Our Mother's Day project

Mom please skip this post!!! :) You don't want to spoil the surprise do you????
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I get these cool Bare Books for the kids. They come with a hard cover and blank pages inside. They love them. On my last order I read some reviews how people were using them as Mother's Day gifts. I thought that was a great idea. So the kids are making their Grandma and Nanny a special book from them. The older ones colored the outside cover.

And wrote letters.

And drew stories about their grandma.

The little ones did hand prints. I traced Micah's (age 3) hand and let him color it in. For him and Kalla I want to also dictate some cute things to their grandmas. Micah also stamped pictures on pages and colored them too....mostly Curious George...lol.

For Maressa (age 2) I did a painted hand print, I drew some hearts that she colored and we did some fingerprint art (colored ink on her thumb and finger to make flowers...lots of cute things can be made with fingerprints...google it for inspiration).

I love this idea because I know how hard it is to organize and hold onto lots of kid art. A book we put their names and ages in can be easily displayed and kept a long time.

Snicker Salad~Take it to your next potluck!

Or is it potato salad???? This is a fun one to take to potlucks and it gets rave reviews. This recipe is from my hubby's aunt. Apparently it's a staple at Thanksgiving where I had it first many years ago. I still get calls from people at my old church who I haven't seen in years to get this recipe because I took it a lot to potlucks. The fun part is people mostly skip it thinking it's potato salad. Til one person tries it and tells others what it really is then it disappears real fast!

So here's the lowdown:

5 golden delicious apples chopped to bite size
5 snicker bars chopped to bite size
1 tub whipped topping (let it thaw completely)
1/3 package of small box of instant french vanilla pudding

Mix pudding mix with topping. Add apples and snicker bar pieces and toss. Make this salad the day you are eating it as it doesn't keep.

Yep folks, it doesn't get much better than chocolate and apples and you even get to call it a salad!! Enjoy! Yum!


On the crafting/sewing front I'm kinda bummed. I broke my serger ~again!~ (I'm too embarrassed to say how...a whole week after I got it back from repair..UGH!) and it's taking a LONG time to get fixed this time and I kinda need it pretty bad to finish up some projects. I'm using my overcast stitch on my sewing machine, but it's just not the same. And now I just found out that a sewing transfer sheet I used to mark button holes on some little man shirts I've been asked to make for a wedding (this Sat!!!!) doesn't wash out. I thought that was the whole point. :( So now I've got to somehow replace just that part without deconstructing the whole shirts. SO. That's where I've been off to.

On a brighter note, here's what I've got coming up: pattern review for those shirts (I used the Weekend Sewing book Kai shirt pattern), tdress tutorial, 3-D flower applique tutorial, Mother's day gifts and to celebrate all my new friends, I want to do another give away when I hit the 50 followers mark. :) So stay tuned!

A couple of firsts

First piggy tails.

First sewing.

I'm smitten with my 2 girls. :)

Organizing the kids craft stuff

I saw this little trick for organizing kitchen utensils in your pantry. I have a bi-fold pantry door so that wouldn't work for that, but I thought it perfect for our craft closet in my dining room. This is an over the door shoe organizer purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond. I put all kid type craft materials in all the see through pockets. The markers are all just too high for little Miss Marker to reach, but still low enough for the older 2 to reach (and I threatened their lives if they left them out! lol) Paint supplies in view but too high and for mommy assistance only. But on their level are wood clothes pins/popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, feathers, pom pom balls, lots of markers, scissors, glue sticks, beads, googly eyes, stickers and stamps. Lots and lots of potential for kid creations!
They love it and after school they got busy right away! Our kid table they are out growing (and Maressa doesn't have an official chair yet). I plan to build a new long one for them this summer. I'll post when I do!

Super Simple Fun Kid Tote: a Mommy and Me project

My big girl of 5.5 years is learning to sew. So for her first project we decided to make a simple little tote. This is for a school friend whose birthday party Kalla is going to this Friday. We are giving her a couple of Bare Books and Bare Crayons (which my 2 oldest absolutely LOVE themselves) and decided to make a personalized tote to put them in.

I used some off white twill fabric and cut a piece 10" X 20". I taped masking tape in the middle and folded it under a cutting mat and taped the top half down and let her make a picture with fabric markers. She drew a stick picture of her friend and sky, grass and stems for some felt flowers I had on hand. Kalla picked out some fabric for a dress for the girl. I cut a small triangle with the fabric and ironed it on with wonder under lite and then a topstitch. I hand stitched on the felt flowers. Then I cut a piece of fabric in the same print as the dress for the lining 10" x 20".

We also picked out a ribbon to make a bow for the girl's hair and I sewed it on after sealing the ends. Kalla also drew a big rainbow for the back and I sewed on some fun colorful buttons (back not pictured).

We folded the fabric in half to be sewn. With my machine on the lowest speed I let Kalla sew the sew the side seams of the tote and liner.

Turning the outside fabric right side out, we fit the lining into the bag and straightened it up. I folded and pinned the opening down to make a hem along the top. Then I sewed it down.

We made a simple strap simply by cutting a piece of twill 26" X 3". I ironed it in half and then folded the edges in and ironed then pinned down.

I then sewed along all the edges with dark pink thread.

Then I secured each end onto the outside sides of the tote with a stitch all the way around. It would be cute to sew a big bright button here too for extra embellishment.

This particular bag is for a gift and we put the books and crayons inside. We have one cut and colored ready to make one for Kalla. She has multiple girls on hers and they are waiting for their dresses at the moment. :)

This bag can be made a bit bigger to make a pool/beach tote or library tote.

Sweet spring jammies

This was Kalla's idea. I bought an extra sheet set to use for sewing a valance for her room. So after that and a sheet for the doll bed, I have a lot left over. She spied it in my sewing room the other day and asked if I would make her some jammies with it so she could match. I thought this super soft sheet would make great jammies.

So I simply used a pant pattern and cut them short to make shorts. I added the bow in front so she would know which was the front and back.
Then I took a cotton tee and appliqued a butterfly to the front. I used the same technique as described here to sew it on. Find a cute butterfly templates here.

Now I'm wondering if there is enough for some pj pants for me!

Jesus loves me, by Cutie Patootie #4

Belated Easter pics

I was planning on making the girls their dresses, but my dad couldn't resist buying them a frilly girly dress a few months ago when we were out shopping. So they wore these sweet matching dresses.
They both seemed to like their pink poufy dresses and it warmed up enough for them to wear them on Easter.

The day before Easter, we had some friends over to cookout and hunt eggs. It was a cloudy chilly day.

But it didn't stop their mission to find a dozen candy filled eggs in the yard.

Retro cafe curtain

We have lived in our house for 2.5 years now. I'm finally getting around to really decorating the kitchen and updating it a bit. I love the layout and roomy size of our house, but it's a bit old fashioned. You know the brass fixtures and hardware everywhere. Not to mention it's a bit bigger than our old, so still lots of filling in furniture. I've gone back and forth with the big stuff and the details (managing what I can in my 'house allowance'). So I finally made some curtains for the big windows by our kitchen table. They compliment my new art perfectly. Anyhow I thought I'd walk through the process of making these particular type curtains if anyone was interested in making some. :) First off, the fabrics were from Hobby Lobby and I pretty much used the same technique as in this tutorial.

First off, I used white kona fabric as the main piece. It has a nice weight, but I wanted it a bit heavier, so I sewed 2 pieces together. This particular curtain is 18" long and hung 7" above my windows (to give illusion that windows are even bigger than they are) on cafe clips (if you aren't using clips and need a pocket, you will need to add significant more fabric to include that). I sewed the 2 pieces of white fabric together along the top. I then flipped them over at the hem and ironed and topstitched, so you have a nice hem at the top. Leaving all 3 other edges raw. The contrasting fabric pieces are 4.5" wide and I cut one for each short side, adding an inch or 2 to turn under at the top, and then I cut several strips and sewed together til I had a strip a few inches longer than the bottom long edge. Now I sewed the side trims on first. Doing so, you fold down an inch and pin along edge as seen in above photo and you can leave the bottom edge raw.

Now sew along the edge.

Now turn the fabric over to the other side and turn under hem and sew along the edge of contrasting fabric. This is what it should look like when done on the front.

Here's what it looks like on the back side. Repeat this step for other short edge.

Now take your long strip and use the same process, except you will need to fold under both edges.

This is what the bottom corners should look like when pinned, then sew down. Now you are ready to hang it! I just need to make one more for the windows down the little hallway across the pantry and laundry.

I am almost ready to show my redo in whole. I just need to replace the old (broken-sort of) gaudy fan and few other details. :)

Quickie fabric belt

Make a quick fabric belt for a little one, or for yourself. Just need a strip of fabric and D ring.

Cut a strip of fabric 4" wide and to get the length either measure a belt you have or take waist measurement, add 2.5" for sewing and 5 or so inches for overlap. My daughter's finished belt in above photo is 30.5" and she is a 21" waist (size very skinny 6). Her belt is a little longer than needed and about extra 7" overlap. It's all a personal preference. If you are making a woman's size belt, I would up the width to 5-6" as well.
Now take our your iron and iron down each end toward the wrong side.Now fold your fabric in half and iron the folded edge down.

Open the fabric back up and you will iron in one long edge.

Repeat the other side so that the edges meet evenly. Pin down all edges. All raw edges should now be enclosed.

Sew along all 3 sides....both short sides and one long side.

Fold and sew down one finished end about an inch with D rings enclosed in loop. Now go snazz up some jeans and tee with a cute belt!

Jello Cantaloupe

This is a fun yummy treat to make for kids. You need one cantaloupe and 2 small boxes of your fav jello. Simply follow the directions on the box for the Jello Jigglers. Half recipe will fill one cantaloupe or make whole recipe (4 boxes) and for 2 cantaloupes to feed a crowd. Cut the cantaloupe in half and scoop out the middle/seeds. Carefully pour jello into hole on each half to top. Refrigerate several hours til jello is quite firm (wouldn't hurt to do it overnight). If it's not firm enough when you slice the cantaloupe it falls out. Slice into thick slices to serve. :)

The letter X

Today we had letter snack for K's preschool class. We got the letter 'X'. So coming up with a snack was a challenge. But my smart daughter told me to make x-ray cookies. So I did! She did the sprinkles.

K also cut out letter X's with a small cookie cutter in slices of cheese. So we took theses with the cookies and some crackers.

And when I was making these books with the bunny bubble letters, I printed out extra X's and taped them to cardstock for the children in her class to color and take home. I thought the bunny shaped letter X would be an extra fun with Easter coming up and all.

Speaking of Kalla, she has been asking me to teach her all kinds of things lately. I love it when she shows interest in learning so many things. So we are making a Summer To Do list. So far on our list to learn to do for Kalla is as follows:

braid

sew (she's getting a kid machine for her bday)

decorate cookies~like mommy does it

ride her bike without training wheels

tennis

do a cartwheel (husband asked if I could still do one of these, and yes I can, it just hurts to do them now ;)

Alphabet Bunny Books

I made these sweet alphabet coloring books for Micah's 3 year old preschool class party for favors. They were so easy and just super cute.

I used these printable bunny letters. I opened each file and copy and pasted into a publishing program to make 4 to a page. Printed on white cardstock and cut each out. Hole punched in the corner and a key ring holding them all together. For the covers I used colored cardstock and a bunny template from Lolly Chops (yes I discovered many good things there the other day). I used the largest bunny and enlarged it 125% on cardstock and used it to trace on my scrapbook papers. Then I used Mod Podge to glue them on the front. I just added ribbons to the key ring, but might remove them as it hinders turning the pages so they lay flat to color. I will pack these in cellophane bags and just tie with ribbon there.

I wanted to do a counting jelly bean book too, but ran out of time. Maybe for my 2 littlest Easter baskets. :)

Make some inexpensive art

I made this art work for my kitchen the other day. All you need is scrapbooking paper and some frames. These frames are 12" x 12" (from Hobby Lobby and were/are 50% off). I took solid 12" x 12" paper and used a exacto knife to cut a 4.5" x 4.5 " square from the middle. The pear print is from Lolly Chops and can be printed off here for free...just scroll down to 'paper to print'. She has lots of other great prints and free templates and printables. I centered the pear print behind the opening and taped to the back of the solid paper. Just put in a frame and hang! :)

A kitchen decorating update is coming up soon, as soon as I get my valances sewn and curtain rods up! :)

For now I'm going to work on some bunny alphabet coloring books for party favors for my 3 year old's preschool. I'll share them tomorrow!