My boys are growing up… and one needs a shave.

When I first saw this valentine I cracked up laughing. I love a man in a stash, even a little man.

I thought I would have to bribe Jeremy to do it for his class but the boy was game- perfect! I did a mad dash for stashes and found 36 of them for $6 so it didn’t cost an arm and a leg.  Score!

This is his “smolder” face. You should see his kissy face, I’m saving it for his wedding slide show.  He actually wanted to use it until I reminded him that he had to give them to the boys in his class.  Then he wanted to use the picture that looked like he was a Mr. Bean special op out to kill.  I have some great outtakes! 

We made 32 and I laughed putting the stashes on each and every one.  I wanted to put them on the front but to save some $$ I printed them 2 to a 4x6” which made them the perfect size for valentines but a little small to put the stashes on the front.  Still a winner though.  I see these making a come back in a few years.  The kids had a blast with the left over stashes and I got some cute pictures.  Well worth it!

 

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This is what I was up to until the wee hours Sunday night.  Finishing up 70 Valentines. Why I wait until the last minute I don’t know.   I have a procrastination problem.  Anyway, the girls wanted to do the maze valentines from How Does She?.  I made mine a bit differently but I used their idea.  It was so fun for my girls to pick their papers, count m&m’s, and clip strings for me.  Homemade valentines rock!

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And this little guy with the baby doll lips, he is 3 months old today.  Seriously!  I just started grocery shopping again.  I guess I spend too much time memorizing every last inch of him that I forget to do everything else, but I’m okay with that.  It won’t be long before he can get out of my coochy coochy clutches so I have to take advantage of his lack of mobility while I can.  I just can’t put him down.  Really, I don’t put him down.  Would you?  Did you see those lips?  Maybe I should see if he can roll one of these days.  He’ll be the only 34 year old who’s mom still rocks him to sleep and wants to cry tears of joy just looking at him.  Actually he has 5 other siblings that have to deal with me too.  

And on that note have a fantastic Tuesday!  

Why Fons and Porter? Why??

I’ve mentioned before that we don’t have paid t.v.  and normally I don’t miss it.  Sure I don’t get to watch Project Runway and my kids are deprived of un-educational cartoons but we still get 6 basic channels on the ol’ bunny ears and that’s just enough to catch a few of my fave shows while I eat ice cream fold laundry on weeknights.

On the weekends I miss it.  I miss it because there’s nothing to watch while I eat ice cream feed the baby but OPB shows.  How to crochet, how to cook, how to build an old house, how to turn your trash into a beautiful garden.  All of which are not my forte`.  Then there’s stinking Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting.  They show me sewing machine tricks and new special products just for quilters.  They get me excited thinking quilting is so easy.  They show me all the tricks and tips to turn this-

Into a nice manageable lap quilt easy enough for someone that doesn’t quilt but really wants to have cute quilts around to make.  Here’s the problem Mrs. Fons and Mrs. Porter, some of us don’t need your encouragement.  Some of us need to have their rotary cutters and self healing mats revoked.  Some of us (okay maybe just me) get angry when things don’t work out like you say even if they tweaked the pattern so much there’s no possible way you could be to blame. 

Do you know what that is?  No, it’s not a quilt.  That my friends is a picture of the world’s largest quilt block.  One. Block.  I have 4 more just like her. Have I ever mentioned that I suck at math? I have no idea how I’m going to handle this beast once I get it all together.  That’s one chubby lap quilt.

I always have Bob Ross to make me feel better.  He always tells me "We don't have mistakes here, we just have happy accidents.".  One gigantic happy accident.  I think I’ll stick with Masterpiece Classics from now on.

Are you sure?

Hey Mary, did you get into the sixlets?

Hmm Hummum.

Can I see your hand?

WwHhy?

Cause it looks like you did.

Oh, you’re right! That’s funny right mom? I ate an apple before though.

Just a smidgen of my day.  In all seriousness I wasn’t mad.  We have a 25 lb. box of them and I’m using them as potty treats to train Kennedy.  No it doesn’t take 25 lbs. of waxy chocolate to train a toddler.  Just 15.  

Jake caught a bug this week so between a sick baby and Miss Tinkles she had a 95% chance of actually getting away with it.  Ah kids, gotta love ‘em or gotta lump ‘em.

If I get another call from the school about her or more girl trauma from my oldest I might take the latter.

Have a fantastic Tuesday.  I’m pulling out some Plume charm squares tonight… hopefully they turn into something and not just more dust catchers.

Hat fail

Remember when I made Jake a t-shirt gown with a matching pilot cap?  I didn’t.  I completely forgot about the entire set.  It was going to be my favorite hat ever.  Now, not so much…

The gown fits him really well which means that the entire outfit never would have fit him at the same time since he’s just starting to wear a 3/6 months and the hat is obviously newborn size.  My boys have a rep for having a large cabeza but not Jake, he’s in the 5oth percentile so it really is the hat, not a large boy noggin.  I’ll save it though because who knows, I might have another 12 boys and I’m bound to remember it for one of them.  I kid! maybe.

Speaking of the littlest boy, here are some pictures and an update for Grandma.  Not the cutest background ever for a photo shoot but you’ve got to get them while they’re willing!  He’s 2 months old and 12 lbs of cooing smiling mama’s boy.

Back to snuggling I go.  Have a fantastic Monday!

A little nip and tuck

 

I’m giving the blog an updated look over the next few nights so don’t be alarmed if you can’t find something or things are moved around for the next few days.  She’s way over due for a little sprucing up.  Thanks a ton!

Saving soap one bar at a time (a tutorial).

A bar of soap wasting away on the bottom of the tub in slimy, over soaped, scummy bath water. Did a part of your soul shrivel like mine? If you come in regular contact with kids and bar soap it’s a problem.

We’re going to fix that today. I’m going to show you how to make Monster Soap Savers!

You need a bath sized washcloth (makes enough for 2), 12” ric rac trim, and black fabric paint for eyes. You’ll also need a sewing machine and basic sewing supplies.

Here’s a picture of how to cut out your pieces.

Cut the side of the washcloth so it’s 4” across. Cut that piece again so it’s 10” tall, that’s the body. You’ll have a little 4” wide by however long little snippet of washcloth which you’ll use for ears.

The extra larger portion you can use for bigger rabbit ears, arms and legs, or another monster. Or you can save it and pretend you’ll use it but really you’ll toss it in a few months when you forget why you were saving it.

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Now take your Monster body piece and measure down 3” and cut again. Set them both aside for a second. Make that 60 seconds.

Grab your ear piece and cut it in half so you have 2 squares. Pinch your pieces so the finished edges meet and pin. Sew them down along the bottom of the pinch and trim. Ears!

Pin your ears to the top edge of the longer body piece. Cut a piece of ric rac about 8” long and make a loop. Pin that between the ears. Set aside for another 60 seconds.

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Grab the 4”x3” smaller body section and sew ric rac to the finished washcloth edge on the underside. I purposely (um yeah, on purpose) chose the rounded edge for the ric rac so he would have a crooked smile. If that bothers you use the cut edge and turn it under before you sew the ric rac on so it’s straight.

Take your monster body with the ears and loop pinned to it and lay your smaller body section on the top, sandwiching the ears and loop, making sure the ric rac is facing you and matching the top edges and pin in place. Fold up the bottom over lapping your ric rac edge by about 1” to 1 1/2” and pin in place.

Sew around the outside on the 3 open sides to close it all up. I would zig zag around the edges so it doesn’t come unraveled later.

Turn it right side out and you have a very handsome and very yellow cast eyeless soap beast. I tried shoving some white eyeballs into the ears for pop out eyes (instead of ears) and it was really cute until I smeared a pupil with my paint, gave up, and just added 2 dot eyes to the body instead. The possibilities are endless for making it look as unique as your own little monsters plus you can have several in different colors. Everyone can have their very own with no mix ups and it can be washed and used again and everyone loves that. I have an order for a bunny and dog next.

Here’s the necessity behind the invention- I used to buy the kids soap that comes in a green super sudsy plastic cover for several reasons but really, unless you have one kid it gets a little dicey when it comes to who’s soap is who’s and who used it where last. Nuff said.

Have a fantastic and squeaky clean Tuesday!

A Cozy New Year

 

Ashlyn has been getting right to work with the new machine Santa brought her. I’m a little jealous that I don’t have it in me to join her this week.  How fun would that be, dual machines humming away.  I can’t begin to tell you how fun it is to teach an 8 year old to sew.  I can give her instructions and sit back and watch her actually follow through.  She’s a natural!  I’m not just saying that either. 

 

 

She quilted a cozy new doll quilt for Kennedy.  18 squares front and back and she did it all by herself.  For her first time touching a machine she did a phenomenal job. I’m so proud of her!

Tonight I’m so glad to be spending my New Years Eve watching movies with the munchkins, eating soft pretzels, and listening to little Mr. Mister coo and smile into the wee hours.  Here’s to catching the last days of sleeping in before school starts again.

Have a fun and safe New Years!

Merry Christmas!

 

The super cute half dozen and I wanted to take a second to wish you a Merry Christmas!  I truly hope you all have a happy holiday filled with family, friends, chocolate, lots and lots of eggnog, and light traffic with dry roads.

See you next week!

Old school

I’m 98% done with Christmas this year and have been for a month.  Don’t you just want to hit me now?  It feels sooo good but there are a few things left I really want to make.  Just a few small crafty things for special people on my list.  I can’t do all store bought or my soul will shrivel and die.   In case I don’t get them done I scrounged up a list of things from Etsy that are along the same lines as one  of the gifts on my list to make.

 

Pictures are linked to their item listings.  I don’t know these sellers or stores so I can’t recommend them, I picked items I liked and linked away willy nilly.  Enjoy!

I would show off my other gift idea but the other person reads my blog and will know it’s for them.   Dang you caring family members who listen to what I have to say twice!  It’s going to be so fun to make and I can’t wait to gift it, but first I have to get started.  I’m really bad at keeping presents a secret so I have to leave one clue or I’ll explode… it involves wood but not really.  I feel better now.

We’re off to take the kids to see Tangled.  All of 6 of them.  It will be Kennedy’s first theatre experience and I’m a little scared.  She loves movies and loves “Plincesses” but I’m not expecting much since she is 2.  Should be interesting…

Have a fantastic Friday and fun weekend!

Fake it till you make it

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post.  Jake and I are trying to work out a couple issues and my days are over before I even start them.  Newborns kind of put a damper on craft stuff.  Not that I’m complaining, there’s no where I need to be or want to be more right now that parked in a rocking chair every waking second with this handsome little man…

 

And his cheater quilt I made to bring him home in.  I love that it looks like a 100% handmade patchwork baby quilt- but it’s not.  I bought the patchwork fabric already patched by the yard.  Ingenious stuff.  Thank you Grandma’s Attic!

 

   

I added a bit of cotton batting and threw on some awesome grey Swiss dot fabric for backing.  I even quilted it a little.  I freehanded swirls in each corner of the patchwork to keep the sandwich together.  See, I quilted sort of.   

 

 

I have a couple other quilts and projects ready to make for the little tyke but for right now it’s boxed dinners and cheater quilts. 

I was going to look like super mom and wow the masses with all my tutorials, features, and scheduled posts I saved and stockpiled to share with you while I was occupied with mini me but the pre-baby computer crash put the kybosh to my master plan.  Here’s the revised post computer death plan.  If I put off my hygiene and bathroom breaks for another day I might be able to crank out a stocking stuffer idea or two to share soon.  Just keeping it real folks, because I have to now  ;).

Have a fantastic Wednesday!