Don't get used to it...

I'm moving this blog! I currently have two personal blogs I've been trying to keep up with.  It suddenly occurred to me to make them into one!  Don't worry, all of the content (the good stuff anyway) will get moved over to the new blog.

The new blog will be called "Crunchy, Crafty, and Crazy!" It will be filled with all the things you like about this blog, plus the things from my other blog, and any random thing that comes across my mind--everything from healthy, green living to religion and politics.

I hope to have it ready in just a few weeks.  I'll let ya know when it gets done!

It's been a while!

It's been so long since I've posted on this blog! So much has been happening around here I've not even been able to work on Lilly Bunns things! I just re-opened the shop after several months away. Aside from the typically busy summer, we've been undergoing some renovations around here! When we moved to Texas from South Carolina, my husband's grandparents built us a 3 room apartment on their land attached to their garage. We currently have 3 rooms at 777 square feet. As a family of three with two doggies, and house guests that never seem to know when to leave we were quickly running out of space. Our bedroom has our beds, one drum kit, lilly's toys and my desk where I make most of my Lilly Bunns products. In just a few short weeks that's all about to change! We are adding three new rooms, two bedrooms and a studio for me! We will be re-arranging the rooms to make the space more efficient! When you first walk into the house, you walk into the great room. We didn't really have room for a dining table so we nixed it and just have the living room and kitchen in one 'L' shaped room. That room will be getting more cabinets, the coolest dining table ever, and it will be the music room! What is now the bedroom will become the living room! This way I can just shut the doors to the bedrooms if I need to! I have a huge problem now,in that we have sooooo much stuff, most of which we really need, but so little space that everything looks very cluttered. I'm so excited to be getting more space and having a place for everything to go! The best part for me is that I have free reign to re-decorate pretty much however I want, and as much as our budget allows! We will be getting all new furniture. Every room is getting a new paint color, and new art. I've been collecting DIY organization ideas and will be sharing tutorials on each of this projects on the blog! I so can't wait to show off everything! :)

Tutorial: Pattern Weights

There's nothing I hate more than pinning a pattern and cutting out the fabric when I'm doing a project.  I absolutely love my rotary cutter and mat.  It saves me so much precious time!  If you have yet to take the rotary leap, I highly recommend you jump in as soon as you can! I promise, you'll never look back! It's also great for those with bad hands!

You have to hold your pattern down in one spot when you're using a rotary cutter and mat; that's where pattern weights come in.  Just plop them down on top of your pattern when your cutting, and it wont move around on you!

What you'll need:

Half to 1.5  inch strips of fabric or ribbon

Hot glue gun and hot glue (high temp is best)

Washers- you need 2 per weight (I got the biggest ones at Home Depot I could find. They are zinc coated)




Start off with 2 washers.  Place a dab of hot glue on
one of them and place the end of your fabric strip on it.  Put hot glue around it in a circle and place the other washer on top, sandwiching the end of the fabric strip between the washers.

Now begin wrapping the material around the washer going through the hole.

And keep wrapping....

And wrapping until none of the washer is showing.

 Place a small dab of hot glue and lay the excess material on it.  Cut away the extra....

  

Thanks for looking!

SAHM of Etsy Treasure Hunt!

Get your pirate hat and eye patch ready! The First SAHM of Etsy Treasure Hunt begins Sunday, April 17!!  There are 22 shops participating, and many great prizes to be one! Will you be the treasure hunter to win one of 3 great gift boxes?

Begin your hunt by visiting the SAHM of Etsy Treasure Map page to learn where to begin.  Hunt through the shops, blogs and Facebook pages to find the treasure hunt logo hidden somewhere inside!  Then go to the Treasure Hunt page and submit your answers! Three winners will be randomly chosen, and announced May 1. 

Please see the Treasure Hunt page for complete details and the Treasure Map page for a list of participating shops and all the great prizes you could win.  Don't forget to tell your friends and family about it!!

--Celesa- Lilly Bunns Boutique

God Moves Monday: Let God do His Work

I've always struggled with trying to control everything.  Everything from my husband, to my house, to just EVERYTHING! I can't tell you how difficult it is for me to let someone else drive a car I'm riding in! This same attitude is reflected in my relationship with God.  I'm always wanting to be the one to cause change in my life.  God has taught me so much about my attitude, and allowing Him to do the work in me.

To first get the proper perspective, we have to start with the attitude that we are in bondage to our sin.  In the fact that Jesus came to save us from our sin, we can see that we are unable of being freed from sin on our own.  I've always been down on myself because I can never seem to stop doing the sins I'm trapped in.  I am saved of course, and am forgiven of my sins, but there are areas of my life that I struggle with.  For me the primary area is the sin of gluttony.  I've struggled for years with having an ungodly perspective of food.  It's been my idol.  I've tried for years to quit being gluttonous to no avail.  

I've learned through working through the Lord's Table Bible study that I've never been able to break those chains, because that's God's work.  How freeing! Yes, I have to have a repentant heart, but I can not just turn 180 and stay that way without the help of God.  I had to realize that it takes a humble heart for God to be able to work.  I have to have the attitude that I'm unable to do anything outside of His power.  I have to rely on Him completely to free me of my bondage to sin.

This requires that I walk in the Spirit.  This means that I have the eyes of my heart opened, and walk with a humble, repentant heart.  It is impossible to walk in the spirit if you are living in sin.  Living in sin doesn't mean we are not forgiven, or not saved, it means that we are allowing Satan to enslave us, and not having a repentant heart in any given area.  When we are walking in the Spirit, we allow God to talk to us whenever he needs to and we need to be obedient.  This is how He does His work!

When we are walking in the Spirit, we will be able to hear His voice.  He will reveal to us areas that need to be changed, and will root out any weeds of sin in our lives.  We have to be listening, open hearted, and ready to obey.  He may reveal that you need to forgive someone, or he may reveal an area of sin that you have no clue that was there.  He may have something very drastic to do in your life.  You have to walk in the Spirit with a humble, repentant heart, ready to obey what God has called you to do.  

If the church today would walk ready to allow God to do the work, instead of trying to do the work in their own power, or world would be a totally different place! 

Think Lilly Bunns Thursday

What a great week for my shop!! I'm so blessed to have received 4 orders this week! I'm so very grateful to those who ordered!

I absolutely love selling on Etsy.  I'm honored to be a part of the handmade community.  Now, let me tell you a few reasons I absolutely LOVE handmade!  So I got an order friday, told the customer I would ship it Monday, only to come down with the flu.  I messaged her via Etsy's convo system that I wouldn't be able to ship it until the end of the week when I felt better.  Now, get this, not only did she say no problem, she asked about upgrading her order! How freaking amazing is that!?

Then I have another person ask what colors I can make binky clips out of.  I basically say any colors you want, cause I'm always wanting new ribbon.  She orders 5! Problem is, I only have 4 suspender clips, but I do have some plastic paci clips so asked if I can use one of those.  Well, she doesn't like the plastic ones, but said she has some suspender clips she's never going to use and sent them to me so I could make her clips!  ONLY in the handmade community could that happen.  And ONLY in the handmade community could you be able to not ship something cause you're sick.

I'm so incredibly blessed and appreciative of those who have been so patient with me through my battle with the flu! This one has been a real doozy!

On another note, my hubby has gone to Hawaii for the week to be the best man at his BFF's wedding, which means, I get to shut myself in and sew for the next week!! I got some pinking shears to make some cloth nursing pads.  And I'll be making a few new outfits for summer!  

What Ya Wanna Know Wednesday: Getting Fabulous Photos #1

So you see all these people with the most fantastic pics of their kids, and well, yours kinda suck.  Welcome to the very first What Ya Wanna Know Wednesday Series, Getting Fabulous Photos.  I'll have you taking the photos everyone will be envious of!  And, no, you don't have to have a super-de-dooper expensive camera to get some great results!

First off we are going to discuss getting to know your camera.  So here's some steps to turn your camera into your best friend!

1. Read your Manual!!! Seriously, by the time that you're done with this step, you probably won't need to continue reading!

2. Know just a few terms.  Ok, maybe this would be better as the first step cause it may help you understand your manual better.  Every camera operates in essentially the same way.  You can find out how to adjust your settings in your manual.

Fontanaknowledge Has an amazing series of Tutorials on knowing your camera

Now that you know the basics of your camera, experiment! Get in every light source you can imagine and snap away! Figure out what settings work best with your camera!

I could literally write a whole series just on how your camera works, but I'll limit it to this, cause I really just want ya to get some good pics! If you have any questions, feel free to ask away!

          
      

How-To Tuesday: How to work "The Twitter"

Twitter is so hugely popular, and is actually a great little social media platform.  Who'da thunk that posting short little blurbs would have taken off so much?  I've been on it for a while, but still have so much to learn when it comes to what all the darn symbols mean. Sometimes it looks like someone is speaking gibberish on their posts.  So I've decided to finally learn the lingo, and let you all in on it!  

Before we really get started with all the info, you'll need to set up your account.  It's so simple I'm not even gonna walk you through it.  Just follow the steps and you'll be great!  But if you just can't figure it out, here's a great tutorial on YouTube

Now that your account is all set up, it's time to change the appearance of your profile. You'll get to a page that looks something like this.  Just follow the links on the right to set up your avatar, and change your profile appearance.

Now your all ready to send out your first tweet!

The Jargon (click the term to see Twitter's definitions):

Tweet: The little 140 word message you send out.  

Hash tags: A hash tag will have the # symbol followed by a word.  For example #etsytreasuries might be one. it's a way for twitterers to post things according to a topic.  Popular hash tags, get moved up to "trending topics."

Mentions and Replies: Just like on facebook, you can mention someone in your post by putting the @ symbol in front of their username.  You can also reply to a tweet by doing the same. Twitter keeps up with replies and mentions under the mention tab on your account home page.

ReTweet: Shown in the tweet with an RT in the message.  

Following: Following is pretty straight forward.  It simply means that you choose someone who you'd like to see their tweets!  Don't forget to follow @lillybunns!

To get noticed in Twitter, it's a good idea to follow lots, retweet, and mention lots, and do hash tags on the trending topics.  

I hope that clears up a few things for you.  Twitter can be such a great way to communicate with others, and publicize yourself to the world!

God Moves Monday

Welcome to the first day of my new posting schedule! God Moves Monday is all about the way God is moving in the world, my life, and just about re-focusing on Him.  I may write about something from church or something God has shown me in my quiet time.

One thing that God has really laid on my heart is missions.  No, I'm not talking about international missions, though that certainly is important.  I'm talking about a local mission field.  The one all Christians have.  Your mission field is everyone you come into contact with: your neighbors, the cashier at the grocery store, your family, etc.  We are all called to take the gospel into all the world.  It's sad that we often forget about our local mission field.

Why is my mission field everyone I come into contact with? So glad you asked.  We are to shine Christ everywhere we go.  The Bible tells us to be the light that shines to all the world.  That doesn't leave ANYONE out!  If we walk around with a bad attitude and a frown, then how does that show people that we have joy?  I really wouldn't want Christianity if that means being as unhappy as some who claim to be Christians walk around! We may not share the gospel with every interaction, but we need to show others we are different.

We need to be prepared to give the gospel when the time comes!  There are so many different "tools" one can use to share the gospel with someone.  There's the Roman's Road and countless others.  We need to remember that the goal is not to get someone to just say a prayer, the goal is true repentance.  A few weeks ago our pastor told about a preacher friend of his who said they'd led countless souls to Christ (it was like 30 or more) over the course of the year.  How great! until he said "3 of them even got baptized."  Now, baptism certainly isn't a requirement for salvation, but in my mind, if you truly are repentant of your sins, you'll want to be baptized to show everyone your commitment in Christ.  

Don't rely on your church to be the key to win souls.  I've heard several people say something like "I wish they'd just come to church, then they'd see God."  The reality is that people have aversions to church.  I can't remember the exact statistics but something like 90% of the US population believe in a God, but only 20% of the population go to church, and that doesn't mean it's a good Bible believing church!  Jesus did not sit at the temple and wait for people to come to see the priests so they would believe, he went to where the people were! He went into the streets and their homes.  We need to be helping the homeless and looking for opportunities to serve others so that we might have to opportunity to share the gospel.  Jesus was always serving others.  

We need to humble ourselves.  There's this attitude in the church in general that we are better than everyone else.  I've got news for you people! We are no better than anyone else, we just happened to have had an encounter with the Holy Spirit! If it wasn't for that, we could just as easily be as mixed up in sin as they are!  Being judgmental is perhaps one of the biggest turn offs to Christianity today.  We need to be ready to admit that we are wrong.  No, we don't need to go around showing off our sins, but we do need to be ready to seek forgiveness of those we have wronged, and admit that we are not perfect.  The lost are always looking for us to slip up, but if we are ready to admit when we have, we will be able to show God's grace and mercy to them. 

Lastly, we need to be on our knees.  Prayer is perhaps the most powerful thing we can do as Christians.  We need to pray for God to provide instances for us to share the gospel.  Pray for hearts to be softened to the Gospel, and for the Holy Spirit to move in the lives of the lost around the world.  We also need to pray for revival in the church.  We need to also pray that God keeps our hearts burdened with a heart for missions.  

Celesa

Gotta Get better at this

So I only say that like every few month right? lol I'm SO bad about keeping up with my blog! I'll get inspired, and forget to write it down and then sit to write and can't think of anything remotely interesting to write about.  Not to mention my HOURS of work on the SAHM of Etsy blog.  But those are just excuses, there's really no reason I can't keep up with this blog better!

I'm one of those people who is obsessed with being on the computer.  It doesn't matter what it is, I just feel like I need to be on.  Well, I've been spending more time in the blogosphere reading some really terrific blogs and have come to realize I'm missing something.  That is besides the hundreds of followers.  Nearly everyone of my favorites has a regular posting schedule, so by george, I'm going to too!

So, for now at least, my schedule will be

Monday: God Moves Monday.  Coming out of being in church on Sunday I'll share how God has been working in my life, and things that have come to mind.

Tuesdays: Tutorials! ALL of my Favorites have tutorials on their blogs, and tuesday seems to be the day to do them!

Wednesday: Series.  I'll do a series on a variety of things.  First up, using your camera for some FANTASTIC photos!

Thursday: All about my shop! See the new items and previews of things to come!

Friday: Feature Friday!  All about great shops I've seen, blogs I've visited, and wonderful products I love!

So here's to hoping I can keep up with this! Obviously sickness, and such might just interrupt my regular programming, but I think it's do-able!

The Flu

YUCK! I hate the flu, but alas, it seems like I get it almost every year.  Of course this year would be no exception.  Just when I was thinking, "yeah! I didn't get sick this year!" my little angel came down with the flu, and I knew it would just be a matter of time before I got it.  Sure enough, I start showing symptoms last night.  I've got the cough, fever, headache, weakness, and aches and pains.  Oddest flu I've ever had! I've never, ever not been stuffy with the flu! All, in all, It's actually not been so bad.  I can already see the light at the end of the tunnel. Lilly is completely well again, other than some residual weakness.  She keeps saying she can't walk anywhere.  This is her first time with the flu.  I'm quite certain she's not used to the weakness.

Now the odd part.  Just about a month ago, I got the noravirus, rotovirus or whatever they are calling it, stomach bug.  The one where you're not just nauseated and in the restroom, the one where you think you're dying from the crazy amount of pain.  Anyways, being sick slowed up 2 orders I got around the same time.  Now, wouldn't you know I get 3 orders, one a fairly large order, all around the time I have the flu?  One might wonder if it's a sign I should shut down, but I KNOW God wants me home, behind my sewing machine or with a glue gun or crochet hook in my hand.

Speaking of God, my youngest brother's girlfriend got saved today! He said he's been witnessing to her over the last few weeks, and tonight she went to talk to my preacher grandfather about it.  Praise the Lord!   Please keep her and him in your prayers, as she will be under attack heavily by the enemy, and he will need to be able to support her through it.  Also pray for her family, I don't believe they are Christian.

Felt Flower Fridge Magnets

It's still February, but spring is upon us down here in the Houston area, and I'm in full blown garden and flower mode!  I'm also all about magnets since we have very few of them here at the house, and most are really ugly.  So I decided to combine the two and make some felt flower fridge magnets.  I found a few flower templates online, and got to work!

I decided to make a Peone and large and small Cherry Blossoms.  Just click to get to the templates!

Here's my tutorial for how to do the fridge magnets!

Supplies:
Sharpie
Felt in any colors plus green
Buttons
Hot Glue Gun
Magnets (I used "magnet buttons" from Walmart"

Step One: Print and cut out the templates.

Step Two: Trace the templates onto the felt in the colors you choose with the sharpie.  Make sure to cut the leaves out of green





Step Three: Cut the shapes out of the felt.  Try to cut inside of the line from you tracing so there is as little of the sharpie showing.

Step Four: Lay the pieces out in the order they will be stacked up (smallest to largest leaves on last)


Step Five: Put a dab of hot glue on the leaves then attach the next largest piece.  Continue until you've put all the pieces on






Step Six: Attach the magnets.  The magnets I used had a sticky back.  If yours don't you might want to attach them with E6000 (Oops didn't get a pic of that, but you get the idea!)

Step 7:  Attach the button.  I used high temp hot glue and they are fairly secure, and since they will pretty much just always stay in place on the fridge I don't think they will fall off.  But if you plan to move them around a bunch, I'd glue it on with E6000

Step 8: Stick it on the fridge for all to admire!

All the Free Stuff!

I'm constantly amazed at things I find Etsy sellers selling.  Last night I was browsing through and found a store where all that is sold are tutorials on how to make fabric flowers.  The crazy think was, she was charging $12 per tutorial! Well, it wouldn't be so crazy I guess if I didn't know I couldn't get the same information for FREE by just doing a simple google search.  I'm not going to call anyone out, but I do want to let you know where to get for free the same info some idiot is trying to sell you!  Please don't be one of the hundreds of other idiots who have bought these tutorials!

Fabric Flowers: K Google and You Tube are really going to be your friends for this one.  There were so many great sites I'm having a hard time picking just one out.  But I've gotta give props to my girls on my SAHM of Etsy team, Jeni from Stitches By Jeni shows how to use a burn technique to make flowers over on her blog.




Crochet: Just about anything: Aside from my own crochet patterns, of course, you can look up a pattern or 100 for pretty much anything you'd ever want to make at www.crochetpatterncentral.com.  A few of my patterns are even featured over there.  I also love Youtube videos! Its a great way to brush up on you crochet skills.

Yoga Pants Tutorial by Samstermommy.blogspot.com

Baby Yoga/Lounge Pants:  OK, so maybe if you're planning on mass producing these adorable pants, you might want to buy a pattern that has multiple sizes (that you're allowed to sell from!), but if you're just going to make them for your own kid, then this is the tutorial for you.  It uses a pair of pants your child already wears as a template! Don't forget to check out the awesome list of tutorials on the left side of the page!

Pettiskirts are VERY in right now, thanks to a huge 80's flash-back we all seem to be having at the moment.  Youcanmakethis.com has an awesome list of free, and paid, tutorials on their site as well.  Check here for a great pettiskirt tutorial! I love that this one has the satin top so It's more modest.





Sewing Patterns! Google is seriously your friend for finding all sorts of great free sewing patterns.  Just do a quick search before you buy one to see if you can't find anything that you like that will work for you.

There are a few places I DO recommend you buy patterns from:

Youcanmakethis.com has a great list to choose from.

RomeoandMae: Great Patterns, and great customer service!

NoodlesandMilk: Patterns give measurements for the pieces, and she includes pattern pieces as needed.  They are REALLY great!

ScientificSeamstress: I have yet to buy a pattern from her, but I've heard rave reviews from very highly trusted sources.

Libby Lu's Boutique: A great Etsy Seller with many amazing patterns!

Love Sticks

I'm really loving the "Love That Sticks" campaign that KSBJ (local houston Christian radio station) has going right now.  The concept is very simple.  Put a message such as "God Loves You" on a post it, and put it up somewhere for someone else to see.  It's such a great idea to spread God's love to others.  I haven't done it yet, but I did get some post-its at hobby lobby yesterday, and I've gotten messages written on about 10 of them.

The stories that have been shared have been amazing! God really is working wonders with this! One story I heard that was especially great was that a woman had put the notes on her money.  She was being robbed at gunpoint and the man read the note on the money, immediately got teary eyed, and left the lady alone.  What a miracle! I can only hope and pray that that man went to get the help he needs.

God promises that every seed will be fruitful through him.  This is such a small seed, but I'm praying that God will continue to use them in a mighty, mighty way!!

God's message is super simple! It's I love you, I love you so much that I sent my one and only son to die for you and raised Him again so that you can have eternal life, because I, God, want a relationship with you, I want to be one with you! (John 17, and 3:16)  I serve a truly amazing God and am forever humbled that he would choose to love and forgive a sinner such as I.  I pray that you know Him and have a close relationship with Him!

Ruffled Scarf Pattern

This scarf is super duper cute, and I've had TONS of compliments on it.  And the pattern couldn't be any simpler!  I've made this one pretty long, but you could make it however long you want.

Abreviations:
    Ch: Chain
    DC: Double Crochet
    TC: Triple Crochet
    sl st: Slip st

hook: J

Gauge is not important.

Ch 103
Row 1: 1 dc in each stitch. 6 dc in the last (106)
Row 2: Instead of turning and going up, you'll work on the "bottom" in the chain st.  1 DC in each st, 6 dc in last st.  sl st to join (At this point it will look like a super long oval) (106)
Row 3: Chain 4, 5 TC in next 100 st.  skip 3 st and sl st Cut yarn and tie off.

It's that simple! I love how it twists! My daughter gets soooo many compliments on hers!

I'm the Member of a Wonderful Team

That's Right! I love the SAHM of Etsy team!  It's such a great group of ladies!  I'm also the blog team leader and have been hard at work, along with some other great ladies, to get the blog off to a great start!  Today is the official launch of the blog and I hope that those of you who follow me, will soon follow the blog.  It's gonna be great!!

Stayathomemomsofetsy.blogpot.com

Crochet Scrubbie Pattern

I just love these scrubbies! They have so many different uses! I've made them bigger and use them as a baby rag, I scrub pots and pans, and even my face with them--never after using them on the pans of course.  They are super easy and quick to make!

If you don't know how to crochet, you can buy these in my shop! lillybunnsboutique.etsy.com!

Yarn: Doesn't really matter, but it needs to be a worsted weight.  I like cotton yarn (sugar and cream brand) for its softness and bright colors.  Red heart super saver might be a little more abrasive.

Hook: G
Abreviations:
     St: Stitch
     Ch: Chain
     SC: SC
Notes: This is made in one continuous ring, you can make bigger by adding increase rows.  These don't need to be exact, but if you are a stickler for that kinda thing, you may want to use a stitch marker to note where the beginning of a row is.

Row 1: Ch 6 Slip St closed to form ring
Row2: 6 SC into ring. (6)
Row 3: 2 SC in each st around (12)
Row 4: *1 SC in next st, 2 SC in next st** repeat from *to ** 5 more times (18)
Row 5: *1 SC in next 2 st, 2 SC in next st** repeat from * to ** 5 more times (24)
Row 6: *1 SC in next 3 st, 2 SC in next st** repear from * to ** 5 more times (30)
Row 7: *1 sc in next 4 st, 2 SC  in next st** repeat from* to ** 5 more times (36)
To finish: skip one stitch, slip stitch and tie off.  This will make it to lie down more.

These will be about 3 inches in diameter.

It's here! Super Cutie Capelet Pattern!

It's been a VERY long time since I made the super cutie Capelet, but I'll try my best to write it out.  I'm so sorry for the delay in getting it done.  Life is quite crazy with a 2 year old!  Please let me know if you find a mistake.  I'll do my best to correct it as soon as possible.  Pay close attention on the increasing rows.  I suppose the correct spacing isn't super important  on rows 4-5 as long as you increase in the first and last stitches and get the correct amount of increases in between.  I'll mark the amount of increases at the end of each row.  This is a great size for toddlers.  I made it for my daughter when she was 18 mo, and it's almost too small at almost 3 (she's the size of a 4 year old lol).

Abreviations used:
    Ch:  Chain
    DC: Double crochet
    SC: Single Crochet
    ST: Stitch

Guage: 2 rows, and 3 stitches= 1 inch
Hook:  G hook

Ch 37
Row1: Insert hook into third ch from hook.  1 DC in each chain. (34 st)

Row 2: Ch.3 and turn 1 DC in each ST. (34 st)

Row 3: ch 3 and turn.  1 DC in same ST.  *1 dc in next st, 2 DC in next st** repeat from * to ** to the end (54 st)

Row 4: Ch 3 and turn. DC in same st.;  1 DC in next 3 st.;  2 dc in next st.;  1 dc in next 9 st.; 2 dc in next        st;  1 dc in next 9 st.; 2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 7 st;  2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 9 st; 2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 9 st; 2 dc in last st.  (58 st)  7 inc

Row 5:  Ch 3 and turn. dc in same st.;  1 dc in next 9 st.; 2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 10 st;  2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 5 st;  2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 6 st; 2dc in next st; 1 dc in next 6 st; 2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 7 st; 2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 8 st; 2 dc in last st. (66 st) 7  inc

Row 6:  (this is last regular dc row) Ch 3 and turn. 1 dc in each st.   (66st)

Row7-9:  (shell stitch rows) Ch 3 and turn.  2 dc in same st.  Ch1 skip 4 st; *4 dc in next st., ch1, skip 4 st**   repeat from * to ** 11 times, 3dc in last st. (12 total scallops, not including the half scallops on the end.

Ch 1 and turn.  Now you will SC up the side.  When you get to the corner about to round to the top put 2 SC. Continue SC across the top doing the same at the next corner, then work down the other side.  Tie off and weave in the ends of the yarn.  You will not SC across the bottom scalloped edge!!!

Add a ribbon into the holes at the top of the first row! enjoy!

To increase the size, chain more at the beginning, add 1 increase to each row, add one row of increase, and 1 row of shell st. until it's the length you want.