Three more skirts for K

I was able to get on my sewing machine and make a few more sets for Kalla these last couple of weeks. I have really made out at the clearance section/end of remnants at Hobby Lobby (I check the bin each time I go in). I got the above polka dot fabric the other day half off. It was enough to make a simple skirt (just one strip, about 43" wide with bias trim hem) for her that matches this army green shirt she already had. I added a few pink buttons to the shirt to girl it up a bit and now she has a cute outfit. Her favorite thing to wear this summer has been the skirts and tee sets I make her.

And I made this top and twirly skirt from Hobby Lobby remnants. I had the skirt's pink fabric for a long time and cut to sew, and the other day I got this black print and realized they coordinated so I made a top with it...more on the top in another post about altering patterns and fixing fitting issues soon.

And this twirly skirt in a patchwork fabric I scooped up early in the season (if I ever find bolts of patchwork I always get some...love when the fabric companies have taken some work from me!) and a bright orange tee with applique flower with button centers.

Next is this gorgeous fabric from Heather Ross' Far, Far Away line. Wow. I never spend this kind of money on fabric, but when I saw the unicorns I just had to get it for K. She LOVES LOVES unicorns. So I'm making her a set for her for a birthday gift.

Now I need to make a few simple skirts for littlest miss miss. And some shorts. I have yet to find shorts in the stores for my 2 year old (at least not any that have long enough inseam that when she sits her diaper doesn't hang out). Both the girls mostly wear skirts with knit bike shorts (we have white and pink bought years ago when Kalla stopped wearing diapers and needed something to go over her panties under her dresses and skirts) underneath and tees to play in for the summer. Pretty nice too that they can wear it to church as well. ;)

Happy Birthday to my boy and his Dog Party

Here's my little dog lover. My 'baby' is 4 years old today! Four is always a tough birthday to me. When they officially are no longer a baby or toddler. Just a little kid. Sigh.....it goes so fast!

But we brought his birthday in with a bang on Saturday! A party with a big dog theme going on and plenty of blue (his fav color) to go around. Here's the scoop:

Of course I made him a special shirt. I simply googled dog silhouette images and printed one up to use as a template for this applique and I free hand cut the little ear.

The banner was circles of scrapbooking papers and I used a stencil alphabet set to trace and cut the letters.

Lots of Micah's fav snacks...popcorn, pretzels, homemade granola bars, raisin boxes....

fruit, cheese and baby carrots. Dog bowls from Target dollar section, bone bandanna from Hobby Lobby.

Fun puppy plates and napkins. Sources for plates, napkins, party favors and our homemade invitations in this post.

Everyone took home their own 'doggy bag'. Brown paper bags with window cut in front and cellophane bags inside. Tied with bone ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

Of course there was a doggy cake! This cake was inspired by this cookie. I used 2 heart shaped cake pans. I baked 2 layer chocolate cake in them, then a yellow cake. The chocolate cake is the face with homemade buttercream frosting tinted with a bit of cocoa. The ears are the yellow cake cut in half and frosted with homemade chocolate frosting. Betty Crocker black frosting eyes and nose, fruit leather tongue. This was SOOO simple to make and Micah just loved it!

As the party guests arrived, they got to have their own doggy gear. Dog 'collars' were made from shrinky dinks. I found a bone template online and traced it onto the paper and wrote the names and punched some holes.

Then the dog ears. I used poster board to make headbands and cut dog ears from foam sheets and stapled them to the headband. When the guests arrived I fitted them for the headband and stapled it in the back.

We also painted on dog noses and whisker spots with face paint.

We had retrievers....

Pink poodles and dalmatians.

Then we did a doggy obstacle course. I made cardboard dog 'houses' to crawl through, a cardboard fire hydrant, hoops (hula) to jump through...

and dog chow to eat. I had a few problems that I wanted to stake the houses and fire hydrant down with dowels, but the ground was so hard I just couldn't get them in. So a few adults held the stuff and the kids had fun anyway. I wanted to give them all a 'Best in Show' blue ribbon sticker I made in publisher too, but my printer won't work for some reason.

They all had a blast (though it was insanely hot)...even my biggest kid got into it with all the little kids. :)

Winner announced

Winn from the giveaway is Candice!

Thanks to everyone who played and all the sweet comments too.

Candice shoot me an email and I'll let you know specifics. :) Can't wait to make a fun surprise! :)

Getting Close

Almost done preparing for Micah's party this Saturday. Still waiting for some fabric in the mail to make him a special shirt to wear.
*make birthday banner~check
*party favors~check
*supplies for dog obstacle course~still need to make a doghouse and fix the hoops, but have the fire hydrant ready and some 'dog food'
*wrapped presents~check
*dog ear headbands~check
*dog collars~need to finish 2 more
*Still need to make homemade granola bars, buy some pre-sliced apples (so they don't brown) and make a dog cake.
I know I'm crazy, but this my favorite party I've planned so far I think...though I really liked Z's lego party too.
Just 2 more days to go! I'll share all the details on Monday.


Speaking of, the giveaway ends tonight. I'll draw a winner tomorrow after I feed my hungry bears in the morning. :) Looking forward to making something fun for somebody! :)

Some of my favorite things: Book edition

Now we have your usual stash of picture books and story books, but here are some different type books that are current favs in our house. First off, Zachary, 7.5 years old is a very good reader. Last year we went through all the Magic Treehouse books, but he's lost interest in in fiction books. He mostly reads his Highlights, Clubhouse Jr and scout magazines. So the other day we were at story time at Barnes & Noble and this book caught my eye. He LOVES it! He craves information and constantly curious about many things. So this has been perfect reading.

The middle 2 are beginner readers (yes you read that right, my 3 year old, almost 4 is reading) and they love this series. You can find these Little Books at www.iseesam.com. They are the same series that my hubby used to learn to read with.

Here is his vintage stash. They however are all yellowed and falling apart. The kids had such a fondness for them, we bought them their own, more sturdy set. They are a phonics reading set with cute and silly stories with black and white cartoon characters.

And we love making up our own stories. We can't get enough of the Bare Books products. Zachary made up a story about 2 snakes in their comic book form and also did a baseball story of him and his dad for Father's Day.

A Surprise Custom Giveaway

Ok, so a while back (about a month) I said I'd celebrate 50 followers with a giveaway and my life was too hectic at that moment. So now there is 20 more that have joined the party. :)

So here is the low down. I want to do a kid type giveaway, but I want to make it specific to boy/girl/baby. So everyone can participate and I will decide what to make based on the individual winner. If you don't have kids (or they are too big for anything handmade) then I will make a 'me' gift instead. There will be multiple items, some fabric and maybe some not.

So to be in the drawing, just leave a comment about your fav homemade kid gifts, 'me' gifts or whatever you wanna say. :) The drawing will close Friday morning and I will draw a name and post it sometime Friday. Then I will get with the winner and make a surprise gift to send. :)

***Drawing is now closed***

Til then I will be posting random stuff as usual and lookout for the Big Dog Party details.

Let your kids make a 4th of July shirt

Ok, forgive the pictures as these are 5 years old. :) These are some shirts that I made with my first 2. I did Kalla's (she was not quite a year old) and Z (he was almost 3) helped do his. Super simple to do with your kids.

You need a white tee, red and blue acrylic or fabric paints and some thick corrugated cardboard (from a packing box). To make the star stamp I used a star cookie cutter to trace a star on the cardboard. Make several and cut them out. Now peel one side of the cardboard to reveal the ribbed corrugated section in the middle. Pour your paints onto a paper plate to dip the stamps in. Lay shirt flat on table. Place a piece of cardboard in between the front and back side of the shirt so the paints don't bleed through to the back. Now press the stars down on the shirt. Do this all over as desired with both blue and red. Then let dry completely.

Here's little Miss Kalla in her shirt that year. It's hard to remember that she was that little...she's going to be 6 years old in a month!

Awwwww...... :)

Keep yummy frappuccino mix in your fridge for...

those mid-afternoon sludge pick me ups! :) I for one can get so sleepy in the afternoons. I found the recipe in this post last year (I'm not sure if it's still there or not...actually I just looked and it's now gone to a recipe you have to buy. When I first found it, it was a free one.) But I tweaked it to make a super fast easy mix that will last me a few days. So here is my version:

I only have a regular coffeemaker so I make a 'fake' espresso...or really strong coffee. I put 2/3 C ground coffee into the coffee filter. Then 2 C of water in the coffeemaker and brew. Then take the brewed coffee and pour it into the place where the water goes into your coffeemaker and brew it again over the ground coffee. Now I pour that double brewed coffee into my quart rubbermaid container. Finished it is usually about 8oz. I then pour vanilla flavored coffeemate (the cold refrigerated kind) into that til it reaches 12 oz (so I use 4 oz). Then I fill the rest of the container with low fat milk. This makes about 4 glasses. I like to have a glass for my mid day snack with some yummy raw cashews. :) Oh and if for some reason it's too strong for your taste, just add extra milk in your glass.

And similarily, here is Top Secret Recipes version of McD's Vanilla Iced Coffee. Enjoy!

My new foyer

So here's what it looks like now.

Just a little furniture. Mirror was a Target clearance find a few months back. The rest I had around the house and will do for now. Eventually I will replace the pendant light and add a funky coat rack and rug runner. The doorknobs will be replaced too as brass hurts my eyes. ;)

We removed lots of wallpaper.

Who knew peeling wallpaper could be so much fun?!

Here is sort of a before. You can see the ugly wallpaper. Unfortunately the unsightly grille cannot be replaced nor can it come all the way off so I can spray paint it white. The doors and trim were a light pinky/peachy putty kind of color.

Next project to come...the dining room. I found some $5 paint at Home Depot the other day in suitable colors. And my love of all loves of things of the inanimate nature....a new chandelier. Just as a disclaimer, I normally would not spend such an amount on this, but I fell in love with it a year ago. Have waited patiently for almost a year for it to go on sale (it's $100 off right now for a limited 8 days) and I saved up my money for it and used a GC for a portion. :) :) Now just to get sweet hubby to install it. Meanwhile I've got more (much more!) wallpaper to remove as my large dining room is covered in it!

Make a simple tin can vase and simple touches to big potluck type parties

This vase is simply a 28 oz tomato can. I peeled off the label and washed it up real good. Then I used mod podge to glue a cute paper on and tied a piece of rick rack around it. Put in a couple of inexpensive bouquets to match the colors and voila! We hosted a surprise birthday party for a lady in our small group/bible study last night. It was about 30 folks (including kids) and a potluck. Being the person I am I couldn't let that stop me from making a few things pretty and decorated.

So if you are hosting a large gathering/potluck there are still some inexpensive and easy ways to spice it up a bit. We of course used all disposables. I got a big box of the nice clear plastic ware at the grocery and the higher quality dinner napkins. I wrapped up the cutlery in the napkins and simply taped a strip of pretty paper about them. As far as disposable tablecloths, I prefer the thick paper ones in the party aisle. They just seem 'richer' than the flimsy plastic ones that slide all around. On the buffet table I put a big white one and cut a square from a red one and layered it on top of the white in a diamond kind of shape.

And at night end, the party girl got to take home the bouquet in it's vase with all her birthday cards. :) Once the flowers die the 'vase' would make a great pen/pencil holder...ohhh these could make great teacher gifts too! I'll have to remember that next year! ;)

Just Hanging Around

We've been mostly playing around here these days. I have yet to 'get back on the horse' after this project. And have delved into a painting project so crafting has been on the back burner for me.

The kids on the other hand have been on full steam ahead! They draw and craft most hours of the day (and dance...latest music selection is Veggie Tales Christmas CD).

...a sampling of the art. Kalla is into fancy letters and self princess portraits with unicorns and flowers and hearts. Zachary draws many baseball themed pics...his latest obsession (oh and a sweet picture for me). And he makes lots of geckos with foam sheets and is working on a foam carrier/house for them.

And we made it over to the local children's museum yesterday. They had a blast playing together.

Puppets...And the water table...

Then outside in the fountain.

And baseball in the yard. :) Been a good week.

Gotta finish my painting (the foyer and trim/door) by Monday. We have a big potluck/party thing at my house. Next week, crafts and maybe another skirt tutorial...gonna get back on that horse!

We are back!!

I am getting back in the groove (somewhat) from being in Costa Rica for 7 days with just hubby. We went to visit/encourage brethren at a congregation near San Jose that our local congregation helps support some for the first half of the week and vacation the second half.

So.....here are a few of the 200+ pics we took (some not great quality as it is with my point and shoot because the kids broke my slr...note the lack of cute anecdote kid story on that one...no I did not scream, kick or throw a tantrum about it, but I am REALLY really really bummed.)

So the first pic and the one above is from a home that is on the side of a mountain where we visited with a sweet family.

This is the ridiculously small car that the car rental place had reserved for us. Note my hubby is 6'3". lol Four of us went many miles in that thing!

On the vacation side, Matt and I stayed in a condo near the coast. The first full day we took an hour and half drive to Manuel Antonio national park. There we took a tour where the guide carried a large telescope for us to see all the animals and living creatures of the park. Many we saw close up as well.

Here is a lizard that can 'walk on water'.

A squirrel monkey carrying her baby.

A sleepy howler monkey.

A sloth and her baby.

White faced monkeys very active in the trees near the ground.

Brown iguana (we saw a green one too on a tree).

The beaches in the park were awesome.

After our tour we hiked back in a mile to swim here. It was warm and very relaxing with the jungle all around you! You just had to watch for the monkeys while you are swimming so they don't come steal your stuff (they have a reputation!)

Then we ate at a cool restaurant that sat on top of a hill that was eye level with the tops of the rain forest trees. As the sun went down the howler monkeys came out.

This beach was closer to our condo. It's called Jaco.

This was Matt's treat. They just slice the top of these coconuts off and stick a straw in. I'm not terribly adventurous with eating. I am embarrassed to admit that I ordered a ham and cheese grilled sandwich and fries twice at restaurants. lol

And on our way out we stopped at this bridge where alligators were sunbathing. Nearby is a big field of cows who seemed strangely unafraid of them.

This was the view on the side of the road on the giant mountain we had to go over to get to the coast from San Jose. It was very high up and very scary when we first went over and it started to rain hard all the way back down. I don't think I've ever prayed so hard in a car!

And here we are...fairly early in our trip, after lunch where we were treated to a fancy lunch on the side of a mountain.

So lots to say, but not enough time to write it all down. I missed the kids A LOT. Matt teases that this is my last trip without them...yeah I whined a lot. Came home to Z's end of season baseball party on Saturday...oh yeah and our 11 year anniversary! :)

PS, no I didn't see any of the celebrities out there....lol