Here are some little cottages that I made several years ago. These are just for fun as I have so much to do today. These cottages are hand sized Christmas ornaments. I haven’t put the hanging ribbon on them yet. There are some things that I would change but overall I like them. I would call these prototypes.
I am thinking about adding some like them to the shop, but I’m not sure. What do you think?
Talk to you later,
Karen
Yesterday it was a rainy Monday. I sent two kids off to town. One to apply for a job and the other to drive him there and do some errands. It has been a busy day already with a trip for two to the orthodontist and then a trip to the bank to open a checking account for one of the kids.
I spent time yesterday morning sewing some new bibs and then I spent a little time crocheting this.
I love the bright red lady bugs. and the red crochet cotton just goes so  nicely. We will see how it looks when I am done. I am trying something new for the shop. I think the fabric and cotton thread go so nicely together.
Talk to you later,
Karen
Once again we are here. It seems only yesterday that he was this big.
Such a funny little guy. In the top photo he is three and the bottom photo he is about 5 months old. He is now almost 19. I will never forget seeing him face down in the sand pit with his brand new glasses on his face. I will always remember “Sometimes my Mom lets me have three pieces of cake!” at about four years old as he conned my cousin into two large pieces of cake. I will never forget his cello breaking at a summer music camp! I loved watching you come into your own as a high school student. 
There is not much left to say, but Congratulations! You have a strength and fortitude that astounds me. Thank you for being the funny guy, the punster, the artist and quiet guy. I can’t wait to see what happens next in your life and where life takes you!
See you later,
Mom
I finally sat down yesterday to sew the stars to their backing fabric. They look pretty good. There are lots of thread ends to clip and then I needed to clip the inner corners and points on each star.
Some Christmas ornament stars in traditional Christmas colors of red and green.
Also some lovely non-traditional Dr Who Tardis Christmas ornament stars. Each star has a mother of pearl button in the center. I have about ten more but they are needing the handwork and I am rushed right now. Â These will be listed in the ChocolateDogStudio.esty.com shop soon!
We are in the midst of taking a break on cleaning for graduation and Mother’s Day. Why is it that Mother’s day takes so much work from Mothers to make it happen! ;0) We will have several lovely days of family!
Talk to you later,
Karen
If you follow me on facebook or instagram. You have been seeing these photos.
I spent a day combing through my scraps and cutting out diamond shapes.
It was an easy thing to do and still feel like I was accomplishing something. I cut out tons and then I put them together to get these neat little stars.
I’m so proud of the points matching in these two stars. I think I have finally figured it out.
See  the perfect points in the middle! Can you guess what I am making in the studio these days? I have some others finished and waiting on some photos but it is too dark today. We are finally getting some rain so I am not complaining. I hope that it cuts down on the wildfires that we have had. There have been some huge wildfires in Oklahoma and many people have lost everything. So, our area has been under a red flag, which means no fire pits, no cook outs, no burning of any kind.
If you want to follow me on instagram (I am new there) you can find me with this user name: Chocodogstudio
You can also follow me on Facebook here:Â https://www.facebook.com/Chocolatedogstudio
There is too much to do today. We are in the midst of printing out 300 graduation programs and are running low on toner. One of the nice things about having your child in public or private school as there are details that you really do not have to deal with, like printing graduation programs!
I will talk to you later!
Karen
Here are a few more gift ideas for baby showers!
Aren’t they fun bib and  blanket sets! You can see them at www.chocolatesbabyshop.etsy.com I am listing the blankets this week so keep dropping in to the shop!
The weather here has been great and the family has been helping me get our flower beds back into order. The yard has been sadly neglected for the past several years. Over the past couple of weekends the front flower bed has gone from this
After they pulled all of the grass and raked it all out. You can see the rose bush, 2 crepe myrtles and then the sage that my daughter planted. There were no other plants in this flower bed at all. We stuck some iris bulbs and then also hope to grow some Russian sage near the corner. The Russian sage seems to survive very well in our very hot weather that we have. The bees love it. So I think it will be great to transplant some of the Russian sage we have growing in the front raised bed to this flower bed. It seems very hardy for our gardening abilities and neglect.
Then they added some dirt.
Last they added the mulch and it looks so much better than it did. Now to take this beautiful work on around the corner of the house.
Here is the soon to be High School graduate on his way to the Senior recognition day at our church. He chose to wear the jacket and tie. Â You can see how much better the flower bed looks. I hope to have a better photo soon. I have also been working on some new crochet things for the chocolatedogstudio shop. Here is a sneak peak at one of them.
talk to you later,
Karen
I have long wanted to add cute little hats to my crochet baby blankets. These baby afghans are just calling out for some cute newborn hats. I recently opened the baby shop. While I was getting it online and started, I had a couple of days where having baby hats was a great idea. I just ran with it. Here they are, the blankets and the hats on the same page.
They are beautiful and I will be adding more crochet baby hats with matching baby afghans as I get the time. You can find these in my shop at www.chocolatesbabyshop.etsy.com. I am off to get some things completed for graduation.
Talk to you later,
Karen
I try really hard to take most of my photos with natural light. I wait for a bright day and take the photos with the sun shining. Here is a really good photo illustration why I do this.
This is the same blanket one photo taken in indoor lighting and the second photo taken in natural light.
There is a huge difference. Sometimes you can successfully edit photos and get a more natural appearance. I am truthfully not that good with photo editing software. I use Picasa, an old program that was free. It is pretty easy for me to use. Â These photos are cropped but not color edited in any way.
Talk to you later,
Karen
I had an overwhelming feeling this past weekend that I needed to buy more yarn. I have, after all, crocheted a huge amount of items. I haven’t really ordered any yarn since January when I started the 100 items in 100 days challenge. I did buy two destash orders from friends on Etsy last month but that doesn’t really count!  Here is the yarn I bought from my friend Rose who knits wonderful blankets, scarves, and shawls. 
IÂ am combining it with the rest of the wool yarn that I had leftover and it is in the process of being turned into a wonderful one of a kind art blanket. It is full of lovely texture and Autumn colors, but it is wool and it is HOT to sit under right now. Here is the undoctored photo of my foot in the boot. This is the other reason it is hot. This boot is heavy and like wearing an insulated blanket.
I don’t know about you but sitting around is exceedingly boring. I have run through many Netflix marathons in the afternoons and evenings. This is also the reason I have completed so many different baby items. So, I was thinking that I needed to buy more yarn and decided that I would first see what I have on hand.
Lovely blues, greens, white, red and navy
A nice assortment of colors from pink to bright orange back to purples, and grey.
Another tub full of neutral yarns. So, I am not ordering any yarn. I have ENOUGH yarn to keep me busy for a little while! These are all full skeins, we aren’t going to look at all the partial sets of yarn.
Actually, I did buy yarn but it isn’t for me. I am having it shipped to my cousin in Keller, Texas because she sitting a lot right now as well.
Talk to you later,
Karen
This is a sweet little baby blanket set. The flowers are crocheted as the blanket and the hat are crocheted together.
 Only one side has the lovely white flowers with the yellow centers.
Talk to you later,
Karen