bought off Thriftbooks.) He got all the books in the collection used, so... I still have to wrap the golf club covers. Now I just need to bake some more. I don't know. I am not baking anything to give away to anyone this year. And I did bake some cookies. Maybe if I get in the mood to, I will. I feel relieved the potato is done. LoL.. I feel crazy saying that. (Almost as crazy as what I made the title of my post..) Do you think he needs a little Santa hat?

Only Five More Days Until Christmas

😬😬😬😬

I can't believe it. And has my husband even started shopping for anyone? No.....   He waits until the last possible second. I am not done either. But, I am 90% done. I still want to get more stocking stuffers, and candy for the snow glob jars. And I still have to wrap some things. I am crocheting the potato, too. I should be wrapping or crocheting right now. But I was in here dusting and I sat down. One thing led to another and I did a blog post. Okay bye.