Everyday Chaos

8 months later…

2013-07-18T15:05:00.001-07:00

I know I said I was done blogging. I was, and I didn’t for long while. I’ve since decided that I miss some of it. I got tired of annoying my family and friends on facebook with sewing pictures all but 3 of them couldn’t care less about! So here I am.

Here are a few things that have kept me busy this month.

I made Ashlyn a skirt using Simple Simon’s vintagely modern skirt as an inspiration. I changed the waist band to fit her better but next time I’ll make it shorter. The shirt was a women’s spaghetti strap tank top jump suit that I altered, a lot!

I’ve got a few new nieces and nephews on the way and hope to make a quilt for each of them. This is the first of 4. I had to send it off quickly so I folded it up and tried to jam it in a tiny package, remembered I wanted a picture so I dug it out, then put it back. That’s why it’s sooo wrinkly and folded. I used a mini tutorial from Film in the Fridge. It was so quick, I love it!

I love slouchy pants and wanted to try the tutorial by Suburbia Soup You Call It pants. I changed them a bit adding gathered pockets and elastic to the legs. Kennedy loves them and wants to wear them everyday. I’ve already made a nautical pair that I can’t wait to give to her.

Kaci got a brand new American Girl doll for Christmas but wasn’t impressed that she came with one “plain” dress so I made her another. I used a free Felicity dress pattern from here. It was not the funnest thing to sew ever but she loves it so that’s what matters.

It’s nice to have a spot to archive all the things I’ve made and the tutorials I used with them!

My Trick or Treaters

2012-11-01T15:17:00.001-07:00

Not feeling the Halloween spirit this year I just didn’t want to make a ton of costumes. Normally I love to make them but I couldn’t get into it this year. I managed to wrangle the kids into throwing things together with stuff we had or borrowed so I only had to make a few things and one full costume.

I don’t feel a bit guilty about it either! Well maybe a little when I saw some of the awesome costumes floating around. Next year maybe I’ll be more into it and knock some socks off. Until then here’s this years show.

This is the only costume I made from scratch. Mary went as a Yip Yip alien from sesame street. Two cheapo blankets and a few styrofoam balls and she was done. No one knew what she was and she kept getting called a squid but she got her bucket filled to the brim so that’s all she cared about.

Kaci was the ever popular this year Red Riding Hood. It’s one my mom made for my little sister 13 years ago. She just moved so it was amazing she knew where it was and could find it for me. I made nothing for Kace this year, thanks mom!

Ashlyn was the wolf dressed as grandma. All I had to make were the ears and bonnet and the rest we had in our attic, so she smelled like a grandma too. Score.

Jake was supposed to be the Woodsman but I think he looks more like a homeless guy with a weapon. As you can see I didn’t put much into his costume :). He loved that we were walking around at night but was not interested in the candy at all. He kept trying to give his candy to the people answering their doors. He was more interested in the duck and cat running around and tried to take those home with us instead.

We also had a phantom and Masquerade Barbie recycled from two years ago. No stress, tons of candy, and a great time was had by all. Hope you had a fantastic Halloween as well!

And the winner of the Downtown Tape giveaway is-

Lucky duck!

Thank you so much Downtown Tape for the awesome giveaway!

Downtown Tape Washi Giveaway!

2012-10-24T10:28:00.001-07:00

Have you caught the washi tape bug yet? I have and I absolutely love the stuff. I have a few rolls, not nearly enough, and have so much fun adding a little here and a little there.

It’s hard to find a good source that doesn’t cost an arm and leg and then kills you with shipping. That’s why I’d like to introduce you to Downtown Tape. Downtown Tape sells all of their rolls for only $1.99, plus they have flat rate shipping of $2.95. I love flat rate shipping!

There’s just so much you can do with washi tape and you don’t need a bunch of fancy tools or know-how to use it. Instant cutification.

Like this-

Or this-

And this-

Plus about a million other ideas if you have a minute to spend browsing Pinterest.

Downtown Tape has graciously offered one of my readers 10 rolls of tape + 25 tags!

And everyone is a winner if you sign up for the Downtown Tape newsletter to find out about new designs, sales and specials. You’ll also get a free printable sheet of tags sent to your inbox valued at $10.00.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway is open to everyone world wide- yay! Only entries received through the rafflecopter form will be counted. Giveaway is open until November 1st. Good luck!

My Boys

2012-10-16T13:59:00.001-07:00

I haven’t blogged about my boys in far too long. I blog about the lovely things I want to show off which are sewing and crafty things, and usually girl related. I forget sometimes that a little update about the men in my life for the family and friends would be nice. I haven’t sold them to the circus although it looks that way by my blog.

Jeremy is in the 7th grade and is going to be 13 in January. He is running Cross Country again this year and loves it. His last race is coming up and he is a little bummed it’s almost over. He’s getting much faster so that makes it more fun for him. Now that he’s in junior high he is getting pretty busy and is rarely home. His appetite is that of an elephant. That’s kind of a big deal since he ate us out of house and home the minute he was born. I didn’t think it was possible for one person to eat more much more than he already did and I grew up with a teenage brother. He is turning into quite the awesome young man!

This little buddy, my baby Jake, isn’t such a baby anymore. He’ll be 2 next month. This is the first time in 10 years I’m not pregnant on my baby’s 2nd birthday. I’m usually buying gender specific baby clothes by now but not this time, and I’m super okay with that. He’s such a sweet mellow personality and goes with the flow, which is so Cody and not me at all. Such a nice change! He’s a rough and tumble kid though when he wants something and would much rather push his way around than ask. He doesn’t say much, other than mom and some signs, but we’re working on it and have some help so hopefully some time soon he’ll be able to communicate better. I love smooching on his ridiculously chubby cheeks every day!

My other boys. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on the blog before but I became the Cub Scout cub master in March, which keeps me hopping. Not something that comes naturally to me and I am completely out of my comfort zone. I’m getting more and more comfortable every month, which helps ease the anxiety :).

They are a ton of fun! I’m learning to be more organized, more outgoing, faster at switching from one activity to the next, and really good with duct tape. I’ve made a ton of fun things but forget to get pictures before they get destroyed or eaten! I’ll have to remember to bring my camera next week to show off the fun things I have planned.

Off to bake some cookies and plan out Halloween sewing. I love Halloween sewing!

Our New Baby

2012-10-04T13:51:00.001-07:00

Things have been pretty busy around here now that the new baby showed up. I haven’t talked about her much but thought I should introduce her. Kennedy is a new mom! This is Cinderella Baby.

If Cinderella Baby is an indicator of things to come I will be one busy Grandma some day. I asked Kennedy if she wanted a diaper for her new baby since it didn’t come with one. A trip through my fabric and several requests later and this is what we have-

A new super soft sleeping bag with built in pillow, a silky blanket, a cute blanket, pajamas with matching diaper and hat, a ballerina skirt and pink shirt, a church dress and ruffly diaper, and 6 wipes. She asked for 10 but mom had to say no some time. Plus wipes aren’t as cute to sew ;o).

I think she’s set for a while.

Being a mom is the best.

I used this pattern for the diapers (but lined them and made with cotton and flannel), this pattern for the dresses/shirt, and came up with my own sleeping bag and wipes.

Have a great weekend!

Mom is too cheap girls…

2012-09-06T19:02:00.001-07:00

While school shopping this year I fell in love with a suspender shirt from forever21 that I thought would look adorable on my girls.

The problem for me with being crafty and falling in love with things I see online is that I’m too cheap to pay $40 with shipping for 3 t-shirts when I know I can make them for a fraction of that. My girls always groan when I mention I’ll make them instead. They know that their mom has every intention of making them but sometimes gets sidetracked and forgets to finish them. So with picture in hand and promises to have them finished for school we headed to the store and grabbed a few supplies. $10 and a week later, I have to procrastinate a little, we had three of these-

Mary isn’t pictured because she couldn’t find her red pants and told me “Mom, how can I go to school in my shirt without red pants huh!”. I don’t know how I managed to go 13 years without a single pair of red pants? Needless to say she went, with tears and khaki pants with a different shirt so no picture. Kind of a shame since hers came out the best. Oh well.

Here is how I made mine in case someone else wants to give them a whirl. I drew an outline of the suspenders on pieces of freezer paper with a fine tip sharpie, nothing pretty or exact because I loved the hand drawn look of the original. I cut them out with an exacto knife and ironed them on each shirt.

Next I painted on black fabric paint with a paint brush and let them dry for a few hours, then I peeled off the freezer paper and added a little gold fabric paint with my paintbrush to the rings and bottoms of the suspenders.

After that all I had to do was pin on some stretchy sequin trim from the ribbon section and sew it down and sew on black bows. So easy and probably my favorite school shirts this year. Definitely this crazy girls favorite.

Little old lady

2012-09-05T14:01:00.001-07:00

I mentioned last time I blogged, which I don’t expect anyone to remember because I’m a big loser and haven’t blogged much this summer, that Mary was turning 8. She was baptized on her birthday and it was such a special day for her. Her birthday just happens to be during Cody’s family reunion so there were a lot of family members there that wouldn’t have been able to come otherwise which I am so thankful for. We have an awesome family!

I like the idea of my girls having 3 white dresses of their very own- first a blessing dress, next a baptism dress, and hopefully a wedding dress- so I make a new one for each girl. I was running majorly late so I didn’t get very good pictures, yet.

Mary chose a dress completely copied from Corner House. Her dress is absolutely gorgeous and I was excited to give it a try. I just saw her pictures and did my own thing based on those. I was majorly bummed that the main fabric I ordered and thought was matte raw silk was instead shiny and I had no time to figure something else out. I don’t like shiny satin at all and it was too slick to hold the sash up. The sash kept sliding up and shortening her torso so I felt it made her look plus sized when she is not, and when I tried to tack it down it looked pinched and weird. As much as I wanted our dress to look like the inspiration it did on the hanger (sort of) but not at all to me when Mary wore it, which is disappointing but it wasn’t my dress and Mary loved it so that’s all that matters. She said she felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast so my job was done!

For her cake she she was very specific. Drew me a diagram and labeled it specific. She asked for a blue cake with blue candles and “dolafins” jumping out of the water. Her cake picture looked so cute I should have let her decorate it! The control freak in me couldn’t handle all blue so I snuck some purple in there. Can I just shout out from my roof top how much I love Wilton and the big honking tips they make. I jumped on the rose cake bandwagon and can’t get off. Makes me feel all fancy and stuff.

See, I liked it so much that for Kennedy’s birthday 2 weeks later I used it again. It won’t be the last time.

Four out of six kids are in school all day and Kennedy, Jake, and I are getting quite a rhythm down. I’m busting out crafty things again and it feels great. Good things to come, which is really good since the show off in my has been underfed this summer :).

Have a great Wednesday!

Summer days

2012-08-02T10:16:00.001-07:00

It’s been a few weeks and my blog has been really quiet. If the blog is quiet that means it’s not in real life! We’ve been enjoying as much summer as we can cram in. We met cousins we haven’t had the chance to meet yet, including the newest one Kyla.

The kids couldn’t get enough of her, and I wouldn’t be able to either if she would let me hold her. One day soon I’ll be able to bribe her and buy her love ;o). Jake thought she needed to be held and squeezed as much as he could. He was a great car seat rocker as well. More like a carnival ride- we need to work on that. Kaci thought she was hilarious. Six year old potty humor…

While my sister was here she had the baby blessed in a gown my mom made for her. I made a pair of booties out of the scraps.

I realized how long it’s been since I’ve sewn a pair of booties, 2 years, and they weren’t for my baby. It shows in the fit. A bit wide and her toes are touching the very very end. I did get the straps perfectly though. I guess I remember my babies as having really wide, really flat small feet!

We’ve also had several reunions this summer. For one last weekend the kids made a piñata. I made the shape and taped it together and they did all the decorating-

Well 5 started, three lasted 3 hours, and then there were 2. It took them 6 hours over 2 days to decorate and 10 minutes to break open. Next time I won’t use duct tape, even after 40 or so kids getting in 3 whacks each it took a few good cracks from the big kids and Cody to finally get some candy out!

And my favorite, but not funny at all (maybe a little) picture so far this summer. Ashlyn’s soccer game-

She doesn’t see much action in the games as a defender so when she finally got the ball all to herself I started snapping away. She totally plowed this poor boy over without even noticing and kept her eye on the ball the entire time. His face in in the grass, no hands to catch himself. She really wanted that ball! If you know her at all she’s the most timid and quiet girl so it totally cracked me up. As bad as it looks he just popped right back up and kept playing like nothing happened.

Tomorrow is Mary’s 8th birthday so I’ve been sewing like a mad woman trying to get her baptism dress done, a dolphin cake (???) and cupcakes done, and programs and such figured out. I should be able to go to bed at 4. In the morning!!!

Pictures of the finished projects to come next week. Have a fantastic weekend!

Couch Camouflage

2012-07-02T00:17:00.001-07:00

There’s nothing better on warm summer days than a new dress, messy hair, and bare feet. Well maybe the root beer popsicle she ate afterward.

The dress is from my mom’s pattern stash that she let me borrow, New Look 6257. It’s actually an infant size dress pattern so I cut it out as a large, took the tiniest seem allowance I could, and lengthened the skirt about 4 inches and ended up with a size 4. I might have to dig up more baby patterns I’ve saved and never got around to sewing and see what I can come up with for the wee one who’s not so wee anymore. She’s going to be 4 next month!

Most of the time patterns frustrate the crud out of me so I don’t use them but this one went together really quickly and came out just as I was hoping it would. It looks exactly like I thought it would. I love it when that happens.

Earlier last month I inherited a new to me couch from my grandmother that I can’t wait to recover, when I learn how and find the right fabric anyway. In about 12 years it might actually get done. I’m not very good at the whole décor thing or getting motivated to do something about it. Not something that’s ever really been a favorite thing of mine. The fanciest I get is making new pillow covers every once in a while which I did a few weeks ago (for our other gray couch) to brighten up our living room. I was trying a tiny bit to care. I laughed when I saw this picture of Kennedy. The kids picked up the living room for me and threw all the pink pillows on the pink couch in Kennedy’s favorite spot. She’s camouflaged to my couch!

How’s that for décor? It moves and changes all the time ;). Have a great Monday!

Flocked

2012-06-29T13:33:00.001-07:00

I’ve always loved chickens. I rescued one when I was 13, though now I’m pretty sure it didn’t need rescued and ended up chicken napped, and have raised them off and on since then.

It makes me feel like the little country girl I always wanted to be, living the farm life milking cows and stuff, but we always lived in town. Now I get to wake up to chickens clucking. I send the kids to gather eggs, 6-8 every day. I pawn off eggs to all our family members that visit. The neighbors hate us since we still live in town and have 8 chickens in our backyard that like to hang out against the fence 5 or so feet from their bedroom window in the wee hours of the morning. Maybe I should send some eggs over but I’m kind of afraid they would end up on my house.

When I’m sewing in our dining room I can see them running after bugs through the window. See Betty (or “Nugget” depending on which kid you ask), she likes the new dress set I just finished for Kennedy.

When I ran across this chicken fabric it had to come home with me. It was one of those sale things I grabbed because it was cute and had no idea what I was going to do with it.

I needed a plastic bag holder and thought it would be fun to add a little something. It hides in our laundry room but every time I see Mr. Rooster and his harem it makes me smile. Sometimes you just need a fun fabric that you wouldn’t really use for anything spectacular but it makes you happy. Next time I get out of the sticks and see a real fabric store I might have to buy more, he’s growing on me.

Have a great weekend!

Little old lady and her new dress

2012-06-12T00:03:00.001-07:00

Ms. Ashy pants turned 10 ten days ago. That’s practically 12. Then 18. Then 26. It seems like just last year I was telling Cody over breakfast that I thought the baby was coming that day and he assured me she wasn’t. I’m positive it was last summer that they announced over the golf course that Mr. Baxter needed to go home- his wife was having a baby. He barely made it. Well maybe not barely since she came 3 hours later but I was right and she came. That’s what counts when I tell the story.

We celebrated and I allowed her to get older again. I need to stop doing that.

I’m in a dress making mood lately so I let her go first since she was the birthday girl. She picked a really easy style and we got it done last week. She’s not fond of frilly gathered numbers anymore. A part of me cried when she stopped liking tutus and pink wasn’t her favorite color anymore. Then I realized how fun it is to sew more grown up styles in bold prints. Thank goodness she still likes bold. Can’t cut me off cold turkey!

I guess that happens when you get so old. You start wanting more grown up things to wear.

It’s just a simple cut around dress with a cinched up waist but to her it was the dress that made her feel 10. I get it. I’ll gladly support her new wardrobe choices as long as I get to keep making them and she still wants to wear them.

Love that Ashy girl.

Crafty crafty.

2012-06-04T14:02:00.001-07:00

A little happy something I’m bragging about today- last week I was lucky enough to be featured on The Craft Warehouse Design. Create. Inspire. blog!

I’m really embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize The Craft Warehouse had a blog, considering I shop there all the time. They have some amazing stuff on there by some super creative people. They have sewing, paper, crafts, you name it they have a really cute idea for it on there. I found another blog to stalk. If you aren’t stalking them to you should go check it out. If you already know about them you can stop by and say hi and see my little face and know that this chick got pretty darn excited to be there.

If you're a pinterest-aholic (aren’t we all!) they are there as well.

Have a happy Monday! I am!

Pillowcase nightgown tutorial

2012-04-30T16:29:00.001-07:00

They are so easy it’s embarrassing so I thought I would just write out what I did with some of my super fantastic hand drawn pictures instead of making you wait until I feel like making another pair, which might be until the weather gets a lot warmer. A little lame but hey… here goes!

They are basically a modified pillowcase dress made out of knit. Easy peasy. The two I made were about a girls size 10 so my directions are based on that. Tweak away for bigger or smaller sizes. I made mine with my serger and my machine but I have made them with just my machine before. Use a ball point needle and you’ll be fine since they don’t need to stretch.
First I cut out 2 pieces of fabric for the back and front. I used the width of my fabric for the width and measured from the chest to the knee for the length. So each of my pieces were about 55” wide x 30” tall. I know that’s a ton of fabric width wise but that’s what makes it look good, especially for knit. For adult sizes I would keep the width the same just adjust the length.
Grab one piece for your front and measure from the top down, on the fold, 1 1/2”. Cut from that mark up to the outside edge corner like so. You only need to do this to the front piece. The back should be straight across the top.
Now you mark the armscye by measuring about 2 1/2” from the outside edge toward the center and 5” down from the top. You want to round the bottom corner so it’s more of a “J” shape than a rectangle and cut through all thicknesses for the front and back piece.
*If you want to make ruffling easier you can sew gathered strips of 4” wide fabric to the bottom of the front and back pieces here and sew them together when you sew the sides up. That’s what I did but forgot and had to edit that in here.*
Now put the front piece on top of the back piece with right sides together and sew down the straight sides.
Fold the armscye edges under toward the inside 1/4” and then another 1/4” and sew along the outside edge.

Fold the top neck edges down 1/4” and then another 1” and sew close to the edge for the front and back. Don’t sew the sides of that seam shut, this is the casing for the tie.

For the neck tie cut a strip of fabric the width of your fabric (55”-60” long) by 4” wide. Fold in half right sides together and sew along the open edges rounding the corners as you go. Leave a space open in the middle for turning. Turn right side out and sew the opening shut.

For the ruffle cut strips of fabric 4” wide and sew them together right sides together. The amount of strips you need will depend on how gathered you want it and how big you are making your jammies.

Sew the ruffle on the bottom right sides together then topstitch to keep it laying nice and flat. Thread the tie through the casing in the neck and tie in a big fat adorable bow.

I’ll try to answer questions in the comments for all to see. Hope your Monday just got a bit better!

The trifecta of sweetness

2012-04-17T09:17:00.001-07:00

Making baby gifts has to be one of my most favorite things ever. If I can’t make them for myself that is. There’s just something so gratifying in being able to play with baby stuff even if you don’t have a reason to have it around yourself. It’s almost like getting ready for a new baby again without the sleepless nights and stretch marks. Win win!

Since I’m not making anything for me baby related anytime in the near future I’m so glad I have a brand new niece to play with. Jake just doesn’t look good in pink and he’s already 30 lbs so it wouldn’t cover him anyway, sigh.

Bubble gum pink swiss dot, floral flannel, and coral lace. I loved it so much I cut out two. There’s another baby girl I was going to give it to but I can’t let it go just yet. For now baby Kyla has one and since she lives too far away and I don’t get to snuggle her I get one to stare at until I’m ready to move on and gift it.

I’m getting itchy to sew more baby stuff so I hope I get some more nieces and nephews soon. Hurry up family!!!

Have a fantastic Tuesday!

The Outies

2012-04-10T09:13:00.001-07:00

A fancy camera does not a photographer make. Photography takes knowledge, talent, and the patience of a saint. I’m fresh out of all of those.

This is the best I have of our Easter dressy shots. All my pictures were out takes. All I asked for was to look at the camera and smile. I wasn’t naïve enough to think I could control their body movements or hand positions. If they stand close enough together and no one is pulling hair or rolling on the ground writhing in picture pain I call it a win. All I care about are the faces. Please. Pretty pretty please.

I begged. Sneezes don’t care. Jake and Jeremy don’t either. After 5 shots they expired and turned into pumpkins. And then there were 4-

I bribed them.

I threatened to sell them to the circus.

I told them I would set them free with one smile, just one teeny weeny little smile.

One of them, bet you can’t guess who, kept sneezing. At least I got three of them to kind of smile right.

And I was left with this when I begged/pleaded/threatened/bribed head spinning in circles to get just one last good one.

I was going to take individual pictures to show off the dresses I made (the first, second, and fourth dress, mom made the third) but I didn’t have it in me.

Next year.

Next year I’m not letting them have their Easter baskets until I get one good picture! Might be weeks until they get to eat their peeps ;o).

Hope your pictures turned out better than mine!

A little snippet

2012-03-28T17:40:00.001-07:00

Things are happening.

Stripe, swiss, floral, and gingham things! Haven’t flexed the ol’ sewing muscle in too long. Not that my sewing break was intentional but that happens to the best of us.

Back to the machine I go!

Shabby Apple Winner!

2012-02-03T09:19:00.001-08:00

Today is the day my friends to see who gets to wear their very own Shabby Apple Boogie Woogie dress! Mr. random number generator picked #42.

Erika W.Jan 30, 2012 07:18 PM

I like them on facebook and love this dress! Thanks for the chance to win!

For the rest of us who didn’t cross our fingers tight enough there’s still a 10% off coupon code everydaychaos10off to help ease the pain of defeat. Congrats Erika and thanks Shabby Apple for the awesome giveaway!

Travel accommodations.

2012-02-01T17:31:00.001-08:00

Don’t forget the Shabby Apple dress giveaway ends tomorrow! Enter here if you haven’t.

A little something I whipped up for my favorite 5 year old this week. A quick wallet using up some scraps and pant zippers during nap time. Quick=wonky but I think it turned out pretty cute.

I asked her what she wanted to carry in it since she’s not packing Benjamins most of the time. Toys of course, duh! So this trifold has a cash pocket, a coin pocket, a card pocket (just for fun since she doesn’t pack those either), and a pillow and blanket pocket.

I want someone to pack me to the store in bed. If only all princesses were this lucky!

The zipper is my favorite part.

Have a fantastic Wednesday!

Shabby Apple dress giveaway!

2012-01-27T13:08:00.001-08:00

***Giveaway is now closed***

While I’m plugging away at a few projects I thought now would be the perfect time for a giveaway! With Valentines day right around the corner who doesn’t need a great new dress?

Shabby Apple has a great site filled with amazing women’s dresses, little girls dresses, even maternity dresses and swimwear. I love the vintage inspired styles, especially this navy blue Champs Elysees dress and the super cute scalloped Red Fox dress. I would go into the woods more often if I had a dress like that.

The one thing I’m always on the look out for though is a really cute little black dress. I found this black Boogie Woogie dress and loved it.

Today I get to give away this dress to one of you lucky ducks! Here's what you have to do to get your hands on your very own Shabby Apple Boogie Woogie dress.
To Enter- Go now to Shabby Apple on Facebook and "like" them, then come back and leave a comment on this post letting me know you did. If you don’t want to do the Facebook thing, no prob. Just head over to Shabby Apple and tell me what dress is your favorite. That's it! One entry comment per person please.
The Nitty Gritty- The giveaway will go until Thursday Feb. 2nd and the winner will be announced on Friday the 3rd. You must have a US shipping address and there will be no exchanges for the winning dress.

Shabby Apple is also graciously giving my readers a 10% off coupon code! Just use code everydaychaos10off at checkout. Just in time to find a new dress for your hot valentines date ;o). I’m a sucker for a sale, but hurry this code is good for 30 days only.

Have a fantastic weekend and good luck!

Must.Keep.Folding

2012-01-19T16:06:00.001-08:00

Like so many people I started out the new year with a couple of goals. Not really resolutions because I looked it up and it’s a firm decision to do or not to do something. I don’t like deciding anything, especially firmly. I want to focus my efforts on a few things. Slowly. I want each day to be better than the day before. I won’t accomplish anything if I bite off an entire year at a time firmly. One little thing at a time one day at a time. I can do that!

There’s just one hang up. I’m s l o w . It takes me forever to do anything.

I thought to start I should clean up my sewing space and organize my fabrics. Fabrics are happy and it’s something I like to do so I thought it would be a great place to start. Get a little organized so it doesn’t look like an chimp sews in my room you know.

I love the way fabric shelves look when they are stacked like mini bolts and you can see everything. I thought I would give it a go.

NO ONE told me how painful it is. It’s brutal. They look nice, especially when they are tipped the right way in my shelves but holy guacamole. This took me a week of folding while Jakey was napping. This is one tote of fabric- I have more taking over my living room.

I won’t fold it all. I can’t fold it all. I will die. If I wasn’t such a control freak I would pay my kids to fold it for me. The only thing that makes this somewhat bearable is that it beats the heck out of folding laundry. I think I need to make some dresses this weekend before I pull out another tote just so I won’t have to fold any more than I have to. If you see a rash of dresses cropping up around here you’ll know why ;o).

I’m going to wrap up in a blanket tonight, sip some hot chocolate, and fold until I hate me some fabric designers and super duper sales and vow to never buy a single yard again. Have a great Thursday!

Merry Belated Christmas!

2011-12-28T13:37:00.001-08:00

I hope your Christmas was as awesome as mine turned out to be. There were plagues running rampant through my relatives house so we had to change plans very last minute, which just about killed me. I thought I was going to lose it when I didn’t know where we were going and it was the 23rd. Then 2 of my kiddos started throwing up the 24th. By Christmas all the kids were down and out with the flu.
As sick as everyone was I barely noticed. We had fun, Santa still brings toys to kids who are out of town and sick, and I had a ton of helping hands to make it that much easier for me. Not how I planned it to go but considering all that was going on it couldn’t have gone any better. I love it when things just work out anyway! Sorry to everyone that got sick or will. Not the gift I meant to leave!
I did manage to have a little fun before we left. Ashlyn and I made these for her school party earlier in the week-

North Pole cupcakes found here.

I eeked out a little sewing time to make a gift for my little sister. She’s a chocoholic cupcake baking maniac. She told me she liked purple and lime green, which I don’t have a ton of but found a cute stripe that worked. I cut the cupcake out with my super fantastic cutter and sewed it on. Fast, cute, and easy.

Denim apron tutorial found here.

Then I heard that my sister wasn’t going to do Christmas jammies for her kids- blasphemy!- and I’m a freak and wanted them to have a pair to open like everyone else so I spent 2 hours whipping these up the day before we left. I know, not the warm fuzzy winter jammies I would have liked to make them but my mom reminded me they wear shorts and flip flops in the snow so I wasn’t worried. Time wise these were the fastest to make. I’m making a bunch more for my girls for summer!

Tutorial can be found here.

So by now my house was a total disaster so I thought, what the heck- why not really have some fun so I made all my sisters kids some pillowcases to go with their jammies.

The pictures are cruddy, trying to pack and wait for the right lighting conditions don’t really go together but they really did turn out just as I hoped. They definitely look better in person though.

And then… yes, I had more projects, but this is the sad ending to my super long post. The projects I wanted to love the most, the ones I devoted the most time to, the two I was sure were going to be a hit and my sister in law and mom were going to love- didn’t turn out! I spent weeks spray painting and sanding but they just got uglier and uglier until I ran out of time and had to cop out with a gift certificate and a promise to get it done before next year. It’s the thought that counts though right? Not to mention I’m going to have an entire year to gussy them up. I didn’t even start 3 projects. So much for a project free Christmas ;o).
The flu has left the building and so will all the old toys, outgrown clothes, the tree, and anything else I can get my hands on today. It felt great to sew stuff again so now all I want to do is clean clean clean to have room to make more sewing messes! Spring dresses are calling my name.
Have a great Wednesday!

Present.

2011-12-05T22:41:00.001-08:00

I don’t know about you guys but I am loving the end of this year. I’ve been cozied up in our little house, rearranging things and getting ready for the holidays. I love happy endings and I am 100% optimistic that this year is going to end just like that.

I’m making it my goal not to stress out and freak out about much. I still do no matter how hard I try but I’ve cut the freak show to a minimum. I’ve finished my Christmas shopping except a few small things and have a little list of things I need to (because I want to) make and the rest of the time I get to enjoy my family. I decided early on this fall that I wanted to be there this year. I wanted to be a part of our family, not the crazy sleep deprived woman slaving away in the kitchen with threads hanging all over her freaking out that she forgot to buy marshmallows for the hot chocolate on Christmas Eve and all is lost.

Not this year. I’ve made nothing crafty so far and I have gone to bed before 10:30 most nights but I feel good about it. We have marshmallows and my kids have a mom. A mostly well rested one. It’s taking all I have not to cut into Christmas dress fabric and make 4 dresses right now though. Do you ever feel guilty for not making a homemade-ish Christmas? Then guilty if you do for staying up until the wee hours and not being much of a human for the holiday? I know there are those wonder women out there that can do both and are really awesome but that’s not where I’m at. I feel really guilty… must. stay. strong! I just have to keep telling myself it’s better for me to be present than to make all the presents this year.

This helps. My little buddy had his first birthday last month. Jake went from this tiny perfect 7 pound lump to this chubby frosting eating one man demolition crew, still perfect. I don’t want to miss a minute of it.

He’s grown so much. They do that. I hate that part. He’s so fun and such a boy.

A little about Jake at 1 year old- He loves balls and cars. He gives the best around the neck squeezes and open mouth kisses (on the cheek) and makes me melt. He growls and has the Musgrove baby scream. He has the cutest laugh and pudgiest hands. He won’t eat breakfast foods or bread but loves casseroles. He loves to see what’s inside things and takes things apart, usually our remotes and the computer speakers. His biggest obsession right now is our Christmas tree. Taking the ornaments off (don’t worry, they’re plastic on the bottom half), shaking it, crawling under it and up inside it, and basically making me thankful to have a reason to set one up in the first place :). Our tree is really pretty from about 3 feet from the bottom and up.

Here’s to a stress free mom filled holiday season! I’ll let you know if I make it or fall off the wagon.

Out with bananas and in with the fat man.

2011-11-06T15:32:00.001-08:00

A little Halloween recap, since I conveniently (for me) skipped over all of October :). My boys. Santa is going to give them a stick for Christmas. A girl fighting off stick because they are too darn cute.

My little Guppy. She corrected everyone that called her a goldfish. She was a fantail goldfish.

I was gluing and cutting up until the hour before she needed it for school and forgot how small she is. She’s petite and I cut the tail too long so she had to hold it up during her school parade. The tail was trimmed before trick or treating so it worked out alright in the end.

I’m pretty proud of this one. I used one of my hooded sweatshirts as a guide and sewed a base to glue 375 cupcake liners to. It took me 2 days from start to finish so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was planning on covering the arms but she wouldn’t have been able to bend them. The tail actually did fan out as she walked, that’s all I hoped for.

I really didn’t want to mess with fake fur this time so I compromised with Mary and she went from Santa to being her favorite cartoon super hero Word Girl. I made this one first so it’s not as fancy as I would have liked it to be. I had a week to do 3 costumes so I rushed through Mary’s first and found myself with more time than I thought I needed for the others. Next year I’ll make hers last so she can get the fancy one.

Kaci was our little mermaid. I’ve always loved Heather Bailey’s mermaid costume so it was easy to figure out how to make it when Kaci told me what she wanted to be. She picked the colors and I went to town. I made hers last so any time I had left over got spent embellishing and playing around with this. There’s glitter glue everywhere! I was going to make her a fancy belt to cover up the waist and a cape because it was flipping freezing but didn’t quite make time for that. Glitter is warm enough right??

A new record for me- 3 costumes in 7 days! I went to bed before 1 a.m. every night. I wish I would have started earlier so they would have turned out like I really wanted them to but so is the life of a procrastinator.

Kennedy went as Rapunzel with a plastic frying pan. I don’t have a picture of her alone for some reason? I always manage to forget one of them. At least it’s not the same kid every year or they would start getting a complex. I have a group shot of her so maybe I’ll crop her out for her scrapbook.

So now that Halloween is over all I’ve been thinking about is Christmas stuff. I’m getting excited to make some stuff this year. Woo hoo for gift giving and making stuff!

Have a fantastic November! Just kidding, I’ll come back before December. I have some stuff to show off.

Thought process

2011-09-29T11:35:00.001-07:00

Halloween is coming up. How do I know? Creepy movie trailers are on tv in full force. One of the munchkins ate the remote so I have to turn my head, plug my ears, and sing “la la la, lee lee lee, I can’t hear you” and leave my new neighbors another reason why they should have chosen the next house on their list. My body guard works out of town 18 days a month in 9 day stretches. I haven’t slept in 8 days. One more to go… sigh… yawn.

To distract myself for the last few months I thought I would sew stuff. So I bought fabric, then I stashed it because I couldn’t bring myself to stay up late to sew with it. Then I was so rudely reminded that I have 3 costumes to make and time is running out. Jeremy wants to be a banana holding a monkey (Jake). Store bought- thank you very much last years clearance. Kennedy wants to wear a dress up Rapunzel dress we already have. Bless you my child. Mary wants to be Santa. Seriously. Kaci wants to be a Mermaid Cowgirl. She’s grounded for a month and 1 day.

Ashlyn wants to be a goldfish. I was going to do that last year for Kennedy so that’s just fine with me. I went hunting for my orange fabric and found this in a fabric pile-

Which reminded me that I have some orange satin scraps left over-

Which reminded me that the most adorable boy in the entire universe loves satin things and is constantly on the hunt for something to rub and love on-

Which got me thinking about those scraps and some orange flannel I had saved to make Jeremy pajamas a million years ago. They turned into this-

Because I got off track. I forgot I needed the satin for a goldfish. And I can sew a lovey blanket complete with nuffies (Kennedy’s name for the corners) during nap time. I can’t sew a goldfish during nap time and I can’t sew at night when my arms are all wrapped up under the covers and my mind is racing about self defense techniques.

Maybe I’ll use the rest of the police fabric to make myself a snuggie to sew with. Boogieman proof because of it’s blanket qualities and with the cop print it will trigger 2nd thoughts in anyone else non-monster related right? And I can still use my arms ;o).

Have a great Thursday!

The 4 B’s

2011-08-12T00:30:00.001-07:00

A cute Birthday girl who turned 7. I love this girl.

And Baby boys with big Chiclet chompers and crackers. Who knew a tiny crunching sound could be so adorable. He’ll be 9 months old Monday, sniff.

Some Bathing Beauties and the Beast.

And Surprise Boxes from dad. I was going to go into the cowboy store with him but he said he was going to be quick and I should wait in the car. Just picking up chicken food he said. I wasn’t aware chickens ate rabbit.

The cutest ball of chicken food I’ve ever seen! *insert disclaimer that says we do not feed our chickens bunnies*

Last week in a nutshell. And you thought I was going to say something about the only 4 good reasons to call 911- blood, bones, bonfires or bad guys. My husband is gone for 9 days at a time for work these days so I’ve really grilled the kids about that so we’re prepared. I’m a freak like that.

Now if they would stop tattling through text messages on the emergency phone to my cell that would be fantastic. I’ll have to come up with the 4 B’s of text tattling. Something like “If I get one more dad gum text message telling me your sister is breathing on you I’ll ground you for a billion years, buy you only broccoli for dinner, and put you to bed at 5.” I love these little criminals.

Have a great Thurfriday.