February Happenings

Now that March is nearly over, I figure I'm way past due to update for the month of February.  Here are some pics and quick happenings from that month.  These may or may not be in order.

One lazy Saturday morning the kids put on a fashion/talent show.

Gotta love this little cowboy.

Rapunzel?

This girl can sure hula hoop - she just keeps going, and going!

Kaylee is the little piggy ;-)

This girl loves to wake up early (4:30) and help Daddy pack his lunch and help Mommy fix his breakfast.  She either has to go right back to bed or take a nap after lunch when she does this.

We have thankfully had a much healthier winter this year (compared to our first winter here) but we finally had our first bad bug go through our house this month.  We've had some minor sniffles before, and this one really wasn't that bad, just not feeling like themselves for a few days.  Once it got through everyone we were ready to get out of the house again and return to our schedule.  We spent lots of time building marble towers...

...and playing with Lincoln Logs.

Trysten informed me that his cowboy had a rocket - here he is flying ;-)

The big girls finished up their basketball season - it was a good learning year, they enjoyed it.

I don't know what's going on with Brailee's hair but I just love this picture of these two.

And these ones, too - they love each other (but do have their moments of course!).

We celebrated Leap Day by filling out information sheets and creating a time capsule - it will be fun to open up in 4 years and see how they've changed.  We also celebrated with a Leaping picture....

...which the kids wanted to do over, and over again!  Yes, I let my kids jump off the couch - just for one night ;-)

First Brailee stated that she was actually an owl, flying, so she'd say "Whooo, whooo!" as she'd jump...

...sao then Trysten decided he was a train and said, "Choo, choo, woooo!" as he jumped ;-)

Name Sign

I am going to take a break from posting my latest sewing projects and share this fun little name frame that I made a couple months ago for a friend who recently had a baby.  I love these name frames - they make great Christmas gifts, and are perfect for Newlyweds and New Babies!  I have posted a few that I have done HERE and HERE if you'd like to see more ideas.

I used the retired Fanfare papers and stickease, along with the Posterboard Alphabet stamp set for the name - I also spraypainted the frame black to coordinate with the papers better than the original oak.  I added a paper pinwheel on top of the frame - I sealed it with a clear sealer spray before I attached it to the glass to help protect it.

Thanks for looking!

Sew Busy - part 2

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been sewing a lot over the last couple of weeks.  I have been complaining lately about not having a fabric store, which is funny because I didn't sew this much when I lived close to one.  Maybe it's good that there's not one close since I don't currently have a designated sewing area so my sewing mess has taken over our living room.  I have a 'craft area' set up in the basement, but it's an unfinished basement and the lighting isn't very good.  Down there I have lots of lamps set up for scrapbooking but I need a lot more light for sewing which is why I have a table set-up in our living room upstairs.  It's been fun to get so many projects done but I would like to get the room back to normal!

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Here are a few more of my recent sewing projects - lots of fun skirts!

For Kaylee and Brianna's I used some of their old pants for the tops of their skirts.  Kaylee's fun purple and black animal print was in the discounted/leftover bin at WalMart.  Her skirt was inspired by this one found HERE (pinned HERE) I just made it a lot longer for an older girl.  Brianna's skirt I just made up as I went - I thought this one would be a little trickier since I had no pattern and was also adding a lining to the inside, but it went together perfectly.  I haven't taken a good picture of the style of that one and the wind was blowing with this picture, so it's hard to tell but the ruffle goes along the bottom and then up the one side.  Brailee's skirt was super simple - used the pattern found HERE (pinned HERE) only I used the same fabric instead of contrasting patterns.

This was the first skirt I made from old jeans just to make sure I wouldn't mess up.  It's an 18 month pair of pants with some fabric that used to be curtains in Bree's old room.  Turned out super cute, just wish I had a model to try it on.  I will probably give this to my niece who will be turning 2 in July.  These things are so fun and easy and such a fun way to use up old jeans.

Oh, and I'm not leaving Trysten out - I made him these comfy jammie bottoms from an old pair of David's jammie bottoms.  I used the bottom of the legs of the original bottoms so I didn't have to sew the inseam or hem them - just sewed the two legs together, made the exposed Wyoming Cowboy elastic smaller and sewed it to the top.  Super simple!

This is one of the latest skirts - I LOVE this fabric (also found in the discounted/leftover bin at WalMart).  There was 1 yard and I got this skirt and a tie for Trysten (that I will share later) out of this piece.  I used this pattern for a fun circle skirt found HERE (pinned HERE).  I wish these didn't take so much fabric, I would love to make one for me and the older girls.  If I find some good material I might do it with the two pieces instead of one circle.

They are perfect twirling skirts ;-)

Well that's it again for today, but I'm not done sharing yet!  Stay tuned and thanks for visiting!

Sew Busy - part 1

I haven't been posting much lately because I've been having too much fun sewing!  I have lots of catching up to do and for now I'll post some of the fun creations I've made.

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Before I share - I have a little confession.  I recently joined Pinterest.  I know, not a big deal, a lot of people are on Pinterest these days, but to me it was a big deal.  I avoided it for a LONG time.  I already had too many ideas and not enough time to do them all.  Well, I finally caved in and accepted an invitation from my mom to join and oh, boy am I glad I did!  Before, when I would find something online that I liked I would bookmark it or e-mail it to myself, and ocassionally print something.  Well, if I didn't do something with that idea right away it would get filed away, lost, and forgotten.  I don't know how many times I have remembered an idea I had saved but then was never able to find it.  Now, with Pinterest, I have my ideas sorted - I love that.  In less than 2 months since I've joined I have pinned over 2000 ideas (yikes!) but I have deleted almost that many e-mails and bookmarks, and found lots of long lost ideas (and new ones too).  The best part is, I am actually USING those ideas since they are so easy to find!  I haven't pinned much in a while but I have been lurking and liking ideas - once I get done with my sewing projects I will go crazy again until I get another wild hair.  Anyway, enough rambling - here are my creations and links to where I got the idea or pattern.

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Here are some darling Burlap Bunnies - found HERE (pinned HERE).  Here is the first one I made.

I found some cream burlap and I ended up liking those ones the best so I made a whole family out of them ;-)  My darker burlap bunny is hiding in the back - I originally left him out but the girls insisted that I include him and since he was the first one I made I agreed.  I may have to make more so he doesn't stick out so much.  These are simple and fun to make, the only problem I came across is the burlap is so hard to keep sewed - a few of these bunnies have already burst their seams.  In this little bucket of bunnies I included an old favorite project of mine, string eggs.  I have been making these since I was a kid and never get sick of them.  I made these ones from plain string, I am thinking of dressing them up in some fun new ways - we'll see if that happens this year or not.

The original poster used a Sharpie marker for the faces but I liked the puff paint best.  I used a Q-tip and blush to color the ears and cheeks.  I just realized I never added buttons like the OP but with them all stacked together like this I don't think they need them.  I may or may not add them.

Now this next project didn't involve any actual sewing, but it did use up some old jeans that I have been saving for years!  I found this idea HERE (pinned HERE).  I liked that this project was perfect for David's old work pants so it was okay if some pieces were a little more worn or stained.  I still haven't painted the lines on the road, maybe (hopefully) I will soon (eventually), and the original poster added velcro to the bottoms but I think I'll leave that off.  Trysten loves setting up his road since it's so different every time.  I do plan on adding more pieces.

As I have mentioned before, we do not have a fabric store here - at all!  So I took an afternoon a few weeks ago and headed to R-ton and our closest WalMart, which is an hour away.  WalMart and a small Ben Franklin Crafts store are pretty much the only options unless I want to travel 2 hours or more.  The sweet associate in the fabric section gave me this table runner pattern so I picked out some fun fabrics to give it a try.  I just wish I'd known just how easy it really was and I would have bought more fabric to make a bunch of these.  I literally made this in about 20 minutes - so simple!  You don't have to cut anything, and just sew 4 straight lines - it doesn't get any easier than that.  I don't have an online link, but the pattern is by LaRae Bunnell Clark through the Utah State University Weber County Extension - if anyone would like a copy just shoot me a message and I will pass it along.

I didn't get a closer picture of the pattern than this so I don't know if you can see it well, but I LOVE the fun black paisley piece.  The pattern says to stitch a decorative button or yo yo at the edge of the short seam to secure in place but I'm not sure I want to add any bulk, and would rather keep it flat and smooth - I may just hide some stitching to secure instead.

That will be all for today, but stay tuned as I hope to post more soon plus some family updates.  Thanks for visiting!

My Creations Spotlight Blog Hop

I am so happy to be participating in another blog hop - it's been a while!  This month for our Spotlight Blog Hop we are featuring the My Creations 3-D products from Close To My Heart.  Be sure to check out all the inspiration by hopping around to see what everyone created.  If you came here from Haley's blog, you're on the right track!

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I decided to play with the new My Creations® Mini Banner - it was the first thing that I ordered out of the newest Idea Book and I hadn't done anything with it yet, so it was just the motivation I needed!  We recently got out our Spring/Easter decor and realized I really don't have a lot of stuff so I wanted to add to my collection and decided a 'SPRING' banner would be fun and something new.  The best part is, I still have banner pieces left so I'm not done playing with this product yet - may just have to order a few more when I'm done with this one!

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Anyway, on to my project...I am not much of a pastel girl so I broke away from the traditional Easter/Spring colors and used the new Florentine papers for my banner - I had (3) 6"x6" sampler pieces of paper from this pack so I was able to use each pattern.  I used the Cricut® Art Philosophy Collection to cut my letters from Garden Green Cardstock - love my Cricut and this cartridge rarely leaves my machine!  Another handy tool I used on this project were my Finishing Files - so handy and I love the look they helped me achieve!

If you are ready to continue along the hop, the next stop is Adeline.  If you would like to check out more of my project, keep reading - but don't forget to see what the rest of the gals in the hop have created! 

Here is a close-up of each letter so you can see the minor details and the gorgeous papers.

S - Just Blooms™ Flutter Paper Shapes

P - bitty Bamboo brads

R - used paper pieces that I cut out from some scraps.

I - this paper has so much pattern that the letter 'I' almost gets lost - I tried to make it stand out by simply wrapping it in Colonial White Waxy Flax - I could have used a different color of cardstock to help this letter stand out more, but I wanted to keep all of the letters the same color.

N - used a bit of Indian Corn Blue Waxy Flax to tie on a metal tag from the Colonial White Mini Medleys - the heart was cut from another scrap of patterned paper from Florentine.  I just realized I was planning on covering the heart in Liquid Glass but forgot - I'll have to add that.

G - a simple Just Blooms flower folded and tucked under the letter.

I have been attempting to hang this banner on the mirror above my piano (using removable glue dots) but so far am not having any luck.  Any suggestions on getting it to stay without leaving holes or marks?

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Thanks for stopping by - don't forget to continue along the hop by checking out the next super talented lady, Adeline!

Flashback Friday - 6th Grade Graduation

We got hit with a yucky sick bug at our house this week - the older girls missed a couple of days of school and we haven't done much this week.  For some reason (named Valerie) I got the urge to go through some old pictures so I pulled the box out of my closet and started my trip down memory lane.  For my friends on Facebook, sorry if you're sick of all the old pics I've been posting ;-)  Anyway, it also got me in the mood to start scrapping again - like hands on scrapping, not just digital.  Since moving here I have hardly printed any new pictures, which is a good thing, I guess, since I do have a lot already printed!  In R-ton I lived a block away from Walgreens so I would go online, order the pictures I wanted to scrap, pick them up in less than an hour, and do a page or two.  Here we don't have good local photo printing options - I have to take a memory card or jump drive to the hardware store, sort through and order my pics on a dinky little kiosk, which is just no fun, especially with kids.  Plus I've never been pleased with the prints, the colors always seem off, and it takes forever for just a couple of prints.  Now I know I could always order them online and have them shipped but I am just never that prepared in advance to know which pictures and what sizes I want to order a large quantity of pics to make it worth the shipping cost. Thankfully Studio J has kept me scrapping recent pictures, so I can't complain!  If I want to get some hands on scrappin' done I will turn to my box of already printed pages - it's a good way to accomplish that goal anyway!

Anyway, didn't mean to ramble - what I really came here for today is to share some pages that I finished up yesterday.  I used some Fancy Kewl papers from Fancy Pants Designs that I've had in my stash for a few years now.  I picked this paper because of the teal color (which matches my dress) and notebook lined papers (which goes along with my school theme).  I only had one page of the teal pattern I wanted to use, and only a few inches left of the lined paper, so I had to stretch it as much as I could.  I will show you how I did below.  I used a sketch from the PageMaps 2 book.

You can see that I used the patterned paper along the top of both pages.  Then I got the idea to use my Cricut and the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge to add some leaf shapes to the bottom white space and tie in the pattern above.  Then I got the idea to use my spray pen (mixed with water, re-inker, and pearl paint) to mask some designs with the shapes that I had just cut out.  I am really pleased with how it turned out.

I used the Field Trip Alphabet and Classmate Alphabet stamps for my title.  I used the CTMH ink colors Ocean (retired), and Tulip as they matched well.  I think Lagoon would have worked as well, but Ocean was the first color that came to my mind.

But wait, that's not all - I also wanted to fit more pictures without adding more pages, so I used the handy Flip Flaps (I used one 4x12 and one 8x12) and now the entire right page opens up to reveal more.  Here you can see how I stretched the last 4x12 piece of teal flowered paper - the top piece is actually the back of the pattern from the front page - I was going to cover it or fill it up with something but decided to leave it as is.

Here is how it looks in the page protectors/Flip Flaps all put together (except the top flap is closed in this picture).

This scrapbook is the very first scrapbook I ever received - my grandparents gave it to me years ago and ultimately (along with some help from my aunt) got me started in scrapbooking.  This one is full of just my childhood pages and is about 4 inches thick, but I think it's time to divide it up!

Thanks for looking and joining me on my flashback!

My Latest Studio J Layouts

Thanks to the awesome Studio J special last month, I got a lot of layouts completed and ordered (some I ordered duplicates of) - and thanks to this month's special, I will get even more done!  I love filling up my books so quickly and easily!  Some of these I kept really simple, and some I had fun playing around with the stitching and layering Stickease.  Here is a quick look at the pages I've done lately.