For My Kids

An Ode to Daddy

2011-04-14T15:51:00.000-06:00

Well, we still have a couple months until Father's Day, but if you are like me....you may need some time to prepare. Here are a couple ideas that I hope may inspire you if you don't have many ideas on what to do for "the old man" on his special day. :)

This outfit was made from my husband's old work shirt and work pants. He really loves his job, and BY-GOLLY he is the best Electrician in the state....if I do say so myself. There are actually many out there who would agree with me. Love ya, honey!

I definitely had to cut out the logo for her little shirt. Why Beehive Technical Services, you ask? Well, bees are the hardest workers! So if your hubby has clothes that you have been meaning to donate, but there are just too many wonderful memories, then use them to make something for you little ones. He will love to see them wearing his clothes!

Next up is probably one of my favorite things that I have made my girls. I saw these two shirts at Wal-Mart after Valentines Day last year. They were clearanced out for $1.50 each. I just loved the "I" and the "heart", but the last word on there is actually BEER. Since we don't drink, it was pretty easy to just cut that word right out of there.

So I turned it into I LOVE DADDY dresses!

The girl's wore them with black leggings to church and at home on several occasions, and I just loved them. I'm really into making things for my kids that have something to do with their dad, if you can't tell. Anyway, I kept the serged edge on the outside of the black and used white thread, because that was the look I wanted. Of course there are so many other variations you can try. And I gave the dresses a half sleeve too, because it was still a little chilly outside when I made these.

No outfit would be complete in my house without pockets. Whether for beads to stick up their nose (yes, that has happened) or huge rocks to swallow (again....this has happened), they need their pockets to stow away all their favorite things.

Finally, I have the first thing I ever made for my little man. My husband had some church pants that didn't fit anymore, so I cut them up and made some pants for Blake!! It was actually hubby's idea (I think I'm starting to rub off), and he was so proud to show off his boy that day. :)

Well, if you are like me, then all you need to do is see a few pictures in blogland to get the juices flowing toward a new project. I hope these helped. Happy Sewing!

Our new addition!!

2011-04-14T14:57:00.002-06:00

Well, I never really posted about us expecting our first baby boy, but he is here now!

The day the girls first laid eyes on their little brother:
They even had a card for him. :)

Now he is almost 3 months! He is my sweet little man.

10 minute fix--tutorial

2011-01-18T22:10:00.022-07:00

~~**If you want to enter the Splendid Jewelry GIVEAWAY....scroll down to the next post to see how!**~~

My sweet and innocent little ANGEL is getting so big! Wait a sec......
Ah, yes! Here is a more "angelic" pic of her. As I was saying, she is weeks away from moving into a new room with her big sister.
Here is the bed she will soon be sleeping in. Notice anything off about this bed? Well, it is currently the place where we store all of their stuffed animals. I have actually gotten rid of quite a few, but these are the more sentimental ones that we cant bear to part with....yet.
So hubby and I decided to search for one of those stuffed animal nets, and after spending a whole day asking everyone at all the stores we ventured to, we lost hope. Then I thought, why not make one? The major upside: it's free! So I got some jersey knit that I had from an old moby wrap I made and cut a big triangle (sorry, no pics of my misshapen triangle). Does the triangle have to be absolutely even, and measure the same length on all sides??? ABSOLUTELY....not. You can make it as big or small as you need and you can choose how far apart you want to hang it when your done. The best part about using jersey knit is...no hemming (since it wont fray) and it stretches (so you can fit quite a bit in a little space).
Anyway, after my triangle, I cut 3 strips of knit about 1 inch wide and 11 inches long. You can adjust the measurements if you prefer to have short straps. I then folded the strips in half and did a zigzag stitch down it. I mostly did this to make it look a little better and be a little more durable.
Next, I took the strips to each corner and folded the corner down like I was going to hem it.
Fold the corner once more....
and then move the strip back to the outside. Pin in place so you can stitch it together.
Sew two lines across the top and bottom of the hem. Folding it over and stitching it this way is also another way to make it look better and be a little more durable. :) Can't beat that with little monkeys running around.
This is what you will then have at all three corners:
Now it's time to hang it up! I used these handy little guys that came out of my tool pouch. Yes, my tool pouch...it's pink and purple :)
I then put all the animals in it and decided to tie some ribbon, that I had a ton of, to the ends to make it look a little more girly since my knit was blue.
This is literally a 10 minute project (provided your children are asleep or amused by something).
Or maybe you should just have them make their bed so they can jump on it the whole time.
Happy crafting!!

Jewelry from Splendid Jewelry and GIVEAWAY!

2011-01-18T21:06:00.003-07:00

I just have to post about my friend Mae and her jewelry. It is so gorgeous, simple, trendy, and EXTREMELY well priced. She just opened up an etsy shop:

Splendid Jewelry

She also has a blog that she just started. I would follow and keep an eye out, because once she's gotten everything set up...you might find a coupon code or two there.

**Update: Mae is having a giveaway on facebook!! Go here, and like her jewelry. You can then look at pics of her amazing jewelry. All you have to do is post on her wall what kind of jewelry you would like for Valentines Day! Win it for you or someone else. The drawing will be on Feb. 5th!**

That's my Girl!

2011-01-04T22:42:00.001-07:00

Today, my bedroom floor looked like this:
And it wasn't because of me! With my love of sewing, I thought it would be fun to introduce some of that love to my girls. Sadie has had a bag of her own fabric scraps that I let her use for various projects, but I wanted to do more with her today. I gave her a box and also put pieces of ribbon and some of my extra buttons in it. She was soooo EXCITED!
Then I made these little guys that look like gingerbread men (at least that is what she first called them). She got to choose whether they were girls or boys and dress them however she wanted.
I have given my girls many opportunities to be creative, but sometimes I find it hard to keep up with them. Sadie loves crafting and I love letting her do whatever she wants. I may take a lot of pictures, but I don't disturb her. Her creations are hers alone. Can you see my little corner of the universe back there? I am so proud of it that I hope to take pictures of it soon.
I must say....I was pretty impressed with the thought she put into everything for only being 3 (well, soon to be 4).
She used a lot of buttons, but trust me.....I have A LOT! I can definitely spare a few :)
I got out her markers so that she could give them hair and whatever else she wanted.
She gave them names, and decided that Sadie and Kelsey needed to have rings on their fingers...I love them. And yes, I cut out the skirt. This was the only thing I did, because I was trying to show her what the little dolls were for.
I wasn't quite sure what the notebook was for, so I asked her. She was using it to decide their names.
And here are the finished little people:
The boy named "Daddy" is a musician with long black hair. This looks and sounds nothing like her own Daddy, but she insisted that his name was Daddy. ....strange little girl. haha
And after she finished everything else, she noticed that Kelsey and Sadie were half naked and put a long skirt and a shirt on these two. I love my girls and I love all the amazing things they can do. I'm so blessed to be a mom.

Chore Chart for the Little Ones

2010-11-02T12:35:00.006-06:00

Ever feel like your toddlers need to learn a thing or two about a hard days work??? I know, they are little, but sometimes (when you have more than one especially) you could really use their help around the house. I made this chore chart for my little Sadie who is 3 and I'm sure her sister will be using it soon!

How does it work? Well, first you'll want to get some images online or through clip art. I just googled "chore chart pictures" and found mine. I did my chart awhile ago and couldn't find the exact ones, but there are some great ones HERE and HERE. The idea is to give her many opportunities to do something helpful, when she does, she can put a star where it belongs and at the end of the week....we count up the stars. The more stars she gets, the better her reward.
Anyway, continuing on... I got a regular sheet of white card stock and measured out how many chores I wanted and for how many days. I colored my little pictures, cut them out, and glued them on each Chore space with words to label them.

I labeled the days of the week and the title of my Chart with the saying, "I will help my family" in the corner. I laminated the whole sheet (I did this at our local office store) and then got sticky-back velcro (from Wal-mart) to stick on every square.
I then cut out some little stars (although you can use any image you want!) and laminated them as well. I put the other side of the velcro on the back of the stars.

All the stars are in a baggy and when she chooses to do one, or does so when asked (not begged), she can get a star from the bag and put it where it goes on the chart! She loves it!! I hope it works out great for you too :D

One more thing! We wanted her rewards to not by monetary or all bribes of junk food, so we chose rewards that were perfect for our family.

**Need some reward ideas?**
ice cream night
you pick the movie
camp out in the living room
board game night
game night (Simon says or Duck, duck, goose)
family walk/bike ride
bake cookies with Mom
Jeep ride with Daddy

Is Halloween Over?

2010-11-01T14:01:00.006-06:00

I don't know about any of you, but I really procrastinated this year! We were supposed to go Friday night to our church's Trunk or Treat, so I was sewing away Friday afternoon. My little Sadie wanted to be Belle--"IN THE BLUE DRESS"!
She actually went to the Trunk or Treat with no zipper on the back of her dress. It was held on with 4 safety pins. I amaze myself sometimes....luckily it was done for Halloween and she was happy.
As for my Kelsey, she went as Dorothy, and her Grandma had the costume in her dress up bin for the girls. Poor Kelsey was sick for the Trunk or Treat and she didn't want to stay in her costume on Halloween, so this is one of the only pics we have of her. I think we will have to dress her up again :D

Hope you had a great Halloween! It is one of my favorite holidays....nothing but family activities galore!

Last minute accessories

2010-03-31T13:06:00.000-06:00

Well, my girls already wore their Easter dresses to church last Sunday, but if your darlings are going to wear theirs this Sunday, there are some cheap accessories out there that you can spruce up.

I bought everything here at the Target dollar spot! Arent the gloves super cute?! Luckily, I bought them early, but my girls didn't even have their dresses yet. I had no idea what color they were even going to be since their Grandma likes to buy their Easter dresses.

I saw these same hats at our local Dollar Tree, along with some adorable basket purses (in different colors and styles) which I later bought, but didn't take a pic of. Anywhoo....the girls' matching dresses were pink and green (one of my favorite combos). So I took some ribbon...

FYI: if your outfits are pastel, Dollar Tree also sells many pastel colors for $1 a spool.

Happy Valentines Day....ummmm, yeah.

2010-03-27T15:04:00.000-06:00

Yes, I checked my calender this morning, but since my camera/blog was on the fritz, I couldn't post the outfits I made for the girls for the big day! So, now I'm playing catch-up to post a million old pics. Anyway, here they are:

All that work to post this and a pic is sideways. Unfortunately, I'm lazy :) The outfits are pretty heart-tastic, but they've worn it a few times since then. I was going to go out and buy fabric, but it kinda defeats the purpose of saving money.

I had to include the pics of my little Pudding crying, because it was so darn cute (poor girl).

We also made these little hair clips for the other little girls at gymnastics.

Last minute gift idea

2010-03-25T15:16:00.000-06:00

There is a little girl down the street who had a birthday party and decided to invite Pumpkin. Honestly, Pumpkin and I have never met this little girl before, but I know her parents. We had a lot of fun! Since it was kinda last minute, we didnt have a gift. They said we didn't need to give her one, but with time to spare, I decided to make this skirt for her. Happy Birthday, Hailey!

Gymnastics and Tutorial

2010-03-25T00:02:00.000-06:00

We recently enrolled our little Pumpkin into a gymnastics class at one of our local community centers. At first, she didn't have a cute little leotard like the other girls (and she didn't really care), but one day she was talking to them and said, "I don't have one of those. I only have a shirt and pants." Then she ran to me and asked if she could have an outfit for gymnastics too. How could I say no?!

Now, they sell tights with the bottoms cut off, but this was quite a bit cheaper. I got this 3-pack at Walmart for $3. The less we spend the better, because who knows....she might not like gymnastics at all! :) I thought I would give a tutorial on these just in case anyone was thinking of doing the same thing. OR...you could just make them because they look cute with the little flower. These would look adorable under a denim skirt.

Cut off the ends. I only cut off a little bit so she could wear them longer. Since they are so stretchy, it really doesn't matter if there is excess. You can even go shorter if you want to make them capri-length tights.

Hem the bottom with a zig-zag stitch.

Gather left over fabric from toes in your fingers whatever size and shape you want your flower. There really is no right or wrong way. Hand stitch together, and stitch onto tights. And...then you are done!!

Just for Baby

2010-01-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I went to a baby shower today for the absolutely adorable Josephine!!! I mean, her cheeks are HUGE and I love it. Whether the cheeks are in the front or the back..."I like 'em big....I like 'em chunky." That was a Madagascar quote (for those that think I'm losing it). Pumpkin LOVES watching movies.

Anyway, I took ONE picture of the outfit I made for her before I went to the shower. I just zoomed in differently a few times :) I know, I really need to velcro a camera to my forehead. Well, here it is:

I really wanted to personalize this for her. Hence the monogram, but I forgot that she already has a lot of hair...I should've made hair clips instead. :( The bow and the tulle are my favorite.

Bears and Honey

2010-01-12T22:28:00.001-07:00

I saw this fabric at a thrift store and HAD to have it. If I was smart enough to take a nice picture of the pattern, then I would have, but obviously I'm not, so......(wow! that was a pretty bad run-on sentence). There wasn't much of the fabric, but that is only a minor detail. YOU CAN'T STOP FATE!

Then my mom gave me an old velvet skirt she had and no longer wanted (there's fate again). I decided to make some skirts for the girls and used the velvet underneath and made a big bow out of it. I like it when embellishments are big....very big.

I had them wear it to church (of course I didn't take pictures---again), and found that I had to make a quick adjustment before leaving the house. See, I thought that I could accurately guess what Pumpkin's waist size was (she was asleep and I was getting quite a bit done). Long story short, I had to cut open the skirt, tightened the elastic, and did a little baste stitch to keep it closed. But...it still turned out okay...phew! We were only an hour late for church. HAHA Just kidding....we were on time.

It's CRAFTIN' TIME!

2010-01-06T01:07:00.002-07:00

One thing that we gave the girls for Christmas was their own CRAFT BOX! I highly recommend them, because they get to do whatever they want and truly be creative (without a hovering mother). This box is actually a fishing tackle box, which is something I learned from my mother long ago.

I used a lot of stuff that I had and never used, like pom-poms and various foam stickers. I also had a small container of beads and gems. There are also various crayons and markers that no longer have a home (or the other markers wore out) that I threw in the box. Some of the crayons are even from local restaraunts.
I bought a very big bag of foam stickers on clearance at Jo-Anns before Christmas. There are also plenty of craft supplies at your local dollar store (like pipe cleaners). Of course, what would a craft box be without paint and glue?!?!

I love this because she can just sit at the table and go crazy. Nothing was really expensive, and the whole point is to make a mess and have fun.

Happy Holidays!!!

2010-01-03T00:17:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! Now it's time for me to get back on track!

But first, I had the GREATEST idea ever to make all of our tree decorations, and make them edible (can you sense the sarcasm??). I started the day after Thanksgiving and ended a few days before Christmas. It wouldnt have taken so long if I wasnt working on about a million other things!

I made the names of the girls and our last name. The rest of the gingerbread cookies, were snowflakes. I have always wanted to string popcorn around my tree, but it is NOT as easy as pictures and TV make it seem. I go to string one, and it would fall apart in my hand!! There was a HUGE mess! Although, I really enjoyed it and I think I want to make this a tradition every year. Especially now that I know how big of a project this is.

Then there was this great idea from Trey and Lucy! I got the towels at Target for $2.50. It was something easy and Christmasy to have Pumpkin wear. I like that it has a snowman, rather then Santa, so she can wear it throughout winter.

In the picture above, she is laying over a huge gap in between the chair and the coffee table. She can be a little odd sometimes...I have NO CLUE where she gets that from. wink-wink

Organization is key!

2009-12-15T23:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I am managing to make another post for the day. Like I said, December has been pretty busy. So I decided to take a note from the amazing ladies at Sister Stuff and make a simple planner!
You take a regular notebook and cover it with scrapbook paper.

They even had the great idea of putting an envelope on the back of the front cover for receipts!!! I just used some extra scrap pieces and stuck a little piece to keep them from falling out. I LOVE IT!

M.I.A.

2009-12-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

Alright, there are no excuses here. My lack of posting has just been pure laziness! I've been doing quite a bit, but don't have the pictures to back up my story.

Well, the thing I've been doing the most: SAVING MONEY!! It's like an addiction!

I did, however, make my girls some bubble skirts to wear for church on Sunday, and I'm looking forward to posting pics of them. I still have pictures on my camera of other things I need to post...I just need to not be so lazy!

Anyway, I hope to make another post late tonight!!! Oh, yeah....MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

And the winner is....

2009-11-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

Comment #15: Lisa!!

Congratulations, and I hope you have an

amazing Birthday!

Thanks to everyone that entered! I'll have to do this again sometime, but with something REALLY good (instead of a mini-giveaway).

Pudding's Hat for Christmas

2009-11-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

**If you want to enter the giveaway...please scroll to next post**

Well, as most of you know. Almost everything I've been making recently is for Christmas. I figured, if I'm going to be making things for my girls, I might as well save it for Christmas (easy on my budget). Today, I made a hat for my little Pudding using this amazing tutorial from Disney! Here is my little sleeveless hoodie that I used:

The plus side of making stuff for Pudding, she's so little that she has no idea what I'm doing (or what Christmas is). So...I can try it on her and see how everything fits :) Here is how it turned out:

da-da, da, da, da....I'm lovin' it! (hmm...is it illegal to use that?)

For My Kids: First ever mini-GIVEAWAY!

2009-11-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I made some trendy ruffle scarves for gifts this year, and I had enough fabric for one more. So...I decided to have a little giveaway. I love the way ruffle scarves look, they can be gathered around your neck, or hang loose. They stretch, so...one size fits all.

What's with the flower, you ask?? It's a pin (cool, huh?). You can use it to hold your scarf in the style you want, or you can pin it to a shirt, jacket, purse...whatever. Give it to a little girl if you want. Both are part of the giveaway.**If you want to enter, just leave a comment. If you post annonymously because you dont have a google accout, just put your name at the bottom of your post.

**If you become a follower (or already are one), you can enter twice.

**I will randomly choose a winner on Friday.

If it's not your cup of tea, it makes a great Christmas gift for the young woman in your life. :)

Gettin' Creative

2009-11-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

I let my little Pumpkin paint today!! She had so much fun this morning.

Pudding spent most of this time asleep, but when she wasn't, she was bein' silly...as usual.

While painting was taking place on the table, I was working on part of a Christmas present for them...special CRAYONS!! Lucky for me, my girls aren't hard to impress. I know it's not much, but it will all come together in the end.

I thought the stars would be best for Pudding, so she could grip them well. I've still got some more to make...looking forward to it.

Take some old crayons and break/cut them up into small pieces. Mix colors however you want! I put them in a shaped baking pan and melted them at 200 degrees for about 15 min. (I would just keep an eye on it...cuz I dont remember exactly how long...oops)

Here is our little art gallery!!

I'm lovin' her big pink circle!

Great Deals=Great Week!!

2009-11-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Our week begins at Walmart! There are always good deals at Walmart, but I wanted to checkout their Halloween stuff. I found these two princess sets there for 75% off, making them $1.25. These will be for the girls for Christmas as part of their dress up stuff. I got some Halloween pantyhose for next year for .85. There are plenty of Princess sets left if anyone wants any for...whatever. I also bought my girls matching Op dresses (in two colors) and an Op shirt for my oldest for next year. Each was $2. There were also two pjs left (one for each girl) at $1 each. Not the most amazing of my week, but very happy.
Next up, Walgreens. I LOVE, LOVE Walgreens!!! I'm a huge fan of register rewards, because I take them and use them each week...it's like I'm constantly getting stuff from there every week for free. Anyway, here's the scoop: Almay is having a B1G1F deal. It says you get the second at 50% off, but it rings up as free. You buy foundation (which is $9.99) and get $10 RR. Then you pick yourself up some eye shadow or mascara and get it for free! There's more!! That will give you $5 in RR! I already had RR to use up, so I got them for almost nothing, twice. Now, I have $30 in RR for the next 2 weeks.

Now we go to Target. I went there to buy Bounce, because I needed some and they were having a good deal for 240 ct. box. I decided to buy two boxes (I had two coupons also) and in turn, they gave me a $5 Target giftcard for my purchase (not ALL Targets do this). They were also having a sale on Glade Sense and Spray (that I really wanted for our guest bathroom) for $5.99. That is a great deal all by itself, but if you get the paper, then you probably got the $4 off coupon for it....making the whole starter kit $1.99!
Next up, Walmart...again. I went shopping two seperate days. I went to one of my favorite sites, Good or Free deals. They have this post for $1 off 2 Campbell's soups. People have been saying that they had trouble printing the coupon, but I didn't...I clicked on the right side of the screen to take me to the coupon when getting ready to print. So, I got two cans of Cream of Chicken and two cans of Cream of Mushroom soup for .08 each!! This awesome 5 pack of Tide-to-go was on clearance for $3!!! Again, if you have coupons, there was one for $1 off. I got the 5 pack for 2 bucks (I've always wanted to buy some, but think they are too expensive). The cake mix was .78 each. Not amazing, but good cuz I needed them. This trip, I spent $4.10!
Lastly, I hit up one of our dollar stores, Dollar General (if you have one). They have their Libby canned veggies 2/$1, but once again...if you get coupons, the coupon was $1 off 4 cans. Making it 4/$1!!! For me, this did not work on corn even though the coupon only says "for Libby's canned vegetables."

Grayceful Dress for Shabby Apple Dresses

2009-11-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

And yet another dress design for Shabby Apple Dresses. This one is the Grayceful Dress which has a little more elegance and great detail.

I wanted a dress with a little more "wow" (I'm obviously not good at expressing myself). I have the whimsical, the flirty/comfy for work and for play, and this time, I wanted the elegant. With a bright floral pattern, it can be worn anywhere that you want to look fabulous, but...if it were in black and white...it screams socialite dinner and formal outtings! I LOVE this dress!! I would love to see it with a deep cuff on the sleeves (which I should've added in my picture).

Kelsey Dress for Shabby Apple Dresses

2009-11-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

Here is another dress design for Shabby Apple Dresses! It's the Kelsey Dress!

My inspiration for this was to have something a little more "walking through the garden" feel to it. I picture this dress in pale pink or peach. I wanted a dress with a great flow/swing to it. I imagine it with a sheer fabric on top for the ruffle, belt, and neckline. I made the neck a v-neck on this dress. I love the belted waist and accent flower for this dress. I think it will make it look almost whimsical (in the garden in my mind).

Sadie Dress for Shabby Apple Dresses

2009-11-02T23:11:00.000-07:00

Here is my dress design for Shabby Apple Dresses...the Sadie Dress.

Fabric: breathable cotton knit/blend. Trendy floral pattern with solid color accents. Classy and Comfy

My inspiration for this dress comes from my girls and the struggle I have with finding a dress for my "lack of curves" :) I love the fabric that I chose for the tunics I designed for my girls (pic below). I wanted a dress that would be comfortable but very beautiful and flirty. I wanted something that I felt would flatter most, if not everyone's, body type. At the same time, I want to be able to feel comfortable carting around a toddler and infant (while still looking and feeling great). Finding a dress like that is a struggle for me, so that's why I came up with this.

Some features written on sketch (I didn't know how to enlarge it):
--sleeves just above elbow, flare out like a comfy tunic
--wide belt placed to define curves
--front detail with ruffles and buttons to create and show-off curves
--darkened areas of sketch are for solid color accents
--the neck is a boat/banana neck.

Happy Halloween!!

2009-11-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's a little late. But I've never made Halloween costumes before and I wanted to post them. I let Pumpkin choose what she wanted to be this year (which was "Red Riding Hood"). She also insisted that her sister be "Granny." The only thing unusual about this is that the only Red she knows is from the movie Hoodwinked.
Not exactly your traditional Red. So...here is how it turned out:

There weren't very many pictures of Pudding. Everytime we went out, whether for a Trunk or Treat or on Halloween night, she was already really sleepy.I'm pretty excited to make their costumes next year! Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

One Tutu...finished!

2009-10-22T12:55:00.000-06:00

So...I took a long time to complete my tutu. I just got caught up in other things (not surprising). Besides, it's not for Halloween, it's for Christmas. She loves to dress up. Anyway, at least now it's done. I even made a little wand to go with it.

Halloween Bucket!

2009-10-21T08:46:00.000-06:00

I found this cute little utility bucket at the dollar store. I thought it was too cute all by itself, but...it would make the perfect Halloween bucket since it was already black. Anyway, I used some scraps of felt, some seasonal ribbon, and some old Halloween fabric that I had. Here's how it turned out:

Day of Fun

2009-10-11T21:02:00.000-06:00

Sometime last week, the girls and I had a busy day. I made some homemade playdough for Pumpkin to play with...

and then I took the girls out to the garden to pick some carrots that were due to come up. Pumpkin loves her some carrots and ranch!

Lovin Coupons

2009-10-11T20:44:00.000-06:00

So I went to Albertsons the other day...coupons, weekley ad, and list in hand and had a wonderful time. I only wanted to buy the stuff that was a really good deal. The stuff that I ended up buying is normally quite expensive (at least to my tastes), but I got a lot for a little.

I heard the Warm Delights from Betty Crocker are really good, but I feel that they are too expensive for so little, but......I GOT THEM FOR FREE!!! Yes, they are doubling coupons until Tuesday and I had two 50 cent coupons. If I bought 6 participating items, you get $3 off. Well, I bought 20 participating items and had coupons for all of them. I also got Progresso broth for FREE!!

Anyway, I spent $14 and got this: (saving a little over $30!!!!!)

Twin Tunics

2009-10-06T14:04:00.000-06:00

I wanted to take the time to tell eveyone THANK YOU for following my blog and for your comments. I'm not to familiar with blogging, but I hope to one day inspire tons of others just as they inspire me. I appreciate all of your comments. If you have never commented, I would love to hear from you! I truly appreciate the input and all the ideas you all give me.
Anyway, I've been getting bad about not posting very much crafty stuff. But...I was working on my greatest project yet. MY OWN PATTERN!! I've never done this before. I've always understood the concept, but I always thought it would be too difficult for me. Turns out...it's not difficult at all. I think anyone with a fair amount of sewing knowledge could do it.

I laid out my daughters' current clothes and copied sleeves and the body (including necklines) and adjusted wherever I wanted to. Here is how they turned out:

A CORNY Weekend

2009-09-30T10:09:00.000-06:00

Meet Lady, our wagon cow! :)

We went to our local corn maze this past weekend and had a BLAST! We stayed for a couple of hours and got really tired out. I forgot to take pics of the actual corn maze, but that may be because I was too busy trying to get out of it.

There are tons of things that the kids can do. They had this huge hill with differesent slides going down it. You slide down on an old sack. They are so much fun. For some reason, Pumpkin loved this water pump more than some of the other activities. Probably because it was really hot and she could play in the water.We also let her get her face painted this year. We weren't sure how she would do, but she was amazing the whole trip. We didn't have any problems at all. A lady even stopped us and told us that she looked cute getting her face painted with her little toddler legs standing there.

Here's her ladybug!! She was so proud when she saw it the mirror.

The corn maze gets better and better every year. The grass used to be sand and the hill with the slides is now covered in flowers. It's beautiful. Every year they alaways have these little pits where kids can play with corn seeds. It gets messy, but that's the whole purpose of going out and having fun like this.

Next year, Pudding can have just as much fun as her big sis. This year, she stayed well shaded with her hat and rode in a baby backpack the whole time. We didn't have any problems with her either. :)

No-Sew Tutus

2009-09-29T21:22:00.000-06:00

Well, tutorials for "no-sew tutus" are all over blogland. Just about everyone has one. But...if you are one of the two people that come to my blog (ha ha) you can find one here. This is a pic of all of my "stuff". Savers sells brand new and super cute wings for $2.99. Now that I have 2 girls, I buy and make 2 of almost everything. It might not matter now, because a 6 mo. old doesn't have much say, but......she will. These are great for an easy costume for Halloween, but mine are actually a Christmas gift for my girls, because Pumpkin LOVES to dress up.
Anyway, measure how much elastic you need for your child's waist. I sewed the elastic ends together twice (in pink so you can see) because Pumpkin is pretty ruff sometimes. I would use elastic that's about 1/4" thick. If you don't have it, and you have something else....use it. I really don't think it matter, because the elastic will curl and twist while you're doing it anyway (as you will see).
As for your tulle, I cut it into strips that were about 10" x 24". If you buy your tulle by the yard rather than on a spool, just cut 10" strips down it, and on the fold of the yardage, cut (like in pic).

Here is how you attach it to the elastic. I used a piece of fabric to better illustrate. You fold your tulle in have, making a loop on one side of the elastic. Take the ends and wrap it around the elastic and pull it through the loop. Just like a tassle on a bookmark.

Do this all around your elastic. Make it as full as you want. You can add litte embellishments also. I put ribbon on mine. But wait....that's not all I'm going to do with it. (I just didn't finish it yet)

***Special THANK YOU to my good friend Melissa for getting me stuck on Good or Free Deals (click button for link, I'm lazy)...she is so awesome! Love ya, Melissa!!***

Today's Tutorial: Easy Ribbon Belts

2009-09-25T22:10:00.000-06:00

This is probably one of the simplest and quickest things you could make (and almost every kid needs one). Since the season to wear jeans is coming up, I thought a tutorial on ribbon belts was in order. First off, grab your materials. I bought this ribbon on clearance @ Hobby Lobby. I love it, because it's kinda sturdy all by itself. Plus, I really like the pink and green combo. The little belt loops were .78 at Walmart.

Measure your child's waist...or your waist (I think I'm gonna make one of these for me). You can leave the ribbon single or you can double it like I did. It just gives it more strength and sturdiness. Back to doubling...take that measurement and double it. Pull the loops through until it's in the middle of your ribbon.

Sew it in place. Burn (or singe) the ends of the ribbon so it won't fray if you wash it. I then sewed down both sides of the belt and over the end. For the end, I folded both sides inward, facing each other. You can just fold both ends over together if you want. And then you're done.

FREE Bath and Body Works Anti-bacterial Soap

2009-09-25T13:45:00.001-06:00

You can get your soap FREE with ANY purchase. Head on over to the cheapies and pick something out. You can print out your coupon, here. This freebie was brought to you by Good or Free Deals.

Also...head on over to her blog for your FREE redbox code!!!

FREE Box of Honey Bunches of Oats!

2009-09-25T13:18:00.000-06:00

Walmart has a box for $2 and you can find the printable coupon for $2 off, here. This freebie is brought to you by, Good or Free Deals. Hurry! The cereal is only $2 until the end of the month.

Game Day

2009-09-21T08:08:00.000-06:00

We dressed up our little Pudding for the big season opener on Sunday. She was even sporting some Nike hand-me-downs from her sister that their Grandma got them. The game was a little disappointing, but it was neat to see the Cowboys new field. Hubby wishes he could watch the game from inside the scoreboard. Pumpkin was watching the game with her daddy when she started getting upset with the TV saying, "stop pushing....you need to share." It was fun.

As for this pic...don't ask. She was taking an afternoon nap and I thought that I should go check on her. I have no idea how she managed to pull back her fitted sheet and maneuver herself underneath it. I wish I was in the room to see her do it. Although, because she was under her sheet I was constantly checking on her throughout the rest of her nap.

Couponing 101

2009-09-17T10:17:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple tips:

1. Many of you know, but for those of you that don't....you can double up on coupons. You can use a store coupon (Target or Walgreens, etc.) and you can use a manufacturers coupon with it also.

2. I find it HIGHLY worth it to invest in the Sunday paper. If you don't want to subscribe, you can pick up the Sunday paper on Monday for half price. At least this is true for where I live. TIP: make sure it has the ads in it (people take them sometimes, and get there ASAP...many people pick them up on Mondays)

3. Check the ads for when they are double, triple, and quadrupling coupons. Albertsons does this about once every 6-8 weeks.

4. Head over to Walgreens and pick up their monthly coupon book by their ads at the front door. Remeber, you can combine these with manufacturer coupons.

5. Walgreens also offers "Register Rewards". In their ad, after buying certain items, a coupon will print out after you check-out. This is how much money you will have taken off of your next purchase. CON: there is an experation date (I believe you have to use it within a week or two). However, if you plan on getting their great deals every week, this is awesome.

Example: True North Nut Clusters this week are $3

You get $3 in register rewards (printed after purchase)

In the end, it's like you bought them for FREE...your next purchase, is when you can use your $3 off coupon (on anything)

6. Target actually offers quite a few coupons, and they can have really good sales. I like to get my Target coupons, here.

7. Don't forget to try and buy it on sale. Using a coupon will make it double cheap. There are many places online to print coupons. Most of them have exactly the same amount of coupons. CON: Some sites only let you print out one coupon per page and they put a huge ad on the rest of the page (uses up a LOT of ink). PRO: if there is something specific you need...just find it, and print it.

TIP: this week is a great week to buy Claritin. Paper had a $6 off coupon for this week only and Walgreens has a coupon in their ad for $4 off. Making it $10 off.

BYE!! and GOOD LUCK!!

Weekly Segment?

2009-09-16T12:04:00.001-06:00

Hello, not very many of you know me personally, but I love coupons. A few people have asked me for some tips on "couponing", so they can begin to enjoy the benefits as well. I'm far from an expert, but I wanted to share what I know and a few of the deals I find each week.

I live in a smaller city, so most of my ventures will only be to Albertsons, Walmart, Target, and Walgreens, but if any of my advice can help others get started in other cities...that would be awesome. Anyway...I really want some feedback (even though not many people usually comment on my blog). Let me know if you think I should have a little segment on couponing. I'll look forward to hearing from you!!!

April

Sunday Attire

2009-09-15T15:37:00.000-06:00

My darling hubby took a pic of the hair clip I made to match the ruffled shirt a made. It's not very clear, but it's there. I went outside and took a couple of pictures of Pumpkin getting the paper before church.

On a Side Note!

2009-09-15T15:12:00.000-06:00

Well, taking a break from the longer project, I decided to do something really fast and easy! I don't usually buy socks at thrift stores. I'm a HUGE thrift store fan, but I like to buy my socks new. These however, are not for me. I got cute tall socks for women and girls to make cute leg warmers for my Pumpkin! You just chop 'em off and hem or serge the end. Done, and done!

I can't wait for her to wear them with skirts this winter. I LOVE the funky colors and stripes. You can put some tights on underneath for added warmth. For some reason, little girls in leg warmers makes me think of Salt Lake City. This is a must try. I was going to do it for Christmas, but I needed to make sure they fit her. Oh, well...next time.

A Work in Progress...

2009-09-15T12:32:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't been posting. I've been working on a couple projects, but they are taking a little longer than expected. Unfortunately, it won't have a tutorial, because I don't know how to make it (it'll be a process of trial and error). Anyway, if I get it done, it will be a great idea for any little girl. Homemade or bought.

Tooth Fairy Pouch

2009-09-12T12:30:00.001-06:00

Well, I took my little Pumpkin (my hubby calls the oldest pumpkin and the baby pudding) to the dentist yesterday. She loves the dentist and they really love her too. Anyway, I came home and decided to make a tooth fairy pouch for her. I know she's only two, but if I don't do it when I think of it...I forget. They were so quick and easy to make that I made them for my nieces and nephews that get Christmas presents from us this year (we do a gift exchange with a different family every year). They are at the age of losing teeth anyway. Not a very great gift, but I wanted to include it with the other stuff...it's the thought that counts I guess.

Daddy's Creations

2009-09-10T18:57:00.000-06:00

A while back, we went camping. My husband probably had two whole minutes to himself, and decided to make this:

We are so proud that I labeled it and put a magnet on it. The pic is actually of it on our fridge. On the fridge amongst all of the papers colored by our toddler. :)

Time Well Spent

2009-09-10T13:40:00.000-06:00

During the girls' nap time, I was able to make a couple more things to go into those Christmas clutches. By the way, I put the carton wallets in them. They were just too cute. I thought some hair clips would also be good...at least for the girls.

Bandanna Outfits

2009-09-09T20:50:00.000-06:00

Finally, I got around to finishing my girls' bandanna outfits. Each bandanna cost .99 at Hobby Lobby, and there are tons of colors to choose from. I got quite a few a while back.

I had to put a pocket on it for my oldest, because she loves putting coins, rocks, and toys in her pockets.

I know....my little chunker's dress is a little wet. She likes to drool, but everything she does is cute to me :)

We're back

2009-09-07T21:54:00.000-06:00

We are back from our weekend away, so that's why there has been a lack of blogging. I wanted to take some good pics of everything there, but I didn't have my camera with me most of the time. Well, I was able to take a picture of my Princess using a doggy door at her Great Grandma's house.

Then we came home and I've been cleaning, unpacking, and doing a TON of laundry. While I clean, I like to keep my little monkey busy with something to do.....so....I let her give her baby a bath using hotel soaps. That kept her busy for about half an hour!

I also let her make her own little ice fruit. We were going to use strawberries, but the little bit that was left in our fridge, spoiled. So we decided to use grapes. I cut them up and I let her fill the tray with them. Then we got her little tea pot from her kitchen and I let her fill them up with water. She liked eating the grapes after the ice melted in her cup. Well, I gotta get back to being productive. Hope everyone else had an awesome weekend!

Going for a Change

2009-09-03T12:49:00.000-06:00

Well, the blog background I had was cute, but the plaid background was KILLING ME! Besides, less is more, right?

Hair Bows

2009-09-03T10:12:00.000-06:00

I love making these bows for my girls!! (I like'em HUGE!) The crafty ladies at Enchantresses3 thought of this one. They have a tutorial, here. They can turn nothing into something amazing for your home. Check it out.

Revamping a backpack

2009-09-02T22:52:00.000-06:00

A while back, my mom bought my 2 year-old a princess backpack that has now seen better days. Poor Aurora! It definitely needed a little pick me up. Lucky for me, Jessica at Happy Together got the idea to decorate a backpack with petals.

Now my little angel has a backpack that is church worthy. She can wear it with a cute dress, or just for fun. I love this idea!! The petals were from the Dollar Tree, so they were only a buck. The backpack that Jessica used was also a $1 at the Dollar Tree. I also bought my grosgrain ribbon that I used on it from there. Now I'm not sure if I'm going to give this to her now or save it for Christmas. Hmmm...(any thoughts?)

Cute, Simple Shirt Tutorial

2009-09-01T22:34:00.000-06:00

First things first, turn your shirt that's too big, inside out. Now, I like to put the shirt on (still inside out) and mark how deep I want the neck and where my cap sleeves need to begin and end (to keep it modest).
Then I take it off and lay a shirt on top of it that fits me WELL. This is how I know how loose or fitted I want it to be---and also how long (I love longer shirts)!Next we are going to make our cuts. Don't forget to add room for the seam allowance on the sides and sleeves, and a hem for the bottom. I fold it in half to cut the sides and sleeves, to make sure they are exactly the same. You also don't want your arm holes too tight. I love making a shirt this way, because there is definitely room for error. However, it's always better to have excess fabric then not enough. If your shirt is too loose or too long, it's an easy fix.
Since your shirt is already inside out, stitch up the sides. Usually I'd use my serger, but the great thing about jersey knit is that it won't fray. So I'm just going to use a straight stitch.

Here is the fun part! Turn your machine to a small zig-zag stitch that's close together. If you don't know what knob does what and you're too lazy to get your manual out (like me), just try it a couple different times with a piece of scrap fabric. Now your want to sew the edge of the fabric, and while you're sewing, pull the fabric tight, like this: (keep in mind that I don't have three hands)
This creates the ruffle, and you could've messed up a million times and no one can tell because of the ruffle. You are almost done!!

Here comes the elastic thread. The elastic HAS to go in the bobbin and you HAVE to winde it by hand loosely. I've also heard that it does not work in a plastic bobbin, but I really don't know. Before you start sewing, you want to make sure the elastic will appear on the INSIDE of your shirt. Now stitch about a quarter to a half an inch away from the edge on the neck and sleeves (again--doesn't have to be perfect, you won't be able to tell). When you're done, you'll want to get out your ironing board and a spray bottle with water. As you spray the elastic thread on your shirt, you'll see it shrink up. Iron it dry. As you can see....very stretchy.

HERE IS WHERE YOUR CREATIVITY COMES IN!

I purposely left the bottom for the end, because there is more then one thing you can do. You can ruffle and use elastic thread exactly like the sleeves (that is very in-style), you can have it only ruffled (which is also very cute), or you can do a classic hem (which I chose to do, because I had a ton of ruffle going on).

If there is something on the front or not enough fabric left over, then...YOU'RE DONE! If your shirt has enough fabric and doesn't have anything on the front, you can do ruffles on it. This also needs your creativity, because I've seen 4 rows on up to 8 rows of ruffle. They can also be as wide as you want and as long as you want.

For gathering----put the tension knob on your machine to the highest setting, and set your stitch to the longest length. Leave several inches of thread leftover on both ends (this gives you the option of lengthening your gather). Stitch down the middle of your strips (Just guide it through the machine, don't pull as it sews). Ta Da! Your machine gathered it for you. Gently pull fabric together to gather any way you desire. When you've figured out where and how you want to place them, stitch'em on. AND YOU'VE DONE IT!! NOW GO DO IT AGAIN...IT ONLY GETS EASIER!!!

2 year-old reminder

2009-09-01T08:38:00.000-06:00

My little princess just reminded me of something we made a few months ago out of cartons. These are really cute coin purses. You can find the template here.

Another One Done

2009-09-01T06:58:00.000-06:00

****For those of you who don't know, the goal of this blog is to share everything I know how to do with everyone that wants to learn. I hope to someday learn some of your amazing skills as well---like cooking :) I have issues in that area. I'm a firm believer in giving credit where credit is due, so any ideas I get from other blogs will be posted with a link. ****

Here is the other one I finished last night. I'm really happy with them, and I can't wait to fill them. I don't really think that my poor picture taking skills do them justice.

I've been getting more comments about the clothes then anything else so I'm going to start working on a tutorial for that today. They are really easy as well (lots of room for mishaps). I'm going to take a pain navy blue T-Shirt that's too big and turn it into something more fitted with ruffles. If you want to follow along, all you need is your shirt, sewing machine, matching thread and elastic thread (that you can pick up @ Hobby Lobby). Anyway...Happy Crafting!

Clutch for Kids

2009-08-31T13:34:00.000-06:00

These are my first Christmas gifts of the season. They are little clutch purses made of placemats. I thought it would be fun to fill them with hair bows, and a cute little quiet activity for church (that's for another post). Anyway, I was going to do a huge tutorial about how to sew them, but for the most part it's self explanatory. However, Jessica from Happy Together has an amazing tutorial for them, here. So this tutorial is mainly on embellishing one and making it personalized.

These are the placemats I chose. I got them at Kmart. A lot of stores have placemats on clearance. These were on sale for $2.39!! The one I'm going to show you is for my niece in Texas.

Cut a long strip of coordinating fabric for the flowers. When you cut the strip it does not have to be perfect at all. Like mine!! You won't be able to tell. The larger the flower you want, the wider your strip needs to be. Mine is about 2". I also make the strip long just in case I want to do two flowers.

Fold the strip in half and stitch it closed.

Baste stitch by the seam and pull to make it all gather together, like a flower. Cut the excess fabric (save for another flower if you want).

Now you can just hand stitch it closed.

Then you end up with a little flower. Also like a yo-yo (if anyone knows that sewing term).

Then stitch it onto the clutch. And add a cute button in the middle. I made two flowers, because I didn't have bigger buttons so I made my flowers smaller. The bigger the flower, the bigger the button.

If you want to personalize it, then all you need is to cut out a letter in felt (cuz felt doesn't fray). This was the most time consuming part, because I chose to stitch it on. You can glue it and it will look just as cute.

And there you have it! All done and ready to go to church/school or...whatever. These are actually quite spacious and can be fill with school supplies or quiet things for church. My very talented sister-in-law uses these as baby shower gifts and puts diapers and a travel wipes case in them. They are great all around.

Christmas is Coming!!!

2009-08-30T14:59:00.000-06:00

Christmas is Coming!! I've been telling some friends about my new found blogdum, and I'm super excited (even though I only have one follower---thanks, Ashley). Even still, I'm going to try to post tutorials for most if not all the Christmas gifts I'm gonna make. The thing I like about them, is how simple and inexpensive they are. So this way, (if you want) everyone will have something to give to family and friends without putting a dent in your wallet. Ill hopefully be starting them up tomorrow. Until then...

Ta-Da!

2009-08-30T14:48:00.000-06:00

You guessed it! I still don't know how to rotate pics. Anyway, here is a nightgown that I made for my oldest out of an old t-shirt i had. I would've just used it as a dress, but it's a little see-through in the back. It was super easy. I'm gonna have to do a tutorial on them. It literally takes 10-15 min. ---hat not included---

Eating Grapes

2009-08-30T05:57:00.000-06:00

I was ironing in the dining room the other day when I looked in the living room to find my 5 mo. old's cheek bulging from a grape in her mouth. I look at my 2 year-old and she says, "Now, go like this." (chomp, chomp) I admit, I freaked a little and when I told her not to do that she said, "Mommy, I'm showing her how to chew." As sweet as that is, we'll just stick to milk and cereal for a while.

Matching Shirts

2009-08-29T21:18:00.000-06:00

I've been in a revamping kick recently, so I went through my garage sale pile for fabric I could use for the little monkeys of the house. I found two shirts that I am sad to say, go under the category of "no longer fitting".
I used the green for most of the shirt and the white ribbed shirt for the bottom and a little flower for some pa-zazz (do people still say that?).

The outcome was good. My oldest thinks that the flower is special and she smells it throughout the day. She can be odd sometimes. I have no idea where she gets that from. :)

Men's Shirt=2 dresses

2009-08-29T11:10:00.001-06:00

I bought this men's shirt at Goodwill for $2! Sorry, I wish I knew how to rotate it, but...I don't. I'll have to ask my very talented friend Tammy to help me with that. Anyway, after a little cutting and sewing:

My oldest was too busy playing to stop for a photo, but the straps on her dress cross in the back. My little chunker's dress was made with the sleeves of the shirt and turned into a smocked dress. I added some matching hair ties with what was left over.

I love sewing!