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,

baby shower dresses

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a baby shower. I found out about it the night before, and the shower was at noon the next day...In other words no time to run into town and buy something.

So I made a cute little dress for baby and one for big sister.

I made them to fit next year because...

1. Im not a fan of anything but comfy clothes on teeny babies.
2. Im not a fan of dresses on crawling babies...

...so...

That leaves a dress for a 'just starting to walk baby'



Big sisters dress will fit next year too. I also like when I got presents that werent all 0-3 months. I ended up with many of those and not much else for that first year when they grow so fast.



I also made little hang tags to go on the dresses. I've never had a reason to make a hag tag before, but thought it would be a fun touch...it kind of makes me want to make more dresses so I can add a cute little hang tag to the project ;-)




I bought A LOT of these gray fabrics to complete so other dresses for more little girls who will be born soon or have been born already but I've been procrastinating making anything.



Love,

a break

Joel and I took a day together to go hiking in Zions and see the leaves start to change colors. The cloudy weather and rain that we have had in Southern Utah the previous week made the canyon so beautiful with waterfalls everywhere!




Love,

Joe's new kidney transplant

This is my little niece Aubrey, she is the daughter of Joel's sister Holli and her husband Joe. They are trying to raise money for a new kidney transplant, their site is here.

Go and check out their site and read about their story. It's very touching!


Love,

Lil' Golf Dress

I love little girls in dresses!....a lot!



This little dress was made with green corduroy material. The purple plaid material for the ties match the little diaper cover and hairbow.




I also added a cute little patch that simply said 'happy' on the front lower corner of the dress.

Love,

Cards~cards~cards

Some of my friends already know that I design cards, scrapbook pages, sewing projects whatever is needed for Jill. She is a Stampin'Up demonstrator (she was the 5th demonstrator to sign up in the company) It really is a blast making things, I've been doing it for years.



Here are some of the things I made for two recent get togethers she had. (No I did not make all of them on the whole wall)



My favorite is doing anything that needs to be water colored, I really do love the water color crayons that Stampin' Up sells, mine look so messy and used.





Love,

Daniel Boone Costume

Daniel Boone, the man man who was responsible for the exploration and settlement of Kentucky....that's who Taran will be for Halloween.




His outfit was all home made!

I have waited to post this, in hopes that I would put him back in the outfit, but Im sure it wont happen until Halloween, so here is the basic idea of the outfit.

Pants: sewn with fringe at the bottom and along the pockets and made of a heavy duck cloth material

Shirt: a basic tunic

Vest: Made of a heavy duck cloth and complete with fringe on the bottom.

Hat: ....why a coonskin of course!

The old vintage wooden gun had a leather holster we made.

The look turned out great and worked well with Kyler Johnny Appleseed costume. I'll post more pictures when he puts it on again.

Love,

Trying to warm those legs up!

Here's the quick project I did (times many) in one morning before the kids even woke up....Leggings.



I made Parlee a bunch of leggings to go under the dresses she already has.

These were super fast with this pattern. There's not even elastic in the waist, which made them even faster!

Love,

fun tags...for lack of a better name.

I saw this fun tutorial on how to make your own hang tags....since I dont need hang tags but was curious to try out the tutorial, I made a few (I guess generic, regular, boring but I thought adorable, but not quite sure what to use them for, with the exception of the birthday one) tags.




The tutorial was found here.

Love,

Twirly circle skirt

Family wedding = sew new clothes!



Joely ended up with the circle skirt. I used this method here, and was happy with how super fast and easy it was!

Of course I made here wear some biker shorts to the wedding so that all spinning would be modest.

I think Joely and I may be matching soon, because I tried hers on and I totally want my own now too...I guess I should make a mini one for Parlee then we can be a whole family of circle skirts!

Love,

Johnny Appleseed costume

This year my 3 year old will be Johnny Appleseed for Halloween. I made this costume a couple of weeks ago for a parade that he and Taran were in.





So who was Johnny Appleseed?

He lived in the late 1700's-early 1800's. His real name is John Chapman. He planted appleseeds in the 'west' primarily Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

Kyler was overjoyed (though I don't think that word would be strong enough to describe it) to be Johnny Appleseed. He oversaw every stitch that went into making his outfit. He faithfully has been watching the Disney Johnny Appleseed movie...you know to get into character.

For his costume, I made a basic tunic out of muslin, I added some color at the bottom of the sleeves. I also appliqued a small apple on the front. (It wasnt easily seen, due to the vest he wore. However Kyler and I both know it's there, and you can see it in the above photo)



His pants were just frayed levis he had grown out of.

His vest was easy to make...but I had never made a vest before, and quite frankly had NO CLUE how to make one....and I didn't want to buy a pattern...So, I took an old shirt and cut it up until in looked like a vest. Then I used the shirt as a pattern to cut out material to make his vest. It was so easy! Making a vest pattern out of a shirt was truly the way to go for this costume!



My favorite part of the costume was the bag and the hat!

The apple seed bag was made to go over his head and one shoulder. I made it out of a duck cloth, it was sturdy. I hand cut out an apple and stitched it on the front, then added the word "SEEDS" below it. We put some sunflower seeds inside the bag for him to sprinkle while he was in the parade. For Halloween he will use his appleseed bag to hold his goodies from trick or treating.



Johnny Appleseed was known for wearing a cooking pot for a hat (I of course googled this to see if it was true and why he did that, the best I could find is that yes, he did in fact wear a cooking pot and could use it to gather fruit).....For Kyler we actually had to buy several cooking pots to find the best fit ;-) We bought them all used, but when we would get home we would find most of them to small for his noggin! We finally found one that wasnt too heavy (cheap pots work best) I duct taped some rags inside to cushion his head, and wrapped a piece of thin elastic around the handles that could go under his chin when he wore it. Needless to say he have gone out to eat with Kyler wearing his pot hat ;-) To say he loves the hat is also an understatement!





I enjoy knowing that both my boys learning a bit of history while planning their costumes!

Love,

Kids pillowcases

It's time for my weekly kids craft and sewing class.



We have our first sewing project. A new monogrammed pillowcase for their beds!

Two weeks ago we went over sewing machine safety and I also printed out a bunch of sewing sheets for them to practice on. (click on the link, then go to sewing sheets) The sewing sheets featured straight lines. circles. wavy lines, boxes etc. The kids are supposed to sew each paper for practice, before tackling their first real sewing project. The site that I downloaded the sewing sheets from suggests attaching a piece of material to the back of each paper for them to sew on. I did NOT do that though. I took the tread out of my machine, and the kids just practiced sewing on the papers...so that it would punch holes in the papers. Then I went over the papers with them and explained where they may be having problems. Though truth be told they were all GREAT at sewing these patterns, and they would point out to me where the 'dots (from the needle) didnt go exactly on the lines'

First off the kids picked two fabrics that they loved.



We put that aside and then worked on our monograms. Each monogram was made from felt (it's just more durable). The made a scallop circle, circle and the first letter of their name. Each piece of felt had wonder-under on the back side. That way they could be ironed together, then they sewed around the edge of the circle. Of course I made it easier on us, by having them cut the felt with the Stampin' Up Big Shot and dies.

I have a great pillowcase pattern, but for the kids I went with the super easy pillowcase pattern found here. It was very KID friendly!

Love,

Relief Society Project Runway

Just for fun, I thought I'd post some pictures from a RS enrichment night we did. The theme was Project Runway.



Each table was given a model from the Young Womens, and a mystery wrapped box on their table. Inside the box was newspaper, duct tape and a slew of other random things, from CD's, ornaments, diapers, fake fur, feathers, wrapping paper, plastic cups and plates....seriously items that were probably VERY difficult to work with. Then each table had 1/2 hour to make an outfit for their model.


It was hilarious, and also amazing what these women could make with crap!!!

Here are just a few pictures of the craftiness that went on.



This table used the stars that were table decorations to make her tiara and necklace...clever



This was the winning design...can you believe they made that contrasting trim at the bottom, and also a bellero...there was just not enough time for this type of craftiness! Her hair-tie (which you cant see) was made from a plastic lid that they cut a hole out of and put a ponytail through, then they decorated up.



The flapper dress with tons of hand cut foil tissue.






Each table also had to write out the 'script' that would be said while the girls modeled their outfits....this table had the FUNNIEST script ever. They described their purse (made from a diaper) as absorbant and able to hold more then you would expect. Too true! (you should have seen the rolled flower accent's made from a plastic table cloth on her outfit)

Other tables would describe things like 'hand blown glass earings'...really a balloon hanging from their ears....way way way to creative.



The winning table with their creation, complete with their WINNER crowns ;-)

Hope you enjoyed some pictures of our great night!

Love,

Snow Blossom Peasant Dress

This is the first little peasant dress I've ever made, and I adore it so much....does that sound funny to love something you made yourself so much? Either way, it's true, I just LOVE it. She's worn it 3 times in the last week that it's been made. I washes up beautifully....Im just happy! In fact all these pictures were taken after it had been worn and washed a couple of times!




The pattern is from Heidi and Finn. They are my FAVORITE pdf patterns EVER! I have bought several patterns from etsy, but these just make me giddy! They are super fast, easy and clear to understand.




I also made a little diaper cover from MADE. The next one I make I will do the waist a little smaller, I guess I have a skinnier baby then I realized. I should have measured her waist, but since I do most of my sewing when kids are asleep, it just didnt happen. They still fit, just big at the waist.



I also made her a little matching fabric rosette hairbow.



I love that the waist band tie and the diaper cover match....It was the perfect amount of polka dots.






Love,