Pumpkin Pie Crafts

Signing Off

2012-01-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hi ladies. I have made the incredibly hard decision to sign off of my blog. This year is all about change. I started up my little business (find me on Facebook at Vintage Vanity). I am also going to be taking classes on Alterations at our local college, starting in February, so I can further that part of my business. And last but not least, we are getting our house ready to sell in the summer time. Needless to say, I will be incredibly busy and I will not have the time to put into this blog.

I want to thank each and every one of you for following my little blog and all the nice comments I have gotten. I have made many new friends in the blog-world and I am so grateful for that. I wish you all well and hope that this year will be full of wonderful changes, like mine is.

Farewell Friends,

Kelsee

Child's Apron Tutorial FINALLY!

2011-12-11T13:47:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the lull this past week. I got a fun case of food poisoning/bug that kept me on the couch or in the bathroom for a few days and it's taken about a week to feel normal again. I started this tutorial before I got sick, so it's taken me several days to actually finish sewing these.
I love tutorials that are versatile. It's like two in one. This is one of them! You can use these steps to make a half apron or a full apron! I love both!

Let's get started!

Supplies:
*1/2-3/4 Yard of fabric for bottom layer, waistband, and ties
*1/2 for top layer and bib part
*Iron and Ironing board (Sometimes you can fudge and skip the ironing part, but with this you can't. It would look so wobbly and it would not lay right, so get ready to iron...a lot.)
*Basics- Sewing Machine, thread, pins, tape measure, rotary cutter and mat (not mandatory, but makes things go faster.)

Step 1: Let's start by cutting all your pieces out. This apron is perfect for scraps of fabric. That's exactly what I used, so my measuring was a little interesting. But you can make it work however you want. For the bottom piece: I made these for my nieces who are 8 and 6. I took their measurements of their waist and based everything off of that. Both had a waist of 25". So your bottom piece needs to be Half of that measurement+6" for a gather. Mine came out to 18.5", so I rounded it up to an even 20". Then determine the length you want. Mine was 10.5", keep in mind that you will have to hem it so give yourself your seam allowance, mine was 1/2".

The top layer needs to be smaller than the bottom. Make the top 3" shorter than the bottom layer and 1.5" shorter on the sides. So mine was a rectangle of 9"x17".

If you are making this a full apron (you can do both with this tutorial!) determine how wide and long you want yours to be. It depends on where you want the waistband to sit, if you want it more of an empire waist, then make your bib shorter, if you want the waistband to sit lower then make it longer. As you are going to fold over the top of your bib by 3", allow the extra fabric. Mine ended up being 11"x10". Don't forget your seam allowance!

Now for the ties and waistband. For the waistband you want to cut 2 pieces that are 3"x however long your measurements are. I wanted mine to be well behind the back, so it went all the way around, so with my measurements I made it 22". You can just rip your fabric for this, it saves time.

For your ties in the back, cut 2 2"x however long you want them. I like to have the girls' aprons tie in the front, so it has to be long enough to wrap around them. They ended up being 45" long.

For the necktie, cut it at 2"x 35-40"

Remember to iron all your fabric after you cut it so you start off with clean lines.

Step 2: Fold the bottom layer in half. Use a cup to trace at the corner and cut around your curved edge.

Step 3: Do the same for the top layer, fold it in half but with this one you will make a half circle. I just eyeballed it, but if you have a method you like, go with that.
Step 4: Now for the bib. I had to line my bib part because the fabric was too thin. Iron your sides to finish the edges. I did a half inch, then I folded the raw edge in and ironed the edge. This creates a clean hem. (If you want to make a half apron, skip this step and move down to Step 6)
Step 5: Now fold your bib piece down 3" and iron it flat. This is going to be the place for your necktie. Stitch across the raw edge.
Step 6: With most aprons you finish the edges before you put it all together, that's what we do next. As this is a curved edge, either use a rolled hem foot on your machine or if you're like me and couldn't find your foot without waking a child up, just go slowly and make a loose twist on the bottom. This takes some patience. Just go slow and just make sure your raw edge is folded under so you can't see it. You will have to iron your pieces after you finish to get them to lay flat as they might want to curl a bit, but it actually looks cute.

Do this with both the bottom and top layers. If you want, you can add lace trim after your hem is done.

Step 7: Make a gathered stitch on the top of your two layers. Gather both pieces to the desired length you want.
Step 8: Fold your bottom layer, top layer and one piece of the waistband in half. Once you find the center of each piece mark it with a pin, chalk, pen, anything that will stand out for you. Lay the two layers on top of each other, with the center marks lined up. Lay your waistband on top of your two layers, center mark lined up, and pin it to your layers, right sides together. It's easier to start from the center and work your way out.

Step 9: Stitch the three pieces together. Once done, iron your waistband up, making a clean line. Continue to iron the fold of the waistband extending out to the ends.

Step 10: Find the center of your bib, by folding and marking, just like the others. Line the center with your waistband center. Pin them together and stitch along the edge of the bib. Iron flat after you make your stitch. Continue to iron the fold of the waistband extending out to the ends. (If you are making a half apron skip to next step)

Step 11: Take other piece of your waistband and place it on top of the bib on the back side of your apron. Lay it so that the wrong side is facing you. Pin it to the bib/waistband raw edge of your apron and all the way out to the ends of the front waistband and stitch. Iron your waistband up.

Step 12: Iron the waistband down, so the raw edge is pointing down, using the same seam allowance you used with the front waistband. Pin all the way across from the front waistband, over the layers on the bottom, and to the other side of the waistband. This creates a clean, professional look to your apron. Iron after you stitch them all up.
Step 13: Sew your ties together. Fold each in half, right side together, and stitch up the raw edge. Take a safety pin and turn each inside out. Iron flat. With the waist ties, tuck one end in on each piece and stitch it closed. With the necktie finish both ends.

Step 14: Tuck in your waistband pieces and put your waist ties in the opening and pin in place. Stitch both sides closed. (If you're making a half apron, this is your last step!)

Step 15: Take a safety pin and string your necktie through the opening on your bib.

And that's it!!!!!!
I also made a second one for my other niece so they could have aprons together and play house. I love how they both turned out and it really will be something that they will use for a very long time!
Just so you guys know, it has taken me all week to get this tutorial finished! Both of my kids are sick this week, I am incredibly sleep deprived, and I'm a bit sluggish because of all the things I've been staying up late to make. I'll post pictures tomorrow...hopefully, of all my creations that I've made so far. I only have a handful left to make, but they won't take me much time to do, so I am way ahead of schedule than I was last year! Hope you all are enjoying your season!

Super Late Thanksgiving Post

2011-12-02T10:59:00.000-08:00

I had great intentions of doing these great posts on recipes, decor, kid table fun ideas. But as you can see, I didn't. Yup. I got so busy with cleaning my house (like, on my hands and knees with a tooth brush scrubbing the snot out of our toilets), ironing napkins, tablecloths, clothes, sewing my skirt, and attempting to sleep even though it was hard. So here's how my first Thanksgiving went and what I learned.

1. I had my house cleaned a couple days in advance. That way on the day of it was just a quick wipe down and a sweep and mop, light a butt load of candles and call it good.

2. My skirt (which I'll post later) was done two days before Thanksgiving. Some of you might think that that is cutting it close, but for me, that's a HUGE victory! Usually I'm staying up late the night before an event finishing my clothes. Having it done two days before, piece of cake!

3. I had my potatoes done, in the fridge, my cranberry sauce made and in the fridge, all the day before. That was a HUGE help for me! My grandmother used to make us kids peal her potatoes, now I know why she did that. It's the most boring, time consuming job. But I had them done, whipped up and in the fridge before nap time was done the day before.

4. The day of, I was so relaxed (which freaked my husband out). I had everything set up, cleaned and waiting by 2:00 (dinner was at 6:00).
5. Turkey's are the easiest thing to cook! Who would have thought?! The only gross part is getting the neck out and the gizzards out. Other than that, it was so easy, it was ridiculous!

6. HAVE A KID TABLE!!!!! I set up a kid table for the three "big" kids and it made dinner so enjoyable! There weren't flying rolls being thrown by bored toddlers, no tears, no frantic mother's eating when the kids were busy (which usually meant that dinner was done and we had to eat it cold). We put in the movie "Elf" and the kids sat still, ate more than any of us expected, and were quiet! I covered the little picnic table with brown paper, I set out crayons, made Pilgrim hats and turkey pine cone decorations, I printed off color pages so they could sit and color. It was Heaven! Here's a picture of the kid table (after they kind of picked it apart).

Here are the kids sitting quietly and eating. Notice my son is the only one not dressed up? Well we had a little bit of a fight with him right before everyone got here as I was trying to get him dressed. He wanted to wear his Bumble Bee costume, and I wanted him to put on his sweater. He wore his sweater long enough for family pictures, then shucked it like corn. I'll take what I can!

So, those are the things that I learned. Not only was this year a success, I volunteered for next year! Yup, it was that good! I enjoyed every minute of it, but the best part was just having a nice meal with family. Then after Thanksgiving I was in a coma for about 4 days. It was glorious!

Now I'm working so hard on my Christmas gifts, I will have a kid's apron tutorial this month (because that is two of my gifts) and some other fun things. Hope you all are having a great start to your December!

Stress Free Thanksgiving- Table Setting (Mini Tutorial)

2011-11-18T10:54:00.001-08:00

I have been talking about a stress free Thanksgiving on here and what do I do? Stress the hell out! I had a moment about a week ago where I sat and bawled because I realized that I didn't have nice glasses or enough matching silverware. And I'm not just talking just a little cry, I'm talking ugly pregnant lady who can't get her craving kind of crying! I'm sure my kids were waiting for my head to start spinning around. But the strange part was that I started laughing at myself, while still crying, because I knew I was being ridiculous! Oye! So after a talk with my sister-in-law, who talked me down from the ledge, I made a plan and took care of it, as well as a few surprises along the way.

I went to Walmart and got a package of 16 glasses for $9.99. I was super stoked because they're pretty and heavy duty and I have enough for everyone to have a matching glass.
I also got these wine glasses, we aren't sure if they're supposed to be red wine or brandy glasses, but they will do and I have enough for everyone. I got two 4 packs for $5/each, also at Walmart.
Now I was going to make do with the silverware that I have, they aren't the best, but they would work. Then I got a call from my mom saying she has a gift for me. When I was a kid and my mom would entertain, she would get out her nice silverware. It was a set enough for 16, in a fancy box and they are gold plated, not my favorite, but I have so many good memories of family dinners while using the fancy stuff. She gave them to me. Seriously! They have been packed away for a good 15 years and are in great condition. I am so thrilled to have these to share with my family and continue on with the tradition.
Another thing that I realized that I didn't have was a Gravy Boat. Tragic, I know. So I went over to Goodwill's Christmas sale they had last weekend and I found this. I LOVE the detail on this. It's so pretty, very fancy and goes with my colors! I got it for $1.99.
I also was worried about small serving plates. I have the big one, the salad plate, but I wanted another smaller one so everyone could have their own butter slab so we aren't all waiting for the butter to get passed around. I got a set of six of these for $.49 a piece at Goodwill.
Now for a mini tutorial. I have never needed napkin rings before (we are a paper napkin kind of family) but I wanted something to hold the new white napkins I got. So I dug through my craft stuff and remembered that I had a set of about 37 of these basic grapevine circles. Not sure if they are supposed to be napkin rings or what but I am using them for that. Now get your favorite berry garland and snip on enough to wrap around the ring and VOILA! Festive napkin rings.
Here is the place setting of what I'm going to use. I am making a table runner, but we aren't going to have any place mats and I love how warm everything looks together!
Hope you are all having a great week! It's snowing here and I caved and let the kids start watching Christmas movies. I held out longer than I thought I would. I still have a few more recipes to share, show you my table runner, centerpiece, skirt and the kids' table!
Stay Tuned!

Kindle Cover Tutorial (Prepare Yourself for TONS of Pictures)

2011-11-15T15:14:00.001-08:00

For my birthday a few weeks ago (Yup, I'm 27 now. Still trying to get over that shock.) my mom got me a Kindle!!!! I have wanted one for a while and she got one for me. My husband has one but isn't good at sharing, so I knew that when I got mine that I needed to make mine look different from his (i.e. cooler looking than his). So I searched for Kindle covers and didn't quite find what I wanted, so I decided to make my own and share this tutorial with all of you, just in time for Christmas if I might add!
Supplies:
*Fabric. Fat Quarters work GREAT for this project! The inside layer needs to be something fluffy. I used fleece, but you can use batting, felt, an older towel, anything. Just needs to be a little "squishy."
*Cardboard. You can use anything here just as long as it's stiff. Don't use plastic as a substitute as it can cause your Kindle to overheat.
*Elastic. 4 pieces. You can use just your basic elastic but I used stretchy lace, only because I have a ton of it and because it's super girly.
*Button or Velcro. (Or Ribbon but I will talk about that at the end of this tutorial)
*Basics- Rotary Cutter, Cutting Mat, sewing machine, thread, scissors.

Let's get started!
Step One: Cut out your fabric. My cover was made from this great jacket I got at Goodwill for $1!!!! It's a lightweight, silky, linen. Plus there was a ton of it!

Here are all my pieces cut out. All are cut at 10"x13". You need two pieces of the inside layers.

You also need to cut 2 pieces for your tab that closes on the front. You can do a rectangle if you want, but I wanted something rounded at the top.

Step 2: Cut your cardboard. Lay your Kindle on top of your cardboard and trace it with a pen.

Then Cut Them Out!

Step 3: Sew your tabs together. Put them right sides together and sew all around, leaving the bottom open.

Step 4: Turn your tab right side out and sew around the edge. Don't worry about sewing the bottom as it's not going to show at all.

Step 5: Create your button hole or attach your Velcro.

Step 6: Lay your fabric on top of each other. The cover and inside fabric go on top of your "squishy" layer.Step 7: Sandwich your tab in between your cover and inside piece, with the fleece on the very top and bottom. Put the right sides together for your outer pieces.

Step 8: Sew along the three sides shown, leaving the bottom part open.

Step 9: Clip your corners, make them rounded and snip around the curve so it will lay nice.

Step 10: Turn your fabric right side out. If you aren't lazy like me, iron your edges so they lay flat. (I didn't and my edges ended up a little wobbly, but I'm ok with it.)
Step 11: Lay your cardboard on top of your fabric. Find the center and mark it with chalk.
Step 12: Sew down the center of your cover.
Step 13: Fold the open end of your cover in. This part is a little tedious. But don't rush it or your ends will look weird. Tuck and pin so that your seam will be the same size as your other seams.
Here is what it should look like, sorry it's sideways, I have loaded this picture 8 times and no matter what I do it comes out weird.
Step 14: Sew along the bottom and continue all the way around the edges of your cover.
Step 15: Lay your Kindle on the inside and mark with chalk where you want it to sit.
Step 16: Lay your lace/elastic down and measure from the bottom of your markings from the edge of your cover and the inside stitch.
Step 17: Cut out 4. Mine ended up being 2 /12". I wanted mine to be really snug in there as I don't want it to move.

Step 18: Hand stitch your elastic down.

Put your Kindle into your place and see if you need to make any adjustments, so keep your seam ripper locked and loaded just in case.
Step 19: Add your button/velcro and "Beautify" it if you want!
And you're done!
The good thing about this type is that you can still plug your Kindle in while it's in your cover.
Things to Consider:
*Make sure you use breathable fabrics. Things with a plastic lining can overheat your device.

*If you want a more whimsical look, bypass steps 3-5. Then when you sandwich your fabric all together, put your ribbon piece in there instead of your tab. Then at the last step, instead of adding your button you just hand stitch or glue your other piece of ribbon onto the top.

*This can easily be made for a man! Just use masculine looking fabrics and if you want to embellish the front you can do a sports logo, their initial, a goofy face, anything really.

*As I showed above, this project is great for repurposing clothing! Find interesting jackets or pants or any other fabric that catches your eye. This also helps to keep the cost down, which helps with this time of year!

Alright. I have some more recipes to share, my skirt that I am making, and my table setting that will be so fun for Thanks giving! Hope you all are having a great week!

Stress Free Thanksgiving- Potatoes

2011-11-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but potatoes are my absolute favorite Thanksgiving side dish. I am not a fan of stuffing (Gasp!), cranberry sauce (Gasp!), or green bean casserole (not too big of a gasp as lots of people don't like the green bean casserole.) If the potatoes are good and the rolls are fantastic, everything else for me is great.

Here are a few recipes that I have found that not only you can make a few days in advance, but that they are so good!

Recipe Found Here
I've made these before and they were SOOOO good! Plus, you can make these 2-3 days in advance! You can even make it a month in advance and freeze them! Score!

The Pioneer Woman has some of the BEST recipes out there! Plus, she is a busy woman and most of her recipes are super fast! Here are a few that have been big hits in our house and might be making an appearance on our table this year.
(As I didn't get permission to use her pictures, I'll just put the links on here.)

Perfect Potatoes au Gratin
I've made these before and they were a big hit with my kids! Anything that is smothered in cheese is a hit with them. Yup, I taught them right.

Fluffy New Potatoes
My husband made these a little while ago and they were so good. If you are wanting to break with tradition a bit an have these potatoes, you will be the coolest kid on the block.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes
My mother-in-law has made these potatoes for the last few years for Thanksgiving and let me tell you, they are everything that is Thanksgiving! The best part is that you can make it a couple days in advance as well and they are so yummy.

Now stop stressing about slaving away to peel and mash up your taters the day of Thanksgiving!

Embarking on New Territory

2011-11-06T10:27:00.000-08:00

This year I have been volunteered to host Thanksgiving. I'm incredibly nervous about it because I have never cooked a turkey in my life! I know, GASP! Because my family is all local and both sets of my kids' grandparents like to see them for the holidays, we always have been the traveling caravan. We usually have 2 meals that day, one at my grandparents and one at my husband's family. It's stressful, especially in timing naps for each kid so that they can last for both houses, we usually have to have two outfits for each of the kids (and a back up just in case for ourselves) for the eminent spills and food plopping on their nice, clean, and freshly pressed clothes. I also usually have to make a dish for each house, so timing that is stressful too as I usually have to make it in advance, cook it at each of the houses as it's too far a distance to each house to cook it ahead of time and have it still be warm when we get there.
This all seems so hectic and sounds like a terrible way to spend a holiday, right? Well, it has become the norm for us, for every holiday, so I'm used to it now. This year, on the other hand, is more stressful and scary for me! My mother-in-law is always the hostess for Thanksgiving, the tables are always so pretty with gorgeous place settings, the nice dishes come out, the nice glasses come out and everything is just so organized. Well, if you've been reading this blog for a while or you know me personally, you know that organization is not a strong suit of mine. So to help me along this journey, I'm going to be doing a small series, mostly so that I get mentally prepared for holiday ahead. I'm going to have recipes that can be prepared ahead of time, so you aren't freaking out the day of, table settings for adults and kids, ideas on stress management, and decorations for your house.

So today, I am going to talk about what I am going to wear. Yup. If I want to be the "Hostess with the Mostest" I need to look the part! I have been looking up ideas for months now and I think I have settled on a great idea. Well, by great I mean in theory it is great, in all actuality, not too sure yet. I have decided to do something a little out of character for myself and try making a High Waisted Pencil Skirt. I've been doing lots of research to see if it's even a good idea for someone of my shape and size to wear something that hugs your hips.

Here's what my research has found:

* Pencil skirts, especially High Waisted Pencil Skirts, are flattering for ALL sizes! You just have to find one that fits properly for your shape and size.

* When finding the perfect skirt, you need to think of how long you want it. If it's too short it will make you look way bigger than you really are and slightly tacky, if it's too long then you will have a hard time walking. Plus, wherever your skirt ends is where the eye is drawn to, so you want it to be a smaller part of your leg like just under the knee or at your calf where it starts to taper down. To find the right length, wear the shoes you want to wear with your skirt (mine are a pair of pumps that I found at Goodwill for $2 and they are brand new!), stand in front of a mirror and put a sheet of fabric on the floor, pull the sheet up until you reach the length that you feel makes your legs look great. I am incredibly knock-kneed so I have to find things that are past the knee or it looks like my legs sprang out from nowhere! I am making mine about 3" below my knees, so the skirt isn't stopping at a wide part of my leg and it's still very flattering to my figure.

* Also, your figure has a lot to do with what type of skirt you get. If you have no hips, you want to look for a skirt with pleats or pockets at the sides to give the illusion of having more there than you really have. If you have big hips, like me, you want to stay FAR FAR away from pockets and pleats. If you have a belly, no pleats in the front either as it will make your tummy look much bigger than it actually is. If you are pear shaped, you carry your weight in your hips and thighs, you want your skirt to be as simple as possible, with no buttons, embellishments or pockets at the front or sides of your skirt.

* Usually for us bigger girls, black, navy or brown are the recommended colors to help minimize your hips, or at least give the illusion of it. But now, the trends are getting more bold and colorful. The thing to look for is the fabric itself. Stay away from shiny fabrics, like satin and taffeta, as it is not very forgiving if you have a bulge in the front because it causes shadows which is the same as having a giant neon sign flashing and saying, "Look at my baby bulge! Yes my baby is almost three years old, but LOOK AT IT!" Look for cotton, cotton blends, linens, wools and other thicker fabrics that give your skirt more structure and won't shift very much. The fabric I bought is a burnt orange linen that I'm really excited about!

Now I also want to show examples of women that are fashion icons of all shapes and sizes rockin' the pencil skirt!

You can't talk about beautiful curves without thinking of Marilyn Monroe. She is still a trend setter and designers still look to her shape and the way she looked in her clothes for inspiration for modern day fashion.

I love how this skirt looks on America Ferrera. It shows how simple an outfit can be, but the outcome is stunning! A simple black blouse and a grey skirt makes this amazing!

I have been watching "Mad Men" a lot lately, which is probably why I want to make a pencil skirt. Christina Hendricks, who plays Joan, is setting a new standard of GORGEOUS! She is busty, hippy and beautiful! I have to say that I have a little bit of a girl crush on her (in a very straight way). I just think she is stunning and if I had half her confidence I would be one happy camper!

These are examples of how to dress up and down a pencil skirt. These skirts are so versatile that you can wear them year round and at the office or on a date! Love that!

Here is a perfect example of how to break with tradition and think outside the box... or the color palette. This is a gorgeous, show stopping ORANGE skirt that compliments this girls curves so well! I love the band at the top too! If you are making your skirt with a band at the top, put some stiff interfacing in it to give the look of a corset! Easy way to create the illusion on a tiny waist!

Stay tuned for more on my Stress Free Thanksgiving Series!

Giant Costume Post

2011-11-01T10:43:00.001-07:00

Another year has gone by with costume making madness. This year I made a total of 4 costumes. Only one was for my family though. Let's get started with the cuteness!

Little Miss Sassy Pants decided to be Rapunzel a long time ago, so I started thinking of how to make it. I used the same format as the Versatile Shirt for the top. Just a tub with sleeves. Add some rick-rack, lace trim and some ribbon and you have a Rapunzel top. I also wanted to make her a tutu to make it extra fufu-ey! (Yes, that is a word)

I just straightened her hair (which makes her look like a teenager :-( ) and she was good to go!

Good thing I have a friend with a bridal shop as this is the dress I cut up to make the top. This dress would've fit her as is....whoever is this small is abnormal! The center piece of the top with the darker purple is from a bridesmaid alteration I did and kept the scrap fabric.
Now, my older sister conned me into making her and her husband's costumes. The only reason I agreed was because she supplied me with an endless amount of Diet Dr. Pepper and came over to help pin and iron seams and cut all the pieces out. Plus she asked me about 3 weeks in advance, which is very out of character for her as she usually calls about 3 days before she needs stuff done. They went as the Princess Bride and the Dread Pirate Roberts. Here is her hubs sporting the shirt I made. She did the sash and head piece (with fabric I had lying around).

And here is Princess Buttercup. The dress weighed about 47lbs as it was that stretchy velour stuff and was a bit of a pain to sew with as it kept shifting. Luckily I have my new machine as it took a fraction of the time to make than it would have with my other machine!

And the newest member of our family was festive as well. Here is baby Emma sporting her new little hair pretty I made for her. She is about 5 hours old in this picture. Baby and mommy are healthy and happy and I have gotten to sniff her squishy baby head a few times and it has been heavenly.

Now, I know that last year I made my son's costume too, but this year, due to all the other projects, and his particular interest in the Transformers, I got a screaming deal on his costume online and had to just buy it. We planned on making his Bumble-Bee costume out of boxes and foam, but decided that he would not be able to walk and that I just didn't have the time. He was very popular with all the little boys out there Trick or Treating. Plus, this is the only Transformer that he can actually say. So, win win.

No, I did not dress our dog up, but I had to share a nice little story with you all. Our dog decided to bust out of this joint and go on an adventure alone. On Friday night we were making pizzas and were in the midst of craziness and all of a sudden we realized that our dog was not inside. We searched everywhere and he was gone from our yard. Plus, it was cold and raining at that time as well. Trying to look for a black dog, in the dark, in the rain is almost impossible. We searched for hours, cried, called his name outside, cried some more. Then my husband decided to go look again, got the flashlight, and was going from the backyard and I heard something knock on the front door. I opened the front door and was greeted with a soaking wet, tired and cold dog that was wagging his tail so hard that his legs were shifting on the ground. We still don't know how he got out, but we are so thankful that he came home safe.

I hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!

Candy Corn Hair Pretty Tutorial

2011-10-25T10:05:00.003-07:00

Being in a festive mood, I decided to make my daughter and soon to be niece some festive hair pretties. These were super easy and fun to make!

Supplies:
*White, Orange, and Yellow fabric cut/torn into strips
*Felt or fleece for the body
*Sewing Machine
*Needle and Thread

Step 1: Cut 2 fleece or felt into a rounded triangle, one for the body and the other to hold your hair clip. I did two sizes. One for my 4 year old and on for a baby (That should be out any minute.. like, she's in the hospital on the OR table.)

Step 2: Cut/tear your fabric into strips of the same width. They don't have to be the same length, just need to be long enough to get ruffled and fit on your triangle. I made mine freakishly long, because it's easier to cut things off than to not have enough.

Step 3: Take your needle and thread and do a gathering stitch down the center of your strips. Do it to all three strips.

Step 4: Place them onto your triangle, overlapping the fabrics. You will pin these down and stitch on the top of the orange strip and then the yellow. This holds your fabric down so there aren't any holes.

This is before I pinned them and stitched them onto the triangle.

Step 5: After you have stitched your fabric strips down, flip your triangle over and stitch around your triangle, getting as close to the edge as you can get.

Step 6: Trim your extra fabric all the way around the edges. Then glue the second triangle you cut out onto the back, adding your alligator clip.

Add a little bow on the top and clip it onto your hair! I mean your kids' hair.I also made this little candy corn dress for baby Emma to go with the hair pretty. She has to be festive looking for her first Halloween!

Have Fun!

Makes Me Giggle Monday

2011-10-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the talking dog video was a big hit in this house and in many others (thanks for all the emails). This is one that my kids fell over laughing on. They will walk around the house saying, "Night time! Day time!" and "Alan, Alan, Alan!" Cracks me up. Enjoy!

Preparing for Baby

2011-10-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

Not mine! No no! That ship has sailed. But my sister-in-law, my husband's only sister, is having baby #2 tomorrow. Oh how I love babies. I cannot wait to sniff her little head. I've been working on this project for a few months now. I know, shouldn't have taken that long, but that's what happens when you have so many projects and alterations to do.

Apparently I'm the car seat lady. Which I'm ok with. Especially when I have such great fabrics to work with and a new machine to use! This one is from a vintage sheet set that my sister-in-law has had for a few years, but never knew what to do with it. Must have been divine intervention that she didn't use it in all that time because she was destined to have a little girl!
The brown is the fabric that I bought to recover those wing back chairs I got last summer. I never even got a chance to do that project because when we moved our garage around the chairs had become home to more spiders than I could even count, so we took them to the dump. I don't do bugs.
I just love how this turned out and to be honest I was a little emotional when I finished it. This is the car seat that brought home both of my babies and now it gets to bring home one last bundle of joy. I will post pictures when I can of baby Emma!

The Frequent Flyer

2011-10-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

We've had yet another trip to the Emergency Room this week. And once again, it was our son. The abbreviated version of what happened was that he flung himself off of my back and cracked his head open on the tile floor in the bathroom. After 3 hours of trying to get him calm, monitoring him, the doctors decided to sedate him so they could sew him up, which involved getting him hooked up to all the monitors and oxygen, and it still took 5 people to hold him down. So, in less than 3 years of life, our son has had to go to the ER 3 times already. My husband and I think that the ER should implement a Punch Card system, "Come in two times, Get the next one on us!" Just like a coffee stand!

Here is the bruiser boy. He had to have 2 stitches inside (because you could see the meat, gross, sorry) and 5 on the outside.

With a face like that, do you honestly think that I have a chance of never going to the Emergency Room again with him?

The funny thing about this situation is that I was reminded of the show Home Improvement. Do you remember that show? Well, as a kid I watched it all the time and one scene stayed in my brain for some strange reason. It was when Tim took one of his son's to the ER and the nurse got out Tim's file and it was so big it took up the whole table. Now I know why that scene stayed in my head... I would have a Tim.

What's Been Happening Here

2011-10-11T11:35:00.001-07:00

Well....yeah, I've been on a little break, dealing with life in general. I assure you that I have not been idle all that time. Here are a few of the things I've made since last we talked:

Freezer Paper Stenciled Shirts for my nephew. I made him a mustache shirt for Christmas and he has worn the crap out of it. Not because he likes the design, but because he thinks the mustache is a French Fry. So he got yet another "Chip" shirt.

Another thing that has happened is a little bit of a side business. It's kind of funny, I went in to drop off a few bridesmaids dresses at the shop that I do alterations for and there was a bride in picking up her dress. This bride asked my friend if she sells custom garter belts, which she doesn't, so my friend looked at me and said, "You want to make a custom garter?" It was pretty funny. This was the first one I did. I used the stretchy lace (so not to have the sausage-link-leg-look), some vintage blue ribbon, some fabric borrowed from a dress I did and some other vintage bits that I had lying around. What's not shown on here is the little pendant that I made with the Boston Red Sox logo in it, filled with Dimensional Magic (have you tried that stuff? It's AMAZING!) So this bride got her "Something old, something new, something borrowed and something Blue" all in her garter. She loved it and it was fun to make for her.

If you are interested in a custom garter belt, just shoot me an email! I would be happy to share more info with you.

Upcoming projects: a Rapunzel Costume, an Optimus Prime Costume (made from boxes and other things we can find), maybe a Princess Bride Costume, and a crap load of other alterations and maybe a veil tutorial (because I'm pro at them now! Only took a few tries, several yards of tule and lots of Diet Dr. Pepper.)

P.S. I got my NEW MACHINE!!!!! I will do a whole post on it later but let me tell you, it's amazing!

Fall Is Here!

2011-10-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still here. Just been a little busy, have been having issues with my eyes (which makes blogging, reading, sewing and anything else a little difficult to do), trying to get caught up on all my family projects that have been put to the side with all the alterations and of course cooking, cleaning and being a mom and wife. Put all that together and sorry ladies, but blogging is not that high up on my list of priorities, it used too, but then I got burnt out and broke. Lol

Any-hoo! Here is a fun video for all your scarf lovers! My mother-in-law sent it to me and I am so jazzed because I LOVE scarves in the fall and winter! Enjoy!

Farewell Old Friend

2011-09-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

Today is a day of sadness. My faithful, sometimes temperamental, tough as nails, older than dirt sewing machine finally kicked the bucket. This machine had gotten to the point where the foot pedal had to be in a very specific position, the cords had to be taped to the table, I had to troubleshoot with the placement of the cords and tape them down before I could even begin sewing.

I called her the Bertha or The Old Hag. When she died I was sad, not because I wasn't able to do the alteration I had for a bridesmaid dress, but because it was the end of an era. Bertha was the machine I have been using for the last 2 1/2 years. She was responsible for all my sewing projects that I have done since then. She also helped me to learn to LOVE sewing. I know all her quirks, which made sewing with her easier as I knew her limits and didn't push her past them... often.

However, there is a silver lining in all things. A couple of weeks ago my friend, who owns the bridal shop, had me do an alteration of a GORGEOUS wedding gown for a photo shoot that will be featured on theknot.com. I did the dress and gave it to her the day of the shoot and the dress did not fit at all, couldn't even be zipped up. I didn't actually have the exact measurements for the model, otherwise it wouldn't have happened, so I went off of what I was given. So I get a call that Friday at around 4:00 from my friend. She said, "Name your price, I will pay whatever, but would you do the same style of dress, just a different size and do the alterations again? I need it before noon tomorrow." I said, after throwing up in my mouth a bit, "Ok, I will do it, but you get to buy me a new machine!" This time around, I got the models' measurements, stayed up until after 3:00am, made a pot of coffee at around 10:00pm and had the dress done. It needed a good 4 inches taken in and had lots of bead work that needed to be taken off. The dress was taken away at 8:00 on Saturday morning and I got a call around 3:00 saying that not only did the dress fit, but it fit so well it looked like it had been painted onto the model. Oh yea, I'm good. Lol Or just insanely lucky!

So, I would like you all to see the machine that is on it's way to me. I decided on the Brother CS6000i I have been researching machines for months now and came to the conclusion that I want something that has all the bells and whistles, but is affordable. Seeing as how this particular machine has been voted #1 in Best Quality for the Money for 2 years now, I am excited. I cannot wait to fall in love with the new machine, need to find a name for her and start making things like crazy!

Do you name your machines? If so, what are they and do you have any suggestions for a name for mine?

The Proud, The Few. The Marines.

2011-09-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

I have been a little bit of an emotional wreck as of late, today especially. My little brother is off to boot camp today to follow his dream of being a Marine. I am insanely proud of him, terrified for him, excited for him, and just feeling all those crazy feelings of joy and terror all at once. He is fresh out of high school, all shiny like a new penny. I was 8 years old when he was born. He was the runt of the litter and we all just picked on him like crazy, but that's what you do with a baby brother.
He is such a strong and brave person. I am so proud of how he turned out, despite all that was set against him from our crazy family. I know that our late brother would be very proud of him too. He is setting out to do what none of us have, which is so brave of him, but at the same time shows how special he is.
I am just a big ball of goo today, crying at random times, for no reason. But I wanted to express my gratitude to all the brave men and women who leave their families to defend our freedom. I don't usually do a September 11th post as I get too emotional when I think about that day and all the lives that were lost. I also get emotional knowing that there are all these strangers out there that fight for me, every day. I am proud to be an American and proud that we have selfless people that defend us all. Now my little brother is going to join the ranks in that group of brave people that fight for us.

I am proud to be your sister Jake. I am so proud of you! Be safe, don't do anything crazy, stay strong, and know that I pray for you and all the others out there every day! I love you little brother!

Makes Me Giggle Monday

2011-09-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

Getting His Craft On

2011-09-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

So, as you can see I have been a little MIA as of late. I wish I had some fun fabulous excuse, but the reality is that I have been helping a friend with her bridal shop in doing dress alterations and I have just been a smidge busy with those. Maybe I will do a fun tutorial for you so you can learn how to take in a formal dress with boning. I'm pro now! Lol Or not.

Any-hoo, my cute little husband was watching one of his gaming forums and they had a tutorial for making gaming t-shirts using bleach in a spray bottle and a cut out design. I didn't have the heart to tell him that that particular idea has been around in blogland for some time now and that mom's have been making these for a long time. But I let him think that this gaming sight (which probably got the idea from a woman) had an original idea. But he was so cute in making them that I had to take pictures to show that a man can make things too.

Step 1: Get your shirt, line it with cardboard, cut out your shape and place it on your shirt

Step 2: Take your spray bottle with 1/2bleach 1/2water and spray over the top of your design.

Step 3: Remove your paper design and let your shirt "cure". After it is dry wash alone or with any other shirts you may have created as usual.

Here is another shirt he did. He was so proud.

And that's it! Now he has 2 shirts that he is very proud of and that don't have holes in the armpits, that's what I'm most excited about. Hope you all are having a great day!

Makes Me Giggle Monday

2011-08-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

Incredibly inappropriate, but stinkin' funny!

Incredibly Versatle Shirt Tutorial

2011-08-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is the long awaited tutorial on how I made my daughter's Easter Dress, found here. This is a little different, but only the sleeves. That's the cool thing about this pattern, it's so versatile! This can be made with sleeves, ties, straps, a halter top, or even just a skirt!

Supplies:
*1/2 Yard of Fabric. I used 2 Fat Quarters, but there was only enough left for straps. My daughter wears a 5T in tops, so if you have a smaller little one then the 2 Fat Quarters would work great.
*1" Elastic, measure around your child's chest, under the armpit. Take that number and divide it in half, then subtract 2 inches from that number. So my daughter's chest is 24", so it was 12" for the half and then I cut the elastic at 10".
*Lace for the trim (Optional)
*Scissors, thread, sewing machine.

Step 1: Cut your fabric.
Bottom Piece: Measure around your child's chest, cut that number in half, and then add 6". So I cut 2 pieces 18" wide. The length will be measured from just under the armpit down, so you can make it longer it you want a dress or shorter. Her's ended up being 14".
Top Band: Cut one that is half the length of your child's chest, adding 1/2" for seam allowance. So that piece for me was 12 1/2". The second piece will be the same width as your bottom pieces, so 18". Cut them 4' wide, they will be folded in half.
Straps: Either use lace, fabric, ribbon or if you want to do sleeves, you can use this tutorial for that. Just measure around your child's shoulder from pit to pit. So my daughter was 8".
(Optional and not Shown) Lace Trim: Cut it the same width as your bottom pieces.

Step 2: Working on the back piece first, pin your top band and bottom piece together, folding you top band in half length wise. Pin them right sides together.

Step 3: Sew those pieces together. No need to press the seam here, as you will do all your pressing once.

Step 4: Prepare to snake your elastic through your top band by putting a safety pin on one end, or whatever works for you.

Step 5: After you have snaked your elastic through the top, pin your elastic so it sits as close to the seam you created earlier. Do this on both sides.

Step 6: Stitch your elastic on both sides.

Optional Step 7: Lay your trim right sides together and stitch together. We will press this in a minute.

Step 8: Now for the front. Make a gathering stitch along the top of the bottom piece. Then do as before, put your top band folded in half and stitch the two pieces together. Then add your lace trim like in Step 7.

Step 9: Now this is a little hard to see as I couldn't get a clear picture of it, so I will try and describe it as best I can so you can kind of see what I'm talking about. Take you bottom hem with the lace and turn it over so you are seeing the wrong side of you fabric and the seam. Take your seam and overlap it onto the main fabric, I did about 1/4" along the entire bottom. Press it all the way across.

See the overlapping fabric over your lace? That's what you want it to look like.

Step 10: Now stitch the hem using your first stitch as your guide.

This is what it will look like in the end. Looks like there is a lace cami underneath. I love that technique.

Step 11: Pin your front and back together and stitch up the sides. Flip it inside out. You can be done now if you want to make this a skirt! Cool right?! If not, continue on.

Step 12: If you are doing straps then pin them in place here, if you are doing sleeves, then make your sleeves and then pin them in place, same with ties. Then stitch them to your shirt. If you are using lace, then make sure to do a zigzag stitch so there isn't any fraying. I try and get it as close to the top, makes it less noticeable.

Enjoy your adorable creation!!!!

I would love to see any of the many variations that this tutorial can make! Send me your links when you make them!

Flower Girl Debut

2011-07-30T23:23:00.001-07:00

Today my daughter made her debut as a Flower Girl. My mom has a friend/co-worker that was so sad as her family would not be able to make it to her wedding and so she didn't have a flower girl or a ring barer. Well, my mother told her not to stress because she has plenty of granddaughters and grandsons that could take the job. Thanks mom for volunteering my kids for a wedding that I didn't even know the people. Oh well. It was nice that we could help this sweet couple out and it was such a fun experience.

This is the bed and breakfast that the wedding was at. No, you do not need to adjust your screen, it is THREE shades of pink. Yup. I thought this was the Peptobismol headquarters, but no, it's a B&B. Aside from the color, I could totally live here as it overlooks Lake Pend Orielle and was so charming inside and out that I would take over in a heartbeat... after I painted the outside.

My son, the little angel that he is, was fine as long as he had command over the bag of Goldfish Crackers that I had packed. However, during the ceremony he... "broke wind" rather loudly a few times and made the bride and groom as well as the rest of the attendees giggle. Ah boys, gotta love them. I made his little bow tie using this tutorial. I also made one for my nephew who was the ring barer.

These are my nieces who were a little offended that they were not asked to be flower girls, but they were big helpers for me with my son and it was a fun day being with them.

Here they come! My nephew was so terrified of dropping his white pillow that he carried it like a full bucket of water. My daughter on the other hand stole the show, not that I'm bias at all, but she made sure he was right next to her and other than us having to remind her to drop the petals, she did great. It was so cute as she took one petal at a time out and threw it on the ground.

Here she is ditching her cousin as he was walking to slow. She really did so well! The best was that she continued to drop petals during the ceremony, on her way out, while waiting to get in the receiving line and then when she ran out of petals, she started picking them up off the ground and putting them back in her basket so she could drop them again.

Here is the bride. She is so cute and was utterly gorgeous!

Zoe stood so nice during the ceremony. I had to remind her several times at the rehearsal that she needed to stand still and I said the same thing to my nephew but during the ceremony he got bored and started to toss the pillow up and down. I couldn't get any pictures of him from where I sat. It was pretty funny though.

The dress she is wearing is one that my mom got for her from Mexico a few months ago. I had forgotten that it was a little low in the front, but I did make an under skirt so you couldn't see her panties... that should count for something!

Congrats Lynn and Nick!

Here they both are waiting for the receiving line to start. Everyone kept asking if they were twins, but they are 4 months apart. However, could you blame them with their names of Zoe and Xander?

Showing me that she threw all of her petals out of her basket.

I wanted her to have "special hair" for the day but I wanted it to look natural and relaxed. I did a French Twist crown for her and kept it loose.

This is the hair pretty I made for her out of the same material as the boys' bow ties. I love how it almost looks like antique lace.

And here are all the five cousins together. Last time we took pictures of all of them it was a disaster, but this time was a piece of cake.

What did you do this weekend?

Cabinet Door Uses Part II

2011-07-26T15:36:00.001-07:00

Make some chalkboards! Here are a few, they take a few minutes to make and you can hang them on the wall, put them on an easel on your counter or a book shelf or hang on your front door to say that it's "Nap Time"!
This one is my favorite... just wish I could use it in my house. The color doesn't work in my house, but it was such a great deal on the pain that I couldn't pass it up. It was a miss-tint from Walmart, $5 for the Glidden 2 in 1 Primer and Paint! Hello, that is a rockin' deal!

These are just a few of the things that I am going to be selling at a craft fair this fall. I don't know if I'm quite ready to do Etsy yet, but that might be in the near future.

Late Night Experiment

2011-07-25T10:41:00.001-07:00

Normally you guys see pictures of my daughter like this. Blonde curls, mad scientist hair, puts Shirley Temple to shame.

Well the other day while my husband was doing bath time, he decided to blow dry her hair, just to see how big he could get it. Lol Then I came in and took it one step further. I straightened her hair. I have wanted to do it for a while as I wanted to see how long her hair really was.This is super blurry, as my child was not able to stay still long enough for me to take a picture. But you can see that her hair is stinkin' long!
She was so excited because she thought she looked like Rapunzel from Tangled. She couldn't keep her hands off her hair and just kept petting her hair all night.

She was obviously done with pictures by this time, can you tell?
The problem that I have with her hair like this is that she went from looking like a bouncy 4 year, which is what she is, and looked like a 14 year old! NOT OK!!!!! But at least now we know that it is an option if we want to do something special for her or for a costume, but it will not be an every day thing!

Cabinet Door Uses Part I

2011-07-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

A month ago I came into a giant loot of cabinet doors. My Aunt and Uncle bought a house from a guy that made custom cabinetry and left behind dozens of doors! So, she said I can have as many as I want, which of course the hoarder in me squealed with joy. I have several projects that I have been working on with these, some to sell at a craft fair I'm doing this fall and some just for fun.

Here is one that is a very easy and fast project. Add handles to the sides of your cabinet door to make a serving tray.

We live outside during the summer and carting all our plates, silverware, and condiments outside gets a little waring as you have to make several trips in and out. So, we use a big door with handles and can carry everything out at once.

How simple and fun is that?! You can always paint it and make it festive if you want, but I loved the finish on this one and the size made it perfect!

Hope you all have had a great week!

Baby Bootie Crazy and a Giveaway!

2011-07-05T11:30:00.001-07:00

So today is my sister-in-law's baby shower. This go round she is having a girl, which will help as my daughter is the only granddaughter on that side of the family, so she is SPOILED ROTTEN!!!! Lol But I guess there could be worse things she could be. One of the things I am making for baby is a carseat cover, which is seeming like the norm for me to offer, even though I am not super fond of doing them. Hmmmm. With all the things that have been going on in this house the carseat has not even been started, let alone finished. So I made baby booties...and I am completely addicted! I was addicted a few years ago, but stopped as I got busy, but now! Wow, these are so wonderful!

These are the Stardust pattern. I like these, but my fabric choice made these a pain to deal with and took forever to finish. I used some leftover cream fleece for the inside and an old pair of jeans for the outside. Needless to say, these needed a heavy duty needle and were just not fun to make. Lol But that is my fault.

These on the other hand are amazing! I used the Mila Baby Shoe Pattern and let me just say that I could make these all day long! They came together so fast, turned out so cute, the possibilities of fabric and trim are endless and I would like to make them in my size. I highly recommend this pattern, especially if you are new to sewing! It was very simple to make, the instructions are very straight forward and I made these in less than an hour! It was awesome! The fabric I used on these were a pair of old gray corduroys that I had and the inside was cotton shirt I had gotten bleach on. I love making gifts that are absolutely free!!! Makes my husband happy when I am able to give things that don't cost anything to make.

On a completely different note, I want you all to head over to Craft Projects and take a little survey! It's for craft bloggers and it literally takes 5 minutes to do and it will be fun to see the results of the survey and see where all the bloggers are from and how many are in the same category! I don't know about you, but I always like to see survey results on things like this. I think it's fun! So go over and do it! If you do take the survey, leave me a comment and there might be a little GIVEAWAY that comes out of it!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

My Little Monster Monday

2011-06-27T09:50:00.001-07:00

Well, welcome to yet another saga of my life with a two year old.

After I finish getting the kids down from breakfast, get baby down for her morning nap, get the kids dresses, I start on the kitchen and let the kids go outside so I don't have four extra hands helping me. I can see the kids at all times from the window and I leave the slider door open so I can hear them as well. The only problem is that we have a shed in the backyard and there is one little corner that I cannot see if they are back there.

Well, awhile ago I saw both the kids playing back there and I went to check it out. They had dug a hole in the ground specifically to make mud. So, the other day, I couldn't see my son or hear him, which usually means he's doing something he's not supposed to do. I went to investigate.

This is what I found.

This is not a smile. He is chewing on dirt.

Needless to say, I got the hose out to hose him off.

Jeans into Skirt with a Bustle Tutorial

2011-06-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

So, I have been getting a lot of jeans lately from family members to see if I can do something with them for myself, which is great! Originally I had planned on this pair becoming a pair of capris but then I thought about something a little more fun. Here we go!

Step 1: Cut your jeans off from the hem, taking as much as you want off, but leaving enough for the length you want and the hem. Then unpick the inner seam, leaving the outer seam alone. Also, unpick the seam going up leaving about 2" untouched from the zipper and below the pockets in the back.

Step 2: Fold your inseam part over like so and pin it on both the front and back. I find it's easier to sew this part first, then add your fabric in the middle, then it doesn't move while you are pinning.

Step 3: Do two seams, just like the jeans were originally, down from the zipper to the opening.

Make sure you start your seams going horizontal or your will have a nice hole up by the zipper.

Here what your seams look like from the inside.

Step 4: Trim away the extra fabric on both the front and back.

Step 5: Now that you have your front and back sewn, now you need to cut the fabric that is going to fill the center. I didn't take pictures of this with the front, but you will do the front first as it's easier. Just pin your triangle of fabric and sew it down to the hem.

Step 6: Cut strips about 3" wide to make you bustle pieces. Each will be a different length as you are going to sew them onto this triangle, so I found it easier to make the strips of fabric super long and just cut whatever I needed off the end.

Step 7: Pin your ruffled strips to the triangle. Make sure that each strip covers the top of the piece it is overlapping.

Step 8: Sew your ruffles to your fabric. Trim off the pieces that are hanging off the sides.

Step 9: Now, I will give you this step, which I didn't do until the end, but you get to learn from my mistake. Take your skirt before you put your bustle piece on and do the hem around the entire skirt. This will allow your bustle to hang correctly.

Step 10: Pin your bustle piece to the back of your skirt. I worked from the front, so that I could make sure the seam was even and got the denim in a straight line.

Here is the view of your skirt from underneath.
Step 11: Trim away all the extra fabric.Now enjoy your skirt! The bottom part of my bustle would have sat better had I done the hem first, then added the bustle, but it's flirty and fun!

And here is the front! Something fun to wear to your next BBQ or a walk in the park!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

$10 Mirror Makeover

2011-06-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

The other day I was in some serious need of some retail therapy. So my sweet sister-in-law offered to come over, watch my kids for an hour and let me borrow her car to get around in. Now that's love! So I hit 3 thrift stores in an hour, it was amazing. Lol

I got some good clothes, but as I was at my final stop I found this mirror. They only wanted $10 for this thing. It needed some work, but it was HUGE and there weren't any issues with the mirror or the wood. It was a mirror that went on a vanity, so it has holes on each side where it was mounted to the vanity.I took my sander to it, put some wood filler in the little holes and smoothed it all out as much as I could. Then I painted it and distressed it again.

Here she is in her new glory on our red wall that will soon be painted and decorated with other things as soon as it is painted.

This is really what sold me on the mirror was this flower detail on it. I love it!

And you can't take a picture of a mirror without doing a silly pose in it.

What thrifty things did you find this week?

Bedroom Reveal

2011-06-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

I have had this done for some time now, but as the weather in North Idaho has been so... ridiculous, I have not had good enough light to take a picture of my room. So, I am making the best of the sunshine that FINALLY decided to grace us with its presence.

Remember my canvases from this post? Well, now you know where they went!

For the headboard I used an antique window frame (one of my many) and two shudders on each side. I took all the glass out of the window, sanded the poo out of it (as I didn't know if the paint was lead paint or not), repainted it and then distressed it a bit. I did the same to the shudders. Here is a closer view of the window.

Here is one of the shudders. I took my handy dandy palm sander and just distressed these to give them more character.

The sign in the center is something I did awhile ago as well, but I am still on the fence if I like it or not. I found the inspiration from an Etsy shop, but I cannot find the shop or the sign now.

It says:
"You are the Icing on my Cupcake
You are the Cheese to my Macaroni
You are the Jelly to my Peanut Butter
You are the Bubbles to my Bath
You are the Milk to my Cookies
You are the Ketchup to my French Fries
You are the Gravy to my Mashed Potatoes
You are the Eggs to my Bacon
You are the Ink in my Pen
You are the laces to my Sneakers"

The wording is what I took from that Etsy shop, if any of you know what shop that was, I would like to give her credit. I love the wording, but as I did the letters by hand with a paint pen they aren't super straight. Not sure if I want to redo it and make it more straight and clean. Hmm.

Well, there you have it!

Frustrations in Blogland

2011-06-17T00:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever started on a great tutorial, got everything ready, taking detailed photos, get interrupted by screaming kids and then find your tutorial on someone else's blog because they beat you to the punch? Well, that's what has happened to me. Three times actually! I have had some great projects that I have been working on but I have either had to stop due to missing a piece, having to unpick a seam or twelve, or needed to wait until the next pay day to get the rest of the supplies I need. Here are the three tutorials that I had planned but someone has beat me to the punch.

Kimono Dress
Tea Cup Bird Feeder
Bird Nest Necklace

But, I do have several things that we are working on right now.

I am finally going to start making things with my window collection. Three things in fact!

We are going to be making a table similar to this with boards that we have had sitting out in the rain, snow and sun for the last 5 months.

And I have several refashions that I have been working on, not just as tutorials, but because I have NO clothes right now and I would rather spend my money on fun things for the house than on some clothes.

Stay Tuned!

My Little Monster Monday

2011-06-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Four stitches on top of his head: $300

Learning to not pull on the dog's ears and listen to your momma: Priceless.

Yup, it's true. Even the best dog in the world can only take so much. My son had a rough day yesterday of being naughty. He flooded our kitchen with the faucet hose, ripping branches off of our baby tree, plucking many leaves off of our lilies and tormenting our dog. He yanked on Moose's tail and ears one too many times and Moose reacted. It would have been like a parent reacting to a child misbehaving and snapping at your child. As soon as it happened Moose knew he had done something horrible and was very concerned and has had his tail between his legs ever since. Cooper has been much more respectful of Moose and has stopped tormenting him, which is good. We are still keeping our puppy as he is truly a wonderful dog, we just need to watch the treatment our kids are giving him.

All in all, lesson learned.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-06-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

This year is the year of lots of pretty flowers. As we have had stressful summers these past few years, I haven't really focused much on my garden or planted many things in pots. So this year I am making up for lost time.

A few weeks ago I was looking on Craigslist and found a listing for lots of rusty, old planters. Lots of galvanized pots and pans that had great character and even a very rusted Red Rider Wagon for $20! As these were things that I wanted to find from the Farm Chicks Sale but I knew that I wouldn't be able to find that many things for that little amount of money. So I got them and got planting!

I have showed you guys my table before. I got this a few years ago at an antique store for about $10 as it was on it's way to the dump because no one wanted it. I fell in love instantly with it!

This is an old pot that fits our pansies in so well! The bottom was almost rusted out so I didn't have to drill holes in the bottom for irrigation. This was one of the Craigslist finds.

This was one of last years garage sale cast offs that didn't sell. My mother-in-law just gave it to me. We planted African Daisies in it and they are coming up so nicely!

This is another of the Craigslist bunch. I love this sweet little sauce pan. It is just the right size for some wild flowers.

I have had this pan for several years. My mother-in-law gave me the pan and the Chicks and Hens in it. The only reason I am mentioning them now is that they are HUGE! They have never been this big and are growing little starts like crazy! I love when I neglect things for years and then all of a sudden they flourish!

This pan has my Calla lilies in it. I'm not holding my breath that they will actually come up this year, but next year they will be gorgeous!

This is the barn wood planter I got last year from the Farm Chick Sale that sat in my garage for an entire year. I just love how my pansies are doing in it this year and how it has lots of charm.

Meet Patches O'Houlihan. He is the garden gnome my daughter got for her birthday. My husband and I named him, but my daughter isn't super fond of the name. Can you guess what movie his name is from?
I also had to share with you my new do! It takes less than 5 minutes to do, score!, and it's fun and flirty. I love wearing my hair clips with it, the bigger the better!

Well, there you have it. How are your gardens growing this year? Have you planted anything new and exciting?

What a Wonderful World

2011-06-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

I swear I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I wanted to share with you all the best thing ever! Remember this post? The lab/bloodhound mix that we wanted but got adopted before we could get him? Well, Sunday, while at the Farm Chicks Sale I got an email from his owner explaining that the couple that adopted "Moose" wanted to return him as they were never home and he began to have bad habits. She asked if we were interested in him still. Um.... YES!!!!!

I would like to introduce Moose to everyone! He is the sweetest dog I have ever been around. We are so lucky to have him in our family finally.

We have discovered that he LOVES our daughter. He has slept in her room all day and has taken a nap with her all day. We have only had him for 24 hours and he has made such a strong bond with both of our kids that it is amazing.

He has to be right next to the kids at all times. He is already protective of them and when one of them cries he gets very concerned and rushes over to them to make sure they are ok and looks at me as if to say, "Come make it stop!"

He was meant to be in our family. Like I said, it's only been 24 hours and he has fit right in, loves us all, is very gentle and patient with the kids and has been a wonderful addition to our home. He may be HUGE, but he is a doll! It's like fate that he is here. This is where he is supposed to be. My family is finally complete, we found our missing person.

In other news, I have a few tutorials in the works, including the kids apron I mentioned a few months ago. I'm getting excited as there are some big projects that are happening in this house! Plus, I have all my super awesome finds from the Farm Chicks Sale that I went to over the weekend. What an amazing experience, once again. See you guys soon!

Lifting My Spirits

2011-05-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

I got a call from my mom on Wednesday night asking if my kids were feeling better. I told her they were, so she asked if I could come out and play the next day. As I hadn't gotten out into civilized society for a few weeks, I jumped at the chance not, before I knew what I was going to do. Then she dropped the bomb on me. "Do you want to go see 'Wicked' with your Granny and I? WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Um, it was the best surprise ever! My Aunt and Uncle had gotten a group together for the show and one of their friends fell through, leaving an extra ticket.

It was absolutely an amazing experience! I love Broadway and dream of one day being in plays again, but this blew my mind! I was so lucky, so excited and so unprepared! Lol I forgot to charge my cameras batteries so all my pictures are from my phone so.... yeah, they suck. But it was so much fun! The characters were so funny, their voices were incredible and yeah, I cried... a couple of times just by the power of their voices.

This is a terrible picture but this is of me and my sweet and adorable little Granny.

The stage with the dragon on top waiting for the show to begin.

The incredibly over priced items you could get that I am thinking I might steel a design or two from and make my own shirt.

I didn't know anything about the story line before seeing the show and I love discovering a new musical! This was such a treat and made my little singing heart leap and dream of being on that stage with the audience applauding like in the olden days. One day when my kids are older and I have a little more free time, I am going to start acting/singing again. I love the rush. This show just fueled the fire just a bit more for me.

Here was my favorite song, it's just the Original Cast song. I have been belting it out all day, to my children's dismay. Lol

Mom, You're Awesome!

2011-05-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

This is what my sweet Zoe told me today. I almost burst into tears.

I asked her, "What makes mom awesome?" (Fishing for more compliments. Lol)

She said, "Because you make awesome dinners, awesome breakfasts and awesome lunches! You make awesome games for kids, awesome things for me to wear and you PLAY THE WII!!!"

Oh my sweet girl! It doesn't take much to get you excited. If you only knew that meal times are the furthest thing from my mind and the games that I make for you and your brother are so you both will sleep well at night and one day you will hate the things I make for you, but for now, I will take whatever you've got.

My week has been a difficult one. Both my babies have been sick and Zoe now has strep throat. I have not slept through the night for over a week, I'm exhausted, drained and overwhelmed. So to have my little girl say what she did to me after a week of not being able to help them, make them feel better, breathe, sleep, keep their fevers at bay, cleaning up constantly and forgetting to eat, made me squeeze that little blue eyed babe a little longer.

I will be back as soon as my house is done being under quarantine!

Spring has FINALLY Sprung

2011-05-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

Alright, I am all for April showers bring May flowers, but April and May snow?! Um, no! I am happy to report however, that spring has finally arrived.

With every year and every season you learn certain things about each child as they grow older. Here are a few things that I have learned about my kids that will be very evident with the Summer months coming:

1. Both of my kids have been sleeping so soundly now that they have been adequately worn out while playing in the sunshine.

2. Shoes are overrated.

3. Rocks will be used not only to decorate the yard, they will be used as weapons and a healthy snack at times.

4. Pants are overrated. Yes, I have become that mother that allows her son to run around in the backyard with nothing on but a diaper and a shirt... which will probably progress to just a diaper, but rest assured that I will make sure the diaper is one at all times. The reason for this is that I have officially given up chasing my son to put his pants back on all day long, so he will just have really great tanned legs.

5. Dandy lions are the most beautiful flower to pick for mom and give me as a gift daily. I love it, but then I think, "Man, we have a lot of dandy lions in our yard!"

6. Eating outside is the coolest thing ever.

Here is a little taste of what my days are like now. I couldn't get a picture of them sitting nice on the ground eating the popcorn...off the ground. However, here is the tail end of their feeding frenzy.

I hope you all are having a great week! I will resume my regular, crafty posts soon, I have just been working on my yard and my tan lately so at least I have my priorities in tact.

Happy Mothers Day

2011-05-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

I want to say Happy Mother's Day to all my wonderful readers. Being a mom is one of the hardest jobs you can have but it's also the most rewarding. My morning has consisted of my kids climbing in bed with me, sleeping in, them giving me my presents (as daddy told them to do as he has to work every Sunday, so he has to train them to make today special), and watching silly animal videos on my phone while we all snuggle some more. I got a little emotional this morning as my heart was so incredibly full with love for my children. Sure they make me crazy sometimes, but I love them more than I have ever loved anything before. I don't ever want them to grow up, I want them to stay small and innocent and shield them from all the pain of the world. I will never forget this morning with my children. It was an amazingly simple reminder of how wonderful my life is and how grateful I am to be a mom.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and give your kids extra long hugs today.

Makes Me Giggle Monday

2011-04-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

As my last post was a little depressing, here is something to make us all smile.

My husband found this and it just made me giggle... a lot. This guy is very....sensitive. Cracks me up!

Happy Monday Everyone!

An Uber-Personal Post

2011-04-19T23:49:00.000-07:00

(Update on the perfect dog: He got adopted by another family while I was begging, pleading, whining and such. I'm very sad, but as I know that looking for another member of our family needs to take time to find the right one, I know that our dog is out there, getting ready to come home with us.)

I normally don't get too personal on this blog as I don't want my personal stuff to be out there for all to see, but this post will probably hit home to many of you.

I wanted to share this information with you guys for three reasons: 1.) I have the greatest followers ever and I am just so touched that you would even think my blog is worth reading. 2.) You can't really know someone until you have learned where they have come from. 3.) Some of you out there have known me for a very long time and remember this day as well, so it's for all of us to remember.

Eight years ago today, on Easter Sunday, my step-brother, Devin Ray Ennis, died in a motorcycle accident. He 19, almost 20 and I was 18, a senior in high school. We had been siblings since I was 6 and he was 7. We grew up in a not so perfect family together, but we were siblings, despite what his mother wanted us to think we were.

I can remember every single detail about that day. I can remember what I was wearing, what I was doing, where I was sitting, the way the air smelled and the sunlight coming through the windows when I got the call. I remember the way my sister sounded so calm when she told me, and how it was hard to breathe while listening to it. Easter has never been the same for me since that day. I know it should have a much more spiritual tie to it as he went Home that day, but Easter lost it's wonder for me.

That entire week after he died was just a big blur for me, I didn't sleep, didn't eat, cried constantly, but mostly in private as we were told that we had to portray a sense of calm and strength as there were so many other young adults that were affected by his death. I sat in the front at his funeral, trying to keep it together, but losing it as a friend of mine sang a song, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." I still can't listen to that song without getting emotional. His death didn't really hit me until two weeks later while I was writing an essay for English on "what I had learned my senior year." I just lost it, went home and cried so hard that I had no more tears left. It was devastating.

Not a day goes by that I don't think about him. I have his picture sitting on my book shelf and I see it every day. You learn to move on with your life after a loss like that but you never truly recover. Every Easter I get nervous when the phone rings, I still think that I see him driving around or walking down the isle at the grocery store or hear his voice. It's been eight years, you'd think I would stop doing that, but it still happens. The worst is when one of his old friends sees you at the store and gives you this sympathetic look, which just floods all those bad memories back into your head, making it hard to breathe once again.

Now, this post may seem incredibly depressing, but I wanted to share with you a little something that was just so amazing to me. A few weeks before his death, my sister, other step-brother and I all had these really random memories pop into our heads, memories that we hadn't thought of in years! I now know that my Heavenly Father was trying to prepare us for what was to come, to remember those fun, fond memories that make you smile for days. Since then, I try to remember his life, how funny he was, how quirky he was, how crazy he was, instead of focusing on his death and how he died. It's important to remember those little moments in your life that may seem very insignificant, but they will one day be so cherished.

We all have had to deal with loss in one way or another. Everyone copes with things in different ways. I like to make jokes sometimes or tell embarrassing things about that person all of a sudden. But today, I want us all to think of the happy, fun things of those that we have lost.

Here are mine:

*Devin always asked me to dance at any church or school dance. He usually wanted to know what a girl thought about him or to have me slyly sneak in a good word for him with a girl, but he always did it. It was just special to have a brother do that.

*He CONSTANTLY was stealing my cd's! We would get in his car and I would hear Dave Matthews or Limp Bizcut going. I would slap him every time!

*He would make a batch of No-Bake Cookies just for himself and would hide them in his room so that no one could find them. He did it with bagels too. But I guess if I had 3 other teenage siblings in the house I would have done the same, I just liked my room to be food free.

*He taught us how to play "Door Knobs" and would not let it go until you touched a door knob. (For those that don't know, it's this sick game that if you are caught farting and someone says Door Knobs before you, they get to hit you until you touch a door knob. I know, it's gross. We were stupid.)

*He was incredibly competitive. One time when I got home from basketball practice, wearing only wind pants in the winter, I rubbed it in that I had beat him at something (I don't remember what it was now) and he shot me in the butt with his paint ball gun standing about 5 feet away. I had to sit on a doughnut for a week!

Now it's your turn. If you knew Devin, write your favorite memory of him. If you didn't know him, write your favorite memory of a loved one that is no longer with us. We can share in our pain and joy together.

So, Here's to you Devin! I miss you, love you and will beat you at Door Knobs when I see you next.

Please, Oh Please, Oh Please, Oh Please!!!!!

2011-04-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Do you remember when you were a kid and you wanted something so bad, but your parents kept saying no? No matter how many times you begged and pleaded with them, researched, wished, begged more, tried to bargain, sweet talked, they always said no?

Welcome to my world and I'm 26!

Ok, so my husband and I had a dog together about 6 years ago. I researched for months and found this great rescue group locally that had basset hounds, because I just love their floppy ears. I saw this story about this poor dog that was rescued from the shelter, he was skin and bones, very neglected and was just so sad. So I went and got him. We loved that guy. He was our baby, before we had any babies! One day, my sister was over with my niece who was a little over a year old, and he bit her. I know it was a territorial thing, he was making sure this little critter wasn't going to take his place as the top dog. So we had to return him. We were devastated. We only had him for a few months and he was our boy. We fattened him up, got him to not be afraid of the vacuum, and learned that he can snore like an 80 year old man.

(This is what he looked like.)

Now, we have talked about getting a dog for some months. I have never gotten my husband to agree to any of them, not even to see them! But I found this guy on Craigslist on Saturday. He is a 2 year old lab/bloodhound mix. He's great with kids, doesn't bark, incredibly gentle, up to date on his shots, is already fixed and is FREE. The reason the family is getting rid of him is because he is not good with goats. Seeing as how I am not good with goats either, I think we are safe. The really good news is that my husband has FINALLY decided that he wants to meet this guy... after lots of moping, sighing, pouting, and given a giant load of guilt trips, from me. We are hopefully going to meet him on Wednesday and I am so excited that I am like a hyperactive dog on Halloween!

Doesn't he just look so sweet?! He looks like he could be named "Doc" or "Henry" or "Bernie."

So, I need all your good thoughts, prayers, cross your fingers, eyes, toes, arms, legs and anything else you can think of to cross. I want this guy to come to our home and be our new buddy.

Deep breath!

My Little Monster Monday and a Recipe

2011-04-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

(This is not my child, but the idea has merit.)

I just had to share what my weekend was like with my little monster. Now, I remind you again, I love my children, but one of them is testing my patience so much that I am thinking of duct taping him to the walls.

*Used a pen and colored all over our electric bill. I really hope the person that opens it has a sense of humor.

*Ate a heart shaped bead. No hesitation, no regrets, just popped it in like a candy.

*Colored on the walls with chalk. Luckily, after finding the last "artistic display" I hid all the markers from him, so chalk was all he could find.

*Covered our entertainment center, ottoman, and movie tower with an entire bottle of aerosol hair spray. Apparently, the frizz needed to be controlled on our furniture.

*Opened my face moisturizer/primer tube and squeezed it all over the bathroom floor, his head, hands and shirt. He has a wonderful white patch on his hair that makes him look like the kid on "The Sixth Sense".

So that is why I didn't get much done this weekend, as I had to chase and clean up after a little man who has taken it upon himself to throw my diet out the window as I need chocolate and chips to steady my nerves.

Now, onto the recipe.

When I was pregnant with my son, I worked in an office that was across the street from a Starbucks and this bbq place called Smoky Joe's. It was HEAVEN!!!! They made great money from me as I would order their Pulled Pork and Pulled Chicken sandwiches. It came with a side of coleslaw and a piece of warm corn bread. AMAZING!!! Unfortunately, it went out of business after my son was born... hmmmm, maybe it would have stayed in business longer if I had the gestational period of an elephant (which is 18 months.) Any hoo, I have been searching for a replacement for those sandwiches and have not found anything that came close. Well, here it is! SO GOOD!!!! Plus it is so dang easy to make, your mother-in-law will think you are a culinary genius!

Crock Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients:

3-4 Frozen Chicken Breasts (I used 3 really big ones, but if yours are small, add more.)

1 Regular sized bottle of BBQ Sauce of your choice (I have used a few different flavors now and it always tastes good!)

Juice from 1 Orange

Dump all items into your crock pot. Doesn't need to be pretty.

Cook on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4.

After it's done cooking take two forks and shred your chicken up in the crock pot.

Serve on a toasted Hoagie bun and top with a slice of cheese (we used Havarti as it's what we had on hand, but anything would work.) Enjoy!

SEE?!!!! Stupid easy and I kid you not it is the best sandwich ever!!!!!!

My Little Monster Monday

2011-04-11T13:11:00.001-07:00

Here's a little peek into my world. I love my children, but sometimes they no longer are my children and become heathens! Here is my son. Showing off his artistic abilities.

It's abstract art. What do you think it is? I am seeing a pack of rabid squirrels having a tea party. You think?

So pretty. Well done child.

This is a dry eraser marker that he found. Everything cleaned up pretty easily, except for on his hands and face.

Happy Monday!

Vintage Sheet Easter Dress

2011-04-09T11:47:00.001-07:00

My magical sister-in-law found this vintage sheet set at Goodwill a few months ago. She gave me the fitted sheet to do what I wanted with, so I made my curly headed sweetheart her Easter dress. I have wanted to make her an Easter dress since she was born, but never had time. Then I found this tutorial from Craftiness is Not Optional and I knew this is what I wanted to make with the sheet.

The back was a little different from the tutorial as I didn't want to deal with a zipper. So I altered it to be more like this dress

And for once, she finally modeled something without fighting me!

I just love how it turned out! Plus, you know you did a good job when she asks if she can wear it the rest of the day! SCORE!!! Now onto making the little man something for his Easter outfit!

The Gift

2011-04-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

So, I decided to make my little girl her own backpack for her birthday. I wanted her to have something to take with us to the park, play dates, grandma days and, when mommy is ready to send her little bird off into the world, school. I have loved the backpacks from Made By Rae, so I bought the pattern. It wasn't too bad to make, and if you have an actual zipper foot, it would be cake! Yeah, I don't have one. So the zipper took me forever because my sewing machine didn't like the fabric. But other than that, it came together really fast and was a fun project.

I added the ruffle to "Girl-ify" it.

Now, I need some advice. As I have said before, my sewing machine is older than I am. And in sewing machine years, she is a senior citizen. And not just a senior citizen, she has started acting like an old hag! The crazy bag lady that curses at small children... yup, that's my machine. So my husband and I are looking into getting me a new machine, but we are getting conflicting information. I have been hearing some great things about Brother machines. Do any of you have one? Or if you have had one and it didn't work well for you, what was your plan b? I'm not in a position for a Bernina (which would be my Cadillac of machines and I would love to have one, but it's not in the budget.) Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

My Little Pony Party

2011-04-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

So, as I mentioned before, my baby is now 4. She decided on a "My Little Pony" themed party, so I got to work. The decorations were all homemade and most with my wonderful Silhouette Machine. Here are the pictures.

First, let me just say that my husband is constantly giving me a hard time about the mess I make when I'm baking. He claims that I have a seizure of some kind and get flour, sugar, milk, eggs and everything everywhere. I don't know what he's talking about.

Moving on!

I tried my first tiered cake. For my first try, it turned out pretty good! I made some rookie mistakes but I know how to fix them now and the next one will be even easier.

Each kid got one of these boxes. They had chocolate covered pretzels, a couple of little candies and a package of My Little Pony fruit snacks.

I also made a bunting banner. I have wanted to make one for so long and I finally had an excuse. (The husband refused to move so I could take a decent picture of it. He said something like, "What? Am I not pretty enough to be on your blog?")

Here's a close up of it

Also, I made a ton of the tissue paper pom poms. Yeah, 25 to be exact. I got all my tissue from the Dollar Store, which made it cheap! I'm keeping them so I can hang some in Zoe's room later.

And here we are singing to Zoe. The reason I'm showing you this is because I wanted to show you what I was wearing. Cute right? Well, I forgot I was wearing my apron until the party was almost over. Guess that's what I get for not sleeping for 3 days prior to the party. Oh, and I cut all my hair off. It's wonderful!

Well there you have it. Happy Tuesday everyone!

My Baby Turned 4

2011-04-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

I have fully recovered from last weeks craziness. We had a very special day for my baby girl, who's not a baby anymore.

Yup. This one....

and this one....

this one too....

even this one....

can't forget this one....

Oh yeah, her....

this one as well.....

Sniff, this one too...

Sniff, sniff. And this one....

(Hold it together! No crying on the blog!)

For some reason this birthday was a little more emotional for me than her others. My beautiful blue eyed, curly headed baby girl is now 4. She is such a fun girl, such a good helper for me, so creative and imaginative, funny as all get out and quite the Fashionista. She has grown to be such a fun girl and anyone that meets her instantly loves her because of her sweet personality and funny hair and willingness to be everyone's friend.

We love you princess! We have since the moment we knew you were coming.

(Pictures of the party coming next.)

The Plague

2011-03-24T11:49:00.001-07:00

Well, we are alive... barely. My kids have been horribly sick for the last few weeks with "The Black Lung" as we call it. They both sounded like chain smokers as they coughed their guts out. Three trips to the doctor, two ear infections later and weeks of interrupted sleep and I think we will make it. When you have sick kids, you know that time to do anything other than wipe snot, be a short order cook, have super human hearing to tune out the constant crying and not putting on makeup for almost 2 weeks has made my crafting come to a complete stand still.

So I am posting something that I did about a month ago. I saw this project in a Family Fun magazine about a year ago and loved it! The link is here. It was so fun to make and turned out so cute!

There you go! Easy, cute and fun!

Now onto my daughter's birthday party that is next week. Stay tuned for all the fun eye candy that I have made for it and yet another cake!

Dinosaur Cake

2011-02-26T12:24:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, I know. Still no apron. Just haven't been able to drag the sewing machine out lately.

My mom kind of hired me out to a co-worker of hers to make her 2 year old daughter's birthday cake. Now the last cake I made I had TONS of help with! I really didn't do a whole lot for that cake, but my mother thought I needed to venture out and make a cake for someone else. I knew it would be good practice for the cake I would be making for my daughter's birthday in April, so I took the "job." I was so nervous but I did lots of research and had a design in mind for this cake and I also drew it out as to how I was going to put it all together.

Here is the finished product.

As you can see at the bottom of the frill there was a little bit of a "Rookie Mistake" in the wrinkles, but that was really the only spot that didn't look right.

The body and tail are made from a German Chocolate cake mix and the frill, head and legs are rice crispies. The last cake I made, I used store bought buttercream frosting, but this time I made the frosting and it was AMAZING!!!!! I just Googled "Buttercream Icing" and found this link. It was crazy easy to make and tasted so good!

The bow on the top is a real piece of ribbon as I didn't have any pink fondant. The whole cake is covered by the Duff Brand Fondant from Michaels. It tastes good and is easy to use.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

No Apron, But Maybe Some Art?

2011-02-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

I have all the pieces cut out for the little girl apron, just have no thread. As soon as I get some thread I will get crackin' on the tutorial!

I have mentioned before that I have been trying to finally decorate our master bedroom. We have lived in our house for almost 7 years, been married for almost 8 and we have never had a bedroom that was decorated! How crazy is that? As I have a baby sleeping on my bed right now, I can't take a picture of our super fun headboard that I made, but I can show you some wall art that I made last night with fabric that I cut out and Modge Podge.

My original plan was to do silhouettes of our faces, but realized that I would have to do some "nipping and tucking" for my double chin and that would just not look real to me. So I decided to make these. They were inspired by these pillows:

(Source: Freshly Picked)

I love these! Now, because my husband works in a place where they are not allowed to have beards, just a mustache, and no goatees, I decided that the mustache would work the best for his side. If I had done something that looked like him, there would be a blank canvas. He buzzes his hair and is usually clean shaven, so the mustache works the best. And of course for me I had to have a little hair pretty in there as I usually have something in my hair these days.

As soon as I get my bed made and my canvases hung, then I will post pictures of the room's progress.

Happy Friday!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

My Direction

2011-02-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

(WARNING: Long winded post, but it does get to the point, I promise.)

Lately, I have been a little blue. Ok, more than a little, I have been a big black hole of self pity. I guess that's the best way to put it. The reason I have been in the black hole is because I have lost sight of who I am. When we had our first baby, I was so devastated that I had to go back to work and not be able to snuggle and love on my baby girl and I vowed that before we had another one that I would be home to raise them both. Well, twenty months later, we had our second (yeah, I was a little nuts) and I was home. I was home to be the mom I always wished I could be, to be the mom that my kids were close to, had fond memories of and got to be one of the few that actually got to have their mommy stay home with them. It's such a hard economy right now, that the number of stay at home mom's is dwindling and is more of a luxury than a necessity now a days. My mother was a single mom up until I was about 6 or 7. I didn't get the stay at home mom thing because my mom had to provide for my sister and I. But I always knew that I wanted to be a mom and I wanted to be the best mom ever, which is such a silly thing to wish for because being the best is a matter of opinion more than an actual thing.

So, while in this black hole I had to do an emotional priority list in my heart of what was important and I realized something. I was not being the best I could be. Wanna know why? Because I was trying to be someone I'm not. Granted, I wish I could be one of those women who have a successful blog, have a great home business, wonderfully adorable children that are happy all the time, time to work on every project that came into my crazy head, a clean house, warm meals on the table, and me looking flawless at all times while wearing pearls. Doesn't that sound like heaven? It does to me too. But that's not my reality! The more I work on projects the more my home and family suffer. The more I work on my home and family, the more my projects sit and collect dust. But what is more important? Having an adorable craft done, but kids who have sat in front of the tv all day while I was absorbed into a project or teaching my daughter her shapes, having my house look clean, kids in clean clothes and a peaceful home. It's a no brainer for me, however, I do get distracted... all the time.

When in the business world you are rewarded for a job well done by a bonus, a pat on the back, recognition, anything! When you are a stay at home mom you are rarely rewarded for a job well done due to the fact that things you do well are changing diapers all day, having floors so clean you can eat off them (which your son usually does, that's why they are so clean, just in case), and having a happy home are not one of those things that gets praise often. I have felt at times that the only reason I started this blog was to get that pat on the back, which may be selfish of me, but I felt slightly stripped of my identity when I started staying home. Even writing that sentence makes me feel awful, but I guess if I'm being honest, then that's what I need to say. So I started making things for other people. I loved making things for others and seeing their faces when they saw it for the first time and I loved hearing others "Oooo and Ahhhh" over it. Yes, again, it was to stroke my own ego, but it felt good, so I kept doing it.

The other day, while making an apron for a friend, my daughter came up, in her sweet little voice, big blue eyes and white blonde curly hair and said, "Mom, is that for me?" My heart fell to my butt. I had been so wrapped up in making things for other people that I had forgotten about my own kids! I was heart broken! I had become someone that I never wanted to be and all to get a little compliment. What was wrong with me?! So I scooped my baby girl up, snuggled her and knew exactly who I was and what my job was. My kids. Point blank. I am here to stroke their egos, make them the best little people possible, help to form them to be who they are going to be for the rest of their lives! Do I want my kids being selfish and egotistical?! Uh, no! And kids learn through example, so what have I been teaching them?! It was a "LIGHTBULB!" moment! This weight that I had carried for so long was lifted almost instantly when I realized what I had become. Silly isn't it, that such a small thing can make such a HUGE impact on your life.

I have had many offers for taking my blog into a higher and bigger status and doing grand things with the talents that I have, but I have never taken those chances and now I know why. Because I'm not supposed to, not right now. Maybe some day this little blog will grow and become something great and wonderful and I will become rich and famous and take over Martha Stewart's empire, but for now, I am glad that my blog is small, I have a little over 100 followers, no sponsors and no business (at least not yet) because when would I have the time to handle all of that when my time with my kids while they are still small is so limited?

So, here it is. My new direction. Where this little blog will be headed for the time being. I am going to be doing much more kid crafts, things that I make for both of my kids, home decor (on the cheap) and a few self indulgent things as well, but mostly kid things. I am so excited and so are my kids, because they will be getting new things made just for them by me. And I have to say, it's much more rewarding to see their faces on something that I have made them than to see someone else's. Go figure.

Here's what I made this week for my daughter. A few weeks ago I found this shop, My Dear Kids Easy Wear on a Giveaway (which is now closed) from Craftiness Is Not Optional The likelihood of me winning was slim, so I just bought a few patterns. I bought the Warm Hoodie Vest to make for my daughter. She and I went to the fabric store and I let her pick out her own fabric. Luckily, I was able to shift her attention away from the ones she had picked out because she would be wearing a camo print with dinosaurs fleece vest if I hadn't. But bless her, she picked out a good combo and I made it. The pattern was very easy to read and the vest came together very nicely.

Plus, it helps that she is just so dang cute in it too. Check back next time for a possible child's apron tutorial!

I Won and Eye Candy

2011-01-25T12:39:00.000-08:00

One thing that I love about "Blogland" is that there are so many great people out there that you can make new friends, get inspired and inspire others. The other thing that I love are Giveaways! Michael from Inspired By Charm held a great Giveaway to celebrate having 300 followers! And I totally won!!! I am so excited and can't wait to drink my coffee from this adorable mug!

And the next thing is that I have been getting lost on Etsy a lot lately. It's so dang addictive! But last year when I went to the Farm Chick Show I passed up a red scale from this shop, the same place I got the little red stool from, and I have been kicking myself ever since!!!! I stumbled across this one and literally squealed and almost fell out of my chair.

This little beauty has been purchased and will be here soon! I'm so excited I'm about to piddle my pants.

Honest Chaos

2011-01-18T14:04:00.001-08:00

The other day my husband emailed me this article about how parents sometimes "sugar coat" how things really are at their house. At first I was a little offended that he would send me this, but then I was honest with myself and realized that I am in that category that is not completely honest about how things go around this house. But who really wants to know how bad things can get around here?

Well, here it is. Honest pictures of how my house usually looks. No, I'm not proud of it, but it happens. I strive daily to make it better, but I feel like the longer it takes me to clean something, the faster my kids destroy it! Gotta love those little mess makers.

Here is my kitchen. This is actually fairly clean compared to other days. Those pans in the sink, yeah, I hate hand washing dishes. Not sure why, I just do.

This is how my living room usually looks. Littered with toys, the pillows are actually on the couch here but they are usually all over the floor, and blankets all over. We make a lot of forts in our house.

This is the basket of laundry that I have had to refold at least 7 times because my kids get a hold of it and scatter it all over the house. This happens on a regular basis, I try and finish a chore, get sidetracked due to kids beating each other up and I have to go be the referee, leaving my chore vulnerable to destruction.

This is my daughter's room. No matter how many times I try and organize her room, it looks like this every day. But at least her toys are getting loved and played with.

And this room is my arch nemesis. It's my son's room. He has lots of books, which he feels look better on the floor and not in his book shelf his grandpa built him, and all of his toys on the floor and not in the toy box his grandpa made him as well. I have reached a point with his room that I have given up. No matter how many times I clean his room, he comes up behind me and destroys it instantly. And, unlike his sister, he will not clean up his messes. He's two and his favorite word is "NO!" Go figure.

Lately I haven't been able to do a lot of sewing, crafting, or creating of any kind due to not only dealing with my two kids, but having the baby that I watch during the day be strapped in the Moby Wrap all day makes any kind of project nearly impossible. So there you have it. My honest life. We eat out way more than we should due to me not wanting to make anything after being on my feet all day. And I only let my kids watch tv from the time they get up until after breakfast and only PBS (because we don't have cable and public television is educational and teaches them something new.) I'm not perfect, but I do my best. Guess that's what really matters. I love my kids, even though they can drive me up the wall at times, but I wouldn't trade my life for anything!

Design Intervention

2011-01-11T12:41:00.000-08:00

Alright ladies, I need your help to save my nerves and quite possibly my marriage. I'm kidding on the last one. The husband and I have very different ideas on what makes a room inviting and cozy. I have been feeling a little like we live in a cave with our living room. Don't get me wrong, I love the colors, but the walls are just so dark! I was the one that picked out the red and the chocolate brown but now I'm not loving it.

It's time for a change as I painted both walls over 4 years ago!

My husband wants to keep it dark as he loves the old lodge/tavern look. Dark wood, dark walls, warm lighting, a little color thrown in here and there. Like this:

And don't get me wrong, this look is warm and cozy and is nice...when you go out, not to live in.

This is my idea of a gorgeous room! Light, airy, a splash of color here and there. I would want a little more of a bright color splashing, but the idea is there. Now a white couch with my kids would be suicide, but we have nice suede beige colored furniture.

I am not opposed to dark wood or rich earth tones at all. But I need your help. What do you suggest we do?

Little Man Turned 2

2011-01-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

Have you ever looked at your kids, knowing they aren't babies anymore, but you can still see a little glimmer of their baby selves? Well, I have been searching for that with my kids lately and what makes it harder is that my baby boy Cooper turned 2 on Friday. I know he's getting bigger, but is it so wrong to want to shrink him down to be my baby again?

I mean, why does this...

Need to turn into this?

Well, in true Kelsee fashion, I wanted to do a big fun thing for the little man. And due to the fact that his birthday is so close after the holidays, I waited until the last minute to do everything... again, in true Kelsee fashion. So I enlisted the help of my dear friend Chelsea from Reese's Pieces and Me to come and teach me the art of cake decorating! Ok, it wasn't so much as enlisting her help, it was bribing her with an apron and begging a bit. So she was kind enough to come over and help me, and by help I mean she did the majority of the hard things and I looked on in awe of her mad skills.

She found a great picture someone did of a tire cake with a monster truck on it, which was my original theme for the party. However, after getting "Cars" the movie for Christmas, the Lightning McQueen obsession started and I quickly changed the theme. But the tire was the same. We used the Duff brand fondant frosting, which actually doesn't taste too bad. I made a pound cake using this recipe that my mother-in-law sent me and has been using for years. It turned out really nice!

Pound Cake

6 eggs
1 cup cold butter
8 oz cream cheese, cold and cut up in small pieces
2 3/4 c sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups sifted cake flour

Let eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes or until at room temperature. Generously butter and flour either 2 loaf pans or 1 bundt pan. Beat cold butter approximately 2 minutes on low speed, add cream cheese, beat on low 3 minutes (until waxy and well blended). While still mixing add sugar in slow continuous stream. Add salt. Continue creaming for 5 minutes (scrap sides of mixer bowl halfway through). Increase mixing speed to medium, continue 2 minutes more. Add eggs, one at a time, beating 20 to 30 seconds after each egg. Beat vanilla in with last egg. Gradually add 2 1/2 cups flour on low speed, mixing until just blended. Turn off mixer. Fold in rest of flour just until combined. Turn batter into prepared pans, shake and drop pan on counter to release air bubbles. Place on center rack of cold oven. Turn oven to 300 degrees. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 1/2 hours without opening oven door. Test for doneness. Transfer to cooling rack, cool for 10 minutes before removing.

*1 hour and 45 min for bunt pan

Here is the finished product of the tire cake!

I loved the "Cooper's Tires" on there. Our little Cooper couldn't read it, but it was fun to see it anyway.

The best part about the cake was the kids excitement when the black fondant turned their tongues black.

Another fun thing I did for each of the kids was we made cars for each of them out of diaper boxes. We covered them in packing paper, cut out the bottoms, spray painted the backs of paper plates black, glued white paper in the centers and then secured the plates to the boxes with paper brads.

I got a bunch of stickers, got out the crayons and let the kids decorate their own cars.

They had so much fun!

Thanks again to Chelsea for coming over to help me with the cake and your apron will be done this week.

And happy birthday to my little man. No matter how big you get, you will always be my baby.

A New Pretty For Me

2011-01-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law finds these fun projects to do and came over on Sunday, bearing snacks and a craft for us to do. She found this tutorial over at Little Miss Momma and we made them! Here is my creation made from an old Jersey knit tee.

The thing that I love about this is that I can wear a basic t-shirt with it and it looks like the shirt itself is embellished! It was fun to make and very easy!

Linking at:

Just A Couple of Things

2011-01-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

Once again, I did a completely homemade Christmas for my family, not my kids. We were able to actually give our kids a nice Christmas this year, however, I would have liked to have made them something but time wouldn't allow. But for everyone else, I made things. As I had taken my sweet and precious time making everything, I didn't get pictures of everything. But here are a few of what I did make.

I saw this bag over at Bushel and a Peck a long time ago and I absolutely loved it! My sister does not own a purse. Not a single one. I know, she's nuts! But she has been asking for a tote to take with her to church. I made this out of cream burlap that I had and I used an old skirt for the lining. I loved the way it turned out but I HATED making it!!!!! Burlap is the devil. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking it's easy to sew with. Um, no! But I finished it and washed it with copious amounts of fabric softener so it made it a lot less rough. I love it and told my sister that the second she's done with it, I want it back. For the amount of time I put into this, I am NOT going to let it get tossed!

Remember a few weeks ago when I said that I won a Silhouette machine? Well I got it!!!! I'm still trying to figure it out, but here are a few things that I made using it.

Exhibit #1: A vintage looking shirt for one of my nephews.

Exhibit #2: A shirt that sums up my other nephew.

Now I wish those shirts were my idea, but I totally copied Cheri's ideas over at I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar. Yup, total copy cat with these. But the were just so dang cute and easy to make I couldn't help myself.

These last two pictures were taken on my phone, so they aren't the greatest, but I did a little bit of crocheting this year as well. My mother-in-law asked for a shawl for Christmas, so I made her one.

And this hat was for my brother in-law. He said it is the most comfortable hat he owns, which made me happy. He has a weird shaped head, so I was nervous it wasn't going to fit.

Items I did not take pictures of: A Jewelry Hanger made out of an old shudder I had, and a clutch bag that I made out of a pair of corduroys and fabric I had on hand, and two newsboy hats for my nieces that looked like the one I made my daughter.

What did I spend in making all these gifts? Less than $50 for all of it! Most of my gifts were free, things that I already had or refashioned and the rest was pretty cheap to get the stuff for. I loved making things this year, just felt a little stressed out. Next year I am going to start WAY earlier, like in July, and have everything done before Thanksgiving. Then I can just enjoy the holiday!

Linking At:

New Year, New Directions

2011-01-01T11:36:00.001-08:00

I hope I am finding you all happy and healthy and on the mend from last night. I love New Years! It makes you excited about all the new experiences you will have for the next year and reflect on the good and bad of the previous.

It also helps you to reevaluate your priorities and make goals to better yourself. Well, my goals are this:

1. Lose weight. Yes this was last years goal too, but this year I have a plan and I have help. I have read this book called "I Can Make You Thin" by Paul McKenna (the Dr. Phil of the UK). It has totally changed my thought process on food and why I eat as much as I do and how to deal with it. There were times while reading this book that I thought he was some kind of a psychic and had looked into my brain somehow and was talking to me. If you have ever tried every kind of diet and failed at it, then given up hope that you will ever lose weight. This book is for you!

2. I want to be a better mom! I have found that this past year I made a lot of things for kids other than my own! What's up with that?! So this year, I am focusing on my own kids and making them things that hopefully they will remember and cherish. Plus, I am so busy watching this new baby that I haven't had much time to play with them due to not being able to put her down for any amount of time. So I am going to start doing that and working with my kids and teaching them. It's what I'm home for. I need to play with them and teach them, because these years go so fast and I don't want to miss out on anything!

(This is an old picture but it's one of my favorites!)

3. I want to get better at photography! I know I have posted about this before, but I am truly hungry to learn! I do need a better camera, this I know, so I need to save all my pennies.

(This is the one I want. A Cannon Rebel T1i.)

4. I am most definitely going to start up an online shop of the things that I make this year. I had hoped to have it up and running this month, but it's not going to happen. So hopefully, early spring-ish I will be up and running. I want to do craft fairs and be a vendor at our local farmers market. Being home all the time makes you long for an adult conversation, so this will be my chance to get out there and make some new friends and connections. I am very excited about it.

5. I want to post more on this wee little blog. This past year has opened my eyes to a community that is so kind and supportive. The blog world can be an amazing thing if you do it right. So I hope to post more, do more features, giveaways, and just have some amazing projects on here, because I have big plans for our house this year as we are going to be in this house for one more year, then we are selling it. So this is the going to be the year of updating and sprucing up.

So, let's hope for a better and more productive year this year!

What It's All About

2010-12-21T11:11:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling a little Bah-Humbug lately. Why? Well, I have been so busy lately that I haven't gotten to enjoy this wonderful season and my Christmas spirit is in short supply. How have I fixed it? With a bit of blaring music, cookies and a reminder of what Christmas looks like through the eyes of a child.

What music have I been listening to? Well, for some reason Josh Groban and his buttery smooth voice and luscious locks has gotten me in the mood... the Christmas mood! Dirty minds. But I am a sucker for bagpipes. My mother, who works at our community college, gets very upset every summer due to the bagpipe convention that is held on campus. They practice the same three songs over and over and over for a week solid. She has called me before saying, "If you hear of a mad woman running bagpipers down with her car, could you be my alibi?" So when I hear this song, blasting at full volume in my car, I smile just a little bigger knowing this song would drive my mom nuts. But when Josh (because I'm his best friend, so I can call him by his first name...right) and the other male voice reach a crescendo and the bagpipes and drums come in, I turn my volume up even higher and I just sit with chills all over my arms and sometimes a few tears.

The men folk went on a man date to see "Tron", a movie none of the women in our family cared to see, so the girls (my mother and sister-in-law) and I had a fun evening of baking, decorating and eating. Nothing gets you in the mood like finding green frosting all over your house for days.

Here I am being the sprinkle manager.

Very focused in her work.

Insert cheesy grin from the Bubba Boy.

And sneak a few cookies while no one is looking.

But the part that has saved me from a spiritless Christmas was this. I wrote down everything that my little girl wanted me to write for her letter to Santa. I have read it at least 942 times already and it makes me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

It says:

"Dear Santa,

I like you very much. I want a toy. I have been good for goodness sake. I would like Cutie Pies, a doll, a horse and Maximus! Why did you swipe the Cutie Pies away from Costco? My mommy and I will have cookies for you and carrots for your reindeer.

Thank You!

Zoe"

Now, what is a Cutie Pie? They are the Littlest Pet Shop bobble heads, they had a big package of them at Costco. When we went yesterday they were out of the "Cutie Pies" and I thought my daughter was going to have an heart attack. So we told her that Santa shops at Costco, which makes him a genius, and he probably swiped them away, hence the reference in her letter.

I just love this time of year and I'm so thankful to have my children that remind me what it's all about. I am a happy mommy and the luckiest girl in the world to have them be mine.

Happy Holidays everyone! May your Christmas Spirit be as full as mine.

Makes Me Giggle Monday

2010-12-13T12:30:00.000-08:00

Hanging On For Dear Life

2010-12-13T12:15:00.000-08:00

Hi ladies. Yes, I have been absent. Yes, I had big plans for posting all kinds of fun projects on here this month. No, I have not been slacking in any way at home. What have I been doing? Well, I'm trying to stay sane at the moment. I have started watching my friends baby girl during the day, she's 7 weeks, has colic and screams any time I put her down. My kids are doing so great and I'm so thankful to have such resilient kids that can entertain themselves and are at the more independent stages. And to top it all off, I have been getting wonderful, joyful, fantastic migraines. Yes, that was sarcasm. Not sure where they are coming from, but when they hit I make my house like a cave and we all are not happy. I haven't had one in a week, but it feels like I'm on the verge of one all day long. So I have just been trying to take it a day at a time and working on my Christmas gift list, which is still very long. Finding time to take a shower is difficult, let alone posting on here, so that's why I have been away.

I will hopefully be back to normal soon and I will post all my fun gifts I've been making as they are all turning out better than I had planned! So until that day, I want to wish you all a Happy Holiday and appreciate every one of you that reads my little posts.

Giveaway Winner!!!!!

2010-12-02T12:28:00.000-08:00

Drum Roll please!!!!

It's #7 Alisha Saldivar who said: "I love it all...the tutu bag, the aprons. How talented and creative! Thanks for sharing. Great gift ideas."

Alisha send me an email with the pattern of your choice and we will get it to you!

Thanks everyone that entered!

Semi-Homemade Christmas Feature: Soapopotamus

2010-11-30T15:02:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I love me a quirky gift. Something that is practical, but has lots of personality to it. That's why I love my next feature.

I give you Soapopotamus!

Just the name itself is fun! When I found this shop it made me Ooooo and Ahhhhh! But it also made me giggle too, which is my kind of place!

You have the GORGEOUS!

The Practical!

And the...Quirky.

There is everything you could need in here! All of her soaps are made of natural item and Goats Milk, which is magical, as she says.

This one is probably my favorite thing, just because I love me a good cupcake.

What about this fun one? Smells like Black Pepper!

So much fun! So go check out Regina's shop! You will Ooo and Ahhh and giggle too!

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Don't forget that today is the last day to enter for a free pattern of you choice! Go Enter HERE!

Semi-Homemade Christmas Feature: Cinnamon Creek Country Candles

2010-11-30T00:44:00.000-08:00

Yet another installment for you all!

Cinnamon Creek Country Candles

I love me some sweet treats... obvious from my wardrobe that is just not fitting. I also love me some great candles. But what if you made a candle look good enough to eat and smell great too? Can we say HEAVEN?! Well, that's what they strive for over at Cinnamon Creek Country Candles! I mean, look at these?!

These beauties are $6.95 for 13! WHAT?! And you may have to put a sign around them to let people know that they are candles, not food. Don't they look good enough to eat?!

Now if you are afraid of people trying to eat your candles, you can get more traditional looking ones, but they still smell amazing!

I just cannot get enough of these candles! And the names sound just about as delicious as can be too, like Peppermint Bark, Pumpkin Souffle, Sweet Potato Pie! WOW!!!! Wouldn't these be so fun as stocking stuffers?!

The cool thing about this company is is that it doesn't stop with just candles, they have another shop with body stuff!!! Head on over to La Dolce Vita Bath & Body Luxuries and find the same yummy things! Love it! You can find Cinnamon Creek Country Candles on Facebook and find out more about the sales and deals they have!

**Update: When placing your order, give the code "TAKE15" and you will get 15% off your order! WOW!

No Big Deal

2010-11-30T00:37:00.000-08:00

So, all last week there were tons of Silhouette Machine giveaways. I entered as many as I could find, not that I ever thought I would win, but maybe the Giveaway Gods would smile down on me just this once. Well...... I WON!!!! Over at The Idea Room! The funny thing is that I had no clue I had won. I received a comment from one of Amy's readers congratulating me, and I received an email from Amy, but I thought it was Spam, so I deleted it! WHAT?!!!! So thanks to Kelly Tillotson over at Homemaking Haven I contacted Amy and I get my machine soon!!! WHOA!!!! I am so stinkin' excited I can hardly handle it! And I just have to say that I never ever, I mean never win ANYTHING, so this was a shock to me! Love it!!! Thank you Amy!!!! Thank you Silhouette for this great giveaway!!!!

Semi-Homemade Christmas Feature: Airport Love Story

2010-11-29T14:19:00.000-08:00

Hello Ladies!!! Today's feature is AWESOME!!! It truly has a little bit of everything for everyone!

Airport Love Story

Anna, owner and creator, has the best style! I simply love her cards. Last year I made some cards for my sister-in-law for Christmas and she loved them. Do you have someone that is a habitual card sender? Why not give them GORGEOUS cards to send?

Like this gorgeous set! These are $6.00 for a set of 18! Um, holy cow! That's a deal!!!

And these and these! YUMMY!!!!

And her talents are not limited to just note cards! She also has adorable vintage inspired jewelry!

Here is a little bit about Anna and her inspirations and how she got started!

I've always been creative. Both of my parents are musical, and my crafty mom stayed home with us when we were little, and gave us lots of fun things to do and make. My sister Lindsay (ebonflow.etsy.com) taught me how to put a bead on a headpin and loop the top, and ever since then I've been making jewelry non-stop.

I find inspiration in all sorts of places. I'm especially inspired by nature, like birds, plants, ocean life, and the sky ... and by all things vintage, like ephemera, old jewelry, early 1900s fashion, maps, and toys.

In preparation for the holidays, I've opened a new shop, and reopened an old one. So, while you can still find pretty jewelry and romantic mini-notecards atairportlovestory.etsy.com, you can also find cute button studs, rings, magnets, and pushpins at schoolgirlcrush.etsy.com, and beads and other supplies atbeadsinflight.etsy.com. Yes, it's a little crazy to have three functioning shops, but it's so worth it. I hope to do my 'arts & crafts' full time one day, so three shops makes for a good challenge along the way. :)

Anna's shops are up and ready! But be sure to have your order in before December 10th, or you won't have them in time for the holidays!

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Don't forget to enter for the Giveaway here!

Semi-Homemade Christmas Feature: Foster Kade Designs

2010-11-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, I know I did. My stretchy pants came in handy. And due to the holiday week/weekend, I have fallen WAY behind on my features! So be prepared for a few posts a day for the next few days. Now onto the feature!

I would like to introduce you to the sweetest shop ever.

Foster Kade Designs

My sister-in-law introduced this shop to me, with the Emery Lin bag. I then started to read more about Angie, creator of Foster Kade Designs, and was incredibly touched by her story and how she got started and what her motivation was to make her creations. Here is her story:

I started making little items to sell etsy about 2 years ago after my 2nd son was born. it was a fun little side hobby and gave me a creative outlet. i would jump up and down every time i sold an item (which was once every other month :). our hearts have always stirred toward adoption and after carrying and giving birth to 2 amazing little boys, we longed to expand our family. we started pursuing Chinese adoption in 2009, and i would sit in my little itty bitty craft room and dream of making something to give to my daughter. it seemed so far away and we were no where close to having enough funds to proceed any further in the process.

so i made a little bag to carry and think of her. i took photos and listed on etsy and called it my Emery Lin bag, in honor of my future daughter. a week later, that bag was featured on a blog (read it here: http://dooce.com/daily-style/2009/10/22/small-clutch-and-wristlet) and i sold 80 in one weekend!! i was totally blown away (and also pretty stressed out :) to have so many people purchase my sweet little bag, and to see God provide for us in such a cool way. after that surge, my little business kept going and i've been able to fund a significant part of our adoption in a way i would have never dreamed. i've made over 450 of my Emery Lin bags, and each one makes me stop for just a moment and marvel at the person who will soon be carrying it...and knowing they are playing a role in bringing our daughter home. it's so humbling and awesome at the same time!! someday i'll get to show her all of the orders...the love, the time, the amazing community of people all over the world who helped bring her home. i can't wait :)

oh, and a few weeks ago, my items were featured on Under the Sycamore...if you don't read her blog yet, you should start today...so inspiring!!!http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2010/09/17/let-me-tell-you-a-little-story/

read more about our family here: www.angiedweldon.com
keep up to date with our adoption here: http://www.angiedweldon.com/p/our-adoption.html

Isn't she just amazing?!

Here are a few more of her creations!

I just love the Emery Lin bag and knowing that it is aiding a sweet little girl to get a loving home makes it even more special. See, I have a very soft spot in my heart for adoption. My grandparents adopted a Native American boy when he was just a few weeks old. I have grown up loving my Uncle Shane and so grateful that my grandparents added him to their family as I cannot imagine my childhood without him.

(This is my Uncle Shane and my mom being silly at our Sunday dinners)

Angie is offering as her holiday special FREE SHIPPING on all bags purchased by December 1st! And if you are wanting to get one of her fabulous items as a gift for Christmas, you must order before December 5th!

*******************************************************************************

And don't forget to enter the Giveaway from Sugar Pie Chic Here

Welcome To a Semi-Homemade Christmas (And a Giveaway!)

2010-11-22T13:59:00.000-08:00

***Giveaway Closed***

Hello ladies! One day as I was gathering up ideas for my mother-in-law to get me for Christmas (her request, not mine!) and I got lost in the Etsy world! It's incredibly easy to do. There are so many talented people out there and have found their creative outlets that allow them to strut their stuff and show how awesome they are while making a little extra on the side. I just love Etsy items and I have purchased mostly patterns for myself and I have loved them! Then I thought to myself, "Self, if you are doing the happy wiggle dance about all this stuff, would others as well?" YES!!!! Some of us don't have time to make all of our Christmas gifts or the knowledge to make some of these amazing things. However, that doesn't mean you can't give homemade things for Christmas, just not made by you! So I contacted some of my favorite shops to see if I could feature them and got a great response. So was born "Semi-Homemade Christmas Series!" I am happy to say that we are all in for a treat!

My first feature is from Sugar Pie Chic Leslie, the owner lives in Austin, TX and sells the most adorable, retro and sassy aprons!

I have been eying these for some time now and I have put theUrban Chic Apron Pattern on my wish list. And how fun to either give this pattern as a gift (which would be fun), then you could get the fabric for them and put the pattern in a basket and voila! Easy Gift!

This one is also one of my favorites! The Urban Chic Halter Apron is available for $33.00 and is ADORABLE!

Not only does she have aprons and patterns, she also has Embroidered Hand Towels that are just amazing! She also has this adorable Tutu Tote Bag as a tutorial! Can you just imagine making this for a little girl going to ballet class for her clothes?! Love it!

One of the things I asked all of my features to do is give me a little bit of a bio, as I love finding out about people and how they got started. I also wanted to use it for my own inspiration to get started on my own shop. So if you are in the same boat I am, wanting to start your own business but are a little afraid to, here is a little bit about how Leslie got started:

Hi, my name is Leslie Rutland and I make aprons. I am a native Texan and live in the sunny city of Austin, TX. My husband (of 33 years) and I have two grown daughters and two grandsons. As a young girl, I was always around talented women who loved sewing. My mother is an accomplished seamstress as were both of my grandmothers. I began sewing and designing when I realized that my Barbie needed something new to wear! With fabric scraps from my mother’s stash and some blunt-tip scissors, a lifelong passion began.

Sugar Pie Chic originally began as a collaboration between me and one of my daughters. We were inspired by some of the beautiful fabrics available from designers and wanted to do something creative with fabric. About that same time, I discovered Etsy which was a perfect way to display and even sell handmade items. At first, my daughter helped me choose fabrics and create purse and apron designs. She would put fabrics together with purse or apron designs and I would sew them. After a few months of this, I was more inspired by aprons, so I began focusing on making aprons that were individual and unique. I also had some vintage apron patterns that belonged to my mother. I was able to rework some of these patterns to make aprons that were both sassy and chic. I wanted each apron to evoke something from the past while remaining both simple and practical for today’s woman.

My purpose for apron-making came about after I began dwelling on the idea that women throughout history have always worn aprons of one kind or another. This universal connection with women inspired me to want to do something that would continue this chain. The more I thought about this, the more I wanted to create something for today’s woman. I wanted to give her an apron that would be unique and personal. I didn’t want to stop there, though; I also wanted to make a quality apron that would be something treasured by her children and grandchildren. Perhaps one of my aprons would be passed down with beautiful memories of the woman who wore it.

My 2011 plans include the addition of several more patterns that will be available as ePatterns in pdf format. In January, begin looking for children's items in this format. That is going to be my next focus. Oh, and I am working on the outline for a children's book.

Now one great thing that Leslie is offering is a GIVEAWAY!!!! One lucky reader will win ONE PATTERN of your choice!

How do you enter? Just leave a comment! One entry per person! I am making this Giveaway simple for everyone, just leave a comment and that's all you have to do! We will pick the winner next Tuesday, November 29th.

Makes Me Giggle Monday

2010-11-22T11:07:00.000-08:00

As I stay home now, Monday's don't hold the same amount of dread as it used to. I used to be the one that would almost cry every time the alarm went off on Monday mornings. Not that I hated my job, just because I dreaded what I had waiting for me in my email and voicemail from over the weekend. I was the head of a department and every day I would deal with hundreds of emails and have no less than 10 voicemails waiting for me with problems. I was also handling about four peoples' jobs right before I left. No wonder I went into pre-term labor and was forced on bed rest for two months. I was so stressed out! But one thing that I loved was a friend at work would send me a Monday joke and I would get a little crabby if he didn't! So in honor of my dear friend Adam, I am starting my new little fun thing called "Makes Me Giggle Monday." Just a little pick me up for the day!

I don't know about you, but I LOVE the E-Trade Baby commercials! I cannot get enough of them! This one made me giggle the other day, I hadn't seen it before and my husband showed it to me. I made him play it about four times in a row. So I hope you enjoy!

Happy Monday!

And check back later today when I start my Semi-Homemade Christmas Series! There will be lots of fun things and loads of eye candy!

Let the Marathon Begin!

2010-11-19T16:04:00.000-08:00

What will I be doing tonight and tomorrow? Besides getting all my wonderful features ready for my super cool, awesome, wonderful, blow your mind series I'm doing?

I will be watching all the Harry Potter movies, 1-6, so I will be cinematically prepared for seeing "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" tomorrow evening!!!!! If I had time I would be making myself a cape and Hogwarts scarf, but alas I do not. That is not going to stop me from being so excited that it's like Christmas is coming tomorrow!

Still On The Hunt

2010-11-18T15:43:00.000-08:00

Hey ladies! I am working so hard this week trying to get as many businesses as I can to be featured on a little series I'm going to start next week. If you, or someone you know, or even one that you found that had really cute homemade things, please let me know and I would love to feature it! Don't be shy! The more shops I have to feature, the more you guys get to see some sweet eye candy and maybe find that perfect item for a loved one!

I have some great people lined up and I am so excited about it!!!! So please let me know!!!

Either leave a comment or shoot me an email! Can't wait to start!

Newboy Hat Love

2010-11-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

I feel as if I start all my posts off by apologizing for my lack of posting, but I figure you all understand that when one has little kids, finding a moment to go to the bathroom in peace is difficult, let alone posting several times a week. Don't get me wrong, I have been busy getting things done around here. I have some exciting posts coming up!

We are in full Christmas gift making mode here at my house... and when I say we, I mean me. I get to have a 6 week old baby come stay at my house in December during the day while her mom and dad are at work, so I want to have as many things done before then as my time will be limited as soon as she gets here. My list is made for all the gifts I am making. I am doing a completely homemade Christmas again this year! Oh how I love doing that.... until the week before Christmas when I am staying up into the wee hours of the night rushing to get things done. This year is going to be much different! I have to make a list of all the things I am making and stick to it, otherwise I get too excited about things I see and want to add new things to my list and then forget what I was going to do in the first place! However, this year I am keeping myself as organized as I can and making one gift per person.

As it gets cold here in the Northwest, my daughter needed a new hat. I have been wanting to make her a hat for some time now, I just didn't know what kind. I have been loving the newsboy hats lately and wanted to make some for myself (which I did, but that's another post). So I went through my scraps and made this little beauty for her. And now because it turned out so well, I am making some for my nieces!

I used some old cream fleece that I had and lined the inside with the same fabric as the flower.

I tried to do a tutorial, but I can't seem to get the right verbiage. So here are a few links that helped me figure out how to make this.

eHow.com

Cut Out and Keep

Now here is a slight confession: I have been toying with the idea of selling some of the things that I make. It seems like it's the new popular thing to do, which has held me back as I don't want to do what everyone else is doing. However, I do love seeing my creations on others and in other people's homes. It makes me so happy. So, I'm still in the planning stage of deciding to sell things, but I wanted to give you a heads up if I seem a little stressed.

As Christmas is coming close, I am going to do a little "Christmas Gift Idea" series made up of inexpensive Etsy gifts that would be great for all ages! So if you have a shop or know of some great shops and would like it to be featured on here, shoot me an email with the link to the shop at kelseeandzoe@gmail.com! Also, if you want to do a giveaway as well, I would be more than happy to post it on here too! I love helping out small businesses! My mother-in-law asked for a list of ideas for gifts for me and most of them were Etsy shops! So please let me know!

Triumphant Return

2010-11-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hello ladies! I just have to say, wow! I have had a crazy few weeks! I had my 26th birthday last week, and it was EPIC! No car, but I got to sleep in, breakfast in bed, Season 1 of Glee on Blue-Ray, lunch with my mom, shopping by myself, a clean house when I got home, and my favorite dinner. It was so awesome! I am totally making my husband take my birthday off every year from now on!

Ok, so what have I been working on during my little break? Costumes. As money was tight this year (like always) I decided that I wanted to make both of the kids costumes for as cheap as I possibly could. I made both costumes for less that $15! Oh yeah! I ventured into new territory in the paper mache department (which will be another post.) I had so much fun making the costumes this year. I tried not to stay up into the wee hours of the morning making these, but alas, tradition prevails and I have officially become my mother.

Here is the costume that was all the rage. No matter where we went my daughter was fawned over! It was a big boost to my ego, I won't lie. Hee hee. And it also makes you feel better when you don't have to explain what the costume is, that people know right off the bat what it is. My son's costume not so much. I will post that later.

Now I will post a tutorial if you want me to. I took some pictures, but I was in a rush as I had only 4 days to make both costumes to have them ready for my father-in-law's company Halloween party that was on Friday. However I did label the picture so you can see what all I did. It was so fun, lots of hot glue, and little swearing, which is a big plus.

Hope you all had a good Halloween! Ours was fun, busy and ended like all Halloweens do, with the kids crashed in bed and mom and dad pilfering the candy.

Linking at *The Thrifty Home Penny Pinching Party*

Dear Husband...

2010-10-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

Dear Husband,

As my birthday is on Wednesday, I would like to give a few last minute ideas for gifts for me... stocking stuffers really. Just a few little things that would make me tremendously happy.

1. A beautiful mug for my coffee/tea in the morning. I feel that it tastes better when you have a pretty cup to enjoy it in!

2. An adorable apron that I didn't have to make! Even though this one from Anthropologie would be incredibly easy to copy and make.

3. A pair of adorable heals. I feel it's time for me to have something cute to wear on our seldom dates that we go on. These are from Amazon.com

4. A fabulous winter coat! I may be stopped by a modelling agent at any time, so I need to look good no matter where I go. (Yeah right! I just really need a new coat!) This one is from Old Navy

5. Last but not least, a 2011 Ford Edge. We have been a one car family for 3-5 years (due to your truck becoming fossilized in our driveway for the last 3 years), and I have been a good sport about it for a very long time. We have been talking about getting this car for some time now and frankly, if you got this for me for my birthday, you would be exempt from gifts for at least a year! And yes, I would like a red one!

There is my list of a few extra things, on top of the fabulous things you have already gotten me, I'm sure.

Love,

Your Darling, Sweet, Loving, Wonderful Wife

Photography Attempts

2010-10-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Our family takes a trip to the most wonderful place in the world every fall. Green Bluff in Spokane, WA There are apple orchards, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hay rides, fresh baked goods (including Pumpkin Doughnuts, hot out of the oil! So good!), pumpkin cannons that shoot pumpkins hundreds of feet in the air... you name it, they have it and it's AWESOME! It is my favorite thing to do every fall and it is also an amazing place to take wonderful family pictures.

This was our first year as a family going. I didn't get very many good pictures, but I tried.

This was the second year, me 6 months pregnant (a month later I was put on bed rest) and again I didn't get very many good pictures of us, mostly because I was trying to focus on breathing than taking pictures.

But this year, I really tried hard to get good pictures of my kids. I was on a mission and I think the kids were so sick of me by the end of the day. I have been reading a lot of blogs with advice on good picture taking and I tried really hard to capture the best moments.

It's not too bad for a point and shoot camera. I use Picasa to edit my pictures and clean them up. However, I need some more advice! Do any of you know of any great photography blogs that has great advice on better picture taking?

An Award!

2010-10-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

What a crazy weekend! I am alive... kind of. But when I came back to life I saw that Beth over at Sand to Pearl gave me an award! WOO HOO!!!! We all need a little compliment from time to time to make us feel good and this made my day! Thank you Beth!

1. Post who it was that gave you the award.
2. List 10 things that you like.
3. Give this award to 10 other blogs and let them know with a comment.

1. My family is my life. I can have the worst day in the world and all I need is a smile or a little hug from one of my kids and my heart is so full.

2. Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks! I could literally bathe in this stuff. Ok, not literally, but I would use it in everything, tea, coffee, ice cream. Oh yeah! (And no I am not getting paid to say this by the good people at Starbucks, but if they ever see this and give me a gift card or a lifetime supply of the Pumpkin Spice, I would be able to die a happy girl!)

3. A Pair of sexy heals. I do not own a single pair of them, but I love to look at them and dream. I don't think I am coordinated enough to wear these, but aren't they GORGEOUS?!

4. Musicals! I am a huge fan of the arts and when my kids get to be a little older I would love to start doing some community theater! I was banned from bringing in music at my old job because all I had were show tunes and Disney music! Party Poopers!

5. Vintage inspired clothes. In the 1940's-1950's women's curves were sought after and celebrated! With shows like "Mad Men" I love how they are showing off curves and making a come back into fashion! For a woman who is... shapes, I love seeing things like this that really say, "Yes, I have curves. No, they aren't going anywhere. And, yes, I am beautiful."

6. The "New Baby Smell." You know what I'm talking about. If only we could bottle that scent to carry around with us, I am pretty sure those of us with "Baby Fever" would be able to make it for a little while longer.

(This is my son about a month old. Why do they have to get big?)

7. Old Farm Houses. When we decide to sell this house we are in (which was move in ready when we bought it six years ago) I would like to find something simple, older, has tons of character and has some history to it. I would love something out in the country, but let's be honest, there are no TJ Maxx's out in the country, so it might not work out so great.

7. The "Twilight Series." Now, before you think I'm one of "those" people, not that there is anything wrong with them, I enjoyed the books and the movies. I wanted to read them over the summer to see what all the hype was about and I enjoyed them, they were an easy read, not a fantastic read, but good. As for the last book, I enjoyed it, but my husband kept saying I had a funny, confused look on my face the whole time. I knew that I was reading a book about vampires and werewolves, but that last book was a smidge far fetched for me. If you've read it, you know what I mean.

(If you're still reading this, let me say that this is way harder than it looks!)

8. Aprons! I love aprons and I love making them! They're the best gifts and are just so fun!

9. Farm House Tables. I have been looking for tons of inspiration for a farm table because I want to transform my current table into something like it. I want something like this! I also love the look of all different chairs around the table, makes it feel like everyone and anything is welcome at your table.

10. Tattoos. GASP!!!! What?! Let me explain. I was raised Mormon, so getting a tattoo is considered destroying God's Temple. I don't think I would ever get one, just because I would be afraid that it would look bad and be there forever. And I also don't think I would be able to pull it off. But I am still fascinated with the art and meanings of some of the individuals' choices. Two of my brothers want to get one as a tribute to our brother that died 7 years ago and I think that is a special thing they can do as brothers' to remember our brother. But to each his own right?

(This is Kat Von D from "L.A. Ink" and I just think she is gorgeous!)

Now I am going to give this award to 10 bloggers that I am inspired by. The problem I have with this part is narrowing my choices down to only 10 as there are so many talented women out there that are so incredible and inspire me every day! So here goes.

1. Kimbo at A Girl and a Glue Gun Not only is she incredibly talented, she is insanely funny!

2. I'm More Than Just a Mom I think her name is Allie, and she is just the cutest thing ever! She's so talented and her blog name totally sums up what all of us want to believe.

3. Becki at Whippy Cake This girl is ADORABLE! She helped me with her hair tutorials to get past the horrible length that I'm at now by doing new things. She also did the most amazing thing for her 26th birthday, doing Random Acts of Kindness. You have to read it, inspired me to make my 26th a little more special this year.

4. Twig Decor I love her pictures and her "Things Bloggers Do" series cracks me up! So funny!

5. Jess at Craftiness is Not Optional If I was a little girl, I would want to be adopted by her! She makes the cutest little girl clothes... and the cutest little girls for that matter!

6. The ladies over at Lemon Tree Creations Amazing. Awesome. Coolest ideas ever! Enough said!

7. Gertie at Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing Ok this is a woman that I want to be friends with... ok, maybe just so I could raid her closet. I'm kidding. She makes vintage clothing look so amazing and she's gorgeous to boot!

8. Sachiko at Tea Rose Home This woman was the one that opened my eyes to the world of ruffles! And now, I can't stop!

9. Jeanne at A Bushel and a Peck The way this woman writes makes you feel like you are her long time friend. Her trip to France over the summer looked so amazing and all of her pictures and fun stories, just can't get enough of it!

10. Last but definitely not least, Cheri at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar This woman has helped me remember to craft for my son! The blog world is FULL of cute girl things, but it's hard to find cute boy things. This woman rocks my world! I totally want a shirt for myself that says, "I Fight Bad Guys!:"

Wedding Season

2010-10-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

For most people, wedding season is in the summer. Well, apparently this year it's in the fall for me! I have two friends getting married within a week of each other that I am involved in their weddings!

Well, wedding #1 is this Saturday. She's a good friend from high school and we've been through a lot together. She also owns her own bridal shop, so all of us have killer dresses! Mine is a simple A-line black, sleeveless dress (don't worry, my linebacker arms are going to be hidden by a black lace shrug.) Her colors are black and white, which some might think that's a bit boring, but I think it will be incredibly elegant. As my dress is incredibly simple I wanted to make something to spice it up a bit and accentuate my "used to be there" waist. Here's what I came up with.

Supplies:

*1/2 yard of Shiny Tule and Satin

*Needle and Thread

*Candle

* Embellishments for the center of your flower (I used a sparkly button for the big flower and pearl beads for the rest.)

*3" Wide Satin Ribbon

*Sew On Snaps

*Glue Gun

Step 1: Create a stencil for your flowers. I free handed my flowers on a piece of paper and then cut out my flowers from that. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, Google "Flower Patterns." Cut out a set of each flower, in descending sizes, in both the Tule and the Satin.

Step 2: Take each flower and melt the edges of your petals. Keep the Satin pieces a few inches above the flame. For the Tule you need to keep it about 6" above the flame, any closer will make your Tule ball up into a bad mess. You will need two Tule and two Satin pieces in each size. If you want a big flower, two of all your sizes. For smaller, just start with the size of flower you want and go down in size.
Step 3: Decide on your shape and pattern you want. I found laying them out helped me decide on what I wanted in the middles. I have the jewels in the center of the middle sized flowers here, but I decided to do a cluster of three pearl beads after looking at it.
Step 4: Stitch your flowers together. You can pin them so they stay put in the pattern you want. Then you will do a wide stitch in the center of your flower, going around in a circle.
Step 5: Pull your thread tight, it brings your flowers in to create more dimension and helps to curl the flowers in, like a real flower. Tie your thread off on the back side of your flowers.
Step 6: Now to work on your ribbon belt. Measure your ribbon around your waist and cut it off. Melt the edges of your ribbon with your candle.
Step 7: Hand stitch your snaps onto each side of your ribbon. Fold your ribbon over a bit, to give the snaps more stability. **Note: Make sure you have one set of snaps on the bottom side of one side of your ribbon and one set on the top of the other side. This will save you from having to redo your stitches... like I did. It should look like this. Glue the extra ribbon that was folded down. It gives it more stability again and you won't have to fight with it when you have your sash on.
Step 8: Snap your ribbon together and take your center flower to decide the best way to hide the snaps and the seams.

Should look like this. Glue your flower onto the ribbon. You can hand stitch it, but I went for the easy way and just glued it on.

Step 9: Glue/stitch the rest of your flowers onto your ribbon. Looks seamless and more polished. And you're done!

Here's another view of it! I will post a picture of it on my black dress... as soon as the alterations are done with it.

Enjoy!

Close Call for the Car Seat Cover

2010-09-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before about finishing a project but I just didn't even want to look at it. This car seat cover was so incredibly hard for me! Not sure what made this one so much more difficult, but it was. I wanted to light it on fire a few times, and I actually did once, but not on purpose. :)

I guess you could call this a refashion as the pink patterned fabric was a table cloth. It was so far from being my taste that I just couldn't be excited about making it. Maybe that's selfish, but the pattern hurt my brain, literally. But my friend loved it and almost cried when she saw it. I enclosed a little note saying, "I hope you like it, but just so you know, you better only have girls, because I don't ever want to do this again!" Lol I went through 8 needles on this project. Two of those needles happened on the canopy alone and within a 10 minute time frame. I pounded my fist on the table, which in turn woke my kids up.

Now as for the lighting it on fire, it was mostly because I was so frustrated with my work! However, the actual fire happened on this part. The blue band in the center is some satin ribbon I had on hand. When I made the strap holes I had to cut a little slit and to ensure that it wouldn't fray I took a match to the edges. Yeah, it caught on fire, but I was very fast with my ninja skills and blew it out. I guess it's special in the fact that it's one of the only car seats that was lit on fire.

The canopy was the fastest part on the project, but it still took a few hours to finish. All of these pictures were taken at 2:00am, hence the horrible quality. I told my husband that I was not going to go to bed without finishing this thing first. I did a little victory dance and posted on Facebook that if anyone wanted me to do a car seat cover in the near future, the answer was a big HECK NO!!!!

Now onto working on some fun refashion projects! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Who Am I?

2010-09-23T11:49:00.001-07:00

Well, I have been so dang thrilled with the response my little blog has gotten since being featured on One Pretty Thing! And I will be on there a few more times this week! A few projects were on there yesterday and will be today and tomorrow. Since being featured a little over a week ago I have had over 5,000 hits on my blog and gotten almost 20 new followers! WELCOME!!! And thank you for thinking my blog is worth looking at!

As I have received so many new followers, I wanted to introduce myself! I always like finding out about a person who writes all the great blogs I follow (which is way more than I care to admit.) It makes them seem real and their "voice" seems more genuine, at least that's how I feel. So here goes!

My name is Kelsee. My mother was a HUGE "Cheers" fan when I was born, so yes, I was named after Kelsey Grammer, which isn't so bad. Had I been a boy my name would have been Nigel, which would have doomed me to be a butler or chauffeur! I was born in Kalispell, MT and moved to Hayden Lake, ID when I was 10. I have an "American Family" with 5 other siblings, but only one of which is a real sibling, my sister. I have one real sister, 2 step brothers and 2 half brothers. I am right in the middle. Life was not always a very happy one when I was young, but I feel that when you are in a dysfunctional family you have two choices: You can let it rule your life and be as dysfunctional as you have been taught your whole life, or you can learn how you don't want to be and be a better person for it. I chose the latter.

I have two amazing kids. Granted, they make me incredibly crazy at times, but for the most part we laugh and play all day long and I feel like they teach me more than I teach them. I got married when I was 18, just two months after graduating high school. Yes, I was that person! And no, I wasn't pregnant! Lol This is me, with my grandpa who walked me down the isle. That little kid in the background is my little brother who is a senior in high school this year! WHAT?!

I learned to sew from my grandmother and my mom. They both made church clothes for my sister and I, also all the costumes I needed for various plays I was in and choir dresses. I didn't really get into sewing until my daughter was born, but working full time made it almost impossible for me to sew as much as I do now.

I have always wanted to be a hair stylist, which may still happen one day. For now though, my hair is an ever changing thing. I love to color and cut my hair, but with the husband's request for me to not cut my hair for a year, it's been incredibly difficult. My family and I call my hair "The Beast!" Why? Because I have the thickest hair ever seen and curly. I tell my hair ladies to thin it, then go back and thin it again, then maybe a third time just in case. I want to feel like I've lost weight when I get my hair cut. It looks like a dead animal on the ground when they get done doing my hair. Here are a few samples of my hair changes in just the last two years.

And yes, I have my nose pierced.

I am horribly afraid of spiders, but who isn't? I am also a huge fan of "Ghost Hunters" but would be such a chicken if I ever went Ghost Hunting.

I feel like I was born in the wrong time period and country. I would have fit right in with Jane Austen or in the court of Queen Elizabeth. I am completely obsessed with the fashions and if there is a movie out that is set in those times, even if it's terrible, I want to see it! Not sure why.

I have never gotten a pedicure. WHAT?! I know, I'm missing out on so much. My problem is is that I cannot stand anything in between my toes! Flip flops are about all I can manage. You know those socks with the individual toes? Those make my skin crawl just looking at them! Lol I know, I'm weird.

When we first bought our house, a year after getting married, I wanted something "move in ready." I didn't want to have to fix anything up. Now? I want something old, lots of character, needs some love that I can transform into my dream home! There is a house down the road that used to be a shabby chic shop that I drive past and long for. Lol My husband just shakes his head. When it was up for sale I almost set up a showing just so I could look at the inside and dream. Again, I'm weird.

Well, that's a little bit about me. I am a real person, with more quirks than the average person, but that's what makes us unique right? Well, that's my mom always tells me, which is probably a really nice way of saying, "You were dropped on your head as a baby and now you're just a little more 'special' than most."

I do have a project to show you, but I was up until 2:00am finishing it, and to be completely honest, I don't even want to look at it as it was a pain in my ARSE to finish!

Happy Thursday!

Bad Pictures, Great Deals

2010-09-20T12:09:00.001-07:00

The Thrifty Gods have been smiling down on me lately! The pictures are HORRIBLE, sorry! But I just couldn't hold it in any more and had to share all the great things I've gotten lately!

Now, these weren't actually my find, they were found by my sister-in-law. I have a big one like this of the real butterflies that are going in my daughter's room. She found these beauties and they were only $1.75 a piece!!! They are from Thailand! Sweet.

This desk was a little jewel I found at Goodwill. It needs some work on the top, but for $9.99, I figured it was not a big deal! Yes, $9.99!!!!

This lovely was a Craigslist find. She has a twin that is at my sister-in-laws, and the two were only $20! We both paid $10, great deal! She needs some work done (but don't we all, lol) but she has good bones. Can't wait to revive this beauty!

These were from St. Vincent's on their 50% off day! Got the two of them for $8! They are incredibly heavy and in great shape. Just have to decide what color to paint them. Hmmmm.

These are my favorite find! They were also a Craigslist find. The set of 4 for $35! That's $8.75 per chair! They are in great condition and have a few dings on them but they look great! I wanted to paint them white but my husband pitched a big, honkin', monumental fit! Lol Men. Sheesh!

I also got a bunch of clothes too, but that's for another post as a few of the items are going to be refashions! However, for one day of shopping I got 5 tops, 2 skirts, the lamps and the desk for $35! Not too shabby if you ask me! What have you found lately?

Layered Design Sign Tutorial

2010-09-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

I have seen all these amazing signs lately and I've wanted one for my living room, on my big, red, empty wall, for a very long time! My mother-in-law got rid of a few signs that she had in her house and gave me this one, but with it being red and have a giant red wall, I needed to change it. Here's what I did. And, yes, I used my Cricut, but it's NOT necessary!

Supplies:

* Board for your sign

* Primer (Not totally necessary, but I had to cover the red and black paint, it also holds your paint onto the wood better.)

* Three Colors of your favorite paint, or more! (I used what I had on hand, including the free pint I got from Glidden last year!)

*Paint supplies (brush, clean area, whatever you use.)

* Masking Tape/Painter's Tape

* Contact Paper/Vinyl (You can find pre-cut letters at Michaels, Joann's and Hobby Lobby, you can also do it the old fashioned way and print off your letters on your computer, and then trace and cut on your vinyl/contact paper. Whatever works for you.)

Step 1: Paint one coat of Primer and two coats of the color your want your letters to be. I wanted mine white, so I painted just the center of the board with the white. Let your paint dry thoroughly! This is a huge step!!!! Trust me! I am saving you lots of blood pressure issues with this advice!

Step 2: After you paint has dried thoroughly (usually about an hour if its warm outside), take your masking tape/painter's tape and create a straight line on your board to keep your letters from drifting and making your sign look like you were "under the sauce" (if you know what I mean) when you made it.

Step 3: Lay your letters that you have already cut out (which should be step 1 but you get the drift.) This will allow you to evenly distribute your letters and do a rough draft of the spacing of letters.

Step 4: Remove the backing of your contact paper/vinyl and place your letters onto the board. Use the back of a spoon, a pen, a spatula, or if you're really fancy, the tool that you get to press all the sides of the vinyl down. Just make sure that there are no creases in your letters.

Step 5: Paint two coats of the main color you want your board to be. This color green is what was left over from doing the Dr. Seuss room and my stools. Lol I have a lot left over still!

Step 6: After you have let the two coats of the main color dry, place your accent design on top of the board. This is more of a "do as I say, not as I do" step. I didn't let my paint dry and I didn't make sure the creases were out of my accent design. BIG MISTAKE!! I had to go over and hand paint it after I was done, so just trust me. Get all your creases out and again do two coats of your accent color. Allow your board to sit over night, if you can, to let all the coats cure and become hardened. I did not do this either, because I'm INCREDIBLY impatient and I am very upset that I didn't let it sit. When I pulled all the contact paper off the paint was gummy and came up with the letters! So I had to hand paint each letter, which was a total pain! So please, be patient and wait.

After you pull all your contact paper off, it looks like this!

This was the best picture I could get of it. Its a good 4' wide and you can't get the full affect close up. So there you have it! The possibilities are endless! What is your favorite sign that you've seen? My sister made one that said, "You Don't Scare Me, I Have Kids" Cracked me up.

Holy Sha-Moly!

2010-09-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

GUESS WHAT?!!!!!

Pumpkin Pie Crafts is on One Pretty Thing today!

What project?

The Tie Front Cardigan!!!

Thanks Rachael from One Pretty Thing for putting my project on your amazing site!