If...

If all our student loans were paid off and I had some money.  This is what I would do with it.  Check out Ashley Hackshaw.  This is my favorite style.  They are just gorgeous.  I wish comissioned painting were done a little more (and what I could afford right now).  I guess I will save my favorite pictures, so that one day...

My Eyes Are Bigger Than My Stomach (Or Something Like That!)

Do you ever think a project or an idea is going to be easy, take just a little time and come out perfect!  Oh - good, I thought it was just me.

Well I did it again.  Every time parent teacher conference time rolls around, we have a bake sale at his school.  I usually sign up to bring Oh! Henry Bars (glorified, peanut butter with chocolate rice krispy treats), but ooohh so easy and fast.  I had the brilliant idea, mostly because I did not have any rice krispies on hand, to make Cake Pops for the bake sale. 

I can make Cake Pops pretty darn fast, but I thought I would cutesie them up.  I would have to individually wrap them so they could be sold. 

This is going to be fun!!  Well it took lots longer than I thought and it didn't go as well as I had hoped.  The little white chocolate Fleur De Lis are too hard to do with any of the tips I had, so I did some with a toothpick.  After 10 (plus the 3 or so tests) I scraped that idea and went with white chocolate drizzles!

It was such a good idea!  Live and learn!

Tip for Cold Season!

It is cold season and I have one.  So I thought I would share one of my favorite tricks.


Whenever you have a runny nose you end up with a red, sore nose.  That eventually gets dry and flaky - eeww gross!

At night before you go to bed and hopefully you wont have to use a tissue again until morning.  Rub on some Lanolin!  You know that big tube of stuff you bought or someone gave you when you had your last baby, that has been sitting there half unused.

Seriously this works!  By morning my nose is not red or sore!  You do have to get over the feeling of putting it on, this stuff is not thin.  Unfortunately the cycle starts again in the morning, but atleast it doesn't get worse and I am not afraid to be seen in public.

It works great on really chapped lips, too. (Feels really yucky on your lips, but I like quick fixes)

If you don't have any get some. I keep it in my medecine cabinet all the time - super great for kids who get really sore noses on top of already not feeling well.

Is It Gender or Age?

Today we were laying around in our room.  Jason decided (as is his Sunday ritual) to offer the boys treats or quarters in return for a foot rub.  They usually put up a fuss and want to know exactly how long they have to rub in order to recieve their reward.

Well - they started rubbing his feet.  Charlotte, who was snuggling me, decided she wanted in on the action.  So she simply said "my feet" and put her feet up toward her Dad.  Daddy quickly obliged.  She wanted them both rubbed and for along time.


I thought the whole thing was hilarious.  Here is Daddy being taken care of by this two little slaves,the boys.  And then he ends up being slave to Charlotte who has nothing to do, but lay back, relax and enjoy.  Does she have "little princess" syndrome?

Sweater Pillows Suck!!

Maybe if you don't have kids and hardly ever end up sitting on your pillows these would actually be great.  However, I have kids - so they are constantly skewampus (actaully a word).  Every time I walk by, they need adjusting.  The sweater part is too stretchy.

I removed the tutorial.  If you want it let me know.  However, these suck!

One More Reason!

Another reason I love my husband.

The other night he had to iron his dress blues for his uniform inspection.  He decided he wanted to listen to music while he did the job.  What did he grab?

ABBA ( Momma Mia!)

His music likes are as diverse as mine!!

You have to still love me - even thought I just shared that!!!

The Winter Coat!

Why do I sew?  Is it to save money - absolutely not.  Sometimes it saves a little - if my time is free.  I sew simply because I can and I get a lot of satisfaction when I complete something and it looks good.  It can be very frusturating - patterns can be horrible.  But - when I sew something like this...



I decide that it is so worth it.  I really like to sew coats.  I am not sure why - maybe because I only make one once a year.  Next year I hope to make 2 or 3.








I do sew for the boys occaisonally.  I will have to post some pictures of Grahm's pants the next time he wears them.

The Fall Dress!

She wore her Fall Dress to church this Sunday.  I think it turned out cute - but I think she may be finally growing.  I am not sure it will last until Spring.  This is actually the same dress as her Easter dress.  I just didn't put the collar on and I made the sleeves 3/4 length.

This was my first time sewing with plaid (other than the dress shirt to todller dress).  It took some learning and I will do things differently next time.  I should probably go grab some more plaid - just so I can do it again before I forget.

Please ignore the white tights - black thick tights don't seem to be available this year.  We are on the hunt!

Mini-Update

I added some more detailed pictures to the post about Charlotte's iron and brass bed.

Also - the pics of the dress shirt to toddler dress are up now.

Tried on the muslin version of Jayce's coat - way too big. Not sure I have it in me to try and resize the pattern at the moment (plus all the fabric I like is $27/yard and I have to order 3 - so getting pricey!). Maybe next year!

Winter Projects!

Fall is the busiest time of the year (or at least it feels that way). It seems like the moment School starts until New Years is past, there is no time for loafing. Here is part of my to do list:
1. Fall deep cleaning (I think will wait until January -when I am suddenly bored).
2. Charlotte - Jumper
3. Charlotte- Play Dress
4. Charlotte - Fall Church Dress
5. Charlotte - Christmas Dress
6. Charlotte - Winter Dress Coat
7. Charlotte - Nickers
8. Grahm - Pants
9. Jayce - Winter Dress Coat
10. Christmas gift - Mom
11. Christmas gift - Jason
12. Christmas gift - Jayce and Grahm
13. Christmas gift - Charlotte
14. Pillows
15...

I have barely dented that list and that is not all of it. I am a month behind and Thanksgiving is almost here!!

Have you noticed all the tutorials on blogs for taking your husbands tired button up and turning it into beautiful little girl dresses? There is one at Made she has several other examples you can see on her site. Here's another to name a few.
Anywhoo - I attempted this - IT IS NOT FOR ME!! I love the way they look when everyone else does it. When I did it I notice all of the things wrong - button spacing for Charlotte is bad, how the neck is not faced correctly - etc... Maybe I should try following a tutorial instead of just attacking it on my own.
This is Shirt Dress is her Play Dress!!




I was going to use the same pattern as this jumper to maker her Fall Dress - but she has not grown to a size 2 and by the time I had re-sized the dress to fit her I decided I was not going to try and figure out resizing and sleeves. - So I had to find another pattern for her Fall Dress. This is her jumper. The pattern is a McCalls pattern from the early 1900's.

Charlotte's Bed Cont...

I know I said in a week and it has been lots more. So sorry. Why is the fall so busy?

Here is what we did to keep the wonderful patina that this bed came with.

1. We pressure washed it to remove loose paint and grime. We also gave it a good scrubbing. Someone had started to strip it in places which became more evident when we pressure washed it - but I still love it.

2. We let it dry and removed all the brass.

3. I then applied 4 coats of Zinnser Peel Stop. This product is supposed to stop peeling, flaking paint - so we are hoping rust, too.


4. I then sprayed 2 or 3 coats of a clear satin finish.

5. Then a week or so later we used an at home lead test kit and it came back clean.

We custom ordered a 3/4 mattress for her. We ordered the cheapest one we could (well - because she is little and it worked fine for the boys - they have comfy beds). Hers is awful - harder than the floor. We just purchased a memory foam topper for her - Much better!!



I do not like the bed in her room with the shelf. The shelf is too low for how high the headboard is. Jason is refusing to move it, since we are moving - yada yada yada. Once I threw some pink blankets on the foot of her bed and a pink pillow case to cover up some of the quilt she is using while I hunt down something perfect, it looks much better in the room.

Any suggestions?

Halloween in all its Glory!!

This year for Halloween I really tried not to decide or lead my children to costumes I would choose. I am so glad I didn't!! We had Snake Eyes (from GI Joe), a scuba diver, and a bunny (little bunny foofoo).
For Snake Eyes I originally purchased the costume (I know!!) and then I returned it, I just couldn't justify the price tag. Snake Eyes has some serious muscles, so I added those to a black spandex shirt. I made him a ninja hood and bought cargo pants (hard to find in black this year!!).

I keep thinking I should put up my muscle pattern so you can make one for your husbands!!

Stong and Silent!!

Charlotte's bunny costume was the morning of creation. When the guilt of not making her something got to me. It turned out cute, warm and cuddly - the 3 musts for a toddler costume!!



Grahm wanted to be a Scuba Diver (a what?). We hunted down a cheap used wet suit, and bought a diving mask. The rest was up to Jason. He made the tank from a 2 liter bottle, attached some tubing, used craft foam for flippers and we have a Suba Diver!!






We only had to dress up twice this year!!!! We enjoyed Trunk or Treating at our church. Then that night we headed off to the 'Burbs for some good Trick -or-Treating (whole sized candy bars) with friends from school.

Our Halloween scare came at one point because we lost Grahm while we were Trick-or-Treating. I was ready to start running up and down the street and then we spotted him. Coming back to find the group (we had a large group). He said he just went to a different house to get candy. We think he went back to one of the houses with big candy bars. We had passed another group moments before going in the opposite direction and I think he ended up with them for a few moments. We think its funny now to picture Grahm trying to get a big candy bar. But then on a dark night (not much lighting), people in costumes, I was freaking out (quietly inside).

Super Saturday!!

Super Saturday

November 21, 2009

10:00am

Yummy Waffles and Crafts!!

You can sign up here by leaving a comment and your name or you can e-mail, or call.

You will need to have signed up for the nativity, pumpkin, and pendant by November 11 to ensure things will be shipped in time.

Countdown Blocks $7/set. Use these cute blocks to bring the Christmas Spirit home and help your family countdown to the big day.

Wooden Nativity $12 monotone/$14 multicolor. This simple nativity made from MDF is rugged enough for those little hands and cute enough to display. The set includes 3 wisemen, 1 shepard, 1 sheep, 1 donkey, 1 camel, 1 Mary, 1 Joseph, and 1 baby in Jesus in the manger. (no angel or tree with star - the second picture is to show you how easy it will be to add more detail if you chooose).  Available on Etsy.  From UndermyUmbrella, available finished or unfinished.



Stuffed Pumpkin $5. This stuffed pumpkin will bring a touch of fall to your home. Use it for Halloween and Thanksgiving. (if you can bring your sewing machine please let me know). Colors may vary!!

Necklace Pendant $5. This framed pendant is easy to personalize and makes a wonderful gift. Follow these links to get a few more ideas how to personalize the pendant. JewelKade has some beautiful designs (I am not affiliated in anyway, just using her catalog to show examples - they retail for $20). Other examples pictured are from various etsy artists, prices vary on etsy from $10 on up!! We will have a temple silhouette available, letters for monograming, a crown and a few other pieces. Please feel free to bring your own supplies to further personlize your pendant.
The Pendant is 1.5" square (not rectangular)