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Oh my! I don’t think that I can stay in denial that my babies are not getting bigger. The princess has recently become obsessed with weddings. We went to a wedding days before the prince was born and since then she is adamant that she is having a baby soon and when I told he that she had to get married first she started planning her wedding. Her poor future groom, she is already a baby bridezilla! But, I will give her this, she makes a beautiful little bride. That is actually my veil from my wedding. I don’t feel to bad letting her play with it because I bought it for $15 on ebay back in the day! Oh…and craft alert…..I actually made the flowers! She has been asking for wedding flowers and I have been dying to work on something crafty that won’t wake up the prince when he naps and made these tissue paper carnations. They are pretty addictive once you start them!
And because I can’t leave him out here is the little man update. At 5 weeks he is sleeping 5-6 hour stretches at night which is great for all of us! Last week he started rolling from belly to back. I thought it was a fluke but he flips within seconds of being on his belly. Here is a rare shot of him on his belly and holding up his head. Time is flying.
I only want to hear how amazing this little hat is! Sure, it took me almost 5.5 months to get enough energy to actually complete a craft for the baby in my belly. I guess you could take off points because I used my knitfy knitter, but I choose not to dwell on it’s imperfections or how I took the easy way out to make it. The point is that I actually have the desire and the energy to craft again. I have had one of or the other for months (usually just the desire) but the combo was amazing. It felt so good to actually sit and complete a project. So, while it isn’t my best work I am pretty darn proud of this little hat and am in awe that in a few months that will fit on Sam’s tiny head. Oh, and I made the pom pons so I deserve a little credit, right?
You may want to start saving your pennies now because I am pretty sure this masterpiece will be worth big bucks some day. The princess titled it Smiles (yes, she named herself) and painted it as a birthday present for her Opa. He is a lucky man to be the owner of such fine artwork.
Do you have a few scraps of ribbon left over from other craft projects? Well, if you have a little girl in your life then you can make these easy peasy Tuxedo Hair Bows. They are ridiculously easy and you can use up all of your scraps and have some sweet accessiories for your little one. Ready? Here we go!
Cut your scrap of ribbon. For 1.5 inch I like to make it 8 inches
“Heat Treat” the ends by running the flame on the fray
Make a loop and overlap the ends of the ribbon
Squeeze down to the center creating 2 loops
Crease the center in and the edges out
(that is the secret to the bow standing up and having shape, weak creases make flat bows)
Use your clip to clamp the crease
Use 24 gauge bead wire to secure your crease
Cut a piece smaller width ribbon to make your center knot
Loop your ribbon like an awareness ribbon
tuck the right side under your loop
Pull it through gently
Pull into a knot of desired tightness
(you will need to gently turn the ribbon on each side of the knot to make a clean and flat center)
Slide your clip in to the wire to secure it
use a tiny dab of hot glue on the bottom of your knot and apply
Secure the rest of the bow by using hot gluing the the rest of the knotted ribbon to the back and clipping off the excess of the ribbon neatly after glue dries
You are all done! Use these instructions to make all different sizes and to make the sweet Minnie Bow Clip like I made for our upcoming Disney Trip!
Enjoy and show me the bows that you make!
Blogging to a backseat to our new Wii this week. It has been fun, sad and hysterical all at the same time. Who knew that we could be so sore from faux bowling?! Work has also been crazy stressful this month because we are in the two week wait until Vacation Bible School which means my creative talents and time have gone to carving out foam beakers and building giant microscopes. Pictures to come soon but the theme is Power Lab and is going to be fun!
My apologies for the lack of updates in the past few weeks. Life kept on going while this little blog was quiet. The weather got nicer and mulch needed to be spread and flowers planted and inside I got bit by the redecorating bug and decided to redo our spare bedroom. The room isn’t quite done but I have a few peeks for you. The paint doesn’t seem as a bright here as it seems in real life but you get the idea. I made these pillowcases from a remnant that I found at Joann’s. If anyone knows what it is let me know I would love to get my hands on more of it! The colors are delicate yet bright which seems to be the theme I try and decorate with.
I only had a few scraps of the fabric left and have seen these yarn wreaths around blogland recently and knew it would match some of the yarn that I had in my stash and it gave me the opportunity to try out one of the crafts on my to do list which was the super fun kanzashi flowers. I think it provides some crafty elegance to the room, don’t you think?
Lastly, I will leave you with the easiest and quick meal for picky eaters! We are in need of a trip to the grocery store so I had to think quick on what to make for dinner earlier this week and found all of the supplies to make a pizza but no crust. I did a spin on french bread pizza which is a hit around here and used garlic bread as a base. This particular garlic bread only took 5 minutes to make so literally even with prep work you can make these garlic bread pizzas in less than 10 minutes! Bake the garlic bread for 1 minute take it out and add your desired amount of sauce, cheese and toppings (the rest of the family is picky around here and just go for the pepperoni) and then bake for the remaining 5 minutes and you will have ooey gooey yummy pizza!
Was all I needed to get out of my funk. Ok, honestly it also took some shoe shopping, chocolate and a few gab sessions with friends (hey, that all counts as inspiration, people!) to get me over the hump but life is looking much better today. I had an idea for a dress for the princess that was in my head was pretty simple and so like I almost always do went to town on it without carefully measuring or following a pattern. Afterall, the directions in my head are always right, yeah…I know I didn’t fool you either. The bodice is too big, but not so terrible that I started over. Alaina loves it. She was twirling and won’t take it off so if it is a winner in her book than who I am to criticize. I am definitely happy with the design and will get the bodice down right next time I attempt it. I really like the tie straps and of course the Amy Butler fabrics are favorites of mine so overall although not perfect, I am pleased.
Ok, no new pics of the new shoes yet but the princess also a pair. The addiction starts early. It is amazing to me that my 4 year old can walk in 3 inch heels without tripping. Her mama may not be talented at a lot of things, but walking in heels is a talent I have passed on. But, I did take pics of the chocolate. If you haven’t tried Oreo Truffles you are missing out. We also have made the nutter butter truffles which in my opinion are better but those went fast and no pics remain. However, you can drool over the oreos.
Now for the new crafty inspriation. I am always eyeing japanese craft books and have been looking for the perfect one to start my collection and settled on this cute knick knack book. I won’t give away my first project but I promise this book is packed with cuteness and the princess has already bookmarked half of the projects that she wants me to make. So, my guess is that you will see a lot from this book soon.
Daddy, Mommy, Lainey & our kitty Lola as designed by the princess and painted by Mommy.
I didn’t want to write another post of how busy I had been and many time this week I walked lovingly past my sewing machine and even sat down to it and for once the fabric didn’t speak to me. Crafting has been my creative outlet in the last few years but this past week I have had my head so clouded with real life that I couldn’t sit and enjoy it. I opened and etsy store last year that I never stocked and closed my busy website after a year because I didn’t want crafting to no longer be pleasurable for me. So, I sit with my fabrics and notions waiting for the inspiration to come back and for peace and balance in the rest of my worlds that I may actually create something as beautiful as one of many sketches.
That describes how life has been for us this past month in which I have neglected you all! 2007 came and as a family we are looking forward to an exciting 2008. We started a remodeling project in our home in which a $40 Home Depot gift card inspired my dear husband to finish off our basement. He promises to work on it as we can afford it, so I am watching him try to stretch our budget. I do have to give him his credit due, as he has an idea and he is determined to make it work. So, stay tuned for updates for our little project. Our garage is full of studs so by next week he should have his little dream all framed in.
Alaina is always a source of entertainment and her budding craftiness excites me! She saw my pile of felt and asked to make a pizza so we cut out a circle for the crust and cut out toppings and she went to town. Have you ever seen a prouder pretend chef?
The felt food excitement didn’t stop there when she brought me out a round box and said lets make cake. So, I got out my glue gun and covered it with felt and cut out shapes for her to decorate her cake with. The “cake” still opens which makes a great place to store all of the new felt food. A creative toy that basically cleans itself, a mama couldn’t be happier!
