Christmas ornaments

Jessi and I did a craft day, in which we made ornaments for Christmas and tags (not pictured) I like that I can make these out of plastic ornaments.

Bias Strip Skirts and Bow Ties

Jessi found this cute skirt tutorial for the wedding.  Dandi and I loved it so we went for it.  And WOW did they  come out cute!  They were like walking decorations at the reception.  The skirts were really easy to make, but after Dandi cut out all the strips for us and Jessi and I  sewed them around and around 10 skirts we were all glad to be done with them.  Jessi picked out the fabric to match Cadie's colors.  The mix of oranges, fuchsia, and purply pinks went together so beautifully.  

Dandi learned how to make bow ties from a friend and made them for the boys and a few of the dads.  They looked so adorable with the girls.  She will have to post a how-to on bow ties.  All the boys loved them.  They wore them to church the next day and loved all the comments people made about them.  I think that Dandi has had lots of requests from them for more bow ties in other colors and patterns.  

Here are all the grandkids in their wedding attire with Cadie and Gavin.

A New Niece... A New Car Seat!

 I hadn't done one in purple yet, so this was a fun one.

For some reason the soft grip part of the handle has turned sticky, so I made a velcro handle cover to keep the icky stuff off their hands.  Congrats Ben and Nan!  She's a beautiful baby.

Brownies and my wall

What the heck is this? It's a precisely measured out school paper to fit in my 9x13 pan so I can make... brownies with a powdered sugar heart on each serving. That's all.

My sister came over and did this for me. Thanks Jessi. I still need to fill the frames with pictures but it looks so much better like this than it did before it was all up. I love it.

Missing out

So, I'm either gather from our long posting strike that we either don't craft during the summer cause it's too hot, or we don't have time to blog cause we have all the kids home. Take your pick. We'll be back up and running really soon.

You "crayon" do it!

For my kids' school teachers gifts this year, I got my idea here. So cute and easy. It took about a 24 pack of crayons for each letter. I printed out 2 copies of the letter and teacher's name on the paper. Then, I started cutting crayons to fit the shape on one of the papers. (This first paper will get crayon shavings all over it and not be used for the finished project) If you are so amazing, you could probably just glue them right on, but I wanted to make sure they'd all fit and look good first.

Sometimes the paper would rip and I'd just glue it back on.
Then I put the other printed paper (with a very light colored letter) inside the frame. You can get a cheap 8x10 frame at the dollar store or Walmart. Next, hot glue the crayons right onto the glass.

And Ta-Da!

Voila!

Jammin' in the Kitchen

1 hour start to finish for 8 1/2 pints of blueberry jam.

Almost 3 hours start to finish for 6 pints of orange marmalade.

I have made jams lots of times. It has gotten quick and easy. This was my first try with marmalade. I think it will be my last. It was a big sticky mess and lots of hot stirring, not my favorite. It does taste good however.

Twirly Skirt

We got the cute princess top at the Salvation Army for $1.25, but we needed a princess skirt to go with it. This is what I came up with.

The top section is 1.5 times the size of her waist and 5 inches long.

The lower section is 4 times the width of the top section and 12 inches long. I gathered it and sewed it to the top section.

The ruffle on the bottom is 2 inches by 2 times the width of the bottom section. I gathered it in the middle and sewed it with the bottom edge of the ruffle even with the bottom edge of the bottom section. I didn't hem it because it is knit and will not fray.

Then I folded over the top of the skirt and sewed it to make a casing for the elastic. Measured and cut the elastic to fit her waist, put it in and sewed the ends together. Super Easy! I made it in about 45 minutes. You could make this skirt to fit any size by just adjusting the length of the layers.

Knitting 101

Using this tutorial, I have learned to knit. Of course, I am still definitely a beginner, but it is so much fun. It was easy to learn the basics of knitting with her tutorials. My 10 year old daughter has learned also and loves it. Now when I need a lazy escape with a movie, I have another way to still be productive with my hands.

My kids love to wear beanies, not that we need warm hats much in the desert, so they think I am super cool now that I can make them hats by request. I hope to keep learning more about knitting and learn to make more wonderful things!

Deadly Upholstery

First you start out with a really stained dining room chair seat, get the fabric you want to cover it with, borrow someone else's staple gun, use it incorrectly and....

staple yourself in the leg, THROUGH your jeans, take a few pictures... finish your project and pat yourself on the back cause you are very pleased with the end result, minus the two holes in your leg.

There's nothin like putting sweat and blood into your work, right? Well, Jessi was helping me re-upholster my dining room chair. Thanks for the help and memories Jessi!

Flowers and Polka Dots Car Seat

Before: Gray and Purple Plaid

After: Girly and Frilly Fun

I think my sisters have got me almost convinced to go into business.

new beginnings

Our Young Women have decided to have a "Biggest Gainer" theme for New Beginnings. The idea is that the girls are gaining values through personal progress. It is a really cute, but there are A LOT of details. We are doing videos and commercials, and so on....

Anyways, here is the logo that I made...

want to...

Here is something I saw that I want to make a version of for myself. Instead of the snaps and elastic, I will just sew the ends together making a circle and then sew with elastic thread around the circle several times.

Here is the whole blog post and tutorial.

I came across that blog through one of my favorite blogs TeaRoseHome

Made this. Saved as a jpeg and printed in 16x20 from costco. (13th Article of Faith is the Mutual Theme this year)

Old Chair Soon To Be New Again

I was given 2 of these chairs 15 years ago when they still looked new. They have had milk spilled on them, crackers smashed on them, 9 kids climb all over them and anything else you could probably think of (well, maybe not anything). Anyhow, they no longer match my color scheme and they are falling apart so I figured it was time to give them a make over.

It took FOREVER to take them apart. Hundreds of upholstery tacks and gazillions of staples to remove! Finally I am getting to the fun part of cutting out and piecing together the new fabric.

I was just so excited that I had to share what I got done today. The arm rests and the back! Yea! So fresh and pretty!

It's a process

I haven't posted much lately anywhere because I have been to busy working on my many projects. But I have been having a lot of fun and I am really starting to feel at home in our new house. It is funny how it takes a little while to get to know your house and to get a feel for what you want to create in your new spaces.

For my Christmas presents this year my sweet hubby made my dream come true; he got me a new white toilet and a white sink with a cabinet. I HATED the black that came with our house. I could never keep it looking clean, it showed every water spot and streak. GROSS!

But now it looks so pretty and clean. I love it!!!!

I found this table at a yard sale for $5. The corners were all chewed up by their dog and it was missing knobs on one of the drawers.

Now it is all patched up with new knobs. The green is so much fun!

This is our living room from before we moved in. Not bad, just a boring beige. This room doesn't get much sun light and is quite dark most of the day.

This is still mid project. I brightened it up with a pale yellow and I am working on curtains and recovering my 2 chairs to go with my green and yellow theme. I want a peaceful garden feel. Still a long way to go with this project, I haven't even finished edging the top of the walls. You can still see a few inches of the old beige. Now I need to find a fun sofa that doesn't cost much.

Jessi's sweet neighbor donated 4 chairs to me. They were a light blue, which does not work with my house and all my earthy tones, so I am painting them black. They are turning out so cute.

This is the dining table that I grew up with. It was in our boys room for the last 9 years and has had a lot of abuse. It now resides in our kitchen and it has been begging for a make over.

I sanded it down and then stained and varnished it. Wow, does it look so much better! It is no longer and eye sore that has "Sam is cool" scratched into it. Yea!