The walking dead

We’re back and I am exhausted! Food was consumed by the shovel full and family togetherness was achieved so all in all it was a great time.  I managed to stay awake to shop for 26 hours for the first (and last) time in my life. I got 4 hours of sleep in 2 days. How do rock stars do it?  I’m sure they’re hopped up on more than pumpkin pie and stove top but that’s beside the point ;).  I’m too old and moldy for the new door busters starting at midnight and going on through the mid morning.  What kind of torture to the black friday-aholic is that?

I was so tired and off my game I didn’t snap a single picture.  I was so discombobulated I only purchased things at 1 store for a whopping total of less than $14 spent all weekend.  I didn’t step into a fabric store of any kind and I’m pretty sure I was sleep watching New Moon when we went to the matinee Friday.  Sad, very very sad.

I know how exciting Thanksgiving recaps are so I’ll cut this short.  I have nothing fun to show off today and no embarrassing pictures of my family to share but I will be crafting my fingers to nubbins later tonight and should have something flipping fantastic to share tomorrow.  I should take a nap first though so my craft doesn’t turn out flopping fantastic like my sweater stocking and bubble skirt.  They’re bad, very very bad.

Let the Christmas crafting continue and have a happy Monday!

Little monsters!

I love my sewing machine. I feel the same way about my sewing machine as a teenage boy feels about his first car. It’s not the most expensive model (by a long shot) but at the time I got it, it was a big deal to me. It broke down only one time in the last 8 years and that’s because I never oiled it and it needed a lube job- easy fix. I’ve loved it, I’ve abused it, and I’ve epoxied the crud out of it after knocking the stinking thread holder off a million times and it’s still kicking. We’ve bonded, Singer and I, and I get a little protective of my machine. Especially when the littles are eyeballing it and it’s major sewing season. I know what they can do, I know what I did to my mom’s machine, so it’s a lose a limb if you touch it kind of thing for now.

Well earlier this week I broke the thread spool holder thingy off again so that meant more epoxy and an over night break for the poor thing. I was in the middle of a project so I fixed it up and was planning on pulling it out first thing to start back up again in the morning. When the epoxy was dry I found this-

Some little gremlin twisted the threads around the presser foot and then practiced tying their knots in the back. Oh lovely, but I cut the threads and was back in business. Or so I thought until I noticed that I missed one crucial little problem as the result of the knot tying-

It bent my needle so when I went to sew it caught in the presser foot funny and the middle section came flying at my retinas. For one split second I saw it coming and thought “this is probably going to hurt” as I just sat there. Luckily I’m a bit too tall for eye poking and it jabbed the side of my nose instead. I’m lucky I’m not blind.

The kids probably wish the needle did succeed in ruining my vision so I wouldn’t be able to see the perp who messed with my machine! I had no time to look for the little criminals (and I feared for their safety should I find them) so I just changed the needle, found my pliers to remove what was left of the old one from my foot, and chanted “You love her, you love her, you love her, you love her” Mater style until this was finished-

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I made one of the suspects model for me even though she didn’t want to because “Mommm…. it’s not pink- yuck!” to which I replied “That’s alright sweet pea, it’s not for you”. Not now anyway.

You love her, you love her, you love her, you love her.

And the truth is I do. I even love that she doesn’t like the orange so I can give it to Ashlyn and have an excuse to make another… as if I needed an excuse ;).

We’re leaving tomorrow so I can go mess with my mom’s machine. I’ll be back Monday stuffed and 10 pounds heavier so until then-

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Taking a Calgon moment with a terrible book

Nothing makes a girl feel better when she’s down than to curl up with a terrible book, an ink pad, and a glue gun and craft this-

I love taking a break from day to day stuff and getting immersed in a book. What? That’s not what you do with your books? Don’t worry, no good books were harmed in the making of this wreath. After I came across my 6th bad word after only a few chapters I knew I was doing the world a favor. By the way- don’t read my wreath! I found the tutorial from Living with Lindsay and already had a book that I needed the cover for but not the pages, perfect.

As you can see I’m taking a break from thinking up my own stuff to make and using other tutorial that have been in my things to make folder for a while. Another project I finished this week was this little wall thingy that I hung above my computer.

A little reminder. Sometimes I need reminded, even after they pull on my legs and yell mom for the 1000th time. The saying and wall art idea I copied from Home Sweet Hideaway. The T*I*M*E letters are a tutorial from Happy Together. I made mine smaller in a different font. They are so fun to make, really quick and easy. I’m all about easy this week, and ice cream ;).

I’ve compiled my Christmas lists, tallied up how many gifts I need to start making, and found a million projects that have nothing to do with anything that I want to do instead. I think I’m going to start stockings today… or maybe pajamas. I just realized my pajama pants, the pair I’m wearing right now, have a gigantic hole in the most unflattering spots ever so probably the pajamas first ;).

My scrunchy gathered scarf

I’m not a scarf wearer, I think they look great but it kind of freaks me out to have a large wad of fabric tied around my neck- weird huh. As soon as I saw this tutorial for a scrunchy gathered scarf I got over it and made myself one. The tutorial is great and her scarf looks awesome. I love mine and it was so easy to make. Took me 20 minutes tops start to finish. My model tried to take mine so I have a feeling I’m going to be making a bunch more.

The red striped knit is from my stash and it’s 68” wide. The tutorial calls for a 72” cut so I was 4” shy by using it width wise but mine wasn’t quite so gathered so it didn’t matter to me at all and saved a bunch of fabric in the long run. I only had to use a 10” cut off the end instead of a 2 yard cut off the side. My fabric was only $1.50 a yard so my scarf cost me less than $.40- Sweet! Now I have the other 1 3/4 yards to make something else.

I also learned you can use stretchy bead cord in place of elastic thread in an emergency. I can’t find my elastic thread and I’m not going to town anytime soon so I pulled out my jewelry supplies and wound this stuff in the bobbin instead just to see if it would work. It worked just fine, it’s not quite as bunchy as I would like so I would use elastic thread next time but in a lazy pinch it does work. I’m afraid it won’t hold up in the dryer though but I’m okay with that since it’s for me. Nice to know us lazy girls with hoards of other supplies have options ;).

Thanks Jennifer for an awesome and easy tut!

Technical Difficulties

If you've come to my blog this afternoon and wondered what was up with my background, me to! Someone fantastic decided I needed a makeover apparently and deleted my background.

I'm working on it now and should have it back up and running shortly, looking prettier than ever. I'm html challenged so if anyone knows a great tutorial for putting up your own background and wouldn't mind pointing me in the right direction- that would be most appreciated!

Q&A

I’ve had quite a few questions that I couldn’t reply to or think the answer would help more than just one person so I’m going to do a little question and answer post today. It’s no secret I’m long winded when I’m explaining things so I broke it down into sections. Yes, I’m that nice ;).

*Tattered Roses*

Q- Heidi said... I'm here via One Pretty Thing. Thanks so much for a great tutorial with good clear photographs! I've been wanting to learn to make these and your fab instructions made me get up and try it right away. I even bought some more remnants at the fabric store to make more flowers--now I just have to figure out a use for them all!
I'm surprised at how 'tall' mine are--meaning if you set them flat on a table they seem to stick up quite a bit. I thought they would be flatter somehow, since all the photos I've seen of them are straight on so it's hard to tell their height. Are yours tall too, or am I doing something wrong?

A- Wrong? Never! Unless you aren’t making any… that’s wrong. As far as thickness is concerned I noticed with mine the thicker the fabric, both the weight and the width you cut it, the taller the flower. Here’s a side view of mine so you can see how tall mine are-

Some of mine are more flat and spread out- like the satin and some are taller than my rotary cutter (nearest thing I had to compare) and more compact like the knit orange number.

Here’s a question I answered in the comments but I think it’s worth mentioning here-

Q- j.g.photography said... Hi! I've been following for a little while, and when I saw those roses, I HAD to make them right away. I got straight up from my laptop, and made one. A question though, which way do you twist the fabric? I mean, to you twist it in towards the middle, or outward? Not sure if that makes sense) or do you just do it both ways? Mine doesn't look half as cute as yours. I might have bit off more than I could chew...
Thanks for your great tutorial though!

A- Bridget said... Hi Jessica, I'm so glad you tried them! When I twist them I do twist both outward and inward. I also hold the tail higher on the rose in some spots to cover up some of the twists in the middle so it doesn't look so much like a cinnamon roll. It covers up some of the twist I just made but it looks more natural that way.
I'm not picky about keeping the twisting neat either, in fact I try to let it fold over itself and bunch up a bit so it looks a little more random. Hope that helps and if not just let me know and I can take a picture and add it to the tut.
Happy rose making!

Q- may said... I love that necklace! Can you tell me how you attach everything.

A- I’m not a professional jeweler so real jewelry makers are going to cry after reading this. I cut a square of flannel (yes… I’m ashamed… flannel) and set my roses in a U shape on top. I hot glued them to the flannel after I had them where I wanted them then I cut the rest of the flannel away around the back of the roses that wasn’t glued down. My flowers are sitting next to each other but it’s really the flannel backing holding them all together. Then I took an exacto knife and cut tiny pin holes in the outside fabric of the roses on the ends and threaded a jump ring through the hole. Added some chain to the jump ring and viola`. Here’s my embarrassing picture of the back.

To put the little one on the metal ring I used that E 6000 stuff and did a fancy MacGyver trick with a bread twist tie to secure it while it dried. It worked really well, stinks like all get out but works.

If I were going to put the roses directly on clothing I would recommend hand sewing them in place. I’m going to try to hot glue some of mine to a shirt later and run it through the wash because I love a good drama.

*Miss Locks- Peg People*

Q- Stacey said...What a fabulous idea! I'm in love with your peg peeps. Any plans to share where you got your house from or are you making it?

A- I bought my yet unseen house from Michaels in the unfinished wood section about a year ago. I think they still have them but since I live 3 hours from Michaels don’t take my word for it. It’s the c.d. tower that looks like a doll house. I got my idea from here (she includes a written tut) and think I paid around $5 for it but I probably used a coupon to get that price. Details are fuzzy after a year but I’ll post pictures of my finished project… if I ever finish it ;).

Q- Mama Bear said... hi, this is the first time i've seen your blog. love this post on your bear family! i was wondering where you bought the wood pegs? i've seen the wood doll pins, but i've never seen the kind you used. i'd love to make something like this for my girls for christmas! thanks!!!

A- I bought mine from the tiny little hobby store we have in town (no normal stores here) but they are an unfinished 3 pack of wood boy/game pieces by Lara’s Crafts- and the girl version (the ones with a “skirt” look) are from Joanns. I also recommend searching “peg people” in the supplies section on Etsy if you’re looking to buy online. There are some stinking cute painted versions on etsy as well if you don’t want them in the buff.

If you asked a question and I haven’t answered you I apologize and plead the “it’s really late and I’m out of chocolate card” so feel free to leave a comment in this post and I’ll answer. Cross my heart and hope to lose my hot glue gun. I might even do Q&A- Part Deux, complete with more embarrassing flannel shots if need be. Have a fantastic Sunday/I think it’s Monday now!

The lists are in

Christmas is 1,000 times more fun when you have little kids around. One of my favorite things about Christmas is seeing my kids’ Christmas lists. Forget the presents for me this year, just pass me the lists. I think I’ve already established before that I’m a mean mom, but I won’t let my kids send their lists. I want to save them for them to read later so they make a paper copy for me to give to Santa (insert in their baby books) and we email him a final draft. Here’s this years fun.

Mary would like a baby alive, a real dog, a night light, a ruler and paper, a flower, a quilt, a rainbow shirt, a red hair bow, a rainbow crayon, and the yellow zhu zhu pet. I was informed “weally I want the one thousandth mosts is a weal dog”.

Ashlyn, in an attempt to butter up the man in red for her long list, drew a picture of Santa as her best friend and wrote Santa a poem:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

I bet you love kids,

When I am a grown up I will to!

Let’s see if that works this year ;).

Ashlyn would like a Littlest Pet Shop eagle, a shirt, a robot dalmatian dog, a dog house, a laptop, a t.v., a pony book, a rug, a clock, a toy cat, a Word Girl doll, a toy Huggy Face monkey, a Barbie house, a Barbie doll, a pillow, and a blanket.

Jeremy knows how much Santa appreciates fine art and draws him a separate picture every year.

Jeremy’s list is for the most part readable so I won’t type it out, plus the fact that it makes me want to cry just reading it so typing it is next to impossible. Every year he asks for one or two things for himself and the rest of his list is for his sisters or other people. What 9 year old boy does that? Every year he thinks of things Santa can bring for someone else. Every time he has any $$ he wants to spend it buying something for someone else. Here come the water slides… I can’t even think about it without choking up. I better get off here before I hop on my soapbox about being thankful and stuff again ;).

Before I go I wanted to show you that in my last post I made a necklace and a ring to wear. I thought I included this picture but I guess not, probably because it’s so dark and junk. If you were wondering what in the heck I was talking about “wearing” it here you go-

Have a great Wednesday!

Get your sap buckets…

I’m in a thankful mood today. Maybe it’s the weather and the crunchy leaves or maybe it’s that I’m craving turkey with real stuffing (stove top, not the yucky soggy bread stuff). Could be all those blogs I read and their sincere thankful posts that sometimes gag me with sappy-ness but make me appreciate the blogger even more. It might be because of another great weekend at stake conference and the uplifting messages that were shared. Who knows but I’m about to get gag worthy here.

I’m thankful for my awesome husband. I’m going to make him a pillowcase today that says “you complete me” and see what he says ;). Just kidding… but I saw one a few months ago and thought that would be funny. I’m thankful for my amazing kids that are healthy and as happy as can be. I’m thankful for my crazy fun family and my sane friends. I’m thankful for church and for the little primary kids I get to “mold” every Sunday. We’re going to get down and dirty with paint next Sunday, I’m so excited!

I’m thankful for a mom that let me break her sewing machine my entire young adult life and the never ending scraps she let me mutilate. It’s because of her influence I got to embarrass Cody on Saturday wearing this-

Don’t those colors just scream feed me turkey and pie? Love it.

Have a great Monday!

***I have to moderate my comments now because some weirdo is plastering old posts of mine with yucky gross product comments. I hate moderating so cross your fingers for me and hope that person finds something better to do soon.***

A random bit today.

I haven’t been completely random in a while and that’s just wrong.  I think about random things all the time and it’s nice to be able to express them once in a while.  If you're not up for my random thoughts and feelings about the “book” you’ve been warned…

So facebook.  I love blogging and have had a blast with my blog and blog friends for the last few years so I thought I would give facebook a whirl a few months ago.  Not everyone has a blog and most of my friends and family don’t read mine (blasphemy! or blessing?) so I thought meh- why not?

I was lost from the very beginning.  I must have been doing it wrong.  Something about invites, accepting “friends”, ignoring “friends”, “friend” suggestions, what is a wall and why is everyone writing on them- graffiti?,  profiles,  fans, who’s chatting with who, submitting dna samples- okay so I made that one up but it’s not far off the mark, the list goes on and on.  Then on top of all that other stuff someone started hiding daggers (?) and the mafia was warring.  Someone gifted me a dog and a lost cow found it’s way from some farm.  I started to feel like I was lost in some spanish version of “Days of our Lives”.  I had no idea what was happening and I didn’t have the time to figure it out!  That’s where I start to plead the “I have 5 kids so I don’t have any time at all” card.

I tried, I really did.  I tried to keep up for a month. I was doing fairly well until I started to feel like it would take me all night every day to scribble on walls, comment on photos,  figure out what to do with a computer dog, accept new friends and so forth because for the most part I really did know those people.  They would know if I was slacking.  They would know that I didn’t want to be their friend if I didn’t accept.  They would know if I didn’t want their dog or dagger.  They would see that I was online but ignoring the little chat box.  I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to look at my computer like it’s a treadmill. If I can’t give something 100% I don’t want to do it at all.

Blogging is safe and less pressure. No one comes to hunt for me, or at least it’s not public when they do.  No one gifts me random animals unless they are stuffed and come in the mail.  No one can see when I’m online or when I’m not- I like a little anonymity.  No one will see that I’m only giving 20% because that’s all I have.

So, I deleted my facebook account and I’m pleading the five kids card.  It wa making me feel like a loser. I hope I didn’t offend anyone when I shut it down. Nothing against those of you who understand it and love it, nothing wrong with that! May your farms flourish and friend box grow larger ;). I blog and hide and that’s all I can do.  That’s all I want to do so facebook just isn’t for me.

Aaannndd that’s the end of random for today.

Tattered Fabric Roses

I love jewelry- a lot. I rarely wear it (only on Sundays) and I have tacky 90 year old grandma pretty funky taste so I feel guilty buying it and spending any $$ on it when I know I’m only going to wear it 3 times if at all. I love the bib necklace trend with rolled roses and I am super excited because I know I can make them and not have to spend a dime to get a pretty new necklace. Guilt free jewelry, what’s not to love?

I haven’t actually made my necklace (edited to add- *made it here!*) yet since the roses are so fun I can’t seem to stop long enough to apply them to anything. I thought I’d share how I make the tattered rolled roses so you can make a bunch of your own. I made 15 in one hour. EASY and no sew. These would look great on bags, pins, headbands, you name it and would make a great gift.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started-

• 
• Strips of fabric about 1 1/2” – 2” wide by however long. About 1 1/2” wide for velvet and corduroy and about 2” for cotton and silky stuff. Mine were 44” long because I used new fabric and not scraps, by all means use scraps if you’ve got them.
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Bar Pin backs

Loosely fold your strip of fabric in half and tie a not in the very end. Don’t worry about the selvedge edge or anything like that. We’re being casual. Keep the fabric folded in half with your fingers and roll it a few times tightly around the knot. Apply a tiny dot of glue to your fabric once your center knot is as big as you want it to keep your knot in place.

When you have it rolled a few times around you can start to twist the fabric. I hold the knot in my left hand pinching the tops and bottom between my thumb and forefinger and twist and roll the “tail” fabric around the sides with my right hand. I like them pretty tight.

When the rose gets a bit bigger it might try to move around on you so just apply a little dot of glue here and there to keep things from migrating. I only had to use 4 dots of glue total for this rose, don’t get carried away with the glue or it won’t be tattered… it will be gloppy. You don’t want gloppy. I did use more for the satin roses, just don’t go overboard.

When it gets to a size you like, or you run out of fabric, check the front and back and decide which one looks prettier. I was surprised at how often I liked the back side better. Add a little glue to the “tail” and tack it to the ugly side of the rose. Cut off any left over “tail”. Group them together and add a pin back and you can put them on anything.

That’s it! So easy.

If you want to mix it up a bit you can add tulle or satin to your fabric flower to add texture. Here’s how I did it-

Follow the same steps above for a normal rose and when you get about half way done, dot a little glue on your rose “tail”. Open it up and set a strip of tulle about the same width as your fabric to the inside of your tail.

Fold the tulle up inside the tail fabric and just keep going with the twisting and rolling. Finish it off like the other flowers when it gets big enough and you’re happy with it.

You can tell by looking at the light grey and light yellow cotton that they were the first roses I made. I got better after the 4th one so don’t stop if your first one looks a little wonky. That’s just shabby in disguise. If you want them smaller cut smaller strips and stop rolling sooner, if you want them bigger cut wider strips and roll until the end of your strip. Glue on pearls if you’re feeling extra sassy. Have fun and go forth and play!

10*31*09

I really wanted to show off the costumes I made with fantastic pictures but in the whirl of the Halloween evening, having a little one that I thought was sick, and a big one that was even worse off than the baby I didn’t get any good ones. This is the only group shot I got. I had a costume for Kennedy but I felt guilty about putting it on her when she didn’t feel well so she skipped out this year.

I made Ashlyn’s from head to skirt and wish I would have gotten a better picture of it. I painted the skirt, made everything but the wings from scratch, and painted the wings.

That took me awhile so the moth idea for Mary went out the window the second I had some trouble with the first ruffle the day before Halloween. I know I should have started it sooner but I just wasn’t feeling moth-y. I couldn’t get excited about it. I secretly loath moths and am completely terrified of the things- thank you Silence of the Lambs. Kind of puts a damper on wanting to dress your 5 year old up like one.

I sat at my table with a giant pile of material trying to figure out what she could be last minute. I was running up the stairs to grab more tulle when I spotted the pink umbrella in the corner and it was all over- a jelly fish. Not completely original but I know I’ve never seen one here. It’s my favorite and only took 3 hours to put together from start to finish all using stuff I already had on hand.

Jelly fish get a lot of extra candy by the way. There were about a dozen other butterflies but not a single jellyfish. Each of my kids wants to be one for next Halloween and I’m half tempted to let them. My chocolate supply is running low ;).

Have a great Monday!