Quick little tutorial on how to make a rick rack hem

Just thought I'd share how I put rickrack on a hem. It can be a cute touch to a skirt, dress or pants. I just finished up M's little skirt today (see previous post) and thought it would be a cute finish. :)

First take your rickrack and pin it to the right side of your fabric close to the edge.

Sew it down through the middle.

Now turn over fabric and turn under the edge a bit.

Then under again as you do for any other hem. Check the front side to see if it is looking as you want..I like for my dips to just peek out.

Sew down along the top of the hem fold...NOT in the middle of the rick rack like before.

And you're done! Hemmed and trimmed in one step!

Make some Valentines day legwarmers

Love, love LOVE these! :) When I saw these socks I knew I had to make legwarmers for the girls with them. They were a 2 pack at Target...in the women's sock/accessory section. K has decided she likes to wear legwarmers in lieu of tights. So I really got these for her, since they would go SO fabulously with her shirt. Find directions for making legwarmers from women's knee highs here and the shirt here. SO being that there were 2 pair, I whipped up M this little twirly skirt and her own shirt.
Here they are on a 5 year old.

And lots more pics of Miss Sassy who apparently was enjoying this little photo shoot. Makes me actually miss selling girls boutique clothes on eBay...sort of.
Here's a closeup of her shirt. I used the same idea as K's heart shirt, except I free hand drew this one and used the blanket stitch on my machine and added a button.

Later this afternoon, I'll post a how to on an easy rickrack hem. Maybe next week I'll do a tutorial on the twirl skirt...SO simple! If you've never made one before, give it a try!

AND I'm thinking of having a little Valentines give away...my first! Look for details in the beginning of next week! :)

A watched pot

My first born, now 7 years old has a rare autoimmune disorder that gives him periodic fevers. He has been suffering with high fevers up to 105F every 2-4 weeks since he was 4 months old. He was finally diagnosed with PFAPA at 4 years old (google it if you are really curious, but I can't find any proper info on it at the moment in regular people's language...I used to have a fantastic link to descriptions of the periodic fevers, but lost it 2 hard drives ago). Anyway, don't want to bore you with the burdens this has brought our family over the years. Two years ago we decided to fly to MD to see the PFAPA experts at the National Institute of Health. They took loads of blood and tested him for all the known genetic disorders. There is not a test for actual PFAPA...it's more of a label for kids with periodic fevers with no genetic mutations and it's a clinical diagnosis. The NIH has ongoing research on this disorder and we finished up with our contribution last year with some labs drawn during a fever locally and sent to them. Well a couple of weeks ago I received a call from the fellow working on the research about a new medication to try. Right now we control his fever episodes often with a dose of prednisone. A small dose removes his fevers and all other symptoms in 3 hours and we resume normal life usually. So to make a long story somewhat short, they want to fly us up to MD with his next fever. He's had 2 in the last 2 weeks. He should be getting his next fever in the next few days. So we have been kinda sitting around waiting for his fever to quickly pack and hop on a plane. I was half packed Tues night. But no fever yet. He'll likely get one Friday and then we will have to wait for the next to go as they can't see us on the weekend.



I've been kinda pacing around. Trying to get the house clean, laundry done. LOTS of projects to work on, but have found it hard to do any with this distraction. Now that it's looking like we won't be headed to MD this week, I was able to let myself cut some fabric last night. And I have a whole pile of legwarmers to make...Kalla wants some to match her shirt.

I'm addicted to chicken salad...mmmmm

This is THE best chicken salad. I've been craving it every day and made several big batches over the last month. The basic recipe is from a friend of mine. I substituted almond slivers for walnuts or pecans as I can't stand them. But I do love a good crunch. So here it is:

cooked chicken breast (I boil mine)
Miracle Whip
cayenne pepper (opt)
celery
grapes
almond slivers (or chopped pecans or walnuts)

Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces. Mix in miracle whip a little at a time til the chicken in lightly coated. Sprinkle on pepper lightly and mix. Cut up celery into small pieces and cut grapes into quarter pieces, mix in. Use the quantities as you prefer. I usually cook 3 chicken breasts, use one stalk of celery, BUNCHES of grapes (I like to have a piece in every bite) and a palm full of almond slivers. I love mine just on whole grain crackers for every day lunches, but when I have company, I usually serve it on a croissant. My mouth is already watering and I've got several hours before lunch! :)


Working on today....
finishing up those pesky curtains
figured out how I'm using those frames
finishing Maressa's invitations (which I have to redo a few as Miss Marker got ahold of them....where is she getting these markers??????)
thinking about painting her room pink so we can move in Kalla
finish up some odds n ends sewing
few Valentines crafts

I love you berry much muffins

2 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 C vanilla yogurt (I use Stonyfield organic)
1/4 C butter, melted
1 1/2 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen, thawed)

Preheat oven 325F. Mix dry ingredients together. Stir in eggs, yogurt and butter. Mash strawberries, then stir in. Pour batter into heart shaped muffin tin. Bake about 15 mins.


UPDATE on the sofas. They are slip covered (they are Ikea sectional pieces, all pieces can be removed for wash...BIG help in household of 4 small children). The marker was washable. I coated the drawings in Zout and threw them in the wash. They came out beautifully. I considered myself lucky. The older kids came and told me that she was coloring with a crayon (which is usually all she access to)...which would not likely have come out so easily. She could have done this on our other 2 sofas in other rooms that do NOT have slipcovers. I told myself not to panic til I washed them. :) For some reason these things don't bother me so much. I have sharpie marks on my dining room table (thankfully a dark table), have the letter 'B' seemingly permanent on my white Martha Stewart kitchen table and have had to throw out a Pier 1 rug years ago during potty training. Things are temporary. And my children are so much more valuable. ;) Not to mention I had never told the baby [almost 2 year old] NOT to color on my sofas. She has been told now. :)

Harold and the Purple Crayon

I mean Maressa and the purple marker....
Just how could this cute little butterfly in a tutu.....

Be so artistic???

Some frames from Target dollar section

I found these frames while checking out the dollar section of Target. Everything in that section is either $1 or $2.50. These were the latter. Regardless, I thought was a great deal! I instantly thought of an idea. I bought 4 sets, thinking this was one frame with 3 openings for pictures. I thought I'd print a baby/toddler and a current pic of each kid with a picture of their artwork in the middle and hang in our playroom.
Well once I spent a good part of the the day looking through old pic files on the computer and printing pictures I opened the packaging I found it wasn't one piece but 3 separate frames with a ribbon to hang. I still like them, but not sure how to approach hanging 12 in a collage on the wall. I thought about just not using the ribbon part, but there isn't a good way to hang them with out it as on the back it is all flush. So I'll be working on figuring it out today.
Oh and if you like the frames, they come in white and natural as well. I'm thinking they could be cute to frame pretty paper letters and hang together in a child's room of their name or something playful.


Another project I'm working on.
I have to finish one more set of these curtains for the other set of large windows in this room that is to the left. Not sure what I'll do with the skinny windows to each side of the fireplace. Thinking of just leaving them plain...well eventually some nice faux wood blinds on all of them.

Valentine cherry tartlet

Just a valentine version of the cherry tarts I did for Christmas. Just a recap on how to make very simple quick tarts. Buy the roll out refrigerated dough and use a drinking glass to cut circles. Spray the cups of a mini cupcake pan with non stick spray, then carefully take each circle and line each cup with one, pressing along the sides. Fill with filling. Cut mini hearts in dough scraps and place one on top. Brush lightly with egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 375F for about 15 minutes. Eat with your valentines.

Make a Valentine shirt

Make a simple Valentine shirt for your girl's (or yourself) this year. All you need is 2 (or more if you like) fabrics, Wonder under lite and tee.

I used a tee that actually had a Christmas print on the front and Kalla will be too big to wear next year. So instead of going out to buy a shirt, I made the hearts big enough to cover print.

To make, draw/trace heart shapes onto Wonder under LITE. I used a heart shaped cake pan for the larger one and scanned a heart shaped cookie cutter and enlarged it 150% for the inner heart. But I just found these lovely heart shapes you can use here. Now cut around the hearts, but OUTSIDE the lines (it doesn't need to be heart shaped yet). Iron the hearts onto the wrong side of your fabrics. Once cooled off, NOW you cut around hearts on lines. Peel off baking. Iron shirt and center first heart. Once satisfied with how it looks, iron it on. Repeat with any other heart layers. Now top stitch them on your shirt carefully using a ball point needle. If you like you can satin stitch them, but for these types of appliques I like the more casual Mini Boden look.

Make yourself one too...just make the hearts smaller and place on the upper left side of your shirt. :)

Party Ideas: 13th birthday

Here's a few ideas for a 13th birthday party.

Disco Party
INVITATIONS
Cut out black card stock in circle about the size of a 45 vinyl record. Cut much smaller circle in bright color with party details. Add silver glitter glue around edges if desired.

DECORATIONS
Disco ball-make your own:
Disco ball made with carnival mirror
Disco ball made with old CDs
Or buy one with spotlights here.
Get old vinyl albums from thrift stores/goodwill and use painters blue tape to stick on walls (double the tape to make a loop and press on record, then press to wall.
Find some favors and more decorations here. You and your teen can go through this site and find favors, like the glow in the dark bracelets and disco key chains.

Tie Dye Party/60's
INVITATIONS
Make these tie dye coffee filters and press flat. Cut smaller circle out of cardstock with party info and glue to middle.
DECORATIONS
Buy bulk amount of mardi gras style beads to make bead curtain to hang in doorway: Cut each bead necklace to make bead strings. Tie strings together end to end with fishing wire til length needed. String along doorways. Or buy one here. Yellow smiley faces and bright colored paper flowers.

FAVORS
Mood rings and colored sunglasses


Movie Night
INVITATIONS
Make a paper version of a directors clapboard and add party details.

DECORATIONS
Hang age appropriate movie posters. Find Pirates of the Caribbean, Night at the Museum, Star Wars, Narnia, etc here on eBay. Hang silver and gold stars from ceiling with fishing line. Red carpet runner. Golden awards...use for decorations, prizes or party favors.

FAVORS
Few boxes of movie type candy (Junior Mints, Jujubes) tied with ribbon or candy popcorn. Recipes to make your own here.
ACTIVITIES
Movie charades, come as a movie character costume contest.


That's all I have for now! :)

For more generic party (no particular theme) some more party favor ideas:
Yo yo's
Deck of cards
CD of birthday kid's fav tunes (download off internet from music clubs or individually from Amazon)

Kids Parties 101

I lieu of all the interest in party planning, I decided to post my basics for throwing and planning kids parties.

Sometimes I have a theme, and sometimes not right away. I admit sometimes I pick a theme based on being able to making a rhyming card with the birthday number (I did Choo Choo Choo, Look Who's Turning Two...yep train party when my son turned 2). That's partly why we are doing Zoo for my daughter's party next month. And for her third...A Little Birdie told me, Maressa B----- is turning Three! So it will have a bird theme. I've already got a template for the card...lol. I've convinced my other daughter to let me do Six is Sweet for her birthday. So sometimes that is how I come up with my theme and go from there. I'm doing Dogs for Micah's 4th because the boy is obsessed with dogs and sleeps with 6-7 various dogs every night. So lots of blue (his fav color) and dogs and I've found cute stuff for that already (it's in June). I personally try to stick with non character parties. I have done them (Blues Clues, Elmo) but I find in more interesting to go more generic (not to mention, licensed character stuff is more expensive and not very original).

So once you've come up with your theme keep your eyes peeled for party stuff on the web and in the stores. Any time I find something I want to remember, an idea or picture, I make a folder for the party it pertains to on my Favorites. Also check Target dollar bins. I scored stuffed lions and elephants last fall for Maressa's upcoming zoo party, the other week I picked up lacy tea party girls gloves...we probably won't get to that for a few years, but for a $1 a piece it's worth it to get them now...esp when you normally can't find those things. Last year I got cute little barns and farm animals in the dollar bins for Micah's farm party. I check the dollar bins at Target each and every time I go.

For party favors I like to stay mostly away from a lot candy. I like to do fruit snack when the theme applies. Z had a build a bear party and they make build a bear fruit snacks. They make lego ones and princess ones as well. I also check the cookie and cracker aisle for animal or other fun shaped cookies and crackers. Homemade playdough (with or without the glitter) makes a great party favor for younger kids. And fun shaped crayons...you can make these yourself in a silicone candy mold found at a hobby store, or buy some on etsy here. I also like wedding type bubbles for favors. I tie with ribbons for the long skinny type, and for the smaller chunky type I put the birthday number on the side with a paint pen. These little bubbles are great for small hands and since they have the wand attached to the lid, they won't fall down into the bubbles. Another great toddler favor is big fat chalk. I am including some in the favors for the upcoming 2 year old party. You can get a big box for cheap at Hobby Lobby. I'm putting 5 different colors in a cute zoo printed favor bag.

For decorating, I like to use scrapbooking papers for banners and invitations. I use regular solid color balloons and streamers and ribbons.

For plates I often use solid colors, but I have these plates and matching bowls now and I plan to use them for my smaller parties. I like the paper and plastic table covers.


Here are some great resources:
Birthday in a Box

Oriental Trading Co

Celebrate Express

Inspiration:

Birthday ideas

Hostess with the Mostess

Get cool and/or custom stuff:
eBay

etsy.com


Since I've had several ask for help on party themes and ideas, I've decided to post specific ideas for them instead of commenting. I will do one party brainstorming post once a week as I receive requests. So if you want help, just comment in the brainstorming post and I will post about it the next week. If you'd like to offer your ideas, those are welcome as well! :)

A Glimpse of Sunshine

Friday we finally got a bit of sunshine. Most of the south has been drenched now for over a month. We've had flooding, roads closed, schools delayed all due to a crazy amount of rain. So being a lovely mild day (like we are used to getting) I took the kids to the park after picking up Z from school. It was hard to get them to leave, they had so much fun.

Now we are back to rain, cold and overcast skies...do I live in Seattle or Alabama??? :) More sunshine is in the forecast I believe for this week, but colder temps.

Coming this week, some Valentines projects/food. And Zoo party plannings for one little girl (aka The Baby) who is about to be two!

What's up this year?

I have lots of things on my to do list right now. It's all jumbled up in my head and it's one of those times that I have SO much I WANT to do and need to do that I don't know where to start.

Here's what I've got going on:

Home~
*clean out shoe/coat closet
*clean out/organize computer armoire
*paint Maressa's room
*put together new bunk beds (they have been ordered)...we are moving the girls in together
*fix up their new room together
*saving up for a cool new chandelier for dining room and hope to finally work on getting all the [ugly] wallpaper down

Sewing~
*finish new curtains for living room
*few throw pillows to match curtains
*make the boys room new curtains
*the girls Easter dresses and new spring clothes
*Maressa's bday party outfit
*myself a new purse for my birthday

Crafting~
*having some friends over to do post Christmas crafts...all the things we didn't have time for before Christmas (I figure why wait til the holidays again, but make stuff now during quiet times and pack it away for next holiday)
*I ordered this awesome pattern to make The Twelve Dancing Princesses picture for the girls from The Sugar City...I can't wait to get some fabric to get started!
*want to paint some wooden people

Also we have 4 kid parties a year. I LOVE planning kid parties. I think about them YEARS in advance...I have Maressa's not only completely planned for next month, but have themes in mind for the next two years...yes I'm sick like that. Anyway, I kinda go all out...not necessarily expense wise, but I think a lot about the details. I love helping my friends plan their parties too (even held one at my house...we're 'those' people with the mini playground in the back yard and a bouncy and a ball pit, etc etc.) I've always thought I'd love to get into professional party planning one day. But for now I'll just share my ideas. With that said, I want to highlight a kid party idea/theme at least once a month. I've got WAY more ideas than I can use, and seeing how my post about Z's lego party here and here gets tons of hits, I figure people could use my ideas. :)

So coming up are:
If You Give a Cat a Cupcake party (a friend is using this idea of mine)
Zoo party (Maressa's)
Dog party (Micah's)
Bird Party (Maressa's 3rd)
Six is Sweet Party (Kalla's)
Teddy Bear Picnic (Maressa's 4th)
Camping Party (Zachary's)

And more, as I think of them. I will share past parties ideas for Dinosaur party, Blues Clues, Train/Thomas party, One year old bubbles party, Elmo party.

If anyone needs ideas/help brainstorming a party, I would love to help.


Oh and sharing a little secret. I got Kalla a petticoat/skirt. I've been wanting to get one for a while now for her to dress up play, but refuse to fork out $75 for a play skirt from a fancy boutique (and the thought of sewing one gives me a headache). But you can get them from this petticoat site for $29 and they have children's sizes and pink! Now they aren't as crazy full as some, but for a really soft twirly frilly tutu they are awesome! I got Kalla who is 5 1/2 years (and tall) the child medium.

I was spoiled too!

This is my new toy I got for Christmas. I have wanted one for years. And I have waited YEARS to try homemade marshmallows (you can't possibly make them without a stand mixer). My wonderful hubby gave me this. I wonder if he got the idea as he stood holding the cord firmly into my 10 year old hand held mixer that is pretty much shot while I had to mix the chess bar filling for 3 mins straight that he asked me to make for him to take to a work thing. ;)
So after I broke it in with some pumpkin pie filling on Christmas day, I finally made some marshmallows. I just love the look of the white cubes.

However, there is nothing like them dipped in chocolate! Mmmmm mmmm! I want to make strawberry ones for Valentines. I got some strawberry candy flavoring at the hobby store the other day. I'm envisioning heart shaped, pink strawberry marshmallow pops dipped in white choc. :) I'll post pics of course when the time comes!

I also received some cash. Which what did I spend it on??

Mmmm yes, yummy fabric! And let me tell you! Hancocks Paducah has most of Heather Bailey's pop fabric OVER half price! Yes that is $4 a yard!! So 10 yards later I'm making the curtain panels I've been wanting for our living room!

And one last mention. I also got a Nikon CoolPix (I told you I was spoiled). I have a Nikon D50 that I use and it needs to go to the shop (which will take 5 weeks I'm told) for body repair. So now I have a wonderful and SMALL backup camera for kid/family pics in that time and can continue my blog. I'm going to make a cute little pouch for it too. :)

Some stuff I made for Christmas gifts

I got a few things done for the kids. Not everything I planned/started, but enough. :) I made these soft fabric balls for Maressa.
For Kalla I made this doll blanket (that matches her sheets...I purchased an extra sheet set to make a valance and doll bedding to match), chenille doll bib and ball for her new baby.

The ball I made with a elastic loop so she can put it on her baby's hand to make it look like the doll was playing with it. I used this pattern for Maressa's balls and this one, just resizing it on the copier to get the size I wanted. I made my own pattern for the tiny bib. Will post soon my pattern and tutorial for it. :) Not pictured, I also made Kalla a doll sling and Maressa a chenille doll blanket and a little pad to go in her new doll cradle Grandma gave her.

I made Micah a tool belt inspired by this lovely tool belt on See Mommy Sew. I made it a bit bigger and used velcro instead. And I made him a small town mat. At church he loves to play with his cars. But we sit in large plastic type chairs that made a loud sound when he rolls his cars on them. So this mat is perfect for putting in the chair and he plays cars quietly to his heart's content!

Made this cute soft bunny and wooden blocks for my niece.

I made my mother in law this golf inspired purse for her to take to the golf course. And a cute coordinating tissue cover.

And for my mom, I made some kid pic magnets. :)

I had cut out some capes for the girls and Zachary, but never finished them. But I still plan to.

Anyway, I just want to thank all of you that visit my little blog. I haven't designed any fabric, I don't sell things I make (for now) and I haven't written a book. But there are still those of you who come visit me regularly and I really appreciate that and the comments. :)

The things I plan to chat about/share this year are more decorating, kids parties (we have a zoo party, six is sweet, blue dog and camping parties in the works...we brainstorm all the kids birthdays at the beginning of the year), more sewing (already purchased that Easter dress fabric!), yummy recipes/baking and of course crafting.

Here's to a new fun, creative, DIY year!