changes...

Our newest addition finally arrived

Keegan Joel Stout
July 20th

It's wonderful to not be pregnant and to enjoy a sweet new baby...who knows maybe I'll even make some projects once again...actually his first quilt is just about done!

Love,

Just me?

Am I the only one?

Or do others give their little kids messy foods in the bath, so that they don't get their little messes everywhere?

Love,

Fun with Jell-o

Jell-o can be such a blast!

Can you really resist its wiggly goodness?

Recently we had some jell-o races. They turned out to be a lot of fun (but the pictures are not so great)

The first game we played was a Jell-o slurp.




1.Each kid had a plate of Jell-o and a straw (large straws like they have at McDonalds work a lot better as they allow more Jell-o to pass through)




2.Ready-Set-Go




3. See which kid can slurp up all their Jell-o first!

The second Jell-o game we played was quite messy, but fun to. In fact my kids ask to play this one a lot.

1. Give each kid a small bowl of unmade Jell-o. Just the powder. Trust me don't do do too much, I wasn't sure the first time we played this (the time in the pictures) and each kid had WAY to much Jell-0. Just do a TBS or 2.

2. Think of eating a Lic-A-Stix. You know the candy where you get a candy stick, you lick it and dip it in the candy sugary stuff and lick off....Well, this is similar. But instead each kid has powdered Jell-o and their finger. The goal is to lick your finger, dip it in the bowl and lick it off. The first too eat their whole bowl wins.

3. Plan on red, or blue, (or whatever color of Jell-o you choose) colored fingers for the next few days. My kids sported their freshly colored fingers with pride!







Run to the store and pick up some Jell-o for some fun family games today!




Love,

I love peasant dresses. They are so simple and easy to make, and easy to wear.








This one I wanted to try something a little different, so I made 3/4 sleeves, then did a simple gather at the end of the sleeves by putting elastic thread in the bobbin...








In all honesty, this dress ended up looking more like PJ's, but its comfy and Parlee wears it quite often....but next time I'd do something a little different then this.

Love,

Washer Necklace: a simple tutorial

For Joelys 11th birthday party last week, we made washer necklaces. They were fast easy and the girls loved them.






To make your own, gather a few supplies:

• A washer ( I got mine from Home Depot)
• Mod Podge
• Decorative paper
• glitter

The process was too simple:

• Choose the paper each girl wanted and cut to fit the washer (I had circle punches that matched our sizes)
• Add a thin layer of Mod Podge, apply decorative paper
• Allow to dry
• Then add another layer of Mod Podge to the top and lightly sprinkle some glitter over the top
• Allow to dry again. You are done!

This same project we are going to do at girls camp this year too!

Love,

Spring button toddler dress

I LOVE spring!






Yet sometimes I feel ansy about spring because I know that summer is just around the corner, and though I love my kids being home from school and I love the freedom the summer brings, well here in the desert it also brings too much heat! Even though I have never lived anywhere but the desert, I still cant bring myself to enjoy 110 degree heat day after day. The addition of having super pale skin for myself and my kids, means lathering on sunscreen and still burning....So with as much as I love spring, I know that the dreaded heat is just lurking around the corner. In fact today is supposed to be in the 80's and tomorrow 85 degrees....can I put a pause button on the weather?


Okay, so spring.






That means its time for cute little dresses with little diaper covers. I found a little pattern for a dress, but I've changed it so dang much I don't think I'll put the original reference, as I've re-drawn one for what I needed. I added a faux button placket to the front....this was the main reason for doing his dress, because I FINALLY figured out how to make button holes on my high tech sewing machine! (I'm not joking I couldnt figure it out for the longest time!) So to celebrate my happiness I just wanted to make a lot of button holes....of course that meant hand sewing on a lot of buttons too :-) The button on front dont 'work' they are just their for looks, because the dress is put on with the real working buttons on the shoulders.






The diaper cover was from MADE. Some adjustments I made for the diaper cover is I made it about a half inch higher in the waist (I have a tall daughter), but I sloped the front down a bit, because her belly is big and everything sits bellow her large Budah belly.

The buttons were actually from Stampin' Up. They have some super cute buttons! I also made the shirt under the dress (in 15 minutes before pre-school started none-the-less) It was just a simple peasant dress style that I made into a shirt....the shirt is actually too short for wearing alone, I just made it for under the dress. I also lined this dress with knit yet the front is made from quilters cotton. I wasnt sure how combining the two materials would work, but they have washed up just fine, and know the inside is comfy soft.

Hooray for spring and Hooray for making more dresses!

Birthday Banner

My daughter turned 11 last week, while she was at school I decided to make a banner to have hanging in the living room for when she got home.






The project used up stuff I had at my home, if you have a lot of left over fabric, this is the perfect de-stasher!

Each 'flower' of the banner is made of three scallop circles. I have a Big Shot and scallop circle die, so this was super fast and easy (especially since you can cut through 8 layers of fabric at once!)







I placed two circles back to back so that the right side of the fabric was facing out, the third circle, I added a little fold vertically and horizontally then sewed them to my other two circles. The made a nice poufy flower looking thing.

I made tons of these!

Then I took all my flower poufs and sewed them to some ribbon (the ribbon I even got for free during sale-a-bration from Stampin' Up). Once I was all done I realized I had a lot more garland then I thought I had...I mean a lot more! So I kind of did a double loopy thing on the wall.








It's so bright and springy though that I cant quite bring myself to take it down yet!

What? I blog?

I know, I know I never blog anymore...I just don't have much time for blogging these days...I still love to make things, and today I actually loaded them onto my computer, so over the next few days I'm going to add some of the projects that I have made AND actually taken pictures of (because that doesn't happen very much).

Christmas Giving

I just wanted to share a Christmas tradition:

For the past few years one of my friends and I host one of my favorite things of the holiday season.

We start by inviting everyone that we would normally give a neighbor gift to, we invite them to a night of sharing and giving. We choose a charity that we want to help with and have people bring something to donate to that charity...we chose a local shelter. Everyone brings something to donate to the shelter like non-perishable foods, clothing, diapers, cash, or whatever.

On the night of our get together, my friend and I make some treats and set them out in the garage, we light some heaters, and have plenty of scooters and wiggle bikes ready for the kids. Then our neighbors and friends show up, the kids all play around, the adults mingle, everyone enjoys some donuts and wassail. Its a low key event that has grown with each passing year. The idea is to do this in lieu of giving neigborhood gifts. As more people get involved, it becomes funner and funner. On our invitation it tells people to extend this invite to others, and they do! This year I met some new people that I did not know, it just so much fun!

At the end of the night, we load up my excursion, and the next day I go to the local shelter and deliver our loot. This tradition has quickly become something that I hope many others besides me look forward to.

Love,

high FIVE

That's the number of kids are family will have!

We are pregnant with baby number FIVE!

Love,