With a tear in my eye…

A tear of joy mind you, I wished my oldest two well and helped them get situated for their first day of school! I love them and I love summer but after a few months of them at each others throats I’m ready for more of a routine. Ashlyn cracked me up and chose to sit in between two boys in the front rather than next to her cousin or friends in the “cool” section in the back. A girl after her mother’s heart that one. We’ve got to watch her!

I also had the opportunity to become a real mom today. I officially embarrassed Jeremy at school. Now to embarrass him in front of his girl friends and future wife and my life will be complete. I tried to give him a hug after he found his desk and he gave me the cold shoulder and acted like he was going to die. I told him to have a good day and the girls and I walked out. I heard a loud “Have a good day too mom!” as I was leaving so I know he’s not totally over me yet.

I’m taking today off to just sit and revel in the fact that for 8 hours a day four days a week for the next 9 months I will only be totally responsible for 3 small children. Ahhh.

Tomorrow, when I come back to reality and realize I still have 3 small children to care for I’m going to be working on this-

It was only a buck and sometime this week I’m hoping to transform it into something worth a little more than that. I’ve made a few other things but I’m at a loss in this house on where to take my pictures so I’ll have to show off when I get a cute picture or two. I also need my model back. That’s just about the only downfall to school. I can’t show off until after 3:20 ;).

Have a great Monday!

*ETA- No hints in the last post what so ever, there are no buns baking in this oven! Not that there won't be in the future. Currently and as far as I know I am not expecting anything but a few packages from the post office :). Just thought I would get that out there*

Wee one turned one!

 

Never mind the Rubbermaid totes full of fabric in the background…still unpacking ;).

Kennedy turned an entire year old last Wednesday.  We celebrated her day last night and she could not have been any cuter.  I tried to make her some pink “Look Whoo’s One” owl cupcakes, but they ended up looking strung out and their eyeballs were falling off so we went with pink frosted polka dot instead.  She loved it and ended up using a spoon to eat it.  I was hoping she would mash it and make a mess but she’s got more manners than her mother.

 

Oh the never ending drool…

She has flippy little curls in her hair, has 5 teeth, says a few words, waves good bye, blows kisses, bites a little, and still crawls and drools every where she goes. She’s such a nice baby to me, she decided not to walk yet to soften the blow of her growing up.   She’s still my baby.  Until I have another anyway.

I’m so lucky to have the kids I have and the cute little toddler I get to care for.  Sniff sniff.

Just bag it.

While I was getting away this past weekend I thought it would be fun to make some pencil cases for the kids for school.

So I printed out my instructions found *here*, picked out my fabric, and away I went. The instructions are clear, great, fabulous, and it makes a really cute little bag. I resized it (cut each piece 8 x 11”) and all in all it turned out pretty darn cute but a little hard to open and barely big enough for pencils. Plus I thought I could improve on the original and make the inside marker proof with some iron on vinyl and add some tabs for easier opening.

But my vinyl was at home and I was at grandma’s so I thought I would wait to do the rest until I was home and in my sewing comfort zone. Things just work better for me when I’m on my own turf with my supplies on hand.

Then I realized that one shouldn’t craft while under the influence of cold medication. If you can’t breathe you shouldn’t craft. Yes, I caught another disease this weekend. I’m a human petri dish!

Ahhh! Shield your eyes!

So it doesn’t appear that bad? That my friends is what great fabric will do for you, make even the most hideous of projects look okay. But if this little Quasimodo could talk it would tell you that one side is bigger than the other, the outside is crunchy and melted, I forgot to line it even though the fabric was staring at me not 3 inches away, and the tabs are too long and wonky. I’m also pretty sure the zipper isn’t lined up but at this point I don’t care.

I couldn’t let that little thing represent my latest craft project so I buckled down and made 2 more. Bad projects happen to the best of us but you just have to soldier on, or bag it and eat some white cheddar popcorn.

I’m off to chow down the rest of my popcorn, have a great Tuesday!

Non sewing related t-shirts

Occasionally I get tired of sewing.  Blasphemy I know!  I can’t believe how long this latest sewing kick has lasted and to be honest I’m really not tired of sewing. 

Sometimes I just get tired of the wait you know?  Starting a project and waiting a few hours to see it finished is sometimes too much for this a.d.d. mom to handle.  I want instant gratification and I want it now!

That’s where this little bit of stuff, called iron on transfer material (or iron on t-shirt vinyl) makes my whole world brighter. I’ve seen it cheaper elsewhere but you have to buy a warehouse worth at a time so if anyone has any insider cheap places to get this stuff cough it up ;). If you have a die cutting machine, silhouette, cricut, or anything like that you can make yourself feel really awesome really fast. 

Like this-

It took me longer to find a plain shirt than it took me to make the entire thing.  3 minutes my friends, and that’s with a cookie break and adding some bling.  Can I get an Amen!

I wanted to make Jeremy a funny “I tried it at home” shirt but I realized I only have brown, white, and black transfer and I needed a smidge of orange for some flames, long story, so I made this one instead-

It fits him to a T, bad pun but it’s true.  The boys favorite subject in school is lunch.

And yes, red and orange were not my first choice colors but they were seriously the only 2 plain shirts left in our county in the sizes I needed.  Blast you small Oregon town, blast you!  Jeremy loves orange though so I’m okay with it, I just need to wear my sunglasses when he wears it.  Ashlyn’s is a bit o’ Britain so the red goes, at least that’s what I tell myself.

This is my last post this week. I’m off to sew my little heart out tomorrow so I will back and sharing even more stuff next week.  Have a great weekend!  I know I’m going to.

Un-branding

I am on a roll with blog posts this week and I’m a little proud of myself. I even plan on posting another project tomorrow. Watch out, I’m pretty hot! -name that movie. Speaking of movies have I ever mentioned that I don’t have cable/satellite/TiVo nothing like that so Nickelodeon and Disney based t.v. shows mean nothing to me or my kids. They have never heard of High School Musical, although Sesame street did one funny “Preschool Musical”, or Hannah Montana. I know you are jealous but my kids still watch Saturday cartoons so I still get asked to buy moon sand and ginsu knives.

I get so enraged that the only store within 2 hours distance from my house carries 95% screen printed characters from those shows on clothing and kids stuff. I love Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid, don’t get me wrong but if I have to see one more Hannah shirt that lights up I might have to hurt someone.

But… and it’s a big but, Ashlyn is drawn to those items like a moth to a flame. They glitter, they shine, her friends have them, and they are all over the place. We went shopping a while back and she found a backpack she loved. It’s purple and satiny and has a guitar and birds on it. I thought it was pretty cute too and it was on sale for really cheap, until I saw her. Uhhhgg! Again, nothing against those shows I just have no idea what they are about and neither does Ashlyn so I don’t understand why she wants them so badly.

So we compromised and turned this-

Into this-

Viola`. Shiny- check, glitter- check, and her friends will probably have one too, just not the exact same. That makes her happy and it makes me happy too. So very happy. And nothing against Miss Montana, she’s just a lot more secret now ;).

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A bitty one

For my bitty one. I used the free black apple doll pattern from Martha’s site and changed the legs, arms, hair, face, and collar. I’m not sure it looks the way I wanted it to but Kennedy will love it anyway. She loves babies! I can’t believe I get to give it to her in a week.

And so it begins…

This shirt marks the beginning of a bunch of things for me.

1. School clothes sewing officially begins. Yep, I’m running late but at least I’m running.

2. Every one of my kids thinks they need a new shirt now. Even Kennedy. I’m sure I heard her say “Mom you make the cutest shirts. Can I have a pink one?". Why yes you can dear, yes you can.

3. My sewing mojo got unpacked- yay!

4. I’m priming the crafty pump for my sewing weekend this week. Without kids. Without my very own children for 3 days.

I’m off to my Grandma’s to sew, finish up some Christmas gifts I never finished last year, laugh, stay up way too late, and eat my weight in unusually odd colored snack foods. I’m finishing up a gift for Kennedy today and want to iron on a few more shirts then I’m off to craft- without children Friday!!! It’s been 2 years and I think it’s about time! I’m sure I’ll have to show off my shirts and other schooly things this week and hopefully next week I can wow and amaze with some fun stuff I finish up there. I really can’t wait!

Chocolate Labs

Who wants a dog? I still have 2 left…

This one was named “Thunder”.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do for Kennedy’s birthday but it’s coming up in 2 weeks so I’m not putting this book down just yet.

I know this book has been everywhere but for good reason and I want to stress the importance of at least checking it out. Bunnies everywhere will cry if you don’t look at it, it’s that cute. The cupcakes look really hard but those pup cakes were so stinking easy it’s almost embarrassing. I did cheat and used black decorators gel instead of stinky black jelly beans for the eyes and noses. Thank you for the book Tina, my birthday gift is the best gift that keeps on giving- especially to my waist line ;).

Cinco de Macko

So I know that title makes absolutely no sense but I do have a method to my madness- my Mary mack turns 5 today!  She was (and still is) the prettiest baby ever born.  See-

Awwhh, makes me want to have another handful.  Today.  Minus the labor and yucky stuff. Back to Mack.

She loves pretending to be a dog and really gets into her characters.  She will ask you if she can be your dog.  Everyone gets asked.  Yesterday I believe she was a dog named Dragger but not my dog, because she doesn’t like that I want to name her Nutsy so she was dad’s dog and I was just babysitting.  If it weren’t for the cute clothes I would think she was a dog. 

A conversation we had the other day went like this: After unknown people were seen walking down our street-

Mary “Mom, who are those humans on this earth”

Me “I don’t know, they are just some people taking a walk”

Mary “I don’t know who those humans are, but I like them because they have a dog”.

I love my little human/Dragger dog.  I’m off to take Dragger to pick out her favorite ice cream and whip up the cutest dog cupcakes you’ve ever seen.

Have a great Monday!