Just popping in for a second, I'm still in the land of the crashed computer and it's getting really old! The giveaway I had planned will have to be postponed but that's okay, I'll just make more stuff to add to it. If my computer stays dead long enough it should be a pretty good haul, I'm getting bored ;).

I have some super exciting news to share so I had to hijack my in laws internet. I'm on the design team for Tessa Ann! I'm so stinking excited!! She makes the most amazing handmade buttons for paper crafts and sewing projects in her cute shop. I have so many ideas to share, this is going to be so fun. So be on the lookout and until then stop by her blog to check out the other design team members.

Have a great weekend!

Cody here signing in for Bridget. She isn't lost, though our computer might be. She'll be up in running in the next week or so.

thanks.

Brief Hiatus

Just popping in from my Aunts Laptop (love ya Tina!) to let you know my only computer has a nasty bug and is down for the count this week. Hopefully I'll be back on by this weekend. So if you've emailed or wondered where the heck I've been that's where. Doing dishes, ha! I have lots of goodies to share so here's hoping it's out of ICU soon.

Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Jimbob!

This is how I want to always remember him- 5.   Not 10, I can’t believe he’s in the double digits.  He’ll never go back to a single number again… sniff.  Here’s ten things I love about Jeremy in no particular order.

1. 1.  I could get him a pop bottle cap and he would treasure it.  He is very sentimental.
2. 2.  He has the most hilarious vocabulary.  He’s so fun to listen to because he’s such an adult in conversation.  When he was 5 (sniff) he corrected me once about his hamster, it was not nocturnal it was diurnal.  I had never heard of that before but he was right.
3. 3.  He loves bugs and animals and loves to watch Nature.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he became a biologist some day.
4. 4.  He genuinely thinks the best of everyone.  I never hear him talk badly about anybody, even if he’s frustrated or mad.
5. 5.  He loves to make breakfast in bed.
6. 6.  He is a note writer.  He’s always leaving loving notes of appreciation.
7. 7.  He still hugs me and tells me he loves me, and he always will… cause I’m not going to let him stop ;).
8. 8.  He loves to help around the house and with his sisters.  Not with the jobs that I give him (who does?) but he does do helpful things without being asked every single day.
9. 9.  He was my biggest baby until Kennedy came around.  He was 9 lbs 3 oz , 22 1/4” long and all cuddles.  He was one of my cuddliest babies.
10. 10.  He says that I’m the best cook in the world and will eat anything. I’m not kidding.  Just don’t feed him Campbell’s chicken noodle and you’re good.  I have to stop him at pot lucks so everyone else can get a chance.  He has the appetite of a 7 foot tall athlete.

I love you more than much buddy and hope you have a fantastic birthday!

 

Love Mom

Tin foil contractions of the head

Have you ever bitten down on tin foil with a metal filling?  Okay, those of you that have can let go of your face now and uncurl your toes.  Those of you that haven’t, come on over and I’ll have Cody make baked potatoes for you ;).

It hurts in a kind of electrified skewer going straight to your brain kind of way.  I’m so glad I have the white kind of fillings now, but the memory remains. Yesterday I went to the dentist for a routine filling and for some reason my tooth didn’t like it.  It didn’t hurt at all before I went in but for 22 hours after I was getting leg hair curling tin foil contractions in my tooth every 5-10 minutes.  I would rather give birth.  Almost.

I went in 4 times between yesterday and this morning.  I had 2 fillings and one root canal on the same tooth in less than 24 hours.  Apparently “I must be active” because shots wear off for me midway on all my dental work and they have to numb me up twice each time I have something done.  Have I ever mentioned my fear of needles, especially ones targeted towards my brain?  My gums feel like a pin cushion. I drove 136 miles for one tooth, collectively.  136 miles that could have taken me out of here and to a fabric store- sigh.

I feel really bad that today was going to be the day I post about my giveaway and tutorial, but now I don’t feel tutorially and that was part of the giveaway so how about next week? 

I’m off to take a massive amount of ibuprofen and catch up on last nights sleep so I can try to be a normal mom for Jeremy’s birthday tomorrow.  I hope he wants soup and lots of jello and pudding ;).

Jars full of sweets

Another shower epiphany has led to the making of shirts 2 and 3. Anyone else have their best ideas in the shower? It all started when Des made the cutest bags with vinyl. I love clear vinyl. I hoard clear vinyl. I never use clear vinyl. I’ve had vinyl on the brain for a couple months and I’m convinced Des and Dove helped to bring it out.

I have no idea why they look slanted in the close ups. Maybe it has to do with the slanted looks Kaci was giving me-

I’m off to help Jeremy try and earn half a years worth of Bear boy scout requirements before he turns 10. In 5 days. This is why I only have one boy, the lord doesn’t give you more than you can handle ;). Boy scout stuff is a different rant for a different day so I need to go grab a healthy dose of pistachio pistachio ice cream and find a flag.

Before I jump off here I did want to mention that I have 300+ followers!! There are 300+ awesome faces in that little box over there, that’s some of you and I love your faces. I never would have dreamed in a hundred years that anyone other than my mom would read this blog (which by the way she doesn’t- go figure). As a thank you my next post will be a giveaway and a tutorial. Something for everyone, but something even better for one of you lucky little heads in a box.

Have a great weekend!

****---------------------------------------------------------------------------------****

After reading that last part I realized it sounds like I'm trying to solicit followers. I'm not (I'll explain why later) and you won't have to be a follower to win my giveaway when I do it. Of course if you want to be a follower that would just make my day, I love all of your cute faces more than you know!

The candy socks I bought at the Mart last January so I'm pretty sure they are extinct now. I used the last pair on Kaci's shirt to, this is why I need to hoard things! If I find some in my stash I'll share... maybe ;). The buttons in the shirt are loosey goosey. The sucker is sewn down but everything else just floats around in there. Hope that helps!

Cavity free Candy

I caught some nasty sore throat thing that’s left me feeling blah, so I’ll try to keep this shortish. I think. Here’s the project I did while the kids were in bed last night. I should have been in bed since I’m not feeling up to par but making candies to wear is more fun.

Sorry for the stinky dark pictures, 1 a.m and 7 a.m. does not for good pictures make, and Ashlyn wore it to school.

I saw a cute tutorial on One Pretty Thing for turning long socks into sleeves from Treasures for Tots. I have a stash of long socks I picked up on clearance last year and dug around through the play clothes to see if Ash had a shirt that could use sprucing up.

Found one. It had a really cute iron on on it at one time but this was all that was left. The shirt was still in great condition, it just needed a face lift. Because I used clearance socks and button, and scraps and the shirt I already had this entire project cost me $.65. No need to go broke to craft my friends. Now is a great time to look for clearance socks by the by ;). Here’s how I did it.

First sew your socks into your short sleeves. Just click on the link above if you need the how to.

For the candies and wording-

I used a 1 1/8” button cover kit to make the swirly candy from the left over sock foot.

A bit of stuffing, some nylon chiffon, and a needle and thread is all you need for a wrapped candy. I wound and tied the ends then sewed the candy to the shirt by the tied ends with a straight stitch on my machine.

For the sweet letters I cut random squares of scrap fabric and drew my letters lightly in pencil. Just grab some trim and ribbons and wind them around your pencil lines, hand stitch in place. I did glue the sequins. After my letters were stitched I ironed on some wonder under to the backs, ironed them to the shirt, and machine stitched around the squares. Easy!

Now that poor play shirt she wouldn’t wear with the yucky iron on is a fun candy shirt she was begging to wear to school.

I have 3 more pairs of these fun socks and 3 more sad shirts that need some plastic surgery so I’ll be making the girls some shirts tonight.

Have a great Wednesday!

What’s black, grey, and cream all over?

My blog post today.  And a black car with racing stripes.

I spend most of my days day dreaming about what I’m going to make when I have a spare minute. Cleaning the house, wiping bottoms, washing laundry- not the most luxurious of jobs so I like to think of happier things.

Most of my ideas are lost somewhere between doing breakfast dishes and Kennedys nap time.  I have the word “Paisley” in bold red letters on my dry erase board on the fridge and I’m sure whatever it was that I was going to make was going to be super amazing, but do you think I remember now?  Nope.  That’s why I love it when I have something that I love to pieces and just want to copy it.  That way I can’t forget what I was going to do.  Not to mention if it doesn’t work out, I still have the original.

I can not wait to get my paws on just the right fabric to make another pair of these.  My sister in law gave these to me for Christmas and they are the most fun things ever.  I wore them in the movie theatre the day after Christmas.  It was cold okay!  And they were too cute to take off ;).

 

Just look at those mini flowers and pearls.  Be still my sewing machine.

 

  And these lounge pants-

I have to admit I was really nervous when I opened them and they were a small.  I always buy a large or bigger no matter what size I really am just to make sure I’m covered and cinch them up.   It’s a bad habit of mine because these babies are actually flattering on me.  Yes I said lounge pants and flattering in the same sentence and I’m not taking it back.  I had to scrounge a stock picture to show you since I’m living in them. Obviously that’s not me up there, my feet are bigger ;).  I can’t wait to copy them in several different prints. One for every day of the week.  A girl’s gotta have work clothes. Not to mention the cream on the pants matches my gloves.  Lounge pants and gloves together=sexy.  

And this is just to show off what made me late(r) for church yesterday.  I’m late every Sunday no matter how early I get up, how ready I am, how much I threaten the kids, so I figured 5 more minutes wouldn’t kill me.  I was already running behind so eh, heat up the ol’ glue gun.  I whipped this up to match my shirt and I love it.  My hair was a screaming mess but I felt better knowing that the time I didn’t spend on my hair went into making something to distract from that.

 

Have a fantastic Monday!

A year in crafty review.

We had such a great Christmas. I’m overwhelmed by the service and love shown to our little family this year and especially this Christmas season. I’m sure some of you read my blog so I want to say thank you, a million times thank you!

This year has been a tough one in some respects and very blessed in others, so in some ways I’m sad to see it go but so thankful to get to move on. I thought it would be fun to end the year with a picture of my favorite project from each month this past year.

Those are just my favorites. I can see I need to branch out and do a bit more than just sewing this next year. Where’s the paper? Where’s the spray paint? Where oh where are the pictures? Lots of good things to come this next year, I can feel it deep down. Lots!

On this day way way way back in the 70’s

My favorite person was born. I can say way back since I was born in another decade entirely. He was 2 weeks shy of being in my decade to, but he’s not. So he’s old. In a very cute and grizzly beard, only slightly older way.

He’s out of town right now working so I miss him like crazy and don’t get to see him today but I know he checks my blog (he’s my favorite blog stalker) so Happy Birthday! He always likes to post embarrassing pictures of me on special days so I thought I would return the favor. Unfortunately I’m out of embarrassing picture ammo but I do have this little gem. Proof that artificial trees do have a place in the home. He’s putting broken limbs back on his gargantuan live Christmas “bush” with the drill. If you stand back far enough, and don’t mind the oozing sap, you can’t even see the green zip ties ;). Love you and see you tomorrow!

In crafty news the Christmas dresses were finished on time but not without my fair share of tears and chocolate. This is the best shot Cody could get of them all, thank goodness dad is home on the weekends because I was in the bathroom freaking out at this point lol! Don’t pay any attention to my homemade priority box child gate on the stairs… I told you not to look!

And this is what I’ve been up to since I finished the dresses. Goldilocks and the Three Bears peg people and their little Tudor cottage. I can’t even say the word “Tudor” without snickering (yes, I’m a twelve year old boy) but that’s the look I was going for.

I blogged about the peggies and where I got the house idea from here. The kitchen is a little sparse in the appliance and chair department so I still have a few things to finish. I’m sure I’ll be doing that on Christmas Eve.

Only 2 beds. Goldilocks must have already been over and broken one. Uh yeah. That’s what Kaci is going to hear anyway ;).

The 3 is symbolic. It’s for the three bears who live there and also because Kaci is three. She associates the number 3 with being hers. It doesn’t matter what it is, if it has a 3 on it- it belongs to Kaci. She tells me “me three” instead of “me too” all the time. Love that girl.

And a little bag to carry all the bits in. I still have 5 p.j. shirts and some shopping to do so I probably won’t be on again until after Christmas.

Have a Merry Christmas full of Christmas bushes, family, friends, and eggnog!

Just thought I would update the ol' blog and added my ornament tutorial to this post, and because every post should have a picture here’s my favorite funny this week.

I’m plugging away at Christmas stuff and still need to start and finish 2 dresses by tomorrow so off I go.  Have a great weekend!

No Sew $2 Elf Costume

Ashlyn is going to be an elf in a play tomorrow and needs to dress like one. I’m fresh out of elf costumes. I don’t have a single stitch of solid red fabric left and my time is absolutely zero, not to mention I don’t want to invest precious Christmas making time on something that’s going to be worn for 10 minutes, so what’s an elf mom to do? Hit the dollar store and hope for a miracle.

I was hoping to find a table cloth or blanket to cut into a vest or something but nothing existed. I ran across an elf hat- score! With the hat in hand I was meandering around thinking there had to be something I could use when I saw it- a giant green and red stocking. Perfect! So for $2 and 5 minutes of time we have a girl elf jumper and hat.

Here’s how to make one should you ever need to-

Go to the dollar store (tree) and pick up a jumbo stocking and hat. Grab a tank top out of your summer clothes bin for a pattern.

Fold your stocking and tank top in half length wise. Put your tank top with the folded outside edge on the folded outside edge of the stocking and cut around the outside of your tank, cut some extra length at the straps- about an extra 2” long or so. If the tank doesn’t exactly fit on the stocking (too big, too small) just cut around it anyway until you cut through to the edges of the stocking, you just want a neckline and armpit holes.

I just grabbed some sticky back velcro from my stash and added it to the straps. Done and done. No need to hem it, it’s felt! I would say this fits a little girls size 7 and under.

My mom made me post this, I wasn’t going to but she said I should and one should always listen to one’s mother so there you go. She didn’t tell me to add the lame drawings. I did that part myself ;).

Have a great Wednesday!

Christmas in a Nutshell

Is there anything more cute or more meaningful than a 1” baby in a walnut shell?

Just thought I would share my very favorite ornament idea. We made 30 of these tiny reminders with the little ones at church yesterday, it’s a great craft to do with kids. And a good refresher on how to swaddle a baby for the adults ;).

It’s pretty self explanatory but here are the supplies I used- wire star garland from the $1 store, a walnut shell half, recycled craft paper shreds, a wooden bead (mine was clay because wooden beads don’t exist in this county), a teeny bit of stuffing for the body, and a square of white flannel. We used glue dots to make the little babies with the kids but hot glue is your friend if you’re making them at home.

I can’t believe Christmas is 11 days away… must sew… and paint… and cut… and drink hot chocolate and eat peppermint kisses by the bagfuls. Have a great Monday!

More tortured book pages…

Today is my ornament day, Yay!! I had so much fun and it actually came out the way I sketched it, well better than my sketch. Please visit Kristin’s blog and while you're there peruse all the ornaments and leave them some love!

Remember those tissue paper ornaments you used to make in Kindergarten where you cut squares of tissue paper and dip the end in elmers glue, dying your fingers red and green for the next year? We’re going to do a grown up version today, minus the elmers and tissue.

You’ll need-

1. Hot glue gun
2. Yucky old plastic ornament with bite marks on it.
3. Paint brush with a thicker handle.
4. 2 sheets of thin scrapbook paper or about 7 book pages cut into 1” squares. You could also use wrapping paper… whatever you have that’s thin.
5. Glitter and paint in the same color
6. Piece of cardboard, an old shirt box works great.
7. Strip of paper 3/4” wide x 8 1/2” long with your favorite phrase or name printed in the center.

For the book page ornament I cut the squares 1 1/2” and inked the edges with brown ink. The blue and book page ornaments started with the same size ball, just bigger/smaller paper cuts to get the different sizes.

So let’s get cracking-

1. Take a square of paper and wad it around the end of your paint brush. Add a dab of hot glue to the flat end and put it on the very bottom of your ornament.

2. Keep placing your little paper wads in a circle around your first piece, filling in bald spots as you go. I like to put them really close together. Keep going until your entire ornament is filled up. It takes a while so put on Princess Bride and settle in.

3. Once your ornament is filled up and you’re happy with it, it’s time to destroy one side. Find the front of your ornament and smash it flat a little, rip out one of your wads if you need to, we just want a flat spot to glue the embellishment.

4. Cut out a shape from your cardboard and paint it. Once the paint is dry smear on a little elmers (I lied, I did use it) and sprinkle with glitter. Cut little bird beak triangles from the ends of your paper strip and fold the tails in towards the center. Fold the tails to the outside again to make your little banner.

5. Using hot glue, glue your banner to your shape by just the tail pieces. It makes the banner pop out that way. Glue your shape to the flat side of your ornament and viola`. You are done and it was so easy! I’m planning on making these with the names of my kids on them to hang with their stockings.

If you have a minute, don’t forget to show me all your awesome ornaments!

Hands on kid craft

I wanted to pop in and show you the gift we made in Primary for the teachers for Christmas. Hand print aprons! I got the idea from Hilary (private blog) who made them for school but it worked great for church to.

It took us 2 Sundays and a bunch of help since we kicked out the teachers and other leaders so it would be a surprise. We did 13 total including 4 that had every primary child’s print of some sort, but it wasn’t too bad. I would have blogged it sooner but a few teachers read my blog so I had to keep it on the down low until they got them this week.

All I did was buy a white apron from Joann’s, printed “We Love Sister Whateveryournameis, your 2009 Primary Class” on iron on, and stitched on a fabric heart. We used foam brushes to paint the watered down paint on the little hands before pressing and wrote the name under the hand print using a super fine tip sharpie.

I think these make a great gift that will be fun to have when those cute little souls turn into martyrs to acne 10 years from now. Cody is working out of town, possibly for the next 5 weeks (home on the weekends) so I’m off to start another project that should last into the wee hours. Bring on the thrashed house and cereal for dinner ;).