create

Choose Joy

2012-02-17T12:00:00.000-05:00

Choose Joy

We were a little late for school today because I had to stop and take this picture.

I have a tendency of sprinting through my day and forgetting to celebrate God's beauty and love.

If you need a little inspiration today check out Ashley's blog, Lil Blue Boo.

She's beautiful, funny, extremely talented and has a story that you must read.

I've been reading Ashley's blog and drooling over her designs for two years.

I feel that I've changed because of her blog.

I am grateful for her and her strength, courage and daily post.

I hope you're able to stop and marvel in all the beauty that surrounds you.

Happy Friday.

Valentine's Day

2012-02-16T10:59:00.001-05:00

Better late than never...We had a busy but beautiful day.
I woke up on Valentine's Day to this beautiful bloom in our backyard.
My husband's Valentine's Day gift from a couple of years ago, camellias, Florida's winter rose.
It's a gift that keeps on giving.

Red Camellia

I'm especially grateful to spent my day with these two girls.

They were so excited to send a valentine message via photo message to family and friends that they didn't get to see because of soccer practice.

Messages sent to loved ones who live out of state.

What soccer coach would have practice on Valentine's Day???

I forgot it was Valentine's Day.

On the calendar two months ago it was just a Tuesday.

By the time I realized it Valentine's Day it was too late to reschedule.
I'm glad we had practice because we had a lot of kids and the girls handed out valentines to everyone.

Here are a few finished projects to share and tutorials or tips to follow.

Boo's skirt

BFF's Skirt

Ky-Bear's Skirt

I just couldn't resist... Pocket Full of Love Skirt x 2

We did finish valentines and they were delivered.

Teacher Gifts

Valentines for Classmates

All heart shaped projects were completed by the sound of the late bell at school.

Dessert

Roller Skating Tonight after soccer practice.
Pizza for dinner = Smiles for Mom

I hope everyone had a day of love and snuggles.

I have the best friend in the whole world.

This was such a great surprise... all of my favorites.
It doesn't get any better than this.
Thank you to my BFF for the best Valentine Surprise.

Farmers Market, Soccer and Skirts

2012-02-05T18:28:00.002-05:00

We had a great week.

We celebrated the first of the month.

I know you're probably thinking... what is this woman talking about.

Let me explain...

We go to bed the night before the first of every month and try to remember to say the first thing in the morning...

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

After googling it today, it's not that strange.

According to Wikipedia is a common British superstition.

If you remember to say rabbit, rabbit, rabbit first thing in the morning on the first, then it is said that you will receive good luck for the duration of the month.

This is one of our silly family traditions and I'm so happy that we do it.
We have one last fun tradition to share.

I find a lot of these pictures and they crack me up.

I've been putting my right shoe on before my left since I can remember.

I was told to put my right shoe on first so that I would remember to do the right thing.

So now, I tell my girls to put their right shoe on first so that they remember to do the right thing.
I can see them thinking about it when they put their shoes on in the morning.

Do you have any traditions or superstitions?

I would love to hear them.

On to our week of sewing, running and new programs.

I was able to hit the local Farmers Market.

We stuffed tomatoes with quinoa and spinach for dinner.

I love walking around the market and looking at all the different vendors' table.

It was a beautiful day and I was on a mission on find a pocket hole jig.

I didn't find the jig but did grab some fresh strawberries, tomatoes, avocados and lettuce from the Barefoot Farmer.

I just love colored glass

We had to build a robot out of recycled items from home this week for home work.

I was so happy that we received the homework assignment before the recycles were collected.

Meet Rosie our recycled robot.

Rosie

Soccer started this week for the tiny tots (3,4 and 5 year old).

I coach a lot of different ages and levels of soccer players but the tiny tots are my favorite.

My Tiny Tot before we left for practice one day .

I'll be sharing my soccer coaching sessions over at The Youth Soccer Room.

I'm dedicating this season to get things up on a blog to share with other youth soccer coaches.

Valentine's Day skirts, shirts and tights.

Yes I did say tights.

I sewed my first tights for the girls.

Skirt #1

Can you believe that the main skirt, the purple - love, part originally was a white muslin?
I dyed a batch of thrift store lace about a month ago and threw a few more items in the batch.

I plan was to use the muslin as the skirt base and the lace as the the decorative top ruffled layer but this is where it ended up.
Stamping the fabric with a homemade stamp and fabric paint was a great way to dress up the muslin and make it Valentine ready.
I made three skirts.

Skirt Number 2

Skirt Number 3 was a birthday present that was out the door a few hours after completion and I have to wait for a picture from its new owner.

Off to enjoy the football game.

Go PATRIOTS!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Valentine's Day Felt Garland and Streamers

2012-01-31T11:53:00.002-05:00

For most holidays and special occasions I try to makeover the girls' room in a fun festive way.

I'll try to transform their room while they're asleep, just to give them a little surprise when they wake up.

I love the look on their faces when they see everything in the morning.

Hanging Valentine Hearts and Snowflakes

I used a combination of Valentine decorating ideas and leftover felt to make a simple, fun and easy room(s) transformation.

Goofy Girls lying on the floor to look at their new decorations.

It takes me forever to decide what I want to create.

It's difficult to find a project that matches both the materials I already have and the size of our home.

This year for our Valentine's Day decor I used some pinterest ideas and some of my favorite author Betz White's inspirations.

Betz White's book, Sewing Green, was one of the first books I checked out of the library when I bought my sewing machine three years ago.

Sewing Green has 25 projects made with re-purposed and organic materials.

I love the book's photos, her detailed project guides and useful tips.

Betz White has a wonderful way of transforming everyday items into some of the most elegant and practical gifts and treasures.

If you haven't checked out her book or blog you need to hop over there today.

Betz White's blog has a list of great Valentine's Day ideas.

Paper Chain Heart Garland

Felt Heart Garland

FELT VALENTINE'S DAY GARLAND

TUTORIAL

I used several different ideas to come up with what works best for our sweet but small home and even smaller budget.
Last year my daughter's preschool had a Sock Hop.

I made her a poodle skirt out of felt and so I'm using the remnants from that and other projects for the garland and streamers.
You can make the hearts for the garland any size you desire.
I did small ones for our home and larger ones for a friend.

Start with two felt rectangles.

I used two 4.5 x 15 inch pieces of felt and it made 14 hearts.

Again, use what you have and need.

Place the two felt pieces on top of each other, align the edges, and sew down one long edge.

Open the sewn felt rectangles.
Then match the other edge of the long side.

You can start to see the heart take shape.

Sew down the second long side you just matched.

When you finish, you will have a felt tube.

If you're a perfectionist you will need to draw lines down your long felt tube 3/4 inch apart.
This will give you the thickness of your felt heart.

I used blue dash marks in the picture below to show you but you may want to use chalk or a color that will not show in your finished project.

Start cutting on your lines and watch your hearts pile up.

You now have a choice on how you want your hearts to be displayed.

If you want your hearts vertical you will string your needle and thread from the bottom of your hearts to the top.

I used a bead at the end of my string because it will show when hanging from the ceiling.

If you want your garland to display horizontally you will need to string your hearts from side to side.

When you have your garland horizontal they have a tendency to flip over.

Betz White offers a great solution to this problem and you can check it out here.

For the girls' room I used a combination of felt circles and hearts.

It took me about 15 minutes to cut out the circles and hearts.

I just sewed the circles together ending each streamer with a felt heart.

It added a little more color and playfulness that I thought worked in their room.

Have a Great Day!

I'm off to start on Valentine's Day outfits.

Photos from the Weekend

2012-01-29T23:06:00.001-05:00

Our computer has been down since my last post.

It seems like we have things back to normal.

I couldn't be happier.

I have a couple of interesting projects to share.

For now I have photos.

Valentine Garland

The girls woke up Saturday to a decorated room.

Little heart everywhere! We are ready for February 14th.

The yard getting a needed makeover for the next planting season.

Made a stamp out of puffy letters and a wood block... I love to recycle.

Putting the new stamp to use to make a new banner.

Outside all day resulted in a vegetarian chili.

Working on some hair clip and pins for Valentine gifts.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Granola Bar Recipe

2012-01-23T21:01:00.000-05:00

I keep things pretty simple around here.

When crafting I use what we have and make it work.

With recipes I'm the same way.

When it comes to granola bars you can spend a lot and get a small quantity of good ingredients or you can spend a little and get a lot of bad ingredients.

I decided to make my own.

When you search for granola bars recipes you find long, expensive, non every day, ingredients.

But with any recipe I find, I manipulate it to fit what we have in our house on a regular basis.

I can't say any recipe it truly my own.

I'm not that creative.

This granola bar recipe originally came from

Delish

They have a great Granola Bar recipe that uses egg whites and I just didn't want to us eggs so I started to tweak it.

This is what I came up with...

3 C. Quick Oaks (not pictured)

1/2 C. Crisp Rice Cereal

1/3 C. Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/2 C. Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 C. Canola Oil

1/3 C. Honey

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

1/4 C. Ground Flax Seed

1/4 C. Wheat Germ

I like our granola bars to be long and thin, to fit in our bento boxes, so I use a 13 x 9 inch pan lined with parchment paper to bake them.

Granola Bars made in 13x9 in pan fits our bentos.

Different size pans will give you different coking times and bar sizes.

You will have to watch your bars baking.

Mix all ingredients (except chocolate chips).

A wooden spoon works best for mixing.

Mix the ingredients very well and let them sit for 10 minutes.

This will allow the wet ingredients to soak into the dry.

You may need to add honey and/or oil if your mixture seems dry after mixing.

Your mixture should clump up a little.

Once you get to this point add your chocolate chips.

Place the granola mixture into your baking pan (lined with parchment paper).

If you're using a spray... Make sure your baking pan has been sprayed well with non-stick spray!

Press mixture firmly into your baking dish, compacting it well.

I use the back of a measuring cup to do this job, it works well in the corners.

350 degree oven is where they will head for 17 - 20 minutes.

You will need to keep an eye on them.

Once they start to smell you're getting close.

They are ready to come out of the oven when the tops are golden brown.

If you take them out too early they will not hold their shape.

If they cook too long they will get dry.

This is not rocket science, just keep your eye on them and you'll know.

Make sure they cool completely, so they can set.

I like to make them in the evening and wait until the morning to cut them.

You can cut them in any shape that you need and fits your child's appetite or lunchbox.

Store in an airtight container.

I hope you try this recipe and let me know how it turns out.

They also make a great snack for your child's class.

Have fun with substituting the ingredients.

Wheat germ and flax seed is optional.

You can add a spoonful of peanut butter and the recipe still works fine.

Try instead of the chocolate chips...

m&m'S

raisins

craisins.

Enjoy!

Lunch Time

2012-01-23T16:05:00.003-05:00

What was for Lunch....
Last week's lunchboxes.
I'm trying my best to mix it up, still need some work.

I'm excited to share a great Granola Bar Recipe later tonight.

This is a big hit in our house and very popular snack at school.

This is one of my most requested recipes.

I am running to take the girls to ballet.

I love Mondays.

Printable Morning and After School Routine Cards

2012-01-21T14:01:00.001-05:00

Organized Chaos is the best way to describe my life.

I struggle with finding the balance between trying to be organized and doing too much.

I'm sharing this with you today because a friend of mine who has 3 boys, and a little girl due mid February, showed up at school running late and upset.

Mornings for most are challenging.

At our house we struggle with getting up and staying on task.

This is why we needed a morning routine chart.

My friend's boys are 7, 4 and 2 years old and go to school with my girls.

She's amazing.

She's always positive and her boys are as sweet as can be.

I wonder how she does it.

When I saw her upset I knew how she felt and wanted to help.

I ran home and whipped up some morning routine cards for her boys.

Morning Routine Cards

We've tried several systems before finding the one that works best for us.

If this system isn't your style fell free to make it your own.

You will also be able to find, at the end of this post, a list of some amazing sites that offer other systems.

First, print out the cards.
You will find all document at the end of this post to download.
I use black ink only because we go through color ink fast around here and it's expensive.
When I'm using black and white images I will add a pop color with the construction paper/cad stock or coloring in the images by hand.

Then cut out each individual card and then glued them to construction paper or card stock.
You do not need to glue them to construction paper or card stock but it will make the card stronger.
I used the boys favorite colors.
Once I choose a color for the name I will keep that color the same in any other additional routine cards or charts.

Once the cards are glued to the construction paper cut them out, leaving a border of color showing.

I used good old scissors but you can use a paper cutter or punch.

Time to laminate.
I have a Scotch TL 901 Laminator.

You do not need a laminator for this.
Before I got our laminator and for larger projects I've used clear contact paper and it works great.
Con-Tact Adhesive Shelf Liner runs about $3 a roll.

If you're using contact paper you will want to use card stock or a heavy construction paper to help make the card strong and last.

Place the cut and glued cards in laminating pouches.
And send it through the preheated laminator.
If you're using contact paper, sandwich the cards between two pieces.

Once the cards are through the laminator, or sandwiched in the contact paper, you will have a pile of sealed (protected) cards.

Guess What?
You have to cut them out once again.
I promise this will be the last time.
You can also use a hole punch that will give you rounded corners to give it that smooth polished look.

Rounded Corner Hole Punch

And now you will have a pile that looks like this.

To finish the routine board I used Velcro Sticky Back 5/8 in. and Poster Board.
In the past I've used recycled cardboard from gift boxes and cereal boxes for the board.

Cut the poster board to the size that you want.

I'm one of those that like things symmetrical so this took me a while to measure and cut.

I glued the laminated names on the boards first.

My favorite

Remember to keep the same velcro side on the board for each card.

I try to keep the fuzzy (the loop side) of the velcro on the board.

And the hook side of the velcro on the individual card.

Keeping this consistent will help when the cards are placed back on the board.

My girls enjoy putting the cards back on the board at night.

We've made this apart of our night time routine.

And there you have it!
I was running late to pick up the little ones and wrapped the finished boards in tissue paper and used yarn to make a pom pom for the bow.
Not my best work but I knew my friend would be able to use it the next morning.

Last minute tissue wrapped finished boards.

Fun-Tak, Loctite, mounting putty, is a great way to hang the boards.
The Fun-Tak is strong. This is what we use and it does the trick.

You can change where you display the broads as many times as you need without leaving marks on the wall.

Great teacher gift.

I've also added an Earned Minutes - Free Time Card (these are our movie tickets).

You can use them for tv, video games or other reward type activities.

The girls can also save their minutes for a special play dates with a friend... tea party, picnic, craft time, etc.

Morning Schedule Cards (b&w)

Each morning the girls can earn 10 minutes if they complete the Morning Routine Chart without being prompted.
Again each card is color coordinated with either Morning Routine Chart.

Earned Minutes or Movie Tickets are a BIG deal in our house.
Since I'm a stay at home mom we are down to one income and have a tight budget.
The cable was the first to go. In order to watch tv the girls have to go to their grandparents when they have enough minutes saved.

10 Minute Card

The grandparents collect the tickets, movie theater style and have their favorite snacks and drink ready.
It's a lot of fun.

Here are some great sites with other amazing ideas.

http://www.livinglocurto.com

http://edaic.wordpress.com/

http://thedisparatehousewife.wordpress.com

I hope this helps make mornings a little less stressful.
If you have any questions please let me know.

Cake Stands and Cookie Displays

2012-01-17T22:18:00.000-05:00

Christmas time is always a crafty time of the year.

I hit the thrift stores during the day while the girls are at school.

And at night my husband and I work on transforming our thrift store finds.

I love the way everything turned out.

It was a lot of fun sneaking around and hiding our gifts from the girls.

I was able to sneak in some felt cookies, donuts and tea bags.

Trying to find the felt goodies at the store was not an easy task.

They didn't fit our style or our budget.

The felt food turned out to be a lot of fun to make.

I'm adding it to the list of go to birthday presents.

Tea for me, too

Homemade felt cookies, donuts and tea bags

E-6000 adhesive was a late night find and ended up saving the cake and cookie displays.

I tried other glues and nothing worked as well as E-6000.

I picked it up one night at Michael's before I tried gluing at all and boy was I glad I did.

I will never use another adhesive for similar projects.

I decided to use a modified cute curtain rod holder for the top of the of the cookie display.

I drilled a hole in the top plate before painting and assembling the display.

The curved end of the curtain rod holder was cut off and glued in place.

To save the flower during spray painting, I covered it with aluminum foil.

I can't wait to make more and share all the details.

My Favorite App

2012-01-17T00:34:00.000-05:00

Instagram

Rock Soup

One of my favorite apps has to be Instagram.

Instagram is great app for taking pictures.

I think it's great for those who struggle with taking a good photo... like me.

Instagram allows you to alter your pictures, easily, in a fun way that makes your photos look better without changing it too much.

My other job - Soccer Coach

I continue to forget to take pictures of what I am doing at a particular moment.

I remember too late to capture that moment.

Then I think, "Darn. I should have taken a picture of that."

Instagram makes me want to take more pictures.

I hope you check out the iphone app and join in on the fun.

Ice Skating the 1st time

You can follow me on Instagram by finding me @aplacetosew on the app.

I hope to see you on Instagram and your photos!

Other images from the weekend and another item off the sewing list.

Helping Dad finish the irrigation system

While the girls and the hubby were outside playing and installing our irrigation system I was sewing outside.

I wish I had a better picture but forgot.

This is the best one... I'm still getting use to taking pictures.

I finished cat toys from my fabric scraps.

All 37 cat toys.

I hate to waste but I think I need a better way to use my fabric scraps.

Another item off the list... getting there, little by little.

Lunch Buffet for the workers

The NFL playoff games were on this weekend and the TV came outside with us so we wouldn't miss Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos while we worked.
I'm not a Denver Bronco fan but I'm a fan of amazing people.
Tim Tebow is a pretty impressive individual and worthy of moving the TV outside.

Our outdoor lunch buffet had...

a crock pot of hot chocolate

hot chocolate tray with marshmallows and graham crackers

popcorn

quesadillas
cheese, pepperoni and crackers

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Photo of the Day

2012-01-14T23:46:00.000-05:00

Roller Skating Fun

I took the girls rollerskating for the first time today.

It's amazing how fast little ones learn new skills.

The start was a little rocky but by the end they were getting around the rink without a spill and smiling.

What a great day.

I hope you all had a great one.

Sewing Mad

2012-01-13T23:40:00.000-05:00

Thank you, Long Weekend.

The best Fridays are paired with no work or school on Monday.

My sewing to do list is long and is like a wet wool sweater.

I need to be freed from the old so I can start the new.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been working on getting the sewing to do to sewing DONE.

Reusable Snack Bags and Felt Shape Flashcards and Memory Game

For now I have photos and will soon share my tutorial for reusable snack bags and a combo coloring wallet.

I'm working on taking better pictures.

So please bare with me.

Pencil Pouches, tissue holder, wallets, garland and coloring wallet

Thanksgiving Banner for a friend

Halloween Banner for a friend

In my defense the Halloween and Thanksgiving Banners were a request after the holidays.

I'm not that far behind.

I'm actually very early.

The List

1. Finish Barbie Clothes

2. Coloring Combo Wallet

3. Tea Wallets for Teacher Appreciation and Mother's Day

4. Window Wallet

5. Cat Toys made from fabric scraps

The good news is that we have a long weekend and everything is cut, organized and ready to be put together.

Please check out the School Lunch Flickr group.

Add your lunch ideas and maybe we'll start something big.

A Week of Lunches

2012-01-13T01:28:00.000-05:00

I've been sewing like a mad woman.

I'm so excited to share some projects this weekend.

A week of lunches..

Please join me on Flickr, posting your lunch ideas.

I need your help to get out of the peanut butter and jelly rut.

Pizza Puffs

2012-01-11T00:37:00.000-05:00

I shared with you our dinner plans for Friday Family Night dinner.
Today, I would like to share our recipe for quick, easy and tasty pizza puffs.

Bento Lunch Box

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs adapted from Everyday with Rachel Ray

This is my go to fun family night food and lunch box happiness.

The girls love cold pizza.

3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 tablespoon Italian seasoning
pinch of salt
3/4 cup low fat milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 Parmesan cheese
1 cup cubed pepperoni

Preheat the oven 375 degrees. Spray a 24-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning and salt. whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan and pepperoni; let stand 10 minutes.
Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve warm or cold.

We don't always have all the above ingredients so I use what we have.

I've made just cheese pizza puffs and added cheddar cheese.
We've made a veggie packed puff before that turned out great.

This is a great Rachel Ray recipe.

I hope you try it.

Bento of the Day

2012-01-09T08:32:00.001-05:00

To help me from making my families lunches boring I will be posting our week of lunches in photos.

I hope this will help me to be a little more creative.

On most days we use a Bento boxes.

This style of Bento has a thin cool gel pack on top which keeps lunches cool.

The boxes are dishwasher safe and BPA-free.

You need to check out reuseit.com for all the details.

We use our Bento boxes and Thermos water bottles for trips to the beach, theme parks and snack holders for long road trips.

Using the Bento boxes and Thermos helps us to save money and eat healthy food when we're away from home.

After a year of use our Bento boxes are in amazing condition.

They are totally worth the price.

Other days we use our homemade reusable sandwich wraps, snack bags and cloth napkins.

Medium Snack Bag

Sandwich Wrap

Cloth Napkins

Sweetie Bag (for sweets and notes)

These lunch sets are my go to gifts for young kids.

I started making the lunch sets to help cut cost and keep our lunch trash out of the landfills.

My plan is get a little more comfortable posting before I share my reusable lunch set tutorial.

I still have so much to learn about writing a blog.

I delete a lot and fight often with my words.

I'm still working on how I want my blog to look.

Blogging is a great outlet for me and forces me to slow down and take more photos.

PHOTO OF THE WEEKEND: Night Picnic

2012-01-08T22:09:00.000-05:00

Swinging

Under the Stars

This weekend was a lot of fun.

We've spent most of the weekend outside playing and installing a new irrigation system.

Well, I was playing more than working.

I love when the weekend goes better than you could've planned.

BACK TO VALENTINE'S DAY....

Combining these two ideas might be the winning valentine this year.

Not sure if this will work for preschool.

However, this would require limited prep work on my part.

The girls would love putting the whole thing together.

Hope you had a great weekend even if it wasn't planned.

Happy Friday

2012-01-06T13:35:00.000-05:00

We're starting our weekend with a visit to the grandparents' house after school.

And maybe a cup of coffee for this tired mom.

Late last night I finished some napkins.

Out with the old and in with the new.

Did you know that you can compost cotton, denim and other natural fibers.
So the old ones will be tossed in the compost bin.

I also finished a couple of cake stands and cookie displays to sell.

Friday night dinners are usually quick, easy and fun.

Pizza Puffs are great.

I've modified Rachel Ray's recipe to fit our family's taste.

They're also great cold the next day for lunches!

Bento Lunch

The girls get to pick:

-Movie

-Board games

-Wii spots tournament

-Playground

all outside by the fire.

We love being outside.

This is the best time of the year to be outside in Florida.

No Bugs!

The best part of the weekend will be sleeping in and snuggling with the little ones.

Have a great weekend!

I can't stop pinning!

Brunch Idea

I love the hanging baskets on the wall

Check out Babble for some great storage ideas.

Pinned

2012-01-04T21:39:00.000-05:00

I am hooked on Pinterest.

Pinterest is a great place to get ideas.
The bad part is that I can sit there for hours and look.

Pottery Barn

I've been wanting to sit down and figure how to make the Pottery Barn's Valentine Chair Backer.
I found this great picture on Pinterest and it linked me to a blog with a complete tutorial.
What a great find and thank you to Sew What's New.

It's never too early to get started...
Valentine's Day is coming.
I like for my girls to do their own valentines, not me.
I also try to stay clear of candy.
In the past we've used pencils, hair clips and recycled old crayons.

Valentine's Day ideas from Pinterest

Ok. I need to stop because I can go on and on
and on and on.
Simple and Sweet for both boys and girls.

Great hair for the day.

Hand Warmers

2012-01-04T01:56:00.000-05:00

46 Hand Warmers

It's cold here in Florida.

Hard freeze warnings issued overnight.

We should be back in the 70's by Friday.

But for now I'll enjoy wearing my wool sweaters and drinking my coffee with my gloves on. I think I'll break out my penguin winter hat for fun.

we thought they looked like balloons

I asked if I could make hand warmers for the kids at my daughter's school that have been selected for Safety Patrol.

rice and deer feed, corn

Safety Patrol involves assisting the kids in and out of the cars before and after school in the car line. We appreciate those "older" kids helping open doors and wishing us a great day, it's a big deal for those elementary school students selected.

I decided to fill each little heart with both rice and deer feed, corn.

A good friend told me that the deer feed hold the heat better.

I didn't think I had enough corn so I threw in some rice and mixed it up.

I love how they are small enough to fit in their pockets or their mittens and gloves.

We tried them out tonight and they kept warm for about 20 minutes.

That should get them through the morning.

I thought I would throw them in the microwave for 1 minute right before we walked out the door and throw them in a foil bag.

Boo's cute house... I think I'll be using this.

Stay Warm

Nicole

THE List is Long

2012-01-02T23:59:00.000-05:00

There's nothing like a fresh new year to inspire you to set some goals.

I have a list, a very BIG list, of unfinished and need to start projects.

1. Wallets and Clutches

2. Baby Shower Gift Sets and Banner... needs to be finished by this Sunday.

3. Modified Crayon/Car Wallet

4. New Reusable Lunch Sets

5. Help a friend and make some organizing items for her three boys.

I would to help her get a before and after school schedule for the boys.

Our Morning School Schedule

Our After School Schedule

Our Weekly Clothes Bins

6. Barbie and Doll Clothes

Thanks to Jessica over at Craftiness is Not Optional and her wonderful Barbie clothes tutorial I've been addicted to making clothes.

The skirts and dresses are very easy and fun to make.

The tops are a little more time consuming then I planned. I have about 12 skirts waiting tops.

I will share when I finish.

I can't wait for all the sets to be complete.

I want to see the girls mix and match the tops and bottoms.

7. Thank You notes

I'm using LIl Blue Boo's Fill-in-the-Blank template.

Ashley over at Lil Blue Boo is amazing and you need to check her blog out.

I have a couple of thank you gifts just waiting for the last snap or the deadline to come speeding around the corner.

Tomorrow I promise I will have a real list with deadlines.

Today we had fun at Sea World and all projects were put on hold.

The girls head back to school soon and I'm preparing myself for missing them.

I love those little faces and can never get enough of them.

2012

2012-01-01T23:42:00.000-05:00

Welcome 2012!

Last year was a fast one.

These two kept us busy and extremely happy.

We welcomed in the new year with good old backyard fun.

Hot chocolate, fruit, popcorn, cheese and crackers.

A Wii bowling tournament.

Our traditional burning of our Christmas tree.

Being a family

means you are a

part of something

very wonderful.

It means you will

love and be loved

for the rest of your life.

No matter what.

Happy New Year!

Reusable Lunch

2011-02-16T22:38:00.000-05:00

LUNCH... it happens, everyday!

I love making my family's lunch every morning!

Because, I know I'm sending them off for the day with an Eco Friendly, fun and healthy lunch.

This is a fun sewing project to spruce up your lunch boxes... with environmental benefits.

DID YOU KNOW... It has been estimated that on average a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. YIKES!

DID YOU KNOW... You may also like to know that with a reusable lunch you could

SAVE $250.00 per school year per person! WOW!

A “no-waste lunch” is a meal that does not end up in the trash.

You can buy food items in bulk, then put them in reusable containers to carry to school or work.

Packing your food in reusable is typically less expensive and creates less waste than buying food that comes in disposable containers.

I started making sandwich wraps by using Betz White's sandwich wrap template and tutorial with a few modifications.

I decided not to use oilcloth, vinyl or any treated fabrics. I try to use organic, unbleached and non dyed fabrics for the lining of wraps and snack bags.

I thought if I was going to go this far to help the environment and pack a healthy lunch that I would go all the way.

A sandwich all wrapped up and ready for a lunch box. YUMMY!

It took a few tries before the modifications to Betz White's template and tutorial worked.

I hope by the weekend to have my finished tutorial for the sandwich wraps up for everyone....

This will be my first tutorial and I'm nervous!

Sandwich wraps waiting to hold a sandwich.

I have reworked a number of great tutorials from Dana over at MADE and Anna from Noodlehead and came up with our reusable snack bags and my favorite... the Sweetie Bag.

We use our snack bags for all most any snack and it works great.

The girls love having them full of yummy goldfish, pretzels, apples, carrots, grapes, etc.

Medium Snack Bag

At the end of the day and the lunch boxes are returned with their reusable wraps, snack bags and stainless steel canteens... I'm a HAPPY and PROUD mom and wife.

Velcro Snack Bag and Sweetie Bag

My favorite little bag has to be the SWEETIE. This is where I put my love... in the form of a sticker, a note and most importantly a sweet little something.

The girls know they shouldn't open the little sweetie bag until they finish their sandwiches.

But I hope they do it first to let out all the love stuffed in that little bag.

My Favorite - The Sweetie Bag

No lunch would be complete without a cloth napkin.

To clean each bag, wrap and napkin I turn them inside out and shake them free of any crumbs and throw them in the wash.

***I feel very safe washing our lunch sets in our detergents.

I've been making homemade laundry detergent for three years. K-Bear was extremely sensitive to all soaps...so I tried many different formulas until I found one that worked.

You can find some great Homemade Laundry Soap Detergents at Tip Nut.

56 Valentines

2011-02-14T02:45:00.000-05:00

Monday is around the corner and it brings the sounds of kids eating breakfasts fast, backpacks zipping and car doors slamming .

This week has a special Monday... handfuls of sweet valentines, class parties and yummy goodies...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

We have finished valentines that I'm excited to share.

A colorful valentine for my husband's class.

My husband is a elementary school teacher and wanted to give his class a little something.

I'm a youth soccer coach and have practice on Valentine's Day with my under 10 girls team.

K-Bear has a class of 11 and Boo has a class of 17.

A total of 56 valentines were made this weekend!

First, this colorful valentine was a perfect fit for my husband's class.

I found this great craft at the long thread and you can also find another great tutorial here.

The girls enjoyed peeling the wrappers, breaking and watching the crayons melt.

I made the valentine message and the girls cut and glued them to each note card.

Keeping the melted crayon on the note card is where I encountered a challenge...the crayons do not lay flat and I had limited time and supplies!

I hot glued the front of the note card with clear cellophane paper and the problem was solved. I glued three sides and left one open to slide the melted crayon heart inside and glued the last side closed.

Valentines for the boys on Boo's and K-Bear's class.

I knew what the girls wanted to give their girl classmates but the boys were tricky.

The girls were getting a sweet little hair clip and I didn't want the boys to feel left out.

Boo originally found a valentine owl at Family Fun last weekend. But next to the girls cupcakes they needed little makeover.

And this is what we came up with...

Using the template from Family Fun, silly eyes and scrap booking paper we made this cute pencil giving owl.

I just love the way they turned out and how much the girls were able to participate in making them.

I did do the work of the detail cutting but they had to assemble each one and sign them on the back.

Valentines for the girls in Boo's and K-Bear's class.

THE BARRETES GIVING CUPCAKES are my favorites!

After making heart pins for the teachers on Friday I was addicted to making more little heart somethings.
I warned you in my last post that you could get addicted and I wasn't kidding.

I'm so excited because I made my own template for the cupcakes.

Boo with my help made the valentine message and the girls got to work assembling and signing each one.

The little heart barrette was the perfect cherry on top of these cute little cupcakes!

I love Valentine's Day and can't wait to pick the girls up from school and for my husband to walk in the door for a warm family dinner and a sweet homemade treat.

I wish everyone a day of love and filled with loved ones.

Heart Pins

2011-02-11T22:54:00.000-05:00

I've been so busy sewing... filling orders for reusable lunch sets!

I also had to finish very belated birthday presents and valentine goodies.

Purl Bee inspired http://www.purlbee.com/valentine-heart-pins/

At the last minute I decided to make these sweet, and totally easy Valentine Heart pins. I thought these pins were the perfect and simple way to send our favorite teachers home for the weekend.

Using pinking shears I cut two hearts out of my favorite felt.

With embroidery thread, heart shaped buttons and smaller heart shaped felt pieces, I embellish each pin before sewing them together.

I used a running stitch or a zig-zag stitch in the dips of the pinked edges to close the two hearts together.

Before completely closing the hearts I used a small amount of fill to give them a pillow effect.

I finished each heart by attaching a small safety pin to the back.

These are so EASY and FUN to make!

BE CAREFUL!

You won't want to stop once you start!

Since this was a last minute idea I didn't have a way for the girls to hand them to their teachers, so

I quickly trimmed some thick scrap booking paper to fit into the printer and made these sweet little note cards.

After attaching the pins to their note cards I ran out the door for delivery.

Midnight Sewing

2011-02-08T22:01:00.000-05:00

This weekend didn't go as planned... it was better!

I spent most of the weekend doing Valentine's Day projects and sewing into the wee hours of the morning.

I had to get in a couple of long runs this weekend as well.

I only have 17 days left until my first Half Marathon - YIKES!

http://www.tampabayrun.com/

Even though I didn't sew all day Saturday like I planned, I did finish a couple of

CATCH ALL BAGS based on Anna's Scrappy Make-Up Pouch tutorial at Noodlehead.

and I also finished VALENTINE HEART BARRETTES inspired by The Purl Bee http://www.purlbee.com/valentine-heart-barrettes/

First project finished.... great little valentines for K-Bear's class!

K-Bear modeling her favorite heart barrette.

I love the mix of colors and the added heart buttons. They will make great valentines for the girls in K-Bear's class!

But what are we going to do for the boys?

I will have to keep you posted on what Boo decides for her class. She has a a lot of great ideas and wants to make them herself.

Family Fun Magazine was a hit this weekend with endless ideas for keeping my house messy and my little ones busy. They also have a great website http://familyfun.go.com/.

It's defiantly worth checking out.

CATCH ALL BAGS were next on the list to finish.

I made these two padded bags for the girls new Leapsters that their grandmother gave them for Christmas.

K-Bear's Padded Leapster Bag

Boo's Padded Leapster Bag

Leapsters inside ready to travel.

I used Anna's tutorial from Noodlehead as a guide to create these bags.

I added a thick fleece lining as protective padding and a couple of pockets for extra game storage.
We also have a lot of little toys from Christmas floating around that also need a home.
To solve this problem I made two more bags this weekend.

This time I didn't use a fleece for the lining and I added several pocket inside for storage.

I also kept the exterior fabric matching their first bags while adding some cute fabric details.

I love making things that are cute and functional.

I hope everyone had a great weekend even if it didn't go as you planned.